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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Can this Pact Hag power make the target move?
So in D&D 4e, Monster Manual 3, there's the Pact Hag (p.108).
One of their attacks is the Compelling staff.
The description says this:
"Hit: 1d6 + 5 damage, and the target makes a melee basic ...
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Are golems immune to indirect spells?
Golem Antimagic is not that clear:
A golem is immune to spells and magical abilities other than its own
Grease is however cast on the ground, not on the golem:
Area All solid ground in the area is ...
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Concentration and attacks with special effects
A Cleric that is concentrating on a Bless spell is hit by a Mummy Lord's Rotting Fist. The Cleric takes the damage (14 bludgeoning + 21 necrotic on average). Rotting Fist has a second effect:
If the ...
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If the drow shadowblade uses Shadow Sword as a ranged attack, does it throw a sword (that it then has to retrieve before using it again)?
The drow shadowblade (Monsters of the Multiverse version, p. 105) has a "Shadow Sword" action that can be a melee or ranged weapon attack.
Is this ranged attack done by throwing the sword? ...
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Can a Tressym see a Skulk?
Is a skulk's invisibility is magical enough to be detected by a tressym's Detect Invisibility? Or is it just a nonmagical ability?
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Which are Illithid Adventures?
Does anyone know which adventures have Illithids? I am looking for a tier two adventure or one for levels 7-9 in other editions.
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When rolling initiative for DM-controlled creatures, does their Dexterity modifier apply?
When the DM is rolling initiative for its monsters, does their Dexterity modifier apply, or does the DM just roll a d20 on its own?
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Which damage types are the most and least common?
(inspired by these questions)
I have already asked which physical damage type is the most common, but how does it look when we consider all of them?
I mean the damage directly dealt by monsters, and ...
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What's the most common language shared by those who don't speak Common?
Finding the most common language is easy1, the number is written at the top of the Monsters section.
Finding the second most common2 is also not hard, you just click through the list of languages, and ...
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Does Auril retain effects or conditions when changing form?
(spoilers ahead for Rime of the Frostmaiden, read at your own risk)
While discussing monsters with changing stat blocks, the example of Auril, from the adventure Rime of the Frostmaiden, came up.
...
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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 ...
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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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Converting Oonga from "Isle of the Ape" to 5e
My party of five level 15 PCs is adventuring in my homebrewed conversion of the 1e module Isle of the Ape. I would like the Boss Monster, Oonga, to be a Deadly encounter for the party, so I am aiming ...
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Can the term "item" also apply to creatures?
The rules sometimes refer to items, for example bag of holding says: "Retrieving an item from the bag requires an action." The term item is not formally defined in the rules, so normally we ...
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What's the story behind kobolds being little lizards?
In tradition, kobolds were fey creatures associated with mischief, similar in appearance to gnomes or gremlins, often with the ability to become invisible (like the kobold Pumuckl popularized in a ...
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Can monsters perform critical hits?
In Unearthed Arcana 2022 - Character Origins, the "Critical Hits" section on p. 19 of the PDF states (emphasis mine):
Weapons and Unarmed Strikes* have a special feature for player ...
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How do a dragon's Frightful Presence and Becoming More Fearful interact?
Scenario
A dragon attacks, which activates its frightful presence. Everyone in the party has at least 5 HD, but fewer HD than the dragon. At least one party member is affected, and they are shaken.
...
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What creatures are immune to nonlethal damage?
Inspired by this comment (and the question to which it’s found under), what creatures in PF2e are immune to non lethal damage? Is there a complete list?
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Would the breath of a red dragon set anything on fire?
The description of the breath (here from the adult red dragon, but apart from damage amounts and save DCs, they are all the same) says:
The dragon exhales fire in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in ...
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False appearance and hiding mid combat
As per the title, I'm having a hard time to understand how these two abilities interact, more specifically in a case of a homebrewed monster that can blind creatures that failed a save. It goes as ...
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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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What is this horror RPG involves being chased by a monster, and uses cards or coins to decide what happens?
I remember reading about an RPG that sounded really interesting. The details I remember are:
You are being chased by a monster
Encounters with the monster are uncommon
It is a horror theme
There are ...
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What does the cloaker see?
The cloaker (page 41, Monster Manual) ability "False Appearance" says
While the cloaker remains motionless without its underside exposed, it is indistinguishable from a dark leather cloak.
...
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Issues with Clay Golem's Cursed Wounds?
If a character is wounded by a Clay Golem they gain Cursed Wounds.
is this curse on all their received damage or just this blow?
does it including damage they already have and future damage?
does ...
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How could you balance a Druid transforming into an owlbear and other monstrosities?
The buzz around the new trailer for the Dungeons & Dragons movie includes much discussion of a scene in which the druid character transforms into an owlbear.
As far as I know there’s no RAW way ...
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In which editions of D&D have druids been able to Wild Shape into owlbears?
In the trailer for the movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, we see a druid character use the Wild Shape ability to turn into an owlbear (timestamped link to trailer). Notably, this ...
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If a creature with damage transfer is grappling a target, and the grappled target hits the creature, does the target still take half the damage?
A particular situation brought up this issue– a slithering tracker has the damage transfer ability:
While grappling a creature, the slithering tracker takes only half the damage dealt to it, and the ...
