First of all, I apologize if this isn't the best place to make this post; just bear with me.
I'm running a homebrew campaign right now, and one of my players is a warlock of The Celestial. He's consented to working under a mysterious patron, so I've given him the bare necessities, and have not told him the big secret that his patron is both The Celestial and The Fiend simultaneously. Long story short, the patron is very one-on-one with his disciples and is extremely malleable.
Context done with, now my real question: what subtype would work best if I wanted to make a statblock for this patron? Celestial or Fiend? I was thinking perhaps even Aberration due to their nebulous nature. Or, would making separate stablocks work best?
If it were me, unless I expect the PCs to physically battle the patron in the next 2-8 sessions, I wouldn’t bother creating a statblock for it at all yet. I would likely write up a detailed outline for what I expect to put into its “Description” field (the stuff that appears below a monster’s statblock) and leave it at that for the time being. I would either wait until I needed it, to finish the rest, or perhaps fiddle with it in bits as a pet-project.**
The stuff included within a statblock is all really only combat relevant, and then only relevant regarding combat against the PCs. If it’s gotta fight anything else, you just gotta decide to go wins and give them a good story to imagine their PCs observing from a safe distance (like a different plane for example). Anything powerful enough to be a Warlock Patron is essentially a demigod, and those are the kinds of creatures that part in the faces of adventuring parties anywhere below mid Tier-3 and fewer than 5 strong in number, and then grab the closest tarrasque by its ankles and use it to play Whack-a-FoolPC. Unless/until the likelihood of the PCs actually fighting against it goes way up from “if youse all wanted to start a new campaign just say so, we don’t have to actually play out your Total Party Suicide” levels of not gonna happen, to anything even remotely approaching “you can certainly try,” the statblock will likely lay fallow for possibly ever. Even if that does come up in a year or two or three, by then you’ll have likely come to a different understanding of that entity and have to make revisions galore anyway.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but in almost 30 years of D&D I have calculated the total workload involved in managing a homebrew campaign settings as = ♾. (Literally, i have never once met a single DM who has ever put down their panicle and said “it’s finished.” The most effective tool in my toolbox for attempting to pursue this task I already know for a fact that I can never complete before I die, is effective prioritization. Of that (literally) infinite workload I prioritize:
Whatever I figure I’ma need fairly soon so I better have it ready.
Whatever might have inspired me to the point that I can’t think about other stuff until I get it outta my head.
Important Real Life Stuff.*
Other people’s projects I have been asked to help them with.
My own other D&D related projects that are not directly tied to my Wednesday evenings (game night).
Other Real Life Stuff.*
Sleep.*
Everything else.
*(I should pro’ly reconsider my priorities, but that unfortunately counts as purr of #8, and I have already determined that’ll be the stuff I’ll have to eventually get to posthumously, time permitting. 🤷♂️) **(Unless it had decided to file itself as Priority 2 when I wasn’t watching.)
Hello everyone!
First of all, I apologize if this isn't the best place to make this post; just bear with me.
I'm running a homebrew campaign right now, and one of my players is a warlock of The Celestial. He's consented to working under a mysterious patron, so I've given him the bare necessities, and have not told him the big secret that his patron is both The Celestial and The Fiend simultaneously. Long story short, the patron is very one-on-one with his disciples and is extremely malleable.
Context done with, now my real question: what subtype would work best if I wanted to make a statblock for this patron? Celestial or Fiend? I was thinking perhaps even Aberration due to their nebulous nature. Or, would making separate stablocks work best?
Thanks!
hey what's my proficiency bonus
Give them celestial, but this in the trait section of the statblock
Duel Nature
[patron name here] is considered both the celestial or fiend type.
My homebrew content: Monsters, subclasses, Magic items, Feats, spells, races, backgrounds
Thank you! Didn't even think of that trait. You're a hero
hey what's my proficiency bonus
If it were me, unless I expect the PCs to physically battle the patron in the next 2-8 sessions, I wouldn’t bother creating a statblock for it at all yet. I would likely write up a detailed outline for what I expect to put into its “Description” field (the stuff that appears below a monster’s statblock) and leave it at that for the time being. I would either wait until I needed it, to finish the rest, or perhaps fiddle with it in bits as a pet-project.**
The stuff included within a statblock is all really only combat relevant, and then only relevant regarding combat against the PCs. If it’s gotta fight anything else, you just gotta decide to go wins and give them a good story to imagine their PCs observing from a safe distance (like a different plane for example). Anything powerful enough to be a Warlock Patron is essentially a demigod, and those are the kinds of creatures that part in the faces of adventuring parties anywhere below mid Tier-3 and fewer than 5 strong in number, and then grab the closest tarrasque by its ankles and use it to play Whack-a-
FoolPC. Unless/until the likelihood of the PCs actually fighting against it goes way up from “if youse all wanted to start a new campaign just say so, we don’t have to actually play out your Total Party Suicide” levels of not gonna happen, to anything even remotely approaching “you can certainly try,” the statblock will likely lay fallow for possibly ever. Even if that does come up in a year or two or three, by then you’ll have likely come to a different understanding of that entity and have to make revisions galore anyway.I cannot speak for anyone else, but in almost 30 years of D&D I have calculated the total workload involved in managing a homebrew campaign settings as = ♾. (Literally, i have never once met a single DM who has ever put down their panicle and said “it’s finished.” The most effective tool in my toolbox for attempting to pursue this task I already know for a fact that I can never complete before I die, is effective prioritization. Of that (literally) infinite workload I prioritize:
*(I should pro’ly reconsider my priorities, but that unfortunately counts as purr of #8, and I have already determined that’ll be the stuff I’ll have to eventually get to posthumously, time permitting. 🤷♂️)
**(Unless it had decided to file itself as Priority 2 when I wasn’t watching.)
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting