Alex Schroeder: Halberds & Helmets

Monsters: Giants 27.01.2026 11:18 ↓

Giants are forces of nature somewhere between dragons and jinn or elementals.

Monsters: Ghouls 13.09.2025 7:55 ↓

Carrion eating, undead nobles, with fear effect and paralysis in melee. Wonderful and terrible.

Monsters: Gargoyles 22.08.2025 5:56 ↓

Superhumans hanging around in gloomy temples, not knowing what to do with themselves.

Monsters: Froglings 07.07.2025 5:02 ↓

Humanoids in swamps with surprise jumping attacks.

Monsters: Giant Fish 15.06.2025 7:53 ↓

Underwater adventures.

Monsters: Ettins 15.11.2024 8:23 ↓

Two headed brawlers.

2d6 rules, shields, armour 15.11.2024 6:07 ↓

How to go about designing monsters.

Designing your own monsters 06.11.2023 27:41 ↓

How to go about designing monsters.

Monsters: Elves 21.07.2023 21:57 ↓

Elves are immortal, metrosexual, aloof know-it-alls. They know everything better, they can do everything better, and they're not afraid to tell you.

Monsters: Elephants 08.05.2023 7:36 ↓

Elephants are cool in war, and they have ivory tusks. Do you want your players to be poachers?

Monsters: Dwarves 24.03.2023 15:34 ↓

Dwarves are rich and paranoid. There's also a long excursion about dwarves, elves, halflings and humans in the monster manual.

Monsters: Dragons 25.02.2023 17:32 ↓

Dragons a dangerous and lucrative and thus provide players with an excellent betting opportunity. Use more dragons!

Monsters: Doppelgaengers 16.02.2023 9:48 ↓

Doppelgängers are for the urban adventure when you no longer know whom to trust and how to safely uncover the conspiracy.

Monsters: Crocodiles 27.09.2022 9:34 ↓

Crocodiles are ambush predators. I like to announce their presence and treat them like traps.

Monsters: Creepers 26.08.2022 8:39 ↓

Creepers are a total party kill in the making with their eight paralysing attacks but I still love them.

Monsters: Giant Crabs 07.01.2022 5:02 ↓

Giant crabs are cool because of the crab demon lord Garaskis that offers pincer arms and carapace armour to the poor and powerless.

Monsters: Chimeras 19.12.2021 5:58 ↓

Chimeras are goofy because of the goat head, but also dangerous for the lion attack and the dragon breath. I use them as guardians of the underworld.

Monsters: Giant Centipedes 12.12.2021 6:08 ↓

Giant centipedes and other vermin like rats and bats, and monsters like rot grub or green slime are better handled as traps. They don't need to be in the monster manual.

Monsters: Centaurs 23.11.2021 12:08 ↓

Centaurs are half horse half men, horny drunken violent creatures. Content warning: sexual violence.

Monsters: Cats, Large 04.08.2021 10:41 ↓

A cat for every occasion, from pumas, mountain lions, jaguars, lions to tigers: harassing villages and making it hard to cross rivers

Monsters: Bugbears 23.07.2021 5:10 ↓

Bugbears are cat people: sneaky, dangerous, serving underground elves, always ready to pounce on you, always spying on you

Monsters: Boars 22.07.2021 6:43 ↓

Boars as pets for orcs, giant boars as mounts for dwarves and halflings, and demon boars as protector spirits of a forest

Monsters: Giant Beetles 03.04.2021 7:06 ↓

Talking about giant beetles and how I used them: pack animals for the underworld, war elephants for goblins and the like, or car sized monsters in dungeon corridors

Monsters: Giant Bees 05.11.2020 5:57 ↓

Talking about giant bees, giant wasps, and how I used them: like Aliens in a hive, and as mounts for lizard people

Monsters: Bears 25.08.2020 9:35 ↓

Talking about bears, laser eyes, and summoning angry flying bears