bottleofhomebrew
bottleofhomebrew
Rhys' Bottle of Homebrew
19 posts
A place for D&D homebrew content - subclasses, monsters, and other random D&D related stuff | Pronouns: they/them | Personal twitter account:  https://twitter.com/RhysIsQueer | Avatar: https://picrew.me/image_maker/263035
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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College of Mirrors Bard is a subclass for tricky stealth-based bards, with redirection as the main focus. It uses magical “smoke and mirrors” to beguile and surprise your foes!  Please leave me any comments, suggestions, or critique if you have any. Thanks!
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Malicious Mockery - A Bard spell for D&D 5e
In a recent session I was running, one of my players suggested the idea of a mass Vicious Mockery spell, so I thought I might as well make it! Plus, Bards don’t have many unique spells, so they might as well have another flavourful exclusive spell.
My goal is to make a spell that is mechanically similar to Vicious Mockery, while making it powerful enough compared to other damaging options a Bard has access to, such as Dissonant Whispers. This spell has the ability to deal more 
The spell’s details are below:
Malicious Mockery
1st Level Enchantment
Casting Time - 1 action
Range - 60ft
Components - V
Duration - Instantaneous
Classes - Bard
You begin to hurl harmful enchanted insults at multiple enemies. Choose up to 2 creatures that can hear you within range. Those creatures must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a target takes 2d6 psychic damage, and has disadvantage on their next attack roll made until the end of their next go. On a success, a target takes half damage and suffers no other effects. 
At Higher Levels - When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can target an additional creature for each spell slot level above first. 
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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the DM: and then the reigning champion emerges from a cloud of dust. the four of you stare up at...
the players:
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the DM: ...her...
the players:
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Wyrd Reconstruction: A Darkest Dungeon inspired spell!
One of the most infamous skills in Darkest Dungeon is the Occultist’s Wyrd Reconstruction -  a potentially powerful healing spell that has a small chance of healing next-to-nothing and dealing damage over time, but can also push out massive healing. I thought “why not try to translate that over to D&D?”.
The spell is for warlocks, which are the closest analogue to the Occultist in D&D. This spell is quite swing-y, like the spell in Darkest Dungeon, but, like in the game, the situations where it deals more damage than it heals are rare enough to make the spell worth using imo.
Everything you need to use this spell is below!
Wyrd Reconstruction
1st Level Necromancy
Casting Time - 1 action
Range - 30ft
Components - V S
Duration - Instantaneous 
Classes - Warlock
Choose a creature within range. That creature restores 4d4 hit points, and it must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the target takes 1d6 necrotic damage at the start of its next turn. This spell has no effect on undead and constructs.
At Higher Levels - When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the healing of this spell increases by 2d4 and the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above first
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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d&d is great I just tried to slam a guy with a two-handed maul and missed, swinging into the floor I roll for damage against the floor bc of course I do. I roll high. The tiles are crushed to bits As a free action, I grab a handful of floor gravel and shovel it into my mouth and straight up eat it in an intimidation attempt My combat opponent is horrified. I get +2 to hit him next turn
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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I was making notes from my previous campaign session, Finishing that, I took a shower and got a bolt-from-the-blue future campaign idea which I’m so excited to potentially use. I’d share the details here, but I don’t want to spoil it for my players who follow this blog.
One more general thing I will say though. Often, it’s these random ideas that just pop into your head while your brain is working on stuff in the background that end up being the best ones. Your brain takes all the stuff you’ve been thinking about and starts to make connections, which can be difficult to see if you’re actively thinking about it and are stuck with writer’s block (DM’s block? I guess DMing is a form of writing). If you’re in that place as a DM, or as any creative person, really, take a break - have a shower, play some games, go for a walk, or whatever relaxes you. Your brain has time to work on stuff and you can often come back with a sense of clarity you didn’t have before, or a new idea that helps get you past the section of the story/world you were stuck on.
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Highwayman Subclass - A Darkest Dungeon inspired option for Rogues
The Highwayman in Darkest Dungeon is one of my favourite classes to use, so I thought I’d try to turn it into a D&D subclass! The goal here was to translate as some of the core skills of the Highwayman into usable, balanced D&D abilities, while maintaining the mix of ranged and melee combat which the Highwayman is known for. Since most D&D campaigns don’t feature firearms, I made the class with hand crossbows in mind, though I made the subclass’ abilities generic enough to work with any ranged weapon. If you want to fully replicate the Highwayman’s pistol and blade combo, talk to your DM about whether a pistol will fit into the campaign setting.
