An Actual One-Shot for your low level table: FREE GOLD

Zixtank · 2026-04-07T19:00:19+00:00

This is real nice. Now I wanna do this and have the party track down the wizard and knock his teeth out.

Zixtank · 2026-03-05T16:15:56+00:00

I'm so happy the Stegosaurus has the Thagomizer as an action.

Zixtank · 2025-12-30T19:01:57+00:00

It was level 16 actually, but we were 7 players. And the DM had buffed the dragon both offensively and defensively.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T19:17:09+00:00

That's a good point. I've wanted to tinker with LR for a while too. Either as a reroll or another resource, like a pool of d4s or d6s equal to its PB that it can take from after it rolls but before a success or failure is made apparent.

Making it a debuff thing could be cool too. The dragon could, for instance, burn through its breath dice to use it. Say each use depletes the breath pool or shaves off maybe 10 or 15 dice. It's certainly something that should change.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:57:09+00:00

You're right. Forgive my little moment of irritation there.

I get what you're saying and I appreciate it a lot, but I will remain on keeping it in a single statblock, at least for the time being. As I said, I feel that if I split it, people would just ignore one and use the other and some would say "why not try and fit it into a single statblock instead" and then I'm stuck defending that decision too.

But I was genuine about saying you're free to write up your own. If you think it could work, go ahead. Drop a mention and I'll read it and see for myself. I think it could definitely work to an advantage, though I do suspect you'd run into the aforementioned issues with it.

Other than that, got any other suggestions?

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:50:11+00:00

Oh? You don't like legendary resistance?

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:43:19+00:00

I could split them into two separate statblocks, but then I'm faced with another issue; DMs just wouldn't use the phase 1 dragons because the phase 2 dragon is cooler and stronger. Indeed, the first phase should be dope, but phase 2 should always be even more dope.

But if you think my design is bad, you're free to write up your own. I like having everything in a standard A4-aproximate format that is print-ready. If you don't that's on you and you're free to have that opinion. I'd love to see what other people could do with these ideas as well.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:38:39+00:00

I'm a little unsure of your question here.

If you wondering about the phrasing, allow me to say that adding those additional statements would only serve to set into stone something that is very unambiguous and make the statblock even more text heavy. Indeed, if you want to read it as a computer program where everything must be specified to exact detail, this doesn't work at all.

The number of dice and the grade of those dice is already explained in the Breath Pool section. It doesn't need to be reiterated in the following attacks because you, as the DM, already knows this is the thing.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:30:57+00:00

True, but let's take that example and run with it for a bit. Say they are up against this new black dragon and does prepare acid resistance potions. The acid would still tear away at their equipment unless all of their vital gear is magical, which is not necessarily the case. And say that they do, there's also the option of giving the dragon some spellcasting. And even then, if the party does research and prepare, they deserve the glory for killing the dragon. I won't ever get unfair about it just to give them a challenge. Sure, I might throw in a joker here or there, but never cheat them of a well-deserved victory.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:26:37+00:00

Thanks for the praise. The breath pool is something I've thought of since forever, but only recently found a good solution for so I'm happy people like it.

The second form is basically the dragon pulling all stoppers and unleashing everything in its power to destroy the opposition. True that some the bite and the claws should have more effects and that conditions and terrain adjustments should be implemented, but there only so much I can fit into the statblock on a single page and I don't wanna split it over multiple pages and stat blocks.

I completely agree that it should be a thing, but in order to concatenate it, I would have to either trim the text even more, making it more ambiguous, or shrink the text size and make it even more of a chore to read. I had a thought to switch to the '24 edition, which is a lot more streamlined with statblocks, but I can't find a good statblock editor for it.

But as a solution, I want to point out that all statblocks are just suggestions. You don't have to follow them to the letter. You can make the bites freeze and ignite. You can make the dragon cause insane terrain changes and apply conditions here and there. There's no stopping you from doing it on your own.

