Monster Statistics Explained for Dungeons and Dragons 5e 

One topic we didn't cover here were the rules for Legendary Creatures! We'd love to cover these "boss" monsters in-depth in an upcoming video, so we would love to hear your questions, suggestions, and problems regarding using these special monsters!

The amount of nodding kelly does is actually incredible

Something that may be helpful for new DMs running those early monsters. Orcs, kobolds, goblins, etc all tend to have one special ability in addition to attacking and that ability kind of tells you how to use the monster. Orcs have "aggressive" which allows them to sprint at an enemy as a bonus action meaning they are going to be able to close to melee and get in the fight quickly. Goblins, on the other hand, can disengage as a bonus action meaning they are going to use hit and run tactics and not stick in melee long enough to get chopped up by the barbarian. This trend with monster abilities continues through the whole MM, but it can be harder to see with higher CR monsters that have several abilities.

On the topic of movement speeds, I screwed up the first time around when my Wizard player got hold of the Fly spell, since I thought that movement speeds stacked they just went crazy with it. After I found out that it DOESN'T stack I had my players do a vote: keep it as is (for both players and monsters) or go with the standard rules. The vote was overwhelmingly "keep it as is" because by that point the Rogue had found an armor that gave him a swimming speed and the ability to breath underwater, so with Fly he's covering a good 150 feet per turn, and most of the other PCs are in the range of 80-100 feet of movement per turn as well. Well, okay, we played like that for about another two months, then I brought in their first major challenge: an Adult Blue Dragon, and this sucker can burrow, fly, AND run, so after it erupted from under them, ran to the cleric, kill him, then fly to the Wizard in the sky and kill her as well, everyone was like "uhhhhh... is it too late to change the movement speed rules?" So I put up the vote again, but lo and behold, it was an UNANIMOUS "keep it as it is" vote. Turns out everyone just enjoys the high-risk high-reward battles of the huge movement speeds.

A friend made a dungeon using all good aligned creatures, using their alignment as a hint that the person they were sent after isn't actually a bad guy, it was a very interesting dungeon crawl!

My DM last game put 4 chain devils (5 chain devils?) with 2 or 3 ice devils in front of our 7th level party of 5. He assumed we would flee, but he made the mistake of giving the chain devils hostages they were dragging off. Can't leave some poor folks to the devils! We attacked to free the hostages. Even with a surprise round, 4 crits from our rogue, emptying a wand of magic missiles and a staff of thunder and lightning we only succeeded in killing 2 devils. Some times you gotta let the good people get eaten it turns out!

First I want to say THANK YOU, I know how much work goes into making videos like this when done as well as you guys do it.

Great vid guys, you guys have helped me out so much, my 11 yr old son got me back into D&D last yr, I used to play & DM alot, but that was 30 yrs ago! Kelly & Monty have helped me alot in getting back into DMing for my son & friends, I'd forgotten how fun it is!! Thanks.

My biggest issue with combats is remembering legendary actions. I usually forget until the creature is almost dead or right before it's turn. Very frustrating!

Thanks so much for going into how CR works. As a new DM in general, I was always afraid of setting encounters where the CR is too high due to the party being relatively low level (level 3) but, they seemed to waltz through most of the fights (of equal CR) without much issue. Now I think I'll be more confident to include tougher encounters that actually seem like a real challenge.

Just when I think I know the game, I watch one of your videos and realize what a total amateur I am. Great information!

I'm so very proud to see you in that shirt! I love both you guys keep up the great work and the great hair!

Something happened? the sound, image and Kelly's hair are amazing! upgraded the studio?

This is such a helpful video & I think it’s my favourite so far. Honestly, I expected you to just give all the obvious info about, & simply read from, the monster manual; but all these hints & tips are fantastic! Way to put the effort in, & help create better DMs (like me)!

The shirt that Kelley's wearing is pretty dope.

Great video guys! I'm glad to hear your sentiments on the wobbly nature of CR. I felt the same way since I looked through the 5e rules. 6 to 7 combat encounters a day seems ridiculously high unless you're running an old school module with foes literally behind every dungeon door. Besides bumping up monster hit points, I like to take a suggestion from a previous video and give monsters little minions. I've also been a fan of giving some monsters class levels (although I haven't tried this much in 5e yet). A simple goblin becomes much more dangerous when they have a level in barbarian and can rage, while their shaman has a few levels in druid.

