It's not so much the number of varieties of monsters and humanoids, etc. It's how frequently they come up, and that varies from game to game.
Most monsters don't have any metal on them at all, and even many humanoids don't wear metal armor or wield weapons with enough metal to qualify as targets for heat metal. Hold person is really good if you're fighting people, provided you don't accidentally try to use it on a Fey (since Fey like faries, satyrs, and changelings are immune to effects that only target Humanoids).
Heat Metal is a spell that's heavily campaign-specific in how effective it is. I ran a Forge Cleric in a campaign and never once encountered an enemy that Heat Metal would have been useful on. Meanwhile, the spell would have been extremely powerful in other campaigns but none of the PCs were the right class for it.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Heat metal works on 'Manufactured metal weapons', so to save time, I took that to mean any weapon except quarterstaff, club, greatclub, javelin, Spears and Shields (If you have an issue with this, you're more then welcome to do your own count). Excluding monster variants, I've counted 101/453 monsters in the monster manual carry some form of metal, so ~22%. I have undoubtedly made mistakes, so I put the true figure somewhere around 20-25%. I've added an (i) to show if a monster is immune to fire damage and an (r) if they resist it.
Heat metal works on 'Manufactured metal weapons', so to save time, I took that to mean any weapon except quarterstaff, club, Spears and Shields (If you have an issue with this, you're more then welcome to do your own count).
I have two questions: why did you count greatclubs as metal, and why are ogres missing from your list? They carry both a greatclub and a javelin.
Technically speaking, Heat Metal doesn't work on Animated Armor, or Iron Golems since they're made of metal rather than wearing metal. Though that's redundant in the case of the Iron Golem due to their already being immune to fire damage.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Heat metal works on 'Manufactured metal weapons', so to save time, I took that to mean any weapon except quarterstaff, club, greatclub, javelin, Spears and Shields (If you have an issue with this, you're more then welcome to do your own count). Excluding monster variants, I've counted 101/453 monsters in the monster manual carry some form of metal, so ~22%. I have undoubtedly made mistakes, so I put the true figure somewhere around 20-25%. I've added an (i) to show if a monster is immune to fire damage and an (r) if they resist it.
16% of creatures in the Monster Manual are humanoids.
You sir, are awesome. Not sure it's worth it to pick a spell that is only useful 25% and 16% of the time. Although I do understand it is campaign dependent as well as the one time you encounter a final monster with metal or a high level evil human magic-user.
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Hello, does anyone have any data on the percentage of monsters with metal? Trying to determine the percentage efficiency of Heat Metal.
How about the percentage of creatures versus humanoids? Trying to determine the percentage efficiency of Hold Person.
Thanks.
It's not so much the number of varieties of monsters and humanoids, etc. It's how frequently they come up, and that varies from game to game.
Most monsters don't have any metal on them at all, and even many humanoids don't wear metal armor or wield weapons with enough metal to qualify as targets for heat metal. Hold person is really good if you're fighting people, provided you don't accidentally try to use it on a Fey (since Fey like faries, satyrs, and changelings are immune to effects that only target Humanoids).
Heat Metal is a spell that's heavily campaign-specific in how effective it is. I ran a Forge Cleric in a campaign and never once encountered an enemy that Heat Metal would have been useful on. Meanwhile, the spell would have been extremely powerful in other campaigns but none of the PCs were the right class for it.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Heat metal works on 'Manufactured metal weapons', so to save time, I took that to mean any weapon except quarterstaff, club, greatclub, javelin, Spears and Shields (If you have an issue with this, you're more then welcome to do your own count). Excluding monster variants, I've counted 101/453 monsters in the monster manual carry some form of metal, so ~22%. I have undoubtedly made mistakes, so I put the true figure somewhere around 20-25%. I've added an (i) to show if a monster is immune to fire damage and an (r) if they resist it.
Within the Monster Manual you have: Animated Armor, Assassin, Azer (i), Balor (i), Bandit, Bandit Captain, Bearded Devil (i), Berserker, Bugbear, Bugbear Chief, Cambion (r), Centaur, Chain Devil (i), Cloud Giant, Cultist, Cult Fanatic, Dao, Death Slaad (r), Deep Gnome (Svirfneblin), Deva, Djinni, Drider, Drow, Drow Elite Warrior, Drow Priestess of Lolth, Duergar, Duodrone, Efreeti (i), Empyrean, Erinyes (i), Ettin, Fire Giant (i), Flying Sword, Frost Giant, Githyanki Knight, Githyanki Warrior, Gladiator, Goblin, Goblin Boss, Gorgon, Gray Slaad (r), Guard, Half-Ogre, Half-Red Dragon Veteran, Helmed Horror, Hobgoblin, Hobgoblin Captain, Hobgoblin Warlord, Horned Devil (i), Iron Golem (i), Jackalwere, Kenku, Knight, Kobold, Kuo-Toa Archpriest, Lamia, Lizard King/Queen, Marid, Marilith (r), Medusa, Merrow, Mezzoloth (r), Minotaur, Minotaur Skeleton, Monodrone, Noble, Nycaloth (r), Oni, Orc, Orc Eye of Gruumsh, Orc War Chief, Orog, Pentadrone, Pit Fiend (i), Planetar, Priest, Quadrone, Sahuagin Baron, Salamander (i), Scout, Shield Guardian, Skeleton, Solar, Spined Devil (i), Sprite, Spy, Storm Giant, Thug, Tridrone, Ultroloth (r), Vampire Warrior, Veteran, Werebear, Wereboar, Wererat, Weretiger, Wight, Winged Kobold, Yuan-ti Abomination, Yuan-ti Malison, Yuan-ti Pureblood.
16% of creatures in the Monster Manual are humanoids.
I have two questions: why did you count greatclubs as metal, and why are ogres missing from your list? They carry both a greatclub and a javelin.
I didn't count greatclubs or javelins, forgot to add those to the sentence mentioning exclusions.
Technically speaking, Heat Metal doesn't work on Animated Armor, or Iron Golems since they're made of metal rather than wearing metal. Though that's redundant in the case of the Iron Golem due to their already being immune to fire damage.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
You sir, are awesome. Not sure it's worth it to pick a spell that is only useful 25% and 16% of the time. Although I do understand it is campaign dependent as well as the one time you encounter a final monster with metal or a high level evil human magic-user.