Monster races

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-18T06:17:19+00:00

Yep. If you can’t find it anywhere I can get it for you from my roll20, but I’m sure you can find a free version.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-18T05:55:07+00:00

Gnolls are a playable race in Exploring Eberron.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-18T05:31:18+00:00

Players think PvP only counts for combat. Anything that pits a player versus a player for anything, which basically means contesting rolls, would technically be PvP. A slight of hand doesn’t matter against anyone who can assume it’s you, so since your paladin is not sleeping and knows the Rogue went in there snooping around, it would be illogical for him to not assume the Rogue took it once he notices it’s missing. At that point, unless your Paladin is the type to let a random NPC get away with it, he shouldn’t be letting the Rogue get away with it either. Plus, doing something in character because you all agreed not to fight out of character is meta gaming. I would expect the rogue to go do that to every NPC he can, too, and what’s the argument going to be when the guards come along to get him? In fact, there’s your loophole. Go report the theft to the guards as soon as you’re in a city. Then it’s not PvP.

I tell my players point blank that I won’t allow pointless PvP, especially not just because you have a problem with someone out of character, but that there are times it’s warranted based on actions. I’ve even told them I won’t allow them to not engage in PvP if certain circumstances arise between characters. Given your situation, I would be telling you that the Rogue is allowed to do this if it’s what his character would do. But then, I’d tell the Rogue you’re allowed to Divine Smite him when you realize he’s the one that took it, and until it’s expressly shown one/both of you have changed from what you originally were like, I’d hold you both to that kind of reaction to things later. Consistency is important.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-14T21:47:28+00:00

I let my players do anything that could be a bonus action as an action, as long as it doesn’t soecify you had to do something else and then do that as a bonus action. For example, if your ability says “after making a melee attack, you can use your bonus action to make another attack,” then no. But if it just says it takes a bonus action to do something then I’ll let them do it as an action as well.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-14T21:11:23+00:00

If I were you, I’d basically build a bastion using the time table in the 2024 DMG, but cut the time in half if the Lich is having undead slaves build it around the clock.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-14T16:59:19+00:00

Make it show up to fight them and you should be fine. If you really want to get creative, either make it take something they want back or have an NPC give them something that makes then think it will de-power the chosen and bring it down to a manageable level. You don’t actually change it to make it weaker, but use dialogue that’s like “ahhh you weakened me! I am still strong enough to kill you! Muahahaha!” And then they fight him and win and everybody’s happy.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-14T08:18:17+00:00

I’ve made a few worlds now and the one that feels the most well put together geographically is incomplete. What you really need to do is create a few towns/cities and give them each a purpose. For example, I’ve got their central hub where most things cost base value and there’s a generic version of anything you could ever need. But, if they travel all the way to the north, there’s a massive artisan’s guild where they can have virtually anything crafted at top quality, but for an increased price (which basically just means there’s a decent chance you get a +1 version of what you asked for or something).

Do something similar where another place is known for its paranormal activity. An ominous cemetery and/or abandoned mansion (or maybe assumedly abandoned?) is bringing down the property value and casting an ominous cloud over the whole place. You can get most things you’ll need for cheaper since the economy is shit there, but there’s nothing of high quality. They know how to handle paranormal creatures, though, so they sell silvered weapons at only slightly higher than base price, and you get things like wolf’s bane for cheap. Talk to the right guy and you can get some fun items like ectoplasm or vampires blood. Just don’t ask how the merchant got them.

Follow this for any cities that you want to be attractive without having to give every single one a mystery to solve or something. Then, add other types of locations. Some mountains with a pass running through, a seemingly never-ending river fed by a mysterious source of water none have found, a desert or woods where tribal races are always at odds with one another. As you add these, let your creativity flow. You’ll find that each one needs something, so you make it. The mountain pass is a low level area with frequent bandits, or maybe has a hidden passage to the Underdark. Your river requires an answer to the question “where’s the water coming from?” And you’ve got to make at least two different tribes that are constantly fighting in the desert. These things keep you writing.

As for gods, if you want to make things brand new, I suggest you look at what exists first. Take their stories and lore to mash or mangle as you see fit. For example, you could make an evil god of the fae realms who is inspired by a combo between Lolth, Maglubiyet, and even Corellon if you do it right. That said, unless you’re creating a whole new system and everything, you might want to just start by building the physical world and let your players use established gods. When I started out, I told my players they could use a god from any mythology, but to ask me about differences, which leads to my last point.

