Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 5780311" data-attributes="member: 20323">I've made some time-saving changes to monsters IMC and wanted to share for feedback and, uh, because "sharing is caring." These aren't intended to radically speed up combats - I posted elsewhere that I believe in a "copper buckshot" approach to reducing grind (that is the sum of changes can substantially reduce combat time) - just to address some trouble spots.I've gotten rid of (1) monster healing, (2) insubstantial, (3) weakened, and (4) stunned in monster design. Instead I've created replacements to capture the same feel.Monster HealingThe idea here is to buy the monster more time to do cool stuff.Shake off conditions: This can get the desired effect of allowing a monster a chance to act when it otherwise wouldn't be able to.Immediate attack: If the monster is particularly aggressive, like an Orc, you might grant it a charge attack when bloodied.Recharge power: Alternately the monster might recharge one or more encounter powers when it is bloodied or takes damage. This approach is good for elite like vampires which already has a stack of HP.InsubstantialSwapping out insubstantial takes a good feel for the particular monster and what its brand of insubstantiality is supposed to represent. You may want to give the monster standard HP when swapping out insubstantial.Damage threshold trigger: The idea here is that if an attack does less than X damage (I like prefer 1/5 HP total), then the monster benefits from a triggered power. For example with specters I have the removed from play until the start of their next turn if they take damage below the threshold.Missed attack targets ally: When an attack misses the monster it is re-rolled against an ally adjacent to monster or attacker (melee), against an enemy that would be roughly in line of fire if attack continued thru monster (ranged), or who is within burst/blast. This models attacks passing thru a ghost.Ethereal deflection: The attacker and their weapon/implement becomes ethereal when they hit, such that they can't be targeted by non-ethereal allies' powers and their attacks can only hit ethereal creatures. Probably a save ends or until end of next turn effect. Best if combined with some non-insubstantial monsters.WeakenedGood flavor with boring mechanics that definitely increase grind.De-buff: End all buffs on the PC. I like to combine this with some other effect to give it bite.Cannot score critical hits: This models a mild weakness, but for it to have real teeth it should last longer than most conditions, perhaps till the monster is killed. In some cases this might work as an aura.Unable to spend surges: Coincidentally this works nice as an alternative to healing surge damage for wights and such, and it really conveys the sense of being weakened.StunnedWhile the stunned condition certainly makes a fight with a dracolich scary it also makes it terribly boring.Lose next standard action: Somewhere between a daze and a stun, this effect best models something like dragon fear where the PCs are hesitant about attacking some monstrous power. However they still have the good sense to move, heal, etc.Interupt to end turn: Either allow the monster to negate one attack per turn (the strong version), or make it an opportunity attack when the monster takes damage from an attack (weaker version). The cool thing about the weaker version is that it represents a savage monster roaring and slashing wildly very well, and can effectively shut down multi-attackers and muck with the PCs' tactics. I like to combine it with a push.Stunned in a parallel world: Best reserved for boss fights, this acts just like stunned only the PC faces some parallel hazard or puzzle. To escape and return to their body, they need to solve or come up with a countermeasure within a couple rounds. If they do really well I like to gve them a temporary boon. If they can't escape in time, they suffer some nasty fate which has an impact when they "come back."End all sustained powers & ongoing effects: This works good for magic spells which stun, though it is best combined with other effects above.That's it, Just some things I've explored in my games. Hope they're helpful! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> If you use any of these ideas (or have used something alon these lines already), post to let me know how it went.</blockquote>

Verification