I've been enjoying your content for a while now but WOW! That David Attenborough impression - Fantastic! I laughed out loud! Such a great introduction.
I love homebrewing monsters with just small descriptive tweaks! This method was applied to Aarakocra and lead to creating a full race of birdfolk with subraces based on real world groups of birds!
Greckle / Rainbow-Crow Hybrid Humanoid So cool. Have you ever seen Greckles? Those cute little birds that look like crows w/ irridescent wings (thus the rainbow coloring) & chirp like sweet little tweedy-birds?
As a general rule I change the stats, and abilities of almost every monster i use, which ends up in my own monster Manuel. Most players will at least skim through your editions monster manual at some point and will rob themselves of the chance to be surprised by something. My friends were quite surprised when the encountered a fade (myrdraal) from the wheel of time series the first time and became genuinely terrified of anyone described to have a hooded black cloak.
Manuel is doing his best, he isn't a monster! Joking aside, that's pretty smart. Also, actually describing the monsters can be a nice diversion. Instead of just saying "it's a zombie", you can describe the rotting carcass slumbering towards your pcs with vivid imagery.
Great video, Guy!!! It is worth pointing out that even the longest running campaign I've been part of didn't use more than about a quarter of the monsters in the D&D MM... AND that campaign went on three or nearly four years! Worlds and ecologies limit the believability of whole factions of monsters, not to mention the simplicity of getting stale as you weed through a menagerie of arcane or mystical creatures... THEN you get into the arguments of which school of thought originally created this or that one in the lore, where or how much it was changed over the years... and what is "more legitimate" in versions told and retold even before printed stories... like anyone really knows... SO we SHOULD be encouraged to flesh out the world a bit with creatures, mundane AND magical... Not because some Players are destined to ask the environmental roles or how it (or they) evolved to fit... but because we should be thinking about these kinds of terms in our worlds. WHY are monsters and creatures around??? If you describe everything to your Players but neglect saying much of anything about birds... does that automatically mean there are no birds in your world??? OR how many other assumptions need be made about walking or riding through the wooded areas of your world without the GM specifically naming off the details??? Among my favorite moments of "I created a monster" were the tundral saber-toothed (and carnivorous) Camels... I stole and adapted a stat-block for them out of Harry Harrison's "Bill the Galactic Hero" series... can't remember which world or book, though... The Players were greatly amused with the advent of carnivorous saber-toothed camels... but the PC's were NOT... one of the dwarves very nearly lost an arm to the things in their first encounter... and it wasn't even a combat... per say. ;o)
One of my Disaster Masters made an interesting monster in a campaign a while back. He created an odd undead monster. These were skin and bone, they weren’t very powerful, but they were deathly quick. They came in hordes, and were attracted to sound. The moment you caught the attention of one, you need to kill it quickly, or you’d end up attracting hordes of them. If you were especially unlucky, and you made a loud noise, then you’d attract the whole tomb, upwards of a thousand corpses all chasing you down. They were made as defense mechanisms for catacombs around the campaign, and I remember my party members being deathly afraid of tombs after our first encounter. Luckily, they had a distinct weakness. They could only survive in tombs that had been filled with a certain gas, this gas didn’t effect the living. If you left, they wouldn’t follow, and if you cleaned the air with a spell, you’d essentially create a safe zone temporarily. As an aside, that gas ended up making a funny situation with a lich, he was addicted to the gas and ended up becoming something akin to a stoned teenager. Probably the least threatening lich I’ve ever seen😂
Also, GM's, remember that your "monster" doesn't have to be big to be lethal. I'm a former Marine and Afghanistan veteran who survived a mortar attack on my vehicle- no scars, a few broken bones. Got a Chihuahua rescue dog 2 years ago, played rough and now have 3 facial scars which hurt much more than the Taliban rocket.