Unlike my last subclass, the Necromantic Soul, I’m less sure on the balance for this one, so if you have any thoughts on tweaks you’d like to see, do let me know.
All the important stuff is below:
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Highwaymen are thieves who steal goods from travelling targets. Wealthy nobles in caravans, travelling merchants on horseback, and adventurers returning from a dungeon are all potential victims to highwaymen, and they are most at home working with other bandits and thugs. Highwaymen are adept with both ranged and melee weapons and will often hold a hand crossbow in one hand and a shortsword in the other for maximum versatility. They excel in hectic, close combat situations, but they can also close the gap to stray targets and unleash deadly counter-attacks.
Ranged Weapon Expert
When you pick this subclass, your experience with ranged weapons allows you to use them in close quarters without any difficulty. Ranged weapons you are proficient in no longer have disadvantage on attack rolls made within 5ft. Additionally, you ignore the loading property of any weapon you’re proficient in.
Duelist’s Advance
At 3rd level, you become adept at lunging strikes and taking advantage of fumbled attacks. Once per turn, as part of your Attack action, you may move up to 10ft towards a creature you are currently not in melee range with. You then must target that creature with your attack. In addition, until the start of your next turn, if that creature misses a melee attack against you, you may use your reaction to make an attack of opportunity against it.
Close Combat Skills
At 9th level, you have learnt a couple of techniques to further damage your enemies in close quarters. You gain access to the following options:
Open Vein – Whenever you hit a creature with a Sneak Attack using a melee weapon, it must make a Constitution saving throw. The DC equals 8 + your dex modifier + your proficiency bonus. On a failure, the creature takes slashing damage at the start of its next turn equal to twice your proficiency bonus. A creature is immune to this feature if it is unable to bleed.
Point Blank Shot – Whenever you hit a creature within 5ft of you with an attack with a ranged weapon, you deal additional damage equal to your proficiency bonus.
Unparalleled Finesse
At 13th level, your quick reflexes means that you’re rarely caught off guard. You gain the following abilities:
If you roll below a 10 on an initiative roll, you can treat that roll as a 10
After using Uncanny Dodge, your AC increases by 2 until the start of your next turn. This does not trigger against the attack that triggered Uncanny Dodge, but all subsequent attacks.
Your speed increases by 10ft if you aren’t wearing heavy armour
Bandit’s Sense
At 17th level, your senses are honed to an almost supernatural degree. The range of your Blindsense feature increases to 30ft. Additionally, you are aware of your surroundings out to this range while sleeping, if you can still hear.
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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how to tell if your worldbuilding is Bad
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Some random low-level magic items!
I have a word document from an old campaign containing the homebrew magic items I gave out, and I thought that a couple of these items would be interesting to share
All the info is below:
Chromatic Ring 
 Physical Description: A golden ring that depicts a 5 headed dragon. The eyes of the dragon are clear crystals that glow when using its special effect.
 Effects: 
- While wearing this item, your spell save DC and spell attack bonus increase by +1
 - Additionally, whenever you cast a spell that deals either Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Poison damage while wearing this ring, you can swap the damage type for another one on that list. When you swap the damage type in this way, you add your spellcasting ability modifier to the damage of the spell, and the eyes of the ring flash with a colour corresponding to the damage type swapped to (Acid – Dark Grey, Cold – White-Blue , Fire – Red-Orange , Lightning – Yellow, Poison – Green). Once you use this feature, you cannot use it until you finish a short or long rest.
Sword of Duplication (Shortsword) 
 Physical Description: A shortsword with a golden hilt, adorned with purple gems, which shimmer slightly when in direct sunlight. The blade has elven writing, as well as leaves and branches, etched into its steel blade.
 Effects: 
- You have +1 to attack and damage rolls while using this weapon.
- This sword has 2 charges, which can be spent on the following effect, as long as you are wielding the weapon.  This sword regains any spent charges when you finish a long rest.
- Duplicate – You cast Spiritual Weapon as a second level spell, requiring neither the verbal nor somatic components. The weapon resembles the Sword of Duplication, its attack roll modifier is +8, and its damage bonus is +4. 
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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I’ve never properly roleplayed an evil dragon before in D&D, but doing so was so much fun. It’s one of the times where I can just fully ham it up as a villain, and being such a threatening monster made for some hilarious and interesting role-playing opportunities
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Giant Peacock - A Charming D&D Creature!
Creature Introduction
There’s not too much to this creature. It’s an idea I’ve had knocking around in my head for ages now, but I’ve never actually put into any written form.
