guardian (CR 0-4)
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DROW & How to Make Betrayals work in D&D
Welcome to the drow. The drow were left out of the 2024 Monster Manual—a decision I can’t quite understand. I would call it the worst omission, if not for the fact that orcs were also excluded. Since I’ve committed to covering every monster that appears in either the 2014 or 2024 Monster Manual, I’ll be… Continue reading
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DUERGAR: Unexpected Ways to Use Enlarge And Invisibilty
How to Use: D&D’s Grey Dwarves in their Underdark Outposts The duergar (also known as the grey dwarves, which I use in game as a common nickname) work very well as mercenaries. They don’t have the stat blocks needed to be a major faction (unless you’re using Mordenkainen’s), but their abilities and demeanor make… Continue reading
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DRUID: Moonbeam and Thunderstrike in a Deadly Chase
How to Use: NPC Druid Spellcasting Tactics The most obvious use of a druid NPC is to give help or advice, or to ask them to go on a quest. I am going to wait to discuss nature themed quests in the next article, Dryad. For this article, I will concentrate on giving two druid… Continue reading
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GOLD DRAGON WYRMLING: A Garden of Beautiful Traps
D&D’s gold dragons live in splendor, with gardens of stunning color. But don’t mistake beauty for weakness—they know evil all too well. How to Use – A Gold Wyrmling and its Outdoor Defenses Combat Encounter (difficulty 4) Gold dragons live in splendor, with the outer part of their lair scenic gardens, with gently flowing… Continue reading
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WHITE DRAGON WYRMLING: How to Defend a Low-Level Lair
How to use – White Wyrmling Tactics Encounter Building for Multiple Wyrmlings As monsters go, the white dragon wyrmling is potentially pretty powerful for his CR 2 level. His breath weapon does 22 damage on average, which will knock out almost any PC of the matching level if they fail their save. Their chances of… Continue reading
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BLUE DRAGON WYRMLING: Ideal Terrain to Make the Dragon Deadly
I’ve already written that I feel that using wyrmlings is a mistake, that they are too weak and rob dragons of the majesty they should have. See black dragon wyrmling for further details. Continue reading
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PTERANODON: Watch Your Balance
When using monsters whose skillset leads to them being hard to pin down on a battlefield, [in this case flyby,] I tend to recommend that the goal of the encounter not be taking out the monsters Continue reading
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PLESIOSAURUS: Trapped on the Dinosaur’s Back
The plesiosaurus is the dinosaur with the long neck, which D&D has translated into a 10-foot reach. This is understating it, though. Continue reading
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LEMURE: Monster, Obstacle, and Victim (With Flames)
How to Use: Lemure “Tactics” The lemure is actually stronger than the manes (the demon equivalent.) Where the manes is a CR 1/8, however, the lemure is a CR 0. This reason is that the lemure will not go after PCs to attack them. How should they be played? Lemures are mindless but not harmless.… Continue reading
About Me
I’ve been a DM since I was about 10 years old. (Not of D&D, admittedly, but still.) After growing bored of fights that were all the same, dungeons heavily populated by one monster type, and a general shortage of ideas, I figured I’d embark on my own trip through the Monster Manual, one monster at a time. Feel free to join the quest.