Goblins Per Round, or GPR, is how I do all of my encounter building math

"Y'all got anymore of them Action Oriented Monster videos?" **scratch,scratch**

-"I cast Silence on the Gobo Boss, gg DM" -"You start feeling tremors under your feet"

“This is my own homebrew nonsense.” Which is why it’s so much fun!! I’ve got 1 player who used to say, “That’s not what that creature can do!”. And I would respond in a 4th-wall-breaking narrator’s voice, “Clearly, this PC does not know what he/she thinks they know. This should be entertaining.” Eventually one of the other players said, “Dude, this is Mark’s World… roll with it.” So it became an inside joke, a verb - my homebrew monsters were “Mark’d”.

As of now, all the standard Ankhegs are juveniles and this is the true ankheg

I think my Goblin Boss voice is basically my Orc voice, but I think I could have done a good, angry, squeaky goblin headman if I did it again.

"You die when I say you die!" Was a hit at my game last night. 3 "Dead" Goblins got up with 1 HP each, and took an extra attack at my players. 5th Session ever as DM (Thanks Matt!), running Yawning Portal, Sunless Citadel.

I tried this out. My party of 5 had to go and fight a bandit camp. My party is very smart and know their way to effectively get items and gear. They bought potions, rope, traps, make shift bombs, molotov, gas bombs, poison weapons. They did everything the could to shut this bandit camp down in one encounter. The bandit captain who had 50 hp.. sounded like chump changes to the two clerics, gunslinger/rogue, bear barbariant, and a fighter/barbarian. However I gave that captain 3 villain actions. "CALL FOR HELP!" two bandits come out of any of the 4 tents in the camp as they woke up late or were getting ready. "RAIN HELL!" the captains ordered all bandits to fire a ranged weapon a second time! "TOUGH AS NAILS" bandits be angry. The captain yells at 2 bandits of his choice and they are immediately brought to 1 hp. Each villain action would fire differently. Call for help only fired if the barbarians advanced, rain hell only fired if the cleric used a big spell, tough as nails only fired to keep the fight going a little longer and was my dm way of putting a little surprise of a guy getting back up to be an annoyance. My party all got hit hard, but they went full Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th on those bandits. It was super cool and super fun. There were moments were they had to use bought items to help them out. My thought was this. Have an action to deal damage but never guarantee it like "rain hell" Have something to keep the players on edge, be more strategic and use resources and abilities. "Call for help" Something to make the fight annoying.. make the players REALLY want to beat the captain. "Tough as nails" followed by the captain laughing at the players failure. Really pissed them off and when they took down the bandit captain, they cheered.

Another way of looking at it: The first time you use this design, it will also be the best monster you ever designed ;)

9:12 - "I'm not here to make more work for my self" - Matt, and I intend this in the most sincere way I can delivery this - this is some of the best advice you've given. Keep it up.

I ran the improved ankheg against the five 10 year olds in the dnd after school club I run today. They were all level 5. I think it was the most memorable battle they've had. It was intense and almost 3 of them went down. Especially when it exploded at the end. So thank you very much for making our club even better. Gonna have 2 of them ambush the adult group I run for at the weekend. All level 9. Very excited!

I love that the goblin boss has gone under minimal design changes from here to "Flee Mortals!" That is because he is without flaw.

"a goblin's weapon of choice... is more goblins" Hah! Of course! Classic goblin shenanigans!

Cannot wait for the MCDM Villains and Monsters book to come out :)

For a long time, I've believed that encounters need to "change" after two rounds, otherwise they may become boring. This genius idea of adding custom actions to add combat variation and NPC personality is freakin' GOLDEN! Thanks, Matt, you always inspire!

If there's ever a 6E, they absolutely need to get Matt Colville on it!

I gave a larger than normal Ankheg the effects of the Earth Tremor spell when it burrowed.

This is the single greatest encounter balancing advice ever presented for 5th edition. I use this technique all the time now and constantly refer new DMs to this video. Thank you Matt, for being such an amazing treasure and resource!

Been doing something like this for years. In essence: play the monsters to their ability, not their stat block. I had a Chimera with a Intelligence boosting magic item drop rocks, use weather cover, etc. Tension was high. It got away. They HATE that Chimera. Now they’re invested.

I just took a look at the final packet for "Flee, Mortals!" It's very cool to have been here for the beginning of the whole thing.

