Bone Hunters (Homebrew Monster)

Hey all, i created these two undead monsters as something for my friend who is running a 5e game right now. I wanted to post them here and get input. Does everything seem correct? Any corrections, imbalances, suggestions?

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/90/aa/10/9...44cf61d995.jpg

BONE HUNTER
Medium undead
Lawful Evil

Armor Class 13 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 38 (5d10+10)
Speed 40 ft.

STR 16 (+3) DEX 16 (+3) CON 15 (+2) INT 6 (-2) WIS 8 (-1) CHA 5 (-3)

Skills Stealth +6

Damage Vulnerabilities Bludgeoning
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 4
Languages understands abyssal, common, but can’t speak
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Keen Smell. The Bone Hunter rolls advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell
Pack Tactics: The Bone Hunter has advantage on an Attack roll against a creature if at least one of the Hunter’s allies is within 5 ft. of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.

Actions
Bite Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 8 (2d4+3) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 11 Strength check or be knocked prone

http://media.wizards.com/images/magi.../ld132_rot.jpg


ALPHA BONE HUNTER
Medium undead
Lawful Evil


Armor Class 14 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 52 (7d10+14)
Speed 40 ft.

STR 18 (+4) DEX 18 (+4) CON 15 (+2) INT 8 (-1) WIS 8 (-1) CHA 5 (-3)

Skills Stealth +7
Damage Vulnerabilities Bludgeoning
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 4
Languages understands abyssal, common, but can’t speak
Challenge 1 (200)

Keen Smell. The Alpha Bone Hunter rolls advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell
Pack Tactics: The Alpha Bone Hunter has advantage on an Attack roll against a creature if at least one of the Hunter’s allies is within 5 ft. of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Dreadful Howl: The Alpha Bone Hunter releases a loud howl that shakes the soul. All enemies within 120 feet must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom Check or roll disadvantage on attacks against the Alpha Bone Hunter or other bone hunters for 1 minute or until out of sight of the Alpha Bone Hunter.

Actions
Bite Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 13 Strength check or be knocked prone

Over-all, this seems like a pretty reasonable monster. There are only a small amount of complaints I have about it...

1) Why are they not immune to necrotic damage? It seems like a pretty basic thing for undead to have.

2) the alpha bone hunter’s dreadful howl is much too overpowered. The fact that the PC’s are effected by this feature “until out of sight of the Alpha Bone Hunter” makes the whole pack much more difficult to fight. How frequently are you leaving an enemie’s line of sight during combat anyway? For my table, it is not a very common occurrence. You should really allow a target to make a saving throw every other turn, because if you do not a low level party is going to run away because they are at such a massive tactical disadvantage. And the save DC is much too high for a low level party, as The odds of them succeeding it are way too low. You should probably decrease the DC of dreadful howl and give the target a saving throw every turn if you actually want the PC’s fight them instead of squirming their way out of it. Unless, of course, you were trying to generate a horror element by making it so that these bone hunters are nearly impossible to beat if they have an alpha with them. Otherwise though, this feature needs some revisions.

Both of these are basically a direct copy of the MM Dire Wolf with a skeleton's vulnerabilities and immunities added to it.

Normal Bone Hunter should be CR 1, have a passive perception of 9, stealth of +5 (proficiency bonus would be +2, not +3), and require a strength saving throw (instead of a strength check) to resist being knocked prone. Given the Bone Hunter's strength modifier, it should have +5 to hit with its bite and a save DC of 13. Personally I'd drop it to 14 Strength for a Bite of +4, 2d4+2, DC 12 Str Save vs prone. It should have 37 HP, not 38 (round down for monsters' HP).

Alpha Bone Hunter should probably be CR 2 from its increased HP, extra immunities, and extra ability. I haven't run the math on it, but the bonuses it has over a default Dire Wolf are significant enough to deserve that increase. It's pretty similar in power to a CR 2 Ogre. Should have a passive perception of 9, stealth of +6 (proficiency bonus would be +2, not +3). Dreadful Howl should require a wisdom saving throw (not a wisdom check), and it should be a strength saving throw (instead of a strength check) to resist being knocked prone. Dreadful Howl should be an action, or part of a multiattack action coupled with a bite attack. With a strength modifier of +4, the Alpha Bone Hunter should have a +6 to hit and a save DC of 14. I'd drop it to 16 Strength for +5 to hit, 2d6+3, DC 14 Str Save vs prone.

