Then to make it official: My DM submission is Zephyros, the Storm Herald: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2719060-zephyros-the-storm-herald He is a monster that you can use as a boss, but also as a friendly NPC that helps the party with buffs and other support abilities in epic fights against powerful foes :-)
Just made a small update for Zephyros, the Storm Herald. Also, I would be happy for some feedback so that I can improve his statblock :)
While it's evident that you put a massive amount of time and effort into this, I agree with Sposta that it's far too long. That's not a bad thing at your own table where you run the monster/encounter, but I just feel a lot of people (including myself) have a limited amount of time to read entries, let alone make our own. Unfortunately many people might end up taking a look at your glorious statblock and simply saying TL;DR and give it an average score.
I applaud the work you put into this and I'll try to make efforts and time to read through the whole thing so I can accurately vote on it if I get the chance, but man is it long!
Then to make it official: My DM submission is Zephyros, the Storm Herald: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2719060-zephyros-the-storm-herald He is a monster that you can use as a boss, but also as a friendly NPC that helps the party with buffs and other support abilities in epic fights against powerful foes :-)
Just made a small update for Zephyros, the Storm Herald. Also, I would be happy for some feedback so that I can improve his statblock :)
While it's evident that you put a massive amount of time and effort into this, I agree with Sposta that it's far too long. That's not a bad thing at your own table where you run the monster/encounter, but I just feel a lot of people (including myself) have a limited amount of time to read entries, let alone make our own. Unfortunately many people might end up taking a look at your glorious statblock and simply saying TL;DR and give it an average score.
I applaud the work you put into this and I'll try to make efforts and time to read through the whole thing so I can accurately vote on it if I get the chance, but man is it long!
Wow, I just read the whole thing and it's huge, and yet again, a score of 5....
I really don't have suggestions for it, except that you really need to get someone to do artwork for him. Unless that's unreasonable, of course. But professional artwork for him would be amazazing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Then to make it official: My DM submission is Zephyros, the Storm Herald: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2719060-zephyros-the-storm-herald He is a monster that you can use as a boss, but also as a friendly NPC that helps the party with buffs and other support abilities in epic fights against powerful foes :-)
Just made a small update for Zephyros, the Storm Herald. Also, I would be happy for some feedback so that I can improve his statblock :)
While it's evident that you put a massive amount of time and effort into this, I agree with Sposta that it's far too long. That's not a bad thing at your own table where you run the monster/encounter, but I just feel a lot of people (including myself) have a limited amount of time to read entries, let alone make our own. Unfortunately many people might end up taking a look at your glorious statblock and simply saying TL;DR and give it an average score.
I applaud the work you put into this and I'll try to make efforts and time to read through the whole thing so I can accurately vote on it if I get the chance, but man is it long!
I am glad that you appreciate the time and effort I put into my statblocks :-) My issue is that if I try to shorten the statblock I would have to cut out abilities that I think the monster should absolutely have and then I get the feeling of the statblock being incomplete (same for most of my other statblocks, almost all of my high-level monster statblocks are of similar length). Also, does the length issue only apply to the statblock itself or to the description (and lair actions) too? Indeed I think many homebrew monsters could need a longer, more detailed description.
Then to make it official: My DM submission is Zephyros, the Storm Herald: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2719060-zephyros-the-storm-herald He is a monster that you can use as a boss, but also as a friendly NPC that helps the party with buffs and other support abilities in epic fights against powerful foes :-)
Just made a small update for Zephyros, the Storm Herald. Also, I would be happy for some feedback so that I can improve his statblock :)
While it's evident that you put a massive amount of time and effort into this, I agree with Sposta that it's far too long. That's not a bad thing at your own table where you run the monster/encounter, but I just feel a lot of people (including myself) have a limited amount of time to read entries, let alone make our own. Unfortunately many people might end up taking a look at your glorious statblock and simply saying TL;DR and give it an average score.
