DC20 Alpha Monster Guide

Hello there! This is designed to be an “Alpha Monster Creation PC Base Stats

Advice Helper” and further explanations, tools, systems, rules, This is average number you can expect a PC to have in each of
etc will be available in the future. I just wanted to give a little the following stats:
guide on how I have had success at making monsters from
scratch. It is SO much easier and simpler to do that than in Health: 8 (see above for more on HP)
other game systems I have played, and the 4 Action Point Physical Defense: 12
system makes it very easy to add features and abilities too.
Mental Defense: 10
In this little guide I will go over the TWO pillars of making
Damage Reduction: 0 (or 1 at most)
a Monster (Base Stats and Features), then give some general
GM Tips for running monsters. I just didn't want to leave Attack & Spell Check: +4
y’all hanging when you wanted to create monsters for your Base Damage: 2-3 (but each will usually have a Class Feature or
campaigns and one shots! Here ya go! other mechanic to give them an additional +1)
Speed: 4
Monster Base Stats Action Points: 4
These are the basic numbers that make up the creature's
baseline stats (health, plus to hit, defense, etc). These numbers
are not flashy or exciting, but they still get across the power Monster Stat Table
of a monster and how unique they are. A monster with a high This table shows numbers for what would be considered above
SPEED will FEEL fast as it moves around the battlefield, so try average (high), below average (low), or standard (middle) for
and think of how to best represent your monster with their a monster at levels 1 and 2. When you make a monster you
Base Stats so they work how you want them to. can decide to give it low scores in one category, but high in
another. Mix and match these stat ranges to fit the type of
creature you want to make to make them more unique.
Monster vs PC
Example: You can make more standard Monster Types of
The FIRST thing to understand when making a “balanced”
an assassin with high Base Damage and low Health, a brute
monster for DC20 is what the Base Stats of the PCs are. with high Physical Defense but low Mental Defense. Or you
could make a huge monster that has high Base Damage,
PC Health and + Attack Check, but it has low Speed, Action Points, and
Physical Defense.
This helps me as a GM know how much health my PCs have,
so I can establish a “baseline” for what would be a normal The low values are lower than any PC could be and the high
amount of HP for monsters to have in comparison. values are higher than any PC could achieve also. This just gives
Health Point Formula = 4 + (2 x PC Level) + Might + you a range to play within, and then branch out from there.
Agility + (Possible Class or Ancestry Bonus HP)
DC Tip: If you were to make a monster with ALL “high”
DC Tip: In general you would want to have the HP of a stats… it would be VERY strong and I would love to hear a
“normal” monster be slightly lower than the PCs, unless it is a group defeat such a monster, but just be careful and aware
boss or mini boss. that you need to “even it out” between high and low if you
truly want the monster to be balanced.
Low Middle High
Low Middle High
Level 1 5 10 15
Health 2-5 8-10 20-30
Level 2 7 12 18
Physical Defense 8 11-13 17
Level 3 9 14 20
Mental Defense 6 9-10 15
Damage Reduction 0 0 1
Attack & Spell Check +2 +4 +5
Base Damage 1 2 3
Speed 3 4 6
Action Points 2 4 4
Legendary Reaction Points 0 1 3

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Stat Explanations
The Middle stat on the table above also can represent an
“Average PC” stat line. So when making a monster you can
easily balance it around that average.
Health: I really like to give smaller creatures like goblins 4 or
5 HP, this makes it to where one BIG hit from a PC can kill
them, or 2 small hits. Anything lower than 4 HP can easily
die in 1 hit. Keep in mind a creature's Defense and Damage
Reduction also count towards how long it survives. Be careful
giving a creature the “high” value for ALL of those stats.
Defense: Be careful to give too high of a Defense, but
also remember, in DC20 you can get Help Actions, grant
yourself ADV and much more to increase your Checks to get
higher than usual.
Damage Reduction: This is very strong and should be
used sparingly.
Attack / Spell Check: I usually just default to +4 since that's
what the PCs have, but you can shift up and down accordingly.
But remember, in DC20 your + to your Attack Check also
can translate into more DAMAGE, because you could get
Heavy Hits +.