You forgot one obvious villain action for the goblins: "Delay them", "Slow them down", "Keep them busy" or something similar. Him shouting this means that he is about to retreat, leaving the goblins to their fate and maybe forcing the players hands. Can they afford to let him escape? They might get to see him again later if they no not stop him

Seeing Matt smirk after he says "You die when I say so!" reminded me why I love this channel.

Good stiuff. Honest, Matt, at some point you're either going to have to create an original system or have a collection of supplements that so meaningfully change 5e as to be indistinguishable from one. You're always quick to identify the weaknesses and sacred cows of D&D & suggest homebrew in a way that Wizards never will for fear of weakening the profitability of their license.

"Acid for Blood" hmm... maybe it's an automatic reaction for when the monster drops below half hit points, or "bloodied".

was LITERALLY just thinking "I could really go for another Running the Game right about now" about ten minutes ago. thanks for the vids, Matt

Back again. Almost ritualistic for me to come back to this video before important fights. This really is some of the finest content you’ve ever made, matt.

As a DM who has struggled with Monsters (especially single monsters) being too easy without being overtly Tanky/Powerful, this video is a lifesaver! I just went back to comb through all the Running the Game videos. DMing this week and I'll definitely be trying out AOMs

It was both amazing to see my group's faces when my Bugbear boss acted on their turns and for once caused them to take a look at the boss as a real threat. They usually avoid planning much but seeing them react to a goblin running to give him a healing potion and them trying to intercept him was great. Using this for all my boss monsters, convinced me to get the stronghold and followers that I was going back and forth with.

I' ll definately use this, I get so bored with players destroying my beasties before they can do anything cool ..thank you very much! Its great inspiration

Villain Actions and Reactions remind me of Magic: the Gathering. Reactons: Waitwaitwait---before you go to combat.. In response! Villain Action: Oh, on your end step... It's like playing against Esper Control.

Matthew Colville looks like how I imagine Richard the Lionheart.

This should literally be a book. Like just start taking the monster manual and entry by entry, make a villain or solo monster out of i

5e really needs some interesting solo monsters. Action economy really matters in 5e.

Dude!... you’re awesome. Your energy is infectious and you easily hold my attention for 30+ minutes. Keep on with the great ideas!

By Riker's beard! This blew my mind. Breaking a boss encounter down into just the key stats and abilities is genius. The villain actions as a semi-scripted set of legendary actions is such a cool concept. My brain is on fire! Thank you for posting this.

the first campaign I ever ran was lost mines of phandelver. It was for friends who had never played D&D before. I rebuilt the last boss fight with the Drow in wave echo cave, and this video was really really helpful. they were blown away, not by the amount of HP the drow mage had, but what he did and all the tricks he pulled, like using the corpses of his dead giant spider minions to create an undead abomination spider, and the players were absolutely thrilled afterward, all the while the drow sat on his throne and barely moved himself, until his hubris's got him killed by the PC barbarian. Thank you Matt, it was alot of fun.

"Every round, a fresh goblin arrives." So... Krenko Mob Boss.

Some thoughts: I think that for boss monsters it's also important to be in the heads of the players. In the case PCs encounter a goblin boss that convokes goblins and rise them from the dead, they will probably just focus the boss. It can be a problem because they might just kill it in one or two rounds. Hence a reaction or action like "protect me with your lives!" where the selfish boss will use other goblins as shields against heroes weapons and spells, as long as there are other goblins near him. It's also a more intelligent and dynamic way to give the boss more HP. And I can imagine the massive (for a goblin) goblin boss grabbing a tiny goblin minion just to ensure not getting hurt. For the solo monster: PCs will want to argue that they can get opportunity attacks while the beast is burrowing his way. And I'm not sure what to tell them, because it would make sense. I would probably add a screeching bonus action or something when the beast decides to burrow, forcing PCs to make a save to be able to take an opportunity attack.

I love how gleefully Matt talks about all the cool and exciting things he's giving to his bug monster.

The Action Building technique is almost exactly how PF 2e handles monster building and encounter building, so great minds think alike.

The Running the Game series got me into, well, running the game. Each video makes me more excited to run, and more skilled at doing so. Thanks, Matt. Thanks, MCDM.

