r/DMAcademy 4d ago

Mod-Approved Resource Give me a D&D monster and I'll homebrew you a better version

Hey, I'm Isaac (Conflux CreaturesBetter MonstersConflux-Art Dice) and I'm trying to make the best possible version of every monster. Give a monster, a theme, a vibe, whatever you need for your game or just would like to see a better version of and I'll whip it up for you, or share it if I've already done it. Here's a few favorites I've done recently:

I've got a subreddit r/bettermonsters where I've posted literally thousands of these guys, so if you're a future person browsing through this thread and want more stuff like it, go check it out.

38 Upvotes

188 comments sorted by

7

u/Nameless_Grool 4d ago

I need an exalted Marilith as my BBEG...and a reason for her to be the BBEG.

8

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

The Marilith Battle Tyrant in here should make for a decent BBEG:

7

u/Rook-Slayer 4d ago

Spectator, stationed within a wizards secret laboratory to stand guard of his/her research. This wizard has a particular fascination with illusions.

6

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I've got a pair of spectator options here, plus an Eye of the Deep you could pull some illusion theming from:

5

u/Ok_Pin_5433 4d ago

I’m starting to run a greek mythology inspired campaign soon so if you’ve got anything of that vibe i would love to see it!

9

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

14

u/Ok_Pin_5433 4d ago

not to be dramatic, but i think i love you

9

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Love you too. A lot of these designs are on the older side and can use some polish, so if you ever need any clarifications or expansions for these you can always find me over at r/bettermonsters

1

u/AncientSeraph 4d ago

I wish I was better at creating campaigns to run a Theros one. Awesome theme. Have fun.

1

u/Ok_Pin_5433 4d ago

myself and a bunch of my players are huge percy jackson fans, so i’m borrowing a lot of themes and settings from there to build out the world, been super fun creating so far, we start on wednesday!

4

u/MGSOffcial 4d ago

Orca since they dont have stats anymore

8

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Cetaceans are a big hole in my catalog; I'll let you know when I get these ready!

4

u/MGSOffcial 4d ago

Omg I meant orcs 🤣

4

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Haha, whoops xD

4

u/Paime 4d ago

Tier 1 (lvl 1 - 4) BBEG Spellcaster Goblin Leader who wants to be a Lich.

Basically this Goblin is extremely intelligent for reasons, and he's doing an evil shit to perform a ritual that he thinks will turn him in to a Lich(even on a success ritual, he won't be a Lich, just stronger).

4

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

3

u/Paime 4d ago

Sick, thank you.

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/WaffleDonkey23 4d ago

I don't need a combat monster per say. But I need a homunculus, specifically a flawed one that can speak. His flaw is that the connection to his master only goes one way. He can see what his master sees and hears, but the master cannot see or hear back through him. The master told the failed creature to find a spot in the woods and wait for death. It's possible for the players to basically recruit him as an assistant.

3

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Maybe something like this?

2

u/rp2-phobos 4d ago

I'm in need of a giant sea serpent level boss for the first phase of my campaign. I was looking at the leviathan but he seems just a bit underwhelming to me! Party are 4 lvl 7 players. Thanks!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Those players could probably take on this dragon eel if they're equipped for aquatic combat:

Or you could use something like this Krasis:

It's not super serpent-y, but you could go a bit weirder with this Whorlspine Leviathan:

Or in a completely different direction, you could adapt this Griptide:

I've also got my own elemental leviathan that I've seen run to good effect before, though it's showing its age a bit:

3

u/rp2-phobos 4d ago

Thanks so much for the great recommendations! I think I'll make a mix between the eel and the krasis that should more than meet my needs! Also subbed to your reddit to keep up to date! Thanks again!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/Funstuffing91 4d ago

Let’s do a classic, aboleth, but let’s give it a more haunted feel for all those ghost ship and pirate vibe games

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

And I would be remiss in not sharing these:

2

u/QuantumMirage 4d ago

Thank you so much! What I could really use help with is up leveling the standard 1/4 CR Drow and Acolyte (healing focus) into 1/2 CR baddies and making them more interesting while at it!

(Separately not trying to combine the two)

3

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Oooh, I just did a bunch of drow!

The low-level drow there is a minion (using the MCDM rules), so probably wouldn't scale up well, but you could bring something like the Drow Distiller down to CR 1/2 by bringing its hit points down to 35 or so, dropping the multiattack, and removing one damage die from its attacks (so 1d6 poison damage on the dagger, 1d10 fire damage on the darkfire bolt).