Very insightful. Like how you guys brake-down how stat bloks work and clues that can inform ways to roll play a critter...

Super job as always. It's a little real work to put those monster stats to memory and I've seen that those innate abilities are often what gives a particular creature it's "kick" so to speak. Also, it always makes sense when a monster's location really does work and fit. Environments you'd guess they'd live in and that sort of thing. I recently designed an old pyramid, much smaller than those in Egypt, and I paid particular attention to what I put at each level. Also, when using monsters, it's always good to describe as many senses apply. You might not see a gelatinous cube very easily unless it's fed recently but you might notice an acidic smell not unlike vinegar not to mention that stone surfaces may be unusually clean once it's passed by. You may also come upon what looks like acid-washed pieces of plate mail without any leather straps to hold it together. Little indirect hints and clues that make using a monster kind of fun. Awesome video guys (dudes)!

You guys always do an excellent job! Even as a long-time player and DM, I still pick up several very usable strategies from your videos. Keep up the great work. Thanks.

Great video, I liked how you both touched on everything listed in the stats and also did it in an organized way

My party had a battle not long ago against a couple of manticore. After the first one was dead and the second was near death, it tried to fly away. Then our bard cast sleep and put it out mid escape flight.. so the DM described how the beast dropped to the ground and landed on its head, and snapped its neck. I've never seen a sleep spell be so fatal. Haha.

Good show, as a relatively new DM (1 year) I throw cr completely out the window, and only use the stat block as a starting point for my game. I rarely if ever use the monster in the MM as printed. Ogre has 68 hp? nah mine need 134 hp. Goblins cant cast spells? this goblin was dipped in the sacred pool of Alamonor the wise and can now cast 4th level spells at will. To me game balance isn't important, but a memorable villain and interesting story is. Ive found that often op players/monsters/magic items are exactly what DnD is about. Cheers and happy gaming all!

My favourite past time when I was younger reading Advanced D&D and even My favourite edition 3.5.. One encounter in our campaign was a troll wearing magical full plate armour and had fire brand so that it was only vulnerable to acid

Both of your shirts make me proud

I had my players fighting demons, and amongst them were vrocks. Our mage was fighting from behind the group, so I had the vrock leap over the group to get to the spell caster.

I really appreciate how every video of y'all's I've seen so far does a good job of explaining everything for someone like me who knows nothing.

Thank you for doing these guides, Dudes, they are fun, informative and well made :D

Thanks guys, your videos have been a big help. I have been playing dnd for almost a year now (once or twice a month) and am working on my first dm session. I'm doing a harry potter themed one off and am worried about balancing enemies and running all these things at one time. Each of your videos helps me think of something in a different way or helps me add to my game (and future games).

You guys have done an outstanding job of breaking down the stat blocks here!

Great video guys :) I have found your videos on these things make my game much more enjoyable :)

Love the rainbow &. D&D has come such a long way. Very proud of this community.

This video made everything click for me. It's like struggling to understand a new language but then it finally clicks and it all makes sense. Thank you so much! You've spared me future headaches.

Amazingly good exploration of stat blocks. A great reference, a great explanation and a great lesson in how to make them come to life.

excellent videos guys. I'm now a subscriber. looking forward to more advice and deep dives.

Thanks for the great clear explanations. Good work.

This was AWESOME! Both as an insightful, inspirational video for new DMs pull their monster-challenge-history together, as a very useful guide as well even for long time DMs who as any human can't remember all details from 500+ pages of every edition hahaha. Thanks very very very much for your work! (Also I want to thank you for your over the top eloquence and diction, as I have hearing-understanding dificulty -and am a brazilian- I often need subtitles to understand english speakers, but with you two speaking I don't, and that is lovely to hear it perfecfully :D )

