Level Up (A5E) Monster preview thread!

[Zaukrie]

Love the addition of the detailed combat section, particularly things like "it fights to the death", "it flies away when blodied" and " it retreats, risking opportunity attacks and then comes back next turn". Excellent to help DMs make different creatures fight differently

Truth. I'm adding it to all my products going forward, thanks to their inspiration. Really, there is MUCH to love about the write ups beyond the stat blocks.

 

[Stalker0]

And whoa, it can automatically nom a character's item? No Dex save to dodge out of the way in time? Wow, that's powerful.

So the Xorn actually has to hit you with all 3 of its attacks to actually grab anything. So I would bet in most cases, your chances of getting hit by it are much less likely than if it was a meer saving throw.

That said, players always hate not being in control, so when the plate armored wearing fighter gets stripped down to their underwear, they will rage and swear eternal vengeance against the xorn!

This is one of those monster changes I really like. On paper, its base abilities are practically identical to O5e. It basically gets a little more claw damage but only gets the bite if 2 claws hit, so roughly the same damage. But the steal ability will make it exceptionally memorable for players.

 

[Nebulous]

I love the idea of it eating people's stuff. Players are soooo protective of their stuff!

Players would rather die than lose their stuff, I've had some tell me that. Raise me from the dead, but my gear is gone, Also, steals up to 1000 gp!!!! So it can rob the richest person and just glide into the earth and not come back, and there's really not much the PCs can do. I love it.

 

[Morrus]

We're getting near the end! Y is for... Yeti!

 

[Scribe]

@Faolyn in the interests of keeping that other thread from being unlocked.

I'm fine with this in general, but when presented with 2 (or more) options, and without Alignment (I assume Level Up is not handling Alignment or Gods, or Outer Planes?) I dont know, the more I reread it, the less I like it.

I dont want it all to say

"Its this, or it could be this."
"Its friendly, or it may not be."
"Its Hungry, or maybe its violent."

I would rather it definitively state something, but I understand (or assume) that its not intended to be setting specific. It doesnt 'sell me' in that case, if that makes sense?

Looking at the Wraith on the prior page. Its literally born of an Evil Aligned "dedicated to Cosmic Evil" humanoids souls, has Evil as a Keyword/Attribute, its clearly 'E'vil, so I guess Alignment just isnt a thing here, despite it mentioning it? That one sells me quite a bit more on what it is, and what its intended to be?

Maybe I'm missing something, I havent kept track of this project after looking at it a bit some months back.

 

[Stalker0]

One of the other interesting aspects of Levelup is how small changes in its combat can have big impacts here. So the fact that crits are a true double damage is a big deal to the Yeti. With a paralysing gaze, there is a good chance a player could be facing a yeti double hitting for 36 average damage, quite a swing for a CR4!!!

Quick check on the Abominable Snowman. Is storm sight intended to work through the blizzard? I assume the answer was yes but wanted to confirm.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

@Faolyn in the interests of keeping that other thread from being unlocked.

I'm fine with this in general, but when presented with 2 (or more) options, and without Alignment (I assume Level Up is not handling Alignment or Gods, or Outer Planes?) I dont know, the more I reread it, the less I like it.

I dont want it all to say

"Its this, or it could be this."
"Its friendly, or it may not be."
"Its Hungry, or maybe its violent."

I would rather it definitively state something, but I understand (or assume) that its not intended to be setting specific. It doesnt 'sell me' in that case, if that makes sense?

Looking at the Wraith on the prior page. Its literally born of an Evil Aligned "dedicated to Cosmic Evil" humanoids souls, has Evil as a Keyword/Attribute, its clearly 'E'vil, so I guess Alignment just isnt a thing here, despite it mentioning it? That one sells me quite a bit more on what it is, and what its intended to be?

Maybe I'm missing something, I havent kept track of this project after looking at it a bit some months back.

I’m not 100% sure about alignment in LevelUp. But a few posts back Morrus explained that auras are used for alignments. Some something that is definitively good or evil has a good or evil aura.

Now if the lack of a defined alignment is that much of a trigger for you, then you will want to look elsewhere. Of course you would be missing out on a lot of much more interesting stuff, but we all have a issues don’t we!

 

[Scribe]

I’m not 100% sure about alignment in LevelUp. But a few posts back Morrus explained that auras are used for alignments. Some something that is definitively good or evil has a good or evil aura.

Now if the lack of a defined alignment is that much of a trigger for you, then you will want to look elsewhere. Of course you would be missing out on a lot of much more interesting stuff, but we all have a issues don’t we!

Certainly is an issue to me, but perhaps because I just don't have a complete picture and understanding on how it is being used.

Its being referred to in the lore text, and with that Aura so its certainly around, somewhat, but yeah, we all have our own hang ups.

 

[Morrus]

Certainly is an issue to me, but perhaps because I just don't have a complete picture and understanding on how it is being used.

Its being referred to in the lore text, and with that Aura so its certainly around, somewhat, but yeah, we all have our own hang ups.

I’m not clear about what the issue is exactly, but alignment is noted in the traits section rather than the header.

 

[Scribe]

I’m not clear about what the issue is exactly, but alignment is noted in the traits section rather than the header.

That was my question Morrus, I just havent been following the product development enough to know if its (Alignment) missing completely, or just being leveraged differently, and the Wraith looked like it was being used and referenced in some capacity.