Chapter 9: Creating Monsters

Monsters are the lifeblood of the challenge players face! It’s literally in the name of the game! While there are a large number of monsters to choose from, they may not suite the needs of your campaign exactly. These rules explain how the existing monsters were created so you can confidently change them to fit your story or create new ones.

Challenge Rating & Points

A monster’s relative difficulty is based on their Challenge Rating, or CR, which is in turn based on the number of points it took to build that particular monster. Every choice you make when building a monster, from its abilities to its attributes to its traits, even to its size, cost a certain number of points. Some choices are more powerful than others, being gargantuan, for instance, comes with a lot of bonuses and as such cost more than being tiny, which comes with some drawbacks so actually removes some points.

Once you’ve added up all the points for a monster, subtract seven (challenge rating rounds up at 7, not 5, which is why we’re subtracting 7 here), divide by ten, and round up—that’s the monster’s challenge rating. So, for instance, if you had a monster that had 27 total points, it’s CR would be 2, but if you had a monster whose total points were 18, that would also be a CR 2 (18 - 7 is 11, divided by 10 is 1.1, rounded up is 2).

The point based system makes scaling monsters fairly straightforward. Want a scarier swarm of rats for your new adventuring party? Take an existing monster and increase its damage or AC just enough to bump it up! Want to make a creature resistant to fire damage? See how that’ll affect the overall challenge rating!

Challenge Rating affects what monsters you put your players up against. A general rule of thumb is one CR1 monster per player for a challenging but not deadly encounter at Heroic Tier. For a party of 4, this could be 4 CR1 monsters, two CR2 monsters, one CR4 monster or, if you want a real battle, 8 CR0 monsters. At Epic and Legendary tiers, add an additional CR1 monster into your calculations, representing the expanding skill set of your players.

Size

Monsters come in many sizes, ranging from tiny all the way up to gargantuan. Each size has a base damage output, a base set of HP, a base speed, a base reach, what size area it fits into, and how many points it adds to the monster.

Size	Damage	HP	Speed	Space	Reach	Points
Tiny	1d4	3	20'	2½'×2½'	5'	-1
Small	1d6	4	30'	5'×5'	5'	0
Medium	1d6	5	30'	5'×5'	5'	0
Large	1d8	6	40'	10'×10'	5'	1
Huge	1d10	7	40'	15'×15'	7'	2
Gargantuan	1d12	10	40'	20'×20'	15'	3

Swarm

You can also choose to make a swarm of monsters. When making a swarm, first choose how large the swarm is, then choose the size of the creatures in the swarm, which must be at least one size category smaller. The size of the swarm determines its space, the size of the creatures determines the rest.

Swarms differ from normal creatures in that they cannot gain temporary HP, cannot regain HP, and deal ½ damage when bloodied. They are also resistant to physical damage and are immune from being frightened, knocked prone, restrained, stunned, or from being grappled.

Making a creature a swarm adds 5 points from the monster’s point total.

Type

Monster type is mostly a categorization tool that you can use to help you add flavor to your monsters and your world.

Beast

Animals native to the material plane. Includes hybrid animals, like owlbears and griffons. They may have special vision or movement, but typically don’t have the spicy or radiates tags and typically don’t have feats or techniques, or have the ability to cast spells.

Humanoid

Creatures native to the material plane that form societies. They can have lineages and traits from those lineages, and may carry weapons or wear armor. They typically don’t have the spicy or radiates tags.

Celestial

Creatures native to the upper planes. They are usually benevolent, may carry weapons or armor, often deal radiant damage, and are often vulnerable to necrotic damage. They typically have the extraplanar tag.

Fiends

Creatures native to the lower planes. They are usually selfish, may carry weapons or armor, often deal necrotic or fire damage, and are often vulnerable to radiant damage. They typically have the extraplanar tag.

Undead

Creatures that have been brought back from the dead but not fully to life, like skeletons and zombies. They may carry weapons or armor, often have the undying or unrelenting tags, and are usually vulnerable to radiant damage.

Elemental

Creatures from elemental planes or are manifestations of an element. They are always aligned to a specific element. They typically either have the spicy or radiates tags for their element, always deal damage of their specific element, are typically either resistant to, immune to, or absorb their element and often vulnerable to another appropriate element (fire vulnerable to cold, for instance). They typically have the extraplanar tag.

Ooze

Homogenous creatures made of jelly-like substances. They typically can’t talk, are are almost always spicy, amorphous, and an occupier.

Aberration

Creatures alien to the material plane, like an eldritch horror. Usually psychic and typically can cast spells and deal fatigue.

Fey

Creatures native to the feyrealm and deeply connected to nature. May carry weapons or armor and can typically cast spells.

