D&D 5E (2014) How many unique enemy statblocks do I need for a Homebrew Level 1-10 Adventure?

[Jaiken]

Hey, not sure if this is the place, but I was wondering how many unique enemy types with spells from SRD 5.1 rule set and some monster types that I need to create for a stand alone adventure from levels 1-10.

So far I have 7 enemy stat blocks for the demo (levels 1-4). How many would I need for the level 1-10 full campaign? I have already completed the BBEG.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

when i ran my homebrew game i basically just statted out enemies as i needed them. if you want an idea of a baseline, though, you can check what monsters appear in, like, curse of strahd. i have it on roll20 - if you can't find a number, i can get you one when i get home later.

 

[Jaiken]

when i ran my homebrew game i basically just statted out enemies as i needed them. if you want an idea of a baseline, though, you can check what monsters appear in, like, curse of strahd. i have it on roll20 - if you can't find a number, i can get you one when i get home later.

Thank you very much.

 

[J-H]

My DM's Guild published campaigns in that range (2-10, 3-13) both ran around 30 pages of opponents, so around 20-40? I wouldn't call all of them totally unique though... since I was doing Castlevania-based campaigns I wanted a variety of skeleton and zombie types (not just base forms, but spellcasters, ooze zombies, etc.).

 

[Reynard]

It really depends on what you are aiming for. Is this an adventure against a speciic type of enemy with variations based on tactical use and CR? Maybe a 2 dozen.

If it is a game that goes lots of different places with different "biomes" and enemy types, maybe 100?

 

[AlViking]

I create custom monsters as I need them as well. It's not really worth the effort to build out a lot of stuff if you never need them - I don't need a tiger and a bear if the PCs only ever encounter wolves. Meanwhile I can look at the base creature types, in this case a big brute, a stealth hunter and a pack animal and come up with basic archetypes. Then I can use that base and with a bit of tweaking description and stats create new monsters. A pack of dogs gets upgraded to a pack of wolves. There are only so many core templates and which ones make sense for you is a matter of style and campaign feel.

As you create higher CR monsters add in some different flavor and abilities and that pack of wolves is now a pack of demonic dogs with glowing red eyes dripping fire from their jaws. Description, special attacks and minor changes to damage type and number of attacks can go a long way.

 

[Jaiken]

It really depends on what you are aiming for. Is this an adventure against a speciic type of enemy with variations based on tactical use and CR? Maybe a 2 dozen.

If it is a game that goes lots of different places with different "biomes" and enemy types, maybe 100?

Good point. I should have mentioned the enemy types are:
Mages
Cultists
Fighters
Feys
Fallen Paladins
Fiends
Undead
Beasts
Constructs.

 

[SkidAce]

Figure out how many scenarios / adventures you want to have in the campaign (just an estimate) to get them to level 10 finale.

Then figure 2 to 3 statblocks per battle/scenario. Grab a few more for random encounters from appropriate biomes.

Add them up for a baseline, then get more as the adventurers choose courses, or ideas occur to you.

Or find a prebuilt 1-10 adventure, and count the stat blocks in it, as a guideline.

 

[aco175]

It seems the word need is a bity loaded. I mean one could make an adventure with only bandits or orcs or a single statblock and need only one. Semantics aside I think that a level 1-10 series of adventures should have a couple plots going on and 2-4 competing ideas. There could be cultists wanting to take over the village along with goblins massing and attacking outlying farms. Give choices to the players to figure out what to do. Maybe they take on the cultists and leave the goblins to gain power, or they fail to kill the leader cultist and he then does a third thing.

I think the Lost Mines 1-5 level box might have 20ish statblocks. That might be a good start, but I would add a third group after this level for another group of monsters to bring things to 30ish. Maybe add some side quests to follow or not with another 10ish. Side quests can be something like a lost tomb with something tied to the main adventure or just a rumor they follow on and filled with some undead for a change instead of more cultists.

It might not be a number of monsters to make a good campaign, but the choices and twists along the way.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

when i ran my homebrew game i basically just statted out enemies as i needed them. if you want an idea of a baseline, though, you can check what monsters appear in, like, curse of strahd. i have it on roll20 - if you can't find a number, i can get you one when i get home later.

by the way, by my count curse of strahd has about 180 distinct statblocks, about 70 of which are made specifically for the adventure. that's not an exact number because i've added a few (which i've mostly skipped) and a couple of the adventure-specific ones are just statblocks that appear in the generic section with MAYBE an option or two changed or added, but it's still probably around 150ish if you account for that.