Awakened Monkeys as villains

[Bigmouth]

Strange notion I suppose, but I want to use Monkeys as a mainstay villain at the beginning of a new campaign I'm running. They are slightly uplifted (by some baddies higher up in the food chain), so will wield weapons, use traps/tactics, etc. Obviously they aren't in the DMG, so I was thinking of just using Kobolds with a re-skin. I like the low point value, as I would them come in bigger groups. Javelins, thrown weapons...

So is their a better base to use than kobolds? I suppose I can build them, but I haven't ran 5e before, so I am not sure if I have a great grasp on balance just yet. I am sure I could fudge them pretty easily, but the players picked 5e, so I'd like to stay pretty close to the spirit of the game as possible.

Any help/suggestions are welcome.

[Beleriphon]

Reskinning kobolds should be fine. Its not like the players care too much if you emphasize chattering monkey sounds and simian features vs underground kobolds.

[Particle_Man]

Give. Them. Wings.

[nickl_2000]

Give. Them. Wings.

I came here to say that exact thing, this is important!

[Hruken]

Take the kobold, drop sunlight sensitivity and darkvision, and give them a 30ft climb speed. Maybe bump their wisdom to 10 or 12.

There is a statblock for flying monkeys in the tomb of annihilation adventure. That would be the other way to do it (keep or drop the flying as you wish), but dont buy the adventure just for it, because they are actually quite similar to the changes I proposed above.

[Aprender]

This is only 5e legal if there is a green-skinned witch that controls them.

Sorry, I don't make the rules. I am just here to enforce them with an iron hand.

[Tawmis]

What if these monkeys were "followers" of Barlgura (https://www.aidedd.org/dnd/monstres.php?vo=barlgura)?

Not sure of the landscape of your adventure - but if it's on an island (or really, anywhere) - where the rain comes down hard - over time, an ancient temple once buried has slowly become visible. Monkeys seeking shelter, find it in this ancient temple - which happens to belong to old followers of Barlgura. Over time, the magic emanating from the temple has changed these monkeys, and advanced them to become "followers" and guardians of the temple - which they now viciously protect.

https://www.aidedd.org/dnd/images/barlgura.jpg

[RossN]

I love this idea but I'm not sure monkeys are dumb enough to be Awakened. according to the spell the creature needs an Intelligence of 3 or less and while there aren't any any generic monkeys in the Monster Manual there are baboons... which have an Intelligence of 4. Ape's (which are medium sized so probably represent chimps and orangutans) have an Intelligence of 6.

(Then again the book does have Ravens at Intelligence 2 which is ridiculously low...)

How about these (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant_flying_squirrel) friendly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_qiqv9hBtw) critters (https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/red-and-white-giant-flying-squirrel.299748/)?

[Nagog]

Depending on level, you could have them change what stat block you use, as at CR .125, even a moderately sized/leveled party could still be overwhelmed simply due to action economy being heavily imbalanced. Depending on their equipment, you could use:


Kobolds (CR .125)
Skeletons (CR 0.25)
Hobgoblins (CR 0.5-2, good synergy for group tactics)
Bugbears (CR 1)
Animated Armor (CR 1)
Imp (CR 1)
Gargoyle (CR 2, also Flying Monkeys)
Ogre (CR 2)
Bugbear Cheif (CR 3)
Bearded Devil (CR 3)
Veteran (CR 3)
Ettin (CR 4)
Lamia (CR 4)
Barbed Devil (CR 5)
Gladiator (CR 5)
Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of CR 6 humanoids
Giant Ape (CR 7)
Oni (CR 7)
Assassin (CR 8)
Chain Devil (CR 8)


Pretty much any humanoid enemy could be used, although some may be larger (perhaps Gorillas?), also you may want to change the monkey's appearances to validate them having some of the abilities these ones do.

[Bigmouth]

Thanks for all the suggestions!
Technically they won't be awakened as in the Druid spell. I am planning on having them be transformed by a magic item which also makes them slaves. Rods of Monkey Domination if you will. Gives them a slight bump to int, alters their alignment to evil and allows the owner of the rod to give orders, punish them, summon them.

There will be evil apes in the future, maybe even a BBEG version of Louie from Jungle Book. At lower levels though, it'll probably mostly be annoying skirmishers that are hopefully nasty enough that my wife wont be too upset by the party fighting what are normally cute animals.

