D&D 5E (2014) Interesting Multiattack options

[the Jester]

Has anyone experimented with odd/interesting Multiattack variants? Some monsters in both 5.0 and 5.5 can replace one attack with a use of Spellcasting or the like. I'm working on a conversion of some high level npc villains and I'm going to allow them to swap an attack for drinking a potion. Anyone done this, or anything similar, before? How did it work out in play?

 

[Stormonu]

I think I've seen a couple that can replace a weapon attack with a cantrip.

Usually I give creatures something to do with Bonus actions rather than fiddle with Multiattack, or add riders if the attacker hits the target's AC by 4 or more (such as start grapple for free, trip, push or the like). Writing it up in the "Bonus Action" section might be a better place to put it considering most games use the "(healing) potion as bonus action" house rule - do you?

 

[Whisper-Kitten]

Yeah I have done that from time to time. I like to change up most of my monsters in some way or another to make them more fun and interesting for my players. Sometimes doing something as simply as giving them the ability to go invisible after their last attack or letting them use misty step can be fun as well. However, you do want to keep it proportional to the attack and not overuse them.

 

[the Jester]

I think I've seen a couple that can replace a weapon attack with a cantrip.

Usually I give creatures something to do with Bonus actions rather than fiddle with Multiattack, or add riders if the attacker hits the target's AC by 4 or more (such as start grapple for free, trip, push or the like). Writing it up in the "Bonus Action" section might be a better place to put it considering most games use the "(healing) potion as bonus action" house rule - do you?

Nope! I think most people vastly undervalue healing. I feel pretty strongly that having a pc miss a turn because they're down has a huge impact on combat.

 

[the Jester]

I think I've seen a couple that can replace a weapon attack with a cantrip.

Usually I give creatures something to do with Bonus actions rather than fiddle with Multiattack, or add riders if the attacker hits the target's AC by 4 or more (such as start grapple for free, trip, push or the like). Writing it up in the "Bonus Action" section might be a better place to put it considering most games use the "(healing) potion as bonus action" house rule - do you?

The other thing about this- sorry to double reply to the same post- is that I really try to put bonus action and reaction options into my custom stat blocks pretty frequently. The stat blocks that provoked this whole train of thought- well, one of them has four bonus action options already; the other two have Cunning Action and Second Wind, respectively. So I didn't want to unnecessarily limit those options.