D&D 5E New Homebrew Monsters - Enforcers

[Stalker0]

Working with @dave2008 on a lot of his monsters inspired me to work on some of my own. These guys are actually protagonists in a fantasy series I am writing, but I thought I would give them the "dnd monster treatment" for fun.

Enforcers: While the gods often use Inevitables and Angles to carry out their divine orders, there are circumstances that require more "flexibility" in their handling. For these tasks, the gods use Enforcers, mortals whose essence has been attached to a source of great power. Enforcers represent the perfection of their form in one way or another.

All enforcers were made at the same time, and that communal birth manifests in a harmonious state known as the "Battlemind". Two or more enforcers working together have a preternatural sense of each others action, and can draw on each others power, growing far stronger than they ever could alone. A single Enforcer is always a threat, but multiple enforcers are a true terror to behold.


The stat blocks are noted in posts below:

 

[dave2008]

Love the flavor! I will give you my quick review in a bit, I've got to finish up some yard work before I loose the day light.

PS - Is it OK if I think to these in the Table of Contents of my thread? I will credit you of course.

 

[Stalker0]

Love the flavor! I will give you my quick review in a bit, I've got to finish up some yard work before I loose the day light.

PS - Is it OK if I think to these in the Table of Contents of my thread? I will credit you of course.

Once they get a once over and people agree they look good, absolutely

 

[dave2008]

OK, here are my thoughts on the Divine Mind:

1) I am getting a slightly higher CR. I had Defensive of 15 and Offensive of 13 so CR 14.

• Defensive: base 11 + 4 for effective AC of 25 (22 +2 for 3 saves per DMG +1 for auto saves) = 15
• Offensive: base 12 + 1 for effective attack of 11 (I gave it +3 for advantage) = 13

2) I would like to see some skills, I would at least go with perception. But I could see these guys having a lot.

3) I really like battlemind. You really don't want to face a bunch of these guys. Speaking of which you used gendered pronoun somewhere, not sure these are all make or not, but that might be a thing.

4) I like the weapon options: most damage, reach, or range. I don't feel you need to restate the critical range though. Also, I might suggest adding a maneuver or two to some of these. Maybe Divine Mind can cleave with the greatsword or knock prone with the halberd?

5) I like the Pillar of divinity. Lots of options with that. However, since it is always up it might be a bit strong or you might need to figure that 14 HP like regeneration. I would also prefer that you list what the pillar does rather than refer to a spell. But I get it.

6) Divine Memory: Again I prefer you tell me what it does than refer to a spell. More so because it doesn't have any spellcasting trait I'm not expecting to have to look up spells.

Overall a very interesting challenge. I look forward to looking at the rest of them.

 

[dave2008]

Seismic Slam: Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (2d6 + 13) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 18) or become prone.

the typical 5e language is: ...and the target must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Erupt Earth: The World Soul chooses a 10 foot radius piece of ground within 120 ft. All creatures in the radius make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 18) or take 19 (3d12 bludgeoning damage). The area becomes difficult terrain.

the typical 5e language is: All creatures in the area must make DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 19 (3d12) bludgeoning damage. The area becomes difficult terrain.

I might suggest revising it to:
All creatures in the area must make DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, take 19 (3d12) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The area becomes difficult terrain.

 

[dave2008]

Ok, here are some thoughts on World Soul:

1) I haven't look at offense yet, but I am getting a defensive CR of 13: 250 effective HP (BPS resistance) = 12 base + effective AC of 19 (+3 for automatic saves on three abilities). There is even an argument the effective HP could be higher because of the 3 condition immunities.

2) This one is weird because the strength is so far outside its CR range, but for some reason you haven't figured that into its attack bonus and over calculated its damage bonus and grapple escape DC. With the divine mind, the ultra high ability score was less problematic, but here it seems a bit all over. I think you need to use that high strength consistently first, and then maybe add somethings on top of that to get the effects you want.

3) Some non-5e-standard language as I mentioned in my previous post.

4) Stone Grasp: this basically a standard grapple with end of turn added and two targets added. Could be a trait. It does seem OP because of the high DC because of World's Strength. I think that trait might need to be looked. Maybe it has expertise in athletics instead of auto 20?

