D&D 5E gnoll ambush

[pukunui]

Hi all,

I'm prepping an adventure for tomorrow's 5e session, and the opening encounter involves an ambush by a party of gnoll antiheroes.

The original 3e adventure ("Wedding Bells", from Dungeon 89) calls for a bunch of "elite gnolls with class levels - a ranger, a barbarian, and a sorcerer, with the option to include a druid with a hyena companion.

For my 5e adaptation, I've gone with a gnoll scout (with 50 hp; CR 2), a gnoll berserker, and a gnoll druid (5th level spellcaster with War Caster). I've dropped the sorcerer and replaced him with four gnoll-bred hyenas (AC 12, 22 hp, rampage; CR 1/4), partly because I didn't want to juggle two spellcasters at once, but also because I want to leave the option open for the PCs' revenant nemesis (who has some cleric spells) to show up if they demolish the gnolls too quickly.

The PC party consists of five 4th level PCs: a half-orc life cleric, a human red dragon sorcerer, a human arcane trickster rogue, a mtn dwarf champion fighter, and a human lore bard.

Given that most of the druid's spells are concentration-based, what would you guys recommend as a good strategy for the gnolls to employ? I originally thought that a well-placed spike growth to keep the PCs in one place, but since the gnoll berserker and the hyenas need to be in melee, hindering their ability to get there isn't really a good idea. Perhaps the druid should open with a 3rd level hold person. Assuming she gets one (if not two) PCs, her allies will target them first. She'll then switch to call lightning as she withdraws deeper into the forest. If the PCs take care of her allies and come after her, she could then use spike growth to slow them down. If that doesn't work, she can use pass without trace to get away.

Oh, and before the battle, she'll cast longstrider on the scout and berserker to bump up their speed for the duration of the battle.

In case it matters, I'll be staging the ambush on the forest road map from Red Hand of Doom:

What do you guys think? Anyone got any better ideas?

I want this to be a challenging fight because there are only two combats in this adventure. I'll make sure to give the gnolls some good loot for the PCs to acquire.

 

[Rhenny]

I'm a big fan of attacking the party from multiple directions at once. Here's an idea: have the scout and Druid gnolls attack from one side under cover making a lot of noise after their first attack. Then when the party moves to engage, or tries to seek cover themselves, have the hyenas and the barbarian gnoll attack from the other direction. Then all the gnolls converge.

 

[pukunui]

Yes, I'm going to spread the gnolls and hyenas around a bit.

I was also thinking of having the druid hang back in the trees and attack from long range to make it more difficult for the party to deal with her and her melee allies.

 

[Rhenny]

Sounds like a good plan. Like you said in your op, the druid should be able to escape if all goes badly. That's when you can have the nemesis join forces with them and make an appearance when the time is right.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[pukunui]

Sounds like a good plan.

OK thanks! Of course, it probably won't go according to the gnolls' plans, in part because the druid doesn't know that two of the PCs have the Spell Sniper feat, but hopefully it will at least be a challenging encounter.

Like you said in your op, the druid should be able to escape if all goes badly. That's when you can have the nemesis join forces with them and make an appearance when the time is right.

That's a good idea.

Let us know how it goes.

The game is tomorrow night, so I'll most likely post a recap in my Time for Adventure thread over the weekend.

 

[Jaelommiss]

Make it a moon druid. Call Lightning, wildshape into an insect and crawl into the bark on a tree. Everyone else keeps the PCs in place and uses the dodge action to last as long as possible. Every turn the druid peeks out, zaps them, and scurries back to cover. If the druid uses a form with a burrow speed then it could instead hide underground between turns.

Alternatively, try Spike Growth coupled with Thorn Whip or Thunderwave. If the foliage is dense enough for the druid to crawl from tree to tree when it should be possible to avoid readied attacks. Anyone who gets out is grappled by the raging (Adv. on str checks) barbarian who then circles the area, dragging the victim through 15-20 feet of spikes per round, depending on if the barbarian has reached fifth level for Fast Movement. That's 6-8d4 (15-20) unavoidable damage per round, or double that if Dashing.

Or the druid could cast Conjure Animals and set eight wolves on the party. Pack Tactics and a chance to knock the target prone on a hit is devastating. Swapping wolves for giant poisonous snakes might be an option. If the PCs use magic to block LoS (Fog Cloud, for example), they will be in for a bad time against the snakes' blindsight. They also do a massive amount of poison damage on every attack (1d4+4 piercing, DC 11 Con save vs 3d6 poison, half on save) and have decent AC (14). That's a potential 8d4+32+24d6 = 136 damage per round, although it relies on both hitting and an easy saving throw. As with the others, the druid needs to keep out of sight in order to avoid losing concentration from being smacked around. Fortunately, the spell lasts for an hour so the druid could be a mile away while the entire fight goes down if he tells his snakes to help the other gnolls kill whatever they attack. If you have PotA, the druid could cast Tidal Wave, knock half the party prone (in addition to dealing 4d8 bludgeoning damage), and then order the animals to converge on whoever is prone. Or you could wait for them to die and summon another eight of them.

Of the three of them, I think that the snakes would be the most likely to succeed. The druid is essentially being substituted for eight CR 1/4 creatures.

Incidentally, I've been the DM for a druid from level 1-9 and seen many encounters fall to pieces from shenanigans like this. I still shudder when I recall the time that the druid summoned 16 wolves, shifted into a polar bear, and shredded an entire kobold tribe.

 

[pukunui]

Seems quite fiddly. I'll see how I go without any conjured animals at first. If the druid survives, perhaps she could harass the PCs by sending a bunch of conjured snakes to bother them while they're camped out in the woods. And then later, she can use the "maintain call lightning while wildshaped as a bug on a tree" trick to get her revenge on them if/when she teams up with the revenant.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Spike growth to channel the party into a specific area that is a pit trap containing the hyenas. Mauling below, ranged attacks from above.

Also, Moonbeam is a nasty Druid trick. Or a spike growth behind into which they're thunderwaved. That's mean.

 

[Eejit]

Note if it's a Moon Druid Gnoll they can shapeshift into a Giant Hyena (CR1) while concentrating on spells.