Those are all the mechanical corrections that I'd apply. A lot of them are just modifiers not quite adding up right, and ultimately don't matter at all. The players won't see that the strength and proficiency don't actually sum to the attack bonus the enemy has, and they likely wouldn't care if they did know.


As a DM, I don't see any problems with the monsters as written. I'd probably change the howl to apply the Frightened condition for one minute, give a save at the end of each turn, and drop the DC to 14, but otherwise they look fine. I'd probably also drop their Dex to 14 and 16 (not changing their AC) so that they're not quite as good at passing Dex saves.

Given that both monsters are essentially the same thing, I'd probably throw in a few Death Dogs (MM 321) to change things up. A pack of these Bone Hunters would probably be an adequate challenge for a level 2-3 party. I'd hesitate to use them against a first level party, especially if an Alpha will be involved. They seem weak to ranged attacks, though their high movement speed helps alleviate that. I'd use them in terrain where they would be cover until they got within striking distance, or modify the Alpha to give it a ranged attack instead of its howl. Imbued with the chill of the grave, Alpha Bone Hunters may fire a freezing bolt at an enemy. Freezing Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d8) cold damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the end of its next turn.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jaelommiss

Both of these are basically a direct copy of the MM Dire Wolf with a skeleton's vulnerabilities and immunities added to it.

Normal Bone Hunter should be CR 1, have a passive perception of 9, stealth of +5 (proficiency bonus would be +2, not +3), and require a strength saving throw (instead of a strength check) to resist being knocked prone. Given the Bone Hunter's strength modifier, it should have +5 to hit with its bite and a save DC of 13. Personally I'd drop it to 14 Strength for a Bite of +4, 2d4+2, DC 12 Str Save vs prone. It should have 37 HP, not 38 (round down for monsters' HP).

Alpha Bone Hunter should probably be CR 2 from its increased HP, extra immunities, and extra ability. I haven't run the math on it, but the bonuses it has over a default Dire Wolf are significant enough to deserve that increase. It's pretty similar in power to a CR 2 Ogre. Should have a passive perception of 9, stealth of +6 (proficiency bonus would be +2, not +3). Dreadful Howl should require a wisdom saving throw (not a wisdom check), and it should be a strength saving throw (instead of a strength check) to resist being knocked prone. Dreadful Howl should be an action, or part of a multiattack action coupled with a bite attack. With a strength modifier of +4, the Alpha Bone Hunter should have a +6 to hit and a save DC of 14. I'd drop it to 16 Strength for +5 to hit, 2d6+3, DC 14 Str Save vs prone.

Those are all the mechanical corrections that I'd apply. A lot of them are just modifiers not quite adding up right, and ultimately don't matter at all. The players won't see that the strength and proficiency don't actually sum to the attack bonus the enemy has, and they likely wouldn't care if they did know.

As a DM, I don't see any problems with the monsters as written. I'd probably change the howl to apply the Frightened condition for one minute, give a save at the end of each turn, and drop the DC to 14, but otherwise they look fine. I'd probably also drop their Dex to 14 and 16 (not changing their AC) so that they're not quite as good at passing Dex saves.

Given that both monsters are essentially the same thing, I'd probably throw in a few Death Dogs (MM 321) to change things up. A pack of these Bone Hunters would probably be an adequate challenge for a level 2-3 party. I'd hesitate to use them against a first level party, especially if an Alpha will be involved. They seem weak to ranged attacks, though their high movement speed helps alleviate that. I'd use them in terrain where they would be cover until they got within striking distance, or modify the Alpha to give it a ranged attack instead of its howl. Imbued with the chill of the grave, Alpha Bone Hunters may fire a freezing bolt at an enemy. Freezing Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +5 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d8) cold damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the end of its next turn.

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I agree with this. The combo of nice damage, pack tactics, and knocking prone would be very bad for a low level party fighting them.

Thank you everyone for the feedback!

I generally recommend more experimentation with Vulnerabilities, Resistances, and Immunities. Three physical weapon damage types and ten magical damage types, so there's a lot with which to play. Since you already have bludgeon vulnerability, I'd add piercing resistance. And then I'd pick a third of the 10 magic types (3, or possibly 4, types) and juggle them between Vulnerability, Resistance, & Immunity.