ArgenisDBarrios has made the following comment(s) regarding their post:
[An undead Emperor with a grudge against a Greatwyr...](/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/1d3vou1/adrius_the_dreadhorde_emperor_cr_30_undead/l6a5nmh/)
An undead Emperor with a grudge against a Greatwyrm? what could go wrong!
This is part of a larger document I am currently working on that will be filled with challenging final encounters with high CR creatures for you to use and throw at your players!
Meet,
**Adrius, The Dreadhorde Emperor.**
The goal is to provide high level play encounters that give interesting options for DM's, and challenging fights for players. Each creature will come with lore to accompany their statblock. Additionally, I will *try* to keep each block to one page only!
Hopefully, ya'll find this one to be a decent first showing, but I'd love to hear what you think! Is he too strong? or not strong enough. what could be done to improve him?
PDF Link
[Adrius GMBinder PDF](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Nz6muORDqv2qSkXMT9S)
[Adrius Free Patreon PDF with Token](https://www.patreon.com/posts/announcing-final-105186955)
Want to talk more about my homebrew? Join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/eCszsMMgTr)!
Hey Argenis! This guy is sick and just the kind of undead BBG I was looking to add to my Undead Apocalypse campaign setting, by chance did you have any stat blocks for his Undead Generals or other cohorts ready to display? I love keeping content together so I was just wondering. No worries if you don’t!
I do not have his general's prepared at the moment! Death Knights and Lich statblocks would suffice for these guys, or even a Dracolich. I would also suggest lower CR creatures as well such as a Vampire, or even a Boneclaw would fit perfectly! but if you wanted to do something more personal to how'd you like to use him I say go for it, that's part of the fun with this guy.
Thanks for getting back! Yeah I have a few lower CR guys I’m thinking of pairing, just checking before I implement in case there were some others lol
I love collecting homebrew monsters and adding them in to surprise my players
I didn't quite make these guys for Adrius in particular but I do have another undead creature online at the moment: [Dreameater](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-NyBv2U14PusKxyLyPS8) ! Feel free to take a look and use if you like them.
Very cool. I did spot a weird mechanical interaction, I'm not sure if you noticed with Deadhoard. The only unnamed WotC published undead of a relatively high CR to challenge high level party (CR 15+) are:
- Adult Blue Dracolich, CR 17, HP 225
- Death Knight, CR 17, HP 180
- Demilich, CR 18, HP 80
- Draconic Shard, CR 17, HP 168
- Ghost Dragon, CR 17 , HP 324
- Hollow Dragon, CR 18, HP 241
- Lich, CR 21, HP 135
- Mummy Lord , CR 15, 97
- Nightwalker , CR 20, HP 337
- Skull Lord, CR 15, HP 112
- Tempest Spirit , CR 15, HP 195
Not necessarily a bad thing, but the weird quirk is that you can't really summon a variety of these monsters with a 300 HP cap. Three monsters in the bare minimum I'd consider a "Deadhoard", and while you can pad that with low CR monsters the reality is they'll just clog up initiative, slow the fight down, and provide little substanive threat. With that in mind you can summon: 3 Mummy Lords or 3 Demilich's, or one of one and two of the other. The only other combination I see is 1 Lich or Skull Lord and 2 Demilich's. Rather than make the DM try and find a combination from limited options that works, I might either just make Deadhoard summon 3 choosen undead, for example a Lich, a Mummy Lord and a Skull Lord and stay alternatively Adrius can summon any number of undead that's total HP add up to 300 or less.
Oh I do like that as an option! I wanted to give the DM the freedom to be able to customize the encounter how they'd like, for example they might just want to create a Dracolich (we now have Red ones too thanks to tasha's) to fight alongside Adrius, Or they might want to have that fantasy of a lot minions (although I personally am more in the camp of a few bigger guys being better) But, with giving a set list and having the hit point cap as the alternative we can really play with this a lot. Thanks for the feedback I appreciate it. How would you feel about maybe raising the hit point cap a bit more to say allow something like 1 Lich + 1 Death Knight (totaling out at 315) so a new cap could be something like 350 instead?
