10 Deadliest Monsters For Their Challenge Rating

challenge rating is a simple metric by which you can easily judge how tough an encounter will be for a party for example a challenge rating of 5 is considered a normal encounter for a party of four level five adventurers in this video we've gone over monsters that are much deadlier than their challenge ratings suggests and compose a significant challenge for players started off at number 10 we have the night hag these are cr5 fiend monsters that are incredibly tanky sporting 112 hit points on average with an AC of 17 along with some very important stamp resistances to cold and fire damage as well as non-magical non-silvered Weapons this means that the average level 5 party will have a hard time taking down a single Knight hack but the most dangerous thing about the night hack is its ability to escape danger with their etherealness ability Knight hacks can use his ability to enter the Ethereal plane making them Untouchable by creatures who can't enter it this allows the night hack to move in and out of combat casting spells like magic Missile and sleep and picking apart players who aren't ready for tricks being so hard to deal with means that players might not be able to finish off a knight hag at all leaving it to stock them for another plane before the tides turned against the hag the next time players take a rest she can swoop in then use her incredibly deadly nightmare haunting ability this causes a Target creature to lose 1d10 maximum hit points which can only be healed by a greater restoration spell which is not something level 5 players would have access to yet as the earliest can be learned is at level 9. the real kicker about this ability is that the hag gets to use this from the safety of the Ethereal plane letting her slowly drain players every time they rest until they figure out a way to deal with her Knight hacks become even more dangerous in groups when they form covens and gain access to more dangerous spells like I bite polymorph and lightning bolt these fiendish abilities make Knight hack some of the most dangerous monsters to encounter for low-level parties the only thing night hacks really lack is a high damage ability otherwise it would be much higher in the slips but as most of the Spells are control oriented she only takes the number 10 spot on this list instead and at number 9 we have The Ropers these are cr5 monstrosities with 93 hit points on average and a whopping 20 AC making them pretty hard to hit for even level five characters and up what makes the Roper dangerous isn't just its high AC but its ability to be near imperceivable with its false appearance ability this allows it to appear as a harmless cave formation until it launches a surprise attack on an unsuspecting party member typically from the ceiling at a great distance making it even harder to deal with the Roper's most deadly offensive ability is its tendril attack which can reach up to 50 feet and on a successful hit immediately grapples and restrains the target the target also has disadvantage on strength checks making the use of Athletics to break the grapple significantly harder for strength-based characters and it can make up to 4 tendril attacks in one turn potentially restraining the entire party in a single turn then immediately reeling them up to 25 feet this makes even escaping a dangerous ordeal as players risk suffering fall damage after spending their entire turn trying to break free and if they don't break free they'll eventually get reeled into the Roper's High damaging bite attack which will attack at Advantage thanks to the tendrils restraining the player and the bite hits for 48 Plus 4p damage I also have 60 feet of dark vision making them extremely capable in dark caves where players who don't have dark vision might struggle Ropers are incredibly dangerous in their habitats and could pose quite a difficult challenge for unprepared parties so when adventuring in caves always watch out for stalactites that start wiggling next up at number eight on this list is a lower CR monster the Hobgoblin hobgoblins are CR one-half creatures and when it comes to fractional CRS it means against a level at one party you could throw two of them at them so it's expected for there to be at least two hobgoblins in an encounter despite their low hit points at 11 a hobgoblins sport a very high 18 AC this means that lulava characters will struggle to successfully hit them even if they will only go down in two to three hits and with the lack of reliable saving throw Spells at such low levels a few hobgoblins can be quite a deadly encounter for a level appropriate party to attempt what makes them extremely dangerous is their special ability called martial advantage martial Advantage Works similar to a rogue sneak attack ability once returned to the hobgoblin can do an extra 2d6 damage to creature it hits provided there is an alethe hobgoblin within five feet of the creature which means that with its long sword attack if it used two hands the hobgob can do 2d6 plus 1d10 plus one slashy damage and a single hit which on average will do 14 damage this means that classes with less than a d10 as their hit die could easily be knocked unconscious in a single hit and even the classes with a d10 hit die unless they start the game with an 18 Constitution they would still have less than 14 hit points at level 1. barbarians have the best chance to live as their