Under your bed. In your closet. Is it better to out-monster the monster or to be quietly devoured? This tag covers questions relating to monstrous antagonists.
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1answer
1k views
How many rays can a beholder use in one full-attack action?
What it says on the tin. Beholders and beholder kin are given a number of rays that they can use. The entry for the Beholder-kin: Watcher notes that each eye can use one of its powers every round, ...
8
votes
1answer
336 views
How can I convert monsters from D&D 3.5 to d20 Modern?
What sort of issues would I run into if I wanted to co-opt some D&D 3.5 creatures into a D20 Modern setting? I'm looking mostly at devils, demons and some of the astral creatures.
Will such ...
8
votes
2answers
176 views
In 3.5/Pathfinder, what is the rough CR adjustment for Damage Reduction?
I have seen several breakdown and rough rules for adjusting a monster's CR according to various special abilities and qualities. The Pathfinder Core book and Bestiary has rules about things like high ...
8
votes
2answers
371 views
Can a creature be grabbed by two different creatures at the same time?
I've been playing the Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure for D&D 4th edition, and at one point a character was grabbed by two different monsters.
Can two different creatures of different types grab ...
8
votes
3answers
171 views
Good source for a dark/weird dryad concept?
I'm working on an adventure that involves obtaining the wood from a dryad's tree, and would like to present the dryad as something other than the typical depiction. I have some ideas, but am curious ...
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votes
8answers
513 views
How can I tailor an encounter so that a low level, mostly mundane party can defeat a wasp swarm?
I'm GM'ing a game with a large, mostly mundane party where all PCs at level 2. The party is made up of a good aligned cleric (i.e. no damage spells), wizard, druid (with wolf animal companion), monk, ...
7
votes
4answers
183 views
Monster resource from Cthulu Mythos adjusted for D&D
I want to introduce some monsters from Cthulu Mythos in my campaign, but I have problems finding a good resource on them. I am looking for suggested abilities, general information and art of them. It ...
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votes
5answers
425 views
Are there rules for skinning animals and making leather armor with the hide?
Recently I was DMing a game, and my players ran into a giant lizard. After they defeated it, they asked if they could skin the lizard and make it into armor. I basically just made it up on the fly; ...
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3answers
379 views
What do you see in a mirror when a vampire picks up an object?
When a D&D-vampire picks up an object, what do you see in a mirror? With the vampire having no reflection (and neither his clothing), does the item float? Does it get invisible? Does it depend on ...
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votes
6answers
5k views
Is there a playable undead race?
Is there a playable race of undead in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5? I would prefer a race that isn't a vampire or lich. If possible, please share their stats.
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votes
3answers
314 views
As a GM, how do you deal with or manage Stirges?
As a GM, how do you deal with or manage Stirges? Equally, how do you make use of them? For them to be a relevant threat, do they have to be in such numbers that they become unmanageable?
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votes
3answers
179 views
Can a Piercer attack more than once?
From the 1st Edition Monster Manual:
...and when a living creature passes
beneath their position above they will
drop upon it in order to kill and
devour it.
After they drop, can they ...
7
votes
2answers
328 views
What is a Gremlin?
What is a Gremlin? Is there a conventional, standard-issue portrayal of Gremlins in fantasy settings, much like there is for Dwarves, Elves or Orcs?
What games include portrayals of Gremlins?
7
votes
1answer
162 views
Guards for a Raven Queen Temple
I have a party of four 3rd level adventurers. They will be breaking into a temple dedicated to the worship of the Raven Queen. There will be a ritual taking place in the sublevels of the temple. I ...
7
votes
1answer
212 views
Can Monsters with class levels take Monster Feats instead of Regular Feats?
I'm designing a monster which through virtue of high intelligence and me being evil, that has 13 class levels.
However, I also want to bump up the save DC on its special ability. The feat Ability ...
7
votes
1answer
142 views
How many attacks can an Olethrodaemon get with a full round attack?
I am a new DM having a little trouble understanding the monster stas blocks for higher level Pathfinder monsters. I get most of the lower CR monsters, but then I doubt myself when enemies seem to be ...