My family used to be outstanding members of our local Humane Society... back when there was a Humane Society around here. We were consistent rescuers, too... AND among the WORST scars born among us, was my mother's scar from a ferret she'd gotten from someone (a dump-off) in a shoe-box. Man... when she unfastened that string and the box popped open, that little guy was PISSED! Her nose was never quite straight again... SO no... You are quite correct. Never EVER bother estimating the size of the "dog" in the fight. Worry about the size of the fight in the "dog". ;o)
@@dannya.2616 Well... I wouldn't sweat it too much. Chicks dig scars anyways... and even the ones who claim not to are probably lying. I've endured a fair collection of scars over the years from animals... but very seldom was an injury what I'd have expected nor from the animal I expected to give it to me... My worst disfigurement was the result of a rat... attacked my foot from under a dumpster (I was in the Navy)... and I damn nearly lost the foot, between the rat-bites and the steel pipe I grabbed to "defend myself" (quotes because it resulted in a combo' defense and attack... myself) AND I've rescued snakes, croc's, gators, practically every breed of dog, lizards of a huge variety... even took care of a half-dozen Komodo's for about two months (only local crazy enough to try)... Worked with ponies, donkeys, horses, even cattle... you name it... AND a rat was my worst scar... ever... (though I obviously helped)... LOLZ... You stay safe out there, man... keep 'em straight. ;o)
I've had a custom monster ready for almost every session I've run so far, from wendigo to massive crab like constructs, and they're always the ones that get the best reactions from my players. Currently statting out some eldrazi and weeping angels for whenever my players end up encountering them
I would add: Think about the ecosystems as a whole. The entire food chain and how this creature effects everything. Where was it from originally? Why is it here now? Was it created for a purpose? Did it 'naturally' evolve? change regular animals up a bit too! Pigs (for example) can't look up in our world; why? no predator from above. But on a world with huge flying predator they would need too... and have a way to survive an attack by one (such as a gryphon). Oh so much more...! I LOVE MYTHICAL CREATURES (and real nature too!) Great video thanks.
For every monster I use I think of three things. 1. Why is it there in said environment? 2. How has it survived? 3. Why does it fight? After I can answer those three questions I can make it a "real" part of my world and then I look at stats and abilities.
Fantastic suggestions for how & why to create your own monsters, but you missed the #1 reason (at least, in my experience) -- you get a player like me. ;) Because I also DM, and because I have an above average memory, I'm constantly rolling dice to see if my character would know what I know about every monster we encounter, lol. Having homebrew monsters means that a DM can genuinely surprise players who may already know most of the content in MM or MTF (and yes, totally absolutely agree about it also helping your world to feel unique, and alive)
Just started a new campaign recently and can vouch that homebrew monsters definitely help curb all the meta gamers. Very beginning of campaign: reveal that the players' home kingdom owns a Kraken, player tries to fight it after getting decked by a tentacle. Near end of campaign: Reveal a homebrewed, 6 armed tiger creature that locals were scared to look in the eye; Player has no idea of its capabilities and decides to leave it the hell alone.
I have been designing unique monsters since I started playing back in 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons. I often find that my setting required monsters or variations not found in any of the Monster Manuals. I also played other RPGs where they have fairly limited monster choices. Heck, even when I use a monster that exists in a Monster Manual I often change them up to fit my setting (usually steampunk like). For example, I had a party of kobold using steam powered weapons. Another thing is I typically do not have entire races of evil creatures. Because of this one cannot just assume a red dragon is evil. I had the Players rescue a young dragon that was an offspring of silver dragon and white dragon. Changing small details like that I think open up many interesting role-playing options.
I commend you for not having entire species as labeled evil. Not only does that create interesting roleplaying options, but a species that is evil _cannot form civilizations._ They just won't work together. Altruism is needed for group survival. When presented with a civilization that is evil because of biology, I lose immersion because I can't stop wondering 'but how would that work, though?'
Yeah, empathy is needed for social species. Without it you cannot form enough trust to create long lasting groups. When an entire race is evil and also has complex societies it makes little sense to me. One can make it so a race is at odds with another (or even all the other races in a setting). Then they might label each other evil, but they would not be evil in the sense of being born evil. And two races in conflict with each other can be the bases for a well-grounded campaign. But for me, I usually group people by cities or nations instead of by their race. There might be nations that are mostly one race, but I favor mixed populations for nations and large cities. It is more interesting to me and I feel it gives players a chance to create the kind of character they want.
It was unknown until recently that the saber kitty had bones that were semi-transparent. Indeed, If held up to the scenery around them, you could easily see through these bones.
