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D&D Homebrew Monster of the Week: Aeiros

*Aerios the Celestial Mother* by Neigbourh

Pure of heart? You? Bah! I’ve seen insects with more courage than you. You are but mouse, scurrying underfoot, avoiding confrontation, all while corruption and heresy spreads like the plague. You want change? You want to ‘fix’ this realm? Act then.”

– Aeiros of the 7th Heavenly Court.

If I had a nickel for every blogpost I have made so far for a Celestial creature who is righteous to a fault and intolerant to anything even considered unholy, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but its weird how its happened twice already. Additionally, yet another creature that hovers in the air. It seems my taste for creature design is starting to show already. Hailing from the celestial heavens, the Aerios are dangerous celestials to get on the bad side of, relying on more deceptive means than one might assume to strike with holy retribution.

Aeiros: The Overview

The Aeiros are towering angelic figures who have their heart in the right place, if not a bit too much in the right place. Similar to Absolution, the last Celestial creature we discussed, the Aerios are incredibly righteous and pious creatures who seek to purify the lands of all that is unholy, aberrant, and heretical. Unlike the powerhouse that is Absolution, the Aerios are far weaker and nowhere near as much a battlefield dominator as Absolution. As such, the Aerios must rely on craftier means to turn the tables during combat. While a potent spellcaster, that is not the Aerios’ ace in the hole. Instead, the Aerios relies on its ability to possess and inhibit the bodies of mortal creatures to get close to their quarry before striking them down with holy fire. Additionally, if an Aeiros can help it, you will never see one coming before it’s too late.

Stats and Abilities:

Assertive and single minded at times, the Aerios are powerful angelic figures that track and hunt down those with ties to the unholy and heretical. Despite their noble ambitions, the Aerios have no qualms taking underhanded tactics to secure their goals. The Aerios are well rounded when looking at their statblocks with no real obvious tell-tale sign of weakness, but typically rely on their high WIS modifier for the saves on their notable spells and features. With a DEX of 14 being their lowest stat, the Aerios really can thrive just about anywhere but rely mostly on being in physical confrontation with their opponents as opposed to in the back line.

Stats and Skills: The Aerios has no obvious weakness in the stats department, boasting a high WIS alongside their respectable STR, INT, and CHA, the Aerios are perfect all rounders for nearly any situation, however their primary form of combat involves possession and stealthy approaches which isn’t really highlighted in the actual statblock. For starters, while the skill proficiencies they have currently are still applicable, I would say they need to have proficiency with Stealth checks if not outright expertise. With a meager +2 to all Stealth checks, it makes it quite hard for a creature to successfully sneak up on anything, regardless of other features. Bumping the Stealth to either a +5 or +8 would be leagues better and fit more in line with the Aerios’ tactical and sneaky approach.
Resistances, Immunities, and Senses: Resistant to nonmagical weapons like many creatures of this caliber and outright to Radiant damage feels very thematic for this creature. It is a holy agent and as such should be at the very least resistant to holy magics if not outright immune. With immunities to the Blinded, Charmed, and Frightened conditions, the only one I don’t agree with is the Blinded immunity. Typically the only time a creature is immune to being blinded is if they don’t have any eyes to speak of as then there would be nothing to actually blind. The reasoning I had for immunities to Charmed and Frightened is that the Aerios are incredibly stubborn and headstrong and would not succumb to these conditions due to their nature as well as their otherworldly physiology. In all honesty, 120ft. of Truesight might be a bit much as even dragons typically only get 30ft. of it. As I am unsure if we have even discussed Truesight to any degree on this blog yet, Truesight allows the following:

“A monster with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceive the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the monster can see into the Ethereal Plane within the same range.”

So pretty much the Aerios can do the following:
– Ignore illusion based spells and effects.
– See Invisible creatures without needing to make any checks to determine their location.
– See into the Ethereal Plane, the plane which typically acts as an in-between for the Material and the other planes.
– Bypass all forms of darkness or dim light.
– And lastly determine if somebody is currently shapeshifting.
That’s a whole lot for a range of 120ft. I would say Truesight is appropriate and while most creatures only have 30ft., the Aerios could get away with 60ft. due to it being wholly about tracking down and hunting criminals and heretics. It makes sense to me for a creature of this style to be able to see through lies and deceptions a lot better than many others, but 30ft. of Truesight would still serve the Aerios just fine.

Passive Abilities and Actions:

Magic Resistance. The Aeiros has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

A staple of mid-higher tier monsters. No comments or adjustments to be made.

Innate Spellcasting: The Aeiros’s spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with spell attacks). The Aeiros can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: Burning Hands, Detect Evil and Good, Light
3/day each: Blinding Smite, Daylight, Dispel Magic
1/day each: Banishment, Mass Healing Word, Spirit Guardians

While I am quite happy with the spells on selection here, this isn’t perfect:

Burning Hands is a decent enough offensive option, but for a CR 8 it does feel a bit on the weaker side, being a 1st level spell that covers and incredibly small 15ft. cone and only dealing 3d6 fire damage. A better option would be Scorching Ray, a 2nd level spell that deals a total of 3d10 across 1-3 targets with 120ft. of range and being an attack roll vs a saving throw.
Detect Evil and Good feels almost redundant with hindsight. This spell allows the caster to see if their is an Aberration, Celestial, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, or Undead within 30ft. of themselves. Even if we were to nerf Truesight down to the distance of what most other creatures that have Truesight have, it still would cover the same distance as Detect Evil and Good. Detect Thoughts feels more at home within the Aerios’ utility as while it can see invisible creatures thanks to Truesight, it has no ability to actually probe for thoughts.
Light is usually a good utility, but for the Aerios it feels like clashes with what the Aerios is trying to accomplish. The Aerios is all about skulking and sneaking in on the unsuspecting, and it already can see in the dark so why would it illuminate the area? I think a better spell would be Crown of Madness as that gives the Aerios another form of mental control at the cost of its concentration and ability to act aside from dictating the creature through the spell.
Daylight is in a similar position as Light. Why would the Aerios want to remove any darkness at all, especially magical Darkness it can see through but most other creatures couldn’t. Silence feels much more applicable in this spell list as if the Aerios can dispose of its prey without a sound, then it absolutely would every chance it gets. Additionally, the non-spell list options within the Aerios kit don’t require any verbal components so it could cast silence, take possession of a martial oriented character or NPC, and then go to town.
Mass Healing Word also feels out of place as typically, an Aerios would work alone and would not care too much if others got injured in the wake of trying to dispose of their target. Dominate Person feels like it should be the trump card within the Aerios’ kit, allowing it one final tool to try and gain control of another.

Selective Appearance. The Aeiros can dictate which creatures can perceive it so long as the creatures are not engaged in combat with the Aeiros. Creatures within 120ft. of a hidden Aeiros can make a DC 16 Wisdom (Perception) check to notice remnants of an Aeiros’ presence and will not be surprised should the Aeiros attack the target.

This is just messy writing. I tried to be more creative and unique with how the Aerios could sneak into locations. At the end of the day, because I am trying to create something new, it doesn’t have a preset on how it interacts with other mechanics of D&D, so ultimately it would be better if this was a form of invisibility as opposed to just being perceived. This would still have it function to an indefinite version of the Invisibility spell, having the Aerios be invisible until it attacks, casts a spell, or is successfully hit by a spell or attack. After it has been revealed, the Aeiros must wait 1 full minute before it goes back to being invisible.

