When I used minifigs for D&D years ago, I liked using the soccer players for NPCs. Their most useful trait was being numbered 1 through 10 on their backs. Important ones get a hat!
There's also SH0183 the Green Goblin, and the Ninjago figures Gleck and Ginkle, all of whom tend to be cheaper on bricklink. The Ninjago Master of the Mountain subtheme also gave us a great orc, necromancer, and scarier skeleton figures.
I just looked up the ninjago characters. They look great! I don't think they are on sale still, are they? Haven't looked at prices for used minifigs yet, but they seem like a good option. Thanks for the suggestion!
That goblin is very cool. Although a little pricey for my taste (as I would want multiple probably). 🫠 I've forgotten to include this in the video but I'm actually using the heroica trolls as goblins (they are micro figures, but they work for goblins in my opinion).
@@critbrick Nah, they're from a few years ago. As far as Ninjago baddies still on shelves, last year was a bunch of gold techno dudes and some skeleton samurai, and this year is a clan of evil wolf ninja, who could work well as some higher-level thieves or an assassin's guild or something. 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack has a pair of em plus two good guys for $10 or 10 Euro (I'm not sure where in the world you are.)
Thanks for sharing them with the world!!!! I did look through every option on rebrickable and bricklink and there are very few that are sized in a good way and are as well thought out as yours! How did you come up with those when you’re not even playing d&d? 😅 Amazing work! And thanks again!
@@critbrick Well, D&D-like things are reflected in so many cultural aspects, like movies, books, or video games, so I know some things without playing :D And I enjoy making compact builds.
@@critbrick I'm thinking about one creature, but I wouldn't like to reveal it since I'm unsure if I can build it up. But mostly my ideas are spontaneous.
Oh they could be great for Bugbears, etc. Just googled them. They look awesome. Are they still for sale? Also the birds look like cool Aarakocra alternatives!
Outstanding content. You can really tell that you enjoy building and trying out scenarios and characters. Very pleasant, calm and informative manner. You don't see that very often these days. I'm currently reading/building myself into the world of D&D via the new CMF D&D. (haha, of course...they are SO SO good) There's soooo much that can be created with lego in the fantasy/castle setting when it comes to characters and landscapes and worlds. I'm really looking forward to the next videos. Thanks for all.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I'm glad you enjoyed the video! I kind of hope Lego does a second run with the D&D CMF. (Maybe even monsters?) In a way I'm a little jealous of the Star Wars Battle Packs. Something like that would be awesome for D&D.
Babe wake up! Critical Brick just uploaded! 🗣 Seriously that Corpse Flower looks wicked! My main take away from this video was that the vintage fantasy factions are great for visually representing relatively unimportant NPCs. I have found many of the vintage castle factions to be rather bland personally but now maybe I have a reason to pick a few up!
I get exactly what you mean, as I had the same feeling about them. First I started using them, as they where just what I had. But when I tried to make characters out of them by "upgrading" with newer hair pieces, weapons or even heads, I quite like them as generic enemies. Them beeing a little more generic has the advantage of having a good reusability. I think that if you have some in your collection or can get them cheap they are totaly fine to use. If you get pieces through pick a brick there are probably a lot of great alternatives 🙃
Great Ideas! Do you have Item IDs for Jamba? Couldn't find it by searching for the name. The Clayface from 76122 is a very cool build. I'll have a look at the instructions to see if I have enough parts to do something similar.
@@critbrick it is shorthand for the lego ladies barbie ajecent sets... RobinHood Bricks is the guy (yt) for figuring out the reality of sets and modern townships. Ask him.
haven't watched a single vid of yours, but considering you're a LEGO DnD channel, I would love to see a campaign from you! I'll binge your vids and sub tonight!
I need to find a reason to have more time for this 😄 Would love to do a campaign, but my D&D Sessions are also a safespace for me to relax and spend quality time with friends, so I don't think I feel comfortable enough to record them at the moment. It would be cool to do this as an addition though! Let's see how this goes and maybe I'll tackle the campaign next 😇 Thanks for leaving a comment by the way!
