Dev Diary #11: Hollow Gazers, CR Editing, and Save Favorites
Welcome to Dev Diary #11 for Foe Foundry, the free 5E monster generator!
It's been a few weeks since the official end of beta, and I've been hard at work adding new monsters and quality-of-life improvements based on your feedback. This update focuses on making the generator more flexible and easier to use, while expanding the monster library with the first aberration.
Here's what's new:
- New Hollow Gazer Statblocks
- Edit Challenge Rating
- Save Your Favorite Monsters
- Villains & Rivals Guides
- Floating Action Buttons
- New Feedback System
- What's Next
Hollow Gazers: Time-Shattered Aberrations
The Hollow Gazer represents one of D&D's most evocative horror concepts: the scholar who delved too deep into forbidden knowledge and paid the ultimate price. These wretched aberrations were once seers and chronomancers who dared pierce the veil of time itself—only to have their minds shattered by what they witnessed in the timestream. Compare this to the official Nothic and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!
I've created two unique Hollow Gazer statblocks with dozens of variants each:
- Hollow Gazer (CR 2) - Newly cursed scholar still clinging to sanity
- Hollow Gazer of Ruin (CR 6) - Ancient aberration consumed by accumulated madness
Hollow Gazer of Ruin
Summoned with Foe FoundryMedium Aberration (Hollow Gazer)
AC 16 (Unholy Armor) Initiative +1 (11)
HP 110 (17d8 + 34)
Speed 30 ft.
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Str | 10 | +0 | +0 |
| Dex | 13 | +1 | +1 |
| Con | 14 | +2 | +5 |
| Mod | Save | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Int | 18 | +4 | +4 |
| Wis | 14 | +2 | +5 |
| Cha | 17 | +3 | +3 |
Skills Stealth +4, Arcana +10, Insight +8, Perception +8
Resistances Psychic
Immunities Charmed
Senses Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 18
Languages Almost Comprehensible Gibberish
CR 6 (2,300 XP; PB +3)
Traits
Warping Madness. If the hollow gazer dies with 3 or more levels of Madness, a Gibbering Mouther immediately spawns and joins the combat, acting next in initiative.
Focused Delirium (3/day). When the hollow gazer misses with an attack roll, it can choose to take 7 psychic damage, gain a level of Madness, and re-roll the attack roll.
Actions
Multiattack. The hollow gazer makes three Pitying Gaze attacks. It may replace two attacks with a use of its Devour Spell or Eldritch Beacon.
Pitying Gaze. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, range 30ft., one target. Hit 14 (3d6 + 4) psychic damage. The attack deals an additional 3 (1d6) psychic damage for each level of Madness.
Devour Spell. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5ft., one target that can cast a spell. Hit 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage and 21 (6d6) force damage. On a hit, the target loses its highest level spell slot. If the target has no spell slots remaining, it is Stunned until the end of its next turn.
Eldritch Beacon (1/day). The hollow gazer magically creates a Medium Eldritch Beacon Token (AC/DC 12, 3 Charges) at an unoccupied space it can see within 30 feet. Each turn that the beacon is active, on initiative count 0, 12 (5d4) Cultist arrive to aid the summoner and join combat at initiative count 0. On their first turn, the Cultist use their movement and action to arrive on the battlefield in unoccupied spaces within 30 feet of the summoner. They then act normally on subsequent turns.
What Makes Them Special
The Hollow Gazer abilities create truly memorable encounters that go beyond simple combat:
Twisted Prophecy - The creature utters a cursed prophecy at the start of combat, choosing a number from 1 to 20. Whenever any creature rolls that number on a d20, they suffer psychic damage. Watch your players' faces when their lucky 17 to hit becomes a curse.
Shattered Omens - Force creatures to reroll attack rolls or saving throws that succeed or fail by 5 or less. "Not in this timeline," whispers the Hollow Gazer as it rewrites fate itself.
Mind-Shattering Prediction - The creature pronounces a prophecy as a bonus action—"You will strike me before my next turn"—and if the prophecy isn't fulfilled, the target takes psychic damage. This creates fascinating tactical decisions about whether to trigger prophecies or suffer the consequences.
Warping Madness - The signature mechanic that makes Hollow Gazers more dangerous as they die. Other powers generate madness tokens under flavorful situations, creating opportunities for roleplay while adding mechanical depth.
More Than Monsters
What I love about Hollow Gazers is that they don't have to be simple combat encounters. These creatures retain fragmented intelligence and can communicate. They work brilliantly as:
- Fortune Tellers offering disturbingly accurate predictions for a price
- Information Brokers who know things that haven't happened yet
- Tragic Questgivers seeking redemption from their cursed existence
- Archive Keepers guarding forbidden libraries
Check out the full article with table-ready encounters and adventure hooks: Time-Shattered Aberrations That Actually Terrify
Edit Challenge Rating
One of the most requested features has finally arrived: you can now edit a monster's Challenge Rating directly in the generator!