Until now, I guess.
I think this creature could make for an interesting encounter if your party is exploring a forest or plains. Charming isn’t something you see in too many D&D creatures, so having that as a potential fight, or even non-combat encounter, could be fun, especially if you add a couple creatures who are already charmed by the peacock.
All the lore and stats are below:
Statistics
Large Beast, unaligned
Armour Class – 10
Hit Points – 65 (10d10 + 10)
Speed – 30ft
Str – 16 (+3) Dex – 10 (+0) Con – 12 (+1) Int – 6 (-2) Wis – 13 (+1) Cha – 16 (+3)
Saving throws – Wis +4, Cha +6
Senses – Passive Perception 11
Languages – Understands common but can’t speak
Challenge – CR 3 (700XP)
Abilities
Charming Resilience – The Giant Peacock has advantage on saving throws against effects that would charm it
Innate Spellcasting – The giant peacock’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 14). It can cast the following spells, requiring no components:
1/day each: Hold Person, Sanctuary, Sleep
Limited Charmed Telepathy – The Giant Peacock can communicate telepathically with any creature that it has charmed, if that creature is within 1 mile of the giant peacock. The Giant Peacock is unable to communicate long sentences with this feature, but it can send emotions, images, and simple commands such as “find food”, “defend me” and “attack that person”. The target of the telepathy does not need to share a language nor understand a language to understand what is being communicated, and the target can respond.
Actions
Multiattack – The giant peacock can use its beak attack and then a talon attack.
Beak – Melee weapon. Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft, one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
Talons – Melee weapon. Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft, one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) slashing damage.
Charming Feathers – The giant peacock opens its feathers as shimmering magic covers it. It targets one creature within 60ft. That creature must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the creature is charmed by the giant peacock for 1 hour. During this time, the charmed creature will obey the giant peacock’s commands to the best of its ability. If not given a command, it will stay near to the giant peacock and will protect it, including attacking creatures that are obviously hostile to the giant peacock. If a creature charmed by this feature takes damage, or it is given a command that would directly harm it, the creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success. On a successful saving throw against this feature, or when the feature ends, the target is immune to this giant peacock’s Charming Feathers effect for 24 hours.
The giant peacock can have up to 3 creatures charmed by it at any one time. If the giant peacock charms another creature while it already has 3 creatures charmed, then it can choose one of the creatures to end this feature’s effect.
Lore
Confusing Origins
Standing at 10ft tall, and with feathers in iridescent shades of dark blue and leaf green, the giant peacocks that roam forests and grasslands baffle adventurers and scholars alike. Nobody can seem to work out where these creatures came from. The leading rumours are that they’re either the work of some divine being, or the results of experiments by a wizard hidden away in the wilderness. Whatever the case may be, the giant peacock has become a creature cherished by many people for their striking appearance.
Charming Allure
Perhaps one of the weirdest features of the giant peacock is its innate magic, that allows it to enchant and charm other creatures. Due to the amount of food that a giant peacock needs, they will often use its charming abilities to get other creatures to forage for food, then deliver it back to the giant peacock. While generally preferring to eat fruits, berries, and nuts, the giant peacock is omnivorous and is capable and willing to eat meat if it is available. Despite this, it is rare that the giant peacock will actively hunt out other creatures or send charmed creatures to hunt on its behalf. It only does so if other sources of food are scarce.
Giant peacocks will also use its enchanting abilities for defense. Being an intelligent creature, the giant peacock will remember areas that are dangerous to cross and will seek out other creatures to protect it before moving across dangerous locations. As well as this, the giant peacock can charm creatures hunting it to fight amongst themselves, giving it time to retreat. However, when backed into a corner, the giant peacock can prove to be a formidable fighter in its own right.
Strange Telepathy
When humanoids cross paths with a giant peacock, it will generally try to avoid them, regarding them with a mix of curiosity and caution. However, an anxious or provoked giant peacock will not hesitate to use its charming abilities on humanoids, and people who have survived being charmed note that the giant peacock has a limited capacity for telepathy. People who were telepathically linked to a peacock note that it can communicate images, ideas, commands and emotions, with the commands feeling less like an order and more of a compulsive need to perform a task. Such an ability suggests that a giant peacock is much more intelligent than other, more mundane birds.
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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The ultimate DM moment is when your party worries what’s on the other side of a door, spending a good 15 minutes inspecting it, and there’s nothing on the other side. 