hit dies at D12 and if they have an 18 constitution on top of that they'd start with 16 hit points but with this it still versus the average damage roll if the Hobgoblin rolls the maximum damage of 23th his attacker can outright kill any character with less than 12 hit points and a wizard who with Tosh's custom lineage start with a constitution score of 20 would still only have 11 HP at level 1. so because of how deadly this creature is when pitted against low-level players it takes a spawn in this list but a lower spot as the rest of this list has some horrifying creatures in that same vein at number 7 we have the fire Newt Warrior it has the same CR as the Hobgoblin at one half but is arguably tougher to deal with thanks to its 22 hit points and 16 AC while its AC is lower than the hobgoblins 16 is still very good for its ER but the 22 HP is what really makes this guy a contender as that is twice what the goblin has and going from three hits Max to take down the Hobgoblin all the way to now you're looking at more than four to five meaning they can realistically survive a round of attacks from the party they don't have quite the damage capability of the hobgoblins as their attacks aren't as strong as martial Advantage their bolti attack allows them to make two Scimitar attacks for 1d6 plus one slashing damage each which is two more than the martial Advantage before you add in the hobgoblin's long sword attack that said the fire Newt does have some guaranteed damage in the form of their Spitfire ability once per shorter long rest a fire dude Warrior can use this to spit a gout to fired an enemy for 2D 8 fire damage on a field dexterity saving throw or half damage on his success while the DC isn't high at only 11 the important part is that the fire need war is guaranteed at least half damage with the ability which can hit from range though only 10 feet since a normal encounter for even a level 1 party is at least two of these creatures they could immediately down a level 1 character with their fire spit if they failed one of the saves assuming average damage guaranteed damage combined with some decent HP makes the fire dude War a deceptively intense challenge for low-level parties especially level 1 parties who would be the most likely characters to take on such low CR monsters even higher level characters encountering large groups of fire new Warriors for an appropriate CR challenge would struggle to fend off a flurry of fire spit attacks doing damage to any character who doesn't have resistance or evasion a lesser note but one that must be included is the fact that the fire dude War also has immunity to fire damage which means that at low levels cantrips like create bonfire and Firebolt won't help you against them and when facing hordes of them at higher levels you can't just throw out a fireball to wipe them out due to the added threat from the Spitfire and the sign significant HP bump the fire Newt Warrior does just Edge out the goblin for the number 7 spot on this list and at number 6 we have the ghost Go Star cr4 Undead monsters with 45 hit points and 11 AC this is all fairly low for cr4 while they do have a list of nice resistances and immunities that make up for it its defensive stats aren't what make it a threat the real danger of the ghost is in its possession ability the ghost forces a creature can see within 5V to make a Charisma saving throw or be possessed this incapacitates the Target and gives the ghost control over its body it also makes the ghost untargetable by all abilities except ones that turn Undead once possessed the only way to make the ghost to leave the possessed creature is by its own will knocking the possessed character to zero hit points or casting the fifth level spell dispel evil and good and you don't gain access to fifth level spells until Level 9 so a level 4 party going up against a ghost would have no other choice but to knock their friend unconscious unless they can afford a pricey spell scroll this can lead to a dangerous spot where the ghost keeps possessing new targets over and over forcing a party to fight its own members as the only way to get it out is to knock their own allies unconscious and this strategy is super effective as your Fighters and barbarians who have the highest HP will often need to dump Charisma for strength dexterity and Constitution leaving them as easy pickings for the ghost even once the ghost is out it can shift into the Ethereal plane just like the night hag so it can't be targeted or attacked they can also Ambush very effectively thanks to its incorporial movement which allows it to pass through solid objects and while it doesn't affect combat as much perhaps the scariest part of the ghost is its horrifying Visage ability which lets it magically age Every non-undead Creature within 60 feet of it by 1d4 times 10 years if they fail the DC 13 wisdom save by five or more because you see this agent requires a cast of Greater restoration to reverse and if not reversed within 24 hours it becomes permanent if you're playing a young character this might not matter but if your character is older or you're part of a shorter lived species this could theoretically be deadly this ability is a holdover from the earlier Edition in which Undead were much scarier than they are now in 5th edition and if you want to learn more about that you can check out what they don't tell you about undeads over in mrex's Channel all of this amounts