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Campaign TrailD&D 5eMonsters & NPCs

Jurassic World’s Indominus Rex – D&D 5e Homebrew Monster

Jurassic World has already made over 1.5 billion dollars at the box office worldwide. Last weekend, my family was able to get to the movies after our vacation and see Jurassic World. I already posted a couple of dinosaur related articles (Prehistoric/Lost World Campaign Setting and D&D 5e Monster for a Prehistoric Encounter), but after watching the movie I wanted to try building my own super dinosaur for D&D 5e. Check out my homebrew monster build of Indominus Rex with a full stat block.

This article has some minor spoilers from the movie. Stop reading now if you want to avoid any spoilers from this summer’s huge box office hit Jurassic World.

Indominus Rex

Indominus Rex, meaning Fierce or Untamable King, is a carnivorous dinosaur hybrid that is smart, fast, has thermal vision and can hide well.

I visited the Jurassic World website for some ideas on how they created this hybrid. As I write this, it’s also 27 degrees celsius and the park is closed according to the site (not that I am too tempted to visit after watching the movie). The site also tells us that they “set out to make Indominus Rex the most fearsome dinosaur ever to be displayed at Jurassic World“. Yikes!

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Indominus Rex looks similar to a T. rex, but it draws its unique physical qualities such as head ornamentation (Abelisaurs) and horns (Carnotaurusm Majungasaurus, Rugops and Gigantosaurus) from a number of sources including Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Therizinosaurus and modern animals like cuttlefish and an unspecified species of tree frog. Indominus Rex is also a vicious killer who hunts for the sport and the pleasure of the kill.

This hybrid can:

  • run up to 30 miles per hour
  • roar as loud as 140db-160db
  • change color
  • detect heat (and hide its own heat signature)

INDOMINUS REX

Huge beast (or monstrosity), unaligned

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 147 (14d12+56)
Speed 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
25 (+7) 14 (+2) 19 (+4) 7 (-2) 13 (+2) 10 (+0)
Skills Perception +6, Stealth +6
Senses
Darkvision 60 ft, Passive Perception 16
Languages
Challenge 10 (5900 XP)

Pounce. If Indominus Rex moves at least 30 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, Indominus Rex can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.

Color Change. While surrounded by thick foliage Indominus Rex can change its color to blend into its environment. Indominus Rex has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide, has advantage on attack rolls against any creature it has surprised and can take the Hide action as a bonus action.

Change Heat Signature. If Indominus Rex is undetected it can change its heat signature to hide from being detected with Darkvision.

Pack Tactics. Indominus Rex has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the Indominus Rex’s allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.

Actions:

Multiattack. The Indominus Rex makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claw or tail

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target.
Hit: 33 (4d12 + 7) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 20 (3d8 + 7) slashing damage.

Tail. Melee Weapon Attack +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target.
Hit: 20 (3d8 + 7) bludgeoning damage.

I looked to T. rex, Allosaurus and the a homebrew velociraptor for ideas on how to stat up I. rex. I set the Challenge Rating for this monster as 10, which is 2 higher than T. Rex. It works out pretty close to the average I came up with after consulting the DMG with lower defensive and higher offensive stats, but this dino has more features and attacks than a Tyrannosaurus. For Pack Tactics, only velocipators should be considered as allies. I’ll need to take this monster out for a test drive to see how hard it really is.

If your game doesn’t take place in modern times on an island theme park, then this hybrid could be a terrible monster or something created by magic roaming the forest. There’s always a reason to throw a dinosaur into your game, especially if it takes place in a steampunk heavy, prehistoric or lost world setting.

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