You’re running a session for low level adventurers, what level 1 encounters do you throw their way? You could ambush them on the King’s road by a troupe of goblins. Or attack them with skeletons that come out of the walls in a dungeon crawl. You could throw zombies to mindlessly slam themselves against them in just about any setting. These are all valid level 1 encounters, introducing simple battle mechanics and allowing your players to safely test their new characters out. But they are just so cliché! This article contains ten interesting baddies for your level 1 encounters.
1. Wolves
Wolves can feasibly be slotted in to pretty much any wilderness setting. If someone in the group makes a perception check, maybe they pick up a howling in the distance. Perhaps your players are being stalked by a pack of wolves? You can use the premise of a wolf pack to encourage your party into speeding up or making quicker decisions.
Wolves have limited actions, but they are stealthy. In combat, an additional wolf can always come out from the shadows to make things more challenging. Plus, they can knock a player prone, and attack with advantage when an ally wolf is in the vicinity.
2. Bandits
Bandits are squishy and have pretty similar capabilities as goblins. Try bringing them into your adventure as an obstacle on the road, in the wilderness, in a bar, or a town. They have range and melee weapon attacks, and (typically) speak common if you want to give your players an opportunity for some roleplaying. You can afford to throw a bunch of them at your players at once.
Unlike goblins, your bandits can be any assortment of humanoid races which can be incorporated into your story later on. Likely to value their lives over fighting to the death, bandits may try to flee from an attack only to meet up with your players as a future obstacle later in the adventure. You could add their captain to the mix, or create another story thread off of this encounter.
3. Snakes and Crocodiles
These water-friendly reptiles could be encountered in a wilderness setting or anywhere with easy-enough access to sewers or waterways.
Tiny poisonous snakes are weak but annoying to deal with, and they have a swim speed equal to their walk speed so can be used in aquatic or land settings. A crocodile is a larger threat, but not overly challenging by itself. Encountered together, you can force your players to choose between taking small amounts of damage from the snakes and targeting their firepower on the more threatening croc, or clearing out the snakes at the risk of taking more damage from the crocodile.
4. Acolytes
Another way to mix up your 1st level encounters is to throw spells into the mix. Acolytes have a few 1st level spells and cantrips that can be used against your players and can be introduced in almost any setting imaginable.
Perhaps a couple acolytes catch your players snooping around where they shouldn’t, or maybe they’re part of an evil order sent to disrupt a band of would-be-heroes? Acolytes offer a great way to place future plot threads, introduce political intrigue, or just put something a little more intelligent up against your players.
5. Will-o’-Wisp
We discussed a few ‘creepy’ monsters in a previous post, but a Will-o’-Wisp could easily be added to that list. You can place these in a setting ominously devoid of life. A haunted house, a mysteriously silent bog or forest, the entrance to a cave or monster’s lair.
They may be tiny, but one Will-o’-Wisp can be deadly. Test your player’s ability to strategically combat together and aid each other when one move could mean the difference between life and rolling a new character.
6. Troglodyte
Encountering troglodytes on the hunt in or near the Underdark could make for an interesting combat. These survivalists are good at hiding in the shadows and catching unsuspecting prey unawares.
Troglodyte’s have a multiattack action and can cause their foes to become poisoned by their stench when within 5 feet. Your party could come across a single one of these creatures, or more likely a hunting party of them.
7. Blights
If your session takes place in abandoned ruins, with overgrown vegetation, a creepy forest or jungle, why not send some blights at your party? There are a few varieties, and you could homebrew your own easily enough too.
Twig blights resemble twisted shrubs, and are indistinguishable from dead vegetation while remaining still. Needle blights are akin to vicious tree humanoids. And vine blights are indistinguishable from a tangle of regular vines when they aren’t moving. They each have their own distinct actions inspired by their plant-like shapes. Try skinning your blights to specifically fit your adventure setting!
8. Crawling Claws
If you find your party in a confined space, like a tunnel, a jail cell, or small room, you can always have them encounter a horde of terrifying crawling hands. Alone, they’re barely a cause for alarm, but multiple disembodied hands pouring out of the ceiling and walls? That’s something to act on.
In a confined space, area-of-effect attacks may be difficult, and your player’s action economy at level 1 is low. Crawling claws are one way to whittle down the party’s health or pressure them into using more resources during a dungeon crawl or exploration push.
Flavour them as you like, these tiny monstrosities can be bloody, fleshy, or rotting and falling off the bone.
9. Gelatinous Cube
Another less conventional low-level encounter, is an ooze. A gelatinous cube is a great threat to throw at a party, allowing them to think up creative solutions but against a timer. These cubes are slow, but can engulf creatures and deal juicy acid damage in the process. At level 1, being engulfed by one of these is most likely deadly.
A fun thing about oozes is seeing what interesting things they engulfed prior to encountering your party. It may be a good way to place an adventure hook, or reward a magical item.
10. Dragon Wyrmling
Last but not least, what better way to have your level 1 characters feel heroic than to pit them against a dragon! An actual dragon, young or otherwise, is way too powerful for level 1. But a baby dragon wyrmling can be reasonable. Black, bronze, green, silver, and white dragons are all challenge rating of 2 and can be a sufficient challenge for a mini adventure.
Whether they breath lightning, fire, cold, poison, or acid, these creatures are not to be messed with. Your party will have a hard time running away from them by air, water or land. Dragon wyrmlings can be the capstone of your level 1 adventure, or they can be a hook to another plot thread for later in the campaign.
Many a fantasy trope can be explored with dragon hatchlings or any of these level 1 encounters.