Use these guidelines to create an original monster to challenge your characters in combat. You can build a monster ahead of time or on the fly during a game session.

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Step 1: The Monster's Story

What does it look like? Is it intelligent? How does it react to strangers? In a movie, what would its attacks look like?

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Step 2: Determine Challenge Rating

To decide what CR will best challenge the adventurers, decide on the difficulty of the matchup and use the encounter-building guidelines in Designing Combat Encounters or use one of these shortcuts:

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Step 3: Customize Capabilities

Grant the monster any languages, senses, skills, saving throw proficiencies, movement forms, and traits that you think it should possess. You can use existing traits and other statistics for inspiration. 

Most traits don’t require a change to the monster’s game statistics. However, if your monster has healing, regeneration, or damage transference abilities, lower its hit points by between 20–30%.

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Step 4: Customize Combat Statistics

Consult the Statistics for Monsters by Challenge Rating table below and then modify the listed statistics as described.

CR	AC	HP	Proficiency Bonus	Ability Bonus	Attacks	Damage Per Round	Easy  DC	Hard DC	XP
0	12	3	+2	+0	1	1	10	10	10
1/8	12	9	+2	+1	1	3	11	11	25
1/4	12	15	+2	+1	1	5	11	11	50
1/2	13	24	+2	+2	1	8	12	12	100
1	13	30	+2	+2	1	10	12	12	200
2	13	45	+2	+3	2	15	13	13	450
3	14	60	+2	+3	2	20	13	13	700
4	14	75	+2	+4	2	25	13	14	1,100
5	14	90	+3	+4	2	30	14	15	1,800
6	15	105	+3	+4	2	35	14	15	2,300
7	15	125	+3	+4	2	40	14	15	2,900
8	15	135	+3	+4	2	45	14	15	3,900
9	16	150	+4	+4	2	50	15	16	5,000
10	16	165	+4	+5	2	55	15	17	5,900
11	16	180	+4	+5	3	60	15	17	7,200
12	17	195	+4	+5	3	65	15	17	8,400
13	17	210	+5	+5	3	70	15	18	10,000
14	17	225	+5	+6	3	75	15	19	11,500
15	18	240	+5	+6	3	80	15	19	13,000
16	18	255	+5	+6	3	85	15	19	15,000
17	18	270	+6	+6	4	90	16	20	18,000
18	19	285	+6	+7	4	95	16	21	20,000
19	19	300	+6	+7	4	100	16	21	22,000
20	19	315	+6	+7	4	105	16	21	25,000
21	20	330	+7	+7	4	110	17	22	33,000
22	20	350	+7	+8	4	116	17	23	41,000
23	20	375	+7	+8	4	125	17	23	50,000
24	21	400	+7	+8	4	133	17	23	62,000
25	21	425	+8	+8	4	141	18	24	75,000
26	21	450	+8	+9	4	150	18	25	90,000
27	22	475	+8	+9	4	158	18	25	105,000
28	22	500	+8	+9	4	166	18	25	120,000
29	22	550	+9	+9	4	183	19	26	135,000
30	23	600	+9	+10	4	200	19	27	155,000

 

Armor Class

You can raise or lower the monster’s Armor Class by one or two points without altering it in any other way. If you change its AC by 3 or more points, you should reduce or raise its hit points or damage per round by 5% per point of AC you varied from the base AC.

Hit Points

You can raise or lower the monster’s hit points by 10% without altering it in any other way. Beyond that, you should reduce or raise its AC by 1, or its damage per round by 5%, for every 5% of hit points you varied from the base hit points.

Ability Bonus and Attack Bonus

The Ability Bonus column represents the monster’s highest ability modifier, usually the one it uses for its main attacks. You can raise or lower this bonus by 1 or 2 from the suggested value in the table. 

A monster’s Attack Bonus is usually its best Ability Bonus plus its proficiency bonus.

Attacks

Most low-level monsters (CR 1 and lower) make one attack on their turns, while higher-level monsters make more attacks per turn (either as part of a Multiattack or with a combination of bonus actions and reactions). Monsters that occur in greater numbers should have few attacks, while lone monsters can have more of greater complexity.

Damage Per Round

The Damage Per Round column represents how much average damage a monster would deal per round if all of its attacks hit and its foes failed their saving throws against it on all of its actions. Divide this total among all the monster’s actions, bonus actions, reactions, legendary actions, and damaging traits. 

This number can be raised or lowered by 3 or 4 points without changing the monster’s CR. For a monster in your home game, it’s not always necessary to convert a damage total into a dice expression, but you could.

Conditional Damage

Some attacks deal extra damage in some circumstances: for instance, a creature may deal extra damage to a grappled target, and a successful sting attack may deal additional poison damage only if the target fails a saving throw. As a rough estimate, assume that such attacks deal their extra damage half the time. Thus, each two points of conditional damage only counts for one point of damage against the Damage Per Round budget.

Some attacks deal ongoing damage that might last for any number of turns. Assume that ongoing damage occurs once and then ends.

Special Attacks

You can vary a monster’s attacks by giving them tricks like area effects, limited-use abilities, and attacks that inflict conditions.

Area Attacks

A hellhound’s breath, a cleric’s blade barrier, and a balor’s aura are area effects that can affect multiple opponents. If a monster can use an area attack every turn, reduce the damage it deals by about 70% compared to a normal attack. 

Limited-Use Abilities

Abilities that can be used once per day or once per short rest, or have a recharge of 6 or 5–6, are limited-use abilities. They typically allow a monster to exceed its damage-per-round budget on one turn, making up for it by dealing less damage on other turns.

For every two points of damage that a limited-use ability exceeds the damage per turn budget, reduce the total damage dealt on other turns by one.

Inflicting Conditions

Many monsters have other tricks besides damage: they blind, grapple, knock their opponents prone, or deal other such dirty tricks. 

Minor conditions primarily affect movement or ability checks. Grappled, prone, and rattled are minor conditions. Treat a push or pull like a minor condition. When budgeting damage, you don’t need to take minor conditions into account.

Moderate conditions often impose disadvantage on the target. Blinded, frightened, poisoned, restrained, and slowed are moderate conditions. Treat a moderate condition as the equivalent of damage equal to the monster’s Challenge Rating, or double if it can affect multiple characters.

Severe conditions prevent a creature from taking the actions it wants to take. Charmed, confused, incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, stunned, and unconscious are severe conditions. Treat a major condition as the equivalent of damage equal to double the monster’s Challenge Rating, or triple if it can affect multiple characters.

Difficulty Class

To calculate the DC for a specific monster’s ability, add 8 + the monster’s proficiency bonus + any one of the monster’s ability bonuses. 

The Statistics for Monsters by Challenge Rating table contains columns for Easy DC and Hard DC. Use the numbers in these two columns to judge whether the DC of your monster’s ability is too high or too low to properly challenge opponents, and whether you should consider modifying the monster’s ability score. If you’re creating a monster on the fly without figuring out all the details, just use the DCs in the table without bothering with the calculations.

The Easy DC column represents a saving throw DC that gives most characters a chance to succeed. Use this DC, or a DC within 1 or 2 points, for effects that inflict severe conditions or that inflict moderate conditions for more than a turn.

The Hard DC column represents a DC that many adventurers are likely to fail. Use this DC, or a DC within 1 or 2 points, if the effect deals damage, a minor condition, or a short-term moderate condition. 

This bestiary can be used with 5E or Level Up. If you’re using 5E, you’ll want to be aware of a few rules changes which we’ve introduced. These changes will be discussed in greater detail further on in this introduction.

Alignment: Few monsters have an alignment. Those that do (mostly celestials, fiends, and some undead) have their alignment listed among their traits.

Bloodied Monsters: Monsters are considered bloodied when they’ve been reduced to half their hit points or less. There are no rules associated with being bloodied, but other game elements may interact with it. For instance, some monsters have abilities they can only use while bloodied.

Expertise Dice: Some monsters have expertise dice listed next to skills, saving throws , or other d20 rolls. An expertise die is rolled and added to the d20 roll it modifies. For instance, a Stealth bonus of +5 (+1d4) means that 1d4 + 5 is added to the monster’s d20 roll when it makes a Stealth check.

New Conditions: Level Up introduces confused, rattled, slowed, fatigue, and strife, which are described fully in  Conditions .

Gazes: Some monsters’ actions include the Gaze keyword in their name. These actions can be taken only if the monster and the target can both see each other. Full rules for gaze attacks can be found later in this introduction.

Ongoing Damage: Some attacks, like being set on fire, deal ongoing damage. This damage occurs at the end of each of the affected creature’s turns, and it continues until ended by a condition specified by the attack.

Math Changes: We’ve slightly changed the way a few monster statistics are calculated behind the scenes. For instance, some monsters gain different Armor Class benefits from armors, and grapple escape DCs are calculated using a slightly different formula. None of these changes require any tweaking: just use the monsters as they are written. 

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Monster Entries

You can use the monster information in this book to inspire your game preparation or worldbuilding ahead of time. You can also use it on the fly. Just flip open the book: each monster entry contains everything you need to generate a unique encounter, with suggested encounter groups, treasure, monster behaviors, and even names. 

A monster entry has the following parts: description, legends and lore, sample encounters, monster signs, monster behavior, optional monster-specific tables, optional sample names, and stat blocks.

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Description

This is an essay describing the monster’s place in the world. It may contain ecological information and story hooks. Like every other part of a monster entry, this description is for inspiration only: you are free to use another setting’s lore or invent your own.

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Legends and Lore

What does an adventurer know about a monster? The Legends and Lore section describes the information a character might recall about a monster with a successful skill check. The higher the check, the more in-world information—natural history, weaknesses, and so on—the character recalls. 

Even if a character learns nothing else about a monster, a DC 10 check is usually sufficient to recognize it by sight. At the Narrator’s discretion, recognizing a monster might not require a roll (for common creatures) or might be difficult or impossible (for rare or unknown monsters).

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Sample Encounters and Treasure

Most monster entries include sample encounters, usually featuring multiple variations and varying difficulty levels. For instance, the goblin monster entry includes encounters suitable for beginning adventurers. A handful of goblins is enough to challenge a low-level party. It also features challenges for mid-level groups and even an encounter suitable for powerful characters: a goblin boss with a dozen goblin warriors, and possibly a mighty spellcasting goblin warlock or an elite worg-riding cavalry.

Similarly, we’ve included sample treasure hoards along with each sample encounter. A small goblin patrol might have a handful of gold and silver, while a goblin army might have gold, jewels, wagons of trade goods, and multiple magic items. 

These sample treasures are a convenience for when you don’t have the time to randomly generate or hand-curate a treasure hoard. Don’t use a treasure more than once! It will strain credibility if two aboleths both have the exact same treasure hoards with identical numbers of coins and identical periapts of health. The second time a party would earn the same treasure reward, instead hand-pick or randomly generate a treasure using the appropriate rules.

It’s important to note that not every encounter comes with treasure. In fact, most don’t. For most campaigns, the party finds only one to three treasures over the course of one character level. The other encounters come with nothing at all or with ordinary equipment and a handful of incidental coins. Don’t make the mistake of giving out the sample treasure for each encounter! 

If a monster does possess treasure, particularly magical treasure, it may well use it. An intelligent creature with a magic weapon will use that magical weapon if it’s capable of doing so. A mage with a spell scroll may use the scroll, and a creature with a potion of healing may quaff it. Magical treasure not only acts as a reward but poses an increased challenge.

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Monster Signs 

Often, an encounter occurs with no warning: a group of characters stumbles into a group of monsters. Sometimes, though, characters come upon a sign of impending danger. Perhaps they see a footprint or hear an ominous, distant wail. Clues like this allow characters to make interesting exploration decisions and make the world feel lived-in.

