Well
I promised a new fight night. This time it is a group of goblins
cleaning out a part of the dungeon for living quarters. What! They
find giant centipedes in that room full of rubbish.
Here
are the giant centipedes.
FREQUENCY:
Common
NO.
APPEARING: 2-24 (3-13 in dungeon DMG p 177)
ARMOR
CLASS: 9
MOVE:
15”
HIT
DICE: 1 to 2 hit points
NO.
OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/
ATTACK: Nil
SPECIAL
ATTACKS: Poison
INTELLIGENCE:
Non-
ALIGNMENT:
Neutral
SIZE:
S (1' + long)
LEVEL/
X.P. VALUE: II/ 30 + 1/hp
Now
the goblins.
FREQUENCY:
Common
NO.
APPEARING: 40-400 (6-15 in dungeon DMG p 175)
ARMOR
CLASS: 6
MOVE:
6”
HIT
DICE: 1 to 7 hit points
NO.
OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/
ATTACK: By weapon
INTELLIGENCE:
Average (low)
MORALE:
50%
ALIGNMENT:
Lawful evil
SIZE:
S (4' tall)
LEVEL/
X.P. VALUE: I/ 10 + 1/ hp
Now
it is time to roll up numbers and hit points. There are 3-13 giant
centipedes (2d6+1). I roll 8. Their hit points are: 1, 1, 2, 2, 1,
1, 1, 2
There
are 6-15 goblins (1d10+5). I roll 7. Their hit points are
irrelevant, since hit points don't matter when fighting giant
centipedes. They will either poison you or not.
Randomly
rolling up weapons based on the monster manual entry reveals:
Goblin
1 has a short sword (1d6) and military pick (2-7)
Goblins
2 and 3 have slings (stones, 1-4, entire room is short range, so no
adjustments)
Goblins
4 and 5 have morning stars (2-8)
Goblins
6 and 7 have spears (1-6)
As
noted this is a dungeon encounter. Goblins are level I monsters and
giant centipedes are level II monsters, so the goblins were probably
feeling their oats and went down a level to clear out some dungeon
for habitation.
Next
is surprise. The giant centipedes roll a 5 and the goblins do, too,
so no surprise.
Next
is encounter distance. I will say the room is 20 'X 20'. Going by
DMG page 62, the rule is to roll a d6. 1-2 will be striking
distance, 3-4 will be 10' distance, and 5-6 will be 20' distance. I
roll a 4, so the giant centipedes are 10' from the door.
We
have to declare intentions. The giant centipedes “are aggressive
and rush forth to bite their prey” so that is what they do. The
goblins with slings attack from a distance, while the others move to
engage. Time to roll for initiative. The giant centipedes roll a 6
and the goblins roll a 6, too, so it is simultaneous combat. Because
the distance is 10', the two sides can have melee this round. Since
the giant centipedes do not use weapons, weapon speed factor will not
be an issue.
Random
allocation of targets.
Centipede
1 attacks goblin 1, rolls a 15 and hits
Centipede
2 attacks goblin 4, rolls a 1
Centipede
3 attacks goblin 1, rolls a 5
Centipede
4 attacks goblin 3, rolls a 13
Centipede
5 attacks goblin 5, rolls a 4
Centipede
6 attacks goblin 1, rolls a 9
Centipede
7 attacks goblin 4, rolls a 3
Centipede
8 attacks goblin 4, rolls a 19 and hits
Goblin
1 attacks centipede 4, rolls a 3
Goblin
2 attacks centipede 7, rolls a 2
Goblin
3 attacks centipede 7, rolls a 19 and hits for 3 points of damage,
killing it
Goblin
4 attacks centipede 8, rolls a 4
Goblin
5 attacks centipede 5, rolls a 11 and hits, killing it
Goblin
6 attacks centipede 3, rolls a 16 and hits and hits for 6 points of
damage, killing it
Goblin
7 attacks centipede 2, rolls a 17 and hits for 6 points of damage,
killing it
There
is no need to roll for damage for goblin 5. He has a morning star
which does 2-8 points of damage. Since giant centipedes can only
ever have 2 hit points maximum, any strike will kill it.
Goblins
1 and 4 need to roll against poison, needing an '11' or better.
Goblin 1 rolls a 5 and dies. Goblin 4 rolls a 13 and is okay.
Ok,
end of round 1.
Goblin
1 is dead.
