How to Create Your Own Monsters in 5e Dungeons & Dragons

[@WebDM]

Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Check out our Patreon for our podcast, bonus vids, and more! Patreon.com/webdm Or our Twitch channel for live streamed ttrpgs every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday! Twitch.tv/webdm Or our live play archive on KZbin: KZbin.com/webdmplays

[@ThePorkchoppers]

When are we getting intro to hexcrawls part 2? Also, keep it up guys. You are one of the top channels in the ttrpg market!

[@aviongris4233]

Speaking of awesome Homebrew monsters to flesh out the wilderness, check this out: thewyrdandwild.wordpress.com/

[@AudrenDev]

How about a video on P.Is in D&d?

[@garrysorensen9087]

That mimic idea is simply genius pruit 👏

[@nickgood5691]

Hey i gotta suggestion along this line, maybe one about introducing tech, from gunpowder, industry, and electriciry; to firearms, powered vehicles, mechs, and such. Its always a world building discussion for my group.

[@timothyheimbach3260]

Sadly there will be no more WebDM as Jim and Pruitt have been arrested for removing mattress tags.

[@Halsfield]

Hope the judge throws the book at them. An example needs to be made.

[@DurdleDers]

@@Halsfield as long as it's a player's handbook

[@lilith1073]

Noooo I need quality DM advice

[@thepopulargirl1784]

Web Dm Lawyer: "Your honor, it clearly shows on Jim and Pruitt's character sheets that neither of them are of a lawful alignment. Therefore I submit that there actions were in character and warrant an inspiration die, not punishment."

[@minnion2871]

@@thepopulargirl1784 Well also from what I understand it is the retailer that is forbidden from removing the tag.... Not the customer they're trying to sell to.

[@kingdead42]

"Don't sweat it. Don't regret it. Fake it 'til you make it." --Jonathan Pruitt I need that on a shirt.

[@Toto-95]

i'd buy it...

[@mariuszmichalski5468]

I tottaly need A WebDM T-shirt

[@ZrinNZ]

"mix em together. I dunno like a dragon and an Aboleth." Me: "oh sweet lord." *Frantically writes notes*

[@TheScarvig]

exactly my thoughts when they talked about the mimic-chest XD that idea is just great

[@theomegapotato370]

If you want something like that there's already a mindflayer dragon AND IT'S TERRIFYING

[@mathewsmith2281]

Dragoleth

[@JeffN4POD]

@@mathewsmith2281 You beat me to it... lol

[@GDdragonblight]

@@mathewsmith2281 beat me there too =/

[@stevethedragonborn]

One homebrew monster my players hate me for is a vampire Medusa. No reflection due to vampirism is always fun.

[@MythicMachina]

Oh, that's clever. Mean, but clever. What i would do is becuase it doesn't have that weakness anymore, give it a different weakness to compensate.

[@zacharygadzinski3147]

@@MythicMachina vampire medusas turn to stone upon being exposed to sunlight. Or that's what I would assume.

[@MythicMachina]

@@zacharygadzinski3147 the Daylight spell might actually have some use then.

[@meirwaxman350]

@@MythicMachina The Daylight spell DOES NOT CREATE SUNLIGHT. You need the Sunbeam spell for that.

[@MythicMachina]

@@meirwaxman350 honestly, all the games i have been in has ruled it that it counts a sunlight and WHY ARE WE YELLING!?!?!?!?!

[@jgr7487]

"what if a Beholder dreams with a [insert monster here]?" there, you have the concept for a new monster!

[@Thornspyre81]

Exactly! That's the best formula! The Death Kiss alone proves you can get as nutty as you want.

[@Maverickstyg]

A beholder that has a longing dream of a subservient purple worm. Bewormer. Or wormholder.

[@kkTeaz]

Please no

[@burakc9673]

@@Maverickstyg o.0 🐛 holder?!?!

[@HenriqueLSilva]

The beholder had a nightmare. It dreamt about something that could end it, and it sees itself as the most important thing in the world. Beholder just created an dmi-elder god

[@billypondwhistle2570]

Seriously one of the best D&D shows on the internet. Every time I watch your videos, I get a new piece of information that helps me DM a better game (hopefully), Thanks for all the work you guys, and Travis, put into this show and it's every helpful topics. You guys are legends.

[@WebDM]

Thanks Billy!

[@Draeckon]

I second this comment

[@TeamKhandiKhane]

"Snake haired petrifaction gazed ladies, are just thick on the ground in this setting." "And they are thick." A Bard somewhere, "Thicc you say?"

[@SinerAthin]

Bard: " ... let me just get my blindfolds!"

[@burningbronze7555]

You know the yuan ti bard wants the medusa.

[@cork1576]

19:43 "I'm mostly a tweaker" D&D is a helluva drug!

[@luerom]

How else you gonna see all those demons?!

[@kcl2d]

That variant Mimic idea is absolutely getting stolen!

[@jamesgibson7860]

Same! That is genius, my players will never stop being paranoid!

[@relint12]

I feel like this should actually be added to the lore as a lifecycle step of mimics. It’s inspired! Are baby mimics coins, purses, pouches or ring boxes? The options for hilarity are endless.

[@aidanmorgan9669]

I think my favourite monster I ever made was an Ooze-shelled Skeleton. It was essentially a skeleton (just the base CR 1/4 monster) that was piloting a large Ooze, like it was a mecha. When the players dealt with the Ooze surrounding it, there was just a skeleton left behind. The monk crushed it with her bare hands.

