D&D 5E Weak 5e monsters

[UngeheuerLich]

Actually life in danger in every fight makes no sense, because eventually you will die fast. If you don´t allow too easy short and long rests, Ressource attrition on its own is "dangerous" since every big spell and so on you can make the next battle too hard.

 

[AriochQ]

The fast combat mandate of 5e means 'easy' combats (well, or quick TPKs). A party completing an encounter with just some hps and spells expended and never seeming in danger is still experiencing resource attrition, and attrition over the day, not danger within a given combat, is meant to provide the challenge in 5e as it did in classic D&D (maybe even a bit more so, since 5e lacks the arbitrary gotchyas of old-school).

I agree with what you are saying, I just don't see it as fun. It is one of my main complaints about 5th ed (the other being vision mechanics).

Classic D&D was deadly at low levels (skewed hp to damage ratio), ho-hum at mid levels (hp to damage ratio skewed the other direction), and deadly again at high levels (Save or die!).

 

[Tony Vargas]

Actually life in danger in every fight makes no sense, because eventually you will die fast. If you don´t allow too easy short and long rests, Ressource attrition on its own is "dangerous" since every big spell and so on you can make the next battle too hard.

The attrition challenge is about avoid danger, in essence. You have limited resource (hp) that let you survive a battle with little danger of being killed, and limited resources (mostly spells) that let you quickly end a battle. You manage the mix of those & other resources that you expend to minimize risk throughout the day. Not very 'heroic fantasy,' but very D&D.

I agree with what you are saying, I just don't see it as fun. It is one of my main complaints about 5th ed (the other being vision mechanics).

It does seem, from the outside, like a strange design choice to hardwire in one playstyle when it comes to the nature of challenges the game can present, however classic that style may be, given 5e's other mandate to be inclusive of fans of all prior editions, not just classic-D&D fans.

Classic D&D was deadly at low levels (skewed hp to damage ratio), ho-hum at mid levels (hp to damage ratio skewed the other direction), and deadly again at high levels (Save or die!).

Though, saves did get really easy to make at high levels & death only an inconvenience (so neither side of 'Dave or Die' was that fearsome, at that point - losing magic items was much more devastating than dying, for instance)...
....and what you're calling 'ho hum' was the notorious 'sweet spot,' when the game was most fun (or at least, most functional). ;P

 

[CM]

I recommend the variant T-Rex:

 

[Syntallah]

I recommend the variant T-Rex:

I am working on a 5E > RIFTS conversion...!

 

[AriochQ]

....and what you're calling 'ho hum' was the notorious 'sweet spot,' when the game was most fun (or at least, most functional). ;P

I agree, mid levels were the best. I only meant 'ho-hum' in terms of death not occurring in one combat round.

The problem with 'Save or Die!' was that you failed 5% of the times no matter your bonus'. Eventually you would roll the dreaded '1'.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The problem with 'Save or Die!' was that you failed 5% of the times no matter your bonus'. Eventually you would roll the dreaded '1'.

Beats the heck out of failing 35-90% of the time.

 

[Istbor]

I recommend the variant T-Rex:

View attachment 72513

Sigh... I actually have those toys.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Says who? No matter what edition I'm running the monsters always get an even break. Access to feats, the same healing rates as PCs, etc.

No kidding. Shift up the CR by one category, and I give my kobolds the shield mastery feat (dragonshields), the magic initiate feat (alchemists), etc.

No offense directed at anyone in particular, but I have a genuine curiosity to see how people play their games. Because I can't figure out why some of the described encounters are so easy. I am curious to see how the DM runs the monsters, because often it sounds to me as if they are just bags of hit points thrown into an arena against the PCs, and aren't using their advantages.

 

[CM]

In all seriousness, carrying over some additional 4e monster design goes a long way to helping out 5e solo types. There's a couple of things you can do to make sure they are a challenge, if you don't want to go all the way into making them a 5e legendary creature:

• Add one or more feats
• Double HP, increase AC and saves
• Give the creature one or two bonus actions and possibly an area attack of some kind, especially one involving action denial
• Give the creature a reaction that it can take in response to player actions, similar to legendary actions. 4e had a lot of "Do this if the player dares to approach or attack me" type reactions: tail sweeps, wing buffets, counterattacks, instinctive breath attacks, etc.