Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting - A 5e Supplement
Created by Loot Tavern
Level up your game with epic monster hunts, harvesting, and crafting.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Early Feb Update! Early Access PDF #2; FREE Crucible PDF
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Feb 15, 2022 at 10:04:43 PM
Hey friends!
Happy Tuesday. We're here with the next early access release and an additional free PDF from our friends at Crucible (see bottom). The eagle-eyed among you might've noticed that we released the second early-access PDF a couple of days ago. If you didn't grab it yet, log into your Backerkit account (see previous update for details), and go to Digital Downloads.
So, What’s Inside This Time?
Four more chapters! Excitingly, we have all the races ready for you to play, as well as several more hunts.
Chapter 6: Races
Chapter 9: Polyhedrooze (Ooze Hunt)
Chapter 16: A Tale of Two Tails (Rakshasa Hunt)
Chapter 17: Mecha Koboldzilla (Construct Hunt)
Chapter 20: Appendix A—Magic Items*
Chapter 21: Appendix B—Spells*
Chapter 22: Appendix C—Creatures*
*The appendices have been updated with the items, spells, and creatures from the new hunts. However, none of the typos/feedback submitted has been incorporated, yet. More on this below:
... Get it? Rolled up? Like a character? But also in a gargantuan icosahedron made of Biomantic Ooze
Typos and Feedback
Thank you somuch for all your input so far! From finding errant apostrophes, to missed bold formatting, to helping us identify that the page number font was truly terrible and all the 0s looked like 8s - thank you. Special mention to Jessic for the monumental volume of quality feedback submitted (they're responsible for almost 40% of all the typos reported!)
What's Our Process? Our current plan is to release playtested material to you all following the timeline in update #36. We want feedback from you, as well as catching typos. Once we have feedback from the early March release, we'll set about rejiggling the book. Then we'll send it to proofers we have lined up for a final polish pass before releasing it to you guys.
How Do I Submit Feedback? Simple! Choose one of the following forms. Typos is for short errors (N.B. the book is written in British English).
*Switched because the food art won't be ready in time!
FinalRelease
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 23: Index
Beyond
Ch 19: The Dire Bunny of Kaergannob (Hunt).
Why is the dire bunny separate, now? Well... long story short, this book is looking like it's gona be REALLY big. At least 400 pages. Turns out, being too big can actually be a problem. As such, we're looking at making the dire bunny it's own standalone softback book with its own hunt, familiar, items, and monsters, to be included in the package of everyone who gets a book.
What Do You Think? We're still working out the details, but is that something y'all would be interested in? Are there any issues you foresee? Would you like more standlone hunts? Let us know what you think, we're keen to engage you all on this idea!
Okay. Remember the Shadow of the Broodmother map? The MAD Cartographer did that. They've also done the map for the Loot Tavern, which I can tell you looks amazing. You'll get to see it soon. I love Humperdink's laboratory. AND, like me, Alex is also from the North of England, so you know he's a decent bloke. Anyway, his Kickstarter—CRUCIBLE MAGAZINE—is live!
ThrillingNew Contentfor 5E. Crucible is a monthly magazine packed with over 80 pages of fifth edition content like adventures, subclasses, magic items, a four page comic, interviews, and more! Today is the first day to hop on the Kickstarter at https://www.CrucibleMag.com (sign up required) where you can get a FREE copy of their launch issue!
I'm actually really impressed with how accessible this is. It's both physical, digital, AND is ready to play on Foundry VTT.
Alright folks, we'll catch you in a couple more weeks. Lots to do!
Thanks,
Max (and Mo and Jess!)
Downloading the Early Access PDF - Mini Update
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Feb 01, 2022 at 03:46:05 AM
Hello!
We're thrilled with the engagement we've seen for the early access PDF! And y'all are making great use of the feedback forms (looks like the links were fine after all!)
Some folks have been asking questions about how to download the PDF, so we'll provide a little instruction here. After that, we'll provide more guidance on giving us feedback.
Downloading the PDF
You need to do this through Backerkit. How you do this is a little different depending on if you backed the Kickstarter, or you were a late backer on Backerkit.
KickstarterBacker. When you backed the Kickstarter, you used an email address. Backerkit sent an email to that email address with a link in it. That link takes you to Backerkit where you can i) Give us your details, ii) Add addons, and iii) downloaddigital products!
So to download the PDF: find this email, click the link, go to "Get Your Digital Downloads" on the left of the screen, download the file(s) you want (pages/spreads/optimised).
(Also, if you've used Backerkit before, you might have an account that you can log into and avoid finding this email.)
But I don't have theemail withthe link! Backerkit have you covered. Go to: https://www.backerkit.com/are_you_a_backer, type in "Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting", click 'go to project', re-enter your email address. An email (with the link) should arrive a short time later. Check your junk folder! If this still doesn't resolve your issue please join the Loot Tavern Discord server. We have a whole, wholesome, and helpful community there!
Late Backer. If you backed on Backerkit, you have a Backerkit account. Log in to it, click on the Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting project, go to "Get Your Digital Downloads" on the left of the screen, download the file(s) you want (pages/spreads/optimised).
I don't see the Heliana's project! It's possible that you have backed but your card hasn't charged. This can be because it's still in the process of charging, or because the charges were denied. If it's the latter, Backerkit will have contacted you (by email) to update you payment method. If it's the former, it might just take another day. Note: the PDF can only be downloaded if the payment has fully processed.
We love it! Thank you. You've already caught plenty of typos and I'll aim to fix those in future versions.
Reign of Iron Bard Songs. An extra 'http://' crept into this url. If you want access to the file before the next version of this PDF is released, you can just remove that bit of code from the URL.
Questions. Some folks are asking questions in the feedback - that's great, but I can't answer if you're not in the Loot Tavern Discord server. Almost everyone who has left detailed feedback has a question. In a lot of cases I need some clarification on what exactly is being asked, so please join the Discord server so we can clarify any potential points of confusion and help everyone benefit :). Note: leaving your discord ID isn't enough.
Ok, that's all for now. I'll check on this update tomorrow and reply to any questions. Thanks!
Gratefully,
Max (and Mo and Jess)
The January Early Access PDF is Here!
about 1 year ago
– Sat, Jan 29, 2022 at 01:52:12 AM
Hey Backers!
We have something for you! We’ve been working really hard to pull together the content that we think is ready for you to start playing into a digital PDF. Once I figure out how to work Backerkit’s digital delivery, you’ll be able to download it (probably tomorrow!). You'll be notified either through Backerkit or by email.
It might still need some tweaking. To that end we’ve made a couple of Google Forms; you’ll find QR codes/hyperlinks to those in the PDF.
So, What’s Inside?
This is not the final PDF, but it's still big: 209 pages! This is a selection of content that’s been through playtesting and is ready to be used. Here’s what’s in this release:
Chapter 4: Harvesting
Chapter 5: Crafting
Chapter 10: The Shining Shrine (Hunt)
Chapter 12: Reign of Iron (Hunt)
Chapter 13: The Veiled Lady (Hunt)
Chapter 14: Shadow of the Broodmother (Hunt)
Chapter 15: Dream Weaver (Hunt)
Chapter 20: Appendix A—Magic Items*
Chapter 21: Appendix B—Spells*
Chapter 22: Appendix C—Creatures*
*The appendices include the content for the relevant hunts; there will be more items, creatures, and spells coming.
An array of Jess' wonderful covers! The movie posters addon on will include the monster hunt ones, with the title, but without the meta info like chapter number and hunt level.
What’s Not Inside?
Chapter 5: Crafting does not contain the cooking rules, nor the GM’s item crafting workshop.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Loot Tavern
Chapter 3: Tracking
Chapter 6: Races
Chapter 7: Classes
Chapter 8: Familiars
Chapter 9: Gelatinous Polyhedrooze (Hunt)
Chapter 11: Tavern of Terrors (Hunt)
Chapter 16: A Tale of Two Tails (Hunt)
Chapter 17: Mecha Koboldzilla (Hunt)
Chapter 18: Tar-rasque (Hunt)
Chapter 19: The Dire Bunny of Kaergannob (Hunt)
Chapter 23: Index
Hjelma, Threeflower, and Bucket - new NPCs to interact with! Art by Mo, Jess, and Wishmish
When Will I Get The Other Stuff?