[@ryanduddleson1806]

I also like Colville’s tip to consider that monsters would likely have access to different abilities than PCs. It’s easy to imagine that a Goblin Cleric would have different spells than a human cleric.

[@Bluecho4]

When it comes to designing original monsters, I often find myself considering areas where the Monster Manual et al. have in deficiency. For instance, I think 5e could do with more Elementals, especially low-CR Elementals that can be peppered at low levels, and that Wizards can call upon with Conjure Minor Elementals. You know, so it's not just Mephits all day everyday. Here are a few concepts I came up with: 1) Rolling Stone - A spherical lump of rock, which can be made from various kinds of stone. (Some areas might have Rolling Stones made from slate, marble, sandstone, or volcanic glass). They roll around the ground and into enemies, finding people using Blindsight, unless they were carved with eyes on their surfaces. Many Rolling Stones could be created with magical rituals, carved by artisans and then made to be inhabited by spirits from the elemental plane of earth. Because they can look however the creator wants (when they aren't natural formations), they can sit still and appear to be mundane decoration...until they start attacking. Probably shoot for CR 1, and even higher level parties could have trouble from entire packs of these guys. A higher CR variant might be found with the "Assassin Stone", which can mark and track targets over long distances. 2) Big Bubble - Large, animate bubbles that combine elemental water and air. They can envelope targets, restraining them and transporting them. Kind of like the sentry spheres from The Prisoner. Some sorcerers or the like use them for the same purpose. A nastier variant of this monster would be the "Dirty Bubble", a swamp-dwelling elemental that combines the power of its awesome surface tension with an internal reservoir of miasma. When it envelopes targets, they take poison damage every round, and the dirty bubble can also cast Poison Spray as innate spellcasting. Both varieties of bubble have resistance to bludgeoning damage, but vulnerability to piercing. When they are reduced to 0 HP they pop, though the dirty bubble also releases a damaging cloud upon doing so. 3) Balefire Boys - Fire stolen from the elemental plane of fire, and inundated with the corrupting influence of the Lower Planes. Not sure if they'd stay Elemental in creature type, or if I'd make them into Fiends instead. Whatever the case, they burn bitter blue or sickly green, to represent their infernal or abyssal nature. Sometimes, Demons (and, less often, Devils or Yugoloths) consume balefire boys, absorbing their power. If that Fiend perishes, though, the internal source of fire is released. So a party might defeat a powerful Fiend, only to find 1d4 or 1d6 balefire boys appearing in its place, ready to continue the fight.

[@Bluecho4]

4) Prism Sentry - A floating shard of crystal, that acts as a prism for light. As such, this earth-aligned Elemental can manipulate light, both to blind and beguile its enemies, as well as use it offensively. It can ram into foes with its pointed body, for piercing damage, but it's more likely to use a regular spell attack to deal radiant damage from a distance, concentrating light into thin beams. It can also cast Color Spray at will, and cast Hypnotic Pattern and Confusion once a day each. For their ability to charm and blind foes, prism sentries are often employed as, well, sentries, guarding important locations. A local sect of Elemental Evil earth cultists is liable to have a few floating around. They work extremely well in groups, charming groups of intruders and then picking them off one by one.

[@arandomzoomer4837]

@@Bluecho4 I think I'll use some of these monsters. Thank you.

[@calebedward1281]

My buddy who runs pathfinder made a monster that was a half lobster, half giant eagle chimera that he called the Roc Lobster. We don't talk anymore.

[@clockworks360]

I want the honor to shake his hand...

[@Naytsabehz]

The coolest thing of this show is how Jim has open up to the audience, we really love your work guys! 2 years DM here and i have just TPK once (:

[@Sammo212]

The whole approach of "its THE lich" or its "The chimera" is the approach of Dungeon Crawl Classics and creating monsters. They really push for you to create only one of something opposed to how D&D, and other tabletop, can just have tons of everything.

[@joshuarichardson6529]

They did that in Birthright. Many of the monsters were actually cursed humans (or animals), with a shard of a slain mad god piercing their soul and mutating their body. The Gorgon was actually a bull with the curse of this evil god inflicted upon it. The Vampire was a human who was cursed to become an undead horror and drink the blood of the living. Worse still, if you killed this monster, there was a strong likelihood the curse could be passed on to one of the PCs.

[@graventhered]

When making a monster, don't just consider mechanical role. Sometimes dropping a creature that's mechanically weak but thematic is important. A really creepy or weird monster sets the tone for a dungeon or adventure as much as a hard hitting bruiser.

[@projectrallus]

You can also use commoner npcs to sell that horror by making your players view things from the lens of a powerless character. Things weak to players can still be very lethal to anyone else.

[@Aplesedjr]

Unless you want it to survive for an extended period of time. Then you should probably give it a petty high ac and hp.

[@projectrallus]

@@Aplesedjr If it's a big bad roll it at a higher tier than the players when they first meet it. Give it some heft and some superhuman agility to make chasing it impossible and make the first encounter a shitshow. Prove they aren't ready so when they level and find it again they feel accomplished when they put an end to its terror

[@EnderLord007]

“And they are thicc” Something you want to tell us, mister Pruitt?

[@valasafantastic1055]

Also good as starting points; 1) ecology ( how does it interact and fit in with the ecosystem?) 2) origin ( how did it come to exist? Why?) 3) visual creature concept design (as an artist like me does as well). Great video thanks!

