D&D (2024) Jumping ahead: Bring back Bloodied for monsters

[GMforPowergamers]

Out of curiosity, when a creature is bloodied does it lose features as well?

I mean, your caster is below half hp, so you have disadvantage on concentration checks, for example.

it could.

In my 2e retroclone we used escalation die and bloodied as house ruled and I had caster monsters (drow if you care) that could not cast any spells while bloodied, but could spend an action to heal X amount and gain a special dodge when bloodied.

 

[cbwjm]

Out of curiosity, when a creature is bloodied does it lose features as well?

I mean, your caster is below half hp, so you have disadvantage on concentration checks, for example.

From memory that didn't happen, though others may know of examples. It should be noted that the effects of being half health/bloodied is already in 5e. Champion fighter gets regeneration when below half health, life cleric can Channel Divinity to heal up to half health, swarms deal less damage at half health (actually, this might be an example where a feature is lost in 4e).

These are the examples I can think of, there may be more in 5e, the only real difference is that they didn't want to call it bloodied.

 

[Leatherhead]

Mythic Monsters are the next itineration of of Bloodied Elites or Solos. And honestly, they could take that even farther by having the Mythic Trigger remove status conditions or negative effects.

 

[DND_Reborn]

From memory that didn't happen, though others may know of examples. It should be noted that the effects of being half health/bloodied is already in 5e. Champion fighter gets regeneration when below half health, life cleric can Channel Divinity to heal up to half health, swarms deal less damage at half health (actually, this might be an example where a feature is lost in 4e).

These are the examples I can think of, there may be more in 5e, the only real difference is that they didn't want to call it bloodied.

Yeah, I was already thinking of the Champion fighter, but that is a single feature not gained until 18TH LEVEL, we we know 99.9% of players never reach unless they are playing a one-off or something.

Having a special thing happen for a few creatures is one thing, having a general "bloodied" condition is something else IMO.

I know a lot of people use it to describe a creature below half HP, but honestly with the abstract nature of HP I don't even think that is a good idea. The player can track how often he "hit" for "damage" already, so can learn to judge for themselves how "injured" a foe is.

Depending on the creature, clothing or armor worn, etc. even those tell-tale nicks and scraps and profuse sweating from becoming tired might not even be visible. Only (perhaps!) critical hits might have some signs, but even that is meaningless when it comes to HP. 5E doesn't describe what a critical hit is narratively, only mechanically: roll natural 20 then roll double damage dice. It isn't like (the superior) d20 SW which actually tells you YOU ARE HIT, you couldn't avoid or mitigate the attack, and you are injured by a reduction in wound points.

A lot of players don't like death spirals, but in essence getting below half your HP should be a warning sign, not a trigger for awesomeness IMO.

 

[MockingBird]

I never cared for the bloodied condition, it just reinforced the gamey feel of 4e to me. I like that 5e did away with it, most players don't automatically know how longer an enemy will be standing. I agree, if you're bloodied I wouldn't think it should trigger some power attack, maybe something else.

 

[Art Waring]

Bloodied or not, 5e monsters need tools to increase versatility, otherwise they tend to be bags of hit points.

GMs can use these tools without making them feel "gamey," and they shouldn't be discouraged from seeking out new solutions for monsters because they can really use a boost.

Furthermore, some of the most interesting encounters I have run involve custom monsters that have multiple phases. Once reduced to a set amount of HP, the monster changes its behavior, and may change attacks, tactics, and some rare ones even change their resistances.

Mixing it up and making monsters more versatile keeps complacent players on their toes, especially veteran players who have grown jaded with typical monster design.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

swarms deal less damage at half health (actually, this might be an example where a feature is lost in 4e).

yes in 4e swarms took 1/2 damage from no AOE, and at bloodied delt less damage

 

[Sir Brennen]

We know the design team is already looking at beefing up monsters, so they reflect their CR more accurately.

I didn't pick up Monsters of the Multiverse, for fear I'd be buying those critters a third time with the 2024 books come out. I know presentation changes to make creatures easier to run, practically outlining an optimal strategy, where included in MotM. Where there any other indications of the types of changes that we'll probably see in the future? Maybe something not exactly but similar to Bloodied?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Furthermore, some of the most interesting encounters I have run involve custom monsters that have multiple phases. Once reduced to a set amount of HP, the monster changes its behavior, and may change attacks, tactics, and some rare ones even change their resistances.

Multi-phase boss monster fights are definitely something I think tabletop ought to swipe back from computer RPGs and MMOs. Especially on tabletop, where you're not fighting the same boss 40 times and don't know what to expect, I think it adds a lot of excitement.

A good example from World of Warcraft is Onyxia, the first big dragon fight, as I recall of the game. At various health stages, the eggs around her lair suddenly hatch and dozens of dragon whelps come to her aid, she takes to the air (it's a high-ceilinged cavern) and she breathes fire down on everyone. She also has the WoW-standard tail swipe she periodically does to anyone attacking her from behind. As the big archetypal dragon fight of the game, she feels like a dragon in a very satisfying way.

Other boss fights in the game include giant monsters causing so much damage as they fight the players that parts of the ceiling fall down around them, doing crushing damage and waves of reinforcements coming in periodically.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

We know the design team is already looking at beefing up monsters, so they reflect their CR more accurately.

I didn't pick up Monsters of the Multiverse, for fear I'd be buying those critters a third time with the 2024 books come out. I know presentation changes to make creatures easier to run, practically outlining an optimal strategy, where included in MotM. Where there any other indications of the types of changes that we'll probably see in the future? Maybe something not exactly but similar to Bloodied?

I haven't combed through the books in detail, but basically, every spellcaster has an easy to do something each turn the DM can quickly use rather than having to comb through the sometimes formerly very long spell lists. It's usually a magical attack that compares favorably to everything else of its CR, even if it's not always the most flavorful (although they do attempt to theme the attacks for the most part, that I saw).

Extrapolating from that, I'd say that even the boring default attack -- useful for the DM who has one too many types of monsters in an encounter -- will be a CR-appropriate attack each round.

Also, critters that had intended synergies in their attacks -- sometimes only clear if you went through and read their entry in The Monsters Know What They're Doing -- had the other attacks that distracted from that clear sequence of abilities taken out or trimmed way back, so even a DM wanting to do something other than the standard damage attack wouldn't end up with a trap option and making the fight too weak.