Tabletop RPGDungeons and Dragonshas always had a variety of monsters and player resources to glean inspiration from, but these resources increased after Wizards of the Coast took over publishing in 1997. In 2014, the5th edition ofD&Dwas released and has become one of most popular iterations of the game boasting an incredible amount of sourcebooks for campaigns, monsters, and player characters. ButD&Dalso encourages player innovation, and there’s an abundance of quality homebrew content for players to enjoy. Add to that list Primerva’s Guide to Kaijuborn, a homebrewD&D5e supplement created to celebrate the release of the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures movie,Godzilla vs. Kong.
Godzilla vs. Kongfeatures massive combatbetween the famous ape and the famous kaiju. The two powerhouses from different franchises meet due to the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures MonsterVerse, which will mostly likely include more famous titans in the future. Godzilla is just one of many variants of kaiju, and he fights others throughout his film history including Gamera, Mothra, and King Ghidorah. Primerva’s Guide to Kaijuborn takes these kaiju types and others and creates a fun list ofD&D5e race variants as well as subclasses and feats.
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Primerva is aDungeons and Dragonshomebrew creator with a serious talent for making realisticD&D5e source material. Besides the Guide to Kaijuborn, they’ve also made several homebrew races for aD&D/Dragon Balluniverse mash up calledDungeons and Dragon Ball. The kaijuborn race takes a lot of inspiration from the dragonborn race inD&D5e, with similar Armor Class bonuses and an Energy Weapon instead of a Breath Weapon. The race introduction is an excellent quote from Ishiro Honda, a Japanese film director and screenwriter who worked on kaiju films including theGodzillafranchise.
Among the many kaijuborn subraces are the Godzilla and Kong variants, which are pretty much what one might expect. Godzilla Kaijuborn have the benefit of breathing air and water along with a helpful swim speed, and the King of Monsters trait gives them advantage on saving throws against being Charmed or Frightened, which is a big benefit for a low level character. Kong Kaijuborn get a climbing speed bonus and King’s Grasp, which adds a grappling option as a bonus action. Some of theD&Dhomebrewfeats are great too. Insect Reincarnation allows a Kaijuborn to defy death once per level, but they have to hang out in an egg for 24 hours to do it.
So farGodzilla vs. Konghas received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising the monster action but criticizingthe movie’s bland human characters. For those that want a narratively rich experience with kaiju monsters, Primerva’s Guide to Kaijuborn provides a great starting point for complex kaiju characters that don’t have to be dumbed down brawlers.
