Designing Custom Monsters for Dragonbane

If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you probably noticed that I’m a fan of Dragonbane, from Free League Publishing. Having played it a little bit, I really appreciate that there are enough rules to provide structure but not so many that every decision is a slog through cryptic or overly specific rules.

I also like that there’s enough to get started quickly but that it supports homebrew so readily.

Let’s take monsters, for instance, which is what this entire post is about. The core rules and the separate bestiary provide a good sampling of monster options, but they certainly don’t cover everything. But monster stat blocks are so simple to create and, more importantly, to use in an encounter, that homebrewing your own monsters is a piece of cake.

With that said, here’s how I have been approaching making monsters for my own campaign. While I don’t claim there’s One True Way for anything in RPGs, my methods might help or inspire you in your own homebrewing attempts.

Monster-building 101

My first step, of course, is to figure out what monster I want. Is it something from established mythology or something that has haunted my dreams and needs to be introduced to my players?

After that, though, I try to make note of the things that are most important to me to convey the nature of this monster:

How dangerous is this thing? Is it a village-rending monstrosity? A nuisance? Is it only powerful in numbers?
What kinds of physical attacks is it likely to make? Does it have teeth? Claws? A prehensile tail?
What defenses might it have? Is it scaled or encased in a hard carapace? Is it exceptionally nimble?
How does it move? Can it walk? Fly? Swim? Climb? Burrow?
Is it known for possessing supernatural abilities? Can it breathe fire? Turn invisible? Invade a person’s mind?

This gives me enough to work out the stat block and likely monster attacks. It also helps me identify existing monsters with similar traits that I can learn from or compare to. Unlike some RPGs, Dragonbane does not encourage balanced encounters from a combat point of view, so we’re not looking to dial in a particular strength number to give the PCs a chance to defeat it. We’re trying to represent the monster as it is (or should be).

I’ll use an example I recently built.

Example

Let’s take the famous one-eyed giants from Greek and Roman Myth – the Cyclopes (singular Cyclops). While there are a few instances in myth of these creatures, the ones I am looking to replicate are the large, brutish shepherds mentioned in the Odyssey. They are noted to be uncivilized loners living in mountain caves. I also remember, probably from the classic film Jason and the Argonauts, that the Cyclops would grab sheep (or people) in his bare hands, possibly to imprison them to eat later or to directly grapple (and throw) them in combat. He also had a mighty roar. This now gives me enough to go on to create a monster.

Building the stats, my first question is about Ferocity – how many times does this monster get to attack each round? If I compare it to other giant types, most are Ferocity of 1. That feels right for this monster. It only has two arms, two legs, one mouth, and one eye – nothing to justify multiple attacks.

As a giant, its size is Large. I picture it also being a lumbering creature, never in a hurry, so I will keep Movement at a reasonable pace. Since Medium sized PCs are generally between 8-12 (with agility bumping them slightly higher) and with this monster having long legs, thus a long stride, a 14 movement feels about right. It also compares to the Forest Giant and slightly slower than a Mountain Giant.

My Cyclops is uncivilized, with no armor to speak of. At best it might have some sort of hide cloak, but I can’t picture it skinning a bunch of sheep and stitching the pelts together into anything capable of absorbing damage. Besides, he is a giant and deserves a lot of hit points. Let the attacks land. It can absorb them for a bit.

But how much damage should it be able to take? We certainly don’t want it to go down to a normal PC in single combat. Again, I’ll look to a similar giant monster for guidance to check my work, but I’m thinking somewhere in the 50-70 range. That will require a few hits to go down and give him a chance to do some damage himself if the PCs give him the opportunity. I see Forest Giant sitting at 56 and Mountain Giant at 78. I’m not going to try and project all the PC damage capabilities, but I use a rough estimate of an average melee attack dealing damage in the double digits (roughly 12). I also think HP is one of those stats that are easily adjustable on the fly to keep a combat encounter interesting – not every PC has the same HP, why should every Cyclops?

Now we want to think about offense. Dragonbane’s standard is to create six options, which is what I will stick with.

I mentioned this monster likes to grab things, so we’ll want a grab with bludgeoning option. Looking at the Grapple rules, that doesn’t really vibe with what I’m going for, so we’ll stick with grab. We can copy that from the Mountain Giant attack table. I’ll also use a grab option in which it immediately tosses the victim into its mouth. This could be slashing damage, but with its lack of dental insurance, could also be bludgeoning. I’ll go with slashing if it’s a younger Cyclops and bludgeoning if older.

Some kind of fist punch and a foot stomp are also good Giant attack options, each doing bludgeoning damage.

It also has a fearsome roar, thus adding an option for a Fear attack, giving us a way to affect PCs who are at range. Another ranged attack would be for the Cyclops to pick up something like a boulder or log and throw it, possibly hitting multiple PCs.

That gives us the 6 Monster Attacks needed to build the table. If you’re building the monster for your table, that’s likely all you need.

If you hope to share it, you may wish to develop some backstory and create a random encounter and adventure seed. Since I’m sharing this with you, I will do the same.

Ferocity: 1	Size: Large
Movement: 14	Armor: –	HP: 60

D6	Attack
1	Into Thin Air: The Cyclops grabs a player character and tosses it away like an old bone. The target is thrown 2D6 meters, suffers the same amount in damage, and ends up prone.
2	A Meaty Fist: The Cyclops swings its fist and smashes a player character right in the ol’ breadbasket. The attack inflicts 3D10 bludgeoning damage and knocks the victim prone.
3	Hear Me Roar!: As the Cyclops’ mind wanders dangerously close to the edge of insanity, it let’s out a mighty cry. Everyone within 10 meters suffers a fear attack with a bane on the WIL roll.
4	Down the Hatch!: The Cyclops grabs a player and shoves it into its maw with a mighty chop. The bite does 2D8 of either slashing damage (young Cyclops) or bludgeoning damage (old Cyclops). The player character must succeed on an Evade or Brawling check to break free, or take 2D8 damage each round.
5	That’s a Stompin’: The Cyclops raises its leg, bringing it down on an unfortunate player character. The attack inflicts 4D10 bludgeoning damage and knocks the victim prone.
6	Who Gives a Toss?: The creature picks up a large rock and hurls it at an opponent within 20 meters, inflicting 3D10 bludgeoning damage.

Random Encounter

Sinon, a fierce Cyclops, is trudging across the countryside searching for his prize sheep – the one he planned to serve to Thekla as part of a courting ritual. Distraught, Sinon will accuse anyone he comes across of sneaking into his cave and stealing the creature. He has been taught from a young age that it’s a common thing for the little folk to do – they’re all thieves and scoundrels. If the PCs can weather his initial outburst of anger, they may be able to calm him and even assist in finding his sheep in time for a nice, romantic dinner.

Adventure Seed

The village of Thunder Valley has gone silent. Nearby towns report they have seen no visitors from Thunder Valley in an unusually long time and merchants making their way in that direction have not been heard from. The PCs are asked to investigate what could have happened.

The Cyclops Panikos was quite content in his cave on the mountainside overlooking Thunder Valley. However, when a rockslide destroyed his home, he wandered down the mountain and discovered the village. An emotional sort, Panikos quickly adopted the village and vowed to protect them from the rockslides he was sure would be coming for them. Overprotective, he prevents them from ever leaving his custody and further adopts any visitor that arrives.