This thread will contain spoilers for monsters which appear in the newest book published by WotC.
There are several new and interesting monsters and groups introduced as part of VRGtR with very interesting lore and combat mechanics. Which is your favorite and why?
Personally, I am a fan of the Dulluhan. The classic headless horseman is a staple of ghost stories and horror. A few months back I wrote up a homebrew stat block for possible use in a dark fantasy campaign I am running. After seeing the version published by WotC I was blown away and will probably use their version over my own. Without delving into too much detail, it feels like it will be a real threat to a party of adventurers without requiring juggling too many mechanics on my part as the DM running the monster.
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Heh. Came in here specifically to highlight the Dullahan, yeah. My jaw legitimately dropped when I was reading that thing. There is no stage of the game where that critter would not be a lethal threat - even a twentieth-level party can't afford to take it lightly. A CR 10 monster with freaking Mythic actions is amazing, and I had to laugh in delight at Wizards having the sheer balls to give a monster a Vorpal weapon. All the protections against death built into the game, the numerous ways and means PCs have of avoiding deathblows, the many chances given to recover from a mistake, all the resources handed to a PC to win - none of that matters to a dullahan. If that d20 shows a 20, you're done. What a ****in' power move on Wizards' part, and normally I hate crediting that company with anything.
The Bodytaker Plant and Carrionette also have a special place in my bestiary now. Any critter whose threat derives from more than just its raw statistical power and its ability to outmuscle the party in a straight punch-up is one I take note of. The Carrionette can Magic Jar your ass in tier freaking 1 play, and there is no guarantee you'll get your body back. That could be an entire story arc in a longer campaign - "Oh ****, Alice is a doll now! That evil little shit made off with her body! We gotta get her back!"
The bodytaker plant is similar - you get exactly one save if you get engulfed, a pretty stiff DC 16 Con save, and if you flub it? Only outside intervention can save you. That critter is the sort of thing a DM can hang an entire adventure on, and the sort of critter a DM can be merciless with. Imagine running a scene away from the table in which a player is captured by bodytaker podlings, brought to the master plant, and digested. The DM says "You can still play the character, but now you're a podling version of yourself. The bodytaker plant is your master, and if it gives you an order you have to obey it. Your friends mean nothing now - they're just more bodies to be taken when it's safe to do so."
So many of the critters in this book have an edge Wizards just doesn't let critters have in other books. So many of these are actually scary, and not just because they can do a lot of damage. The bestiary is easily one of the best parts of the book, and just makes me salivate all the more for Grim Hollow's monster book in several months.
For me it's gotta be the lesser and greater star spawn emissary. I just love that not only do we get a massive aberration with a load of utility, but it's got such great plot hook potential.
The Gremishka. Not really a horror monster, but the unstable magic resulting in swarms of the things does it for me. They also still fit in nicely aesthetically with my prefered category of folklore critters.
Concept-wise I like the Relentless Killer archetype, the inevitability of the single-minded stalker that keeps coming. I'm probably going to tinker with the Relentless Slasher and Relentless Juggernaut a bit to add a few more tracking and/or movement abilities though - as is, they don't quite feel inevitable.
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The CR numbers for a lot of the monsters are super deceptive -- the Dullahan should have an xp value of 11,800 because Mythic, the Lesser Star Spawn Emissary is effectively a 55,000 xp adversary because it spawns a Greater Star Spawn Emissary when it dies. The Priest of Osybus, if the PCs don't figure out how it works, is ridiculously powerful for its nominal CR.
For the Bodytaker Plant I would want to make it so the players were uncertain whether they were podlings.
For me it's gotta be the lesser and greater star spawn emissary. I just love that not only do we get a massive aberration with a load of utility, but it's got such great plot hook potential.
I completely agree with this. I'm so going to use this in my Spelljammer campaign once they get high enough level. Gosh, my players will hate me.
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So glad to see monsters with real personality in their stat blocks instead of just more templates with Slam/Bite/Weapon attack. Also great to see the mythic design being carried forward - multi-staged boss fights are my jam. I will be incorporating many of these ASAP.
