Episode 8 - Kobolds and Koldbrew

The hosts of Dungeons and Dark Roasts discuss the benefits of using low-level small monsters in D&D campaigns. They mention favorites like kobolds, goblins, bandits, scarecrows, flying snakes, Mephits, and oozes. These creatures not only provide manageable stats for new players, but also offer tactical challenges and opportunities for ambushes. The hosts share their personal experiences using these monsters and how they add excitement and variety to their campaigns. Welcome back to Dungeons and Dark Roasts. Tonight we're talking about kobolds and cold brew. Stay tuned. Like and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for all of our updates and recipes. Listen every Wednesday on Spotify and Amazon Music for the latest episodes. Hello and welcome to Dungeons and Dark Roasts. I'm Alex. And I'm Axis. We're two Dungeon Masters for D&D 5e here to talk about the chaos of our adventures and the coffee that gets us through it. Hey Alex, let's talk about kobolds. Well are we going to talk about just kobolds? Or are we going to talk about all small monsters? Well it was going to be just kobolds and then I realized on your suggestion that yeah, let's do all small monsters. Yeah, it's a good idea for us to go ahead and talk about the lower-level monsters that are not only cliche, but also the ones that don't get used a whole lot and maybe give some ideas to some DMs or maybe introduce some new things. Yeah, and as I was going down the list I realized that I've got my favorites. I'm sure you've got your favorites. And then there are the favorites that everybody knows about. You know, we've got kobolds. We've got goblins. We've got bandits. And it occurred to me that I think small creature builds where DMs continuously throw one type or another at the players. I think it turns into a personal preference. Definitely does. I think partly on a DM's aspect when you've got low-level players who you're trying to help with the mechanics of the game, whether they're new players or it's just a new character, you're as a DM trying to help guide them through and having those favorite mobs that you can use, that you know you can pull out, you already have the stat blocks in your head, so you don't necessarily have to get into the book and look at them and things like that, makes it really easy. So of course you pick your favorites, you know, because you have them and they're right there in front of you. Or if your party goes all the way into left field and they're even higher level and you need to turn around and send 20 of something at them because they went way off the rails, you can do that. And it makes your life a lot easier as a DM. Yeah, and it's not a black dragon that melts half your party all at once. Yes, thank you for that. That was so much fun. Any time. You know I'm gonna do it. I do. I know. We can always count on you. But yeah, I think the benefit of the low-level small creatures is that not only are they commonly used, they also have manageable stats that if it occurs that the party is having trouble dealing with them, you can either add more or take away. Minds of Phandelver was the starting adventure for so long. You know, people, usually where people met the kobolds, the kobolds were replaced by goblins in the Phandelver remix, which is Phandelver and Below. Right. You know, the swayers keep running across the same poor bandit that Gru keeps robbing over and over and over. That man just can't keep his shirt on. He can't. It's terrible because Gru robbed him. No, they attacked the first time and then Gru ran into him in Waterdeep again, and then they ran into him again recently, and it's just... Yes, and every time they come across this poor man, they end up killing all of the bandits that are with him, and they don't even necessarily recognize him as the same bandit captain. Yeah. He just ends up being the one they leave alive, and then they just rob him blind. Yeah. And this poor guy gets tied to a tree. He gets just left naked places, and it is the most... It's almost become a trope for them, and they're waiting for the bandit captain every time, and now it's just something kind of funny you can actually throw at them as a DM for a little comic relief if they're in the middle of doing something that's a little more heavy, which is kind of nice as a party mechanic, and that's one of those beautiful things about a party staying together as long as they do is you end up with things like that, and that's how you end up with these, you know, mob favorites, and it ended up being a bandit captain this time. Right. Well, and there's also the benefit of, like, with kobolds and goblins, you have to deal with the tactics mechanic. Yes. That it can actually help new players act more decisively, because the longer they wait without dealing damage, the harder the fight gets, and they can pick up very, very quickly. Okay, the more that are on the field, the harder this is going to