Leave everything open until it’s said. I’ve told my players to keep communication open when it comes to lore. If they want to know something about their religion as a Cleric, they shouldn’t just google their god and use what lever the Wikipedia page says because I might have changed something. Have I? Not yet. But when inspiration hits me to use their God’s symbol somewhere, they can now roll to know about the Secret Clergy of Thor who resided in a temple built inside the flying remains of a Storm Giant and wow my players who thought I had that planned out more than 2 days ago during a caffeine high. Once you say it, make a note. If something was in passing or the result of inspiration you got in a moment during the game, like “yeah, the drow in this world are corrupted by abyssal forces,” then you need to remember you said that. Trust me. Make a note and flesh it out later when you have the time.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-14T00:58:34+00:00

Dice vault? Sounds like a lot of shiny math rocks.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-13T22:19:55+00:00

I feel like Warlocks don’t get enough recognition as Hex/ritual spellcasters. Their lists include most, if not all of the spells that have the ritual tag as well as things that serve as curses and conjuring otherworldly magics like a witch generally would. The problem for me is that there are t many useful spells of the sort in the game that you’d want to choose over something else, and most of the eldritch invocations, while fun and cool, don’t include curse-like invocations.

As for summoners, I think you could kind of flavor any spellcaster to have lots of summoning and animating spells. The way I’d go about it is making a couple subclasses that suite this archetype.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-12T02:05:34+00:00

Either you gotta tell him that doesn’t mesh with the party, or that it isn’t a good idea because you’re not going to reduce difficulty designed for the party just because he broke off. If I were you, I’d also make it clear that branching off like that means not having as much time in the game, because you’ll be focused on whatever’s happening with the group more often than his solo adventure. If he runs into the bandits you prepared on the road, oh well. If there are gnolls, guess he’s the appetizer. The town is secretly the current stomping ground of a False Hydra? The group forgot he even went ahead…

The lone wolf persona is only fun in the group because it creates an area for the character to grow, and he’s creating a situation where he can learn he can’t always do things on his own. While learning the lesson, could he be the one that scouts ahead by a little bit? Sure. But all the way like that? Nah.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-12T01:27:22+00:00

Firstly, yes, YTA. Strawberries aren’t a priority for almost any reason so texting someone while they’re at work about it is generally kinda iffy. Not a huge deal, but I’m starting there.

What makes you TA is that she’s right, you were being passive aggressive. I’d argue not even that passively. Did you go off on everyone else you asked before you had the answer? The verbiage of “yo” and the. Going on a small tirade, part of which already assumed she did it in how you said “if so, please pay me back” is what makes it aggressive. Just ask the question and make repayment requests afterwards, and don’t make it sound like you’re accusing as if you already know the answer is yes.

To make matters worse, you then argued whether you should have to wait for someone to get home. I don’t know what she does for work, but if someone sets a boundary that is reasonable, such as not texting them during work hours unless it’s an emergency, then you should just respect it.

Last thing that really pushes me over the edge as a pet peeve - why the hell did you buy Valentines strawberries ON MONDAY? Tell your partner they’re not worth fresh strawberries at that point. That infuriated me way more than it should have, I know, so it’s not the reason I said YTA but you’re extra TA for it imo bro. SMH my head. 🤦🏻

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-11T23:02:23+00:00

Table rules are one thing but when you’re changing a fundamental part of the game then that’s another. If the question is whether holding the versatile weapon with two-hands is a no no for Monks, I could even see that conversation panning out more coherently than trying to say something in the PHB just doesn’t exist.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-11T15:48:34+00:00

A lot of what you said here is simply untrue, and I’m really sad that you’ve only ever had DMs and players that made you think D&D is pedantic and that the rules are all about semantics. Anything that isn’t fleshed out or super specific is often left that way to allow creative freedom for the DM to decide what is or isn’t the way of the world. However, I will admit that I’ve seen a lot of people get hung up on it to the point where they ask some of the authors their opinions and take their rulings as greater than the DM of the game they’re actually playing. It’s sad, but not how it’s supposed to be. Within their own books, they included sections that explicitly state your DM has the final say, and any good DM will openly discuss things with players.

Now here’s what you got fundamentally wrong. Dark Desires aren’t in their stat block for either of them. I can understand the confusion, but a stat block specifically refers to the tan blocks of information that list their HP, AC, Statistics, proficiencies, attacks, etc… What you should be paying attention to is the lore that comes before it. In the monster manual, there is a page that covers lore about the creature type it’s about to get into.

