For DM’s who wish for a smooth start to a new campaign
There’s nothing quite like starting up a new D&D campaign, getting together with new or old friends. But especially for new DM’s setting the balance for the difficulty of the first encounters, can be a bit tricky.
The classic starting foe, is to many campaigns, the regular Goblin. Please note that there’s nothing wrong with using the classic monsters, but to more experienced players, this choice might be a bit boring. As a DM, you are the one telling the story, whether that is an official Wizards of the Coast story, that have been told thousand of times before, or if it’s a custom campaign, where you’ve meticulously written down why birds fly and how grass is green. If a monster makes sense in regards to the story, then you can be pretty sure you won’t get many complaints.
But let’s take a closer look at why Goblins are a preferred foe to start with. First off, we’re looking at their Hit-Points (HP). Here the standard Goblin clocks in with 7 (as per standard Monster Manual). 7 HP is enough to survive a hit from most one-handed melee weapons and ranged weapons, and usually it’s enough to survive the starting cantrips as well. Already here, the Goblin is a good choice. Because while the players can see their attacks hit and do damage, the Goblin still provides enough of a challenge, that all enemies aren’t just one-shot-kills which would ruin most of the idea about an encounter.
Goblins are versatile in their standard choice of weaponry; a scimitar and shield for melee and a short-bow for ranged. Seeing as both of these weapons rely on the DEX modifier, Goblins have a +4 to hit. This is where Goblins are a bit of a handful, especially if the party is small, or doesn’t have more than one semi-tank character. While their damage output isn’t amazing, they more often than not, hit the target they are fighting.
When looking at a Goblin’s armor, it have a leather armor and a shield, totaling up to an AC of 15. Most magic users, bards and rogues are usually below this, at level 1. Here it’s important to notice that the Goblins, just like anyone else, requires two hands to use a short-bow. If the general rule is to be followed, this means that they cannot be using a shield effectively, while shooting or rather between shooting. As such a good balanced encounter with Goblins can go as following:
4 player characters (PCs)
4 Goblins
“Three Goblins have their scimitars at hand, two up front, ready to engage, one slightly behind, looking how the fight is turning. The fourth Goblin is even further back with it’s short-bow loaded.”
If the two in front engages, the third will likely have time to decide (through you as the DM) if he wants to get in close or begin to change weapons into a ranged. The ranged Goblins might have their shield on their backs, or right beside them, but they are not using it, so remember to remove 2 from their total AC, bringing them down to 13.
While the ranged Goblins might seem the bigger threat, because the party’s melee-focused characters can’t get to them straight away, the biggest threat to the players is actually in the Goblins that you decide go for melee. With the combination of an AC 15 and a +4 to hit, not even a Fighter in Chain-mail and a shield (for an effective 18 AC) can feel at ease. Whereto the lower AC of the ranged Goblins means that they can be taken down fairly quickly.
If you want to make a Goblin encounter harder, you can make use of the Goblins’ ability “Nimble Escape”, which allows them to not only disengage, but also to dash or hide, just the like the Rogue of the party would at level 2. This makes the ranged Goblins even more dangerous, as they can use the Hide action to essentially, unless in fully open terrain, vanish and make themselves a lot harder to hit.
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