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To celebrate the upcoming release of Keith Ammann’s book Remonstered! on Oct. 6, Polygon challenged the ENnie Award-winning D&D designer to create a custom monster for a level 5 campaign. Ammann designed the Mooncrow, a flying creature tailored to exploit a close-range party lacking in ranged options and spellcasting, set in a world locked in a constant solar eclipse.
Ammann chose a Challenge Rating of 2, allowing encounters of five or six creatures to fight in flocks. To counter the party's weaknesses, the flying beast utilizes illusions like Mirror Image and Phantasmal Force, an Armor Class of 15 boosted by the Ecliptic Veil feature, and innate Bane spellcasting.
The author reported that the Mooncrow encounter created initial chaos and successfully challenged the group. The Barbarian and Bard were downed multiple times, while the Fighter resisted via high AC and the Monk through mobility. The author noted the encounter successfully exhausted party resources while remaining fun.
Remonstered! The Monsters Know What They're Doing releases on Oct. 6. Ammann's work aims to help Dungeon Masters build better combat encounters.
