...Why are you asking this in a 5E thread?
D&D 5E Ridiculously Simple Monster Building
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
Because I want to know if there is a fixed version for 5th Ed, and I wanted to mention it as a one of the best examples of broken challenge rating.
Well, @LuisCarlos17f 's question did give me a though. You can use this to create 3e style templates.
Lets see if it works reasonably well.
Half Dragon
+4 strength, +4 intelligence, +4 charisma, +4 constitution
+2 AC (scales)
Size grows by 1 (HD increase)
Fly speed equal to your ground speed
Magic resist if CR 9, or could already fly.
Immune to one element type, resistant to another (depending on dragon breed)
Bonus action breath weapon (1d8 damage per 2HD (round up), Charisma-based DC, area large enough to hit 2 creatures, recharge 6)
Divide HD by number of attacks and divide by 3; round down. Gain that many 1d6 elemental damage on your attacks.
+2 damage/tap if strength based
---
I'll assume +2 to your primary stat (2 MBP)
+2 AC (2 MBP)
Fly speed (2 MBP if CR 9 or under) or magic resist (2 MBP if CR 9 or higher)
+2 HP/HD (0.25 MBP/HD)
HD grows by 1 (1 HP/HD) (0.125 MBP/HD)
9 bonus damage per 2HD (0.5 MBP/HD)
3.5 DPR for every 3 HD (0.4 MPB/HD)
2 DPR/tap (2-6 MBP)
Total: about 1.25 MBP/HD
Total: 8-12 MBP plus 1.25 MBP/HD.
But multiple attacks correlates with more HD, so...
CR impact: +2 CR, +1 for every 3 HD.
...
Half-red dragon griffon. 7HD: so CR 2+2+7/3 = CR 6.
Huge Draconic Beast
14 AC
22 strength
20 constitution
12 charisma
7d12+35 HP (80 HP)
Magic resistant
Immune to Fire
Resistant to Cold
Beak: Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 6) piercing+ 3 (1d6) fire damage.
Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6 + 6) slashing + 3 (1d6) fire damage.
Bonus Action Breath Weapon: DC 12 dex save for 4d8 (18) fire damage (save for half)
...
It does constrain the template design if you want it to be able to calculate CR changes without basically rebuilding it.
Lets see if it works reasonably well.
Half Dragon
+4 strength, +4 intelligence, +4 charisma, +4 constitution
+2 AC (scales)
Size grows by 1 (HD increase)
Fly speed equal to your ground speed
Magic resist if CR 9, or could already fly.
Immune to one element type, resistant to another (depending on dragon breed)
Bonus action breath weapon (1d8 damage per 2HD (round up), Charisma-based DC, area large enough to hit 2 creatures, recharge 6)
Divide HD by number of attacks and divide by 3; round down. Gain that many 1d6 elemental damage on your attacks.
+2 damage/tap if strength based
---
I'll assume +2 to your primary stat (2 MBP)
+2 AC (2 MBP)
Fly speed (2 MBP if CR 9 or under) or magic resist (2 MBP if CR 9 or higher)
+2 HP/HD (0.25 MBP/HD)
HD grows by 1 (1 HP/HD) (0.125 MBP/HD)
9 bonus damage per 2HD (0.5 MBP/HD)
3.5 DPR for every 3 HD (0.4 MPB/HD)
2 DPR/tap (2-6 MBP)
Total: about 1.25 MBP/HD
Total: 8-12 MBP plus 1.25 MBP/HD.
But multiple attacks correlates with more HD, so...
CR impact: +2 CR, +1 for every 3 HD.
...
Half-red dragon griffon. 7HD: so CR 2+2+7/3 = CR 6.
Huge Draconic Beast
14 AC
22 strength
20 constitution
12 charisma
7d12+35 HP (80 HP)
Magic resistant
Immune to Fire
Resistant to Cold
Beak: Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 6) piercing+ 3 (1d6) fire damage.
Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6 + 6) slashing + 3 (1d6) fire damage.
Bonus Action Breath Weapon: DC 12 dex save for 4d8 (18) fire damage (save for half)
...
It does constrain the template design if you want it to be able to calculate CR changes without basically rebuilding it.
Cleon
Legend
As a reverse-reverse-engineering test I ran a couple of SRD creatures through this formula and they came out with a CR a notch too low.
Bugbear is AC 16 (6 MBP), 24 hp (3¾ MBP), +2 in attack stat (2 MBP), 11 attack damage (3⅔ MBP) for a total of a hair over 15 MBP which is, what Challenge 0 and a bit (1/2? 1/4?) rather than the 18 MBP the formula uses for Challenge 1 creature.
Giant Constrictor Snake should be MBP 22 since it's Challenge 2, but its AC 12 (2 MBP), 60 hp (7½ MBP), +4 attack stat (4 MBP) and 13 damage (4⅓ MBP) come to 17.833, or pretty the formula's figure for Challenge 1 (18 MBP).
Hmm, I can't find anything in the DMG guidelines for costing a monster with save-or-die / save-or-suck powers such as a Basilisk's petrifying gaze or a ghoul's paralysing claws. Guess we'll just have to wing those!
Bugbear is AC 16 (6 MBP), 24 hp (3¾ MBP), +2 in attack stat (2 MBP), 11 attack damage (3⅔ MBP) for a total of a hair over 15 MBP which is, what Challenge 0 and a bit (1/2? 1/4?) rather than the 18 MBP the formula uses for Challenge 1 creature.
Giant Constrictor Snake should be MBP 22 since it's Challenge 2, but its AC 12 (2 MBP), 60 hp (7½ MBP), +4 attack stat (4 MBP) and 13 damage (4⅓ MBP) come to 17.833, or pretty the formula's figure for Challenge 1 (18 MBP).
Hmm, I can't find anything in the DMG guidelines for costing a monster with save-or-die / save-or-suck powers such as a Basilisk's petrifying gaze or a ghoul's paralysing claws. Guess we'll just have to wing those!
overgeeked
B/X Known World
It looks good as a detailed monster builder and you clearly put in a lot of work, but I gotta agree about the simplicity claim.
Use the “5E Monster Manual on a business card” numbers as your baseline and eyeball any adjustments from there. Drop those numbers into a spreadsheet once and you only have to reference it going forward. Coming up with a monster idea takes longer than “building” one from those numbers.
Use the “5E Monster Manual on a business card” numbers as your baseline and eyeball any adjustments from there. Drop those numbers into a spreadsheet once and you only have to reference it going forward. Coming up with a monster idea takes longer than “building” one from those numbers.
ragnodimaggio
Explorer
Not a bad idea.
Keep on tuning it!
Keep on tuning it!
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