I cannot support Kobold Press' Bestiaries enough. I ran a couple of games with a mixed party of long time players and newbies and inserting stuff from these books make the new players and the older ones feel like they were experiencing everything for the first time together. It was wonderful to see confusion and working together to work out what things were and what they did.
I personally would go with the other options before going to buy a new bestiary. Not that I dislike Kobold Press or any other 3rd party source, but because the other options can be done without making a purchase.
While this article seems to use terms from older additions like âRacial Spell-like Abilityâ and the âIâm the DMâ (a statement I've personally found heavy-handed and antagonistic in some cases) to justify modifications of monsters more diplomatic options include things like the monster being a very old and powerful iteration or having been warped by magic (experimentation or exposure). The spell does not even need to be one that is would make sense if you think an Ankheg with Mold Earth will throw your players for a loop try throwing them against some giant spiders that trap them in webs and then set the webs on fire with Flaming Hands.
Altering HP is one of my go-to tricks for altering a fight. You can roll instead of taking the listed average, yes, but if you want an easier fight for your players you could take the minimum HP. A 12 HP Ankheg could be sick, young, weak, or simply part of a massive number for your party to mow down, feel like they are powerful and in control before smacking face first into the third option, maximum HP. Imagine this, your players are just carving through this mass of minimum HP Ankheg, maybe even a few average HP and a "royal guard" with mold earth to drain some resources, then in the heart of the nest, the big lady herself, the queen mother, an Ankheg with 66 HP.
The next example is more, not really fitting with the idea honestly. Traps and Lairs/Dungeons should set back your players and be draining their resources. It mentions giving the monster a lair action but doesn't really give any advice or suggestions on how to do that. Looking for a similar CR creature to the Ankheg that has Lair Actions yields a decent list with a few good options, in this case, I would personally lift the Lair Actions that a Black Dragon Wyrmling could take and altering them to fit the Ankheg Queen better. Change the pool of water to pits of sand, the swarming insects works but call them Ankheg larva or something similar to make it fit in theme, finally swap out the darkness spell effect for a spell effect more fitting for the encounter. I think Acid Arrow, Enlarge/Reduce, Guest of Wind, Maximilian's Earthen Grasp, and Warding Wind are all good options that could make the encounter more interesting in a number of ways depending on which one you choose to use and how it is applied.
Honestly, the last listed method is the same as giving the Ankheg a spell. It is simply altering the stat block in some way, whether giving the creature a spell or ability from another creature. While this is a great way to spice up encounters it really should be included in the "Add a Spell" suggestion. Keep in mind, I am not knocking this, in fact, this is what you are doing every time you give a creature the Half-Dragon template or any other one. Instead, I would like to make a suggestion that is even easier than adding abilities/spells/stats/weapons to a creature. And that is reskinning it, take one creature that you want to use, but doesn't fit the situation, and change its description to fit the situation. Going up against a large band of gnolls and want something with a bit more oomph than a Gnoll Pack Lord, but don't want to throw a Fang of Yeenough at your Level 2 party of 4? When I had that issue I pulled up my list of CR 3 monsters, found the stat block for Hobgoblin Captain and used that. I didn't change anything about the block other than where it said Hobgoblin I said Gnoll. I described it's leadership ability not as a command or warning but a ferocious aura that drove the other gnolls fighting alongside it into a frenzy. Its martial advantage came not from having an ally near an opponent like it does for a hobgoblin but the ferocity of its attacks in the presence of other gnolls, demonstrating its strength and domination. The Pack Master had a wicked looking greatsword made of bones and teeth and carried javelins made of similar materials, not the standard glave and longbow of a Pack Lord. In retrospect, if I wasn't just reskinning but creating/altering something I would have given the Pack Master the Rampage and Insite Rampage power of the Pack Lord, but as it was it was a deadly and dangerous challenge that the party almost did not survive.
In the end, it all comes down to this. Find out what your players expect and give them something else. It doesn't have to be a huge change and it could honestly be something completely different! Instead of a dread Ankheg Queen in the center of the hive waiting to decimate your players instead have it be a gnome druid who for some reason the Ankheg think is their queen. Every time she tried to escape the Ankheg "royal guard" stopped her, with the Ankheg now dead she is free. The party encountered something unexpected and possibly could have made a friend/ally of the gnome.
