3.5 Monster Making For the Feebleminded

[The Vorpal Tribble]

So many folks message me to help them figure out how to do the crunch of their critters that I decided to put it all into a single page that I can just link them to.

Please feel free to suggest alterations.

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The basic monster stat-block for 3.5., A.k.A Joe Creature, has been stolen from Fax's page.

Name
SIZE & TYPE (SUBTYPE)
Hit Dice HD (Average HP)
Speed X ft. (X squares); ALT SPEEDS
Initiative: INITIATIVE
Armor Class X; touch X; flat-footed X
(AC DETAILS)
Base Attack/Grapple +X/+X
Attack Standard attack +X (damage, critical range/critical multiplier + additional damage)
Full-Attack Full attack +X/+X/+X (damage, critical range/critical multiplier +additional damage)
Space X ft.; Reach X ft.
Special Attacks
Special Qualities
Saves Fort +X Ref +X Will +X
Abilities Str X, Dex X, Con X, Int X, Wis X, Cha X
Skills
Feats
Environment
Organization Name (Number appearing)
Challenge Rating X
Treasure X gold; X gems; X art; X magical items
Alignment
Advancement by TYPE; Favored Class
Level Adjustment +X

Combat

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Size & Type

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Size comes in the following:
Fine (a gnat, bumblebee)
Dimunitive (chick)
Tiny (house cat)
Small (average dog)
Medium (human norm)
Large (bull)
Huge (elephant)
Gargantuan (humpback whale)
Colossal (blue whale, ultrasaurus etc)

Each of these sizes gets bonuses or penalties based on their size.

Attack
See here for size adjustments to attacks and scroll down to Table: Size Modifiers.

Grapple
For modifiers to grapple checks see here.

Special Size Modifier: The special size modifier for a grapple check is as follows: Colossal +16, Gargantuan +12, Huge +8, Large +4, Medium +0, Small –4, Tiny –8, Diminutive –12, Fine –16.

Hide
A creature larger or smaller than Medium also takes a size bonus or penalty on Hide checks depending on its size category: Fine +16, Diminutive +12, Tiny +8, Small +4, Large –4, Huge –8, Gargantuan –12, Colossal –16.

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Creature Types can be read about here.

The base types to choose from are...

Aberrations (mindflayers, aboleths, alien creatures in general)
Animals (standard not-magical creatures such as you find on earth)
Construct (normally any artificially constructed creature)
Dragon (you know about these)
Elemental (creatures composed of the energies of Air, Earth, Fire or Water, a mixture of any of these, such as a winter elemental would be air and water, or some other type of basic material)
Fey (nature spirits such as fairies and leprechauns)
Giant (usually very large, exceedingly strong man-like creatures such as Trolls and Ogres)
Humanoid (these are your standard humans and elves and other man-like, generally non-magical, creatures)
Magical Beast (alike to animals, but usually magical or sentient, such as unicorns, talking owls and the like)
Monsterous Humanoid (these are similiar to giants, but tend to be more a parody of the human form, or possessed of a beastial nature. Hags and centaurs and mers)
Ooze (these are primordial creatures that are not quite plant or animal with no set body structure, no skeletal system or even organs)
Outsider (beings from outside this realm of existence, normally those inhabiting the Outer Planes, such as the heavens and hells. Demons, devils and angels are your typical outsiders.
Plant (nuff said. If its mushroomy, tree-like or bushy, its probably a plant)
Undead (the remains of dead creatures that are animated by negative and/or evil energies into a pseudo-life, such as zombies and vampires)
Vermin (non-magical creatures alike to animals but are much more primitive with no intelligence to speak of, ruled only by pure instinct. Insects and arachnids and slugs and things)

Hit Dice & Hit Points

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Hit Dice
Alright, every creature has Hit Dice. For players, this generally means how many levels in a class they have. A human with 4 levels in Wizard has 4 Hit dice (HD).

Most creatures however don't have levels in any class.

Hit Dice come in d4, d6, d8, d10 and d12's. Which of these your creature has depends on what creature type it is (see Creature Types above and click the link to see what kind of Hit Dice your type has).

Now, once you have that, you determine how many Hit Dice it has. Usually the larger a creature is the more Hit Dice it has, but this is not always the case.

A newly hatched dragon for instance might have 3d12 hit dice. All dragons have d12 for hit dice, but the larger they are the more d12's they have.

The challenge rating, in general, is close to how many HD a creature has. So though it can vary wildly in some cases, in general you want to give a creature Hit dice equal to the Challenge Rating you are going for.

