Request a Homebrew

[Camelot]

I love making homebrew mechanics for 4e, but I find that my best ideas come from suggestions from my players. Seeing a similar thread on GitP forum, I decided to create the Request a Hombrew thread for 4e here.

This thread is for anyone to request a homebrew and for anyone to create it. Almost any DM can say they've been in the position of needing a monster, trap, or item that doesn't have an equivalent that they can find, and players frequently have character ideas that the rules can't create alone. If you're lacking the time or inspiration to create it yourself, then this thread is for you. If you have plenty of time and love homebrewing, gather your ideas from this thread.

Just a few guidelines.

1) Your Request Should Be Specific: When making a request, the more detail the better. Don't just say "I need a magic item" or "I need a level 2 monster." Your request should be more along the lines of "I need a level 2 skirmisher, not intelligent but not mindless, for a tomb-raiding adventure in a desert environment, Egyptian themed. The party has been fighting a lot of undead so far, and I want something that looks undead but isn't to catch them off-guard. It should have a signature ability so it doesn't just 'stand there and attack each turn.'"

2) Keep the Homebrew Small in Scope: Requests should be for homebrew that could easily be contained in one post. If you really want to get help with a whole class, it would probably be best to start a different thread. This thread is intended to be just for things that will be used in short order that a DM just doesn't have time to develop themselves.

3) Keep It Short: You can discuss the homebrew in this thread, but if the discussion continues onto the next page, it would probably be a good idea to start another thread.

4) Don't Post Something Complete Looking for Feedback: This thread is intended for requests and replies. If you want feedback on your homebrew, you have the whole rest of this forum for that.

5) Link Completed Items: If you know of another homebrew that fits what the requester is asking for, post a link to it instead of retyping the whole thing.

6) Numbering: In order to keep things clear and cut down on excessive quoting, please number requests (R1, R2, R3...), homebrewed responses (H1, H2, H3...), and comments (C1, C2, C3...). For example, when someone posts the first request in the thread (R1), any hombrew for that request should be numbered H1, and any comments on that homebrew should be numbered C1. If you have any questions or comments that aren't requests, homebrew replies, or about any requests or replies, label them Q.

7) For Public Use: Every homebrew thing posted here should be for public use. You can ask people to credit you if they mention or use it elsewhere, but don't be offended if someone takes your homebrew and changes it then posts it elsewhere, or if you request something, and the homebrewer takes your idea and uses it elsewhere. Anything that I homebrew may very well end up on half-orc, though if you came up with the idea I'll give you credit for inspiring me.

Let's get homebrewing!

 

[Camelot]

I'll get the ball rolling.

R1
I need a level 2 solo monster, probably lurker or controller. It needs to be shadow and swamp themed, and have some ability that can attack the willpower of the PCs by making them relive their worst nightmares or memories. It should be able to teleport occasionally (or avoid attacks in a similar shadowy/swampy manner), and click well with xivorts from the Monster Manual 3.

 

[Mesh Hong]

H1

Very low level solo’s are pretty tough to design, especially without a good working knowledge of the group they are facing, are you sure you wouldn’t be better off with an elite?

Anyway here is a stat block for a creature that might work, or give you a few ideas. I have designed it under the assumption that it will be fought in a swampy environment with some dry land, shallow swamp, and deep swamp. Its powers work best with its enemies in water but PCs could gain some protection by standing on dry land. I would assume that you would use Xivorts as part of this encounter as a way of herding or tempting the PCs into the water.

Darkwater Shadow Level 2 Solo Controller
Medium Shadow Humanoid XP 625

Initiative +2 Senses Perception +8
HP 140; Bloodied 70; also see Traumatic Wail
AC 16; Fortitude 13, Reflex 14, Will 16
Immune disease, poison;
Resist 5 necrotic;
Vulnerable 5 psychic, also see Painful Memories
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6 (swampwalk), swim 6
Action Points 2

Quiet Darkness ♦ trait
Shadow gains a +5 bonus to stealth checks if standing in water or
shadows

Wet Slam (Standard; at-will)
Attack +7 vs. AC; 1d6+5 damage

Waterlog (Standard; at-will)
Requirement: Either Shadow or Target creature must be standing in water
Attack: Range 10; 1 or 2 creatures; attack +5 vs. Reflex; 1d6+5 damage;
on hit target is slowed (save ends)

