D&D 5E Beefin' Up Monsters!

[BigVanVader]

Just a quick topic here, but I notice that a common mistake in the group I play with: There's this tendency, coming from 3.5 and then 4e and then Pathfinder, to look at the monsters in the MM and think, "Gee, these guys are kinda weak and stupid. I think I'll give them a little boost." And then, during fights, people start dropping like flies.

I did that, with an encounter with Gargoyles(luckily I gave them a temporary ally during that encounter, a rock guy called a Galeb something, that I decided ate stone and rocks and thus was a Gargoyle's natural predator.), and then this game another DM did it with Orcs, giving them a +5 to hit and not thinking anything was wrong with that until everyone but the second Fighter dropped like dead flies.

Has anyone else done this?

 

[DaveDash]

The best way to 'beef up' monsters IMO is to add more of them. This works better with lower CR creatures.

If something is meant to be fought by itself though, I might give it more hit points. It just depends on a few factors, such as roughly how many encounters the party is expected to have before this monster, etc.

I've given Dragons true sight and use the spell casting variant - they all get Misty Step for example - otherwise it can be easy to cheese them (Adult or younger) with Force Cage.

I've used the Mind Flayer variant Arcanist which proved to be quite deadly, and also used the summoning variant for Demons and Devils.

 

[Tormyr]

I have 6 to 7 players at my table. I am converting a 3.5 AP. I convert the monsters/encounters to about the same balance as in 3.5 with a standard party of 4. This leaves my encounters on the light side. I up the encounter to the called for difficulty usually by adding more creatures until the encounter balances out again. However this does not work for solo encounters. For those, I alter the CR of the creature up by adding hp until it once again hits the same difficulty for the encounter. That way the solo creatures survive more than a round or two, but their ability to hit and damage are not so crazy that PCs start dropping like flies.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I like to roll each monsters hp, you tend to get the occasional tougher foe as a result. But as an earlierposter said - just add more monsters is the easiest way to make fights tougher.

 

[PnPgamer]

I once gave 9 orcs against level 2-3 party. The orcs critted too many times with their falchions.

 

[DaveDash]

I like to roll each monsters hp, you tend to get the occasional tougher foe as a result. But as an earlierposter said - just add more monsters is the easiest way to make fights tougher.

I've been seriously considering rolling for hp. A lot of the old school modules do it.

 

[PnPgamer]

I've been seriously considering rolling for hp. A lot of the old school modules do it.

I've always rolled the hp. Although sometimes i "cheat" by using browser based dice rollers.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

I once gave 9 orcs against level 2-3 party. The orcs critted too many times with their falchions.

Yeah, the base humaniods are kinda beefy and hit harder than one might expect. I'm trying to give a 1E feel with large encounter numbers so I'm using no-ability commoners, bandits and guards to represent their rank and file foot troops with the base MM versions with their racial special racial abilities as veterans.

 

[Psikerlord#]

I've been seriously considering rolling for hp. A lot of the old school modules do it.

Yeah I definitely prefer rolling. Players cant keep "expect" the foes to all drop at the same time, and it's fun to describe some foes as larger or smaller specimens. Also.... as DM... it allows for a bit of "creative" hp to avoid a TPK, whilst still keeping all dice in the open.

 

[Li Shenron]

Has anyone else done this?

Not really, if my feeling is that the encounters are too easy I just use higher CR monsters or plan more encounters per day.

I would also use more monster per encounters, but this always slows combat down.

The only ways I have modified monsters in the past have been dialing the HP up/down (sometimes in the course of the encounter), and adding class levels to monsters, but the latter is for the purpose of making them more interesting rather than more powerful.