Monster Patterns and Roles

• Go back to the Epic Path page.
• Go back to the Bestiary page.

New Templates

There are tons of templates, but there's a lack of powerful templates without a lot of specific 'flavor'. For example, you can't really add a 'Jotunblood Giant' template to a purple worm. Which is a shame, because the 'Jotunblood Giant' template is pretty darn cool.

So here's a new, more generic, template which can be added to any creature and add up to CR +4 to it.

Great Creature

Design notes: Great creature is a complex full template. It's also modular, and was specifically designed to stack cleanly with either the 'Advanced Simple Template' or the 'Mighty' template. Using only these three templates, the CR of a monster may be adjusted from +1CR to +10CR. And that should be plenty.

Skeletal Creature

This template can be used to make a skeleton version of any monster than can reasonably be expected to have bones. Bugbears definitely, black puddings definitely not, aboleths...maybe. The GM adjudicates all monsters to allow them or not. Skeletal Creature adds +1 CR.

Yes, you can then add on an Elemental Skeleton Template from below, for even more variety if you like that sort of thing. Indeed, you can run a campaign that was NOTHING but skeletons and other undead if you are crazy or cruel enough to do it. Not that we'd ever try such a thing...

Elemental Skeleton Templates

These templates are designed to add even more variety to skeletons. You can find skeletons at all levels of the game, and many of the creatures are designed as nice, solid, martial opponents. If you want to add a little variety to the basic skeletons, add one of these templates to them!

Note that you should probably try to make the templates a thematic 'fit' with the skeleton you're working with. Adding the Numbing template to a Smoky Apocalypse Skeleton might seem a little strange. But hey, all referee's are allowed to run the game as they see fit, so if it floats your boat, go for it!

Disgusting Zombie Templates

These templates are designed to add even more variety to zombies. You can find zombies at all levels of the game, and many of the creatures are designed as creepy, horrible things you'd rather avoid. If you want to add a little miserable grotesquerie to the basic zombies, add one of these templates to them!

---

Monster Roles

The first rule of encounters is that they are fun. A sure way to avoid dull fights is to 'shake things up' with interesting settings, maguffins, variable terrain, etc. Another good way is vary the monsters. For example, six orcs are a pretty vanilla encounter, but eight orc minions with a leader and a heavy backing them up is worth the same rewards and feels and plays differently. Note that adding roles increases the damage in the game considerably, especially when you add minions: This is completely intentional. Fights should be fairly brief but intense affairs.

Monster Roles are applied after all templates. They are not templates and do not change the CR. Instead, they count as more or fewer monsters each. It is possible to combine Roles and templates, if a GM desires, but this process should be approached with caution.

Minion

Cheap fodder? Not likely.

• Apply the Minion role to a monster and it turns into four monsters.

• Minions have only 1 hit point, but it's special (see below).

• Minions die after one hit or four misses.

• Minions never gain temp hitpoints or healing, although both count as a buff. If a minion receives any buff, at all, it requires two hits to kill it, not one. This is in addition to the normal, non-hitpoint, effects of the buff.

• Minions are able to squeeze with no penalties. You can pack them into the battlefield like sardines.

• Four minions count as one monster for xp and loot.

One Hit Point

Minions only have 1 hit point, but it is special. Killing a minion requires either the attacker to succeed on a to-hit roll, or the minion to fail on a saving throw roll. Even then, if the minion is able to successfully mitigate all of the damage with their defenses (such as DR or ER), they live anyway. Minions NEVER take damage from misses or from a successful saving throw against a spell or effect, even of that spell or effect would normally deal partial damage on a successful save.

Autohit spells (no to-hit roll, no save, such as Magic Missile, Fireball or the Fog spells) are are counted as attacks which automatically miss. However, a minion which successfully mitigates four attacks because of misses, successful saves, or ridiculous defenses, still dies after four such misses. As a result, three magic missiles have no effect, but the fourth one always kills a minion. This works for all 'no-die-roll' automatic damage, so a minion hanging out in an Acid Fog cloud is fine until the fourth round, when it dies. However, making a caster level check to overcome a Minion's SR is NOT counted as a successful roll against a minion.

Heavy

Your typical 'tough guy' in an encounter.

• Heavies have double hit points.

• Heavies do double damage.

• Heavies get 1 action point.

