DMG Excerpt: Customizing Monsters

[med stud]

I've already told you -- when working out exactly how dangerous/prevalent vampires are, when building their culture, etc.

If a beloved NPC is captured by a vampire, do the PCs need to rush madly to save him from becoming one of the Undead, or do they know they have a week until the ghastly ritual is complete?

If WOTC (or a third party) publishes a module based on the idea a vampire can turn an entire village into his loyal slaves overnight, does this fit with your campaign where a vampire can only control Int bonus servants?

The difference in what the world will be like between "Vampires create spawn every time they feed, unless they deliberately stop the process" and "Vampires must spend a month of time and sacrifice a hit point permanently to creat spawn" is immense. In the former, a hungry vampire can fill the streets with abandoned, useless, ravening, monsters in a matter of days as the plague spreads. In the latter, a vampire will lure and seduce a special, perfect, target as the blessed recipient of the gift of eternal life. There's lots of other options, too, and each one changes the world -- or at least how vampires fit into it.

It's fine to change things to fit your campaign, but there needs to be a baseline to work from. I don't understand why people love fluff that's non-essential and intrusive (like the entire giant/dwarf backstory) but see no need for definitions of actual game mechanics.

Fluff is easy. Mechanics are hard. I expect developers to do the hard stuff.

OK, I see where you are coming from. I understand your position though I don't agree with it. Personally I'm in the "don't let the rules get in the way of a good story"- camp. I don't feel the need for the same rules to apply for all vampires. If the players are used to vampires with their Int-score in spawns and they suddenly come across a vampire lord that can make an entire village to his spawns, my goal is that they should feel that they have come across a real bad-ass vampire. From my side of the screen, I just feel like making that story.

If I buy an adventure that involves vampires, and that adventure uses a different standard than my standard, I will just use those vampires as they are and assume they are a different kind of vampires. Add a skill challenge or History- check for the PCs to find out about it.

What I'm aiming for with my DMing is first and foremost sense of wonder. If I make the players feel that they discover something new every session, I have reached my goal. I understand that some people feel the same about consistency, it's just not for me.

 

[Wepwawet]

The difference in what the world will be like between "Vampires create spawn every time they feed, unless they deliberately stop the process" and "Vampires must spend a month of time and sacrifice a hit point permanently to creat spawn" is immense. In the former, a hungry vampire can fill the streets with abandoned, useless, ravening, monsters in a matter of days as the plague spreads. In the latter, a vampire will lure and seduce a special, perfect, target as the blessed recipient of the gift of eternal life. There's lots of other options, too, and each one changes the world -- or at least how vampires fit into it.

As I see it you're describing two settings:
- the first one is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", vampires pop out like mushrooms;
- the second is more like Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Why can't I use the one that fits me and my campaign better?
Maybe these details should be left for campaign settings to describe...

 

[eleran]

* blink *



* blink * blink *



* blink * blink * blink *

I knew I should have posted one of my class-based templates at some point. Sometimes I feel like someone implanted a mind probe in my head.

Where is that tin foil hat when you need it?

 

[Delgar]

Enjoy the new Lich Pit Fiend.

Pit Fiend Lich Level 26 Solo Controller (Leader)
Large immortal undead humanoid (devil) XP 45,000
Initiative +22 Senses Perception +23; darkvision
Aura of Fear (Fear) aura 5; enemies in the aura take a –2 penalty on attack rolls.
Aura of Fire (Fire) aura 5; enemies that enter or start their turns in the aura take 15 fire damage.
HP 585; Bloodied 292
AC 46; Fortitude 44, Reflex 38, Will 44
Resist 30 fire, 15 poison , 18 necrotic
Saving Throws +4
Speed 12, fly 12 (clumsy), teleport 10
Action Points 2
Regneration 10, if the lich takes radiant damage its regeneration doesn’t function on its turn
Spellmaster (minor; recharge 5, 6)
The lich regains the use of an expended encounter power next turn.
Necromantic Aura (Necrotic) aura 5
Any living creature that enters or starts its turn in the aura takes 5 necrotic damage.
Necrotic Master
The lich can convert any attack power it has to necrotic.
Change a power’s energy keyword to necrotic, or add necrotic energy to an attack power that doesn’t normally deal energy damage.
Melee Flametouched Mace (standard; at-will) • Fire, Weapon
Reach 2; +31 vs. AC; 1d12+11 fire damage plus ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).
Melee Tail Sting (standard; at-will) • Poison
+31 vs. AC; 1d6+11 damage, and the pit fiend may make a free followup attack. Followup: +29 vs. Fortitude; ongoing 15 poison damage, and the target is weakened (save ends both effects).
Melee Pit Fiend Frenzy (standard; at-will)
The pit fiend makes a flametouched mace attack and a tail sting attack.
Ranged Point of Terror (minor; at-will) • Fear
Range 5; +30 vs. Will; the target takes a –5 penalty to all defenses until the end of the pit fiend's next turn.
Ranged Irresistible Command (minor 1/round; at-will) • Charm, Fire
Range 10; affects one allied devil of lower level than the pit fiend; the target immediately slides up to 5 squares and explodes, dealing 2d10+5 fire damage to all creatures in a close burst 2. The exploding devil is destroyed.
Infernal Summons (standard; encounter) • Conjuration
The pit fiend summons a group of devil allies. Summoned devils roll initiative to determine when they act in the initiative order and gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls as long as the pit fiend is alive. They remain until they are killed, dismissed by the pit fiend (free action), or the encounter ends. PCs do not earn experience points for killing these summoned creatures. The pit fiend chooses to summon one of the following groups of devils:
• 8 legion devil legionnaires (level 21), or
• 2 war devils (level 22), or
• 1 war devil (level 22) and 4 legion devil legionnaires (level 21)
Tactical Teleport (standard; recharge 4 5 6) • Teleportation
The pit fiend can teleport up to 2 allies within 10 squares of it. The targets appear in any other unoccupied squares within 10 squares of the pit fiend.
Alignment Evil
Languages Supernal
Skills Bluff +27, Intimidate +27, Religion +24
Str 32 (+24) Dex 24 (+20) Wis 20 (+18)
Con 27 (+21) Int 22 (+19) Cha 28 (+22)
Equipment flametouched mace, noble signet ring