You guys briefly touched on monsters using the environment to their advantage, and if anything the monster probably knows the environment better than the players. I’ve had a few instances of this kind of thinking in my games recently, and the party was awestruck. My party were fighting 4 ropers in their lair, the party was level 12 at the time and laughed them off, that is until the ropers retreated to an underground ravine. Moments later our ranger found himself off the cliff edge dangling from a roper who was using him as a shield. A good shot with an eldritch blast from our Warlock killed the creature sending it and the Ranger straight down into the ravine. The only reason the Ranger survived was his amazing death saves combined with quick thinking from our druid. Less interesting was their encounter with two storm giants and a roc at level 14, but it was still quite dangerous. The giants were fighting over access to a temple on the mountain top, the party intervened on behalf of the protector of the temple. Within two rounds the one giant was feeling it, so he began using the beautiful courtyard’s pillars as weapons, toppling and throwing them at the party. His mount, a raven-like roc swooped down and grabbed our paladin, ascending as high as it could go in a turn and then dropped him, repeating this to the warlock next turn. Needless to say, a pretty rough fight ensued, and the party still fondly looks back to it, even if some of them got kind of crippled.

This is timely. A friend of mine is looking to run a game and isn't familiar with the 5e monsters. He's much more familiar with the 1st-ed AD&D stat blocks. He asked for some advice which I happily gave. Then I passed along the link to the video. Thanks, D&Dudes.

I homebrew all my monsters stats. I use the Monster Manual as a guide only. I generally bump up damage and health, or even give them extra abilities. For instance I gave Merrow a good amount more health. Up'd their modifier for damage by 1 and chance to hit by 1. Up'd the damage a little bit. Gave them a new ability with their harpoon to utilize the chain they are always shown with in their hand. On hit the target must make a str save or be pulled 20ft towards the Merrow. The Merrow also has advantage on any athletics checks pulling on the harpoon chain. Also upon hit with the harpoon the target bleeds for 1d6+1 bleed damage each of their turns at the start of said turn until they make an athletics check to remove it as an action. ------ these changes resulted in me bumping Merrows up to a CR5.

Great idea for a video! I've seen lots of in-depth videos about particular monster types but not a more general look at monsters and how to use them like this.

HOW did you forget undead? :p I'm so glad they remembered. Their reaction was priceless.

I've always had to use trial and error for combat economy so I really appreciate this video. People like me need this sort of thing spelled out :P

You guys just made me realize what ive been doing wrong and now im super excited for my next session!

Thanks for your videos as they are awesome and love the t-shirt Kelly is wearing Cheers guys

Hey dudes. A very helpful video. Question : Do you guys play with minis ? Battlemats ? Theater of the mind ? I am going to start using minis and terrain.. any tips on DMing with minis ?

Awesome video as always

Cool breakdown on monsters' stat blocks. It'll definitely help in my RP'ing monsters for the current arc my party is in, since they're crossing the south border from their PHB race dominant Empire, into the monster dominant wildlands. Also, I found it hilarious that you guys listed the monster types off the top of your heads when you _literally had the Monster Manual right in front of you!_ XD

Thank you for another great vid. I always feel like I am getting a D&D lesson from Liev Schreiber.

Holy shit that last sound sting needed to be volume levelled to the rest of the video. That was painfully LOUD.

Another element to consider is rewards or loot for specific enemies. Lamia’s are supposed to survey their territory through scrying so maybe have a mirror that gives advantage or negates disadvantage on that spell.

Awesome video

I remember the panic from my players when one of them got grabbed by an Ankheg and dragged underground and then the others had to try and crawl into the hole left behind to get line of sight and shot it in the ass before it goes too far. XD

I continue to enjoy these presentations

Thank you, Including monsters are one of my biggest difficulty DMing. Plus I really want that shirt, but with Kelly in it lol

Awesome shirt, Kelly. :)

thank you that was very very helpful

If Kelly is the "Crit Fail" here (as in the opening name plates) - he's the kind of crit fail from that comic where the dude tries to intimidate an orc and ends up meeting his future orc husband!

Just to reiterate: You've got more room than you think. My first campaign (with 3 other players who had never played before) had to fight a bone devil (CR9) our 3rd/4th session ever. We were level 2 and one of our party members was fighting us under the bone devil's control. So 3 2nd level v CR9. Our DM did throw us a level 10 cleric as a helper (only because 2 of us went looking for one) but we still won that (long, difficult) fight. But yea, makes a great story for us, and we did manage. Before you blame the DM for giving us something too over powered, the fighter (the one under the bone devil's control) failed 12? 15? constitution STs in one night, which made the bone devil manifest. It was supposed to be a long arc of the campaign that lasted for several weeks in game time, while we were doing some dungeon crawling to help us level up and learn more.

