monster-manuel

[monster-manuel]

So, what is the OGL and why are DnD creators thoroughly screwed?

Tumblr has not been doing a great job at talking about this, but:

With OneDnD, Wizards of the Coast has decided to update the Open Game License (OGL). Said license is what allowed people to create homebrew DnD content and sell it, and even larger companies to use certain sorts of content. Pathfinder, for example, is built on said OGL. This also allows streamers and artists to exist and benefit from said content.

With OneDnD (sometimes called “dnd 6e”), WOTC wants to create a much more restrictive OGL, which will, amongst other things:

Make WOTC take a cut for any DnD-related work (according to Kickstarter, a whole 25% of the benefits)

Let WOTC cancel any project related to DnD up to their discretion

Let WOTC take ANY content made based on their system, and re-sell it without crediting you, or giving you a single cent

And most importantly, revoke the old OGL, which will harm any company or game system that used it as a base, such as Pathfinder. And it means they GET ownership over any homebrew content you may have done for 5e in the past!

It’s important to note that OGLs are supposedly irrevocable. They were planning to use it for OneDnD initially, but they want to apply it retroactively to 5e, somehow. Which is illegal, but lawyers have mentioned there’s a chance they may get away with it given the wording.

This means that anything you make based on DnD (A homebrew item? A character drawing? Even music, according to them?), can get taken and used as they deem appropiate.

These news come from a leak of the OGL, which have been confirmed by multiple reputable sources (including Kickstarter, which has confirmed that WOTC already talked with them about this), and was planned to be released next week.

So, what can we do?

Speak against it. Share the word. Reblog this post. Let people know. Tumblr hasn’t been talking much about this matter, but it’s VERY important to let people know about what is WOTC bringing. 

Boycott them. Do not buy their products. Do not buy games with their IP. Do not watch their movie. CANCEL your DnD Beyond subscription. (Btw, they ARE planning to release more subscription services too!). They do not care about the community, but they care about the money. Make sure to speak through it. 

And maybe consider other TTRPG systems for the time being, Pathfinder’s Paizo has been much nicer to the community, their workers are unionized and are far more healthy overall

[monster-manuel]

I realise it's been a thousand years since I posted anything here, so here, have this guy. He's based on this Yokai, and isn't that dangerous on his own (for context I used him with an Oni for a party of 3 level 5s so as always the CR is mostly guesswork).

#dnd 5e #homebrew #5e homebrew #undead #yokai #ik this isnt formatted like a usual stat block i cba to open the editor i use lmao #besides this word table looks fine

[monster-manuel]

It's Grell time!

So I feel like Grell are a perfect example of a v low CR monster that actually retains it's danger even at higher levels.

Obviously this is due in large part to their paralysis venom, but also because of their preferred tactic of lifting their prey up high until it becomes too much trouble, then dropping it to try and finish it off. A Grell ambush is real bad news for melee characters, and it's important to note that they do form groups on occasion, so a handful of Grell all attacking together is definitely on the cards.

Also I wanna draw attention to their blindsight, according to sources, it's an electrochemical sense which detects the signals produced by living creatures (and presumably any electromagnetic sources in the radius, which may be a good way of distracting or "blinding" a Grell?). All this to say, conventional stealth isn't much good if you happen within 60' of a Grell. You can be as silent as you like but they can still sense your exact location.

