Well, how about HP? Some months ago I got into an argument with someone on these forums about this very topic and I went to the effort of recording the HP of all the Goblins in the EA and averaging their HP. That includes the HP of boss Goblins, which have HP >20. So, including Goblins which were specifically designed to be bosses, the average HP for Goblins turned out to be 11.75. 11.75, happens to be a value within the 2d6 range. There are many Goblins with 3-4 HP, there are also a couple with 15 HP or higher values. 2d6 happens to be a range, not a fixed value, so even if you look at just the smaller pleb tier goblins, you can expect some to be at the lower end of that range and others to be at the higher end, with some deviation.
That's not how numbers work. You can't just have a range and have the average basically be the maximum and call it good. 2d6 is already a range between 2 and 12 with an average of 7. If the range is 3-15 with an average of 12 then they've buffed HP that's literally how maths works.
I see reading comprehension is hard, let me help you.
That includes the HP of boss Goblins
If you exclude the bosses (there are quite a few of them, the priestess Gluk and some others), the average drops considerably. Still above 7, but most Goblins are within the 2-12 range. Furthermore, you conveniently ignored most of my points, more specifically, the points about how goblins were modified. How tells a much more important story. Most of the Goblins within the EA are named NPCs, with their own kit and their own dialogue. They are designed to be "characters" rather than to be blank monsters solely there to provide you with loot and XP. Expecting them all to have the same kit, is the same as going outside and expecting every person on the street to share the same identity. This is the kind of thing you could expect a good GM to do and indeed, there are literally quotes from Jeremy Crawford where he endorses modifying these values. Here is an example which came up in the last argument I was involved in over this topic.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/uBzqsc2.png)
Just because the average HP for all Goblins in the entire of Faerun is 7, does not mean that in your specific sample, their HP needs to average to 7. Its a guideline, not a requirement. If the encounter you are trying to design calls for a different stat block for a Goblin, then go for it, because this is the kind of thing that a good designer will know when to change.
but they and every other enemy in the game are near universally following the rule of lower AC/higher HP.
Except they aren't, if you actually go to the effort of referencing other enemies instead of just parroting what you read other people say online, you will find monsters are usually on the high end of the HP roll for that monster, but the AC is usually untouched, provided the stat block for a monster does not have it using equipment. If the stat block for the monster has equipment, the AC is either higher (yes, in some cases Larian's monsters have both higher AC and HP than average), lower, or identical, depending on how Larian decided to altar the equipment on that particular specimen of monster.
And the end result is that people have noticed how the combination of that and the high ground advantage/backstab advantage system have really thrown out most incentive to use buff spells for the purpose of overcoming higher AC and spells that target saving throws. Not to mention the Sleep spell being far less effective than it should be.
There are a few encounters (very early on) where sleep is potentially useful. What you are forgetting is, 2 things. At the point in time when sleep and other spells like it are useful, surfaces or other sources of incidental damage will outright instant kill any enemies in the fight, thus rendering sleep a waste because you could just light the (conveniently located surface) on fire. The second thing is, Larian levels the player up quite quickly to 4 and is balancing encounters around a higher level party where sleep has less utility. Thus their goal for these higher level encounters, is probably for sleep to have limited usefulness to begin with.