You did a battle tactics vid and in this one you suggest fixing monster hits if the party are smart and focus damage. Most importantly the section on stats and the save section does not cover the most unexplained part of the stat block. Cr4 + gives a base save or skill modifier of +2, which increases by +1 for every extra 4 CR levels, base saves and skills are modified by the stat modifier ( + Or - )whereas if it is listed use that number.

This is one of the most useful videos I've ever watched as a DM. Monsters and encounters have always been a weak point of mine.

Hey Dudes. I like the emphasis you put on having a story for your monster. On that topic, do you have any favorite books for getting into the monster's head? For me, it's Grendel, by John Gardner, retelling Beowulf. The book practically does psychic damage.

This is the best Video out there !!

I see that Cypher chest back there! Have you guys played Cypher yet? I'd love a video (series?) on it! It's my current obsession.

one of my favorite tactics is to have kobolds or goblins armed with molotov cocktails when fighting in a dungeon setting with the floor covered with a flamable substance

Any chance of a video to guide DM's on creating the right level of challenge for players. What does CR for monsters mean? Hints and tips please :)

At 20:35 they start to break down what CR (challenge rating) is. I didn't know about this prior to the video and hope that others find this information as useful as I did.

On the topic of CR: in the most recent session I ran, I stationed a CR5 gladiator outside a city as a guard who would not allow anyone unworthy (small) into the city, thinking that he and half of the party (two halflings and a gnome) would duke it out while the other three (a Dragonborn, and elf, and a human) would enter unopposed. But after being insulted by the gladiator, the short tempered gnome attacked on his own. The rest of the party used this as a diversion to enter the city. One Lv 5 gnome barbarian does not stand a chance against a CR5 Gladiator on his own. Safe to say he was not allowed to enter the city

Yo where did Kelly get that shirt? I need that in my life

A pit fiend might be a one to one battle if a dark wizard is able to summon the monster, however you also might only have to temporarily fight one of them if a portal was opened and 10,000 pit fiends entered though the portal and attacked and burned down some one horse town, mysteriously leaving only one hut untouched. You could still only face one monster in both situations for different reasons but the character who confronted 10,000 of them would really be in for it, especially at about level 2.

for most natural beast and monsters (wolfs, dinosaurs, displacer beast, etc) i use a kind of moral system. if they take 25% of htey HP in dmg on one turn htey have a 50/50 change of deciding to flee. if they fall under 75% of their health they have a 25% chance to flee. if htey fall under 50% HP - 75% under 25% - they will flee ofc monster like undead and ohter stupid monsters or a monster that is just to slow to flee (e.g. Roper) or that may be cornered by the party will fight to the end.

What about being committed to the AC, and Hit bonus? I’ve had some creatures that seem to have absolutely no way of hitting a player

Holy moly, Kelly, I love that shirt, where can I get one?

This video's subtitle should have been "Monster Statistics ..." with the main title being about Kelly's awesome shirt.

I remember using the "have a little extra HP" rule to make a barbarian suffer a full on attack of a Paladin before being KOed. It was a "Guys, I can't take another hit like that" moment for the, so far confindent, barbarian.

I was just in a session (level 5) where the DM put us up against a Manticore that happened to be flying next to a tower. My monk started the combat hidden from the monster, and the DM let me wall jump up to hit it with a melee attack with the understanding that I would provoke an opportunity attack as I fell back to the ground. That wound up being a mistake... I was able to use two handed swings from my quarterstaff to stun the poor Manticore mid-flight, causing it to take falling damage. I followed up with two unarmed strikes. Our fighter than used action surge to hit it four times, one of which was a crit. So yeah... The Manticore died before it could take a turn

In addition to maxing/increasing HP, I also ensure that monsters that are supposed to be challenging, have a nice, high initiative roll.

Reading the lore and stat blocks of monsters has led to a potentially reoccurring side adventure/Character in a troll that has gained superior intelligence by consuming an exiled mind flayer. This troll has figured out that his kind can gain traits of the things they eat and is now in the process of hunting down monsters of all types to become stronger all the while building an army of followers. A throw away encounter in letting a smart troll live will lead to a problematic situation of the adventurers own creation.

