THE DEXTERITY SCORE: Creature Comparison
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- 5th edition D&D values Dexterity incredibly high, possibly more than any other ability in the game. In this video, we see what the various levels of Dexterity look like in creatures. From immobile shriekers to lightning-fast elder tempests, there is every kind of clumsy or nimble monster.
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Dexterity is the only monster ability score that tends to get lower at higher CR. At the highest dexterity scores you either get the god Hermes or the common house fly, no in between.
Levistus, before getting engulf in ice, was known as the greatest duelist of the nine hells. I wouldn't be surprised that he has a dexterity of 30
WotC didn't include the main archdevils in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, which was understandable and a fair business move, setting them up to put the archdevils in the next bestiary ... but then they waited too long, never made that bestiary, and just repackaged existing monsters into Monsters of the Multiverse 🤔
apart from the most powerful divine beings, demigods , lesser, and greater gods, i don't think anything should have a dex (or any score) over 30
@@esperthebard Such a missed opportunity...
I have some contention with elephants having low dexterity in D&D. They may not be agile in the strictest sense, but they _are_ both deceptively fast and capable of some impressive finesse when manipulating things in their environment using their trunks.
Dexterous for their size is not the same as being dexterous in general (and Dexterity primarily affects reflex speed, not movement speed. One's ability to move fast is more a feature of Strength, while Dexterity is about how tiring that speed is to maintain).
It'd be more accurate to say that elephants are proficient in using their trunks and have strong legs resulting in fast movement (I don't think we'll be seeing any elephants maintaining a marathon run any time soon).
They can't jump.
GOOLY DANG another one. THANKS YOU dude :D
I didn't have a chance to watch until now. That is good: watching this is the only thing that calms me down today. Otherwise, my heart would've exploded from fury. My smiles are dead forever and I want nothing but total carnage.
Bless you Esper. I'll always say this: you are one of the greatest things that happened to d&d, from 1st edition on.
I just subscribed and would love to see the rest of the abilities done this way.
You and me both
You are among the elite in my book, Esper. Thanks again.
Legendary creature with 30 dex? I propose it's the last olive left in a jar of olives.
Great video - love that you’ve included all those Old School MTG artworks 🙌
giant slug and mountain goat and will-o'-the-wisp ... oh how things have changed since those days
Oh, the time when Serra Angel was the best creature..
@@srenthorsen9924 White: Serra Angel
Blue: Mahamoti Djinn
Black: Sengir Vampire
Red: Shivan Dragon
Green: Killer Bees
Artifact: Tetravus
My favorite artists from back then were Mark Tedin, Ron Spencer, Anson Maddocks, Quinton Hoover, Richard Kane-Ferguson, and Rob Alexander.
I broadly agree. I have a soft spot for Melissa Benson as well, though. Shivan Dragon, Nightmare and Lord of Atlantis are all iconic artworks.
Hey Esper, I would have missed this video if not for the short you made of the intro. Keep up the good work!
Thank you! Glad the short did well in spreading the word!
wow I've been searching for this topic all day and a new video comes out on it.
Great Video really puts it into perspective
Great - I love yor analysis videos! Would also love a sorcerer and monk subclass tier ranking video some time in the future.
More of these! Intelligence next
1:30 - Score of 1 (-5)
2:37 - Score of 2 or 3 (-4)
3:36 - Score of 4 or 5 (-3)
4:34 - Score of 6 or 7 (-2)
5:30 - Score of 8 or 9 (-1)
6:10 - Score of 10 or 11 (+0)
6:56 - Score of 12 or 13 (+1)
7:40 - Score of 14 or 15 (+2)
8:38 - Score of 16 or 17 (+3)
9:32 - Score of 18 or 19 (+4)
10:27 - Score of 20 or 21 (+5)
11:28 - Score of 22 or 23 (+6)
12:22 - Score of 24 or 25 (+7)
13:16 - Score of 26 or 27 (+8)
13:33 - Score of 28 or 29 (+9)
14:25 - Score of 30 (+10)
Thanks for the video, Esper. I like the callback to your old top monster countdown videos. All of a sudden, this video made me think of the old Tex Avery cartoon from 1946 or some year in the 40's called The Cat That Hated People. Yes, I just looked up the title and other details as a shortcut for this comment. I admit it. But growing up it was a favorite of mine and now I wonder what the stats of the creatures in that old cartoon would amount to for no reason other than just for fun and old memories.
This video is exactly what I was looking for in my session I ran last Friday. I love hearing vetted DMs describe the ways the world and its inhabitants interact with and are restricted by the games rules and mechanics. I’ll be looking forward to more videos like this!
love these kind of videos! did you do charisma?
Thank you! Not yet for Cha, let's see
I received an email today about an update for monstrous heroes that I have on pre order. I am so stoked. YOU ROCK!
Edit: I sure hope you sign the monstrous heroes book like you did with my personalized emporium book. Such a fantastic touch. I can not say enough good things about esper the bard! Thankyou thankyou thankyou.
Edit number 2....my favourite part of the emporium is page 5. The bard and the vampire. That really helps me to explain how to play dnd to new players.
This was a lot of fun, especially since Dex is usually everybody's second ability, if not first. I won't downplay Con, with hp, concentration casts, and saves, but I just feel like with how 5e works, to me, you don't need AS MANY hit points; Clerics aren't auto-include, anymore, and many encounters allow the whole party action economy to be smashed over one big monster's head, so Dex wins. If you don't get hit, you frequently don't get hurt, those saves are more frequent, and going first can stop whole enemies from even getting to cast, or swing.
