Homebrewing inDungeons & Dragonsis a way for dungeon masters to interact with the mechanics of the game to create unique creations and lore-specific creatures and items. Since D&D has a list of terms and a consistent style guide with rulings, it’s easy to look for existing stats for inspiration.
Sometimes this takes the form of swiping an entire stat block and changing the creature or magic item’s name, but other times, a single ability can be applied to an entirely new idea. Although there are thousands of abilities and effects across Fifth Edition, some are far more appealing than others.
10Rotting Fist
Mummy
When a mummyhits a player with the Rotting Fist attack, they become cursed and will slowly lose hit points over the course of days until they reach zero. While this can be cured with a Remove Curse spell, it is a way for a creature to still be a threat long after they have been defeated.
By adding a lasting effect to monsters, it creates an opportunity for players to problem-solve outside just hacking and slashing a zombie to bits. It also adds utility to spells that might otherwise not get prepared as often or gives an excuse for players to spend their wealth of gold on a spell scroll.
9Blindsight
Sense
One of the more underutilized senses you can give to monsters, blindsight allows creatures to see without eyes, giving them a full range of vision, even in darkness and for invisible objects. It can be a surprise to a sneaking rogue when the sightless creature unexpectedly turns in their direction and begins to snarl.
This can give a creature a distinct advantage on battlefields in complete darkness, adding unique elements to combat that players don’t often get to experience. It can also act as a storytelling tool, providing context for a monster’s behavior or environment, and can clue players into creative methods of dealing with them.
Tremorsense and Truesight work similarly, depending on the aesthetic you are looking for.
8Boon Of The Night Spirit
Epic Boon Feat
Epic boons are options for high-level players at 19th level and above, giving them access to abilities that make them even more unstoppable than they already are. Creatures or NPCs with just one of these boons as their primary ability can make them stand out as a force to be reckoned with.
The Boon of the Night Spirit is an especially interesting choice, as it grants the ability to become invisible as a bonus action, and get resistance to damage while in dim light or darkness. This is a perfect ability for a stalker character, who has mastered the shadows and forces players to consider light sources during an encounter.
7Possession
Ghost
Ghosts have the option to possess players, acting mechanically exactly as you’d expect, taking control of their body and speaking through them. While they don’t get access to special class abilities and spells, this allows for unique role-playing opportunities that only work with this exact scenario.
If the possessed player is willing to work with you, you can even hide the fact that they are possessed from the rest of the party, having the player continue to roleplay with that knowledge in mind. You can also put this ability on a cursed sentient magic item, attempting to wield itself through creatures that attune to it.
6Tree Stride
Dryad
Dryads have a limited form of teleportation that allows them to move between trees, stepping into one and out of another within 60 feet of it. While not as useful as unbound teleportation, it can be far more interesting as both a way to signal a creature’s lore and vibe while giving players an understanding of its limitations.
For instance, a creature that can appear out of patches of moss gives players a new focus during encounters, looking for growths and perhaps disposing of them to limit the creature’s mobility. This option is also available as a spell for players, and a simple rewording can change the focus to soil, brick walls, or sources of water.
5Coven Magic
Hags
Hags in groupsare more dangerous than a single hag for more reasons than just more combat actions and health pools to worry about, but each one gains access to new spells while within 30 feet of another. This idea is a way to make packs of monsters or grouped enemies have an additional level of difficulty beyond just making numbers bigger.
For example, a group of tribal hunters might get a bonus to their tracking skills and Survival tests while within sight of each other, feeding on their combined senses. This mechanic could also work with multiple swarm creatures, able to combine their strength by multiplying their numbers and gaining the ability to engulf creatures.
4Restoration
Naga
Much like a Lich regenerates into their spirit jar, or a Deva returns to their home realm if killed, a naga simply comes back to life in 1d6 days where it was slain. This type of restoration can be a way to surprise players who are celebrating the defeat of a villain or monster who ends up causing chaos again only days later.
This ability on its own can serve as a plot hook or a campaign’s main conflict, where the party must discover a way to permanently suppress a creature or BBEG that refuses to die. Nagas specifically will stay dead if Dispel Evil and Good is cast on their remains, but you’re able to change this to a more complex ritual or a harder-to-obtain spell.
3Sense Magic
Chuul
A unique sense that is inherently not magical, a Chuul can sense the location of magic within 120 feet of itself, specifically the use of spells and magical abilities. A perfect ability for creatures that hate magic or a group of mage hunters, this will always be useful against an adventuring party prone to magic use.
Once the party discovers how a creature or NPC is tracking them, they can use this sense against them, casting a spell on a trap that lures their trackers into it. you may also swap a “magic” sense with whatever you want, such as metal, humanoids, objects native to other planes, or anything that fits into the lore of your homebrew.
2Inscrutable
Sphinx
Often, players will use Insight tests as a lie detector, attempting to determine if the NPC in front of them is attempting to swindle, cheat, or steal from them. A Sphinx gets around this with a trait that makes creatures unable to use magic to detect their thoughts, and Insight is more difficult to glean useful information.
Inscrutable is perfect for NPCs or creatures that are especially charismatic or wise, making their intentions mysterious and often confounding, forcing players to rely on trust or cold, hard facts. A more tangential use of this trait is on powerful magic items, which are too mysterious even for the effects of the Legend Lore spell.
1Glyph Of Warding
Spell
Traps in dungeons and cavesusually take on familiar forms, such as a pitfall of spikes or swinging axes, but can interact in more creative ways when applied as a spell. The effects of Glyph of Warding specifically have multiple options, giving players a way to punish thieves or trick patrolling creatures.
Any trap that is cast as a spell makes dungeons more interesting as players have more ways to interact with them other than a rogue poking the ground with a stick. Casting Detect Magic might reveal its location, or be completely invisible unless touched, and force the party to change their tactics while exploring.
It also gives Dispel Magic a clear use outside of combat, which is usually just a way to remove debuffs and ongoing effects.