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I have a problem with a hexblade warlock with pact of the blade and improved pact weapon (they can use a bow and smite with it) any ideas? [closed]
I want the campaign to be balanced for all players
They have:
Pact of the Blade
Hexblade
Improved Pact Weapon
Eldritch Smite
They want to ranged smite. Help, I need something to balance it. What I ...
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Does an indifferent creature regurgitate (or stop restraining) a swallowed opponent?
Calm emotions is a fantastic spell for avoiding combat with with high CR/low Charisma opponents. One of its effects is:
Alternatively, you can make a target indifferent about creatures of your choice ...
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What is an intuitive, relatively accurate, in-world heuristic for whether an enemy can make an Attack of Opportunity?
One of the design features of Pathfinder Second Edition is to only have a select few creatures, both PCs and foes, having the ability to make an Attack of Opportunity. For PCs, only Fighters get it ...
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Can an NPC Duergar end a size change early? [duplicate]
Let's say a regular NPC Duergar is Large, and wants to hide behind something Smallish, or a Mind Master is currently Tiny and he knows he'll be making Athletics checks in less than a minute. Their ...
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Can the Enormous Tentacle see?
My level six moon druid can wild shape into a CR2 beast. I checked the monster finder and discovered there's a monster called an Enormous Tentacle.
I noticed the monster's senses include "...
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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 ...
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Why does the kobold inventor in Tomb of Annihilation reference Appendix A?
The Weapon Invention action of the kobold inventor in Tomb of Annihilation references Appindex A in its weapon invention action for pot of rot grubs:
Rot Grub Pot. The kobold throws a clay pot into a ...
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What does "or lower" in Conjure Minor Elementals mean?
In Conjure Minor Elementals it states
You summon elementals that appear in unoccupied spaces that you can see within range. You choose one the following options for what appears:
One elemental of ...
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How does Oblex interact with non-humanoids?
Many of the things I am finding about Oblexes are how they behave when they are found by the average NPC or adventurer. What about if it is a non-humanoid or a magical being? Something that might have ...
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Is an archfiend's true name in their statblock?
Looking up the lore of devils and demons, of summoning them and creating contracts, I saw a lot of emphasis on the importance of their "true name." Now, I understand how that can be hard to ...
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Can monsters take actions that aren't detailed in their stat blocks? [duplicate]
Me and my players got into an argument as to whether or not an Oni could take the Dodge action. This led me to question whether a monster can take normal actions other than the ones in its stat block. ...
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If a mythic monster is reduced to 0 HP by a Mace of Disruption, what happens?
(My question was inspired by this answer to "Is it possible to kill a mythic monster without activating its mythic trait?".)
Mythic Monsters (introduced in Mythic Odysseys of Theros) have a ...
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Is it possible to kill a mythic monster without activating its mythic trait?
The Mythic Odysseys of Theros setting book introduced the Mythic Monsters mechanic, where certain legendary creatures have a Mythic Trait that activates when they are reduced to zero hit points. Going ...
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Which beings are alive? [duplicate]
It’s clear that creatures like humanoids, giants, dragons, beasts, and plants all are alive, and that undead are not alive. But what about celestials, fiends, elementals, and constructs? What about ...
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What's a reasonable Green Hag Coven encounter for a party of 3 level 8 PCs?
Novice DM trying to make my bad guys intimidating.
My party is fighting a Hag Coven and I want to make this fight pretty hard without killing anyone hopefully. So three Green Hags (Coven Variant) are ...
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Can the NPC Archdruid from Monsters of the Multiverse cast wildfire when using change shape?
The new Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse gives revised rules for many, many monsters, including the Archdruid (pg. 48).
The revised text for Change Shape says (inter alia)
While in a ...
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What is included after Hit: in monster attacks? [duplicate]
So, in the most recent session our DM sicced a hobgoblin tribe on us, and it was controlling a souped up hellfire engine (it was immune to force damage, had a speed 80 so we could not outrun it, and ...
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What are the origins of the Displacer Beast?
The displacer beast is one of the game's iconic monsters. But it does not seem to come from the same kind of medieval bestiary like the gorgon, or from cheap plastic toys like the owlbear or bulette.
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What does it mean that an Ancient Blue Dragon's legendary action 'Wing Attack' costs 2 actions?
What does it mean that an Ancient Blue Dragon's legendary action 'Wing Attack' costs 2 actions?
Doesn't a dragon get one action on its turn like everyone else, whether it's a multi-attack, casting a ...
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What is "great distances" for an Elder Brain?
The narrative text for the Elder Brain from Volo's contains this passage (emphasis added):
When an elder brain infiltrates a mind, it alters the creature’s perception and deceives its senses, causing ...
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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 ...
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Are there any beasts eligible for the druid's Wild Shape feature that have Legendary or Lair Actions?
The Druid's Wild Shape class feature states, in part:
[...] If the creature has any legendary or lair actions, you can’t use them.
I do not recall ever seeing any creatures with Legendary or Lair ...
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If a lizardfolk shaman is killed while in crocodile form, what is its HP after it reverts to its true form?
The lizardfolk shaman is a CR2 monster with druid spells. It has this ability:
Change Shape (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). The lizardfolk magically polymorphs into a crocodile, remaining in ...
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