D&D (2024) Seeking Monster Creation Advice

[GreatestHonor]

Between my personal homebrew as well as my FFXV conversion thread, I have made and will continue to make many creature statblocks for dnd. I want to adopt the 2024 creature guidelines, and we all know that no official one was released (at least not to m knowledge).

I have been fortunate enough to find a decent math chart put together by Icarus Games on YouTube. However, I am left wondering if the traits of a creature affect its CR differently, as well as how new traits do so (such as the rakshasa’s new Greater Magic Resistance).

I am open to any advice, knowledge, and resources anyone has.

 

[nevin]

in my experience it really just depends on the party composition. A party high in magic and low in melee would find greater magic resistanct a serious problem. A party with a mage to deal with the magic that is mostly melee will find it annoying. I think this is a lot of the reason CR's are often not as accurate as DM's would like when planning encounters.

 

[GreatestHonor]

I’m aware of the effect of party size/compostion. I was thinking about magic resistance being equivilant to +2 AC in 2014. Would Greater Magic Resistance then be a equivalent to +5?

 

[dave2008]

I’m aware of the effect of party size/compostion. I was thinking about magic resistance being equivilant to +2 AC in 2014. Would Greater Magic Resistance then be a equivalent to +5?

The largest modifier in the 2014 guidelines is +4 AC. I wouldn't go beyond that personally. Actually, It shouldn't be to hard to calculate the effect by running the numbers with and without it. I need to run an errand then I will give it shot.

 

[dave2008]

OK, I looked at all CR 13 monsters in the 2024 MM. Their CR's vary, when using the 2014 DMG Guidelines from CR 13.5 to CR 19. I got an average of 15.9 and a median of 15.5.

The 2014 Rakshasa calculates to a CR of 13.5 without including greater magic resistance (GMR). If I use +4 AC for GMR I get a CR of 15.5. Just where it should be.

So, I would say GMR is equal to 2x MR, aka +4 AC.

 

[Theory of Games]

Between my personal homebrew as well as my FFXV conversion thread, I have made and will continue to make many creature statblocks for dnd. I want to adopt the 2024 creature guidelines, and we all know that no official one was released (at least not to m knowledge).

I have been fortunate enough to find a decent math chart put together by Icarus Games on YouTube. However, I am left wondering if the traits of a creature affect its CR differently, as well as how new traits do so (such as the rakshasa’s new Greater Magic Resistance).

I am open to any advice, knowledge, and resources anyone has.

I'm just a little curious:

Do you actually run D&D or just make statblocks? If you run D&D, do you use the provided CR guidelines for combat encounters? If so, how many rounds do your combat sessions typically run? Using the current CR guidelines, have you ever had a TPK?

 

[GreatestHonor]

I'm just a little curious:

Do you actually run D&D or just make statblocks? If you run D&D, do you use the provided CR guidelines for combat encounters? If so, how many rounds do your combat sessions typically run? Using the current CR guidelines, have you ever had a TPK?

Hey, great questions.

1. I definitely make more statblocks than I use, and i haven’t ran many campaigns. Which is why I try to stick to the math.

2. I’m still using 2014 rules in my current campaign, but yes i do use its CR/XP guidelines. I also tend to stick on the higher XP side per adventuring day, but that’s to account for a bunch of “holy” characters and their advantage against undead and fiends (the main enemies of the campaign).

3. Combat tends to be 4-5 rounds, but I’ve had some run longer.

4. I’ve had multiple instances of players reaching 0 hit points and even outright dying, but I’ve only had a TPK in my first campaign. My current group is the longest running and they reached 8th level not too long ago.

 

[Theory of Games]

Hey, great questions.

1. I definitely make more statblocks than I use, and i haven’t ran many campaigns. Which is why I try to stick to the math.

2. I’m still using 2014 rules in my current campaign, but yes i do use its CR/XP guidelines. I also tend to stick on the higher XP side per adventuring day, but that’s to account for a bunch of “holy” characters and their advantage against undead and fiends (the main enemies of the campaign).

3. Combat tends to be 4-5 rounds, but I’ve had some run longer.

4. I’ve had multiple instances of players reaching 0 hit points and even outright dying, but I’ve only had a TPK in my first campaign. My current group is the longest running and they reached 8th level not too long ago.

Thank you and I really appreciate your answers

 

[GreatestHonor]

Thank you and I really appreciate your answers

Yeah, no problem

 

[tomedunn]

Between my personal homebrew as well as my FFXV conversion thread, I have made and will continue to make many creature statblocks for dnd. I want to adopt the 2024 creature guidelines, and we all know that no official one was released (at least not to m knowledge).

I have been fortunate enough to find a decent math chart put together by Icarus Games on YouTube. However, I am left wondering if the traits of a creature affect its CR differently, as well as how new traits do so (such as the rakshasa’s new Greater Magic Resistance).

I am open to any advice, knowledge, and resources anyone has.

I wrote a detailed breakdown of the 2024 Monster Manual that shows how those monsters scale with CR. In short, non-legendary monsters follow the same rules as 2014 monsters, with the caveat that they tend to have proficiency in initiative rolls at higher CRs. On the other hand, legendary monsters are quite a bit stronger, mostly due to them having higher DPR than their 2014 counterparts.

Just like with 2014 monsters, traits for 2024 monster contribute to their overall CR. The 2014 Monster Features table can still be used as a reference, but I find it easier to think in terms of how much a trait impacts the monsters HP, DPR, AC, save bonuses, and attack bonus.

For example, the rakshasa's Greater Magic Resistance trait lets them automatically succeed on saving throws from spells and attacks from spells automatically miss. The later effect is likely to be small, since most spells don't involve attack rolls, so it can largely be ignored. Automatically succeeding on saving throws from spells is like having a +13 to all saves, assuming a baseline chance to fail of 65%. That bonus gets cut in half when converting it to an effective AC bonus, which gives the rakshasa an adjusted AC of around 23.5.

Now, this valuation is far from perfect, but it's likely good enough for estimating the rakshasa's CR.