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Making Monsters

Hello everyone! Been a little while, hasn’t it? Hope you’re having a wonderful day; today’s topic? Monster creation!

It only makes sense that, in a world populated with powerful paragons of justice and heroism (maybe...?), it only makes sense there should be just as dastardly demons and ferocious foes to do battle against these PC’s!

When it comes time to creating a monster, the process is fairly similar to creating a PC, aside from the fact you’re going to notice a few things;

Monsters have a LOT more HP and MP: Don’t freak out if this is the case (which it probably will be). It may seem like a foe with well over 1,000 HP will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible to take down; but remember that the party will have just as incredible weaponry and abilities to whittle that down.

Monsters use the same stats as a PC: So there are no unique stats to monsters, and they have levels just like a player does. Anything from Destiny, to AVD, to Force; all are things Monsters can have.

Monsters don’t really use ‘weapons’: To calculate how much damage a monster will do at base, take a look at pg. 626 in the PDF! I’ll explain more about that in a bit!

Monsters don’t wear ‘armor’: Again, like damage, there is a different way to go about formulating PARM and MARM; you can find this information on Pg. 259.

You’ll see that the ‘Monster Manual’ in the back is fairly small: No worries. It really is a nice, easy process to make custom monsters, and Square Enix has PLENTY of material from their own games for you to get inspired from. And at the end of this post, I’ll share my google slides presentation that already has a fairly full roster of baddies for your viewing (and using!) pleasure!

So then! With all of that out of the way, let’s tackle Monsters!

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Above is an image of how I typically organize Monsters on my google slides, as well as the base slides I would use for making a monster! Though you of course can format the look however you’d like!

So now that you can see an example, let’s walk through the process.

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Monster Player Relations and Monster 'AI’

Really, a minor thing, but very important; different Mosnters in your worlds will have very different personalities. Some are flighty, some are moody, some are just downright bloodthirsty. Dust provided several classifications for these monsters to describe their Attitudes towards players. I personally use a lot of Hostile monsters for most of my battles, but other settings may allow for more dynamics with Monster aggression.

I won’t describe the attitudes since Dust does a good job about it on page 254, but I will quickly discuss my approach to Monster AI.

For the most part, a creature’s intelligence should determine how they fight; more feral monstrous foes will attack without prejudice, while more cunning foes may look for something in particular. Here are my personal categories:

Feral: Monsters like this don’t care who they attack. So long as they’re in range and they’re in battle, they’re on the menu! However, they and any other allies with a similar AI may be more likely to target foes who have dealt more damage to them.

Commanded: Monsters with this AI have a direct order from some higher power than them; they will follow this order to the very end. This may change mid battle, and if the creature is a coward or hot head, they may stray from their original plan.

Bully: With this AI, monsters will react accordingly to the flow of battle. If an ally is struggling and is low on HP, any enemy with this AI will quickly gang up on the PC. Otherwise, they will act very similarly to the Feral AI.

Cautious: A Cautious creature will typically not attack until they themselves are assaulted. Whether or not this is because they are a passive creature and have no qualms with the party, or the fact they wish to analyze the party first, this is a potential build for more sentient creatures.

Grudge: A monster with a Grudge AI will most likely seek out to only harm one particular Party Member. Probably goes without saying, but they will do anything in their power to take down this PC. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

Support: A Support AI will seek first to heal their allies before attacking the party. Selfish or particularly intelligent Support AI’s will first ensure their safety, and then aid their ally. They will likely also be among the first monsters to flee.

Tactician: Monsters with a bit more wit than the average Goblin, they will and take advantage of the party. If they leave the Support Character exposed, or if a fighter continues to use the same technique again and again, these Monsters will learn from the past, and use that to their advantage.

Learned: Similar to Grudge AI’s, a Learned monster may not necessarily know everything, but they are very good at guessing what the Party is like. Typically reserved for omnipotent beings or incredibly wise sages, these Monsters tend to have a bit more insight to the party's capabilities, and right off the bat will usually abuse their shortcomings.

Maybe these AI’s go without saying, and they certainly don’t need to be written down all the time; however, I do think having a general idea of how a Monster fights in battle is important when creating said Monster.

