Final draftish

content/posts/dnd-monsters/index.md

@@ -15,8 +15,92 @@ breakLines=false
 "Can I roll to attack the barrel?" — Random player
 {{< /typeit >}}
 
-How does a dragon run DnD? Have you ever wondered how to build and come up with creatures on the fly?
+How does a dragon run **DnD**? Have you ever wondered how to build and come up with creatures on the fly?
 
 I'll outline some of my tips and tricks below on how I run completely random encounters based on the situation and players.
 
 ## Coming up with a monster
+
+There are lots of beasties available via the **Monster Manual** and a pleathora of other sources including homebrew and third party monsters. **So why bother**?
+
+**I'm an insane person.**
+
+Anyways, I always like the personal touch of bringing creatures players have not seen before. Meta-gamer's cant take advantage of their *out-of-character* knowledge about monster stats, and players get a unique experience. That still leaves the question, **how do you make a monster?**
+
+### Read the situation
+
+One of the main keys is to **read the situation**, literally. If players are in a tavern, what kind of things could they end up fighting in a tavern? How about in a forest? It doesn't have to be something crazy, nor does it not have to be something crazy. Some monsters I make up I really let go wild.
+
+For example, one such monster was a fungus monster that had one attack, eat. The players were in a forest with a bunch of mushrooms, Ureka!, let's have them fight a fungus.
+
+I also like to take inspiration from media and even existing monsters, watching too much **Gravity Falls**? Add some chaotic demon for the players to fight. Need an interesting city showdown? Why not pull in a sharp shootin outsider wearing all black.
+
+Of course, keep in mind whether you care about **consistency in your world**. Some things make less sense than others. But let your creativity soar.
+
+## Running a homebrew monster
+
+One of the tricks to homebrew monsters is how I run combat. I find combat in **DnD** specifically quite tedious, so doin the least amount of math and rolling works out best for me.
+
+### Gauging difficulty
+
+There are a few ways to quickly gauge a monster's difficulty.
+
+- The Monster's AC, *how hard they are to hurt*
+- The Monster's Attacks, *how hard they hit back*
+- The Monster's HP, *how long they can fight*
+- The Amount of Monsters, *how overwhelmed players will feel*
+
+The first thing I usually decide is how hard do I want this fight.
+
+This unfortunately usually takes a little feel for the game. I start by figuring out how I want to direct combat. Some key things to keep in mind for directing combat would be, **Is this a Boss fight? Are the players going to be fighting a large group of enemies or just one?** How you construct your encounter will greatly impact how you have to manage monster difficulty.
+
+For instance, if you want to run a **Boss Battle**, you need to consider some key things: if there are lots of players, you will want to give your monster some **[Legendary Actions](https://arcaneeye.com/mechanic-overview/legendary-actions-5e/)** or give them some **Minions**. You will also need to consider how tough the boss is or how powerful are his attacks?
+
+If instead you want a scuffle in the woods with bandits, consider the amount of bandits and how hard they should be to kill, **which leads me to my next trick...**
+
+### Deciding the AC and the HP
+
+**Armor Class** is essential to certain combats, it makes a difficult monster truly difficult. But I also try to make sure it makes sense, if a **Monster is a big fleshy beast** the size of a barn, it probably **will not have that great of an AC**.
+
+Conversely, **Health Points** are the ying to the yang of **AC**. They truely make the fight either shorter or longer. Every monster stat block will have the **Dice roll** for **HP** such as `2d8+20 (29)` which is helpful in drafting up random health. I personally don't like that approach and instead I usually measure a fight in a **"How many times can this enemy be hit?"** approach.
+
+If it is a weak enemy like an enemy raider, perhaps he will have an **AC of `14`** with his default armor, and perhaps **he can take about 2 hits**.
+
+I usually only track HP for enemies as a show for players, sometimes I actually roll out the **HP**, but it honestly takes gauging the feel. Sometimes it is necessary, like for a boss, other times it is unnecessary, for instance a swarm of bats.
+
+### How much damage should my monster do?
+
+Do NOT go nuts with damage. If your average **player has `30` HP**, your monster's attacks generally should not do **more than `60-80%`** of the average player's health. We generally want to have a fun and engaging fight, not to **[TPK](https://blackcitadelrpg.com/dnd-acronym-list/)** the party.
+
+For instance, I like to scale my damage off of existing weapons, or using a [dice calculator](https://dice.clockworkmod.com).
+
+| Device     | Damage Dice | Average Damage |
+|------------|-------------|----------------|
+| Flail      | 1d8 + mod   | 4.5 + mod      |
+| Glaive     | 1d10 + mod  | 5.5 + mod      |
+| Greataxe   | 1d12 + mod  | 6.5 + mod      |
+| Greatsword | 2d6 + mod   | 7 + mod        |
+
+I also use existing monster features a lot, if your monster only does an average of `8` damage a hit, but you need twice that, have your monster get **Multiattack** for instance on the [brown bear statblock](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16816-brown-bear).
+
+Back to my previous example with the **Giant Fungus** the attack and method for which players ean escape was heavily inspired by the **[purple worm](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16987-purple-worm)**, I however nerfed a few requirements, dropping the `30` to `16`, and the damage to `3d6`.
+
+### The tiresome fight
+
+The final thing I try to avoid, is a **tiresome fight**.
+
+What I mean by that is **when combat gets too drawn out, it needs to end**. A thrilling combat should not devolve into **play fighting with foam swords**.
+
+If your enemy is **not doing enough damage**, perhaps he had some **friends lurking nearby**. If the enemy is too hard to fight, perhaps **every hit now counts for two hits or double damage**.
+
+## Why do we do what we do
+
+**We do it for the players.**
+
+While it is fun to dream up horrific monsters that players have to fight and have no chance winning against, we want everyone to have fun. **Your monsters should be a challenge**, but they should not be a death sentence.
+
+We want to tell a story and we want to give the players something memorable that keeps bringing them back.
+
+Of course, this is not the only way to create your own monsters, heck, you don't even need to run combat the way I do, my hope is that perhaps my words will inspire your future games.
+
+Happy rolling!