• Heavies are immune to the first instance of all conditions applied during an encounter. Note: All conditions means exactly that, all conditions. This is not limited to status conditions, it also applies to any condition that the referee rules will render the monster 'trivial'. Spell effects such as a grease spell cast upon a weapon, forced movement into a teleport square that removes the monster from play, any condition at all, is rendered null through this ability.

• Heavies are able to keep fighting past death: When they are first made dead, they instead receive half their hit points again, all conditions are removed, all accumulated efforts to pierce their condition immunity are removed, and they keep on fighting.

• Heavies count as two monster for xp and loot.

Threat

A dungeon boss, or a tough 'heavy'. A really tough heavy. Remember that Cave Troll fight in Lord of the Rings? Yeah, that guy.

• Threats have triple hit points.

• Threats do triple damage or more.

• Threats get 2 action points. These may not be spent on the same round.

• Threats are immune to the first five instances of all conditions applied during an encounter. Note: All conditions means exactly that, all conditions. This is not limited to status conditions, it also applies to any condition that the referee rules will render the monster 'trivial'. Spell effects such as a grease spell cast upon a weapon, forced movement into a teleport square that removes the monster from play, any condition at all, is rendered null through this ability.

• Threats are able to fight past death. When they are made dead, instead they receive half their hitpoints, all conditions are cleared, all accumulated efforts to pierce their condition immunity are removed, any expended powers are returned, and they fight on.

• Threats count as four monsters for xp and loot.

Henchman

A single Threat role monster is the equivalent of approximately four normal monsters, and should provide a good challenge to many parties all by themselves, but for larger parties a single Threat role monster might be too easy.

Each Threat Role monster listed in the Bestiary also includes a secondary monster entry for a Henchman. Henchmen are creatures which have a thematic reason to be in the company of the Threat entry. Sometimes, these are just regular monsters of the same CR as their Threat role, and other times they are special creatures that don't make any sense without the Threat role monster being present (for example, the Additional Tail henchman of the Green Dragon).

Henchmen allow a GM to easily tailor a Threat encounter to accommodate gaming group sizes other than the standard 4-player party. For each additional PC present for the encounter beyond four, one Henchman should be added to the encounter (e.g. a party of six PCs would encounter one Threat role monster and two of its Henchmen). If the party has eight PC's, they should encounter two Threat role monsters instead. For parties greater than eight (wow!), GM's should use one Threat role monster for each full multiple of four PC's, and one Henchman monster for each remainder PC in the party beyond the multiples of four. For example, a party of 10 players, aside from drinking all of your soda pop, would encounter two Threat role monsters, and two Henchmen monsters.

Note that a GM can (and should) still run Threat role monsters against parties with fewer than 4 players, but the GM should expect them to use more of their resources (healing, high-level spells, etc.) to succeed than a larger party would. It might also be a good idea to avoid putting a smaller party up against a Threat or tougher monster as their third (or later) encounter of the day, when they're tired and have few of those resources left to bring to bear.

Tank

The monster the other monsters expect to take all the hits.

• Tanks have double hitpoints.

• Tanks are immune to all conditions applied during an encounter. Note: All conditions means exactly that, all conditions. This is not limited to status conditions, it also applies to any condition that the referee rules will render the monster 'trivial'. Spell effects such as a grease spell cast upon a weapon, forced movement into a teleport square that removes the monster from play, any condition at all, is rendered null through this ability. Yes, Tank-role mobs can elect to 'fall prone' to end forced movement, and are then immune to that prone, thus making tank mobs immune to forced movement as well. Tank monsters are a pain in the neck.

• Tanks add all damage they deal out to their own hit point total, up to their maximum.

• Tanks may make a bonus attack against any character they can reach who does not include them in an attack. There is no limit to the number of these attacks they may make. Damage they deal with these attacks heals them as well.

• Tanks are able to fight past death. When they are killed, they heal their hit points back to half, clear all conditions, and fight on.

• Tanks count as two monsters for xp and loot.

Shooter

Pew! Pew! Pew!

• Shooters may make all their attacks with a range increment of thirty.

• Shooters that already had a ranged attack may use that ranged attack with no range penalties.

• Shooters never take penalties for firing into melee.

• Shooters have double hitpoints.

• Shooters add one half their CR to their initiative modifier, round up.

• Shooters do double damage.

• Shooters count as two monsters for xp and loot.

Sneak

They're stealthy, man. Super stealthy.

