Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hexmage-EN" data-source="post: 9357321" data-attributes="member: 79428">I was checking out the new monster statblocks for Vecna: Eve of Ruin last night and, to my surprise, discovered that my favorite new monster was a chandelier. I was initially looking for the hertilod, a new monster of the Astral Plane that I'd seen interesting artwork for. Upon looking at the hertilod's statblock I was disappointed to see it was basically just another monster that can swallow creatures, no new bells and whistles to accompany the illustration and concept I'd likes.Then I saw the best new monster statblock in the book: the whirling chandelier.I almost skipped it, assuming it would probably just have a simple melee attack that dealt some bludgeoning and fire damage. The whirling chandelier turned out to be quite an interesting statblock, coming equipped with a fiery aura that damages adjacent creatures, chains with a 15 foot reach that can pull targets adjacent, and a rechargeable blazing vortex AoE that deals fire damage and blinds.I had come to the book to check out a huge Astral beast with the intention of using it in my game and instead had been wowed by a piece of animated home decor. But why?The whirling chandelier's mechanics imply a role in battle to draw enemies to it, damage them with an always-on aura, and potentially blind them. Basically, it locks down the party. Give it a different name and description and I could easily see it as a war machine that drags melee characters to it while mechanically simpler enemies target the party ranged attackers and spellcasters.The recent Flee, Mortals monster book for 5E and the monsters of 4E feature statblocks designed to fill a role in combat. While not explicitly stated in the statblock for the whirling chandelier, it's abilities make it well suited for the soldier monster role, which is described in a recent D&D Beyond article promoting Flee, Mortals as intended to draw the party's attention and attacks to divert damage to it. I believe explicit monster roles should officially return to the game for three reasons: it provides a goal for the design of the monster that can encourage creating unique abilities to fulfill that role, it gives an additional design framework for creating monsters and giving them memorable things to do, and it gives a DM an indicator of how to run the monster in combat.I'll post examples of existing 5E monsters with role-fulfilling abilities, but for now I'm interested in seeing others' thoughts.</blockquote>

Verification