Multiattack. The Aeiros makes two attacks.

Nothing to say. Standard feature for a monster of this caliber.

Luminous Strike. Melee Spell Attack. +8 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit: 14 (4d6) radiant damage.

The standard attack of the Aeiros. The damage might be a smidge high paired with the multiattack, but honestly it’s not completely game-breaking with the damage it can deal.

Radiant Blast. Ranged Spell Attack. +8 to hit, range 60ft., one target. Hit: 16 (4d8) radiant damage.

With the revamp to the spell list to include Scorching Ray, this feels almost redundant, especially with the fact that the Aeiros will likely never be attacking at a range as it wants to get close, possess someone, or get close enough to control through Crown of Madness or Dominate Person. This has no place in this statblock and will be removed.

Possession (Recharge 6). The Aeiros can enter the mind of a humanoid creature it can see and use their body as its own. The Aeiros targets a creature it can see within 60ft. of itself and forces them to make a DC 16 Charisma saving throw or become possessed by the Aeiros. While a creature is possessed in this manner, the target is incapacitated and loses control of its body.

The Aeiros now controls the body but doesn’t deprive the target of awareness. The Aeiros can’t be targeted by any attack, spell, or other effect, and it retains its alignment, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and immunity to being charmed and frightened. It otherwise uses the possessed target’s statistics, but doesn’t gain access to the target’s knowledge, class features, or proficiencies. The Aeiros can still cast spells from its Innate Spellcasting feature as normal. The possession lasts until the body drops to 0 hit points, the Aeiros ends it as a bonus action, or the Aeiros is forced out by an effect like the Dispel Evil and Good spell. When the possession ends, the Aeiros reappears in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of the body. The target is immune to this Aeiros’ Possession for 24 hours after succeeding on the saving throw or after the possession ends.

This is the Aeiros’ trump card. Forcing a creature to make a CHA save or become possessed leads to a number of problems, namely the Aeiros becomes undamageable until it exists the possessed individual. The game-plan for an Aeiros is to target a powerful martial PC or NPC, giving it a boost to its AC and hit points while still retaining all of its spell casting abilities and mental stats. If a party is ambushed by an Aerios, it could spell disaster as there are very few tools to actively get rid of an Aeiros once it is possessing someone. The only saving grace is that once a creature saves or is no longer possessed, they become immune for 24 hours, and with the recharge timer on this ability somewhat forces the Aerios to target creatures with low Charisma scores and higher hit point totals to try and maximize the ability.

Revisions:

I am quite happy with this statblock, but again it’s not perfect though thankfully the changes that need to be made are pretty simple:

Lowering Truesight down to 30ft.-60ft. of range as opposed to 120ft.
Spell list revisions of changing certain spells out to better mesh with the ideas I have for this creature.
Tweaking Selective Appearance to just be normal invisibility for rule clarity.
Remove Radiant Blast as it is somewhat replaced by Scorching Ray and clashes with the attack economy the Aeiros wants to be prioritizing.

*Raziel, Scholar of the Infinite* by Peter Mohrbacher

Thank you for reading another entry in this series. It has been a bit stressful trying to get this out between work, errands, and other projects I’m working on. Recently I have been resuming work on the other WIP statblocks I have sitting in my collection which has lead to even more to-dos in my life, but I’m keeping myself on these posts, trying to make sure we got one out every two weeks! See you next time and thanks again!

D&D Homebrew Monster of the Week: Bagworm Builder

*Bagwurm builder – BugWorld* by Thiago Lehmann

CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY!

Do not feed, pet, or otherwise distract the Bagworm Builders from their work. 150gp fine for first offense.

– Sign posted by a local guild handling construction of a new building.

Back again with another big ol’ beastie: The Bagworm Builders! These are massive insects that reside in forested regions, creating tough shells by weaving fallen trees and logs together on to it’s back. These “shells” often also act as nurseries for the Bagworm Builder’s young. While I do love these from a lore and worldbuilding standpoint, to call their statblocks perfect would be sadly incorrect.

Bagworm Builders: The Overview

Large almost caterpillar like beetles, Bagworm Builders use their massive and razor sharp mandibles to easily cut through logs and trees before webbing them to the complex shells they carry on their back. Again while I love this idea, their actual statblock does nothing to actively lean into this idea so a hefty amount of revisions are needed. I imagine these creatures to travel in large herds, carving paths through forests and leaving rows of tree stumps in their wake. Relying more on their resilient shells rather than the wooden fortresses upon their backs, Bagworm Builders are slow but powerful lumbering beasts, though still often timid and docile compared to many other creatures within D&D, being used as beasts-of-burden by local farmers and villages on the outskirts of forests.

Stats and Abilities

Bagworm Builders are bulky beasts of burden who use their large frames and powerful jaws to split trees before webbing them to their exterior carapaces to serve as additional “shells”. Sadly, the stat-spread only somewhat leans into this. The Bagworm Builders depend heavily on STR and CON as they should but that’s as far as it goes. In all honesty, I feel as though their DEX needs to be lowered slightly to showcase the lumbering nature of these beasts and a WIS of 13 means their craftier then they should be. I think 8 DEX, 8 WIS, and 5 CHA would be a better fit as while their CHA already isn’t great and they live in groups, 5 CHA puts them around the same level as Cows which feels in line. Additionally this doesn’t feel like a CR 4, especially after the last post with the Aberrant Hound being the same difficulty and having a lot more of a kit to back it up. This feels more in line with a CR 2 to be perfectly honest.

Stats and Skills: Boasting a really solid STR and CON for this early of a level, Bagworm Builders are simple beasts, using their overwhelming size and strength to push back predators and attackers. Because they aren’t especially mobile (especially after adding several trees worth of logs to their shells), these creatures would likely fight to the death before fleeing as they don’t have the fattest run speed and would be outran by almost everything else. Granted, 25ft. isn’t a bad movement speed, but I will likely adjust it to around 20ft. to help reflect their more lumbering nature. Boasting no additional Saving Throws or Proficiencies, this is a simple creature with a simple mind and simple needs.
Resistances, Immunities, and Senses: With only a measly resistance to Poison damage, the Bagworm Builder relies on it’s AC and hit points above anything else. This could be likely tweaked after leaning more into the shell of trees Bagworm Builders would build as that could temporarily allow for resistance to nonmagical weapon attacks while now being vulnerable to Fire damage due to the wood and webs being flammable. Otherwise, a 60ft. Darkvision doesn’t really change too much for this creature. Relying on its size and numbers, that doesn’t really change whether it’s night or day and the Bagworm Builder isn’t an ambush predator seeking out to get the jump on unsuspecting prey.

Passive Abilities and Actions:

Beasts of Labor. The Bagworm Builder can carry up to 1,500 pounds of logs or other materials on its back. It can still climb and move at full speed with this weight.

In all honesty, while it’s nice that this ability spells out what exactly how much weight and strength a Bagworm Builder is boasting, this first is shooting way underneath what a beats of this size should be able to pull (full grown ox can pull upwards of 2x this amount) and secondly it doesn’t add much importance to the actual statblock. It’s a good reference to keep in mind what the Bagworm Builder should be able to move, but I doubt players are going to dive headfirst and argue that a tree or rock might be too large for this to move if it seems feesible.

Sticky Silk. The Bagworm Builder can use its sticky silk to create structures or webbing that can support up to 2,000 pounds of weight. The silk can be destroyed with fire as per the Web spell.