This happens at least once a campaign, and it’s great DMing it since you just have to sit there as your party worries over essentially nothing. I genuinely love it though, as such a simple situation as a potentially dangerous door can spark some of the most creative player moments.
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Necromantic Soul - A Sorcerer Subclass!
Subclass Introduction
This is one of the first big D&D homebrew things I made, simply because the sorcerer is one of my favourite subclasses. When thinking of a subclass for the sorcerer, I thought making an undead-based subclass would be fun, since having undead lineage isn’t a thing explore in all too much detail in D&D 5e. The closest I can think of is another sorcerer subclass (and, incidentally, the first D&D class I ever played), the Shadow Sorcerer, which this shares some similarities to. I hope this one is different enough that it can serve as a fun, flavourful option for a D&D campaign.
All the info is below:
Subclass Origins
The magic that you use can be traced to a powerful necromantic source. Perhaps one of your ancestors or parents was a vampire, or they might have made some sort of deal with a Lich that gave them a sliver of the Lich’s power. Maybe you were part of a necromantic ritual that permanently altered your body, or were exposed to powerful necromancy via a divine miracle. In any case, the source of your magic makes necromantic magic flow through you, which you harness as the source of your spellcasting.
Undead Appearance
Being a Necromantic Soul Sorcerer leaves a physical impact on your body, such that people may mistake you for a regular undead creature if they aren’t looking too closely at you.
Think about your undead origin and how it may alter your appearance. If your magic is vampiric in origin, maybe you have fangs and you feel uncomfortable in sunlight. If it comes from a lich, perhaps your body looks withered and skeletal. Maybe you’re a failed zombie, but you still walk with an uneven gait. You can be as creative as you want with the effects of this trait, but the important thing is to consider how you gained your magic and the effects it has on your appearance, and how others may react to you based upon this.
Necrotic Magic
At 1st level, you know the cantrip Toll the Dead, and it doesn’t count towards the cantrips you know.
In addition, you learn the following spells when you reach the prerequisite sorcerer level. You always have them prepared, and they don’t count towards the sorcerer spells you know.
Level 1 - Inflict Wounds
Level 3 - Blindness/Deafness
Level 5 - Vampiric Touch
Level 7 - Blight
Level 9 - Contagion
Supernatural Resistance
Also at 1st level, the necrotic magic you control grants you access to some of the resilience undead creatures normally have. You have resistance to necrotic damage.
Deadly Reanimation
At 6th level, your control over your undead nature makes your necromancy even more potent. Whenever you deal damage using a necromancy spell, you add your Charisma modifier to the damage.
In addition, you can use your magic to revive recently killed creatures. Whenever you kill a humanoid creature using a necromancy spell, you can choose to immediately spend 2 sorcery points to turn the creature into a Zombie under your command, as if you cast the Animate Dead spell on them. After 24 hours, if a Zombie you created using this effect hasn’t died, you must spend 2 sorcery points to maintain control of the Zombie, otherwise it becomes hostile towards you.
Wraith Transformation
At 14th level, your control over necromantic magic allows you to temporarily gain extra resilience and protection.
When you activate this feature using a bonus action, shadows begin to surround your body and your eyes begin to glow a sickly yellow, giving you a Wraith-like appearance. For the next minute or until you’re incapacitated, you gain the following features:
You can add your Charisma modifier to any Constitution saving throw you make (minimum of 1).
You gain temporary hit points equal to your Sorcerer level
Whenever you’re hit with an attack within 30ft of you, you can use your reaction to cause a tendril of shadow to lash at the attacker. Make a melee spell attack roll against the creature. If it hits, you deal 3d6 necrotic damage to it. If that kills it, you can spend 2 sorcery points to reanimate the creature as if you were using the Deadly Reanimation feature
Once you use this feature, you may not use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Enhanced Transformation
At 18th level, your control over your undead nature becomes such that you can confer some of your resilience to others. When you activate Wraith Transformation, any allies within 30ft of you that you can see gain temporary hit points equal to half your Sorcerer level (rounded down), as shadows begin to swirl around their bodies. If an ally is an Undead, they also gain additional temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).
In addition, any Undead you create while under the effects of Undead Transformation also gain temporary hit points equal to half your sorcerer level plus your charisma modifier (minimum of 1).
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Being primarily a dungeon master means making characters that you’re probably not going to play, but making them anyway because you’re bored. 
