Questions tagged [monsters]
For questions relating to either monstrous antagonists specifically, or all enemies of the player characters generally, depending on the traditions of specific games. Use as appropriate for the game in question.
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What is the weight of mice? And do pets count as monsters under your control? [closed]
I'm asking this because in the urchin background, you are given
a pet mouse.
And there is nothing about the weight of a monster or creature in the Monster Manual. Now a rat is close enough to a ...
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What happens to a PC lycanthrope's ability scores if it becomes cured?
I have a Fighter character who is a lycanthrope and had a very low Strength score originally, but thanks to her lycanthropic affliction, her Strength is now the highest score.
Will her Strength score ...
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What's the difference between a monster that can't speak and a monster that doesn't speak?
In their languages section of stats for some monsters, the wording sometimes says "can't speak" and sometimes says "doesn't speak."
What functional difference is there between these two wordings?
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What Traits are determined by the Summon Aberration Spell?
For reference, in a session last night the Warlock of the group had a summoned Beholderkin from the Summon Aberration Spell. A Lair action occurred which could have caused the Beholderkin to have been ...
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Is Innate Spellcasting counterspellable?
On p.85 of Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, there’s a section clarifying that you need to perceive a spell being cast (by either a verbal, somatic or material component) in order to counterspell it.
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Can a Lich create a new phylactery?
It looks like 3.5e prevented the creation of a new phylactery.
It looks like some people were saying that it was possible in 4e. (as per comment in link above.)
I'm interested to know whether we ...
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How Is Damage Determined For Sunlight Hypersensitivity?
So, as the title states, I'm curious about how the damage is determined with sunlight Hypersensitivity. I was looking through the monster manuals of DnD 5E and I came across a total of 4 monsters that ...
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Can a doppelganger detect another doppelganger's thoughts?
Surprised it took me this long to think of this, but should two or more doppelgangers come into contact, would their detect thoughts abilities work on each other?
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What makes the Monstrous Crab so dangerous?
It was recently mentioned that the Monstrous Crab is generally capable of wiping out even a powerful 3rd level party. It seems to me that, lacking any anti-ranged capability whatsoever, it is ...
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What does "takes an action" mean?
The context of this question, is the following: I've recently joined a D&D table, which happened to be with only new players, including the DM himself.
The other day, our DM introduced us a new ...
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Does any published monster have a "toss creature" attack or similar?
I was inspired by this question, where the answers propose improvised weapon and unarmed strike rules to ajudicate the effect of a monster picking up and tossing a (in this case unconscious) creature ...
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How do you "safely" imprison a Lich?
Let's say in a world like Eberron, with a prison like Dreadhold, how would you go about keeping a Lich prisoner if you don't want it to die and escape to its secret phylactery?
I mean can a Lich kill ...
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Would an ethereal Night Hag's touch be picked up by the Alarm spell?
Our hapless 3rd-level party picked up a Night Hag and a Green Hag while we were trekking through the jungle in our last play session. They had disguised their forms to travel with us and before we ...
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Must a night hag be within touching distance of a sleeping humanoid to use Nightmare Haunting?
From the Night Hag statblock (MM, p. 178):
Nightmare Haunting (1/Day). While on the Ethereal Plane the hag
magically touches a sleeping humanoid on the Material Plane. [...] As
long as the contact ...
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Is Chain Lightning considered a ray spell?
Is Chain Lightning considered a ray-typed spell?
I couldn't find an official definition for rays (unlike lines and cones), but it seems to be a "type" of spell because it's referenced by ...
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Chimeric Animals from Icewind Dale
I've recently discovered the Chimeric Animals from Icewind Dale on DNDBeyond. I'm really curious about what they are, what the lore is behind them, etc. I've looked on the Forgotten Realms wiki, and I ...
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Can you safely wear animated armor?
Assume a team of my players defeated an Animated Armor, which broke apart. One of the players states that if it is armor, than he can take it and use it. DM decided that the armor is damaged and ...
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Are the plants animated by an Assassin Vine considered magical?
In our last play session the party was attacked by an Assassin Vine. The low-strength kobold ranger was trapped in the vines for several rounds (in part because he went unconscious from damage, but ...
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Does a Morkoth's Spell Reflection work against area-of-effect spells like Fireball?
The Morkoth (Volo's Guide to Monsters, pg. 177-178) has a reaction called "Spell Reflection":
Spell Reflection. If the morkoth makes a successful saving throw against a spell, or a spell ...
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How does Fomorian Evil Eye work?
On p. 136 of the Monster Manual, Evil Eye is an Action that applies damage (or half on a failed Charisma save). The next entry in Actions is the Curse of the Evil Eye, which says:
With a stare, the ...
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Where can I find Bullywug lore?
In D&D 4th Edition (the edition I play), Bullywugs are featured in the Monster Manual 2. However, the lore about them in this book is very thin, barely touching n anything about the race itself.
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Homebrew Parchment Golem monster v1.2
This is a continuation of my first attempt to get a review of a monster stat block. If I'm doing something wrong, let me know.
Homebrew Parchment Golem monster
My goal for this creature is to be a ...
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Homebrew Parchment Golem monster
This is my first attempt to get a review of a monster stat block. If I'm doing something wrong, let me know.
My goal for this creature is to be a trash mob, but with enough resistance/immunity to not ...
- 32.3k
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2
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Is there an official (or optional) rule for weapon damage vs. creatures in different size categories?
I thought I saw this rule in an official D&D 5e rulebook, but now that I'm looking for it, I can't find anywhere. I'm pretty sure it was an optional/alternative rule, like in a little sidebar in ...