7
votes
3answers
321 views
What monsters are depicted on the 4.0 DM Screen?
I have the DM Screen included with the DM Kit. It depicts an underdark scene, and I can recognize:
a gargoyle
a beholder
some zombies
a mind flayer
an umber hulk
a black dragon
a bugbear
two drow
a ...
7
votes
1answer
288 views
Can monsters make multiple attacks in a single action?
In the bestiary for the new D&D Next playtest packets, some creatures look as though they get multiple attacks per round.
e.g.: An owl bear gets Melee Attack: Claws +5/+5 (etc.) and Bite +5 ...
7
votes
1answer
388 views
Where can I find a database (sqlite, csv, etc) of Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set character and monster data?
I'm writing an engine for Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (Red and Blue Box) First Edition (1E) in Python and would like to be able to read from an existing database of what is in the players and ...
7
votes
1answer
265 views
Which products contain Monster, PC, or NPC tokens for Dnd4e?
Which books/boxes/etc contain sheets of tokens and or maps for Dnd4e? I have the monster vault, which I believe came with tokens, and the outdoors and indoors tiles I think came with some tokens ...
6
votes
7answers
223 views
Need some recommendations for monster manuals
I run and play lots of indie-style games (Burning Wheel and Apocalypse World in particular). Perhaps the one thing they lack that I miss from my D&D days is the tomes full of monsters to excite ...
6
votes
4answers
391 views
Sources for officially published GURPS monsters
When I recently purchasing the Dungeon Fantasy collection of monsters, I noticed that most of the listed monsters are not "every-game" monsters. It seems to be lacking simple goblins, harpies, etc. ...
6
votes
3answers
248 views
The effects of saving throws on mind reading
A number of creatures in D&D systems (specific editions may not be necessary here, but let's use 3/3.5/3.75 for simplicity) have the ability to use spell or spell-like effects such as Detect ...
6
votes
3answers
270 views
How can I acquire Charm Person/Charm Monster as an SLA for my NPC?
So, I'm creating the overarching villain for a campaign I intend to run - an Osyluth with class levels known as Molkor the Quartermaster - and I want to get him into the Fiend of Corruption prestige ...
6
votes
4answers
284 views
Creating rules for jumping or climbing onto monsters?
Partly inspired by this thread's discussion about creative role-playing and one answer there referring to stunts, I wanted to adapt a similar concept to the fairly rules-strict D&D 4th Edition.
...
6
votes
2answers
109 views
Are the offspring of Wild Card creatures also Wild Cards?
If a creature is a Wild Card, are its young also Wild Cards, or do they only become Wild Cards once they have matured?
6
votes
2answers
103 views
Is a Bodak's Death Gaze an Energy Drain Effect?
My party recently ran into a Bodak. One of it's nastiest features is it's Death Gaze (Su) gaze attack which causes:
1d4 negative levels, 30 feet; Fortitude DC 18 negates. The save DC is ...
6
votes
2answers
151 views
What is the physical stress cap for a Diminutive Size creature with Claws?
Consider the lowly garden gnome. He's got the Diminutive Size [-1] power, which means he is
Wee. [...] When your size is a factor in combat, you can only inflict 1 physical stress per attack (but ...
6
votes
1answer
168 views
Were there gray renders before the year 2000?
I'm interested in compiling some lore on the gray render, but the Wikipedia entry dates them no further than D&D 3.0. Did they exist before this? Did they exist before D&D came along or were ...
6
votes
1answer
248 views
Gelatinous Cube damage
This seems really basic, but I'm not really sure how to treat the case where a creature has been engulfed by a gelatinous cube. Does the creature simply take 1d6 acid damage as if it were attacked, or ...
6
votes
3answers
505 views
What are the dinosaur equivalents?
I need to pull together a list of dinosaur equivalents for D&D by name, what dinosaur they are equivalent to, and ideally book.
I know the various monster manuals and other books have a bunch of ...
6
votes
1answer
121 views
Does Invulnerable include Magic Weapons?
Some creatures in Savage Worlds are Invulnerable to wounds except for something they have a Weakness to. For example: a Vampire has a Weakness to Sunlight and other standard anti-Vampire attacks.
...