We will be releasing further PDFs every couple of weeks. Here’s the current line up (N.B. this may change, it all depends on what is ready):
Early February. Ch 6: Races, Ch 9: Gelatinous Polyhedrooze, Ch 16: Tale of Two Tails (Hunt), Ch 17: Mecha Koboldzilla (Hunt).
Early March. Ch 2: Loot Tavern, Ch 5c: GM’s Item Crafting Workshop, Ch 11: Tavern of Terrors (Hunt), Ch 18: Tar-rasque (Hunt), Ch 19: The Dire Bunny of Kaergannob (Hunt).
We’re looking to have the final thing (inc. Chapters 1 & 23) done by late March.
Springarden - The location of the hunt for the Suneater Owlbear. The giant koi fish were not originally itnended to fly, but we loved the artist's idea so much it stuck! Art by Ongjen.
What Sort of Feedback Will Be Helpful?
We want to know about almost everything. For example:
Is there a typo!?
Is an item unbalanced? If so, why
Was a hunt too easy/hard?
Is something confusing you? Can we clarify wording?
Is a layout feature unhelpful? Is there something we could do to convey information more fluidly?
Do you just want to say how much you like what we’ve done (here’s hoping!)?
What we don’t need is stuff like “I want more spells” (we know, they’re coming) or comments based on power without context “How is this item is uncommon, it’s OP!” (please tell us why you think this). Also, don't mind the British writing: I’m English.
A Note on the Hunts
These are monster hunts. They’re a type of adventure in which you find clues, prepare for the fight ahead, and then have a big battle. They’re not dungeon crawls. You won’t traipse through dark rooms fighting deadly monsters that inexplicably continue to exist within 20 feet of one another. Investigate, prep, fight.
Clues. Each hunt is a puzzle of sorts. The players must figure out the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. This can be done during the fight, however, in each hunt chapter, we provide three clues that can be conveyed to the players before combat starts. Understanding the clues is the key to your players preparing for the fight ahead and feeling empowered when their prep pays off. You might also have to encourage your players to take a rest before engaging the target of their hunt in order to switch out spells and swap item attunements.
Each clue has at least one example of how you can convey the information to your players, through interactions with NPCs and the environment. Please note, these are examples! It’s still up to you as the GM to make any necessary changes to the story and roleplay interactions to make sure your players understand these clues. Playtesting note: you may have to be much more obvious than you think!
Rule Zero. If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right! If you need to change anything to have fun, do it! This is a book of ideas. We’ve tried to make it as balanced and functional as possible, but every table is different. Some tables have power gamers, some have spellcasters who don’t even take damaging spells. Make this book your own!
Mulch! Your favourite psychaedelic druid NPC. Art by Jess.
One Last Thing
This book has been designed to be viewed as a book—2 pages at once (a format known as a ‘spread’). The PDF will come in ‘PAGES’ and ‘SPREADS’ format. Pages is a single page at a time (for viewing on a tablet), while spreads is the intended view. We’ll also have 2 versions of each of those: ‘normal’ and ‘optimised’. The former is a bigger file with full hyperlinking, the latter is a compressed file without hyperlink. Use whichever is easier for you!
Our friend, SplatteredInk (a.k.a Darryl) has released his first 5e book on Kickstarter! It's a 300-page tome filled with new spells, classes, monsters, and a wonderful campaign for levels 1-8. For those in the know, SplatteredInk is also the person doing our wonderful monster tokens for Heliana's, and with good reason: it's absolutely gorgeous! Check it out:
I (Max) actually had a chance to play this at PAX unplugged and I can tell you: it's fun. I played as the vinewalker, a rogue subclass that could swing from the tress on vines, like a green-fingered spiderman. Darryl has written everything, drawn every piece of art, and is supported by our wonderful publishers Hit Point Press in bringing it to life!
So we’ve been a bit lax on this, but we will begin to charge all the cards that have not yet been charged. If you see a charge come up from Plane Shift Press - that’s us! I’m going to try and charge cards every two weeks.