I applaud the work you put into this and I'll try to make efforts and time to read through the whole thing so I can accurately vote on it if I get the chance, but man is it long!
Wow, I just read the whole thing and it's huge, and yet again, a score of 5....
I really don't have suggestions for it, except that you really need to get someone to do artwork for him. Unless that's unreasonable, of course. But professional artwork for him would be amazazing.
I actually have an older artwork for him, from back then when Zephyros was my character in a campaign, indeed he was the first character I played all the way to level 20.
I could commission something new I think; can you recommend an artist?
I am glad that you appreciate the time and effort I put into my statblocks :-) My issue is that if I try to shorten the statblock I would have to cut out abilities that I think the monster should absolutely have and then I get the feeling of the statblock being incomplete (same for most of my other statblocks, almost all of my high-level monster statblocks are of similar length). Also, does the length issue only apply to the statblock itself or to the description (and lair actions) too? Indeed I think many homebrew monsters could need a longer, more detailed description.
I think the description being long isn't as much of a problem because it's creative writing. People are more likely to read a two page lore-drop than two pages of technical writing like a statblock (in most cases, at least; I actually prefer the technical reading, just don't have the time lately) And lairs are inevitably going to be a lot of descriptive text. Luckily, the essential reading for a lair is usually pretty short (just the lair actions, really).
Then to make it official: My DM submission is Zephyros, the Storm Herald: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2719060-zephyros-the-storm-herald He is a monster that you can use as a boss, but also as a friendly NPC that helps the party with buffs and other support abilities in epic fights against powerful foes :-)
Just made a small update for Zephyros, the Storm Herald. Also, I would be happy for some feedback so that I can improve his statblock :)
While it's evident that you put a massive amount of time and effort into this, I agree with Sposta that it's far too long. That's not a bad thing at your own table where you run the monster/encounter, but I just feel a lot of people (including myself) have a limited amount of time to read entries, let alone make our own. Unfortunately many people might end up taking a look at your glorious statblock and simply saying TL;DR and give it an average score.
I applaud the work you put into this and I'll try to make efforts and time to read through the whole thing so I can accurately vote on it if I get the chance, but man is it long!
Wow, I just read the whole thing and it's huge, and yet again, a score of 5....
I really don't have suggestions for it, except that you really need to get someone to do artwork for him. Unless that's unreasonable, of course. But professional artwork for him would be amazazing.
I actually have an older artwork for him, from back then when Zephyros was my character in a campaign, indeed he was the first character I played all the way to level 20.
I could commission something new I think; can you recommend an artist?
No, I don’t know of any in particular; I’ve never had commissions done before.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Then to make it official: My DM submission is Zephyros, the Storm Herald: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/2719060-zephyros-the-storm-herald He is a monster that you can use as a boss, but also as a friendly NPC that helps the party with buffs and other support abilities in epic fights against powerful foes :-)
Just made a small update for Zephyros, the Storm Herald. Also, I would be happy for some feedback so that I can improve his statblock :)
While it's evident that you put a massive amount of time and effort into this, I agree with Sposta that it's far too long. That's not a bad thing at your own table where you run the monster/encounter, but I just feel a lot of people (including myself) have a limited amount of time to read entries, let alone make our own. Unfortunately many people might end up taking a look at your glorious statblock and simply saying TL;DR and give it an average score.
I applaud the work you put into this and I'll try to make efforts and time to read through the whole thing so I can accurately vote on it if I get the chance, but man is it long!
Wow, I just read the whole thing and it's huge, and yet again, a score of 5....
I really don't have suggestions for it, except that you really need to get someone to do artwork for him. Unless that's unreasonable, of course. But professional artwork for him would be amazazing.
I actually have an older artwork for him, from back then when Zephyros was my character in a campaign, indeed he was the first character I played all the way to level 20.
I could commission something new I think; can you recommend an artist?
No, I don’t know of any in particular; I’ve never had commissions done before.