As a rule of thumb, assume that half of all encounters are preceded by the discovery of a sign (or its potential discovery: some signs may be missed by those who don’t make a successful Perception or other skill check).

A group may try to identify a monster by the signs it leaves behind, for instance by examining a footprint. As a rule of thumb, doing so requires a Survival or Investigation check (minimum DC 15), with some monsters being impossible to identify (for instance, a doppelganger’s footprint is indistinguishable from that of the creature it mimics, and a distant pillar of smoke offers no clues about the creature that set its flame).

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Monster Behavior

One of the most important elements of any encounter is this: what are the monsters up to? A roll on the monster behavior tables determines whether a monster or group is hiding in ambush, looking for help, preoccupied with a prisoner, or any of thousands of other individual behaviors. These randomized tables can be a great way to quickly get a story idea when you don’t have time to read a whole essay. 

Nearly every monster comes with its own individualized tables, sometimes broken out by environment or monster number.

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Sample Names

Coming up with a name on the fly can be a hit-or-miss affair. If you need a suitably resonant name for a dread knight, or if the party suddenly takes a liking to a random goblin, we’ve provided sample name lists for most intelligent monsters.

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Monster-Specific Random Generators

Some monsters call out for unique random charts to give them variety and bring them to life. Does your vampire have an alternate weakness instead of sunlight? Does your lich or dragon have some unique lair defenses sure to complicate the players’ lives? Whenever possible, we want to provide inspiring details to make your encounters vivid and memorable.

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Stat Block

Besides descriptions, lore, and other world information, each entry contains stat blocks. A stat block describes a particular creature’s capabilities, attacks, combat spells, and other statistics needed to run it as either a social or combat encounter.

One monster entry may contain multiple stat blocks. For instance, the entry for the salamander (an elemental creature made of fire) contains three stat blocks: the salamander (a typical adult member of its species), the salamander nymph (a larval but still very dangerous form of the salamander), and the salamander noble (a larger variant of the salamander that gains extra hit points and fire breath).

Challenge and XP

Each monster’s stat block includes its Challenge Rating (CR). This is an important number for determining whether a monster provides a suitable combat challenge for a group. The higher the Challenge Rating, the tougher the monster.

Designing Encounters includes details about using Challenge Rating to plan a battle or to determine a combat encounter’s difficulty. In general, a monster of a given Challenge Rating can challenge two to four characters of the same level. If a single monster’s Challenge Rating is more than 50 percent higher than the characters’ level, it may be too powerful an adversary for them. Thus, no monster in this book has a CR higher than 30.

Each monster’s Challenge Rating is accompanied by a number of experience points (XP). Experience points are one way to reward players for completing an encounter. In some games, when characters have triumphed in a combat or noncombat encounter against a monster, they are awarded the listed experience points. If you are not using experience point-based leveling, you can ignore this number.

Legendary Monsters

Legendary monsters are powerful apex creatures. They often rule the lands around them for miles. A legendary monster is a formidable opponent that can successfully wage battle against an entire adventuring party.

A legendary monster has up to three legendary actions, which it can use when it’s not its turn. Many legendary monsters also have legendary resistances, which are abilities that allow them to succeed at a saving throw that they would otherwise fail. Using Legendary Resistance often comes with a cost.

Legendary monsters are intended to be used as solo opponents or as powerful bosses surrounded by minions. Just like a normal monster, a legendary monster is an appropriate combat challenge for two to four characters with character levels that match its Challenge Rating. However, its additional actions and defenses provide a more interesting battle, suitable for the climax of a story.

Elite Monsters

An elite monster is a tough and dangerous example of its species or type. Often, an elite monster represents a specific, named individual. For instance, the Skull of Medon is a demilich mastermind, more fearsome even than a normal demilich.

An elite monster is only suitable for gaming groups that desire an unusually difficult combat challenge. Fighting an elite monster is as tough as fighting two ordinary monsters of its Challenge Rating. For instance, although the Skull of Medon’s Challenge Rating is 18, it is as tough as two ordinary Challenge Rating 18 demiliches. 

An elite monster is a hard combat challenge for four characters with character levels that match its Challenge Rating.

For magical effects and spells that rely on a creature’s Challenge Rating, such as true polymorph, treat an elite monster as if its Challenge Rating was doubled. For instance, treat an ancient aboleth (a CR 11 elite monster) as if its Challenge Rating was 22. 

A creature can be both elite and legendary. Such a monster gains the extra complexity of a legendary monster and the doubled combat power of an elite monster.

Size

A monster can be Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, Gargantuan, or Titanic. A Small or Medium monster is around the same size as most characters and takes up a 5 by 5 foot space in combat. A Tiny creature takes up a 2 ½-foot-square space. A Large creature takes up a 10-foot-square space, and a Huge creature takes up a 15-foot-square space. A Gargantuan creature takes up a 20-foot-square space. A Titanic creature takes up at least a 25-foot-square space but can be larger.

Type

A monster’s type describes its origin or nature. While a monster’s type has no effect on its own, other game elements may refer to it. For instance, the charm person spell only affects creatures of the humanoid type.

Some monsters have a second monster type. For instance, a faerie dragon is both a dragon and a fey creature. Its type is dragon (fey). Any game rules which apply to dragons, or which apply to fey creatures, apply to it.

Other monsters have a categorization that isn’t a monster type but which may interact with other game rules. For instance, a werewolf is a humanoid that is also a shapechanger. Its type is humanoid (shapechanger). Rules regarding humanoids and shapechangers apply to it.

The fourteen monster types are as follows:

Aberrations are unnatural beings that don’t belong to this plane of existence. Many aberrations are telepathic and use a mental power known as psionic power instead of magic. An aboleth is an aberration.

Beasts are natural animals whose existence and abilities are nonmagical. A bear and a tyrannosaurus rex are both beasts.

Celestials are creatures native to divine realms or heavens. Celestials have alignments, such as Lawful Good. Most celestials are good, although the servants of evil deities can be evil. Angels are celestials.

Constructs are beings that were built or made. Some are mindless machines, while others have some form of intelligence. Guardians are constructs.

Dragons include red and gold dragons, which are huge reptilian fire-breathers that number among the world’s most dangerous monsters. This type includes white dragons, which breathe killing frost, as well as smaller reptilian creatures related to true dragons, such as pseudodragons. 

Elementals are creatures from one of the Elemental Planes. The most basic of elementals are earth elementals, fire elementals, water elementals, and air elementals, each composed of magically animate earth, fire, and so on. The Elemental Planes are also home to genies, mephits, and other elemental creatures. 

Fey are creatures that are native to Fairyland, also called the Dreaming. These creatures live in a verdant realm of heightened natural beauty and combine grace and danger. Sprites and pixies are fey.

Fiends are evil-aligned creatures from Hell, the Abyss, and other cursed realms. Most fiends are demons and devils, each of which have their own subtypes and hierarchies. Some fiends, such as hell hounds, are neither demons nor devils.

Giants look like immense humanoids, standing from 10 feet tall (like ogres) to 30 (like storm giants). Some giants, like trolls, have human-like shapes but monstrous features.

Humanoids include a number of different intelligent, language-using bipeds of Small or Medium size. Humans and elves are humanoids, and so are orcs and goblins. Humanoids may employ magic but are not fundamentally magical—a characteristic that distinguishes them from bipedal, language-using fey, fiends, and other monsters. Humanoids have no inherent alignment, meaning that no humanoid ancestry is naturally good or evil, lawful or chaotic.

Monstrosities are magical beings usually native to the Material Plane. Some monstrosities combine the features of beasts and humanoids, like centaurs. Others have bizarre or unnatural appearances, like many-tentacled ropers. Monstrosities could only arise in a world suffused with magic.

Oozes are ambulatory, predatory amoeboid creatures that infest caverns and other dark places. A gelatinous cube is an ooze.

Plant creatures are magical fungoid or plant-like creatures. Ordinary plants, such as trees, are not plant creatures. A treant is an intelligent plant creature that resembles a tree.

Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons. Others, like vampires, are the products of an evil ritual or curse.

Celestials, elementals, fiends, some fey, and creatures with the titan subtype are immortal, meaning they are living creatures that do not die of old age (though they may die by other means). Undead and most constructs are creatures that are not living. All other creatures are mortal. 

Armor Class

A monster’s Armor Class (AC) includes the effects of its Dexterity bonus and armor, if any. Many monsters have natural armor, such as scaly or tough hides. 

Hit Points

While characters who reach 0 hit points normally make death saves, monsters typically die at 0 hit points. At the Narrator’s discretion, a particularly important foe or beloved ally might gain the benefit of death saves, or it might be stabilized with a successful Medicine check. 

A Narrator can vary a monster’s hit points. Listed after each monster’s hit point value is a die expression (for instance 3d8 + 3). The Narrator can roll this to obtain a number of hit points that may be lower or higher than average for the monster, or raise or lower a monster’s hit points within this range to represent a creature that is stronger or weaker than average. For instance, a monster with 3d8 + 3 hit points has an average of 16 hit points, but it might have as many as 27 hit points (if it rolled three 8s) or as few as 6 hit points (if it rolled three 1s).

Monsters are considered bloodied when they’re reduced to half their hit points or less. Being bloodied isn’t a condition and has no effects on its own, but other game elements may interact with it. For instance, some monsters have abilities they can only use while bloodied.

A monster’s usual bloodied value is listed next to its hit points. If a Narrator has varied a monster’s hit points to make it weaker or stronger, the monster’s bloodied value is half its new maximum hit points (rounded down).

Speed

On its turn, a monster can move a number of feet equal to its Speed.

Some creatures have additional movement modes: 

Burrow: The creature can burrow this far on its turn through earth, ice, or sand, but not through rock unless otherwise noted.

Climb: The creature can climb this far on its turn and doesn’t need to spend extra movement to do so.

Fly: The creature can fly this far on its turn. A flying creature falls if it is knocked prone unless it has the ability to hover, noted as “fly (hover)”.

Swim: The creature can swim this far on its turn and doesn’t need to spend extra movement to do so.

Ability Scores

Monsters have the same six ability scores as adventurers (Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). These ability scores, along with a monster’s proficiency bonus, determine its skills, saving throws, and attack bonuses, just as they do for characters.

Proficiency Bonus

A monster’s proficiency bonus is added to any ability check that uses a skill, attack roll, saving throw, and the like in which it is proficient. You can grant a new skill or saving throw proficiency to a monster by adding its proficiency bonus to the appropriate check or saving throw.

Armor, weapon, and tool proficiencies aren’t listed in a monster’s stat block. Assume that a monster is proficient with any armor, weapon, or tool that it’s likely to have used before.

Maneuver DC

In Level Up, Maneuver DC is the difficulty class of martial tasks such as escaping a grapple. A monster’s Maneuver DC is 8 + proficiency bonus + the better of the monster’s Strength or Dexterity modifier.

If you’re playing Level Up, you can use a monster’s Maneuver DC to determine the success of various combat maneuvers; otherwise, you can ignore it and just use the monster as written.

Saving Throws

The Saving Throws entry gives bonuses for the saving throws in which a monster is proficient. If a particular saving throw isn’t listed, the monster makes an untrained saving throw (adding the appropriate ability modifier to their d20 roll).

A monster can voluntarily fail a saving throw. An object always fails a saving throw.

Some abilities deal damage and inflict an extra effect, like a condition, on a failed saving throw and deal half damage on a successful saving throw. Unless otherwise specified, a successful saving throw prevents the extra effect. 

Skills

The Skills entry gives bonuses for the skills in which a monster is proficient. If a particular skill isn’t listed, the monster makes an ability check (adding the appropriate ability modified to their d20 roll). Skills frequently gain expertise dice (see below).