Note, if you’ve already paid, you won't be charged again!
All that's all for now. Catch you in a fortnight!
Love,
Max (and Mo and Jess!)
First Look: Pygmy Rakshasa! - Creative Progress Update - Production
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Dec 24, 2021 at 04:17:37 AM
Hey friends!
Today we're looking at one of the new boss monsters, the Pygmy Rakshasa, its associated minions, and its magic manipulating traits. We'll give a breakdown of where we're at in the creative process, and pass on some production news.
Tony Two Tails
You've likely heard of Rakshasas; shapeshifting fiends inspired by Hindu mythology that, despite all their transformative abilities, always get their hands back to front, with the palms on the outside. Nobody's purrfect. In the 5e realm, they have a penchant for devious contracts, winning souls for their fiendish masters, and the innate ability to ignore magic of 6th level or lower. We've adapted this creature to make for a more chaotic (though equally challenging) boss fight.
Tony Two Tails is a pygmy rakshasa and head of a mafia-like organisation operating out of the ancient Tomb of Dah Roude. The tomb never rests in one place for long, teleporting around the Lotof's End desert, and making it one of the few crypts unmolested by tomb raiders. Using the wealth of gold available in the tomb, Tony has driven up food prices throughout the desert causing its inhabitants to become desperate enough to make deals with devils...
Handler and Pygmy Rakshasa - by Ongjen
Handler. The first thing to note is that the pygmy rakshasa tends to work in tandem with an individual known as a "handler"; a humanoid that has traded its soul for infernal power. It's Fiendish Audacity, Fury, and Vigour, augment its AC, increase its damage output, and grant it temporary hit points each turn, respectively. Unless, that is, your players work out that radiant damage limits this THP regeneration!
The handler carries its cat-like ward around, keeping it in protective, close proximity where it can use its "Guardian" reaction to prevent harm coming to it. The rakshasa's "Devil's Hiss" legendary action empowers the handler with fiendish haste, allowing it to make an additional weapon attack. Your players will have to find a way to deal with this duo. Perhaps they can separate them or focus fire on a single individual to break their synergy.
Rakshasa. The pygmy rakshasa has a similar limited magic immunity to its full-sized cousin, but is more adept at manipulating the Weave with chaotic consequences. Its first tool is its "Weavebender" reaction. This lets it manipulate the flow of magic, causing the point of origin of an AoE to shift by up to 10 feet, or causing a ranged spell attack to hit a different target . Spellcasters beware!
Next on the list of anti-magic offensive capabilities is the Pygmy's curse. A creature the pygmy rakshasa hits with a claw attack has a chance to become cursed and unable to be affected by spells of a certain level or lower, unless those spells originate from the pygymy rakshasa. In addition, magic items the cursed creature carries have their magic suppressed while the creature is in contact with the item. In combat, this is likely a detriment as it can prevent a creature benefiting from healing spells or buffs like haste and invisibility. However, clever players may use it to their advantage, using the effective immunity to wade through their allies' fireballs without harm.
Finally, the pygmy rakshasa has a new spell (one of a rapidly growing number in the book): weaveentanglement. This concentration spell targets a single creature and makes spellcasting difficult, though not impossible. While afflicted by this spell, the creature must make an ability check with its spellcasting ability whenever it attempts to cast a spell. On a failure, there are wild, mostly negative consequences, from fireballs to entanglement. There is also a small chance that casting the spell doesn't cost a spell slot! True chaos, especially if combined with the pygmy's curse!
Mummified Immortal - by Ongjen
Immortals. We're in a desert tomb, so we had to use some undead! Unfortunately, mummys and mummy lords are CR 3 and 15 respectively and we needed something in the middle. Enter the mummifiedimmortal. These CR 8 snake-like undead are simple, heavy hitters. With glaives, khopeshes, and rotting phlegm, they are a danger both near and far. Check out this amazing art by Ongjen Sporin!