Similar to Beast of Burden, this feature doesn’t seem to bring too much to the table and is also just not framed correctly. A creature of this size could easily spin webs capable of holding up several tons as opposed to the meager 2,000lbs. Again, this is great for a frame of reference, but isn’t explicitly needed in the statblock. If a creature should be able to and/or need to pull several tons of logs for a shell, it should be able to in the realm of fantasy.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) poison damage.

A standard bite attack. Nothing about the Bagworm Builder screams venomous or any ability to withstand poisons so I will be revising this to deal only piercing damage. If I lower the CR down to 2, the damage will likely remain as is, maybe increasing slightly to help compensate for the lack of poison damage. This is the creatures only offensive measure and so it should have some oomph behind it, especially since this creature can feel trees.

Web Shot. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 20ft./80ft., one target. Hit The target is restrained (Escape DC 13).

I’m usually pretty good about explaining more intricate abilities in greater detail so I am unsure why this one was so… lackluster. I think a better description would be as follow:

Web (Recharge 5–6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one creature. Hit: The creature is restrained by webbing. As an action, the restrained creature can make a DC 13 Strength check, escaping from the webbing on a success. The effect also ends if the webbing is destroyed. The webbing has AC 10, 5 hp, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage.

Revisions:

This… needs a lot of work to be honest and I’m not happy with where it is. I’ve been struggling to put this post out because at the end of the day this almost doesn’t feel like a creature that necessarily needs a statblock, instead it’s just something that exists and does it’s thing. Regardless, here are the changes that I feel would make this statblock a lot better all around:

Lower the CR to 2 and adjust damage, health, stats, and AC respectively. These are not dangerous creatures for the average adventurer and should not be as high as CR 4.
Combine Beast of Burden and Sticky Silk into one feature laying out the groundwork for the Bagworm Builder’s strength and carry capacity. D&D already has a guideline for a creature’s carrying capacity as well as their ability to push or pull objects so I will base my revisions off that templet and adjust accordingly.
Revise Web Shot. See above as a possible idea of simply expanding on the feature. This is a tool mainly used by the Bagworm Builder to help fasten their shells, not a trap to be used against others.
Add a shell feature. Bagworm Builders are often carrying massive log huts on their backs to add as extra defenses, lean into that. Possible ideas include a damage threshold or reduction effect until the “shell” is broken or destroyed. This feature should be a once per combat ability as a Bagworm Builder would not have the ability to quickly swap between these shells or build a new one. While the shell is in use, possibly create a withdraw feature that allows the Bagworm Builder to add on top of their AC.

Thank you for reading this week’s post! I’m sorry for the hit and miss schedule. Due to the holidays and recent transfer within my work, my schedule has been all over the place and hasn’t quite fully been nailed down and cemented yet. I’m hoping to resume regular postings from here on out, but am also working on other projects as well for this blog and the associated YouTube channel Nerds N’ News. This is a big project that I’ve been working on for a few months now and am still grabbing footage for everything and getting everything written out, but stay tuned! I’m hoping to have this next big video out before the end of the month!

D&D Homebrew Monster of the Week: Aberrant Hound

“Any idea what it is?”

“Alien, but that’s about it.”

“Agreed. You think there’s more out there?”

“Gods above I hope not.”

– Two adventurer’s first encounter with a dead Aberrant Hound.

Been a little while and for that I apologize but after completing one full circle in out creature types with the compendiums, we are returning to Aberrations with the Aberrant Hound! Since we covered the general rulebook for Aberrations back with the Abductor during the start of this blog, I won’t get into the nitty-gritty of Aberration rules (spoiler: there isn’t really a hard set of rules), but a quick refresher:

Aberrations are alien and unsettling, often hailing from dimensions beyond the world’s setting. This means they can often be anything and have any set of tools at their disposal and fit in some form or fashion.
Aberrations typically focus on mental superiority and/or manipulation (Beholders being extra vain and highly intelligent while Mindflayers and Aboleths turn others into thralls through mind control). While not needed, Aberrations typically have some sort of mental ability to put them at advantage.
They do not act like normal creatures. Alien biology and mannerisms lead Aberrations (or at least the feral Aberrations) to act far differently from what their counterpart from the material plane might act.

These aren’t hard rules that every DM needs to follow, but this is kind of the checklist I follow when making statblocks or prepping encounters using Aberrations. To me, if an Aberration doesn’t have that extra push to be something unique, then there’s little reason to use it in place of any other creature type.

Aberrant Hounds: The Overview

Aberrant Hounds are a versatile monster, capable of both being a challenging single mini-boss foe for lower level parties as well as attacking in packs to attack as a group against mid level parties. While that is a strength, it’s also a bit of a weakness. The Aberrant Hound sadly has little identity due to its versatile nature and frankly, I’m not entirely sure what I wanted it to be. I believe this creature would work best as a pseudo pack hunter, ravenous and agile but also quick to get aggressive amongst themselves, leading to possible infighting. At the bare minimum, Aberrant Hounds are aggressive, nimble, and stealthy hunters that almost exclusively stick to the shadows and the night in order to ambush unsuspecting prey. Using their specialized abilities to hide in shadows and striking at a distance is exactly what I want them to do, but the statblock only leans into this partially so some heavy revisions are in order.

Stats and Abilities:

The Aberrant Hound is a jack of all trades, master of none in a way. With its weakest stat being CHA at an 8, there’s little the Aberrant Hound is going to struggle against except something that would reposition them like a Vortex Warp or Banishment spell, though if a party has that option they would likely save it for something stronger. Clocking in at CR 4, this creature is of menial threat once players get to around level 5-6, but even 2-3 can become problematic. The Aberrant Hound has a heavy focus on DEX and STR, similar to the Abductor, and in a way I want this revised version to play similarly: focusing on hit and run ambush tactics to start before going in to grapple and separating its prey through brute force. Being a pack monster, the AC and Hit Points likely need to be tweaked marginally as if even one is a bit too tanky even on a moderate size, having larger packs of these spells a death sentence unless the players get real lucky.

Stats and Skills: With good STR and DEX and moderate CON, INT, and WIS, Aberrant Hounds almost need to be made dumber in the revisions. As they are, their mental stats don’t spell out the almost feral and wild nature I now have envisioned for these creatures. Additionally, I might bump their CON up marginally at the cost of lowering their AC. These creatures aren’t exactly armored but should still be able to take a hit or two comfortably. With proficiency in Perception and Stealth, these creatures are expert ambush hunters, using their natural advantage in shadowy conditions to ambush and separate prey from others to quickly feast before returning to the fray.
Resistances, Immunities, and Senses: Honestly, I’m not too certain why I marked these creatures as resistant to Necrotic damage. nothing in their kit screams unholy or malignant. They just are creatures that attack via shadowy ambushes, but aren’t exactly made of shadows. In all honesty, I would consider replacing this resistant with Poison damage at most, but that doesn’t feel like it fits either. A vulnerability to Radiant damage however is very thematic. I imagine that in their home realm, Aberrant Hounds live in near perpetual darkness or dim light, prowling craggy and barren wastelands in the search of food. In the sudden presence of a blinding and harmful light, an Aberrant Hound would likely freak out and quickly flee before returning to stalk later, much more cautious a second time around. The massive line of sight Aberrant Hounds have with their 120ft. of Darkvision is a necessity for how often these creatures prowl and hunt during the night. The only thing I would really change about this section of the statblock is their Languages. With how feral and wild I’m imagining these creatures would be I doubt they would really be able to speak any language, instead being more akin to a pack of wolves using their own form of communication only they know.

