hi im asmodeus and i literally am in dnd hell send help
im new to this dungeons and dragons thing, like, very new, but i like homebrewing stuff so if what you want is some weird shit piled on with more weird shit you have come to the right place.
everything i brew is for 5e because i'm boo boo the fool, but 5e and 3.5e translate to each other pretty well.
most, if not all, the art (on my posts specifically) on this blog is mine, so if you want to use it for something please ask me
I'm creating my own world. I feel like I should start with the gods since they're the foundation, but I don't want to get lost in the process or make them too OP, which I'm worried about doing on accident since I'm so new to dnd mechanics. Because I'm so new though I also think I should start with something much simpler like magic items.... idk, I think I just need some guides or something, but something in particular I'm trying to do rn is make my own warlock patron. Tips? I've got the (1/2)
The patrons character and motivation down, I'm just trying to figure out mechanics. She's an evil nature goddess basically (2/2)
Hey there! Haven’t been on this account in ages haha, sorry about that! If you’ve got any further inquiries, if you’ve got twitter, I would shoot me a DM @hexlix!
What I personally do is look at the actual warlock paths from the PHB and use those numbers as a guide, or if it’s more of a soft skill as opposed to damage, subtract damage from the equation or place limiters on your base skills for higher levels, like I did with my Muse Patron.
Secondly, whenever you can, I heavily recommend playtesting your patron and make tweaks here and there based on what might be too strong or too weak. If you’re new to making paths like this, I would suggest making one based in soft skills as opposed to damage, ones that can apply status effects and function outside of combat better because then you don’t have to deal with. Y’know, nuking enemies and making your DM cry over the boss battle they spent ages prepping.
If damage is what you want, though, I’m not sure. I’ve never been good with numbers, just try and follow the numbers on the spells you can take, I suppose!
* I am currently working on a desert campaign and found that I am absolutely awful at travelling sections in between certain events. As such, the contents in this table are specifically catered to my world that I created for the campaign. Tweak to your heart's content.
** In this table, most of the items are in the context of a water system; it can be used purely for flavor, but my players are given a canteen with 5 days worth of water with a mystery event happening if they run out and become dehydrated. Please take the events in this table with a grain of salt.
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1. (Encounter) Burrow Stalker attacks!
2. (Encounter) Bandits attempt to steal your food.
3. The heat is scorching! You consume twice as much water as normal
4. You see a town on the horizon, but it turns out to be a mirage; you walk a little more slowly because of demoralization.
5. A sandstorm knocks you off your feet, spilling 1d4 days of water into the sand (DC16 DEX SAVE to not fall).
6. The sun is scorching! You must stop to rest early due to the heat.
7. You hear the trickle of water and find some water, but it may be dangerous to drink.
8. Roll a dex save (DC12). Plants that appear to be cacti jump out of the ground. Players that fail this check are knocked off their feet by the cacti and take 1d4 damage.
9. You see a sand-grazing bull in the distance. It appears to be separated from its herd.
10. A sandstorm picks up and you become lost from your original position. DM gets to roll again.
11. You see a sand-grazing cow in the distance. She appears to be separated from her herd. Upon inspection, she appears to have recently given birth.
12. (Encounter) Copper Dust Bunny! Shoot the rabbit with arrows and it will drop 1d4 copper. The bunny must not see the players. It is very timid.
13. The party encounters some cacti with ripe fruit. Cactus fruit can substitute as one day of water per fruit. They find 1d6 fruit.
14. (Encounter) Silver Dust Bunny! Shoot the rabbit with arrows and it will drop 1d4 silver pieces. The bunny must not see the players. It is very timid.
15. Average day of travelling.
16. (Encounter) Gold Dust Bunny! Shoot the rabbit with arrows and it will drop 1d4 gold pieces. The bunny must not see the players. It is very timid.
17. Traveling merchant. The party finds a merchant travelling to the same place as them, he offers to give them a ride, doubling the amount of miles they travel that day.
18. Rainfall! A cloud of rain finally comes across this barren desert. Players can use this to refill their water canteen and also hydrate themselves.
19. Players find a corpse with an amulet that will protect them from the heat. It breaks at night. They drink half as much water.
20. The party encounters an oasis with clean water, they can refill their canteens here. There are also palm trees with fruit.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a big old guru and this is still being tested by me in a campaign. I thought messing with this would be fun, but at the moment I really don’t have any idea if it’s balanced. Definitely ask your DM to make sure it’s okay before you use this.
The Muses
Warlocks who gain patronage with the muses are those who were successfully traveling bards for a fairly long time and have told stories for the longest time, or they are simply spontaneously chosen from a young age by the Muses. Warlocks with a patronage from the muses usually have excellent speaking skills and channel their musical energy through storytelling, artistic means, or music, much like the bard. They also channel their magic through an instrument like the bards, and often use their consistent inspired state from the Muses to weave stories.
