Ultimate Guide to Creating Enemies as a New (Or Experienced) DM in Dungeons and Dragons
Creating and Balancing Enemies in D&D
Creating difficult, but still balanced enemies, as a Dungeon Master in D&D can seem difficult at first (and was extremely daunting when I first DMed for my group)
And before we begin... if you're in a rush, or simply don't feel like learning how to create enemies -- here's my easy and free enemy generator!
Using the Monster Manual
The Monster Manual is your first stop for creating enemies. It contains literally every creature you can think of, with predefined statistics that you can use directly or modify to suit your players. A common approach is to reskin or tweak existing monsters. For example, you might take a basic orc and alter its weapons or add special abilities to make it fit better into the narrative or setting of your campaign.
Here's an example of a basic bandit from the DND Beyond manual page
Understanding Challenge Rating (CR)
Almost every thread or discussion around enemies will involve the acronym CR or challenge rating
Here's how CR is defined in the monster manual itself on page nine: "An appropriately equipped and well-rested party of four adventurers should be able to defeat a monster that has a challenge rating equal to its level without suffering any deaths. For example, a party of four 3rd-level characters should find a monster with a challenge rating of 3 to be a worthy challenge, but not a deadly one"
Balancing Encounters
When designing encounters, consider your group's size and level. The basic formula for balancing is to ensure that the total CR of the monsters is comparable to the party's level and number. However, because of how player skill, equipment, etc factors in, the actual difficulty can vary. Tools like encounter calculators can help you estimate the challenge and make adjustments as needed.
Setting Enemy Health
Health or hit points (HP) are a crucial factor in determining how long an enemy can last in combat. A general guideline is to assign about 20 hit points per CR level. For instance, a CR 1 creature might have around 20 HP, while a CR 5 creature could have approximately 100 HP.
But I've found as a DM, sometime I over and under-estimate how much I should've given the creature. So I often find myself changing the enemy's HP on the fly
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