Keep up the good work! I'm currently building a world/campaign using Lego and your videos already gave me a few ideas. There aren't too may Lego DnD channels and your's is pretty helpfull.
@@critbrick The missus isn't watching your content so I can indeed :D I'm basically building a world for a duett style campaign for her to play in. Really open world and very little original DnD. Most things are at least reflavoured but sometimes I also just start building a creature and then come up with a statblock based on what I see in front of me. The setting is late medieval early renaissance high fantasy on a small continent separated by oceans from the rest of the world (Oceania ish). The Lego is used for combat, exploration, puzzles also just scenery... basically everything.
You can get some of the Collectible Minifigure line parts for not that much on Brick link. Disney and a handful of the base line work well. Sadly, some are more on the pricey side.
Thanks for the suggestion! I definetly need to look into that. Sound like a good expansion into the less standard humanoids. Is there a favorit part or minifig that you would recommend to definitely get?
@@critbrick For humanoid, Hercules is a good figure. Non-human, NEXO Knights and Ninjago has some good underworld looking mini figs. I had to get the harpy, cyclops, Centar, and hopefully the Minotaur CMF’s.
I use Nexo Knights minifigures (Beast Master, Crust Smasher and Flame Throver) for orcs or demon army. They are very cheap (1 or 2 euros per minifig) compared to LOTR orcs or fantasy Trolls minifigures.
They look awesome! Great for orcs and definetly demons or devils. With those abs they could definetly be of the seducing-devil-type. 😅 And who's to say that orcs need to be green. The vibe is definetly the right one. I will try to throw them in with my next bricklink order 🤓
Did you get them through sets or purchased them individually? And is there one without the purple hat? Need to look into the marvel/spiderman line more. Great idea. Thanks for the recommendation!
@@critbrick both. They come in small enough sets to warrant the price but are also affordable on Bricklink. Half of them I’ve replaced the purple hat with a hood. Somewhere I have purple versions but I can’t remember what line they were from.
Right. Replacing the purple hat makes sense at least if you are having multiple in the same fight 😅 It's just a little annoying that they make the green ears in combination with a hat so often. I think there are some now with the new LOTR Set but they are very expensive.
For goblins I see someone suggested green goblin but there’s also ninjago set 71718 and 71719 that have really nice purple goblins with brown hats and in the same line there are orcs too. Hope that helps!
@@critbrick some of the more common ones in the cr 1-5 range, that are likely to show up multiple times and possibly in multiples, but aren't likely to be a boss you want to spend a lot of effort on. I think the giant spider build you showed was great, and most of the large beasts might be nice to have for wild shape and conjure animals if you have a druid in your party. Dire wolves and giant constrictor snake if I had to single some out. Ogres, minotaurs, trolls, hill giants The four elementals
Thanks for supporting me! I'm very thankful for your encouragement. I haven't forgotten your comment a few weeks back about doing a show where we play D&D with lego. Just need to find the right people willing to go along with that 🤓
Chima (un)fortnutately is very cheap 2nd handed, so you can get yourself some great pieces for aarakocras, tabaxi, lizardfolk and kobolds. So, a full dish for exotic species! And one I still wanna get for myself is that japanese mask-flat hat combo from one of the Ninjago villains, I dunno which season. But holy fuck, it's a gorgeous piece and stylish for any class, really. Rogue, warlock, sorcerer, wizard, ranger, you get it.
Those went straight to my bricklink want-list. They are indeed not that expensive. I'm still trying to find a store that has multiple, so shipping cost doesn't increase cost too much. Thanks for the suggestions!
I’ve seen people suggest using the werewolf by night minifig face from mcu cmf 2 for bug bears. Also if rumors are true is getting some of the Dragonborn showing up in Jan’s wave. And some customs websites like brickwarriors offer some other heads for different genres, this month they’re doing orcs
The werewolf is very costly where I'm located but Legend of Chima has some cheaper used figs that work great as well. The Brickwarrior Orcs look awesome but wow are the expensive. I don't think I need orcs bad enough to justify 😅
I just love your content, happy to see another video. Just curious, have you tried to build some types on animal monsters? Might be more "normal" ones like bear or wolf, but also something more "fantasy-wise" like some monsters from the Witcher? I have 0 experience with DMing so maybe you can't just create a monster which you like if you don't have some written pages about it?
