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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 8580607" data-attributes="member: 11">As I have gotten more used to 5E in the last 2+ years that I've been running it, more and more I find myself creating my own versions or iterations of monsters to make use of in my game. I am the kind of DM who sees the version in the Monster Manual (or whichever book) as a template with which to construct an idiosyncratic version for use in the game. I also tend to like a variety of monsters from older editions that a) have not been officially adapted yet, b) have been adapted but in a version I don't like, or c) in a book I don't own (or didn't own at the time I needed it).  As such, some of the stat blocks I am sharing might be for monsters you can find elsewhere. Some might also be just a named iteration of a monster that is otherwise as-listed in a book.Another caveat is that I don't pay much attention to CR and only use it to determine how much XP to award (which I then tweak depending on how the monster played). I don't have much interest in so-called "balanced" encounters and tend to build them based on what makes sense for the setting, scenario, and/or a very rough idea of what the PCs are capable of without crunching numbers. For those interested in those crunched numbers, I have been doing it after the fact and posting the results in <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/its-official-most-of-my-encounters-are-deadly-now-updated-with-info-from-our-jan-and-feb-sessions.680249/" target="_blank">this thread</a>.As time went on, I adopted a few idiosyncratic ways of writing up a stat block as well, as you may notice. For example, I never waste space with the average damage number since I always roll for monster damage, I avoid repetition of words like "range" or "damage." I stopped listing the number of targets and the monster's reach unless it is something other than the standard on creature/5' reach. Oh, and I tend to give most monsters one or two good saves.Oh and I don't have physical descriptions of the monsters here (I usually either just have them in my head and/or use art from a book to show the players) and sometimes I also don't like the descriptions as they exist (or prefer a description from a different edition). So, if you are totally stumped by a monster just comment and I will do my best to find you an image or description.Lastly, if anyone ends up using or adapting any of these monsters, I would love to know which and how it went.I will be listing the monsters in the posts to come in the order the PCs encountered them (or could have encountered them), not in CR order (since as I said, CR doesn't mean much to me).</blockquote>

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