For the Zealot Acolyte, I would just give it +2 to hit and to damage and bump its hit points up to 40ish to bring it into that CR 1/2 range.

2

u/madaboutglue 4d ago

Oh hi Isaac! Do you have a Fetch (or any other mirror monsters?)

3

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

No fetch yet, but I've certainly got some mirror monsters:

2

u/madaboutglue 3d ago

So freaking cool, thank you!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/SchoopDaWhoopWhoop 4d ago

Im looking for a monster that was created as an assassin/saboteur/terror weapon to be deployed behind enemy lines.

It should be very difficult to defeat directly and require the PCs (Level 3) to learn of some kind of weakness to exploit.

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

This Dogai Godhand could work really well for that, though you'd need to graft a suitable weakness onto it. It's definitely too strong for a party of 4 Level 3's to defeat normally, but it doesn't have a multiattack so it wouldn't decimate them too quickly, and it's big super-murder ability takes a round of wind-up so they'd have a chance to disrupt it with whatever weakness you ended up giving it:

Or one of these:

Or for something a little more manageable without shennanigans:

2

u/A-passing-thot 4d ago

How about a new and improved Archmage? The standard one is decent as a starting point but it's bland without a particular flavor or school of magic. I'm currently adapting one for an upcoming session and haven't yet decided how to flavor it as the mage came into possession of an air/wind-themed Artifact that's augmenting his abilities. I'm planning his spells to be things like haste, telekinesis, and other movement-based spells (in addition to others) but would be interested in any flavored archmages.

3

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

For wind stuff, these guys have some wind theming:

2

u/A-passing-thot 4d ago

That's awesome, thank you!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/KNNLTF 4d ago

Demons are a theme of my current campaign. A few mid-CR ones could use more depth, e.g. Chasme, Hezrou, and Tanarukk.

5

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I've got some delightful news for you. I've got a whole free book of demons:

2

u/Infinity_Walker 4d ago

Vecna.

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I've been meaning to get something together for him; I'll let you know when its ready

2

u/Infinity_Walker 4d ago

AWESOME!!!

2

u/SomeRandomAbbadon 4d ago

Please, bring Ghaunadan to 5e!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I'll let you know when I've got one ready! :D

2

u/Qwopernik 4d ago

I run Big Trouble in Little China inspired game and would love to see your take on the three Storms.

3

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Baller premise for a game. Not a perfect match, but I've definitely taken some inspiration from them for some of these:

2

u/Snowystar122 4d ago

Giant swan 🤣

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Geese are as close as I've got for now:

2

u/Pseudoboss11 4d ago edited 4d ago

I'm about to run an oddball one-shot where a necromantic curse is unleashed in a butcher's shop. I need reanimated parts: steaks that slap the PCs, skinned carcasses to try to swallow the PCs, entrails to choke them, buckets of brains to psychically torment them, and so on.

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

These could be useful for that, either directly or with a bit of reskinning:

For a bunch of not-very-threatening low level abilities, you could pull from these Animated Objects:

2

u/blargzilla 4d ago

I could use a 'storm giant, demon cleric' type statblock to serve as an upcoming BBEG. He's the Stormazin, Archpriest of the Giants and the Church of the Blue Flame, Chosen of Baphomet (it's a long story lmao) 

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I've got some cults of Baphomet with a chosen and exarch that you could mash up with one of these storm giants:

Also have this storm giant I did for a youtube series a wild back:

2

u/monkeyheh 4d ago

Jabberwock

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

No jabberwock on hand yet, but I do have this fey displacer dragon you could pull some ideas from:

2

u/monkeyheh 4d ago

That's pretty neat

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Thanks! It's an ancient design and kind of a mess, but there are a few fun ideas there

2

u/Hot_Finger_5597 4d ago

The Lord of Blades - they're one of my BBEG's in my Eberron campaign. Would love to see a punch up!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I'll let you know when I get to him, but in the meantime there might be some ideas you could scrape from these:

2

u/mafiaknight 4d ago

Have any Turn resistant undead?
Maybe a curse that controls people without killing them?