There is an entire Pantheon of muses who choose to inspire the warlock at certain times and can be invoked from time to time, and whomever is currently inspiring the invoker affects how skillful their storytelling is and how their storytelling is done. The most notable example of this sort of Warlock storytelling is that of Meredith Rotavele, whose intense words managed to convince an entire town of how heroic her party was, despite the rest of her party being evil people who pillaged villages and also gained the favor of the King of her country as the court jester despite typically being a very demure person.
A patronage with the muses is one with little risk for a lot of reward, however, the criterion for continued patronage is strict, as the Muses can be fickle in whom they wish to sing into. The most important of these is that the Muse Warlock must be chaotic in their behavior, as being anything but this would detract from the muses’ own fickle and chaotic nature.
Boons from the pact with the Muses can be used 1+½ Character Level, rounded down, per long rest.
The Pantheon will be detailed at the end of this section.
Attributes
Bonus Proficiencies: Gain proficiency in Performance and a Proficiency in 3 Musical Instruments.
Bonus Spells: Gain the Vicious Mockery Cantrip
Muses Expanded Spell List
The Muses let you choose from an expanded list of Spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following Spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
1st
Comprehend Languages, Healing Word
2nd
Calm Emotions, Magic Mouth
3rd
Bestow Curse, Tongues
4th
Confusion, Compulsion
5th
Dominate Person, Planar Binding
Muse Guidance
Starting at 1st level, you can invoke the Muses in order to guide you. You can spend one action to call them down, using your body as a vessel to speak to your party in order to guide the party to the next point of interest-- information gathered from Muse Invocation is at DM’s discretion. The invocation lasts for 1 hour at most, but can be dismissed earlier.
Additionally, at 1st Level, you can only invoke the Celestial Muse, the Comedic Muse, and the Dramatic Muse. You will gain the patronage of other muses at higher levels.
At 6th Level, you can invoke the Historical Muse, the Epic Muse, and the Tragic Muse.
At 10th Level, you can invoke the Infernal Muse, the Delightful Muse, the Pensive Muse.
At 14th Level, you can invoke the Lovely Muse, and the Dancing Muse, completing the pantheon of muses you can invoke.
Influential Performance
Starting at 6th level, you can invoke the Muses in order to succeed on all Performance checks of any kind depending on the Muse you invoke for one hour. For example, invoking the Comedic Muse allows you to succeed on all performance checks involving telling jokes.
Keep in mind you can only invoke one Muse at a time. If you invoke the Comedic Muse, but suddenly need to use the Historical Muse, for example, you still have a chance to fail on performances related to history, as you are unable to invoke the Historical Muse while the Comedic Muse is inspiring you.
Phantom Tunes
At 10th Level, you can channel a Muse in combat in order to play a song that has different effects on all enemies OR allies in a 50ft radius that can hear you. Each muse has a different effect, and each enemy must roll a WIS save vs. your Spell Save DC.
Celestial Muse: Enemies are fixated on the specific god you are talking about and ponder converting; enemies are made prone. If you are singing a song about a god they worship, you have advantage on charisma skill checks against them as well.
Comedic Muse: Enemies laugh themselves into collapsing. Enemies are stunned for one turn.
Dramatic Muse: Allies tense and are prepared for battle-- Allies cannot be snuck up on.
Historical Muse: Enemies are bored to sleep. They wake up 3 turns after they are put to sleep; Initial spell save DC is -2 and enemies can make a CON save during their turn vs your normal spell save DC to wake up prematurely.
Epic Muse: Morale is boosted for all allies. +2 Modifier on damage rolls for next attack that hits.
Tragic Muse: Enemies start crying and are blinded by their tears for one turn.
Infernal Muse: Enemies are Frightened for one turn.
Delightful Muse: Morale is boosted for all allies. +2 Modifier on rolls to hit on next attack.
Pensive Muse: Allies are thoughtful and reflective and have advantage on saving throws.
Lovely Muse: Enemies are charmed and allies have advantage on any social rolls. Charmed enemies also will not attack the charmer.
Dancing Muse: Allies feel energetic and have advantage on DEX saving throws.
Animated Storytelling
At 14th Level, you gain the ability to channel the power of the muses to bring objects of your description to life. The object must be something that your character has the ability to hold in one hand and cannot be a weapon. You are able to describe the object in great detail in order to bring more accuracy to the object you want to create. Anything not explicitly described by you is a detail left to the discretion of the DM.
Pantheon
The type of muses invoked vary greatly- each of them stand for a different genre and different values. Oftentimes, even the muses disagree on what values they represent, as they are a very diverse cast of patrons. They seek to reward their Voices for invoking them. The buffs detailed here are buffs that work any time a Muse is being invoked.