[@nocigar7730]

"Creating custom content is at the heart of the hobby." Personally, for me that nails it. Thank you Jim and Pruitt for all the love and work you put into this channel. It shows, and has been an epic level boon to me in homebrewing my own home game. Again Thank you.

[@steveejohnson7932]

Always interesting to see a different perspective. I almost always base new monster designs on a desired mechanical effect; be it a condition, tactic, or even just damage type. For example, I wanted an acidic-grappler type enemy (that wasn't just an ooze), to block an important entrance. So I took the idea of a animated suit of armor, and had it PULL PLAYERS INSIDE ITSELF when it grappled them. The inside of the armor was filled with acid, and it dealt acid damage to anyone inside every round, until they broke out. Very effective at spooking the party, especially since I introduced it by having it open up it's armor plates and discharge a mostly disolved body onto the ground infront of them. That last part is important, because when you're introducing a new unknown mechanic to the party, they may get just a bit cheesed at you if you don't explain how something deadly works.

[@technomancer2203]

I’m so glad to get some videos about home brewing from y’all. I’ve recently been getting used to home brewing enemies in the regular in order to match my parties level.

[@calebchristensen900]

Favorite homebrew: Fire Oni. Just give them fire breath and fire resistance. Same idea as Swamp Oni, And black Oni.

[@calebchristensen900]

Swamp Oni have an acidic affect and Black Oni are touches my the shadow-fell, radiating necrotic damage.

[@Licjr]

Totally stealing this if I ever run a wuxia-style campaign

[@psevdhome]

I love creating my own monsters! Be it tweaking existing monsters to make them fit the campaign better or just inventing one out of a concept, idea or nighmare that you had. I always homebrew dragons that are more serpent-like that don't rely on flight that have mind control powers, because I was inspired by the terror of Glaurung in the Silmarillion. A couple of night ago I stayed up until 4 am with my brother just working on this concept of a haunted house where the house is the monster not anything in it.

[@direwolfknight7639]

Im making a combo of a green dragon and a panther. Basically a medium creature that prefers to weaken its targets with its poisonous bite and/or getting the drop on them. I'm thinking of calling it the forest drake.

[@psevdhome]

@@direwolfknight7639 Wow, that's a cool idea! I like making different kinds of monsters, not only to surprise the players but also because it is fun to think of new concepts.

[@direwolfknight7639]

@@psevdhome yeah. And I just like dragons.

[@psevdhome]

@@direwolfknight7639 That too! I like to make enemies that the PCs might have to negociate with instead of just kill. A dragon is perfect for that, because they usually want knowledge that PCs have, or need some specific treasure that the PCs can more easily get.

[@TheCaptainstupendous]

8:08 Pruitt likes his snake ladies THICC (me too, Jon ;-))

[@ralanbek95]

Open eyes Check phone Get WebDM I love wednesdays :)

[@MittyPoots]

Same, Wednesdays are my game day, it’s a great reminder!

[@MrSilvUr]

27:06. Oh, man, their's a Wizard testing his various monstrous designs by casting dreams at the party. That's pretty cool.

[@MrWhite5150Duke]

Monster creation is one of my favorite aspect of adventure design. I really like multi part monsters (basically multiple monsters in one), and the one hp minion with a death effect. 🍺💨

[@Tungsten_Pyre]

literally just struggling with doing this for my current homebrew, videos are always weirdly on time haha, I also make all my players watch your videos on the classes and races they're about to play, not as a set of rules but to really help if they're at all unsure and need something to go off of.

[@adamroquemore6410]

oh my god that mimic idea is absolute genius

[@dogOFdark1]

My first home brew monster I made on the fly during a improv campaign with my cousins. And my cousin was a Druid obsessed with animals and she was trying to tame a hellhound... so to make this one special and not over powered at the very beginning of this campaign, I gave her a Frost Hellhound pup. Pure white, blue eyes, blue flames, and cold damage. Not obscure, there is a level in the nine hells where it’s a frozen wasteland so that’s where it came from. And because it was a pup, she has to wait and train it for a good while before it becomes useful in combat. Cx but she loves that thing to death, and it’s small moments like that, that makes me happy to be a dm.

[@Bluecho4]

