Do you monster?

[der_kluge]

To each their own, I suppose.

We're in our second campaign ATM, and it's a mixed bag, I guess. We've fought lots of goblin scouts, and dire wolf mounts, but we've also fought an undead Treant, and we constantly have encounters with these black animals with red-eyes, that are like animals, except tainted and evil, and always far more vicious than their regular animal cousins. But, we've dealth with a fair number of NPC combatants as well.

In our first game, the GM used a lot of NPCs, and was especially fond of throwing us up against bladesingers, and monks. Those were always a challenge. We fought a lot of gnolls early on.

Myself, I prefer monsters, I think. Mostly because they are easier. I mean, I'd rather just open the MM, copy the stats for a drider, and plop five of them into an encounter, for example, then work up the stats for 5 unique drow rogues, or something. I don't have that kind of time.

The other thing, like you suggest, is that people know what Beholders are, and what they can do. When PCs face a guy in robes, they assume he's a wizard, and if he's a powerful wizard, they won't know. They don't have that fear factor. But, if they walk into a room and see an Iron Golem, and a Beholder, you're going to get cries of "OH SH*T!" from the party, and jaws are going to drop. Even if the wizard is a higher CR than an Iron Golem, and a Beholder, the former will NEVER get the affect that the latter has - unless the party has faced the particular wizard before, and have reason to fear and respect his power. That takes time, and skill, though, and hats off to any DM that can do that.

 

[Grazzt]

I use monsters quite a bit. Some quests the PCs set out on are people-oriented, but monsters do show up.

I tend to design 1-2 new monsters to throw at the party at least every other week (ya know, like all new modules always have new monsters in them). However, I mix and match the quests, so sometimes the characters encounter monsters working in conjunction with monsters. For example, one quest led them to an underground temple dedicated to Law where they encountered a Nethermancer (prestige class specific to my campaign) and his demonic cohorts.

Recently they encountered a cult of hags and their "friend" a Nuckalavee: skinless horse with a skinless "rider" melded to its body (actually part of the creature itself), breath weapon liquefys internal organs (the name is from mythology; the configuration does not).

So, overall, I mix and match. Some people-oriented quests. Some monster oriented. Just depends, I guess.

 

[Drawmack]

This might just be me but I love it when the PCs aren't affraid then they should be.

IMLC: The fighter charged a guy that they knew was the bad guy whom they thought was a rogue. The rogue turned out to be a rge 2/ wiz 12 and he cast fireball in the fighters face during the charge. After that they all knew what to expect but before that they had no clue. I just find it more fun to watch the peril of the situation dawn on the players then to have them know right up front.

Don't misunderstand me, I do use monsters, I just use them sparingly and find that by using them sparingly they have a much greater impact. For example I am working on an adventure now that is about 1/2 done and topping in at 30 pages. It's only got three monsters in it but when they unlock the door that they think will let them out of the maze and get bullrushed by a dire ape after not encountering any monsters in weeks of game play I bet that I'm going to get some jaw dropping going on.

On the other hand when they encounter a thief in this city after surviving the maze that the thieves guild uses for training I bet they have a healthy respect for them. I find that one way to get awe from your PCs is to expose them to the training that your NPCs have been through. Maybe the PCs are looking through a hole in the fence and see a fighter dodging spells and fighting other students at the same time as his final exam. Or maybe the PCs get a glimpse of a mage taking his final exam. This makes the PCs respect the classes. A good idea is some visible symbol of an NPCs rank that the PCs can figure out, like maybe the mages have different color orbs on their staff's for different power levels, maybe the members of the thieves guild have different color buckles on their boots (copper, silver, gold, platinum). It really isn't that hard to have the PCs pretty much know what someone is just by seeing them it's really just about continuity. Howerver, it's also very easy to hide what someone is from the players which may not always be so with monsters.

 

[BOZ]

I use monsters quite a bit

REALLY?

 

[Whodat]

I try to go for a more realistic blending of humanoids and monsters IMC, if “realistic” is the word.

Humanoids tend to gather in cities or in urban clusters. They do this for defense as well as commerce. As a result, the adventures that center around towns generally focus more on people and events.

As the players venture farther from civilized areas, monsters become more common and more powerful. Except for the very rare occasion, monsters stay away from large masses of humans and humanoids. The monsters seem to know instinctively that they may appear weak, but they are many.

