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Monuments of Power

by Mike on 22 June 2015

Monuments of power – interesting features with mechanical effects found in big battles - add a fantastic variable to shake up otherwise stale combat encounters.

These monuments can be lots of things. Here's a list from the Lazy DM's Companion:

  1. Sarcophagus
  2. Obelisk
  3. Orb
  4. Bone pile
  5. Skull
  6. Megalith
  7. Pillars
  8. Throne
  9. Statues
  10. Well
  11. Orrery
  12. Effigy
  13. Arcane circle
  14. Spire
  15. Altar
  16. Pit
  17. Fountain
  18. Archway
  19. Cage
  20. Brazier

The list can go on further from this, of course. The best monuments are objects that make sense given the context of the situation. See Chernbog's Well for an example of an in-world monument with some great environmental effects.

Quick Steps for Making Great Monuments

Here's a quick outline to help you build interesting monuments for your games.

  1. Decide what the monument is given the fiction of the game. What is it and why is it here? Is there just one or more than one?
  2. Determine it's challenge rating (CR). Think about it in comparison to monsters of different CRs to help you determine how powerful it is.
  3. Give it the stats its needs based on its CR. You can get these stats from the Forge of Foes sample chapter (but you really should pick up the book – it's awesome).
  4. Give it an interesting power. What does it do? More on this in a moment.
  5. Consider how it can be shifted or destroyed. How can the characters manipulate it? The lower the CR, the easier it is to destroy.

Choosing a Monument

When you look at the upcoming battle, what sort of monument makes sense for it? Use the list above to help you brainstorm ideas. It often works well to tie a monument to a faction or deity or historical group. In this way, the monument itself can become a vehicle for secrets and clues. You might have one big central monument or a bunch of smaller monuments. This changes how they'll work in the battle. Can the characters focus on one big thing or have to run around to destroy a bunch of small things?

Choose CR and Stats

How powerful is the monument? Use your same encounter benchmarks to determine how difficult a monument might be. You probably don't want a monument of a higher CR than the average level of the characters. It likely shouldn't be the most dangerous thing in the room all on its own. Smaller monuments have lower CRs.

Monuments may or may not change the whole difficulty of a battle. If they're mostly defensive, they might just make the battle longer. If they're offensive, the difficulty might be much higher. If they can be turned in favor of the characters, that might change things further.

When you select a CR for the monument, you can get it's AC, DC, and hit points from the Forge of Foes quick monster builder, available in the sample chapter. You also get an attack bonus and damage per round if you need it for the effects it produces.

Monuments are immune to psychic and poison damage and probably all status effects. You might give them resistances, vulnerabilities, or immunities depending on the monument as well.

Some characters want to bash monuments in which case they attack its AC and do damage like normal. Others may want to perform ability checks to disrupt or turn a monument. It's AC can also act as a DC. You might let such a skill inflict damage like a damage spell does to account for the skill's success. For example, a CR 5 monument has a AC / DC of 15 and 95 hit points. A successful intelligence (arcana) check might inflict 35 damage if you want it to basically be destroyed with three such successes. You may want to base the amount of damage the character does with an ability check on the damage it otherwise would do in a round. A 9th level character, for example, can likely inflict 35 damage in a single turn so that makes sense.

Monument Powers

What makes monuments really work is the power radiating from it. Here's a list of twenty potential powers a monument might have.

  1. Offers advantage to particular creatures on attacks and saving throws.
  2. Adds damage to particular creatures (choose type).
  3. Reduces damage taken by particular creatures.
  4. Unlocks particular abilities of creatures.
  5. Gives access to particular spells they wouldn’t otherwise have.
  6. Obscures vision.
  7. Hinders movement.
  8. Prevents teleportation.
  9. Acts as a vessel for extra concentration.
  10. Has the ongoing protective spell effect
  11. Offers regeneration
  12. Animates dead minions
  13. Grants temporary hit points to nearby creatures.
  14. Grants resistance or immunity to a specific type of damage.
  15. Gives a +2 bonus to attack to certain creatures
  16. Provides immunity to a specific type of damage.
  17. Grants the ability to fly.
  18. Summons and controls a powerful creature.
  19. Offers legendary resistance and shrugging off other debilitating effects
  20. Damage pulse

Some of these can protect bosses. Others can push out damage. You choose what power you want to add to a monument based on the in-world situation and what would be fun for the battle.

One great trick is to assign a spell effect to a monument. Here are a few spell effects that work well when tied to a monument:

  1. Globe of invulnerability
  2. Fire Shield
  3. Spirit Guardians
  4. Spiritual Weapons
  5. Darkness
  6. Stone skin
  7. Protection from good
  8. Greater invisibility
  9. Silence
  10. Antimagic Field

Make Them Fun

The line between a fun monument and a tedious monument is thin. The wrong monument with the wrong power can feel like a slog instead of an interesting tactical decision in a big battle. Ensure the monuments you create add to the fun instead of just slowing everything down. In particular, avoid monuments that take away agency. Monuments should add interesting choices to a battle, not take choices away. If a monument is too powerful, the characters have no choice but to go dork with it. But a monument that gives villains an edge creates a choice for the players – do they just bash the boss or go disable the monument?

One great trick is to let players reverse a monument instead of destroy it. Looking down the list of potential effects, ask if there's a way the characters can channel it in their favor instead of just destroying it.

Shaking Up Big Battles

Our 5e games remain interesting over so long because every battle is different. The environment changes. The mix of monsters changes. The situation changes. And with monuments in our bag of tricks, we can change them even further. Our bosses become harder. The characters have to move around. Extra variables create entirely unique situations our players remember for the rest of their lives.

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