Gaps In The Monster Lineup

[Buzzardo]

Is anyone else struck by the fact that there seem to be massive holes in the options for monsters of a particualr type for a particular Challenge Rating?

For example: I am designing an encounter, and I need several undead at specific CRs. Well. They don't exist. MM, MM2, FF... not there. ???? how can this be. Surely the designers at WoTC considered to create at least one monster of each type from abberations to undead to fill every CR? Nope. They didnt.

This is maddening! I know that you can advance monsters, but it's not the same, and if you are writing for publication (which is the case here), there is pressure to keep word count within limits, and statblocking all over the place adds considerably to size, without adding any new content. Same with creating a monster, but that is probably what I will do.

If any WoTC designers are reading this... a request for the forthcoming MM3: Please consider filling in the gaps in CR for each monster type.

 

[Crothian]

What about ToH? Most of those creatures are OGL.

 

[Richards]

If you're worried about word count (and thus don't want to advance any creatures or slap templates on them), there's always the "multiple opponents raise the CR of the encounter" rule you can play with a bit.

Johnathan

 

[Iron Sheep]

While it is more work, you can potentially use advanced, levelled or templated undead to get pretty much any challenge rating you want.

That said, there is always room for more undead.

Corran

 

[Darklone]

Don't you have other monster books? There are hundreds of undead for every CR...

But in case you need corerule undeads: Add classlevels to intelligent undeads and use bigger skeletons and zombies.

 

[Buzzardo]

Don't you have other monster books? There are hundreds of undead for every CR...

But in case you need corerule undeads: Add classlevels to intelligent undeads and use bigger skeletons and zombies.

I do need from Core Rulebooks. There is no shortage of monsters as you know. Just big gaps in the Core rulebooks. I am trying to avoid the extra space taken up by statblocking templated or level advanced monsters....

 

[BOZ]

What about ToH? Most of those creatures are OGL.

most?

 

[Darklone]

I do need from Core Rulebooks. There is no shortage of monsters as you know. Just big gaps in the Core rulebooks. I am trying to avoid the extra space taken up by statblocking templated or level advanced monsters....

Thought so. But did you check all the skeleton or zombie monster possibilities in the MM1? It's templated, ok... but if you can't use other monster books...

 

[Knight Otu]

Which CRs are you looking for specifically? As far as I can tell from my Excel file, the official sources do pretty much have undead for most CRs - depending on whether you can use Forgotten Realms books or Ghostwalk. If you can use adventures, or even Dragon and Dungeon magazines, the gaps are even less.

But that really depends on which books you can use. You said Core Rulebooks, which are normally the PHB, the DMG and the MM. You're extending it to MM2 and FF.

 

[Buzzardo]

Which CRs are you looking for specifically? As far as I can tell from my Excel file, the official sources do pretty much have undead for most CRs - depending on whether you can use Forgotten Realms books or Ghostwalk. If you can use adventures, or even Dragon and Dungeon magazines, the gaps are even less.

But that really depends on which books you can use. You said Core Rulebooks, which are normally the PHB, the DMG and the MM. You're extending it to MM2 and FF.

It is a messy encounter, and one of the key encounters for the module. Average Character Level is 18, and the encounter is a trap that should be overwhelming for the party with enough to guarantee a Total Party Kill in most cases. However... the party is in posession of an artifact that if used properly gives them the advantage they need to survive the encounter. The balance is tight here, and I haven't even gotten far enough in choosing monsters, (which must all be undead) to playtest it.

The problem is that I need undead in the CR 13 to CR 16 range in order to have sufficient numbers of monsters who can hit them. And amazingly, there are slim pickings in that CR range in MM, MM2 and FF (unless I missed something). There are TONS of undead at low CRs. There are several at CR 17. Sure, I can load up on minotaur zombies (CR 4) but... they only hit the party on a Nat 20. I think my only real option here is going to be to create a monster to fit the niche. That way I can tweak it for perfect balance after playtesting.

It's just troublesome because of limits on WordCount. The entire project needs to stay under 300K words (it is an 8 module adventure path campaign coming in November from Troll Lord). I am gonna have trouble if I have to keep making new monsters all over the place, as a monster will take 400-600 words, where a core rulebook monster would take up about 30 words worth of one line stats and MM page reference...

I have been informed by my publisher that WoTC is usually pretty cool about giving permission for MM2 and FF monsters.