Oh you can definetly come up with your own monsters and for stuff like the Witcher there will probably be home brew (stuff that other people made themselves) with stats. The only thing you need to come up with is attacks and abilities that you want the monsters to have and some stats like hitpoints and saving throws. You can also always take an existing "official" monster and just tweak it the way you like it. I have not tried building animals (besides small birds) yet. But I'll look into that. Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks for your inputs man! Can you maybe explain how u get your orders smart and cheap? Heard u order at Bricklink right? Are there any good moves like a wishlist and good settings for example?
I'm playing around with the combination of items from stores a lot. Sadly it's all manual work. I find that the bricklink auto select feature is ok but sometimes it's just smarter to sort the stores by how many of the pieces you want they have and start from the top looking at what pieces are too expensive to find elsewhere. I've often questioned if the time I invest in the selection is worth the money I save honestly 🫠
Could you make the Basilik from D&D 5e? I've already searched in many TH-cam Channel, sites and I can found these incredible Monsters... If you could make I would love it. And please make instructions!
I actually might have the right pieces for that! It might take a while though. I hope to do a monster video in the next weeks. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Oh no. Sorry abou that. I need to take more time with my B-Roll. I always forget to do this and then rush through it once I notice I'm missing it in edit. 😅
😅 I wished Lego would have just stuck with yellow honestly. But now I have so many skin colored heads and even some elf ears. And at least I want to be consistent in a minifigure (ears fitting the head). I feel that with the special heads like ghouls and ghosts the mix doesn’t hurt as much. But if you’re able to focus on only one in your collection that’s great.
I would recommend looking into some of the older and less desireable series such as lego Elves for interesting creatures to find in a dnd campaign, similarly I am rather fond of the dreamlings and their nightmare counterparts from Dreamzz
When I used minifigs for D&D years ago, I liked using the soccer players for NPCs. Their most useful trait was being numbered 1 through 10 on their backs. Important ones get a hat!
Very practical. And I love the hats as markers for importance!
If you live near a LEGO store, those ghost legs from ninjago are available in their Build A Minifigure! Great way to get a lot of them
They also have knights and witches which were great for building characters! 15 elements for 9.99
Amazing news!
Uh nice!!!!! I will check that out once I'm near to a store again.
I think what you’re doing is absolutely great
That's very kind of you! Thanks for leaving a comment!
The goblin from an older cmf series looks great as a goblin in a fantasy setting.
There's also SH0183 the Green Goblin, and the Ninjago figures Gleck and Ginkle, all of whom tend to be cheaper on bricklink. The Ninjago Master of the Mountain subtheme also gave us a great orc, necromancer, and scarier skeleton figures.
that CMF goblin also combines really well with the CMF orc and some of the LotR orcs for some variety
I just looked up the ninjago characters. They look great! I don't think they are on sale still, are they? Haven't looked at prices for used minifigs yet, but they seem like a good option. Thanks for the suggestion!
That goblin is very cool. Although a little pricey for my taste (as I would want multiple probably). 🫠 I've forgotten to include this in the video but I'm actually using the heroica trolls as goblins (they are micro figures, but they work for goblins in my opinion).
@@critbrick Nah, they're from a few years ago. As far as Ninjago baddies still on shelves, last year was a bunch of gold techno dudes and some skeleton samurai, and this year is a clan of evil wolf ninja, who could work well as some higher-level thieves or an assassin's guild or something. 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack has a pair of em plus two good guys for $10 or 10 Euro (I'm not sure where in the world you are.)