Base Damage: Be careful if you try to give a monster higher base
damage than 3. I have done a monster with 4 base damage, but
I gave it lower speed and Action Points etc to balance it out.
Action Points: I usually have the monsters have 4 AP, but see
the Action Point Section below for more tips on how to run
and track AP for multiple monsters.
Legendary Reaction Points: These are a unique resource
for Legendary Monsters (see Legendary Monsters below
for more info).
Monster Features
These are the unique mechanics that monsters have to
make them unique and dangerous in combat. My general
rule of thumb is to give AT LEAST 1 Monster Feature to
everything you use, otherwise they just turn into a sack of HP
that hits stuff.
DC Tip: The only exception to this is if I use a Monster
for some sort of tactical purpose, like capturing a PC, or
running away to alert others. Even those monsters can have
some sort of additional feature (like ADV on Grappling or
increased Speed).
How many Features?
I recommend giving Monsters a number of Features equal to
the level of the PCs. Think of it like this; PCs have Base Stats
and then they gain features from their class to make them
stronger, they get those features every level (usually multiple
at each level). So your monsters have Base Stats (see above)
and you can give them Features the same way.
DC Tip: Be careful about giving too many features, this can
be complicated to keep track of for less experienced Game
Masters and could also make monsters VERY powerful
depending on what you give them.
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Monster Feature Options
Here are a few options for adding cool and unique Features
to your monsters. I have found it FAR easier to create cool
things that monsters can do with the 4 Action Point system in
DC20. There are so many things to customize and tweak that
are also balanced around their action economy. Here are some
options for inspiration for you to take and run with!
PC Class Features —> Monster Features
You can 100% look to the Classes in DC20 for inspiration for
your monsters. That is literally the easiest thing you could do
(and very balanced). This works great when you choose Class
Features from Classes that are NOT represented by the other
PCs to show something unique, but it can also be pretty fun to
have an opposing enemy with the same Class Feature as a PC.
Example: You could describe the following. The large hulking
orc jumps down and lets out a loud angry scream… and
enters a Rage (then you look to your Barbarian PC). This
is fun to do and also depends on if you openly say some of
these things out loud when you run games as a GM.
DC Tip: I like to use Class Features for monsters because it
lets me play (and playtest) features from classes that I am
excited to play myself as a GM… and this gives us GMs a way
to play with the Class Features we’d want if we were a PC.
Monster Cheat Sheet
This is a chart that I used forever in 5e and I have converted
some of it here for DC20. They are listed off into categories
and you could even glance at this list on the fly and add 1 or 2
onto a monster.
Alpha Note: More features like this will be released in future
Kickstarters and on Patreon
Offense
• Cleave: Apply 1 Attack Check per turn to 2 adjacent targets
within range.
• Rampage: Each Round the monster increases its Base
Damage by +1 (make sure not to start off too high already).
• Enrage: Once you become Bloodied (1/2 HP or lower) you
gain +1 damage on all Attack Checks.
Defense
• Regeneration: You heal for 2 HP at the start of each of your
turns.
• Resistance: You have Resistance to X damage type.
• Shielded: You can spend 1 AP to give yourself 2 Temp HP
(this cannot stack).
Utility
• Shot Caller: When you give the Help Action to another
creature, their next Attack Check deals +1 damage.
• Inspire: Once per turn you can give a Help Die to any allied
creature for free.
• Walls: You can spend 1 AP to create a 4 Space long wall that
is 1 Space wide and 1 Space high. (choose a material that
makes sense for the monster).
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 Other Ideas
• Damage Type: Change the damage type the monster deals
(or part of it) to another damage type.
• Reach: Give the creature a 2 or even 3 Space Melee Attack
range.
• Death’s Door: Give this monster the ability to use the Death's
Door mechanic that the PCs have.
Monster Maneuvers
If you are familiar with Martial Maneuvers (see the Core
DC20 Rules for more), these work the same way. You can
give ANY monster you want FULL access to Martial Attack,
Defense, and Grapple Maneuvers. Below is a compiled list of
extra effects that you can add to the Attacks of your monsters.
You can also choose to put these type of effects on Spell Checks
as well (especially single target Spell Attacks)
DC Tip: These effects are based on Martial Maneuvers
and Conditions combined together and can be expanded
even farther.
