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Well, that took a surprising amount of time!
First, sorry for the small hiatus. December took me by storm, and managed to upset my carefully-laid plans. However! We're back on track, and starting off all that is the Monstrosity, a patron I've made as a Christmas gift for a friend of mine, with whom I share a long and enduring love of films with giant rubbery Japanese monsters smashing models and cardboard cities.
In the world(s) of D&D, a monstrosity is something kaiju-like. Think of the tarrasque, neothelids, purple worms, and similar, monsters both immense and apocalyptic, terrifying portents of nature's wrath.
A pact is struck with these creatures not typically with their consent. Similar to a Great Old One pact, the monster may not even have knowledge that the pact has been struck, but rather the warlock draws on the beast's power through consuming its magically-imbued blood, offspring, or essence.
What destructive tricks does this kaiju-caster have? That leads us to:
FEATURES:
- Unleash your Destructive Potential to damage anything, anywhere!
- Frighten your enemies with a Monstrous Roar, as a bonus action OR a reaction.
- Transform into a nightmarish Monstrosity Spawn, tear up the town, and probably never get invited back.
- Customize your monster form and give it the terrifying visage that suits your patron.
CONCERNS:
- Balance is questionable with Unstoppable Rage and Spawn of the Monstrosity.
- I feel like there may overall be a better way of implementing Spawn of the Monstrosity.
- Word of Ruin involves casting a buffed 6th-level spell once per long rest, which isn't something other invocations do. I don't think it's imbalanced, per se, but it's definitely a concern.
WHAT I LEARNED:
- If you hit a bump in the road and have to slow down, that's fine, just keep going! Homebrew rests for no one.
mate, where do you keep getting these ideas?
ReplyDeleteflavorful and interesting as expected. look forward to a close up analysis when i got some time.
This particular idea is actually based on one of the first homebrews I dreamed up.
DeleteWay, way, way back in the day, I tried to make a warlock pact boon on reddit called "Pact of Becoming," which would allow your patron to gradually transform you into a monster in their service.
I made a lot of design decisions that weren't exactly well-thought-out (it being my first homebrew and all), and the community let me know. One of the positive bits of feedback came in the form of someone suggesting I expand the option into its own patron, an idea which I eventually warmed up to.
That, plus the idea from Salt in Wounds about channeling power from the tarrasque, came together to make this patron option!
I love the art in this one, very good usage.
ReplyDeleteAlso, couldn't help notice the 'salt in wounds' tag. I don't think I've heard that referenced in years, mate. But I love it. Imagining a whole cabal of warlocks siphoning power from the Tarrasque for their own means.
Oops! Forgot to make my actual comment. Isn't a CR14 creature a bit high? I have no actual complaint on its power, just curious. At best a Moon Druid gets a third of its level worth.
DeleteMaybe, maybe not, I'm honestly not great with monster balance either way. Lots of moving parts.
DeleteI chose CR14 because I balanced this ability off of a casting of polymorph, which allows you to choose a creature with a CR equal to the player's level. CR 14 is powerful, but in-line with what polymorph allows.
If nothing else, it gives me a good starting point for this rough draft, which is why I went with it in the end.
>salt in wounds
DeleteI was actually on /tg/ way back in the day, when that concept was first being ideated in threads there, way before it even reached kickstarter.
I followed it, lurking and watching the flavor develop. I REALLY liked the concept, and it broadened my ideas of what a campaign setting could be.
I feel like this, in part, is a tribute to what got my homebrew gears turning. Seeing other people make something so awesome and put it out there made me think that maybe I, too, could do something cool and imaginative like that.
Polymorph! Excellent. Hadn't even went down that path. I dig it
DeleteI like a lot of what I see here, as I also had a thought to homebrew the "Pact of the Monstrous". One thing I must say as an advent user of polymorph is that it triggers "beasts" specifically because they can't do too many crazy things... (I think it topped out at me twin-casting two allies into T-Rexes which are CR 8 if I'm not mistaken).
DeleteThe roar ability is something that blew my mind and I'll have to include in my future pact ideas.
i like the concept, but what about moving spawn of the monstrosity down into the 6 or 10 slots, and scaling it, like a wild shape form that can only be aberrations/monstrosities? i think it fits the overall flavor of the patron better. it would probably require a rework of roar, but I feel like thats a better slot use for the 14th level feat anyway, and you could add some damage die to the ability to even out the usage.
ReplyDeleteQuestion that I am 99.999...% sure I know the answer but hope I am wrong: does the "Destructive Potential" ability affect constructs?
ReplyDeleteAnd I love your stuff: the ideas are fun, and from the ones I read, are generally well balanced.
Also, I noticed that there haven't any posts on this website since last January (besides the twitter updates). Are you planning on posting stuff here or are you doing all DMs Guild and Patreon now?