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<blockquote data-quote="dave2008" data-source="post: 6983439" data-attributes="member: 83242">D&amp;D has never modeled smaug well.&nbsp; Though D&amp;D may be partially inspired by LotR, it doesn't model it mechanically very well.&nbsp; It is its own thing.&nbsp; If you want to model Smaug (and I do encourage that), you need to make a few changes.&nbsp; You could start with the modified ancient red dragon a made (post #13): <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468639-5e-EPIC-MONSTER-UPDATES/page2" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468639-5e-EPIC-MONSTER-UPDATES/page2</a>But you would still need to make a few changes.&nbsp; I would make him colossal, up his HP, maybe immunity to nonmagical weapons, fewer spells, and up the damage.&nbsp; Maybe CR 30?&nbsp; That is my target for Great Wyrm reds.Sure!&nbsp; The part of my text you quoted was: &quot;The fact is, 5e, like 4e, requires the DM to make the monsters come alive.&quot;What I mean by that is two fold.&nbsp; 1st:&nbsp; the mechanics in the stat block are rarely, if ever, enough for me to run a monster how I want.&nbsp; I pretty much tinker with every monster of any significance.&nbsp; I like the mechanics to back-up the monster lore, so I modify,2nd (and more to the point):&nbsp; you can have all the mechanics in the stat block and the monster can still be boring in the game.&nbsp; It is how the DM runs the monster that makes it interesting.&nbsp; I have personally made fairly interesting monsters become rather boring from poor use and very simple monsters interesting with creative use.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="dave2008, post: 6983439, member: 83242"] D&D has never modeled smaug well. Though D&D may be partially inspired by LotR, it doesn't model it mechanically very well. It is its own thing. If you want to model Smaug (and I do encourage that), you need to make a few changes. You could start with the modified ancient red dragon a made (post #13): [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468639-5e-EPIC-MONSTER-UPDATES/page2"]http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?468639-5e-EPIC-MONSTER-UPDATES/page2[/URL] But you would still need to make a few changes. I would make him colossal, up his HP, maybe immunity to nonmagical weapons, fewer spells, and up the damage. Maybe CR 30? That is my target for Great Wyrm reds. Sure! The part of my text you quoted was: "The fact is, 5e, like 4e, requires the DM to make the monsters come alive." What I mean by that is two fold. 1st: the mechanics in the stat block are rarely, if ever, enough for me to run a monster how I want. I pretty much tinker with every monster of any significance. I like the mechanics to back-up the monster lore, so I modify, 2nd (and more to the point): you can have all the mechanics in the stat block and the monster can still be boring in the game. It is how the DM runs the monster that makes it interesting. I have personally made fairly interesting monsters become rather boring from poor use and very simple monsters interesting with creative use. [/QUOTE]

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