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

Ahnehnois · Jul 23, 2012

More damage on a miss? "Elite"? Minimum roll of 10? And what happened to the impact of good Con?

Some positives in this, too, but a lot of mechanical red flags. Very concerning.

Someone · Jul 23, 2012

Ok, so the process for creating the minotaur is to give him a level and role, wich determines his hit points without really any variance between kinds or types of creatures. The assign the stats a brutish monster would have, then basically ignore them when eyeballing the hit bonuses and armor a creature so brutal would have. He finishes it with the kind of abilities appropiate for a creature who likes to brutalize his opponents.

I can see how it can be simplified a bit...

Underman · Jul 23, 2012

Minigiant said:
A miss miss is an inaccurate attack that the fighter does not have to do anything to make miss.

A hit that does not kill is an attack that the fighter had to spend stamina/experience/focus/concentration/morale/luck in or to keep it being lethal.

Actually, I have played games where a hit is described as a glancing blow. ie., the devasting crush or bite or impale that should have crushed the hero but doesn't due to "plot immunity" and not necessarily anything the hero did. That's where the "luck/fate" part of hit points is factored in.

Minigiant · Jul 23, 2012

Underman said:
Actually, I have played games where a hit is described as a glancing blow. ie., the devasting crush or bite or impale that should have crushed the hero but doesn't due to "plot immunity" and not necessarily anything the hero did.

That's where the "luck/fate" part of hit points is factored in. This is reinforced in the article "Hit Points, Our Old Friend" which states that "Luck and cosmic significance, which is the simple truth that in a world of high magic, gods, and planar powers, some creatures are consigned by fate to take on a great task. The sword blow that slays the common soldier is a glancing strike against the hero destined to stand at the center of important events".

I did account for luck. Though it is accurate that the target doesn't necessarily have to be the one spending the diminishing resource such as with luck, fate, and hardness.

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Quite frankly I think the who process is backwards. Because of bounded accuracy, shouldn't the AC and attack bonus part be mostly independent of the level/HD/Special part?

erleni · Jul 23, 2012

Ahnehnois said:
More damage on a miss? "Elite"? Minimum roll of 10? And what happened to the impact of good Con?

Some positives in this, too, but a lot of mechanical red flags. Very concerning.

I don't want to open the can-of-worms that is damage on a miss (even if I have no problem with it, I know many have), but what's your problem with "elite" or minimum roll 10?
It's a sincere question, not an attempt to start a flame war.

Vicar In A Tutu · Jul 23, 2012

Aww, I would have like to see the minotaur being immune to Maze. Small touches like that help make the world (and monsters) come to life.

Mustrum_Ridcully · Jul 23, 2012

Vicar In A Tutu said:
Aww, I would have like to see the minotaur being immune to Maze. Small touches like that help make the world (and monsters) come to life.

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?

Underman · Jul 23, 2012

Edit: Never mind

Ahnehnois · Jul 23, 2012

erleni said:
I don't want to open the can-of-worms that is damage on a miss (even if I have no problem with it, I know many have), but what's your problem with "elite" or minimum roll 10?
It's a sincere question, not an attempt to start a flame war.

A minimum of 10 makes it pointless to roll (usually). I'm of the mind that you should have the choice between taking 10/20 or rolling, and if you're going to roll, there should be a chance of doing poorly. It also makes it needlessly hard to sneak. I think the rogue ability to this effect (take 10 + roll) was likewise too generous.

The term "elite" implies that the creature itself is created to fill a specific role (rather than being an exemplar of the minotaur race, which is also a possible meaning of that word). It exemplifies a backwards design philosophy where the monster's presence in one battle is considered before looking at where it came from, which is apparent in reading the article as a whole.

Mustrum_Ridcully · Jul 23, 2012

Ahnehnois said:
A minimum of 10 makes it pointless to roll (usually). I'm of the mind that you should have the choice between taking 10/20 or rolling, and if you're going to roll, there should be a chance of doing poorly. It also makes it needlessly hard to sneak. I think the rogue ability to this effect (take 10 + roll) was likewise too generous.

The term "elite" implies that the creature itself is created to fill a specific role (rather than being an exemplar of the minotaur race, which is also a possible meaning of that word). It exemplifies a backwards design philosophy where the monster's presence in one battle is considered before looking at where it came from, which is apparent in reading the article as a whole.

It could also be "Elite" because in terms of creatures that exist in the world, it's one of the tougher ones. But it is Level 5 and not Level 10 because it is more common (which co-incides with something the players are likely to fight around level 5, rather than something tough and rarer, that they will fight much later in their career).