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Hit Points

Hit points are always shown as average for a creature. Your average joe as it were.

The formula for calculating average hit points are as follows:
Hit Dice x d#.5

So the 3d12 dragon mentioned above would be:
3 x 6.5

If another creature, say, a humanoid, had 3d8 hit dice, it would be:
3 x 4.5

d12 becomes 6.5
d10 becomes 5.5
d8 becomes 4.5
d6 becomes 3.5
d4 becomes 2.5, yadda yadda.

You then add on or subtract hit points based on the creatures Constitution modifier.

10 is you standard human normal. For every 2 points above that your modifier increases by 1, and for every 2 points below 10 your modifier decreases by 1.

So if you have a Constitution of 16, you have a modifier of +3.

Your 3d12 dragon would then multiple its 3 hit dice by its modifier of 3, for 9 bonus hit points.

So:
3 x 6.5 + 9 = 28

So this would be listed as:
Hit Dice: 3d12+9 (28 HP)

Initiative
Initiative is equal to your Dexterity modifier. Feats such as Improved Initiative can boost this.


Speed

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Speed is measured in feet. This is average power-walking speed for 6 seconds (or a move action). Human typical is 30 feet.

This speed is always measured by 5's. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, etc.

A dog is generally 40 feet, a swift horse 50, etc.

You then list how many squares this is. 5 feet is one square of movement, basically the space a normal human takes up or can reach.

So a human with a speed of 30 would be able to move 6 squares (30 divided by 5). It would thus be written in the stat block:
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)

You may move 4 times this speed as a full-round action.

There is also Burrow, Climb, Fly and Swim speeds.

Fly speeds have various degrees of maneuverability:
Clumsy (chicken)
Poor (vulture)
Average (raven, sparrow, etc.)
Good (hummingbird)
Perfect (ghost)

Armor Class

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Armor Class is 10 + Dexterity modifier in general. Most creatures though have some limited natural armor.

You then have listed a creature's touch and and flat-footed AC.

Touch AC is the armor class minus the bonus for manufactured armor, natural armor, and shields.

Flat-Footed AC is the armo class minus the dexterity modifier.

So a creature with a Dexterity of 12 and natural armor of 4 would be listed thusly:
Armor Class: 15 (+1 dexterity, +4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 14

Base Attack & Grapple

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Base Attack
Base Attacks increase as one gains Hit Dice. Exactly how well one's base attack increases depends on their creature type (see the link in Creature Types).

There are three base attack:

1/2 Hit Dice
3/4 Hit Dice
Full Hit Dice.

A creature type with 1/2 hit dice means that whatever their HD is, their Base Attack is half that. A fey creature has 1/2 hit dice, so if it had 6 HD it would have a base attack of +3.

A dragon on the other hand has full base attack progression. So if it was a 6 HD dragon it would have a base attack of +6.

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Grapple

Grapple checks are your Base Attack + Strength Modifier + Size Modifier if any.

Attack & Full Attack

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Attack

You put your main attack here. Attacks are generally melee, range or touch.

Melee is attack with a weapon you wield, or that is a part of you, such as a claw.
Ranged attack is shooting a projectile (bow or sling) or throwing something (dagger, rock...)
Touch can be either melee or ranged and ignores physical obstructions (See Armor Class above).

Melee attacks are generally Base Attack + Strength Modifier + Size Modifier.
Ranged and Touch attacks are generally Base Attack + Dexterity Modifier + Size Modifier.

See weapon specifics to make certain. A dagger for instance can be both used as a melee or a ranged weapon.

Feats such as Weapon Finesse lets you use your dexterity modifier in place of strength with certain melee weapons.

The damage of the weapon is indicated in the book. You may deal additional or less damage equal to your strength modifier generally.

So, for example, your attack would be labeled:
Claw +6 melee (1d4+1)

The 1d4+1 is how much damage the claw attack does. So roll a single d4 and add 1 to whatever you get for full damage.

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Full Attack

If the above says Claw, here is where you mention there are 2 claws +6 melee (1d4+1). Perhaps you have a bite as well. Secondary attacks are generally at a -5 penalty.

So while the claws may be +6 melee, the bite would be +1 melee. The Multiattack feat would increase the bite attack to +4.

If your fellow only has a single attack, say only a bite which deals 1d6 points of damage, you would add 1 1/2 times the strength modifier. So if you have a strength of 14 you would normally do +2 extra damage, but in this instance you add half again as much, for +3 extra damage.

Space/Reach

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Space

Space is how much room a creature takes up.