Made a few monsters for a campaign I ran... "Skitters" was quite bad; a rat-spider hybrid, humongous in size and continuously spawning quite aggressive children... and the arachnaphobic player played a musophobic Monk. He had some issues with that encounter, obviously, but even he approved of the occasional horror of such encounters. He was a lot less happy when the two smarter characters in the party didn't tell him that they'd figured out the huge wasp-thing that just stabbed him a couple of times was a parasitic type, and had laid scores of eggs inside him... He begrudged the party that Constitution damage for a looooooong while. :D
The sladi remind me a lot of the Yeerk from the Animorph book series. They get in through the ear, wrap around the brain and have full control of the body, while the host is trapped in a body prison. But they have a weakness and need to leave the body once every 3 days to feed on an artificial sun that emits the same energy waves as their home planet.
There has always been a strong cultural association between cats and the afterlife. A litch having some type of feline familiar or a cat being able to phase through walls, find doorways to other planes, or drop clues in front of your feet like it's a dead mouse might make sense too. It would be nice if D&D had more Asian, African, Judaic, and Native American/First Nation monsters.
I once made a monster I called “the Chewer”. a red/yellow slug thing kind of jabba the hutt, with some gelatinous cube slime trace abilities, moving slow almost impossible to kill with two big Beholder eyes (not on eye stalks though) and a long green lizard tongue. Living and moving in lower dungeon areas. I even made a LEGO version to intimidate my players even further... it made a good laugh.
the players were supposed to free an old scientist/black smith from an iceblock he was encaged/frozen in. they had to melt the ice with their torches, before The chewer got to them. it ended up in a TPK, and the poor scientist/black smith guy is still trapped in that iceblock some God forsaken place.
One must always remember, that like all kitties, Assassin Kitties have a predisposition to knocking things off of counter tops, and jumping into empty boxes.
I often use my own creatures or variations thereof. It keeps the world feeling alien and unexplored and keeps my players on their toes. They can't just go "Oh a troll, fire or acid time!"
"...Unless you want to push it a little farther" Me:"like Warhammer's Snake Hydra or undead scorpions or cyclops minotaurs or undead dragon bats or giant spider with a Archer platform on top?"
Well there may or may not be murder kittens being bred by my drow now... Another excellent option is to crossbreed or evolve existing creatures. Bring things together that make sense but should not be and see what happens.
All i know is there are so many games and storys your idea has probably been done before. So if you can find that it might help and make building "new" creatures. But borrow from everything and anything.
I rather enjoy the school of thought for "albino" variations of just about anything... SURE they're rare (on the order of 1 per 100,000 or so in nature usually)... but color has a surprising amount to do with PC reactions... It's especially fun to use in DRAGONS... since D&D is so bent around themes of chromatic (color-schemed) dragons... The only word of caution, however, is obvious. It's easily overused... so picking and choosing that perfect timing is a key to success. ;o)
In D&D and I have been playing for some 30+ years I find first level monster hard, making a new monster is need to add interest with a 10th level party it become harder and harder to make it a challenge making new monsters because the standard stuff does not work at that level
I'm pretty sure that none of my players would ever wonder why or how any creature evolved. Especially not in a fantasy environment where gods created each and every being.
I did need my own monsters, then I found out that some nerd had gone to the trouble of converting the entire Monster Hunter range of creatures into 5e. Man I love nerds!
@@novacane4542 I just had the idea that it would be cool and typed it into google. Here is the link. www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/comments/884k57/144_page_dd_monster_hunter_monster_manual/
Hey, Guy! Medusa's not a monster! She's just a misunderstood gorgon who fell victim to the favorite pastime of Cronus's boys. And it happened inside Athena's temple, and if Athena isn't having any of it, no one else in her temples is either. This doesn't make her a monster... (No, Athena did that.) NOPE! We don't call people monsters just because of what others did to them.
6:56 You say "reptilian" here but my instinct tells me you might have been looking for "ophidian" (of, or pertaining to, snakes. Snakelike/snake related) I might be jumping to conclusions though.
Geezer here... Decade long believer in home brew. For many reasons. Firm believer as well in cause and effect, "realism". Evolution is always the general law. Magic does muck that up at times. In almost all of my campaigns I tweek the standard monsters and limit the number I use. Orcs sure, with abilities varying by tribe and so on (they can make a great base for "Klingons"). But magic and the potential for unique and not so unique monsters summoned or created, possibly a bit of both should not be overlooked. I tell players (through npcs and general lore), messing with the magi is mighty bad ju ju. Lets not even think about druids, yipes.
You should focus on the systematic balancing rather than this. Most people are afraid of creating unbalanced monsters in terms of challenge rate/power of the creature/exp awarded.
I was unprepared for such a spot-on David Attenborough impression...