be, so they start acting more decisively and attacking, and instead of going on the defensive the entire fight. Right. Well, and then you've got things like goblins, because, let's be honest, monsters are smart. There are times people think, you know, monsters are stupid, and you just go out and you kill them, and, you know, that's it. Monsters are smart, you know, goblins have nimble escape, they have melee and ranged capabilities, so, you know, we keep talking about perception and how people need to keep an eye out, you know, sometimes there might be a goblin up in a tree that's going to shoot at you, and things like that, and so it does teach those newer players some of those skills with these easier mobs. And it's not just, you know, kobolds, goblins, or bandits. One of my favorite critters, as I call them, is a scarecrow, and the reason I like using the scarecrows is not only because it's from my favorite setting, which is Ravenloft, the scarecrows are resistant to physical damage, weak to one type of magic damage, and they also are really good at sneaking up on players. So if they're not using their perception checks, they're going to get ambushed, and you know how I like to take people out, you know how I like to take players out, that's why I like the scarecrows so much, is because they are ambush material. And this is more of your scary-type scarecrows, not your yellow brick road kind of scarecrows, I'm assuming. I've used them both ways. Really? Oh yeah, like I said, I've used scarecrows a lot. They're really my go-to on the scary campaigns, but at the same time, you know, the happy-go-lucky ones that just kind of follow you around and nag you. Yeah, I guess if I'm being honest, yeah, I usually use them to scare people. I didn't want to admit that. Of course you don't! But we all know you by now, we are seven episodes in. Oh, we are. We are. We only have two more after this for our first season. I know, I'm pretty excited about it. Oh yeah. What about you? What are some of your favorite small monsters? So one of my favorite go-tos, and I probably use them kind of like you use your scarecrows, are flying snakes. Oh yeah, those are Yeah, and so any, I can use them in any kind of heavily treed area, but I really like using them. Of course, I love playing Tomb of Annihilation, and it really fits in with the tomb and all of that. But anything that's got trees, you can hide these snakes. Yeah. And they do have a 60-foot fly speed. Really? They do, and so they're really hard to pin down, and they're not very big. So these are not like big pythons with wings. These are more like garden snakes with wings. They're really fast, they dart in and out, and they inflict a very high poison damage, and there is no opportunity for a saving throw. That's brutal, even for me. It is, and of course you can use them to constrict and to scare and do those kinds of things. You know, you can kill them if you can catch them. Right. Or hit them. You know, they're not hard to kill, but they're definitely a scare tactic that I like to use. Sometimes, you know, being here in the Southwest, I will add a little flavor and they might have a rattle. Oh, see, I would give them like a Louisiana flare and just be like, look at these giant mosquitoes. It's the state bird of Chult. Isn't that more like a Mephit, though? Those are my second group of small bad guys, because for the same reason I like the Scarecrows being able to ambush players, the Mephits, if you haven't encountered them, there's a lot of fun things that catch people off guard. First of all, a Mephit is an elemental, so they are all going to be resistant to at least one type of magic. And then you've got, you know, the steam Mephits, which they're resistant to heat and water, but they also explode when they die. Right. And if people are standing in melee, you know, somebody's going down, especially if they kill two or three of them all at once. Right, just like in our splash damage episode. This is monster-based splash damage, though. Right. If Rue decides to run in and does his big Gru thing, and Rulliark decides to throw a fireball, well, you know, you'll take out all the Mephits, if they're not fire Mephits, and then you'll probably take Gru out at the same time. Talking about splash damage, taking out Gru and the entire party, one of my favorites is going to be oozes. I love a good ooze. Yeah. Okay, first of all, I'm a huge Star Trek fan, and that ooze that took out Tasha Yar, you can't tell me that wasn't a D&D ooze. That was absolutely a black ooze. I get it. It was. And so, you know, and you've got oozes, spoiler alert, in Curse of Strahd, there's a whole winery that uses ooze to keep reverberation. Yep. But if you're not careful, it can cause cold damage. You know, but then you've also got things like your gray oozes that are acidic and things like that, that are going to corrode metal. If you've got the wrong ooze, and nobody's paying attention, and they're not