Hi guys love your video! But I am having trouble with the stat block still! I understand for example the ancient black dragon when it says legendary resistance 3/day easy 3 uses per day but when it says acid breath recharge 5-6 I'm a little confused! does it mean 5 to 6 turns for it to recharge or does it mean a percentage dice? And if it is percentage is the higher or the lower the one I want? Sorry this is a very noob question XD regardless love the content and it is an amazing help I've been enjoying playing with my four friends and although it's not my intention to kill them as their DM but I do like to really challenge them making them feel like they have earned their victory!

Where can I get Kellys shirt?

I played and DMed back in 1989-91. Finally getting back in to it.One thing I miss in monster manual is number appearing. How (in 5e) do we determine how many monsters appear ?

I'm a bit confused on saving throws in the stat block. So for monsters that don't have saves listed, its prof bonus (based on CR) + ability mod right? but for those with saves listed it's prof bonus + ability mod + the listed bonus for that specific save?

Nice video LOVE all in the playlist and yours other videos . Still i love multi-classing as a wizard (or ) sorcerer as a first class then taking cleric second class and then advancing as a Mystic Theurge Love Mystic Theurge class "Blurring the line between divine and arcane, mystic theurges draw power from divine sources and musty tomes alike. While most spellcasters choose one path to magical power, mystic theurges walk two roads at once. Mystic theurges have unparalleled diversity of spells. In time, a mystic theurge can cast almost any spell. Mystic theurges are often obsessed with magical lore, traveling to the ends of the earth to learn some new arcane secret or divine insight. Mystic theurges tend to be fascinated with magic in whatever form it takes. They’re always on the hunt for powerful magic items and new arcane spells. Those mystic theurges who worship a deity use the power of their spellcasting to further their deity’s agenda." Even though the mystic theurge class has spell slots, it does not have any spells of its own. Instead, it boosts the spellcasting progression of other classes its users have. When determining the number of spells you can prepare for a spellcasting class, you can prepare spells as if you were a spellcaster of a level equal to your actual level in that class plus your mystic theurge level. When determining the number of spells known (including cantrips) for a spellcasting class, you can know a number of spells equal to the number of spells you would know if you were a spellcaster of a level equal to your actual level in that class plus your mystic theurge level. For example, if you were a 3rd-level cleric, 4th-level sorcerer, and 2nd-level mystic theurge, you would prepare cleric spells as if you were a 5th-level cleric, and you would know 4 cleric cantrips, since that is the number of cantrips that a 5th-level cleric would know. You would also know 5 sorcerer cantrips and 7 sorcerer spells of 1st level or higher, since that is the number of spells that a 6th-level sorcerer would know. Starting from 2nd level, when you cast a cantrip that deals damage, you add your spellcasting ability modifier to the damage roll if you don't already. When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th level, you can increase one ability score of you choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. When you reach 6th level, choose one metamagic option available to the sorcerer. You can use that metamagic option once without expending sorcery points. You regain the ability to use this metamagic option in this manner when you complete a long rest. Starting from 10th level, when you use your action to cast a spell of 5th level or lower, you can use your bonus action to cast a second spell of 5th level or lower with a casting time of 1 action or 1 bonus action. One spell must be from the spell list of an arcane spellcasting class , and the other spell must be from the spell list of a divine spellcasting class, but it does not matter which spell is cast first. Once you use this class feature, you can't use it again until you complete a long rest.

I'm STILL not getting the AC. If a pit fiend's AC is 19 w/o armor, why would full plate be an advantage? You would have to choose between the two, correct? If full plate is an AC of 18, why would any sensible DM use it? Far better just kitting it out with a shield.

That is a great shirt.

I played a Lawful Good Goblin Wizard named Zogg who disguise himself as a half-ling. Long back story. Named "Zogg" because that's goblin for "zounds!"

The only reason for alignment is as a general guide to role playing. It helps source pc or npc intentions and motivations. That’s about it

So you mentioned vulnerabilities. It's one thing that I kind of actively noticed was missing from the monster manual. In previous Edition I've Dungeons & Dragons you might have a red dragon that was immune to fire but was also vulnerable to cold. I don't think I've seen one creature that has a vulnerability unless I just am lazy and miss them which is a possibility. Are there any creatures with vulnerabilities in 5th edition?