I know one! Unfortunately their commissions are closed atm but once they’re open Critbit (@critbit on insta) is really good! I recommend checking out their posts to get a feel for what you can expect.
I know one! Unfortunately their commissions are closed atm but once they’re open Critbit (@critbit on insta) is really good! I recommend checking out their posts to get a feel for what you can expect.
Thank you for the recommendation. Their art does look good, I will reach out to them if their comissions reopen again :-)
✍️ Four weeks down, two weeks less than 1 week to go! ✏️
How many entries can we get? C‘mon Everybody, let’s rack ‘em up!!
Wait, are entires open until the 21st or the 31st? You said July 21st in the timeframe section.
💩!! My bad. It’s the voting that ends on August 1st, not starts on August 1st. I effed up. (Been dealing with some IRL stuff and have been a little 🤪 lately, but in a not good way.) My apologies, and thank you for pointing out my mistake.
My submission for the DM category is the Earkano race (but not the playable race, which I did also make). I had created the earkano for something else (actually, the original idea came form one of my players), so I decided to flesh them out more and make a bunch more statblocks. I would recommend reading the whole lore section before following the links. So, without further ado, I present the Earkano: Commanders of the Sea.
Earkano: Commanders of the Sea
The earkano (pronounced ay-are-KAH-no) are a strange people. Millennia ago, an entire nation of humans was lost to the Elemental Plane of Water. Whether they chose to go or were banished, none now know. At first, many of them perished in the harsh environment surrounding them, but then they were blessed with the ability to survive underwater. Many earkano worship the entity who gave them this blessing, referring to it as simply the Deep One.
Watery Existence. No matter who blessed the earkano in this way, the blessing wrought significant changes in their physiology. Not only did they gain the ability to breathe underwater, but their hair was also replaced by a magical hair-like water. This water-hair is obviously water* - or something like it - and yet still clearly hair. Hair-like strands of color (often sea green or deep blue) flow through their water-hair, and while underwater, it sparkles and shines faintly, though not enough to provide useful light.
Over time, the earkano developed the magic of their blessing, refining their control of water and becoming more attuned to it. Now, nearly all have some level of innate magic. In addition, many are able to temporarily become water, allowing them a great degree of mobility through small spaces.
Servants of the Deep One. Though some earkano are independent, free-willed individuals, and an occasional tribe might be utterly separated from the rest of their race, most earkano dwell in a handful of well-organized cities, far beneath the waves. The priests of the Deep One, the earkano’s patron deity, hold significant sway in the governments of these cities, since they are the ones whose connection to the Deep One is the most direct. However, the priesthood does not officially rule.
Protectors of the Seas. Though their cities are far from numerous and spread rather far apart, the earkano strive to bring order and safety to the other inhabitants of the seas surrounding their dwellings. Sahuagin and other sea monsters are mostly kept at bay,** and what few remnants there are of the triton*** take refuge in the earkano cities.
In each earkano city, the responsibility of rulership is placed upon a council of five powerful earkano. The members of these ruling councils are called Deeplords, and their primary responsibility is the order and protection of their cities. The skills and specialties of different Deeplords vary, but most are accomplished warriors or mages. Occasionally, an earkano priest might become a Deeplord, but the vast majority of priests with enough power and influence to become a Deeplord reject such political positions.
Making More Earkano Monster Statblocks
If you want to have more varied earkano statblocks, turning an existing statblock into an earkano is quite simple. You can add add the following traits to any humanoid statblock, unless that statblock represents a specific character:
Innate Spellcasting. The earkano’s spellcasting ability is Charisma. Its spell save DC equals 8 + its Charisma modifier + its proficiency bonus, and its spell attack bonus equals its Charisma modifier + its proficiency bonus. It can cast each of the following spells once per day: ice knife, fog cloud (cast at 2nd level), and wall of water. You can remove any of those spells if you desire a less powerful monster.
Swim Speed. The earkano gains a swimming speed of 30 feet.
