All Questions
23
questions
17
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Why would anyone kill a dragon rather than subdue it in OD&D?
The rule for subdual in OD&D says (Monsters & Treasure, p. 12/13):
Subduing Dragons: Any attack may be to subdue rather than to kill, but this intent
must be announced before melee begins. ...
- 129k
2
votes
2
answers
200
views
How to properly boost monster damage?
So here's the situation:
In D&D 4e, I have began to reduce monster's HP by a lot (at least by half or even more than that).
The reason for this, is that I realized the combat encounters can take ...
- 341
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Would a monster trait-based Kobold race be balanced?
There are playable races for a number of monsters, for example you can play a Bugbear, Duergar, Goblin, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Kenku, Kobold, Lizardfolk, or Orc, and Satyr all of which are directly ...
- 129k
8
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Is there any monster with statblock changes during an encounter?
So I've been DMing D&D 5e for quite some time. My table enjoys long, challenging encounters. However many monsters end up repeating the same actions after a few rounds. I usually circumvent this ...
- 83
6
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What implications would a monstrosity as a player character entail?
Travelers of the Multiverse Unearthed Arcana lists the Thri-kreen race, and its type is monstrosity. I am wondering what playing as a monstrosity would entail.
All things that come to my mind are ...
- 3,214
0
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Ways to balance a Tarrasque Fight [closed]
Running a campaign right now where the planned BBEG is going to unleash a Tarrasque at some point. I think its a really cool monster, but balancing the encounter seems impossible. It's a CR 30 monster,...
- 863
18
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How can I avoid accidentally deadly encounters from monsters that are more deadly than their challenge rating suggests?
Monster Deadliness: In the DMG (p.82) there is guidance about the calculating encounter deadliness. This is entirely based on the XP of the monsters encountered, and each challenge rating (CR) has a ...
- 129k
6
votes
2
answers
651
views
Does my version of Fire Breath break my pseudodragon?
I am starting a campaign in which my character is an accomplished and award-winning chef, and in an egg-themed competition won a dragon egg with a pseudodragon. I've talked with my DM, and he's ...
- 181
4
votes
1
answer
190
views
Why are zephyr hawks and river drakes both level 3?
Both zephyr hawks and river drakes are level 3 creatures. This seems insane.
Zephyr hawks are worse than river drakes in just about every way. Their AC being 2 points higher than that of a river drake ...
- 1,091
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Are oozes overpowered for their levels due to the Engulf ability?
Background
Early in my campaign, there was a combat encounter where three level 2 PCs fought a single gelatinous cube. The cube was the standard level 3, and there were no special outside ...
- 1,091
2
votes
2
answers
196
views
Does adding multiple skills when combining creatures cause balance issues?
I'm creating a Svirfneblin Evil Mage by combining the stat blocks for each Evil Mage and Svirfneblin.
A Svirfneblin has the skills Investigation +3, Perception +2, Stealth +4.
An Evil Mage has the ...
- 10.2k
20
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Is the earth elemental's Earth Glide trait as potentially game-breaking as I think it is?
I'm DMing a campaign themed around monsters based on the elements, so making use of the Elementals naturally came to mind.
Taking a look at the Earth Elemental, it strikes me that there is some very ...
- 209
11
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Corroded Metal vs Magical Armor, should it melt it?
The DM in our game homebrewed something called a Dire Otter Swarm and had the Corroded Metal attribute that can destroy nonmagical items, but he gave it a buff that allowed them to destroy Magical ...
- 111
10
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How to balance a monster modification (zombie)?
I am DM'ing a campaign called "Army of the Damned" based on Magic the Gathering: Innistrad in which a horde of zombies is attacking a town. In the 5e Monster Manual, zombies have poison immunity but ...
- 1,102
5
votes
1
answer
21k
views
What sets the Tressym apart from the rest of the options for familiars as such a good option [closed]
I was looking at the tressym's description in the Storm King's Thunder adventure, and saw this (p. 243):
With the DM's permission, a person who casts the find familiar spell can choose to conjure a ...
- 4,840
6
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Is this wolf DMPC overpowered or underpowered?
I am new to being a DM and soon will have my first session. Since we are with three players total (me as a DM plus two PC characters) I want to help them out a little. The players are a Dwarf Cleric ...
- 69
0
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is this Homebrew "Boggart" balanced? [closed]
I wanted to put a Boggart into my 5e game, similar to a Boggart from the Harry Potter franchise. For those who don't know, it's a magical shape-shifting creature that can transform into the worst fear ...
- 5,630
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is this Library-encounter balanced?
I'm about to run a Wizard tower. I really wanted to run a Living Spellbook from Redditor /u/StoneStrix but had to scale it down. Since low-level spellcasters are kind of hard to find, I thought an ...
- 71
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Do the HP multipliers for resistance and immunity when computing EHP stack?
DMG p. 277 provides a table and some instructions for the computation of effective hit points based on resistances and immunities when computing the defensive Challenge Rating of a monster, or ...
- 11.1k
10
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Whence the large difference in power between ogres and hill giants?
Ogres and Hill giants are both of Giant type and are described as very similar height: 9–10 feet for ogres, 10½ feet for hill giants (and they're both of Large size category). Yet their ...
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Playing (some) monster races without racial HD
I'm interested in whether it is possible to play certain (monstruous) humanoids from MM without adding their racial HD, whist at the same time preserving balance. What exactly would I need to do to ...
- 61
25
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Monster Manual 1 - Is it balanced? Should I balance it?
I've been DM'ing a little lately 4 edition D&D and of course I'm confused again:
My first adventure was a big question mark, I didn't use the exact guidelines for creating an encounter and ...
- 251
3
votes
1
answer
403
views
Rebalancing the Orc Brutes in Thunderspire labyrinth?
The Orc Beserker is a miserably designed sack of hitpoints:
Orc Berserker
HP 66; Bloodied 33
AC 15; Fortitude 17, Reflex 13, Will 12
Speed 6 (8 while charging)
Greataxe (standard, at-will) Weapon
+8 ...
