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I almost didn't bother posting these, but I went ahead and did so. Just some quick rats and spiders. The rats are from the D&D Castle Ravenloft board game, the spiders are from the Legend of Drizzt board game. To mix it up, I alternated colors between brown/dark gray/light gray. They came out a bit dark, but I guess that's okay for rats and spiders. Nothing spectacular, but they actually get used quite a bit (on the rare occasions when my group actually gets to play).

I finally got inspired to paint these guys up after BlazingTornado posted one a while back. For what they are, the sculpts have a respectable amount of detail (except the teeth...the top row of chompers had to be freehanded on each skeleton due to soft details). I was originally going to go with a tarnished bronze look on the shields. But, after I muddied them up a little, I fell in love with the look and decided to keep them as-is. I think the rust effect came out pretty well on the sword blades. They won't be superstars in my skeleton army, but they're good middle-of-the-road models.

The Dungeon of the Mad Mage board game came with three of these shadow minis. I struggled to find ANYTHING interesting to do with the paint job. By definition, I feel like a shadow wouldn't have highlights or anything (I actually did end up adding some very subtle highlights out of habit...they help bring out some of the sculpt's details somewhat). I also gave them a glossier finish. I'm not sure why...it just seemed appropriate. The main thing I like about this mini's design is the way it allows you to (kind of) place another medium-sized mini on the base and be "stalked" by the shadow (as shown below). It's a neat little feature. I know that they did at least one more of these guys in a different pose (maybe more...I can't remember). I may pick it up at some point for the sake of variety.

I said I'd dig this guy out and post his a couple of months ago, then promptly forgot to do so. Better late than never. As I said in lazarp's thread, this is a sculpt I've always liked. In painting him up, I wanted the skin to basically resemble the color of a nasty bruise. Not sure why, just one of those weird ideas that hits you sometimes.

Of the 5 Wrath of Ashardalon heroes I painted years ago, this one's my favorite. I love the sculpt...lots of opportunities for fun paint work.

This one's not a bad sculpt for what he is (though, I wish they'd sculpted in his right foot...makes him look bizarre at certain angles).

Another one of my old ones. The armor is based off of Sebastian Vael (a DLC character from Dragon Age 2...lame character, cool armor). I mixed some silver in with the white to give it some shimmer.

Even though I did this one years ago, I still like him. The armor is inspired by Simon Belmont's armor in the NES Castlevania 2 box art (more of a plum/wine color than straight brown leather).

Definitely one of my favorite inclusions in the Ravenloft board game. Originally, I thought the paint job would be entirely a bone color. After I started prepping him, however, it became clear that there was just as much rotting flesh as there was visible bone. Makes sense, considering the artwork in the monster manual. A quick Google image search shows that people approach this model's paint job in a variety of cool ways. This combines my favorite elements from what I've seen, plus my own spin on the way I like to paint undead/zombie-types.

Another older piece from me. Not much to say about this one...I had a blast painting him. I wanted to make him a little bit darker than most of the other Ashardalon models I've seen. If you have any thoughts or critiques, I'd love to hear them.

Here's another one of my older ones. I'm fairly happy with the end result, but I remember the process of prepping and painting this guy as being 100% miserable from beginning to end. The base was severely warped and required a ton if effort to straighten out...there were random chunks of plastic missing from the model that needed to be filled in...there was a huge ugly moldline/joining point running down the middle of the model...the underbelly was tricky to get to and paint...tons of flash removal...the list goes on and on. Anyone else have such quality control issues on their copy? I'm curious. Anyway, the part of the model that I genuinely love is the way they sculpted the head. I'm happy with the way that part came out on the finished product. If I had to paint this guy over again, (which I most definitely will NOT be doing 🙂 ), I'd have gone a lot brighter with the body's final highlights to bring out the details on the scales. Comments and criticism welcome.

Here's one I painted quite a while back. I absolutely love the crazy design of the Otyugh, not to mention the creature's unapologetically filthy lifestyle. I tried to capture that nastiness in the paint job, all the while making sure things didn't go from "purposefully gross" to "just sloppy". For whatever reason, I didn't take the time to remove his mold lines. It's an obvious weakness in the finished presentation (let this be a lesson about the importance of the preparation phase, I suppose...). Feel free to leave any comments/criticism.

I ain't even gonna try to feed this beastie lemongrass... Known for its deathgaze and horrific flatulence, it was universally feared by adventurers. But, if some brave adventurers would gather milk, the local creameries would produce Death cheese. I was surfing through some posts and saw the catoplebas mentioned, so I thought that someone might enjoy seeing one.