I've been enjoying your content for a while now but WOW! That David Attenborough impression - Fantastic! I laughed out loud! Such a great introduction.
I love homebrewing monsters with just small descriptive tweaks!
This method was applied to Aarakocra and lead to creating a full race of birdfolk with subraces based on real world groups of birds!
Greckle / Rainbow-Crow Hybrid Humanoid
So cool.
Have you ever seen Greckles? Those cute little birds that look like crows w/ irridescent wings (thus the rainbow coloring) & chirp like sweet little tweedy-birds?
My mom was asking if you were David Attenborough. 😁
Your David Attenborough impression is spot on. I love it.
Never been this early before so I just want to say thank you for all you content Guy!
As a general rule I change the stats, and abilities of almost every monster i use, which ends up in my own monster Manuel. Most players will at least skim through your editions monster manual at some point and will rob themselves of the chance to be surprised by something.
My friends were quite surprised when the encountered a fade (myrdraal) from the wheel of time series the first time and became genuinely terrified of anyone described to have a hooded black cloak.
Manuel is doing his best, he isn't a monster!
Joking aside, that's pretty smart. Also, actually describing the monsters can be a nice diversion. Instead of just saying "it's a zombie", you can describe the rotting carcass slumbering towards your pcs with vivid imagery.
because any long time player has the monster manual memorized... so you need to toss something new at them.
Especially if they’re furries
Then they read it as a husband catalogue
assassin kitty? that is an awesome name because everyone knows how dangerous cats are in D&D.
Dangerous creatures whose danger lies primarily behind their apparent cuteness was the reason the The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.
Rabbits are evil.
Great video, Guy!!!
It is worth pointing out that even the longest running campaign I've been part of didn't use more than about a quarter of the monsters in the D&D MM... AND that campaign went on three or nearly four years!
Worlds and ecologies limit the believability of whole factions of monsters, not to mention the simplicity of getting stale as you weed through a menagerie of arcane or mystical creatures... THEN you get into the arguments of which school of thought originally created this or that one in the lore, where or how much it was changed over the years... and what is "more legitimate" in versions told and retold even before printed stories... like anyone really knows...
SO we SHOULD be encouraged to flesh out the world a bit with creatures, mundane AND magical... Not because some Players are destined to ask the environmental roles or how it (or they) evolved to fit... but because we should be thinking about these kinds of terms in our worlds. WHY are monsters and creatures around???
If you describe everything to your Players but neglect saying much of anything about birds... does that automatically mean there are no birds in your world???
OR how many other assumptions need be made about walking or riding through the wooded areas of your world without the GM specifically naming off the details???
Among my favorite moments of "I created a monster" were the tundral saber-toothed (and carnivorous) Camels... I stole and adapted a stat-block for them out of Harry Harrison's "Bill the Galactic Hero" series... can't remember which world or book, though...
The Players were greatly amused with the advent of carnivorous saber-toothed camels... but the PC's were NOT... one of the dwarves very nearly lost an arm to the things in their first encounter... and it wasn't even a combat... per say. ;o)
You've got a pretty good Attenborough there ^^
I love the discovery of the assassin cats by attonborough haha
This is an uncanny AttenBro impression. You've even captured his constant verbal usage of the semi colon. Well done sir
I run Pathfinder...the concept of templates came out in 3.0,and it's still used in Pathfinder...I love using them!
That impression. Great work!
One of my Disaster Masters made an interesting monster in a campaign a while back. He created an odd undead monster. These were skin and bone, they weren’t very powerful, but they were deathly quick. They came in hordes, and were attracted to sound. The moment you caught the attention of one, you need to kill it quickly, or you’d end up attracting hordes of them. If you were especially unlucky, and you made a loud noise, then you’d attract the whole tomb, upwards of a thousand corpses all chasing you down. They were made as defense mechanisms for catacombs around the campaign, and I remember my party members being deathly afraid of tombs after our first encounter. Luckily, they had a distinct weakness. They could only survive in tombs that had been filled with a certain gas, this gas didn’t effect the living. If you left, they wouldn’t follow, and if you cleaned the air with a spell, you’d essentially create a safe zone temporarily.
