Help with monster creation

[JMS]

I was stupid, and signed up to DM a high level game of epic, tristalt, with high homebrew. I now need monster creation advice.
Any tips on how to create 3.5 monsters? I know the general stat range, just need to know a good way to make monsters.

[Falontani]

Boss monsters: come up with a theme
Find a monster that matches theme
Increase power of monster by advancing hd, increasing stats, giving it class levels, granting it equipment, finding templates, and possibly giving it special abilities (over what any of the rest grant)

Trash mobs: they are trash, don't spend too much time on them. Try to hit roughly the correct cr (with tristalt you should have 2-5 cr appropriate, 5-10 under cr, or an army of peons that are only there to show off how awesome the party is)

But honestly, your past the point of sanity. Good luck.

[JMS]

Boss monsters: come up with a theme
Find a monster that matches theme
Increase power of monster by advancing hd, increasing stats, giving it class levels, granting it equipment, finding templates, and possibly giving it special abilities (over what any of the rest grant)

Trash mobs: they are trash, don't spend too much time on them. Try to hit roughly the correct cr (with tristalt you should have 2-5 cr appropriate, 5-10 under cr, or an army of peons that are only there to show off how awesome the party is)

But honestly, your past the point of sanity. Good luck.
Thank you, this will help. Are there good "monster char sheets" or similar, that give me a stat block to customize?

Also, my mind was gone long ago. :smallfrown:

[Falontani]

For bosses and more complex creatures I use a normal character sheet like on myth weavers.

For normal monsters I use:

(Name)
Size/Type:
Hit Dice: d+ ( hp)
Initiative: +
Speed: 0 ft. ( squares)
Armor Class: (), touch , flat-footed
Base Attack/Grapple: +/+
Attack: + (d+)
Full Attack: + (d+)
Space/Reach: ft./ ft.
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities:
Saves: Fort +, Ref +, Will +
Abilities: Str , Dex , Con , Int , Wis , Cha
Skills:
Feats:
(Define any abilities I need defined)

[RNightstalker]

I would be careful with time invested on monsters that you don't expect to last more than a few rounds. If you've got the time to burn, great; but otherwise, learn what the party's go-to moves are and spot the stats as you need to. For example, If everyone in the party has AC 70+, use an attack bonus that will give you a hit on a 15+ die roll on the 3rd or 4th iterative attacks and call it a day. If monsters can only hit on a nat 20, it slows the game down super quick and you can start losing people. I also wouldn't be afraid of using some 3.0 rules, like DR as it was heavily nerfed in the 3.5 ELH update. For bosses, go ahead and make up a full sheet so you're prepared for whatever happens. Using the Aleax from UA would also be an interesting encounter as the players are basically going up against improved versions of themselves. And don't forget the ultimate randomizer and equalizer, WMZ's and DMZ's.

When you say high level, how high level are we talking?


Finally, this is the best time for experimentation for things you've always wanted to try out and never had the opportunity. If you want to know how a certain PrC works, NPC's make great test dummies.

[unseenmage]

Epic play is one of the few times that puzzles masquerading as a monsters are okay.

Ghosts, curses, and far realm-ish stuff are all classic go-tos.

Even your beatstick enemies at epic will require some form of protection from save-or-die effects.

Most if not all of your enemies will require a Santa's sack worth of magical gear both for granting immunities/defenses and for bypassing them.

To keep things slightly more interesting I recommend making a list of immunity snd nigh immunity granting equipment superpowers then randomly determining the number of item slots they're taking up on a given monster.
Essentially you'll be building the equipment as though using the Combining Magic Items rules in the MIC.

Could be more fun for the players too as they'll have possibility of finding gear that has more utility to them in what immunities are condensed on what item.