Hello, all! I'm planning to paint Ma'al Drakar as Dungeons & Dragons' Dark Lady, Tiamat. She's going to be, by far, my biggest painting project. Before I start painting, I'm planning some conversions to make her look more like D&D's Chromatic Dragon. I'd love to get any advice or tips that anyone would like to share about painting large models, or any of the other parts of the process. I'll share my plans, and try to keep up a WIP thread about this grand adventure. My first step is going to be pretty drastic, so if anyone wants to jump in with advice, please do. I have WotC's Gargantuan Black Dragon. The forward-sweeping horns are so iconic, my Tiamat's black dragon head (Ma'al's lower right head) should have horns like that. The Gargantuan Black's a perfect scale to use for Tiamat's horns. I'm actually planning to carefully cut the horns off the black dragon, make a 2-part mold, cast a set of horns for Tiamat, and reattach the horns back on the black dragon. Am I out of my mind? Does any one see potential problems with this plan, other than the usual challenges of casting minis, etc? Thanks in advance for any advice, feedback, and encouragement!

A quick paintjob on one of the D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line, the Umber Hulk! My somewhat local gaming store finally had them back in stock...still no luck on the elusive Beholder!

Both pictures are of the same mini, but I actually did two of these at once for practice. Pretty pleased with the results outside of a few stark transitions, may go back and touch it up and try and add more depth to the hair.

I actually finished this guy a few weeks back, but I didn't have a good set up to take photos of larger miniatures. Then, I realized the recently arrived game mat from Ganesha Games "Axe and Brimstone" Kickstarter would make a great backdrop for the larger pieces. So, here's the Storm Giant Royal Guard from Gale Force 9's "Dungeon & Dragon Collector's Series". Feel the thunder, friends.

Finished up a group of drow this month. I'm running Out of the Abyss for a group of my coworkers, so these should get some tabletop mileage pretty quickly. Thanks for looking! Rogue Archer Warrior Mage Warrior

So I currently DM a 5e D&D game. One of my favorite things to do is create my own magic items. The armory sets from Bones 3 seem to me to be perfect candidates to have accompanying RPG stats! To that end, I made up the following. Feel free to steal/tweak these if you like them! Ashen Zweihander Greatsword This magic greatsword adds a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls. Its hilt is fashioned to look like the skull of a ram. When drawn, flakes of ash fall from the blade. When you hit a creature with the ashen zweihander, you deal an extra 2d6 necrotic damage. If a creature hits you, you may use a reaction to cast hellish rebuke. This power recharges every day at dusk. If you kill a creature with the ashen zweihander, its body is reduced to ashes. The only means of bringing such a creature back to life is via either a true resurrection or a wish spell. Axe of Death Battleaxe This magic weapon is shaped to appear as if the wings of the Angel of Death form the axe head. It adds a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. Any creature you hit with the ace that isn't a construct, ooze, or an undead takes an additional 2d8 necrotic damage. In addition, if after you strike a creature it is reduced to 100 hit points or fewer, it must immediately make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or die. A creature that succeeds this saving throw takes 7d8 necrotic damage. Bonesplinter Reaver Greataxe The haft of this greataxe is fashioned from the bleached bone of a long-dead creature. This magic weapon grants you a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. It scores a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. When you score a critical hit with the axe, the creature you hit must succeed a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or suffer a severed limb. Succeeding the saving throw results in no additional effect. Crown of the Dust King Wondrous Item This crown was the possession of the King of Dust. It has absorbed some of that being’s power. While wearing this crown, you gain some of the properties of undeath. You do not require food or drink, do not need to breathe, and are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. You are able to command lesser undead by your sheer presence. As an action, you may attempt to assert your control over any ghouls, skeletons, or zombies within 30 feet of you that you can see. Make a Charisma check. The DC is equal to 10 + the creature’s challenge rating. If you succeed, the undead is under your direct control. You can issue commands as a bonus action on your turn. Any undead within 60 feet of you, whether under your control or not, has advantage on saving throws to resist the effects of being turned. Dust King’s Aegis Shield This magic shield once belonged to the King of Dust. The shield grants you resistance to radiant damage while you bear it. In addition you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons wielded by good-aligned creatures. Graveyard Shield Shield This shield is marked by the power of death. You can force a creature adjacent to you to fail a death saving throw. This power recharges at midnight. In addition, while the shield is in your possession you cannot suffocate as a result of being buried. Finally, when you kill a creature that is within 5 feet of you, you gain 10 temporary hit points. Hammer of Doom Maul The head of this magic weapon looks like it is fashioned from a rough slab of a tombstone. The fangs of some creature adorn one end. You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. You may cast bane as an action. This power recharges at dawn. Reaping Greataxe Greataxe This greataxe is cold to the touch, like a bone left out in winter. This magic weapon grants you resistance to cold and necrotic damage. As a bonus action, you can cause sickly green energy to wreathe the head of the axe, changing all damage it deals to necrotic damage. Another bonus action changes the damage back.

