DMG's Monster Creation Guide: What Are Your Experiences?

[Dralnu]

I'm sitting down trying to make my own monsters with the DMG's guide. So far it's been a frustrating experience.

I'm looking at the Quick Monster Stats table that it references all over the place. It seems like their recommended HP / Damage range is higher than the monsters I find on the back of HotDQ or the MM. I know there's variance and all, but I'm having difficulty finding any that are as high as the table recommends.

Spellcasting, one of the most important and frequent traits on monsters, only has a few short sentences talking about it. And they don't even give you good guidelines for it! "If they have spells that increase damage/AC then it will have some effect on CR" THANKS GUYS! That's it? What about determining a caster level? Should my CR 5 caster be casting as a 5th level wizard or a 10th level wizard? Hello? Little help, Dungeon Master's Guide?

Argh. Arghh!!!! Am I missing something here? How have you guys used it so far?

[Demonic Spoon]

You're missing the point of the table - it isn't the recommended HP/damage, it's the baseline HP/damage. It's your starting point, and is modified heavily by resistances, abilities, spells, AC, attack bonus, etc.


Spellcasting, one of the most important and frequent traits on monsters, only has a few short sentences talking about it. And they don't even give you good guidelines for it! "If they have spells that increase damage/AC then it will have some effect on CR" THANKS GUYS! That's it? What about determining a caster level? Should my CR 5 caster be casting as a 5th level wizard or a 10th level wizard? Hello? Little help, Dungeon Master's Guide?


Spellcasting is incredibly diverse.

Caster level isn't a thing, so you don't need to worry about that. If the monster has spellcasting but is unlikely to use it over basic attacks in combat because it's so weak, then it does not affect CR. If the monster is likely to be throwing out scorching ray every round, then use that for damage. If the monster is likely to be casting disables, it's difficult to say but I've been taking a damage spell from the same class list and spell level and considering that the "damage" of the disable spell.

Designing monsters is as much art as science.



As for myself, I use it frequently and am pretty happy with the results.

[Dralnu]

Alright, I'll give an example, the Cyclops (MM 45). He's good because we don't have many variables to worry about.

CR 6 monster. So baseline +3 proficiency, 15 AC, 146-160 HP, +6 attack bonus, 39-44 damage

The Cyclops has +3 proficiency, 14 AC, 138 HP, +6 attack bonus, 38 damage. He also has super high STR and CON, but it's balanced by low INT and WIS. He has a ranged attack, but disadvantage on the attack at 30+ ft. That's all there is to him. No other special traits, resistances, etc.

So he's slightly below average on just about everything. Why?

[Demonic Spoon]

The cyclops actually has a +9 attack bonus, not to mention 10 feet of reach.

[Dralnu]

Oops! Those were two mistakes on my part. Thank you for the correction.

I guess I need to look at the monsters more closely.

[Wartex1]

Basically, don't follow them.

Follow the actual stat blocks of monsters, since those aren't completely ridiculous for the most part.