Centipedes
2, 3, 5, and 7 are dead. The centipedes are non-intelligent and
don't follow normal morale rules, otherwise they would take a morale
test now.
New
round and new actions. The centipedes bite. Sucks to be a goblin whose only weapon is a sling. Goblin 2 picks up
Goblin 1's short sword. Goblin 3 picks up Goblin 1's military pick.
The other goblins melee.
Roll
for initiative. The centipedes roll a 4 and the goblins roll a 2.
Centipede
1 attacks goblin 3, rolls a 11
Centipede
4 attacks goblin 6, rolls a 20 and hits
Centipede
6 attacks goblin 6, rolls a 10
Centipede
8 attacks goblin 6, rolls a 18 and hits
Goblin
6 must make two saving throws. He rolls a 1 and 9, fails them both
and dies.
Goblin
2 can't attack, he is picking up a short sword
Goblin
3 can't attack, he is picking up a military pick
Goblin
4 attacks centipede 1, rolls a 10
Goblin
5 attacks centipede 8, rolls a 17 and kills it
Goblin
6 just died
Goblin
7 attacks centipede 8, rolls a 15 and hits, but it is already dead
End
of round 2. We have 3 centipedes left and 5 goblins left. For
actions it is all melee. Centipedes roll a 5 for initiative and
goblins roll a 6.
Goblin
2 attacks centipede 6, rolls a 13 and hits for 2 points, killing it
Goblin
3 attacks centipede 6, rolls a 7
Goblin
4 attacks centipede 6, rolls a 7
Goblin
5 attacks centipede 4, rolls a 1
Goblin
7 attacks centipede 1, rolls a 8
Centipede
1 attacks goblin 3, rolls a 3
Centipede
4 attacks goblin 5, rolls a 13
On
to Round 4. Same actions. Centipedes get a 5 for initiative and
the goblins get a 3.
Centipede
1 attacks goblin 2, rolls a 9
Centipede
4 attacks goblin 5, rolls a 11
Goblin
2 attacks centipede 4, rolls a 16 and hits for 4 points of damage,
killing it
Goblin
3 attacks centipede 4, rolls a 20 and hits but it is already dead
Goblin
4 attacks centipede 4, rolls a 14 and hits but it is already dead
Goblin
5 attacks centipede 1, rolls a 2
Goblin
7 attacks centipede 1, rolls a 19 and hits for only 1 point of
damage, but that is enough to kill it.
Well
it took four rounds and 2 goblins died to clear out a room of 8 giant
centipedes. I figured it might go this way but I thought goblin
casualties would be higher.
One
of the reasons this fight intrigued me was that I suspected that
giant centipedes are not as tough as the standard level II monster.
Certainly other such monsters, such as gnolls, troglodytes, etc.
would fare better against the goblins here.
A
goblin can kill a giant centipede on a single attack just under 45%
of the time. They hit on an 11 or better (45%) and they almost
always do more than 1 point of damage. Even if they ALWAYS did
exactly 1 point of damage they kill a giant centipede ½ of the time.
Giant
centipedes, however, kill goblins only by hitting (needing a 15, or
25% of the time) and then having the goblin fail the save (which
happens 55% of the time). That is only a 13.75% chance to kill in
one round.
Giant
centipedes do remain a relative threat as their opponents become more
powerful, paradoxically. A single goblin is not a credible threat to
a 5th level adventurer (unless they rolled all 1's for hit
points) but a giant centipede can kill a 5th level
adventurer in one hit, even though it is not likely.
If
the 5th level adventurer is a fighter, he or she probably
has an armor class of 2 or better and saves against giant centipede
poison on a 7 or better. The giant centipede would kill in one round
at a (10% for to hit AC 2 X 30% of failing save) 3.0% chance. This
is much less than the chance to kill a goblin, but it is not zero.
If
it is a magic-user, he or she probably has an AC of 8 or so, maybe
better if the found some good magic items of protection. The
centipede will hit on a 13 (35% chance) and the magic-user must fail
the save (50% chance). That is 17.5 % (higher than the goblin!)
Of course, this will go down drastically if the magic-user has a high
dexterity and magic protection.
For
level 5 clerics, (assuming AC 2 again), the chance of death is only
2.0%, and for level 5 thieves (assuming AC 6), it is 8.75%. When
dwarves, gnomes, or halflings are the targets, survival rates
increase dramatically, due to their excellent poison saving throws.
I suppose when fighting giant centipedes, have clerics, fighters, and wee demi-humans do it.