Monster Motivations | Dungeon Master Daily

If your players are anything like mine, nothing is ever quite a “normal” encounter.

Throwing a few goblins in a room or a corrupted tree in a clearing would be a simple fight to some players, but not to mine.

As such, I always have to take a second when I’m planning each encounter to ask myself “why?”

Why is this tree here? Why is it corrupted? Can it be healed?

What about the goblins? Are they defending a home? Casually wandering through? Actively hunting the players or setting a trap for them?

It’s an extra layer of planning, but I think it’s made me a better DM and storyteller.

Take a second to think about the motivations for your monsters before your next session, and you’ll be a lot more prepared when the players say “I try to talk to it!” or “I drop to one knee and offer my sword” or other unexpected things like that.

Note: Whole ton of links for y’all today! I pared down the best of last week ’cause I was out.

Yeth Hound Tactics – The Monsters Know What They’re Doing

Would a counter-speller be able to counterspell a Subtle spell/enhanced Psionic spell if they were reading the mind of the caster using such? – Sage Advice

Duzig’s Hold – Dyson’s Dodecahedron

How Do Your Players Know What Monsters Can Do? – Merric’s Musings

Taking a Look at Shadow of the Demon Lord’s Corruption Mechanic – Dungeon Solvers

Big horde battles work better when it’s one type of monster with a single shared HP pool instead of six separate pools – Sage Advice

The Rest of the World of D&D According to Rosewater… According to Angry – The Angry GM

Sparkle and Clink: Objective-Oriented Loot Placement – Campaign Mastery

Splitting the Party in D&D – The Alpine DM

Monster Spotlight: Black Dragons – Dungeon Master’s Workshop

How to Keep Track of Your D&D Campaign – RJD20