#dire statblock

[wonderfulwitchwillow]

I was doing some research for a short story set in Ravenloft with my own homebrew dread domain and I was curious if any herbivorous lycanthropes exist. Turns out that is one loaded question.

So in second edition, a book called Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts was made. Its part of a whole series that is a monster compendium written from the perspective of Dr. Van Richten's. Unlike modern compendiums where it's just monster, lore, statblock, like Monsters of the Multiverse (which is also from a characters perspective kinda) the books are basically speculative biology with sections for the GM only since the books exist in universe for your characters to read. Side note from where the post is going, I love this and I'm sad that this is no longer the case in universe. It really neat that we got several books discussing the origins of monsters and their biology or lack there of for some creatures like constructs.

Anyway Rudolph mentions he has only seen some lycanthropes but has heard stories of several others including Were-Elephants so I assumed it was open and shut until he states (and I am summarizing)that no herbivorous lycans exist and any claims are pure nonsense, as were cow or were rabbit are not real.

It would be really funny if years later he was proven wrong by himself. In Curse of Strahd, Rudolph has notes about meeting a were-hare child. We don't have any details if this hare is carnivorous because were-gorrillas exist but they are based on the carnivorous ape stat from 2e so it is possible in all likelihood that the child is a living Monty Python joke. That's assuming there aren't any other herbivorous lycans. Which there are. Just not found in Ravenloft, they are found on Toril. The Were-Stag and Were-Bison. According to the forgotten realms wiki they are indeed herbivorous and as I don't own the novel: Hall of Heros, it's closed and shut.

Anyway I had to share a tidbit of Rudolph proving himself wrong in universe. Though given how Were-rats are based on giant rats, I would imagine some form of "Dire Rabbit" exists

[thetroupemaster]

Scug dnd? Dya know any servers that have a similar thing? I don't have anybpdy who can run a campaign with me so I wondered if I could ask

While I don't, I've been trying to get it out there that DnD is actually a very good fit for a Rain World campaign to encourage any DMs who might be intimidated by running a complex campaign with NPCs and quests and dungeons to just try this setting, you only need to play two major NPCs and maybe a few minor ones in scavs, and combat flows pretty easily if you can take a normal statblock and call it a lizard. I use dire wolves for yellow lizards and young red dragons for red lizards! Otherwise, just use a seriously nerfed white dragon wyrmling (remove wings and breath weapon).

If you're a DM, or know anyone whose interested in DMing, please send me a message and I'll run you through all the basics of my campaign's mechanics and themes!

[probablyuselessstatblocks]

The Ancient worm, the original worm, since the beginning of time. Only comes out once in a million years to purge the world of worm killers

[infinitevacancy]

It's a beautiful day in the forgotten realms, and you are a horrible (dire) goose

This started as a joke but some friends on discord were actually interested in the full statblocks, sooooooo... Here they are! Dungeons and dragons 5th edition creature statblocks for the terrible dire goose, and its monstrous larger counterpart the Giant Dire Goose. Feel free to customise or nerf as you see fit, as these haven't been playtested (yet...)

Check the reblogs for the link to the statblock template i used!

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure prompt for my CoS group who have turned into helping this big bad vampire in doing some tasks for him.

Dungeon: The Crooked House

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile/ 

He found a crooked penny, and gave a crooked smile/ 

He bought a crooked cat, to hunt a crooked mouse/ 

and they all lived together in a little crooked house/ 

Setup: As nightmare dimensions go, The Crooked House is a relatively small one, a hungry sliver of the shadowfell that takes the form of a ramshackle cottage bent in on itself in odd, spiraling angles. 

The Crooked House might appear anywhere fallen into shadow, but unlike its country cousin, prefers rural or semi-urban environments, just close enough to haunt the dreams of passers by and insinuate itself into local folklore. 

This domain is ruled over by “The Crooked Man” , a rambling, shrouded figure that goes about on various “errands” in the most sinister way possible, seemingly with no other purpose than to creep his neighbors out. Such errands include: 

Chopping firewood in someone else’s back yard in the middle of the night, leaving before they have a chance to come out and question him 

Following behind a group of travelers on a lonely road for hours at a time, never answering any hails, wandering off if approached, only to appear at a later juncture

Circling through the market with a sack laden over his shoulder, alternatively wriggling, rattling, or dripping ominously. Never stopping to trade. 

Gently rapping at the windows of children who are up past their bed time, sometimes climbing walls or dangling down from rooves to do so if the window is hard to reach. 