One thing I loved in old Magic: the Gathering sets were Goblins that did things when you sacrificed them. Cards like Goblin Grenade and Mogg Fanatic. Maybe a round 3 or 4 ability for the Goblin Boss could be that the Boss orders one of its minions to make a suicide attack? I'm just imagining a Goblin screaming "WITNESS ME!" as it grabs a torch and a cask of oil, charging at the party.

I used a lot of your ideas for the Goblin in this episode, but instead of using villain actions, I used lair actions. He had a large group of Goblin ‘engineers’ out of sight of in his boss arena, who were setting up traps, ballistae, cannons, knocking down spiked pillars from the roof, the whole works. My players were so happy to fight this thing, they loved splitting into two teams on the battlefield, where our high perception players were searching for and disabling any traps or mounted weapons on the battlefield, while our stronger, more combat oriented characters were struggling against the big bad goblin boss. They actually even got use of these Goblin contraptions and used them to rid the area of a horde of goblins, with a well-placed gunpowder barrel rolled down a hill.

Nearly two years after this I still refer to this video every now and then, while also suggesting it and all Matt's work to everyone who will listen to me.

Just DM'd my first game and it went over extremely well! All the players said they had an amazing time and said I did a great job as the DM. Thanks for all your awesome videos Matt!

The ankheg claws you while you've prone to make sure you have been clawed. Man, I've missed your videos Matt

To reinforce the expendability of goblins to their leader (and to make him harder to kill), I like the idea of making the reaction allow him to swap places with an adjacent, allied goblin when attacked, and make that goblin the target of the attack. This allows him to take advantage of the positioning his other abilities grant even more, and allows clever PCs to gain additional, positional advantage of their own.

I ran a modified Goblin Boss today. More like the fat goblin king in The hobbit and more magical, carried around by 4 goblins on a throne while more goblins scampered about with spears and scimitars. I knew the party had a few great ranged attackers and could put some hurt on him in the first round so I gave him a crazy AC 20 against ranged attacks so they'd have to close to put him down. First round the archer rolls a nat 20, the cleric uses guiding bolt and rolls a nat 20 and the monk, with the advantage from guiding bolt....got a nat 20. Lvl 1 party took out a CR 3 monster in 1 round. So....thanks Matt! My modified purple worm solo monster is ready to go next session!

Back when I was running homebrews, this is essentially the process I went through to streamline my side of encounters. When I recently started running D&D, I somehow managed to forget this. Thank you for the reminder.

I love the idea of actions tied to different rounds in combat, it makes for such a compelling fight

such good design advice. i recently tacked on "Burrow" to a one-monster encounter and it really brought out the most from my players. the ranger immediately recognized it as a trap, the sorcerer figured the downed npc would make good bait to get the creature to re-emerge, and the paladin took the opportunity to reposition to protect everyone better (even the bait). it was just the slightest adjustment to the monster, but it created a character-building moment in what was otherwise a pretty straightforward combat encounter. the ranger has a keen sense for danger, the sorcerer will spend other's lives to protect the group, and the paladin will thread that needle between supporting the group's actions and doing the most good.

Did anyone else's mind explode at the though of "immune to flanking?" .... just me?

THE BEACONS ARE LIT! COLVILLE CALLS FOR VIEWS!

Hey Matt, I just wanted to say thanks for this series. I discovered it a year ago on accident with zero knowledge of D&D. After binging a few episodes I taught myself and 5 of my friends the rules. And we play every week! Now my friends are also running / playing with new people. So your videos have sparked about 15 new people into discovering D&D

YES!! I have used this now in 2 different situations -- first a level 1 party against Sephek Kaltro in Rise of the Frostmaiden. Made for an EPIC fight; second for a 9th level party against a frost-giant-drider guardian a snowy mountain pass entrance into the abyss. In both cases the "villain" was a solo monster and having numerous options for "villain actions", bonus actions, and reactions, made everything SO much better without killing the party. The key for me in both cases was adding abilities around things like additional movement for the villain, debuffing the party, reactions that make the villain's flavor/theme come to life. I can't thank you enough, Matt, for sharing this freely. Hands down the single most important change I've ever made in my game and the players seemed so much more engaged during the combat than they have been against "standard" solo monsters.