6
votes
2answers
230 views
In creating a monster what cautions should be taken?
The DDI Adventure Tools make it very easy to refluff or restat a monster in no time. Creating a monster is still easy, but can be difficult due to trying to not create an overpowered monster. Aside ...
6
votes
1answer
315 views
6
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1answer
441 views
How does the Soul Eater's Energy Drain touch work?
I've been doing some theory-crafting and attempting to build a high-level villain as a gestalt character, and I'm not sure the combo I was planning on using actually works.
In the Book of Vile ...
5
votes
5answers
885 views
What's a good defense against silence?
Well, a dungeon master keeps throwing characters who can silence spells at me. It's a pain in the butt when trying to fight as a group, as most of my friends and I are casters. We're dealing with ...
5
votes
3answers
268 views
Is there any good place on the internet that hosts monster playtests?
I've been a DM for a while for 3.5. I've run many NPC characters, however only a small fraction of monsters out of the books (comparatively). Also, I like to use templates liberally as well as advance ...
5
votes
2answers
218 views
How can I judge rarity of monsters?
One of the things I like about 4e is the scalability of monsters. If I say, for example, that kobolds are common I can then make then the most common monster for encounters for quite a few levels.
...
5
votes
2answers
241 views
What makes something a signature monster?
I've seen the term "signature monster" thrown around a lot but I'm not exactly following it. What makes these monsters signature? What makes any monster signature to a given game? Is D&D the only ...
5
votes
1answer
605 views
Resisted energy types and immunity
I would like to know the distribution of energy resistances and immunities in 3.5 monsters, and especially the four basic types fire, cold, electricity and acid.
It is often said that fire is most ...
5
votes
2answers
490 views
What monster tokens are these?
Here is a snap shot of some monsters that I found while being bored today. I couldn't identify what the monsters were (sort of).
the monster on the top left marked (3) turns out to be a "Vampire ...
5
votes
1answer
83 views
Are the Monster Lore paragraphs from the printed manuals available online?
I got a subscription for DD Insider and have been especially satisfied with the online compendium: being able to quickly open the relevant monster entries in seperate tabs during an encounter has ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
Are there any established rules for flying in combat for D&D 3.x or d20 Modern?
My game is d20 Modern, but the two systems are very similar, so either is fine just to give me some templates to work from. I'm basically looking for anything that isn't me pulling stuff out of thin ...
5
votes
2answers
159 views
How do you figure Attributes from an MR?
I'm talking about Tunnels & Trolls, of course -- where monsters have a Monster Rating (MR), and that's all they need!
...usually. It gets sketchy (for me, anyway) when you, the GM, want your ...
5
votes
1answer
202 views
What are some good unusual races for Shadowmancers?
I have an idea for a Shadowcaster/Child of Night character, but I'm not sure what race would work best for it. I kinda wanted to use one of the more exotic playable races or even something playable ...
5
votes
1answer
834 views
How many hit dice do monster player characters have?
Let's say we have party of humans and a minotaur(cr 4). Everybody is level 10, so according to Pathfinder's monsters as races rules minotaur should have 8th (let's say barbarian) level.And the ...
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votes
3answers
182 views
Resources on undeads and their creation
I'm searching for resources on undeads in general and their creation, as I want to develop a new realm for my homebrew setting, in which necromancy and magical-alchemical research on undeads, ...
4
votes
2answers
172 views
Monsters with negative HP
I'm not sure I remember correctly, but I think a certain, early Ravenloft Monster Manual featured a creature (some kind of a goblin?) that had negative HP, as in it operated (lived) with negative HP, ...
4
votes
1answer
143 views
How can I include Dresden-Files-style vampires in my Pathfinder game?
I have a concept for a campaign that uses a Dresden-Files environment in a medieval fantasy setting, but for reasons of familiarity and experience prefer to use the Pathfinder system. I specifically ...
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votes
2answers
154 views
Is the animating force of a golem always from the Elemental Plane of Earth?
I'm researching some homebrewed golem rituals not covered in WFRP 2e. My baseline ideas are coming from the D20 SRD. One thing struck me odd, but maybe to an experienced d20 player or DM it may make ...