Foe Foundry has always had multiple variants of creatures at various CR levels, but now you can customize the CR of any statblock. When you change CR, hitpoints, damage, AC, stats, skills, and powers, and DCs will all automatically adjust to the new CR.
Here's an example of scaling up a CR 2 Hollow Gazer to a CR 9 Hollow Gazer of Ruin that's even more powerful than the default CR 6 version.
Start editing CR by clicking or tapping the edit button next to the CR:
Then, choose the new CR for the monster.
The statblock will automatically scale and update!
Save Your Favorite Monsters
You're now also able to Save Monsters with the new Favorite Monsters system.
Free accounts can save up to 5 monsters, and patrons can save an unlimited amount.
You can save a monster directly from a statblock in a lore or blog page by clicking on the heart icon.
There's also a Save button on the generator page's floating action button.
Once you've saved a monster, you can view your favorites at the Favorites Page.
You can also see your favorites in the Monster Codex where they're shown as a stack of monster cards.
From the favorites page, you can click through to pull up the specific monster that you saved, including its specific powers and CR.
Submit Feedback
I've also added a Feedback feature where you can give feedback on which monsters you like (or don't like!).
You can submit feedback via the floating action button:
Then, you're prompted to fill in a simple form:
Villains & Rivals Guides
The comprehensive Villains and Rivals guides are now more prominent and easier to discover! These guides have been featured more prominently on both the homepage and in the Monster Codex, making it simple to find them when you need inspiration for memorable antagonists.
Creating Awesome Villains
Building memorable D&D villains means combining compelling motivations with themed threats and unique quirks. This guide provides:
- Tiered Villain Threats for each tier of play (levels 1-20)
- Themed Monsters organized by villain archetype
- Villain Methods and Schemes with dozens of plot hooks
- Evil Goals and Quirks to make antagonists unforgettable
- Villainous Sidekicks to add complexity to your BBEG
Whether you're building an arcane tyrant, a criminal mastermind, or an apocalyptic cultist, this guide gives you the tools to create villains your players will remember long after the campaign ends.
The Ultimate Guide to Rival Adventuring Parties
Rival adventuring parties add dynamic storytelling and player agency to your campaign. This guide includes:
- Pre-made Rival Parties with easy-to-use introductions
- Rival Adventure Hooks from wagers to team-ups
- Ways to Link Rivals to your campaign's villains
- Fully Customizable Statblocks for the Foe Foundry Generator
Rivals create memorable moments where the party isn't just fighting monsters—they're competing with other heroes who have their own goals and methods. These guides make it easy to drop compelling antagonists into any campaign.
Floating Action Buttons
The user experience has been significantly improved with the addition of Floating Action Buttons (FABs) throughout the site.
Generator FAB
On the Monster Generator, the new FAB gives you quick access to key actions:
- Reroll - Generate a new monster variation
- Export - Access markdown and print formats
- Search - Jump to the codex to find a different monster
- Feedback - Share your thoughts on the current monster
- Statblock (mobile only) - Switch to statblock view
Content FAB
On monster pages and blog posts, the FAB provides:
- Generate - Jump directly to the generator with this monster
- Search - Browse the full monster codex
- Export - Download the featured monster's statblock
- Feedback - Report issues or share praise
These floating buttons keep important actions accessible without cluttering the interface, especially on mobile devices where screen real estate is precious.
What's Next?
Now that the core generator is solid and accounts are stable, I'm focusing on features that leverage the account system:
Share Monsters
Now that you can save monsters, I want to add the ability to easily share monsters with your friends.
Generate NPCs
Looking beyond monsters, I want to help you create memorable NPCs with complete personalities and backstories:
- Full 5E statblocks with class features
- Personality traits and motivations
- Background and history
- Roleplay prompts and voice suggestions
- Relationship to other NPCs or the party
This will use the same generation approach as monsters but focus on creating NPCs that feel like real people rather than stat blocks. Think shopkeepers, quest-givers, allies, and contacts who can recur throughout your campaign.
Encounter Generation
Generate entire encounters instead of individual monsters:
- Tell it "CR 7 encounter for 4 players in a swamp"
- Get 2-3 balanced, themed monsters
- Receive tactical suggestions for running the fight
- Optionally include environmental hazards or objectives
This is a bigger project that will require balancing multiple monsters together, but it's high on the roadmap.
Thank You!
As always, thank you to everyone who's supported Foe Foundry:
- Patrons whose support keeps the servers running
- Newsletter subscribers who read these updates and send feedback
- Everyone using these monsters in their games and sharing with friends
Your support and feedback make this project possible. Let me know what you think of the new features!
You can always reach me at cordialgerm87@gmail.com with any questions, ideas, or feedback.
– Cordialgerm