D&D 5E (2014) As a DM, how do you handle monster hit points?

[Zaukrie]

I started off DMing 5E by rolling and soon realized no one noticed or cared if all the monsters were using average hit points and couldn't figure out what benefit I was getting for the extra time and complication involved in rolling.

This

 

[billd91]

I usually use average, but I roll significant NPCs with class levels using the same method as I use for PCs (roll twice per HD, keep higher value).

 

[GrimCo]

Average, but i tend to adjust on the fly. When combat tends to drag on cause both sides miss a lot, i start lovering hp. If PCs stemroll half the group in first round, rest of monsters get HP buff.

 

[Li Shenron]

I started off DMing 5E by rolling and soon realized no one noticed or cared if all the monsters were using average hit points and couldn't figure out what benefit I was getting for the extra time and complication involved in rolling.

Yes, for me in the past rolling was just for my own fun and perhaps to have more "individual" monsters, so there was Bob the Orc and Joe the Orc rather than just two orcs. Nowadays I mostly don't care enough, but I am not ruling out doing it again if it amuses me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes, for me in the past rolling was just for my own fun and perhaps to have more "individual" monsters, so there was Bob the Orc and Joe the Orc rather than just two orcs. Nowadays I mostly don't care enough, but I am not ruling out doing it again if it amuses me.

Yeah, that sort of fun, for me, has shifted to creating random name tables, so that I can be ready when the PCs talk instead of fight. A bunch of evocative names -- which can be reused if these particular NPCs do just get killed -- gives me even more of that, personally.

 

[Zaukrie]

Yeah, that sort of fun, for me, has shifted to creating random name tables, so that I can be ready when the PCs talk instead of fight. A bunch of evocative names -- which can be reused if these particular NPCs do just get killed -- gives me even more of that, personally.

Names are so hard for me, so hard. Kind of a running joke how many Swensons there are in my games.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Names are so hard for me, so hard. Kind of a running joke how many Swensons there are in my games.

Yeah, I have to do it way in advance, when the mood strikes. Online lists of popular names and surnames by culture is a big help for me, along with Google Translate.

The good news is once I've got the table made, I'm probably done forever with that culture or ancestry. I've never fully used one of those tables up, especially if I'm also using a surname table.

 

[James Gasik]

So looking at the poll results, it seems that people mostly land on the "average, but if you need more hit points, just give it to them". Comparing this to the results of the other thread about player hit points, I can conclude that playing it by ear is the best. If I need more hit points, I can just increase them. And vice versa.

I need to see how the group handles encounters. If everything is a meat grinder, then less hit points. If feature villains die before they can do anything, maybe a bit more.

When I first started playing 5e, my eyes bugged out at how many Hit Dice monsters got sometimes. CR 5's with 15 HD! WTH!?

But now that I'm working on encounters more, it occurs to me that those 15 HD are only telling part of the story, since really, it depends on the size of the critter, and their Con can be just as much a factor if not more when it comes to hit points. It's a little strange, sure, to see a high Con critter walking around with less Hit Dice than a low Con critter- like Con should only be a factor for saves, not hit points!

And adjusting Con up or down can have drastic effects on enounters. No real amazing insights here, just an observation. Another odd thing was how the game handles enemies with vulnerabilities, by giving them more hit points! I don't know if that's universally true, but I've seen it on a few monsters now.

Which is really weird, because it assumes the party will have the ability to monopolize on said vulnerabilities. Also, I've seen lots of monsters, like Fiends, who have tons of resistances, and still have a big chunk of HP.

Even though the designers say they don't take accuracy and AC into account, AC is a factor in how tough enemies can be, but it can be less of one than you might expect (compare MM Ogres vs. Orogs, where the balance point isn't hit points as much as it is high AC vs. high damage).