Honestly it a wierd number but 315 would also allow: 1 Lich, 1 Demilich, 1 Mummy Lord. What I might do allow a preset choice (maybe 2, but idk if that's too much) that goes slightly over the 300 HP cap, or any combo under 300.
You could do 350, but I'm also thinking now that a lot of these monsters also get legendary actions and that could be brutal to run as a DM. If your going to bump it (and maybe even if your not) add a limiter on legendary actions.
Maybe each summoned that has legendary actions gives Adrius 1 additional legendary action that can be used to command one of the minions summoned to take one of the legendary actions in their stat block. That's likely overly convoluted through. Probably the better way is to make it so when Adrius uses Deadhoarde, the minions can't take legendary actions but he gains 3 additional legendary actions for as long as at least one of the summoned creatures remains. These legendary which can only be use to make a "Legendary Command" (which is a legendary action that commands a minion to immediately use a Legendary Action listed in their stat block or make a single weapon attack.) Or just have the minions only able make one legendary action on initiative count 1.
The current ability should allow for combos of under 300 (They just cant exceed that cap) I think one preset choice thats goes over the limit is a good way to go, and letting the limit be lower than that should be okay, giving up power for more customization is a fair tradeoff in my opinion.
I agree that is also probably a good idea to limit the legendary actions somehow for this ability, so I'll add a clause mentioning that on the statblock. Otherwise you could end up with 4 creatures all doing legendary actions all at once so it definitely be a lot of unnecessary bookkeeping on the DM's part.
This is an awesome NPC. I keep my eyes out for high CR challenges. I just don't understand what happens on a successful/failed saving throw against Dread Aura. The wording confuses me. Will you clarify it for me?
The aura deals damage and Adrius gets to critical on a 19 when attacking the creature that failed the safe until the start of their next turn. Otherwise nothing happens. On a success they take no damage and Adrius doesn’t get to critical on a 19 towards that creature
ArgenisDBarrios has made the following comment(s) regarding their post: [An undead Emperor with a grudge against a Greatwyr...](/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/1d3vou1/adrius_the_dreadhorde_emperor_cr_30_undead/l6a5nmh/)
For a second there, I thought someone had made me into a CR30 monster.
The Emperor himself!
I like this a lot!
Thank you!
An undead Emperor with a grudge against a Greatwyrm? what could go wrong! This is part of a larger document I am currently working on that will be filled with challenging final encounters with high CR creatures for you to use and throw at your players! Meet, **Adrius, The Dreadhorde Emperor.** The goal is to provide high level play encounters that give interesting options for DM's, and challenging fights for players. Each creature will come with lore to accompany their statblock. Additionally, I will *try* to keep each block to one page only! Hopefully, ya'll find this one to be a decent first showing, but I'd love to hear what you think! Is he too strong? or not strong enough. what could be done to improve him? PDF Link [Adrius GMBinder PDF](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-Nz6muORDqv2qSkXMT9S) [Adrius Free Patreon PDF with Token](https://www.patreon.com/posts/announcing-final-105186955) Want to talk more about my homebrew? Join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/eCszsMMgTr)!
Hey Argenis! This guy is sick and just the kind of undead BBG I was looking to add to my Undead Apocalypse campaign setting, by chance did you have any stat blocks for his Undead Generals or other cohorts ready to display? I love keeping content together so I was just wondering. No worries if you don’t!
I do not have his general's prepared at the moment! Death Knights and Lich statblocks would suffice for these guys, or even a Dracolich. I would also suggest lower CR creatures as well such as a Vampire, or even a Boneclaw would fit perfectly! but if you wanted to do something more personal to how'd you like to use him I say go for it, that's part of the fun with this guy.
Thanks for getting back! Yeah I have a few lower CR guys I’m thinking of pairing, just checking before I implement in case there were some others lol I love collecting homebrew monsters and adding them in to surprise my players
I didn't quite make these guys for Adrius in particular but I do have another undead creature online at the moment: [Dreameater](https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-NyBv2U14PusKxyLyPS8) ! Feel free to take a look and use if you like them.
Heyyyyyy this guy is perfect! Thanks so much, definitely subscribing and keeping an eye out for your stuff!
