About a week ago I sat down at about 1AM and tried to think of the most horrifying homebrew monster I could use to both mentally and physically torture my players into submission 😈. The result: The Lantern, a monstrous lovecraftian aberration from another realm. Intelligent, cunning, and utterly and unconditionally evil. It’s primary weapon is to force the player to literally live and feel their deepest darkest fear.
For example: a party member who fled a country torn by civil war, leaving their family behind. The lantern forces them to see a vision of their home being burned by raiders and their family being slaughtered. Or a party member who never met their parents sees a murky vision of their family, before it being agonisingly whisked away. (Both of these are real examples from my campaign)
I really want this monster to hit home for my players, I want them to really fear it. At the moment I’ve had to overcome some balancing issues but I think it sound be a decent challenge for a level 4 party, but if youve got any suggestions of other abilities I’m open to all ideas. Anything which makes it scarier and more unnatural.
More importantly, I’d like to know your opinion on its fear factor. My aim is to literally traumatise the characters and give them a taster of the greater threats they will be facing, as well as instilling a horror aspect into my campaign. Any cool ideas, or feedback, or even any replies at all would be greatly appreciated!
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About a week ago I sat down at about 1AM and tried to think of the most horrifying homebrew monster I could use to both mentally and physically torture my players into submission 😈. The result: The Lantern, a monstrous lovecraftian aberration from another realm. Intelligent, cunning, and utterly and unconditionally evil. It’s primary weapon is to force the player to literally live and feel their deepest darkest fear.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/255569-lantern
For example: a party member who fled a country torn by civil war, leaving their family behind. The lantern forces them to see a vision of their home being burned by raiders and their family being slaughtered. Or a party member who never met their parents sees a murky vision of their family, before it being agonisingly whisked away. (Both of these are real examples from my campaign)
I really want this monster to hit home for my players, I want them to really fear it. At the moment I’ve had to overcome some balancing issues but I think it sound be a decent challenge for a level 4 party, but if youve got any suggestions of other abilities I’m open to all ideas. Anything which makes it scarier and more unnatural.
More importantly, I’d like to know your opinion on its fear factor. My aim is to literally traumatise the characters and give them a taster of the greater threats they will be facing, as well as instilling a horror aspect into my campaign. Any cool ideas, or feedback, or even any replies at all would be greatly appreciated!