One thing that I used to do is give my players the options to take some of these creatures and become more or less friends. Like the dragon who is the underling of the BBEG saying I'll come work for you if you dont kill me :/. Makes for weird situations and by the end of it as they friendship is magic their way through the campaign lol

useful? absolutely. interesting? extremely. can a beginner understand? just ask me. never played before. so much fun to learn all this stuff. great enthusiasm, and nice to listen to! one question i had is how often monsters and animals show up in a session. for example, i see in the book of animals an elk, a boar, a swarm of insects, etc. are these animals used in normal campaigns, or do some DMs like to focus on such natural encounters? just imagine me who has never played, and all of these creatures available! how do they fit in? (i am guessing that the big guys like dragons are more popular than say, meeting a hippopotamus or a mule) thank you for your kind ears, and in advance for any comments from the D Dudes themselves or others! (btw, im catching a Canadian accent. so many good vids about D&D by Canadians! bravo!)

Great stuff, as usual. But again, I would take issue with the way you're describing movement breakup. If a pit fiend walks 15 feet, that is HALF their movement, giving them another 30 feet of flight or 15 feet of walking. Just because they can F:Y at 60' per round doesn't make their 30' per round walking speed faster!

Hi thank you for the breakdown, would you be able to explain the bonus Atk at the bottom of the actions for each Atk? It just says "bonus attack +5". But I don't get it? Is that damage? To hit? :/ help would be appreciated

Hi, Fairley new to the game. I had a question that I feel you skipped over tail melee one target hit: 24 (3D10 +8) what's the 24 for.

great video as always ! I have a question for my upcoming adventure.. what would be a sensible reason for Sea Hag to have small band of Sahuagin under her thrall ? I am thinking like she stole their idol of their god, kidnapped a Saguagin priestess... Idea is, that there is coastal village, 2 girl twins and Sea Hag ofc wants them for the coven. Disguised (still incredibly hideous) she approached village and bargained for the girls. Villagers drove her off and so now, she is using enviroments and sahuagin to torment the village, to force to give up twins. I would love the Hag to have some kind of control over Sahuagin, but not being allies or her minions. Any advice dungeon senpais ? Thank you !

I'm gonna put a Beholder on a T rex body..... Beholdasaurus Rex!

I NEED KELLY’S T SHIRT!!!

I made a dragon try to fly away while sending some flunkies to cover its retreat. The sorcerer ignored the flunkies and blasted the dragon out of the sky! It was awesome...but then the flunkies killed her, which actually led to some pretty awesome RP as everyone tried to figure out how to get her resurrected. It also gave me a chance to break out some lore stuff...someone willing to resurrect her if she'd make a deal. I wasn't expecting her to die, but the results were pretty fun...and fair...and epic...and all because I took your advice and had the monster run away and she wasn't having it.

Most of the encounters I put the party through have been because a demon was trying to gain a foothold in the PM near where they have their base city. First mission was to determine why a town was being blighted (because a demon came through the farm land leaving behind an area of bought and decay) and they used a doppelganger, sight, and green bag to try and cause misery to the town. A member of the party that joined after was a spy for the demon... After many demonic ambushes it tried to kill them but failed, but that was only half of the story. What they don't know is a devil is also trying to do the same thing and they'll soon have to contend with her minions. Overall there have only been maybe 3 random encounters that were not tied to the story arc.

I have an entire sect of devils, demons, undead, and other typically evil creatures that are all good aligned. They're actually important to the party in their campaign against a corrupted, evil Palor and his evil angels.

Wait, wouldn’t a pit fiend in full plate have a lower AC since plate is 18 and pit fiend natural armor is 19?

Hrmhpf.. Our DM had us (4 X lvl 12 characters - druid, monk, fighter, barbarian) fight a CR ~23 beefed up Shadow Demon. Perpetual darkness, 30ft radius 16d6 psychic "breath weapon" with tight cave, lair action disable one magic item every round (fighters managed to keep their weapons luckily), escape blocked by impenetrable shadow wall, all rolls public. Edit: forgot fear that disabled the fighter for 5 rounds. Managed to kill it with 1 player death, who ragequit shortly after for "too difficult encounter". At least I know what CR means now, thanks!