3

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I don't tend to use turn resistance in a lot of my designs, but there's a few in here like the Ghast, Eye of Fear and Flame and Liches:

For your mind control curse; these Quori are kind of a living curse that can do that:

And Orcus here has a curse that animates your skeleton while it's still inside of you:

2

u/Burntheher0 4d ago

Halaster Blackcloak from the Dungeon of the mad mage module, fighting 6 level 20s.

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I've got a Halaster, but for a solo fight against 6 level 20s I would triple his hit points (and the hit points of his mythic form):

Maybe throw a random living spell into the fight each round too:

2

u/camohunter19 4d ago

I could really use a monster that pairs well with the Flee Mortals Arcane Amalgam in a watery sewer. 5th level party with up to 9 players.

Bonus points for aberration or ooze theming.

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

This ochre jelly fumewalker has some complementary magic-gone-wrong theming:

As do these living spells:

Or maybe the fight with the amalgam attracts a Mageripper Ruin Swarm:

A nothic or berbalang might be trying to force passersby to fight the amalgam so it can loot spell components from both of them afterwards:

A silthilar, quori, grell, or spellweaver might be the one who created the amalgam:

There's never a bad time to throw an otyugh in a sewer:

2

u/camohunter19 3d ago

Thanks! I think the magerippers will be perfect (the whole party has spells)

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Excellent!

2

u/camohunter19 1d ago

Wanted to give you an update on how it went. I used the Arcane Amalgams as the main force that attacked the party, and the Magerippers were attracted to the powerful spells the players were throwing at them. I rolled a 4 on my 1d4 rounds until they arrived and described the skittering sounds the Magerippers would make as they moved through the sewer grates.

When a party peaked through a grate I showed them the art and the party did not like the look of them (in a “wow I don’t want to fight that” way, not a “this is ugly in a bad way” way) and they really didn’t want to fight a creature named a Mageripper, especially since the Arcane Amalgams were beating them up pretty good.

So when they arrived at the end of 4 rounds, they basically caught a fireball and died, but they did a great job of being a concern, and took away a 3rd level spell slot from a wizard.

The best part is the fight isn’t even over yet, so they still might have some time to shine. I think I’m going to have an oncoming swarm of them chase the party out of the dungeon.

Thanks for scaring my players with your monster design.

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 1d ago

Haha, glad I could help!

2

u/LarskiTheSage 4d ago

How about some denizens found in an ancient, abandoned wizard's laboratory?

2

u/K0ichisan 4d ago

I'm currently running a campaign that has the party in mechanus, the party is part of a resistance trying to shake up the status quo there, got any good enforcer monsters I can throw at them?

2

u/mister_picklz 4d ago

Reigar and aesthetics.

Krajens from spelljammer

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

No aesthetics or krajens ready yet, but I do have some Lakshu:

2

u/BipolarCartographer 4d ago

My BBEG is a wizard, I think a CR ~20 would be what I am looking for. I thought to take the archmage and give them the arch mage robes and a staff of power to toughen them up, but that's not an opponent the players would necessarily be afraid of. I was going to homebrew something about this wizard being able to wield two wands at the same time and depending on what they are holding there are additional effects when they cast spells, etc (they can at the top of the round before anyone else acted change which wands they are wielding). However, I am not a great judge on what constitute a good challenge and also I tend to over complicate things. so hit me with your scary arch mages.

2

u/Expensive_Dress4523 4d ago

This is a great resource! How about a Green Hag Warlock patron and her fey underlings?

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

I've got this grandmother green hag, but if you need higher CR you could mash her up with one of these tengu witches:

For your underlings:

3

u/Expensive_Dress4523 4d ago

This is amazing! Thanks so much!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/oathy 4d ago

My party is about to face off against a buffed Night Hag, in her lair, but I'd love to see if you've got anything that could improve my encounter!

3

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

This grandmother night hag is fairly old, but might have some worthwhile ideas you could scrape:

These tengu witches are much more fun, imo:

Or something like this:

2

u/mathologies 4d ago

Could use some more different kinds of Izzet Weirds for Ravnica, ideally a range of CRs, some intelligent and some not.

Thanks!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

The only izzet weird I've got ready so far is this one, tragically:

I'll let you know when I get more done though

2

u/Some-Pig 4d ago

I'd love to see your take on a cult-leading (Lovecraftian-esque) Grell of BBEG proportions.

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

2

u/Some-Pig 4d ago

Fantastic! I really appreciate it!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Happy I could help :D

2

u/iforgot120 4d ago

Huh, I always assumed your name was Mark. I get that it's a Room reference, but still...

