D&D 5E Monster Creation in D&D Next

Sir Brennen · Jul 24, 2012

B.T. said:
Although this makes sense, forcing every minotaur into BOSS MONSTER status seems foolish.

Solo seems to imply BOSS MONSTER more than elite. Elite is just tougher than average.

Though against a group of 3rd level adventurers, he is more like a boss.

To a group of 10th level, he'll probably be more mookish.

It all just depends where you want to put him in your campaign. What's foolish about that?

Zaukrie · Jul 24, 2012

As a DM, how often do you use suboptimal attacks by monsters with average intelligence or wisdom?

Sir Brennen · Jul 24, 2012

MatthewJHanson said:
I'm a little confused with the talk of skill bonus to AC and Attack. Is he saying there there will be actual skills that do this (as in skills that the PCs can take)? Or is he just suggesting that we can add some sort of modifier to the bonus that represents the monster being skilled with the weapon? (I really hope its the latter, because I don't like combat resources taking of the same space as out of combat resources).

My take is that it's the latter. It's more like a special ability. "Military training" for hobgoblins, or "Too Huge to Hit" for giants. Notice how giants seem to pretty clearly have a much lower than expected hit bonus for their level, which takes a bit of wind out of the "you just fluff it up to get the expected result" arguments.

GX.Sigma · Jul 24, 2012

Sir Brennen said:
My take is that it's the latter. It's more like a special ability. "Military training" for hobgoblins, or "Too Huge to Hit" for giants. Notice how giants seem to pretty clearly have a much lower than expected hit bonus for their level, which takes a bit of wind out of the "you just fluff it up to get the expected result" arguments.

Agreed. It's not so much that they make up reasons for it to be the number that the math says it should be; it's more of a little touch of flavor to represent what the monster is like.

Crazy Jerome · Jul 24, 2012

Zaukrie said:
As a DM, how often do you use suboptimal attacks by monsters with average intelligence or wisdom?

About 1 time in 3, on average. I know this because I tend to roll a d6 to make such determinations, and assign 1 or 2 to the lesser choices. Smarter, calmer monsters only go suboptimal on a 1, while monsters that are enrage or have other influences can go up to 1-3 or even 1-4.

That's of course not counting the times when I make a suboptimal attack thinking it is optimal, but I wouldn't know how to quantify those.

ArmoredSaint · Jul 24, 2012

While I enjoy everything about this article, the part I loved most was right here:

I peg its AC at 16...the equivalent of chainmail in our revised armor tables.

Mail was only AC 15 in the Playtest release material! This might very well indicate that they've boosted the effectiveness of heavy armour! My day is made!

Sunsword · Jul 24, 2012

erleni said:
To me the minion-standard-elite-solo axis of 4e is just another tool that gives me the chance to have a more diversified monster basis for my campaign. But in 4e you have attack and defenses scaling with level pretty fast, so there's a marked difference between a 5th level elite and a 9th level standard even if both have the same XP value. The elite will have more HP and lower defenses/damage, but also an action point.
With D&DN bounded accuracy approach I don't really know what the difference would be.

The difference is more than accuracy (and accuracy seems to be as much about the theme or background of the monster than it's role), an Elite is worth 2 PC's so double hit points and double the damage. Remember Large generally equals Elite.

And since Solos are worth 4 PC's quadruple hit points and I'm going to assume quadruple the damage (probably over an area).

As an aside, I think it's pointless to emphasize the glance blow ability of Rage as anything more than plan language, a simple way to describe what's occurring.

Sunsword · Jul 24, 2012

Sir Brennen said:
Solo seems to imply BOSS MONSTER more than elite. Elite is just tougher than average.

Though against a group of 3rd level adventurers, he is more like a boss.

To a group of 10th level, he'll probably be more mookish.

It all just depends where you want to put him in your campaign. What's foolish about that?

I think the key to understanding Elite and Solo is how many PC's they represent. In an encounter an Elite is equal to 2 PC's and a Solo is equal to 4, that's the biggest factor to remember about a monster's role (that we've seen, at least). And then that role will determine extra hit points and dice of damage.

It's possilbe that this 5th Level Minotaur could be a Mook at say 8-10th Level.

erleni · Jul 24, 2012

Sunsword said:
And since Solos are worth 4 PC's quadruple hit points and I'm going to assume quadruple the damage (probably over an area).

Maybe Solos will have abilities like the playtest's Medusa serpents, basically adding more actions to the solo, instead of going for higher damage over an area in a single attack.

Vicar In A Tutu · Jul 24, 2012

Mustrum_Ridcully said:
But why would it have that? Isn't the original Minotaur trapped in a Maze?

Or do we assume the original Minotaur long escaped the Maze and gave this knowledge to his children as genetic traits, as some kind of sci-fi genetic memory thing?

The original minotaur from legend might have been trapped in a maze, but minotaurs in D&D have always had a certain affinity to mazes, being known for their ability to navigate labyrinths. As I understand it, The Endless Maze is not Baphomet's prison. He is not trapped there. He simply rules it. Minotaurs in D&D have traditionally shown an inclination to make their lairs in labyrinths. A very small line of text: "Minotaurs are immune Maze" would not only make the entry more entertaining to read, but small touches like that help immersion. I also find - as a DM - that idiosyncrasies tend to fire up my imagination and help fight "sameness". Really, why do we need another large humanoid? Don't we already have the ogre? I love reading flavour text and then discovering that the monster statistics reflects the description in some cool way.