Combat rating 8
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YOUNG WHITE DRAGON: Attacks of the Master Hunter
How to Use – Combat Encounters (difficulty 8) As mentioned in the Monster Manual, what the white dragon lacks in size, strength, and intelligence, he makes up for in natural instincts. He also has the most beneficial terrain, as far as he’s concerned. You can use the following ideas separately, or you can thread several… Continue reading
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RED DRAGON WYRMLING: Protect the Treasure, and the House
The wyrmling has a single attack, the ability to fly, and a lot of movement. While with every other red dragon, I suggested that it would wade into their midst and start bashing, 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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TRICERATOPS: Charge of the Triceratops
Have the players enter a clearing, ringed about by dead thorns, possibly as high as their waists, possibly higher than their heads. Continue reading
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BARBED DEVIL: Why Devils Need to Pay for Souls
Before going into the meat of the article, I wanted to write a little about devil contracts. There seems to be a gaping plot hole in the entire idea. Continue reading
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VROCK: A Harrying Attacker and a Treasure Raider
Let’s start with basic strategy. The vrock will perch on a high peak, or other high point, and whenever its spores are available it will fly just low enough to use them before flying back up. Continue reading
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SHADOW DEMON & How to Use Hiding
The shadow demon has the ability to hide when it’s in partial or complete darkness. As hiding in D&D doesn’t seem to have exact rules, except for the fact that anybody spending an action has a chance to detect someone hidden*, I would Continue reading
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CHASME & How to Run Pursuit by a Large Force
Aside from the plain usage of being an ordinary attacker, there are three ways I would go about using a chasme. Continue reading
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BARLGURA: King of the Mountaintop
With the barlgura we have one of the weirdest combos in D&D. A creature of no intelligence to speak of, with a whole bunch of spells whose usage revolves around being used subtly. Continue reading
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CYCLOPS: Using Poor Depth Perception to Make him Deadlier
The first thing I would like to note is that the one eye is a weakness. The original cyclops in The Odyssey was given one eye as a weakness for Ulysses to exploit, and its only significant function in the story is Ulysses taking advantage of it. ( 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.