When working with the CR system, you must understand that it's very accurate for what it actually measures: the monster's ability to deal and take damage. How well it can put the hurt on others, and how well it can survive attempts to hurt it. The former involves its damage output and either the to-hit roll or saving throw, the latter involves the HP and AC. That is what the base CR of a monster measures. Things like mobility, the capacity to hide, or whatever sort of social or manipulative power it has, are all not measured by CR, or at least rarely are. Giving a monster a Flying speed (if it can also attack from range) will alter its CR, for instance, because it's _effective_ AC (as opposed to the actual AC attacks are measured against) is higher, by virtue of being harder to reach. A melee Fighter effectively misses 100% of the sword attacks he _can't make_ because the monster is thirty feet off the ground. But by contrast, if the monster can use reactions to make dash actions without invoking attacks of opportunity, it doesn't really alter CR, because it doesn't really do direct change to the damage it can do or how much damage it can take. If the DM is smart, though, it CAN effect how the battle goes, by allowing it to maneuver around the battlefield. Which brings us to another point: a monster's CR is different from an _encounter's_ CR. The raw mechanical difficulty of an encounter's monsters is altered mainly by two things: 1) how many monsters are in the fight (which gives multipliers to the CR), and 2) what advantages or disadvantages the _environment_ gives to the enemy and/or to the party. In the former case, there is strength in numbers, because of how they shift the action economy; this is also why boss monsters get stuff like Legendary Actions and Lair Actions. In the latter case, a squad of three crossbow wielding guys can be much more difficult to manage if they are standing on top of a ridge, preventing certain members of the party from reaching them, without spending a bunch of time trying to make Athletics checks to get up to them or the like. While we're on the subject, CR doesn't necessarily take into account abilities that have...let's call it "removal". That is, abilities that can take a party member effectively out of the fight, even for a short time. Abilities that can cause PCs to become Restrained or Paralyzed or Frightened or Charmed. Spells like Charm Person, Hold Person, Banish, Entangle, or Forcecage. If it's possible for the monster to make one or more characters _not_ be able to participate in the fight - even if for only a round or two - that represents a drop in the party's ability to damage the monster, and thus a modification of its survivability. CR doesn't necessarily count these things, but you as DM should keep them in mind.

[@Bluecho4]

One more thing! When it comes to giving your monsters spells - whether innate spells or full spellcasting - it only affects CR if the spells have a meaningful effect on the monster's ability to deal or take damage. Spells that do damage could raise the CR, obviously, but only if the damage of the spells exceeds what the monster can otherwise dish out with its regular traits. This is why it doesn't really matter if you give a _dragon_ spells, either innate or full levels in Wizard or the like. Unless the dragon is a wyrmling or young, there's few spells it could realistically possess that would greatly exceed the damage output it has from simply _BEING A DRAGON_ . But if you gave a wyrmling, like, nine levels in Sorcerer, you're looking at a CR increase, because its spells outpace its natural offensive output. Defensively, spells that give the monster temporary AC (like Barkskin or Shield), give it healing, or even just make it harder to damage in an indirect way (Greater Invisibility, Fly) can raise the CR. But other kinds of spells that don't fit the mold will do nothing to CR. Pixies, for instance, can cast Confusion once a day, a 4th level spell. But their CR is still low, because Confusion doesn't deal any direct damage. Even if a PC is made to strike another, the damage dealt is more a result of the _party's_ power, not the pixie's. Meaning non-damage or defensive spells have a much greater wiggle room when it comes to what monsters can use them, at what CR. How many _times_ a monster can cast a spell per encounter is also variable, though you'll want to consider whether a monster _needs_ a lot of castings or not. A monster might, for instance, be able to cast Color Spray at will, because it just blinds targets, and only for 1 round. The monster _could_ stand there and cast Color Spray every round, repeatedly blinding targets. It just wouldn't be able to attack, and indeed is liable to lose a war of attrition against a group of PCs if it did nothing but that. Hence why that sort of monster should have multiple options, and could stand to work with a group of its own. By contrast, you _could_ give that same monster the ability to cast Hypnotic Pattern at will, but it can be more annoying to deal with. However, it's also less _useful_ for that monster, since Hypnotic Pattern is a concentration spell that lasts a minute. Since most encounters last less than a minute anyway, it gains nothing from being able to cast Hypnotic Pattern at will, versus being able to do it once or twice daily.

[@Pablo360able]

@@Bluecho4 There's just one little thing to note: The monster that can cast Color Spray at will is a *lot* deadlier if there are any other monsters in the fight, because then that ability basically magnifies every other monster's effective AC. That's something that can be taken into consideration when calculating encounter CR.

[@Bluecho4]

@@Pablo360able Absolutely. Without doubt. This is why the base CR calculation of creatures is narrow in scope: it doesn't necessarily take into account the "removal" effect I mentioned above. Color Spray does no damage and the DMG makes no note of how individual spells might raise or lower CR. But it would tangibly alter how much damage the monsters are taking, because one of their number is blinding the PCs every round. It's these sorts of things that a DM needs to take into account when designing encounters. In general, CR functions as intended. In specific, the model can break down, requiring personal judgement and intuition.

[@nerdinebe]

So my favourite thing as a kinda experienced DM is that until the last session I ran, I have never run a Golem. Party who has so far survived things like Meteor Swarm, Ancient Shadow Dragon and tides of zombies with sprinkles of Yuan-Ti encounters, ran up against and ran away from, a Clay Golem. I'm running Tomb of Annihilation, and I instantly regretted not reading what a Clay Golem can do before throwing it at the party. If you don't know what I'm referring too, Clay Golems have a ability that Jim mentioned in passing round the start of the vid and that combined with the whole driving point behind ToA re-installed the fear of god within me, and the party. There wasn't any casualties, but boy howdy was there some *salt* Biiiiig salty party. Thank you guys for once again talking about something that really is interesting. Whilst I've nearly never run things straight outta the MM, so many other DMs I've run with or talked to are hesitant to just. Make a monster. And you guys do a excellent job talking about and making sure those folks have the tools and the reassurance to make fantastic and baller encounters. Fun story of my own of this: I once gave a pair of Dracolichs (this was for a 20th level super small series) a breathe weapon that was dual dmg type and covered a large area to left and right as well as out 100ft. In short, these necrotic/fire (or poison) breathes dealt 7d6/7d6 dmg over a 100ft forward, 60ft left from the line of origin. Sure, these players were 20th level, sure they had baller items and a lot of homebrewed stuff. But that is, honestly too much. It was a mistake and I learnt and when fixed it was fine. I spilt the attacks, the full line breathe doing the 14d6 split dmg and the spread out attack dealing only 6d6 split over that earlier distance. Sometimes you just gotta tinker with the creature stats and go from there. Love your show guys, please never stop going.

