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Bloodied & Bruised Vol. 1 – Monster Manual

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New Combat Actions for the Creatures in the Monster Manual

The bugbear chief nurses a gushing wound in her side before issuing an order of retreat to her allies. A bright light forms around the angel’s dying body, blinding everyone near it as it passes on from the world of the living. With blood streaming down its torso, an enraged hill giant slams its fists into the ground and causes the earth around it to quake. 

Bloodied & Bruised is a series providing new combat actions for the creatures in the 5e roster. When pushed to their limits in combat, these monsters, critters, fiends, and foes gain new abilities that aid them in battle, or perhaps spell their doom depending on the circumstances. Bloodied & Bruised takes inspiration from the "bloodied" condition from 4e, making entirely new combat actions that can completely change the nature of a fight.

In addition, Bloodied & Bruised also introduces several "death throes" to the game, marking the demise of certain creatures with a grand explosion, heavy fall, or other unique effect to make the slaying of a great monster a truly unique experience.

Examples of Bloodied Actions

Iron Golem

When bloodied at 105 HP, the iron golem has the following features.

  • Ability Recharge: Poison Breath. When first bloodied, the golem’s Poison Breath ability is recharged.
  • Frailty: Malfunction. While bloodied, the golem doesn’t work as optimally. Its speed is lowered by 5 feet (to a minimum of 10 feet) and it cannot take reactions.
  • New Ability: Overheating. While bloodied, the golem overheats to maintain efficiency. Any creature who touches the golem or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 5 (1d10) fire damage. If a gallon or more water is dumped on the golem, this trait is suppressed until the end of the golem’s next turn.
  • Strength: Scalding Weapons. While bloodied, the golem’s weapon attacks deal an additional 7 (2d6) fire damage. If a gallon or more water is dumped on the golem, this trait is suppressed until the end of the golem’s next turn.
  • Death Throes: Arcane Boom. A small arcane explosion happens as the golem falls to the ground. Each creature in a 10-foot radius of the golem when it expires takes 12 (5d4) force damage.
Hill Giant

When bloodied at 52 HP, the hill giant has the following features.

  • Frailty: Frustrated. The giant is frustrated by its injuries. At the start of each of its turns, it must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or attack whatever creature is closest to it. If two or more creatures are within the same distance of the giant, it chooses its target at random.
  • New Ability: Ground Smash. As an action while bloodied, the giant can hit the ground at its feet, making the earth shake. Each Medium or smaller creature standing within 15 feet of the giant when it hits the ground must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. After using this ability, the giant can make a single melee attack as a bonus action.
  • Death Throes: Timber. The giant falls in a random direction, provided it isn’t prone. Roll a d8 to determine which direction the giant falls when it dies. The area where it lands becomes difficult terrain, and the giant takes up a 15-foot square of space.
    Each creature standing in the area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the dead giant lands on the creature. The creature takes 17 (5d6) bludgeoning damage, is knocked prone, and is restrained under the giant’s body. The creature must use an action and 10 feet of movement on its turn to make a DC 17 Strength (Athletics) check, freeing itself from beneath the giant’s body on a success. 
    If a creature succeeds on the Dexterity saving throw, it takes no damage, isn’t knocked prone, and is pushed 5 feet out of the giant‘s space into an unoccupied space of the creature's choice. A creature that cannot move or chooses not to move suffers the consequences of a failed saving throw.

If you enjoyed this product, be sure to check out more of my work below. Follow me on Twitter for updates on upcoming projects @AnneofManyNames

Check out the rest of the Bloodied & Bruised series 

Pick up a bundle of the main volumes HERE for a discount!