As an aside, that gas ended up making a funny situation with a lich, he was addicted to the gas and ended up becoming something akin to a stoned teenager. Probably the least threatening lich I’ve ever seen😂
Also, GM's, remember that your "monster" doesn't have to be big to be lethal. I'm a former Marine and Afghanistan veteran who survived a mortar attack on my vehicle- no scars, a few broken bones. Got a Chihuahua rescue dog 2 years ago, played rough and now have 3 facial scars which hurt much more than the Taliban rocket.
My family used to be outstanding members of our local Humane Society... back when there was a Humane Society around here. We were consistent rescuers, too...
AND among the WORST scars born among us, was my mother's scar from a ferret she'd gotten from someone (a dump-off) in a shoe-box.
Man... when she unfastened that string and the box popped open, that little guy was PISSED! Her nose was never quite straight again...
SO no... You are quite correct. Never EVER bother estimating the size of the "dog" in the fight. Worry about the size of the fight in the "dog". ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 I can't imagine. I got lucky in that I can hide the biggest one with my beard, and that my fiance doesn't mind beards, haha.
@@dannya.2616 Well... I wouldn't sweat it too much. Chicks dig scars anyways... and even the ones who claim not to are probably lying.
I've endured a fair collection of scars over the years from animals... but very seldom was an injury what I'd have expected nor from the animal I expected to give it to me...
My worst disfigurement was the result of a rat... attacked my foot from under a dumpster (I was in the Navy)... and I damn nearly lost the foot, between the rat-bites and the steel pipe I grabbed to "defend myself" (quotes because it resulted in a combo' defense and attack... myself)
AND I've rescued snakes, croc's, gators, practically every breed of dog, lizards of a huge variety... even took care of a half-dozen Komodo's for about two months (only local crazy enough to try)...
Worked with ponies, donkeys, horses, even cattle... you name it...
AND a rat was my worst scar... ever... (though I obviously helped)... LOLZ...
You stay safe out there, man... keep 'em straight. ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 i dont dig scars.. pff.. beards are way better!
@@heikesiegl2640 In case you haven't noticed, you are clearly NOT the first to say that to me... AND I stand by my original assessment. ;o)
Astoundingly good David Attenborough impression, mate.
I've had a custom monster ready for almost every session I've run so far, from wendigo to massive crab like constructs, and they're always the ones that get the best reactions from my players. Currently statting out some eldrazi and weeping angels for whenever my players end up encountering them
I would add: Think about the ecosystems as a whole. The entire food chain and how this creature effects everything. Where was it from originally? Why is it here now? Was it created for a purpose? Did it 'naturally' evolve? change regular animals up a bit too! Pigs (for example) can't look up in our world; why? no predator from above. But on a world with huge flying predator they would need too... and have a way to survive an attack by one (such as a gryphon). Oh so much more...!
I LOVE MYTHICAL CREATURES (and real nature too!)
Great video thanks.
For every monster I use I think of three things. 1. Why is it there in said environment? 2. How has it survived? 3. Why does it fight?
After I can answer those three questions I can make it a "real" part of my world and then I look at stats and abilities.
@@isaacl1906 YES! So true. The "How has it survived" is an important one for the GM to understand the verisimilitude of the situation!
MURDER KITTY! I don't know if the John Hammond/David Attenborough feel was what you were going for but I loved it, intentional or not lol.
Wasn't looking at my phone screen and swear to God I thought David Attenborough had taken over the channel.
Good impression of David Attenborough.
Absolutely SPOT ON with the Attenborough. Your intros are so well done. Bravo, sir!
Fantastic suggestions for how & why to create your own monsters, but you missed the #1 reason (at least, in my experience) -- you get a player like me. ;) Because I also DM, and because I have an above average memory, I'm constantly rolling dice to see if my character would know what I know about every monster we encounter, lol. Having homebrew monsters means that a DM can genuinely surprise players who may already know most of the content in MM or MTF
(and yes, totally absolutely agree about it also helping your world to feel unique, and alive)
Assassin cats the main predators of the mage
Just started a new campaign recently and can vouch that homebrew monsters definitely help curb all the meta gamers.
Very beginning of campaign: reveal that the players' home kingdom owns a Kraken, player tries to fight it after getting decked by a tentacle.
Near end of campaign:
Reveal a homebrewed, 6 armed tiger creature that locals were scared to look in the eye; Player has no idea of its capabilities and decides to leave it the hell alone.
I have been designing unique monsters since I started playing back in 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons. I often find that my setting required monsters or variations not found in any of the Monster Manuals. I also played other RPGs where they have fairly limited monster choices. Heck, even when I use a monster that exists in a Monster Manual I often change them up to fit my setting (usually steampunk like).