Cold Resistance. The earkano has resistance to cold damaged.
Watery Form. As described in each of my earkano statblocks, the earkano can temporarily become water. It can use this feature a number of times per day equal to its proficiency bonus.
Deepsteel: Fluid Iron
Deepsteel is a unique, semi-magical metal that can only be worked at hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. Used primarily to create weapons, armor, and similar gear, deepsteel is very strange in that it is continually flowing within the shape it has been worked into. It is just as solidly sturdy as steel, but its surface seems to be constantly swirling, though much slower than water.
Properties of Deeptsteel
The price of deepsteel armor, shields, and weapons increases by 75 gp for a shield or simple weapon, 175 gp for a martial weapon, 250 gp for medium armor, and 500 gp for heavy armor. While wearing or wielding armor, a shield, or a weapon made of deepsteel, you have a swimming speed of 30 feet and can breathe underwater.
Deepsteel Armor. Any medium or heavy armor except hide can be made of deepsteel. While wearing a suit of deepsteel armor, you have resistance to cold damage.
Deepsteel Shields. When a creature you can see within 5 feet of you hits you attack while wearing a deepsteel shield, you can use your reaction to deal 2d4 cold damage to that creature. Once you use this reaction 3 times, it cannot be used again until the next dawn.
Deepsteel Weapons and Ammunition. Any melee weapon except whips; boomerangs and darts; and arrows, crossbow bolts, and sling bullets, can be made of deepsteel. When you hit with an attack with a deepsteel weapon, the target takes an extra 1d8 cold damage. In addition, any attack made with deepsteel ammunition or weapons ignores any penalties and restrictions of underwater combat.
Shoot! Three days to figure out a whimsical bard ability...
Shoot! Three days to figure out how to do a Google Survey!! 😅
Shoot! Three days to write the 90% of a class...
(Do you want aid on the google form or do you think you can figure it out it in time?)
¡¡😱!! 😂 😂
Thank you for the offer, but Kaboom979 graciously helped me with it, so I did get something figured out. I don’t know how well I got it figured out, but I figured it out more or less. Again, thanks for your kind offer. And if there are any shortcomings with the survey, I assure everyone that they’re my fault, not ‘Boom’s.
Shoot! Three days to figure out a whimsical bard ability...
Shoot! Three days to figure out how to do a Google Survey!! 😅
Shoot! Three days to write the 90% of a class...
(Do you want aid on the google form or do you think you can figure it out it in time?)
¡¡😱!! 😂 😂
Thank you for the offer, but Kaboom979 graciously helped me with it, so I did get something figured out. I don’t know how well I got it figured out, but I figured it out more or less. Again, thanks for your kind offer. And if there are any shortcomings with the survey, I assure everyone that they’re my fault, not ‘Boom’s.
While it's evident that you put a massive amount of time and effort into this, I agree with Sposta that it's far too long. That's not a bad thing at your own table where you run the monster/encounter, but I just feel a lot of people (including myself) have a limited amount of time to read entries, let alone make our own. Unfortunately many people might end up taking a look at your glorious statblock and simply saying TL;DR and give it an average score.
I applaud the work you put into this and I'll try to make efforts and time to read through the whole thing so I can accurately vote on it if I get the chance, but man is it long!
Sunday DM and creator of homebrew for both DMs and players. I do lots of conversions!
My best brews: Berserker (Fire Emblem - barbarian subclass) | Swordmaster (Fire Emblem - fighter subclass) | Deserter (background) | Flame Atronach (Skyrim - monster)
My Fire Emblem Conversion Thread
General homebrew links
Spells | Monsters | Magic Items | Backgrounds | Feats | Races | Subclasses
Wow, I just read the whole thing and it's huge, and yet again, a score of 5....
