D&D 5E (2014) Hard Core Monster Manual

[Azurewraith]

I love the current monsters in the MM and VGtM. Love. When people say they aren't interesting or deadly enough, it boggles my mind. Dragons and beholders, for example, are extremely deadly when you run them correctly as a DM. They also do all the things that those monsters are supposed to do.

An ogre is just supposed to be a big brute with a club. If you start giving a ton of special gimmicks to every single monster, it starts to get silly in my opinion. And most all of the monsters do have special traits that makes them unique. So like I said, my mind is boggled that people think they are all the same or mundane.

I think part of the issue is an optimized party laughs at everything in the Mm I had aa semi opped party once and I had to make every encounter double deadly just because the monsters lacked tricks to deal with the versatility of the PC party.

 

[dave2008]

One of the more intriguing ideas I've heard lately is for an alternative version of the Monster Manual with better monsters.

I think this is a rather interesting idea, and could even see myself ponying up for an entirely new MM, even if it contained the exact same entries. Honestly, I don't really need more monsters, I just want the ones I've got to have more variety.

The main thing I would want is more special abilities/actions for every monster.

Even better, if each monster had some variability. I think the idea of "Feats for Monsters" (c.f. another thread) raises an interesting idea. What if many/most/all of the monsters had a list of Feats, from which the DM was supposed to pick one? That way even players who had read the MM cover to cover wouldn't be 100% sure of what they were facing. (That is, for the kind of DM who describes his monsters by their name in the MM.)

I could also imagine monsters with multiple entries to cover a range of CRs (sort of like Dragons). It's always bugged me that all...fill in the blank...are exactly the same power. (My dream digital tool is a Monster Manual where you adjust a slider, CR 1 to 20, and the monster scales appropriately.)

What else could be in the Badass Monster Manual?

And what would be the best name for such a tome?

i agree, that is exactly what I am trying to do over at this thread! http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?519681-5e-AD-amp-D-Monster-Manual

Please feel free to add your creations and we can make this as a community - and for free!

 

[Guest 6801328]

If you start giving a ton of special gimmicks to every single monster,

There's a big difference between "a ton of special gimmicks" and one or two maneuvers/abilities that can make a fight more interesting. Shouldn't fighting an Orc feel different than fighting an Ogre?

 

[akr71]

Someone up-thread mentioned Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts and Fifth Edition Foes from Necromancer Games. I haven't had the chance to buy either yet, but I have put eyeballs on them yet, and they are quite good.

I supported the Kickstarter for Nord Games Ultimate NPC -Skulduggery/ and I use it a lot. It has bunch of named NPCs at multiple levels and CR and then generic groups of bad guys to throw at your players. Need a group of Bandits for a CR 8 encounter? The table lists 4 basic, 2 average, 1 skilled and 1 beginner boss bandits... They also have a book called Revenge of the Horde/ which

focused on some of the commonly encountered monstrous races ... detailing their cultures, environments, and attitudes, as well as introducing a wide variety of stat blocks to suit a range of challenge levels

I will likely buy any core book that WOTC puts out, but I am also quite happy to buy third party stuff.

 

[Ovinomancer]

What else could be in the Badass Monster Manual?

A 6 INT Sherlock Holmes!

 

[machineelf]

There's a big difference between "a ton of special gimmicks" and one or two maneuvers/abilities that can make a fight more interesting. Shouldn't fighting an Orc feel different than fighting an Ogre?

An ogre is a CR 2 with 59 hitpoints and an AC of 11.

An orc is a CR 1/2 with 15 hitpoints and an AC of 13. The orc also has the aggressive feature, where it can move up to its speed as a bonus action if it can see an enemy.

So a single ogre is a threat to a low-level party, whereas orcs travel in hordes and when the horde sees you, they can surge and be on your group very quickly. Try running away from a horde of orcs. Not going to be easy.

Add an orc war chief into the horde of orcs with their battle cry feature, and now your party has a real challenge on their hands.

The differences are there, in the MM, already.

In addition, the MM has other options, like the orc war chief (as mentioned), or the orc Eye of Gruumsh. And the Volo's Guide to Monsters has even more options. So like I said, I just don't get the criticism.

 

[machineelf]

In addition to my above post, an orc has a good dex and good wisdom and good charisma, and lower int than a human but not by too much.

An ogre has a slightly low dex, low wis and chr, and very low int.

So an ogre is much more of a slow lumbering brute than a pack of orcs are. If they feel the same in a fight, then maybe it's the DM's fault.

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[MechaPilot]

A 6 INT Sherlock Holmes!

And an undead horse immune to bludgeoning damage.

 

[Guest 6801328]

A 6 INT Sherlock Holmes!

Excellent point. It would belong in the book for expert players only; novices wouldn't "get" it.

 

[Ovinomancer]

And an undead horse immune to bludgeoning damage.

Totally OP.

Excellent point. It would belong in the book for expert players only; novices wouldn't "get" it.

Definitely! You should try my Orcs; they breathe fire! Like, it doesn't do anything, but I totally say that they can and everyone goes along with it, even if they always seem to fail the checks to breath the fire. "Orcs breathe fire, everyone knows it!" is what my advanced players say!