sebastiangarde - Tumblr blog

[sebastiangarde]

If drinking milk makes your bones stronger, then removing milk should make them weaker, right?

- Famous last words of Boderic the Boned, directly before being overrun by a horde of empowered skeletons.

I know this isn't my regular posting schedule, but I felt that this needed to get out there.

This post has not been approved by the Wizard Council. Please drink responsibly.

[sebastiangarde]

Skullstealer Crab

A man shambles closer, his clothes wet and moldy. As he looks up, eyestalks pop out of empty eyesockets, as crab-like claws reach out of the mouth.

One Man's Trash, Another Crab's Treasure. Where there is death for some, there is opportunity for others. Like regular hermit crabs, skullstealer crabs are weak and vulnerable without shelter. But instead of abandoned mollusc shells, they inhabit the skulls of drowned corpses. Crawling in either through the mouth or by cracking the back of the skull open with their powerful claws, they eat and replace the brain.

Grim Puppeteer. Wrapping their tail around the spinal cord, skullstealer crabs interface with the nervous system and gain control of the host body, piloting it like a crustacean puppetmaster. Bodies rot fast, however, so the skullstealers must be constantly on the look for new, fresher shelter. And nothing is fresher than alive.

Many skullstealer hermit crabs live near coastal settlements, crawling out of the sea at night and shambling into settlements. Possessing a rudimentary intelligence, skullstealers know to disguise themselves well enough to get within distance to extend their claws through the mouth and tear out the throat of a lone traveler.

Alien Minds. Strangely, when multiple skullstealer crabs are in close proximity, they may form a psychic connection, forming an alien hivemind. This grants them an extended ability to affect the minds of others.

They form large colonies within coastal caverns. From there, they conduct raiding parties to drag live creatures to their lair, where they use their sticky mucus to attach them to the walls until new shelters are needed.

Adventure Hooks

Cult of a sea god worships the skullstealer crabs as emissaries of their patron. They consider becoming a host the greatest honor.

Skullstealer crabs have been attacking coastal settlements in greater numbers. The rumour is that they are being used as foot soldiers by some more powerful, nefarious source.

[sebastiangarde]

Ghostguard Gargoyle

With a gravelly rumble, the statue perched at the top of the mausoleum comes to life. Pale, white flames lick the sides of its marble maw, as its wings outstretch.

Tenders of the deceased take the threat of undeath seriously. Thus, magical armaments and apotropaic items are common at graveyards and morgues. But some larger churches and family mausoleums of wealthy bloodlines go a step beyond.

Ghostguard gargoyles are complicated constructs designed to guard against spirits and other undead. They feed on necromantic energy, tearing it from their foes and repurposing it to fuel their abilities.

Created by highly specialized artificers, they are carved from a single piece of stone and powered by a ghostfire engine. Embedded in the back or abdomen, this engine must be fueled by burning the arcane residue produced during the banishment of a ghost. Buying a ghostguard gargoyle costs 135 000 gp. Making a ghostguard gargoyle costs 45 000 gp and takes at least two months.

Adventure Hooks

A ghost requires an item they were buried with, but cannot retrieve it themselves as their grave is guarded by a ghostguard gargoyle.

A magical plague has left a large portion of the city as intelligent undead. Now the sentries of the local graveyard cause havoc hunting the citizens.

A spirit used to fuel a ghostguard gargoyle lived on in its residue. It has possessed the construct and uses its abilities to recruit undead against its creator.

Afterword

This is the same as what I posted before, but this time with an image statblock. I don't know which one is better yet, because personally I like copiable text, but maybe other people prefer images. We'll see. I made this because I think the official gargoyles for 5e are sort of lame lmao, so this is an attempt at an upgrade. Hope you like it!

[sebastiangarde]

Say hi to this silly little critter entering the menagerie! The cannonshell crab fires itself around the battlefield and I found the little bugger very cute.

[sebastiangarde]

Aether’s true form, where arms are just a suggestion.

[sebastiangarde]

Ghostguard Gargoyle

With a gravelly rumble, the statue perched at the top of the mausoleum comes to life. Pale, white flames lick the sides of its marble maw, as its wings outstretch.

Tenders of the deceased take the threat of undeath seriously. Thus, magical armaments and apotropaic items are common at graveyards and morgues. But some larger churches and family mausoleums of wealthy bloodlines go a step beyond.

Ghostguard gargoyles are complicated constructs designed to guard against spirits and other undead. They feed on necromantic energy, tearing it from their foes and repurposing it to fuel their abilities.

Created by highly specialized artificers, they are carved from a single piece of stone and powered by a ghostfire engine. Embedded in the back or abdomen, this engine must be fueled by burning the arcane residue produced during the banishment of a ghost. Buying a ghostguard gargoyle costs 135 000 gp. Making a ghostguard gargoyle costs 45 000 gp and takes at least two months.

Adventure Hooks

A ghost requires an item they were buried with, but cannot retrieve it themselves as their grave is guarded by a ghostguard gargoyle.

A magical plague has left a large portion of the city as intelligent undead. Now the sentries of the local graveyard cause havoc hunting the citizens.

A spirit used to fuel a ghostguard gargoyle lived on in its residue. It has possessed the construct and uses its abilities to recruit undead against its creator.

