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General Tabletop Discussion
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
Buffing Monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 8078958" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>Monsters can (and should IMHO) get significant powerups, at least at CR 12 and up.</p><p></p><p>No, that isn't because player characters are about to be more powerful. It's because the 5E player characters are already too powerful for the MM monsters, right out the PHB gate!</p><p></p><p>The most pressing issue is giving monsters the tools they need to deliver their attacks. At level 15, say, a monster that just runs toward the enemy at Speed 25 is hopelessly outclassed, even when its bite might be fearsome. At that level, it's just too easy to keep it from ever reaching a hero.</p><p></p><p>Other things include the at-will teleportation given to select high-level monsters. By making that take the monster's entire action, the 5E devs basically neutered the ability. Spending your entire turn on movement, ending right next to a hero, just doesn't cut it in high-level combat.</p><p></p><p>Every non-grunt monster at high level needs at least one trick up its sleeve to surprise and confound players; a trick specifically designed to defeat the rote precautions heroes take and to deliver significant damage (or debuff, etc) forcing the heroes to scramble.</p><p></p><p>5E did away with the minigame of figuring out how to defeat a monster in its drive for simplicity. At low level that is okay.</p><p></p><p>But the game does not need to cater to newbs at high level. It is okay to assume a certain system mastery for level 15 heroes. Not just for Level Up obviously, but for the base game of 5E too.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 8078958, member: 12731"] Monsters can (and should IMHO) get significant powerups, at least at CR 12 and up. No, that isn't because player characters are about to be more powerful. It's because the 5E player characters are already too powerful for the MM monsters, right out the PHB gate! The most pressing issue is giving monsters the tools they need to deliver their attacks. At level 15, say, a monster that just runs toward the enemy at Speed 25 is hopelessly outclassed, even when its bite might be fearsome. At that level, it's just too easy to keep it from ever reaching a hero. Other things include the at-will teleportation given to select high-level monsters. By making that take the monster's entire action, the 5E devs basically neutered the ability. Spending your entire turn on movement, ending right next to a hero, just doesn't cut it in high-level combat. Every non-grunt monster at high level needs at least one trick up its sleeve to surprise and confound players; a trick specifically designed to defeat the rote precautions heroes take and to deliver significant damage (or debuff, etc) forcing the heroes to scramble. 5E did away with the minigame of figuring out how to defeat a monster in its drive for simplicity. At low level that is okay. But the game does not need to cater to newbs at high level. It is okay to assume a certain system mastery for level 15 heroes. Not just for Level Up obviously, but for the base game of 5E too. [/QUOTE]
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Buffing Monsters
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