Legendary or Villain actions are absolutely key to make battles feel fun. I really like the Villain Action structure you have here. It helps enormously to have monsters not feel like bullet sponges or just pure damage dealers. One thing I often do with opportunistic predators (lions, bears, hook horrors, etc.) is make them really mean but have them nope out when they get to about half hit points. That makes them threatening on the initial strike but also gives the PCs incentive to hit hard to drive them back. Other monsters are much more prone to fighting to the death. I've done a goblin boss who was unthreatening itself but had an action to command other goblins to attack. It also had a reaction to sacrifice one of its goblins to take a PC blow. Eventually the PCs managed to fry most of the goblin allies and at that point the boss was pretty well useless, but they really didn't like him.

I freaking LOVE Matt Colville

Hey Matt, just in case you actually read this. I know you like cool funky languages in-game. Back in the old *The Keep on the Borderlands* they include a cool little piece of lore in the form of "yelling 'bree-yark!' is the goblin equivalent of yelling 'Hey Rube!'." @8:30 caused this to come to mind. ;-)

Is it just me or anyone else just loves to hear that guys talking ? Watched every Running the game and campaign dairy and never thought... the hell is he talking about ?! Never! Your great Matt

This has been the single most beneficial video I have ever seen in terms of improving combat in my own game. I've come back to rewatch it again and again. This weekend I ran a hag boss fight that used this idea to employ a progressive series of weird homebrewed single-use magic items. One round she'd stick a wooden straw into a player's neck and suck out HP to heal herself. Another, she'd throw a set of steel teeth with wings through a window to alert allies to start executing hostages. A mirror that created a lifelinked duplicate of herself, a cloud if biting flies in a jar, a boiling teapot flying through the air trying to hit PCs in the head... it was a lot of fun to come up with wierd one-off items for her to pull out of her pockets and pouches. It was the most fun I've had running combat in DnD, and my players got a whole slew of cool, dramatic combat moments (and one of my players got to reveal a bunch of her backstory). So thankful Matt shares his talent for design with us.

Rahadin from Curse of Strahd was one of my favorite villians there to play just because he had multiattack as well as an AOE bonus action attack. He was a boss himself.

I've been having the same problem running "out of the box (book)" monsters: they just don't do anything interesting. So far, all the monsters I've spent time inventing abilities/actions for have been a hit with the group and every time I slack off and just run something as-written, I feel like it's been a mistake. A big regret is a recent encounter with a hydra, which is REALLY cool monster, and I mean how often do players get to fight a hydra? Anyway, I wasn't sure what the players could handle going by the CR of the monster, so I tried to just focus on dmg/ac/hp to determine the difficulty, and it fell flat to the point where I was just calling out rolls for head attacks as quickly as I could to get his turn over asap, but if I had tweaked the actual actions like I had done before and like Matt is suggesting here, the fight would've been what it should have been: memorable and fun. Lesson learned, I just wish I didn't have to waste the Hydra fight to learn it! Anyway, perfect video. Loved it. Looking forward to Kingdoms and Warfare even more now. Maybe, especially now. I can always use more good ideas and inspiration. Thanks Matt

OMG catchphrases on the boss is way better than just a scimitar slash. Goliath in borderlands are always fun cause you can ALWAYS tell when he gets enraged. "Playtime is OVER!"

I just used the Action Oriented approach for a custom set of monsters. A most interesting mechanic I came up with was an a mental attack that moved the player's initiative to the bottom of the initiative list. It interrupted the players' plans and forced everyone to scramble suddenly for different options. I found it a great way to challenge players in a new way. With a lower-level party, it offers a great way to attack without bruising delicate hitpoints. Natural 20 on Frustration.

Totally agree with your monster design choices! Thank you for this awesome inspiration! I'm a 4E DM from Germany, and preferring the compact and concise monster/villain stat blocks from 4th edition to the sometimes convoluted mess that can be 5th edition, especially for spellcasting npcs. I've run into the 4E problem of solo monsters not really being able to hold up against a party of 5 slightly more powerful than average pcs for more than three rounds. My first boss monster in my first level adventure was a spectator based on the stat block of the beholder gauth in the monster manual, but it did not last long enough to inflict any meaningful damage to the party due to a freezing spell cast by the wizard slowing him down and reducing him to one action per turn only. I also forgot to make his saving throws, so that's on me. But I am sure that fight would have been more memorable if I had given the spectator more opportunities to act. I'm designing a vengeful ghost / banshee hybrid for my next adventure, and I think this time I am much better prepared. It will have a reaction to phase into the ground or through architecture and go lurking when hit by an effective attack (anything that does full damage despite it being insubstantial), it will have a rechargeable ability to try and possess a pc's body and control it until the pc saves against being possessed, a necrotic standard melee attack and a paralysing shriek that hits every creature inside a near radius, as well as a dazing gaze of horror as a standard short ranged attack. Now I just need to plan 1 villain action per round and make it one ot the ghost's special attacks. It is meant as the only monster in a small mystery adventure, so the pcs (3rd level 4E party of 5 with two healers/leaders, 2 controllers and 1 striker) will be able to go nova on it. I'm not sure yet how many hitpoints are appropriate, but 150 sound about right to me at the moment, given my experience with them fighting bosses. We'll see how it goes.