5) Hammer Throw mentions Stone Grip, should be Stone Grasp I assume? This is a strange action. I would suggest changing this to be more like the standard throw action, like Kraken's Fling:

Fling. One Large or smaller object held or creature grappled by the kraken is thrown up to 60 feet in a random direction and knocked prone. If a thrown target strikes a solid surface, the target takes 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it was thrown. If the target is thrown at another creature, that creature must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take the same damage and be knocked prone.

6) World binding, nice method to handle flying attacks, reminds me of the 4e tarrasque

7) I don't see any escape option for this guy or a method to help against ranged attacks. I think a teleport-like action that uses the earth, Or maybe it should have a burrow speed or something like the earth elemental's

Earth Glide. The elemental can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone. While doing so, the elemental doesn't disturb the material it moves through.

I like the concept of this guy, but feel it needs cleaned up a bit. It is so unbalanced it is a hard one to figure.

 

[dave2008]

OK some thoughts about the Fate Shaper:

1) This is an odd for sure. I have the same issue with the defensive CR calculation as the previous one. It seems you are not using "effective" hit points when calculating the Defensive CR. Also, Reform Self is really hard to figure. Maybe replace that action with a version of the regenerate trait.

2) Some suggestions in bold red. In addition, if the target is stunned then restrained is redundant. Everything it does is already covered by stunned. Also, if it is stunned it can't escape because it can't take actions. From your description I don't think that is your intent. Maybe dropped the stunned condition?

Chains of Fate. The Fate Shaper creates magical chains and makes the following attack: Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is Large or smaller it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or is grappled (escape DC 15), wrapped in chains. A grappled target is restrained and stunned until it released from the chains. Another creature can free the target from the chains using the same check.

3) I would revise this as follows.
Slip. The fate Shaper magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing and carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space he can see.

Not 100% sure on this one, but maybe:
Slippery Defense: When the fate shaper is the target of an attack, it can use its Slip action to teleport and the attack is automatically a miss.

Chains: The fate shaper can make one Chains of Fate attack.
el: If an attack targets an ally within 60 ft of the Fate Shaper, but before the attack is rolled, the Fate Shaper may use his slip ability to move adjacent to the target, and become the new target of the attack.
Fate Shift: The fate shaper can use its Slip action.

 

[Stalker0]

And now thank you for your feedback!

Defensive: base 11 + 4 for effective AC of 25 (22 +2 for 3 saves per DMG +1 for auto saves) = 15

• Offensive: base 12 + 1 for effective attack of 11 (I gave it +3 for advantage) = 13

The defensive base is actually 8 for 180 hp, then +4 would be 12, and I could easily see it being 13 for the extra extra special saves. So it seems CR 13 is in the ballpark.

2) I would like to see some skills, I would at least go with perception. But I could see these guys having a lot.

I do give the advantage on all ability checks, so they do have a major skill boost from that, but I see no reason not to top them off with a big skill boost, with an int like that you would expect

5) I like the Pillar of divinity. Lots of options with that. However, since it is always up it might be a bit strong or you might need to figure that 14 HP like regeneration. I would also prefer that you list what the pillar does rather than refer to a spell. But I get it.

So I look at what would happen if he gave up 2 attacks to activate the pillar and then got the equivalent of Regeneration 14 (its not exactly like regeneration because you can still die in the pillar but its close). The Offensive CR drops from 13 to 12 and the Defensive CR increases from 12 to 14. So it looks like I'm still dancing around CR 13 regardless.

I like my legendries to change the battlefield a bit, so I'll leave it as is and try it out.

6) Divine Memory: Again I prefer you tell me what it does than refer to a spell. More so because it doesn't have any spellcasting trait I'm not expecting to have to look up spells.

Overall a very interesting challenge. I look forward to looking at the rest of them.

Can do!

Seismic Slam: Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (2d6 + 13) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC 18) or become prone.

the typical 5e language is: ...and the target must succeed on a DC 18 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Thanks for the proof reads there, I'll clean them up.

Erupt Earth: The World Soul chooses a 10 foot radius piece of ground within 120 ft. All creatures in the radius make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 18) or take 19 (3d12 bludgeoning damage). The area becomes difficult terrain.

the typical 5e language is: All creatures in the area must make DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 19 (3d12) bludgeoning damage. The area becomes difficult terrain.

I might suggest revising it to:
All creatures in the area must make DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, take 19 (3d12) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The area becomes difficult terrain.