Twist Memory (Standard; recharge ) ♦ psychic
Range 10; 1 or 2 targets; attack +5 vs. Will; 1d8+5 psychic damage; on
hit target is dazed and cannot take any action or attack that includes the
Shadow as a target (save ends both)

Stagnant Pulse (Standard; recharge ) ♦ necrotic
Requirement: Both Shadow and Target creature must be standing in the
same body of water
Attack: Burst 5; enemies in burst; attack +5 vs. Fortitude; 1d6+4 necrotic
damage; on hit target is knocked prone and takes 2 ongoing necrotic
damage (save ends)

Darkwater Stride (Move; encounter)
Requirement: Shadow must be standing in water Effect: Shadow teleports
10 squares, the target square must be in the same body of water

Painful Memories ♦ triggered action
Trigger: Shadow is hit by an attack with the psychic keyword
Effect: (immediate reaction) triggering creature takes an attack +5 vs.
Will; 1d6+4 psychic damage; on hit target grants combat advantage and
takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and skill checks (save ends both, cannot
make a saving throw in the turn it gains this effect)

Traumatic Wail ♦ triggered action, fear
Trigger: Shadow becomes bloodied
Effect: (free action) close burst 3; enemies only; attack +5 vs. Will; on hit
target is pushed 3 squares and immobilised (save ends); on miss target is
pushed 2 squares and slowed (save ends); hit or miss Shadows Darkwater
Stride power recharges

Alignment Evil Languages common, elven
Skills History +6, Insight +8, Intimidate +10, Stealth +7 (+12)
Str 10 (+1) Dex 12 (+2) Wis 14 (+3)
Con 12 (+2) Int 10 (+1) Cha 18 (+5)

Anyway I hope this is the sort of thing you were after.

 

[Camelot]

C1
That's perfect! I was originally going to use a black dragon or black dragon wyrmling, but level 4 solo is a bit too strong for my group, and the wyrmling doesn't strike me as a leader of evil xivorts and controller of dark shadow powers. Your assumptions are spot on, sorry I didn't specify much more. The only thing I'll probably change is I'll make it a magical beast. Thanks!

 

[Grimgrin]

R2

"Drider" template that can be applied to various creatures giving them "spider-like" abilities.

THANKS

 

[Camelot]

H2

This template should be functional; I balanced it off of the ones in the DMG2.

Prerequisite: Non-spider beast, humanoid, or magical beast

Spider Blessed - Elite Skirmisher
Beast, humanoid, or magical beast (spider) - XP Elite
Hit Points +8 per level + Constitution score
Speed spider climb equal to land speed
Resist 5 poison
- Level 11: 10 poison
- Level 21: 15 poison
Saving Throws +2
Action Points 1

TRAITS

Combat Advantage
- A spider blessed deals 1d6 extra poison damage against any target granting combat advantage to it, and after the attack, the spider blessed can shift 2 squares as a free action.

MINOR ACTIONS

(r) Web * At-Will (1/round)
- Attack: Ranged5 (one creature); Level + 3 vs. Reflex
- Hit: The target is immobilized and grants combat advantage (save ends both).

Spider Mind * Encounter
- Effect: The spider blessed makes a saving throw against each effect on it that a save can end.

TRIGGERED ACTIONS

Eight-Legged Agility * At-Will
- Trigger (Free Action): The spider blessed hits with a melee attack.
- Effect: The spider blessed shifts 1 square.

 

[Alvordian]

R3

Ok, I've been interested in doing a 4E delve based off the Haunted Keep adventure from the old Moldvay Basic rule book. I have 5 level 1 Essential PCs (slayer, knight, warpriest, thief and mage), and I'd like an end boss for the whole adventure.

The Moldvay adventure hints at the keep being occupied by wererats, but I'd like to play up the "haunted" angle somehow. So I guess I'm looking for a rat-themed cave dwelling caster type, perhaps with some kind of undead vibe or power going on as well. If that is all too much to cram into a low level boss, I'd drop the undead part.

