Encounter Design - Orc Rider and his beast...?


Advice


I am building Orc encounters and for one encounter I am thinking of an Orc Patrol on Wolf-Mounts.
I aim for CR 2-4 for this encounter.

The only example I could find is the Orc Worg Rider. This is CR 1 (400XP)
A Worg is CR2 (600XP)
I dont see the Worg itself mentioned in the statblock of the Orc Worg Rider.
Do I just add them up? Is an Orc Worg Rider really a CR3 Encounter because of the Worg itself?

And why exactly can the Orc ride a Worg? Worgsare Medium creatures, normally medium humanoids shouldn't be able to ride them, right?

An Orc with Class skills and a lvl 7 animal companion would get a large Wolf, but that would go way up CR vise, right?

If I am aiming for CR 2-4, is my only choice to go for Goblins on normal Wolfs?
I found this example build: monster-monday-goblin-wolfrider.
3-6 of those for CR2-4?

Any other ideas?


BOARZ IZ BEST!


MightyK wrote:

I am building Orc encounters and for one encounter I am thinking of an Orc Patrol on Wolf-Mounts.

I aim for CR 2-4 for this encounter.

The only example I could find is the Orc Worg Rider. This is CR 1 (400XP)
A Worg is CR2 (600XP)
I dont see the Worg itself mentioned in the statblock of the Orc Worg Rider.
Do I just add them up? Is an Orc Worg Rider really a CR3 Encounter because of the Worg itself?

Yes.

Quote:
And why exactly can the Orc ride a Worg? Worgsare Medium creatures, normally medium humanoids shouldn't be able to ride them, right?

They forgot to put in an exception for worgs.

Quote:
An Orc with Class skills and a lvl 7 animal companion would get a large Wolf, but that would go way up CR vise, right?

No. The animal companion is a class feature, so that's just part of the orc ranger/druid's CR.


Kimera757 wrote:
Quote:
An Orc with Class skills and a lvl 7 animal companion would get a large Wolf, but that would go way up CR vise, right?
No. The animal companion is a class feature, so that's just part of the orc ranger/druid's CR.

I see, but a Orc Ranger with an lvl 7 Animal Companion (and the Boon Compagnion Feat) is still lvl 7, a CR6 NPC... bit too much.

I guess its Goblin Wolf Riders until my group is a little higher... and then ... the Worgs!
;)

Thanks very much!

Liberty's Edge

An Orc cannot ride a medium with. A worg can be advanced to large size.


Howie23 wrote:
An Orc cannot ride a medium with. A worg can be advanced to large size.

Ok, so I would have to apply the Simple Template: Giant (CR +1) for example?

Worg becomes CR3, 1 Orc Worg Rider+Worg would be a CR 4 Encounter?


When adding monsters together, think less about the CR and more about the experience the monsters bring upon defeat. A Worg w/the Simple: Giant template is a CR 3 monster, meaning it delivers 800 experience upon it's defeat. If you add in an orc worg rider (a CR 1 monster) this adds another 400 experience to the total for the encounter.

800 + 400 = 1200 experience total for the encounter

This means the encounter value of these 2 monsters together is a CR 4 since the full encounter delivers 1200 experience, the same as a CR 4 monster.

If you want more monsters on the table and are willing to use the Simple: Giant template, consider the following:

Goblin Fighter 1 + Brutal Goat (goat with Simple: Giant template applied)

You have out-of-the-ordinary combatants, you might add some interesting terrain to give the goats a slight advantage and each individual in the group adds 200 experience.

A sample encounter might be:

x2 goblin fighter 1
x2 brutal goat
x2 goblin warrior 1 (armed with shortbows)
x1 goblin adept 2

The total experience for this encounter would be 1270; slightly higher than CR 4 but not enough for CR 5. However you could round down to CR 4 and call it that.

Essentially the Adept hides and has his familiar delivering Guidance or Touch of Fatigue spells; perhaps he hurls a single Cause Fear. The 2 goat-riders ignore 5' of difficult terrain and set themselves into some charging lanes with small boulders - they can charge but their enemies cannot. Finally the warriors focus their attacks on ranged attackers and spellcasters.

You can put together all of this for the same cost as a single Large worg and Orc worg rider.


Wow, thank you, that sounds fun!

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