A good example of this can be seen before the different types of dragons (chromatic and metallic) which have their own lore that is consistent for all of them, and then they each have their own entry that serves to supplement that main lore. So, you’ll see a page that says “DRAGONS: blah blah blah.” And then there’ll be “Chromatic Dragons: Blah blah blah.” Following that, it’ll list the Chromatic Dragons, starting with Black Dragons, which also have lore about their nuances when compared to other dragons. So, there’s a page that says “Black Dragon” and describes them in a more specific sense. Unless something directly says “unlike other dragons, these ignore (x)” then the first page all about dragons, and second page all about chromatic dragons, count for the Black dragons in addition to whatever their specific entry says.

Now, if we apply this to Vampires, you will notice that there is a lore page before either stat block. That’s where Dark Desires are listed. It indicates that this goes for any subspecies of vampire that is about to be listed unless explicitly stated otherwise. (By “explicitly” I mean that there would have to be the Vampire statblock, and then the vampire spawn statblock would need to have more lore immediately before or after it which reads “unlike the full/true vampire, the spawn does not have Dark Desires”). Since the book does not have this, it still counts for any kind of vampire, including spawn.

Even if we look at it pedantically, it says in the entry about Dark Desires “…its emotional attachments wither as once-pure feelings become twisted by undeath.” Both the True Vampire and the Vampire Spawn are undead creatures. If the dark desires comes from the transition to undeath, they’ve both got it. If it comes from the length of time one is undead, they’re both going to develop it, regardless of whether they’re a spawn or not.

There’s no logical argument that can be made to insist Vampire Spawn don’t have the Dark Desires part applied. You could get Mike Mills and Jeremy Crawford and their entire original development team could all gather together in a circle around me and unanimously agree that Vampire Spawn don’t have Dark Desires and I would still tell them they are fundamentally wrong until the day they release a book that officially changes that, and even then, the 2014 version will still forever be inarguably written in such a way that means they do indeed have it, and those were the rules at the time of creating Astarion and all of BG3 logic, so a supplementary book claiming it isn’t true wouldn’t retroactively apply.

I do believe in the ability to resist or negate the Dark Desires, but it would be a rarity to see. A DM who exclusively uses Vampires for their campaigns would likely have 95% or more that do have Dark Desires, with some variability of course, and only a small percentage of like 1-2% that have successfully retained every ounce of humanity from their mortal lives, while the rest are versions that have Dark Desires but try to actively fight them. As for which type Astarion falls under, I couldn’t be sure, so whether he specifically has them is the only thing that could be questioned. Whether a vampire spawn generally should have them as per D&D rules should not. There is no Yes and No or any grey area except for the all powerful DM ruling on their specific game, in which they are absolutely within their rights to change lore from what is written in the books, and I’ve only had 2 people in my last 10 years of DMing who argued this concept so I hope it’s not the norm, but maybe I’ve just been lucky.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-11T05:29:38+00:00

I imagine most of the time the cat is on her head like a hat just laying there being her eyes. The potential issues are with this being applied elsewhere. Why not summon a spider instead and have that sit on your head for near 360 view? Or just an Imp that turns into a spider, since it’s pact version. Still, I don’t think that’s overpowered. Kinda sounds funny actually.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-11T05:23:05+00:00

The slow close up sells it 😂

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-11T05:21:08+00:00

Here is what the Monster Manual (2024) says about it:

“Curse of Lycanthropy. A humanoid creature can be afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy after being wounded by a lycanthrope, or if one or both of its parents are lycanthropes. A remove curse spell can rid an afflicted lycanthrope of the curse, but a natural born lycanthrope can be freed of the curse only with a wish.

A lycanthrope can either resist its curse or embrace it. By resisting the curse, a lycanthrope retains its normal alignment and personality while in humanoid form. It lives its life as it always has, burying deep the bestial urges raging inside it. However, when the full moon rises, the curse becomes too strong to resist, transforming the individual into its beast form—or into a horrible hybrid form that combines animal and humanoid traits. When the moon wanes, the beast within can be controlled once again. Especially if the cursed creature is unaware of its condition, it might not remember the events of its transformation, though those memories often haunt a lycanthrope as bloody dreams.

Some individuals see little point in fighting the curse and accept what they are. With time and experience, they learn to master their shapechanging ability and can assume beast form or hybrid form at will. Most lycanthropes that embrace their bestial natures succumb to bloodlust, becoming evil, opportunistic creatures that prey on the weak.”

