Combat rating 14
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YOUNG COPPER DRAGON: The Comedian and the Crumbling Cliff
How to Use While the copper dragon is officially classified as good, I fail to see it in the flavor text description. Based on that description, I’d classify the dragon as neutral. This is not a dragon that will help vanquish evil, unless it is in its most direct self-interest to do so. On the… Continue reading
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YOUNG BRONZE DRAGON & How to Use Allies Without Overshadowing Players
How to Limit the Use of I already gave several reasons for why the dragon isn’t accompanying them on their quest, or fighting it for them. (Having an NPC accompany the players is generally a mistake. Even more so if it’s more powerful than the players, an thereby stealing the spotlight. [The young bronze dragon… Continue reading
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YOUNG RED DRAGON: How to Use Brute Force Properly
The red dragon is of the worldview that strength (meaning might) is the only important attribute, and that clever approaches are the methods of weaklings. This means that any interesting encounters with them will require either the use of homebrew, or convenient terrain. Continue reading
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YOUNG GREEN DRAGON: How to Run Parley and Combat
With the green dragon, we have a unique type of dragon, in that it will try to avoid fighting when it can. Continue reading
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YOUNG BLACK DRAGON: The Swamp Dragon
(Yes, I am going to write a separate article for every single dragon in the Monster Manual.) For the first time ever, I am letting myself change the order of the monsters in the Monster Manual slightly. I see the young dragon of each type as the dragon’s most basic, the adult with its extra… Continue reading
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TYRANNASAURES REX: A Dumb Beast, and an Epic Boss
The tyrannosaurus rex is one of those rare monsters that will be exciting encounter just on the strength of their name, or reputation. With other monsters, there are various ways to make them exciting, but they won’t measure up to the reputation that the T. Rex already has. I can’t name ten monsters in the… Continue reading
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HORNED DEVIL: How to Use the Devil’s Laziness
or the sake of this article, I am going to assume the horned devil was assigned to watch an entrance. It can be to a magic item, to a portal, or to anything else worth protecting. Continue reading
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HERZOU: Trapping PCs in a Tight Spot
The hezrou actually does have an optimal fighting method, thanks to its poison effect. It wants to be as close to as many of its enemies as possible, so as to maximize the poison condition it causes. 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.