 

[jasin]

No more shadow bandits, half-plant wolves, or elder eidolon ogres, it seems...

How so? All we've seen is the lich and the vampire lord, but that doesn't mean those are the only templates that exist, and they're certainly not the only templates that will ever exist.

Does the Aura Of Badassitude (tm) apply to PCs? If a 15th level PC uses a +1 sword, does he get no benefit from it?

Probably not.

As I had earlier worried, the lack of any breakdown of natural vs. artificial armor bonus means Armor Is Wonky.

Why? They just made natural armour simply armour, and then it's like 3E: armour doesn't stack with armour.

And it means no more pit fiends who go from "can be hit half the time" to "can be hit only on a 20" by picking up an ordinary set of plate armour and a shield.

EDIT: Just noticed, vampire lords have to be humanoid?

Just like in 3E.

In fact, less restrictive than in 3E, since humanoid is a broader category.

No more vampire dragons? Or winter wolves? Why?

Don't worry, they'll be in the Draconomincon and the Monster Manual III.

 

[Cirex]

1) The lich seems quite weak, compared to 3.x Lich. Maybe we need more text on it or something, but I don't see it as powerful as in 3.5. I guess it doesn't fit clerics anymore.
2) That Einstein comic is awesome.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Where is that tin foil hat when you need it?

4E stole it!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Armor: When you add armor to a monster, you first need to determine if the armor is good enough to improve the monster’s AC. Start with the monster’s effective armor bonus—a measure of how much of the creature’s AC comes from its armor or from its thick hide. This number is equal to its AC minus 10 minus the higher of its Dexterity or Intelligence ability modifiers. Do not include the Dexterity or Intelligence modifier if the creature wears heavy armor. Subtract the effective armor bonus from the creature’s AC, and then add the bonus from its new armor. If the creature moved from heavy to light armor, you can also add the higher of its Dexterity or Intelligence ability modifier to its AC.

...

For example, an ogre savage normally has an Armor Class of 19 (it’s assumed to be wearing crude hide armor). Its effective armor bonus is +5 (19 – 10 – 4 [Dex]). Giving the ogre chainmail instead would improve its AC by 1 to 20, since the armor’s +6 bonus is 1 higher than this number.

I think the confusion comes from the difference between Dex modifier and Dex ability modifier (and probably inconsistent use...)

There are two possibilities:
1) The wording is wrong or at least confusing:
Basically you substract (10+1/2level + 3.5 ability modifier), if the monster wears light or no armor, or (10+1/2level) if the moster wears heavy armor. Then you get a number which you can compare to new armor bonus if its heavy or (new armor bonus+ 3.5 ability modifier) if its light. Add the difference to its old AC.

2) The wording is still confusing, but right:
Maybe you add the ability modifier a second time for mathematical reasons: usually if the AC bonus of a heavy plate is higher than for normal people, the monster must have a very thick hide, so that a second +1/2 AC per Level is justified!

As i was writing, the second solution sounds more reasonable, but i have to think it over!

 

[Cam Banks]

Enjoy the new Lich Pit Fiend.

It's a Pitch Fiend!

Cheers,
Cam

 

[eleran]

Do we really need rules for how a vampire lord creates vampire spawn? Sure, that they can do it is important to know, but hard rules? I can't see what it adds to the game to know that a vampire lord can create level/2 vampire spawns per night by using it's ability Create Vampire Spawn [ritual].

Since the vampire lord is a NPC, the DM can add the desired number of vampire spawns without having to trudge through rules to do it. I'm probably a minority in thinking this, so there most likely is an ability for it, but I can't see the need for rules for something like that.

Couldn't have said it better. There are no rules for how orcs make food to keep themselves alive either, but I imagine they do it just fine.