What are some good low level swamp encounters?

[MonkeySage]

My players are hunting down an orc bandit who's set up his base in an old elven/dwarven ruin on the outer edge of the swamp. Deeper in the swamp, the water gets acidic, and the air poisonous. The deeper swamp is home to a black dragon, and a tribe of troglodytes that worships it. The swamp is unnaturally dark even during the day, with clouds blotting out the sun at all times, all year round.

I don't wanna throw too much at my players, since they're only level 2- so far the hardest encounter I have for them is a hydra.

[Palanan]

A wyrmling black dragon would be a good swamp creature, or maybe 2-3 if you think your players can handle them.

I'm also fond of the aballin from Monsters of Faerûn, which is an ooze that mimics water--a perfect ambush in a waterlogged environment.

[Silva Stormrage]

A Hydra at level 2 seems pretty darn scary but some other options are incorporeal undead. In the low visibility of the swamp a properly built Dread Necromancer can control 1-2 shadows. Send them in to harass the PC's then have them retreat into the swamp to be healed and then keep sending the shadows out. Only do this if your PC's have magic weapons though because otherwise they are going to get absolutely destroyed.

You can swap this up with skeletons hiding in the swamp (They can hold their breath forever after all) once the PC's show up have them fire poisoned crossbow bolts at the party from afar then bleed back into the dark waters once the PC's get close. Even 3-4 human/lizardfolk skeletons can be super scary like this, especially if they get healed when they retreat.

Other good swamp monsters would be a necromental water elemental. Inflicting negative levels at this level might be a tad bit much. Wait until they hit level 3 or 4 so they don't literally die in two hits.

Really anything that can take advantage of the swamp's difficult terrain and low visibility. So most things with ranged weapons and dark vision or high mobility/swim speed.

[MonkeySage]

Given how dangerous it is, I did make the Hydra an optional encounter- it's out of the way, and there are plenty of signs warning of its presence. Literally. The orcs put down signs basically saying "Stay away!" with a Skull and Crossbones. And lots of dead orcs, sending the message that something dangerous killed them.

[Dalmosh]

I used ooze paraelementals (Manual of the Planes), as a neutral/unfriendly encounter representing the manifest will of the swamp itself.
They were very dangerous because they could easily dissolve armour and weapons that touched them.

I also used a pack of Muckdwellers (Serpent Kingdoms), which are really annoying and draining little pests to fight at low level, because they can temporarily blind players by spitting mud in their eyes, and are tiny and super agile, so really really hard to hit.

[Hackulator]

Swamp gators bro, gators with high stealth in their favored terrain dragging people into the water is scarier than most magic monsters.

I think a hydra at level 2 will TPK your party though so if they're the kind to ignore warnings be aware.

[Saintheart]

How about good old bullywugs from Magic of Faerun (p. 25?) with a Bullywug cleric? CR 1, not affected by difficult terrain of a marsh, 30 ft. Swim speed, +6 on Hide when in marshes from their camoflague, if they have a summoner there's a 50/50 chance they get more monsters than the spell would normally allow, and a 25% chance in those cases that the summoned monsters go feral on everyone, not just the party?

[Zaq]

1d3 dire camels.

[Uncle Pine]

Lizardfolks, crocodiles, low-level swarms (murder of crows is especially fun), skeletons and zombies, monstrous spiders, a gelatinous cube (if you have/use the 3rd party book Advanced Bestiary, a slithering gelatinous "cube" can be especially nasty/awesome), eels (Stormwrack), or an otyugh. If the swamp is inherently magical, most of the above can be upgraded with the spellwarped template with minimal costs (i.e. +0 CR for anything with 3 HD or less).

A five-headed hydra will absolutely, positively **** your entire party up even with two heads tied behind its back.

[Elkad]

A five-headed hydra will absolutely, positively **** your entire party up even with two heads tied behind its back.

Not if they have a range advantage. 20' move. With fast healing 15, it's likely to just turn into an escape encounter though.

[jmax]

Swamp gators bro, gators with high stealth in their favored terrain dragging people into the water is scarier than most magic monsters.

I think a hydra at level 2 will TPK your party though so if they're the kind to ignore warnings be aware.


Lizardfolks, crocodiles, low-level swarms (murder of crows is especially fun), skeletons and zombies, monstrous spiders, a gelatinous cube (if you have/use the 3rd party book Advanced Bestiary, a slithering gelatinous "cube" can be especially nasty/awesome), eels (Stormwrack), or an otyugh. If the swamp is inherently magical, most of the above can be upgraded with the spellwarped template with minimal costs (i.e. +0 CR for anything with 3 HD or less).

