Redoing MM monster mechanic choices
- Thread starter Voadam
- Start date
drnuncheon
Explorer
Lycanthropes should have regeneration (not vs. silver) instead of (or in addition to!) DR.
Dragons shouldn't be color-coded.
I don't care much for the ooze splitting mechanic, either.
J
Dragons shouldn't be color-coded.
I don't care much for the ooze splitting mechanic, either.
J
cerberus2112
First Post
I think he meant that silver would do real damage, rather than subdual damage, to lycanthropes.
Arnwyn
First Post
You're kidding me, right? I can't possibly list the number of changes that I would make (well, that I *have* made!). Just a couple, though:
- Stats are too low for many creatures that, IMO, should be much more powerful. Often results in laughably low DCs.
- Oozes and their poor AC, and their additional hps are so small as to be meaningless.
- Many feat choices are plain bad.
- Stats are too low for many creatures that, IMO, should be much more powerful. Often results in laughably low DCs.
- Oozes and their poor AC, and their additional hps are so small as to be meaningless.
- Many feat choices are plain bad.
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
Higher AC scores. If I can hit a dragon or titan on a "1" something is wrong.
Occasionally higher save DCs, especially if it won't outright kill a player character.
Occasionally higher save DCs, especially if it won't outright kill a player character.
I don't like quite a few ability scores. Dragons, for one, are far too dexterous for Colossal creatures. A preponderance of the "magical" high-CR foes have mental abilities so high that no DM can ever hope to play them correctly.
I'd also like to see better-rounded creatures. Most creatures are one-trick ponies. Illithids, for example, have mind blast and suggestion. That's about it.
Also, offense is too high relative to defense. Far too many high-CR creatures with bad saves, bad AC, bad hit points, and high enough damage output per round to kill a dwarf barbarian with a single full attack.
I'd like to see all of the dragons taken down about 20 notches. Thier power level compared to everything else is ludicrous. When Pit Fiends, Balors, and Solars are dwarfed in power by the bigger dragons, there's something wrong.
I don't like regeneration, in general. I much prefer fast healing; regeneration has always annoyed me both from a mechanical and realism standpoint.
The person who wrote the Tarrasque entry (both the original and the errata) needs to be taken out back and beaten with a rulebook. It's awful. All of these abilities that should be enumerated seperatly, all hiding in the regeneration entry; strange and unearthly effects if you advance thier hit dice; the sheer hair-pulling irritation of the reflect ability; the list goes on.
I'd also like to see better-rounded creatures. Most creatures are one-trick ponies. Illithids, for example, have mind blast and suggestion. That's about it.
Also, offense is too high relative to defense. Far too many high-CR creatures with bad saves, bad AC, bad hit points, and high enough damage output per round to kill a dwarf barbarian with a single full attack.
I'd like to see all of the dragons taken down about 20 notches. Thier power level compared to everything else is ludicrous. When Pit Fiends, Balors, and Solars are dwarfed in power by the bigger dragons, there's something wrong.
I don't like regeneration, in general. I much prefer fast healing; regeneration has always annoyed me both from a mechanical and realism standpoint.
The person who wrote the Tarrasque entry (both the original and the errata) needs to be taken out back and beaten with a rulebook. It's awful. All of these abilities that should be enumerated seperatly, all hiding in the regeneration entry; strange and unearthly effects if you advance thier hit dice; the sheer hair-pulling irritation of the reflect ability; the list goes on.
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The rakshasa's vulnerability to blessed crossbow bolts is certainly both too extreme and too specific. The inspiration came from an episode of The Night Stalker; Carl Kolchak kills one with a blessed crossbow bolt. But that's not any different than a werewolf being killed by a silver bullet in some horror film, yet we don't see anything in the MM about a silver bullet instantly killing a lycanthrope. Instead, there's a sane mechanic that allows any weapon made of silver to bypass a lycanthrope's damage reduction. A similar weakness would've worked just as well for the rakshasa. There could've been other ways to handle it too--double damage from blessed weapons, for instance, or treat all blessed weapons as if they were bane weapons--so why the 3e MM kept that ill-conceived easy insta-kill trait I just don't understand.
The beholder could use some actual defenses. And I understand beholders are geniuses and should fight as such yadda yadda yadda, but plenty of players are pretty canny too--canny enough to find a way to dump 60 points of damage of damage on an AC 20 creature with bad saves at any rate.
Regeneration for lycanthropes is cool too, although I will point out that one of the ways that the MM accounts for how damage reduction works is that wounds are instantly healed.
The beholder could use some actual defenses. And I understand beholders are geniuses and should fight as such yadda yadda yadda, but plenty of players are pretty canny too--canny enough to find a way to dump 60 points of damage of damage on an AC 20 creature with bad saves at any rate.
Regeneration for lycanthropes is cool too, although I will point out that one of the ways that the MM accounts for how damage reduction works is that wounds are instantly healed.
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(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
Yeah... I really don't charm as a good battle tactic.
I agree. Lousy legendary tigers... (I treated it's CR as a more accurate 15, rather than the 10 listed in the MM II.)
I also agree with the comment about the rakshasha's vulnerabilities.
I'd like to see fewer anti-magic golems. I really don't see why a living catapult should be immune to magic, for instance.
I would like to see better saving throws - the titan is a good example, but unfortunately it's an outsider. Non-outsiders will probably all have a glass jaw.
Some creatures have wimpy save DCs. I don't see how an arcanoloth's save DC of 19 (for 6th-level spells) is going to scare any 17th-level character. The save DC should only be low if you can dish out multiple save-or-die spells per round.
Which brings me to the beholder. Too strong offense, and a glass jaw. Okay, my party's cleric killed it with crossbow bolts! The mage actually ran into the anti-magic cone, while the cleric, with the two important saves, had other things he could do (like castingflame strike before turning to the crossbow when the beholder put him into the anti-magic cone).
Total cost: one disintegrated rogue, one crossbow bolt, and one flame strike spell. I guess it's worth its CR...
The beholder's save DCs are okay, but it can knock down 10 characters per round (assuming very bad luck on their part). I think the beholder should have a higher CR (preferably 18 or something like that), be given slightly better offense, much better defense to survive what an 18th-level party can dish out, and be made medium.
At the moment using a beholder is like using a trap. If no one dies the problem is solved by round two.
I ran into a very similar situation with this polarwere (were-dire bear frost giant) I had developed, but to be fair this was a high offense-low defense creature with a high offense-low defense template added to it. Strength of 49!
I don't think low CR creatures like the catoblepas or bodak should be able to instantly kill player characters. I would prefer if those creatures had higher CR and higher offensive and defensive potential to match that higher CR.
I suppose I can rant about grappling too ... especially the Snatch feat. It's terrible if a dragon can grapple a halfling but not a human. It's even worse with swallow whole ... you may be safer inside the creature than out.
Finally - more tactics. Can someone tell me just what the heck is an aboleth supposed to do in combat? It can use enslave and physical/status effects, but it has all these next-to-impossible-to-figure-out illusion abilities, too.
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