Passive Abilities and Actions:

Amorphous. The hound can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.

Being comprised almost entirely of inky shadows, it makes sense for the Aberrant Hound to be able to squeeze through narrow crevices and gaps to continue hunting or chasing prey. This also allows it to thrive in close quarters arenas such as building interiors and allows it to be a lot more aggressive as it can semi-easily flee if pushed into a corner.

Shadow Meld. As a bonus action, the hound can magically meld into the shadows. While melded in within a shadow, it cannot be targeted by outside attacks or effects (unless said attack or effect would alter the shadows location and composition (i.e. Fireball, Frost Brand, Light)).

If the shadow that the hound is occupying becomes disrupted or illuminated (this must be a deliberate attempt at the shadow or cover the shadows space if its an area of effect), the hound is forcefully ejected from the shadow to a unoccupied space within 5ft. of the shadows original location unharmed. While melded with a shadow, the hound can move to any space with a connected shadow, including the shadows of other creatures. When the hound inhabits a shadow of a living creature, the target must make a Wisdom (Perception) contest against the hounds Dexterity (Stealth) check.

This feature… is bad. While it’s cool from a thematic standpoint, it accomplishes nothing and leads nowhere. None of the other features pair well or play off of this ability so it’s just kind of worthless. I do like the idea of Aberrant Hounds being able to slink and meld into shadows but it needs to have an ability or feature that it can play off of. Here is a possible revision that could work:

Shadow Meld. As a bonus action, the Aberrant Hound can merge into a shadow within 5ft. of itself. While merged with the shadow, the Aberrant Hound is considered Invisible and cannot be targeted by any weapon or spell attacks. A successful DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check can reveal the location of the merged Aberrant Hound. While merged with the shadow, the Aberrant Hound can travel along any shadowed ground so long as the shadow connects to another shadow on the ground. If the Aberrant Hound attacks or the shadow it is inhabiting is disrupted (Light, Fireball, Frost-Brand light, etc.), it appears in an unoccupied space within 5ft. of the shadow.

While I’m still not thrilled with this feature and it’s still a rough re-draft, I feel this is a bit more concise of an idea I had for the Aberrant Hound and what I imagined this feature would bring to the table.

Multiattack. The hound makes either two attacks, one with its Bite and its Claws, or four attacks with it its Riftstrike ability.

This might be tweaked as whether or not the attacks of the Aberrant Hound remain the same or not are in the air. This should have between 2-3 attacks as it is a nimble creature with an aggressive nature so we will see how I feel at the end of this after reviewing the rest of the statblock.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack. +6 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit. 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.

While I had the idea of a grappler style monster initially, spending some more time to think on it I don’t think that would vibe nearly as well due to how dangerous being able to grapple a PC and drag them into the shadows would be. If I intend on keeping Aberrant Hounds as pack style, aggressive, hit-and-run fighters that ambush, attack, and hide again to ambush once more. I honestly might change the damage and bump it up to be around the 20 damage mark and not have it featured in the Multiattack feature, but that remains to be seen.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack. +6 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) slashing damage.

Much like the Bite attack, I’m not quite sure where I want the damage numbers on this to be, but as a basic attack. I think it’s fine. If I change Bite to do more damage, I think either bumping the damage up or having three Claw attacks in turn would be a suitable tweak.

Riftstrike. The hound creates a temporal rift and slips one of its arms into it, allowing it to strike a creature with a melee attack from quite the distance. Melee Weapon Attack. +6 to hit, reach 30ft., one target. Hit. 8 (1d4 + 4) slashing damage.

I really like this idea but it needs some slight tweaks. Initially, I thought having this only be usable while under the effects of Shadow Meld, but it kind of messes with their ambush tactics if they reveal themselves while performing a ranged attack. Instead, an idea I like more is that this feature is a concentration based gimmick where the Aberrant Hound can make an attack that still deals damage, but two of their hands now remain deep in portals that are clinging to their prey as the close the distance and maul them with claws and bites. This gives the Aberrant Hound both a solid ranged option and an ability to lock down other creatures that it wants to distance from or separate.

Ink Spray (Recharge 5-6). The hound sprays a 25-foot cone of shadowy ink in front of it. Each creature in that area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) acid damage on a failed save and is blinded until the end of their next turn, or half as much damage on a successful one and are not blinded.

This feature I feel needs to be removed. While the Aberrant Hound’s body is an shadowy, inky, and amorphous mass, there’s nothing that really states or shows an actual ink-like substance as apart of it’s body. Like sure it looks gooey and viscous looking, but I wouldn’t say its actual acidic ink or slime. I need to deliberate more on a possible replacement, but perhaps a teleportation or a wall of clawing hands erupts from the ground could both be suitable replacements.

Revisions

Sometimes the best tool a homebrew creator can have is another set of eyes to look over and help revise. u/BreadforPain1 on Reddit was momumental in helping me with some revisions for this monster and so the credit for these next ideas go to them:

Shadow Meld. As a bonus action, the hound magically melds into a shadow within 5 feet of it (the shadow must be in dim light or darkness). While melded:
- The hound is heavily obscured.
- It can’t be seen or targeted by attacks or other effects originating from outside the shadow unless those attacks or effects would also affect the shadow (such as the daylight spell or an effect that deals fire damage to the area).
- The hound can use its full movement to magically shift to and appear in any other shadow it can see within 60 feet. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.
- The hound can use a bonus action to de-meld, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the shadow. If a bright light source illuminates the shadow, or if the hound takes radiant damage while melded, it is forcibly ejected into the nearest unoccupied space within 5 feet of the shadow’s original location (unharmed except for the triggering damage). If the hound melds into the shadow of a living creature, that creature must succeed on a Wisdom (Perception) check contested by the hound’s Dexterity (Stealth) check or remain unaware of the hound’s presence. While melded with a shadow, the hound can move to the shadows of other creatures

Riftstrike. (Recharge 5-6). The hound creates a rift in reality and slips one of its limbs through, allowing it to make a melee weapon attack from up to 30 feet away. melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d6 + 4) slashing damage.

Shadow Grasp (1/day). Shadowy tendrils erupt from the shadows beneath creatures in a 20-radius originating from the hound (the area must be dim light or darkness). Each creature in the cone must make a DC 14 Strength saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) necrotic damage and becoming restrained by the grasping shadows until the end of its next turn on a failed save, or half as much damage and not restrained on a success.

The changes to Shadow Meld are almost exactly what I wanted and so I am very thankful for u/BreadforPain1 putting my ideas into words and structuring them in a way I was struggling to. As for Riftstrike and Shadow Grasp, I do think Shadow Grasp will be the replacement for Ink Spray as it feels a lot more cohesive and fitting for the Aberrant Hound, but I still have some slight tweaks to make. Riftstrike I really do like being a grapple/restrain gimmick so I don’t think I will change it from the revisions I mentioned earlier. Shadow Grasp I would change to a recharge from a 1/day feature and change it form an AoE centered on the Aberrant Hound to either a line based gimmick or choosing 3 targets similar to the Scorching Ray spell.

