D&D 5E Open Source dilemmas...(AKA Creature Catalog/Tome of Beasts/Tome of Horrors etc.)

[Casimir Liber]

So one of my weaknesses has been monster catalogs/lists/manuals, and I got these books (Creature Catalog/Tome of Beasts/Tome of Horrors ) along the way. A couple of dilemmas, one being how to use them in DnDBeyond encounter building, the other is what to do when creatures get more than one treatment. For instance, these books have Lovecraftian critters sprinkled through them, but then along comes Sandy Peterson's cthulhu treatment for DnD 5e. Which treatments to follow.....does anyone else ruminate on this?

 

[Nikosandros]

It is possible to add custom monsters to D&D Beyond, even though the process is somewhat tedious, especially if you want to make the attacks "rollable" in the encounter tracker.

 

[Larnievc]

I

the other is what to do when creatures get more than one treatment. For instance, these books have Lovecraftian critters sprinkled through them, but then along comes Sandy Peterson's cthulhu treatment for DnD 5e.

I have the same weakness for monster books and there are several books out there that riff on the Fiend Folio so there are lots of different versions of older 1st Ed monsters or various types of demons.

The way I look at is that you use the one best suited to entertaining that players. If they don’t have access to your books they will never know multiple versions exist anyway.

With the thing about D&D Beyond I can really help as I’ve never used it.

 

[Casimir Liber]

I

I have the same weakness for monster books and there are several books out there that riff on the Fiend Folio so there are lots of different versions of older 1st Ed monsters or various types of demons.

The way I look at is that you use the one best suited to entertaining that players. If they don’t have access to your books they will never know multiple versions exist anyway.

With the thing about D&D Beyond I can really help as I’ve never used it.

fair point - has made gaming alot easier. I really like it, not essential though and can always do analogue workaround

 

[Lyxen]

First thing, while it depends on the knowledge of you players and their metagaming level (at least half of our players are also DMs themselves, and while we can trust most to avoid metagaming, it also makes it harder for them to differentiate, monster by monster, what their character should/could know), it's always good to have more monsters, or even versions of it.

Second, on DDB, the homebrew for monsters is not that complicated and lots of things can be cut and pasted.

Finally, the library of homebrew on DDB is fairly large, if you search the homebrew monsters section, you will have a good chance that someone has done the job for you already.

The only two cautions I would give is that sometimes the job is not properly done, but you can still cut/paste into your own version if you think it's not good enough for you, and the other thing is that sometimes these 3rd party monsters are not that well designed, and using principles that contradict the usual way monsters are built in 5e, which can sometimes lead to a bit of head scratching as to how some powers are supposed to work (and, if you have ruleslawyers at your table, uncomfortable questions).

 

[Larnievc]

sometimes these 3rd party monsters are not that well designed, and using principles that contradict the usual way monsters are built in 5e,

Does that need to be a problem? Having weird monsters that confound the players expectations is surely a good thing?

 

[Lyxen]

Does that need to be a problem? Having weird monsters that confound the players expectations is surely a good thing?

It depends how weird, weird might be good, but when it's weird rules for example how the poison works, or when it's rules that really slow down the game (multiple rolls, cumulative modifiers, not using adv/dis, lingering effects requiring more checks, effects that you don't know hot to treat with the standard battery of counters, unintuitive local rulings, etc.), I don't think it goes in the right direction.

 

[dave2008]

So one of my weaknesses has been monster catalogs/lists/manuals, and I got these books (Creature Catalog/Tome of Beasts/Tome of Horrors ) along the way. A couple of dilemmas, one being how to use them in DnDBeyond encounter building, the other is what to do when creatures get more than one treatment. For instance, these books have Lovecraftian critters sprinkled through them, but then along comes Sandy Peterson's cthulhu treatment for DnD 5e. Which treatments to follow.....does anyone else ruminate on this?

I love monster books too. I personally see no issue with having multiple versions of the same monster. I would either use the version I think is better, or us them all. Monsters are diverse and have variants too, so what not embrace the different stat bocks and acknowledge them as different individuals of that type of monster.

Regarding DnD Beyond, I know there is a large homebrew section, so you can put in your own monsters, but I have never done it myself.

 

[Larnievc]

It depends how weird, weird might be good, but when it's weird rules for example how the poison works, or when it's rules that really slow down the game (multiple rolls, cumulative modifiers, not using adv/dis, lingering effects requiring more checks, effects that you don't know hot to treat with the standard battery of counters, unintuitive local rulings, etc.), I don't think it goes in the right direction.

Crikey. I have about 30 3rd party monster books and they all follow the same rules for 5E.

 

[dave2008]

Crikey. I have about 30 3rd party monster books and they all follow the same rules for 5E.

Some of the early Kolbold books were ports from PF1 and had some things that, while they may not have been against the rules, didn't follow the 5e standards and guidelines. And there are other 3PP books that do similar things. You probably have them and just don't see them as an issue (which I don't either), but others do.