How To Make A Horror Monster?

[Vorgoth]

Ive been wanting to make a horror monster for my d&d campaign but I don't want my party of 4(A dragon born(fire breath weapon) paladin/sorcerer hybrid class, a eladrin assassin , a elf wizard , and a eladrin bard.) Killing it straight of the bat.

NOTE: Monster was made by a abyssal warlock/necromancer(The Big bad) s to kill the party

So any help?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Ive been wanting to make a horror monster for my d&d campaign but I don't want my party of 4(A dragon born(fire breath weapon) paladin/sorcerer hybrid class, a eladrin assassin , a elf wizard , and a eladrin bard.) Killing it straight of the bat.

NOTE: Monster was made by a abyssal warlock/necromancer(The Big bad) s to kill the party

So any help?

Quick questions:

• Which edition?
• What levels are the PCs?
• Do they regularly destroy CR-appropriate encounters? If so, have you tried throwing them tougher encounters, or wearing down their resources before big fights?

[Vorgoth]

4th edition
level 13(Just after the first encounter with the big bad.)
Yes Ive tried that but they are clever example at level 6 a lv 8 solo minotaur death knight was chasing them(they were supposed to run!!) so the dragon born unloaded the party's inventory on the minotaur knocking it out then the assain jumped down and cut the guys head off . Then the wizard and bard casted a dispel on the death knight finishing it off.( the bard added his bonuses to the wizards cast to dispel the spell keeping it alive.) Ive also tried wear them down they are clever

[Ninja_Prawn]

4th edition

Ah... afraid I won't be much help then. Good luck!

[GorinichSerpant]

The essence of horror is the unknown. So have this monster avoid getting in a straight up confrontation with them. Have it skuttle of hover or whatever it does at the edge of sight for a moment then vanish back into the tree line. Have it take pot shots at them in the night then run off before they can get to it. So they remain constantly awake waiting for it come out next. Have to screw around with the party like a cat plays with a mouse before going for the kill. The less they can actually figure out about it the scarier it will be.

As far as actual mechanics go, I couldn't tell as I don't know D&D 4e to well.

[Vorgoth]

Mabye its just I need to figure out howto prevent the party from using their cleverness to kill it.

[sakuuya]

Here's an old thread from the 4e subforum on using the edition for horror. It's full of good advice. I'd also add that if you're worried about your PCs just murdering it, try making your monster impossible to kill though damage alone, like liches. That way, if your PCs do go in guns blazing and manage to beat the thing, that just means they have fewer resources to deal with it again when it ambushes them during their next extended rest.

Also, don't base it on anything the players recognize. It doesn't matter if the PCs have never fought a troll, for instance; trolls aren't scary because players have seen them before and know their weaknesses. Therefore, either create a monster from whole cloth or use a piece of mythology or media your players aren't familiar with as a basis, and don't let its appearance give away how it can be fought.

A tactic that I usually don't like but which could work in a horror game is to include traps or monsters that drain healing surges or have attacks that deal no damage but count as failed death saving throws. If the party is consistently able to rest between encounters despite your efforts to the contrary (and you should be making efforts to the contrary, because horror thrives when PCs are low on resources) throw in something like that to even the playing field a bit.

[Vorgoth]

Thanks for the advice I might just do that and ill check the forum.