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GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links. https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole @BonusRole
So. I have ran into this situation several times over my 30ish years of playing Dungeons and Dragons. What I now see as the biggest issue these days it the wonderful use of the net and the vast amount if resources that can be had so easy. Not that its a bad thing but it can be misused for sure. I personally love and prefer to have the psychical books and not have to rely on an online source. With that said I do still like how the books can be purchased and used in a digital format on D&D beyond. Its not for me but it can provide access to the material quickly. And times have changed.
Just a couple of games ago I was using a monster from one of the Kobold manuals and in the back of my head I knew (at least I thought I did) that this book could not be had on D&D beyond. I have a player in the group that has been heavily looking into running a game and I do support this. This player is not a problem player by any means. The player had also purchased the monster manual in both hard copy and digital copy. Well I did not think of any other resources that were out there. Anyway, when I toss a creature at a party I describe the monster and even make some visual changes to what is seen in the book in an attempt to keep the players on there toes. this player found a resource with the creature online that is mind you totally free. He then later posted it to me in Discord. https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/. He even had an image to post shortly after.
Now I dont mind that a player has the ability to look stuff up like this I just rather they do it outside of the game session. I had another situation where a player did the same a few weeks back using D&D beyond because he has several of the books purchased digitally. This player more or less spilled the beans no the details of the creature to the rest of the party. However I did feel that the players still treated it as if they did not know about the beast from a characters point of view. Where I feel this cam be an issue and I think is only human nature is when a player knows or has detailed info about a monster they are far more less likely to handle the creature as if it was an unknown.
Bad thing is that this is just something that is going to happen an continue to happen when resources are so easy to come by and when resources are free this can be even more of an issue. Sadly this is something all DMs will have to face in a digital age sooner or later. Just hope that the player doing so keeps in mind that the character will know nothing and play the encounter as if they know nothing. Still though there will always be that voice in the back of their head and if it comes to a characters life or death situation you better bet that they will revert to the players knowledge on the beast and not the characters. So as a DM I like to use whats called trick monsters and have even decided to make changes to the monster mid encounter if the player/s in question has some outside resource. I have even run a game where every monster was home brewed.
The biggest thing that I can advocate in regards to this thread is to get creative and understand how to be creative. When you take the time to adjust creatures to fit the narrative; the creatures may be familiar but their actions, motivations, and methods can, and should, change every time. As a DM you should understand the one thing that your players, usually, won't: how the numbers work on a creature. How is CR calculated from the creature's stat block, what happens if you change HP, AC, or add a new weapon or trait. Understanding this will allow you to manipulate the creatures without breaking the game, and allow you to create unique and completely new creatures no one can find anywhere else. While resources like Kobold Press's are a wonderful addition to a DM's library, it's also just another tool that anyone can acquire and memorize just the same as the MM.
For example I had a group consisting of a rules lawyer, two aspiring DMs, a veteran player, and a couple who just wanted to have fun. The couple who wanted to have fun, they enjoyed the story, having fun at the table, and just playing, no problem. The rules laywer was your classic, every time I adjusted something to fit narrative he'd tell me I was doing something wrong "because the books says". The two aspiring DMs were taking notes and trying to test their mettle by seeing if they were right when it came to various things in the game. It was a challenge for me to keep things fresh and new. I took the challenge and ran with it.
I don't shout "meta-gaming" when a player knows about my monsters, I don't cry foul when someone tells the rest of the group to toss vials of acid at the troll, I simply chalk it up to a need to change things up on that player, or group of players. Trolls are a known creature, everyone and their brother can tell you something about a troll. From turning to stone in the sunlight to their vulnerability to fire, it just depends on what lore they are most familiar with as to what they will do to combat one in D&D. What I do instead is to take and change things about this troll to make it unique while still fitting the narrative that I'm trying to tell. For the group I just described, I decided to twist the classic troll into something completely mind bending, but I made sure that it made sense rather than just a means to spite my players.