Finally, I want to talk about about the hierarchy of Grell. It's mentioned in sources, and in older editions, but as far as I know 5e just has "Grell". But there are also Grell patriarchs (or "big grell" as I've taken to calling them) and the more cerebral (haha bc they look like brains) Grell Philosophers, which are usually capable of some kind of basic psionics. Anyway show some love to the Grell bc I promise you can threaten a level 8 party with just a handful of slightly enhanced Grell and they're super fun to run too 💜

#dnd 5e #Grell #dnd monsters #i really like them ok #and i almost killed some party members with them recently lmao

[monster-manuel]

do you have any resources or guides for worldbuilding and reimagining the feywild? not looking for adventure prompts or npcs just your thoughts on setting and how to make the feywild feel dangerous and mystical

Planescape: The Feywild

I won’t lie,  the introduction if the feywild is one of the best additions to the default d&d cosmology in a while, not only from a thematic perspective, but gameplay aswell, as it allows any podunk patch of land to act as a doorway to wild adventure. That said, too often this wonderland is treated as a place where things are just wacky, without real attention paid to the narrative possibilities introducing the feywild into a story can have. 

To that end, I’m going propose a few different aspects of the feywild, different visions of how things could be drawn from different mythologies and storytelling conventions:

The feywild has no geography: like the notes of a song or the lines of a play, the reality of faerie is reinterpreted with every visitation, Coloring itself based on the expectations and emotions of those exploring it. This is why a child can stumble into a mushroom ring and have themselves a whimsical romp full of talking animal friends and life lessons, whereas adults tend to find themselves ensnared by echoes of their deepest desires and why adventurers ALWAYS find something to fight.  If you want to go anywhere in the feywild you don’t need a map, you need a thematic structure that will carry you to your destination: whether that be staying on a yellow brick road through a number of distractions and tribulations, or winning a game of riddles against a talking bird who’ll swear to drop you off at your destination. 

The feywild is a place of stories:  When a peasant family leaves out milk and performs small acts of thanks for the brownie, they are unwittingly inviting the primal energies of the feywild to fill the space they have made for it, creating a creature that had always been there, looking out for them. Likewise, when folk tell of wonderous places just beyond the edge of the map, the feywild becomes those places, taking solidity from repeated tellings of the tale and incorporating different interpretations to give themselves depth. This is not to say that the translation is perfect, as one can’t simply make up a story, tell it to an audience, and expect it to suddenly become true as it takes a powerful and engrained sort of lies, embelishment, or folktales to give shape to the otherworld.  When populating your local fairy-realm or those areas near enough to it, consider what sort of stories people tell about that place, whether it be about monsters that gobble up wayward children or treasure hidden there by bandits long ago. 

The feywild responds to your emotions: When your party takes a rest, ask them how they think their characters are feeling. Consider whether they are frightened or foolheardy, adventurous or avricious, and then sketch out some random encounter to spice in along the way as the realm of whimsy responds to the vibes they’re putting out.   A party that’s feeling hungry may encounter a friendly fey teaparty or a dangerous lure disguised as a snack, a group that’s feeling pressed for time may hear the horn of a savage hunter stalking them, or a parable about stopping to help others can actually speed you along your own path.  In this way, the fairyland is in diolog with the party’s desire to press their narrative forward, and will test or reward them according to its whim. 

The feywild is everywhere: one of the underutilized aspects of having the feywild in our games is that a portal to the “shallower” areas of the otherworld can pop up anywhere overtaken by nature, allowing fey beings and other oddities to cross over in a way that creates all manner of adventure hooks. If I’m building a dungeon in the wilderness, I’m personally fond of having a mounting fey presence the deeper in you get, replacing the normal ruin dwelling hazards with troops of hobgoblins, odd enchantments, and various tricksters. For smaller dungeons, the closed off fey portal can be an adventure hook for later, encouraging them to come back when they need to delve into whimsy, whereas for the larger dungeons,  a non contiguous fey realm connecting multiple points can serve as a combination of fast travel AND bonus stage. Even for non dungeon locations, consider how much fun of an adventure it’d be if someone discovered that their cellar had been replaced with a fairy’s larder, or that the vine-covered lot where neighborhood kids play during the day transforms into a vast battlefield for sprites during the night. 

[monster-manuel]

I let my players have a little fight against each other for fun bc I am a nice DM but the spellcasters came up against each other and it's been 50 minutes of cleric/druid nonsense God help me lmao

#i think the druid has the edge but its v close lmao

[monster-manuel]

Gulthias Tree

I've always liked the Gulthias Tree as a concept, they have some cool lore and they fit really well into pretty much any setting, being equally at home in a forest as they are in the Underdark. Anyways, there's no official statblock for them in 5e, and I did'nt like any of the ones online recently when I wanted to use one, so I made my own; this has been tweaked slightly since I used it, so hopefully its a little more balanced than my usual nonsense lmao.

#dnd 5e #homebrew #5e homebrew #Gulthias Tree #Had a bit of fun making the lair actions rhyme lmao #As always no idea if the CR is right but eh nobody really uses them anyway

[monster-manuel]

Some new-ish Potions

I've been playing the Witcher again recently and I decided to come up with some potions and stuff based on the ones in the game, as always, I haven't tested them and there are a few that are definitely OP but whatever. The oil using blood is flexible btw, if you've a monster without blood, you could change it for some equivalent if you want like.. idk ectoplasm or something,, anyway....

(more below <3)

#btw ignore the psionics title at the bottom its just something else im working on :) #this table was a nightmare to format for some reason and i didnt wanna spend ages on it so i just stuck it in that section to fix it #also not a word about my inconsistent grammar ik its a weakness of mine #dnd 5e #homebrew item #5th edition #potions

[monster-manuel]

#might have to try this w/ my players

[monster-manuel]

The Jann

The Jann were basically the humans of the elemental planes in earlier editions, I have a theory that they fell out of use with the advent of Genasi (and also because Jann is a very similar name to Djinn which probably confused people), but they make a pretty cool mid-to-low-level elemental encounter I think. I've actually upped the CR for this one beyond what I think it really should be, but that's mostly due to their damage output being higher than other mob encounters...

#dnd 5e #homebrew #Elementals #their abilities are based on like wiki info about them in 1E etc #the composite bow is also based on that #it uses dex for the attack and str for the damage

[monster-manuel]

Hm I've only just noticed that the claw attacks just kinda went missing from these boys huh? They're STR+2 to hit and 2d6+STR damage for reference.

Not entirely sure why I've suddenly gravitated toward all the big bug monsters, especially considering I'm not generally a fan of bugs irl. But anyway I made some Ankheg variants. The idea is that they're kinda like beetles, so there are territorial stags and occasional Patriarchs who are really big. Also I gave the Patriarchs a fly speed but it's intended more for short flight than long-term motion or combat use (though of course use it how you will).

#5e homebrew #dnd #Ankheg

[monster-manuel]

Random mansion generator

The Procgen Mansion Generator produces large three-dee dwellings to toy with your imagination, offering various architectural styles and other options. Each mansion even comes with floorplans:

https://boingboing.net/2019/07/12/random-mansion-generator.html

[monster-manuel]

Not entirely sure why I've suddenly gravitated toward all the big bug monsters, especially considering I'm not generally a fan of bugs irl. But anyway I made some Ankheg variants. The idea is that they're kinda like beetles, so there are territorial stags and occasional Patriarchs who are really big. Also I gave the Patriarchs a fly speed but it's intended more for short flight than long-term motion or combat use (though of course use it how you will).

#dnd 5e #d&d #homebrew

[monster-manuel]

Someone tell me why I decided to start building a mega dungeon even though my players are probably not gonna see it in this campaign.

#basically i already had two regular dungeons for them #and they only _need_ to do one of them to earn a favour from someone #but my goblin brain was like #no! suffer! #so im currently on floor 4...

[monster-manuel]

Aether and its Many Uses

A couple of upcoming statblocks refer to a material called "Aether" which I use in my game, so I thought I'd give a bit of a primer first.

Aether is basically my equivalent of Residuum from the brain of the illustrious Matt Mercer, except it works a bit differently and has some slightly different properties.

