5E: Fifth Edition Monster Variants Inspired by Fourth Edition Sources

[Casimir Liber]

Yeah ok, more I think of it I am happy with that

 

[Cleon]

Yeah ok, more I think of it I am happy with that

Assuming you're OK with the rest of the text, I'll update the Scarlet Mist Working Draft.

The previous version had:

Aura of Life Siphoning. Whenever a creature that is not an undead or construct ends its turn within 5 feet of the scarlet mist, the creature must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. If it fails, the target takes 6 (1d12) necrotic damage and the mist gains temporary hit points equal to the damage its aura caused.

SNIP

Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (3d6 + 3) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or its hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Wave of Lethargy (Recharge 5-6). Every creature within 10 feet of the scarlet mist must succeed at a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) necrotic damage plus 7 (2d6) psychic damage and be slowed until the end of the mist's next turn.

 

[Casimir Liber]

If Wave of Lethargy has no recharge, should the life drain's damage be upped a little then (say to 17 (4d6+3))?

 

[Cleon]

Wave of Lethargy. Every creature within 10 feet of the scarlet mist must succeed at a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take # (#d#) psychic damage, # (#d#) necrotic damage (increased to ## (#d#) necrotic damage if target affected by the scarlet mist's life draining curse), and be slowed until the end of the mist's next turn.

Somehow the above lost a "plus", it should be:

Wave of Lethargy. Every creature within 10 feet of the scarlet mist must succeed at a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take # (#d#) psychic damage plus # (#d#) necrotic damage (increased to ## (#d#) necrotic damage if target affected by the scarlet mist's life draining curse), and be slowed until the end of the mist's next turn.
​

Corrected the Scarlet Mist Working Draft.

 

[Cleon]

If Wave of Lethargy has no recharge, should the life drain's damage be upped a little then (say to 17 (4d6+3))?

The rule of thumb is to double the AoE damage, so if we want the DPR to be roughly equivalent the Wave should do about half the damage of the Drain.

So, if we make the Wave 2d6+2d6 then the Life Drain should be about 28 DPR, which'd require the dice portion to be about 25 if it's still a single attack with a +3 modifier. That'd mean something like 25 (5d8 + 3) or 29 (4d12 + 3) necrotic damage.

Which seems rather a lot, but a 5E Wraith has 21 (4d8 + 3) damage for its Life Drain so it's not that big a leap.

However, it might work better to trim the Wave's damage a bit.

If the wave does 2d4+2d4 or 1d10+1d10 then the Life Drain can do the same damage as a Wraith and it'd supposedly be balanced: Wave damage 10×2 or 10½×2 => DPR 20 or 21 versus Life Drain damage => DPR 21.

That leaves the questions of how much damage the Siphoning Aura does and by what amount the "life draining curse" boosts necrotic damage.

A CR 5 monster is supposed to have a DPR around 33 to 38 according to the Monster Statistics by Challenge Rating table, so if we have the Wave/Drain do 21 damage then the Aura and Curse ought to add 12 to 17 damage. So maybe 7 (2d6) damage apiece?

That would be:

Siphoning Aura. Whenever a creature ends its turn within 5 feet of the scarlet mist, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw (undead and constructs automatically succeed), taking 7 (2d6) necrotic damage on a failed save, increased to 14 (4d6) necrotic damage if the target is affected by the scarlet mist's life draining curse. The mist gains temporary hit points equal to the damage its aura caused.

Actions
Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: + 6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (4d8 + 3) necrotic damage, or 28 (4d8 + 2d6 + 3) necrotic damage if the target is affected by the scarlet mist's life draining curse. In addition, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw (undead and constructs automatically succeed), or be cursed to take an additional 7 (2d6) necrotic damage whenever they take necrotic damage. This life draining curse lasts until the end of the mist's next turn.

Wave of Lethargy . Every creature within 10 feet of the scarlet mist must succeed at a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 5 (1d10) psychic damage plus 5 (1d10) necrotic damage (increased to 12 (1d10 + 2d6) necrotic damage if target affected by the scarlet mist's life draining curse), and be slowed until the end of the mist's next turn.
​

 

[Cleon]

Okay, so I'm eyeballing the above damage amounts as giving an Offensive CR of 5, so we need a Defensive CR about the same to make the whole creature Challenge 5 (1,800) like we intend.

It's got Resistances to a LOT of things but I don't think it qualifies for the "Flies and can deal damage at range" since it has Tethered Flight and its Wave's range is only 10 feet.

The temporary hit points it gains from Life Siphoning work sort-of like Regeneration, so I'll use that Monster Feature in the calculation.

According to the CR Calculator if we assume the temp HP is equivalent to regeneration 14 then the Mist can have Hit Dice anywhere from 60 (8d8 + 24) up to 90 (12d8 + 36) and be Defensive CR 5.

With the regeneration-equivalent set to 7 the HD can range from 82 (11d8 + 22) to 105 (14d8 + 42).

Of those, I'd lean towards the lower figures.

The original monster had 85 hit points, compared to a 4E Troll's 100 hit points.

A 5E Troll has 84 hit points, so if we reduce that to 85% that's… 71.4 hp.

The closest we can do to that is 67 (9d8 + 27) or 75 (10d8 + 30).

Either of those would work for me for Hit Points, but 67 is the same as a 5E Wraith so I'm inclined to go for 75 just to be different.

 

[Casimir Liber]

I'll take 75hp

 

[Cleon]

I'll take 75hp

With the damages in post 395?

 

[Casimir Liber]

yep

 

[Cleon]

yep

Updating the Scarlet Mist Working Draft.

So are we done apart from the Description?