While it took a while to get to where I wanted it, I’m much happier with this creature’s statblock now than I was before I made this post. While tough, these revisions have been excellent and very needed for these statblocks. Stick around next time to see what beasties I got waiting for you in a couple weeks! Apologies for the sudden drop in posts. I recently moved and have been struggling to get back into the rhythm of work again, but here’s hoping things start getting back into gear now!

D&D Homebrew Monster of the Week: Barklings

“As I faded in and out of consciousness, I felt myself being dragged. I had no idea who or why, and I could never get a good look at them. Their face just blended in with the branches too much. Next thing I know is I’m here with you all questioning me.”

– A wounded adventurer found at the edge of a forest.

The first in the line up of furious flora, we have the Barkling, a much timid and weaker creature than many of the others within my collection. Much like the Ooze’s from the last post, Plants are simple minded creatures within a fight, often either static and slow moving creatures that support from the sidelines or more bruiser and tanky oriented creatures meant to take a hit in the frontlines. Plants could be considered the weakest and most overlooked monster category out of them all, as the absolute strongest in core D&D 5th edition is the Treant at CR 9, who can hit things up close, throw rocks, and animate nearby 1-2 trees into Animated Trees (CR 5) 1/day. Rather weak all in all and kind of boring in my opinion. A lot of the other plant and nature themed creatures would actually be considered Fey, but it feels weak and lazy to not have something more impressive than a literal walking-talking tree as the strongest plant monster in the book. Because of how limited, weak, and frankly uninteresting the core Plant creature roster is, it’s somewhat of an open door as there is not a real ruleset or guideline i have to follow in creation. Dragons for example almost always have Frightening Presence once they’re an adult, very rarely have any form of spellcasting (Gemstones and extraterrestrial dragons like Moon and Solar excluded), and always have a breath weapon of some kind. Most Plant creatures have a melee attack… and that’s kind of it. Again the Treant has the ability to awaken trees, and the Shambling Mound has Lightning Absorption, but these aren’t rules as opposed to one-off features, so with that I have taken several liberties for creating the plant compendium.

Barkling: The Overview

Being CR 2, Barklings are by no means difficult monsters to take down. With a meager 13 AC, vulnerability to Fire damage, and with meek 52 hit points, there is quite a lot that could quickly put a Barkling in the dirt, but that’s kind of the point. Barklings are not dangerous creatures nor boss entities that are designed to curb stomp parties, nor are they supposed to have some unique gimmick that makes them dangerous. Barklings were designed to be servitors for higher powers and aid those who have gotten lost and grown weak. If a party is in combat against a Barkling, there is likely more in the fray alongside a much bigger and more dangerous creature. With their frail defenses and mediocre offensive utility, Barklings lend themselves to a more supportive role over one of pure strength or insurmountable defense, where they can buff their allies and weaken their enemies.

Stats and Skills: Nothing is really exceptional about the Barkling’s stat spread which only secures their spot in supportive sideliners. Nothing notably bad or good, with 15s as their highest stats in DEX and CON, Barklings are a bit scrappy and can take a few (non Fire damage) hits before they start needing to back off. Despite not having anything to excel in, the only stat Barklings suffer in is the CHA department, but at this level of play they don’t really need to have a good CHA score. Unless a player is going to try and Plane Shift the entire forest population, there is little concern or need for a super high CHA score. A +4 to Stealth allows Barklings to hide amongst forested areas, observing as others wonder through their groves. Being labeled True Neutral might be a bit incorrect as they would more closely align with the Lawful Neutral alignment. While often servants of peace
Resistances, Immunities, and Senses: As mentioned before, a Barkling’s defenses are sparse, only having immunities to the Blinded, Charmed, and Frightened conditions while also having a Vulnerability to Fire damage. As far as I’m aware, this is the first creature in this series that has a vulnerability to a damage type, so here’s an explanation. A creature that has a vulnerability to a damage type takes double damage from that specific damage. So if a Barkling were to get hit by the Firebolt cantrip that dealt 6 Fire damage, the Barkling would instead take 12. While not masterminds, Barklings are not dumb and have enough mental capacity to be wary of spellcasters or those wielding weapons that deal fire damage as with even just a couple stray hits, they’re dead. Due to a lack of eyes (or face in general for that matter), Barklings rely on Blindsight over regular vision, meaning they do need to be decently close to aid allies/attack enemies which does play against their passive roles a bit.

Passive Abilities and Actions:

Camouflage. The Barkling has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in natural surroundings, such as forests or wooded areas.

Fitting for a creature comprised of wood and branches to be able to seamlessly hide in the foliage. A Barkling would much rather observe than instigate (unless ordered to do so by whatever it serves), so this allows it to do just that with their nice +4 bonus to Stealth checks on top of this.

Tree Stride. Once on each of its turns, the Barkling can use 10ft. of its movement to step into one living tree within its reach and appear a second living tree within 60ft. of the first tree, appearing in an unoccupied space within 5ft. of the second tree. Both trees must be Large sized or bigger.

This is arguably the strongest feature in a Barkling’s kit as it essentially teleport across a large section of the battle map for a fraction of it’s movement cost. the only restriction not making this broken is that it’s a once per turn ability. This is a great tool to either escape combat outright, easily outpacing most martial characters or quickly reposition to help an ally since this doesn’t cost an action. This also allows a group of Barklings to play a bit more spread out and distant than a typical supporter might, helping prevent all of them getting caught in 1 Fireball and instantly dyeing.

Sunlight Dependency. If the Barkling hasn’t been in sunlight for an hour or longer, its speed and hit points are halved. If the it hasn’t been in sunlight for 6 hours or longer, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or fall to 0 hit points.

It repeats this save for every for every hour beyond 6 hours that it is not in sunlight. If it hasn’t been in sunlight fo 24 hours, it dies and cannot be revived.

This ability might need some extra clarification. The idea I had in mind is that even though they don’t have leaves to photosynthesize off of, Barklings are dependent on direct sunlight to be able to function and survive. I do think that with the fact days are typically 12 hours long, bumping the timer from 6 hours to 12 is a better fit as that way they have a chance to function during the night. I do like the idea of them being weaker in the dark and at night as it allows the party to circumvent Barklings almost entirely by sticking to caves or operating at night. Other than the extension the limit Barklings can go without sunlight before needing to make CON saves, I think the ability does it’s job just fine.

Puncture. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 15 (3d8 + 2) piercing damage

A basic attack for a basic creature. This damage is a tad bit high for this creature and lowering it down to 2d6 would allow the Barkling to fill that more supportive role that it’s designed for. Additionally, raising the range from 5 to 10ft. allows the Barkling a bit of freedom and safety by staying just out of range of most melee weapons, though they aren’t going to be typically trying to be in close-quarters combat all the time.

Spores. The Barkling unleashes a cloud of spores in a 15ft. radius centered on itself. Each creature within the area must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or become charmed by the Barkling. A charmed creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of tis turns, ending the effect on a success.

While not full overpowering control like some fungal spores can exhibit, this is meant to be a soothing balm more than anything. As a tradeoff for lowering the damage of Puncture, I think it’s fair to up the DC of the WIS save to either 13/14, but give it the caveat that:
– a.) It lasts for 1 minute (or until the creature saves)
– b.) Once a creature saves, they’re immune for the next 24 hours to any Barkling’s Spore feature.
With these changes, its a better incentive for Barklings to start fights off like this as opposed to immediately trying to melee down attackers with their Puncture feature.

