D&D 5E As a DM, what monster abilities do you find difficult to run?

[dave2008]

Spellcasting for monsters in 5E is way too widespread. It needs to be cut down. I get that it was some sort of throwback "this isn't 4E" thing, but guess what? 4E did a better job here, 5E - learn from it. Some monsters having spells is fine, but too many have them in 5E, and they're too fiddly to use.

I disagree a bit on this. Although there are a lot more monsters that have spells, I think for the most part they are there for flavor / world building and can be easily ignored on purpose. What I mean by this is that the CR of the monster, unless it is primarily a spellcaster, is not determined by the spells it has. They are there for an extra layer if you want them or need them, but you can run the monster completely fine without them. On top of this, the new standard appears to be to include a relevant spell description in the actions, like chromatic orb from Auril's first stage:

I think this is a good compromise. You have a spell you are likely to need stated out for you, and then some flavor spells you can use if you want to, but you don't need to.

 

[S'mon]

Parry is really bad; enough that I tend to remove it from NPCs. Give them some extra damage (eg Duellist +2 with 1hw) instead.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Spellcasting is my #1. Especially if there is more than one spellcaster. I keep mentioning this site for prep (https://www.dnd-spells.com/) but it really has been a boon to our table both on the player side and on the DM side. I like to create a concise list of combat spells for any given spellcasting enemy. Speeds up play a good deal. Once you get used to the somewhat quirky interface, it only takes a minute or so to create a one page (or maybe two for more complex spellcasters) compressed spell list.

Somewhat related to spellcasting is remembering when NPCs/monsters have concentration going and/or when they have magic resistance. I've lost count of how many times I've groaned at myself after a battle for forgetting magic resistance and inadvertently making a combat easier for the PCs.

 

[jayoungr]

Yet another for spellcasting. I've been experimenting with the approach in this video, but I don't feel like I've got it down just yet.

I also find that legendary actions take a lot of work--remembering to do them, choosing whether to do the big ones or the smaller ones, etc. But I do think they help a lot with the action economy problem.

 

[Charlaquin]

This blog can help. The Monsters Know What They’re Doing - Ready-to-Use Tactics for D&D 5E
Even if you don't agree with his tactics, he explains his reasoning and assumptions, so it's easy to work out your own.

It’s a pretty great blog.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yet another for spellcasting. I've been experimenting with the approach in this video, but I don't feel like I've got it down just yet.

I also find that legendary actions take a lot of work--remembering to do them, choosing whether to do the big ones or the smaller ones, etc. But I do think they help a lot with the action economy problem.

Yeah, Legendary Actions abs Lair Actions can be a little tricky, but they’re so much fun for big set piece encounters!

 

[Swarmkeeper]

This blog can help. The Monsters Know What They’re Doing - Ready-to-Use Tactics for D&D 5E
Even if you don't agree with his tactics, he explains his reasoning and assumptions, so it's easy to work out your own.

Just picked up the hardcopy version from the local library:

 

[NotAYakk]

Parry
While I dislike reactions in general, I forget about Parry all the time.

Beyond just the normal forgetfulness of reactions, in order to keep my large combats moving quickly, my players will often roll their attacks ahead of time, especially when they have summons and the like. But that means temporary AC bonuses get muddied, and again makes it even easier for me to forget. But I WANT my players to do that, it makes the combat go so much quicker.... so the reality of speedier combat interferes with the one paper theory of what the monster should do.

So, for Parry, I think "force a reroll on a non-crit hit" might be better than +X AC.

It is less fiddly. And I don't think it would be a huge balance change. And leaves AC static.


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Similarly for spellcasting, I'd swap out the spells for spell-like-abilities.

My general conceit in D&D is that PCs are weird, and most spellcasters and characters don't work like PCs. That lets us swap in spell like abilities.

 

[Zaukrie]

Lair actions....because they aren't in the statblock. Fortunately, its only been one monster so far.....

 

[Zaukrie]

To help with monster spellcasting, I'm updating all my PDFs for sale to list the spell as an action instead of a spell, with a description of what it does. That just seems easier to me.

Like, I just have them shoot a fire ray.