D&D 5e\u2019s obscure enemy type can make anything dangerous Wizards of the CoastLow-level monsters can easily be steamrolled by a weak D&D party, but there\u2019s a way to transform any encounter into a threat by using an obscure enemy type. Dungeons & Dragons 5e is an extremely well-balanced game, to the point where few classes or races could be described as \u201cunderpowered.\u201d This means that even a level 1 group that\u2019s poorly optimized still has a high chance of surviving traps and monsters of the intended Challenge Rating. The established low-level threats, such as skeletons, bandits, goblins, kobolds, zombies, and wolves, need to get lucky with their rolls or use the battlefield to their advantage to have a chance against a level 1 party. There\u2019s a way to beef up all of these foes and make them terrifying, and it\u2019s by applying a type from the Monster Manual that\u2019s only used with a handful of creatures \u2013 swarms. Swarm monsters (such as the Swarm of Rats or Swarm of Poisonous Snakes) represent a lot of monsters in a single space. Not only can they hit hard, but they can inhabit the same space as a player (activating an Attack of Opportunity if they try to move), gaining a ton of resistance and condition immunities in the process. As discussed in a thread on the DnD Reddit, any monster in D&D 5e can be turned into a swarm. Want a swarm of werewolves, dragons, or tarrasques? Go for it. The idea is that the swarm takes a group of weaker monsters and turns them into a single boss monster. They make up for what they lose out on in action economy in strength and durability. Multiple swarms can also be used to replicate a mass battle, such as a riot in a city or a war. This prevents players from annihilating many enemies straight away with big AoE spells. Swarms are also good for replicating an undead apocalypse. While a few skeletons or zombies on their own don\u2019t pose a threat (especially to a group with a Cleric or Paladin), a massive group with a single purpose will. The swarm rules help DMs freshen up overly familiar enemies and give experienced players a scare. A group might scoff at a group of zombies under regular circumstances, but they won\u2019t be laughing when they rush like the fast zombies from 28 Days Later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
D&D 5e\u2019s obscure enemy type can make anything dangerous Wizards of the CoastLow-level monsters can easily be steamrolled by a weak D&D party, but there\u2019s a way to transform any encounter into a threat by using an obscure enemy type. Dungeons & Dragons 5e is an extremely well-balanced game, to the point where few classes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}