[@aarondavidson3833]

I love these longer videos. Every topic I always come away from them inspired.

[@Guydude777]

That mimic idea is pure gold. Gonna make a mental note.

[@Darkraggs]

19:33 reminds me of the time my players were in a set of sewers inhabited by 4 Dragon Turtles and a (large-sized) Giant Rat in a Pathfinder campaign. One of the DTs was a huge-sized special variant I didn’t read to carefully, a player decided to roll an arcana check when the party was debating on fleeing further into the sewers or continuing to fight. Turns out the Ancestral Dragon Turtle can magically fly, so I described how it tucked in its limbs and fire started shooting out of the holes in its shell and make it spin out of the water and fly in the air like that old Japanese turtle kaiju. The other players then decided to nope on out of there.

[@TwoGoblinsInATrenchCoat]

I've been toying with this idea for a long time- a kind of "King Of Monsters" in D&D 5e, where they're a creature that spawns, summons, draws to them, and controls all kinds of monsters... including forgotten and crazy stuff (a.k.a. homebrew monsters). This helped with that idea. Thanks.

[@lockwoan01]

I know of an NPC I'd like to make, a Werewolf/Knight combo - Idea is that he's the Commander of the City Guard, and is basically the Party's Boss/Patron. Normally a decent sort, unless you mess with his guards. What really sets him apart is his equipment - Adamantine-Mithral alloy Plate armor and an Adamantine-Silver alloy Greatsword. This lets him stealth easily when he has to, shrug off serious harm, and seriously mess up the other guy's plans. Idea is that he's an Optional Boss Fight, where the party (Level 3, with an extra 10+ hp and a partial First Level Fighter as part of "Guard" training, and a few other tricks) must first defeat three of the following - Tortle Berserker, Changling Cult Fanatic, Fallen Aasimar Knight, Yuan-Ti Swashbuckler, and a Feral Winged Tiefling Archer - then agree to take on the other two, before taking on *this* dude, all as part of a Test that all would-be guards must go through.

[@AmigoRoberto]

Fake it till you make it got me all the play testing I needed. Making tiny modifications here and there earned me a drow favored consort champion fighter/warlock with an immunity to radiant and bright light and a super move ripped right from anime. He wound up being more memorable and fun for my players to go up against than the matron mother of this drow house.

[@soultron4238]

"I'm a tweaker" Funny Pruitt, I took you for a stoner.

[@corinbryant]

This came just at the right time!! I have four monsters that are based on the seasons and wanted to give each of them an ability that represents that season (There's an aura around the Autumn monster that prevents healing, the cold around the Winter monster prevents reactions etc) But I don't even know where to begin balancing this as it must be so easy to over/underpower a monster but not have the fallback of saying "Well thats what it says in the book!"

[@fishmad122]

The best homebrew I've ever made imo is The Brainstorm: A Storm Giant Quintessent infected by one of those giant Illithid worms - I essentially combined the Quintessent with an Elder Brain, plus giving it a few other abilities - regional effects including raining down the regular illithid worms (this was the campaign ender)

[@CovaDax]

Interesting factoid about the Mattress Tag. That "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" does not apply to you, the purchaser of the mattress. It, in fact, pertains to the distributor so that they can't sell you a mattress full of sand or trash. So yeah. Just rip that tag right off!

[@D35TR0YM4N]

Y’all have been a solid source of inspiration. Thanks guys

[@WebDM]

Glad to help!

[@joegaylord87]

I had run Baby Mimics in an adventure. Use the Boggle from Volo's as a base, except they have adhesive and false appearance instead of the portals and their oil is acidic. It's pretty rocking.

[@KorosuKoell]

I swear, just before Pruitt said 'dragon bulette' i imagined the draccus from 'the name of the wind' and how i could make it a bulette with fire breath.

[@Fuzzy_Yordle]

"I'm mostly a tweaker" --Pruitt 2018

[@triplezee7589]

Tome of Beasts was so good it was mentioned before Volo's Guide when they thought of 'official WOTC bestiaries'

[@Sygless]

Reskinning and modifying are my favorite things to do as dm! Makes fights feel unique and gives me free rein on what i want to do.

[@arandomzoomer4837]

Plus it makes metagaming impossible.

[@SilverSidedSquirrel]

Pruitt combines Rincewind's Luggage, and the Mall from Reaper Man lolololol.

[@davidpotts7116]

When I started to homebrew monsters I turned to none other than the Monster Hunter series for ideas. I love the series, and the amount of detail and anatomical precision that goes into the monsters along with all the other crazy stuff like fire breath from an Anjanath, calling down lightning bolts like Kirin, or inflicting multiple status ailments at once like Rathalos serves very well to test the waters for homebrew monsters. One of the first I created was a homebrew of the Tobi-Kadachi (personally my favorite monster of the series), looking at how it moves, how fast it moves, how it attacks, its elemental attacks, etc. It has such a unique design and combat mechanics that just scream “homebrew me into a DnD monster!”

