D&D 3E/3.5 How Do YOU Create Creatures in 3.5e?

[Scorponox]

Hi all,

Ok, I've looked through the MM section on creating your own creatures, and I've looked through the Creature Catalog on this forum, but I am still having trouble trying to figure out how to create my own monsters for DnD 3.5e.

What I've been doing recently is finding creatures that sort of resemble the creatures I want to make, then just taking the stats from those for my own creature. This is ok, but sometimes, the most similar thing I can find is just too different from my own monster.

One of the parts I don't get is assigning the ability scores for the creatures. Do you just "wing it" and try to follow the instructions as closely as possible and hope you don't end up creating something that will TPK?

Like, after figuring out the creature type, target CR, subtypes, and hit die, what are the steps you take after that to do the rest? Table 5-1 on pg. 296 of the 3.5e MM has stats for str, dex, and con that vary wildly.

And, how long does it take for you to make a monster? I'm finding it takes a long time, and was wondering if there are steps I should skip, skim, pay close attention to, do in reverse order, or ignore to make the process go faster.

Some people will probably say I should just use the pre-created monsters out of the MMs, but in some cases, the monsters will not make any sense in my campaign, and besides, I would really like to understand this process. Any help is appreciated, and thanks.

 

[Ahnehnois]

MMII had some nice guidelines for assigning default ability scores; an X HD creature of type Y has an average of Z strength and so on. That gives a nice baseline.

As far as difficulty, I try not to pay too much attention to that. Just make sure it isn't totally out there for when it's going to be used.

Of course, templates and books thereof can go a long way.

 

[Dog Moon]

There are three ways that I tend to make monsters:

1) Add a template and class or two. Or more depending on my mood at the time. I use this method to try to create similar, but stranger, versions of normal creatures. A lizardfolk with draconic template and a level in ranger is NOT what I mean. An example of one creature I did was a Medium-sized Multiheaded [cryo] Monster of Legend Stirge. Now, that may sound odd, but my players definitely became scared of the huge stirge flying around breathing cold on people and sucking blood for like 1d6 Con per head.

2) Reskinning. This is usually the simplest. It usually involves taking a creature and modifying/adding just a couple of abilities and perhaps some of the flavor of the creature. Take a Giant, make it an Elemental and turn Stone Throwing into Magma Hurl and have it deal fire damage and you got a different creature with minimal work. I did this to good effect when I took a Goblin, made it a Plant creature. I even made a 1d10 chart with vegetable flavors. If you took a bite of the Veggie Goblin, you could taste onion, mushroom, etc.

3) Using only the Base. Now this, this takes a little bit of work. I think of a creature I want to make. I have a couple of ideas in mind. I don't try to create the creature from scratch. No, what I do is I look in the Monster Manual for a creature of the appropriate type/CR. I then strip it to the bare bones. I then go through, modify a couple of skills or feats as appropriate, and things like environment and alignment, making sure those match as well. Then I give it the abilities that I want. Then, I take a glance at the ability scores. I modify these as needed. Sometimes I think "This creature has more combat skills and could use a slight up in Strength. Perhaps it isn't quite as Dextrous as this creature and could subtract a couple." Or something along those lines.

Those are my three processes.

As for worrying about TPKing the party... well, you're bound to possibly run into the problem no matter what creatures you use, homemade or wotc-created. Just remember to keep an eye on how its doing during combat. I have definitely modified abilities on the fly in order to prevent TPKs or to make a creature actually a challenge instead of a pushover with an impressive hit point buffer. Playtesting the creature is the biggest thing with a created monster. I have frequently created monster abilities as Standard Actions, for example, and then during combat realized I would NEVER spend the action to use it as a Standard Action, but found it actually was useful and yet not gamebreaking to make it a Move Action.

So I suggest reminding yourself that even once the creature is on paper, don't fear to make any more changes.

Edit: In my sig, there's a link to some monsters that I've created. While the first couple don't really have any explanations, after that, I usually posted a comment about what I did in my monster creation. For example, the Fire Wolf creature I made:

"Okay, for this, I took a Winter Wolf, changed it to a fire wolf [partly by adding the Half-Elemental Template to it], advanced it a little bit, and added the Shapelessness quality from the Amorphous Template. IMO, it's the only thing about that template that is fitting for this creature. As for the Winter Wolf itself, I removed the natural bonus to hide checks, you know, cause it's like made of FIRE. Also, it doesn't gain a bonus to hide in snow or whatever like it used to for previously mentioned reason, although I am giving it a bonus when hiding in fires."

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

No real advice atm, except that I agree with pretty much already said so far, especially Dog Moon. I'll just say "Don't sweat the little things too much!" and then point to a few resources that might help speed things up for you. The items with (*) are the things I go to pretty much every time I make a monster.

(*) SRD: Improving Monsters section - You probably already know about this; it's just the open content from the DMG/MM. But the tables are there to reference if you're away from the books.

(*) The Pathfinder Monster Creation rules - The tables here are extremely helpful, imho. This site basically show you what's important in creating a monster from scratch (Note: ability scores don't really matter! ) and tells you how to keep things balanced for a given CR. It's for PF, obviously, but it's close enough to regular 3.5e that it might help you.

Trailblazer - This is a cheap PDF which includes a lot of good analysis, and provides lots of tables comparing monster stats at different CRs to PCs at corresponding levels. But really, the moral of the story is simple: "Don't worry about it too much." As long as you pay attention to the important stats (BAB, AC, saves, average damage) and special abilities, you'll be OK. (TB contains lots of rules "fixes" for issues that are commonly cited as weaknesses in 3.5e.)

There are lots of template books out there, as well. Of course, slapping on a weird template and then reskinning the result can make for some really unique monsters. Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary is one I've used quite a bit for really oddball stuff and inspiration. Also popular is the Book of Templates, Deluxe Edition.

Finally, online monster generators are a huge help in speeding up the process. The two I use are at (*) Dingle's Games, and the Monster Advancer. There a little different from each other, and each has strengths and weaknessess-- but both are a huge help in quickly advancing HD, adding common templates, and layering on classes. From the outputs of these tools, it's easy enough to reskin, swap out special abilities, convert spells to equivalent power SLAs, or what not.

Good luck!

 

[megamania]

Dog moon nailed it.



When I create something new I will first look for something close to what I am looking for and either adjust it on a cosmetic level or add a template to it that makes an existing creature better fit what I am looking for.

There are templates availiable that change abilities, size, stats, and even give just spell-like abilities. With enough research one can find a template for most any need you have.

That said, I often wing it also. If you feel the changes are extreme there is nothing stopping you from testing it before the main game. Roll up or use copies of your player's characters and do a mock fight with them complete with rolls and the such. This way gives you a general idea of level of the creature vs the level of your PCs.