Are you looking for STLs or actual physical minis?
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
The best minis I've found, hands down, were on Etsy.com. I once ordered a ranger from a Russian guy who lived practically next door to Mongolia. It took forever to get it to me but I loved it.
The official minis are garbage painted in China and wildly over priced.
If you're willing and able to paint your minis, your options expand dramatically. Reaper makes an absolute truckload of great figures in D&D scale. There are tons of excellent digital sculptors producing them on Etsy and similar places. The sea of unpainted miniatures is endless. Getting into painting can be a little intimidating, but it's your cheapest option for custom colored models, and you can apply it to all sorts of models. The Frameworks minis look really great, I'm looking forward to doing that human Warlock soonish.
If not, see if you know someone who is. Offer and expect to pay them -- creative work is work, after all. I work for minimum wage, and if I was going to price my free time at the same rate, it would cost you about 30-45 bucks for a regular D&D mini. Most people would, or at least should, charge more than that. I've done it for free though. I like doing it, and I didn't always have stuff waiting to be painted. But don't count on this.
There are painters online who do commissions too. I've heard of people using Fiver for this. Can't speak to it personally.
Hero Forge can make colored miniatures using whatever dark sorcery they have. I've come to kinda dislike the style of their figures, but you may feel differently. The tech is definitely impressive. Compared to commissions it's a good deal IIRC, and you can customize how the mini looks and what gear it has and stuff, which is a lot of fun.
Heroforge, the coloured prints are not that impressive...at least not according to the pictures they've done as an example, at any rate. They come out quite...Well, just look for yourself; design a mini, then go to buy a coloured plastic version, they show a comparison of the file and the end product. It's tech Italy impressive, but they don't look like they come out great, and for $45 plus postage...
I'd recommend getting your own printer (or using a local 3D printing shop, if one is available) and doing it yourself instead. I was very surprised with the quality I could do, despite being terrible at art in general. I won't pretend to be amazing or anything, but my quality is better than the colour prints from heroforge. By the time you've done 10 minis, the money you'd have spent on heroforge colour minis will have paid for all your equipment, the materials, all your paints you'll need, brushes, etc with a healthy amount of money still in your pocket, plus the ability to make new minis for less than a dollar (after you've bought the STL file, which is variable, but a couple of dollars at most for a normal human sized mini, and you can print as many as you like). It does take a substantial investment of time though.
Commissions are great for moneybags or for very limited runs (a handful of characters), so if you're a player it can work. However, that mounts up quickly if you have any interest in doing it for any significant number of minis. I think with everything I've spent, I'm on about $11 per mini averaged out using my 3D printer, and it's dropping with each batch (most of my expenses was on the printer and associated equipment).
If you do go for 3D printing p, either yourself, paying a friend or getting a shop to do it, myminifactory has a lot of really good STLs and pretty cheap. They can also print, but I don't know what their quality is like.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I'm happy with the look of my heroforge minis, but then I paint them myself, so I don't have the color issues. My issue with them is they're kind of brittle. I've had the weapons break off of two of them, under circumstances where it seemed like it really should have stayed on. So, my advice would be, if you design one, try not to have too many thin bits sticking far out from the main body.
Otherwise, as others said, reaper minis are great, high quality sculpts, and they're metal and way cheaper than heroforge. They can have parts break off, too, but it doesn't happen nearly as frequently. The down side is trying to find one that fits your character. I remember flipping through pages and pages looking for a human, using an ax and shield wearing heavy armor, and I never did find one (maybe it's out there and I didn't see it, but it was tough). Either axe wielders were dwarfs or barbarians (greataxe in light armor or furs or something). But if you're looking for more classic types -- humans with swords for example -- reaper has great choices.
Painting them yourself can be cheaper in the long run, but it can also be an investment. The paint costs can add up (I typically use games workshop, but really, almost any crafting paints will do), and if you're only painting one mini every couple years when a new campaign starts, it might dry out before you use the paint a second time. And the No. 1 tip is: don't cheap out on the brushes. But if you like it, it can really become a fun sub-hobby.