Imagine said troll, now imagine a crazed Druid who has learned to graft creatures together so that they'd take on properties of both creatures. A troll that had an ocher jelly grafted into it, now that's a scary creature in my opinion. This creature was now immune to Acid damage, regenerated 10 hp a turn, could split into other copies of itself, had spider climb, and dealt acid damage on it's attacks. However, that made the CR of the creature increase so I had to compensate for that, otherwise I'd make the combat too difficult for my players. So, I took out the multiattack and just gave it a choice of Bite or Claw/Pseudopod attacks and reduced it's HP a touch. The players were able to defeat it, the rules lawyer was lost since the creature wasn't acting the way the stat block said it should, and the aspiring DMs thought it was the coolest thing ever. That wouldn't have been possible if I didn't take the time to learn how creatures are created and why CR is calculated the way it is.
Go out, buy the splat books, grab the third-party supplements, and grown your library, but don't stop learning about the why and how of DMing. The more you understand about the different gears, cogs, levers, and buttons that are available to the DM the better your games will become. The more you learn about what happens when you do push that button or twist that knob, the easier it'll be for you to craft memorable moments, creatures, and stories for your players. Figure out why they gave this creature a higher CR, why that creature is different from a similar one even though they look almost identical. Eventually you'll be able to play without needing to crack a book open and still craft amazing games.
I cannot support Kobold Press' Bestiaries enough. I ran a couple of games with a mixed party of long time players and newbies and inserting stuff from these books make the new players and the older ones feel like they were experiencing everything for the first time together. It was wonderful to see confusion and working together to work out what things were and what they did.
I am right there with you! Nothing beats when the veteran player cocks there head side ways and literally says âwhat is this?â đ
I personally would go with the other options before going to buy a new bestiary. Not that I dislike Kobold Press or any other 3rd party source, but because the other options can be done without making a purchase.
While this article seems to use terms from older additions like âRacial Spell-like Abilityâ and the âIâm the DMâ (a statement I've personally found heavy-handed and antagonistic in some cases) to justify modifications of monsters more diplomatic options include things like the monster being a very old and powerful iteration or having been warped by magic (experimentation or exposure). The spell does not even need to be one that is would make sense if you think an Ankheg with Mold Earth will throw your players for a loop try throwing them against some giant spiders that trap them in webs and then set the webs on fire with Flaming Hands.
Altering HP is one of my go-to tricks for altering a fight. You can roll instead of taking the listed average, yes, but if you want an easier fight for your players you could take the minimum HP. A 12 HP Ankheg could be sick, young, weak, or simply part of a massive number for your party to mow down, feel like they are powerful and in control before smacking face first into the third option, maximum HP. Imagine this, your players are just carving through this mass of minimum HP Ankheg, maybe even a few average HP and a "royal guard" with mold earth to drain some resources, then in the heart of the nest, the big lady herself, the queen mother, an Ankheg with 66 HP.
The next example is more, not really fitting with the idea honestly. Traps and Lairs/Dungeons should set back your players and be draining their resources. It mentions giving the monster a lair action but doesn't really give any advice or suggestions on how to do that. Looking for a similar CR creature to the Ankheg that has Lair Actions yields a decent list with a few good options, in this case, I would personally lift the Lair Actions that a Black Dragon Wyrmling could take and altering them to fit the Ankheg Queen better. Change the pool of water to pits of sand, the swarming insects works but call them Ankheg larva or something similar to make it fit in theme, finally swap out the darkness spell effect for a spell effect more fitting for the encounter. I think Acid Arrow, Enlarge/Reduce, Guest of Wind, Maximilian's Earthen Grasp, and Warding Wind are all good options that could make the encounter more interesting in a number of ways depending on which one you choose to use and how it is applied.
