Can my party take a remorhaz? (Apparently yes, they can)

[Grod_The_Giant]

As the title. The players in my campaign have been terrified of remorhaz ever since the second session, where they heard one off in the distance. So, naturally, I figure I have to make them fight at least one before the game ends. Looking at the DMG, it suggests that one remorhaz would be a reasonable deadly challenge for a 6th level party... But I'm not sure the campaign will get past the current 5th.

So! How reasonable would it be to make them fight one? There are 5 PCs of at least 5th level, each with one or two magic boosts. Specifically...

Blade Pact/Fiendlock Warlock; can cast Animate Dead from a 3rd level slot 1/day.
Vengeance Paladin. Has a +1 flaming greatsword.
Revised, Spell-less Beast Conclave Revised Ranger, with a poisonous snake companion (mistake, but too late to fix) and a +1 wounding rapier.
Light Cleric with a circlet of blasting. Likes fire.
Valor Bard crossbow expert. Has a staff that adds Gust and Gust of Wind to their list, and a pair of Goggles of Night.


Update: They did! Barely. With the help of a bunch of soldiers and some prepared traps and defenses, they managed to bring it down. Though it did wreck the crap out of the two people who tried to melee it, and the paladin was down to his last death save. The consensus was that it was a great tense boss fight.

[PeteNutButter]

Two melees... it might tough, and due to the eating mechanic you could potentially kill someone. Light cleric might be at a loss of what to do. Will the PCs go into the fight knowing about it’s immunities? One wasted round could prove deadly.

They destroy it handily if they play it properly and try to kite it. If they all melee pound it and damage the heck out of themselves, someone will get eaten and have a bad day.

[Lombra]

I think that they can do it if they gather some form of informaton about it.

[Grod_The_Giant]

<looks more closely> holy geez that's a lot of damage with the bite attack. Pretty sure at this level it's "chomp, you're dead." The Paladin and Ranger could maybe take ONE shot each...

[BeefGood]

Remoraz is not fast and does not have ranged attack. They will not only kill it, they will do so without taking damage.

[Coffee_Dragon]

You are on a snowy slope. Large stone blocks are lightly
powdered with snow. The mountains stretch on to the north and
east. A goat track leads south. There is a remorhaz here.

What do you do?

> TAKE REMORHAZ

You pick up the remorhaz.

Welp

[Unoriginal]

I would have a Frost Giant hunter (or a group of) going encounter the PCs and not attacking the adventurers because they figure out they're here to kill a Remorhaz. The hunter would then share some tales and tips which can inform the PCs of what strategy is the best to work.

And maybe even manage to convince the hunter to help with the fight, if they're really good.

[kardar233]

If you let the Remorhaz use its burrow speed effectively, they have basically no chance. It can easily pick them off one at a time and never be in any real danger.

Even if it stays above ground, this would be extremely difficult, though possible with the right spells. If your Bard or Cleric can stick a Bestow Curse (Wis save to act version) its +0 Wis will make it lose a lot of actions. Hitting it with Cause Fear (not Fear, that will just make it run) or consistently landing Vicious Mockery will make its single attack less likely to land, and a Bane from the Cleric or Paladin will reduce that chance more.

In general, the idea is to make it lose actions or make them ineffective by focusing on its weak saves (Dex, Int, Wis, Cha). Web would be a perfect tool here but it isn’t on any of your spell lists.

[Grod_The_Giant]

So plenty of prep time, maybe some cannon fodder allies, and it'll be sort of a puzzle-fight? Hmm... I could work with that. Might be a fun adventure.

EDIT: Hmm, yes. Maybe throw a small one at them to introduce the things and set the scene, then have 'em find out a full-sized one will hit the town in, oh, one day. Give 'em time to rally allies, get help from the local casters, prep the battlefield, that sort of thing. Then have it pop up a little ways away from the town walls and let thing roll.

[BeefGood]

I realized I don’t know rules for burrowing, or maybe they don’t exist.
—how far down must remorhaz burrow to be concealed?
—while burrowing horizontally is there a trail/wake on surface that surface characters can see?
—does remorhaz leave a tunnel that characters can follow?
—while burrowing can remorhaz instantly turn around or must it excavate a cavern or roundabout of some sort?
—can characters hear or otherwise sense a burrowing remorhaz?
And a tremorsense question
—if surface creatures do not move are they invisible to tremorsense?