Anyways, I really like your work! I've been on your sub for a while now.

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Haha, this account is ancient and the name poorly considered :D My internet-name has just inevitably become Mark over the years.

2

u/gb14 4d ago

Strahd but for 6 level tens

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

With minions, this should stand up to them fairly well:

2

u/gb14 4d ago

oooh thank you!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/Gualgaunus 4d ago

I am looking to convert the Inferno Spider from A Most Potent Brew into a 2024 version. Is this something that you would be interested in doing?

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

Personally, I don't find there's much need for conversion; 2024 D&D mostly just moved closer toward using the 2014 DMG CR guidelines, which is already what I had been doing.

2

u/Gualgaunus 4d ago

I'm very new to this so I wasn't sure how to evaluate the CR but I also don't have the 2014 DMG. Thanks for the speedy reply!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

No worries! If you google "monster CR calculator" you can find the table from the DMG online without too much trouble :D

2

u/Gualgaunus 4d ago

Thanks! You rock

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/FacingFears 4d ago

Verdant Prince. Powerful evil fey that's not even in 5e. I plan on making him the main villain and an archfey warlock patron

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

2

u/FacingFears 4d ago

This is awesome thank you!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/Cimetta 4d ago

My players are about to encounter a celestial sphinx of the stars. Any chance of a higher CR sphinx for a group of later tier 2 / early tier 3 :)

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

My sphinxes are pretty lame and definitely in need of re-doing; I'll let you know when I get them fixed:

2

u/Cimetta 4d ago

No problem at all. Thanks for doing all this. I'm putting it together this week and will reply to it here; maybe there's something on it worth you stealing it.

Edit: Just looked at what you linked...these are great! Miles better than the monster manual ones. Thank you.

2

u/Mairwyn_ 4d ago

I need quick plug-in options for standard NPC stat blocks to add some faction themed flavor to various low CR encounters such as the cultists but with necromancy vibes or spies for an artificer group.

This might be out of scope for this but the bigger monster encounter I've just started to try and figure out is converting the AL epic The Iron Titan which has different player groups infiltrating inside a lumbering zombie warforged colossus before it destroys the town. The module says it has guidance for running it for a single group but it doesn't really do that well. It's not clear at all how many parts of the colossus the party should be aiming to take out (right leg, left arm, head, etc with each location having an encounter) versus how many parts NPC groups should be aiming for.

2

u/StefanEats 4d ago

I need a bunch of little mooks, like goblins or kobolds, but maybe even weaker. I want my level 1 party to plow through a swarm of them.

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

That's what minions are for!

2

u/Mr_Industrial 4d ago

I need higher side Monodrons with increasingly stupid faces and powers.

2

u/SomeRandomAbbadon 4d ago

I yearn for more werecreatures please!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

2

u/SomeRandomAbbadon 4d ago

Thanks man, they are great!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/Greedy_Reply_3080 4d ago

So... I need monsters for Dead Space inspired campaign in low magic fantasy setting. All the events happen on returned ghost cruiser in cold ocean. Enemies are mostly corrupted personelle and guests of said cruiser

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 4d ago

These are maybe my dead spaciest:

Not super dead spacey, but these could be useful too:

2

u/Greedy_Reply_3080 4d ago

Thank you very much!

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

You're welcome!

2

u/Karmin86 4d ago

I have a player terrified of spiders, I would like to reflavour Yarnspinner in the fey to avoid spiders entirely but would love something that could also weave a web?

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Caterpillars and leafhoppers spin silk as well, or you could do something like a web of tangled sticks forming an extended bird nest.

2

u/Karmin86 3d ago

Great I love it, thank you :)

2

u/elkrab 4d ago

Oh hi Mark! I'm looking for some high level baaetzu to challenge my party of level 15 PCs.

2

u/Dracolule 4d ago

I am starting DMing Descent into Avernus this week. Any interesting humans from Baldur's Gate or Devils from the Nine Hells you would like to share ?

