I almost always use the average, except when I want a creature to be particularly tough, in which case I give it the maximum.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
I will say I pay attention to the average. If the stablock says 60 hp, and I roll very far off (either way below or way above), I will re-roll to get something closer to the average. But I like it to be a little variable.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I will say I pay attention to the average. If the stablock says 60 hp, and I roll very far off (either way below or way above), I will re-roll to get something closer to the average. But I like it to be a little variable.
I was just going to ask you about a margin of acceptance on the roll(s) outcome. (That sounded more important than it really is.)
I generally use the average as it is easier. I have encountered players that peek at stats, for them I sometimes change the monster or use an above average number. It sounds a bit like punishing meta-gaming but it's just making it more variable.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
I look at the number posted and consider the party. On some (where I am REALLY testing their limits) the monster might be a squishy one for his kind. Others, where I am throwing a swarm of small stuff at them, are often a bit tougher than the average battle fodder. It really depends on the monster/party combination and how well I think they could handle it. I want it to challenge them a bit, but i prefer to avoid actually dropping anyone. Kind of like The Price is Right. How close to zero can I get without going over?
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
I look at the number posted and consider the party. On some (where I am REALLY testing their limits) the monster might be a squishy one for his kind. Others, where I am throwing a swarm of small stuff at them, are often a bit tougher than the average battle fodder. It really depends on the monster/party combination and how well I think they could handle it. I want it to challenge them a bit, but i prefer to avoid actually dropping anyone. Kind of like The Price is Right. How close to zero can I get without going over?
Keep in mind that it is totally ok to go over sometimes.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
A mixture. If it's more on the "random" side of the encounter scale, then I'll probably just use average (or if it is a single monster). If there are multiple creatures then I'll usually roll for each to give some randomness to them... and if there's a "leader" among them I give them the highest HP result. Generally I try to stay within about 20% of the average HP ... that means all of the randomly rolled creatures are basically one more or less hit to kill than the average creature.
I am with Thaurealn_The_Bold. I will use the average almost all of the time, except for the leader of a group of monsters, or if the party needs a bit more of a challenge, in which case I will bump it up to the maximum or near maximum. I generally add a small amount of flair to the leader as well, just to distinguish.
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Not so much a question as it is curiosity on how DMs in the forum assign hit points for their creature(s) set.
I roll them bones...
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I almost always use the average, except when I want a creature to be particularly tough, in which case I give it the maximum.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
I will say I pay attention to the average. If the stablock says 60 hp, and I roll very far off (either way below or way above), I will re-roll to get something closer to the average. But I like it to be a little variable.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I was just going to ask you about a margin of acceptance on the roll(s) outcome. (That sounded more important than it really is.)
I generally use the average as it is easier. I have encountered players that peek at stats, for them I sometimes change the monster or use an above average number. It sounds a bit like punishing meta-gaming but it's just making it more variable.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
I look at the number posted and consider the party. On some (where I am REALLY testing their limits) the monster might be a squishy one for his kind. Others, where I am throwing a swarm of small stuff at them, are often a bit tougher than the average battle fodder. It really depends on the monster/party combination and how well I think they could handle it. I want it to challenge them a bit, but i prefer to avoid actually dropping anyone. Kind of like The Price is Right. How close to zero can I get without going over?
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
I need to install that... I had it at one point and then switched computers and I must not have remembered to reinstall.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Keep in mind that it is totally ok to go over sometimes.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
A mixture. If it's more on the "random" side of the encounter scale, then I'll probably just use average (or if it is a single monster). If there are multiple creatures then I'll usually roll for each to give some randomness to them... and if there's a "leader" among them I give them the highest HP result. Generally I try to stay within about 20% of the average HP ... that means all of the randomly rolled creatures are basically one more or less hit to kill than the average creature.
I am with Thaurealn_The_Bold. I will use the average almost all of the time, except for the leader of a group of monsters, or if the party needs a bit more of a challenge, in which case I will bump it up to the maximum or near maximum. I generally add a small amount of flair to the leader as well, just to distinguish.