For example, I had a party of kobold using steam powered weapons. Another thing is I typically do not have entire races of evil creatures. Because of this one cannot just assume a red dragon is evil. I had the Players rescue a young dragon that was an offspring of silver dragon and white dragon. Changing small details like that I think open up many interesting role-playing options.
I commend you for not having entire species as labeled evil. Not only does that create interesting roleplaying options, but a species that is evil _cannot form civilizations._ They just won't work together. Altruism is needed for group survival. When presented with a civilization that is evil because of biology, I lose immersion because I can't stop wondering 'but how would that work, though?'
Yeah, empathy is needed for social species. Without it you cannot form enough trust to create long lasting groups. When an entire race is evil and also has complex societies it makes little sense to me. One can make it so a race is at odds with another (or even all the other races in a setting). Then they might label each other evil, but they would not be evil in the sense of being born evil. And two races in conflict with each other can be the bases for a well-grounded campaign.
But for me, I usually group people by cities or nations instead of by their race. There might be nations that are mostly one race, but I favor mixed populations for nations and large cities. It is more interesting to me and I feel it gives players a chance to create the kind of character they want.
I also have assassin kitty protection
Just started the video but I have to say your Attenborough impression is so good for a minute I thought it was an ad for his new show
Wonderful! Thank you!
Great intro and best David Attenborough ever. Outstanding.
It was unknown until recently that the saber kitty had bones that were semi-transparent. Indeed, If held up to the scenery around them, you could easily see through these bones.
Made a few monsters for a campaign I ran...
"Skitters" was quite bad; a rat-spider hybrid, humongous in size and continuously spawning quite aggressive children... and the arachnaphobic player played a musophobic Monk. He had some issues with that encounter, obviously, but even he approved of the occasional horror of such encounters.
He was a lot less happy when the two smarter characters in the party didn't tell him that they'd figured out the huge wasp-thing that just stabbed him a couple of times was a parasitic type, and had laid scores of eggs inside him... He begrudged the party that Constitution damage for a looooooong while. :D
My first thought was why do I need a homebrewed monster. Then immediately remembered I did make my own homebrewed monster.
great vid
The sladi remind me a lot of the Yeerk from the Animorph book series. They get in through the ear, wrap around the brain and have full control of the body, while the host is trapped in a body prison. But they have a weakness and need to leave the body once every 3 days to feed on an artificial sun that emits the same energy waves as their home planet.
Dang, super early to this one! Sick
There has always been a strong cultural association between cats and the afterlife. A litch having some type of feline familiar or a cat being able to phase through walls, find doorways to other planes, or drop clues in front of your feet like it's a dead mouse might make sense too.
It would be nice if D&D had more Asian, African, Judaic, and Native American/First Nation monsters.
Wow, it's David!! Great imitation!
I got my players with some pathfinder Mites with a fey template in a 3.5 game. Nice to get a look of shock out of guys who have been playing since 1e.
Or perhaps you'd like a creature to be less dangerous.
Of couse the cat's prefered environment is a keyboard or lap.
Now I’m calling my chub “anti-assassin kitty protection”
I once made a monster I called “the Chewer”.
a red/yellow slug thing kind of jabba the hutt, with some gelatinous cube slime trace abilities, moving slow almost impossible to kill with two big Beholder eyes (not on eye stalks though) and a long green lizard tongue.
Living and moving in lower dungeon areas. I even made a LEGO version to intimidate my players even further... it made a good laugh.
the players were supposed to free an old scientist/black smith from an iceblock he was encaged/frozen in. they had to melt the ice with their torches, before The chewer got to them. it ended up in a TPK, and the poor scientist/black smith guy is still trapped in that iceblock some God forsaken place.
Lol assassin kitty!
One must always remember, that like all kitties, Assassin Kitties have a predisposition to knocking things off of counter tops, and jumping into empty boxes.
Love the way you say 'goo'
I want a group to fight the assassin kitty.
Be prepared for players screaming: "BUT THAT'S NOT FAAAIIIIIRRRR! (Reminds me of the Puppies of Tindalos)
I gave a giant rat wings and called it a Mak-Mack. My players are somehow under the impression that I spent hours tirelessly crafting this monster...