[@seraphlord]

I really like the idea of the party getting savaged by a monster you made a little too OP and once they all die they wake up together and an Archfey is sitting in the corner of the room and just tells them it showed them a vision of the future but because it did that for them now it wants something from them. You can send them on a quest to get something for it, while helping them research the the thing that just annihilated them and maybe power them up a little bit(or giving them something that will only help fight that specific monster) all while giving the DM a chance to balance the monster a little bit better. Hopefully it will make them feel like they overcame an impossible situation by preparing ahead of time.

[@Mysun532]

Monsters with the swallow ability, extremely underused, takes a player out of combat, slowly kills them over time and has the rest of the party in a panic, what's not to love?

[@kirkish001]

My BBEG atm is a cthulu-esque abberation kraken with psionic abilities. One of its tentacles is replaced with hundreds of 80ft thin stalks. The stalks produce a "bitter fruit" that's more of an LSD turned up to 11. If someone eats to much, they turn vulnerable to the monsters psionic call and it lures them into the sea to become a minion (Sea Spawn, VG). These stalks break off constantly and wind up on town beaches. People then harvest and sell it on the black market. Over a number of years, a cult has formed around the Bitter Fruit (obviously) and has turned these fruit in a wine. Think "Shadow over Innsmouth"... but with alien drugs

[@Draeckon]

I'm stealing this idea, or at least, the stalks idea. That's really cool!

[@kirkish001]

@@Draeckon Do it! One of my players has been eating some of the stuff. They just encountered the cult so he is cutting it out cold turkey, just as his saves for addiction were starting to get harder too. Cant wait for the moment he sees that it's not a fruit at all, but that hes been eating a body part off of some aberration

[@ChristianSteinheimer]

27:00 wohoo! Best ideal ever! Start the fight with a wisdom save, follow up with a dang weird fight, boom, was a dream! As long as the saves werent too good, youre fine!

[@Anibunny]

Thanks for this! Running Descent into Avernus and there is a devil from 3.5 who I love and would be perfect with one of the PCs stories. However, it hasn't been brought over into 5E yet and I was a bit nervous about trying to rework it. I feel a bit better in doing so now!

[@TheWonkster]

I make a new monster basically every day when I go to work. Either that or a bunch of spells. It's one of the greatest joys as a DM, have a weird fever dream and see something scary? Make it a monster!

[@polerli18]

How to create your own monster?....Make a compilation video of every intro puns made on Web DM ;^p

[@WebDM]

That's one beautiful monster

[@KeacePeeper]

I want that now.

[@josephlkraft]

My best homebrew monster was created off the cuff in about 2 min. A minor deity that is summoned when people are dying from hunger and he feeds on their despair and desperation. He would offer pacts to save them from their situation (surprise, it's undeath/eating your soul!). Players immediately loved him and he became a BBEG for the adventure.

[@forloveofthepage2361]

Great video guys. Good topic. One of the easiest ways to create a custom monster without a ton of work is the monstermash. Take a monster that has the esthetic you like and another that has the rules you like and have a mutant baby. The old Tauric and legendary monster template from 3.5 was great for making monsters. Lair and legendary actions have gone a long way to customizing your encounter without changing the monster stat block.

[@meseattlequin]

New life Motto: Don't Sweat it Don't regret it Fake it till you make it. -WebDM 2k18

[@MormonDude]

Have you guys done an episode on how to do war as a central theme in a D&D campaign? Such as showing the effects of war, or how war can change people, or how to run a war-based game?

[@chadmunson6538]

My most recent creation was the most simple of repaints. Inspired by looking at the tangled roots of the mangrove tree, I imagined them suddenly flailing out wildly as it moved across the ground. Thus the "Mangrell" was born. Make it a plant and give it false appearance. Make the "brain" part leafy, and hide the beak inside it.

[@SonsOfSauron]

Pruitt you've literally created my favorite monster of all time around 34 minutes in

[@ArBee123]

What a roller coaster today has been! First I was excited as it is Wednesday and WebDM posts a new video today. Then I looked and the last one was 6 days ago so I guess its actually Thursdays and I was wrong. BUT THEN the video was posted! I need a sit down and a bru now, what a rush.

[@divinegokublack1362]

I know this video is old but I felt like just adding this for future viewers. In my game, the players will eventually go to this city where there’s a coliseum. Inside are warriors, monsters and other parties they can fight, bet on monster vs monster, or even bet on themselves to win fights. I’m doing this because I’ve come up with a lot of monsters or like to reference monsters from other media and this is my way of inserting whatever I like without actually hindering the story. I’ll see which monsters are more popular than others, I’ll see which attacks are stronger than they are supposed to be, and then I’ll either use that monster in another game, or make something similar.

[@queencyrys6309]

I’m going to adapt the chryssalids from xcom into dnd. A dumb insect that rips you apart with its claws and lays an egg in your chest, which gestates and reaches adulthood in only a few min

[@bryceaustin4995]

Dear god, What have you done...

[@queencyrys6309]

Bryce Austin best part? My players are new. I’m sicking chrysalids on their first characters at level 3

[@bryceaustin4995]

@@queencyrys6309 THAT is evil. Will they encounter the Zombies first, or is that just going to be another sick suprise?