I really don't have suggestions for it, except that you really need to get someone to do artwork for him. Unless that's unreasonable, of course. But professional artwork for him would be amazazing.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
I am glad that you appreciate the time and effort I put into my statblocks :-) My issue is that if I try to shorten the statblock I would have to cut out abilities that I think the monster should absolutely have and then I get the feeling of the statblock being incomplete (same for most of my other statblocks, almost all of my high-level monster statblocks are of similar length). Also, does the length issue only apply to the statblock itself or to the description (and lair actions) too? Indeed I think many homebrew monsters could need a longer, more detailed description.
I actually have an older artwork for him, from back then when Zephyros was my character in a campaign, indeed he was the first character I played all the way to level 20.
I could commission something new I think; can you recommend an artist?
I think the description being long isn't as much of a problem because it's creative writing. People are more likely to read a two page lore-drop than two pages of technical writing like a statblock (in most cases, at least; I actually prefer the technical reading, just don't have the time lately)
And lairs are inevitably going to be a lot of descriptive text. Luckily, the essential reading for a lair is usually pretty short (just the lair actions, really).
Sunday DM and creator of homebrew for both DMs and players. I do lots of conversions!
My best brews: Berserker (Fire Emblem - barbarian subclass) | Swordmaster (Fire Emblem - fighter subclass) | Deserter (background) | Flame Atronach (Skyrim - monster)
My Fire Emblem Conversion Thread
General homebrew links
Spells | Monsters | Magic Items | Backgrounds | Feats | Races | Subclasses
No, I don’t know of any in particular; I’ve never had commissions done before.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
I know one! Unfortunately their commissions are closed atm but once they’re open Critbit (@critbit on insta) is really good! I recommend checking out their posts to get a feel for what you can expect.
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
I just made a bunch of modifications to The Shadow Knight in my original post. Thanks to everyone who gave their feedback on it!
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.✍️ Four weeks down,
two weeksless than 1 week to go! ✏️How many entries can we get?
C‘mon Everybody, let’s rack ‘em up!!
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
This was the closest I could get: (https://www.heroforge.com/load_config=32658850/).
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Thank you for the recommendation. Their art does look good, I will reach out to them if their comissions reopen again :-)
Good job, thank you!
I also did a heroforge mini of him some time ago: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config=7269442/
Wait, are entires open until the 21st or the 31st? You said July 21st in the timeframe section.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
💩!! My bad. It’s the voting that ends on August 1st, not starts on August 1st. I effed up. (Been dealing with some IRL stuff and have been a little 🤪 lately, but in a not good way.) My apologies, and thank you for pointing out my mistake.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Shoot! Three days to figure out a whimsical bard ability...
Okay… time to get the last of my statblocks ready, and fast.
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
My submission for the DM category is the Earkano race (but not the playable race, which I did also make). I had created the earkano for something else (actually, the original idea came form one of my players), so I decided to flesh them out more and make a bunch more statblocks. I would recommend reading the whole lore section before following the links. So, without further ado, I present the Earkano: Commanders of the Sea.
Earkano: Commanders of the Sea
The earkano (pronounced ay-are-KAH-no) are a strange people. Millennia ago, an entire nation of humans was lost to the Elemental Plane of Water. Whether they chose to go or were banished, none now know. At first, many of them perished in the harsh environment surrounding them, but then they were blessed with the ability to survive underwater. Many earkano worship the entity who gave them this blessing, referring to it as simply the Deep One.
Watery Existence. No matter who blessed the earkano in this way, the blessing wrought significant changes in their physiology. Not only did they gain the ability to breathe underwater, but their hair was also replaced by a magical hair-like water. This water-hair is obviously water* - or something like it - and yet still clearly hair. Hair-like strands of color (often sea green or deep blue) flow through their water-hair, and while underwater, it sparkles and shines faintly, though not enough to provide useful light.
Over time, the earkano developed the magic of their blessing, refining their control of water and becoming more attuned to it. Now, nearly all have some level of innate magic. In addition, many are able to temporarily become water, allowing them a great degree of mobility through small spaces.
Servants of the Deep One. Though some earkano are independent, free-willed individuals, and an occasional tribe might be utterly separated from the rest of their race, most earkano dwell in a handful of well-organized cities, far beneath the waves. The priests of the Deep One, the earkano’s patron deity, hold significant sway in the governments of these cities, since they are the ones whose connection to the Deep One is the most direct. However, the priesthood does not officially rule.
Protectors of the Seas. Though their cities are far from numerous and spread rather far apart, the earkano strive to bring order and safety to the other inhabitants of the seas surrounding their dwellings. Sahuagin and other sea monsters are mostly kept at bay,** and what few remnants there are of the triton*** take refuge in the earkano cities.
In each earkano city, the responsibility of rulership is placed upon a council of five powerful earkano. The members of these ruling councils are called Deeplords, and their primary responsibility is the order and protection of their cities. The skills and specialties of different Deeplords vary, but most are accomplished warriors or mages. Occasionally, an earkano priest might become a Deeplord, but the vast majority of priests with enough power and influence to become a Deeplord reject such political positions.
Deepsteel: Fluid Iron
Deepsteel is a unique, semi-magical metal that can only be worked at hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. Used primarily to create weapons, armor, and similar gear, deepsteel is very strange in that it is continually flowing within the shape it has been worked into. It is just as solidly sturdy as steel, but its surface seems to be constantly swirling, though much slower than water.
Properties of Deeptsteel
The price of deepsteel armor, shields, and weapons increases by 75 gp for a shield or simple weapon, 175 gp for a martial weapon, 250 gp for medium armor, and 500 gp for heavy armor. While wearing or wielding armor, a shield, or a weapon made of deepsteel, you have a swimming speed of 30 feet and can breathe underwater.
Deepsteel Armor. Any medium or heavy armor except hide can be made of deepsteel. While wearing a suit of deepsteel armor, you have resistance to cold damage.
Deepsteel Shields. When a creature you can see within 5 feet of you hits you attack while wearing a deepsteel shield, you can use your reaction to deal 2d4 cold damage to that creature. Once you use this reaction 3 times, it cannot be used again until the next dawn.
Deepsteel Weapons and Ammunition. Any melee weapon except whips; boomerangs and darts; and arrows, crossbow bolts, and sling bullets, can be made of deepsteel. When you hit with an attack with a deepsteel weapon, the target takes an extra 1d8 cold damage. In addition, any attack made with deepsteel ammunition or weapons ignores any penalties and restrictions of underwater combat.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*No, an earkano’s hair cannot be consumed as a substitute for water.
**This statement is not literal. The earkano do not keep sahuagin and other sea monsters in the bays of settlements on land.
***The earkano exist in my homebrew world, in which the triton race is nearly extinct.
Link to the statblocks: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/monsters?filter-type=0&filter-search=Earkano&filter-cr-min=&filter-cr-max=&filter-armor-class-min=&filter-armor-class-max=&filter-average-hp-min=&filter-average-hp-max=&filter-is-legendary=&filter-is-mythic=&filter-has-lair=&filter-author=&filter-author-previous=Helmut_McQuack&filter-author-symbol=&filter-rating=-11
Paladin main who spends most of his D&D time worldbuilding or DMing, not Paladin-ing.
Shoot! Three days to figure out how to do a Google Survey!! 😅
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Shoot! Three days to write the 90% of a class...
(Do you want aid on the google form or do you think you can figure it out it in time?)
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
>Extended Signature<
¡¡😱!!
😂 😂
Thank you for the offer, but Kaboom979 graciously helped me with it, so I did get something figured out. I don’t know how well I got it figured out, but I figured it out more or less. Again, thanks for your kind offer. And if there are any shortcomings with the survey, I assure everyone that they’re my fault, not ‘Boom’s.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Yeah I'm not going to have time to finish it.
Glad you were able to figure it out.
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
>Extended Signature<