D&D 5E Monstrous Disappointments.

[Tony Vargas]

Compare the sheer terror of the Spectre in every prior edition of the game to what it is in 5e.

TBF, the Spectre in 4e MM1 was so tame I was able to re-skin them for use as air elementals.

 

[Nebulous]

The mummy. Just not all that scary or interesting anymore.
I've been using Kobold Press' monster books to spice things up. There's a lot of interesting monster abilities in those books.

Yes those books are great.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

The mind flayer arcanist casts up to 5th level spells, and I'm not sure why the base monster is CR 7 and the spellcaster is CR8, that doesn't seem right.

My guess would be that the theory was that it can't both do it's spellcasting and mindflayer things the same turn and base mindflayer abilities are pretty strong vs. a lot of those spells (many aren't combat abilities), and most it's spells are not ongoing effects. So perhaps limited synergy and the particular spell list made them think it was a less fearsome foe than it seems.

If that was the theory it doesn't mean they got that right. For one thing, unlike a PC who has to budget spell slots for multiple engagements, it can generally afford to cast shield every round. And if DMs are switching out spells to their tastes it might be very off the mark indeed. Being able to cast hypnotic pattern a few times, for example, would basically give it a reliable disabling alternative for when mindblast doesn't recharge and up it's brainsucking game considerably. Or how about a Greater Invisibility slinging enemy with a kill you outright powers to make dungeoneering terrifying?

 

[Stalker0]

one thing in 5e thst is important to note is that numbers beat individual power.

the mob of smaller monsters is going to be more threatening than the single big monster. So I’m General I find any non legendary solo monster to be ho hum.

 

[Nebulous]

one thing in 5e thst is important to note is that numbers beat individual power.

the mob of smaller monsters is going to be more threatening than the single big monster. So I’m General I find any non legendary solo monster to be ho hum.

Yeah, and the big baddie almost always needs minions to keep the attacks away from destroying it in 2 rounds. Or the solo needs more hit points so it can actually live long enough to be a threat.

 

[Quickleaf]

In my opinion, the weak monster Perception scores are next to useless, often even with a monster that is "supposed" to be good at perception with keen senses and smell. I will frequently double their perception score and give them advantage, otherwise the chances of beating a stealth are negligible. And on top of that, parties frequently use Pass Without Trace if it's at their disposal. I mean, a wolf has +3 to track foes with scent and smell. That's a horrible chance of success for something built for tracking.

What I do in situations like that is use the guideline of treating advantage as a +5 bonus. So, I'd treat a wolf's passive perception when it comes to hearing & smell as 18 (i.e. 13 + 5).

 

[5ekyu]

What I do in situations like that is use the guideline of treating advantage as a +5 bonus. So, I'd treat a wolf's passive perception when it comes to hearing & smell as 18 (i.e. 13 + 5).

Yup. Wolves can track most things pretty easy. Magic specifically designed to prevent that like pwot - beats that. But while the specialized rogue might get stealth frequenyly above 18 without the magic, the fighter or cleric likely wont - esp in armor thst penalizes those checks.

The wolf foesnt have to spot/track the rogue, after all. It's part of the reason in my games even heavy armor characters often have lighter armor for travel or sneakery.