Expertise Dice

Some monsters have expertise dice listed next to skills, saving throws, or other rolls based on their ability scores. An expertise die is a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, or d20, which is rolled and added to the d20 roll it modifies. For instance, a Stealth bonus of +5 (+1d4) means that 1d4 + 5 is added to the monster’s d20 roll when it makes a Stealth check.

When an expertise die is applied to a passive score, such as passive Perception, the expertise die’s average value (rounded down) is added to the passive score. For instance, a creature gains a +2 bonus to its passive Perception if it has a 1d4 expertise die in Perception checks.

Resistances, Immunities, and Vulnerabilities

A creature immune to a certain damage type takes no damage of that type when subjected to it. A creature that is resistant to a damage type takes half damage (rounded down). A creature vulnerable to a damage type takes double the damage it is subjected to.

Some creatures are resistant or immune to damage dealt by nonmagical weapons, weapons that are not silvered or magical, or other forms of weapons. This applies to any interaction between a character and a monster. However, when a monster is fighting a monster, a different rule applies: the attacks of any monster of Challenge Rating 5 or higher are considered to be magical for the purposes of overcoming the damage resistance or immunity of a different monster.

Senses

Every monster has its passive Perception listed under its senses. Some monsters may have one of the following other senses, each of which is modified by the maximum range, in feet, at which the sense operates.

Blindsight: Not everything relies on vision to sense the world. A creature with blindsight is not affected by darkness or other heavily or lightly obscured areas, within a certain radius. Creatures adapted to the darkness (like bats and moles) or creatures without eyes (like oozes) have blindsight. Blindsight counts as sight for the purposes of targeting spells and so on.

A naturally blind creature with blindsight is noted as being blind beyond the blindsight’s range. Naturally blind creatures are immune to visual illusions (such as those created by minor illusion).

Darkvision: Darkvision allows a monster to see in dim light as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. Darkvision doesn’t allow a creature to see color.

Tremorsense: A monster with tremorsense can detect and pinpoint the vibrations of creatures and moving objects which are in contact with the same surface. It can’t detect flying or incorporeal creatures. Tremorsense doesn’t count as sight.

Truesight: A creature with truesight can see in dim light, darkness, and magical darkness as if it were bright light, see invisible objects, and detect visual illusions and automatically succeed on saving throws against them. Additionally, it can perceive a shapechanger’s true form and it can see into the Ethereal Plane.

Languages

A monster can speak the languages listed in this entry. Sometimes an entry notes that a monster can understand but not speak a language. 

Telepathy: Some monsters have telepathy listed as a language. Telepathy allows a creature to magically communicate with a target creature within the specified range. The target doesn’t need to share a language to understand the telepathic creature, but must understand at least one language. A creature without telepathy can’t initiate a telepathic conversation but can respond to a telepathic message.
A telepathic creature doesn’t need to see a creature to communicate with a target, as long as it is aware of the target and neither is incapacitated. A creature can’t maintain telepathic contact with several creatures simultaneously.

Traits

Many monsters have characteristics noted below their languages and above their actions. These are called traits. All of a monster’s traits should be read carefully when running a monster, since they might influence any facet of the monster’s behavior, actions, and abilities in or out of combat.

Sometimes a single monster entry includes multiple monster stat blocks that share a trait. Instead of reprinting the trait inside each stat block, it’s listed towards the beginning of the entry, right after the monster’s description. 

Common monster traits include the following:

Spellcasting: A creature with the Spellcasting trait casts spells in much the same way a character does. It has a spellcaster level, spell slots, and a list of known or prepared spells. A monster with this trait can cast a spell with a higher spell slot if it has one available. The Narrator can customize such a monster’s spell list, swapping any known or prepared spell for another of the same level and from the same spell list. When casting an attack cantrip, the monster uses its spellcaster level to determine the effect of the spell.

Innate and Psionic Spellcasting: A creature with the Innate Spellcasting trait can cast spells without using spell slots. Instead, it can cast the spells it knows a certain number of times per day. It can’t cast a spell it knows at a higher level, and it can’t usually swap its spells known for other spells. When casting an attack cantrip, the monster uses its Challenge Rating instead of spellcaster level to determine the effect of the spell.
Psionic spellcasting works much like innate spellcasting. Creatures with the Psionic Spellcasting trait typically don’t require components for spellcasting.

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Actions

Monsters can take the following types of actions: action, bonus action, reaction, and legendary action.

Monsters follow the same rules as characters when they take actions, bonus actions, and reactions. They can use one of the options described in their stat block, or they can use the options available to characters (such as using the Dash action, taking the Opportunity Attack reaction, and so on). 

If it makes sense to do so, a monster may take an action, a bonus action, or a legendary action outside of combat and when not in initiative order. 

Nearly anything can trigger a reaction. However, in the Monstrous Menagerie, nearly all of a creature’s reactions are triggered by an attack or a spell targeted at that creature or on a creature next to it. This is intended to ease the difficulty of complex battles: you only need to check a monster’s reactions when attacking that creature or a close ally.

In the description of a reaction, the term “attacker” refers to the creature that triggered the reaction by casting a spell or making an attack.

Legendary actions are only available to legendary monsters. An effect, like incapacitation, which prevents a creature from taking an action also prevents it from taking a legendary action.

Some of a monster’s actions or abilities may be magical in nature. If an ability’s description notes that it is magical, then it may be subject to spells such as antimagic field and dispel magic. Unless an action or ability specifies that it is magical, it doesn’t interact with those spells. For instance, a red dragon’s fire breath isn’t described as magical, and therefore it can be used inside an antimagic field.

Limited Use Actions

Some of a monster’s action options have limits on their use. This is noted in parentheses after the name of the action. A single action can have multiple limits. Limits include:

X/Day: A creature can use this option only the given number of times per day. A monster’s day ends when it finishes a long rest.

Recharge: After the monster uses this ability, it can’t use it again until the ability recharges. At the start of each of the monster’s turns, the monster can roll a d6. If the roll is within the range in the recharge notation, the ability is recharged and the monster can use it on that turn. For instance, if a monster’s ability says “Recharge 4–6”, it recharges on a d6 roll of 4, 5, or 6. Taking a rest also recharges the ability.

Recharges after a Short or Long Rest: A creature can use this ability once and then must complete a short or long rest before doing so again.

While Bloodied: A creature can use this ability only while it is bloodied (while its current hit points are half or less than its total hit points). Similarly, there are abilities that can only be used while not bloodied.

Attacks

Many of a monster’s actions are attacks. An attack can be a melee spell attack, a ranged spell attack, a melee weapon attack, or a ranged weapon attack. A weapon may refer to a manufactured weapon, like a trident, or a natural weapon, like a claw.

An attack usually targets either one creature or one target (which can be either a creature or an object), though an attack might target multiple creatures and might include other requirements (like “one creature grappled by the monster”).

An attack’s damage is presented as both a fixed number and as a dice expression. You can use whichever you like: use the fixed number to speed play or roll dice to provide variety. 

Some weapons deal different damage in different circumstances. For instance, a longsword is versatile and deals 1d8 damage one-handed or 1d10 damage two-handed. In some cases, both options are noted in an attack description. In other cases, only the most typical option is noted. For instance, if a creature bears a longsword and a shield, its attack description might not include rules for two-handed longsword use. A monster is allowed to use its equipment in ways not listed in the attack entry: consult the description of a weapon to see all the options available.

Spells

Some monsters have the ability to cast spells just as characters can. Since it can be inconvenient to cross-reference spell descriptions during combat, a monster’s most useful combat spells are listed among its actions. 

The spell’s description provides the spell’s level (or notes that it’s a cantrip). It also specifies any spell components necessary and whether or not the spell requires concentration. Consult the creature’s Spellcasting trait to determine how many times a spell can be cast per day.

A monster’s stat block doesn’t summarize every spell known by a creature—just the ones most likely to be used during combat. Furthermore, the spell summary doesn’t always describe every option available in a spell. For example, if a monster can cast fire shield, the spell description might list the effects of either the warm shield or the chill shield, whichever the monster is most likely to use. Additionally, a spell description rarely notes the effects of casting a spell with a higher spell slot. If a monster needs access to these tactical choices, you can refer to the full description of the spell.

Monstrous Menagerie stat blocks use the Level Up version of each spell, which may slightly differ from the spell as presented in other systems. For instance, the Level Up version of fireball deals 6d6, not 8d6, damage. Even if you’re not using the Monstrous Menagerie as part of a Level Up game, the spell versions presented here are well-balanced and usable as printed.

Targets

Some actions require a creature to target one or more other creatures.

A creature can target a creature it can't see with an attack (but it generally attacks with disadvantage, as per the rules for unseen creatures). However, a creature can't target a creature it can’t see (or perceive with a similar sense, like blindsight) with an non-attack action that requires the target to make a saving throw, unless the action specifically says it can.

Gaze

Some actions have the Gaze keyword. Gaze actions have the following rules:

• In order to take the action, the monster must be able to see the target.
• If the target can’t see the monster at the time of the action, it has no immediate effect. However, if the monster and the target can see each other at any time before the beginning of the monster’s next turn, and the monster is not incapacitated, the action occurs then.
• If the target is not surprised, it can choose to avert its eyes from the monster at the start of the target’s turn. This lasts until the start of the target’s next turn. While its eyes are averted, the creature can’t see the monster.

Ongoing Damage

Some attacks deal ongoing damage. This is recurring hit point loss that doesn’t occur when the ongoing damage is first dealt; instead, it happens at the end of each of the affected creature’s turns. An effect that deals ongoing damage specifies the condition that ends the damage. For instance, a fire elemental’s slam deals 5 (1d10) ongoing fire damage by causing its target to catch on fire. This ongoing damage can be ended when a creature (either the target or another creature within 5 feet) uses an action to extinguish the flame.

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Combat Strategy

After each monster’s stat block is a section describing the monster’s strategy in combat. It describes the monster’s preferred tactics: for instance, does it typically engage in melee or ranged combat, and when does it use its limited-use moves? Most combat strategy sections also outline situations in which a monster will flee or surrender. 

Combat strategy sections are meant to inspire but not constrict the Narrator. Different monsters may employ varying strategies based on circumstances and personality.

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Modifying Monsters

A monster is nothing but statistics until it’s brought to life at your game table. Therefore, monsters should be modified to best serve your game. Here are some tools you can use to customize the monsters in this book.

Variants

Many monsters in the Monstrous Menagerie are listed with variant versions. A variant adds or replaces some of the monster’s characteristics and frequently alters its Challenge Rating.

A variant might represent an exceptional member of a group. For instance, the balor general is a legendary variant of the balor. Other variants are re-imaginings of the original monster. For instance, a warlord’s ghost is a variant of a banshee that doesn’t alter the banshee’s mechanics at all but changes the monster’s story and appearance.

When a variant changes a monster’s Challenge Rating, the monster’s proficiency bonus is unchanged. For instance, a balor general, Challenge Rating 24, uses the balor’s proficiency bonus of +6.

Templates

This book includes several templates which can be applied to a wide variety of monsters. For instance, the skeleton template can be applied to any beast, humanoid, giant, or monstrosity, allowing you to create skeleton bears, berserkers, and bulettes, among other horrors. 

Other Changes

Two easy ways to get more use out of a stat block are to reskin it or to increase or decrease its Challenge Rating.

To reskin a monster, you can change the way you describe it and its attacks. You might change its type, size, and Intelligence score, and possibly change the damage type dealt by some of its attacks, but otherwise leave its numeric statistics alone. For instance, you could describe a manticore as a flying elven archer, reflavoring its tail attack as a volley of arrows and its claws and bite as a dual wielded axe and rapier.

