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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 9154907" data-attributes="member: 87792">The reason I say they don't work is because in the most important cases they produce outcomes that are actively and aggressively bad.Let's say you are a new DM who wants to create the world. You've little feel for the stats, but want to create some outright fey analogues to the Drow with less emphasis on cruelty and more on hiding and trickstering. You know they are relatively low level, and want to give them two types. The basic tiny people, let's call them boglins, and the small driderlings who are boglin from the waist up, spider from the waist down. Being low level fey the CR6 Drider template is right out; this is for an introductory adventure. You're looking at the quick monster stats because you really don't get the complexities and because you don't have a good feel you aren't going to adjust the stats presented; this is the easiest option.The Boglins are low level. They're fey but weak ones. So you give them a CR of 1/8, which is pretty much the lowest possible. You're not sure about the math. And the Driderlings are meant to be much stronger at CR 1/2<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">CR 1/8 Boglin: Proficiency +2, AC 13, 21 hp (avg), +3 to hit, 2-3 damage</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">CR 1/2 Driderling: Proficiency +2, AC 13, 60hp (average), +3 to hit, 6-8 damage.</li> </ul>Holy pinatas Batman! You are looking at 60hp for a CR 1/2 monster.But! It gets worse! You want to spice them up a little so give them powers from p280. The boglins are creepy fey tricksters. So let's make them good at hiding by giving them Invisibility, and good at trickstering by giving them Charm, Read Thoughts, Mimicry, and both with Shapechanger.  Oh, and because we're feeling generous let's let them teleport to help with both. You know how much this changes their CR by? Literally nothing. And then there are their sentient helpers the Driderlings who are domesticated ambush predators. Spider-climb, Web (complete with Web Walker and Web Sense), and Chameleon skin feels like an excellent combination here - and we're going to throw in tunneling because we've been spending too much time with funnelweb and trapdoor spiders. You know how much this tells you to change their stats by? Spider-Climb, Chameleon Skin, and Tunneling are (like all the Boglin abilities) free. And Web tells you "Increase the monster's effective AC by 1" - so how much does that change the CR by? We go back to Step 4: Final Challenge Rating and look under "Defensive challlenge rating". It states "If your monster's AC is at least two points higher than that number, adjust..." It isn't. Web only adjusts it by one so it too is free.Bam! We've just had our new DM try to create a race of low level fey tricksters using the guidelines on their default settings and get truly horrible results. The system has completely failed them. And once bitten, twice shy. This is aggressively bad for new DMs who are, after all, the people that need the tools the most.It's entirely possible that the table works (a) when you start above level 2, (b) when you ignore the Quick monster creation rules, and (c) when you have a good feel for what you want to create. But this needs a significant overhaul for the most important group - new DMs trying to create their first monsters.</blockquote>

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