I've never played D&D so the video is super insightful for me. I thought you need more figures to start. Btw, thanks for linking my MOCs :D
Thanks for sharing them with the world!!!! I did look through every option on rebrickable and bricklink and there are very few that are sized in a good way and are as well thought out as yours! How did you come up with those when you’re not even playing d&d? 😅
Amazing work! And thanks again!
@@critbrick Well, D&D-like things are reflected in so many cultural aspects, like movies, books, or video games, so I know some things without playing :D And I enjoy making compact builds.
I think those are the most challenging. And so probably that's why there are not that much of them. Any new creations that you have planed?
@@critbrick I'm thinking about one creature, but I wouldn't like to reveal it since I'm unsure if I can build it up. But mostly my ideas are spontaneous.
I use for npc's: the Lego chima wolfes and custom figures.
Oh they could be great for Bugbears, etc. Just googled them. They look awesome. Are they still for sale?
Also the birds look like cool Aarakocra alternatives!
@@critbrickThe Chima figs aren't currently in production, unless you count Lord Ras from Ninjago, but a lot of them are super cheap on bricklink.
I will need to do a bricklink order after going through all the comments. So many super good recommendations!! Thanks so much!
This was another cool vid!
Keep em coming brother ❤️
I will do my best. Thanks for encouraging me! 🙌
COOL!! (*said several times during this episode) So many parts & ideas never seen before!
That so kind of you! I'm realy happy to hear that you got some inspiration out of the video.
Outstanding content. You can really tell that you enjoy building and trying out scenarios and characters. Very pleasant, calm and informative manner. You don't see that very often these days. I'm currently reading/building myself into the world of D&D via the new CMF D&D. (haha, of course...they are SO SO good) There's soooo much that can be created with lego in the fantasy/castle setting when it comes to characters and landscapes and worlds. I'm really looking forward to the next videos. Thanks for all.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I'm glad you enjoyed the video!
I kind of hope Lego does a second run with the D&D CMF. (Maybe even monsters?)
In a way I'm a little jealous of the Star Wars Battle Packs. Something like that would be awesome for D&D.
The Lego Elves line had a few Goblin King sets made that came with a few henchmen.
Super glad you made this channel! Keep up the awesome work!
🫶 thanks so much for encouraging me! Awesome to have you here!!
Babe wake up! Critical Brick just uploaded! 🗣
Seriously that Corpse Flower looks wicked! My main take away from this video was that the vintage fantasy factions are great for visually representing relatively unimportant NPCs. I have found many of the vintage castle factions to be rather bland personally but now maybe I have a reason to pick a few up!
I get exactly what you mean, as I had the same feeling about them. First I started using them, as they where just what I had. But when I tried to make characters out of them by "upgrading" with newer hair pieces, weapons or even heads, I quite like them as generic enemies. Them beeing a little more generic has the advantage of having a good reusability. I think that if you have some in your collection or can get them cheap they are totaly fine to use. If you get pieces through pick a brick there are probably a lot of great alternatives 🙃
Fantastic ideas and builds. I look forward to seeing more of your creatures!
So glad you liked it.
dragons and cmf halloween figs seem good additions too! ty for the vid
Clayface / Rock raiders as servants, Jamba figures as giants, Duplo as the mechanical people.
Great Ideas! Do you have Item IDs for Jamba? Couldn't find it by searching for the name. The Clayface from 76122 is a very cool build. I'll have a look at the instructions to see if I have enough parts to do something similar.
@@critbrick it is shorthand for the lego ladies barbie ajecent sets... RobinHood Bricks is the guy (yt) for figuring out the reality of sets and modern townships. Ask him.
haven't watched a single vid of yours, but considering you're a LEGO DnD channel, I would love to see a campaign from you! I'll binge your vids and sub tonight!
I need to find a reason to have more time for this 😄
Would love to do a campaign, but my D&D Sessions are also a safespace for me to relax and spend quality time with friends, so I don't think I feel comfortable enough to record them at the moment. It would be cool to do this as an addition though!
Let's see how this goes and maybe I'll tackle the campaign next 😇
Thanks for leaving a comment by the way!
Keep up the good work!