Honestly, the last listed method is the same as giving the Ankheg a spell. It is simply altering the stat block in some way, whether giving the creature a spell or ability from another creature. While this is a great way to spice up encounters it really should be included in the "Add a Spell" suggestion. Keep in mind, I am not knocking this, in fact, this is what you are doing every time you give a creature the Half-Dragon template or any other one. Instead, I would like to make a suggestion that is even easier than adding abilities/spells/stats/weapons to a creature. And that is reskinning it, take one creature that you want to use, but doesn't fit the situation, and change its description to fit the situation. Going up against a large band of gnolls and want something with a bit more oomph than a Gnoll Pack Lord, but don't want to throw a Fang of Yeenough at your Level 2 party of 4? When I had that issue I pulled up my list of CR 3 monsters, found the stat block for Hobgoblin Captain and used that. I didn't change anything about the block other than where it said Hobgoblin I said Gnoll. I described it's leadership ability not as a command or warning but a ferocious aura that drove the other gnolls fighting alongside it into a frenzy. Its martial advantage came not from having an ally near an opponent like it does for a hobgoblin but the ferocity of its attacks in the presence of other gnolls, demonstrating its strength and domination. The Pack Master had a wicked looking greatsword made of bones and teeth and carried javelins made of similar materials, not the standard glave and longbow of a Pack Lord. In retrospect, if I wasn't just reskinning but creating/altering something I would have given the Pack Master the Rampage and Insite Rampage power of the Pack Lord, but as it was it was a deadly and dangerous challenge that the party almost did not survive.
In the end, it all comes down to this. Find out what your players expect and give them something else. It doesn't have to be a huge change and it could honestly be something completely different! Instead of a dread Ankheg Queen in the center of the hive waiting to decimate your players instead have it be a gnome druid who for some reason the Ankheg think is their queen. Every time she tried to escape the Ankheg "royal guard" stopped her, with the Ankheg now dead she is free. The party encountered something unexpected and possibly could have made a friend/ally of the gnome.
You wrap up with saying in the end find out what they expect and do something else. That is a great way to say things simple. I think this is one of those things that doesnât have a right answer and if you as a dm go to throw off your players and make Thebes effort, they will notice and feel it. đ
oh and kobold presses books, not needed but totally awesome. If you dint have them as a dm your selling yourself short đ
So. I have ran into this situation several times over my 30ish years of playing Dungeons and Dragons. What I now see as the biggest issue these days it the wonderful use of the net and the vast amount if resources that can be had so easy. Not that its a bad thing but it can be misused for sure. I personally love and prefer to have the psychical books and not have to rely on an online source. With that said I do still like how the books can be purchased and used in a digital format on D&D beyond. Its not for me but it can provide access to the material quickly. And times have changed.
Just a couple of games ago I was using a monster from one of the Kobold manuals and in the back of my head I knew (at least I thought I did) that this book could not be had on D&D beyond. I have a player in the group that has been heavily looking into running a game and I do support this. This player is not a problem player by any means. The player had also purchased the monster manual in both hard copy and digital copy. Well I did not think of any other resources that were out there. Anyway, when I toss a creature at a party I describe the monster and even make some visual changes to what is seen in the book in an attempt to keep the players on there toes. this player found a resource with the creature online that is mind you totally free. He then later posted it to me in Discord. https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/. He even had an image to post shortly after.
Now I dont mind that a player has the ability to look stuff up like this I just rather they do it outside of the game session. I had another situation where a player did the same a few weeks back using D&D beyond because he has several of the books purchased digitally. This player more or less spilled the beans no the details of the creature to the rest of the party. However I did feel that the players still treated it as if they did not know about the beast from a characters point of view. Where I feel this cam be an issue and I think is only human nature is when a player knows or has detailed info about a monster they are far more less likely to handle the creature as if it was an unknown.
Bad thing is that this is just something that is going to happen an continue to happen when resources are so easy to come by and when resources are free this can be even more of an issue. Sadly this is something all DMs will have to face in a digital age sooner or later. Just hope that the player doing so keeps in mind that the character will know nothing and play the encounter as if they know nothing. Still though there will always be that voice in the back of their head and if it comes to a characters life or death situation you better bet that they will revert to the players knowledge on the beast and not the characters. So as a DM I like to use whats called trick monsters and have even decided to make changes to the monster mid encounter if the player/s in question has some outside resource. I have even run a game where every monster was home brewed.
things have definitely changed over the years in the hobby. I grew up cutting my teeth on 3.5. If you werenât the DM you were forbidden from even opening the Monster Manual or Dungeon Master Guide đ
The biggest thing that I can advocate in regards to this thread is to get creative and understand how to be creative. When you take the time to adjust creatures to fit the narrative; the creatures may be familiar but their actions, motivations, and methods can, and should, change every time. As a DM you should understand the one thing that your players, usually, won't: how the numbers work on a creature. How is CR calculated from the creature's stat block, what happens if you change HP, AC, or add a new weapon or trait. Understanding this will allow you to manipulate the creatures without breaking the game, and allow you to create unique and completely new creatures no one can find anywhere else. While resources like Kobold Press's are a wonderful addition to a DM's library, it's also just another tool that anyone can acquire and memorize just the same as the MM.
For example I had a group consisting of a rules lawyer, two aspiring DMs, a veteran player, and a couple who just wanted to have fun. The couple who wanted to have fun, they enjoyed the story, having fun at the table, and just playing, no problem. The rules laywer was your classic, every time I adjusted something to fit narrative he'd tell me I was doing something wrong "because the books says". The two aspiring DMs were taking notes and trying to test their mettle by seeing if they were right when it came to various things in the game. It was a challenge for me to keep things fresh and new. I took the challenge and ran with it.
I don't shout "meta-gaming" when a player knows about my monsters, I don't cry foul when someone tells the rest of the group to toss vials of acid at the troll, I simply chalk it up to a need to change things up on that player, or group of players. Trolls are a known creature, everyone and their brother can tell you something about a troll. From turning to stone in the sunlight to their vulnerability to fire, it just depends on what lore they are most familiar with as to what they will do to combat one in D&D. What I do instead is to take and change things about this troll to make it unique while still fitting the narrative that I'm trying to tell. For the group I just described, I decided to twist the classic troll into something completely mind bending, but I made sure that it made sense rather than just a means to spite my players.
Imagine said troll, now imagine a crazed Druid who has learned to graft creatures together so that they'd take on properties of both creatures. A troll that had an ocher jelly grafted into it, now that's a scary creature in my opinion. This creature was now immune to Acid damage, regenerated 10 hp a turn, could split into other copies of itself, had spider climb, and dealt acid damage on it's attacks. However, that made the CR of the creature increase so I had to compensate for that, otherwise I'd make the combat too difficult for my players. So, I took out the multiattack and just gave it a choice of Bite or Claw/Pseudopod attacks and reduced it's HP a touch. The players were able to defeat it, the rules lawyer was lost since the creature wasn't acting the way the stat block said it should, and the aspiring DMs thought it was the coolest thing ever. That wouldn't have been possible if I didn't take the time to learn how creatures are created and why CR is calculated the way it is.
Go out, buy the splat books, grab the third-party supplements, and grown your library, but don't stop learning about the why and how of DMing. The more you understand about the different gears, cogs, levers, and buttons that are available to the DM the better your games will become. The more you learn about what happens when you do push that button or twist that knob, the easier it'll be for you to craft memorable moments, creatures, and stories for your players. Figure out why they gave this creature a higher CR, why that creature is different from a similar one even though they look almost identical. Eventually you'll be able to play without needing to crack a book open and still craft amazing games.
A lot of wisdom in this post thatâs DMs would do good to take to heart. I loved the opening statement of it realgardjng creativity đ
If you rely entirely on players not having encountering a monster before...well, I'm not going to say you're doing it wrong, but you're really limiting yourself and working a lot harder than you need to. A new monster is only a surprise once.
You can build interesting encounters out of monsters the players are already 100% familiar with by putting together different combinations of terrain, win conditions, and monsters that aren't redundant. e.g. Wolves and goblins. Wolves are fast, attack from up close, gang up on one character; goblins keep chipping away from a distance, but are hard to catch. This gives players multiple ways to tackle an encounter, none of which are clearly better than the other. They could prioritize the wolves, to minimize the effects of Pack Tactics, but that leaves the goblins unchecked. They can try to catch the goblins, but that's going to be hard with their Nimble Escape and they risk the wolves overwhelming someone. They can try to kill the goblins with ranged attacks, but the wolves are going to make that difficult, especially if there's more wolves than melee characters.
This only works well when players have already encountered wolves and goblins in smaller doses. If you throw an encounter like that at new players, it'll likely overwhelm them. But as they become familiar with the individual elements of encounters, your ability to combine them into interesting combinations goes up. The fact that the players are already familiar with the monsters helps you because it immediately opens up so many possibilities.
And that's just the monsters. You can vary up the terrain and win conditions significantly as well. An encounter where the goal is to KO a hobgoblin warlord is very different from one where the goal is to kill all enemies.