Healing Touch (3/Day). The Barkling touches a willing creature, restoring 8 (2d6 + 1) hit points to it.

For their final ability, Barkling’s have a weaker version of Cure Wounds which they can do 3 times per day. Nothing crazy, but at lower levels of play this can help prolong a fight either for or against the party. At the end of the day, Barklings are supporters and meant to aid stronger allies and debuff their opponents, so this feels right in line.

Revisions:

All in all, this is near perfect for the kind of monster I wanted: something frail and weak that when alone poses little challenge, but is a threat only when working in greater numbers and alongside more powerful creatures. The big revisions I would make would again be rewording Sunlight Dependency to make it easier to comprehend and lowering the damage of Puncture and increasing its range to offset that nerf. Additionally, Spores needs to follow the changes listed above as well (stating a duration, increasing the DC, and making creatures who pass immune for 24 hours) to fully round out the revisions. There’s nothing egregiously bad about this statblock from what I can see, but any and all revisions are welcome.

The first of the plants might not be the craziest of entries, but that’s completely fine. Not everything needs to be a world ending calamity and it brings a lot of balance to have weaker creatures to utilize in combat. If everything was a fight to the death, it’d be a bit weird if common people with no gifts or magical traits could survive in the world. That said, tune in text time to see a powerful Undead Boss entity!

Monster of the Week: Absolution

REPENT! Your time is nigh! Justice shall be unleashed upon your wretched lands! Purified with divine retribution and the blood of the sinners, this land shall be reborn the same laws your kin abide by: The Laws of War!”

– Absolution’s Decree.

Absolution: The Overview

As the first member of the Celestial Compendium, Absolution is by no means a push over. Weighing in at a hefty Challenge Rating of 16 (on par with with many Adult Dragons), Absolution is a force to be reckoned with and while might appear in earlier sections of a story, will only be found in combat towards the later levels of the campaign. A zealous and powerful force of nature with an obsession to smite the hedonistic sinners, fiends, and unholy creatures of the realm in blazes of divine light without remorse. Loaded with powerful spells, bits of machinery orbiting around itself to bludgeon nearby enemies, and surrounded by an aura that weakens the unholy creatures that have earned Absolution’s ire.

Taking the appearance of a vaguely humanoid person from the waist up, Absolution wears ragged robes around their chest with an intimidating yet ornate head piece. From roughly the waist down is where Absolution shifts to something foreign and vaguely eldritch. Comprised of metal wings with rows of sharp edges, gears, feathered wings, and ornate motifs spread across their body in golds and reds. Absolution is not a celestial to bestow kindness or hope: Their an agent of unmaking, using their divine strength to vaporize and wipe away stains across the land. Due to their over-the-top methods and mannerisms, rarely are they permitted by their overseers (often a literal god or Empyrean) to actually interact with the planes directly, much to their annoyance. This doesn’t stop them from commanding other celestials under them from acting in their name, though in more trying times Absolution will descend from the heavens and revel in the destruction of the unholy.

Stats and Abilities:

Absolution is a powerhouse and has little weakness in their abilities, relying on destructive spells and abilities with some support for any allies or innocent bystanders that happen to be in the fray of Absolution’s war path.

Starting from the top, as a Lawful Good creature, Absolution does want to do good and just by others. Yet, their perspective is slightly twisted and skewed as they believe peace can only be obtained through the absolute (heh) eradication of Aberrations, Fiends, and the Undead. Poison may seem like a weird damage to be resistant to and in hindsight I agree, yet a lot of creatures throughout 5th edition are resistant or flat out immune to the poison damage type, though i do not believe looking back that Absolution should be resistant towards poison damage as no other Celestial from the Monster Manual is either. This would also remove the immunity to the poisoned condition. Utilizing truesight, Absolution is also able to see through illusions and invisible creatures, making it that much harder to get the drop on them or trick them in combat.

Stats and Skills: Absolution first and foremost is focused on hitting hard and leaving sparing none of their combatants. With their lowest stat being a 16 in DEX, Absolution is strong in almost every regard, but excels in their mental stats. 20 INT, 24 WIS, and 20 CHA make Absolution a spellcaster’s nightmare already, but paired with advantage on all spell saves this makes Absolution almost impossible to deal with spells such as the big damage dealers like Fireball, Blight, or Lightningbolt. Even spells to try and remove/hinder Absolution such as Banishment or Planeshift would be difficult to pull off leaving Absolution a force that must be tackled almost exclusively with brute force. Being proficient with both Insight and Perception checks, Absolution will see through any deception or trick like a glass pane and see any attempt to sneak up or away with minimal issue. Ever vigilant, ever ready to smite.

Passive Abilities and Actions:

Angelic Aura: Any Aberration, Fiend, or Undead within 30ft. of Absolution that is not of the same alignment suffers disadvantage on saving throws from spells or other magical effects.

This is a very, very useful ability for Absolution as a supportive measure. Despite being a powerhouse that can do quite the bit of damage on its own, Absolution have no qualms teaming up with other Celestials or heroes that share in the urge to fight such creatures. A lot of higher tier monsters have Magic Resistance so being able to nullify that outright is quite the boon. There is exactly 1 Aberration/Fiend/Undead that shares the Lawful Good Alignment and that is the Flumph, a token helper and sign of good fortune for adventurers. All others suffer under Absolutions oppressive aura.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Absolution fails a saving throw, they can choose to succeed instead.

Our first Legendary Creature of the series! Legendary Resistances are an ability where if a creature fails a saving throw, it instead can expend a use of one of its Legendary Resistances to succeed instead. Most Legendary Creatures have 3 per day, regaining all uses the next day. Absolution is in a league of its own and will rarely fail a saving throw, so when it does it will use one of its Legendary Resistances immediately.

Machinery Orbits. Gears and celestial machinery orbit Absolution, providing a protective aura. Absolution and friendly creatures within 30 feet gain advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Working as the inverse of Absolution’s Angelic Aura, the floating debris and metal that makes up most of Absolution’s form orbit and protect allies of Absolution, giving them a boon in festively the Magic Resistance feature so long as they remain within 30ft. of Absolution. Hindsight, I think this ability needs to be changed slightly to offer bonus AC instead as visually i cant really see how suddenly being engulfed and surrounded by floating debris helps you against spell saves.

Magic Resistance. Absolution has advantage on any saving throws from spells or other magical effects.

Magic Resistance is a stapple for higher tier monsters, especially ones tied to magical capabilities such as divine powers. Not much else to note as this is just the cherry on top for defenses against spells like mentioned earlier.

Spellcasting. Absolution is a 12th-level spellcaster. Their spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 20, +12 to hit with spell attacks). They requires no material components to cast its spells. Absolution has the following cleric spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): light, sacred flame, spare the dying
1st level (4 slots): command, detect evil and good, detect magic, guiding bolt
2nd level (3 slots): lesser restoration, silence, zone of truth
3rd level (3 slots): dispel magic, magic circle, spirit guardians
4th level (3 slots): aura of life, banishment
5th level (2 slots): flame strike, greater restoration
6th level (1 slot): forbiddance

Hoooo, the first creature with spellcasting and it is a doozy of a list. Strap in, this will be a bit long but I’m going to try and simplify it.

