As some of you may have noticed, Monster of the Week has lapsed. In order to keep things fresh and interesting, I have decided to discontinue it for the moment, and focus on providing a greater variety of articles.
Some articles to look forward to in the next week or two:
Continue reading Upcoming articles; Monster of the Week Index
Continue reading Monster of the Week: Basilisks
Basilisks are, like many D&D creatures, a solid mythological creature. Check the Wikipedia entry, it’s quite good. What’s particularly interesting is, apparently, a Cockatrice is a variant of a Basilisk, with more bird than lizard. Anyway, the important thing is, in D&D, they’re all reptiles. They’ve got eight legs (one of a variety of mythological descriptions), and can kill with a gaze. Specifically, D&D Basilisks turn you to stone, a technique known to us gamers as petrification. Basically, think of a crocodile with 8 legs that can look at you and you die.
Continue reading Monster of the Week: AbolethAboleths are large and intelligent marine creatures not to be confused with an Axolotl, another strange fishy creature also starting with ‘A’. However, rather than having legs, an Aboleth has psionic powers and another nasty stuff. They look something like this:
Continue reading Monster of the Week: Goblins
Goblins are like the eternal minion. Fireball fodder. Unlike Zombies, they can think for themselves, so are perfect for enlisting in huge quantities for random armies. Ever since The Hobbit they’ve been associated with being standard foes, and are thus included as such in D&D. However, like any monster, there are a few things to consider: there is definitely a right way and… a way that is still right (hey, D&D is pretty free-form), but not necessasrily as good.
Wraiths are incorporeal undead, pretty standard in just about any fantasy setting. Their very nature makes them very difficult to injure at all. For a DM, they are a handy monster as both a random encounter, and forcing the players to problem-solve a tricky encounter.
Wraiths are restless undead which basically serve no purpose in a game except to kill or be killed. They don’t really have motivation beyond killing the living. That’s fine. They’re pretty well suited to the task.
Continue reading Monster of the Week: Wraiths
I was going to write an article about Cockatrices, having been killed by one in NetHack (a Rogue-like game, more on NetHack later this week). However, I found 4E D&D doesn’t have them… yet. It’s possible they’ll be in the MM2, which is released in May. *sigh* While I like the DM-friendliness of the 4E MM, I wish they’d put all the classic monsters in the first one. Well, I guess you can’t blame them for trying to make a bit more money. Wait… yes you can… huh.
Aaaanway, I will thus be covering a similar monster which, like Cockatrices, can turn people to stone. Yup, Medusas. The D&D folk managed to go back in time, kidnap the original mythological gorgon, and clone her so now we have lots of Medusas! Medusas for everyone! Yay!
Continue reading Monster of the Week: Medusa
Another classic creature born of human fear and storytelling, Vampires are a staple in a host of roleplaying games. They are inherently a strong opponent, and a puzzle, all at once. They are intelligent, and can serve in both combat and non-combat roles with ease. Oh, and they bite. Yeah.
Resistant to ordinary weapons, Vampires are only vulnerable to certain materials. Depending on the exact mythology, garlic, holy symbols, holy water, and silver weapons may help against them. Chopping off their heads often works, but there really is only one way of killing a Vampire properly: a wooden stake to its heart. Sometimes this has to remain there, otherwise the Vampire will reawaken, but this is less common in games where defeating a monster is expected to be kinda final. Actually, 4E specifically says you don’t have to stake them, but hey, 4E’s weird like that. Oh, and sunlight is bad.
Both usage and mechanics mirror a core concept: Vampires don’t exist in a vacuum. A Vampire is never just a Vampire, it is a noble, or a thief, or a merchant, or whatever. Do not waste a Vampire on a truly random encounter: give them a reason to exist. Vampires are smart, and they have goals. If there is a noble Vampire, what is his goal? Is it to conquer the kingdom? Gain it by subterfuge? Just live (as such) happily ever after?
Secondly, a Vampire should almost never get killed in regular combat. They are tough, and they can use Gaseous / Mist Form to escape almost anything. If players want to actually kill a Vampire, make them think. Hunt down the lair. Engage in a battle of wits. Nothing is as simple as just stabbing things with pointy sticks.
Does this not sound right? You wanted expendable Vampires, like the standard ones in Buffy, which go down in seconds? Ah, you must be looking for Vampire Spawn. They are minions: in 3.5, functionally; in 4E, actually. Vampire Spawn are what you normally get from a Vampire creating another, and they only exist to die. They are also a lot less dangerous.
Anyway, Vampires can be nasty out of combat: they are very smart, and can Dominate people. A clever Vampire will use this to get himself into a nice social position, with not too many peasants with torches and pitchforks. It’s good at dinner parties, too.
