Keith Ammann - MOAR! Monsters Know What Theyre Doing

MOAR! Monsters Know What Theyre Doing

Keith Ammann

Author of

The Monsters Know What Theyre Doing

The publisher has provided this ebook to you without Digital Rights Management (DRM) software applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices. This ebook is for your personal use only. You may not print or post this ebook, or make this ebook publicly available in any way. You may not copy, reproduce, or upload this ebook except to read it on your personal devices.

Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this ebook you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: simonandschuster.biz/online_piracy_report.

www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright 2021 by Keith Ammann

Cover illustration by Lio Pressland

Interior illustrations by Jen C. Marshall

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Saga Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Saga Press hardcover edition November 2021

SAGA PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Interior design by Michelle Marchese

Jacket design by Emma A. Van Deun

Author photograph Jen C. Marshall

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-9821-7132-2

ISBN 978-1-9821-7134-6 (ebook)

G reetings, reader! If youve picked up this book, youre probably already familiar with The Monsters Know What Theyre Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters, my guide to applying the traits and features of fifth edition Dungeons & Dragon monsters in combat encounters, or with the blog it was born out of. This book builds on the material of the first book, examining the stat blocks of more than two hundred fifty new creatures and non-player characters for clues as to how theyll behave in combat. Like The Monsters Know What Theyre Doing, MOAR! Monsters Know What Theyre Doing is not a substitute for the official D&D books in which these adversaries appear, but rather a supplement to them; youll need to have those books to get any use out of this one.

In addition to these analyses, MOAR! Monsters includes my thoughts on combat-adjacent topics, such as how different types of monsters fight in tandem, how to run monsters that are smarter than your player characters (and, perhaps, even smarter than you), how to handle the tricky spells darkness and counterspell, and the astonishingly controversial optional flanking rule. Finally, I present to you something that a lot of readers have been requesting for a long time: recommendations on running archfiends.

This book cites official D&D publications over and over, in particular the three fifth edition core books and the two books that the monsters herein are drawn from, Volos Guide to Monsters and Mordenkainens Tome of Foes. In the interest of brevity, I refer to these latter two books throughout this work as Volos and Mordenkainens (which are more pleasing to my eye than the abbreviations often used online, VGtM and MToF). Also, I cite chapters and sections of the DungeonMasters Guide and the Players Handbook rather than page numbers, because page numbers can change from printing to printing.

Since I refer to it so many times, I use Targets in Areas as a short-form reference to the Targets in Areas of Effect table in the Dungeon Masters Guide, chapter 8, Adjudicating Areas of Effect.

Finally, next to each section heading is a (V) or an (M), indicating whether the monster(s) in that section are found in Volos or Mordenkainens, with two exceptions. Lesser Demons contains fiends from both books, and I indicate the source of each one in the section text. Scouts and Spies has no such indication, because these NPCswhich, in a regrettable oversight, were left out of The Monsters Know What Theyre Doingare found in the Monster Manual, appendix B.

I n The Monsters Know What Theyre Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters, I discuss the premises behind my analyses in the section Why These Tactics? (14). However, that section, by itself, doesnt provide a step-by-step tour through my whole process, and Ive often been asked to discuss it in more detail. Also, no matter how many of these books I write or how long I can keep my blog going, there will always be monstersin published adventures I havent bought yet, in third-party supplements, and so forththat I wont have analyzed in time for your game. So while I greatly enjoy supplying you with fish, let me give you an overview of how to catch them yourself.

As a case study, heres a homebrew monster stat block:

B INAZG

Large monstrosity, neutral evil

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)

Hit Points 136 (21d10 + 21)

Speed 30 ft, burrowing 10 ft, climbing 30 ft

Str 20 (+5), Dex 16 (+3), Con 12 (+1), Int 8 (-1), Wis 11 (+0), Cha 10 (+0)

Saving Throws Dex +8

Skills Perception +5, Stealth +8

Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Senses blindsight 60 ft (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 15

Languages understands Undercommon but does not speak

Challenge CR 13 (10,000 XP)

Keen Hearing and Smell. The binazg has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Spider Climb. The binazg can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Spindly. The binazg can squeeze through a space as narrow as 21/2 feet wide.

Too Many Legs. When the binazg has less than 15 feet of either horizontal or vertical clearance, its walking and climbing speeds are increased to 50 feet.

A CTIONS

Multiattack. The binazg uses Terrify, then makes a Barbed Claw or Smashing Claw attack.

Bite.Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 11 (2d4 + 6) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6) acid damage.

Barbed Claw.Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft, one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). When a target creature that is not an undead or a construct escapes the grapple, it must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 5 (2d4) slashing damage, then loses 5 (2d4) hp at the start of each of its turns due to a bleeding wound. Any creature can take an action to stanch the wound with a successful DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine) check. The wound also closes if the target receives magical healing. The binazg has two barbed claws, each of which can grapple one target.