Dragon

Big lizards, breath weapons, like gold, you know, a dragon. Typically flies and has a breath weapon of a given damage type based on their color (red for fire, white for cold, blue for lightning, etc…) with resistance to that damage type (and often vulnerability to another appropriate element). Older, more ancient ones, often lives in a lair they have control over.

Construct

Mechanical creatures. Typically can regenerate or have the undying or unrelenting tags.

Monstrosity

Any creature that doesn’t fit into another type.

Abilities

Abilities work the same way they do for player characters, except they can go from -5 to +5, except for Luck, which can only go to -2. Monsters, like PCs, start with two abilities at +1.

Points for abilities are calculated by adding up the total values for Focus, Power, Cunning, and Luck, subtracting 2, then multiplying by 2. For a monster with 0/1/1/0 its 0 points, 0/0/0/0 its -4 points, -1/3/1/0 its 2 points.

Vision

Monsters start with standard vision. Improving their vision costs points, and for visions that have a range, they can be added in increments of 10’.

Vision	Points
Low-light Vision	1
Darkvision	2
Blindsight	Range / 10
Tremorsense	Range / 10
Truesight	(Range / 10) × 2

Movement

Monsters start with a base walking speed based on their size, and can have additional. Additional movement is added at the base walking speed of the monster. For every additional 10’ above or below these base levels adds or subtracts 1 points and gain either the fast or slow tags.

Movement	Points
Flying	3
Climbing	1
Swimming	1
Burrowing	2
±10’ movement	±1

Offense

Monsters can have their offensive capabilities enhanced to make the more dangerous.

Trait	Effect	Points
Savage	Adds +1 piercing to natural and weapon attacks.	+2
Strong	Adds +2 ongoing to damage rolls.	+2
Energetic	Adds +3 fatigue.	+2
Conditioned	Adds +2 exhaustion.	+4
Spicy	The first time a creature touches this monster each turn, it takes damage equal to the monster's base damage of the chosen type (¼ if fatigue, minimum 1).	3
Radiates	Once each turn when a creature is within twice the monster's space, it takes damage equal to the monster's base damage of the chosen type (¼ if fatigue, minimum 1).	4

Defense

Monsters can have their defense capabilities enhanced to make them harder to kill.

Trait	Effect	Points
Stout / Frail	±5 HP	±1
Armored / Exposed	±1 AC	±2
Resistant	Add resistance to an element	+2
Vulnerable	Add vulnerability to an element	-1
Immune	Adds immunity to an element	+5
Resilient	Adds immunity to a condition	+3
Absorbent	Healed when hit by an element	+6

Feats, Techniques, Cantrips, & Charms

Creatures can be given feats, techniques, cantrips, and charms (for the cantrips they know). Each one added has a point cost, and if it’s rare, the point cost is doubled.

Trait	Effect	Points
Trained	Add a feat	+3
Skilled	Add a technique	+1
Caster	Add a cantrip	+1
Advanced Caster	Add a charm	+2

Weapons, Equipment, & Actions

Monsters

Humanoids, Celestials, Fiends, Undead, Fey, and Constructs can equip weapons and armor.

Damage Steps

Each monster has a base damage, based on their size. Their natural weapons, held weapons, or actions may deal more damage than that, though. To calculate how many points to add, take the attack that deals the most amount of damage and determine how many damage steps it is above or below the monster’s base damage.

A damage step is an increase in maximum damage rolled, so going from 1d6 to 1d8 is 1 damage step and 1d6 to 1d4 is -1 damage step, but 1d12 to 2d6 is 0 damage steps because the maximum is the same. The damage steps for custom actions are doubled to compensate for the their custom nature. The number of damage steps is the number of points you add or subtract. If the point total goes up, add the vicious tag to the monster, if it goes down, the timid tag.

When choosing damage output for a natural weapon or action, you cannot combine multiple die (like 1d4 + 2d6), but you can have multiple of the same die (3d4).

Natural Weapons

Natural weapons are melee weapons that are part of the creature, think fists or claws. They each have a damage die associated with them and a damage type. Monsters can have more than one natural weapon, but they need to have at least one.

Actions

You can create custom action you’d like your monster to take not covered by another option. Each action must have a name, a description, a type (attack, reaction, save with ability, or “other”), how many action points it takes (minimum 1), and how much fatigue it takes (minimum 0); reactions also require a trigger. Adding an action costs 2 points.

Actions can deal damage. If it does, it needs a damage type. Point cost for the damage is calculated using damage steps and is added to the action’s initial cost. They can also impose either a single condition or a status—doing so adds an addition 2 points to the initial.