3.5 Edition
Vampire is a Template. Something I only realised after nearly wiping a party with a Vampiric Mouse is it can only be applied to Humanoids or Monstrous Humanoids. Oops. Sorry, guys.
Basically, make a base creature. Either pick one from the Monster Manual, or create a Humanoid one yourself. For tips on creating basic Humanoid monsters, you can refer to my post on Humans and other PC Race monsters.
Obviously, the increased stats help almost any class. Increased HD to d12s helps survivability a lot. Turning Undead means no Con score, which means a stack of immunities, including immunity to any Fort save unless the effect can target objects (so, immune to Finger of Death, but not Disintegrate). CR increases by 2.
Whilst Vampires have lots of neat abilities, their Slam Attack is where the real power is. 2 Negative Levels every round. Yeah. Hit a Wizard with that a couple of times, and he’s in trouble. Negative levels cause -5 HP, -1 to basically every roll, and you lose memorized spells; here, check the SRD link. Nasty stuff. Incidentally, it’s what makes Enervation such a great spell. Blood Drain is lame because it means working out the Grapple rules.
Vampire Spawn are naturally simpler: just read the monster entry. Similar idea: use the Negative Level attack. It’s only 1 Negative Level, but at CR 4 a pop, you can probably have a few Vampire Spawn.
Incidentally, the MM mentions Holy Wafers for keeping Vampires dead. These also make tasty snacks.
4th Edition
*sigh* Way to break consistancy. Apparently 4E Vampires aren’t actually vulnerable to most of the anti-Vampire stuff, including stakes.
While at first Vampires seem different to 3.5, they’re basically the same. Unlike 3.5, there’s an example Vampire, but they still operate through templates. Unlike 3.5, the template is in the wrong damn book! Honestly!
The Vampire Lord template is on page 182 of the DMG. Like the 3.5 version, you need to strap it to a base monster, although you could just use the sample Human Rogue. Choosing a base creature with good synergy with the Vampire’s powers is good; the sample Rogue is alright, but something that gives Combat Advantage for Blood Drain seems more sensical.
Remember that a Vampire is smart, and he knows what you as a DM knows. If the Vampire reduces a foe to 0 hp or less with Blood Drain, then they just aren’t getting up again in that encounter (see MM page 259: Creating Vampire Spawn). Heh. This is a perfect tool for DMing: the *best* encounter is one where nearly the whole party nearly dies. To ensure Blood Drain stays recharged, make the Vampire stand next to anyone taking damage. Some hired help pincushioning people may be handy here.
There is basically nothing to say about Vamprie Spawn. They’re Minions. Weak, pitiful. Meh.
Suffice to say, no matter which edition you’re playing, remember two constants: Vampires are smart, and Vampires don’t want to be destroyed. Make sure they escape when they can, or the world simply isn’t believable. Other than that, just make sure they play whatever role in society they have chosen for themselves, and things should just fall into place.
Remember to come back next week for another Monster of the Week!
By the way:
I am completely ignoring that silly Twilight series for all purposes, before someone leaves a comment. They’re not really Vampires, they just happen to be strong blood-sucking things.
Yay, Hellhounds! I’ve favoured them a little ever since DMing a solo game where the player used Handle Animal to tame one, and I let him keep it as his Animal Companion. Anyway, historically, Man has liked two things: dogs (“man’s best friend”), and fire. Well, how can you get better than DOGS… ON FIRE!!!???
Oh, you know, they’re also pretty good monsters, too.
Apart from being amusing pets, Hellhounds fit in nicely into a few roles. Basically, usage relies on the two factors that makeup their existance: being a dog, and being ON FIRE. Oh, and being from Hell helps too.
As a dog, a Hellhound (or many) make good companions for villains. Rather than having a traditional sidekick, they have a pet. They can also be used as uber guard dogs, which I have done before. Nothing like a dog ON FIRE to mix things up a little, and remind players that the world has such creatures, and is used to them.
As to the ON FIRE and Hell aspects, they fit in nicely with any situation that demands fiery creatures, or creatures from Hell. I recently ran an encounter involving a whole host of fire creatures summoned into a fire temple: Hellhounds were involved.
The neat thing about Hellhounds is you can use them believably either in packs (like wolves), or in an encounter with other creatures. It all depends what you’re trying to do.
For general random-encounter purposes, you’ll just want a pack of Hellhounds. If the terrain is appropriate (volcanic, Elemental Plane of Fire, Nine Hells, etc) it obviously makes more sense, but they can always have been summoned for some reason. Like wolves, Hellhounds are smart enough to use rudementary tactics against the party.
