Do you increase monster hit points?

aco175 · Jun 23, 2018

I usually end up changing HP during the fight for the boss depending on if it has cool powers left or I feel it needs to last another round or two. AC depends on if I adjust on the fly or write it in the module. I may have goblins that try to shoot bows, so I will write them as AC13 without shields.

Now I had my 5th level group fighting some snakefolk this week and the malisons were listed as AC11. Being CR3 monsters I gave them 14s on the fly and the boss I gave a shield to as well.

77IM · Jun 25, 2018

Yes. I have a large group (7 players) and if they focus-fire they can bring down just about anything in one round. So if I want a "miniboss" monster I'll crank up the monster HP, and maybe give out extra attacks or damage. I don't do a blanket increase in hit points to all monsters, though.

Example: The party fought an efreeti and her fire elemental servants. I doubled the efreeti's hit points and made her multiattick do three attacks instead of two.

She lasted 4 rounds, which felt about right. Between the elementals running interference and the efreeti's excellent movement capabilities, the group just couldn't get a lock on her.

This is also a good technique for getting more mileage out of the NPCs in the appendix. If you want an enemy scout or thug or something that's still a threat at higher levels: double HP, +2 to proficiency, 1 extra attack. At even higher levels: quadruple HP, +4 to proficiency, 1 extra attack, double the damage dice of all attacks.

Jefe Bergenstein · Jun 25, 2018

Sunseeker said:
I generally add monsters rather than up HP. Higher HPs can turn fights into slogs. More monsters makes fights more deadly, without the slog.

I personally find tracking 15 different monsters' HP's to be much more of a slog than wailing on a boss monster with 1HP 4E style minions.

With my current party I add about 50hp/party level to anything I don't want vaporized in one round. Even without a sharpshooter/GWM in the party they still pump out an absurd amount of damage.

Jer · Jun 25, 2018

I tend to also add more creatures rather than more hp. More creatures give the bad guys more attacks/round which I find to be more balancing than just upping hp.

I will sometimes add more hp AND more attacks to a creature, though. Mathematically its equivalent to adding more creatures into the mix but it's sometimes easier to manage a single creature with multiple attacks instead of multiple creatures with one or two attacks each, and sometimes it's more thematically appropriate.

Jefe Bergenstein · Jun 25, 2018

Jer said:
I tend to also add more creatures rather than more hp. More creatures give the bad guys more attacks/round which I find to be more balancing than just upping hp.

I will sometimes add more hp AND more attacks to a creature, though. Mathematically its equivalent to adding more creatures into the mix but it's sometimes easier to manage a single creature with multiple attacks instead of multiple creatures with one or two attacks each, and sometimes it's more thematically appropriate.

It also takes up less space, allowing for more mobile fights. Cramming 5 PC's, a henchman, and 12 enemy combatants in a dungeon and you have a very static encounter.

Satyrn · Jun 25, 2018

ehren37 said:
It also takes up less space, allowing for more mobile fights. Cramming 5 PC's, a henchman, and 12 enemy combatants in a dungeon and you have a very static encounter.

One of the things I started doing (inspired by 4e's Dungeon Delves book) is consider a group of rooms as 1 single "encounter area," so that those extra monsters are almost certain to be spread around at the start of combat (and come in waves), or create levels . . . Two . . .

Two of the things I started doing (inspired by 4e's Dungeon Delves book) is consider a group of rooms as 1 single "encounter area," or create levels like balconies and slopes in a single room to create that dynamic area, or . . .

Nope, that's as far as I'm taking that Spanish Inquisition reference.

Sunseeker · Jun 26, 2018

ehren37 said:
I personally find tracking 15 different monsters' HP's to be much more of a slog than wailing on a boss monster with 1HP 4E style minions.

With my current party I add about 50hp/party level to anything I don't want vaporized in one round. Even without a sharpshooter/GWM in the party they still pump out an absurd amount of damage.

I don't generally run a wide variety of monsters in any given encounter. There' usually Generic Orc 1-4 and Orc leader. The stat sheet in my notebook for "Generic Orc" just has 4 different places to put down HP totals.

I do use minions sometimes, but they serve a different purpose than more meatier foes.

Sleepy Walker · Jun 26, 2018

No, I just add more creatures based on circumstance. If the players manage to reduce the forces arrayed against them or make some mistakes increasing the difficulty in any number of ways, then that is what happens. So far it has worked out quite well. The players have managed to adapt to the circumstances arrayed against them, easily smashing through or bitterly burning resources like fire fighters trying to stop a blaze.

Imaculata · Jun 26, 2018

On occasion I have increased the hit points of a boss monster at the start of combat, because I had misjudged the damage output of the players. But I prefer to add reinforcements instead.

Sacrosanct · Jun 26, 2018

Nope. I like to use random HP though, and not the same HP for every monster type. I find that very boring, as do my players, because they can easily predict when every monster will go down, and sometimes it turns into a math problem before combat even starts, and most of us don't like that metagaming aspect. Random HP keeps them on their toes. I haven't found a need to increase HP either. If there are more players, I'll adjust monsters as mentioned. But mostly, I utilize the environment a lot, and treat the monsters as living creatures. I.e., will they use traps, or flee and get reinforcements, or tricks, etc. What does the flavor text say in the MM, and that tells me how to run them.

Do you increase monster hit points?

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