Attack Check Enhancements: These modify your Attack Check
in some way and each cost 1 AP
• Grant yourself ADV
• +1 Space Attack Range (or +5 for ranged)
• +1 Damage (possibly of another type)
Physical Save Effects: These force the target to also make a
Save against one of the following effects and each cost 1 AP.
These work like Dynamic Attack Saves (see Dynamic Attack
Save rules for more) and work exactly like Martial Maneuvers
too. Listed below are the conditions that you can attempt to
inflict on your target.
DC Tip: You can even combine multiple of these together if it
makes sense for the monster, just remember that the target
would only make a single Physical Save.
• Shove (pushed 1 Space + 1 for every 5 it fails its Save by)
• Slowed 1 (Every 1 Space you move costs an extra 1 Space
of movement)
• Exposed (ADV on the next Attack Check against the target)
• Hinder (target has DisADV on its next Attack Check
• Impaired (target has DisADV on Physical Checks)
• Dazed (target has DisADV on Mental Checks)
• Prone
• Grappled
• Bleeding
• Burning
• Vicious: If you use any of the Physical Save Maneuvers, you
can give the target DisADV on that Save as part of the same
Attack Check.
• Other Powerful Effects (these should cost 2 AP since they
are so strong)
• Poisoned
• Restrained
• Exhausted
• Weakened (Dis ADV on ALL Checks)
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Swallow Grapple Maneuver: (1 AP) If you have a creature
grappled you can initiate another Grapple Check. Success:
Swallow the creature and it takes 1 Acid damage at the start
of each turn while swallowed. If you take over 4 damage from
a single hit, make a DC 15 Might Save. Failure: Spit out the
creature inside you.
Monster Passive Effects
These are extra little passives that you can give monsters that
work just like how Martial Weapon Passives work. If a target
has a certain Condition (or other triggering effect) then you
deal an extra +1 damage.
Example: This can be any condition (such as bleeding, prone,
poisoned, exposed, etc.) or any sort of other mechanic (such
as being flanked, using a Help Die, moving at least 2 Spaces
before the Attack, etc.)
Game Master Tips
These are just tips on running Combat in DC20, there is
SO much I have on this, but I just wanted to get these out
to y'all here!
Monster Action Point Tips
A big concern that some of my team had when developing
DC20 was the GM tracking Action Points (AP) for multiple
monsters. So here are some tips on how I handle it, and after a
TON of playtesting, I feel it is very simple to do and each GM
just needs to find what methods work best for them.
Overall I do NOT use any of these methods, because I can
usually remember if a monster has taken any Reactions or
not. BUT if you do have a Combat Encounter with a lot of
monsters or lots of things going on, then I do use some of
these methods to help me keep track of things.
DC Tip: My biggest tip here is to limit how many REACTIONS
you give your monsters. If a monster doesn't have any
reactions… then they are SUPER easy to run. So as you get
more practice you can start to add more and more Reactions
to your monsters.
Tally Marks
This is my preferred method. Next to the monster's name
on my Initiative Tracker (a piece of paper I write down the
Initiative Order on), I will simply put a tally mark next to
a monster that has spent AP as a Reaction. Then once the
monster's turn comes, I can see how many tally marks it
used, erase them, and reduce the amount of AP they have by
that amount.
Example: If a Goblin spends 2 AP as part of Reactions then
I would have 2 tally marks next to its name. Once it’s turn
comes, I would look at its name and see 2 tally marks. I would
subtract the number of tally marks (2) from the AP of the
Goblin (4) and now I know he only has 2 left.
Most of the time you do NOT have monsters taking Reactions
all the time, so you normally don't have to even use tally marks.
Use Dice
I have used a d4 or a d6 and placed them behind my GM Screen
next to the monster's name on the Initiative Order (where I write
it down on a piece of paper). I put the d6 next to their name and
leave it with the 4 facing up. Once a monster uses a Reaction
of some kind, I turn it to a 3 and place it back down on the
paper initiative tracker next to the monster's name. Once that
monster's turn comes, I see there is a dice with a 3 next to it, so I
remember that way.
You could also use these dice and put them out on the battlefield
next to the monster, but I find that to be too cluttering on the
map. If you use VTTs you can track it easily on the monsters
that way too.