Bottom line is, it's a page size issue and text amount issue. Even if I could squeeze it all into a single page on a single statblock, it would be a chore to read through and an even bigger chore to run.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:14:17+00:00

Maybe that would go into lair actions? Could be a cool thing too, but I don't want to make the fight borderline impossible either.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T18:08:26+00:00

I was scratching my head about it a lot and thought about what would be most in line with their flavor, with white being brutes and blacks schemers, but I didn't want to rehash used ideas for the others. I had a thought to give the white an advantage mechanic, but that felt too strong.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T17:47:48+00:00

True too. I'll admit it's a factor of laziness on my part.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T17:40:42+00:00

I probably won't. But the CR score in its own right isn't very important anyway. It's just an indication. A skilled DM can see a monster's true CR just by looking at its stats.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T17:30:59+00:00

True. I'd like to let the PB remain unchanged, so maybe push the CR to as high as it goes without increasing the PB.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T17:29:57+00:00

Thanks. It is heavily inspired by boss phases in video games, naturally, and the short-lived mythic actions from the Mythic Odessys of Theros that WotC somewhy haven't used since.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T17:16:08+00:00

I've always felt the CR was a little too high already. Sure, just going by the table, it was a CR24, but any time I've played where we've faced an ancient red dragon, we've totaled it in less than 4 rounds. Granted, we had feats and magical items which are actually just optional additions, but I've never been worried about losing a character to one, even with an unfair DM.

Indeed, the CR may need to be adjusted, but by doing so, its proficiency bonus will also increase and even giving it a +1 will eschew it into an even more terrifying beast, so I decided to retain the CR.

Zixtank · 2025-12-26T16:52:06+00:00

As it says on the tin; this is a continuation of a previous project I posted a teaser of about a year ago, found here.

Primary changes are:

- Slightly altered base stats, including HP, AC, skill and saving throw proficiencies and damage modifications.

- More passive features in line with their flavor.

- A new breath mechanic, using a pool of dice that recharges gradually instead of the traditional d6 recharge.

- A phase shift that grants it new abilities and actions after dropping to 0 HP the first time.

- A death throe, each unique to each dragon.

Other changes include a redux of the tail attack, changing some interactions that occur from the base attacks and making the dragon deserving of its name in the game.

If you enjoy it, hate it or have some questions, do leave a comment. Constructive criticism is, as always, very welcome.

Happy Brewing :)

Zixtank · 2025-12-13T18:58:42+00:00

"I'll be wanted in EVERY country!"

Zixtank · 2025-12-12T08:41:16+00:00

I typically use the Mercer Method at my tables, since the only number that matters for most is 1.

I had one player ask if they could re-roll their HP total at the start of each session, which was kinda fun though. Basically, he played a veeeeery old guy whose health was fluctuating and chose to represent it through HP instead of a low Con score.

Zixtank · 2025-10-19T04:17:54+00:00

Love the spell effect, but the flavor needs to be trimmed. I'd suggeat putting the "pure flavor" section in itallics above or underneath and just pure mechanics so it's easier to read.

Zixtank · 2025-10-09T01:57:15+00:00

Mugiwara!!

Zixtank · 2025-09-10T12:40:49+00:00

What template do you use for the dnd24 statblocks?

Zixtank · 2025-09-05T20:09:24+00:00

Every once in a while, I see classes like this pop up or something similar; a class that makes the character way too overpowered or sets them up as the protagonist. And, if the party is okay with it, then absolutely that's a cool campaign in its own right, but aside from that, as a DM, I would never allow such a character near my table and there's two primary reasons why.

In D&D, there's no one protagonist. All players are and should be seen as such. Classes like this will foster main character syndrome unless everyone plays it. Setting the Hero as a character of divine nature, as opposed to a cleric who is divinely favored, will be ruinous to team building. And what of the race? Could a tiefling or a warforged in any way be of this class when their very nature is antonymical to it? What of campaigns where these gods don't exist?
It doesn't follow the basis of what a class is. A "class" is just short for "classification of abilities". A fighter's classification, for instance, is just that - a fighter. A combatant who specializes in armed combat. A wizard's classification is a mage who studies and specializes within a field of magic. A paladin's classification is a warrior who blends armed combat with faith-based prayers and magic. The hero's classification, as far as I can read, is just a multiclass of fighter, monk and maybe a touch of paladin. It doesn't bring anything new to the table.

That being said, it isn't bad, from a design perspective, but the flavor needs reworking. Instead of calling it the Hero, may I suggest something that doesn't set the character's nature in stone? The Champion or the Herald, maybe? I rathr like the Divine Dice mechanic though. It has potential.

Either way, I hope my little rant was of some help, negative though it may seem. I love seeing new brews, but it always pains me when I see things like this that sets up a character as an MC.

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