I'm wondering if you plan to do these for the others? I know that it can be really tricky, at times, to explain what having an Intelligence of 23 might mean, compared to 18, even when the 18 might still know more about specific things; what DOES Halaster Blackcloak know, or remember he knows, in between fits of giggles, or talking about things in the real world? Still, I'm a wizard-main, and most of my favorite NPCs are the various mages of the Realms, so this could be fun!
Charisma could be, too, as it might show how it works, what it isn't, and such? You don't have to just be beautiful; you could be invisible, but still persuasive, and it might help with Charisma's biggest flaw...role-playing vs rolling. If you want to lift a Boulder, or tear down a door, you can just roll for it, and get results, but if you want to persuade, you need to speak, and if you are just the most vulgar teenager, but your 20 Charisma Sorcerer rolls really well...do you brush off the insults, and jabs, or downplay the result because what they said has consequences? What terrifying beasts know the secrets of reality, or could persuade those to share them? 😊
Do you plan to make a video like this one for each attribute? Thanks for the video.
I like how you use term "Adventure Path" from Pathfinder instead of "published adventure" :)
This has to become a series
Plsssssss
Loved the video! Thank you :)
will u do a giant tierlist with the new giants from the bigby book?
I am considering it. Quite possible.
15:14 so if im to go of this right...this book can insist in players who who want to have monster PCs?
Will there be a bigbys giants monster ranking ?
That's a sick quote from galactus, chaotic evil bad guys always have the best narration. Its the most fun to read, even if in real life it would be really cringe for someone to say.
(And don't come at me with some "galactus wasn't technically evil..." that stuff is the terminal cancer that attaches itself to everything that is serialized. He was originally written as a planet sized chaotic evil threat. )
Back in the age of Thac0, max stats were 25, usually reserved for gods.
Hmm I feel like I'm potentially a 7 or 8 dex because I'm extremely clumsy and uncoordinated because I have limited proprioception but at the same time I'm pretty good at fine motor skills and I also have great skill at dodging balls that are thrown at me and I definitely have proficiency in stealth as well because I can easily sneak up on people without even trying (provided I don't run into a door or trip over something on the way) so either my stealth is high or their perception is low and I would be tempted to blame my clumsiness on perception but I'm actually pretty good at noticing things so my dex score is a mystery (I've definitely got an 8 or lower in strength though)
Yeah I straight f my games up before we start. I use a modified standard of 18, 17, 15, 14, 10, and 8. So I see max out stats a good bit . Alot of death to cause I make traps and monsters way more deadly. This has totally bit me in the ass when I first started using the stats. At 4th lv the PC doesn't have to worry about bumping up stats and are free to get a feat
Seems like a bit of a problem to me if 20 in a stat is the highest a player character can typically get, and you can roll that at level 1...
Any tips for playing a 3 charisma pc?
Im currently trying to make him as insesitive and witless as possible in every conversation, while avoiding the "dark brooding" or the "never talk" types because they aren't very fun, but Im not sure if that is the best way to depict low charisma.
I had a 3 charisma ranger, I portrayed him as generally brash and overly blunt. he also spoke broken common due to it not being his first language.
I personally prefer your past content. If you want more ideas you could rank spells based on their schools, or you can do an abominations ranking.
Back in the 4E it was quite refreshing to be able to dump DEX since both AC and Ref could also use INT.
Unless your class had something to do with DEX it was quite common to see characters who weren't (according to the character sheet) acrobatic, agile or nimble.
My Loxodon Cleric has Dex as his dump stat, it just made sense to me narratively that he would be slow and cumbersome. Dex is a very useful stat but I don't think it's as essential as people claim for most characters, sure low initiative is a pain and Dex saves are relatively common, but you never see people clamouring about Wisdom as a dump stat, and wisdom saves are really common, and high perception is probably just as valuable as high initiative. Obviously if you rely on ranged or finesse weapons for your build then Dex is very valuable, but I don't think it's as OP or essential as people claim unless you're playing a class that relies on it like rogue, ranger or monk.
Does this character wear heavy armor?
@@esperthebardloxodon get to add con instead of dex with their natural armor, so they likely dont need it anyway.
still demonstrates your point though
@hilleleisenberg6382 oh interesting, some of the monster classes in the 5e book I'm working on do something similar
I know im being a pendantic nerd but rolling persuasion against her AC annoyed me way more than it should have, and a 5 dexterity is extremely low... I think you mean your dexterity modifier is +5 ☝️🤓
You know I was bored one day and decided to roll a character for the hell of it.
Now I got a barbarian wood elf with dex 20 at lvl 1 burning a hole in my pocket...
Your first quest: Find a DM
@@esperthebard True enough, I don't know where to find the ones without hair dye and metal sticking from their skin is the problem haha.
Do strengh next
@Takeda10K I dint knew.
Aprendeu o português?
Why did you not mention any gods?
Surely there are gods with 30+ dexterity, even in 5e
Sonic the hedgehog would prolly have a 30 dex.
Snails are rather sluggish, aren't they?
Bump
Dexterity is overpowered.
???
Really weird to make a list of dexterity creatures. Why did you choose to make this list?
As a low key protest against how good dexterity is?
It's the third video in a series about ability scores. The INT video didn't compare monsters, but talked about ways to make intelligence matter more in 5e.