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<blockquote data-quote="DaveDash" data-source="post: 6600994" data-attributes="member: 6786202">Most casters in the MM suffer from that glass cannon problem. I give higher CR casters hundreds of hitpoints (200+) to compensate, otherwise they're ineffective and dead round 1 or 2.Even &quot;defensive&quot; creatures though like the Iron Golem don't add up. They come in about CR12 and not CR16.Dragons are mostly OK but you have the keep them mobile to keep them alive, because they lack th hitpoints to go toe to toe with a party. This makes them a bit awkward because outside their breath weapon, their DPR relies on them getting in close.I have a Kraken in my game which the party wisely has avoided thus far, but its damage looks very weak for its CR. It could be annoying to fight in water though.Vampires are VERY weak for their CR. I can't get a CR of 13 for them at all, and they're not great in combat either. I've given them a big DPR boost.A lot of the &quot;problem&quot; stems from monster damage seems to be based on weapon + size + modifier. According to the DMG at higher levels monsters need to be doing 100+ DPR, and to get close to that you need lots of extra damage dice piled on.I think th DMG rules work out better, personally. High level combat feels like low level combat when your monsters hit hard and have staying power for a good 2-3 rounds.I think that the design intent behind stuff in the MM seems to be lots of CR 1-5 monsters in combat, even right up to the high levels. This works well, combined with a higher CR or two. But a &quot;solo&quot; from the MM doesn't generally last long at all.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DaveDash, post: 6600994, member: 6786202"] Most casters in the MM suffer from that glass cannon problem. I give higher CR casters hundreds of hitpoints (200+) to compensate, otherwise they're ineffective and dead round 1 or 2. Even "defensive" creatures though like the Iron Golem don't add up. They come in about CR12 and not CR16. Dragons are mostly OK but you have the keep them mobile to keep them alive, because they lack th hitpoints to go toe to toe with a party. This makes them a bit awkward because outside their breath weapon, their DPR relies on them getting in close. I have a Kraken in my game which the party wisely has avoided thus far, but its damage looks very weak for its CR. It could be annoying to fight in water though. Vampires are VERY weak for their CR. I can't get a CR of 13 for them at all, and they're not great in combat either. I've given them a big DPR boost. A lot of the "problem" stems from monster damage seems to be based on weapon + size + modifier. According to the DMG at higher levels monsters need to be doing 100+ DPR, and to get close to that you need lots of extra damage dice piled on. I think th DMG rules work out better, personally. High level combat feels like low level combat when your monsters hit hard and have staying power for a good 2-3 rounds. I think that the design intent behind stuff in the MM seems to be lots of CR 1-5 monsters in combat, even right up to the high levels. This works well, combined with a higher CR or two. But a "solo" from the MM doesn't generally last long at all. [/QUOTE]

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