Those that disturb the crooked man in these tasks face little consequence, though may be overwhelmed by a sensation of fear. Everyone knows rumors however of those that tested the crooked man’s patience, and ended up hacked along with the kindling, or stuffed into his bag and taken back to the crooked house. Every community that hosts the house develops such tales, almost as a necessity of dealing with this nightmarish neighbor. 

Adventure Hooks: 

While none actually want the crooked house around, there are a limited few with the powers to do anything about it: Religious authorities, concerned town councils, rival dark powers. Any of these groups may send the party in as their catspaw, looking to evict the crooked man or raise the structure to its shadowy foundations before his dark influence spreads any further. 

While the crooked man himself may pose only a minor threat, other strange creatures that live within the dark domicile can manifest as more of an active threat. Infestations of moonrats are known to spread from the building’s cellars into neighboring homesteads, and dire, predatory creatures with great black wings sometimes nest in its gutters or dangle from its eaves. While these threats can be contained, actually exterminating them may require some brave souls to venture into the house itself. 

Outlaws are well aware that those that enter the house seldom come back, and have given up on trying to steal from the place and turned this to their advantage. A party that runs afoul of the local rogue’s gallery may find themselves knocked out, only to awaken to the sound of squeaking wheels, the rumble of an unsteady road, and the rasp of burlap. Tied into sacks and left out for the crooked man to collect and load into a rickety cart, the party only has a limited amount of time to escape their bindings before their driver makes it back to his home. 

Its happened, a child has gone missing. Sick for weeks and bedridden, the youngster was apparently taken after days of the crooked man leaving noxious, unknown “medicines” at the family’s doorstep.  Whatever treatment this fiend has in mind... it can’t be good. 

Challenges & Complications

For actual stats for the Crooked Man, may I recommend using this excellent “snatcher” statblock by the ever amazing @dm-tuz ? 

The interior of the crooked house is of course, larger than the exterior would allow, and seems to be constructed entirely of uneven stairs, cluttered dusty attics, and dank cavernous basements. Many of these chambers are thematically “locked’, requiring some kind of solution before the party may progress onwards. Examples include the sooty sitting room that keeps increasing in temperature until the hearth is quenched,  or the hallway full of glass eyes that need to be matched to the brooding taxidermy that overlooks the door. 

Transitioning between rooms may require more climbing equipment than your average county hovel as the house seems to favor a vertical design. This is the perfect opportunity for flying creatures or drifting shadows to attack the party, potentially causing them to slip and hurdle into some unknown darkness. 

Doors within the Crooked house lead out to all manner of places, including previous haunts, ruins scattered across the land, and even the shadowfell itself. The only safe way to traverse many of these portals ( and to keep the house in some semblance of order) are a series of esoteric keys scattered about the structure, Each one forcing the doors they fit in ( though not all do) to a predetermined location. Collection, trial, and error will lead the party back to their destination...or drop them in some lightless wilderness and force them to hike back to the house itself. 

 Art source 

[catilus]

THE DIRE GOOSE (HONK!)

Dire geese are fearsome flying beasts and potential greater steeds from Cute Creatures Compendium, my latest book that’s LIVE on Kickstarter (also FREE stat blocks!) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/catilus/cute-creatures-compendium-by-catilus

Creature Spotlight: Dire Goose

Towering over regular geese, dire geese are migratory birds of impressive size and surprisingly strong memories. These enormous birds usually lead peaceful lives in the wild but can be fiercely aggressive against anyone who threatens them or those they consider family.

Dire geese usually fly together in a V formation in groups known as wedges and use their mighty honks to communicate with each other and instill fear in the hearts of their enemies. Mighty and defiant, dire geese can be challenging to train, but once tamed, they become fiercely protective and develop parental tendencies towards their riders.

When threatened, a dire goose will flap its wings aggressively and let out deafening honks to drive enemies away. If this fails, the mighty bird will fight with surprising aggression and ferocity.

What do you think? :)

Find stat blocks, more lore, likes and dislikes, and more in Cute Creatures Compendium, my latest book that’s LIVE on Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/catilus/cute-creatures-compendium-by-catilus

Find tons of fantasy and SF art, D&D items, my 5e adventures and supplements (FREE for Patreon supporters!), NPCs, and more great stuff at my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Catilus

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#Catilus #Patreon #Theomachy #dnd #art #fantasy #roleplay #RPG #cute #love #Kickstarter #critter #cute #magic #statblock #steed #goose #HONK

[kaaramel]

Jared Hopworth, the Boneturner

this is kind of a weird statblock because jared has one thing he does. he boneturns. all he strictly Needs is a custom miracle perk for turning bones and a superior skill for being a flesh monstrosity. but i like allegory and primordial so i tried to make the odder powers thematically appropriate even if i can’t match them to stuff he’s done in the podcast. i’m rambling. i had fun and thats what matters

index of other characters

Skills

Butcher 3. Very, very skilled at taking meat apart.