Im kinda surprised the Necrichor doesnt have a trait that allows it to appear like a normal object. Disguising itself as a health potion to unsuspecting adventurers would be a really fast way to enter the target and effectively auto succeed on its Blood Puppeteering
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Dullahan and Relentless Juggernaut are my favorites. Very disappointed that there are no stat blocks for the darklords since they're the stars of the show...
Jiangshi, since I somewhat of a nostalgia for them as I read a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure that featured them, I skimmed through the bestiary on ******* and it seems like only about 2 dozen monsters if that, I wonder why it wasn't longer?
Jiangshi, since I somewhat of a nostalgia for them as I read a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure that featured them, I skimmed through the bestiary on ******* and it seems like only about 2 dozen monsters if that, I wonder why it wasn't longer?
Probably because the focus of the book wasn't to be an expansion on the monster manual like Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes or Volo's Guide to Monsters. The largest amount of content is centered on the Ravenloft setting (its domains and their dark lords) and some additional supplemental focus is given to character creation, monsters, and optional rules.
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I'm a little confused by the Bodytaker. If it successfully gulps you up and you succeed on the save to avoid being paralyzed do you then have to make a save every turn after. I think this is the case otherwise the Bodytaker can't do anything as you damage it from within...it can't do its ingestion attack since you have to be grappled by a tentacle and it says you are protected from outside attacks so it can't use its vines to attack. Succeeding once and then having carte blanche to kill it seems weird on the other hand it is not clear about having to continue to make saves against being stunned.
The rules are actually pretty clear on what the bodytaker plantdoes if the saving throw fails. The target is still restrained inside the plant, a state which it can try to end as normal, or it can make attacks if it desires. The Bodytaker is also not actually prevented from using its Vine Lash attack on a creature it's enveloped, and I imagine most DMs would allow the bodytaker to vomit up a target that's growing particularly unruly.
The only ambiguity is whether the target still doesn't need air (or rather, whether the bodytaker supplies air) if the target fails its save. Technically, the only thing the Engulf action specifies is that the target is stunned if it fails its save. The bodytaker can continue attacking a target it's engulfed and if the target dies - regardless of whether that's from stacking exhaustion or from being brought to 0 and failing death saves - it gets digested and pod person'd.
The critter really is decidedly unpleasant, especially since no bodytaker plant should ever be encountered without a healthy supply of podlings to back it up. Remember - podlings are copies of the people the plant eats. If the critter gets ahold of NPCs with statblocks and equipment more powerful than the basic podling? Use those stat blocks instead with the Deep Speech, Semblance of Life and Unusual Nature abilities of the podling. A bodytaker plant by itself is meh. A bodytaker plant with a half-dozen veteran podlings it's created from the last batch of adventurers who tried to solve the plant's infestation as well as several score regular podlings? Decidedly different story.
Nosferatu look great, it can be used for those people who want their party to face a vampiric enemy, but weaker than the CR 13 Vampire and stronger than the CR3 Vampire Spawn.
Strigoi also seem cool, would've preferred it if it was more like a lycanthrope where it can assume a human form, but I can always just give one the Alter Self spell.
Also of note, there's also a were-hare in the book, located at the carnival, they use the same statblock as a Wererat, which I guess is as close as we'll get to rabbitfolk until they eventually get released.
Edit: There was one thing that threw me off, the Loup Garou can't hold weapons in its hybrid form, whereas I'm pretty sure every other lycanthrope can hold weapons in their hybrid form. It kinda makes the hybrid form useless, as the Dire Wolf form has the same stats but with 10ft. extra speed. The only exception I can think of is maybe the hybrid form can perform somatic components of spells.
I really like the Priests of Osybus, they look like an interesting group and the stat blocks are so unique from other monsters. Deceptively tough too, with some luck on the dice fighting one is like fighting three of them that get progressively stronger. Besides that the Boneless. It’s an undead ooze pretty much, what’s not to like?
The monster list is amazing, but if you had to make me choose, Priests of Osybus. The mechanics are incredible for an ever changing fight, I read their lore almost whenever I pass their pages, and story potential practically bursts out of them.
I also want to play an Ulmist Inquisitor some time. I think they gave me a new interest in D&D psionics.
Definitely going to expand their role if I run Curse of Strahd.