That's not to say you can't also throw a curveball with a monster they've never seen before from time to time. But don't work harder trying to keep a constant supply of things they've never seen before when you can just work smarter.
I mean who is able to memorize the entire MM by heart? Maybe instead of throwing goblins at them you throw something else that's random. It also comes down to what the player does with that knowledge. If they are metagaming it then just ask them to stop. If they are a dick about it then that's another topic.
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**Attention DMs:** Do your players know the MM by heart? mine do đŹ
Hereâs 5 things you can do to deal with this đ đ đ
https://link.medium.com/K53OJfKRzU
I cannot support Kobold Press' Bestiaries enough. I ran a couple of games with a mixed party of long time players and newbies and inserting stuff from these books make the new players and the older ones feel like they were experiencing everything for the first time together. It was wonderful to see confusion and working together to work out what things were and what they did.
I personally would go with the other options before going to buy a new bestiary. Not that I dislike Kobold Press or any other 3rd party source, but because the other options can be done without making a purchase.
While this article seems to use terms from older additions like âRacial Spell-like Abilityâ and the âIâm the DMâ (a statement I've personally found heavy-handed and antagonistic in some cases) to justify modifications of monsters more diplomatic options include things like the monster being a very old and powerful iteration or having been warped by magic (experimentation or exposure). The spell does not even need to be one that is would make sense if you think an Ankheg with Mold Earth will throw your players for a loop try throwing them against some giant spiders that trap them in webs and then set the webs on fire with Flaming Hands.
Altering HP is one of my go-to tricks for altering a fight. You can roll instead of taking the listed average, yes, but if you want an easier fight for your players you could take the minimum HP. A 12 HP Ankheg could be sick, young, weak, or simply part of a massive number for your party to mow down, feel like they are powerful and in control before smacking face first into the third option, maximum HP. Imagine this, your players are just carving through this mass of minimum HP Ankheg, maybe even a few average HP and a "royal guard" with mold earth to drain some resources, then in the heart of the nest, the big lady herself, the queen mother, an Ankheg with 66 HP.
The next example is more, not really fitting with the idea honestly. Traps and Lairs/Dungeons should set back your players and be draining their resources. It mentions giving the monster a lair action but doesn't really give any advice or suggestions on how to do that. Looking for a similar CR creature to the Ankheg that has Lair Actions yields a decent list with a few good options, in this case, I would personally lift the Lair Actions that a Black Dragon Wyrmling could take and altering them to fit the Ankheg Queen better. Change the pool of water to pits of sand, the swarming insects works but call them Ankheg larva or something similar to make it fit in theme, finally swap out the darkness spell effect for a spell effect more fitting for the encounter. I think Acid Arrow, Enlarge/Reduce, Guest of Wind, Maximilian's Earthen Grasp, and Warding Wind are all good options that could make the encounter more interesting in a number of ways depending on which one you choose to use and how it is applied.
Honestly, the last listed method is the same as giving the Ankheg a spell. It is simply altering the stat block in some way, whether giving the creature a spell or ability from another creature. While this is a great way to spice up encounters it really should be included in the "Add a Spell" suggestion. Keep in mind, I am not knocking this, in fact, this is what you are doing every time you give a creature the Half-Dragon template or any other one. Instead, I would like to make a suggestion that is even easier than adding abilities/spells/stats/weapons to a creature. And that is reskinning it, take one creature that you want to use, but doesn't fit the situation, and change its description to fit the situation. Going up against a large band of gnolls and want something with a bit more oomph than a Gnoll Pack Lord, but don't want to throw a Fang of Yeenough at your Level 2 party of 4? When I had that issue I pulled up my list of CR 3 monsters, found the stat block for Hobgoblin Captain and used that. I didn't change anything about the block other than where it said Hobgoblin I said Gnoll. I described it's leadership ability not as a command or warning but a ferocious aura that drove the other gnolls fighting alongside it into a frenzy. Its martial advantage came not from having an ally near an opponent like it does for a hobgoblin but the ferocity of its attacks in the presence of other gnolls, demonstrating its strength and domination. The Pack Master had a wicked looking greatsword made of bones and teeth and carried javelins made of similar materials, not the standard glave and longbow of a Pack Lord. In retrospect, if I wasn't just reskinning but creating/altering something I would have given the Pack Master the Rampage and Insite Rampage power of the Pack Lord, but as it was it was a deadly and dangerous challenge that the party almost did not survive.