Fine and Dimunitive creatures take up no space for all intended purposes. Could have hundreds in a single square, and when it comes to swarms, there usually are.

Tiny creatures take up 2 1/2 feet of space. In other words, two may fit into a standard 5-foot square.

Medium creatures take up 5 ft.

Large creatures take up 10 ft.

Huge creatures take up 15 ft.

Gargantuan creatures take up 20 ft.

And Colossal creatures take up 25+ ft. There is no real set limit to how big a creature may be.

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Reach
Reach is how far a creature can stretch itself out to touch or attack something. Unlike space, reach can vary wildly.

Fine, Dimunitive and Tiny creatures however almost never have a reach at all, and are listed as 0 ft.

Small-Medium creatures, in general, have a reach of only 5 ft. However, such creatures as, for example, a Tsochar from Lords of Madness is small-sized but has a 15 ft. reach, able to reach incredibly far with its tentacles.

Large creatures, like bison for example, while taking up 10 ft. of space, only have a reach of 5 ft. They can only reach with their heads, while being mostly body, so don't have much of a reach.

Reach therefore tends to be at the discretion of the maker.

Special Attacks
If the creature has an ability that has potential to do damage, it goes here. This includes, spells, powers and psi/spell-like abilities even if none of them do anything potentially harmful.


Special Qualities
Every other ability goes here. Darkvision, scent, resistances, damage reduction, anything that doesn't belong in attacks.


Saves

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Saves are what you roll to fight off some kind of effect or to evade it entirely. Poisons and disease to leaping out of the way of an explosion.

There are two types of saves. Good and Poor. Every creature type has mentioned what their saves would be. To find what a good or poor save is, look at any character class progression. The low number for the class is the poor save, the high number the good save. No matter what the class is, they are always the same.

So if you have a creature with two good saves and one bad save, look at a class to see what each would be for your creature's HD or use this method:
* Good: 2 plus 1/2 of HD
* Poor: 1/3 of HD

An Outsider for example has all good saves. So all saves are equal and of the higher numbers.

A construct however has all poor saves. So all saves are equal, but of the low numbers.

A humanoid has one good save (Reflex) and two poor saves (Fortitude and Will). So a humanoid would apply the good save for its HD to reflex, and the poor save for its HD to the other two.

The three saves are as follows...

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Fortitude
Fortitude aids you in battling off affects that are physical in nature. Poisons, disease, blood-loss, surviving extreme temperatures, physically-affecting spells, these are all fortitude saves.

Your constitution modifier is generally added on to your base fortitude save.

You may increase your fortitude save with feats such as Great Fortitude.

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Reflex

Reflex saves aids you in avoidance. Dragon's breath weapon, area affects, and similiar all require reflex saves.

Your dexterity modifier is generally added on to your base reflex save.

You may increase your fortitude save with feats such as Lightning Reflexes.

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Will
Will helps you to resist things that attempt to influence your mind or are mental in nature. Mind-affecting effects, telepathy, mental intrusions, all these can be fought off by a strong will.

Your wisdom modifier is generally added on to your base will save.

You may increase your will saves with feats such as Iron Will.

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There are a number of additional feats that allow you to use another modifier for your saves.

Force of Personality allows you to use your Charisma modifier in place of your Wisdom modifier on Will saves.

Insightful Reflexes allows you to use your Intelligence modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier on Reflex saves.

Steadfast Determination allows you to use your Constitution modifier in place of your Wisdom modifier on Will saves.

Abilities

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There are six abilities, three physical and three mental.

The three physical ability scores are Strength, Dexterity and Consitutiton.

Strength
Strength is how physically strong you are. You add strength modifiers to attack rolls (normally anyways. See Dexterity below), grapple rolls, skills such as Climb and Swim and many others. Strength also dictates how much you are capable of carrying and moving. See Carrying Capacity.

Dexterity
This is a mixture of your natural agility and manual deftness. This means it applies as much to being able to walk a tight rope as to threading a needle. Kinda dumb, but whatchagonnado? You add your dexterity modifier to attacks rolls only if you have the Weapon Finesse feat. Skills such as Balance, Sleight of Hand, and Tumble use dexterity modifiers.

Constitution
Like dexterity this is a mixture of various physical abilities. It is an indication of your physical toughness, staying power to continue doing strenuous exertions, and general healthiness. Constitution helps you to run for long distances, ward off disease and tolerate extremes of climate. Concentration is the only skill that uses a Constitution modifier.


The three mental scores are Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma

Intelligence
Intelligence is how quickly and thoroughly you learn and grasp complexities and abstracts. Intelligence grants you bonus skill points and extra languages. Skills such as Craft, Decipher Script, and all the branches of Knowledge are aided by Intelligence.