doing their perception rolls, they're not doing their survival checks, and they walk into it like quicksand, the whole party is gone. Yeah. Done. And it's funny that you say that, because I was just running a Out of the Abyss campaign, and that particular one, they start, the group jumps off into a pool of water, and the group that I was running it with, if they had landed even 10, 15 feet a little to the north, they would have all fallen right into a gray ooze that was hiding in the water. Oh, see? Yeah. And that would have taken them all out. I haven't run that campaign, so I've never, I haven't run it, and I haven't played it. So, and we'll do a whole survival episode. Actually, next episode will be our survival episode, and we'll be talking about, you know, those kinds of things next. Nice. In episode 9. Yeah, so I really enjoy these unique mobs, because people don't know about them. You know, you've got methods, you've got flying snakes, you've got oozes, and there are so many different colors of oozes. Right. You can even do something unique, like a spy that stalks the party. The specialized bandit, yeah, those are really fun to use as well, because it's not just the same bandit. And then you end up with things also within building, where you've got things like animated armor. Yes. You've got mimics, or so many great low-level monsters that can be used on, you know, a party that is not going to necessarily kill them, but it is going to challenge them. Another great monster that I love, and this can be used in either land-based or water-based, and they would probably be more... I know exactly what you're talking about. Yes, I do, and they are so fun. I love harpies. Harpies and sirens. You can draw an entire party in, you can start teaching them how to use their checks on things, not only their perception checks, but their wisdom checks. Like, are they, you know, are all the men in this party about to hear the most beautiful song they've ever heard in their lives, and be completely enamored, and get the entire party drawn into something very, very bad. Well, and coupling harpies at sea, specifically, you can throw some sawagin in there, that they run the risk of pulling people off the boat into the water. So that's an additional mechanic that people have to deal with. Right. If you remember that captain of the boat on our very first adventure with the swayers? Yes. He was a sawagin in disguise. I remember that. Yeah, everybody hated him, and I was like, this is perfect. I need everybody to hate them. Right, and I don't think that's even a character that you had created as a monster. It was just an NPC that was not well liked, and by the time we got back on the boat, it had given you plenty of time to create it as a monster. And then, like you said, with the animated objects, you know, the animated objects ones are fun to use, because if you have just found a dragon horde, how do you know that suit of armor isn't about to come out? You're gonna be severely wounded. Right. But at the same time, some of them are just really good for stories. Right. You know, like with your harpies, you know, if all of your characters are men, and you throw harpies at them, that siren song is gonna do some real damage. Mm-hmm, and it's going to take them away from the path that they were on, which can lead you in a really great direction, and that's another great use for these small mobs or, you know, low level things, is maybe they were headed in a direction that you don't want them to go as a DM. You're not ready for them to go to the next big town, or you want to head them toward the next big town, and the next thing ends up being that you throw this mob at them, and to them, it simply seems like a distraction, but in reality, you're re-guiding the entire party, getting them back on track, or getting them in the direction you want them to go as a DM, so that they're not having as much issue with, well, we want to go here, or we want to go here, and you're like, but that's not what I planned. Which, I mean, there's only so much planning you can do dealing with a bunch of murder hobos and vigilantes. You've also got all of the different dinosaurs. You know, you love, yeah, you like Tomb of Annihilation. I do. You know, how many different kinds of dinosaurs are in the jungles of Chult? Yes, and not just the jungles, in the cities. So, again, another spoiler alert here about Tomb of Annihilation, there is actually a side quest you can do, and it is one of the most fun things I ever did with my character Rayliana, and she was a cleric, and so she had the ability to sway things in her direction. We got into this dinosaur race, and we ended up being jockeys in the race for one of the bosses, and I actually influenced the creature to slow down so that we could win. That's just shady. It is shady, and actually my alignment got called into question at that point, because I was doing some kind of shady things. You know, I justified