Reoccuring Ogre Mage NPC

[crayzz]

I got this idea in the dumpstats thread: an ogre mage that is incredibly stupid. So here's introducing Trog.

Trog
Large Giant, Neutral Evil

Armor class 10 (Hide armor)
Hit pints 92 (8d10 + 48)
Speed 40ft

StrDexConIntWisCha
26 (+8)7 (-2)22 (+6)4 (-3)16 (+3)12 (+1)

Saving Throws Str + 11, Wis + 6
SkillsMedicine + 6, Insight + 6
Languages Common, Giant
Challenge 6

Spell Casting. Trog knows the following spells; he prepares and casts them as if he were an 8th level wizard.
Cantrips: Mold Earth, Control Flames, Prestidigitation, Shape Water
1st level: False Life, Long Strider, Expedious Retreat, Catapult
2nd level: Magic Weapon, Pyrotechnics, Enlarge/Reduce
3rd level: Animate Dead, Erupting Earth, Blink
4th level: Polymorph, Stone Shape

Actions

Glaive. Melee weapon attack: +11 to hit, reach 10ft, 1 target. Hit: (2d6+8)


Trog's Lair

Trog's lair is a large cavern deep inside a complex cave system. Adventurers who stumble into it find skeletons of various creatures strewn throughout the cave system. On a DC 12 perception check, an adventurer will notice some of the caverns and passages are artificial. On a DC 14 Arcana check, an adventurer will realize these artificial caverns and passages are the product of transmutation magic. Following the artificial caves will generally lead to the large centre chamber with skeletons and corpses strewn about inside. This chamber boasts a tall central spire jutting up towards the ceiling. The ceiling is covered in large, man sized stalactites. The chamber is 40ft high. A ledge is sunk into the top of wall around the entire room, creating a 5ft deep and 8ft tall space. If Trog is in his lair, this room is where he can usually be found.

Trog's central chamber is usually filled traps that Trog can manually. For example, he might have a cave in held back by a wooden structure that Trog can break to trigger the cave in, or he might have a lever he can flip to flood the room with water. These traps are usually well hidden, requiring a DC 20 perception check to notice; if an adventurer does notice them, she will usually find that she can set the trap off herself.

Lair Action

On initiative 20, Trog takes a lair action to produce one of the following effects:


Trog creates 4 CR 1/4, 2 CR 1/2, or 1 CR 1 undead creature(s) as if by casting animate dead. This does not count as casting a prepared spell. Trog cannot take this action if he is polymorphed.
Trog casts one of his transmutation spells. He will take this action if he believes doing so will grant him some strategic advantage (e.g. he might cast Blink to help himself escape being flanked, or cast Mold Earth to create cover for himself). This action does count as casting a prepared spell. Trog cannot take this action if he is polymorphed.
Trog sets off one of the traps he has rigged in the room. Typically this would take the form of rocks falling from the ceiling for 3d8 damage in a 15ft radius (dex save for half) or flooding the room with 8ft of water. Other traps, at the DMs discretion, could also be devised.



So the intent here was to create a possibly reoccuring NPC that could also function as a difficult boss fight. I wanted Trog to be someone the PCs could ally with, or trade with, or fight, whatever suited their fancy. The point of the spire and the wall ledge is that I think polymorphing himself is supposed to be Trog's ace in the hole. In particular, if he finds that melee combat really isn't going his way, he's liable to turn himself into a giant ape, flood the room, and climb either the central spire or the walls to the ledge to throw rocks at the PCs.

What do y'all think?

[JackPhoenix]

It seems weird that "incredibly stupid" (and it is, there are animals smarter than this thing) casts spells "like a wizard". Especially as standard ogre magi... I mean, Oni in 5e.... have Cha-based innate spellcasting. Also it uses pretty complex tactics.

[MaxWilson]

So the intent here was to create a possibly reoccuring NPC that could also function as a difficult boss fight. I wanted Trog to be someone the PCs could ally with, or trade with, or fight, whatever suited their fancy. The point of the spire and the wall ledge is that I think polymorphing himself is supposed to be Trog's ace in the hole. In particular, if he finds that melee combat really isn't going his way, he's liable to turn himself into a giant ape, flood the room, and climb either the central spire or the walls to the ledge to throw rocks at the PCs.