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Monster Types

There are 12 types of monsters described in the FFD6 PDF, which are the following:

Aerial - Most monsters or foes capable of becoming airborne.

Examples: Giant Roc, Sniper Drone, Blimp Frog, Wind Elemental, Pyre Bat

Associated Abilities:

Flight - Grants immunity to Earth elemental attacks, and a +4 AVD against short ranged weapons.

Note: I would argue that there are Aerial enemies that do not need the ability flight. Though seemingly counter-intuitive, I would think of creatures like Angry Penguins, or other flightless birds.

Inhale - Through means of either powerful lungs, magic, wind, etc., the monster may force a character (or even party) to move closer to it with a successful check.

Swarm - The monster is not one, but many entitites. They take only half damage from single target attacks and abilities. But if it targets a group, the entire swarm will be in danger.

Suggested Weaknesses: Thunder, Ice

Amorph - Creatures without form, though usually have been known to create pseudopods and pseudo-orifices.

Examples: Ochre Jelly, Flan, Failed Experiment, Spiteful Breeze, Giant Amoeba.

Associated Abilities:

Unusual Defense - Grants either a resistance to either physical or magical attacks, and in exchange, receives 200% damage from the opposite.

Improved Defenses - Increases a monster’s PARM or MARM stat by 50%.

Multiple Parts - The creature is treated as having a ‘main body’ target, and up to two other parts. Allows an additional standard action with each additional part.

Suggested Weaknesses: Earth, Thunder

Aquan - Ferocious creatures that lie beneath and dwell within the oceans, rivers, and lakes of the world.

Examples: Orange Kraken, Dire Shark, Mermaid, Piranha School, Forgotten Diver

Associated Abilities:

Submerge - Allows the creature to ‘leave the battlefield’ for as long as they would like, allowing them to avoid local or group actions that would normally affect the monster.

Large - Seemingly specific for Aquan monsters, it should also be noted that the fathomless depths allow for humongous, and unimaginable creatures... Creates immunity to knock back.

Specific Habitat - Grants either Avoid or Accuracy bonuses to the creature so long as they remain in their favored biome.

Suggested Weaknesses: Thunder, Ice

Arcana - Creatures whose very existence can be attributed to magical influence. Very good at using magic too...

Examples: Lich, Bomb, Cait Sith, Will-O-Whisp, Crazed Cultist

Associated Abilities:

Magical Counterattack - When hit with a spell, there is a 25% chance the monster may cast a spell it knows if it has enough MP.

Elemental Immunity - An upgrade to elemental resistances, this prevents monster from taking any damage from a particular element.

Flawless Spell - Allows the monster to cast one of its known spells as an instant action once per battle.

Suggested Weaknesses: Consider creating weaknesses in accordance to the magic the Arcana monster wields (a user of the Blizzara spell may have a weakness to fire.)

Beast - Four legged, Bi-pedal, or no legs at all; they come in many shapes. So long as it’s not human, and very likely, feral fauna.

Examples: Behemoth, Dire Bear, Mad Pony, Coeurl, Werewolf

Associated Abilities:

Call for Help - The Monster cries out or signals for help, and within the next turn, more of the same kind of monster will appear.

Counter Attack - After being hit by a physical attack, monsters with this ability have a 25% chance they may automatically perform a physical attack against their offender immediately preceding damage.

Specific Habitat - See above in Aquan

Suggested Weaknesses: Fire, Ice

Construct - An artificial monster that has been either programmed or gained enough sentience to attack nearly anyone who approaches it.

Examples: Steel Golem, Corrupted Android, Mecha-Armor, Haunted House, Evil Toaster.

Associated Abilities:

Regeneration: Through innate magic or taking the time to repair itself, these monsters recover HP equal to their level at the start of every turn.

Vehicle: This ability allows the monster to serve as a mount for a smaller creature. No benefits to the Vehicle monster, but it provides its PARM and MARM score to the creature riding, who also gains a +4 AVD score.

Controlled Defense: Though it is necessary to also have the ability Unusual Dense, a monster with this ability may shift back and forth between resisting physical or magical attacks as an instant action.

