Armor Class
17
(splint)
Hit Points
58
(9d8 + 18)
Speed
30 ft.
STR
16
(+3)
DEX
13
(+1)
CON
14
(+2)
INT
10
(+0)
WIS
11
(+0)
CHA
10
(+0)
Skills
Athletics +5, Perception +2
Senses
Passive Perception 12
Languages
Any one language (usually Common)
Challenge
3 (700 XP)
Proficiency Bonus
+2
Actions
Multiattack. The veteran makes two longsword attacks. If it has a shortsword drawn, it can also make a shortsword attack.
Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage, or 8 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage if used with two hands.
Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.
Heavy Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 100/400 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d10 + 1) piercing damage.
Description
Veterans are professional fighters that take up arms for pay or to protect something they believe in or value. Their ranks include soldiers retired from long service and warriors who never served anyone but themselves.
Because classes are for players to mechanically interact with the rest of the game, not a profession.
Of course if you want NPCs/monsters to have those abilities that's fine, but D&D isn't designed for Class vs Class combat and monsters are designed with abilities players will never be able to have (outside of homebrew)
Then give it to them.
that's not how CR works. 12 Veterans is 8,400 exp, for 4 players of level 10:
As you can see it's barely a deadly encounter for level 10's.
Running Tomb of Annihilations with some extra activity thrown in based on player back stories. Going to use 5 of these and 4 sailors, all of whom have been converted to "undead" characters by the villain in one of the back stories. PC are a party of 5, well balanced, level 5 (pushing 6 with lots of goodies).
Any suggestions on adjusting stat blocks for the undead case? I am tempted to to just use them as is. The villain of the back story is going to watch the battle, and IF the PC's look to be loosing, he will stop the fight and offer them the chance to join his quest (at the expense of giving up theirs). It will offer a chance for treachery and maybe some poisons (a PC has lots of interest in the poisons realm).
Thanks for your thoughts here!
you can chose two attacks totalling to 2d10+6 or three attacks at 2d8+1d6+9
Keep in mind that a monster can only draw or stow one weapon at a time
A custom character i think is :
Enchanted armor so melee has a disadvantage
They technically cant dual wield a longsword without the Dual Wielder Feat.
I would need multiple armies of them to even remotely challenge my level 10 Party lol. Bral would have new warlords real quick.
Generic Humanoid Fodder stat blocks like this only feel properly enticing if you employ some form of flanking or "combo potential" when you use them, possibly by some consumables/niche weapons. The Thug does this well with Pack Tactics so it's a bit odd to not have similar for Veterans
I use +1d4 to hit when flanking for all monsters. Then, I ignore Loading on monsters (because they could just as easily have put a longbow in the stat block), give them Athletics proficiency so they can grapple/shove, and give them 1 Net to attack with. That's enough to make all fodder (Guards, Soldiers, Veterans, Champions) feel properly strong when you use them in groups at a suitable difficulty for players. If you want to beef up your minions (which are super versatile given you can race swap them as needed), just do these changes.
I use +1d4 to hit when flanking for all monsters. Then, I ignore Loading on monsters (because they could just as easily have put a longbow in the stat block), give them Athletics proficiency if they don't already so they can grapple/shove, and give them 1 Net to attack with. This is usually enough. Here is a bit more if you want:
- DEX -2 but +4 CON and +2 STR, cause they're undead. Less nimble but theyre wearing Splint and using STR based melee so it's fine. More HP makes em tougher as well.
- A Bite Attack that is the same stats as their Shortsword but it also infects targets (they become Poisoned after a set time if it isn't cured).
- Death Throes: When they get reduced to 0 HP, they make 1 Bite Attack with advantage as a reaction just before being downed.
Agreed, the CR system from the DM's Guide does NOT work. Tarrasque has a 25 armor class but it says it should have a 19. A bone devil has close to that at CR 9
Very helpful page.
Actually a very good point, thank you for it.
I think that a lot of these monsters are more of a base. So for instance any of these humanoid monsters you can just modify to your heart's content. So give them some abilities, fighting styles and what have you.
Taking into consideration that the average health for a fighter is 32hp, if each of the five vets were dual weilding we can use the average dmg scores and determine that the vets can deal 30 damage per turn. the vets could easily tpk in two rounds. charming would be a good course of action but unless you cut some of the abilitys or your players are really, REALLY good, I don't see how they survived five let alone 18.
19
actually, this is false, the average is 20, now of course that does mean that's the average, meaning it can go higher, but, the average is in the middle, doubling the average would be the highest physically possible (minus 9 from the proficiency bonus for each attack), making it 31, now, that's no where near enough to be making an entire rant about how you were 1 hit point off HOWEVER, if its somehow a crit on EVERY hit, assuming we go with the easy math we just double the damage, making it 62, so yes, the vets can deal 30 dmg per turn, but there's no need to stop there. Also, with your 'could easily tpk a party in two turns', alright, 20 hp average a turn, correct? average health of a level 4 fighter being 32 hp two vets kill him with 8 damage left, ASSUMING they all hit, fighters can be pretty tanky, so lets assume only 3 of the vets hit, there's still lets assume a cleric, druid, and wizard, that's 30 hp for the cleric, 10 hp for the wizard, 27 for the druid, so we have a total of 99 hp, then that's 20 times 6 (3 over 2 rounds), that's 120, BUT, that's not taking into consideration: magical items, how many vets the party kills each round, the initiative rolls, and if the players are smart, straight up, wizard fire balls them, average of 28 dmg a fireball, two of those in the two rounds, 56 dmg from the wizard alone, using the average alone the party should be fine, especially since they have a cleric to help them. HOWEVER, this example is if the wizard has a good initiative roll, if they don't, it'll be trickier, but idk, I don't think it'll be an 'easy tpk' in 2 rounds, it could be a close tpk in 2 rounds, but also, it in the end doesn't matter, I was just bored and decided to nitpick something some random person on the internet said. all this said, I do agree that they shouldn't put 18 vets in there, maybe closer to 4 or 5 if it's supposed to be a hard fight
Personally, I'd represent most war veterans with a bandit or guard stat block, rather than this one. It's legit stronger than a polar bear, so it'll need to be reserved for the most revered of warriors.
I think it's closer to 26. 84,000 encounter XP.
No, its just clarifying the description. It says the veteran makes two longsword attacks.
so its clarifying that if you have shortsword drawn it instead makes 2 attacks with it. 3 attacks at that level is crazy
i think that a veteran is stupid
58 hp? cr 3 hmmm.
Apparently cr has a fixed system for calculating it but i don’t think that they use it they just diside it themselves
7 slashing damage is also not great against 3rd level players
and dire wolf has 37 hp and 10 damage with its bite is cr 1
i caused a tpk using this against my players