I actually used the exact wording of the spell Erupting Earth, which does not give a half damage effect, but having one gives him options so I am game.

Ok, here are some thoughts on World Soul:

1) I haven't look at offense yet, but I am getting a defensive CR of 13: 250 effective HP (BPS resistance) = 12 base + effective AC of 19 (+3 for automatic saves on three abilities). There is even an argument the effective HP could be higher because of the 3 condition immunities.

I mentioned out the top that I am not factoring in the BPS resistance at all, as at these levels my group always has magic weapons. Since we are looking at adding it to your gallery I am 100% ok with just removing the BPS resistance to keep the math clean.

2) This one is weird because the strength is so far outside its CR range, but for some reason you haven't figured that into its attack bonus and over calculated its damage bonus and grapple escape DC. With the divine mind, the ultra high ability score was less problematic, but here it seems a bit all over. I think you need to use that high strength consistently first, and then maybe add somethings on top of that to get the effects you want.

Ack! I dropped my attack bonus at the last moment to allow me to add more damage, and now I remember why I had the attack in the first place, a +14 = +10 str + 4 proficiency. So I can go back, though that drops my damage back I'll have to look.

4) Stone Grasp: this basically a standard grapple with end of turn added and two targets added. Could be a trait. It does seem OP because of the high DC because of World's Strength. I think that trait might need to be looked. Maybe it has expertise in athletics instead of auto 20?

So this is where the design leaves the standard monster. I am making these monsters with the intentional idea that they are OP in specific ways. The goal is to ensure party's can't just fight these guys the normal way....that way lies madness. With the World Soul....fighting him in melee is nigh insanity, and I wanted to reflect that.

That said, I could probably give him advantage on athletics check (I used a barbarian for some of the thoughts of the monster anyway). A +14 with advantage is going to be auto success a good portion of the time, but its not a guaranteed your screwed. I'll ponder it, I really like the concept that he is just inescapable....but that is more of a 3e mindset than a 5e one.

7) I don't see any escape option for this guy or a method to help against ranged attacks. I think a teleport-like action that uses the earth, Or maybe it should have a burrow speed or something like the earth elemental's

Earth Glide. The elemental can burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone. While doing so, the elemental doesn't disturb the material it moves through.

This was intentional. I made this guy ridiculous in melee with the balance of weaker against ranged attacks and limited maneuverability. He does have a 50 speed which can help him get out of trouble, but not too special. I also wanted to make sure it wasn't too like an earth elemental, there are already very strong similarities anyway.

OK some thoughts about the Fate Shaper:

1) This is an odd for sure. I have the same issue with the defensive CR calculation as the previous one. It seems you are not using "effective" hit points when calculating the Defensive CR. Also, Reform Self is really hard to figure. Maybe replace that action with a version of the regenerate trait.

Reform Self is flavorwise (from my story) the absolute core part of the character, so I will hold onto it for dear life unless I have to be rid of it. Again going back to what I said about the world soul....Enforcers are intentional imbalanced in specific ways...they are each designed to be extremely difficult to fight unless you smartly adapt to the tactics. A party that does not aggressively attack this enforcer is going to hugely pay for that, and that is very intentional. On the other hand, a simple hypnotic pattern or hold person could end this guy with barely a whimper. It does of course make usual CR balance incredibly tricky.

2) Some suggestions in bold red. In addition, if the target is stunned then restrained is redundant. Everything it does is already covered by stunned. Also, if it is stunned it can't escape because it can't take actions. From your description I don't think that is your intent. Maybe dropped the stunned condition?

Chains of Fate. The Fate Shaper creates magical chains and makes the following attack: Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is Large or smaller it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or is grappled (escape DC 15), wrapped in chains. A grappled target is restrained and stunned until it released from the chains. Another creature can free the target from the chains using the same check.

3) I would revise this as follows.
Slip. The fate Shaper magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing and carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space he can see.

Not 100% sure on this one, but maybe:
Slippery Defense: When the fate shaper is the target of an attack, it can use its Slip action to teleport and the attack is automatically a miss.

Chains: The fate shaper can make one Chains of Fate attack.
el: If an attack targets an ally within 60 ft of the Fate Shaper, but before the attack is rolled, the Fate Shaper may use his slip ability to move adjacent to the target, and become the new target of the attack.
Fate Shift: The fate shaper can use its Slip action.