Species Specific: It is suggested that Construct Monsters have an immunity to the status ailments Fear, Poison, and Zombie.

Suggested Weaknesses: Thunder, Water

Dragon - Fierce. reptilian-like, and usually lovers of treasure. Fantastical and deadly, many come in Aerial, Aquatic, or Land varieties.

Examples: Bahamut, Knucker, Basilisk, Jormungand, Drake Whelp

Associated Abilities:

Flight or Submerge - See above in Aerial and Aquan

Final Attack - Upon the monster’s HP hitting 0, the creature may perform one pre-determined attack or spell as an instant action. If the action requires MP, they must have enough in reserve.

Fearsome - Whenever a PC attempts to attack a monster with this ability, they must perform a successful Force or Finesse check against the creature, or be struck with Fear until the start of their next turn. May only be taken by Notorious Monsters and Bosses.

Suggested Weaknesses: Varies, though Ice isn’t a bad choice.

Fiend - Generally found in the more evil varieties, Fiends have been known to wield dark magicks and host incredible power.

Examples: Devil Lord, Imp, Incubus, Eldritch Horror, Hellspawn

Associated Abilities:

Undying - Unless reduced to 0 HP under certain conditions, this creature can and will eventually resurrect itself some time after combat has concluded.

Fearsome - See above in Dragon

Impervious - An ability only found in Bosses, this grants the monster immunity to every status effect unless the GM states specific exceptions.

Species Specific: All fiends have a Weakness to Holy, and either a resistance or immunity to Shadow.

Suggested Weaknesses: Holy, and potentially Fire.

Humanoid - Typically creatures that are bipedal and have sentience. They typically tend to live or travel in communities too.

Examples: Gilgamesh, Shock Trooper, Orc, Hill Giant, Hag

Associated Abilities:

Item Use - The creature is able to use a consumable item as a standard action. The PDF says it has to be a recovery item, but I personally feel the item only need be classified as consumable.

Job Ability - The monster is able to choose one Job Ability from any PC Job, and use it once per battle. Restrictions do apply.

Call Minions - The monster summons two different kinds of monsters onto the field, each of them at least two levels lower than their commander.

Suggested Weaknesses: Most humanoids have a weakness to Shadow, and Fire, Ice, or Thunder are nice additions.

Insect - The creepy, crawly monsters of the world. They needn’t actually be an Insect, so to say; just normally something that is an arthropod and would make Tumblr users shiver.

Examples: Purple Worm, Cannibal Beetles, Wasp Swarm, Giant Scorpion, Vampire Butterfly

Associated Abilities:

Swarm - See above in Aerial

Large - See above in Aquan

Multiweapon - Using a literal additional weapon, stinger, claw, or something along these lines, these monsters may re-roll one die with every attack like a dual wielding character.

Suggested Weaknesses: Ice, Wind, Fire, Thunder

Plant - Particularly nasty flora that just so happen to be very lethal and dangerous to your health. Best hope these aren’t in your garden...

Examples: Malboro, Venus Flytrap, Cacutar, Ent, Mandrake

Associated Abilities:

Status Touch - After landing a normal attack, a monster with this ability has a 25% chance to inflict a negative status condition with a successful resistance roll.

Specific Habitat - See above in Aquan

Multiple Parts - See above in Amorph

Suggested Weaknesses: Fire, Ice

Undead - Animated and now cursed with undeath, these monsters come in as many varieties as there are living creatures.

Examples: Death Knight, Ghoul, Huge Zombie, Vampire, Kelpies

Associated Abilities:

Undying - See above in Fiend

Status Touch - See above in Plant

Job Ability - Primarily reserved for the more sentient varieties of Undead. See above in Humanoid

Species Specific: All Undead monsters automatically have the Auto-Zombie status, and have an immunity to Poison.

Suggested Weaknesses: Holy, Fire, Wind

Pretty hefty lookin’ list, huh? Well, I would like to bring us to this next point; monsters are wonderfully flexible. They don’t have to perfectly fit into any of these categories, they may have several categories they fit into, or maybe you might want to make your own! All of these are perfectly fine! In fact, making a monster act out of the ordinary for it’s usual classification probably will make for a memorable battle!

