D&D 5E Building a shadowfell monster
- Thread starter Mind of tempest
- Start date
Casimir Liber
Adventurer
I am looking at the wiki....hang on...
So in 5e with its flat power curve you should resist making the bottom tier be CR 6.
As a good approximation, CR adds up in 5e. So a CR 6 monster? If there are 4 of them, this is as nasty as a CR 24 monster (roughly).
By making the least of them be that tough, you limit the ability to have more than a few of them around (combat encounter wise).
Drop then to CR 1 or 2 and you can have swarms of the least ones. CR 3 for beefyones.
CR 3 - Fledge
CR 6 - Haunter
CR 9 - Flesh Crafter
CR 12 - Fossil Lord
(Note that above 20, CR "costs" twice as much)
This pattern lets you have a Lord, Crafter a Haunter and a half dozen Fledges as a deadly encounter for T3/T4 PCs.
I see you have put the Fledglings at CR 1. That works as well; more swarms.
CR 1 - Fledge
CR 4 - Haunter
CR 8 - Flesh Crafter
CR 12 - Fossil Lord
Again I top out at CR 12, as (to me) I feel this isn;t a dragon-type solo but more of a comtroller of a force of these critters.
---
I personally would then start with my D&D 5E - Ridiculously Simple Monster Building
18 MBP - Fledge
30 MBP - Haunter
46 MBP - Flesh Crafter
62 MBP - Fossil Lord
Keep it simple in iteration 1.
Fledge gets 16 AC (6), 24 HP (3 MBP), 16 in attack stat (3 MBP), 18 standard attack damage (6 MBP).
We'll make it incoporeal - immune to non magical BPS, resistant to magical, immune to cold/poison/acid, resistant to fire/thunder. And half its HP to 12.
It emits a sphere of diameter 5' of magical darkness they can see through and suppresses nonmagical light within 50' down to a 5' radius. This is a weak form of invisibility (worth 4 AC).
I'll make it strength based. 16 strength, 14 dex, 12 AC (+4 from perma-darkness above).
Now for damage. Body horror sounds fun. How about acid damage that lingers? 1d6+3(6) slashing plus 2d6 acid (7) is 13. We have budget for 18... so, make the acid linger.
Acidic Talons: +5 to hit for 1d6+3(6) slashing damage +2d6(7) acid damage, and a 2d6 of acid clings to you.
Clinging Acid: You can safely remove clinging acid from yourself or a creature adjacent to you as an action; make a Medicine check using a Healing kit. Every 2 points above 10 safely removes 1d6 of clinging acid.
You can also wash it off using 1 pint of water per 1d6 acid, but doing so causes you to suffer the damage as it reacts to the water.
If you don't remove it, at the end of your turn roll your clinging acid and suffer that much damage. For every acid die that lands odd, the acid wears out. If you gain clinging acid when you already have it, it accumulates.
---
Now add on movement (no flying), and other stats etc to taste.
We now have these pockets of darkness monsters we can swarm PCs with. The acidic claws give a bit of a body horror feel the delayed damage adds to fear.
As a good approximation, CR adds up in 5e. So a CR 6 monster? If there are 4 of them, this is as nasty as a CR 24 monster (roughly).
By making the least of them be that tough, you limit the ability to have more than a few of them around (combat encounter wise).
Drop then to CR 1 or 2 and you can have swarms of the least ones. CR 3 for beefyones.
CR 3 - Fledge
CR 6 - Haunter
CR 9 - Flesh Crafter
CR 12 - Fossil Lord
(Note that above 20, CR "costs" twice as much)
This pattern lets you have a Lord, Crafter a Haunter and a half dozen Fledges as a deadly encounter for T3/T4 PCs.
I see you have put the Fledglings at CR 1. That works as well; more swarms.
CR 1 - Fledge
CR 4 - Haunter
CR 8 - Flesh Crafter
CR 12 - Fossil Lord
Again I top out at CR 12, as (to me) I feel this isn;t a dragon-type solo but more of a comtroller of a force of these critters.