To increase or decrease the combat challenge offered by a monster, you can use the statistics in  Designing Monsters . A quick and easy way to increase a monster’s Challenge Rating by 1 is to increase its hit points by 15 and make one of its attacks deal an extra 5 damage each turn.   

Treasure comes in two main forms: wealth (coins, gems, and salable valuables like jewelry, equipment, and art) and magic items (such as magic weapons, rings of invisibility, and so on). Treasures are physical objects. Information, allies, fame, and fulfillment of the party’s goals and ambitions are desirable, and can often be earned along with treasure, but are not treasure.

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How Much Treasure to Give?

The Narrator decides how much treasure to give out as rewards, but there is no requirement that adventurers must earn a certain amount of wealth—it depends on the style of game and scale of the campaign. The High and Low Treasure Campaigns section below has more information on departing from default treasure levels.

The Treasure by Level table shows the rate of treasure adventurers acquire if their rewards are generated randomly or use the sample treasures in the Monstrous Menagerie. The Narrator can vary widely from these numbers without seriously affecting game balance. 

The Gold Acquired This Level column indicates how much wealth, in gold pieces, a single adventurer is likely to find or earn during the course of that character level. This accounts for their share of the coins found as well as the value of nonmagical treasure.

The Magic Items Acquired This Level column indicates the probability that an adventurer finds one or more magic items each level (roll 1d100 to determine which), and lists the treasure tables that offer appropriate magic rewards for that level. Over the course of their career, an adventurer should find about 24 magic items: 18 consumable magic items or enchanted trinkets as well as 6 permanent magic items.

 

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Creating Treasure Rewards

The Narrator can give out treasure in one of three ways: crafting unique treasure rewards, rolling on the tables in this chapter to create random treasure, or granting the listed treasure for a particular encounter in the Monstrous Menagerie or in an adventure.

Crafting Unique Treasure Rewards

To determine the gold piece value of all the treasures a party finds at a given level, multiply the number of adventurers by the appropriate amount of wealth from the Gold Acquired This Level column of the treasure table above. Narrators don’t have to stick to this number rigorously by any means—there’s enough latitude to give anywhere between twice this amount and none based on the demands of the story. 

With a total gold piece value worked out, the Narrator divides it into one, two, three, or more individual treasure hoards, each a reward for overcoming a different obstacle. Instead of granting each treasure hoard in gold pieces, these can be customized by using different coin denominations, gems, and valuables of all kinds. See the Treasure Descriptions section below for inspiration.

For example, a 10th level party of four adventurers is expected to find an average of 16,000 gold over the course of leveling from 10th to 11th (4,000 gold x 4 adventurers). The Narrator decides that there are three large treasure hoards available—a hidden cache of 5,000 gold that can only be found by solving a puzzle, a ruby ring worth 5,000 gold which can be earned by finding a noble’s missing relative, and a dragon’s hoard worth 10,000 gold (half in coins and half in gems). This totals more than average treasure for the level, and it could vary even more depending on circumstances. The party could fail to decipher or even notice the puzzle, foregoing one of the treasures, they might be able to bargain the noble up to an even higher reward, or they could suffer defeat at the claws of the dangerous dragon. The PCs might also find other, smaller incidental treasures along the way. 

To determine the average number of magic items found over the course of a level, multiply the number of adventurers by the percentages in the Magic Items Acquired This Level column of the Treasure by Level table. For instance, a single 1st level adventurer has a 60% chance of finding an expendable magic item from Table: Magic Items #1 or #2, and a 35% chance of finding a permanent magic item from Table: Magic Items #4, #5, or #6. Over the course of gaining their first level, a party of three adventurers is likely to find approximately 2 expendable magic items (three times they’ll have 60% chance of finding one) and 1 permanent magic item (three times they’ll have a 35% chance of finding one). Narrators may halve or double these numbers—granting anywhere between 1 and 4 expendable magic items, and 0 and 2 permanent magic items—without straying too far from the default rate of treasure acquisition.

Rolling for Random Treasure

Instead of doling out parcels of treasure, many Narrators like to randomly generate wealth or adopt a hybrid random-custom method: randomly generating a hoard and then altering it by swapping out pieces of wealth and magic items appropriate to the story.

To create a random treasure hoard, use the Random Treasure Tables section below. On average, a typical party finds roughly 1 to 3 random treasure hoards per character level. The Narrator decides the location of each treasure. An important adversary, such as a legendary or elite monster, might guard a massive cache which consists of two random treasure hoards.

Using Premade Treasure

Most monsters in the Monstrous Menagerie include an Encounters section listing one or more treasures, broken down by encounter difficulty. Narrators can use one of these treasures as it stands or modify it to better fit a campaign. When using premade treasure, it’s important to remember that not every encounter gives out treasure! As with random treasure, the average party finds 1 to 3 treasures per level, and additional encounters might yield no treasure or only incidental treasure (see below).

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Varying Treasure

Whenever considering treasure, the Narrator should customize rewards to the needs of the game, the logic of the ongoing story, and the party’s desires. 

Customizing Magic Items

Randomly assigned treasure doesn’t take into account the party’s classes or favorite weapon types. Some Narrators like to swap randomly assigned magic items for those that are more useful to their adventurers. For example, if one of the PCs is a greatsword-wielding herald, the Narrator might alter a randomly generated sun blade longsword, making it a greatsword instead, or even trade a robe of the archmagi for a holy avenger. In a party containing a wizard, the Narrator might convert some randomly-generated scrolls of cleric spells into wizard spells.

Incidental Treasure

Sometimes the party stumbles into a small amount of wealth that doesn’t constitute a treasure hoard. They might pickpocket a noble, defeat a beast in its lair, or ransack a merchant’s storeroom, but Narrators don’t need to count or keep track of incidental treasure. Grant an incidental treasure whenever it feels appropriate. When in doubt about whether incidental treasure is present (such as after defeating a minor adversary or after searching a room), roll a 1d6. On a roll of 4–6, incidental treasure is found.

To randomly determine incidental treasure, generate a treasure with a Challenge Rating of the party’s average level – 1d6 (minimum 0). A low-level party defeating a bandit sentry is likely to find a handful of silver or gold coins while tier 4 adventurers might win a few hundred platinum in a dice game—in either case, what’s gained is a fairly insignificant amount of money to the party.

High and Low Treasure Campaigns

When using the standard treasure rules, an adventurer finds an average of 6 or so permanent magic items over 20 character levels, along with enough money to buy a seventh, legendary item. Narrators might prefer more frequent treasure rewards and more fabulously wealthy adventurers, or to run a campaign with a lower level of magic or even no magic items at all.

 Narrators that consistently grant more than double the amount of treasures per level (say, one treasure hoard per character per level) should raise the difficulty of combat encounters and exploration challenges. A well-equipped party of mid-level or higher can easily handle a steady diet of hard encounters, and probably has enough tricks to consistently succeed on medium and hard skill checks. Raise the level of challenge by including more deadly combats and more difficult obstacles to overcome, as well as encounter elements.

When running a low-treasure campaign with few magic items, Narrators can expect a combat that’s rated medium to provide a stiff challenge. A combat that’s rated as a hard challenge may offer significant peril. Magic-poor adventurers don’t have as many ways to escape the consequences of failure (extra healing, teleportation, and so on), and the Narrator should design challenges with the awareness that failure is a real possibility.

Treasure for Large and Small Groups

The above random and pre-computed treasure guidelines assume a party consisting of 4 or 5 adventurers. Smaller parties won’t find enough treasure using these guidelines, and large parties will find too many high-level magic items. Use the following modifications to give small parties fewer but richer treasure hoards and large parties more but poorer treasure hoards.

Crafting Unique Treasure Rewards. No changes are necessary to the way treasure is given or crafted, making it a great choice for unusually large or small groups. Just grant the desired amount of treasure per party member.

Rolling for Random Treasure. For small parties of 2 or 3 adventurers, the PCs only find an average of 1 random treasure hoard per level. To generate each hoard, after determining the Challenge Rating of a combat encounter or quest, use the treasure table one band higher. For example, if a treasure’s Challenge Rating is 6 (the Treasure for Challenge Ratings 5–10 table), instead use the Treasure for Challenge Ratings 11–16 table.

For large parties (6 or more adventurers), roll on a random treasure table 3 or 4 times per level (perhaps combining two or three treasure rolls into a single monster’s hoard or quest reward). For each roll on the treasure table, after determining the Challenge Rating of a combat encounter or quest, use the treasure table one band lower. For example, if a treasure’s Challenge Rating is 6 (Treasure for Challenge Ratings 5–10 table), Treasure for Challenge Ratings 3–4 table.

Using Premade Treasure. Narrators can apply the same rules as for generating random treasure when using one of the treasure suggestions from the Monstrous Menagerie. Small groups find around 1 hoard per level, using the treasure for the next hardest encounter, while large groups find 3 or more hoards, each of which uses treasure from the next easiest encounter. If there is no harder or easier encounter, or when using a published adventure module, instead double (for small groups) or halve (for large groups) the number of coins, gems, and valuables they find.

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Random Treasure Tables

The following tables allow Narrators to generate an appropriate treasure for a combat or noncombat challenge. There are nine tables, each a reward for encounters of different challenge ratings.

Some treasure hoards are won by defeating monsters in battle. To randomly determine the treasure belonging to enemy combatants, total the Challenge Ratings of all the combatants to get the treasure’s Challenge Rating.

Other treasures are discovered through exploration, given as a reward, or otherwise earned through noncombat encounters. Quests like these can be assigned a Challenge Rating just as combat encounters can. A simple task or a small treasure has a Challenge Rating equal to the party’s average character level. A difficult or rewarding quest can have a Challenge Rating up to twice the party’s average character level. 

Once a treasure’s Challenge Rating has been determined, find the matching Random Treasure Table and roll a d20 three times: once for coins, once for other wealth, and once for magic items. Each price category of gem and valuable (such as ‘10 gp gem’ or ‘25 gp valuable’) has its own subtable, as does each of the random magic item tables, numbered from 1 to 10.

Challenge Rating	Average Value
0	30 gp
1-2	100 gp
3-4	300 gp
5-10	1,000 gp
11-16	3,000 gp
17-22	10,000 gp
23-30	30,000 gp
31-40	100,000 gp
41+	300,000 gp

 

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Challenge Rating 0 (average value: 30 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 1-2 (average value: 100 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 3-4 (average value: 300 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 5-10 (average value: 1,000 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 11-16 (average value: 3,000 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 17-22 (average value: 10,000 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 23-30 (average value: 30,000 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 31-40 (average value: 100,000 gp)

 

Challenge Rating 41+ (average value: 300,000 gp)

 

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Coins

Caches of coins are found in denominations of pp (platinum), gp (gold), ep (electrum), sp (silver), and cp (copper). Fifty of any denomination of coins weigh 1 pound. A stack of 2,000 coins weighs 40 pounds and is considered to be one bulky item for the purposes of carrying capacity.

Each ‘coins’ result on the treasure table lists the average number of coins found, and then in parentheses lists the dice expression used to generate a random number of coins. For instance, a result of ‘700 (2d6 × 100) sp’ indicates that 700 silver pieces, or 2d6 × 100 silver pieces, are found.

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Other Wealth

Treasures can contain non-monetary wealth: gems and valuables. ‘Valuables’ is a catch-all term for jewelry, works of art and craft, and other costly but nonmagical objects.

The primary way that adventurers are rewarded is with experience points (gaining new class levels the more they accrue) and treasure like gold or magic items. These aren’t the only ways that they can advance in level however, nor the only way the Narrator can reward the party. 