If you want more information on specific monster types, go ahead and look at pages 256-257 in the PDF!

Now that you know about a handful of the types of monsters, let’s look at Monster Difficulty.

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Monster Building

There are four tiers that you use when creating Monsters: Normal, Notorious, Boss, and End Boss monsters.

Normal Monsters: Run of the mill, basic creatures you can normally throw at a party as they run around the world you’ve created. It is suggested that these are the most numerous monsters to be encountered.

For Distributing Stats:

A Normal monster has a base of 24 Attribute Points to distribute among PWR, RES, DEX, and MND, and an additional point for every level they have (i.e. a level 3 monster would have 27 points.)

A Normal Monster’s HP is calculated as follows: The Bonus HP granted by their type plus their RES score. Multiply that by the monster’s level.

Let’s look at the Bugbear as an example. He is a Humanoid monster, so he has a base of 40 HP, his RES score is 12, so it totals out to 52 HP (40+12=52). We multiply that by 3 and get his HP total: 156 HP (52x3=156).

A Normal Monster’s MP is calculated as follows: The Bonus HP granted by their type plus their MND score. Multiply that by the monster’s level.

Again, the Bugbear! He has a base of 5 MP and a MND of 1. Add that together and we get 6 (5+1=6). Multiply 6 by his level, 3, and you get 18 MP in total (6x3=18).

A Normal Monster’s ACC and AVD points are calculated by first using the Monster’s Type bonus, and then add half of the monster’s level to each of these scores.

The Bugbear’s base ACC is 2 and his base AVD is 6. Since he is level 3, we divide this by 2, round down since we get 1.5, and we are back to 1. Thus, his total ACC is going to be 3 and his total AVD is 7.

A Normal Monster’s Force and Finesse are calculated just like a PC’s; take their PWR+RES, and divide by 4 to determine Force, and their DEX+MND divided by 4 to find Finesse.

Let’s look at the Bug Bear’s Force and Finesse: he has a PWR score of 10 and a RES score of 12 (10+12=22). Add these together and we get 22, and then by dividing it, we get 5.5 (22/4=5.5). Round this down, and you get 5 as the Bugbear’s Force. For Finesse, the Bugbear’s DEX is 3, and his MND 1. Add these together and you get 4 (3+1=4), and then divide that by 4 (4/4=1). Thus, his Finesse is 1. : P

A Normal Monster’s Armor is determined by their level. There is a chart found on page 259 that describes how many Armor Points a monster receives that is dependent on their level. With all of the points available, you are able to distribute the points into either the Monster’s Physical Armor (PARM) or Magical Armor (MARM) stats.

As a level 3 monster, the Bugbear naturally has 8 Armor Points. I decided that because he is mainly a physical fighter, I put all of his Armor Points into his PARM stat (8), and nothing into his MARM Stat.

I would normally advise that a monster’s armor points be more evenly distributed, especially depending on the party. This way, everyone will have a chance to feel like their dealing damage. Alternatively, having monster with imbalanced armor points does make for players to have to figure out some strategy...

Finally, a GM needs to ensure and double check that the monster’s they create have affinities to certain elements. In total, there are 9 ‘recognized’ elements in FFD6. They can also be dished out as Physical Damage or Magical Damage:

Earth

Fire

Ice

Lightning/Thunder

Water

Wind

Holy

Shadow

Neutral

A Monster that is Weak to an element or attack receives X2 damage.

A Monster that is Vulnerable to an element or attack receives X1.5 damage.

A Monster that is Resistant to an element or attack receives X0.5 damage

A Monstter that can Absorb an element or attack restores X1.0 HP or MP that would be equivalent to the damage they would have received.

Any given Monster must have:

2 Vulnerabilities or 1 Weakness

2 Resistances or 1 Immunity

It is to my personal tastes that a Monster’s natural resistances, immunities, or vulnerabilities do not need to count in this case, and frankly the monster abilities Elemental Immunity or Elemental Absorption are just icing on the cake. They are not necessary to grant an Absorbance or Immunity.