In the end, it all comes down to this. Find out what your players expect and give them something else. It doesn't have to be a huge change and it could honestly be something completely different! Instead of a dread Ankheg Queen in the center of the hive waiting to decimate your players instead have it be a gnome druid who for some reason the Ankheg think is their queen. Every time she tried to escape the Ankheg "royal guard" stopped her, with the Ankheg now dead she is free. The party encountered something unexpected and possibly could have made a friend/ally of the gnome.
GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links.
https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole
@BonusRole
So. I have ran into this situation several times over my 30ish years of playing Dungeons and Dragons. What I now see as the biggest issue these days it the wonderful use of the net and the vast amount if resources that can be had so easy. Not that its a bad thing but it can be misused for sure. I personally love and prefer to have the psychical books and not have to rely on an online source. With that said I do still like how the books can be purchased and used in a digital format on D&D beyond. Its not for me but it can provide access to the material quickly. And times have changed.
Just a couple of games ago I was using a monster from one of the Kobold manuals and in the back of my head I knew (at least I thought I did) that this book could not be had on D&D beyond. I have a player in the group that has been heavily looking into running a game and I do support this. This player is not a problem player by any means. The player had also purchased the monster manual in both hard copy and digital copy. Well I did not think of any other resources that were out there. Anyway, when I toss a creature at a party I describe the monster and even make some visual changes to what is seen in the book in an attempt to keep the players on there toes. this player found a resource with the creature online that is mind you totally free. He then later posted it to me in Discord. https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/. He even had an image to post shortly after.
Now I dont mind that a player has the ability to look stuff up like this I just rather they do it outside of the game session. I had another situation where a player did the same a few weeks back using D&D beyond because he has several of the books purchased digitally. This player more or less spilled the beans no the details of the creature to the rest of the party. However I did feel that the players still treated it as if they did not know about the beast from a characters point of view. Where I feel this cam be an issue and I think is only human nature is when a player knows or has detailed info about a monster they are far more less likely to handle the creature as if it was an unknown.
Bad thing is that this is just something that is going to happen an continue to happen when resources are so easy to come by and when resources are free this can be even more of an issue. Sadly this is something all DMs will have to face in a digital age sooner or later. Just hope that the player doing so keeps in mind that the character will know nothing and play the encounter as if they know nothing. Still though there will always be that voice in the back of their head and if it comes to a characters life or death situation you better bet that they will revert to the players knowledge on the beast and not the characters. So as a DM I like to use whats called trick monsters and have even decided to make changes to the monster mid encounter if the player/s in question has some outside resource. I have even run a game where every monster was home brewed.
The biggest thing that I can advocate in regards to this thread is to get creative and understand how to be creative. When you take the time to adjust creatures to fit the narrative; the creatures may be familiar but their actions, motivations, and methods can, and should, change every time. As a DM you should understand the one thing that your players, usually, won't: how the numbers work on a creature. How is CR calculated from the creature's stat block, what happens if you change HP, AC, or add a new weapon or trait. Understanding this will allow you to manipulate the creatures without breaking the game, and allow you to create unique and completely new creatures no one can find anywhere else. While resources like Kobold Press's are a wonderful addition to a DM's library, it's also just another tool that anyone can acquire and memorize just the same as the MM.
For example I had a group consisting of a rules lawyer, two aspiring DMs, a veteran player, and a couple who just wanted to have fun. The couple who wanted to have fun, they enjoyed the story, having fun at the table, and just playing, no problem. The rules laywer was your classic, every time I adjusted something to fit narrative he'd tell me I was doing something wrong "because the books says". The two aspiring DMs were taking notes and trying to test their mettle by seeing if they were right when it came to various things in the game. It was a challenge for me to keep things fresh and new. I took the challenge and ran with it.
