This saves you from having to recalculate attack bonuses and weapon damage. Or, on the flip side, a way to make a monster more manageable is to take away its multiattack. So, a lizardfolk could have only 8hp (4d8 that all roll 1’s + 4) and up to 36hp (4d8 that all roll 8’s + 4).īesides hit points, an easy way to buff a monster is to give it multiattack. The “22” is the average, and the equation in parenthesis is the possible range. Even if you don’t want to stray too far from the official stat block of the monster, you still have a lot of wiggle room.įor example, a lizardfolk has “22 (4d8 + 4) hit points” (p. Remember, the hit points given are the average. Sometimes all you need to do is increase or decrease a monster’s hit points. The next step would be to take the stat block of the monster you want, or one that is close to what you want, and modify it to suit your needs. Consider monsters with a higher CR that live in the same environment as the primary monsters, or ones that have similar anatomies, traits, or desires. This works great when you want a “boss” monster or just want a monster to stand out from the rest. If, for whatever reason, this group of kobolds doesn’t work for a dragon, then perhaps their leader has been blessed by their gods and now has a breath attack and wings. Then, use the hunter shark’s stats but, instead of “biting”, the merfolk brute “stabs with its trident”.Īnother example is to use a dragon wyrmling as a kobold leader. Describe the merfolk brute as being twice as big as its allies, wearing chitinous armor from a giant crab and carrying a trident. As the DM, you paint the picture of what the creature looks like. The players don’t have to know that the merfolk brute is actually a hunter shark or that the goblin scouts are actually deep gnomes. The easiest and quickest solution when you need a new monster is to steal the entire stat block of another monster. Whatever the reason, knowing how to create a monster to suit your needs is a valuable skill for any DM. Or maybe you just want that perfect fit for an encounter.

Maybe you don’t want to take the time to sift through the hundreds of monsters out there. Maybe you don’t own the supplemental books. There’s a huge variety of monsters in the official D&D 5e published works, as well as even more to be found from other publishers, such as Kobold Press’s Tome of Beasts, and free homebrew creations that are just an internet search away.īut, fellow Dungeon Masters, I think we can agree that there are never enough monsters. Even if your group prefers social encounters or avoids conflict, eventually the heroes will be faced with a foe that must be dealt with through combat. One of the most iconic things about Dungeons & Dragons is the monsters.

D&d 5e homebrew monsters