Monsters can also have status immunities or resistances too! There are no hard set rules in the book, so I would suggest just using good judgement. for your monsters.

This is the basic process I go through when creating monsters! You do the exact same thing for Notorious Monsters, Bosses, and Final Bosses! Here are where things are different for them:

Notorious Monsters: Typically, these are monsters that pack a little bit more punch. They are typically a unique creature, and have a distinct personality. Think of them like side-mission bosses, or a curve ball monster. I personally tend to throw one in every session, or every other session if I’m using a Boss.

AP: Start with 35 Attribute Points PLUS their Level. (The Bugbear would get 38 in total, since it is level 3).

HP: After calculating the Bugbear to have 156 HP, you would then double this number because he is a Notorious Monster, he now having 312 HP.

MP: There is no difference when calculating MP for Notorious Monsters.

ACC & AVD: Notorious Monsters gain an additional +1 to both of these scores.

Force & Finesse: There is no difference when calculating Force or Finesse for Notorious Monsters.

Boss Monsters: Typically a more prominent monster that either commands great power, land, or is just an overall problem for the world. They are very mighty, and shouldn’t really appear all that often. Normally good to serve as a sort of ‘chapter’ closing battle.

AP: Start with 45 Attribute Points PLUS their Level. (The Bugbear would get 48 in total, since it is level 3).

HP: After calculating the Bugbear to have 156 HP, you would then multiply this number by 4 because he is a Boss, he now having 624 HP.

MP: After calculating that the Bugbear has 18 MP, you would then double this number because he is a Boss, the Bugbear now having 36 MP.

ACC & AVD: Bosses gain an additional +2 to both of these scores.

Force & Finesse: Bosses gain an additional +2 to both of these scores.

Special : Bosses are immune to Transform and Charm, and normally instant death attacks.They also possess the Break Damage Limit, allowing them to deal more than 999 damage in a single attack.

End Boss Monsters: The Big Kahuna. The Femme Fatal. The guy with long flowing hair that has way too many ‘true forms’. The weird character you had no idea (COUGHCOUGH) that was going be the root of all of your problems. Often the final monster a party should face, End Bosses are incredibly powerful, and in my opinion, should be reserved only for the Final Battle. That’s not to say that this monster doesn’t appear at an earlier time, but perhaps they are merely a Boss at that point.

AP: Start with 60 Attribute Points PLUS their Level. (The Bugbear would get 63 in total, since it is level 3).

HP: After calculating the Bugbear to have 156 HP, you would then multiply this number by 5 because he is an End Boss, he now having 780 HP.

MP: After calculating that the Bugbear has 18 MP, you would then triple this number because he is an End Boss, the Bugbear now having 54 MP.

ACC & AVD: End Bosses gain an additional +2 to both of these scores.

Force & Finesse: End Bosses gain an additional +2 to both of these scores.

Special : End Bosses are immune to Transform and Charm, and normally instant death attacks.They also possess the Break Damage Limit, allowing them to deal more than 999 damage in a single attack.

Further, End Bosses and even Normal Bosses occasionally have extra forms or additional stages to their battles in Final Fantasy games. To translate this into FFD6, it is advised you have weaker forms of the Boss prepared ahead of time that the players fight sequentially. If you do this, make sure to provide destiny and other rewards after the previous battle concludes, and then you can bring on the now incredibly powerful and potentially over sexy villain/villainess.

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Monster Abilities

I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.

There are Biological and Combat Monster Abilities.

Biological Abilities focus more so on passive abilities a Monster may have, while Combat Abilities have more active effects. Both have and can be affected by the Status Ailment, Seal, if deemed appropriate.

Any Monster at any difficulty may only have as many of these abilities as equivalent to half their level rounding down. So our Bugbear is only able to have 1 ability, since 3/2 is 1.5, rounding down is 1, so I’ve given him Improved Defenses.

But, so say the Bugbear was Level 7, he would instead have 3 abilities he could draw from.

The PDF mentions that monsters may have abilities that they’re stuck with that go towards this count, but I say that’s up to your decision. I know that I, on several occasions, have ignored that rule.