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Experience Points

As adventurers face deadly monsters, solve puzzles, explore new locations, overcome challenges, and navigate complex social situations they earn experience points that represent the knowledge and learning they’ve gained. All characters involved in an encounter divide the experience earned evenly and apply it to their experience point total. If the party was assisted by NPCs, count any NPCs as party members when dividing. 

After winning a combat encounter, the party gains the total experience of all monsters and encounter elements in the encounter (treating encounter elements as monsters of a CR equal to their difficulty increase) divided up by the number of adventurers and NPCs in the party.

When an adventurer accumulates an amount of experience points determined by their character level, they advance a level in their current class or may select a level in a new class if multiclassing.

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Encounters 

Unlike mundane activities, encounters have stakes. In combat the stakes are clear, but other encounter types can be as impactful or dangerous. Defeating a monster might save a family. Brokering peace between two warring barons could save thousands. It might be impossible for the party to carve their way into a dragon’s vault, but they may be able to gain entry through a super poetry reading, sublime musical contest, or sneak in undetected.

The below list includes a range of encounters that most adventurers will face. Allow PCs to solve encounters in creative ways. If the party tries to turn a combat encounter into a social encounter by convincing a bandit leader that they want to join, let them! 

Combat Encounters. Combat encounters typically involve violence. The goal may be to vanquish all enemies, capture a target, or hold a strategic point until reinforcements arrive.

Skill Encounters. Skill encounters include contests, research, puzzles, and other tasks dependent upon an adventurer’s aptitude with a particular task. Perhaps the party needs to win an audition to gain an audience with a queen, research the location of an ancient temple, or successfully use an ancient device before the new moon in order to stop a ritual. 

Social Encounters. Social encounters often involve swaying the opinions or conclusions of one or more NPCs and include trials, negotiations, or debates.

Stealth Encounters. Sometimes no amount of force can overcome the odds. Stealth encounters might involve sneaking into a palace or breaking into a vault.

Exploration Encounters. Exploration encounters cover a range of potentially dangerous wilderness encounters. The adventurers might need to traverse a dangerous mountain range in the winter, braving blizzards and starvation, or track a criminal through a haunted bog. Perhaps the party needs to climb a crumbling shaft littered with traps in order to activate an ancient elevator. These are often exploration challenges but can be more specific scenarios crafted by the Narrator or introduced in an adventure.

Hybrid Encounters. Hybrid encounters involve elements from two or more of the above categories. Perhaps the party is forced to fight in a gladiatorial pit, fighting waves of enemies until they’re able to win the favor of a spectating warlord, or must distract patrols while sneaking into an enemy encampment to replace a real document with their own forgery.

Encourage Players With Experience

When Narrators award experience points, they assign value to particular tasks. If a Narrator only awards experience for combat, most players will adapt appropriately. Over time this creates narrative fatigue. Provide a range of encounter types with a variety of solutions, and when the party finds clever solutions that subvert or avoid them, give them a bonus for their ingenuity!

Roleplaying Rewards

Level Up is all about roleplaying and Narrators are encouraged to consider awarding additional experience points at the end of every game session based upon how much the player behind an adventurer engaged with the game. While not everyone needs an accent or ten page backstory, if players mostly stay in character and avoid digressions award them with experience points equal to an easy or average encounter. Good roleplay that engages or entertains everyone and showcases character motivation or growth might be worth as much as a hard encounter. Spectacular roleplay that defines an adventurer or a campaign might be worth even more!

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Absent Characters

Real life often intrudes on adventuring and deprives a party of a companion. The options below can help manage this inevitability.

First, some narrators decide that an adventurer is unavailable for any session that their player cannot attend. If possible, establish an in-game reason as to why the PC was not present. Some Narrators do not award XP to adventurers that do not participate in encounters. Over time, this can produce a level disparity. While a small level disparity is not mechanically disruptive, it can frustrate players that are unable to attend because of circumstances beyond their control. In some cases, this can lead to further absences or a player quitting altogether. 

Alternatively, ask the player to explain why their adventurer was unavailable and award them the same experience points for whatever story they create. Perhaps a mischievous fey that the party encountered previously snatched the PC for a series of ‘games’, or after a night of drinking they woke up with a splitting headache on a boat out to sea. Reward creativity, work collaboratively, and use it as an opportunity to revisit past plots or foreshadow new ones.

Second, a player can request that someone else run their adventurer during combat encounters. Adventurers controlled by another player gain full experience points for a session. While this might disrupt social encounters or other planned interactions, it keeps a party at full strength when facing dangerous odds. Many Narrators decide that an absent player's adventurer automatically stabilizes if they are dropped to 0 unless the whole party is slain to avoid that player returning to find out their PC is dead. 

Regardless of the approach a Narrator takes, the issue of what to do when a player has to miss a game session should be discussed during session zero.

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Objectives

Instead of awarding experience points after each encounter, the Narrator can also award experience for completing objectives. Objectives are divided into major objectives or minor objectives. When planning an adventure, identify two or three major objectives and four to six minor objectives. For purposes of experience points, treat major objectives as hard encounters and minor objectives as easy encounters

As an option, the Narrator might ask the party to choose a major objective or a couple of minor objectives unrelated to the adventure at the beginning of each game session. This gives them some narrative control, rewards them for engaging with the story, and further ties them to the setting.

Major Objectives

Major objectives represent the major story beats, pivotal encounters, or significant side quests.

• Discover the location of Tancred’s Crypt in the fey-haunted Westerwyld Forest
• Acquire the Tome of Illumination from the Illuminant Order
• Defeat Ogrusk One-Tusk, bandit king of Weepingmere 

Minor Objectives

Minor objectives should represent smaller plot points, optional moments, or ancillary goals. When using a prepublished adventure, try to map them to goals rather than specific encounters. This creates flexibility in how the party accomplishes the objectives rather than dictating a specific set of encounters. 

• Help a halfling farmer at the edge of the Westerwyld Forest pull his prize pig out of a bog
• Identify a way into the Illuminant Order’s Archive
• Investigate rumors of a caravan guard that survived an attack by Ogrusk One-Tusk’s bandits 

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Leveling Without Experience

Some Narrators eschew standard experience points all together, either because they find tracking it to be tedious or because it better suits a campaign’s narrative structure.

By Session. With session based leveling, consider having the adventurers level after each 4 hour session in tier 1, after two sessions in tier 2, after 3 sessions in tier 3, and after 4 sessions in tier 4. This system is easy to track but does not always mesh well with story beats.

Over Time. The Narrator may decide that the adventurers level after time passes in-game. In tier 1, PCs might level at the end of each month. In tier 2, they might level at the end of each season. In tier 3, the party might level at the end of each year. In tier 4, the adventurers might level after 2 or five years. Be sure to tie the timeframe to the narrative beats of the campaign.

Simplified Experience. Encounter points can also be used as an alternative to standard experience points. Whenever a party fights a battle, each adventurer gains XP equal to the encounter point cost of a battle (for example no matter their level, an easy battle is worth half a point of XP, a medium battle is worth 1 XP, a hard battle is worth 2 XP, and so on.) For every 15 XP that an adventurer accumulates they gain a level.

Story-Based. With story-based leveling, the adventurers level after significant accomplishments during the campaign. 

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Other Rewards

Individuals become adventurers for many reasons, but most are interested in some sort of reward. The below list offers examples of rewards beyond experience points and treasure.

Prestige. While saving a village might not be the most lucrative of ventures, word of the party’s deeds might increase their Prestige ratings.

Property, Assets, and Businesses. Homes, castles, strongholds, ships, and businesses are all fine rewards that can expand adventurers’ scope of operations or add a new facet to the game. 

Relationships. Over the course of their adventure the PCs form relationships with individuals and communities. Consider granting them the use of favors. 

Room and Board. Adventurers touch the lives of common folk and business owners. While these grateful people might lack wealth, they can ensure that heroes never go hungry or without a roof over their heads. This could grant the party a moderate lifestyle at no cost within a particular town or region.

Secret Knowledge. Some individuals may offer knowledge as a reward. This could take the form of a key knowledge, the location of something of interest, or an important secret.

Services. Religious or magical organizations might offer adventurers free or reduced cost spellcasting, and trading companies might allow PCs to travel more safely or at no cost.

Status or Titles. Rulers may bestow status or titles on deserving adventurers. While this can result in privileges, respect, and holdings, many rulers use this as a way to establish a hold over useful individuals.

Status can come from other sources. A tribe of wood elves might grant honorary membership to adventurers that aid them, allowing the party to access ruins in their forest, while a thieves guild might provide information and secret escape routes after the PCs help one of their members escape the noose.

Supernatural Boons. Supernatural creatures might grant some of their power to deserving adventurers. This could replicate the benefit of a magic item that does not require attunement or provide the use of a spell. Perhaps the merfolk priestess that the party saves grants them a blessing that allows them to swim and breathe underwater (as per a cloak of the manta ray).

Treasure. Treasure covers artwork, coins, gems, and jewelry, as well as magic items. 
 

The world can be a dangerous place and the environment might pose a deadly threat all by itself. In addition to their inherent danger, encounter elements offer ways to enhance the perils of exploration challenges or combat to make both more satisfying. A duel atop a bridge or traversing a narrow crossing is all the more exciting when deadly lava runs below rather than rushing water, and a hallway fight or dungeon trap with a plethora of green slime is a different kind of challenge altogether!

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Challenge Rating Increase

The challenge rating of a combat encounter or exploration challenge can be increased when an encounter element is included so long as it poses an active threat—a cage match near a volcanic pit is more dramatic, but no more dangerous than usual.

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Acid (+2)

A creature that touches acid takes 5 (2d4) acid damage. When a creature first enters into an area of acid or starts its turn there, it takes 10 (4d4) ongoing acid damage. A creature submerged in acid takes 25 (10d4) ongoing acid damage. This damage persists for 3 rounds after the creature leaves the acid. A creature ends all ongoing damage from mundane acid by using its action to wipe away the corrosive liquid.

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Brown Mold (+2)

Brown mold subsists on heat, drawing away warmth from the environment and creatures around it. Most patches of brown mold have only a 10-foot radius, but the temperature in a 30-foot radius around it is unnaturally cold.

When a creature moves within 5 feet of the brown mold for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it makes a DC 12 Constitution saving throw , taking 22 (4d10) cold damage on a failure, or half damage on a success.

Brown mold is not only immune to fire damage but rapidly grows when exposed to flames. When any source of fire—the effects of a spell like fire bolt , a lit torch, and so on—happens within 5 feet of a patch of brown mold, the brown mold rapidly expands to surround it in a 10-foot radius. However, any amount of cold damage instantly destroys a patch of brown mold. 

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Crowd (+1)

Throngs of humanoids are difficult terrain , and a creature surrounded by a crowd has disadvantage on hearing- and sight-based checks to perceive outside of it. 

In addition, making attacks in a crowd risks collateral damage and the wrath of the throng. When a creature attacks from within a crowd or attacks a target within a crowd, on a miss by 10 or more the attack hits a crowd member and the creature makes a Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion check (DC 13 + 2 per previous check) to convince the crowd not to attack it. On a failure, the crowd transforms into a commoner mob and attacks, fighting until the creature is reduced to 0 hit points or the commoner mob is bloodied .

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Darkness (+½)

Darkness comes in two varieties: magical and nonmagical. In nonmagical darkness, creatures with darkvision can see out to the range specified by that trait as if it were dim light . In magical darkness, all vision is blocked. Creatures without darkvision cannot see in mundane or magical darkness. In addition, a frightened creature unable to see because of magical darkness is rattled . 

