D&D 5E What class levels have you given monsters in encounters, to give them that extra edge?

[Urriak Uruk]

The only class levels I give to monsters are wizard levels. Beyond that, I just give abilities to monsters that sometimes mimic some class level abilities. Wizard levels are given as arcane magic and the development of it has a unique place in the lore of my game world.

Generally speaking, only PCs follow class rules. NPCs have a collection of abilities, but they do not generally add up to a class.

I mean, the rules are located in the DMG, so it is RAW to do this. It's just not a rule many people use (it can be a little complicated).

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Never done it in 5e but have done it in 3e. Maybe this could still be a useful couple of examples for you in spite of that.

Lich: wizard, sorceror, cleric, knight, druid, warlock, mystic theurge, any of the (insert planar exemplar species here)-ologist or -erist classes such as diablerist for example, or favored soul levels

Vampire: wizard, sorceror, paladin, knight, rogue, druid, soul eater (a rare class that usually only monsters have. Its actually not homebrew FTR), fighter, crusader, bard, or sword dancer levels

Dragon: wizard, sorceror, knight, paladin, druid, mystic theurge

Ghost: whatever you think would be normal for the race it had while alive up to the age it was when it died, also soul eater

Nymph: druid (obviously), if the nymph is the descendant of a recent godly ancestor, double the levels by pairing druid levels with favored soul levels.

Demon: any of the thrall class levels (as thralls typically will become a demon at some point), warlock, sorceror, rogue, barbarian, fighter

Devil: knight, sorceror, wizard, domain wizard, crusader (redo the spells somewhat), paladin (redo the spells somewhat)

Celestials: cleric, paladin, favored soul, crusader

Modrons: knight, crusader, fighter, factotum

Aboleth: warlord, wizard, sorceror, practically any psionic class (but i dont touch psionics classes myself), any ologist or erist class (give them a lot of racial bonuses to these classes features due to the unique manner in which aboleths inherit memories which is unmatched in other species, its also the main reason ilithids cant eradicate aboleths. The advantage is that big.)

Ill probably post more later but at the moment i have to attend to something.

 

[Weiley31]

Well when I have some elite hobgoblin bodyguards, they get the College of The Sword Flourish die/techniques to represent their increased martial training.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

I don't give class levels to humans, except I did once make a level 20 Eldritch Knight to see how ridiculous an AC I could get.

Have you never played as a human?

 

[Li Shenron]

So my question is, when have you taken monsters and given them class levels that people may not expect?

I wrote a small module for that but I didn't even use it:

Light Character Classes for Monsters

Just for fun, I mocked up some rules for "light" versions of PHB classes to be used as templates for monsters.

www.enworld.org

At that time I was thinking only about iconic classes plus Barbarian and Druid, but I think Sorcerer and Warlock would be appropriate too.

 

[dave2008]

I don't give monsters class levels, but I do sometimes give them traits or actions that are from a class feature or feat.

 

[Asisreo]

I don't like giving a character all features from a class since they don't translate well for NPC's and they tend to clog up the stat blocks. If I need to give them only one trait that's from a class feature, I don't even bother with levels (except spellcasting trait, of course)

 

[HomegrownHydra]

What is a "class level"? I've never understood exactly what it meant.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

What is a "class level"? I've never understood exactly what it meant.

Levels of a class.

Basically, giving monsters class features.

 

[HomegrownHydra]

So it's just giving NPCs abilities that PCs have? Then what does "levels" refer to?