Level Up (A5E) Monster preview thread!

[Morrus]

F is for... Faeries!

Minor caveat with this one -- like with the dread knight before, the archfey variant here refers to Queen Mab as an example (in the shaded box). The text below that still refers to Queen May rather than simply saying archfey, but we're updating all specific variants to be the generic creature with an example individual in the shaded box. If that makes sense. I know what I mean!

 

[Faolyn]

I love the more mythical-seeming sprites and pixies (even if I wish that pixies still had druidcraft so they could also be flower faeries; that's an easy fix, though). I really like the faerie knights--especially the maximum elevation, which I think is an interesting limitation. They can fly, but not that well.

 

[Morrus]

G is for Ghouls!

 

[SirApetus]

Ooo. Ghoulish Empire! Definitely really cool. Honestly is fitting as in my Homebrew World I added the Darakhul empire from Midgard(Kobold Press).

 

[Darkwynters]

Hmmm, with treasure listed as a reward… this could be used as harvesting materials for crafting. Looking at the first CR 0-1… the adventurers could find 20 GP of ghoul hide for making magical leather or studded. Though maybe A5e has harvesting rules?

 

[Darkwynters]

Have the encounter building rules been changed or polished? I guess I mean in O5e, a CR 3 Hobgoblin Captain would be designed for four level 3 characters.

And… H is for: hobgoblin!

 

[Morrus]

Have the encounter building rules been changed or polished?

Oh, very very much so.

 

[Darkwynters]

What?

So you have made building encounters… simplified?

 

[dave2008]

What?

So you have made building encounters… simplified?

I would hope it is more complex. The existing rules are too simplified for a system as variable as 5e (and level will be more so). Any encounter building rules should provide clear guidance on the assumptions of the system and how to deviate from them. The 5e DMG encounter guidelines do neither of these.

 

[VanguardHero]

I would hope it is more complex. The existing rules are too simplified for a system as variable as 5e (and level will be more so). Any encounter building rules should provide clear guidance on the assumptions of the system and how to deviate from them. The 5e DMG encounter guidelines do neither of these.

5e's encounter building has at best a shaky foundation. CR as a system has always been inconsistent and seemingly eyeballed for about 3 seconds before someone goes "Yeah CR 7 seems about right". Certain 3rd level spells having the power of 5th level spells because they're "iconic" to encourage players to take them, when enemies also use them, makes it even worse. Simple or complex is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, the important thing is that they function as intended. Being tied to CR for encounter building due to backwards compatibility is I suspect one of the most difficult challenges for the system, and thus one of the things I'm most curious about from a system wide perspective and not just fun character building.