Reading "Equipping a Monster with Other Items" on page 7 of the MM, I was left with the impression that Monsters could not be equipped with items that are not listed in the PHB. Many of you DMs do not agree with this restriction. So I am left to wonder:
How would you as a DM, adjust a monster's CR and XP if you choose to, for example, equip a Mummy Lord with a Staff of Power.
Alternately, let's say that you are dissapointed by players meta gamming their characters -- adjusting their approach to encounters based on what they have read for themselves in the MM. And you decide to throw them a curve and generate a custom DnD 5e version of the "Spawn of Kyuss" or similiar. Now you must have some kind of formula to calculate CR and/or XP for the custom monster. How would you do that? Wag it? Drop it into a spreadsheet? I'm puzzled.
First, I'd like to say that the reason most DMs disagree with that restriction is because most DMs don't follow all of the rules, because you're not supposed to. Don't let yourself be bound by rules you don't like.
Anyway, onto the actual help. You can try to see if the item gives abilities that are more powerful than the monster's. If it does, then you can try to compare it to other monsters of higher CRs. If the item boosts the monster's stats, then you can use this to see how much of a change it makes: 2024 Monster Manual on a Business Card « Blog of Holding. If the item is really complicated or absurdly powerful, like a Ring of Three Wishes, then you just have to wing it, unfortunately.
It's puzzling that so many DMs don't follow the rules as written and yet there doesn't seem to be much in the way of guidance on keeping the game balanced when doing so. If we can do anything we want as DMs then we are all game designers and our players are all beta testers.
But then the CRs and XPs set by WotC are not exactly well thoughout. MM page 73, Cloaker talks about a Bite attack that isn't defined. And I don't see how they came up with 3900XP when the thing is completely lame compared to a Cambion that is assigned only 1800XP.
Maybe we DMs are in-fact game designers in many aspects?
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Reading "Equipping a Monster with Other Items" on page 7 of the MM, I was left with the impression that Monsters could not be equipped with items that are not listed in the PHB. Many of you DMs do not agree with this restriction. So I am left to wonder:
How would you as a DM, adjust a monster's CR and XP if you choose to, for example, equip a Mummy Lord with a Staff of Power.
Alternately, let's say that you are dissapointed by players meta gamming their characters -- adjusting their approach to encounters based on what they have read for themselves in the MM. And you decide to throw them a curve and generate a custom DnD 5e version of the "Spawn of Kyuss" or similiar. Now you must have some kind of formula to calculate CR and/or XP for the custom monster. How would you do that? Wag it? Drop it into a spreadsheet? I'm puzzled.
First, I'd like to say that the reason most DMs disagree with that restriction is because most DMs don't follow all of the rules, because you're not supposed to. Don't let yourself be bound by rules you don't like.
Anyway, onto the actual help. You can try to see if the item gives abilities that are more powerful than the monster's. If it does, then you can try to compare it to other monsters of higher CRs. If the item boosts the monster's stats, then you can use this to see how much of a change it makes: 2024 Monster Manual on a Business Card « Blog of Holding. If the item is really complicated or absurdly powerful, like a Ring of Three Wishes, then you just have to wing it, unfortunately.
Hope that helps.
Thank you Maruntoryx. Lol -- a Ring of Three Wishes -- I would never include that in a game. Haha!
I will checkout that Blog of Holding.
It's puzzling that so many DMs don't follow the rules as written and yet there doesn't seem to be much in the way of guidance on keeping the game balanced when doing so. If we can do anything we want as DMs then we are all game designers and our players are all beta testers.
But then the CRs and XPs set by WotC are not exactly well thoughout. MM page 73, Cloaker talks about a Bite attack that isn't defined. And I don't see how they came up with 3900XP when the thing is completely lame compared to a Cambion that is assigned only 1800XP.
Maybe we DMs are in-fact game designers in many aspects?