Designing Monsters Designing Monsters COMBAT ROLE Monsters typically fall into one of the below combat roles. Mook. Low damage, HP, AC, and attack bonus. Swarmy. Soldier. Mid-range damage, HP, AC, and attack bonus. Striker. High damage and attack bonus. Low HP and AC. Often stealthy and skillful. Tank. Mid-range damage and attack bonus. High HP and AC. Controller. Environment-altering talents. Mid-range damage and attack bonus. Low HP and AC. Legendary. High HP, AC, damage, and/or attack bonus. STAT MODIFIERS Compare with "measuring stick" monsters, such as elephants, when choosing a new monster's stat modifiers. Monsters can have higher modifiers than PCs. DESCRIPTION Describe a monster's defining characteristics and behaviors. MOVEMENT Most monsters can move near (or double near if they're large). Note if they can swim, fly, climb, burrow, or move in other ways. LEVEL A monster's level (LV) determines its power level. LV 0-3. Weak, common. Poor or normal treasure. Challenge to novice crawlers. LV 4-6. Risky, uncommon. Normal treasure. Challenge to experienced crawlers. LV 7-9. Dangerous, rare. Normal or fabulous treasure. Challenge to expert crawlers. LV 10+. Mighty, unique. Fabulous or legendary treasure. Challenge to supreme crawlers.

ATTACK BONUS A monster bases its attack bonus on its relevant stat modifier. You can increase a monster's attack bonus depending on its combat role, but its total attack bonus should rarely exceed its level. DAMAGE LV 0-3. Weak weapons, d4 or d6 damage on each attack. One or two attacks. LV 4-6. Good weapons, d6 or d8 damage on each attack. Two or three attacks. LV 7-9. Powerful weapons, d8 or d10 damage on each attack. Three or four attacks. LV 10+. Legendary or magical weapons, d12 or multiple dice of damage on each attack. Four or five attacks. MONSTER TALENTS Monsters typically have one to three talents that grant them special powers or attacks. HOW MANY MONSTERS? Use the 1:1 Monsters table to determine what level a monster should be when there is one of that monster per character in a combat. This will result in a combat of average difficulty. You can combine these levels into a different quantity of monsters. For example, a group of four 4th-level adventurers will face a combined 12 LV of monsters per average combat. Note that large groups of monsters (even with lower levels) can be deadly because they take many more actions each round than the characters. Conversely, a solo monster can be too easy (even with a high level) if the characters swarm it. Avg. Party Level Monster LV 0-3 1 4-6 3 7-9 5 10 7 1:1 MONSTERS