Here, you find something you think isn't very good, is too good, or something similar and rant about it.
I start with... Mephits.
In my opinion, Wizards of the Coast did a good job of the first 4 mephit types: dust, ice, magma, and mud mephits are all unique. Then the smoke mephit. The smoke mephit is, in my opinion, a slightly edited copy of the dust mephit. And the steam mephit is like a magma mephit, but worse. I would have stayed with dust, ice, magma and mud mephits and kept those.
Anything else you guys?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am a Star Wars nerd who is obsessed with roleplay, sci-fi, and brutal murder.
Pronouns he/him. PM me the word tomato 🍅 or the word Banana 🍌
I am an Unstrikable Warrior, as drummer dictated. Do not waste your energy in attempts to strike me, for it will fail.
I am a knight of the fallen order, an undying saviour, a defeater of tyrants and a bane of evil.
I'll start with a mini-rant about one monster I'm not very happy about: The Intellect Devourer. Sure, the intellect devourer is an iconic monster, and with its CR sitting at a solid 2, it seems like the perfect little gremlin for novice DMs to use on their low-level parties. However, a CR 2 is laughable considering the nasty things this funky little brain with legs can do, and corresponds with one of my biggest gripes with the intellect devourer:
It's the most hit-or-miss monster ever conceived.
Either it's an absolute menace, either turning the party into (literally) brainless thralls, making them fight among each other, or cursing them with an Intelligence Score of 0 until they are cured...
Or it goes down in 1 or 2 hits and all that tension immediately and unceremoniously ends about 5 minutes or less after initiative is rolled.
Sure, you could have more intellect devourers in play at once to give them better odds of doing their thing, but (especially with this particular monster) CR doesn't evenly equate to challenge: Even just 2 or 3 of these things can TPK high-level adventuring parties if they get lucky.
Basically, it's "save-or-suck" in monster form, being an absolute pushover if the turn order is in your favor, and having the potential to cause permanent damage to your party if the inverse is true. Personally, this extreme duality between 'funky little brain gremlin' and 'cunning god of death, destroyer of heroes, crusher of hopes and souls alike' makes it very hard to use in campaigns, and that's the main reason why I'm not a massive fan of them.
tldr: I think intellect devourers should be CR 6 at minimum, and maybe have 30 more hit points.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild. Join today! May we cast our web across the realms!
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
I'll start with a mini-rant about one monster I'm not very happy about: The Intellect Devourer. Sure, the intellect devourer is an iconic monster, and with its CR sitting at a solid 2, it seems like the perfect little gremlin for novice DMs to use on their low-level parties. However, a CR 2 is laughable considering the nasty things this funky little brain with legs can do, and corresponds with one of my biggest gripes with the intellect devourer:
It's the most hit-or-miss monster ever conceived.
Either it's an absolute menace, either turning the party into (literally) brainless thralls, making them fight among each other, or cursing them with an Intelligence Score of 0 until they are cured...
Or it goes down in 1 or 2 hits and all that tension immediately and unceremoniously ends about 5 minutes or less after initiative is rolled.
Sure, you could have more intellect devourers in play at once to give them better odds of doing their thing, but (especially with this particular monster) CR doesn't evenly equate to challenge: Even just 2 or 3 of these things can TPK high-level adventuring parties if they get lucky.
Basically, it's "save-or-suck" in monster form, being an absolute pushover if the turn order is in your favor, and having the potential to cause permanent damage to your party if the inverse is true. Personally, this extreme duality between 'funky little brain gremlin' and 'cunning god of death, destroyer of heroes, crusher of hopes and souls alike' makes it very hard to use in campaigns, and that's the main reason why I'm not a massive fan of them.
tldr: I think intellect devourers should be CR 6 at minimum, and maybe have 30 more hit points.
Here, you find something you think isn't very good, is too good, or something similar and rant about it.
I start with... Mephits.
In my opinion, Wizards of the Coast did a good job of the first 4 mephit types: dust, ice, magma, and mud mephits are all unique. Then the smoke mephit. The smoke mephit is, in my opinion, a slightly edited copy of the dust mephit. And the steam mephit is like a magma mephit, but worse. I would have stayed with dust, ice, magma and mud mephits and kept those.
Anything else you guys?
I am a Star Wars nerd who is obsessed with roleplay, sci-fi, and brutal murder.
Pronouns he/him. PM me the word tomato 🍅 or the word Banana 🍌
I am an Unstrikable Warrior, as drummer dictated. Do not waste your energy in attempts to strike me, for it will fail.
I am a knight of the fallen order, an undying saviour, a defeater of tyrants and a bane of evil.
I'll start with a mini-rant about one monster I'm not very happy about: The Intellect Devourer. Sure, the intellect devourer is an iconic monster, and with its CR sitting at a solid 2, it seems like the perfect little gremlin for novice DMs to use on their low-level parties. However, a CR 2 is laughable considering the nasty things this funky little brain with legs can do, and corresponds with one of my biggest gripes with the intellect devourer:
It's the most hit-or-miss monster ever conceived.
Either it's an absolute menace, either turning the party into (literally) brainless thralls, making them fight among each other, or cursing them with an Intelligence Score of 0 until they are cured...
Or it goes down in 1 or 2 hits and all that tension immediately and unceremoniously ends about 5 minutes or less after initiative is rolled.
Sure, you could have more intellect devourers in play at once to give them better odds of doing their thing, but (especially with this particular monster) CR doesn't evenly equate to challenge: Even just 2 or 3 of these things can TPK high-level adventuring parties if they get lucky.
Basically, it's "save-or-suck" in monster form, being an absolute pushover if the turn order is in your favor, and having the potential to cause permanent damage to your party if the inverse is true. Personally, this extreme duality between 'funky little brain gremlin' and 'cunning god of death, destroyer of heroes, crusher of hopes and souls alike' makes it very hard to use in campaigns, and that's the main reason why I'm not a massive fan of them.
tldr: I think intellect devourers should be CR 6 at minimum, and maybe have 30 more hit points.
Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild. Join today! May we cast our web across the realms!
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
idk if this would help but here: https://www.themonstersknow.com/intellect-devourer-tactics/
"There are things in the universe that are simply and purely evil.
A warrior does not seek to understand them, or to compromise with them.
He seeks only to obliterate them."
Grand Admiral Thrawn