• Sneaks may add their number of hit dice to all Stealth rolls they make. If they do not have the Stealth skill, they gain it at a value of 10+ Dex mod.

• Sneaks may initiate stealth, even if they are being observed, once per encounter. This is an immediate reaction if off their turn, or a swift action if on their turn.

• Sneaks add one half their CR to their initiative modifier, round up.

• Sneaks add their CR to all attacks, both to-hit and damage, they make against a target who is unaware of them.

• Sneaks count as two monsters for xp and loot.

Killer

The scary-dangerous one.

• Killers have double hit points.

• Killers move twice as fast.

• Killers add one third their CR to their initiative modifier, round up.

• Killers do triple damage or more.

• Killers count as two monsters for xp and loot.

Leader

The ones calling the shots.

• Leader attacks perform free Bull Rush attempts once per round.

• Leaders can give one ally a standard action, once per round, as an immediate action.

• Leaders have double hitpoints.

• Leaders give all allied monsters and creatures +2 to hit and damage per five hit dice of that monster. Minions use their normal hit die rating, even though they only have one hit point. Round up. This buff ends when the leader mob is killed.

• Leaders buff all minions, so they take two hits to kill. If the minions then get another buff from a non-leader, they take three hits to kill. This benefit immediately goes away if the leader dies.

• Leaders count as two monsters for xp and loot.

Villain

Italic textThe dungeon boss.

• Villains have four times as many hit points.

• Villains do triple damage.

• Villains get 2 action points. These may not be spent on the same round.

• Villains may summon four minions a round, every round as a free action. They may not use this action if they have eight or more minions in play already.

• Villains are immune to the first eight instances of each condition, even outside of an encounter. Note: All conditions means exactly that, all conditions. This is not limited to status conditions, it also applies to any condition that the referee rules will render the monster 'trivial'. Spell effects such as a grease spell cast upon a weapon, forced movement into a teleport square that removes the monster from play, any condition at all, is rendered null through this ability.

• Villains may make all their attacks with a range increment of thirty.

• Villains are not killed when they reach zero hit points. Instead, they summon four minions, have their hit points set to half their maximum, remove all conditions, all accumulated efforts to pierce their condition immunity are removed, and they fight on.

• Villains live to fight another day. The second time they are reduced to zero hit points or below they mysteriously vanish in a puff of plot, to appear again later, evilly twirling their mustache.

Gamemaster Notes on Roles

Even though the concept behind Roles is inspired by Fourth Edition, the way it is implemented here is different, and demands a lot more from the referee than 4e ever did. Since Roles can be applied to ANY monster, the referee is expected to have a strong grasp of what this is going to do. Since we recognize that not every referee out there may be a thirty year veteran like us old guys, this section is here to give you some tips on what to expect and how to run mind-boggling games.

An overview

First, there's no reason to introduce roles right away. Let folks settle into their characters for the first two or three levels, run them through the classic 'five people meet in an inn' scenario, keep it simple as people get used to the way the new character classes work. Once you decide that vanilla encounters and stories are losing their luster, try introducing a Heavy mob.

Heavy mobs, despite their scary factor, are possibly the least impactful of the roles. Their ability to ignore a condition will likely be a surprise, as will their hard-hitting attacks and resurrection power. But despite all that, Heavies are simple, easy-to-handle role mobs.

Once the players are used to Heavies, bring out a couple of Shooters. Shooters are the second least impactful role, and more importantly, demand an entirely different response (more mobility or ranged attacks) than a Heavy. Let the players get used to the way to handle Shooters.

Next, introduce Minions. Despite their lowly stature, minions are quite dangerous and demand good tactics to deal with. A single mob split into minions does quadruple the damage of a normal mob. Be sure your players are adaptable and tough before you pop minions on them. Also: Be quite aware of the ability of minions to squeeze! This makes the front ranks of your party completely irrelevant to minions, so be sure your "clothies" are ready for this surprising challenge.

Once you have Heavies, Shooters, and Minions, the rest of the roles are all really zesty. Tanks are especially nasty, especially if you combine a Tank with minions. The Tank will get lots of opportunity attacks while the party goes after minions, so be aware. Killers are extremely fast and can easily swamp the weaker members of the party if the group doesn't maneuver carefully, so handle with care. Sneaks are like Killers, only worse. Their ability to stealth even while being watched is sure to draw outraged cries the first few times, and rightly so. Plus, Sneaks hit so hard it's scary, so handle with care.