---
I personally would then start with my D&D 5E - Ridiculously Simple Monster Building
18 MBP - Fledge
30 MBP - Haunter
46 MBP - Flesh Crafter
62 MBP - Fossil Lord
Keep it simple in iteration 1.
Fledge gets 16 AC (6), 24 HP (3 MBP), 16 in attack stat (3 MBP), 18 standard attack damage (6 MBP).
We'll make it incoporeal - immune to non magical BPS, resistant to magical, immune to cold/poison/acid, resistant to fire/thunder. And half its HP to 12.
It emits a sphere of diameter 5' of magical darkness they can see through and suppresses nonmagical light within 50' down to a 5' radius. This is a weak form of invisibility (worth 4 AC).
I'll make it strength based. 16 strength, 14 dex, 12 AC (+4 from perma-darkness above).
Now for damage. Body horror sounds fun. How about acid damage that lingers? 1d6+3(6) slashing plus 2d6 acid (7) is 13. We have budget for 18... so, make the acid linger.
Acidic Talons: +5 to hit for 1d6+3(6) slashing damage +2d6(7) acid damage, and a 2d6 of acid clings to you.
Clinging Acid: You can safely remove clinging acid from yourself or a creature adjacent to you as an action; make a Medicine check using a Healing kit. Every 2 points above 10 safely removes 1d6 of clinging acid.
You can also wash it off using 1 pint of water per 1d6 acid, but doing so causes you to suffer the damage as it reacts to the water.
If you don't remove it, at the end of your turn roll your clinging acid and suffer that much damage. For every acid die that lands odd, the acid wears out. If you gain clinging acid when you already have it, it accumulates.
---
Now add on movement (no flying), and other stats etc to taste.
We now have these pockets of darkness monsters we can swarm PCs with. The acidic claws give a bit of a body horror feel the delayed damage adds to fear.
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
low level for one like say 1-3 higher level for multiple.
Cleon
Legend
I'll have to look at this system…
…hmm…
…I'll add a few thoughts over on that thread.
Quickleaf
Legend
What if these are the "Picture of Dorian Grey" monsters, actually dwelling inside extradimensional spaces/domains inside cursed or haunted paintings? Maybe the paintings (or other works of art) are done on stretched skins of once sentient creatures, keeping with the fleshwarping motifs you're leaning toward? They only come out on the eclipse, the blood moon, other inauspicious astronomical events, or if called forth (either consciously or subconsciously), prying their bodies forth from the painting which stretches like living skin as their loping jaws and inky eyes survey the halls of the mortal realm...
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
now that is a cool idea.
I was thinking of having the fossil lord as like an elder brain but mobile as I see mobility as important to these things.
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
I think the flesh master should be able to fly and the fossil lord should have necromancy powers as well as lots of negative energy powers.
Cleon
Legend
Well why don't you start with the basic questions: their Size, Type, Alignment and Challenge Rating.
Are they the size of humans (Medium) or larger or smaller.
Are they undead or living creatures (e.g. monstrosity or outsider)?
Are they evil or unaligned? Chaotic, lawful or neutral?
The higher-ranking Kataach will obviously have higher CRs than the Fledgling, but deciding on approximate values to aim for while give you something to aim for.
If you have a CR, you can take an existing monster of similar power and theme and crib from it by sticking its numbers in a blank stat block and then modifying them to match your vision.
Is a Fledgling a disposable scrub like a CR 1/4 Goblin or something formidable like a CR 5 Vampire Spawn?
Are they the size of humans (Medium) or larger or smaller.
Are they undead or living creatures (e.g. monstrosity or outsider)?
Are they evil or unaligned? Chaotic, lawful or neutral?
The higher-ranking Kataach will obviously have higher CRs than the Fledgling, but deciding on approximate values to aim for while give you something to aim for.
If you have a CR, you can take an existing monster of similar power and theme and crib from it by sticking its numbers in a blank stat block and then modifying them to match your vision.
Is a Fledgling a disposable scrub like a CR 1/4 Goblin or something formidable like a CR 5 Vampire Spawn?
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