D&D 5E (2024) Tuning big single creatures into multi-part-creatures.

I do like the idea of thematically some of the parts can "block" the AOEs, to limit the amount of AOE damage that is inflicted.

The idea of the dragon for example (if it was lets say a left side, right side, head kind of split).

Wings: When the dragon takes an area effect, it can cover itself with its wings to protect its vital head. AOE effects can only target the left and right sides only.


needs some wordsmithing but the idea allows the AOE to hit 2 parts, but not all 3.

I guess it wouldn#t go smoothly with every spell and power, but maybe the rule could simply be: If you cast a spell that targets a creature (regardless of size) and teleports or banishes it, the target makes a single save. If it fails, the caster must concentrate an additional turn for each "component" of the creature, and then the spell takes effect and it's teleported or banished or whatever. (If it succeeds, the spell fails as usual, the caster can curse out his luck and keep doing what he'd normally do).

It puts a clear focus for the creature on disrupting the caster's concetration (and/or its existence), and for the players to switch from engaging the creature to protecting the caster's ability to concetrate. And you still have to survive 1+ rounds of combat against the creature.

The same could apply to instant-death spells, if you had any.

dave2008 said:

EDIT: Perhaps I misunderstood. I you saying the spell should be upcast with each additionally level covering an additional part? That makes some sense too.

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Assuming a 3 part creature (or 3 parts left alive)

Your suggestion: Cast Banish at level 4 (1 target), needs 3 failed saves.

My suggestion: Cast Banish at level 6 (3 targets), needs 3 failed saves.

Not sure which is more balanced.

Mustrum_Ridcully said:

I guess it wouldn#t go smoothly with every spell and power, but maybe the rule could simply be: If you cast a spell that targets a creature (regardless of size) and teleports or banishes it, the target makes a single save. If it fails, the caster must concentrate an additional turn for each "component" of the creature, and then the spell takes effect and it's teleported or banished or whatever. (If it succeeds, the spell fails as usual, the caster can curse out his luck and keep doing what he'd normally do).

It puts a clear focus for the creature on disrupting the caster's concetration (and/or its existence), and for the players to switch from engaging the creature to protecting the caster's ability to concetrate. And you still have to survive 1+ rounds of combat against the creature.

The same could apply to instant-death spells, if you had any.

Click to expand...

I quite like that idea, with the monsters trying to disrupt the caster and allies trying to protect the wizard.

But i feel like that would require a new edition with that philosophy more up front.

mellored said:

Assuming a 3 part creature (or 3 parts left alive)

Your suggestion: Cast Banish at level 4 (1 target), needs 3 failed saves.

My suggestion: Cast Banish at level 6 (3 targets), needs 3 failed saves.

Not sure which is more balanced.

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I'm leaning your direction!

Splitting a big bad into monster "parts", neednt be so literal. It can apply to solo boss fights too. Like layers of hit points. Lose a layer, become unable to spellcast or so on. So it would be as if separate monsters were being killed off and no longer able to attack across multiple turns per round.

Mustrum_Ridcully said:

I guess it wouldn#t go smoothly with every spell and power, but maybe the rule could simply be: If you cast a spell that targets a creature (regardless of size) and teleports or banishes it, the target makes a single save. If it fails, the caster must concentrate an additional turn for each "component" of the creature, and then the spell takes effect and it's teleported or banished or whatever. (If it succeeds, the spell fails as usual, the caster can curse out his luck and keep doing what he'd normally do).

Click to expand...

I think we can make this a little more generic and apply it to a few other cases as well.

"Leesh": A body part has a leesh distance to the central part. This has the following effects:

1) A body part cannot move further away than the leesh distance, and any movement or teleportation effect can only move them to a location within the leesh range.

2) If the central part moves in a way that exceeds the leesh distance, the body part is pulled to a location at the leesh distance.

3) A body part cannot be moved to another plane unless all parts are moved together.

Bit late to the party, but:

I did something similar to this, that turned out to be pretty easy to implement and grasp for the players. The reason was mainly that one of my players kept calling shots for eyes and weapons etc, not necessarily to make the creatures feel bigger. But maybe it can provide some inspiration:

I start with any monster stat block
Each action, legendary action and other notable feature is linked to a body part, if it makes sense. Then those body parts get AC and HP made depending on which of the following they're closer in relative scale:
Limb = AC+2, hp 1/3rd of total
Head = AC+4, hp 1/3rd of total
Eye = AC+8, hp 1

All attacks and effects go on the whole creature as normal unless the PCs specifically target something. Damage doesn't spill over between parts and the whole hp pool until a part reaches 0, then the full amount is subtracted from the creatures HP (to a minimum of 1 if it's something nonvital).

If I lose a part I cannot use the corresponding features of the body part, but crucially the number of actions and legendary actions the monster has etc doesn't change, so the action economy stays the same for the whole fight, even if my dragon might be reduced to flopping at the PCs like a magikarp.

I've run three big creature fights like this, one that was fully improvised on the spot when the players caught me off guard a little by calling shots on something I hadn't planned. Worked well.