For companion purposes, it helps if the master is something that actually makes sense to have a Hellhound. Some sort of Demon obviously fits, but also any fire creature (Salamanders, say), or even something like a Cleric of an evil Fire god could do it. Maybe a familiar of an evil Wizard? Casters are obviously better than non-casters, because they have the ways to get a Hellhound and make it not eat them.
And then there’s the guard dog Hellhound. Just remember not to put it on a wooden floor, or near anything flammable. However, I believe it makes perfect sense for rich nobles to use Hellhounds as guard dogs: they are strong, aggressive, and smart. They’re certainly better than any real dog, assuming you can tame them. According to to 3.5 MM, Hellhounds have Int 6 and can understand the Infernal language, so negotiating may be more important than taming. Hmm. Next time someone in the party plays a Fighter or something with Int < 6, try to convince the DM to let you tame their character as a pet.
3.5 Edition
There’s two Hellhounds in the MM: a Hellhound, and a “Nessian Warhound”. Note that if you use the Nessian Warhound, it technically has +2 Chain Shirt barding. I let the Druid strap it onto his Wolf Animal Companion, but your milage may vary. If you don’t want it magical, subtract 2 AC, and if you don’t want it at all, subtract another 4 AC (total -6).
So what have these Hellpuppies got? Well, they’ve got very good damage for their level, and they have decent saves on all three types. They can also move fairly fast, and have VERY good bonuses for Hide and Move Silently. They can also track by scent. They also happen to have a Breath Weapon, but it has a low DC, so is only really useful against low level parties.
Assuming they have enough room to move around, you’re going to want the Hellhounds to sneak around and flank their prey. Then, they can rush in and gang up on a single target. Only use the Breath Weapon if you’ll catch at least 2 non-Rogues in it.
If the Hellhounds don’t have enough room to maneuver, then there’s not much you can do. They have low AC and HP (Nessian Warhound a bit better, for its level, due to much more Con), and can’t hold out in melee for long. Use the Breath Weapon if you can catch 2+ non-Rogues, but otherwise just try to use the Hellhound’s good damage to take down casters.
A note on the Nessian Warhound: like many advanced monster, the Feat choice is a bit lousy. Try swapping Alertness for Improved Natural Attack, for an extra +1d6 damage on its bite. For more cheese (particularly against cheesy parties), Hellhounds qualify for the Metabreath Feats in the Draconomicon, just like the Hydra from last week.
4th Edition
Firstly, before you ask: it’s under Hound. Two types of Hellhound, plus two other random Hounds.
Tactics are pretty similar to the 3.5 version, although they have more hitpoints, but can’t sneak. They injure everyone who stands next to them, so exploit this: make sure the Hellhounds stand near the casters, if possible.
Using Fiery Breath, and, for the bigger Firebred Hellhounds, Fiery Burst, is basically reliant on how many people it can hit with the Area of Effect. The damage is similar to just attacking normally (bit better for Firebred), but hitting 2+ people really amplifies it. The Fiery Breath recharges on 4+ (50%), so spam it if there’s viable targets.
Other than that, there’s not much more to say. Hellhounds fit the same role in either edition, and there’s plenty of ways to use them. Have fun, and come back next week for another Monster of the Week.
From the trials of Heracles, we get a classical monster which is instantly recognisable, and a dangerous opponent. Tough and strong, with enough heads to attack everyone at once, the Hydra is a good “monster-y” monster: it’s only purpose is to kill and be killed.
Hydras have a few things going for them, as far as use in D&D goes. They’re hard to kill, which is always good. Also, they can attack with all their heads. How much of a big deal this is varies based on whether you’re using 4th Edition or 3.5, but it means the Hydra can be an active threat for the entire party by itself.
Usage is fairly simple: there are basically two ways. The first is thus: the Hydra is simply a random monster that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Heh. The other is a little more interesting, and allows a Hydra to be placed just about anywhere: it has been trapped and enslaved by other creatures. Not tamed, no, such a thing would likely be impossible (imagine taming a whole pack of dogs at the same time), but caging it, and releasing it when pesky adventurers try to kill them.
If you use the latter option (caged Hydra), encourage problem-solving amongst the players. If they can work out how to release the beast and turn it upon its captors, so much the better. Besides, it’d be funny.
If the player characters do engage the Hydra, then you need to consider its tactics. Yes, it’s a stupid monster, but that doesn’t mean it can’t fight cleverly. It knows what it can and cannot do. You should too. However, the specific tactics vary a lot depending on whether you’re using 3.5 or 4E.