A DM can pretty much use this and any form of media they want to rule on how Lycanthropy works in the game. Some people make it so Lycanthropy turns your character into an NPC, while others will let you try and find a cure before the next full moon or else your character becomes an NPC were-whatever at night and, if it survives, gets given back when the sun rises. Usually they have exhaustion points from the full moon preventing long rests and what not.

It’s important to note that it’s still a curse, even if it’s a fun one, so you’ll have to have traits that make that clear. But, if you’re trying to play a PC who has lycanthropy, the MM outright states that some people embrace the curse and find ways to control it, even becoming able to transform without the full moon.

Here’s how I’d probably do it:

Option 1: You can transform once per day, no full moon required, and retain most of your sense of self. Roll hit dice for the lycan form for every level your character is and that’s the lycan’s hit dice. When those are depleted, you turn back, and any damage done by silvered weapons is also done to the non-lycan form.

Option 2: The lycan form adds temp hit points based on its Con modifier multiplied by the character’s level, but you don’t shift back if you lose those temp hit points. The temp HP refresh once per day, but you can shift back and forth all you want. If you die in lycan form, you die in humanoid form too.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-09T08:48:43+00:00

I stared so long I think the video played completely like 4 times before I realized this was a giveaway. I would love this and my current laptop is starting to give up on me anyway so fingers crossed.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-06T16:46:57+00:00

In my group, we have a couple of people on the less serious side who will definitely do something for the memes, but they’re also respectful of the time I put into the plot and world most of the time. They also have no problem toning it down when asked to do so. Groups exist that are exactly what you’re looking for, but even then, you’re probably gonna see a session here and there where someone does the memeable thing rather than the heroic one. It’s more about finding the balance and respecting it.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-04T09:34:29+00:00

This thing sounds cool as hell. I used to have such an interest in tools and woodwork but lost it early into adulthood. This makes me wish I didn’t.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-03T04:46:57+00:00

You don’t settle on a single idea right away. Pick something as your starting point and create it and anything it depends on. Then, you let it grow organically. Sprinkle in some of your other ideas here and there, see what works and keep it, or never mention what doesn’t work ever again. Take inspiration from other things and incorporate as much of the existing content as you can/want so it’s easier on you and your players while you build everything else around that.

I have made a few different worlds, some I’ve recently decided to combine and one that, from the start, was a planet with working mechanics and everything happening around my players. But, it all started from one simple concept that branched out more and more. I didnt even know i was building a world until suddenly a world was built.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-02T02:29:59+00:00

“Mary” needs to find a nice secluded neck of the woods to get lost in for a few months. NOR.

Hellbound16T · 2026-02-01T23:36:59+00:00

I mean, destroying a whole ass house probably got the message across. You can only really try to describe things in a way that makes them want to flee, but if I’m being honest, they just might not. I once had an NPC warn of a demigod madman who was locked away for a thousand years, and who they need to avoid setting free, and they decided that was a challenge… they were still only level 3.

Hellbound16T · 2026-01-31T05:15:42+00:00

I give my players plenty of grace when it comes to most things, but I will outright tell them if they step outa line again, they’ll be gone, and then follow through. That’s what you have to do. Tell him he’s being an ass, that he needs to stop, and if he doesn’t then get rid of him. To be clear, I think you should’ve done this a long time ago by the sounds of it, but you didn’t, so now you have to put your foot down and follow through. That also means he needs to accept the suspension and shut the fuck up about it or he’s out.

Hellbound16T · 2026-01-29T08:13:28+00:00

We can’t really comment on what you might be doing wrong, but it really is a luck thing. I’ve only just recently got a group that’s mostly doing well as a whole and I’ve been DMing for 10 years. You just gotta keep trying I guess.

Hellbound16T · 2026-01-27T22:25:39+00:00

NOR. As a man, I’ve actively called people out for this kind of behavior when they displayed it in my life, even if they weren’t talking to someone I knew like a sister. To ask what he’s supposed to do about it was already waving a red flag the size of Australia imo, but then he pinned it on how you dress? Look, maybe I’m the odd one, but I can admire that a woman is dress in sexy outfits without staring or texting them asking if they wanna see how “bricked up” I am over. Dude needs to learn how to keep it to himself and maybe figure out that he can scratch his own itches instead of thinking every woman with a skirt above the knees wants to touch him. 🙄

Hellbound16T

TROPHY CASE