The number of action points an action requires changes how many points the action costs—if it costs 1 AP, add 1 point, for every AP above 2, subtract 1 point. Requiring each fatigue for the action can also reduce its cost by 1 point per fatigue.

You can further reduce an action’s cost by reducing its availability. You can have it recharge on a 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, or 1d10, doing so divides the cost by 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. You can also require a thread to use it—if it has a recharge, divide the cost again by 3, if it just recharges on a thread, divide the cost by 5. Round the point total normally to the nearest full point.

Traits

Traits make monsters stand out. There are a number of traits available

Swarms cannot regain HP or gain temporary HP and deal ½ damage when bloodied.

Trait	Points	Description
abduct	1	Doesn’t need to spend extra movement to move a grappled creature
aggressive	2	Using Strike multiple times per turn costs 1 fewer AP
amorphous	1	Can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch without expending extra movement
amphibious	1	Can breathe air and water
ancient	4	Can use an additional AP each turn thanks to uncountable years of experience
aquatic	-1	Can only breathe underwater
Beast of Burden	1	Carrying capacity is doubled
bloodthirsty	3	When bloodied, gain bonus to ability checks and damage rolls equal to CR
bursting	2	Explodes when it dies. All creatures within twice its reach must make a cunning saving throw, taking damage equal to twice the base damage for a creature its size on a miss, half on a hit. If the creature is spicy, the damage is of that type, otherwise its physical.
climber	1	Can climb difficult surfaces, including along ceilings, without needing to make an ability check
draining	3	Once per turn when dealing damage with a melee attack, recover ½ damage or fatigue dealt
Escape Artist	2	The AP cost for Disengage and Hide is reduced by 1
extraplanar	1	If it dies outside of its home plane, its body dissolves. It gains a new body in 1d4 days, reviving with all of its Hit Points somewhere in its home plane. Celestials and Fiends gain a new body instantaneously.
flyby	3	Doesn’t provoke reactions when leaving an enemy’s reach
freediver	1	Can hold its breath for up to an hour
grappler	3	Halves the fatigue needed to keep a foe restrained (minimum 1)
Ice Walker	1	Can move across and climb icy surfaces without needing to make an ability check, and ignores icy and snowy difficult terrain
illuminated	0	Naturally emits bright light in a radius equal to twice is reach and dim light twice its reach again.
immutable	2	Cannot be shape-shifted
incorporeal	1	Can move through other creatures and objects as if they were Difficult Terrain. Takes 1d10 force damage if it ends its turn inside a creature. Requires physical resistance.
jumper	1	Can long jump and high jump twice the normal distance
lair	5	Has control over its surroundings, letting it take one of the following Lair Actions at the start of a round: Impede Spend 1 thread to make a 30’×30’ are of the lair difficult terrain to creatures of its choice. Rearrange Spend 1 thread to rearrange the physical features of a 30’×30’ area (adding or removing walls, lowering or raising the floor, moving creatures along a contiguous surface, etc…) as long as it does not directly cause harm to a creature.
legendary	10	Can use Legendary Actions, Reactions, and Resistances: Legendary Action Can spend 2 threads to take an additional turn, but cannot go twice in a row Legendary Reaction Can spend 1 thread to use an additional reaction Legendary Resistance Can spend 1 thread to ignore the damage and effects of a single attack or saving throw
Magic Resistance	4	Has +2 ongoing to saving throws against spells and other magical effects
mastery	1	Can use weapon mastery properties
occupier	2	Can enter another creature’s space and stop there. If the creature is spicy, once per turn it can deal damage to a creature whose space its moved through or stopped in.
Pack Tactics	2	When an ally is within 5’ of a creature, attack rolls against that creature gain +2 ongoing. The ally can’t be unconscious.
photophobic	-2	While in sunlight, has -2 ongoing to all ability checks
reach	2	Has double the normal reach
regeneration	5	Regains hit points at the start of its turn equal to the base hit number of HP for a creature its size. This can be blocked for a turn by forcing it to mark fatigue or dealing damage to it of a type it’s vulnerable to. It can also be blocked if its a Beast, Humanoid, or Monstrosity and fire or acid damage is dealt to it.
siege	1	Deals double damage to objects and structures
tunneler	0	When it burrows through solid material, it leaves a tunnel of its size. Must have a burrowing speed
undying	3	When damage would drop it to 0 HP but not outright kill it, can spend 1 thread to drop to 1 HP instead
unrelenting	3	When fully exhausted, at the start of its next turn, can spend 1 thread to recover all fatigue and 1 exhaustion.
Web Walker	1	Ignores movement restrictions caused by webs, and knows the location of any creature in contact with a web its touching