Cantrips:
–Light-Because Absolution has truesight, it has little use for Light as it can see up to 120ft. in absolute darkness. Light only grants a 40ft. radius. This is a spell really useful when Absolution is aiding allies in areas of darkness who cannot see.
–Sacred Flame– An offensive spell requiring a DEX save. As a 12th level caster, its damage is increased up to 3d8 radiant, which is nothing terrible to scoff at, but not great either.
–Spare the Dying-Only useful if an ally of Absolution falls to 0 hit points. Even then, unless its a PC or an NPC that the DM is purposely using death saves for, its functionally only there to aid a player.

1st Level:
–Command-Very useful for shutting down certain individuals by forcing a WIS save and commanding them with 1 word. “Grovel”, “Halt”, and “Scatter” are some commands Absolution might use to cause an enemy to leave themselves open to attacks from others.
–Detect Evil and Good-Allows the caster to sense most magical creatures within 30ft. of themselves. Functionally useless once in combat as Absolution has truesight, being able to detect anything hiding without requiring a spell slot.
–Detect Magic-Allows the caster to see lingering magical effects and enchantments within 30ft. of themselves. Another fairly useless spell for Absolution directly due to their truesight and the spells lack of use in combat.
–Guiding Bolt-A ranged attack that deals a solid 4d6 radiant damage on a hit and granting advantage on the next attack roll towards the target. No notes, this is a very good spell for Absolution.

2nd Level:
–Lesser Restoration-Decent support spell, but under current rules of Machinery Orbits, it will not be super useful as a lot of debilitating conditions come from spells. Still, useful to have on hand.
–Silence-A great support spell to shut down enemy casters even further. Concentration means this competes slightly with others, but can be used a great opener if starting from a distance. With Absolution’s flying speed, it can remain outside the sphere and still sling spells and firing ranged attacks.
–Zone of Truth-Entirely useless in combat and more so used as a form of proof if Absolution figures out its being deceived. With a +12 to Insight checks, Absolution will not be needing Zone of Truth for itself.

3rd Level:
–Dispel Magic-Great spell for removing beneficial buffs to other creatures and fits nicely with Absolutions semi-supportive kit.
–Magic Circle-Useless once in combat due to its 1 minute casting time (each round of combat is 6 seconds. 1 minute equals 10 rounds of combat). However, very beneficial for weakening magical creatures if used preemptively due to its three abelites crippling a chosen creature type. Niche, but not bad.
–Spirit Guardians-Gold standard spell. Concentration so Absolution won’t be able to cast another concentration spell while this is active. Deals good damage over time to any creature (of Absolutions choice) in a sizeable area. Additionally slows creatures down while in the Area of Effect. Absolution will almost always start with this spell unless they are starting combat far from the fray.

4th Level:
–Aura of Life-Situational at best. If this wasn’t a concentration spell it would be better for Absolution; granting resistance to necrotic damage, granting 1 hit point for allies at 0 hp, and preventing hit point maximums from being reduced are all beneficial. However because it is a concentration based spell, Absolution has better spells to focus on.
–Banishment-Very, very good spell. A pesky enemy threatening or harassing Absolution? Boom. Gone. Out of the fight until concentration drops or a full minute passes. Another bonus is that when banishing Aberrations/Fiends, chances are they aren’t from the plane their on (unless your specifically on their home turf), so banishment will just remove them from the fight indefinitely (as long as a full minute of concentration is used).

5th Level:
–Flame Strike-Big damaging AoE spell that deals appears in a large column of fire. Great for purging the unholy. No notes.
–Greater Restoration–Lesser Restoration on steroids. More useful out of combat due to niche situations that call for it (dispelling curses, more serious conditions like Petrification, or reductions to ability scores).

6th Level:
–Forbiddance-Useless in combat due to its 10 minutes casting time (100 rounds of combat…) but can be useful in Absolution is guarding a sanctuary or consecrated sight as it prevents creatures from teleporting within a 40,000sqft. area and it deals damage to 1 kind of creature that enters the area for a good chunk of damage (5d10 radiant/necrotic) each time the creature first enters the area or starts its turn there. The issue is… Absolution is an aggressive celestial and prefers to focus on offense over defense. Niche at best, useless at worst.

Multiattack. Absolution makes two attacks: one with their Light Beam and one with her Gear Slam.

Standard amongst nearly every monster above CR 5. Could be modified by just saying two attacks as there is no real reason why Absolution is limited to one ranged and one melee attack each turn.

Light Beam. Ranged Spell Attack. +12 to hit, range 120ft., one target. Hit. 27 (6d8) radiant damage.

Straightforward, long distance, heavy hitting spell attack. Unless facing a creature that relies on a high AC and dumped DEX into the ground, there’s little reason to use Sacred Flame over this.

Gear Slam. Melee Weapon Attack. +9 to hit, reach 10ft., one target. Hit. 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 13 (3d8) radiant damage.

Hindsight 20/20. It makes no sense, no matter how holy or divine, being socked in the head by a flying gear deals radiant damage. Needs to be reworked: significantly less chance to hit than Light Beam, deals 1 point less damage over all, and is restricted to a range of 10ft vs 120ft.

Heavenly Radiance (Recharge 5-6). Absolution releases a burst of radiant energy in a 30-foot radius. Each creature in that area must make a DC 22 Constitution saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Recharging feature that should be equivalent to a dragon’s breath weapon. Instead it does less damage than Absolutions entire multiattack… Needs heavy reworking. CON saves are also just near useless for a large chunk of both fighting other creatures and Player Characters.

Legendary Actions: Absolution can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Absolution regains spent legendary actions at the start of their turn.

Every Legendary Creature has a set of Legendary Actions alongside their Legendary Resistances (again, usually 3) that recharge at the start of its next turn. The only difference is, instead of occurring when failing a save, the creature can choose to take 1 Legendary Action (so long as it has remaining Legendary Actions available) at the end of another creature’s turn. Absolution has the following Legendary Actions:

Light Burst. Absolution casts their Light Beam spell.

Unless otherwise mentioned, each Legendary Action takes 1 Legendary Action to use. So for example, Absolution could take use Light Burst three separate times (each after a different creatures turn) within 1 round of combat before needing to wait before their turn. It is common for a creature to have a simple attack for a Legendary Action.

Call to Arms (Costs 2 Actions). Absolution summons 3 (1d6) celestials to their aid. Each of these celestials can be no higher than CR 5.

Another ability in need of revision. The idea is ok, but with the only restriction being that each individual summoned celestial cannot have a CR rating greater than 5, summoning (average) 7 unicorns would just ruin a fight with their abilities to teleport and heal each other. Additionally, Absolution has no limit on how many summons it can have in total nor how long they last. Hope you enjoy 21 unicorns by round 3…

Celestial Restoration (Costs 3 Actions, 3/day). Absolution casts Mass Heal, targeting themselves and up to three other creatures within 30ft. of themselves.

A very strong ability that again, needs some refining. For 3 times per day, this a grand total of… 2,100 hit points. While this is spread between 3 separate creatures, this is ridiculous. For maximum effect and value, Absolution would have to wait until itself and/or 3 other creatures of its choosing are on deaths door and then fully heal. Because it can take a Legendary Action immediately after a players turn (granted it needs all 3 actions available), it is can use this ability as soon as it feels like it absolutely needs to without too much punishment (Mass Heal 9th level spell so counterspelling is expensive/risky).

