A Real Human (Goblins of IO Session 1 Boss)

The exciting first boss battle of Goblins of IO - A Real Human!

This section contains spoilers, and is meant for other DMs and GMs who wish to use this encounter in their D&D Games.

A Real Human is - in fact - not a human at all - but simply a high level goblin standing on the shoulders of another high level goblin.

Because of this, the encounter leads to some interesting mechanics, including shared movement, swapping initiative orders when necessary, and maintaining balance when damage is taken.

This combat was successfully completed by 5 Level 1 Adventurers with no deaths, and nobody downed.

Some of the key things to keep in mind for this battle:

Keeping Balance:  Whenever the Torso or the Legs takes any form of damage, the respective creature must make a Dexterity Check with the DC equal to the amount of damage taken.  If the Torso fails this check, it falls prone off the legs.  If the Legs fails this check, both the legs and the torso falls prone.  The torso may get back on the legs to form A Real Human, but it must spend an action to do so.

Shared Movement: A Real Human's  Torso and A Real Human's Legs move at the same time, and only when it is A Real Human's Legs turn.  Because of this, once per round, A Real Human's Torso and A Real Human's legs may swap their initiative, and only at the beginning of either's rounds.  This ability is shared between the two, meaning either goblin cannot take multiple rounds of actions.

Want to make the combat easier?

When Keeping balance, set the minimum DC to keep balance at 10.  This raises the chance dramatically of either Torso or Legs to fall prone.

Want to make the combat more difficult?

-Eliminate the Keep Balance check all together.

-Add 10 HP to either Torso, Legs, or Both.

-Allow Torso, Legs, or Both to make 2 attacks instead of 1.