Damage resistances, immunities, and vulnerabilitiesįor this article, I wanted to show you how to create every aspect of a monster and build an expected terror for my players, so I settled on using a legendary ooze I named the blood marmalade as an example.

All monsters have the following components you need to design: I’ll expand on what’s provided and the steps in my process will vary a bit to give an even more in-depth look. The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides guidelines for monster creation, which are great. If the monster you’re considering designing doesn’t already exist and can’t be built by tweaking an existing creature, it’s time to design your own.

Can I reskin or tweak another creation to suit my needs?.

Does my creation already exist as official D&D content?.

Before You Start, Ask the Important Questionsīefore you begin to design any new element of the game, don’t forget to ask these three questions, the importance of which are discussed in my backgrounds post: That’s why I’m going to walk you through the process of monster design step-by-step. Building new creature from scratch is a complicated task.

I’m here to help you bring that fear to your players. Veteran players quake when a new monster hits the table, because a fresh creation brings an extra element of terror on top of claws and jaws: fear of the unknown. Players know what to expect when encountering them. While trolls, beholders, mind flayers, and ancient red dragons are great, those monsters have been around for decades. There’s nothing more satisfying than dropping an original monster on an unsuspecting group of players. If you want advice on how to build a background specifically in D&D Beyond, check out that version of the article. I’ve stripped most of the references to the D&D Beyond to keep the advice here more universal and streamlined.

This article first appeared on D&D Beyond. Hey guess what? You can preorder my level 1 – 20 fifth edition adventure right now! Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rich Hershey / Fat Goblin Games

Dungeons and dragons monster stats