That's right! The guidelines for monster stats are now available (in early-draft form) and a link has been added to the end of the Playtest document (linked on the sidebar.)
Square Peg, Round Hole
Since I wanted monsters to have a universal dice-rolling mechanic (1d6+1d10) I had to round off a few edges, in terms of bonuses and penalties. As you'll see in the document, Advantage and Disadvantage are adjudicated a little differently than how they operate for PCs.
Essentially, how it works is like this:
- Advantage: on a tie, maximize both dice
- Disadvantage: cancels out Advantage, or uses the lowest roll
I had tinkered with having Advantage work similarly to the "double roll and stack" rule, potentially maximizing one die or the other. In short, I found it both a little clunky and not a big enough bonus, so I went with maxing both dice, instead.
The Mother of Invention
It should also be pointed out that the previous post (Monster Math -- Part 3: Standards & Elites) contained a mechanical error, which has been corrected in this draft: Standard monsters will use the universal monster roll for damage, but only use the highest die, rather than adding them together. I had figured this out before, but it sort of got lost in the shuffle; when it came time to make the post, my brain reverted back to an older loadout.
However, when double-checking the math this time around (and coming across this snag) I came up with another lever that can be used to differentiate monsters a bit, and at the same time allow them to mesh with some of the existing mechanics.
When a monster is able to stack their roll, the roll is described as "Trained" whereas using only the higher result means the roll is "Untrained." So monsters that specialize in melee might only have this bonus to their melee attacks, whereas "artillery" types might have it only on their ranged attacks. It's worth noting that Expertise can be seamlessly applied to monster rolls, as a straightforward damage boost.
Rogues' Gallery
In addition to Standard and Elite monsters, Minions and Swarms were also established in an earlier post. This new draft rounds out the list of antagonists, with the addition of Solo monsters and Archenemies.
Solo monsters are what I envision as "Colossus" fights -- an enemy that has to be brought down in stages -- whereas Archenemies are the final boss of a shorter or longer story arc; they are exceptionally strong and resilient, a single combatant who is a suitable challenge for an entire party.
Moving Forward
I still have intentions of updating a few more classes, but monster math has taken my attention, for the time being. I have some ideas for implementing area attacks, as well as attacks that impose debilities (I just need to try and square the math); basically, the idea will be to use Trained/Untrained/Disadvantage as a means of "stepping down" damage, in order to leverage such powers. In addition to that, I will want to come up with some sample/example monsters -- in particular, conversions of popular or iconic enemies.
Check back May 15th!
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