it as I was doing it for our party, of course, so in my mind it was the right thing to do. It's a matter of scale as well. Right. You know, if you were, if you were trying to pull that on like something that was significantly higher level than you, the chances of it happening would not have been as likely. Right. I think that's why small pack-type creatures are so important. You know, everybody wants to fight the Lich, everybody wants to fight the Dragon, everybody wants to fight these super powerful monsters, but they don't realize that, you know, running up against a pack of, you know, quarter difficulty monsters can still take out a group if they're not paying attention. It can, and honestly that's where some of your best stories come from. Oh yeah. So much creativity, and so many fun things can happen, like stealing an orange shirt off the bandit captain four times. Well, and I lost a character once to a bunch of swarms of rats. Oh. I, yeah, my character actually died to like four different swarms of rats, and that particular DM, when players went down, he would actually hit their corpses to make them auto fail on their death saving throws, and that's how I lost my character, was because I wasn't paying attention. I was like, well, you know what, I'll run in. My teammates didn't want to take out the packs because I was there. Well, they should have fireballed, because I died anyway. Right, yeah, I mean, it's only rats, right? You know, who's gonna die to rats? You know, that's what you think. So I think that that's, well, that's a very valuable lesson. Yeah, I mean, that's my villain arc. I died once to a pack of rats, and then I changed my alignment to punish everyone I play the game with. What about the little homebrew of the week? So we did name this episode Cobalt and Cold Brew, and we did do a lot of talking about Cholt, which, if you know anything about the campaign, it is excessively hot, a lot like it is here in the Southwest right now. It was 95 degrees today. Oh, it was so hot. It was awful, and so what better time to start pulling out the summer drink than right now? And so I have pulled out a Cardamom Cold Brew Latte for our homebrew of the week. That sounds really good, and I don't like lattes. Well, so this one is going to have another one of my syrups, which I'm so glad. If you guys didn't hear that episode, go back a few episodes, and you're going to learn how it's singing in sweeteners, and you learn how to make your own syrup. And this is another one of those syrups. You're going to make a lavender and cardamom syrup, and it's just, of course, water and sugar and a little bit of dry lavender flower and a half a teaspoon of ground cardamom. Once that is created and cooled, you're going to have one cup of coarse ground coffee and half a gallon of cool filtered water, and you're going to put that coarse ground coffee into a coffee filter and kind of make like a bag out of it, almost like a teabag, and you're going to let it... Caché. Yes, you're going to let it steep in your cold water overnight in the fridge. This one takes some preparation. It does. It takes a little bit of preparation, but you're also making an entire half gallon. So like this is good for like a summer party or something. And so then when you go to serve it, you're going to serve it over ice, obviously, with eight ounces of your cold brewed coffee, one ounce of your syrup, and one ounce of half-and-half or a creamy plant-based milk of your choice. And that is your cold brew lavender and cardamom latte. See, I like the cardamom aspect because I like black licorice. So coffee that has that black licorice taste to it, it's just going to taste amazing. Yeah, and lavender, I mean, you've got to be careful with it. That's why you don't want to do any more than the one ounce because it can get soapy if you're not careful. And so I would definitely follow this one by the recipe and do it to taste. So if it's a little bit too much, and a nice thing that you can do with this, and in our last episode we used lime, you can cut this with just a little squeeze of lemon and then omit the milk so that you don't curdle the milk. Or you can put lemon zest in your syrup and then you don't have any issues with curdling the milk. And that will cut a little bit of that soapy flavor. This is why I got to branch out because I'm just gonna drink black coffee until the day I die and then I'm not gonna get to experience all of these different types of coffee. That's why we do this. I know. I will brighten your horizons, don't worry. Well yeah, apparently with cardamom and lemon. And lavender. And lavender. Yes, which also sounds like a delightful lemonade. All right folks, thank you so much for joining us and we look forward to having you listen again every week. Next week is going to be Survival and Scotch, where I tell you guys all about my favorite type of campaign that is designed to kill everybody. See you guys next week. Take care. you