The revised and expanded edition of “must-have” (R.A. Salvatore, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, an essential guide for all Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters—updated to include the latest rules!
In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior—and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It’s easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away.
In The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the player charaters have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat.
Easy to read and apply, and now updated with the latest rules, The Monsters Know What They’re Doing is essential reading for every DM.
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The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters
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The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters
"Well written and structured and a good resource for combat."
— Alyssa (4/5)
Good for Flabour and fun
"Very entertaining writing style and helps add flavour to combat as well as optimize mobs"
— Tiffany (5/5)
Thoughtful Help for DMs
"thoughtful analysis with solid tactical analysis that will improve your D&D game running."
— Sir T. (5/5)
That title is just plain fun!
"Whether experienced or new to running a game whichever title you use for the RPG, this is a book well worth picking up and reading. It can be applied even outside of Dungeons and Dragons if you have the same types of monsters in other fantasy games or at least similar ones. Though it is specific to 5e, it is not difficult to translate across for other mechanical benefits the monsters have. You may not choose to use what the author suggests for every encounter with the particular monster addressed but it will get you considering how you want to do it for a specific encounter or just how you would do it differently based upon your own setting lore."
— Yamaneko (5/5)
Great DM resource
"Great book for my burgeoning dungeon master to improve his storytelling"
— HappyParent (5/5)
Perfect book for DMs
"Excellent book for DMs. Helps with gameplay and expands on battle tactics"
— EJTH (5/5)
My DMing has never been better.
"Never before has there been a source more helpful to making my campaigns fun and engaging!"
— P D. (5/5)
Your Mind Will Be Flooded With Ideas!
"Exactly what my husband was looking for to build his campaigns, sometimes you need a little help, and since he's gotten it his notepad is out constantly for new ideas, happy to have given him some motivation to do what he loves! You will not be disappointed."
— Quinn (5/5)
Useful and informative
"This book was great! A great addition to expand a dungeon masters repertoire for use in dnd 5th games."
— Shannon S. (5/5)
Give your npcs more depth!
"Lookong to make your campaign stand out then everyone elses? Then look no further! This book will help you with enemies and their behaivers. It goes in depth of how creatures would/could react. If you are a dungeon master then this book is for you!"
— Joel M. (5/5)
Q&A
Published date: Oct 29, 2019
Language: English
No. of Pages: 560
Publisher: Gallery Books
ISBN: 9781982122669
Dimensions:
6.0" W x
1.8" L x
9.0" H
“As a dungeon master, I am overcome with the sheer usefulness of Keith Ammann’s The Monsters Know What They’re Doing. This book is brilliant. It’s completely rewriting the way I think about encounters, and making me want to sick a pack of goblins on my players straight away. Highly recommended for any DM of any level of experience. And I fear it will become required reading when Live to Tell the Tale comes out this summer and our players all get smarter with their tactics too!” —Lou Anders, Hugo award winning author of Once Upon a Unicorn, Star Wars: Pirate’s Price, and the Thrones & Bones trilogy
Keith Ammann is the award-winning creator of the blog The Monsters Know What They're Doing and author of a series of books by the same name, including the recent Making Enemies: Monster Design Inspiration for Tabletop Roleplaying Games and How to Defend Your Lair. He's been a roleplaying gamer and game master for more than thirty-five years. He likes to play outwardly abrasive helpers, out-of-their-element helpers, and genuinely nice, helpful helpers. Mostly, though, he plays non-player characters. And monsters.
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