Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Arithezoo Oct 09, 2014 9:59:41	The damage for high level monsters seems low to me.  It could be fine (I haven't used them yet, so I'd love to hear first hand accounts), but my first impression was that it isn't very scary.   A young black dragon (Challenge 7, Large) deals 2d10 damage with its bite and 2d6 with its claws.  It gets to add its Str mod of course for an extra 4 damage per attack, and the bite also deals 1d8 acid damage.   An adult black dragon (Challenge 14, Huge) still deals 2d10 damage with its bite and 2d6 with its claws.  While it has a higher Str mod (6), that isn't much.  And it still only deals 1d8 acid damage.  Its breath weapon is also deals only a bit more damage (though the DC is 4 higher).  Doesn't seem like much for an increase of 5 Challenge.   An ancient black dragon (Challenge 21, Gargantuan) STILL deals only 2d10 damage with its bite and 2d6 with its claws.  Str bonus has again gone up marginally (to +8).  At least the bite also now deals 2d8 acid damage.  The breath weapon also gets a modest boost, but still only deals 4d8 more damage than the adult (though the DC is much higher).  But again, doesn't seem like much considering an increase of 7 Challenge compared to the adult.   Characters are getting more HP with each level, and because Con mod is once again added each time the HP go up quite fast.  Having a monster deal only 2 more damage than a monster 5 Challenge lower (or 7 lower in the case of ancient vs adult) just doesn't seem right to me.  And even going beyond the metagame concept of Challenge, having a gargantuan creature deal the same base damage as a large creature doesn't seem right.   Assuming the young dragon is properly balanced for its Challenge, I would double the damage dice for the adult dragon's physical attacks, and increase the breath weapon as well (don't know how much).  The ancient dragon should be doing three times the base damage (dice) compared to the young dragon.   It could be that I am making too much of this, which is why I would love to hear first hand accounts from people who have used high level monsters.
#2 mellored Oct 09, 2014 11:23:58	It's 2 * 3 attack  = 6 damage * 15%(?) more to-hit. (i don't have the book, but i'm assuming +4 str, and +1 proficency).   i.e.  2d10+4d6+12 = 37   Young: 37 * 50% = 18.5 Adult: 43 * 65% = 27.95 = 51% more then the young. Anceint: 49 * 80% = 39.2  = 40% more then the adult.   Compare to a someone who get's 6 HP (1d8+1) per level.   level 7 = 45 = dead in 2.43 rounds level 14 = 87 = dead in 3.1 rounds level 20 = 123 = dead in 3.1 rounds.     So a kills a little faster at lower levels.  But not that much.  The breaths, and increasing size of the breaths (thus hitting more PCs), needs to be factored in as well.
#3 Saelorn Oct 09, 2014 11:26:46	That does seem kind of weird, since weapon damage scales linearly by size category. I almost wonder if it's just a massive typo, and base damage should by 1d10 for bite and 1d6 for claws, adding an extra die for each greater size. Certainly, 4d10+8 seems much more appropriate for the bite of a gargantuan dragon.