Dev Diary #4¶
Welcome to the fourth Dev Diary for Foe Foundry, our ever-growing toolkit for 5E GMs and monster-hungry TTRPG fans! It's summer here in the US and it's time for another update before the holidays next week.
- New Homepage is Live
- Article: Four More Tips for Homebrewing Monsters
- Basilisk added based on Patron Prioritization Poll #4
- Patron Prioritization Poll #5 is a Tie! Warriors, Berserkers, and Guards all win
- Patron Prioritization Poll #6 - Underworld NPCs - is live
- What's Next? Alpha Plan Updates
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New Homepage¶
The New Foe Foundry Homepage is live! You can use the new homepage to browse all the monsters, powers, and GM tips on the site. It ended up taking a lot longer than I had initially planned, but I'm very pleased with the results.
Four More Tips for Homebrewing Monsters¶
Four More Tips for Homebrewing Monsters continues the 5 Tips for Homebrewing Monsters series with some new homebrew monster tips for DMs:
- Choose CR first, then assign stats
- Choose powers that reinforce the fantasy
- Scale powers to CR
- Make the standard attack matter
Basilisks Added¶
The dreaded Basilisk was the winner of Patron Poll #4: Monstrosities. I added multiple variants of the basilisk's iconic petrification abilities (Petrifying Gaze, Petrifying Glance, and Petrifying Bite) so take your pick for your favorite. Of course there are encounter and adventure ideas included, as well as a spicy Basilisk Broodmother to feature in some nice adventure hooks about stealing basilisk eggs.
Basilisk
Summoned with Foe FoundryMedium Monstrosity (Basilisk)
AC 14 Initiative -1 (9)
HP 65 (10d8 + 20)
Speed 30 ft.
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Str | 18 | +4 | +4 |
| Dex | 8 | -1 | -1 |
| Con | 14 | +2 | +2 |
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Int | 4 | -3 | -3 |
| Wis | 8 | -1 | -1 |
| Cha | 7 | -2 | -2 |
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 9
CR 3 (700 XP; PB +2)
Traits
Petrification. The basilisk can turn creatures to stone. When affected, the creature must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be Restrained. At the end of its next turn, the creature repeats the save. If it fails, it is Petrified.
Actions
Multiattack. The basilisk makes two Venomous Bite attacks.
Venomous Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage and 4 (1d8) poison damage. On a hit, the target is Grappled (escape DC 12). On a hit, the target must save or be affected by Petrification.
Tear Apart. The basilisk rips at a target it is grappling, releasing the grapple. The creature must make a DC 12 Strength saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) slashing damage on a failure and half as much on a success. If this damage reduces a creature to 0 hit points, it dies and is torn in half.
Reactions
Stone Molt (1/day). When hit by an attack, the basilisk violently molts its stone scales. It gains resistance to a damage type of its choice until the end of its next turn and the molted scales create difficult terrain for other creatures in a 10 foot radius around the basilisk.
Guards, Warriors, and Berserkers are Next¶
The lovely Foe Foundry Patrons have voted on Patron Prioritization Poll #5 - Fighter NPCs and it's a three-way tie between Guards, Warriors, and Berserkers. I'll be adding all three over the course of the next week.
Prioritization Poll: Underworld NPCs¶
That means Patron Prioritization Poll #6 - Underworld NPCs is live for patrons who will choose between Assassins, Bandits, Spies, and Thugs. Vote now to help prioritize what comes next!
Alpha Plan Updates¶
Generator Updates¶
I’m hard at work on the Foe Foundry Monster Generator - a tool for TTRPG GMs to edit monsters by adding powers, removing powers, and smashing two creatures together.
I've finished migrating all monsters to the new generation framework, which means I'm ready to implement the intuitive card UI. That's coming up next!
Beta Plans¶
Once the generator is launched, I will move Foe Foundry from Alpha to Beta.
So far, I'm planning these enhancements during Beta (subject to change and feedback, of course). These features are designed to make homebrewing and managing monsters for your 5E games even easier:
- Search Improvements so you can easily find the monsters you need
- Markdown Export so you can drop any of the generated monsters into Notion, Obsidian, etc.
- PDF Export for folks who prefer a tried and true format
- Foe Foundry Accounts: a login and account system so you can save your monsters
- Encounter Building: automatically create challenge-appropriate and thematic encounters with a fun, swipeable UI
I can’t wait to see what you build with Foe Foundry — and I’d love your feedback as the project grows.
Thanks for reading, and have fun running games for your friends, family, and loved ones!
– Cordialgerm