For the complete list of Monster Abilities, go ahead and look at pages 260-262.

Building Monster Attacks

HURRAY! We’ve reached the part where we finally get to design the techniques and attacks that a Monster uses to wipe that cocky/stoic/unenthused look off the PC’s face!

Firstly, all Monsters have Basic Attack. The PDF describes it as the monster not using any weapons or anything fancy, but I would take that with a grain of salt myself.

For a basic attack, look at the chart on page 262: it will let you know how much damage a creature should be dealing normally. And do note that, unless you take the ability Swift Strike, a monster will always use their PWR attribute to calculate damage.

Let’s look at the Bugbear’s basic attack. I gave it flavor text to be Goblin Punch, but it’s just meant to deal damage. Since he’s level 3, the attack will deal PWR X 2 +2d6 Physical Damage.

Now then; the fun stuff.

For the rest of your attacks for you heinous henchman, continue to reference your basic attack, because now you get to modify it a bit.

These Secondary Attacks are what make battles interesting. You an equate them to being things like the Malboro’s Bad Breath move, or the Tonberry’s Chef’s Knife attack.

To build these attacks, look at your Monster’s Finesse stat; since Secondary Attacks require ... We’ll call them ‘Technique Points (TP)’... Each point of Finesse that your Monster grants one technique point (1TP) they have to spend when making an attack.

Since certain additional effects like Instant Death or making the attack range to be Local can be pricey, you may often have to also take ‘refunds’ for TP, like making the action slow, or that the secondary attack deals no damage.

I won’t go through every effect, but we can break down the Bugbear’s secondary Attacks:

Bugbear Smash: So naturally, my Bugbear has a Finesse of 1; this means he only starts out with 1 TP to build attacks. LAME. So! If I want him to do anything really cool, I’m going to have to get some refund points. So for Bugbear Smash, I want to scare my players by having the attack deal an additional damage step (So instead of dealing the normal PWRx2+2d6, the Bugbear would deal PWRx3+2d6 damage). However, that costs 2 TP, and I only have one to spend. So as I may be able to afford to make this move, I will have the attack have a -2 ACC, meaning that whenever I have the Bugbear use Bugbear Smash, he subtracts 2 from his attack roll. The -2 ACC refund gives me +1 TP, so now I have 2 TP to spend in total. Perfect! Now, I’ll go ahead and add the additional Damage step, which costs 2TP, so I now have Bugbear Smash.

Prepare to Strike: In the case that you don’t see an effect that you don’t like, sometimes you just have to improvise. Just use good judgement, and depending on what all you want the attack to do, base it off of currently listed effects. For this one, I had the Bugbear wait a turn, similar to taking a slow action, thus ‘granting’ him 3 TP to spend. I wanted it to be like a counterattack, which I figured would cost that many points if not less, so... Yeah. Sorry not as much of an explanation on this move, but it just goes to show that it’s okay to finagle. Here and there.

So that’s the Bugbear’s secondary attacks! It should be noted that you may create several, if not as many secondary attacks as you would like for any monster. I’ve seen no limit on how many you can create; the only thing holding you back is how much TP you can use to start with every secondary attack.

But don’t worry; with each new Secondary attack, you may again use your base TP that is derived from your monster’s Finesse.

And now a quick insert on spells!

Monsters can cast magic just like players, and don’t really have restrictions on what kind of magic they can use (I don’t feel that way anywho). A lot of the time as well, Monster’s Secondary Attacks can consume MP just like magic, so a lot of this is up to your discretion. If you want a guide, I would suggest the following

Monsters that are Levels 1-3 should and can normally be casting Novice Spells; Levels 4-6 are good for casting intermediate spells; 7-9 should be the time for Expert spells; 10-12, Superior Spells. And as you can guess, 13-15 is prime time for Ancient spells.

Again, though; spell mechanics for monsters is pretty flexible. I say do what you think makes sense for your monsters.

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Death and Death Blows

This can probably be discussed in a separate post as well, but I do believe it prudent to discuss the matter of PC death via combat.

