So who's making monsters?

[Holy Bovine]

Just wondering if anyone has been making monsters based on the mechanics they are seeing from the current bestiary.

I'm running a homebrew 5E game this weekend and am looking for some wolves/wargs for the goblin raiders to ride.

edit - also why the heck does the Dungeons & Dragons playtest material have exactly *ZERO* dragons in it?

"Dungeons? Oh yeah we gots dungeons. Dragons? I don't know about those things..."

 

[Connorsrpg]

Not yet, but I have just started converting Rise of the Runelords for playtest (to start in about 6 weeks), so I am going to be keeping an eye on this thread.

I will be posting conversions/stat blocks and realms sheets to our playtest thread.

 

[Ichneumon]

Since they haven't addressed the monsters past the point of providing something to playtest, I doubt they feel confident enough to present dragons just yet. While the ogre can get away with being somewhere near the ballpark, dragons need to be awesome right out of the gate.

 

[ComradeGnull]

edit - also why the heck does the Dungeons & Dragons playtest material have exactly *ZERO* dragons in it?

"Dungeons? Oh yeah we gots dungeons. Dragons? I don't know about those things..."

DND Online, anyone?

 

[slobster]

edit - also why the heck does the Dungeons & Dragons playtest material have exactly *ZERO* dragons in it?

"Dungeons? Oh yeah we gots dungeons. Dragons? I don't know about those things..."

To be charitable, a playtest that only covers a few levels is a difficult place to debut the banner beasties of DDN. If they did include a dragon that was an appropriate challenge for the playtest PCs, people would be complaining that dragons in DDN are wusses that can be beat up by half a dozen snot-nosed adventurers who can barely stand up to a tribe of ogres, and that the dragons in Dungeons and DRAGONS should be more epic, etc.

Some days you just can't win.

 

[MortalPlague]

I'm running a homebrew 5E game this weekend and am looking for some wolves/wargs for the goblin raiders to ride.

Here's a quick stab at it:

Dire Wolf
AC 13
Hit Points 16 (3d8+3)
Speed 40 ft.

STR 14 (+2) DEX 15 (+2) CON 13 (+1)
INT 4 (-3) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 6 (-2)

Traits:
The Dire Wolf gains +4 to damage against prone targets.

Actions:
Melee Attack - Bite: +2 to hit, 1d8 + 2 damage.

(The Dire Wolf can move 10 feet for free before making this attack)
Melee Attack - Pounce: +2 to hit, 1d4 + 2 damage, and the target is knocked prone.

Level 4 XP 450

edit - also why the heck does the Dungeons & Dragons playtest material have exactly *ZERO* dragons in it?

I think it's also because we've only seen up to 5th level. I'm sure the next push (which should be up to 10th level) will have a dragon or two in the bestiary.

Incidentally, the post RangerWickett made about the dragons of 5th Edition made me start putting together a red, but we'll see how things shape up. I wanted to playtest it against a full party of 5th level PCs and see how it goes.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Here's a quick stab at it:

Dire Wolf
AC 13
Hit Points 16 (3d8+3)
Speed 40 ft.

STR 14 (+2) DEX 15 (+2) CON 13 (+1)
INT 4 (-3) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 6 (-2)

Traits:
The Dire Wolf gains +4 to damage against prone targets.

Actions:
Melee Attack - Bite: +2 to hit, 1d8 + 2 damage.

(The Dire Wolf can move 10 feet for free before making this attack)
Melee Attack - Pounce: +2 to hit, 1d4 + 2 damage, and the target is knocked prone.

Level 4 XP 450

I like this. I don't know about it being 4th level though. It doesn't seem to have a high enough attack bonus or hps to stand up to 4th level PCs. The big damage bonus vs. prone might make up for those lacks though.

 

[Holy Bovine]

To be charitable, a playtest that only covers a few levels is a difficult place to debut the banner beasties of DDN. If they did include a dragon that was an appropriate challenge for the playtest PCs, people would be complaining that dragons in DDN are wusses that can be beat up by half a dozen snot-nosed adventurers who can barely stand up to a tribe of ogres, and that the dragons in Dungeons and DRAGONS should be more epic, etc.

Some days you just can't win.

With PCs going to 5th level it would have been quite appropriate to have a very young or wyrmling dragon in the bestiary. I have published adventures from Basic D&D that ended with the 3rd level PCs facing off against a very young dragon.

 

[Steely_Dan]

I have converted some monsters (roughly, from all editions) that have appeared in my campaign of 7 years:

-Cyclops Crusher
-Cyclops Guard
-Death Knight
-Efreeti
-Ferrumach (Rilmani)
-Night Hag
-Satyr Piper
-Solamith

 

[MortalPlague]

I like this. I don't know about it being 4th level though. It doesn't seem to have a high enough attack bonus or hps to stand up to 4th level PCs. The big damage bonus vs. prone might make up for those lacks though.

I based the dire wolf on a gnoll, who only has a +2 to hit and is a level 4 creature. In fact, many of the bestiary creatures only get a +2 or +3 to attack. Also, bear in mind that the wolf gets advantage against prone targets, so once one of the pack pounces, it gets ugly.