I'm currently building a world/campaign using Lego and your videos already gave me a few ideas.
There aren't too may Lego DnD channels and your's is pretty helpfull.
Thanks a lot! Would love to hear more details on what you are building if you don't mind sharing!
@@critbrick The missus isn't watching your content so I can indeed :D
I'm basically building a world for a duett style campaign for her to play in.
Really open world and very little original DnD. Most things are at least reflavoured but sometimes I also just start building a creature and then come up with a statblock based on what I see in front of me. The setting is late medieval early renaissance high fantasy on a small continent separated by oceans from the rest of the world (Oceania ish). The Lego is used for combat, exploration, puzzles also just scenery... basically everything.
You can get some of the Collectible Minifigure line parts for not that much on Brick link. Disney and a handful of the base line work well. Sadly, some are more on the pricey side.
Thanks for the suggestion! I definetly need to look into that. Sound like a good expansion into the less standard humanoids. Is there a favorit part or minifig that you would recommend to definitely get?
@@critbrick For humanoid, Hercules is a good figure. Non-human, NEXO Knights and Ninjago has some good underworld looking mini figs. I had to get the harpy, cyclops, Centar, and hopefully the Minotaur CMF’s.
I use Nexo Knights minifigures (Beast Master, Crust Smasher and Flame Throver) for orcs or demon army. They are very cheap (1 or 2 euros per minifig) compared to LOTR orcs or fantasy Trolls minifigures.
They look awesome! Great for orcs and definetly demons or devils. With those abs they could definetly be of the seducing-devil-type. 😅
And who's to say that orcs need to be green. The vibe is definetly the right one. I will try to throw them in with my next bricklink order 🤓
For goblins I use various green goblins from the marvel Spider-Man line. Then either pick the ones with the short legs or give them short legs
Did you get them through sets or purchased them individually? And is there one without the purple hat? Need to look into the marvel/spiderman line more. Great idea. Thanks for the recommendation!
@@critbrick both. They come in small enough sets to warrant the price but are also affordable on Bricklink. Half of them I’ve replaced the purple hat with a hood. Somewhere I have purple versions but I can’t remember what line they were from.
Right. Replacing the purple hat makes sense at least if you are having multiple in the same fight 😅 It's just a little annoying that they make the green ears in combination with a hat so often. I think there are some now with the new LOTR Set but they are very expensive.
For goblins I see someone suggested green goblin but there’s also ninjago set 71718 and 71719 that have really nice purple goblins with brown hats and in the same line there are orcs too. Hope that helps!
That's a great suggestion and thanks for including the set numbers!!! Very helpful!
Awesome idea!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment!
Would love to see more videos about larger monsters.
Any monsters in particular you're looking for?
@@critbrick some of the more common ones in the cr 1-5 range, that are likely to show up multiple times and possibly in multiples, but aren't likely to be a boss you want to spend a lot of effort on.
I think the giant spider build you showed was great, and most of the large beasts might be nice to have for wild shape and conjure animals if you have a druid in your party. Dire wolves and giant constrictor snake if I had to single some out.
Ogres, minotaurs, trolls, hill giants
The four elementals
Amazing, your vídeos are awesome
Thanks for supporting me! I'm very thankful for your encouragement. I haven't forgotten your comment a few weeks back about doing a show where we play D&D with lego. Just need to find the right people willing to go along with that 🤓
Chima (un)fortnutately is very cheap 2nd handed, so you can get yourself some great pieces for aarakocras, tabaxi, lizardfolk and kobolds. So, a full dish for exotic species!
And one I still wanna get for myself is that japanese mask-flat hat combo from one of the Ninjago villains, I dunno which season. But holy fuck, it's a gorgeous piece and stylish for any class, really. Rogue, warlock, sorcerer, wizard, ranger, you get it.
Those went straight to my bricklink want-list. They are indeed not that expensive. I'm still trying to find a store that has multiple, so shipping cost doesn't increase cost too much. Thanks for the suggestions!
