Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Creation in D&D Next
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Chris_Nightwing" data-source="post: 5975452" data-attributes="member: 882"><p>Hm, without reading the guidelines he has to create that minotaur from, it's hard to judge.</p><p></p><p>I am a big fan of an integrated mechanical system that makes it clear where each of the relevant modifiers is coming from. In this case, the minotaur has a to-hit bonus and damage that are clearly derived. His mention of hobgoblins confused this though - mentioning that they were being given a higher bonus because they are a martial race. Will this be clearly described? +1 to-hit if trained as a soldier, +2 if trained as an elite, +3 if you are the world's greatest swordsman. Should these bonuses be for specific weapons?</p><p></p><p>He also discusses the minotaur's special abilities and makes mention that some of these will be represented in other monsters - Rage for instance. Finally! An end to the tyranny of monsters having wholly unique, but incredibly similar abilities. In fact, here's a suggestion if it doesn't already exist - harking back to the (broken) build-your-own-class rules I remember from 2E - give us a laundry list of abilities to choose from, and suggest a cost for each one. You want a 5th level monster, here, have 5x points to spend on things and you won't go far wrong:</p><p></p><p>+1 to hit costs 1</p><p>+2 to hit costs 3, discount of 1 for single weapon</p><p>+3 to hit costs 5, discount of 1 for single weapon</p><p></p><p>Armor costs 1 per point up to the recommended AC, 2 beyond that.</p><p>Similarly for extra damage.</p><p></p><p>Rage costs 3</p><p>Keen senses costs 2</p><p>And so on..</p><p></p><p>I'm just worried about the use of mechanical derivations for some things ("the attack bonus is about right because of his strength") vs. non-sensical fixes to bring things into line with expectations ("this creatures isn't strong enough so I guess he has weapon training to get his to-hit up to scratch").</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chris_Nightwing, post: 5975452, member: 882"] Hm, without reading the guidelines he has to create that minotaur from, it's hard to judge. I am a big fan of an integrated mechanical system that makes it clear where each of the relevant modifiers is coming from. In this case, the minotaur has a to-hit bonus and damage that are clearly derived. His mention of hobgoblins confused this though - mentioning that they were being given a higher bonus because they are a martial race. Will this be clearly described? +1 to-hit if trained as a soldier, +2 if trained as an elite, +3 if you are the world's greatest swordsman. Should these bonuses be for specific weapons? He also discusses the minotaur's special abilities and makes mention that some of these will be represented in other monsters - Rage for instance. Finally! An end to the tyranny of monsters having wholly unique, but incredibly similar abilities. In fact, here's a suggestion if it doesn't already exist - harking back to the (broken) build-your-own-class rules I remember from 2E - give us a laundry list of abilities to choose from, and suggest a cost for each one. You want a 5th level monster, here, have 5x points to spend on things and you won't go far wrong: +1 to hit costs 1 +2 to hit costs 3, discount of 1 for single weapon +3 to hit costs 5, discount of 1 for single weapon Armor costs 1 per point up to the recommended AC, 2 beyond that. Similarly for extra damage. Rage costs 3 Keen senses costs 2 And so on.. I'm just worried about the use of mechanical derivations for some things ("the attack bonus is about right because of his strength") vs. non-sensical fixes to bring things into line with expectations ("this creatures isn't strong enough so I guess he has weapon training to get his to-hit up to scratch"). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Monster Creation in D&D Next
Top