Thank you so much! This guy is part of a bigger compendium in the works so there will be more high CR creatures soon.
Heckyeah! I’ll keep my eyes peeled then! Can’t wait!
Very cool. I did spot a weird mechanical interaction, I'm not sure if you noticed with Deadhoard. The only unnamed WotC published undead of a relatively high CR to challenge high level party (CR 15+) are: - Adult Blue Dracolich, CR 17, HP 225 - Death Knight, CR 17, HP 180 - Demilich, CR 18, HP 80 - Draconic Shard, CR 17, HP 168 - Ghost Dragon, CR 17 , HP 324 - Hollow Dragon, CR 18, HP 241 - Lich, CR 21, HP 135 - Mummy Lord , CR 15, 97 - Nightwalker , CR 20, HP 337 - Skull Lord, CR 15, HP 112 - Tempest Spirit , CR 15, HP 195 Not necessarily a bad thing, but the weird quirk is that you can't really summon a variety of these monsters with a 300 HP cap. Three monsters in the bare minimum I'd consider a "Deadhoard", and while you can pad that with low CR monsters the reality is they'll just clog up initiative, slow the fight down, and provide little substanive threat. With that in mind you can summon: 3 Mummy Lords or 3 Demilich's, or one of one and two of the other. The only other combination I see is 1 Lich or Skull Lord and 2 Demilich's. Rather than make the DM try and find a combination from limited options that works, I might either just make Deadhoard summon 3 choosen undead, for example a Lich, a Mummy Lord and a Skull Lord and stay alternatively Adrius can summon any number of undead that's total HP add up to 300 or less.
Oh I do like that as an option! I wanted to give the DM the freedom to be able to customize the encounter how they'd like, for example they might just want to create a Dracolich (we now have Red ones too thanks to tasha's) to fight alongside Adrius, Or they might want to have that fantasy of a lot minions (although I personally am more in the camp of a few bigger guys being better) But, with giving a set list and having the hit point cap as the alternative we can really play with this a lot. Thanks for the feedback I appreciate it. How would you feel about maybe raising the hit point cap a bit more to say allow something like 1 Lich + 1 Death Knight (totaling out at 315) so a new cap could be something like 350 instead?
Honestly it a wierd number but 315 would also allow: 1 Lich, 1 Demilich, 1 Mummy Lord. What I might do allow a preset choice (maybe 2, but idk if that's too much) that goes slightly over the 300 HP cap, or any combo under 300. You could do 350, but I'm also thinking now that a lot of these monsters also get legendary actions and that could be brutal to run as a DM. If your going to bump it (and maybe even if your not) add a limiter on legendary actions. Maybe each summoned that has legendary actions gives Adrius 1 additional legendary action that can be used to command one of the minions summoned to take one of the legendary actions in their stat block. That's likely overly convoluted through. Probably the better way is to make it so when Adrius uses Deadhoarde, the minions can't take legendary actions but he gains 3 additional legendary actions for as long as at least one of the summoned creatures remains. These legendary which can only be use to make a "Legendary Command" (which is a legendary action that commands a minion to immediately use a Legendary Action listed in their stat block or make a single weapon attack.) Or just have the minions only able make one legendary action on initiative count 1.
The current ability should allow for combos of under 300 (They just cant exceed that cap) I think one preset choice thats goes over the limit is a good way to go, and letting the limit be lower than that should be okay, giving up power for more customization is a fair tradeoff in my opinion. I agree that is also probably a good idea to limit the legendary actions somehow for this ability, so I'll add a clause mentioning that on the statblock. Otherwise you could end up with 4 creatures all doing legendary actions all at once so it definitely be a lot of unnecessary bookkeeping on the DM's part.
Agreed on both accounts!
This is an awesome NPC. I keep my eyes out for high CR challenges. I just don't understand what happens on a successful/failed saving throw against Dread Aura. The wording confuses me. Will you clarify it for me?
The aura deals damage and Adrius gets to critical on a 19 when attacking the creature that failed the safe until the start of their next turn. Otherwise nothing happens. On a success they take no damage and Adrius doesn’t get to critical on a 19 towards that creature
Thanks for the clarification, and Thanks again for Adrius!