Adding Monsters

Dear Readers, yes, I know it’s been more than a week since my last update, but there’s been good reason: life. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. The worst of which my 5-year old came down with what is likely (according to the doctor) one of two possible viruses that cause flu-like symptoms (and I’m talking all flu-like symptoms; don’t ask) but isn’t a strain of the flu. And that landed us in the pediatric ER. Yuck.

In any case, this article is about adding monsters to dndbeyond.com.

Short story time: the Ingrates are getting ready to begin another character’s story arc, which takes place on another planet (not saying which one, as it would give away some spoilers; I know the fact that they are able to get off planet is enough of a spoiler in and of itself). There, they will be encountering a specific set of…creatures. No, I cannot say what kind, as several of my players are among my readership (you know who you are…). Suffice it to say that there will be a theme among the creatures that they will encounter.

In any case, I was browsing the internets and found what can only be described as the perfect creature! Some guy on Pinterest posted it on his account. Sweet! I promptly put it into D&D Beyond! Then I found another one! Same guy’s account. Score! And another one goes into D&D Beyond. Then I realized something that you may have already thought of: this stuff might be copyrighted!

Craaaaaaaaaaaap…

So I began looking and I found the source, a document (very well done, I might add) called Expanded Clockworks created by Sonixverse Labs. I found one other creature put into D&D Beyond from this person, and found he had a Reddit account! I went on there and reached out to them (a him or maybe her; I honestly don’t know), and got a reply within minutes!! The conversation went something like this:

Daily DM: Soooo…I found your stuff on some dude’s Pinterest and it was perfect for a campaign I was running, and added them as homebrew on dndbeyond.com. If this isn’t cool, I’ll take it down, and I’m very very sorry I didn’t check beforehand. I’ll even ensure you are credited in the description.

Sonixverse Labs: Hey! That’s no problem! Feel free to use or upload anything for your campaign! I wanted to freely share my content with people so I don’t mind at all. I wish you and your party the best for your upcoming campaign!

Daily DM: you are an absolute godsend! FYI, your stiff is amazing. I love it!

Sonixverse Labs: Thanks! I’m glad you like it. Also, here is a Google drive link with all my dnd pdfs.

[link to work to follow; my players, don’t click so you won’t get any spoilers!!]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pdZh3XI5m4QdY-JGt3XoPZJ7wWTJJdhF?usp=sharing

(I don’t recommend using the gmbinder links anymore because recently the website has been having issues and the formatting is really messed up)

These pdfs should have the most recent adjustments as well as proper formatting

Daily DM: You are awesome. Thank you!

And to be clear, this person’s work is just nothing short of…amazing. Then I began the slog. The worst part: putting everything into D&D Beyond.

So, here’s how it works, step by step (keep in mind that part of this assumes you have a subscription, so FYI):

Mouse over the “Collections” tab, and go to “My Homebrew Creations”
In the top right of that area, mouse over the “Create A…” button
Click on “Monster”; you should now be on a page labeled “Create Homebrew Monster”
You now have two choices, you can create a variant of an existing monster (keep in mind that, while the option exists, don’t use a previously input homebrew monster; it doesn’t work, trust me), or you can create one from scratch, we are going to click on the blue “CREATE FROM SCRATCH” button; if you wanted to create a variant of an already existing creature, the steps are practically the same, so this checklist still works
Begin filling out the details; Monster name, version (I recommend using some system that’s easy to remember; like 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, or A, B, C, etc…), type, etc…; if you are inputting this from another source, this information should be easy enough to find and input; be advised, for Special Traits Description, Actions Description, etc…if you want it to look like a D&D Beyond entry, make sure you bold and italicize what needs to be bolded and italicized
IF YOUR CREATURE IS NOT LEGENDARY, MYTHIC, OR DOESN’T HAVE LAIR ACTIONS – you need to click on the box marking it as legendary, mythic, etc…, delete the text in the box, then unclick the legendary, mythic, etc…box. If you don’t, the text in those boxes will appear; not sure why, but that’s the case. This goes for any entry box that you don’t have actions for. For example, if my creature doesn’t have any bonus actions, then I would delete the text in that box, leaving it blank; if I do this, no Bonus Action section will appear in the stat block entry.
After all this is done, click on the red “CREATE MONSTER” button; yes, there is more information to input, but that comes later, on the next screen
You should now be on a page labeled with your monster’s name on top; it is here where you can add languages (if any), senses (like darkvision, truesight, etc…), skills, and movement types and speeds; click on the appropriate blue button, enter the information (some have dropdown boxes), and click the blue “SAVE” button
If you have artwork for your creature, there is a place at the bottom where you can upload said artwork for your creature; make sure you avoid using someone else’s copyrighted image unless you have their permission
Next, click again on the red “SAVE CHANGES” button.
You should find yourself back on the exact same screen; at the top, you should see something like “B > HOMEBREW > CREATIONS > [Monster Name] < EDIT (this should be in grey); click on the name of your monster
You should now find yourself in what should be a D&D monster stat block! Look it over and make sure you don’t have any errors; if you do, click on the blue “EDIT” above the monster stat block; if you hate it and changed your mind, click the red “DELETE”; if you want to publish this creature so that others may look up and see/use your monster in their games, then click on the blue “SHARE WITH COMMUNITY”
Congratulations! You just built your first custom monster!

Well, that’s it for today! Next time, I’ll have the steps on creating a new magic item! Before that, though, expect episode 13 of the Inglorious Ingrates to drop. My editor is having computer problems again (it’s apparently deciding to power off randomly on its own?!), so editing episode 35 for you Premium Subscribers is still to come.

Until next time, Dear Readers…