Superior Bodybuilder 2. Which meaning of 'bodybuilder'? Yes. He is inhumanly large and strong. 

Bully 2. Good at being intimidating. 

Affable 1. For a many-armed sack of bones, anyway. 

Planning 0. Happy to leave this to other people.

Superior Squeeze Through Pipes 2 (perk).

Allegory 2

Truth: I read a book sacred to the Flesh - The Boneturner's Tale. Failing: My body is not perfect... yet. Role: The Boneturner

Somebody Else's Problem: Hunch a bit and wear a big enough hoodie, nobody looks too hard. Obstacle 2 to recognizing him as inhuman when he’s trying to hide.

Legendary Weapon: Invoke the power of the book from Leitner’s library, The Boneturner's Tale, to open the maw of the Flesh in a nearby surface, giving him a place to dispose of unwanted flesh and bones.

Wonder-Worker: Imbue Butchery skill with power, making it able to interact with and compete with miracles.

A Tangled History: May declare that he’s been around long enough to have experiences relevant to the situation at hand.

Mechanisms of Transport: Superior Squeeze Through Pipes 2, held in a perk slot, allows him to get to places he shouldn’t.

Awaken: Craft an independent, intelligent construct of twisted flesh and bone out of an animal, corpse, or inanimate object. Jared has a mutual Connection 1 with the new creature but no other control; he may withdraw his gift by using this miracle a second time.

Bring to Fruition: Transforms a sentient target to bring them closer to what they imagine as their ideal body. These transformations are delivered by a mundane intention using his Butchery skill.

Primordial 2

Principle: the Flesh. "I want more." Estate: b o n e s

Unnatural Action: He may freely move individual bones of his body independently (and he has oh-so-many). He is also able to manipulate other people's bones by touch, or at least give people a tingle up their spine and a bad feeling in their bones from a distance.

Scry: Find or sense a particular bone at a distance (and presumably the person attached), with concentration and time.

Digest: He may safely digest anything he can eat, and there is nothing impossible for him to eat (although if it is abstract or esoteric he may not know how.)

Bindings: Take a bone from someone and transform his own body in a thematic/related way, gaining a temporary new ability. This ranges from a minor change in attitude after incorporating an inconspicuous new rib to creating something major and disturbingly inhuman like an entire new limb.

Shared Witness: A person whose bone he's holding may communicate their emotions to him from a distance. He can locate them unerringly and get a feel for how strong the Flesh's influence is over them in the moment - how hungry or satisfied they are.

Shared Witness (Powered Up): Learns what it would take to tempt a person whose bone he’s holding into cannibalism or another base, Flesh-related desire.

A Distant Mood: He may take action to assist someone whose bone he holds, in, broadly, two ways : he may fan the flames of their desires/ambitions, or he may provoke a more literal hunger. Alternatively, he may give them an opportunity to serve the Flesh's desires; making an honest attempt allows them to recover 3 Will, or completing a full-chapter effort gives 1 MP.

A Distant Mood (Powered Up): He may assist ("assist") someone whose bone he holds with one of the following wishes :

I wish you'd consume that which would bring you strength.

I wish that you'd know what to do, deep down in your bones.

I wish for your hunger to never be satisfied.

Evocative Transformation / Transform and Devour: In dire straits, he can take on a spontaneous transformation with an associated power which inspires or invokes the hunger of the Flesh; or, a transformation and power which destroys the sterile and inorganic, reminding the world that everything is eventually eaten by someone.

[firebird-6]

5e conversions!

1/??. I have 44 in store right now but I convert more every week. I figured I'd start with a simple one though finding a simple one proved quite difficult.

Aside from the Codex's statblock, the first places I looked for this one were giant wasp and hellwasp but I also looked at winter wolf and frost worm. I have this foolish desire to make all monsters work together in a modular sense in my setting so I wanted to see if I could apply dire wolf -> winter wolf or purple worm -> frost worm mechanical logic to a giant bee. You can't, by the way, it was largely a waste of time. 5e monsters feel like they were all written by 8 people who hate each other or more specifically 8 people who are each in a different 5e setting and who all hate each other.

