#DND 5E HOMEBREW MONSTER MANUAL#

Take a look at this chart where I graph median hit points (blue) and median damage x 3 (red). HereвЂ™s one interesting thing about hit points and damage: they have a very strong relationship, especially at low level. The remaining values, average damage and hit points, are a bit hairy, because theyвЂ™re not nice, neat linear graphs. I did attack bonus, DC, and AC first because they were the easy ones. Therefore, if we say вЂњ+-3 AC based on monster conceptвЂќ weвЂ™d be allowing all but a few outliers. The average variance is 1.65: 50% more than in attack and DC. So on our final rules, weвЂ™ll say, вЂњ+-2 DC based on monster concept.вЂќДЇrom the scatter plot, Armor Class also looks like a fairly neat linear graph.Д®xpressed as a formula, this is very tidy: AC = 13 + 1/3 CRДЇrom looking at the scatter plot, you can see that there will be a higher variance in AC than there was in attack and DC.

Variance is also the same for DC as it is for attack bonus.

In the following scatter plot, blue XвЂ™es are DC, and green triangles are attack bonus. In fact, its graph is nearly identical to the attack bonus (nearly every monsterвЂ™s DC is their attack +7).

#DND 5E HOMEBREW MONSTER MANUAL#

So we could say, without doing too much violence to the Monster Manual data, something like, вЂњBased on your monster concept, you may add or subtract up to 2 points from the attack bonus without affecting its CR.вЂќДifficulty Class is similarly neat. And, as weвЂ™ve proved in previous steps, there is no correlation between high/low attack bonus and any other monster stat. In other words, monster attack bonuses tend to be a little more than one point away from the average. We donвЂ™t want to adjust anything later! WeвЂ™ll just look at our Monster Manual data and see how much variation there tends to be from the average monster accuracy.ДЇor our attack bonuses, the average variance (which is a statistical calculation for determining how closely grouped numbers are) is low: 1.22. How much leeway do we have to adjust the attack bonus up or down based on our concept? The DMG advice is to adjust as much as you want, you can always adjust the CR later. ThatвЂ™s the way that the linear values on the attack graph work out, and the way IвЂ™ve graphed it. For the purposes of drawing graphs, think of them as negative numbers instead of fractions: CR 1/2 is really 0, CR 1/4 is -1, CR 1/8 is -2, CR 0 is -3. While the DMG graph is arbitrary and inaccurate, actual monster design shows signs of being very carefully put together.ДЄ note about CRs below 1: These complicate things. So tidy! ItвЂ™s almost as if the designers designed it that way! Hint: I think they did. (For comparison, the red line is a plot of the Dungeon MasterвЂ™s Guide suggested attack bonuses.)ДЄs you can see, the scatter plot shows us a nice, straight, easily graphable best-fit line. HereвЂ™s a scatter plot of the attack bonuses of all the Monster Manual and MordenkainenвЂ™s monsters. Therefore, we can examine each monster stat separately without having to consider the others at the same time. For instance, you might expect that a monster whose AC is high for its Challenge Rating should have lower hit points, attack bonus, or damage output to compensate. If you prefer everything calculated out, hereвЂ™s a one-page version with more explanation and an exampleДЇirst of all, to reiterate what I learned in previous posts:ДЎ) real monsters have fewer hit points and do less damage than those created by the DMG chart, and are more accurateДў) there is no significant correlation between any major monster stat (HP, AC, attack bonus) and any other stat. It doesnвЂ™t Challenge Rate monsters with a CR of zero, but it is easy to modify.HereвЂ™s the finished business card! The rest of this post will explain how we came up with it. I modified a Challenge Rating Sheet created by Krispy KremeGuy if you want to give it a go yourself. As the name suggests, it is bludgeon damage from fists with a 1d4 Hit. The only ability that the Hobo has is Why Has The Rum Gone which gives the Hobo advantage on attack rolls on any who have hidden or are in possession of their booze.ДЇistycuffs is their weapon attack. However, due toВ the numbing factors of the booze, their constitution is generally better than most commoners. The Hobo doesnвЂ™t really have much skill considering their constant state of inebriation. You really havenвЂ™t lived until you have got into a fight with a hobo. Why there was no Hobo in the D&D Monster Manual 5e is beyond me. In play-testing these stats came ups pretty go against my players who were level one, unarmed and unarmoured (long story).

I am using this NPC for my campaign Slaves of Troustar. Below is a copy of a homebrew Hobo monster.

Dnd 5e homebrew monster