[@queencyrys6309]

Bryce Austin well, my plan is that i’m sending them into a goblin infested jungle, lots of goblins, a few hobs, a couple of orcs and their leader, a hag. So, there’s a lot of corpses. What i’m gonna try and have them do is fight off a few goblins first and enter a cave of sorts or something to get them away from the bodies. When they come out, boom, zombies and a singular mature chrysalid. The hatching starts on the second turn

[@AriesFireDragon1]

Investigating a washed up boat perhaps ?

[@VanillaJoe]

Jim Darkman Davis in the thumbnail is top shelf. 🤘😁👍

[@jakeholmes9296]

That mimic idea is amazing!!!

[@adreabrooks11]

Regarding some of the hazards of created monsters: I must say I've had the same problems with stuff right out of the book. One of the few full-on TPKs I've run in 25+ years of gaming was back in 3.0, when I placed a remorhaz as the guardian for an abandoned ruin. The CR was actually a point lower than the party - but, as they weren't long on ranged attacks, things went poorly in melee... As you mentioned, the key is having a group who's willing to roll with it - ending up captives, discovering that this has been a vision, or just outright retconning if it sucked. Sometimes a creative salvage can lead to some good laughs.

[@TempestRequiem0]

As a DM you should have access to your player's character sheets so you can solo test your monsters against them and see how fast they, or your creation drops. If it's even just 1-2 sessions in you should know how they play their characters as you should be getting in your players heads anyways. Takes about an 20 minutes to an hour of testing to get the stats just right, and if the players end up bypassing through some imaginative means then let them; you can use it later (unless they killed a unique monster). Things I don't recommend: having resists/save DC abilities that single out one player/PC. It's one thing if it's a premade monster from a manual, but if you suddenly throw in force resistance (which currently only exists on force dragon) on every mob because you have a sorc/warlock outputting insane damage then there's gonna be some hard feelings. Just isn't worth it over a game. If you have a hard hitting damage machine then throw in extra mobs (preferably something with only one attack so you can roll it quickly) to make them use their turns improving the overall action economy to something more balanced instead of super biased towards players (generally). Additional bonus is that your damage dealer will feel heroic as he mows down tons of enemies, but your game will be unchanged.

[@HypthtcllySpkng]

theangrygm.com/series/custom-monster-building/ This is a series from The Angry GM. It’s intimidating if you’re new to dm’ing, because there’s a lot of math. But if you’re a DM looking for an in depth, and I mean DEEP dive, into monster creation and understanding how and why 5e works the way it does, I highly recommend these 5 part blog series. It changed the way I homebrew, and helped me to make big decisions about how I like to play. Consider it a happy supplemental to today’s WebDM video.

[@jimdavis141]

James Dial if you can get past the word count, the Angry GM’s posts are very helpful. The snark gets a bit old, but then at least I know what I’m in for

[@HypthtcllySpkng]

Jim Davis ya, it’s definitely gimmicky. But poignant for today. He’s not even the worst offender for wordy, gimmick filled discussion on the internet though. That level of deep discussion of game mechanics and the intent behind them is fundamental to the way I play, and it’s why I always enjoyed you guys discussing classes. Still waiting for a redesign of sorcerers because the Wild Mage subclass is more gimmicky than AngryGMs whole website, and metamagic is so out of place.

[@syeven7979]

This episode on web dm: Pruit admits to being a tweaker.

[@quincallahan6323]

I have done freelance RPG writing. I almost always use a monster as a base to make another, either to understand the numbers a CR tends to use or to see how similar creature's abilities tend to work. Often I will look at two monsters, one to understand CR, one to understand common abilities for similar type creatures.

[@oddsketch9969]

I recently homebrewed a gnomish battle mech for a kind of clockwork world my players are in. It had 20 hp and 18AC, and generated 15 temporary hit points each turn to simulate a shield generator. It's vulnerable to electricity and if dealt 10 or more electric damage in a turn, its shield generator breaks and can not make temporary hp anymore.it had a smash attack, +7, 2d8+4 and a shocking grapple attack, +7, 2d6 electric DC 15 to escape. If grappled the player would take another 2d6 during the beginning of their turn until they escape. It used the smash once and the grasp once each turn, then made the shield. The players were level 3 and it was a harrowing fight. Both almost died, but they managed to beat it.

[@zillasaul]

you dudes are like, the best D&D content creator on this platform.

[@caosisaac]

My favorite hombrew monster I made was squiggles the undead hydra; an abomination made by my bbeg. The hydra had undead fortitude as well as a hit/hp/damage bonus provided by the necromancer. On top of that each head had its own hp and if undead fortitude saved the head another head emerged. Furthermore each head could devour a corpse to heal 1d8+3 hp (an entire town was massacred so plenty of bodies), and it had 3 legendary actions: bite, move, and corpse explosion. With corpse explosion it could make a corpse explode dealing necrotic damage to any creatures within 5 feet of the body and 1d4 swarms of rot grubs spew from the body. Finally, if squiggles reached half hp or less it would rip its body in half and become 2 undead hydras, splitting the remaining heads between the 2 bodies.

[@knightghaleon]

I like stitching undead together. Maybe a monster with multiple limbs made up of wizards who were torn apart when necromancy backfired and they were pulled into a realm with others like them into a single entity. And it can be an entity with multiple spell castings per turn. Obviously don't have to give them 9th level spells or anything but I'm thinking a 4-6 armed being similar to a lich but able to use multiple cantrips and spells per turn to deal with multiple attackers at once. Or give it meta magic and let it twin cast or maximize spells by using the other limbs to focus on one big attack.

