Is it just me or is it extremely confusing on how to create homebrew actions for items and monsters? I know there's some sort of code you use, but I can't find any links or articles that break this down. I don't have much of a coding background so it all seems like gibberish to me. If anyone knows of any resources to help please let me know.
To specify I'm trying to do things like add special smites or breath attacks for my homebrew NPC's.
There are a few pinned and locked threads there for you to reference all of the coding bits that might get tricky. I might suggest the Everything You Need to Know About Homebrew thread first. There is also a very helpful group of members that prowl the threads over there, so feel free to ask questions.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
The easiest route I find is to take a stat block of a monster or item you like and re-skin it so most of your stat work is done and you only need to tweak things.
for example I wanted a Lizardfolk fiend to act as a kinda avatar for Sess’inek. I felt the Flind was a good CR and monster type I was going for. I just changed the fail to a glaive and changed the effects the glaive could impose on a hit. Didn’t have to mess with calculations on HP, AC and other bookkeeping stuff. No change in DCs either. And since I used existing stats no one could claim that the monster was unbalanced as it’s based off a 5e published statblock.
you can do the same with Magic items too I made a custom item that was basically a robe of the arch magi but for clerics and paladins.
Is it just me or is it extremely confusing on how to create homebrew actions for items and monsters? I know there's some sort of code you use, but I can't find any links or articles that break this down. I don't have much of a coding background so it all seems like gibberish to me. If anyone knows of any resources to help please let me know.
To specify I'm trying to do things like add special smites or breath attacks for my homebrew NPC's.
Take a spin over to the Homebrew and House Rules Forum.
There are a few pinned and locked threads there for you to reference all of the coding bits that might get tricky. I might suggest the Everything You Need to Know About Homebrew thread first. There is also a very helpful group of members that prowl the threads over there, so feel free to ask questions.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
The easiest route I find is to take a stat block of a monster or item you like and re-skin it so most of your stat work is done and you only need to tweak things.
for example I wanted a Lizardfolk fiend to act as a kinda avatar for Sess’inek. I felt the Flind was a good CR and monster type I was going for. I just changed the fail to a glaive and changed the effects the glaive could impose on a hit. Didn’t have to mess with calculations on HP, AC and other bookkeeping stuff. No change in DCs either. And since I used existing stats no one could claim that the monster was unbalanced as it’s based off a 5e published statblock.
you can do the same with Magic items too I made a custom item that was basically a robe of the arch magi but for clerics and paladins.
You can’t add Actions to magic items, and the snippet and rollable codes don’t work for magic items either.
As for adding smites and breath attacks to to NPCs/Monsters, check out the “Rollables” thread: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/homebrew-house-rules/106856-adding-rollable-tags-to-your-homebrew-monsters-for). If you still need help post again and I’ll help you.
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