A five-headed hydra will absolutely, positively **** your entire party up even with two heads tied behind its back.

+1 on crocodilians and other animals for breaking in a low-level party. Use crocodiles (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/crocodile.htm) for your alligators. Depending on your setting and where your swamp is located, you could add a pair of jaguars (take a leopard and bump the strength score to 19 to match its Dex) (jaguars hunt alone except in mating season, so you can't really get away with more than two unless you add cubs). Swarms of mosquitoes can be quite deadly in real life, and not just because they carry diseases - a thick enough cloud of mosquitoes can suck so much blood from a moose that it dies of blood loss. A murder of crows is always a good addition to anything.

You might consider a giant crocodile alligator (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/crocodileGiant.htm) as a mini-boss instead of that hydra. Crocodilians do attack in packs, so you could have a few encounters of 1d3 alligators to warm up the party and then a big mini-boss fight with a giant alligator and a handful of regular ones. Both the crocodile and the giant crocodile have high swim speeds, so your players can't just run away - and they're grapplers (with the giant one being a ferocious grappler), so doing so would likely mean leaving party members behind.

You don't need supernatural stuff for a swamp to kill you. It does that just fine in real life.

Don't forget that your players will have significantly impeded movement in swamp conditions - factoring that in, your hydra is likely to be lethal. If you want some supernatural stuff - especially if you're hunting an orc camp - check out the Yellow Musk Creeper from Fiend Folio (along with the associated Yellow Musk Zombie mooks). That has some great and terrifying flavor for a fate worse than death. (Do note the regeneration on the creeper itself.)

[DrMotives]

If alligators seem a bit plain, I really like putting filling swamps with the cryptoclidus from MM2. Bringing it up from 3.0 to 3.5 basically means changing "beast" back to "animal", so 3d10 HD becomes 3d8, that's it. But the cryproclids are small plessies, about the size of small horse or a canoe. If you put them in a group, they'll look like a hydra at first, when the heads come out of the water to attack. The reveal is that a pack of small plessies should be less frightening than a full blown hydra.

The bonus is, if you use a hydra later, the party can think it's another pack of plesiosaurs until they see that all the necks connect.

[Mr Adventurer]

Ogre living in a hut with a donkey.

[jmax]

Ogre living in a hut with a donkey.

+1, but unless the players actually attack it, it probably won't fight.

[Palanan]

If you're open to Pathfinder material, a witchcrow (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/witchcrow/) can be an excellent low-level encounter by itself, or it can be a complication for another encounter.

Their knack for stealing magical items can make them a real thorn in a party's side, and they make a great recurring nuisance that the party can become very invested in overcoming. My players really hated the witchcrow that was following them around.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Twig Blights, MM2

Poison Dusk Lizardfolk, MM3

Small Water Elementals, which have been corrupted by the swamp. Maybe they're in a mixed encounter with Twig Blights.

Monstrous vermin, maybe intelligent opponents are using them as mounts.

[Telonius]

Water Mephits or Nixies came to mind.

[xyamius]

Stirge.CR 1/2 (when you want to con drain the party with 1/2 cr's using giant mosquitos)
Black leech.CR 1 (when you want them to be afraid of the swamp water due to a cr 1)
Assassin Vine. CR 3 (hey when in the swamp might as well make the plants deadly)
Shambling Mound CR 6 (more deadly plant life but bigger.)

[MonkeySage]

If you're open to Pathfinder material, a witchcrow (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/witchcrow/) can be an excellent low-level encounter by itself, or it can be a complication for another encounter.

Their knack for stealing magical items can make them a real thorn in a party's side, and they make a great recurring nuisance that the party can become very invested in overcoming. My players really hated the witchcrow that was following them around.

Well it is a Pathfinder campaign! :smallwink:

Actually might take the hydra out- or else make it a juvenile using templates...

Also Witchcrow sounds awesome!

[The Kool]

Throwing my voice behind the crocodilealligator. It's far less about what they're fighting and far more about the setup of the encounter. Most of the time the party will be right on the edge of some water or other, so the sneaky guys can really get the jump on them. That initial engage will put the party on the back foot, then all you need to do is surround them with interesting and difficult terrain to make it a tactical challenge to regain the upper hand.

[ksbsnowowl]

Just a heads up about alligators. I'm running the Curse of the Crimson Throne AP, and there is a low-level encounter with an alligator. It's set up to make it difficult for the Alligator to actually get at a PC (it has to climb up the pier a bit to be able to make a bite at PC's along the edge of the hole leading down to the water), but in order to follow the tactics listed in the AP (bite a PC and drag it down under water) I had to make it Large (improved grab only works on creatures smaller than the attack creature's own size, unless stated otherwise in the description... it's not stated in the crocodile's stats...)