I don't shout "meta-gaming" when a player knows about my monsters, I don't cry foul when someone tells the rest of the group to toss vials of acid at the troll, I simply chalk it up to a need to change things up on that player, or group of players. Trolls are a known creature, everyone and their brother can tell you something about a troll. From turning to stone in the sunlight to their vulnerability to fire, it just depends on what lore they are most familiar with as to what they will do to combat one in D&D. What I do instead is to take and change things about this troll to make it unique while still fitting the narrative that I'm trying to tell. For the group I just described, I decided to twist the classic troll into something completely mind bending, but I made sure that it made sense rather than just a means to spite my players.
Imagine said troll, now imagine a crazed Druid who has learned to graft creatures together so that they'd take on properties of both creatures. A troll that had an ocher jelly grafted into it, now that's a scary creature in my opinion. This creature was now immune to Acid damage, regenerated 10 hp a turn, could split into other copies of itself, had spider climb, and dealt acid damage on it's attacks. However, that made the CR of the creature increase so I had to compensate for that, otherwise I'd make the combat too difficult for my players. So, I took out the multiattack and just gave it a choice of Bite or Claw/Pseudopod attacks and reduced it's HP a touch. The players were able to defeat it, the rules lawyer was lost since the creature wasn't acting the way the stat block said it should, and the aspiring DMs thought it was the coolest thing ever. That wouldn't have been possible if I didn't take the time to learn how creatures are created and why CR is calculated the way it is.
Go out, buy the splat books, grab the third-party supplements, and grown your library, but don't stop learning about the why and how of DMing. The more you understand about the different gears, cogs, levers, and buttons that are available to the DM the better your games will become. The more you learn about what happens when you do push that button or twist that knob, the easier it'll be for you to craft memorable moments, creatures, and stories for your players. Figure out why they gave this creature a higher CR, why that creature is different from a similar one even though they look almost identical. Eventually you'll be able to play without needing to crack a book open and still craft amazing games.
I am right there with you! Nothing beats when the veteran player cocks there head side ways and literally says âwhat is this?â đ
You wrap up with saying in the end find out what they expect and do something else. That is a great way to say things simple. I think this is one of those things that doesnât have a right answer and if you as a dm go to throw off your players and make Thebes effort, they will notice and feel it. đ
oh and kobold presses books, not needed but totally awesome. If you dint have them as a dm your selling yourself short đ
things have definitely changed over the years in the hobby. I grew up cutting my teeth on 3.5. If you werenât the DM you were forbidden from even opening the Monster Manual or Dungeon Master Guide đ
A lot of wisdom in this post thatâs DMs would do good to take to heart. I loved the opening statement of it realgardjng creativity đ
If you rely entirely on players not having encountering a monster before...well, I'm not going to say you're doing it wrong, but you're really limiting yourself and working a lot harder than you need to. A new monster is only a surprise once.
You can build interesting encounters out of monsters the players are already 100% familiar with by putting together different combinations of terrain, win conditions, and monsters that aren't redundant. e.g. Wolves and goblins. Wolves are fast, attack from up close, gang up on one character; goblins keep chipping away from a distance, but are hard to catch. This gives players multiple ways to tackle an encounter, none of which are clearly better than the other. They could prioritize the wolves, to minimize the effects of Pack Tactics, but that leaves the goblins unchecked. They can try to catch the goblins, but that's going to be hard with their Nimble Escape and they risk the wolves overwhelming someone. They can try to kill the goblins with ranged attacks, but the wolves are going to make that difficult, especially if there's more wolves than melee characters.
This only works well when players have already encountered wolves and goblins in smaller doses. If you throw an encounter like that at new players, it'll likely overwhelm them. But as they become familiar with the individual elements of encounters, your ability to combine them into interesting combinations goes up. The fact that the players are already familiar with the monsters helps you because it immediately opens up so many possibilities.
And that's just the monsters. You can vary up the terrain and win conditions significantly as well. An encounter where the goal is to KO a hobgoblin warlord is very different from one where the goal is to kill all enemies.
That's not to say you can't also throw a curveball with a monster they've never seen before from time to time. But don't work harder trying to keep a constant supply of things they've never seen before when you can just work smarter.
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I mean who is able to memorize the entire MM by heart? Maybe instead of throwing goblins at them you throw something else that's random. It also comes down to what the player does with that knowledge. If they are metagaming it then just ask them to stop. If they are a dick about it then that's another topic.