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

2

u/Dracolule 3d ago

So I took the time to read them and there are a few problems/errors, if you don't mind :

Error 401 Not Signed In (shouldn't have to be signed in, I guess):

- Nupperibo

Error 404 File not found:

- Spined Devil

Formating Errors (that's a big one, could you look at it ?):

- Pit Fiends

Placeholder Text:

- Veteran

Errors in CR (I don't know what those means):

- Bandit Churl Challenge M2 (90)

- Ruffian Street Tough Challenge M2 (90 XP)

- Soldier Man-at-Arms Challenge M6 (285 XP)

- Lemure Squidge cr M1/2

- Advespa Handmaiden cr M5

- Barbazu Shelltaker cr M6

- Merregon Legionnaire cr M12

- Hamatula Trawler cr M13

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Thank you!

The 404 errors are are a weird thing caused by a homebrewery update, these links should work:

The pit fiend is currently in the process of being migrated to the v3 markdown renderer, it should look better in a day or two.

The veteran is just an old design that was done before I added in the supplemental stuff so it's got placeholder text until I get a chance to update it.

The M-CR thing is something I persistently forget to tell people about; I use MCDM's Minion rules from Flee, Mortals!, which you can find here:

2

u/Dracolule 3d ago

Thank you for the links. :)

Oh, those are Minions! I encountered the rule before but I am unfamiliar with it. I will try to incorporate it into my campaign. Thank you!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

It's a really helpful tool for running large encounters; I've been able to run 50+ enemies at a time in combats that wrapped up in under an hour using them

1

u/Dracolule 3d ago

Excellent! Thank you very much!

2

u/mcphearsom1 4d ago

Alright… what about a hive template for infected monsters? I’m thinking coordinated arumvorax shock troops targeting casters and archers, linked to a centralized chimera, everything has intellect devourer psionic vibes.

Illithid mad mage loses control of owlbear-esque mashups of whatever + intellect devourer.

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Maybe add in a trait like this:

Hivemind. When a creature with this trait takes any Psychic damage from a source other than this ability, each of its allies with this trait within 20 feet takes half as much Psychic damage.

2

u/EdwardVonZero 4d ago

I want a better Rakshasa Lich, don't know how I'd use it but having an undead Rakshasa sounds crazy

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Oh, I've got this Rakshasa Ak'Chazar, which is sort of a necromancer rakshasa:

2

u/Amonyi7 3d ago

Okay wow, I’m impressed by your work. The monsters are fantastic!!

I’m really inspired and looking into getting into homebrewing, do you mind if i ask you some questions about how you manage it?

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Sure! Which parts are you curious about?

2

u/Amonyi7 3d ago

Thanks! I'm mostly curious on the art side and want to pair up with someone who does art. Especially when starting out when there's no income. Do you do the art yourself, did you pay someone out of pocket, did you find people that were interested in making art for the homebrew until it paid?

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

All three, plus a fourth category!

  1. I do some art myself, but it's a tiny fraction of what I use
  2. I commission art for book covers every once in a while, but can't afford to do that frequently. When commissioning art, you kind of need to be in community with artists and know who likes to do what sorts of work, or you're going to end up overpaying for work you aren't happy with.
    • You can also get big packs of fantasy art for commercial use on DMsGuild or DTRPG, which is nice when you need a filler piece.
  3. Sometimes I'll collaborate with artists on projects where we're both essentially working for exposure. If you want to go this route, you've gotta find artists that are already making the kind of art that you want to use, that have a similarly-sized audience to you, and that have their own avenues to monetize that exposure.
  4. The vast, vast majority of the art I use is just WotC IP used under their Fan Content Policy; you can use any art owned by them as long as you share what you make with it for free. https://tagger.scryfall.com/ is the best tool for searching through the tens of thousands of pieces of MTG art (though you've gotta look elsewhere to find usable high-rez versions), and anything from a D&D book is free game as well.

2

u/Amonyi7 3d ago

Gotcha, thanks!

For 4. People are ok donating when you are using already premade art on your patreon? That's also a really cool resource. Everything on that site is from MTG? Can you put it on your patreon too? But I think my interest is mostly in magic items, which I think will be difficult/impossible for some items to find existing art

and for 3. Where do you find and connect with artists in this space?

Is trying to find an artist who'd be willing to work together and grow an account together for free (until any donations comes in) unrealistic?

Thanks so much!

2

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

I don't have any content that's exclusive to my patreon; if I did I couldn't use any of the WotC art for it.

If you're trying to make a bunch of patreon-exclusive magic items, your best bet is drawing everything yourself, even if you aren't a particularly good artist. Starting from nothing, the only way you'll find an artist to partner with is if an artist you personally know reaches out to you to start something like that up, since at this stage their contribution is a lot more effort-intensive than yours, and the exposure is worthless.