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Dense Smoke (+1)

Creatures and objects in an area of dense smoke are heavily obscured. When a creature that needs to breathe starts its turn in an area of dense smoke, if it is not holding its breath it makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + 1 per round previous turn in the dense smoke, maximum DC 20) or it begins to suffocate. A creature that covers its mouth and nose with a damp cloth has advantage on this save. Finally, smell-based checks to perceive or track creatures that have spent more than 1 round in an area of dense smoke have advantage until the creature finishes a long rest or takes at least 10 minutes to clean the smoke from itself.

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Extreme Cold (+1)

At the end of every hour a creature is exposed to temperatures at or below 0° Fahrenheit (–18° Celsius), it makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or suffers a level of fatigue . Resistance to cold damage, immunity to cold damage, or wearing cold weather gear grants an automatic success on this save. Creatures native to an extreme cold environment also automatically succeed on their saving throw.

Saving throws made against effects or spells that deal cold damage have disadvantage .

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Extreme Heat (+1)

At the end of every hour a creature is exposed to temperatures at or above 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius), it makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 4 + 1 per hour spent in extreme heat) or suffers a level of fatigue . Resistance to fire damage, immunity to fire damage, or keeping a light pack (less than half carrying capacity) grants an automatic success on this save, whereas a creature wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or heavy clothing has disadvantage . Creatures native to an extreme heat environment also automatically succeed on their saving throw.

Saving throws made against effects or spells that deal fire damage have disadvantage .

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Falling (+1 per 30 feet; maximum +4)

The quickest way to severe harm (or even death) is from falling. Whether from a rooftop, cliff’s edge, treetop, or flying mount, falling can deal a devastating amount of damage. When a creature falls, it takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it falls (maximum 20d6) and lands prone .

A creature that falls into water takes half damage, or no damage if it dives with a successful Athletics check (DC equal to the distance it falls divided by 5).

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Fire (+2)

An area of fire sheds bright light to 10 feet beyond its edges and dim light an additional 10 feet. A creature that touches fire takes 7 (2d6) ongoing fire damage. A creature may end ongoing damage from mundane fire by spending an action to extinguish the flames. Smoke and heat shimmer lightly obscure anything within or on the other side of an area of fire. 

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Frigid Water (+1)

After being in frigid water for a number of minutes equal to its Constitution score, a creature makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each minute or it suffers a level of fatigue . Resistance or immunity to cold damage grants an automatic success on this save. Creatures native to an extreme cold environment also automatically succeed on their saving throw.

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Green Slime (+1)

This sticky, vibrantly green, slopping slime clings to and mercilessly eats away at flesh, plants, and even metal. 

Green slime covers a 5-foot square area or larger, though rarely greater in size than a 20-foot radius. Although it is alive and able to sense with blindsight to a range of 30 feet, green slime has no Intelligence or other ability scores. When green slime senses movement underneath it, it drops towards the ground. A creature in the green slime’s area makes a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw , becoming slimed on a failure.

A slimed creature takes 5 (1d10) ongoing acid damage until the green slime is scraped off with an action. Green slime is destroyed by sunlight, any feature, spell, or trait that cures disease, or any amount of cold, fire, or radiant damage. Wood or metal exposed to green slime instead takes 11 (2d10) acid damage.

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Heavy Precipitation (+½)

Heavy snowfall makes an area lightly obscured, and Perception checks relying on sight are made with disadvantage . Heavy rain has the same effects, also affecting Perception checks that rely on hearing and extinguishing any open flames.

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High Gravity (+2)

The ranges of ranged weapons are halved, as are all jump distances. When a creature makes its first attack in a round using a weapon that does not have the dual-wielding property, it makes a DC 12 Athletics check or subtracts 1d4 from its attack rolls for 1 round. Falling damage is treated as twice the distance in the area and there is no maximum amount of damage that can be taken from a fall. For every hour spent in the area, a creature not acclimated to it makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + the number of hours spent in the area) or gain a level of fatigue (maximum 4 levels of fatigue).

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Lava (+4)

A creature that touches lava takes 16 (3d10) ongoing fire damage. When a creature first enters into an area of lava or starts its turn there, it takes 33 (6d10) ongoing fire damage. A creature submerged in lava takes 55 (10d10) ongoing fire damage. This damage persists for 4 rounds after the creature leaves the lava. A creature ends all ongoing damage from lava by using its action to wipe away the molten rock.

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Low Gravity (-1)

The ranges of ranged weapons are doubled, as are all jump distances. Falling damage is treated as half the distance in the area. In addition, damage from bludgeoning weapons is reduced by half. 

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Magnetized Ore (+½)

Magnetized ore wreaks havoc on the use of compasses or any natural sense of direction, making both useless within 500 feet.

While within 50 feet of magnetized ore, a creature wearing heavy armor made from metal or attacking with a metal weapon has disadvantage on its attack rolls , Strength and Dexterity, and saving throws made against fatigue .

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Memory Crystals (+½)

Recognizing a memory crystal for what it is requires a DC 20 Arcana check. When a creature with prepared spells is within 30 feet of a memory crystal, at the start of its turn it must make a DC 15 spellcasting ability check or lose one randomly determined prepared spell. 

When destroyed (DC 17 Strength check, AC 7, 2 hit points) a memory crystal explodes with dangerous magic in a 10-foot radius. Each creature in the area makes a DC 20 Charisma saving throw , taking 14 (4d6) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. 

An area filled with memory crystals requires a creature to succeed on a DC 8 Acrobatics check at the end of each of its turns to avoid breaking any of the dangerous gemstones.

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Miring Ground (+3)

Sludge, tar, or sufficiently deep and sticky mud can provide real danger to creatures caught in them. 

Miring ground is difficult terrain . In addition, when a creature starts its turn in miring ground, it begins to sink and makes an Athletics check (DC 12 + 2 per round spent in the area) to continue moving. On a failure, its Speed is reduced by 10 feet. When this reduces a creature’s Speed to 5 feet or less it begins sinking 1 foot deeper into the miring ground at the end of each of its turns. A sinking creature can be freed with an Athletics check equal to the DC of its last failed check against the miring ground. A sinking creature that becomes submerged begins suffocating if it is unable to hold its breath. Any creature trying to aid a sinking creature must have a solid surface to stand on or a fly speed, but can use ropes or similar means to do so at a distance.
 

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Poisonous Plants (+1)

Spotting the telltale signs of vegetation dangerous to touch requires requires a DC 15 Nature check. Poisonous plants can be as sparse as a few shrubs or as pervasive as fields of harmful groundcover.

When a creature starts its turn within the area or enters the area for the first time on a turn, it makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw , taking 3 (1d6) poison damage on a failure, or half damage on a success.

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Rushing Liquid (+2)

Standing in rushing liquid halves the speed of a creature moving against the current and doubles the speed of creatures moving with it. At the start of each of its turns, a creature in knee-high rushing liquid makes an Acrobatics or Athletics check to keep its footing. On a failure, it is knocked prone and moves a number of feet in the direction of the current equal to the amount it failed the check by (rounded up to the nearest 5 feet). The check is DC 11 if the rushing liquid is knee-high, DC 14 if waist-high, DC 17 if chest-high, and DC 20 if the creature’s feet cannot touch the bottom. A creature moving with the current has disadvantage on this check. A creature driven into a solid object by the current (such as a rock) takes damage as if it had fallen a number of feet equal to the distance it was moved by the current (minimum 1d6 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage). Standing up from prone in rushing liquid requires an Acrobatics or Athletics check with a DC equal to the DC to keep footing. A creature that loses its footing is considered underwater (see below) until it regains its footing. 

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Strong Winds (+½)

Ranged weapon attacks and Perception checks that rely on hearing have disadvantage in high winds. In addition, it extinguishes any open flames, disperses fogs and smoke, and forces any flying creature to land before the end of its turn or fall.

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Underwater (+1)

A creature that cannot breathe water begins to suffocate underwater once it cannot hold its breath. In addition, creatures without swim speeds have disadvantage on attacks made using any weapon other than a dagger, dueling dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear, or trident. Ranged weapon attacks automatically miss beyond their normal range underwater, and bludgeoning and fire damage are halved. A creature that takes damage while holding its breath underwater must succeed on a concentration check or immediately begin suffocating as if its breath had run out. 

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Vacuum (+3)

An area of vacuum has no air, so creatures that need to breathe must use another source of air or begin to suffocate once they cannot hold their breath. In addition, the area carries no sound, so hearing-based checks made to perceive automatically fail and spells with vocalized components cannot be cast. A creature with its own air supply may cast spells with vocalized components, but still cannot hear. Vacuum is also utterly chilling, dealing 11 (3d6) cold damage to a creature at the start of each of its turns in the area.

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Webs (+½)

Whether created by massive insects or swarms of smaller creatures, these sticky strands ensnare and capture creatures that fall afoul of them. An area of webs is difficult terrain, and when a creature starts its turn within the area or enters the area for the first time on a turn, it makes a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or becomes restrained . Restrained creatures can use an action to make a DC 12 Acrobatics or Athletics check, escaping on a success. 

A 10-foot cube of webs has AC 10, 15 hit points, vulnerability to fire, and immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and psychic damage. 

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Yellow Mold (+2)

This sickeningly yellow mold only grows in dark places and is extremely sensitive to movement nearby. 

Yellow mold covers a 10-foot radius area. When a creature moves within 30 feet of a patch of yellow mold, at the start of its turn spores are released and it makes a DC 15 Constitution saving throw . On a failure, the creature takes 11 (2d10) ongoing poison damage and becomes poisoned for 1 minute, continuing to take ongoing damage until it is no longer poisoned. At the end of each of its turns, the poisoned creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. 

Yellow mold is destroyed by sunlight or any amount of fire damage.
 

Creating a world for a campaign might mean putting a castle in the Crawley Hills between Northminster and Holdenshire, including a new settlement or region in another existing setting, or building an entire world for the adventurers to discover and explore. Whether the scope of the undertaking is small or grand, clarifying the goals of worldbuilding and the approach being taken makes the task much more manageable.

Guiding Principle: Player Experience First

Like creating a campaign, keep the player experience at the forefront of the worldbuilding process. This focuses development on elements that players will interact with and enjoy rather than on tangential or superfluous details. 

Approaches to Worldbuilding

Level Up presents two approaches to worldbuilding but there’s no single right way to go about it, and these aren’t the only methods. In practice, most worldbuilders do a mix of two or more approaches, depending upon their time and preferences. When deciding upon the functionalist and simulationist approaches, consider the workload that they both require before making a decision. 

Functionalist Approach

A functionalist approach is only concerned with the elements necessary for the story or set of stories that will be told inside the setting. The narrative of a campaign identifies aspects of the world that need definition—if it doesn’t appear ‘on stage’ or ‘on screen’, there’s no need for it to exist. History is important only insofar as it serves setting and character motivation (whether an adventurer’s or NPC’s). Geography and current events exist to support the plot by creating conflict or highlighting characters.

A functionalist approach to worldbuilding is similar to setting a stage. History, lore, culture, and politics are backdrops. Adventure sites and geography are stage props, and NPCs only matter if they ever make it on stage.

The functionalist approach works well when it is able to draw on broader genre conventions. Many fantasy authors take this approach because it’s flexible and efficient. Do you need a mountain range filled with ruins? Make it. Unless he’s going to play a significant role in the campaign, who cares how the Queen’s cousin impacts her rule? The challenge to a functionalist approach is verisimilitude, particularly if a group of players is prone to sudden turns. Consider adding rumors or stories that imply events from beyond the scope of the game without actually detailing them until it becomes important to do so.

Simulationist Approach

The simulationist approach looks to create a vibrant world that exists independently of a particular narrative or story. Instead, worldbuilders create or adapt cultures, civilizations, economic systems, cosmologies, and histories. 