Stat Block

Medium construct, unaligned

Armor Class 15

Hit Points 90 (12d8+36)

Speed 30ft, fly 30ft

___

STR 16 (+3)

DEX 11 (0)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 6 (-2)

WIS 12 (+1)

CHA 7 (-1)

___

Skills +4 Perception

Damage Immunities Necrotic, Poison, Psychic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing From Nonmagical Attacks

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned

Senses darkvision 120ft, passive Perception 14

Languages Common

Challenge 6 (2300 XP)

Proficiency Bonus +3

___

Traits

False Appearance. While it remains motionless, the ghostguard gargoyle is indistinguishable from an inanimate statue.

Necrotic Hunger. Whenever the gargoyle is subjected to necrotic damage, it takes no damage and instead regains a number of hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt.

___

Actions

Multiattack. The ghostguard gargoyle makes two attacks, one with its bite and one with its claws.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage.

Consume Spirit. The ghostguard gargoyle attempts to rend and consume the essence of an undead creature, forcing it to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 5d10 (27) force damage, or half as much on a succesful one. If this reduces the creature to 0 hit points, it is destroyed and the ghostguard gargoyle heals for a number of d8 equal to the CR of the destroyed creature. It's breath weapon is also recharged.

Breath Weapon (recharge 6). The ghostguard gargoyle breaths out a 15-foot cone of ghostfire. Each creature in that area must make Dexterity saving throw, taking 31 (7d8) radiant damage on a failed save or half as much on a succesful one.

[sebastiangarde]

I think we should bring back the bloodied mechanic for 5e. Love seeing things that use it.

Gobble gobble. #DnD

[sebastiangarde]

While I work on some new stuff, I figured I'd post some older stuff. I've got a lot of things locked away in my vault that I've never released, so might as well.

Here's the Devilblood Barbarian. A subclass that I created a good while ago, which turns you progressively more devilish as you gain levels. It's mechanically pretty simple, but I think the aesthetic/flavour has potential. Perhaps you're a tiefling with a stronger than usual connection to the Nine Hells. Maybe you've made a pact with a warhungry Arch-Devil, granting you a fraction of their power, or maybe you've been possessed, and the devil inside of you is slowly gaining more and more control.

If you use this, let me know! I'd love to hear any thoughts.

Path of Devilblood

Fiendish Blood

When you choose this path at 3rd level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet and resistance to fire damage.

Raise Hell

Also at 3rd level, when you rage, you take on aspects of your lineage. Your teeth and claws grow into natural weapons.

If you hit with your natural weapons, the attack deals slashing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier instead of normal unarmed strike damage. You can make one attack with your natural weapons as a bonus action.

Feel The Fire

Beginning at 6th level, you can cast the Hellish Rebuke spell an amount equal to half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, per long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting modifier for this spell.

Raging Inferno

At 10th level, the fires of Hell burn outside of you as well as inside. Once per day, you can wreathe yourself in flames as a bonus action. For the next minute, any creature coming into contact with you takes 1d4 fire damage.

Fall To Ascend

Beginning at 14th level, your likeness to the devils completes. When you rage, leathery wings sprout from your back and you gain a fly speed of 60 feet.

[sebastiangarde]

Wow it's been forever since I touched my tumblr blog, nearly a full year. I'm not sure how many people will follow me over from Twitter (I will still be active there for at least awhile longer), but I'd rather come back to Tumblr than learn yet another website or app.

For those of you from Twitter, hi, good to see you! I am sincerely hoping tumblr OC ask blogs come back in popularity, as those were so much fun. The next like. I don't know. 20 or so posts are all going to be old art you've seen before, but I have a lot of catching up to do haha.

For those of you who are old followers, hi, a lot has changed personally for me since I was last here. I'm planning to post mostly personal art works with a focus on D&D and the supernatural, with the occasional SCP or WL fanart. So nothing too new lol on the content posting side.

And for those of you who are new - hi! I'm Elnur, otherwise known as UncertaintyCrossing. I'm an administrator for the SCP Wiki and Wanderer's Library, two creative writing websites. I'm also a digital artist/Illustrator, writer, and currently about to finish my degree for graphic and interactive media. I've worked in the game industry, graphic design industry, and as a general freelance artist. I'm always happy to answer questions about anything!

All in all, happy to be back and to interact with the tumblr community again!

[sebastiangarde]

Love untraditional tiefling designs

Why make a sexy Tiefling dude when you can, in fact, make a creature both disappointing in looks and personality (the answer is that I for the life of me cannot design good looking dudes ever)

[sebastiangarde]

Things I learned from today's session

9 crabs is still too many crabs.

Maybe do like 6 crabs instead.

Seriously don't make your players fight over two dozen crabs in a single dungeon because that's a lot of crabs.

A really good meal can make you feel like you could kill someone.

If you do make your players fight a lot of fodder enemies at once, make sure they have ways to surround them. It'll make them an actual threat.

A giant crab statue made of bones helps.

And A Player Quote From The Session

"When you eat a really good meal you feel like you could kill a man. Like you just need to throw a horse at someone."

[sebastiangarde]

Hi Tumblr! I'm Sebastian, a writer, Dungeon Master and professional photographer. You might also know me as Sebarus from certain collaborative fiction sites known as the SCP Wiki and the Wanderers Library, but I'm not super involved with those anymore.

My main thing nowadays is 5th Edition DnD, which I've been making homebrew content for for a couple of years now and I will probably start using this blog to post some of that. I also have some big things on the works so watch this space if you're at all interested.