What do y'all think?

Lair actions seem unfair. PCs can't get those, why should some random (unusually stupid, Int 4) ogre? Just make a bog-standard Int 5 Ogre, then give it 8 levels of Necromancer and five spells: Polymorph, Animate Dead, Shield, Web, and Mage Armor. Boom, done, except for notes on motivations and tactics.

Lair actions are not needed.

[crayzz]

I did think about going Cha based, honestly. I should probably just do that.

He does use unusually complex tactics for someone so stupid. I think at some point while I was designing him, I subconsciously switched from focusing on someone who is stupid to someone who is single minded. It does make a for a muddled design though, you're both right. I should probably drop that angle.


Lair actions seem unfair. PCs can't get those, why should some random (unusually stupid, Int 4) ogre? Just make a bog-standard Int 5 Ogre, then give it 8 levels of Necromancer and five spells: Polymorph, Animate Dead, Shield, Web, and Mage Armor. Boom, done, except for notes on motivations and tactics.

Lair actions are not needed.

Do you think lair actions in general are unfair, or just in this situation? For my own campaigns, I would absolutely allow the players to design their own lair actions for their stronghold.

I didn't want to give Trog actual Necromancer or Transmuter levels. I don't want him to have access to other wizard class features besides the spell casting (he's already a bit complicated for a DM, and I found myself falling into the trap of wanting my special new NPC to have all the toys and powers so I cut out everything I didn't think was important), but I wanted him to have a little more variety in his possible tactics within certain constraints (only necromancy or transmutation, only spells useful to buff him, summon undead, or shape the immediate environment). Is there a better way I could that across? I guess it'd easier to just list the spells he can cast and give him daily limits (e.g. he can cast polymorph once per day, etc).

[Maan]

He does use unusually complex tactics for someone so stupid. I think at some point while I was designing him, I subconsciously switched from focusing on someone who is stupid to someone who is single minded. It does make a for a muddled design though, you're both right. I should probably drop that angle.
It's more a matter of choosing between one or the other, I'd say. Right now he feels way too smart for a "stupid enemy" type.
But a "usually stupid" enemy that is unsually brilliant would be a nice concept, if you find it interesting to work with. Think a dumb Ogre who finds and dons a Headband of Intellect, for example.


Do you think lair actions in general are unfair, or just in this situation? For my own campaigns, I would absolutely allow the players to design their own lair actions for their stronghold.
Personally I find lair actions very nice to up the ambient factor with certain enemies.
For example if the enemy is a necromancer type, giving them a few lair actions like skeletal hands erupting from the earth and grasping at the PCs or zombies bursting out of the earthen walls are cool effects for a climatic fight.
You just have to be careful to make them "flavourful" and not just "unfairly powerful": any DM worth their salt knows that even just putting a spellcaster enemy behind cover and making them difficult to reach can dramatically raise the challenge a fight poses for PCs, no matter what the CR says.

[gandwarf]

maybe he's a stupid ogre, that has found, by luck, a strange magical artifact that gives him access to this spells. And maybe this artifact is a hat, and it made him incredibly smart Ever since he found it... he built his lair and started terrorizing (in very creative way) the neraby town.
That would also be cool in a battle scenario, the party could eventually find out about the magical artifact, and even tho he's way to powerful when he's casting spells... they can try to figure out a way to take the hat away.
And in the end, If that hat would be a too powerful magical item to hand out to your party like that, it could be a sentinel that refuses to work with his new "owner" blocking the attunment, or even make it just a cursed magical item - now the party has to get rid of it's curse.

[opaopajr]

Seems fun! :smallsmile: Have you considered Fog Cloud? The ogre mage will have an advantage in melee on a one-on-one stumble into each other inside an obscured tunnel system.

What exactly are you trying to do with your spells? Are you emphasizing a particular school? That could be an interesting direction.

In fact, you could re-template each ogre mage into a different foe just by focusing on different schools alone. :smallcool: Maybe all but one spell for each spell level be from the same school... (An illusionist ogre mage would be funny, because of Disguise Self and the like. Hey, if people don't Investigate the poor illusion, it's still there. :smallbiggrin:)