1) Discovery: Aether is mined from ore known as Aetherite. It is a dull green crystal, which is sometimes refined into a powder for ease of transport and sales. Aether's value is not affected by how it is processed, but it's value is determined by its weight. It's fairly rare and as such is among the pricier of gems.

2) Activation: Aether in its natural form is inert, and nothing more than a pretty rock. However, it can be activated by expending a spell slot of 3rd level or higher into it. Once activated, Aether remains so for a number of years equal to the spell slot level used to activate it, or until exposed to a dispel magic, antimagic field, or similar effect.

3) Active Aether can be used, like residuum, to replace the monetary component of a spell (e.g. the diamond for revivify etc).

4) Aether can also be used in the production of Golems, as a power source, or as a means of powering teleportation devices etc. An Aether crystal can be used to make a permanent teleportation circle without needing to put the year's worth of casting in (provided the crystal is of sufficient size and remains in place). Often, golems, constructs, and even summoned creatures (usually elementals as they are the least intelligent of the summons commonly used by mages) are enhanced by Aether gems implanted in them. These can give them additional abilities, or boost their stats.

5) Corruption: Ancient arcanists found a way of using the strong Arcano-Magnetic field produced by Aether - a kind of ozone smelling static field around the gems, to subtly control the minds of their servants, preventing dissent or uprising. Unfortunately, time has ravaged these devices, and now those exposed to them are afflicted with a vicious fervour, turning them aggressive to even their friends as they swear fealty to long dead masters.

#dnd 5e #d&d #homebrew #this is largely so I dont have to explain it again when i drop some statblocks in the next month or so

[monster-manuel]

I had an idea recently to tie together the hive mind and lethargy sections of the Queen's lore. While the Queen spends a large portion of it's time in a state of torpor, it is still aware of it's surroundings; with a passive perception of 10, though, it's not hard for your players to sneak up and do a pretty significant chunk of damage with a surprise round (especially if they know what they're doing). But the Queen can hear all of its children at all times, so if they start dying, the Queen will undoubtedly take note.

For every normal/young remorhaz killed in the nest, add one (or two, depending on how many are there to start with/how difficult you want it to be) to the Queen's passive perception. If this reaches 20, the Queen wakes up from it's laying slumber and is now watching for the party's arrival in the laying chamber, making conflict much harder (nay, impossible) to avoid.

I was inspired recently to make a statblock for a Remorhaz Queen, since (in my head at least) they reproduce like most other bugs, and therefore probably have some kind of queen life state in the same way that ants, bees, etc do. I know that they’re based visually on centipedes, which don’t have hives or queens, but you could always repurpose it into just a particularly big, regular Remorhaz if you wanna keep them a little more grounded in “reality”.

Keep reading

#dnd 5e #homebrew #d&d #remorhaz #also I ended up using this as a delay monster though my players haven't gotten to it yet #so I'll prob update this with how it went at some point #hopefully they avoid a fight i doubt they'll survive lmao

[monster-manuel]

I'm trying to work on a sort of big project on and the UK has decided to boil me alive for this so I can only sit and write for about an hour a day before I melt :"(

#its really slowing my progress on things lol #ik 24 isnt hot to like americans and stuff but i really cant deal above 16 ish #i do have some statblocks coming up though #and a bunch more next month when my players have fought them and cant meta off my blog lmao

[monster-manuel]

I was inspired recently to make a statblock for a Remorhaz Queen, since (in my head at least) they reproduce like most other bugs, and therefore probably have some kind of queen life state in the same way that ants, bees, etc do. I know that they’re based visually on centipedes, which don’t have hives or queens, but you could always repurpose it into just a particularly big, regular Remorhaz if you wanna keep them a little more grounded in “reality”.

I don't have any specific plans to use this anytime soon but perhaps I'll update this if it does see use sometime in the future...

#dnd 5e #homebrew #again the CR is a guess but it seems about right #not much different from the basic statblock here but I kinda like the legendary actions and I beefed up some of the rest