I feel like the Goblin Boss is Bogan Redcap.

This might be one of the most useful dnd videos ever. So much great content here. “Step one: What is this creature. Well... it’s sort of a big insect thing isn’t it.” Aside from being funny, it’s also a good point. Like boom, all the inspiration you need to start making unique abilities for it: it’s big and sort of an insect. Go to town.

Probably the best advice you've given to date for creating dynamic monsters that become memorable encounters. Quick, dirty, effective, and best of all, if you do it right, your players think you did a lot more work than you actually did to produce results like this.

COLVILLE'S ALIVE

I was legitimately struggling with this problem for my next session. Also, possibly the best running the game video EVER

And don't be afraid to tweak the big bads. A blue dragon that doesn't spit lightning, but rather super heated sand, betcha they were not expecting that? A metal golem that is made of enchanted silverware? Give's is a bit of a Beauty and the Beast vibe, but still deadly. Have fun with it.

This is 4E D&D monster design. One of the best features of 4E was completely replacing the 3E stat blocks and "throw some sorcerer levels on it," design.

I've been trying to figure out how to do things like this for my games...and Matt Colville provides.

The action design reminds me a lot of how 4th Edition handled things -- specific action-based mechanics with enough flavour to reinforce the fiction and enough crunch to make combat tactically interesting. Overall, the approach to design is similar to how I do things in my own games -- and how Dungeon World and the like work -- you start with the fiction, figuring out what the monster is and what it wants to do, then you come up with a handful of "moves" that communicate that to the players, and then work out some mechanics that fit that fiction. For set-piece encounters, I also like to use what I call "event hooks" as well -- essentially dramatic environmental or situational changes that occur when the certain health thresholds are reached or when certain events occur. For example, the first time the ankheg successfully grabs someone with its claws, its efforts to drag them away cause the ground around it to collapse, dropping it and any characters nearby into a maze of dark, narrow, and twisting tunnels where it can use its burrowing ability to its adventage.

I recently found this video and made a Goblin chief to go with my Flee Mortals! goblins. My players encountered him tonight (6 players at level 4). He almost caused a TPK, but they found their way out - barely! In the encounter, a small group of Goblin summoners opened a portal in a run-down shack outside the town walls as a test-run for the chief to launch a raid. This was aided by a the BBEG. The PC’s were dealing another issue when it started. They eventually had the chief and several other Goblins to deal with. My players weren’t expecting this and lived it!

I think a good way to make combat interesting is to remind players that roleplay doesn't stop because combat started. Just because the player has 360° eagle eye vision on the battlemap doesn't mean their character notices everything going on around them at all times, especially in the heat of battle. Also remind yourself, as the DM, to actually roleplay the mosters, especially the fight or flight instinct that almost any living creature should posses. If the party did enough damage in one round to make it obvious that this creature isn't going to last another one it WILL try to escape. Reminder: every creature can take dash and dodge actions. A lot of monsters are fast enough to outrun or outfly PCs, and a chase can be a lot more interesting that just another round of attacks before the monster unceremoniously kicks the bucket. It gives both players and monsters an opportunity to use they abilities in different and intersting ways. I'm also not a fan of beefing up random monsters like this, because it can really distort the players perception of what they can and can't take on.

I MISSED YOU MATT

I was feeling kinda insecure about homebrewing a campaign for the first time, but this video reenergized me completely. Keep up the inspiring content!

I'm a fan of this method as it is quick and easy to get a hang of as well as full scratch made encounters. The more recent one I made was a massive wyvern I built with the party's average to hit, damage, hit points, saving throws, and so on all put together for a boss fight for them to gain a mythic rank through a trial. Lasted six rounds with them flanking, climbing to disable flying, and changing targets as to make it so it didn't stomp the squishy ones.