to a low CR monster that can easily pipe a party with a bit of bad luck and at number 5 we have the intellect Devourer an intellect devour is a CR2 aberration with only 21 hit points in 12 AC but much like the ghost what they lack in defense that make up for their dangerous capabilities to instantly capacitate and then kill characters particularly those with low intelligence thanks to their devour intellect and body Thief abilities devour intellect forces a creature to make an intelligent saving throw or take 2d10 psychic damage not that deadly on its own but if a creature fails you roll 3d6 if that total equals or exceed the target's intelligence score the target's intelligence becomes zero and they're stunned until they regain one point of intelligence Wizards and artificers are the only classes that use intelligence as their primary stat and as the abilities that require intelligence don't come up too much most characters use intelligence as a dumpstat favoring their primary stat then Constitution Charisma or dexterity wisdom then tied for the last intelligence and strength this leaves the other classes incredibly susceptible to this ability only things like grid restoration can cure ability score reductions which is something a party of level to adventurers won't have for another seven levels it can further take advantage of the stun targets by stealing the body of the incapacitated Target after an opposed intelligence check with its body Thief ability something that would be trivial against a Target whose intelligence has been reduced to zero this lets the intellect devour magically consume the target's brain enter their body and use the target's body against its allies this is similar to the ghost with their possession ability but with much more dire consequences as even if it's forced out by having the player's body be reduced to zero hit points the body dies within one round unless its brain is somehow restored by high level magic considering most classes don't have a reason to increase their intelligence at this level intellect of hours remain potent threats to most players as well well beyond their levels of the game and even a single one ambition high level party can be disastrous and because of that it takes the number 5 spot on this list it might have gotten a higher spot but it's fairly squishy and thanks to its low AC as long as it doesn't Ambush you it's most likely dealt with within a single round of combat even by a level 2 party and at number 4 we have the bow deck these are cr6 Undead creatures which have relatively weak stats for the CR with only 58 hit points and 15 AC though it does have a number of useful resistances and immunities to increase its durability but like the previous two entries it makes up for those low stats with its two unique abilities these are called ore of annihilation and death Gates or of annihilation is a passive effect that deals five necrotic damage to any creature that ends its turn within 30 feet of the bodak this means against a regular party of four characters a bodak can be dealing 20 damage a turn without ever having to use an action death gaze requires a creature that starts to turn the 33 of the bodak to avert their gaze or be forced to make a constitution saving throw and if they fail they take the 3D 10 psychic damage or if it fails by more than 5 the creature immediately is reduced to zero hit points as long as they aren't immune to the frightened condition this is extremely dangerous as the ore of annihilation will make creatures at zero hit points start immediately failing death says because of the automatic damage while you can avert your gaze from the bodak to avoid the death gaze it comes at the cost of having disadvantage on attack rolls against the bodak until the start of its next turn and this would presumably mean that spellcast is in the area of effect wouldn't be able to use the spell that requires line of sight either so the victims either suffer potentially deadly consequences or severely handicapped themselves while or of annihilation wears them down the only reason the bodak isn't even higher in this list is because it's still vulnerable to ranged characters as its most dangerous abilities are limited to a 30-foot area around it and because paladins and clerics have potent offensive options against Corporal Undead but if your party ever encounters a bodak in an enclosed space they might be in for a very unpleasant time and at number 3 we have the notorious mind flayer these are CR7 aberrations with 71 hit points in 15 AC the main thing that makes the Mind flare such an intimidating monster is in its ability to use its mind blast which in a 60-foot cone causes Every Creature to make an intelligent saving throw or take 48 plus 4 psychic damage and be stunned for a full minute creatures can repeat the same throw at the end of the next turn and they still lose that turn because of how crippling the sun condition is this is basically an area of effect version of the intellect devours devour intellectability crippling an entire party if they fail their intelligence saves but mind flayers are also deadly in regular combat as their tentacle attack does a respectable 2d10 plus 4 psychic damage and grapples a Target on hit forcing the creature to make an intelligent saving throw or be stunned until the grapple ends so players aren't safe in melee either this fulfills the condition for the Mind Flare's most deadly