[@tedgalacci8428]

Inspired by this video I filled my need for more fey options without buying another book by reskinning a githzerai as medium fey humanoids with the head and tails of grey squirrels. The listed abilities works surprisingly well.

[@paintwhisperer]

That mimic idea is fantastic

[@alexsgamingshow2474]

Looking to make a Gargantuan elemental to serve as my big, bad and evil guy! This video was a lot of help, thank you for uploading!

[@williamozier918]

Random Idea: The Lich has placed its phylactery in the belly of a creature it created itself. It feeds the phylactery by feeding sacrifices to the creature. However years ago forces of good attacked the Lich's dungeon, and in the ensuing huge battle the creature escaped. It is now ten years later and the Lich is sending minions to find and capture the creature, meanwhile the creature has laired inside of another dungeon.

[@SirBisky]

I highly recommend running with any idea that comes to mind, no matter how off the wall it is. I had a player retire their Artificer character to NPC status to roll a new character. While playing the artificer, he had a consistent theme of "science before ethics" and an obsession with clockwork technology. Once i took the character, I went straight to the drawing board and had him go full cyborg, giving him legendary actions actions to fit his new body. He then invaded a recently destroyed city and began experimenting on the survivors, turning them into clockwork abominations. If any of you have ever seen the movie The Virus, that's what the players found when they finally revisited the city...

[@jackservans6906]

At one point, I created a random monster generator for 5e based upon the one in the Castle Greyhawk module. I assembled the monster, then tried to create lore for it.

[@reioltyx1762]

A chronomage vampire....... With a bunch of minions before his boss battle, that's sounds fun to create. Or a lich king that deals damage based on the party members kill count. Or a seemingly unimportant NPC but actually a serial killer with explosion magic, or a bandit boss, who has what seems to be invincibility, an evil priest who can manipulate gravity and age a target. So many ideas, so little time....

[@bibbobella]

I have homebrewed monsters right from almost the beginning of Dm'ing..not because I wanted to but because I read an ability wrong and then to keep it consistant just kinda went with it.."O..Ohh so that is how that ability is supposted to work..You only have to make a save the first time you look at it..ahh..well..this is a tougher warriant then!"

[@coquillevalleyswordgroup5674]

I am running my players through a mega dungeon, and the section that they are moving into now is a hanging goblin city built inside a cave system. Needing something to give the sense that they were actually in a city of endless goblins, I took the basic goblin and traded out its cunning action with an ability to summon other goblins; thus the goblin trumpeter was born.

[@animusnocturnus7131]

20:34 Fucking TRUE! Holy shit, the way PCs can chew through HP in 5e is just ridiculous. You either need plenti of minions for players to hack through, or you need to coat your creatures in an extra layer of HP and AC to let them do at least a single thing in a given fight.

[@TheBwinfrey]

Aboleth but instead of being in water or near water you make it a ground creature that has a earthquake instead of wave that knocks enemies prone . Adds a bunch of animals that could be minions on ground.

[@cameronf5893]

I told my mom I recently got into reskinning... she was concerned. Lol

[@Neverfate]

I love that mimic idea, Pruitt! Now I wanna use it :D

[@iangrima942]

The Mimic idea is amazing!!!

[@RobertP.Trebor]

A monster I'm really looking forward to having in my game I like to call the Gigagoose. Basically a weaker hydra in the form of a multiheaded giant goose for a level two party

[@dreddbolt]

I like to DnD-ize and tweak monsters from videogames. How about a gargantuan swamp snake and it has a breath weapon which consists of fire elemental tweaked will-o-wisps? (Salabog, from Secret of Evermore) How about the climbing spike boss from Contra 3: Alien Wars on the SNES? How about a catoblepas crossed with a wendigo? Sometimes your homebrew monster needs a better environment. Maybe your players need to sneak past two imps on chandeliers with fire throwing magic candles to reach a mounted ballista necessary to take out a large monster.

[@09lonedrone]

Web DM is probably my number one source for monsters and gaming. I understand modifying monster mechanics pretty well but I would like to request a video about homebrewing lore for some monsters. Specifically Jim's homebrew lore for the how demonology and necromancy work. I have been trying to homebrew conjuration lore/mechanics in my own game but am struggling and would like to just steal Jim Davis's work. What are the different ways demons can come into this world? Possession? Building a body? Poppin out of portals? Are vampires and liches powered by demons? What powers regular raised skeletons and zombies? No lore I have seen explains it properly and I think Jim Davis is hiding the real answers.

[@maromania7]

Fun Fact- the tag on the mattress is only punishable for SELLERS to remove. The tag says what's actually inside the mattress, so dodgy merchants were removing the tags and saying the contents were higher quality than they were. So the law was created. Some will even say "Except by consumer" on the tag to clarify. Kinda strengthens the point honestly. That dragon ampersand's just there so you know what you're buying, do whatever you want to those monsters the second that book's yours.

[@matthewsidewater6641]

Basically I'm making a sheepdog that turns into a worg. Made by a hag of course. They're really weak, but she has like 10 of them.

[@matthewmckenzie9622]

your vids help me so much with my dming and make me laugh thanks.

[@WebDM]

Thanks Matthew!

[@Vininn126]

16:37 Conjunction junction

[@RussetMan]

Remember, when you mix a dragon with percussion instruments, you get a thunder damage breath attack, and potentially deaf pcs afterwards. "And the sound, it could be for miles..."