DMG Monster Creation

First off I love the section on monster creation, LOVE IT. However there seems to be one glaring omission. Minions, it doesn't even mention them. I didn't even see anything like the excerpt from the Wizards page (which is where I eventually went to get my guildlines).

Also I'm not really sure where monster stats come into play. The charts in the DMG + monster stats seem inconsistent with actual saving throws and attack bonus' that that monsters received. It almost seems like monster stats don't really matter at all.

If somebody has some insight that I missed I'd appriciate it.

Works like other monsters: -1 tohit etc per level, -1 damage per 2 levels.

Take an Orc Drudge and make it a level 1 minion.

Orc "Mini" Level 1 Minion
Medium natural humanoid XP 25
Initiative +0
Senses Perception +0; low-light vision
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 13; Fortitude 12, Reflex 10, Will 9
Speed 6 (8 while charging)
m Club (standard; at-will) Weapon
+6 vs. AC; 4 damage.
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Languages: Common, Giant
Str 16 (+3) Dex 10 (+0) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 14 (+2) Int 8 (-1) Cha 9 (-1)
Equipment hide armor, club

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I don't think monsters that do not have any type of minion listed are supposed to exist as minions.

When I look through the Human pages of the Monster Manual I notice it lacks what I would call, my ideals of humans in fantasy, the guards are ok, but we have no militia members to slaughter, we have no constable or sherrif and we have no cleric. We have a low-level mage which is ok I suppose but I felt it was incredibly lacking.

So,

Firstly are basic slightly pathetic, strengthened by training militia member. Built from a Human rabble by adding better weapons and the organized rabble ability.

Human Militia Level 2 Minion Medium natural humanoid XP 31
Initiative +0 Senses Perception +0
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 15; Fortitude 13, Refl ex 11, Will 11; see also mob rule
Speed 6
Shortsword +9 vs AC 5 Damage
Cross bow +5 vs AC 4 Damage
Organised Rabble
A Militia Member works better when there are more of them. For every Militia member adjacent to
a Militia Members target they receive a +1 Bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls.
Str 14 (+2) Dex 10 (+0) Wis 10 (+0) Con 12 (+1) Int 9 (–1) Cha 11 (+0)
Equipment Shortsword, Leather Armor, Light Shield, Crossbow

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Secondly there is the Sherrif, Constable or guy in charge of the militia or guard. With this I had two easy to put concepts that I knew would work with a slight adjustment to the guard and a class template.

We firstly have the Inspiring head of Militia, and then we have the stronger and more proficient head of militia

Human Constable Level 3 Soldier (elite) Medium natural humanoid XP 150
Initiative +5 Senses Perception +6
HP 47; Bloodied 23
AC 19; Fortitude 18, Reflex 15, Will 14
Speed 5
Longsword +11 vs AC 1d8+5
(standard; At-Will) Sure Strike +13 vs AC 1d8
:Ranged: Crossbow (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon Ranged 15/30; +9 vs. AC; 1d8 + 2 damage.

Combat Challenge
See Fighter Page 76 oh PHB

Combat Superiority
See Fighter Page 76

Weapon Talent
+1 bonus to attack rolls with Longsword (already included)

Alignment Any Languages Common
Skills Streetwise +7, Intimidate +7, Athletics +11
Feat: weapon focus longsword
Str 16 (+4) Dex 14 (+3) Wis 11 (+1) Con 15 (+3) Int 10 (+1) Cha 12 (+2)
Equipment chainmail, Heavy Shield, Longsword, crossbow and 20 bolts.

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This version is of course, the weapon expert build.

Human Constable Level 3 Soldier (elite) Medium natural humanoid XP 150
Initiative +7 Senses Perception +6
HP 47; Bloodied 23
AC 19; Fortitude 17, Reflex 15, Will 15
Speed 5
Longsword +10 vs AC 1d8+5
Comanders Strike (standard Action) An ally of the constable choice makes a basic attack.
Crossbow (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon Ranged 15/30; +9 vs. AC; 1d8 + 2 damage.

Inspiring Word Twice an encounter an adjacent ally or the Human constable heals ¼ there hp+1d6.

Combat Leader
see page 144 (included in constables block)

Commanding Prescence
see page 144 (suggested when bloodied instead....)

Alignment Any Languages Common
Skills Streetwise +7, Intimidate +7, Athletics +11
Feat: weapon focus longsword
Str 16 (+4) Dex 14 (+3) Wis 11 (+1) Con 15 (+3) Int 10 (+1) Cha 12 (+2)
Equipment chainmail, Heavy Shield, Longsword, crossbow and 20 bolts.

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And this is the more commanding inspiring version.

This took me 7 minutes at the msot. Would have took me five but because class templates are impossible to apply to monsters without it being worthless I had to change it.

The problem was mainly with the warlord, as no monster has action points or healing surges.

ShadowyFigure said:

The problem was mainly with the warlord, as no monster has action points or healing surges.

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Yes they do. It's supposedly just not mentioned in the stat blocks because they usually never have any way of using them. A warlord Monster would, however.

page reference please.

ShadowyFigure said:

page reference please.

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DMG 187, according to another poster. 1 surge per tier.

Argyuile said:

First off I love the section on monster creation, LOVE IT. However there seems to be one glaring omission. Minions, it doesn't even mention them. I didn't even see anything like the excerpt from the Wizards page (which is where I eventually went to get my guildlines).

Also I'm not really sure where monster stats come into play. The charts in the DMG + monster stats seem inconsistent with actual saving throws and attack bonus' that that monsters received. It almost seems like monster stats don't really matter at all.

Click to expand...

Stats are definitely not that relevant to monster's anymore (except with regards to initiative, Perception, and skill checks).

They have very little influence over defenses (tho the MM says adjust defenses up/down by +/- 1 for every two points a score is above/below the average). They have no effect on attack rolls. As you see in that chart it's based strictly off of Level + Role + a set number.

The charts in the DMG are apparently just guidelines. Few of the monsters that Ive found in the MM thus far actually add up to the DMG charts exactly 100%. (Defenses and AC seem to be 1-3 points higher/lower in a lot of cases; attack bonus is +/- 1 or so in some cases, etc; suggested damage expressions are different, though avg damage seems to fall in line in a lot of places).

Only numbers that seem to be 'strict' or hard set are HP, XP, and as mentioned above skills.

ShadowyFigure said:

The problem was mainly with the warlord, as no monster has action points or healing surges.

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All monsters have healing surges (From the MM)

Level # of healing surges
1-10 1
11-19 2
20+ 3

Just most monsters don't have an ability that lets them spend a healing surge (The Bullette does however). So if you made a warlord character that could allow others to actually spend their surges, they would have surges to spend.

Edit: The surge info is on pg 7 of the MM