If a functionalist approach to worldbuilding sets a stage, a simulationist approach seeks to build the house that a stage is trying to depict. Often, a simulation approach attempts to model economics, social systems, politics, and history as accurately as possible. Great attention is given to details that underpin the campaign setting, even if they don’t always have a direct impact on characters directly. 

Time and complexity are the challenges to this method. Building a setting in this fashion often requires research as well as creating a great deal of material that may never be used at the table. While certainly a more daunting and involved task, Narrators that use this approach usually have an answer, NPC, or locale prepared wherever the party’s story might take them. 

Collaborative Worldbuilding

Another strategy involves harnessing the creative power of players. As players develop their characters, consider asking them to provide details about the towns, regions, or nations that their adventurers hail from. This can be a great way to engage players with their characters and the campaign setting. It also adds depth by going beyond the Narrator’s own conceptual framework. 

Another way to work collaboratively is during session zero or at another time prior to the campaign. Create worldbuilding exercises or shared activities around cultures, myths, gods, or any other aspect of the campaign setting.

Collaborative worldbuilding can also be used after a campaign has started. If the party ventures to a new town, ask them to name taverns or a location. If the adventurers have already been to a place, ask them to share details. The Narrator can encourage players to create details during the course of their roleplay with one another or with NPCs. Unless there is a compelling reason not to, incorporate the events, locations, and characters into the tapestry of the world!

Create a Concept

A campaign setting is a foundation upon which we tell stories. The types of stories that we want to tell should inform the world that we create. As with building a campaign, consider the types of adventures that might be run within that world. For example, a Narrator intending to run light and whimsical games that explore the secrets of a wondrous feywood are in for a tough time if playing in a campaign setting in which the gods have been devoured by elder evils that now raise mortals like cattle. Similarly, a game of gothic horror isn’t going to work in a setting where the adventurers are literal demigods. 

When thinking about a campaign setting concept, consider its defining or iconic elements. Is it a duchy holding to an uncertain peace or a world recently ravaged by a demonic invasion? Is it a continent that once hosted an ancient civilization whose secrets are now being plundered? What does the campaign setting look like at the beginning of play—and how will it change? 

Here are some example setting concepts:

• A world being rediscovered after an extraplanar invasion forced the few remaining survivors to hide underground for centuries.
• A recently discovered continent that holds the secret to an ancient magical catastrophe.
• A post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by demonic overlords.
• A conventional fantasy kingdom at the precipice of a civil war due to a conflict between the church and the royal wizards academy.
• A recently annexed city in the midst of an industrial revolution where the body of a dead god is harvested to fuel ghastly new technologies.

Work Backwards & Outwards

Start with the world state informed by the concept’s premise and work backwards. While the present is predicated upon the past, often the past is unclear to the present. History becomes increasingly unclear as we move backwards. Events and individuals lose definition, are transformed into myth, or are forgotten entirely. When worldbuilding, this historical process provides the freedom to focus on the present and its immediate precursors.

Similarly, start with the location of the adventurers and work outward. Pay attention to the immediate setting and allow details to blur as distance grows from the campaign’s lens. There is no need to exhaustively detail the geography of a mountain chain on the other side of the world.

Remember Conflict

As the name implies, a campaign setting serves to inform a campaign, and all campaigns need conflict. How does the setting assist this? What are the key conflicts?

Creating a New World

Regardless of which approach to worldbuilding is taken, creating a new campaign setting is an undertaking. These questions can help define some key characteristics. 

• Cosmogony: How was the world created? Was it literally forged by the gods or was it shaped by natural processes?
• Cosmology: What are the other planes like? Is there an afterlife? How is it reached or achieved? Where do the gods reside?
• Distinctive Environmental Characteristics: Is your world an arid husk? Does it experience extreme storms caused by magical or astronomical phenomena?
• Key Powers: Who holds power? Who is oppressed? What resources create conflict?
• Layout and Structure: Is your setting a spherical hunk of stone orbiting a star or does it exist entirely within the mind of a sleeping god?
• Mythology: Are myths an explanation for history or natural phenomena or were the seas truly created when Jamir spilled the blood of Kareth during the Dawnfire War? 
• Nature and Role of the Gods: Do the gods predate the setting, or are they manifestations of natural processes or metahuman thought and emotion?
• Nature of Magic: Is magic energy left over from the creation of the world or shaping the dreams of the Great Sleeper? Does power come within individuals or are they conduits?
• Prevalence of Magic: How prevalent is magic? How common are magical practitioners?
• Technology Level: What is the highest level of technology achieved? Do airships sail the skies, or have ruthless dragon overlords kept metahumanity in the dark ages?
• World’s Age: Have the gods just finished shaping it, or does the star above gutter a dim red as it approaches death? 

Worldbuilding in Established Settings

If the idea of building an entire world seems daunting, consider creating a smaller setting within a pre-existing campaign setting. Even the most well-developed campaign settings have gray spaces that the creators have not defined. This space can serve as a canvas for customized characters, locations, and stories. New Narrators in particular can make good use of these gray spaces as building in an established setting is an excellent way to manage the scope of new material. Additionally, being able to draw upon the cultures, history, and politics of the current campaign setting can save a lot of time and help keep these elements of the game feel cohesive with the rest.

Questions

Adventurers are usually curious so considering what they’ll be asking ahead of time is a reliable method for figuring out what things need to be addressed in new material when worldbuilding in an established campaign setting.

• What heritages and cultures from the established campaign setting are represented?
• What governmental system or economic systems are in place?
• What natural resources does this region have?
• What is the relationship with neighbors?
• What are its primary conflicts?
• What makes it distinct from other locations in the campaign setting?
• What differences need to be communicated to the players?

The Narrator’s job in Level Up is to guide the story and create the world for the other players to adventure in. This includes all of the elements required to create that adventure. The Narrator builds a world and populates it with monsters, people, treasure and traps. They create villains in their towers, allies met on the road, angry blacksmiths and bar staff in posh parlours. The Narrator also runs combat, acts as rules referee, lore repository, and of course improvises when the unexpected happens.

Level Up is a Game for the Narrator Too!

The Narrator is a player too, albeit one with many, ever-changing roles. If any part of the Narrator role isn’t fun, there’s no rule against changing it so it is. If a Narrator doesn’t enjoy doing voices, all NPCs can sound the same. If maps and miniatures don’t work for the Narrator, encounters can be designed that won’t rely on them. Some elements of the Narrator role—such as tracking initiative or double checking rules—can even be delegated entirely to players to make things easier and more fun for the Narrator.

The Narrator

The Narrator’s main role is to outline the adventures that the players will navigate. Usually this involves coming up with a problem for them to solve or a task to complete in order to get a predetermined reward. 

An adventure can be as short as a single session of a few hours, or it could involve many such sessions over a span of weeks or months. A longer running adventure such as this is called a campaign, and is generally a big adventure made with building blocks of smaller adventures each session. For example, a single adventure may involve solving the mystery of a string of violent break-ins in a small village. That adventure could be the start of a campaign to take down a dangerous organized crime network that puts an entire realm in jeopardy.

To prepare an adventure, the Narrator usually outlines locations, monsters and enemies, treasure, traps, and notable NPCs (non-player characters), as well as the overall mission for the players. How the players interact with all of these things will be unpredictable, and so a Narrator’s job is to guide players towards their end goal, adapting and changing the environment in response to their actions. 

Scheduling Your Campaign

Getting player schedules to line up for regular gaming sessions is magic far beyond anything described in the Level Up rules. However, some best practices include:

• Maintain the same day and times for game sessions—when everyone knows to keep Wednesday night from 7 PM to 11 PM open, it’s easier to schedule time away from other activities.
• If the group is social with one another, plan an appropriate amount of time for people to catch up before the session starts to better anticipate how much material will be needed with that in mind.
• When it becomes clear that a player will often be late, plan in some padding time for the sessions they aren’t punctual.
• Keep a group discussion going with texts or chat between sessions to keep everyone engaged, and use it to remind the players when the game is coming up.

Is Planning Even Possible When Player Actions Are Unpredictable?

Yes! With a good session zero the Narrator can let the players know the rough aims and outline of the campaign or adventure (without spoilers) so they can make appropriate characters, and air any concerns they have about any topics or activities that may come up in the adventure (see Safety Tools ).

In the example campaign centered around taking down an organized crime network, without a session zero uninformed players could well create criminal or shady characters who would have no problem allying with and joining the network. A lot of the Narrator’s planning around making enemies of the network would be wasted, leaving them scrambling to improvise new scenarios for their party of ne’er-do-well adventurers each session.

Conversely, a campaign designed to aid and grow the criminal network would be cut short if a largely good and law-abiding group slaughter their criminal contacts in the first session. 

A productive session zero allows the Narrator and the players to play along with each other’s expectations and make sure that everybody has fun. 

How to Run a Game

Most of the Narrator’s adventure or campaign planning will happen away from the gaming table. So are things handled while at the table? The Narrator is the player whose job it is to get things going and keep them on track, so other players will look to them for guidance and structure.

Most rules expectations and table-specific rules can be ironed out in session zero, but here’s some insight into the most vital parts of a Narrator’s role.

Setting Up

Setting the players up so they can decide how to react is the fundamental part of the Narrator’s job. Here’s an example of how to begin a gaming session.

"Okay everyone. If you remember you’d gone down to the basement to investigate possible escape routes for the thief, because Oswin the innkeep said she’d heard a door slam downstairs on the night of the theft. The stairs down to the basement are narrow and made of stone. Cold air along with the smell of stagnant water and mold greet you as you descend in single file. 

What’s your marching order please?... 

Okay, Naivara and Whisper, if you’re at the front, you’re the first to see the basement. Water runs down the stone brick walls, they’re about ten feet high. The water has flooded the space up to about three or four feet. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, it’s stagnant. You hear the occasional drip echo as the water descends, but nothing else. 

Rotting, broken furniture floats in the murk. With your passive perception and the light from Whisper’s torch you can see that it used to be much finer and more ornate than any of the furniture in the inn upstairs... 

So what are you two doing? Remember Nia and Gregor, you can’t see this yet."

Here the Narrator has: 

• reminded the players of their actions last session.
• described the next scene in their adventure.
• used a few sensory cues in their description to create an immersive experience.
• asked an open-ended question to give players a chance to act or ask clarifying questions.

All in just a few sentences that take only a couple of minutes to run through.

Dice Rolling

Every table will have slightly different rules for dice rolling, and each player will have different expectations based on their previous gaming experiences. The Narrator can determine what everyone expects during session zero. It’s important that everybody is on the same page so miscommunications and tension don’t interrupt the adventure once it begins.

  Some good dice-specific questions for a Narrator to ask at session zero are:

• Who will roll openly and who can roll in secret?
  • Some tables welcome the Narrator or sometimes players rolling in secret, while others may feel cheated.
• Can players roll skill checks when they see fit, or should they wait for the Narrator to ask for a specific check?
  • Some Narrators welcome players who take the initiative, while others find it difficult to keep track of the outcomes of rolls they weren’t expecting.
• Can players roll to attack without the Narrator calling for an initiative roll?
  • Again, some Narrators would enjoy the chaos, while others might prefer to keep a tighter handle on combat.
• Can the Narrator ever make rolls on a player’s behalf?
  • Sometimes tension and immersion for players can be enhanced if the Narrator rolls a check on their behalf. For example, being uncertain whether a character has rolled high or low on a Stealth check in a high risk situation could make things more exciting for some players. Other players may not enjoy this, or feel as though their agency has been taken away.

  None of the options in the above list are right or wrong, but they’re variations that should be discussed for each table before the adventure begins, and as the person taking charge the Narrator leads these discussions.