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What is the average difference between AC and Touch AC for monsters?
Or asked another way -
How much easier is it (typically) for a player to hit touch AC rather than regular AC?
This is a supporting question for:
Is it a viable tactic to use a flurry of blows monk to ...
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When targeted by a Nightwalker, can a Monk get rid of Finger of Doom effect by using Stillness of Mind?
The effect of Nightwalker's Finger of Doom skill is:
The nightwalker points at one creature it can see within 300 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 21 Wisdom saving throw or take 6d12 ...
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Can any creature other than PCs use Two-Weapon Fighting?
The rule on Two-Weapon Fighting (PHB, page 195) states:
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you're holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with ...
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How are modrons chosen to be promoted?
I am about to run an encounter of the week featuring modrons that includes combat encounters with monodrones and duodrones.
The stats for modrons state:
Cogs of the Great Machine. If a modron is ...
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What are the creative origins of the Storm Giant?
Giants have been part of D&D since the very beginning, with the hill giant, stone giant, frost giant, fire giant, and cloud giant featuring in the original version of the game, and the storm giant ...
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Do you get access to a summoned creature's special attacks/spells with "Summon Nature's Ally"?
The Summon Nature's Ally spell mentions:
This spell summons a natural creature. It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability....
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Can a monster with no melee attack make an Opportunity Attack?
Specifically, in D&D 5e is the Flameskull allowed to take opportunity attacks against enemies that move away from it? It has spells and one at-will spell attack (Fire Ray), but no melee abilities ...
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What are the rules, if any, regarding equipping a dragon with weapons in 5e?
The question has been asked as to whether or not a dragon can wield weapons in 5e, and for the first time in a long time, I am stumped about how to answer.
I first searched the stack exchange, finding ...
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What effect does a potion of giant strength have upon a monster?
An adventure module I own indicates that as soon as a fight breaks out, the villian's quasit minion will drink a potion of hill giant strength.
Looking at the quasit stat block, I am assuming its claw(...
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How does Koschei's trait Hidden Soul actually work?
One of the creatures in Kobold Press' Tome of Beasts for D&D 5e is Koschei, a Slavic Lich whose soul is hidden within nested objects. Here is the relevant part of the trait in question:
Hidden ...
CommunityBot
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Just how good is Grovel, actually?
The Kobold 5th level ancestry feat Grovel has two key benefits. The first of these is straightforward enough - it allows the Kobold to feint from a 30 foot range - an unambiguous and clear advantage.
...
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I'm Trying to Find the Race that's basically a Lizardfolk-Centaur?
I swear I've seen a drawing of what I can only describe as a Lizardfolk-Centaur. Where it's a Lizardfolk's near-term w/ 2 arms on top and what looks like a large monitor lizard's body w/ 4 clawed, ...
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What furniture does a beholder have in its personal quarters?
A beholder's lair is made up of several chambers and...
The farthest chamber from the entrance is the beholder’s personal quarters, where the creature sleeps and studies any magic treasure it has ...
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Can Remove Curse be used offensively against lycanthropes?
My question isn't whether lycanthropy can be cured by Remove Curse. This question How can lycanthropy be cured? has already answered that. I'm wondering about the logistics of what would happen if a ...
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If I have been swallowed by a Froghemoth and it is hit by fireball, do I take damage?
If I have been swallowed by a Froghemoth and it is hit by fireball, do I take damage?
The question is very similar to Is a Mummy still inside its sarcophagus affected by a fireball hitting right over ...
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What could attract the attention of hostile creatures? [closed]
So in my game of D&D 4e, the PCs are going to travel through the woods and the swamps, and an idea I have for this section, is that there's a type of creature in there that is more agressive than ...
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How is Lung in Lung Dragon correctly pronounced?
OK, so I've fished out my copy of 3rd Edition Oriental Adventures, and on looking at the lung dragons' entry in the monster chapter, I'm unsure how to pronounce lung- is it the same as the breathing ...
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What are the stages of Ceremorphosis?
I wanted to slowly have one of my characters turn into a mind flayer, does anyone know the steps/stages in detail for ceremorphosis? I thought I had read it somewhere once but cant find it now, like ...
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What happens when a polymorphed Giant Ape is sapped by Detatched Shadows?
This is a very specific situation. And it didn't actually happen, but I was theorizing with a friend and we couldn't agree on the outcome.
In The Wild Beyond The Witchlight campaign there are Detached ...
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Is there something better than low light vision - namely an improved low-light vision of some type?
Most races or monsters I've researched all have x2 for low light vision. So I'm wondering if there is an improved version, specifically meaning x3, x4 or greater. A single example is sufficient, ...
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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 ...
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Is there a legal way to search for monsters with legendary resistance?
I am planning a combat encounter in a context where I cannot homebrew monsters, and I want to use a monster that has legendary resistance.
Is there an easy way to identify all monsters that have this ...
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Are there any official references to the "a cat is a deadly encounter for a commoner" meme?
I have encountered several times the claim that cats are rather deadly encounters for any commoner and the difference between a commoner and an adventurer is, that the adventurer actually would have a ...
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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 ...
- 135k
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What skill applies to a player handling a domesticated monstrosity?
This question is prompted by this answer, which argues that Animal Handling is a wrong skill for managing an INT 3 monstrosity, a Grick tamed by some goblins.
A more common example case of this might ...
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Do Life Drain attacks from wights stack?
The wight has an attack called Life Drain:
Life Drain. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) necrotic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution ...