
We can take this one step further, though, and mash two monster stat blocks together to form a new variant creature. Such small reskins of monsters often do the trick. In many cases, this advice alone is enough to serve as a monster template. Need a flying monkey? Consider a baboon with wings and a flying speed. Need a fiery phoenix? Take the giant eagle or roc, give it immunity to fire, and allow it to deal fire damage with its attacks. The "Modifying a Monster" section in Chapter 9 of the Dungeon Master's Guide offers sound advice for modifying monsters to suit the story we have in mind: We'll do so with a horrifying creation of my own one I unleashed in my Waterdeep Dragon Heist game-the ghoulish crocodile! Though the Monster Manual lacks many templates like this, we can learn from the templates it does have to see how we can turn any monster into monster template. A handful of monsters, like the dracolich and the shadow dragon, have templates you can apply to turn one monster into another. The fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, for the most part, lacks these monster templates.

New to Sly Flourish? Start Here! Using D&D Monster Stat Blocks as Templates to Mash Monsters Togetherīack in the third edition of D&D, monsters could be augmented with monster templates to give them a new feel.