 

[ElFlamingo]

I'd say a ghost inhabiting a swarm of rats, kinda like Marvel comics Swarm (an evil nazi scientist MADE OF BEES!), mostly because nazi bee-man is the greatest idea in literary history. I'm not by my books right now, but I'll be making him and have him up by tomorrow. I'm thinking lurker, aura power, lvl 2 solo. Maybe with some minions if you want to really give your poor party a fight. I'd say he wears a cloak over his rat-swarm-body that gives him some bonus and once you take him out you can give it to the party as there first magic item...for whoever wants to wear the disease ridden blanket that the rat ghost just had!

 

[The 1 and the Prime]

R4

So I was looking for this thread. I didn't think it was 4e, and I searched Enworld on Google for: egyptian undead homebrew request. All of these words appear on this page in the first post, and Google didn't grab it. Bad Google. Funny, I first found it through a random search on Google about homebrewing, but didn't have a request then. Now I do have a request:

Home brew me a table of completely mundane (and I mean mundane in the broader sense of "completely everyday and significant of nothing unusual", not simply non-magical) wilderness event/encounters. Completely mundane, but descriptive. Things that could be followed with the line "... and just then, all of a sudden..." but usually aren't. Ideally they could be tables specific to terrain types (i.e. forest, plains, mountainous, arctic, cave, desert...).

Things like:

01: A Blue Butterfly flutters across your path (from East to West)
14: A twig snaps behind you and to the left
224: You smell that? It's like a wet Horse Stall mixed with curing Cheesefish
3.1415: Splat! A passing bird has a near miss (or not) with a bowel movement
4: A pair of beedy eyes glow at you from behind a bush (it's a possum)

 

[Grimgrin]

H4

Here's something. Hope you like alliteration. Made it 1 to 30 for classic appeal

01 A lazy little lizard gives you the Evil Eye while soaking up the sun.
02 The wind whistles eerily through the head high hay field (fluttering leaves, termite mounds, golden dunes, etc.).
03 A shadow falls across your face; looking up you see a spiralling sparrow hawk.
04 A gust of wind teases golden autumn leaves out of a near by tree
05 A pair of grey squirrels dart down one tree to your left and up a tree to your right.
06 You step in something brown and sticky.
07 A column of calcite (or round river rocks) is piled one atop the other ahead of you.
08 Shards of a broken bottle glisten in the sun like emeralds in a cold campfire.
09 A dead tree leans over your path choking out the sunlight.
10 The croak of a unseen raven (frog, peccary, gull, etc.) disturbs the peaceful silence
11 Sticky sweet odor of rotten meat radiates from a bunch of berry bushes
12 Green threads of algae dance in the ripples of a nearby streamlet
13 The broken and burnt fragments of lightening struck wood litter the ground around a charred trunk.
14 A scarecrow of rags and twigs dangles in a hemp noose from a nearby oak.
15 A grey rabbit zips through the yellow weeds and shrubs
16 Above you on a stone embankment a coyote (or other small predator) takes your measure.
17 A broken down wagon is a convenient perch for a song bird opus.
18 A small reflective pond decorated with clumps of lily pads and cat tails comes into view.
19 Boulders, Trees, and bristle bushes (cacti, poison ivy, rose vines, etc.) have conspired to constrict the path to a narrow slot.
20 The ground rises steeply ahead in a slippery slope of silt (snow, shale, sand, etc.)
21 A crescent crevasse across your path is filled with foliage (ferns, grass, tumbleweeds, etc.) that you can not peer past.
22 You spot an eagle perched on a cacti is eating a rattlesnake (or similar bloody feast).
23 The thunder of a waterfall echoes dully beneath the conifer canopy (creepy cavern, craggy canyon, etc.)
24 The bleached bones of a bison (bull, baboon, blue whale, etc.) stick out of the bog (tan sand, tar pit, tide pool, etc)
25 The buzz of bees tickles your ears a you walk through a field of fragrant wildflowers
26 The sky has turned dark with rain clouds and ominous with thunder.
27 The boulders on the mountainside resemble the face of an old man with a hook nose.
28 A wilted tree (any type) is a lonely sentinel in a barren field (lava rock, baked clay, dry wash, salt flat, etc.)
29 A pile of boulders forming a stone stair beckons in the distance
30 A crooked chasm is the only cleft in a crumbly cliffside.