If you’ve read through the PDF some, particularly the sections regarding Destiny and Recovery & Death (Starting at Pages 110 and 161 respectively) you’ll see that there’s a bit of a hitch in FFD6; unlike other tabletop RPG’s, there is no Resurrection spell to bring back a deceased party member (unless they can Cheat Death).

So just when can a character die? Well, Monsters are some of the biggest perpetrators. There is one exception to this: A Normal Monster is unable to kill a PC. So why bother at all to include them in this list? Well, IF an entire party is knocked out while fighting Normal Monsters, that still means consequences. This can vary between GM’s, but the PDF states that a full party wipe against Normal Monsters means the PC’s lose All accumulated EXP they were saving up for the next level. I would also personally throw in some lost Gil and Items, but again GM’s discretion. However, the party will probably be unconscious for some time, and awaken in a nearby city. Not very dignifying.

Otherwise? Notorious Monsters, Bosses, and most certainly End Bosses can kill players. And if the entire party is knocked out while fighting one of these bad boys, you can be sure that is Game Over for everyone.

Here’s how I typically go about slaughtering a party member.

Firstly, any of the above monsters can only aim to kill a player that is unconscious (meaning they have 0 HP).

Said PC should be within Short Range of the Monster. I’m sure there are exceptions, but for the most part in battle, this is another parameter that should be met.

Now it’s the monster’s turn, and you have two different possibilities:

If the creature in question is a Notrious Monster, all the Player’s turns will resolve, and when it is the creature’s turn, it must perform a Slow Action in order to attempt to kill the PC. If the character is still unconscious by the time it’s the Monster’s turn again, the Notorious Monster may perform a Death Blow.

If the monster is a Boss or End Boss, then the Death Blow may be performed as a Standard Action. Not a whole lot of time to try to save your friends!

So it’s too late now; the Monster is making their way to deliver a Death Blow. At this point, to my knowledge, the PC and Monster must both roll a Force or Finesse Check, GM’s choice.

If the PC wins, they don’t get off easy. The character is not yet dead, but will most likely be left with a serious physical wound or other kind of memento for when they wake up.

If the Monster wins, that’s that. The Player is dead, and unless they can Cheat Death, that is the end of their Legacy.

I would advise, if this is the result, allow the Player one last cinematic moment with their character. Nothing mechanically changes, but if they have enough Destiny for Blaze of Glory or Cheat Death, this is their opportunity to perform such shenanigans.

From this point onward, battle resumes as normal as the rest of the Party is probably in tears or all the more determined to now slay the foe that stands before them. HURRAY

Oh, and it should go without saying: if the entire party is knocked out while fighting a Notorious Monster, Boss, or End Boss, it is fully within the GM’s power to declare all characters dead, bar Cheat Death, and that be the conclusion of their Saga. Kinda sad, but there are just some things a Phoenix Down can’t help (open at your own risk).

So, yeah; Death Blows.

As mentioned, they require a Force or Finesse Check to determine a character’s fate, but what about if a Healthy Party member throws themselves in the way of a Fatal Blow?

That’s up to the GM’s discretion, especially if said character’s already been knocked out a handful of times themselves. Me personally? I’ve normally had fairly healthy party members protect each other, and I, in that case, normally have the defending player:

Drop immediately to 0 HP immediately

And they gain a permanent wound.

As for monster and NPC deaths, these should be dependent on the design of the world. Maybe in some places, PC’s can easily kill anything, and they don’t really stray from that. Or perhaps the players insist they only knock creatures unconscious upon battle’s conclusion. Whatever the case, you can read up on ALL of this a bit more on this on Page 162 in the PDF.

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Limit Breaks and Destiny

Remember how I mentioned Monsters can have Destiny too?

Well, as a matter of fact, Monsters can do a lot of stuff with that Destiny if the GM is clever. Of course, for one point of destiny, they are able to add an additional die onto a roll. Or perhaps if they have 7 Destiny, a Boss or Notorious Monster may cheat death themselves!

