How VibeMonsters works
A two-player hotseat brawler. Describe a monster, fight, repeat.
The flow
- Each player describes a monster in plain English.
- Claude builds the monster — stats, moves, element, look — within the rules below.
- Gemini draws a sprite for it.
- You take turns picking a move (or typing whatever you want your monster to try). Claude narrates and resolves each turn.
- First to drop the other to 0 HP wins.
Stats
Every monster has the same five stats, summing to exactly 400:
- HP
- How much damage it can take. Minimum 80.
- ATK
- Powers physical moves.
- DEF
- Reduces incoming damage from physical and magical moves.
- SPD
- Faster monster goes first each turn.
- MAG
- Powers magical moves and heal moves.
A glass-cannon (low HP, high ATK/MAG) hits hard but folds fast. A tank (high HP/DEF, low SPD) eats hits but moves second.
Move kinds
Each monster has 3–4 moves, all of one of these kinds:
| Kind | What it does | Stat that powers it |
|---|---|---|
| physical | Damages the enemy | your ATK vs. their DEF |
| magical | Damages the enemy | your MAG vs. their DEF |
| heal | Restores your own HP | your MAG (capped at 35) |
| defend | Halves the next hit you take | — |
| buff | Permanently boosts one of your stats | — |
Damage math
For attacks, damage is roughly:
damage = (your_stat × move_power) ÷ (their_DEF × 2)
× element_effectiveness
× random(0.85 – 1.15)Capped at 45 per hit. Healing capped at 35. Random variance means even the same move hits differently each time.
Elements & effectiveness
Every monster has an element (fire, plant, storm, glass — whatever Claude invents). When a move hits, Claude picks an effectiveness multiplier based on the matchup:
- ×1.25 super effective — a clean elemental advantage
- ×1.0 neutral — most matchups
- ×0.75 resisted — the defender's element shrugs it off
Buffs & defending
- Each buff multiplies one stat by ×1.25. Stack as many as you want, but no stat goes above ×1.75 total.
- Defending halves the next incoming hit (50% reduction). Wears off the moment you get hit.
Turn order
Higher SPD moves first each turn. Buffs to SPD count. If you out-speed and KO the enemy, they don't get to retaliate.
Freeform actions — the secret sauce
You don't have to click a move button. The text box at the bottom lets you tell your monster to try anything. Claude reads the request and decides what actually happens, based on the monster's body, element, and abilities:
- Fits the monster
- It works normally.
- A stretch
- It improvises something related, slightly weaker.
- Impossible for that body
- It tries and fails, or substitutes something weak. (A bookworm can't breathe fire.)
- Clever and on-theme
- Claude leans in — small power bump.
Examples: "bite their leg", "hide behind a rock", "intimidate them with a roar", "channel storm energy into a single bolt". Claude scores freeform actions between 10–55 power.
Status effects (visual for now)
Claude can apply status effects mid-battle — burn, freeze, poison, confuse, haste, regen, shield. They show up as badges below the monster's name. In v1 they're flavor: per-turn ticking damage and skip mechanics are coming next.
Tips
- Read your moves before clicking. Each move's kind tells you what stat powers it.
- If the enemy is defending, attacking right into it is a bad trade — buff or heal that turn instead.
- Out-speeding matters most when both monsters are near death.
- Get creative with the freeform input. Claude rewards smart, on-theme ideas.