Favorite monster templates

[bigstipidfighte]

As a DM, I tend to make little to no use of templates, and it's something I'd like to work on. I find many templates change most or all of a creatures stats, basically forcing a complete rewrite of their stat block, something I'm rarely willing to make time for.

What are some of your favorite easy-to-apply templates, or more complex templates you find to be worth the effort?

[Urpriest]

From my perspective, the more complex a template, the more worth the effort it is. :smallbiggrin:

I really love Lycanthropes. It's a great way to add low-cost HD, ability score boosts, and natural attacks to humanoids. Goes great with Feral.

In general though, I'm more likely to add class levels or advance HD than add a template. If I'm adding a template, it's because the monster has it for story reasons, not because I'm trying to beef something up.

[Chadamantium]

I find the Dark template is probably the easiest to slap onto any creature. I personally throw half dragon, phrenic, and lycanthrope templates when I find I need an exotic baddy. My advice would be to find some templates that you think look really cool then learn them inside an out. At some point you can put on your favorite templates without any downtime.

Urpriest also has the right idea.

[PraxisVetli]

From my perspective, the more complex a template, the more worth the effort it is. :smallbiggrin:

I really love Lycanthropes. It's a great way to add low-cost HD, ability score boosts, and natural attacks to humanoids. Goes great with Feral.

In general though, I'm more likely to add class levels or advance HD than add a template. If I'm adding a template, it's because the monster has it for story reasons, not because I'm trying to beef something up.

That's ingenious.