I’m just constantly adding to my “Character Concepts” folder on my computer every few days, to the point where there’s around 20 characters in there
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Dragon Blood Thralls
Creature Introduction
Dragons and dragon heritage are already explored though the sorcerer Draconic Bloodline subclass, but what would happen if you mixed that with some necromancy? This thought, inspired by running a campaign involving a dragon and dark magic, is what led me to create the Dragon Blood Thralls.
I thought that such a creature would make for a more flavourful undead minion than the standard skeletons, ghouls, and zombies. It threw up interesting challenges about how I would differentiate the creature from other kinds of undead outside of the dragon theme, and making the creature somewhat intelligent was what I settled on. I think the end result makes for a great creature to throw into any D&D setting involving an evil necromancer BBEG, or an organisation that’s in service to a dragon.
This is a bit of a long one, since I added lots of options for customisation, so get ready for a fair bit of lore and statistics below:
Statistics
Red Dragon Blood Thrall
Medium Undead, Neutral Evil
Armour Class – 13 (Natural Armour)
Hit Points – 45 (6d8 + 18)
Speed – 30ft
Str – 16 (+3) Dex – 11 (+0) Con – 16 (+3) Wis – 12 (+1) Int – 8 (-1) Cha – 11 (+0)
Saving Throws – Dex +2, Wis +3, Int + 1
Skills – Intimidation + 2, Perception +3
Damage Resistances - Fire
Damage Immunities – Poison
Condition Immunities – Charmed, Poisoned
Senses – Darkvision 60ft, passive perception 13
Languages – The languages it knew in life, Draconic
Challenge Rating – 2 (450XP)
Abilities
Innate Spellcasting – The Thrall’s spellcasting ability modifier is Constitution (spell save DC 13). It can cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will – Fire Bolt
1/day – Burning Hands
Undead Fortitude - If damage reduces the Thrall to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead.
Actions
Claw – Melee weapon. Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5ft, one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8+3) slashing damage, plus an additional 7 (2d6) fire damage.
Dragon Types
The statistics above are for a Red Dragon Blood Thrall, but, depending on your setting or plot, this may not be appropriate. Below are changes you can make to represent different kinds of dragon. For all types of Thralls, the colour of their scales match whichever dragon they are associated with, and you are free to change the behaviour or appearance of the Thralls further if you want to make the connection to a specific type of dragon stronger.
Brass and Gold Dragon Thralls – Only cosmetic changes are needed.
Black and Copper– Replace the fire damage resistance with acid damage resistance, and the fire damage from the claw attack with acid damage. For its Innate Spellcasting feature, replace Fire Bolt with Acid Splash, and Burning Hands with Chromatic Orb (acid damage only).
Blue and Bronze - Replace the fire damage resistance with lightning damage resistance, and the fire damage from the claw attack with lightning damage. For its Innate Spellcasting feature, replace Fire Bolt with Shocking Grasp, and Burning Hands with Witch Bolt.
Green – Remove the fire damage resistance, and replace the fire damage from the claw attack with poison damage. For its Innate Spellcasting feature, replace Fire Bolt with Infestation, and Burning Hands with Ray of Sickness.
Silver and White - Replace the fire damage resistance with cold damage resistance, and the fire damage from the claw attack with cold damage. For its Innate Spellcasting feature, replace Fire Bolt with Frostbite, and Burning Hands with Ice Knife.
Variant – Racial Abilities and Spellcasting
Because the reanimation of Thralls is more complete than that of many other undead, a Thrall may retain some of the abilities it had in life. Consider what race a Thrall was before it died. To add a bit of flavour, you could add some of that race’s abilities to the Thrall. For example, a Thrall who was a Wood Elf may have a walking speed of 35ft and have the Fey Ancestry feature, a former Gnome may retain Gnome Cunning, and a Dragonborn may still have access to their Dragon’s breath. This can extend to monstrous races too, such as a Kobold Thrall having Pack Tactics and Sunlight Sensitivity, and even non-humanoid entities such as beasts having extra attack options due to having a poisonous stinger.
Whatever creature you decide to turn into a Thrall, consider one or two of its features that are key to its identity, and if these increase the armour class, damage or resilience of the Thrall, also consider increasing its Challenge Rating.
Lore
Smarter Servants
The appeal of a zombie is that it’s unwaveringly loyal - no matter what you want it to do, the zombie will obey your command. But this comes with a few trade-offs – individual zombies are weak against any trained group of adventurers, and even large hoards are unable to act with any sort of complex tactics when not being directly commanded.  Necromancers seeking a more intelligent, resilient and deadly set of servants may look elsewhere – they may make a flesh golem, study Conjuration magic to summon powerful creatures, or attempt to subjugate a group of sentient creatures. These methods are unreliable at best, so some necromancers collaborated with chromatic dragons and clerics of Tiamat to create a new kind of undead creature that could combine the cunning and the elemental power of dragons with the unthinking obedience of a zombie. The result were the Dragon Blood Thralls.