B&B MM  Bloodied & Bruised - Volo's Guide  Bloodied & Bruised - Mordenkainen's  Fizban's  B&B - Bigby

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Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus  BB - Candlekeep Mysteries  Curse of Strahd  Dragon of Icespire Peak B&B  Dragonlance BB  Dragons of Stormwreck Isle  Eberron: Rising from the Last War B&B  BB - Ghosts of Saltmarsh  Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica  BB - Rime of the Frostmaiden  Journeys through the Radiant Citadel  Keys from the Golde Vault  Lost Mine of Phandelver  Mythic Odysseys of Theros  BB - Out of the Abyss  BB - Princes of the Apocalypse  Spelljammer: Adventures in Space  BB - Storm King's Thunder  Strixhaven  BB - Tales from the Yawning Portal  The Wild Beyond the Witchlight BB  BB - Tomb of Annihilation  BB - Tyranny of Dragons  Van Richten  BB - Dragon Heist  BB - Dungeon of the Mad Mage

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Bloodied & Bruised (FG)  BB - Volo's FG

Check Out More of Our Releases Below!

Aaralyn's Stolen Notes  Ghesh's Guide to Making Things

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Bloodied & Bruised

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Reviews (3)
Discussions (16)
Customer avatar
Michael H August 08, 2023 1:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Anne, quick question. Does adding Bloodied Actions increase the CR of a monster??
Reply
Customer avatar
Anne G August 08, 2023 8:16 pm UTC
CREATOR
It does not. Some of the monsters may get abilities that make them more dangerous than their RAW counterpart, but it doesn't change the CR.
Customer avatar
james D July 20, 2023 9:42 pm UTC
PURCHASER
any chance we can get a physical version of this???
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Customer avatar
Anne G July 22, 2023 7:02 pm UTC
CREATOR
Not anytime soon unfortunately. But there is a B&W printable version of the PDF available with every purchase.
Customer avatar
Scotty W June 02, 2023 1:31 am UTC
Will this be available for Roll20?
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Customer avatar
Anne G June 02, 2023 9:17 pm UTC
CREATOR
We're working on it!
Customer avatar
Michael B March 20, 2023 6:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Can you provide guidance on how adding these bloodied traits adjusts a creature's CR?
Customer avatar
Jason L January 13, 2023 8:04 pm UTC
PURCHASER
When does a ability starting "When First Bloodied" get triggered? Is it a reaction immediately upon being bloodied, interrupting a PCs turn?

Can a monster with a "bloodied" ability die before using it?
Reply
Customer avatar
Anne G January 13, 2023 8:41 pm UTC
CREATOR
Page 7: "Trigger Ability. When the creature becomes bloodied, a unique ability is triggered. The ability only triggers if the creature is able to act it out, meaning that incapacitated creatures can’t use trigger abilities in most cases. Likewise, if the trigger ability requires a reaction to fulfill, the creature can’t use the ability if it has already used its reaction that round."

If possible for the creature and situation, the Trigger Ability activated when it first receives the Bloodied condition. If the creature is healed out of the condition and then brought back below half HP, the ability does not trigger again.

And yes, a monster can die before using its bloodied abilities if it takes enough damage, and it doesn't have (or can't use) trigger abilities.
Customer avatar
James D May 03, 2022 4:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Anne! In your "Bloodied and Bruised Vol. 1 - Monster Manual," is this a grammatical error? "Traits that have this text in the opening this text are only triggered when the creature is first bloodied in an encounter." The "this text" after "opening" seems odd? Maybe it is just me? It is found on page 6. I love what I am reading thus far!
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Customer avatar
Anne G May 04, 2022 3:38 am UTC
CREATOR
There are no mentions of traits on page 6, so I'm not sure what you are referring to. That page is the first one consisting entirely of bloodied actions. Are you referencing the "When First Bloodied" indent on page 4?
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Customer avatar
James D May 04, 2022 12:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Anne. Yes, the "When First Bloodied" indent. It does say that it is on PG. 6 (for me) in the bottom left hand corner. It says: "When First Bloodied... Traits that have this text in the opening this text are only triggered when the creature is first bloodied in an encounter." I am just confused by the second mentioning of "this text" after "opening."
Reply
Customer avatar
Anne G May 04, 2022 5:28 pm UTC
CREATOR
Huh... That error must have snuck in there somehow in one of the updates. Thanks for catching it! The files have been updated to fix the error.