[Jaelommiss]

I realized I don’t know rules for burrowing, or maybe they don’t exist.
—how far down must remorhaz burrow to be concealed?
—while burrowing horizontally is there a trail/wake on surface that surface characters can see?
—does remorhaz leave a tunnel that characters can follow?
—while burrowing can remorhaz instantly turn around or must it excavate a cavern or roundabout of some sort?
—can characters hear or otherwise sense a burrowing remorhaz?
And a tremorsense question
—if surface creatures do not move are they invisible to tremorsense?

Checking the section at the start of the Monster Manual, most of this isn't explicitly covered.
Any amount of ground will conceal the Remorhaz. Call it a 5' cube if you're relying on a grid. This is based on taking the rules for walls and turning my head sideways.
There is no mention in the MM regarding a visible trial left above ground by burrowing. I'd take this to mean that there isn't one.
There is no mention in the MM regarding tunnels left behind by burrowing. Unless a creature is described as devouring its way through the medium (purple worm, for example), I would rule that it is moving the medium from in front of itself to behind itself.
There is no restriction in the MMs regarding turn speeds while burrowing, same as how those same restrictions were removed from flying. A burrowing creature may maneuver with impunity (so long as it is not trying to go through stone.
Being able to detect a burrowing creature would be treated similarly to detecting a creature that is blocked by walls and doors, except the obstructions are measured in five foot increments. It's a DM judgement call, but likely not going to happen unless the Remorhaz is very close to the surface.

Hiding from tremorsense isn't covered by the MM, though I would be inclined to say it's not going to easy. You could, theoretically, just stop moving. Some DMs would let you hide if you did that. Others wouldn't. Even if you did hide, it hasn't forgotten that you're there. If you try to move away, it's found you again. Unless you can fly away, there's no reason it won't come up under your last known location and immediately find you anyway.

[MaxWilson]

You are on a snowy slope. Large stone blocks are lightly
powdered with snow. The mountains stretch on to the north and
east. A goat track leads south. There is a remorhaz here.

What do you do?

> TAKE REMORHAZ

You pick up the remorhaz.

Welp

Coffee Dragon, you just made my day.

[bc56]

You are on a snowy slope. Large stone blocks are lightly
powdered with snow. The mountains stretch on to the north and
east. A goat track leads south. There is a remorhaz here.

What do you do?

> TAKE REMORHAZ

You pick up the remorhaz.

Welp

I liked that!
And it made me think of something
Lvl 18 forge cleric
Remorhaz mount!

But most parties can take a deadly encounter if they're at full strength. Should be fine.

[Laserlight]

We fought a remorhaz in SKT. Barbarian charged ahead, as he is wont to do, and the monster chomped him.
Then I cast Sanctuary on the barbarian, resulting in a very confused remorhaz--couldn't swallow, couldn't spit it out--for the round or two it took for everyone else (and an allied giant) to catch up and kill it.

[Dr. Cliché]

I think it would have to be a young Remorhaz. At their level, the adult one basically drops one PC to 0hp each turn.



You are on a snowy slope. Large stone blocks are lightly
powdered with snow. The mountains stretch on to the north and
east. A goat track leads south. There is a remorhaz here.

What do you do?

> TAKE REMORHAZ

You pick up the remorhaz.

Welp

:smallbiggrin:

[Grod_The_Giant]

Update: They did! Barely. With the help of a bunch of soldiers and some prepared traps and defenses, they managed to bring it down. Though it did wreck the crap out of the two people who tried to melee it, and the paladin was down to his last death save. The consensus was that it was a great tense boss fight.

[Asmotherion]

You are on a snowy slope. Large stone blocks are lightly
powdered with snow. The mountains stretch on to the north and
east. A goat track leads south. There is a remorhaz here.

What do you do?

> TAKE REMORHAZ

You pick up the remorhaz.

Welp

For some reason this is exactly the parody I had in mind when I read the title. Dragons think alike I suppose?

[Dragonic Brofist through the Internet, propelled via the the Thu'um].

Some feedback: Overall, I'd make it include variables a-la Strahd. Put a backstory before meeting it, and give advantages to the PCs on killing it if they solve some side quests, like followers, items that harm it for an extra d6 etc. If they don't, they can try a Deadly encounter, that they may survive, or get TPKed by. Seems like how I would DM it.