the Jester
Legend
So we've all seen that there are revised core books and Monsters of the Multiverse coming soon. What level of changes can we expect to e.g. monsters? Well, we have a few examples to check out.
First, the tree blight- as depicted in Wild Beyond the Witchlight- vs. the tree blight as depicted in my OG Curse of Strahd book.
The name is the same in both cases.
Both are "Huge plants" but the new version adds "typically" before the alignment.
AC and Speed are unchanged.
Hit points have gone down slightly (by one HD).
Ability scores are unchanged, as are condition immunities, senses, languages, and Challenge; but they added "Proficiency Bonus +3".
False Appearance has changed dramatically. The old version: "While the blight remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a dead tree." The new version: "If the blight is motionless at the start of combat, it has advantage on its initiative roll. Moreover, if a creature hasn't observed the blight move or act, it must succeed on a DC 18 Int (Investigation) check to discern that the blight is animate.
Siege Monster remains unchanged.
And here we get to a very interesting change. The blight's old multiattack was two branch attack and two grasping root attacks, with a bonus action bite if it has a target grappled. The new version is only one branch and one grasping root. This reduces the expected damage by 16 per round. When I check the CR vs. the DMG's guidelines, I get 44 damage per round with an effective attack bonus of +9, for an offensive CR of 7, but the defensive CR is only 5. So I'm not sure where CR 7 comes from. The original guy was a bit too tough for its CR- I calculate an extra 25 damage/round for an offensive CR of 11 (and a final of 8).
First, the tree blight- as depicted in Wild Beyond the Witchlight- vs. the tree blight as depicted in my OG Curse of Strahd book.
The name is the same in both cases.
Both are "Huge plants" but the new version adds "typically" before the alignment.
AC and Speed are unchanged.
Hit points have gone down slightly (by one HD).
Ability scores are unchanged, as are condition immunities, senses, languages, and Challenge; but they added "Proficiency Bonus +3".
False Appearance has changed dramatically. The old version: "While the blight remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a dead tree." The new version: "If the blight is motionless at the start of combat, it has advantage on its initiative roll. Moreover, if a creature hasn't observed the blight move or act, it must succeed on a DC 18 Int (Investigation) check to discern that the blight is animate.
Siege Monster remains unchanged.
And here we get to a very interesting change. The blight's old multiattack was two branch attack and two grasping root attacks, with a bonus action bite if it has a target grappled. The new version is only one branch and one grasping root. This reduces the expected damage by 16 per round. When I check the CR vs. the DMG's guidelines, I get 44 damage per round with an effective attack bonus of +9, for an offensive CR of 7, but the defensive CR is only 5. So I'm not sure where CR 7 comes from. The original guy was a bit too tough for its CR- I calculate an extra 25 damage/round for an offensive CR of 11 (and a final of 8).