Swarmsof Fiendcats. What's scarier than one, evil-looking cat? A swarm of them. Collectively, this swarm has a spellcasting ability and can afflict your adventurers with the bane spell, or the new stench and aura of impurity spells. Stench is a 3rd-level DoT AoE, not dissimilar to cloudkill, but with an extra rider that confers disadvantage on saving throws made to maintain concentration (another tool in your anti-magic toolkit). Have you ever smelled cat civit? What about fiendcat civit? This is accurate, trust me.
Swarm of Fiendcats - by Ognjen
Overall this will be a challenging fight for spellcasters, who have their own strategies to develop indiependetly of the melee fighters!
Creative Process
So - where are we at?
Adventures: 9/11 are in or through playtesting,
Monsters: 52/56+ done
Monster Tamer: done
Subclasses: 9/13 in or through playtesting
Races: All 10/10 are in alpha and are about to be mathematically balanced (using the Detect Balance calculator!) before playtesting.
Tracking: done
Random encounters: 137/209 written
Harvesting: done
Crafting: done, as are the recipes for every SRD magic item and all the magic items we're introducing in the book.
Craft your own magic items: Our excel sheet is done, meaning you should be able to create your own magic items without fear of creating something imbalanced. We'll talk about that in the next update.
Items: 150/165 are drawn and written
Cooking: Not finished! We have the recipes, and the effects for all ~130 different ingredients, but we're refining the core mechanics off the back of the crafting mechanics. This will be in our next update.
Spells: we actually have over 70 and are trimming the chaff.
Loot Tavern character bios: not done!
So, as you can see, there's work to do but we're almost there! Our biggest hold up right now is art. We've commissioned a dozen brilliant artists who're all beavering away, but it takes time and we want this to be freaking beautiful!
DigitalJanuary. Whatever happens regarding the art, we're still going to give you some digital content in January, potentially a work-in-progress PDF. You've all been waiting patiently (thank you!) and much of the book is done. Plus, we figure that 19,000 proof readers are better than 6 so why not let you help us avoid having to errata content in the final edition!
Production
We've paid our deposits and production has started on many of the peripheries, from dice, to pins, to the moulds for various boxes. However, despite getting started on this front, tales of global delays in raw material harvesting, manufacturing, and shipping aren't going away. We still intend to deliver early summer, but whether or not global supply chains will worsen or snap back waits to be seen. We'll pass on information to you as and when we have it, but as always, it's best to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised when it works out!
Gelatinous ooze dice sample #4 - finally the right colour of green!
We're all feeling a little burnt out at the moment and we'll be taking some time off over the holidays to regenerate our batteries. We hope you all have a lovely end of the year! Catch you in January!
Love you guys,
Max (and Mo and Jess)
We're at PAX Unplugged! aaaaaand Bard Tunes
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 02:47:19 AM
Hey folks,
This update is a little less projecty, but it relates so we wanted to let y’all know anyway!
We're in Philadelphia, PA, for PAX unplugged! We’re gona be around to answer any Qs y’all may have about the book (=
We're at PAX!
We'll be hanging out at the Hit Point Press booth occassionally (booth #3213 in the expo hall). Specifically you can catch me (Max) there on Sunday 12pm-1pm, and Jess will be there from 12-2pm.
Panels. In additional, Jess will be in the MainTheatre (he's kind of a big deal...) on Saturday 2pm - 3pm for the 'D&D YouTubers Chat About TTRPG + Q&A' (a catchy title, I'm sure you'll agree). Max will be talking about all things VTT and becoming a creator in the RPG space from 1.30pm - 2.30pm on Sunday in the Leviathan Theatre (he's less of a big deal... though Jess has asked me to emphasise his disagreement on this matter...).
Unfortunately, there's no Mo :(
No Mo :(
Free Stuff! We have some free stuff for you! We've printed out a little poster of the Veiled Lady, with a stat block and other content on the back. They'll be available at the Hit Point Press booth. Pick one up - it's first come first served!
Free stuff!
Bard Time
Here's a little sneak peak for from Loot Tavern's resident bard, Jack Patchett. One of our stretch goals was a tune for each adventure! When you defeat the Veiled Lady, Jaquito von Patchissimo will badger you to tell him the tale of your adventure. He will then promptly ignore the boring bits, embellish the good bits, and voilà - a legend is born. Check it out here.