For reference, all future conversions, in keeping with the 5e style, will be for yet another setting you don't know anything about: my one.

The only significant change in the frisbee freeze bee is how its sting works which is slightly unconventional for 5e. It didn't make sense to me for its venom to just deal cold damage since it is still venom after all as opposed to a winter wolfs cold breath. It dealing a little poison shows that it isn't injecting ice water into the player.

Additionally I wanted to make the bee weaker if it is alone. Another key principal of my design ethos is that the monster should tell the dungeon master how to use it. Instead of buffing it by giving it pack tactics which only requires 2 monsters, it only poisons on 2 failed saves which requires the bees to be used as a swarm that focuses a single creature since failing a DC 11 check twice is quite difficult and would require three or more saves.

I love the flavour of "tears enemies apart from the inside with ice crystals", I can't wait to describe what that looks like to a player, but fighting bees feels like a lower-level encounter and having everyone take 7 cold damage every round on top of piercing is a TPK guarantee.

Freeze Bee

“Winter Bees” sculptures © Rosemary Sturdy, accessed at her blog here

[Commissioned by @crazytrain48​. Another Arduin monster, again showing David Hargrave’s love of puns, rhymes and general word play. The original freeze bees have several abilities that mitigate their misses–if they miss with their sting, they slam into opponents, dealing damage but stunning them. I cut this ability because it brings into question general momentum and physics, and there’s no better way to ruin a game, in my experience, than trying to reconcile D&D physics with real physics. With a lot of these Arduin monsters, one of the fun challenges is not so much in creating abilities for them but making a place in the world where they fit. This is clearly an “ice level” monster, a la a thousand video games, but trying to give it a reasonable ecology and behaviors was fun. I usually don’t like to brag, but calling their stored food “red honey” might be my favorite bit of my own writing in a while.]

Freeze Bee CR 1 N Magical Beast This creature resembles a white furry insect the size of a cat. Its wings shimmer like moonstones, and its compound eyes are a rich blue hue. It has a wicked looking stinger.

Freeze bees construct hives out of snow and ice, making vast igloo-shaped structures that can be mistaken for small hills by the unaware. There is a single queen who reproduces in each hive, but this role is taken by the strongest female, who bullies the others into submission and monopolizes mating opportunities, rather than differing in anatomy. They are herbivores during the short polar summers, using their jaws to scrape up lichen and feed on small arctic plants. Over the long winter, however, they feed exclusively on flesh. Freeze bees generate reserves of gelatinous, half-frozen blood and meat pulp over the long winter, cached in hexagonal chambers and sometimes referred to euphemistically as “red honey”.

In order to get their red honey, freeze bees attack animals, humanoids and monsters they come across. Typically a single freeze bee will spot a potential victim, then go back to the hive and recruit others to help it overwhelm their target. The venom of a freeze bee is supernaturally cold, numbing the muscles and nerves even as it tears enemies apart from the inside with ice crystals. Freeze bees will opportunistically feed on carrion, but wait for it to become frozen before chewing it into a pulp and regurgitating it in their hives preserved with special enzymes. Freeze bees will retreat from a failed raid, but fight to the death in defense of their hives. The only exception is if fire is employed—freeze bees instinctively fear fire and will flee from it at the fastest opportunity.

A freeze bee is between 1 and 2 feet long. Their primary treasure is their red honey—a source of concentrated food in the polar winter, as long as one doesn’t think too carefully about its origins. They opportunistically collect gemstones and glass, particularly in shades of blue and green, and occasionally have potion vials or the like tucked away in their hives.

Keep reading

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Mind Flayers

CR 7

Lawful Evil Medium Aberration

D&D 3.5 Monster Manual 1, pg. 186~188

How can I talk about Illithids for so long without actually telling you about them? Especially since these poor Cthulhumanoids are completely absent from Pathfinder due to being held back as a true Wizards of the Coast intellectual property, and thus being kept from the SRD, along with the Beholders, the Displacer Beasts, and more than a few deities and demigods. Nothing has quite filled the “hideous, brain-eating invaders”-shaped hole they left behind.

And how could anything else? Individual Illithid citizens are leagues more powerful than trained player characters of the same level, having a host of psychic powers at their disposal. They can use Charm Monster and Suggestion at will, and their constant Detect Thoughts often means it’s difficult--or impossible--to sneak up on them. And if you do manage to catch them off-guard? They can also use Plane Shift at will (for some reason?) to vanish into another dimension to safety. ... or to shove some poor fool into the Negative Energy Plane so they don’t have to deal with it. That is probably their most dangerous trick, but it also deprives them of valuable brains and thus only used in dire straits.