Celestial Muse
The Celestial Muse is religiously inclined, her touch inspiring works about the heavens and about the gods and goddesses of the land of and inspiring worship. When invoking her for guidance, you have advantage on Religion checks.
Comedic Muse
The Comedic Muse serves as the inspiration for court jesters everywhere. He doesn’t seem to take much of anything seriously, and his laughter is contagious. Invoking the Comedic Muse allows you to cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter without having learned or prepared it at no cost to your spell slots.
Dramatic Muse
The Dramatic Muse brings interest to a story that may otherwise be boring, they often take from true events and make them overly dramatic and exaggerated, much to the disdain of its historical colleagues. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on deception checks.
Historical Muse
The Historical Muse inspires scholars and historians to document events and investigate into the world's past. They can often be seen as boring, but are fairly intellectual and don't appreciate when fact and fiction are mixed. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on history checks.
Epic Muse
This Muse has inspired plenty of war tacticians and stories about war and adventure. People who ask for this muse’s guidance are always excited for what may happen next. Invoking this Muse gives you +2 on rolls for Initiative.
Tragic Muse
The Tragic Muse has touched the hearts of people with sad stories and sad lives. Tragedies are often met with sympathy or tend to demoralize people. Invoking this muse gives you the ability to cast Crushing Despair without having learned or prepared it at no cost to your spell slots.
Infernal Muse
The Infernal Muse has struck fear into the hearts of many people, as he is a muse for the demons in Inferno. Asking for this muse’s guidance is one that needs to be invoked with caution. Invoking this muse gives you advantage on Intimidation checks.
Delightful Muse
The Delightful Muse is one of joy and festivals. People invoking this muse often have a need to be happy and wish to celebrate. Invoking this muse gives you the ability to cast Friends without having learned or prepared it at no cost to your spell slots.
Pensive Muse
The Pensive Muse is often one for reflecting upon your own actions to give a new perspective. People invoke this muse often when they are lost in their journey and are not sure where to go. Invoking this Muse gives you a vision of where you must go, or offers a hint on a puzzle, at DM’s discretion.
Lovely Muse
The Lovely Muse inspires attractivity and romance. Often used when one wants to woo another, conversing with people is one of the most important things the lovely muse can do. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on Persuasion checks.
Dancing Muse
The Dancing Muse is nimble and agile, always knowing how to move their body to match the mood or the music they’re dancing too. She blesses dancers with profound abilities when it comes to moving their body. Invoking this Muse gives you advantage on Acrobatics checks.
The octopus dragon is one of the more terrifying beasts of the ocean. It change the colour and texture of its skin to blend in with the ocean floor, or sneak up on a ship as it swims just under the waves. It fortunately cannot fly, but it can still breathe on land and hungry or bored octopus dragons will sometimes attack or simply take over the port of a coastal city. Like many dragons, the octopus dragon hoards its wealth, often at the bottom of the ocean in a cave.
STR 24 (+7) DEX 14 (+2) CON 19 (+4) INT 12 (+1) WIS 10 (0) CHA 11 (0)
Saving Throws: STR +12, CON +9, WIS +5
Damage Resistances: fire
Senses: passive perception 15
Languages: Draconic, Aquan
Challenge: 17 (18,000 XP)
Camouflage: The octopus dragon has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks
related to hiding.
Amphibious: The octopus dragon can breathe both air and water.
Actions:
Multiattack: The octopus dragon makes 1 bite attack and 2 claw attacks.
Bite: +12 to hit, 5 ft., one target, 3d12+7 piercing damage + 2d10 poison
damage.
Claws: +12 to hit, 5 ft., one target, 2d8+7 slashing damage.
Poison Breath (Recharge 5-6): Each creature within a 60 ft. cone makes a DC
18 Con save, taking 15d6 poison damage on a failure, or half that on a
success.
Art by @gomalemo, on their blog here.
Consider becoming a patron and getting more of my content here.
Make orcs adorable. They’re still always-evil raiders, but describe in detail their big eyes, soft fur and the sad meeping noises they make every time the players score a hit.
Yes, Druid Week is still going. I really want to give the class justice even during my move so I am taking my time here. Anyway, I saw this image recently and knew I had to use it for a druidic encounter!
A guardian to a portal to the Feywild has been corrupted by a constant force of evil. If the case of this encounter, the corrupting force is a handful of Will-o-the-Wisps that have been sucking life from near the portal, and from the guardian. Its normally-content manner is now one of ferocious anguish, like that of a cornered animal. It is composed mostly of enchanted plant growth and sports many appendages, including arms and animated vines now tipped with death magic that looks like sparking cinders, but are in fact billowing necrotic spores. It floats aimlessly, killing plants and animals near the Feywild portal it should be guarding.