By far the most dangerous of the roles are the Leaders, Threats, and the Villains. Use them sparingly and carefully until you are sure your players can handle the challenge they present. Threats are basically drastically tougher Heavies. If your group is having trouble with Heavies combined with Tanks or Shooters, consider Threats carefully. Villains are much worse than Threats because they do even more damage and summon in hordes of minions. Absolutely worst of all are Leaders. Use Leaders with great care, and be sure your group can handle them. Be extremely careful of combining Leaders and Tanks, Leaders and Shooters, Leaders and Sneaks, and especially Leaders and Villains.

Using Roles, you can challenge any group of players at any time, but remember the first rule: Fights should be fun!

A note about increased damage

We recommend several different ways of handling increased damage of roles.

The first and simplest way is to roll the damage as listed in the stat block and multiply it. This is easy and effective, but it rewards high armor class and hurts folks with Damage Resistance. Even worse, it's not interesting. This is the cardinal sin of refereeing: being dull! It's fine to use this method every now and then, heck, vanilla fights are quite valuable. They're easy, they make the 'oh holy crap' encounters more vivid by contrast, and they're easy. Just don't do them too much.

The second way is to roll every attack multiple times. A fun variant on this is to give high-damage monsters a second or third initiative, for example, five counts or ten counts after their main initiative, respectively. Be careful of this variant method, as the players piling on the conditions can dilute the threat of your monsters. If you couple this with the simple expedient that every initiative count keeps a separate tally of statuses, this works extremely well, although it's a bit complicated. This works especially well with multi-headed monsters. The "two-headed" template is awesome stuff.

The third way is to do both. Boost the damage of each attack by fifty percent, and then roll a few extra attacks to represent their high speeds. This is a good approach, and if you add the extra damage as flat damage, doesn't slow down the pace of combat much if at all. Even better, this feels true to the rules if that is important to you. A great variation is to make some or all of a monster's attacks into close blasts, or small cones, or affects any three adjacent squares. This is easily explained as the monster is sweeping its limbs in large arcs, and also spreads the damage out, so not only the tank is getting hit.

The fourth way is to add a Swift action ranged attack. The monster throws a rock, spits of glob of ick, shoots rays from its eyes, flicks quills from its tail, animates the floor to bite at feet, pulls ropes to drop javelins from the ceiling, huffs poison from its nostrils, shoots tentacles from unmentionable places to zing the unwary, etc. Making it a swift action keeps it fun and rewards the characters for status effects. To make this more flexible, have this ranged attack hit two, three, or even more targets. This lets you dilute the impact of a strong melee front row, as you can hit that pesky fighter and still keep the back ranks on their toes. If your party is laying lots of status effects, make the ranged attack a free action that happens at the start of the monster's turn on a trigger.

The fifth way is to add a damage aura. This is easy and effective, simply announce the aura and make the players keep track of it for you! A nice variation of this is the damage aura that only turns on while the monster is under a status effect. If you're really feeling nasty, have the aura do damage every time an effect is laid on the monster in addition to the normal trigger times. This gives the players a mean choice: Lay the effect and take damage, or leave the monster unfazed.

The sixth way is a damage shield. Every time you strike the monster, you take damage. This is rough on melee and rewards ranged attacks, so a fun variation is giving a monster an automatic reflection ability, so any ranged attacks are turned back on the attacker. If you're really feeling nasty, have reflected ranged attacks target-able upon any of the PC's at will. Another fun variation is the 'safety zone' damage aura. The further you are from a monster, the more damage the aura does to you, but you are completely safe when adjacent. This rewards melee attackers and punishes ranged attackers, which is a fun turnabout.

The seventh way is to move the damage off the monsters completely. Have a damage zone that activates when the monster steps on it. If you're really feeling mean, have the zone heal the monster at the same time. Put in emitters, like poison mushrooms huffing spore clouds, or spinning blade pillars, or falling blocks of ceiling that do damage and then turn terrain into rough terrain, or sections of floor that slide everybody on them like conveyor belts right into spiked pits, or slippery patches that knock people on them prone, or jets of poisonous lava that squirt out at random intervals, etc, etc, etc.

The important thing is to introduce as much variety as possible into combat. Always strive to do something interesting. It doesn't have to be unique! Just interesting and fun. :)