..DMs ONLY

Stretch That Monster Dollar!

Want to get more for your monster dollar?
Here's how.

The secret that game companies don't want you to know! Just modify the ones in the Monster Manual (or wherever) a little bit, and viola! New monster. For example, in my campaign, I use miniatures a lot.

I painted up a cool miniature of this four-legged doglike thing that was all covered in scales and plates, and had lots of bony teeth pointed every which way (this was a Games Workshop figure, for those that care). There's really nothing like it in D&D, so I decided to stat it up. Time was short, though, so here's what I did.

I opened up my Monster Manual to the winter wolf stats. I stuck a post-it note on the page and wrote: "AC additional +5 natural armor (19 total)." This was because the monster I wanted (based on the miniature) had lots of bony plates and scales. Then, I wrote "bite damage 2d6+6," because the mouth was oversized and full of really large teeth.

Lastly, I noted that the breath weapon was actually "a hail of bony spikes rather than cold damage" (a scary and disturbing visual, I thought).

And I was done. Thus was born the Shard Hound. In my campaign, it was the pet of an ettin and a stone giant. The players were surprised and frightened by the thing. Longtime D&D veterans all, not a one knew that they were really fighting a winter wolf. And this took me all of three minutes.

Lastly, when it came time to hand out XP, because the AC and bite damage were higher, and there was no chance for something like protection from elements to shield anyone from its "spike breath," I went ahead and increased the CR of the Shard Hound to 6 rather than the 5 of a winter wolf.