I'm happy with the look of my heroforge minis, but then I paint them myself, so I don't have the color issues. My issue with them is they're kind of brittle. I've had the weapons break off of two of them, under circumstances where it seemed like it really should have stayed on. So, my advice would be, if you design one, try not to have too many thin bits sticking far out from the main body.
Is that the ones where they print it for you then you paint? I've printed a few, and I've resolved to never design ones with spears again. They just keep breaking because they're so thin, even while I'm printing - I'm not sure there is a way around that, even going to other sites. Just nature of the beast.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I'm happy with the look of my heroforge minis, but then I paint them myself, so I don't have the color issues. My issue with them is they're kind of brittle. I've had the weapons break off of two of them, under circumstances where it seemed like it really should have stayed on. So, my advice would be, if you design one, try not to have too many thin bits sticking far out from the main body.
Is that the ones where they print it for you then you paint? I've printed a few, and I've resolved to never design ones with spears again. They just keep breaking because they're so thin, even while I'm printing - I'm not sure there is a way around that, even going to other sites. Just nature of the beast.
I don't print them myself, if that's what you're asking. They send me the plain, grey plastic, then I paint it myself. I keep toying with the idea of getting a printer and doing it myself, and printing for the rest of my group at cost. I just never pull the trigger on it.
I've had a battleaxe and glaive break off, I could definitely see a spear having the same problems. But with metal minis, I've had things bend in weird ways, but I can just bend them back. I'm not saying nothing ever broke with metal, but the percentage is way, way lower.
If you do get practiced at the metal, you can customize them yourself. Buy a pack of weapons, then snip off the one your mini came with and glue on the new one. Those, also, tend to be quite fragile at the glue joints, but if you do it right, they look good. And you can always re-glue it.
Yeah, I have also broken pieces on my Hero Forge models. One arrowhead snapped off a metal one, and a plastic one snapped off at the ankle. (Sandals, so the ankles were pretty thin I guess, and these models took some abuse -- they all went in a Ziploc bag with a bunch of other ones. So I'm not going to say I'm surprised. But it is disappointing when such a tiny thing costs so much and then breaks.
That said, I have three other ones from them that are fine. One has a trident in one hand. I'm more careful with those three. They're not really fragile, it's just that other models are surprisingly tough. The prepainted Wizkids ones are generally tough as nails. Reaper too. The white plastic ones are basically indestructible, though the detail is worse and they bend like crazy. You look at something like a Warhammer model or a Malifaux model, now those are fragile. Or they can be, depending on the design.
Yeah, I meant the ones you buy and they send you preprinted. That's disappointing about the metal ones. I was half thinking of getting metal versions of a couple of characters of our first characters, but if they're bending and breaking, that's a bit off-putting when you're spending $100 plus per figure.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I have several dozen heroforge minis that a friend printed. Resin is a fickle medium and some did break, but they're also really easy to repair. They also paint up amazingly well; the proportions can be divisive, but they lend themselves well to painting.
WizKid’s unpainted minis are pretty great if you are willing to paint them yourself (I cannot speak for their pre coloured minis, since I have never used them). They are not as brittle as 3D printed ones you will get from Etsy (where I cam not remember the last time I had a mini arrive without some part already broken, even from top-rated sellers), take paint pretty well, are relatively inexpensive (they often come with multiple figures while still being less expensive than single 3D printed ones), and you can often find them at your local game store, so you do not need to wait on shipping and can support local small businesses.
Has anyone gotten the heroforge one color printed? I have a new campaign soon, and I’m debating getting that instead of painting myself. My eyes just aren’t what they used to be when it comes to the tiny detail work.
Has anyone gotten the heroforge one color printed? I have a new campaign soon, and I’m debating getting that instead of painting myself. My eyes just aren’t what they used to be when it comes to the tiny detail work.
