Dark Fantasy Monster Stat Blocks for 5e | Grim Hollow | D&D | TTRPG | DnD | Ben Byrne

[@benbyrne2429]

Folks, let me know if you give any of these monsters a try! Which one is your favorite?

[@that1guy898]

I honestly might use all of them for this all blood hunter campaign I'm writing. Side note: can I expect similar creatures in the Grim Hollow Monster Grimoir?

[@GhostfireGaming]

Yes, the Monster Grimoire is filled with horror themed monsters including manipulative fiends and fallen fey. Every monster also has salvage that can be taken from its remains and crafted into useful items.

[@that1guy898]

@@GhostfireGaming That sounds great. Seems like I might not have to homebrew an alchemy mechanic after all.

[@darkcrydotmrihavetoomanyst1440]

Man hunter spiders!

[@mikelundun]

The Carnifex rocks!!! Huge horror vibes. Am picturing the party on a rescue mission where they find their quarry alive, conscious and insane after having limbs amputated and cooked and eaten in front of them. How many limbs depends on how long they took to find their quarry. They'll never look at a fetch quest the same way again!

[@mikelundun]

Love the giant huntsmans! Ive had fun with using redback themes on my cave spiders too. I love the way redbacks webs work. Lots of vertical web lines, highly tensioned. If you trip one you are yeeted up to the ceiling of tue cave like a reverse bungy jump where the spider waits. Leaves the victim hanging upside down with the spider bearing down on them out of reach of the main party. Great fun!

[@ColeMillenium]

Man what are the music playing in the background, so fitting and awesome with these monsters

[@Th4nu]

Salvage is an awesome part of the stat block, every monster should have it.

[@benbyrne2429]

Couldn't agree more! Honestly a lot the fun prepping for my current campaign is coming up with salvage for monsters that aren't in the Monster Grimoire.

[@mikelundun]

If only there were cars in dnd. Nothing scarier than a huntsman in the sun-visor while you are steaming down the Western Ring Road! :-)

[@GhostfireGaming]

Could crawl out of the carriage rearview? 😅

[@wafflingmean4477]

As soon as you said you were basing a monster off of a Huntsman Spider my first thought was "Oh fuck you." They're the stuff of nightmares. They need to be taught their place. And that place is outside. You hear me? OUTSIDE!

[@thewelshdm]

The darkling is perfect for my up coming campaign. Grim Hollow gets Fey right for me. Also the Ogre Carnifex is going to be fun, inspiring an Ogremaw Tribes adventure for sure.

[@benbyrne2429]

Definitely trying to bring in a sense of ‘vague and evocative’ to the Fey of Grim Hollow. 😁

[@thewelshdm]

@@benbyrne2429 fairly sure your co-host will want some royalties on that trademark 🤣

[@grail25]

I'm gonna have fun with these!

[@meatyogredm]

I love them all!!! I am really liking the stuff you've been releasing lately hoping to see more in the future.

[@schemage2210]

I had a run in with a huntsman spider a couple days ago, so I am a little extra on edge from spider "things" at the moment. I can't speak to the effectiveness of the stat block, but the mere description had freaked me out.

[@benbyrne2429]

Sometimes that’s all you need for a memorable encounter. 😄

[@ZsDante]

Im with you there, got paranoid about spiders editing, looking around in the room haha

[@manganeko2534]

Muklac... Yeah, it realy sounds like mglak (foglet in English)

[@benbyrne2429]

That was basically the idea. 😅 I think me admitting that got cut, but basically to get a somewhat unique name I played with mglak until it looked sorta fantasy monsterish…

[@minnion2871]

As for webbing.... Well you might have it being something only people with a high enough perception spot.... (Think of it being like walking into a Gelatinous Cube.... Its fine, strong and sticky, and anyone who's walked in the woods enough times knows that sometimes you just don't see the webs until you've walked into it... This I think would be especially fun with flying PCs going through a forest as now they're stuck in spider webs 15 to 20 feet above the rest of the party with spiders closing in on them.... and the rest of the party having to figure out how to get up there to free them.)