Much cleaner language, thank you, I will incorporate!

 

[dave2008]

The defensive base is actually 8 for 180 hp, then +4 would be 12, and I could easily see it being 13 for the extra extra special saves. So it seems CR 13 is in the ballpark.

The effective HP is 225 because of your BPS resistance, so that is a base 11 +4 gets you to 15.

I do give the advantage on all ability checks, so they do have a major skill boost from that, but I see no reason not to top them off with a big skill boost, with an int like that you would expect

I think so too.

So I look at what would happen if he gave up 2 attacks to activate the pillar and then got the equivalent of Regeneration 14 (its not exactly like regeneration because you can still die in the pillar but its close). The Offensive CR drops from 13 to 12 and the Defensive CR increases from 12 to 14. So it looks like I'm still dancing around CR 13 regardless.

I'm not exactly following you. Once this is used it stays up. So the enforcer can enter it every round and get the 14 HP like regeneration. I would think you add 28 HP to the effective HP, but maybe not.

I actually used the exact wording of the spell Erupting Earth, which does not give a half damage effect, but having one gives him options so I am game.

That was just a suggestion. Regardless, just an FYI, spell language is different than monster language typical. Similar, but subtle differences.

I mentioned out the top that I am not factoring in the BPS resistance at all, as at these levels my group always has magic weapons. Since we are looking at adding it to your gallery I am 100% ok with just removing the BPS resistance to keep the math clean.

OK, I missed that. I've been discussing BPS resistance and providing a tier approach based on magic item rarity. You can see it here. Maybe we can use that concept here.

So this is where the design leaves the standard monster. I am making these monsters with the intentional idea that they are OP in specific ways. The goal is to ensure party's can't just fight these guys the normal way....that way lies madness. With the World Soul....fighting him in melee is nigh insanity, and I wanted to reflect that.

That said, I could probably give him advantage on athletics check (I used a barbarian for some of the thoughts of the monster anyway). A +14 with advantage is going to be auto success a good portion of the time, but its not a guaranteed your screwed. I'll ponder it, I really like the concept that he is just inescapable....but that is more of a 3e mindset than a 5e one.

I like the non-standard design, it just makes them difficult to figure out (CR wise). Ya, that is definitely more a 3e mindset. I did a lot of monster design in 4e which has many of the same assumptions as 5e so I don't really have that mindset.

This was intentional. I made this guy ridiculous in melee with the balance of weaker against ranged attacks and limited maneuverability. He does have a 50 speed which can help him get out of trouble, but not too special. I also wanted to make sure it wasn't too like an earth elemental, there are already very strong similarities anyway.

OK, I just think that is a dangerous choice in 5e, which give you almost no reason to not be in ranged combat. I'm fine with though, like you said it is a give and take and its really part of its think to be "grounded"

Reform Self is flavorwise (from my story) the absolute core part of the character, so I will hold onto it for dear life unless I have to be rid of it. Again going back to what I said about the world soul....Enforcers are intentional imbalanced in specific ways...they are each designed to be extremely difficult to fight unless you smartly adapt to the tactics. A party that does not aggressively attack this enforcer is going to hugely pay for that, and that is very intentional. On the other hand, a simple hypnotic pattern or hold person could end this guy with barely a whimper. It does of course make usual CR balance incredibly tricky.

It does make it tricky. However, I'm not really understanding the flavor of this, can you clarify? Maybe we can get a similar effect a different way.

Much cleaner language, thank you, I will incorporate!

No worries!

 

[Stalker0]

It does make it tricky. However, I'm not really understanding the flavor of this, can you clarify? Maybe we can get a similar effect a different way.

hehe yeah this is the difficulty of translating a protaganist from a full story into a monster

For the Fate Shaper, effectively think of it as the old multi-verse idea. The Fate Shaper has an infinite well of them to draw from, so he can easily just switch to one where he zigged instead of zagged, and didn't take all that nasty damage from before. In effect, constantly replacing himself with another version of himself.

That said, even in my story there is a limit to how often he can do this (in the story he is actually drawing from his own soul...and so like any muscle it gets tired if you use it too often). So perhaps I could just put a simple 2/rest cap on it, to ensure it never goes completely nuts.