I've not had them, but they give a preview of what one of theirs looked like as designed on the website, and then a photo of it printed out. As I mentioned before, it's impressive what they can do, but it's really not the quality that even a beginner can do with paint. Just see if you're happy with it.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I am looking for a good cleric mini figure. The only one I have found that is halfway decent is from framewors. any suggestions?
Depends on your budget and where you are located.
Custom miniatures can be created with sites like:
heroforge.com
eldritch-foundry.com
anvl.co
Other than that there are companies like Reaper Miniatures with rather inexpensive minis.
Are you looking for STLs or actual physical minis?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
The best minis I've found, hands down, were on Etsy.com. I once ordered a ranger from a Russian guy who lived practically next door to Mongolia. It took forever to get it to me but I loved it.
The official minis are garbage painted in China and wildly over priced.
If you're willing and able to paint your minis, your options expand dramatically. Reaper makes an absolute truckload of great figures in D&D scale. There are tons of excellent digital sculptors producing them on Etsy and similar places. The sea of unpainted miniatures is endless. Getting into painting can be a little intimidating, but it's your cheapest option for custom colored models, and you can apply it to all sorts of models. The Frameworks minis look really great, I'm looking forward to doing that human Warlock soonish.
If not, see if you know someone who is. Offer and expect to pay them -- creative work is work, after all. I work for minimum wage, and if I was going to price my free time at the same rate, it would cost you about 30-45 bucks for a regular D&D mini. Most people would, or at least should, charge more than that. I've done it for free though. I like doing it, and I didn't always have stuff waiting to be painted. But don't count on this.
There are painters online who do commissions too. I've heard of people using Fiver for this. Can't speak to it personally.
Hero Forge can make colored miniatures using whatever dark sorcery they have. I've come to kinda dislike the style of their figures, but you may feel differently. The tech is definitely impressive. Compared to commissions it's a good deal IIRC, and you can customize how the mini looks and what gear it has and stuff, which is a lot of fun.
Heroforge, the coloured prints are not that impressive...at least not according to the pictures they've done as an example, at any rate. They come out quite...Well, just look for yourself; design a mini, then go to buy a coloured plastic version, they show a comparison of the file and the end product. It's tech Italy impressive, but they don't look like they come out great, and for $45 plus postage...
I'd recommend getting your own printer (or using a local 3D printing shop, if one is available) and doing it yourself instead. I was very surprised with the quality I could do, despite being terrible at art in general. I won't pretend to be amazing or anything, but my quality is better than the colour prints from heroforge. By the time you've done 10 minis, the money you'd have spent on heroforge colour minis will have paid for all your equipment, the materials, all your paints you'll need, brushes, etc with a healthy amount of money still in your pocket, plus the ability to make new minis for less than a dollar (after you've bought the STL file, which is variable, but a couple of dollars at most for a normal human sized mini, and you can print as many as you like). It does take a substantial investment of time though.
Commissions are great for moneybags or for very limited runs (a handful of characters), so if you're a player it can work. However, that mounts up quickly if you have any interest in doing it for any significant number of minis. I think with everything I've spent, I'm on about $11 per mini averaged out using my 3D printer, and it's dropping with each batch (most of my expenses was on the printer and associated equipment).
If you do go for 3D printing p, either yourself, paying a friend or getting a shop to do it, myminifactory has a lot of really good STLs and pretty cheap. They can also print, but I don't know what their quality is like.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I'm happy with the look of my heroforge minis, but then I paint them myself, so I don't have the color issues. My issue with them is they're kind of brittle. I've had the weapons break off of two of them, under circumstances where it seemed like it really should have stayed on. So, my advice would be, if you design one, try not to have too many thin bits sticking far out from the main body.
Otherwise, as others said, reaper minis are great, high quality sculpts, and they're metal and way cheaper than heroforge. They can have parts break off, too, but it doesn't happen nearly as frequently. The down side is trying to find one that fits your character. I remember flipping through pages and pages looking for a human, using an ax and shield wearing heavy armor, and I never did find one (maybe it's out there and I didn't see it, but it was tough). Either axe wielders were dwarfs or barbarians (greataxe in light armor or furs or something). But if you're looking for more classic types -- humans with swords for example -- reaper has great choices.
