D&D 5E 5e EPIC MONSTER UPDATES

dave2008 · Aug 4, 2018

RedTorment said:
Thank you again for clarifying [MENTION=83242]dave2008[/MENTION]. It is all clear

In the meantime, I did find this:

CURSE OF STRHAD

Vladimir Horngaard (Pag 242)
Medium undead (Revenant)
STR 18 (+4)
Vladimir wields a +2 greatsword with a hilt sculpted
to resemble silver dragon wings and a pommel shaped
like a silver dragon's head clutching a black opal between
its teeth. As an action, he can make two attacks
with the sword (+9 to hit). It deals 20 (4d6 + 6) slashing
damage on a hit. Against Strahd, Vladimir deals
an extra 14 (4d6) slashing damage with the weapon.

A medium monster with STR 18 but it deals 4d6 !

Interesting. I hadn't realized that WotC had gone against the design guide with a weapon. Good find. And thank you for all the questions, I hope my answers helped. I know they have encouraged me to at least get Strahd corrected!

RedTorment · Aug 5, 2018

dave2008 said:
Interesting. I hadn't realized that WotC had gone against the design guide with a weapon. Good find. And thank you for all the questions, I hope my answers helped. I know they have encouraged me to at least get Strahd corrected!

Your answers are gold!

dave2008 · Aug 8, 2018

[MENTION=6932519]RedTorment[/MENTION] I updated Strahd. I think I picked up and clarified all your questions. Let me know if I missed anything.

RedTorment · Aug 8, 2018

dave2008 said:
[MENTION=6932519]RedTorment[/MENTION] I updated Strahd. I think I picked up and clarified all your questions. Let me know if I missed anything.

[MENTION=83242]dave2008[/MENTION] It is perfect ! Thank you for your time !!!

ThatOneLightingTech · Aug 10, 2018

I'm so glad for stumbling upon this list!! I'd been looking around forever, for just mythical and extreme monsters. So thank you, sir, for your work!!

dave2008 · Aug 10, 2018

ThatOneLightingTech said:
I'm so glad for stumbling upon this list!! I'd been looking around forever, for just mythical and extreme monsters. So thank you, sir, for your work!!

Your welcome!

dave2008 · Aug 18, 2018

I am thinking that for the second drafts of these epic monsters I may get rid of legendary actions. My thought is to move the abilities to be standard, bonus, and reactions actions and give epic monsters multiple turns (if needed) to compensate.

I am coming to this conclusion from my work on epic characters. My intent with epic characters is to play gods. It got me thinking what does it look like when one character (a god) with legendary actions fights a monster with legendary actions. I feel it may be needless complex and lengthen the encounter unhelpfully.

So, I am thinking about redesigning epic monsters in the 2nd draft to use the non-legendary monster format. The conceit would be that creatures with epic ranks would get an additional turn for each epic rank.

Any thoughts?

SkidAce · Aug 19, 2018

I kinda like using the standard rules for legendary actions, to simulate extra turns or actions the creature has. Perhaps still calling it a legendary action, but say it can use it at will, or at the beginning of combat, or as an action surge, instead of only at the end of another creatures turn.

Could be very dynamic.

Legendary Action, Cthulhu's Encroaching Tentacles, +x to hit, damage x, special effect x, may be used at any order in the init, once per epic rank. (poor example, but you get the point)

dave2008 · Aug 19, 2018

SkidAce said:
I kinda like using the standard rules for legendary actions, to simulate extra turns or actions the creature has. Perhaps still calling it a legendary action, but say it can use it at will, or at the beginning of combat, or as an action surge, instead of only at the end of another creatures turn.

Could be very dynamic.

Legendary Action, Cthulhu's Encroaching Tentacles, +x to hit, damage x, special effect x, may be used at any order in the init, once per epic rank. (poor example, but you get the point)

Thank you for the response! That is a fine idea, but it doesn't really address the problem I see down the road. It is just a more flexible take on legendary actions. Look, I like legendary actions - a lot. It is just they have there limits.

When you have a group of 4 gods (PCs) fighting an ArchFiend, his generals, and a platoon of devils I see legendary action craziness being a problem. There are at least 5-6 creatures with legendary actions and at that point everyone it acting after another creature - it is giant mash of legendary actions. I guess you could just resolve everyone's legendary actions in initiative order, but that seems like a time sink. Legendary Actions are really designed for solo encounters when you have just one legendary monster. The more I think about it, the more I think they need to go when you get to epic (beyond 20th level) play.

SkidAce · Aug 19, 2018

[MENTION=83242]dave2008[/MENTION] , I forsee, IMO, an inconsistency you may want to take into account during this design phase.

(UNLESS, epic games and standard games are totally divorced from each other)

16th level group of adventurers combat the infamous Ursine'Twain, Demon Double Drop Bear, Lord of the Infinite Wasteland Prison of Stralia, in the Abyss.

The demon has legendary actions, as they should for this grand semi-solo combat extravaganza. Players survive, but did not kill Ursine'Twain on its home plane.

Adventurers become "epic", they go back to the prison wasteland to finish the job. Demon no longer has legendary actions?