I still think the party should be higher level before encountering these tbh, the minotaurs are a pretty beefy (heh) enemy that I wouldn't expect a party that's basically just started out would be able to defeat, the underdark itself being accessible in act 1 also seems a bit much with like 5 ways to enter and exit it it seems overly accessible to stumble into it, you know, first day of the campaign and your DM tumbles you into the underdark at lvl 4? I'd assume he's done with the campaign and wants to just TKO the party and write a new campaign.
Like I go from killing goblins straight to killing minotaurs in the underdark? feels like we're skipping a whole bunch of steps here lol, like going from killing rats in the tavern for your first quest straight into running into a beholder in the same tavern cellar, like you can make it a level 1 minotaur or beholder but this does severely diminish the feeling of these monsters and reduces them to tutorial enemies IE not threatening at all, at the moment the only reason the minotaurs in the underdark are a challenge is because the party is capped at level 4, which seems to indicate they want to discourage exploration in the underdark for now? I dunno really feels off compared to what I remember the underdark being (extremely hostile & threatening not for beginning adventurers but for seasoned veterans, housing almost every actually terrifying monster & with really not many folks that don't have a kill on sight mentality from drow to driders to slime cubes to mindflayers, and all the other wildlife down there, again level 4-6 seems way too early to stumble into that place.
like I dunno but I just feel that place is currently too accessible but that might be me talking from 3e experience and not being aware of the more background changes lorewise related to the underdark, maybe between 3e and 5e the underdark just became more accessible or something? its easier to travel to and from it? I dunno