Wisdom
Wisdom is indication of your awareness of the world and your place within it. Perception, insight, and discernment all are attributed to wisdom. Skills such as Listen, Spot, and Sense Motive are aided by Wisdom.

Charisma
Charisma is your strength of personality and/or physical attractiveness. This allows you to influence the attitudes of others, be it to cause nervousnes or to charm and soothe. Skills such as Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate are aided by Charisma.

Skills

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All creatures with an intelligence score has some minimal ammount of knowledge. This may be imparted through experience, teachings, or pure instinct.

There are two types of skill types. Racial and Class.

Racial
If a creature has racial hit dice, i.e. any hit dice not granted from a class, they have skill that they have a natural affinity for. Each creature type naturally has a larger or smaller capacity for learning. See the link in Creature Types above to see how many racial skill points they are granted.

Any skills granted by racial hit dice are considered to be both class and trained skills. See below.


Class
See Character Classes to find out what are skills for your class and how many are granted.

Everything else is explained here in Skills.

Note: Humans gain 4 extra skill points at first level and 1 extra every level thereafter.

Feats

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Feats are special abilities, natural proclivities, or just general special knowledge that help define every creature.

You gain 1 feat at first level (or Hit Die) and another at 3rd level and every third level thereafter (1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th, etc).

If you have racial Hit Dice and then take a level in a class you do not gain an additional 'first level' feat. You do however gain an extra feat at 3rd level in a character class.

Note: Humans gain 1 extra feat at first level.

Here are some links to help you out:
Basic Feat Info
Standard Feats
Feats for Monsters
Feats from the majority of other Wizards supplements

Environment

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Enviroment is where a creature's natural territory is. Where it has adapted to survive and even thrive. Some creatures may wander from their standard lands, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Environment comes in both Climate and Terrain.

Climate
Climate is the range of temperature range the terrain tends to.

Cold - This climate is frigid year round with very little seasonal variations if any. Any climate below 40 degrees fahrenheit is generally considered Cold.

Warm - This climate is lush year round. 70 degrees Fahrenheit is generally considered Warm.

Temperate - This climate varies, depending on its season, though generally tends not to go to the extremes of cold or warm, but shifts moderately between the two. Summers rarely go above 100 degrees and winters tend to remain above 0.


Terrain
Aquatic - Open bodies of water such oceans, seas, rivers and lakes
Desert - Dry, often desolate land.
Forest - An area covered in a profusion of large plant growth upon relatively solid land
Hills - A mixture between mountains and plains, normally covered in low-growing plants such as grasses and weeds with only the occassional tree or tall bush.
Marsh - A mixture of land and water, often filled with plant-life much as the forest.
Mountains - Land that rises in stoney peaks above the sea line, often possessing steep cliffs and ravines.
Plains - generally flat land normally covered in low-growing plants such grasses and weeds with only the occassional tree or tall bush.

Special
Underground - Underground temperatures tend to stay at a temperate constant and rarely require climate distinguishers.

Exceptions to this are ice caverns with are Cold Underground, and magma pockets or any area so deep that it is nearing the molten section of the planet (if any) which become Warm Underground.


Many creatures may vary between climates and terrains. A creature for instance may live on forested mountains in the cold and temperate bands. Their terrain would thus be labeled:
Cold or temperate forests and mountains.

Rarely a creature has an enviroment of Any. These go to such things as Golems who are to be found wherever their creator is.

Creatures found outside of the Material have their plane listed in the enviroment line instead of terrain and climate.

Specific Terrain Examples

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Deserts
Warm deserts are the typical blasted landscapes of sand and rock.
Cold deserts may be ice or snow fields that no longer snow.

Forests
Jungle (warm forest)
Boreal (cold forest)

Marsh
Tundra (cold marsh)

Plains
Savannah (warm plains)
Snow field or dry tundra (cold plains)

Organization

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This is the numbers the creatures are normally found together. Some are loners, others almost always in herds, others a bit of both.

Lions for instance might be labeled:
Organization: Solitary, Mates, Trio, Pride (4-8).

Challenge Rating

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A challenge rating is how tough an encounter with this beast will be. Generally a creature of, say, a CR of 5 should be a standard challenge for a party of 4-5 5th level characters. To defeat this creature will cause them to use up roughly 1/4th to 1/3 their daily resources such as spells, potions, etc. This depends on the build of the party, their items, terrain, and many other factors, but in general it is more or less accurate.