A side note before I continue: both the 3.5 and 4E Hydras can swim. This is of variable use, because if you attack players who themselves are swimming, they’re basically completely screwed. However, you can attack them if they’re on a boat, or something, so if you need a monster for a river trip or some such, a Hydra is perfect.
3.5 Edition
Warning: 3.5 Hydras are more powerful than their CR suggests, especially against smaller and less powerful parties.
The first step is to work our which Hydra you want. The n-head system allows you to get any CR from 4 to 11, even without going Cryo- or Pyro-. Handy. Write down the number of HP per head, which is Total HP divided by the number of heads.
Note that if someone tries to Sunder a head, the actual Hydra only takes damage if the head is totally removed, and even then, it’s only half the HPs that the head had.
If you want the Hydra to have a bit more kick, make it Pyro- or Cryo-. Pyro- is good because it’s immune to Fire (a common attack element), but its breath is also Fire (a commonly resisted element). Also, Fire can’t be used to cauterise the wounds. On the flip side, Cryo- is more likely to injure its targets with cold breath, but it is Vulnerable to Fire. If you really want cheese, a Hydra qualifies for the Meta-Breath Feats in the Draconomicon, which could be interesting (Maximize Breath?).
Now, tactics. The Hydra has exactly one advantage over the player characters: it can basically make a Full Attack (1 attack per head) even if it moves. So keep mobile. Try to avoid having the PCs make a Full Attack on it. If the PCs have to repeatedly move into melee, remember that the Hydra’s reach allows Attacks of Opportunity. Particularly, all Hydras have 12 Dex and Combat Reflexes, so they can make 2 AoOs per round, even while Flat Footed. It’ll still go down to a good Wizard (lousy Will save), but hey, you work with what you’re given.
If you’re playing with a Pyro- or Cryohydra, then, well, you’ve got more to play with. A Pyrohydra will have more survivability, and they both have those breath weapons. If the party has a decent Wizard, then, to give the Hydra any chance of surviving past the first few rounds, blast the Wizard with all the breath weapons at once. With a poor Reflex save, it just might work. Otherwise, just don’t blast anyone with a decent Reflex save, and definately no-one with Evasion. Each 3d6 packet of damage gets a Reflex save for half separately.
Just remember: focus attacks. Each attack doesn’t do huge amounts by itself, but if you attack the same character with 5 to 12 attacks, they start to feel it. Also, don’t forget that Hydras have Fast Healing, so they recover a bit of damage each round.
4th Edition
IMPORTANT: This information is hopelessly out of date, ever since the Monster Manual 2 was released. The original MM simply didn’t do Hydras right. If you really want to use MM1 Hydras, keep reading, but honestly if you want to use Hydras you should get hold of the MM2. For more information about the MM2, see our MM2 In-Depth Review.
Hydras are a bit different in 4E: gone are Pyro- and Cryohydras, but there’s acidic ones. Oh, alright, the 3rd Hydra is flaming as well. Anyway, you don’t have such a range of CRs as in 3.5, but you do have decent coverage: Solo Brutes of levels 12, 18, and 25.
The actual difference between the Hydras is not much. Apart from normal/acid/acid+fire, the general trend is thus: bigger, stronger, tougher, more heads. That’s it. The bigger ones have more HP, do more damage, have more reach, and attack more times with Hydra Fury.
Mobility is not so important as in 3.5 (no Full Attacks), but still handy: they have Threatening Reach, so they can attack everyone who tries to close with them. In fact, tactics in general are not so important: the Hydras really are just big, tough monsters. As Solo Brutes, they really are designed to fight by themselves, but they can handle it.
4E Hydras have a lot better survivability than 3.5 Hydras, mainly because they’ve got a ton more hitpoints. Really, lots. The level 12 Fen Hydra has twice the HP of the level 12 Flesh Golem. In addition, they are resistant to Daze and Stun, which is very handy. They also have +5 Saving Throws. Unusually, thy don’t seem to have any form of Regeneration… quite odd, especially considering the myth they came from. It would make them a bit too tough, perhaps.
From an offensive perspective, Hydras are dangerous. In a game where almost nothing has multiple attacks, Hydras do, and the acidic ones can use those multiple attacks at range, and targetting Reflex. A focused attack is pretty nasty… and all Hydras have 2 Action Points. They can attack a lot. With Reach, they often hit squishier targets. Whilst Hydras do have a weak Will defence, they are resistant to Stun and Daze, so Wizards aren’t actually the primary target. No, as any wild animal knows, those stupid things poking it with sharp objects are the danger. Go for the Strikers. The Rogue, the Ranger, the Warlock, perhaps, if he’s silly enough to get close enough. If the main damage-dealers are down, then the Hydra’s huge hitpoint total starts mattering more and more.