Glass Beads / Gems / Tokens
If you like having tangible things to play with, then behind your
screen you can have a number of little tokens to represent the
AP of each monster. This makes it VERY easy to track, but it
can get messy behind your screen. So I personally only do this
for Legendary Monsters (and their Legendary Reaction Points).
The only time you can get overwhelmed as a GM is if your
monsters have a TON of things that they can do as a Reaction.
Monster Combos
If you pre-plan monsters to have a “signature move” or just a
combo of how they spend their AP, then it can make running the
monster SO much easier. You can also have this tactical plan in
place with multiple monsters that work together.
Example: One Combat I had a pair of Mercenary brothers, one
had a whip and the other had huge boulder gauntlets. The whip
brother would constantly use Maneuvers to try and make the
target fall Prone, while the other brother would always pour ALL
of his AP into ONE really big hit. This playstyle of the monsters
played into their personality and Roleplay too.
Alternative Monster Action Economy
I personally have not had to do this (because I feel like it is simple
enough) BUT if you want to have monsters feel a bit more
familiar to other systems, you can try this.
Instead of your monsters having a default of 4 AP, you make it
to where they have 3 AP and 1 Reaction. This might be more
familiar to keep track of “one reaction” and then have less AP to
mess with during a turn.
Legendary Monsters
If you want to add some of these features onto a normal monster,
you can make them feel even scarier! You can still give these
Features to a simple Goblin Chief or other smaller creatures. I
don't want you to reserve the concept of “LEGENDARY” with
only final bosses, dragons, or other powerful creatures. Sprinkle
these in on ANY monster!
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Legendary Action Points (LAP)
Legendary Action Points work similar to how you have used
them in other systems, and they actually fit into DC20 very
smoothly. You can spend LAP in between the PCs turns. This
lets these monsters act more often and in more dynamic ways.
Turn Limit: You cannot spend Legendary Action Points during
your turn in the Initiative Order.
Number of Points: You can give a monster any number of these
(usually between 1-3)
Recharge: They recharge at the beginning of each Round of Combat
Interrupt Initiative Order: You can spend Legendary Action
Points In between any PCs turn. After a PCs turn in Combat, you
can spend 1 Legendary Action Point take any Action that costs 1
AP (unless otherwise stated).
Enhancements & Maneuvers: You can spend AP or LAP to enhance
maneuvers and spells, just make sure you keep track of which one
you are spending.
Example Scenarios
• If a Legendary Monster wants to take an Opportunity Attack,
Spell Duel, or any other normal Reaction, they can spend
Legendary Action Points instead of their normal Action Points.
This lets them keep their (usually 4) Action Points to use on
their turn to still have a “full” turn.
• If a Legendary Monster makes an Opportunity Attack and they
want to enhance it by spending more on it, they can use either
their Action Points OR their Legendary Action Points to boost
it.
• Some Legendary Monsters might have a unique Reaction that
lets them do something cool… when they take that Reaction,
they can spend EITHER AP or LAP on it.
Boss Points
Alpha Note: This is an Alpha Concept (and an Alpha name… it could
definitely use a better name lol). Basically these are similar to the
concept of “Legendary Resistance”. These are points that Legendary
Monsters can have that lets them do unique things, but only a limited
number of times.
Creatures can have any number of Boss Points (usually between
1-3) and they can spend them on some things listed below.
Additionally creatures can have unique effects that spend Boss
Points that the GM can choose to use them on as well. This gives
the GM a LIMITED resource that they can choose to spend in
a variety of ways (offensive, defensive, utility, etc). Boss Points
Reset on a Long Rest, so these points are very limited.
Boss Point Default Uses
• Choose to Succeed on a Save that you just failed
• Reduce the damage that you just took by half
• (possibly more to come)
Boss Point Specific Creature Example Uses
• When hit with Fire damage, you take no damage, absorb it and
heal for the same amount. Additionally you now can increase
the damage of your next Attack Check by an amount equal to
the damage absorbed.
• When Bloodied, you can spend 1 Boss Point for free at the start
of your turn for 0 AP. You heal for an amount equal to your
Level or Prime Modifier (whichever is higher).
• Recharge your Breath Weapon (or other large ability with a
“recharge” component).
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