Figuring out this challenge rating is the real fun part, and probably the most challenging bit of monster making. Its as much guestimating as anything, and there are no true rules to determine it exactly. Here is the closest method I've been able to come up with, though creatures with an enormous ammount of hit points or really low-leveled creatures will still be innacurate. The best way is to play-test the creature with parties of varying CR and find out which one most closely fits. Here though is the guestimator method:

#1. Divide creature's average HP by 4.5 to 6.5.
4.5 for 5 HD or lower, 5 for 6-10 HD, 5.5 for 11-15 HD, 6 for 16-20 HD., 6.5 for 20-25 HD.

#2. Add 1 for each five points above 10 its AC is, subtracting 1 for every 5 below.

#3. Add 1 for each special attack (+2 to +5 or more if its got a decent number of spells in its spell-like abilities).

#4. Add 1 for each quality unless you deem it worthy of more. Add 1 for each resistance and 10 points of DR it has, and 2 for each immunity. Subtract 1 for each vulnerability.

#5. Add 1 for every two bonus feats it has.

#6. Divide total by 3. This should be its rough CR.

Treasure

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This is the wealth a creature normally has upon them or has hidden in the lair. Most animals, vermin, ooze and other unintelligent beasts have none. Those such as dragons however can have vast hoardes.

Treasure normally comes in Gold, Gems, Magical Items and Goods.

Here is the table for determining how much a creature should have based on their CR and treasure ammount.

Some creatures may have Double or even Triple listed for their treasure. Just x2 or x3 what a normal beast of its CR would therefore have.

Some may have only Standard Goods, or Standard Gems, meaning the only treasure they have on them is goods or gems. Others may have half-standard, meaning they got a little, but not much.

Alignment

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Alignment is what general moral outlook a creature has. Details can be found here.

Creatures with intelligence scores of 2 or less almost always have an alignment of Neutral. Exceptions to this include such beings as constructs crafted in the Outter Planes where they are made of tangible good or evil and thus have that alignment.

Advancement

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Some creatures can be naturally tougher and larger than most of their kind. You thus list how large and/or tough they can get.

A beast might normally be Medium with 4 HD. Its advancement might look like this:

Advancement: 5-10 HD (Medium), 11-15 HD (Large)

This means that it can be advanced even in size. A creature gains both positive and negative aspects by increasing its size. Details on advancing a creature can be found here.

Man-like creatures and some others advance only 'by character class'.

Level Adjustment

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Going to be lazy and just straight quote the Monster Manual:

This line is included in the entries of creatures suitable for use as player characters or as cohorts (usually creatures with Intelligence scores of at least 3 and possessing opposable thumbs). Add this number to the creature’s total Hit Dice, including class levels, to get the creature’s effective character level (ECL). A character’s ECL affects the experience the character earns, the amount of experience the character must have before gaining a new level, and the character’s starting equipment.

Unintelligent creatures always have a listed LA of -

Between this bit and Combat you list the creature's description. Then you add another bit detailing its behavior, way of life, customs and peculiarities. Next you list the general dimensions of the creature, generally how tall and long, and then its weight. Lastly you mention what languages it speaks.

[Zeta Kai]

This SO needs to be Sticky.

[jindra34]

Agreed. This is a vital thing to sticky.

[TheThan]

I third the motion for a sticky!

[Closet_Skeleton]

Or merged into the already stickied Fax's Guide to homebrewing.

[Fax Celestis]

I'm linking it in the Guide already. I'd prefer a merge to another sticky, considering the number of stickies existant on this forum.

[belboz]

Hit Points
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You then add on or subtract hit points based on the creatures Constitution modifier.

10 is you standard human normal. For every 2 points above that your modifier increases by 1, and for every 2 points below 10 your modifier decreases by 1.

Very minor nitpick: 10-11 both count as standard human normal (all-3d6 will give you a 10.5 average), and for every two points below *11*, your modifier decreases by 1 (9 constitution gives you a -1 modifier, even though it's only 1 point below 10).

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Very minor nitpick: 10-11 both count as standard human normal (all-3d6 will give you a 10.5 average), and for every two points below *11*, your modifier decreases by 1 (9 constitution gives you a -1 modifier, even though it's only 1 point below 10).

Heh, alright, will adjust

Edit: Where did I write that btw... I can't seem to find it.

Btw, feel free to merge, Fax.

[belboz]

It's in Post 2, in the "Hit Dice and Hit Points" spoiler. Pretty near the end of it.

[Light-Hero]

I vote for STICKY

[Roland St. Jude]

Sheriff of Moddingham: Thread necromancy.