Recent content by Quickleaf

When I ran Omu the Forbidden City from Tomb of Annihilation, I adapted those mapping rules thusly. I knew the PCs had magical flight and a wizard PC who often cast arcane eye, so I just gave them a partially marked up map of Omu. The Mapper handles annotating your map of Omu; the DM may call...

I get a lot of mileage from Matt Finch's Tome of Adventure Design, AEG's Ultimate Toolbox, my 2e Monster Manual, and 1e DMG though my 5e DMG has given the older one a run for its money recently. Besides this small selection of excellent books, most of the resources I use either online or...

Like zombie hordes or orc war camps, I've found my best success using swarms has been as a hazard/obstacle to be dealt with, navigated, or circumvented through clever play, rather than than a monster to kill. Similar to how 5e translated the green slime as a dungeon hazard – rather than a...

I think that Tiamat and her pact with Gith (or was it Vlaakith?) may be involved in BG3 to some degree... We have a gith riding a red dragon in the recent teaser. We have Tiamat's proxy Arkhan the Cruel (Joe Manganiello's PC) playing a significant role in Descent into Avernus, as well as...

You're using Inspiration in your games already? You could just make sure you're giving it out regularly, and add a homebrewed use for Inspiration – Intuitive Guidance, or some such. I did that while my players delved a death trap dungeon, and though I called it Get A Clue, it was fairly similar...

The image/video is desaturated, perhaps to indicate dusk or storm clouds, or just an aesthetic choice. But it's clearly a red dragon. Wavy horns. Fan along the side of its face. Barbs on its chin. Plus they have a history of working with githyanki (which the lithe dragon-rider appears to be)...

Some of these already have well done conversions. I know Kryxx did a Rise of the Runelords conversion... here it is:

For folks unable to watch the video.

Gotcha. I see the core of your complaint has to do with the militaristic hierarchy implications around using a word like "sergeant." That was not my intent, rather I was using an existing word from past lore about the hezrou as a common language. You could swap in "small group boss...

I think looking back to the original version of a D&D monster and using that original design as the only guiding light for how to make the best & truest version of that monster is misguided. As I pointed out in my OP, the 1e traits you describe are not driving factors of unique monster design...

@Chaosmancer Well, I'd prefer the conversation not to get off track from what I started this thread to discuss. I'm going to request that you if want to discuss the merits of familiar types, that you please start your own thread and pick it up there. EDIT: Sorry, I had to help my girlfriend...

@Chaosmancer Oh gosh, several ways you could go narratively. Why would a wizard select a fiendish familiar whose ultimate aim is to drag his soul to the Abyss? Maybe the wizard doesn't know/isn't aware of his familiar's true purpose. Maybe the wizard doesn't care about his soul, and is only...

To answer your familiar question, the type (celestial, fey, or fiend) is not a question of stats/mechanics but of story/narrative. In particular, when a master gives a familiar a command, unless the command is exhaustively specific there is bound to be latitude in how the familiar carries out...

Looking at these 6 artistically, you can hardly blame anyone for confusing them. Before I started this topic I would have confused a few. And this isn't even including the grung or grippli! The hezrou is the oldest of the bunch, however unlike all the others from this selection, it lacks any...

@dave2008 We have #1 in the MM and we have examples of #3 in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes with Demonic Boons by demon lord, a few optional extra powers for select demon types (balor, goristro, marilith, nalfeshness), demonic cambions, and Demon Customization Tables (specifically d20 Unusual Demon...