Painting them yourself can be cheaper in the long run, but it can also be an investment. The paint costs can add up (I typically use games workshop, but really, almost any crafting paints will do), and if you're only painting one mini every couple years when a new campaign starts, it might dry out before you use the paint a second time. And the No. 1 tip is: don't cheap out on the brushes. But if you like it, it can really become a fun sub-hobby.
Is that the ones where they print it for you then you paint? I've printed a few, and I've resolved to never design ones with spears again. They just keep breaking because they're so thin, even while I'm printing - I'm not sure there is a way around that, even going to other sites. Just nature of the beast.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I don't print them myself, if that's what you're asking. They send me the plain, grey plastic, then I paint it myself. I keep toying with the idea of getting a printer and doing it myself, and printing for the rest of my group at cost. I just never pull the trigger on it.
I've had a battleaxe and glaive break off, I could definitely see a spear having the same problems. But with metal minis, I've had things bend in weird ways, but I can just bend them back. I'm not saying nothing ever broke with metal, but the percentage is way, way lower.
If you do get practiced at the metal, you can customize them yourself. Buy a pack of weapons, then snip off the one your mini came with and glue on the new one. Those, also, tend to be quite fragile at the glue joints, but if you do it right, they look good. And you can always re-glue it.
Yeah, I have also broken pieces on my Hero Forge models. One arrowhead snapped off a metal one, and a plastic one snapped off at the ankle. (Sandals, so the ankles were pretty thin I guess, and these models took some abuse -- they all went in a Ziploc bag with a bunch of other ones. So I'm not going to say I'm surprised. But it is disappointing when such a tiny thing costs so much and then breaks.
That said, I have three other ones from them that are fine. One has a trident in one hand. I'm more careful with those three. They're not really fragile, it's just that other models are surprisingly tough. The prepainted Wizkids ones are generally tough as nails. Reaper too. The white plastic ones are basically indestructible, though the detail is worse and they bend like crazy. You look at something like a Warhammer model or a Malifaux model, now those are fragile. Or they can be, depending on the design.
Yeah, I meant the ones you buy and they send you preprinted. That's disappointing about the metal ones. I was half thinking of getting metal versions of a couple of characters of our first characters, but if they're bending and breaking, that's a bit off-putting when you're spending $100 plus per figure.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I bought my first one from hero forge, and never painted it. It did break because my daughter sat on it. But we were able to fix it.
Second one we all designed and printed them ourselves and had a painting night. Turned out good.
Odo Proudfoot - Lvl 10 Halfling Monk - Princes of the Apocalypse (Campaign Finished)
Orryn Pebblefoot - Lvl 5 Rock Gnome Wizard (Deceased) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (Deceased)
Anerin Ap Tewdr - Lvl 5 Human (Variant) Bard (College of Valor) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
I have several dozen heroforge minis that a friend printed. Resin is a fickle medium and some did break, but they're also really easy to repair. They also paint up amazingly well; the proportions can be divisive, but they lend themselves well to painting.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
WizKid’s unpainted minis are pretty great if you are willing to paint them yourself (I cannot speak for their pre coloured minis, since I have never used them). They are not as brittle as 3D printed ones you will get from Etsy (where I cam not remember the last time I had a mini arrive without some part already broken, even from top-rated sellers), take paint pretty well, are relatively inexpensive (they often come with multiple figures while still being less expensive than single 3D printed ones), and you can often find them at your local game store, so you do not need to wait on shipping and can support local small businesses.
Has anyone gotten the heroforge one color printed? I have a new campaign soon, and I’m debating getting that instead of painting myself. My eyes just aren’t what they used to be when it comes to the tiny detail work.
I've not had them, but they give a preview of what one of theirs looked like as designed on the website, and then a photo of it printed out. As I mentioned before, it's impressive what they can do, but it's really not the quality that even a beginner can do with paint. Just see if you're happy with it.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
How soon do you need it?
What race and weapon are you using?