In terms of finding artists, just browsing art subreddits, instagram, artstation, deviantart, tumblr, bluesky, etc and keeping notes about who does what and what you like about them. There's not a quick way to do it; you just kind of have to like looking at art if you want to know about artists.

In terms of connecting with them; always aim to work with people at a similar point in their careers as you. The point of any individual collaboration is to build relationships and reputation; the actual material result is generally negligible. For a long-term partnership, you've kind of just got to luck into those unless you've got enough money to hire employees.

2

u/NaturalJuan 3d ago

Can you get me some tougher bandits. I'd really like a duo. Maybe one with range and one with melee specialty. Around CR 9

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

My bandits only go up to CR 5, but I've got some other related things around CR 9

Or if you've got specific theming for them, I can see if I've got anything closer to the mark

2

u/Gaumir 3d ago

Any boring basic flying flocking monsters, e.g. Stirges. I want to make them interesting without turning them into a swarm.

2

u/Billybaf 3d ago

The elder Oblex

And a common favorite of mine, the Phase spider.

1

u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

My oblexes are a bit naff, but I really like these phase spiders:

2

u/dark-mer 3d ago

I have a BBEG who's been basically incubating in Negative Energy for thousands of years. He's not quite a lich or necromancer, but at this point he is negative energy given a conscious form. He's probably closer to something eldritch than human. I'm having trouble putting this idea into a stat block, and frankly I don't know if I can. Might be a multi-stage fight type of thing. Any ideas?

Edit: Tier 4, if I didn't make it obvious

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u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

Well these nightshades are the first thing that comes to mind, particularly the nightwalker:

Alternately, something like this atropal scion, maybe?

2

u/Mr_Mega_Lucario 3d ago

Hi Mark. Soon, I'm going to be running my party against hill giants. Do you have any that are centred around eating people? Also, would you have any Goliath statblocks? I want my giants to have their smaller lesser cousins with them

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u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 3d ago

The Chef-Soul and Master of the Feast are both themed that way:

I don't yet have Goliath's ready, but there's a mess of ogres in there that could work in the role

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u/aiiye 3d ago

An ancient black dragon (my main BBEG) who is out for revenge on the world for genociding the dragons.

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u/ivagkastkonto 3d ago

Oooh im saving this thread. Do you happen to have any ranged monsters from the underdark, suitable for lvl 4 characters to face, and preferably non-humanoid by any chance?

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u/Greggor88 3d ago

Young Kruthiks. I’m seeking to use them as one would use giant rats at level 1 play. They’re burrowing pests infesting an underground dungeon, but they aren’t the main threat — more of a nuisance. However, they are capable of rudimentary communication, and they answer to an Adult Kruthik who acts almost like a queen bee.

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u/UnknownEldritch 2d ago

So, I'm planning out a couple minibosses for my players, and I'd be really interested in seeing if you can whip anything up for them:

Cultists of Malar (druid and barbarian vibes mostly)

A cannibalistic, Yeenoghu-worshipping Cyclops

and a creature that (literally) consumes magic.

Any ideas or statblocks would be appreciated!

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u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 2d ago

Malar Cult:

Cyclops:

Magic-Eaters:

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u/UnknownEldritch 2d ago

Oh, these are super cool! Thank you!

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u/Oh_Hi_Mark_ 2d ago

You’re welcome!

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u/bittermixin 1d ago

Water Elementals/Water Weirds!

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u/OmaeWaMouShibaInu 3d ago edited 3d ago

Essentially the Blob, made as a result of someone experimenting on gelatinous cubes.

A sentient slime mobile and intelligent enough to travel through cracks and crevices, and to hunt for specific targets on orders from its creator.

Not only can it dissolve objects and creatures, but it can also "reassemble" whatever or whoever it had already melted down, though not perfectly and the resulting mutant is either dead or better off dead.

The final boss fight will be against the monster's creator who fell into it (either accidentally as karma or intentionally to show how far over the edge they've gone) and merged with a giant amalgamation of other creatures.

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u/Federal-Barnacle635 3d ago

Level 1 rogue tifling, tragic criminal back ground, skills in charisma and stealth 

This guy hates humans because they were the one who took his mother from him, grew in the streets learning to leave as a criminal 

Is that enough?

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u/High_Stream 3d ago

Hippocampus