Regardless, here is a quick chart of what Monsters can use Destiny for, since it varies ever so slightly from players:

Add an additional die onto a roll - 1 Point of Destiny

Summon an Esper - Destiny Point cost varies

Limit Break - 3 Points of Destiny

In order to do this, a Monster must be AT LEAST level 5 to create a 10 Point limit break. For more information, look below and at page 265

A Monster may, without interrupting a player’s turn, take an additional turn, whether that be in between any combatant’s turns, or at the start of battle - 1 Point of Destiny

Regenerate a destroyed extra part - 1 Point of Destiny, Slow Action.

Cheat Death - 7 Points of Destiny

Now Monster Limit Breaks I’ll quickly describe; they’re just like a PC’s. Three destiny points is the cost to unleash one, and the Monster must be at 25% or less HP. But aside from that, the Limit Breaks are built just the same, and are an excellent way to make your PC party wet their pants in fear.

A Monster has the potential to build up to one Limit Break, but these are the milestones at which a Monster May build a particular them:

At Levels 5-9, a Notorious Monster or Boss will always have at least 1 Destiny Point, and can construct a 10 Point Limit Break.

At levels 10+, a Notorious Monster or Boss will always have at least 2 Destiny Points, and construct a 20 Point Limit Break

Finally, any and all End Bosses, regardless of their level, will have 3 Destiny Points, and may construct a 30 Point Limit Break.

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Drops and Rewards

Won’t talk too much about this as it’ll probably vary between all GM’s, but here’s the thing; there are a few reasons for killing monsters, and it’s the treasure and experience most players are looking for. So a quick guide:

Gil - The currency of almost all Final Fantasy games. Always a good fall back for dishing out good stuff. Normally held by sentient or Monsters that hoard.

Consumables - Potions, Spells in a Bottle,Phoenix all that stuff; really good to give to players if they’re lacking a good support character, and normally held by sentient creatures or magical monsters that exude this stuff.

Components - The book makes a really big deal about how rare Components are, but honestly? I don’t think they’re that game breaking. Most natural monsters can have this stuff, and it should be the to GM’s discretion what tier of component is dropped so Players can fiddle around with the things and make cool stuff. I mean, come on! Why waste a perfectly good, fresh Behemoth horn?

Equipment - Not normally found on ‘natural’ enemies, but again, that’s up to you. Maybe it’s a hunk of Beetle chases that can make for good armor. Or a person finds a fallen Unicorn and uses their horn as a dagger.

Destiny - Destiny is only ever a guarantee reward for heroic acts, or defeating a boss, or End Boss. Occasionally, it may be appropriate to award Destiny for defeating a particularly troublesome Notorious Monster, or if it was a dire situation with Normal Monsters (i.e. saving an entire town from a flood of Water Elementals).

EXP - The fickle and amazing EXP! Expressed not in hundreds, yet in mere single points in FFD6, I have my own system for leveling up, but in the vanilla game, a character will level up with every 5 points of EXP collected. As for how often combat should relinquish EXP, I am a firm believer that a GM gives EXP to the party for defeating monsters around their level and with the battle having been one with some difficulty. Normal battles will only ever award 1 EXP, but Notorious Monsters, Bosses, and End Bosses can award up to 3 EXP, if not more.

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Well now; that was quite a MONSTROUS post, wasn’t, it? (Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck please not the face).

Bad puns aside, I think this should hopefully give you readers a good start and understanding behind monsters!

Now, I have one parting gift to bestow unto you before I leave you be; my own personal Monster List Slides.

It’s takes a long time to come up with a whole Zoo of monsters, so I would like to share this collection I’ve created so far so you can have a decent Bestiary to start with!

I will note that, as you look through, some abbreviations I may have missed will be there, as I’ve had this Slideshow ever since I’ve started FFD6, and have probably missed stuff. Further, the campaign I’m currently running does have Materia in use, and is a very prominent drop. Components are as well, and they are not always labeled. Also! Notorious Monsters are Underlined and Bosses are Bolded.

Though many things can be discussed to much further lengths, for now, I hope that you can find this to be helpful! Enjoy!

All the Best,

~Ryan

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I welcome you: To the Bestiary

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Credit to the Final Fantasy Wikia for the image of the Tonberry at the top!

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