The actual phrasing of that sentence is supposed to be "Traits that have this text in the opening are only triggered when the creature is first bloodied in an encounter." It means that if a creature becomes bloodied multiple times in the encounter, traits that have the designated text of "When first bloodied..." only trigger the first time the creature is bloodied.
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Customer avatar
James D May 04, 2022 8:47 pm UTC
PURCHASER
No problem! I love your content so much!
Customer avatar
Shane B April 10, 2022 5:38 am UTC
PURCHASER
Love the two guides. Any plans to include the creatures from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes or Fizban's Treasury of Dragons?
Reply
Customer avatar
Anne G April 10, 2022 7:15 pm UTC
CREATOR
Working on it! The volumes are a bit delayed due to health issues, but they are coming soon!
Customer avatar
james D March 05, 2022 1:13 am UTC
PURCHASER
hi Anne ive purchased this product and was wondering if i could do a review of it on YouTube i have looked a some of the smaller monster and am loving it so i want to do a video on it would that be ok?
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Customer avatar
Anne G March 05, 2022 5:45 am UTC
CREATOR
Go for it!
Customer avatar
Miles M February 11, 2022 4:37 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This is niche, but im looking for the Rhinoceros and im not seeing it in here. Was it left out for a reason?

EDIT: Nevermind! I found it! It was missing a heading!
Customer avatar
Nils M January 24, 2022 2:04 am UTC
Does the PDF have an clickable, interactive table of content and index?
Customer avatar
Dave M December 19, 2021 8:22 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This is absolutely amazing, and I LOVE it. I really hope this will be available to print, eventually; also, I really hope you do the same thing for the other monster books (Volo's, Mordenkainen's, etc.)

A quick formatting error that I noticed: Rhinoceros wasn't given the same heading as the rest of the creatures.
Customer avatar
Brian E December 15, 2021 8:06 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I would buy this in a heart beat, IF even a soft cover option was available....sorry I just really dislike owning PDFs of things that I would use very often. Just an old grognard that likes his hands on things....any way to make that an option available?? just learned about his from the Crit Academy's latest podcast...sounds amazing!
Reply
Customer avatar
Anne G December 21, 2021 6:14 am UTC
CREATOR
Unfortunately, getting a print version of the book is not possible right now. I never planned for this project to be print-on-demand, and once released a DMsGuild title has to have a bestseller status of Platinum or higher to qualify for printing. The PDF title does feature a free black and white printer-friendly version people can print at home.

However, given that there has been significant demand for some sort of POD option, I will look into it if it becomes relevant in the future (at the time of writing this comment, this title only just recently hit Gold status so it will probably be months before it turns over to platinum, if it ever does. There is no guarantee on these things).
Customer avatar
Badger B November 03, 2021 9:33 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Anne, what a fantastic idea!

I will be picking this up.
Customer avatar
Wout T November 03, 2021 7:34 pm UTC
PURCHASER
This looks really amazing! Is it possible to put this on Fantasy Grounds, or would it be too complicated seeing that it's adding a lot of new rules/abilities to existing creatures?
Reply
Customer avatar
Grim Press ` November 03, 2021 10:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hi Wout,

We've chatted with Anne and will be working to adapt this for Fantasy Grounds. With the way the FG program works, we will have to do some creative monster feature-linking as we obviously can't reproduce each monster in its entirety from the Monster Manual.

To chat with us about this product's development, please join our Discord server:

https://discord.gg/N7MM93a
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Customer avatar
Wout T November 04, 2021 1:10 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Super!!!
Customer avatar
Ryan R November 03, 2021 2:45 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Incredible stuff! Just as a side note for whenever you do your first revision, as I was reading through I noticed the bloodied HP of the Black Dragon Wyrmling is still 63 when the other ones are much lower.
Reply
Customer avatar
Anne G November 04, 2021 5:39 am UTC
CREATOR
Damn, it must have slipped through editing. Updated it to the right HP amount. Thank you for letting me know!
Customer avatar
Colten T November 03, 2021 2:19 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I've been enjoying adding the bloodied condition to some of my monsters as a DM! After learning 4e had it, I often wondered why monsters didn't have this mechanic anymore. Thank you for taking the time to make this!
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This title was added to our catalog on November 02, 2021.