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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > This New 5E D&D Monster Reveals the Secrets of Homebrew Content

This New 5E D&D Monster Reveals the Secrets of Homebrew Content

Think Outside the Box and Turn Spoilers into Benefits in 5E D&D
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Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted explore the basics of homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Creating homebrew content for 5E D&D ranges from something like a simply house rule to a massive project preparing material for release like our very own Out of the Box: Encounters for 5th Edition. Between our YouTube channel, newsletter, Patreon and right here on the website we create homebrew content essentially every day so we’re no strangers to the process on a small or large scale. To go along with the video discussion I thought it would be fun to share a peek behind the curtain at one of the homebrew monsters in our upcoming monthly Patreon rewards.

Homebrew 5E D&D content made easy

In Wizard’s Wake adventurers visit the lovely Gylathacean Isles, a tropical getaway that of course also holds potential for adventure. Centuries ago a magical disaster caused a ship to crash in the isles (or perhaps was caused by the crash? That’s up to the adventurers to discover). The titular ship sits broken on a small isle, leaking arcane energy into the surrounding waters and causing unusual mutations in the sea life.

The bulk of adventure takes place inside Wizard’s Wake, the crashed ship, and adventurers discover the rumors they hear while exploring the isles are true — the ship is much different on the inside than it appears from outside. In our April fan one shot I ran Wizard’s Wake for five players and we had a fantastic time rolling funny shaped dice together. We run these games every month, drawing names from our newsletter subscribers. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy, by signing up here.

Each month our Patreon rewards include homebrew content for players and Game Masters alike. In Wizard’s Wake alone there’s two subclasses (Travel Domain and Circle of Salt), two player races (sealfolk and aquatic lizardfolk) plus a whole bunch of new magic items and monsters. Find out more about this particular reward in our monthly preview post here. Patreon supporters at the $2 level and above get these 15-30 page illustrated digital products each month and since we post them right on the Patreon page itself, new supporters get immediate access to previous months’ rewards too. There is an additional cost involved though, which is a lot of scrolling down, down, down to get all of them. But they are there waiting for you!

5E D&D homebrew monsters

It’s D&D so even a trip to a tropical beach retreat involves excitement and danger. Wizard’s Wake is our May Patreon rewards and you can get your own copy plus immediate access to dozens of other products. Click the image to check it out. [Art by Ashkan Ghanbari]

Now, down to business. While preparing Wizard’s Wake for release I came across one of the homebrew creatures written for the package called a rusted guardian. The creature’s name was so evocative and as a CR 9 monster I anticipated something dangerous. In the initial form this was a tough monster. High AC, hard hitting attacks…and that was about it. Essentially a souped up animated armor, which is perfectly suitable for the purpose in the adventure and already an example of homebrew basics — taking an existing creature and modifying it for a different purpose. But that name stuck with me.

Rusted Guardian.

Surely it should incorporate rust into the stat block beyond the name right? Revisiting the creature with this in mind can you guess where it wound up? This construct was an enchanted suit of armor created by the captain of Wizard’s Wake to protect valuable possessions. In the magical catastrophe tied up with the ship’s crash it became something else. The same sea water corroding the metal was also infused with arcane energy.

Representing these qualities from here was a snap. There’s an existing creature adventurers dread with a handy trait ready to slap onto the existing chassis. Rust monsters can corrode nonmagical ferrous metal objects they can see within 5 feet. Easy enough to borrow this feature. I also thought it would be a fun challenge for players if the rusted guardian could not only actively corrode nearby metal but also cause metal that comes into contact with it to corrode. For this I looked to the black pudding and came up with Curse of Rust.

Now, fighting this creature becomes quite another matter entirely. Sure, the original incarnation could hit — hard! — and was in turn hard to hit. But simply borrowing a couple of traits from existing monsters changes it considerably. This is one of my favorite ways to create homebrew content for 5E D&D. Take a class feature and make it into a magic item. Take a monster trait and turn it into a subclass feature. Take a spell and turn it into a monster trait. It’s all interconnected! Many of the NPC versions in our Character Build Guides are put together this way and we’ve gotten a ton of positive feedback from players and Dungeon Masters who’ve used these guides in their games to great success and fun. They’re all over at Dungeon Master’s Guild for pay what you want prices so what have you got to lose?

Here’s the Rusted Guardian as it appears in the final version inside Wizard’s Wake, which incidentally drops over on our Patreon page tomorrow, May 5. Enjoy!

Rusted Guardian

Medium construct, unaligned

Armor Class 18

Hit Points 133 (14d8 + 70)

Speed 30 feet

STR 20 (+5)

DEX 8 (-1)

CON 20 (+5)

INT 3 (-4)

WIS 11 (+0)

CHA 1 (-5)

Damage Immunities Fire, Poison, Psychic; Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks that aren’t Silvered or Adamantine

Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned

Senses blindsense 10 ft., passive Perception 10

Languages Understands the languages of its creator but can’t speak

Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)

Immutable Form. The rusted guardian is immune to any spell or effect that would alter its form.

Magic Resistance. The rusted guardian has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Magic Weapons. The rusted guardian’s weapon attacks are magical.

Actions

Rusted Sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (4d10 +5) slashing damage and the target must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw. On a fail, a nonmagical ferrous metal object worn or carried by the target takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to the AC it offers in the case of metal armor or a metal shield, and a -1 penalty to damage rolls in the case of a weapon (rusted guardian’s choice).

Armor reduced to an AC of 10, a shield that drops to a +0 bonus or a weapon that drops to a -5 penalty is destroyed.

Curse of Rust (Recharge 5-6). Until the end of its next turn, any nonmagical weapon made of metal that hits the rusted guardian corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition made of metal that hits the rusted guardian is destroyed after dealing damage.

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Doug Vehovec

Nerditor-in-Chief Doug Vehovec is a proud native of Cleveland, Ohio, with D&D in his blood since the early 80s. Fast forward to today and he’s still rolling those polyhedral dice. When he’s not DMing, worldbuilding or working on endeavors for Nerdarchy he enjoys cryptozoology trips and eating awesome food.

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