Half my monsters use other monster manual stats with different descriptions and my players think i spend ages on them as well
I often use my own creatures or variations thereof. It keeps the world feeling alien and unexplored and keeps my players on their toes. They can't just go "Oh a troll, fire or acid time!"
You sound like John Hammond to me, Guy.
From Jurassic Park, what should've been called Cretacious Reserve.
Still remember when I made my first monster. the skeletal mage.
"...Unless you want to push it a little farther" Me:"like Warhammer's Snake Hydra or undead scorpions or cyclops minotaurs or undead dragon bats or giant spider with a Archer platform on top?"
Oh I also came up with a three-headed puma/panther hybrid that has a scorpion tale!
Gigantotherm Arctic Mosquitos.
Sphinxwolf, lycanthropised sphinx.
Guy Attenborough
I wonder how you'd put together a Boomrat from Rimworld.
and boomalopes
Well there may or may not be murder kittens being bred by my drow now...
Another excellent option is to crossbreed or evolve existing creatures. Bring things together that make sense but should not be and see what happens.
I wonder if disfigured slaves that are given powers of wild magic by torture count as monsters.
All i know is there are so many games and storys your idea has probably been done before. So if you can find that it might help and make building "new" creatures. But borrow from everything and anything.
I want an assassin kitty!!!
Hey guy can I barrow the assassin kitty idea it is a cool idea
I wanna make it a familiar to my wizard.
@@deanreaver3268 that would be cool in my campaign the party first saw it as the protective pet of a Prest
Anyone else like pulling the 'double bluff' where it looks like one kind of monster but really, oooh it's a shape shifter
I rather enjoy the school of thought for "albino" variations of just about anything... SURE they're rare (on the order of 1 per 100,000 or so in nature usually)... but color has a surprising amount to do with PC reactions...
It's especially fun to use in DRAGONS... since D&D is so bent around themes of chromatic (color-schemed) dragons...
The only word of caution, however, is obvious. It's easily overused... so picking and choosing that perfect timing is a key to success. ;o)
In D&D and I have been playing for some 30+ years I find first level monster hard, making a new monster is need to add interest with a 10th level party it become harder and harder to make it a challenge making new monsters because the standard stuff does not work at that level
Nymphs!
Water Nymphs evolving from Merfolk?
I am working on a setting where elementals have a widespread of origins,and in one, they are basically nimphs.
When you first put on the video: Jurassic Park scene
Sounds like the spawn of kyuss the slugs I mean
I'm pretty sure that none of my players would ever wonder why or how any creature evolved. Especially not in a fantasy environment where gods created each and every being.
The journey of thinking about it for you as the GM is time spend discovering more to your monster than first thoughts.
I did need my own monsters, then I found out that some nerd had gone to the trouble of converting the entire Monster Hunter range of creatures into 5e.
Man I love nerds!
Where did you find that at? I would be very interested in it.
@@novacane4542
I just had the idea that it would be cool and typed it into google.
Here is the link.
www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunter/comments/884k57/144_page_dd_monster_hunter_monster_manual/
Hey, Guy! Medusa's not a monster! She's just a misunderstood gorgon who fell victim to the favorite pastime of Cronus's boys. And it happened inside Athena's temple, and if Athena isn't having any of it, no one else in her temples is either. This doesn't make her a monster... (No, Athena did that.) NOPE! We don't call people monsters just because of what others did to them.
6:56 You say "reptilian" here but my instinct tells me you might have been looking for "ophidian" (of, or pertaining to, snakes. Snakelike/snake related)
I might be jumping to conclusions though.
Hello John
Evolved? You of course mean "created by the Gods four millennia ago."
Geezer here...
Decade long believer in home brew. For many reasons.
Firm believer as well in cause and effect, "realism". Evolution is always the general law.
Magic does muck that up at times.
In almost all of my campaigns I tweek the standard monsters and limit the number I use. Orcs sure, with abilities varying by tribe and so on (they can make a great base for "Klingons").
But magic and the potential for unique and not so unique monsters summoned or created, possibly a bit of both should not be overlooked. I tell players (through npcs and general lore), messing with the magi is mighty bad ju ju. Lets not even think about druids, yipes.
Assasin kitty? Dammit man why didnt you go with a killer rabbit if you're going to talk about a small thing attacking someone's neck?
First
You should focus on the systematic balancing rather than this. Most people are afraid of creating unbalanced monsters in terms of challenge rate/power of the creature/exp awarded.