Custom Monster Quick Build Guide

Humanoids

  To homebrew a monster based on humanoid or humanoid-like races (such as giants), we can quick build them without going through the normal character creation process.  

Step 1: Race

  First, choose any race that you want, regardless of whether it is playable or not. You can include all racial bonuses and features associated with that race into your monster.    

Step 2: Class & Background

  When creating villains & NPCs, you can use any player or nonplayer class as you see fit, including villainous class options like Oathbreaker Paladin & Death Cleric. Within your chosen class, you’ll have several steps to create the character, with considerations towards your background as well:  

1. Ability Scores/Stat Rolls - rolled normally; no maximum of 20 on any score
2. Proficiencies - base these off your class as normal, but can tweak things if needed (ex. Trading one tool proficiency for another, or having learned one or two more proficiencies during the character’s life)
3. Equipment - base your chosen equipment on the class’s starting equipment, but feel free to modify/add to any selections as you see fit. If this character is higher than level 1, they would have most likely gathered more than their standard load-out
4. Features - for expedience, take the core features of your class (ex. Rage for Barbarians, Channel Divinity for Clerics, Sneak Attack for Rogues, etc.) and any MultiAttack features it may have. You can pick the rest of your features from those available to your class (or one from another class if it makes sense/isn’t too OP) based on the theme of your character, rather than writing down all the class features for that character’s level. You can take all Ability Score Improvements/Feats that your class allows at your level, with special rules surrounding the Constitution score in the HP section of this article. If multiclassing, base these decisions off of your level allocation to each class.
5. Spells - if you have chosen a spellcaster class, prepare your spells based on the class’s instructions. If there are spells not available to your class that would make sense for the character to know, you can pick those in lieu of normal spells as well. If your subclass option gives you spells that are always prepared (not counting towards your class total of prepared spells), you can swap out any of them for another choice that your character would have, whether its on your spell list or not. All other rules on Spellcasting work as they normally would for the class
6. Background - pick any background & add the language/tool/skill proficiencies as normal, but you are more than welcome to create a custom background and/or modify the available proficiencies based on what works for your character
7. HP - instead of rolling HP for each level, take the fixed HP increase amount + your Constitution modifier and multiply that by the character level, as detailed in the table below. If you increase Constitution through any Ability Score Improvements, simply increase your HP max by however many points you increased the Constitution score by (NOT the modifier).

Class	Starting HP	Additional HP	Core Features
Barbarian	12+Con mod	(7+Con mod)*levels above 1	Rage & Multiattack
Bard	8+Con mod	(5+Con mod)*levels above 1	Bardic Inspiration & Expertise
Cleric	8+Con mod	(5+Con mod)*levels above 1	Channel Divinity & Destroy Undead (Command Undead if Death Cleric)
Druid	8+Con mod	(5+Con mod)*levels above 1	Wild Shape
Fighter	10+Con mod	(6+Con mod)*levels above 1	Multiattack
Monk	8+Con mod	(5+Con mod)*levels above 1	Martial Arts & Ki
Paladin	10+Con mod	(6+Con mod)*levels above 1	Channel Divinity & Divine Smite
Ranger	10+Con mod	(6+Con mod)*levels above 1	Natural Explorer, Favored Enemy & Multiattack
Rogue	8+Con mod	(5+Con mod)*levels above 1	Sneak Attack & Expertise
Sorcerer	6+Con mod	(4+Con mod)*levels above 1	Metamagic & Font of Magic
Warlock	8+Con mod	(5+Con mod)*levels above 1	Eldritch Invocations & Pact Boon
Wizard	6+Con mod	(4+Con mod)*levels above 1	Arcane Recovery
Artificer	8+Con mod	(5+Con mod)*levels above 1	Infuse Item & Tool Expertise
Blood Hunter	10+Con mod	(6+Con mod)*levels above 1	Hunter’s Bane, Blood Maledict & Multiattack

 

Step 3: CR & Proficiency Bonus

To select the appropriate CR & Proficiency Bonus, consult the chart below:

Challenge	Proficiency Bonus	AC	Avg HP	To Hit	Avg Damage	XP
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