I’ve seen people suggest using the werewolf by night minifig face from mcu cmf 2 for bug bears. Also if rumors are true is getting some of the Dragonborn showing up in Jan’s wave. And some customs websites like brickwarriors offer some other heads for different genres, this month they’re doing orcs
The werewolf is very costly where I'm located but Legend of Chima has some cheaper used figs that work great as well. The Brickwarrior Orcs look awesome but wow are the expensive. I don't think I need orcs bad enough to justify 😅
Also I have used marvel series werewolf by night figure for bugbears and just addd the girh warlock shoulder piece and give them a club for weapon
Ouh. That sounds good! does this come in a particular set or did you get the minifigure through PAB or Bricklink?
@@critbrick pretty cheap on Bricklink. I had a bunch of them from the marvel series 2 minifigs because I also collect the marvel line of sets.
Yes found it. Thanks! That's indeed not that pricey. Great find!
I just love your content, happy to see another video. Just curious, have you tried to build some types on animal monsters? Might be more "normal" ones like bear or wolf, but also something more "fantasy-wise" like some monsters from the Witcher? I have 0 experience with DMing so maybe you can't just create a monster which you like if you don't have some written pages about it?
Oh you can definetly come up with your own monsters and for stuff like the Witcher there will probably be home brew (stuff that other people made themselves) with stats. The only thing you need to come up with is attacks and abilities that you want the monsters to have and some stats like hitpoints and saving throws. You can also always take an existing "official" monster and just tweak it the way you like it.
I have not tried building animals (besides small birds) yet. But I'll look into that. Thanks for the suggestion!
Great video! I love using the nexo knight red monsters in my campaign you should check them out!
They look awesome! Put them on my bricklink want-list immediately! Thanks for the suggestion!
@@critbrick No problem! Glad I could help a fellow Lego D&D enthusiast!
Thanks for your inputs man! Can you maybe explain how u get your orders smart and cheap? Heard u order at Bricklink right? Are there any good moves like a wishlist and good settings for example?
I'm playing around with the combination of items from stores a lot. Sadly it's all manual work. I find that the bricklink auto select feature is ok but sometimes it's just smarter to sort the stores by how many of the pieces you want they have and start from the top looking at what pieces are too expensive to find elsewhere. I've often questioned if the time I invest in the selection is worth the money I save honestly 🫠
Top nice!
Glad you liked it. Thanks for leaving a comment!
There are cheapish goblins and orcs in Ninjago as well as in the CMFs.
Any chance you know which sets of ninjago? I wasn’t able to find it through PAB. That would be a welcome addition to my setup!
Thanks for the advice!
Please a Monsters vídeo!!!!!!
Could you make the Basilik from D&D 5e? I've already searched in many TH-cam Channel, sites and I can found these incredible Monsters... If you could make I would love it. And please make instructions!
I actually might have the right pieces for that! It might take a while though. I hope to do a monster video in the next weeks. Thanks for the suggestion!!
@@critbrick Thank you. I can wait for this vídeo!!!!!
The blurry tree in the wide shot is super distracting for me, but your video is still great
Oh no. Sorry abou that. I need to take more time with my B-Roll. I always forget to do this and then rush through it once I notice I'm missing it in edit. 😅
Don't mix yellow and skin tone figures. Its like mixing tea and coffee.
😅 I wished Lego would have just stuck with yellow honestly. But now I have so many skin colored heads and even some elf ears. And at least I want to be consistent in a minifigure (ears fitting the head).
I feel that with the special heads like ghouls and ghosts the mix doesn’t hurt as much. But if you’re able to focus on only one in your collection that’s great.
@@critbrick They absolutely NEED to make more yellow skin elf hair pieces! Some more traditional length dwarf beards would be fantastic too!
YES! I was so happy about the Gith in the CMF because of that. Older CMF with yellow elf ears exist but they are sooo expensive 🫣
I would recommend looking into some of the older and less desireable series such as lego Elves for interesting creatures to find in a dnd campaign, similarly I am rather fond of the dreamlings and their nightmare counterparts from Dreamzz