As far as tactics it tends to use its fly speed to pass over the difficult terrain it can create and uses its Thorn Whip to drag enemies closer into its Corrupted Spores. If it manages to get a creature restrained it will focus down that creature as long as it has a hold.
The PC druid may find it troublesome to put down a usually good-aligned plant creature. A creature can learn that the guardian has been corrupted with a Nature check (DC 16). The Will-o-the-Wisps may either guide the PCs to the guardian (hoping it will kill the PCs so the wisps can feast) or they may remain invisible until a PC falls below half health, hoping it can start consuming a bit early. If the Will-o-the-Wisps are slain, the Corrupted Guardian can be convinced to stop attacking the PCs if someone can communicate with it.
Multiattack: The Corrupted Guardian can make 3 Claw attacks on its turn. Alternatively, it may substitute 2 of its Claw attacks to make a Thorn Whip attack or cast a spell with a casting time of 1 action.
Claw: Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: (2d8+2) slashing damage. If the Guardian hits a single creature with at least two of its Claw attacks in a single turn and the target is Large or smaller, the creature becomes restrained. At the start of each of the creature’s turns it can attempt a DC 15 STR saving throw to free itself. While a creature is restrained in this way, the Guardian cannot make Claw attacks against any creature other than the restrained creature. The Guardian has advantage on attacks against the restrained creature.
Thorn Whip: Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: (3d6) piercing damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it is dragged 10 ft. closer to the Guardian.
Abilities
Corrupted Spores: The Corrupted Guardian has an aura of necrotic red spores. Creatures that enter or start their turn within 5 ft. of the Guardian or that pass through the spaces where it moved last turn take 1d8 necrotic damage. This aura easily kills plants and tiny animals in its area. If a Corrupted Guardian is purified by having the source of its corruption destroyed, it instead has an aura of Calm Emotions with a DC of 15.
For this encounter, I literally went through one of my Magic the Gathering commander decks and pulled a story out of it. The commander (Malfegor) didn’t fit in with this adventure but if its universe was expanded it certainly could. The main inspiration came from Asylum Visitor’s art and mechanical flavor. So without further ado, here’s a horrific five-room-dungeon for your next session!
Sanitarium on the Hill (CR 4)
image credit: Iain McCaig “Mad Prophet”
Setup/Hook:
The adventuring party is accosted by an insane doomsayer on the street of a peaceful town. He claims “They’re killin’ people up in the madhouse! You heroes gotta do somethin’! Help! They gonna take ME next!”
To be fair, this guy does suffer from madness, and he is promptly arrested and thrown in a carriage. If the players prevent his arrest somehow, they hear noises outside wherever they are sleeping that awaken them, and they see the madman from before being beaten and thrown into another carriage, which takes off for the sanitarium. If the PCs didn’t care about this guy, they instead see a completely sane person being taken in the night.
Most locals know where the sanitarium is; it’s kept about two miles away from the town to dampen the sounds of screams. Lots of people have been taken there lately, some who went mad within the span of a few hours and some who probably weren’t even insane yet. The players will hopefully be intrigued at this point and investigate.
Multiattack. Dead Hand can attack with six grasping claws once per round, constrict any grappled opponents with it’s hands, or attack with any free hands it has and a bite against a grappled opponent.
Grasping Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage. If the attack is successful, the target must make a DC 18 Strength saving throw or become grappled by the claw. These claws can be destroyed independently of Dead Hand (Large size, AC 14, 15 hp each), however, any claw so destroyed will be regenerated by the Dead Hand after 3 rounds. Should the Dead Hand begin it’s turn with an opponent grappled, it will emerge from the ground to attack the grappled foe, retreating only when no claws are grappling an opponent.
Withering Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage. If the attack is successful, the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer 1d6 points of necrotic damage each round until the save is successful.
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Hidden Form. The only parts of a Dead Hand readily visible at the beginning of combat are it’s six arms. Whenever the Dead Hand feels that it has something grappled in one of it’s claws, the Dead Hand will reveal it’s body and attempt to attack the grappled opponent. Revealing or hiding itself in this way is a bonus action. It can only use it’s frightful presence when revealed this way.
Lethal Emergence. Whenever a Dead Hand reveals or hides itself, the resulting tremors and shockwaves can knock opponents off guard. Any creature standing within 5 feet of the Dead Hand when it emerges or retreats must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be knocked away 5 feet and take 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage from the spray of earth and rock.
Frightful Presence. Each creature of the Dead Hand’s choice that is within 120 feet of the Dead Hand and aware of it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature it’s immune to the Dead Hand’s Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
(A friend of mine asked me to homebrew this for their campaign. Feel free to use/tweak it to your usage as well!)