Their other most dangerous trick is their at-will Mind Blast, a 60 foot cone that stuns anyone that fails their save for 3d4 rounds. That’s a hell of a long time to be stunned, especially since Illithids have a very nasty coup-de-grace attack. While normally they must grapple an opponent with all four of their facial tendrils (1d4 damage each) in order to do so, if an opponent is helpless, they can simply stroll up and use Extract, pulling the helpless fool’s brain right out of their head and killing them instantly.

They also have Spell Resistance, making them one of the earliest monsters (by CR) to possess it... And it’s high. It starts at 25 and only goes up from there, should the Illithid decide to take class levels. They’re not particularly resilient in an up-front fight, but their spell-likes will often knock the front line out of commission in short order, leaving only the poor backlines to face the brain-eating scourge.

Thankfully, for all their terrifying power and potential, Illithids aren’t capable of experiencing positive emotions (a DM should remember that). They cannot feel bravery, they can only feel less fear. When a situation is anything less than perfect, most Illithid citizens will simply opt to cut their losses and run rather than stay in the fight, but an especially hungry one may try to take one of the party members with them. More confident, megalomaniacal Illithids, though, are truly terrifying and dangerous foes and should never be taken lightly. It only takes one failed Will save, after all, to die in their presence.

Unfortunately, due to their absence from the SRD, it’s difficult to legally find their statblock anywhere... and I’d like to avoid getting into too much trouble. I was skirting around the rules as it is with Elder Evils week, but the Illithids are a long-standing and still-used monster and thus Wizards might have less tolerance when it comes to their properties being thrown around. I’m gonna hold off on that, for now.

[the-5e-experience]

100 Magic Items for 5e Pt. 13

Past Posts

Items 1 - 5

Items 6 - 10

Items 11 - 15

Items 16 - 20

Items 21 - 25

Items 26 - 30

Items 31 - 35

Items 36 - 40

Items 41 - 45

Items 45 - 50

Items 51 - 55

Items 56 - 60

61.      Robes of Earthmoving

Wondrous Item (Robe), Rare, Requires Attunement

These robes are made of soil crafted magically into string. Magical energy flowing through it makes the dirt still appear to be shifting. As an action, the player can burrow into the ground and resurface up to 60 feet away. You may use a pre-existing passage as a bonus actions instead of an action. This effect only works on dirt and soil.

 62.      Collar of the Alpha

Wondrous Item (Collar), Legendary, Requires Attunement by Ranger with wolf companion

A magical dog collar that clasps onto its wearer's neck perfectly and adjusts itself to growth. A shining white moon hangs down as it’s medallion – with the animal companions name magically etched into it. A wolf given this collar to wear will turn into a Dire Wolf one week after donning the collar. All of its stats become that of the statblock of the Dire Wolf (MM Pg. 321). You also gain the ability to telepathically communicate with your companion. Additionally, when you choose to attack with your animal companion, you can make one weapon attack yourself. (This stacks with “Extra Attack” and “Rangers Companion” effects.)

 63.      Gladiator Sandals

Wondrous Item (Sandals), Legendary, Requires Attunement by a Fighter

Bands of leather wrapped in a criss-cross pattern up past the ankle. A fighter who attunes themselves to these Sandals gains the “Martial Adept” feat, if they already have this feat – they gain it again. Additionally every time the Fighter scores a critical hit, they gain a superiority die of the highest available die number.

 64.      Shield of the Martyr

Armour (Shield), Very Rare, Requires Attunement

A square shield almost 4 feet tall – ornate decorations flow all through the face of the shield, flowing spirals and lines snake towards a giant pearl centrepiece. The player attuned to this shield may activate it twice per long rest. When activated the player selects a creature within 10 feet. All creatures except the one attuned to this shield gain advantage on attack rolls against the target – additionally, the target gains advantage on all attack rolls against the player attunes to this shield. This effect lasts for 1 hour.

 65.      Gloves of Hand Laying

Wondrous Item (Gloves), Rare, Requires Attunement by a Paladin

A pair of white leather gloves, the left glove is stitched with a road, and the right with a sunrise. When the player's hands are held properly it shows the symbol of the god Lathander. A paladin attuned and wearing these gloves may heal a player for twice as much HP as expended from their Lay on Hands Pool. They may do this once per long rest, and must heal a character for more than 10 total HP and can heal for no more than 50 total HP.