Hi all. I finished up a Purple Worm for a local miniatures show last month, and figured I would show it off here. It's one of the limited edition collector's series models that Wizards licensed out to GaleForce Nine in 2013, and had been sitting on a shelf at my FLGS for over a year before I decided to snatch it up. I avoided using washes for this one for everything but the mouth, and instead just did dark base coast, medium shade drybrushing, and then lighter line highlights over that. I could have spent more time on the spines along its sides (I could have made the lines finer and done more highlighting over the bone color), but there were so many of them and I was up against a bit of a time constraint. Hope you guys like it!

So while I'm currently running a game already, I've been jonesing to create a new setting. I don't know if it's because my current game is edging on the two-year mark (!) and that part of my brain is just getting antsy, or if it's because I'm afraid for the possible TPK in a few weeks (my PCs are hell bent on fighting a CR25 dragon at level 12), but whatever the case, I've been slowly chipping away at a new setting for my next game. Yesterday I began work on the map! For reference, the scale is 6 miles to a hex. So this is a pretty expansive area.

This is the Hill Giant from Gale Force 9 Dungeons & Dragons Collector's Series (SKU GF971030). An awesome dynamic sculpt. I don't think I have spent as much time dinking with skin on a mini as I did on this guy. His base skin color is a mix of Tanned Skin and Rosy Shadow, with Rosy Skin and Tan Skin highlights and Sunburn Flesh as a wash. I also glazed in some darker brown in the recesses. Edit: I am having trouble with the pictures staying put

So one of the potentially most flavorful things in 5th edition is the warlock patrons. I especially like the do it yourself aspects of picking your specific patron and the nature of your relationship. Rob Donoghue has been posting some solid gold thoughts on warlocks over on his "The Walking Mind" blog, including some new warlock patrons and powers. I thought I would put some links here for any who might be interested. http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2014/10/24/the-grey-tyrant/ http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2014/10/25/vestiges/ http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2014/10/26/patronal-courts/

Just thought I would make a thread to collect magic item ideas that people come up with for D&D 5e. Ideally these should include some back story and description to help give a sense of the item's place in the world. Also, since D&D 5e is designed with a more constrained numeric range it would be good if powers were interesting rather than just numeric bonuses. So, what you got? __________________________ This is a magic item that I cranked out while daydreaming. What do you think? In the heart of the glade grows a mighty oak. It's limbs reach high into the heavens, as if grasping at the very stars. Its roots reach far into unseen depths, clawing at the heart of the land. The Oak has stood here for time out of mind, weathering ages in this strangely unchanging glade. It has stood witness to countless waves of mortals that have washed against its roots for a time and then receded, the oak and its glade unchanged by their passing. The wisest of the ephemeral mortal folk have variously worshiped or bargained with the Oak, recognizing its ancient power without understanding it. Sometimes the Oak has answered their entreaties in mysterious ways, sometimes their pleas are swallowed by the silence of the glade with no apparent result. It has been many years since the glade had visitors or the Oak supplicants. Around the glade a settlement has grown, though few dare encroach on the boundaries of the glade too closely for strange lights and shadowy movements are not uncommon sights inside. In the center, a sword has appeared protruding from the trunk of the Oak. The sword is seemingly completely formed of wood polished smooth and gleaming and has either half its length embedded in the trunk or is growing from the trunk. Which one is impossible to ascertain visually. None have had success drawing the blade from the Oak, nor the temerity to attempt to cut it free. An air of expectancy seems to emanate from the Oak as if it anticipates an event or arrival. What do you do? The Oaken Blade is a fey artifact, or perhaps creature, that is offered by the Oak to those who champion the cause of the land. Typically this is a paladin who has sworn the Oath of the Ancients, a druid, or a ranger, though on at least one occasion the Oaken Blade was offered to a Fey pact warlock. The blade can be used as a spellcasting focus by any of the above listed classes and always counts as magical when used in melee, though its effects are subtle and normally give no bonuses to hit or damage. However when used against fiends and undead, the Oaken Blade seems to cut deeper and with more effect. Any successful hit against these abominations with the Oaken Blade will always do at least half the strike's total possible damage. Additionally, on a critical the fiend or undead is inflicted with a strange, fey light unless they make a Charisma saving throw vs the wielder's Spell Save DC. If the save is failed, the fiend or undead glows with faerie fire for a number of rounds equal to the target creature's number of hit dice, the deep, emerald green light writhing across the fiend or undead like a living thing. The Oaken Blade cannot be damaged or altered by anything non-supernatural or by infernal or necromantic energies. If the bearer is killed the blade withers away. There are rumors that wielding the Oaken Blade for too long will inflict strange effects upon the wielder or that the longer one wields it the more powers it displays, though as no one has born the blade in living memory it is hard to say whether there is any truth to that.