Ability Scores

Another of the Narrator’s key roles is to set the Difficulty Class (DC) for skill checks, as well as deciding which skill check should be made in a given situation to move the adventure along.

  A player’s basic ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma) affect their ability to perform the many possible skill checks a Narrator can call for. For all of the rules around skills and ability checks, see Chapter 6: Ability Scores.

Example Skill Check

Gregor: Can I see any signs that a thief has come through this way?

Narrator: Let’s see! Make a Survival or Investigation check for me.

Gregor: I’m trying to rely on my experience with hunting, but instead of using my intuition I’m focused on keeping an eye out for clues and deducing what they could mean. Can I make an Intelligence check with Survival?

Narrator: That sounds reasonable—roll it!

Gregor: Can do! Got a 17.

Narrator: You notice some moss on the wall to your left has been disturbed, as though someone had grabbed it to keep their balance.

In some situations, more than one check may make sense, and ultimately it’s the Narrator’s decision which ability check and skills are used and how high the DC is. However the Narrator may also give a player options of which ability check or skill they use in a particular situation. Which ability score can be used with each skill depends on the circumstances and how an adventurer is trying to achieve an objective. In this case, Gregor wanted to use Intelligence with his Survival check because it’s his highest ability score, and his reasoning for it made good sense.

 

Narrators in Level Up are tasked with providing a whole world for the group to play in and all that entails—dungeons to explore, intrigues and subterfuge, monsters to slay, treasure to find—and though it can be difficult, there are few more rewarding things than a solid session of tabletop roleplaying so the burden is worth it. While there are plenty of campaign settings and modules to make the work of the Narrator easier, even someone making up everything on the fly can use a little help and that’s what this chapter is about. 

Running the Game . What does it mean to be the Narrator? This section covers the basics—what the Narrator does, what the Narrator needs to know, and how to do it.

Player Archetypes . This section offers ways for the Narrator to better understand what the members of their group are really enthusiastic about and looking to get out of a campaign, allowing for the story and gameplay to better suit their player’s passions.

Safety Tools . Cooperative games like Level Up are just that: cooperative. Whether the campaign is gripping with mature themes or much more light-hearted quests, safety tools are an essential part of keeping everyone at the table happy and coming back for more.

Creating a Campaign . The telling of epic tales at the table is a fine goal but where does a Narrator start this process? This section offers guidance on how to build a campaign from session zero to finish. 

Worldbuilding . Whether the Narrator is designing a castle for the party’s next session or planning out an entire world, they are worldbuilding. These pages are all about the process and choosing the right approach for the campaign or game session a Narrator is preparing for.

Designing Encounters . Campaigns in Level Up have three basic kinds of encounters (combat, exploration, social) that are largely concerned with other sections of this book (like the Critters and NPC appendices, Chapter 9: Exploration, and Chapter 6: Using Ability Scores), but the thinking behind how to construct them and their purpose in a game are detailed here. 

Encounter Elements . When the Narrator wants to offer a greater challenge for the adventurers or put a spin on an exploration challenge or fight there are a plethora of ways to make things more exciting. There are more than two dozen encounter elements to introduce onto the field of battle or in a dungeon, ranging from green slime to lava and yellow mold.

Experience and Other Rewards . Most adventurers increase their class levels by accruing experience points, but the Narrator has a variety of ways to employ them or advance the game through entirely different means! So too are there different ways to reward the party than new magic items or heaps of gold.

Treasure . When the battle is ended and the day won, what do the adventurers find amongst the spoils? This section is all about artwork, coin, gems, jewelry, magic items, and how to create unique hoards of treasure for the party to find in the aftermath of successful encounters.

Diseases  and Poisons . The Narrator needs options when adventurers have spent too much time in the sewers or are facing a cult of assassins, and this section of the chapter provides dozens of afflictions to choose from.

Mental Stress Effects . Often faced with horrors from beyond the mortal pale or forces of nature given form with scaled wings and fiery breath, many an adventurer has felt the effects of stress weigh heavily upon them. This section of the chapter provides short-term, long-term, and indefinite mental stress effects for campaigns interested in that aspect of play.

 

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• Introduction to Monsters
• Monster Lists
• Designing Monsters
• Templates

The influence of the plane Amrou has enhanced the effectiveness of mundane items in fending off the supernatural. What once were mere superstitions now can have meaningful effect, such as using a line of salt to block the advance of a ghost, or ringing a bell to drive back a demon. 

Nonmagical items that possess the ability to avert evil influences are collectively called apotropaics, and they are particularly common in Crisillyir, where such threats are most famous. 

Below are common apotropaics, some of which are duplicated from the normal equipment list in the core rulebook.

Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. A brandished holy symbol can briefly hold back fiends and undead.

Holy Water (flask). As an action, you can splash the contents of this flask onto a creature within 5 feet of you or throw it up to 20 feet, shattering it on impact. In either case, make a ranged attack against a target creature, treating the holy water as an improvised weapon. If the target is a fiend or undead, it takes 2d6 radiant damage.

Jade (pendant). A small pendant of green stone. Jade repels and can injure aberrations. If jade touches an aberration, it deals 2d6 radiant damage, and then the object shatters.

Jade-Accented Weapon. A weapon accented with jade (such as on its blade or a striking head) deals an extra 2d6 radiant damage to an aberration, but after one strike the jade is expended. The cost listed is in addition to the weapon’s normal price.

Jade, Powdered (bag). Collected dust from a workshop that polishes and sets jade. As an action, you can pour out the powder to draw a line across three adjacent squares. 

Alternately, you can spend an action to throw a handful at a creature within 5 feet of you. Make a ranged attack against a target creature or object, treating the dust as an improvised weapon. On a hit, if the target is an aberration it takes 2d6 radiant damage.

The bag has sufficient dust for ten uses – ten thrown handfuls, 150-ft. worth of lines, or some combination.

Oil (pint flask). Oil usually comes in a clay flask that holds 1 pint. As an action, you can splash the oil in this flask onto a creature within 5 feet of you or throw it up to 20 feet, shattering it on impact. Make a ranged attack against a target creature or object, treating the oil as an improvised weapon. On a hit, the target is covered in oil. 

If the target takes any fire damage before the oil dries (after 1 minute), the target takes an additional 5 fire damage from the burning oil. You can also pour a flask of oil on the ground to cover a 5-foot-square area, or to draw a thin ring 10 feet in diameter, provided that the surface is level. If lit, the oil burns for 2 rounds and deals 5 fire damage to any creature that enters the area or ends its turn in the area. A creature can take this damage only once per turn.

Burning oil lines and rings can block the movement of celestials. A celestial that is covered in burning oil is entangled.

Portable Chiming Clock. A dense and durable clock in a wooden frame designed to be held with relative ease. Built as an adventurer’s tool to keep fey away, its chimes are as loud as a grandfather clock’s. You can flick a switch as a bonus action so that it begins to chime, which lasts until the end of your next turn. During that time, fey within 30 feet are repelled. Afterward, it must be wound before it can be used again, which requires an action.

(Chimes that aren’t part of actual clocks do not repel fey, but might annoy them.)

Portable Tolling Bell. Four feet tall, with wheels to help move it, this adventurer’s tool resembles a wooden saw horse with an iron bell hung from the middle. As an action, you can pull a lever to toll the bell, which repels fiends within 30 feet. This lasts until the end of your next turn.

Salt (bag). Normally used with food. As an action, you can pour out the powder to draw a line across three adjacent squares. Salt repels fiends and undead.

Alternately, you can spend an action to throw a handful at a creature within 5 feet of you. Make a ranged attack against a target creature or object, treating the salt as an improvised weapon. On a hit, if the target is undead or a fiend it takes 2d6 radiant damage.

The bag has sufficient dust for ten uses – ten thrown handfuls, 150-ft. worth of lines, or some combination.

Apotropaics

Item	Price	Weight
Holy symbol	-	-
Holy water (flask)	25 gp	1 lb
Jade (pendant or ammunition)	5 gp	-
Jade-accented weapon	100 gp	-
Jade, powdered (bag)	100 gp	5 lb
Oil, pint (flask)	1 sp	1 lb
Portable chiming clock	100 gp	20 lb
Portable tolling bell	20 gp	40 lb
Salt (bag)	1 sp	5 lb

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Apotropaic Mechanics

Various items are anathema to different types of creatures, and can repel and in some cases even harm those creatures. However, whenever a creature is attacked, it can ignore any repelling effect until the end of the encounter in order to approach and attack the creature or group that antagonized it.

Apotropaics function in coexistent planes, bleeding from Waking to Dreaming and to the Bleak Gate, and from any world into the Ethereal Plane, which can keep ethereal creatures like ghosts from bypassing them. 

Harm. A harmful item has an effect similar to holy water on undead and fiends, dealing 2d6 radiant damage on impact. Each such strike uses up roughly a handful of the substance, or causes larger objects to crack after one use. 

Using excessive amounts of the material might cause ongoing damage (such as by burying a fiend in a mound of gold), but not more than 2d6 per round.

Repel. Creatures cannot willingly touch materials that repel them, nor even use tools to manipulate such items. They can, however, create circumstances to move the repellant item. For instance, a ghost might telekinetically shatter a window so a breeze from outside disperses salt.

If a material repels a creature, a line of that material prevents a creature from crossing. For the purpose of blocking flying creatures, the effect of a repulsive line extends as far vertically as the line is long, and if the material is in a ring, it functions as a dome of the ring’s radius.

A character can spend an action to brandish a repellant item, which prevents the repelled creature from approaching within five feet and from making melee attacks against it for one minute. When you use this action, you can make an opposed Charisma check against the creature, and if it fails it must move out of your path if you come within 10 feet of it.

A creature can attempt to overcome this repellent effect, such as by trying to cross a barrier or attack a creature brandishing the item. If it succeeds a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw , it can ignore the repulsion from that particular item – and anything similar within 30 feet – for one hour. If they fail, their turn ends and they cannot try again in that area for a day.

However, if a creature is attacked in any way by a creature protected by a repellant item, it can freely ignore the repellant effect as if it had succeeded its saving throw.

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Aberrations

Aberrations are hurt and repelled by jade. 

Celestials

Celestials are repelled by burning oil.

Fey

Fey are repelled by the sound of chiming clocks for as long as the chimes ring. This was always the case, even before Amrou appeared in the night sky, but the plane’s influence has strengthened the effect. 

The ticking of a small pocketwatch will bother but not actually repel anyone. A grandfather clock chime affects a 30 foot radius, and something the size of a clocktower toll affects hundreds of feet. Experts on the Dreaming suspect that this is because that plane has an unsteady flow of time, and the presence of a clock forces time into a specific pace.

Whirring gears often repel fey in Risur, though many fey in other parts of the world have no problem with gears, nor any sort of non-timepiece technology, suggesting that the reaction is based either on what the fey believe, or what the people in those lands think the fey believe.

In addition to these more concrete defenses, fey still respond to the same favors they always did. Leaving out offerings of food or milk can earn small boons, or simply attract cats.

Fiends

Fiends are repelled by salt and by brandished holy symbols. They also are repelled by ringing bells the same way fey are repelled by chiming clocks, with larger bells affecting a wider area.

Holy water still hurts fiends, but that is due to its own magical properties, not because of Amrou.

Gold hurts fiends, but only if it is a pound or more (worth at least 50gp). If a fiend is damaged this way, it cannot teleport for one round. However, after a strike damages a fiend, the gold turns to lead.

Undead

Undead are repelled by salt, and can be repelled by brandished holy symbols the same as fiends.

Holy water still hurts undead, but that is due to its own magical properties, not because of Amrou.