[@Deathven1482]

Nice work Ben!

[@benbyrne2429]

Thanks! 😊

[@Agreus-WolfsbaneYT]

Thank you so much for these monsters Ben I will definitely try to use these

[@benbyrne2429]

You are welcome! I hope you and your players have fun with them.

[@Yo-jx8ej]

Wild idea: a half orc PC/devourer Monster Hunter who's a hardcore orc momma's boy but little does he know that his nostalgia from said mom's home cooking was a dangerous monster meal or even travellers that went missing in his town bc she's an Orc Carnifex. Ik its an orge but I think honestly any monster race from ogres to goblin can steal this aesthetic

[@Putrefax]

There is something very similar to the Muklak in an episode of Stargate SG1 (im pretty sure it was that) that i have adapted into my campaign: they look like ashen-skin ghouls but have no eyes, and sport gills and ridges around their necks and backs that constantly leak a thick fog. I basically modified a ghoul statblock so they were blind, would get an extra attack if attacking from stealth, and would drag people away from the party into the fog. Also a vulnerability to thunder damage to represent their reliance on hearing to find prey.

[@LadyLunarella]

thank you! ^^ my boyfriend is gonna love these!

[@that1guy898]

The witcher inspiration is sooooo good.

[@kelpiekit4002]

Ok. A fey, undead then. The Joy Child: Sometimes those of mixed fey ancestry have little more than dreams and wishes of their fey side. For a few of them there is a curious change over the days after death. Their bones shrink to child-like proportions and emerge out of their flesh. But these are merely an anchor for the joyful spirit they have become that dances round the animate skeleton. They seek out any of even the slightest fey blood and charm them into games and dances. Unfortunately they cannot understand that such play drains the life of their new friends, piling on exhaustion. They are inherently good but accidently cruel and often gather in groups as only they can survive their fun. Their aura of joy also turns any resistance against being charmed into vulnerability making them stronger against their fey victims. Moonlight shows their true form and at all other times they wear an illusion of their smiling childish selves, which is only betrayed by the clicks of bone on bone and their fleshless touch.

[@CorsairCityCO]

Using the Muklaks and lore in my next campaign. I have an alchemist/herbalist thats gonna love them!

[@GhostfireGaming]

Amazing! 😁

[@TheNerdzerker]

These are amazing, love it

[@casimirliber239]

b-b-but there are already fey called darklings....arrgh...(statblocks look cool and will use!)

[@benbyrne2429]

Yeah, I was never very satisfied with the Volo’s darklings. There’s something too… ‘mundane’ to them in that they’re another race of folk. This was an attempt to make them more mystical! Glad you like them. 😄

[@NegatveSpace]

I was just watching the 2005 King Kong movie and I usually don't get grossed out by insects but the scene in that movie definitely did it for me. That scene could maybe give someone some ideas for the giant spider idea you had.

[@Vampster19CockedD20]

I totally like to think the carnifex thinks of the armor of there victoms is like a shell similar to oysters.... They make it so tuff to get to the gooey center.

[@GhostfireGaming]

😂 Perfect!

[@jmd9402]

Where can I get that ogre mini? It looks awesome

[@shadowofhawk55]

Question for you, are there more Unseelie Fey in the Grim Hollow book? Cause I love the idea of the Unseelie Court, and I've made my own stuff (The Stolen Children) but I don't have the time to make my own stuff from scratch beyond reflavoring existing things.

[@aaronpapke9763]

A common DM house rule is to add a language for each intelligence + modifier, what if this was reversed?! What if for each -modifier to charisma your characters forget a language, to the point they can no longer communicate orr coordinate?? I'm using the darkling now. Thank you.

[@ai.yeehaw]

So uhh...what's up with the ghostfiregaming website? I can't access it at all. :(

[@dannyboy2525]

My question is….are we gonna get a monster grimoire 2?