Of course there is that rare event, when some creature wanders too close to town, but I treat that as a rarity. Like today, if a mountain lion found itself wandering into downtown Lazyville, USA. The locals might be caught unprepared – at first, but the local sheriff would get things under control fairly quickly. And the event is rare enough that the town will be talking about it for years to come.

Then again, there is a big difference between a curious mountain loin and a rampaging troll.

 

[Balgus]

Most people assume that monsters don't have the capacity to gain class levels (or they tend to forget it). It seems like humans, elves, dwarves,a nd gnomes are the only races that have a society... or so that is the feeling I get from what I have read so far.

In the MM, ever monster with adequate stat has the capacity to gain levels. That means that a troll can gain levels in fighter.

And this is not restricted to humanoids either. I would love to see a grick gain levels in barb and rage in a fight... - that would be funny to watch- especially the reaction of the PCs.

 

[Tonguez]

Another thing about monster centric campaigns that turns me off is the ease of turning the game black and white. I have seen many a game degenerate into we're adventurers that means that we kill monsters and the PCs kill everything they come up against. Whereas with a people centric campaign there are many more shades of gray available and it is much more dificult to slip into the take no prisoners mode of play. If you have an ogre mage who is stealing the children from a town the PCs are fairly likely to just run and kill the ogre mage (then the nasty GM has the problem not stop but that's another point) whereas if it is an elf hiding out in the woods surrounding an elvin village that is the bad guy the PCs are probably going to try diplomacy or at least figuring out why first instead of just running in with swords drawn and spells readied. (I know I'm going to get arguments on this one but it is my experience that it is easier for the game to degenerate when the advesaries are monsters then when they are human or demihuman.)

I use lots of humanoids (Goblins are a common race imc, Ogres (Giants) are both good and bad, elves are rare and feared )

I agree than things like Dragons should be rare, and that most commoners should know nothing about them except legend and fairytale

But I also use monsters in roles which make them something more than just something to kill

For instance I have a NE Fiendish giant eel (with Scorcerer levels) who demands humanoid sacrifices. This eel also happens to be the 'god' of the local CG gnome population with whom the human-ish (Half-Elf and Half-orc being considered human) PCs must maintain good terms - ie they cannot just go and kill the Fiendish Eel without offending the gnomes.

I also have a Merrow Ranger who is guardian of the village it lives near, the locals giving it an annual tribute in return for protection

Intelligent Monsters should have class levels imho (even if it is just a Beholder Warrior) and with templates and feats every monster can be different - My Trolls (male Hags imc) have body spikes and spring attack. And two Fiendish Dire Troll Barbarian-Scorcerers with a Plague-Bearer Template are used as the gods of Disease and Insanity

 

[Fenes 2]

I rarely use monsters, and not often for more than a combat encounter. My main opponents are almost always humanoid, and vulnerable as much to social attacks as well as to physical attacks - i.e. PCs will gain much from roleplaying, or just the use of gather information.

As a player, I prefer humanoid, social opponents, where you have more options than tactical moves. It is far more fun to me if the BBEG is a black knight in a castle that the party can infiltrate by climbing a wall, or by passing themselves off as wandering minstrels, or as possible recruits, or as delegates from a far away country, or take by frontal assault, or storm through some hidden tunnel they discovered by snooping around in some nobles attic. If the BBEG was a gnoll commander hiding in a warren underground, with the options reduced to attack, sneak in or dig out I would not have as much fun.

 

[Agback]

Spelling of 'verisimilitude'.

versimlitude (sp.)

Since you ask: "verisimilitude".

Regards,


Agback

 

[Agback]

Do I monster? Only rarely, and for the reason that on the whole monsters are dull. What can PCs do with monsters? The only thing to do is to fight them. But with NPCs! You can fight them. You can talk to them. You can trust them, you can mistrust them. You can ferret them out. You can trick them into revealing themselves. You can love them, you can hate them, you can dance with them at the Emperor's New Year's Ball. You can seduce them. You can end up with children by them. You can buy from them, you can sell to them. You can win their trust. You can rescue their daughters. You can hire them. You can get jobs with them. You can infilitrate their organisations. You can bring social pressure to bear on them. You can discover that they are in the right and that the person you work for is in the wrong.

Monsters are second only to cut-and-dried-alignment-that-can-be-determined-objectively as a cause of unnecessary dullness in D&D.

Regards,


Agback