I agree with Adam. This is one of your better videos. I especially like the goblin boss. I like adjusting other monsters... like a giant. Most of my giants can use a reaction to step on a prone PC = Grappled. They also have a punt ability that does some bludgeoning damage and moves the PC depending on their size (basically 5 feet per size difference). "The gnome flies 20 feet in the air... roll a ST vs Dex for the landing!" Thanks for all you do, Matt!

One of the best -build a monster - advice videos.

8:30 Anyone else immediately think "Hey Everybody! GET IN HERE!"?

Hey Matt, I just wanted to say thank you for this video, it's given me a whole new perspective on how to tinker with monsters and make them both more compelling and more challenging for a group of higher level players. I've been working in action oriented encounters for a few sessions now and the players seem to love them, I don't think the players know exactly what I'm doing, but they definitely react with a ton of surprise and excitement when a hobgoblin warlord yells at his underlings they don't have permission to die and they get back up for another round of combat after the players knocked them down!

I had a boss who just got to act after every turn a hero took. It really sold the idea that it was a terrible rampaging beast. It didn't even do all that much damage. It just seemed intimidating because it's single presence on the battlefield, felt, intimidating. That was a fun and fast solution.

A homebrew episode sounds like it would stir up some great tips - it's always interesting to see how someone else tackles design problems, much less someone who's actually a designer. Can't wait!

Love the new closing splash screen. Super professional 👌

Very late to the comment party but I just want to let you know that this has significantly changed the way I as a new DM think about making my own encounters. To think in terms of number of rounds I expect a counter to last, and building action oriented monsters bring an encounter to life thematically and narratively, and crucially, to have this be reflected in the mechanics of combat. So far I have used the goblin boss framework to build up an already planned encounter with good success. I have built up a 'super banshee' type encounter which my players have said was the most memorable encounter they have ever had. I was building up an encounter recently and realised the Ankheg will be the perfect thing to bring to the table. Looking forward to the chaos. Thank you Matthew Coville :)

I implemented this in my latest session and I found the balance to be quite fun! My players had a few, "but wait, isn't it my turn...?" moments, but didn't really protest as I repeated, "before your turn, Darkhoof the Putrid will...". There was definitely a strong element of challenge without teetering on the edge of a death spiral or being mind-numbingly boring like some other "properly" balanced combat can be! Thanks Matt!!

What a wonderful surprise and fantastic video! Love reading the script for this ahead of time as well. Keep fighting the good fight!

"What is this thing?" A mutant Tyranid Ravener, by the look of it... :P

*THIS. VIDEO. IS. JUST. SO. RIGHTEOUS.* JUST LEAVING MY DAILY DOSE OF POSITIVITY - THE KNOWLEDGE HERE BROUGHT ME SO MUCH JOY AND INSIGHT SO LONG AGO. BRAVO MR. COLVILLE, BRAVO.

This felt like turning D&D into Dungeon World, which is great, btw. It is about gameplay and Flow and not about rules which is great.Genius.

Looking back, this has been the most valuable D&D video I’ve ever watched.

Theres no 6th edition without this guy. Call him now, wotc

I absolutely love that you refer to early game monsters having multi attack while some medium to high cr monsters don't have multi attack for example the Rhemoraz(I probably spelled that wrong) only has one attack per round but also has 2 damage immunities and retributive fire damage and can swallow a PC if it hits.

I ran a large tanarruk with a tribe of orcs and a 10ft range greatsword with abilities roughly based on the goblin boss, but made his character into a bully who enjoys having that power over his minions. He'd get the orcs to mob characters and grapple them so he could get a good shot in. Once injured, he tried to retreat and leave his minions to die. Makes the players hate him, and enjoy beating him even more. I love this design method.

I used this video for my demon medusa, and it was epic. They absolutely loved it, were challenged, and felt like they had really achieved something. You're an amazing man. Must be the hair.

14:30 Fools! Kill the one in the dress! -Lord Victor Nefarius

When I want to challenge my players with a solo monster, I use the Paragon monster system as outlined by the Angry GM. It is in it's basic form multiples of the same monster sharing the same body, but each getting a turn, they also have separate health pools which functions by removing a turn from the monster for each pool of hp it has lost. This is meant to give a single monster the action economy of a group of monsters basically.

I love the idea of a necromancer using these actions and saying "Death is no excuse for disobedience!"