Helldritch
Hero
In many games I have the chance to come across; I see many young masters taking monsters out of the MM and play without sense of tactics. Most monsters in adventures feels like statues waiting to activate as in a videogame where they jump to life only as the players are coming in. Here are the few things I do to make monsters and setting alive in campaign and adventures.
1) Monsters use the grab option to position players in a way that they will get attacked with advantage.
3) Move, shoot, move again to full cover.
4) What players get, monsters can get too. Especially at med and high levels.
5) Magic is good for the players, so is it for their foes.
6) If you invade someone's home, be prepared to do it one shot or they will chase you!
7) Divinations are not reserved for the sole use of the players. Evil NPCs can and will use it too.
8) Anyone can get their greedy hands on the MM. So change the monsters a bit.
9) Reputation can be good or bad.
10) There are thieves in the world.
1) Monsters use the grab option to position players in a way that they will get attacked with advantage.
I use this with many monsters. Not only intelligent ones. A mated pair of owlbears, manticores or whatever will try to move PCs around. Once grabbed, they are easier to bite and tastier too! This is especially devastating with undeads...
2) The dodge action is there for monsters too!
High AC monsters like Hobgoblins love to do some dodging while their friends fire arrows after arrows at the players (front rows or not). If the players are hard to hit, why bother to attack? This changes the odds in the favor of the monster while the players are trying to hit at disadvantage. The face of a sharpshooter or great weapon master forced to strike at disadvantage and not using his/her feat leads to great satisfaction as they have to find a way to actualy get to use their feat. Even the shooting rogue gets angry. Sneak attack is good, but it has to hit to do something. It also forces players to vary their cantrip. Saving throw cantrip now is a thing to have when the foes are too hard to hit.
3) Move, shoot, move again to full cover.
If it is possible. Foes will do this at first opportunities. This prevent the players from targeting the range attackers and force them to try to hit the dodging ones in the front row. This makes players hate #2 even more.
4) What players get, monsters can get too. Especially at med and high levels.
If feats and options in the DM guide are used, monsters get the short end of the stick (if they get to touch it at all). And it can lead to a lot of DM frustration with the system. As a house rule, I sometimes give a bit of feats to monsters/foes if the fight warrants it. I use this, generaly, only on meaningful fights (and not random encounters) and even then, not on all. Just enough so that the players stay on their toes.
5) Magic is good for the players, so is it for their foes.
Want to give a +1 shield to the players? Make sure it is used by the boss. All these wonderfull potions of healing that you can get on the PHB can be used to by players' foes. Nothing is more frustrating to players than to see THEIR treasures being used up by the vilains. Wand of magic missiles? Sure, I am about to die so I'll use every charges that I can. Maybe the players won't get it as the wand lose its magic on the morning (happened once, rolled in front of the players. The wizard was mad and blaming his bad luck).
6) If you invade someone's home, be prepared to do it one shot or they will chase you!
This is not as obvious as it may seems. Many times young DM will let players rest and their foes are just waiting for them to come back. Make the foes actualy search for the players. Let them prepare traps and ambushes in case the players are not found. The look of stupor from players when they say:"But we cleared that room the day before! How come are there monsters in there now? We're trapped! FLEE!" This also has the side effect of making nova fight less and less frequent.
7) Divinations are not reserved for the sole use of the players. Evil NPCs can and will use it too.
Almost the same as #5. Now it is for magic itself and not the items. Evil casters will use divination magic to locate their foes if they are aware of them. Once a group retreat to regroup and rest, evil casters will use divination to find the players and learn about them. They will change their spell selection according to what they can learn. Be honest and make sure the evil one doesn't learn more than what the players could with the same spells. I personnaly let the players know when they are the subjects of divination magic and they succeed their saves by more than 5. They know that the same will be applied to the victim of their divinations.
8) Anyone can get their greedy hands on the MM. So change the monsters a bit.
A variant of #4. I do this only if I feel that a players is having a MM at home. More over, a lot of players commit to memory the MM. This is especially true with hard monsters such as demons/devils/dragons and many undeads. Nothing is funnier than to modify some of them a wee bit. And not all of them. Just a few. A fire elemental that does dmg to its melee attacker (as a weak fireshield) can be surprising. Especialy if the previous one was not doing it. I made a shield guardian looking like a large four armed skeleton with two energy shields and two long swords. It was simple shield guardian but the fact that it looked like something else and was protecting the evil necromancer was enough to put the players in an uproar! Too strong were they saying. Way too strong! This was a 10th level group with 6 players in it... their face when they learned... their face...
9) Reputation can be good or bad.
Ho no! It the all time slayers that take no prisonners group! Flee or fight to the death! When no one is surving the group, the word will get around. You can be sure that evil npc's in the region will learn about the players. If they are the slaying type, they will hire assassins or have spies to check up on them. If the players are going the way of the NPCs, they will either flee or prepare with reinforcement. If the vilains win, they will make sure that the players won't be raised.
If they tend to make prisonners. The villains will be more enclined to let the players get away for a ransom. The villains might even get lazy and not check up too much on the PCs. After all, they are not slayers. Sometimes, foes will simply surrender if they know they can't beat the players and that they will live to see an other day. Better be in prison than dead.
This make the players aware that what they do will have an impact on their role play. The more reckless they appear, the more shady their patrons get. The more they appear on the good guy list as sensible and forgiving, the more they can hope to see someone going out of his way to help them.
If they tend to make prisonners. The villains will be more enclined to let the players get away for a ransom. The villains might even get lazy and not check up too much on the PCs. After all, they are not slayers. Sometimes, foes will simply surrender if they know they can't beat the players and that they will live to see an other day. Better be in prison than dead.
This make the players aware that what they do will have an impact on their role play. The more reckless they appear, the more shady their patrons get. The more they appear on the good guy list as sensible and forgiving, the more they can hope to see someone going out of his way to help them.
10) There are thieves in the world.
There is nothing more frustrating than to see you made a mistake in giving something to the players. You can't just take it back. Stealing is often the best solution. I don't do it often but if I have no choice I will not hesitate. Now be prepared to have a lot of whining. Be fair and give a chance to the victim to actualy get his item back. Prepare/devise and adventure around the thief and the buyer. Now if the players are paying a bit of their earning to the local thieve guild, they might actualy have a warning about a possible theft of the item before it actualy happen!
Once a player of mine got his magical full plate stolen by an efreet. The efreet woke him up and said:" I take this piece of magical protection in the name of Tantaculos the mighty which, incindentaly, is in need of it. He wished for such an armor and yours was the nearest one. His wish is now fulfilled. I will bring this armor to his delve in the mountain south of Llorkh. My servitude will end with this token. Good day to you mortal." It was a hell of an adventure to get it back.
Once a player of mine got his magical full plate stolen by an efreet. The efreet woke him up and said:" I take this piece of magical protection in the name of Tantaculos the mighty which, incindentaly, is in need of it. He wished for such an armor and yours was the nearest one. His wish is now fulfilled. I will bring this armor to his delve in the mountain south of Llorkh. My servitude will end with this token. Good day to you mortal." It was a hell of an adventure to get it back.
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