Revisions:

Oh boy where to begin. To put it simply, this statblock is a mess. It is grossly overturned while also wielding frankly lackluster or questionable features. Its a creature that enjoys being in the fray, maximizing its usage of its Angelic Aura, Machinery Debris, and being able to use Heavenly Radiance, yet its melee attack is weaker than its ranged option, the abilities it has are a myriad of questionable choices from my end. I plan on heavily revising this creature later, and that’s kind of what this is. A way for me to revaluate, tweak, and gain input form others. So if any of you read something else that causes you to scratch your head a bit, please reach out. Until next time!

*Raziel, Scholar of the Infinite*, Peter Mohrbacher

The first of the celestials done! Despite my harsh critiques, I still really like what I have done with Absolution and I think it functions as a great baseline for a higher tier celestial adversary. I just believe and know I can do better, so with some modifications this can go from an ok statblock to something much much better.

D&D Homebrew Monster of the Week: Axopin

*Blue and Fishy Cat-type Wooper Looper with a Rugged Shell* by *Gomma Lee*

“I didn’t even want a pet at first. My kids had been begging for weeks to get them something, and they kept promising they’d clean after it, feed it, play with it, love it, and everything. I reluctantly agreed, but once we arrive at the shop, we couldn’t get enough of them. Their playful little coos and tiny little smiles. I remember thinking as we were leaving, ‘How could I only grab one?’”

– Survey recording how much recent pet adoptions effected new owners.

Axopins: The Overview

First member of the Beast Compendium is the Axopin, a cutesy and friendly creature often found in pristine ponds and rivers. A somewhat chimeric mix of turtles, axolotls, and fish taking features of all three to differentiate from the more “normal” wildlife within the realms. These are not creatures to fight as much as they are flavor for the world and options for the Wildshape or Polymorph features/spells, which is largely the only reason they have a statblock to begin with at all. A large section of the Beast Compendium consists of these types of creatures as, at least to me, the Beast category in D&D is meant for believable creatures and ones that either exist or could feasibly exist within our own world. These creatures lack a lot of magical abilities and deeper mechanics aside from “hit hard, take a hit well” in the upper challenge ratings when compared to the other creature categories in D&D.

Axopins use their sturdy shells to help protect themselves from predators both by withdrawing into it when threatened, but also using the reflective scales lining the shell to help blend into the clear waters of their home. Axopins lack a lot of the raw strength needed to survive in harsh environments of the realm, so they often nest within calm waters in secluded ponds and rivers with plenty of nooks and crannies to hide in. Using their fish-like tails, Axopins can quickly swim through the water or bat away possible attackers, though such methods are more difficult to deter larger creatures.

Stats and Abilities:

Axopins rely on defense rather than offense, using the environment around them to slip away and hide rather than stand and fight. If pushed into conflict, Axpoins must rely on their defensive shell rather than any bites or slaps of the tail due to its minimal offensive prowess.

When compared to last week’s Abductor statblock, the Axopin leaves a lot to be desired across the board. Lower stats, no dangerous gimmicks, no real offensive capabilities or defensive bulk to speak of. That is the level of difference I wanted across all my compendiums, I wanted creatures who could level towns with a single breath but also creatures who could only survive when in a pack or in a group. I do not think I would ever run a combat encounter with a party fighting a school of Axopins, but having the stats of the Axopin on hand for niche situations like Polymorph or Wildshape or if the party adopts one and bites someone’s hand is the main reason for this work. I don’t typically statblock frivolous creatures, but the will be most common here in the Beast Compendium.

Stats and Skills: The Axopin focuses more on evasion and escape rather than combat prowess as seen by its lower STR score compared to its decent DEX score and with its only proficient skill being the Stealth skill. While looking at mental scores, Beasts tend to be weighted weirdly in D&D as sentience and human-level cognitive function is usually associated with around a 7 INT score. That’s why creatures such as Orcas have an intelligence of around 3 despite being an incredibly smart animal. All this to say, while an intelligence of 1, the lowest you can go without literal loss of function in D&D, might seem harsh, it is what 70% of Beasts in D&D are labeled with. WIS is more of a survival and instinct stat so typically Beasts will have a much higher WIS score than INT as they are more in tune with their instincts than cognitive thoughts. Lastly with CHA being the social skill, its important for creatures of this kind to communicate with one another, but typically this is undesirable by other creatures. So having a moderately low CHA score is appropriate for these social animals as they effortlessly communicate with others of their kind but are incredibly hard to discern what each sound is from an outside perspective.

Passive Abilities and Actions

The meat and bones of this statblock will be much less juicy than that of the Abductors, but the Axpoin does still have a couple tricks up its sleeve:

Amphibious. The axopin can breathe air and water.

Just like many semi-aquatic creatures, Axopins can breathe both on land and in the water, allowing for them to be encountered in multiple areas and allowing them to hide from terrestrial or avian predators.

Keen Smell. The axopin has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Like many animals, Axopins have a heightened sense of smell to help navigate their surroundings and help avoid the scents of known predators.

Refractive Shell. While underwater, the axopin has advantage on stealth checks.

Axopins use their naturally reflective shells to help hide their presence by blending into the shimmering waters. In murkier habitats like swamps and marshes, this can often be detrimental as it draws unnecessary attraction, leading Axopins to stay in cleaner waters.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) piercing damage.

One of the Axopins basic attacks. A simple bite that in all honesty, feels misplaced despite most every other feral creature in D&D having a Bite attack. The Axopin just doesn’t scream “strong bite force”, especially at the damage this can do (for reference, a Commoner who is considered the average non-adventuring person has 4 hit points).

Tail Slap. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage.

This should be the Axopin’s main offensive means as it’s the Axpoin’s most prominent feature aside from its shell. That said, this should not be the Axopin should not be relying on physical prowess over evasion and defense.

Withdraw. When the axopin is targeted for an attack, it can withdraw into its shell, increasing its AC by +2 for that attack.

The first Reaction skill talked about in this series this ability allows the Axopin to avoid an otherwise successful hit by hiding into its sturdy shell. Reactions are a special kind of ability a creature can take in response to an action occurring around them. For example, the Shield spell can only be casted when the individual is targeted by an attack roll and will offer a +5 bonus to the caster’s AC until the start of their next turn. Certain features can also allow creatures to either make additional attacks or move across the board suddenly using a Reaction.

Revisions:

While I am quite happy with this statblock for what it is, it is not without issue. For starters, as a CR 1/4 creature it is the same equivalent difficulty as a goblin which seems wrong. While I’m not opposed to having beastial and feral creatures be enemies for a party of players, the Axopin leaves a lot to be desired as an enemy in combat. As such, I believe the best course of action is to lower its CR to 0 and remove its Bite attack. The tail of the Axopin is the strongest offensive part of its body and should not be outclassed by a bite force that shouldn’t even be there to begin with. Additionally, many CR 0s, especially of the Tiny size category only deal 1 damage on their attacks, so that would replace the Axopin’s current average damage of 5, making it much more realistic in its combat prowess. The Axopin should be little more than a pet for the party or an option for the Wildshape class feature or Polymorph spell and as such, it should not have too much of a combat presence. A reason players might choose to use this to disguise as over a regular fish would be because of the defense offered in the Reflective Shell and Withdraw abilities.

*Giant Slaughterfish – The Elder Scrolls Legends* by Graft Studio

The first of many cutesy critters to debut from the Beast Compendium so stay tuned with more being unveiled. If you have any comments/revisions of your own feel free to reach out and lend a hand! Until next time, hope to see all of you again next week!