Friday, February 21, 2020

Don't Mephit Up - Low Level Elemental Enemies

One thing I've noticed when watching/experiencing low level play in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons is the tendency to use either goblins or kobolds as the first couple encounters for a low level party. Nothing wrong with that, but you or your party may want to try something a bit different the next time. And no, having them kill rats in a cellar doesn't count either.

One variant you may want to look into are Mephits, found on page 215 - 217 of the fifth edition Monster Manual. These little guys are elemental based enemies with a variety of abilities to make combat encounters challenging, but have low hit points (HP) and average armor class (AC) to keep them from getting overwhelming in low numbers.

"Here's mud in your eyes!"
You get six flavors of Mephit, and depending on what kind of environment you are using they can fit into just about any one. Mephits are made from a combination of two elements. So the mud Mephit is made of water and earth. A steam Mephit is fire and water. They are tricksters by nature, and they are usually summoned by magic to guard an area or defend a spell caster.

Most Mephits have the False Appearance ability, which allows them to hide in plain sight, allowing them to get the jump on a party, especially in their favored environment. So mud Mephits hiding a swamp are going to be very hard to to detect. All Mephits also have the Death Burst ability, which causes them to explode when they are killed, causing a Saving Throw for anyone within 5 feet of them or there are consequences. Sometimes it is damage, but other times it can be a condition. For example if a dust Mephit is destroyed, anyone within 5 feet of the Mephit must make a Constitution Saving throw or be blinded for one minute.

Mephits have a standard claw or fist attack that typically does 4 of a standard damage type (slashing or bludgeoning). But a few add some elemental damage to the average damage (typically fire). They also have a breath attack they can use once and recharge on a die roll of 6 on a 1D6. These breath weapons act much like the Death Burst causing damage or a condition impact if the saving throw is failed.

With six types to choose from and a bunch of different abilities and actions you can come up with some really interesting encounters for a low level party to deal with.

His breath is actually very refreshing.
I used Mephits in a one shot adventure for 1st and 2nd level characters. The Mephits were part of a defense system a wizard had put in place in his lair. They acted as guardians and part of a larger puzzle to figure out. So the Mephits would lie in wait using their False Appearance ability for the characters to make the wrong selection during the puzzle and either attack or just mess with the characters. The Ice Mephit could create a Fog Cloud that caused problems for the characters trying to solve the puzzle. While the Mud Mephits were acting more as attackers for a combat situation.

You can also have the Mephits working as minions for a wizard. Maybe the sorceress sends Magma Mephits to start a fire in a keep, or heat the metal weapons of the guards as she attempts to sneak into the keep and poison the characters.

As in most cases, at 1st level these little guys can be lethal, especially with their Death Burst ability. So you may want to keep the numbers low. But at higher levels, even if they get one shot, Mephits can present a challenging encounter and one that is sure to shake things up if you are looking for an alternative to goblins or kobolds.

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