DMG Excerpt: Customizing Monsters

[Shroomy]

One thing I'm not entirely sure about:



So, I can't take an orc beyond 5 levels up? No more 15th level orc barbarians? Or, rather, these rules don't work very well outside of that fairly narrow band of 5 up or down?

I'm not sure if I'm all that happy about that.

Or, am I missing something vital?

I suspect that you would use a class template for that kind of upgrade.

 

[Sojorn]

Why do vampire lords resist 5 necrotic at 1st level and 10 at 11th level? They have a prerequisite of 11th level.

Looks like a different way of saying 5+1/2 level.

They probably just standardized it across all the entries that use the format.

Note that the Lich looks like a slightly older style of entry.

 

[malraux]

Hmmm... Int adds to AC

Somewhat more surprising, natural armor and regular armor don't stack. That's gonna take some unlearning.

 

[Sojorn]

One thing I'm not entirely sure about:



So, I can't take an orc beyond 5 levels up? No more 15th level orc barbarians? Or, rather, these rules don't work very well outside of that fairly narrow band of 5 up or down?

I'm not sure if I'm all that happy about that.

Or, am I missing something vital?

Monsters are more than just the stats, the powers have a lot to do with the balance as well.

I would guess that at the extremes, you start getting out of the range that the powers assume the monster is in.

However! The class templates would almost have to be unlimited in scope. That's what you want for the level 15th orc barbarian.

 

[malraux]

One thing I'm not entirely sure about:



So, I can't take an orc beyond 5 levels up? No more 15th level orc barbarians? Or, rather, these rules don't work very well outside of that fairly narrow band of 5 up or down?

I'm not sure if I'm all that happy about that.

Or, am I missing something vital?

I think the goal for the adding a few levels is to grab something that's close to what you want and shim it to the right spot. For more something like 10 levels, you'd want to go a more formal route of adding class levels to an orc. This is more like a way to get a level 7 "tougher than average" orc as part of a fight.

 

[hong]

Interesting. Changing a monster's level changes its atk/def/AC by 1 per level. However, for PCs this is only 1 per 2 levels. Wonder how that works.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

One thing I'm not entirely sure about:

So, I can't take an orc beyond 5 levels up? No more 15th level orc barbarians? Or, rather, these rules don't work very well outside of that fairly narrow band of 5 up or down?

I'm not sure if I'm all that happy about that.

Or, am I missing something vital?

Also you figure, there may be already a couple level 15 Orcs in the MM.

 

[Shroomy]

Interesting. Changing a monster's level changes its atk/def/AC by 1 per level. However, for PCs this is only 1 per 2 levels. Wonder how that works.

I have to wonder if it is related to the fact that monsters don't get a power upgrade every time they increase a level.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Interesting that they mention Class Templates, as that's something I wanted for monsters for a while. Since it's no more "non-associative" levels to worry about, and you won't have fire giant spellcasters who suck as spellcasters.

 

[hong]

I have to wonder if it is related to the fact that monsters don't get a power upgrade every time they increase a level.

It's probably also why they say not to change the level by more than +/- 5.