Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Level Up also has solid monster creation rules in the Monstrous Menagerie.
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Monstrous Menagerie II: Hordes & Heroes is live! 300+ more monsters for your D&D 2024, or Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition games, plus new horde rules and rules for heroic monsters who level up alongside you--whether they be allies, companions, or foes! Back it now on Kickstarter!
D&D General 2024 Monster Creation
- Thread starter the Jester
- Start date
Azzy
ᚳᚣᚾᛖᚹᚢᛚᚠ (He/Him)
I believe WotC previously said in one of their videos that they will be releasing tools for calculating CR, too.
M_Natas
Hero
The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) offered us monster creation guidelines that, while not perfectly aligned with WotC's internal spreadsheet, have proven effective in my experience. That said, there’s certainly room for updates and refinement. I'm not particularly optimistic about seeing updates that truly enhance what we have; while the 2014 guidelines could be more thorough, I’ve managed to fill in most of the gaps myself.
I’ve been using these 2014 guidelines successfully to design monsters, though they are definitely a simplified approach. To streamline the process, I created my own spreadsheet that calculates average player stats—like damage output and HP—based on a typical fighter and wizard, even accounting for bonuses from magical items. This “average character” forms the basis for my monster stats.
With this foundation, I created settings for different monster types: Boss, Elite, 1:1 encounters, minions, and a range of difficulties. Here’s how I determine resource usage for each monster:
Easy monsters consume around 1/8 of party resources.
Hard monsters take up roughly 33%.
Deadly monsters might require up to 50%.
Extreme monsters consume up to 90%.
To add versatility, I included a slider for the intended number of survival rounds (1–7), which adjusts AC, HP, and damage output accordingly.
As a result, for each level, I now have a defensive stat table that calculates the HP required at different ACs to last the selected number of rounds. Using Excel, this fits into a single table, but printing it would require seven tables per level to represent each possible survival round count.
I also created similar tables for offensive stats, adjusting difficulty (easy, medium, hard, deadly, extreme) where the attack bonus corresponds with damage output, influenced again by the survival round count. For printing, this would add up to 35 offensive tables per level, or 42 total tables when combining offense and defense. Including four monster types brings the total to 168 tables per level!
Some might wonder why I included “rounds of survival” when the 2014 DMG assumes a 3-round duration. However, monsters don’t always fit this standard. The Monster Manual includes creatures designed to last only one round, while others, like Animated Armor, can survive up to seven rounds against average party damage.
Setting this up in Excel was straightforward; calculating damage output for a fighter champion and wizard across levels was the most time-consuming part. My results align closely with the DMG 2014 tables, using similar AC and attack bonuses, but my method offers much greater flexibility.
For example, I recently wanted a level 4 monster that could hold its own in a 1:1 encounter and fit the hard-to-deadly difficulty range. I designed a unique type of zombie with a low AC that still poses a serious challenge—something hard to replicate using the 2014 DMG, which largely assumes 4 PCs vs. 1 boss monster. The DMG also doesn’t handle very low-AC creatures, like zombies, or high-AC creatures, like Animated Armors, very well. With my table, it was easy: I chose an AC of 9, matched it with a corresponding HP range and attack bonus, and selected the appropriate damage. The rest was just adding flavor.
This need for flexibility may explain why WotC is hesitant to release more sophisticated monster creation rules in the 2024 Monster Manual. Printing my approach would require over 3,360 tables to cover every combination. I imagine WotC’s internal spreadsheets account for even more details, like monster traits and feats, which I still calculate manually.
The best solution would be for WotC to release a comprehensive monster creation tool on D&D Beyond. Reproducing all these options in a book would be impractical, and I doubt we’ll see their internal spreadsheets anytime soon!
I’ve been using these 2014 guidelines successfully to design monsters, though they are definitely a simplified approach. To streamline the process, I created my own spreadsheet that calculates average player stats—like damage output and HP—based on a typical fighter and wizard, even accounting for bonuses from magical items. This “average character” forms the basis for my monster stats.
With this foundation, I created settings for different monster types: Boss, Elite, 1:1 encounters, minions, and a range of difficulties. Here’s how I determine resource usage for each monster:
Easy monsters consume around 1/8 of party resources.
Hard monsters take up roughly 33%.
Deadly monsters might require up to 50%.
Extreme monsters consume up to 90%.
To add versatility, I included a slider for the intended number of survival rounds (1–7), which adjusts AC, HP, and damage output accordingly.
As a result, for each level, I now have a defensive stat table that calculates the HP required at different ACs to last the selected number of rounds. Using Excel, this fits into a single table, but printing it would require seven tables per level to represent each possible survival round count.
I also created similar tables for offensive stats, adjusting difficulty (easy, medium, hard, deadly, extreme) where the attack bonus corresponds with damage output, influenced again by the survival round count. For printing, this would add up to 35 offensive tables per level, or 42 total tables when combining offense and defense. Including four monster types brings the total to 168 tables per level!
Some might wonder why I included “rounds of survival” when the 2014 DMG assumes a 3-round duration. However, monsters don’t always fit this standard. The Monster Manual includes creatures designed to last only one round, while others, like Animated Armor, can survive up to seven rounds against average party damage.
Setting this up in Excel was straightforward; calculating damage output for a fighter champion and wizard across levels was the most time-consuming part. My results align closely with the DMG 2014 tables, using similar AC and attack bonuses, but my method offers much greater flexibility.
For example, I recently wanted a level 4 monster that could hold its own in a 1:1 encounter and fit the hard-to-deadly difficulty range. I designed a unique type of zombie with a low AC that still poses a serious challenge—something hard to replicate using the 2014 DMG, which largely assumes 4 PCs vs. 1 boss monster. The DMG also doesn’t handle very low-AC creatures, like zombies, or high-AC creatures, like Animated Armors, very well. With my table, it was easy: I chose an AC of 9, matched it with a corresponding HP range and attack bonus, and selected the appropriate damage. The rest was just adding flavor.
This need for flexibility may explain why WotC is hesitant to release more sophisticated monster creation rules in the 2024 Monster Manual. Printing my approach would require over 3,360 tables to cover every combination. I imagine WotC’s internal spreadsheets account for even more details, like monster traits and feats, which I still calculate manually.
The best solution would be for WotC to release a comprehensive monster creation tool on D&D Beyond. Reproducing all these options in a book would be impractical, and I doubt we’ll see their internal spreadsheets anytime soon!
I own that book.
My point is that WOTC wouldn't be able to get away with what's in the Monster Menagerie.
Not that it's bad. It's good stuff.
But D&D and fantasy TTRPG fans criticize the main IP holder harsher and scrutinized them more.
I mean how many threads are there in just ENworld about the lack of adventuring day and the new Encounters building table? I could easily see much ranting if WOTC said adjust damage or HP by 20% if you adjust AC by 4.
jasper
Rotten DM
diDn't they say they were going to give us the in house formulas?
jasper
Rotten DM
More than likely they uploaded the whole DMG to both the DMG and free rules. I know I had to update both on the phone app again on Wednesday.
mamba
Legend
I hope for more than a CR calculator on DDB, like guidelines in print
Azzy
ᚳᚣᚾᛖᚹᚢᛚᚠ (He/Him)
So do I. I think we'll see more on that when the MM is released.
Arilyn
Hero
By this logic, WotC should not publish anything, since there will always be complaining.
By this logic, WotC should not publish anything, since there will always be complaining.
Well for fifth edition they barely did, didn't they?
If this was 2000 era WOTC, 5E would be on it third revision and have dozens of player option books.