Trial and Error
The first successful Thralls came off the back of dozens of failed and dangerous experiments. The first difficulty was in regenerating the brain of a dead humanoid– certain necromantic and healing rituals were able to partially restore a creature’s mind, but this would often result in a creature having some measure of its free will and memory restored too. In this case, it wasn’t uncommon for an unsuccessful Thrall to attack the spellcasters involved in the ritual, as their regenerated mind would be aware enough to recognise what had happened to it, and it are horrified at the prospect. These failed Thralls were killed shortly after their revival, though rumours circulate that some of the earliest Thralls managed to escape and are trying to spread the word on what their creators are doing.
Necromancers who were also potent enchanters theorised that a creature’s personality might be fundamentally altered if they were repeatedly charmed while their brains were reforming. After a few attempts, the experiments proved successful, with the Thrall becoming steadfast in its devotion to its creators. Not even other kinds of charm magic were able to make a Thrall do something against its master’s wishes.
Draconic Infusion
While this new Thrall was more intelligent than most undead, it still lacked inherent combat capabilities. A couple necromancers working on the Thralls had the idea to infuse dragon’s blood into the corpses, in hopes that this would alter the Thrall’s body. This idea caught the attention of followers of Tiamat, and by extension chromatic dragons, and as such necromancers were able to acquire ample dragon’s blood to use. A few necromancers were killed when the first few vials violently reacted in a fiery explosion, but eventually an exact amount that would create profound changes without adverse effects was found.
Scaled Horrors
­The bodies of the Thralls change dramatically. The skin on various parts of the Thralls are replaced with dragon-like scales, mostly around the torso and arms. Their hands are curled into claws with hard talons, their eyes become yellowed, and their teeth sharpen to a point. From a distance, people may think that a Thrall is a Draconic Sorcerer, but up close their lifeless expression and rotting flesh reveal their true nature.
In combat, Thralls are much more intelligent than zombies. They can strategise and pick out weaker targets, hide and retreat when outmatched, and set up ambushes. This is enhanced by minor magical abilities granted to them by their draconic blood. When outside of combat, Thralls act similar to any other creature charmed into performing a quest – single-minded, but still with some self-preservation and a degree of flexibility not seen in many other kinds of undead. They can exercise some creativity when given a task, and can even socialise to other creatures, but Thralls are aggressive by nature, and thus are quick to anger. This is especially true if the Thrall perceives other creatures as hindering or obstructing its task in some way, in which case a Thrall will attempt to intimidate or kill whatever is ‘distracting’ it.
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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D&D needs a stat called “Vibes” so the DM can randomly yell at the players “Ok, roll me a Vibe Check”
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bottleofhomebrew · 5 years ago
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Blue Dragon Cultist - A low CR creature
Time for another D&D creature! I ran this creature for a group of 6th level characters, and I thought that they made for a good mob to throw at the party in numbers. They aren’t too powerful on their own but a few can quite easily deal a lot of damage to an adventurer, and can work as good cannon fodder for a more powerful enemy. These could be easily be re-skinned to deal and be resistant to other kinds of damage if you wanted to use them for other chromatic dragons. There isn’t any lore associated with these cultists that extend beyond that they’re cultists worshipping a dragon and Tiamat, so how these cultists specifically act and what sort of organisation they’re part of is up to you
Stats
Medium Humanoid (any race), Neutral Evil
Armour Class – 13 (Leather armour)
Hit Points – 16 (3d8 + 3)
Speed – 30ft
Str – 11 (+0) Dex – 14 (+2) Con – 12 (+1) Wis – 14 (+2) Int – 12 (+1) Cha – 12 (+1)
Saving Throws – Wis + 4
Skills – Deception +3, Intimidation +3, Religion +3
Damage Resistance - Lightning
Senses – Passive Perception 12
Languages – Any one language (usually common), Draconic
Challenge Rating – ¼ (50XP)
Abilities
Dark Devotion – This creature has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Blessing of the Blue Dragon – When the Blue Dragon Cultist hits an enemy with a weapon attack, it deals an additional 1d6 lightning damage (included in the attack)
Attacks
Scimitar – Melee Weapon. Attack +4 to hit, reach 5ft, one creature. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) slashing damage plus 1d6 lightning damage
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