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This thread will contain spoilers for monsters which appear in the newest book published by WotC.
There are several new and interesting monsters and groups introduced as part of VRGtR with very interesting lore and combat mechanics. Which is your favorite and why?
Personally, I am a fan of the Dulluhan. The classic headless horseman is a staple of ghost stories and horror. A few months back I wrote up a homebrew stat block for possible use in a dark fantasy campaign I am running. After seeing the version published by WotC I was blown away and will probably use their version over my own. Without delving into too much detail, it feels like it will be a real threat to a party of adventurers without requiring juggling too many mechanics on my part as the DM running the monster.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Heh. Came in here specifically to highlight the Dullahan, yeah. My jaw legitimately dropped when I was reading that thing. There is no stage of the game where that critter would not be a lethal threat - even a twentieth-level party can't afford to take it lightly. A CR 10 monster with freaking Mythic actions is amazing, and I had to laugh in delight at Wizards having the sheer balls to give a monster a Vorpal weapon. All the protections against death built into the game, the numerous ways and means PCs have of avoiding deathblows, the many chances given to recover from a mistake, all the resources handed to a PC to win - none of that matters to a dullahan. If that d20 shows a 20, you're done. What a ****in' power move on Wizards' part, and normally I hate crediting that company with anything.
The Bodytaker Plant and Carrionette also have a special place in my bestiary now. Any critter whose threat derives from more than just its raw statistical power and its ability to outmuscle the party in a straight punch-up is one I take note of. The Carrionette can Magic Jar your ass in tier freaking 1 play, and there is no guarantee you'll get your body back. That could be an entire story arc in a longer campaign - "Oh ****, Alice is a doll now! That evil little shit made off with her body! We gotta get her back!"
The bodytaker plant is similar - you get exactly one save if you get engulfed, a pretty stiff DC 16 Con save, and if you flub it? Only outside intervention can save you. That critter is the sort of thing a DM can hang an entire adventure on, and the sort of critter a DM can be merciless with. Imagine running a scene away from the table in which a player is captured by bodytaker podlings, brought to the master plant, and digested. The DM says "You can still play the character, but now you're a podling version of yourself. The bodytaker plant is your master, and if it gives you an order you have to obey it. Your friends mean nothing now - they're just more bodies to be taken when it's safe to do so."
So many of the critters in this book have an edge Wizards just doesn't let critters have in other books. So many of these are actually scary, and not just because they can do a lot of damage. The bestiary is easily one of the best parts of the book, and just makes me salivate all the more for Grim Hollow's monster book in several months.
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For me it's gotta be the lesser and greater star spawn emissary. I just love that not only do we get a massive aberration with a load of utility, but it's got such great plot hook potential.
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Gremishka, hands down. Explosive goodness for my low-magic world. ;)
The Gremishka. Not really a horror monster, but the unstable magic resulting in swarms of the things does it for me. They also still fit in nicely aesthetically with my prefered category of folklore critters.
Concept-wise I like the Relentless Killer archetype, the inevitability of the single-minded stalker that keeps coming. I'm probably going to tinker with the Relentless Slasher and Relentless Juggernaut a bit to add a few more tracking and/or movement abilities though - as is, they don't quite feel inevitable.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The CR numbers for a lot of the monsters are super deceptive -- the Dullahan should have an xp value of 11,800 because Mythic, the Lesser Star Spawn Emissary is effectively a 55,000 xp adversary because it spawns a Greater Star Spawn Emissary when it dies. The Priest of Osybus, if the PCs don't figure out how it works, is ridiculously powerful for its nominal CR.
For the Bodytaker Plant I would want to make it so the players were uncertain whether they were podlings.
I completely agree with this. I'm so going to use this in my Spelljammer campaign once they get high enough level. Gosh, my players will hate me.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
So glad to see monsters with real personality in their stat blocks instead of just more templates with Slam/Bite/Weapon attack. Also great to see the mythic design being carried forward - multi-staged boss fights are my jam. I will be incorporating many of these ASAP.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
The Relentless are cool, but I love Lovecraft and folklore, so this is hard. The top six are:
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Im kinda surprised the Necrichor doesnt have a trait that allows it to appear like a normal object. Disguising itself as a health potion to unsuspecting adventurers would be a really fast way to enter the target and effectively auto succeed on its Blood Puppeteering
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
That nosferatu is going to vomit so much blood! I cannot wait to use him!
