About Foe Foundry

The Story Behind Foe Foundry

I'm a passionate GM and longtime player who loves crafting monsters and encounters. But over time, I found myself increasingly frustrated with the state of official tools and resources. Searching for the right monster became a chore. Customizing existing creatures was tedious. Lore and encounter hooks felt like an afterthought. And too often, monsters were either too boring or too clunky to run smoothly at the table.

Foe Foundry is my love letter to GMs who crave more from their monsters — more creativity, more clarity, and more fun. I wanted to build something that let GMs summon unique, memorable foes with just a few clicks — and I think I've done just that.

  • Mechanically interesting — abilities that create meaningful tactical choices
  • Flavorful and memorable — powers that tell a story and make each creature unique
  • Easy to run — clear, concise abilities that don't bog down combat
  • Properly balanced — challenging but fair for the party's level

So I built Foe Foundry: a free toolkit that generates unique 5E-compatible monsters using hundreds of handcrafted powers. Each monster is assembled from over 600+ handcrafted powers and slotted into detailed monster templates with variants for different CRs and combat roles. The generator assigns powers and everything from damage to DCs and HP scales instantly. Every template and power is handcrafted and balanced with care — no AI slop or random junk.

Design Philosophy

Too many monster statblocks are forgettable. They're either bloated with fiddly mechanics or stripped down to the point of boredom. Foe Foundry monsters aim to hit the sweet spot: easy to run, mechanically exciting, and thematically unforgettable.

I reimagined custom TTRPG monster design to be more dynamic, memorable, and intuitive to use at the table, taking inspiration from excellent monster innovations in books like Forge of Foes and systems like Level Up: Advanced 5E.

Core Design Principles

  • Monsters should be powerful, flavorful, and easy to run. No more boring french-vanilla "Bite Claw Claw" monsters.
  • The primary threat of a monster should come from its damage. If you just multiattack with the monster, it should present a challenge in its raw damage output. Abilities should then add interesting flavor, unique mechanics, and other tactical effects to make combat exciting.
  • Monsters shouldn't have to sacrifice damage output to do something interesting. Foe Foundry monsters often have bonus actions or powerful actions that can replace attacks in the multiattack. This way, your monster will always do something interesting on its turn and still be able to threaten players with damage output.
  • Monsters should have clearly identified roles. Foe Foundry monsters have explicit roles that dictate their behavior and combat style. For example, monsters may be brutes, ambushers, leaders, etc. This leads to interesting encounters but also makes the monster easier to run.
  • Monsters are procedurally generated using 600+ unique powers. These unique powers are assigned to monsters based on their creature type, role, CR, size, attributes, skill proficiencies, etc. The powers automatically scale damage, range, DCs, etc. based on the creature they're being applied to!
  • Monsters should use interactive debuffs — instead of paralyzing a character, Foe Foundry monsters use new conditions like Dazed, Shocked, Frozen, etc. These conditions take away less player agency and are more interactive than their harsher cousins like Paralyzed and Stunned.

Human-Designed, Procedurally Generated

Every power in Foe Foundry is handcrafted by me, tested in real campaigns, and balanced for 5E combat. The generator intelligently combines these powers to create coherent, thematic monsters using sophisticated algorithms. Foe Foundry leverages the power of procedural generation to create endless variety, but never relies on AI slop - every ability is human-designed and playtested.

Built for Game Masters

I design monsters with the GM in mind. Every statblock is:

  • Easy to read — clear formatting, no walls of text
  • Quick to prepare — generate a full encounter in minutes
  • Fun to run — interesting tactical options without overwhelming complexity
  • Fast to run — never sacrifice flavor for simplicity

Connect With Me

I love hearing from fellow GMs! Here's where you can find me:

If Foe Foundry has saved you prep time or inspired your campaigns, consider supporting the project on Patreon. Your support helps me dedicate more time to adding new features, monsters, and tools for the community.

Ready to Create Unforgettable Monsters?