The Barlgura idea is pretty interesting. I want the 'bad monkeys' to be a far ranging issue, so the singular temple idea (which is awesome) might not work. It could be the world boss (far far far down the road) could use Barlgura's to corrupt the monkeys, then has his lower powered followers use the Rods to control them.

[Aprender]

If you're making an entire planet of these apes (and monkeys), the destroyed temple should be the statue of liberty.

[Tawmis]

Thanks for all the suggestions!
The Barlgura idea is pretty interesting. I want the 'bad monkeys' to be a far ranging issue, so the singular temple idea (which is awesome) might not work. It could be the world boss (far far far down the road) could use Barlgura's to corrupt the monkeys, then has his lower powered followers use the Rods to control them.

It could be that the players don't even find the first temple; but as they adventure, they continue running into these "advanced" monkey-type (monkey, chimps, apes, baboons), and eventually begin finding that these temples have arisen all around the world and set for a "call" heard by these primates, that changes them.

The big bad could be Barlgura using these monkeys to gather the shattered remains of something (a statue that's ancient that was built in his honor, then sundered around the continent) - and the final show down is Barlgura entering the world.

[Cicciograna]

Make them telepaths and psychokineticists and you have essentially Gorilla Grodd.

[Bigmouth]

It could be that the players don't even find the first temple; but as they adventure, they continue running into these "advanced" monkey-type (monkey, chimps, apes, baboons), and eventually begin finding that these temples have arisen all around the world and set for a "call" heard by these primates, that changes them.

The big bad could be Barlgura using these monkeys to gather the shattered remains of something (a statue that's ancient that was built in his honor, then sundered around the continent) - and the final show down is Barlgura entering the world.

I love this idea too. It matches quite well with the storyline I have for my kobolds. Want to run my campaign so I can play? lol

[Tanarii]

Give. Them. Wings.


This is only 5e legal if there is a green-skinned witch that controls them.

Sorry, I don't make the rules. I am just here to enforce them with an iron hand.
Whelp ... now I know what I'm going to be using next time I need an adventuring site restock. :smallamused:

[Tawmis]

I love this idea too. It matches quite well with the storyline I have for my kobolds. Want to run my campaign so I can play? lol

Rest assured, if you were local - we'd be rolling dice right now. :smalltongue:

[Aprender]

I agree. It sounds like a great story.

Which monster with a thrown ranged attack is getting reskinned to be a monkey flinging his poo?

After the players figure out that the monkeys are being awakened, please have them find one where the spell went a little awry. This particular ape wasn't awakened, but rather, he was "woke". Now he (or she ((or whatever))) is in the campaign constantly harassing the PCs to validate his/her/etc opinions.

[No brains]

I think the Baboon animal in the appendix is the best substitute for a monkey.

[Trustypeaches]

I ran a villain similar to this once. It was a chaotic evil Trickster god called Wongo (one might recognize him from ToA) who relished in driving creatures insane.

[xroads]

There will be evil apes in the future, maybe even a BBEG version of Louie from Jungle Book.


Oooh! That sounds like fun. Maybe Louie desires a powerful artifact from the elemental plane of fire called the "Red Flower" and will do anything to get it?

I hope your players have a blast!


If you're making an entire planet of these apes (and monkeys), the destroyed temple should be the statue of liberty.

But be sure to give an inspiration to the first player who shouts "You damn dirty apes!!" :smallbiggrin:

[awa]

I agree. It sounds like a great story.

Which monster with a thrown ranged attack is getting reskinned to be a monkey flinging his poo?



while its true some monkeys throw poop they are actually not very good at throwing things, with greatly inferior accuracy and power to a human.

Also baboons are monkeys

edit
also want to say apes/ monkeys are a great classic monster that can easily be scaled up or down to fit the level.

[Bigmouth]

So, this is what Im starting with. Harassers will be the big swarms, skirmishers will be the ones who will be on the ground, trying to lure the party into traps and ambushes. Poisoners will be few in number. Just to give the party some thrills/scares with saving throws. Probably throw in a basic ole Ape after they've played with the basics a bit. Oh, and a monkey or two riding warthogs.

https://imgur.com/gallery/jpa3ekChttps://i.imgur.com/SE6PWAF.jpg