Monsters of the Trollhaunt VI: Encounters W2, W3

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** SPOILER ALERT**
These articles update monsters in adventure P1: King of the Trollhaunt Warrens – reading them may spoil encounters in the module!

Something is rotten in the Trollhaunt Warrens – and it’s the monsters in today’s article!

Marrowmaw Mauler (Level 8 Soldier)

1. Issues identified

• Claw attack is redundant, serves no purpose
• Relies too much on Bite for damage.
• Lack of mark punishment

2. Changes introduced

• Attacks: reduced accuracy, increased ranged damage. Damage shifted from Bite to Greatclub. Note that this monster’s melee damage was already competitive with MM3 guidelines thanks to minor action Bite.
• Defenses: –1 Fortitude
• New power: Enduring Stench
• Removed power: Claw

Kasszt (Level 9 Elite Controller - Leader)

1. Issues identified:

• Claw attack is redundant, serves no purpose
• Cavern Curse is extremely weak, no point in casting it.
• Chant of Renewal has not enough impact for an Elite standard action power.

2. Changes introduced.

• Attacks: Increased damage and accuracy for Quarterstaff, increased damage for Poison Ray, Cavern Curse. Quarterstaff now pushes. Cavern Curse is now at-will.
• Powers: Double Ray now gives a choice of Poison Rays or Cavern Curse. Chant of renewal now costs a minor action.
• Defenses: –2 AC, –1 For.
• Removed power: Claw

Nothic Stalker (Level 11 Skirmisher)

1. Issues identified

• Dazing Gaze too annoying as an at-will. Also, triggering Dazing Gaze off a Retaliate is too frustrating
• No Skirmisher mobility

2. Changes introduced.

• Attacks: Increased damage and accuracy for Claw, increased damage for Dazing Gaze. Dazing Gaze is now recharge 3+. Claw now grants extra shift.

 

Troglodyte Mauler (Level 6 Soldier)

Using level 6 monsters against PCs of level 11 or 12 is downright silly. These should have been minions instead. I used 2 types of minions for this: Troglodyte Grunts, and Troglodyte Warriors.

Troglodyte Grunt (Level 12 Minion Skirmisher)

There is a skirmisher troglodyte minion in Monster Vault, which could be used with minimum update effort, once I had added some levels to it.

1. Issues identified

• Lack of a ranged attack. I wanted at least some of my minions to have a Javelin attack, since the encounter was designed with Maulers, which have one.

2. Changes introduced.

• Level Up:  +6 to attack and defenses, +3 to damage. +5 Initiative.
• Attacks: I added a slide effect to the Club attack, to make it a bit more interesting.
• Defenses: –3 For, +1 Ref, +1 Wil
• New Power: Javelin ranged attack.

Troglodyte Warrior (Level 12 Minion Soldier)

1. Issues identified

• Old school minion. The warrior lacked a proper role, decent damage, and compelling abilities. Basically, this called for a completely new design.

2. Changes introduced.

• Soldier Role: Since the Maulers I were replacing with minions were soldiers to begin with, I wanted these Warriors to be Soldiers, too.
• Attacks: +2 attack and damage for Club.
• Defenses: +3 AC, +1 Ref, +2 Wil
• New Trait: Defender Aura. I could have used a mark as usual, but I wanted to experiment with different mechanics.
• New Power: Ferocious Bite. I liked the Mauler’s Bite attack, but minor action attacks don’t make a lot of sense for minions. This is a vicious ability for this kind of monster
• New Power: Ferocious Reflexes. I needed a mark-enforcing power, and the threat of Bite should be an effective deterrent.

3. Gameplay Notes

To my knowledge, there is no precedent for monsters with defender’s aura. I have been playing for months in a party with a Cavalier, and I must say I loved the mechanic and wanted to see how it played out on the monster side. And it was quite a success! These minions were not particularly sticky (since they did not punish enemy shifts), but the ability to defend a zone works great when present in multiple creatures. My players took a while to get used to it, but it felt fair, fun, and quite different from traditional mark mechanics. I’ll definitely use this for future monsters, both minion and not.

 

Marrowmaw Impaler (Level 9 Artillery)

See Encounter W1

Ssark, Battle Champion (Level 11 Elite Soldier - Leader)

1. Issues identified:

• Excessive damage. The Battle Champion Tactics trait combined with two attacks from Double Attack and a third from Bite combines for impressive amounts of damage, that can be concentrated on a single PC. I found this to be too dangerous for a monster of its level.
• Redundant Claw attack.
• Inspiring Assault is very unimpressive. I had the luck of scoring a critical hit during my encounter with Ssark. Unfortunately, I can’t say this highly situational trait did much for the monsters – it needs to provide a better reward.
• Soldier without marks. Too common in older monsters.

2. Changes introduced.

• Attacks: Reduced accuracy and increased damage for regular attacks. Bite damage was reduced, because Ssark already gets a damage boost with combat advantage. Added mark to Greatclub and Bite, and leader effects to Greatclub and Javelin. Changed Double Attack to prevent using both attacks on a single target. Changed Javelin to target one or two enemies.
• Defenses: –2 AC, –1 For
• Traits: Battle Champion Tactics damage reduced to 1d10
• New Power: Champion’s Revenge – the necessary mark punishment mechanic.
• Removed Power: Claw

All images are (C) 2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. I tried to generate the statistics blocks using the D&D Adventure Tools, but I’m fed with the endless bugs. I ended up writing them on Word instead.