Dullahan and Relentless Juggernaut are my favorites. Very disappointed that there are no stat blocks for the darklords since they're the stars of the show...
Jiangshi, since I somewhat of a nostalgia for them as I read a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure that featured them, I skimmed through the bestiary on ******* and it seems like only about 2 dozen monsters if that, I wonder why it wasn't longer?
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
Probably because the focus of the book wasn't to be an expansion on the monster manual like Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes or Volo's Guide to Monsters. The largest amount of content is centered on the Ravenloft setting (its domains and their dark lords) and some additional supplemental focus is given to character creation, monsters, and optional rules.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I'm a little confused by the Bodytaker. If it successfully gulps you up and you succeed on the save to avoid being paralyzed do you then have to make a save every turn after. I think this is the case otherwise the Bodytaker can't do anything as you damage it from within...it can't do its ingestion attack since you have to be grappled by a tentacle and it says you are protected from outside attacks so it can't use its vines to attack. Succeeding once and then having carte blanche to kill it seems weird on the other hand it is not clear about having to continue to make saves against being stunned.
The rules are actually pretty clear on what the bodytaker plantdoes if the saving throw fails. The target is still restrained inside the plant, a state which it can try to end as normal, or it can make attacks if it desires. The Bodytaker is also not actually prevented from using its Vine Lash attack on a creature it's enveloped, and I imagine most DMs would allow the bodytaker to vomit up a target that's growing particularly unruly.
The only ambiguity is whether the target still doesn't need air (or rather, whether the bodytaker supplies air) if the target fails its save. Technically, the only thing the Engulf action specifies is that the target is stunned if it fails its save. The bodytaker can continue attacking a target it's engulfed and if the target dies - regardless of whether that's from stacking exhaustion or from being brought to 0 and failing death saves - it gets digested and pod person'd.
The critter really is decidedly unpleasant, especially since no bodytaker plant should ever be encountered without a healthy supply of podlings to back it up. Remember - podlings are copies of the people the plant eats. If the critter gets ahold of NPCs with statblocks and equipment more powerful than the basic podling? Use those stat blocks instead with the Deep Speech, Semblance of Life and Unusual Nature abilities of the podling. A bodytaker plant by itself is meh. A bodytaker plant with a half-dozen veteran podlings it's created from the last batch of adventurers who tried to solve the plant's infestation as well as several score regular podlings? Decidedly different story.
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Nosferatu look great, it can be used for those people who want their party to face a vampiric enemy, but weaker than the CR 13 Vampire and stronger than the CR3 Vampire Spawn.
Strigoi also seem cool, would've preferred it if it was more like a lycanthrope where it can assume a human form, but I can always just give one the Alter Self spell.
Greater Star Spawn Emissary is friggin' insane.
Also of note, there's also a were-hare in the book, located at the carnival, they use the same statblock as a Wererat, which I guess is as close as we'll get to rabbitfolk until they eventually get released.
Edit: There was one thing that threw me off, the Loup Garou can't hold weapons in its hybrid form, whereas I'm pretty sure every other lycanthrope can hold weapons in their hybrid form. It kinda makes the hybrid form useless, as the Dire Wolf form has the same stats but with 10ft. extra speed. The only exception I can think of is maybe the hybrid form can perform somatic components of spells.
My opinion is that the necrichor doesn’t need to appear like a health potion if it has a cult bringing it blood sacrifices
I really like the Priests of Osybus, they look like an interesting group and the stat blocks are so unique from other monsters. Deceptively tough too, with some luck on the dice fighting one is like fighting three of them that get progressively stronger.
Besides that the Boneless. It’s an undead ooze pretty much, what’s not to like?
The monster list is amazing, but if you had to make me choose, Priests of Osybus. The mechanics are incredible for an ever changing fight, I read their lore almost whenever I pass their pages, and story potential practically bursts out of them.
I also want to play an Ulmist Inquisitor some time. I think they gave me a new interest in D&D psionics.
Definitely going to expand their role if I run Curse of Strahd.