Dev Diary #11: Hollow Gazers, CR Editing, and Save Favorites

Welcome to Dev Diary #11 for Foe Foundry, the free 5E monster generator!

It's been a few weeks since the official end of beta, and I've been hard at work adding new monsters and quality-of-life improvements based on your feedback. This update focuses on making the generator more flexible and easier to use, while expanding the monster library with the first aberration.

Here's what's new:

Edit Challenge Rating

One of the most requested features has finally arrived: you can now edit a monster's Challenge Rating directly in the generator!

Foe Foundry has always had multiple variants of creatures at various CR levels, but now you can customize the CR of any statblock. When you change CR, hitpoints, damage, AC, stats, skills, and powers, and DCs will all automatically adjust to the new CR.

Here's an example of scaling up a CR 2 Hollow Gazer to a CR 9 Hollow Gazer of Ruin that's even more powerful than the default CR 6 version.

Start editing CR by clicking or tapping the edit button next to the CR:

Then, choose the new CR for the monster.

The statblock will automatically scale and update!

Save Your Favorite Monsters

You're now also able to Save Monsters with the new Favorite Monsters system.

Free accounts can save up to 5 monsters, and patrons can save an unlimited amount.

You can save a monster directly from a statblock in a lore or blog page by clicking on the heart icon.

There's also a Save button on the generator page's floating action button.

Once you've saved a monster, you can view your favorites at the Favorites Page.

You can also see your favorites in the Monster Codex where they're shown as a stack of monster cards.

From the favorites page, you can click through to pull up the specific monster that you saved, including its specific powers and CR.

Submit Feedback

I've also added a Feedback feature where you can give feedback on which monsters you like (or don't like!).

You can submit feedback via the floating action button:

Then, you're prompted to fill in a simple form:

Hollow Gazers: Time-Shattered Aberrations

The Hollow Gazer represents one of D&D's most evocative horror concepts: the scholar who delved too deep into forbidden knowledge and paid the ultimate price. These wretched aberrations were once seers and chronomancers who dared pierce the veil of time itself—only to have their minds shattered by what they witnessed in the timestream. Compare this to the official Nothic and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

I've created two unique Hollow Gazer statblocks with dozens of variants each:

• Hollow Gazer (CR 2) - Newly cursed scholar still clinging to sanity
• Hollow Gazer of Ruin (CR 6) - Ancient aberration consumed by accumulated madness

Read the whole article

Villains & Rivals Guides

The comprehensive Villains and Rivals guides are now more prominent and easier to discover! These guides have been featured more prominently on both the homepage and in the Monster Codex, making it simple to find them when you need inspiration for memorable antagonists.

Creating Awesome Villains

Building memorable D&D villains means combining compelling motivations with themed threats and unique quirks. This guide provides:

• Tiered Villain Threats for each tier of play (levels 1-20)
• Themed Monsters organized by villain archetype
• Villain Methods and Schemes with dozens of plot hooks
• Evil Goals and Quirks to make antagonists unforgettable
• Villainous Sidekicks to add complexity to your BBEG

Whether you're building an arcane tyrant, a criminal mastermind, or an apocalyptic cultist, this guide gives you the tools to create villains your players will remember long after the campaign ends.

The Ultimate Guide to Rival Adventuring Parties

Rival adventuring parties add dynamic storytelling and player agency to your campaign. This guide includes:

• Pre-made Rival Parties with easy-to-use introductions
• Rival Adventure Hooks from wagers to team-ups
• Ways to Link Rivals to your campaign's villains
• Fully Customizable Statblocks for the Foe Foundry Generator

Rivals create memorable moments where the party isn't just fighting monsters—they're competing with other heroes who have their own goals and methods. These guides make it easy to drop compelling antagonists into any campaign.

What's Next?

Now that the core generator is solid and accounts are stable, I'm focusing on features that leverage the account system:

Share Monsters

Now that you can save monsters, I want to add the ability to easily share monsters with your friends.

Generate NPCs

Looking beyond monsters, I want to help you create memorable NPCs with complete personalities and backstories:

• Full 5E statblocks with class features
• Personality traits and motivations
• Background and history
• Roleplay prompts and voice suggestions
• Relationship to other NPCs or the party

This will use the same generation approach as monsters but focus on creating NPCs that feel like real people rather than stat blocks. Think shopkeepers, quest-givers, allies, and contacts who can recur throughout your campaign.

Encounter Generation

Generate entire encounters instead of individual monsters:

• Tell it "CR 7 encounter for 4 players in a swamp"
• Get 2-3 balanced, themed monsters
• Receive tactical suggestions for running the fight
• Optionally include environmental hazards or objectives

This is a bigger project that will require balancing multiple monsters together, but it's high on the roadmap.

Thank You!

As always, thank you to everyone who's supported Foe Foundry:

• Patrons whose support keeps the servers running
• Newsletter subscribers who read these updates and send feedback
• Everyone using these monsters in their games and sharing with friends

Your support and feedback make this project possible. Let me know what you think of the new features!

You can always reach me at cordialgerm87@gmail.com with any questions, ideas, or feedback.

– Cordialgerm