So, I played around with a few different ways to make a Large crocodile (since one doesn't exist in Core), and I ended up taking a Giant Crocodile (Huge) and reducing its size to Large (–8 Str, –4 Con, smaller damage dice, etc.), and removing 1 HD. I ended up with a nominally CR 3 creature that only had a +1 higher bonus to attack, dealt 1d10+6 bite damage (as opposed to the normal Gobblegut's 1d8+6), the same AC of 15, but significantly more hit points (39, as opposed to 22). But I had a larger party than "normal" for an AP, so making it a touch tougher was something I needed to do anyway.

Regardless, it bit one PC (several rounds into the fight), rolled a 3 on its damage die (for a total of 9, taking the PC to 0 hit points) and successfully dragged him under water. The PC died the next round.

Here's the stats I used. I opted for this over a Dungeonbred Giant Crocodile, or an "illegally" advanced Medium Crocodile up to Large (which their advancement lines don't allow for), because it kept a Strength of 19, like the Medium Crocodile (still giving it +6 to damage on its Bite). Most of the other means of making a Large crocodile ended up with Str 23 or 27 (for +9 or +12 to damage; way too much for a 1st level party).

CROCODILE, GIANT (size-reduced to Large, one less HD)
Large Animal

Hit Dice: 6d8+12 (39 hp)

Initiative: +2

Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), swim 30 ft.

Armor Class: 15 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 13

Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+12

Attack: Bite +7 melee (1d10+6) or tail slap +7 melee (1d12+6)
Full Attack: Bite +7 melee (1d10+6) or tail slap +7 melee (1d12+6)

Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.

Special Attacks: Improved grab

Special Qualities: Hold breath, low-light vision
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +3

Abilities: Str 19, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: (Climb +4), Hide +5*, Listen +5, Spot +5, Swim +12

Feats: Alertness, Endurance, Skill Focus (Hide)
Environment: Warm marshes

Organization: Solitary or colony (6–11)

Challenge Rating: [3]

Advancement: 8–14 HD (Huge)

Level Adjustment: —

These huge creatures usually live in salt water and can be more than 20 feet long. They lie mostly submerged in rivers or marshes, with only their eyes and nostrils showing, waiting for prey to come within reach.

Combat
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a crocodile must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, the crocodile establishes a hold on the opponent with its mouth and drags it into deep water, attempting to pin it to the bottom.
Hold Breath (Ex): A crocodile can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to 4 × its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
Skills: A crocodile has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.
*A crocodile gains a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks when in the water. Further, a crocodile can lie in the water with only its eyes and nostrils showing, gaining a +10 cover bonus on Hide checks.

[jmax]

Water Mephits or Nixies came to mind.

If a non-evil party actually ends up fighting a nixie*, they're probably doing something horribly wrong. On the other hand, as a non-combat encounter, it would be solid.


Unless it's like the nixie in Three Hearts and Three Lions, in which case they're fine.


So, I played around with a few different ways to make a Large crocodile (since one doesn't exist in Core), and I ended up taking a Giant Crocodile (Huge) and reducing its size to Large (–8 Str, –4 Con, smaller damage dice, etc.), and removing 1 HD.

Pathfinder has crocodiles (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/animals/crocodilians/crocodile/) increased to Large size relative to 3.5, although the stats appear nearly identical otherwise (Improved Grab swapped for a new Death Roll ability). It's pretty close to what you came up with as well, although it does have fewer HD.



Throwing my voice behind the crocodilealligator. It's far less about what they're fighting and far more about the setup of the encounter. Most of the time the party will be right on the edge of some water or other, so the sneaky guys can really get the jump on them. That initial engage will put the party on the back foot, then all you need to do is surround them with interesting and difficult terrain to make it a tactical challenge to regain the upper hand.

D&D 3.5 Crocodiles (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/crocodile.htm) have fantastic Hide checks when in the water with only their eyes showing - a whopping +21 modifier. Put a few of them in knee-deep water (a.k.a. standard bog terrain) that the PCs are trying to cross, and if the PCs aren't paying spectacularly good attention, SNAP! Attack of opportunity, grapple, drag under water... and there are another 1d6-1 crocodiles still hiding, too. For a 2nd-level party, that should be a really solid encounter setup.

...dang, now I want to run that encounter. Just as a little mini-thing.