For players fighting the 4E Hydra, disabling it is good… but remember Daze and Stun don’t work. Knocking it prone is alright, Weakness is good, Immobilizing is… good on Fen Hydra, not good on more powerful ones, which have Ranged attacks. If you Push it into a corner, you can negate its Opportunity Attack and Reach advantages, but you’re not going to get any Sneak Attacks on in. With the Hydra’s damage potential, you really don’t want it messing with your backline of casters. A Fighter is the most useful Defender, here: you can pin it down with your mark. Even another Defender is alright: the -2 penalty for not targetting you is even more important since the Hydra attacks multiple times.
That’s about it, then. Come back next week for another monster, and keep reading Dice of Doom Blog!
Humans, and, to a lesser extent, other player races, are quite handy for use as enemies in many campaigns. I mean, the real world’s done pretty well with just Humans, even without magic! Incredible, yeah. Anyway, in both campaigns set in worlds closer to our own, and in just more city-based campaigns, Humans and other PC races will quite possibly be the most common creatures that the players encounter.
Humans naturally deserve special treatment above the other player races, because they’re omnipresent. You’ll rarely find a campaign setting without them (us?), and they are usually the most common race in each setting. This means that Humans will be the most common potential foe that the player characters will meet. Nevertheless, I will deal with all the player races in this post.
Most regular NPCs will be Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and the like as well. This naturally means that any confrontation between NPCs and PCs will likely involve player races as foes. Enemies from the government, nobles, guilds, companies… any campaign that is more than just hack-and-slash will almost definately use Humans or some such as foes.
Anyway, enough extrapolation.
Humanoid race foes will traditionally end up using the exact same rules as the players themselves: after all, why should they be different? 4E mixes this up a bit, but the result will be the same. A bit like Dark Elves, these enemies are not truly monsters: they will use similar abilities, equipment, tactics, and skills as the players themselves.
This doesn’t mean you have to make the battle a tough tactical fight against a party of a Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Cleric combo or the like. There’s a reason why player parties are constructed like that. To throw a perfectly coordinated enemy party at the players is a recipe for a total party kill, unless they’re well prepared.
No, like monsters, you’ll use Humans and PC races in fairly simple ways. The standard encounter will have only one or two types: say, a group of Rogues working for the Thieves’ Guild, or a powerful Wizard with a few Fighter guards. This type of encounter is a lot more fun for players: they get the reward of being able to exploit weaknesses in the enemy. Remember: the aim is not to kill the player characters, it is to create fun for both players and DM by testing the PC strengths and weaknesses against those of monsters and NPCs.
So, lets get on to the mechanics. Surprisingly, there’s a lot to talk about. The race is the easy bit: the focus is not really whether the foe is Human, Elven, Dwarven, whatever. If it’s a PC race, the defining feature, and thus any difficulty, is their Class.
3.5 Edition
Really easy. Like, really really easy.
Two ways:
CR = class level (Plus any monster CR adjustment, if applicable… but we’re talking about player races, so it’s really not an issue. Ahem. Anyway. Keep reading.)
If you’re creating a spellcaster, you really don’t need to write out the whole spell list. Find the spells the NPC/enemy will use for their top couple of levels of casting, and/or a couple of spells you know they’re going to use. Obviously if the fight is going to be long thene you need to work out more, but a typical fight’ll last less than 10 rounds for a caster, so you don’t need to plan out a list of 40 spells or whatever.
Incidentally, a computer tool like PCGen can be used to create an NPC or monster enemy with class levels a lot faster than you can do by hand. This makes it a lot easier, especially for higher levels. It has the other advantage that you’ve still got the save files if you lose the sheets of paper: good for recurring villains.
4th Edition
Simpler… and also more difficult. Paradox much. Yeah.
Basically, the PHB rules are completely unsuitable for NPC/monster use. It’ll take too long, and monsters are designed completely differently to PCs in 4E.
Fortunately, there’s a couple of ways around this:
This all ends up being easier than 3.5. Why? Because 4E is designed from scratch to be easier for the DM (including a DMG that is a lot better than the 3.5 version). You will be spending a lot less time creating the encounters, and the premade Humans and other PC races presented in the MM really are worth using.
So. Whilst I doubt after reading this you’ll be using Humans and other PC races any more or less, I hope it makes it a bit easier to make them a viable encounter, and more fun for all involved.
Well, that’s another monster, or, at least, a… yeah, anyway. Semantics aside, log on to Dice of Doom next week for another Monster of the Week!
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