ability extract brain the Mind flare can attack and capacitate a humanoid it has grappled and deal in an enormous 10d10 psychic damage and if the damage drops the target several hit points the target immediately dies to having his brain extracted from its skull and eaten by the Mind flare here this combination of abilities allows a single mind flare to incapacitate and potentially immediately kill players with relative ease if that wasn't enough mind flares also have an Arcane spellcaster variant called The Mind flare Arcanist which can do everything the normal mind flayer can in addition did cast in a handful of spells most notably while a Force Shield invisibility confusion and hallucinatory terrain though this does increase its CR by 1 up to cr8 which is still ridiculous mind flares are notorious for tpks because they target the say that is typically the weakest against players and makes failed saves quite lethal sliding at number two is the beholder these are cr13 aberrations and remained one of the most recognizable Dungeons and Dragons monsters due to its striking design the most dangerous aspect of the beholder is the mini rays that it fires from its eye stocks on its turn it can fire three random Rays at any Target with a wide range of dangerous effects its I-beam canned charm fear slow put to sleep and even petrify targets the most deadly raise though are are the incredibly High damaging disintegration and death Rays the disintegration wraith forces dexterity save or taking 10d8 Force damage and if it reduces the target to zero hit points they are disintegrated into a pile of dust making healing and most Resurrection useless the death ray Works similarly dealing even more damage with 10d10 necrotic damage and while it doesn't disintegrate the body it does still automatically kill a Target and drops to zero making healing useless if all that wasn't scary enough the beholder has a fly speed of 20 feet with a hover meaning that it can't be knocked out of the air while allowing it to remain forever out of melee range also it can just delete magic as its main eye functions like an anti-magic field spell but up to 150 foot cone and it can move the cone at the start of each of its turns or deactivated completely if it so chooses luckily for an adventurer the anti-magic cone also renders the beholder's own eye raise inert as they too are magical in addition to all of that the beholder has three legendary accents which it can use to fire off an additional Ira at the end of another creature's turn and it even has layer actions of your find it while it's in its layer however that does increase its CR to 14. well you would encounter beholders much later in the game than most of the other cards of this list even running into it at level 13 it will still be rough to beat which is fitting given it's probably the second to most iconic monster in the game the only thing truly holding the beholder back from being unstoppably deadly in most scenarios is that the Rays it fires are decided randomly meaning luck of the dice will decide just to how deadly or not do the beholder ends up being but luck is not a problem at all for the final spot of this list coming into the number one spot we have the most iconic creatures in Dungeons and Dragons the dragons these range all the way from cr1 wormleans up to cr-24 ancient dragons and Beyond what makes these the most dangerous monsters in the game is that at nearly every level of play there's an incredibly deadly level appropriate dragon with a decent fly speed and a breath weapon that can easily take down an entire party in his single action while also being incredibly resilient as an example a CR2 black dragon worm has a ridiculous 33 hit points in 17 AC and with its breath weapon averaging 22 asset damage on a failed saving throw more than enough to down to most level 2 characters in a single blast and it's AOE so we can hit multiple targets every kind of dragon follows this pattern of high damage a high hit points and high AC as you further climb in levels and they get even more powerful by gaining new abilities such as legendary actions legendary resistances more attacks alternative crowd control breath weapons super senses like blind sight any enemy with flight and ranged attack options can pose a significant problem for even a well-prepared party but dragons take this combination to the extreme few monsters are harder to beat than a dragon with an Open Sky while there may be legendary monsters that on their own are more powerful than any individual Dragon no other kind of creature is so deadly at all levels of play if you broke them up individually you could have 40 different distinctly deadly monsters at various CR levels which is why they have to take the top spot on this list alright and that's the list are there any other extremely deadly monsters that we may have missed or do you have any ideas for future videos just like this one if so I'd love to hear about those things down in the comments [Music]

Channel: TheD&DLogs

Views: 110,240

Keywords: D&D, Dungeons and Dragon, s Dungeon & Dragons, D&D Beyond, DnD, Wizards of the Coast D&D, Heroes Campaign RPG, tabletop, gaming, roleplaying, rule, rules, d20, d12, d10, d8, d6, d4, DM, PC, tips, tricks, advice, guide, dice, book, PHB, VGTM, dungeons and dragons, 5th edition, best, overpower

Id: r_MYG8JMG0U

Length: 18min 21sec (1101 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 26 2022