The search for a perfect mini is never ending. Whether you’re a player or dungeon master, it can be frustrating to try to bring your vision to life, only to find that to miniatures you have are all the wrong size, have the wrong weapons, or lack spell effects. Over the years, I have found that all of these problems – and more – can be solved using LEGO minifigures and other LEGO elements. As icing on the cake, LEGO minifigures fit on a standard 1″ grid, even if you opt to place a 2×2 or 3×3 pip plate under them for stability.
In this 3-part tutorial, I will cover the various ways to customize your characters’ species, equipment, and spell effects. This first article will focus on species. Read on to learn how to bring different character species to life using various chest, legs head, and gear elements of choice.
When one typically considers LEGO minifigures, the classic yellow-skinned human is what comes to mind first. Thankfully, due to various licensing partnerships, LEGO-brand cartoons, and the ever-expanding demand for new pieces, you can make just about any species with a basic minifigure, or even find more specialized ones for your needs. Let’s look at the basic species features that we can recreate.
LEGO minifigures have an adult size and a child size, which both use the same torso, head, and arms, just altering the size of the legs. This makes them great for creating dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and so on, because all of the accessories fit both medium and small creatures. If you want to push things a bit further, one can give up the option of some equipment for an even smaller minifigure which can’t be dressed like a normal minifigure, but is visibly smaller than the child-sized minifigure.
Whether you’re playing an orc in need for tusks, a tiefling in need of horns, or an owlin in need of a beak, there are pieces designed to give you the look you’re aiming for. Combining these with the best base face will enhance these accessories, making it obvious at a glance what species you’re trying to represent. There are also features such as different kinds of beards which can help distinguish and differentiate your character.
Don’t underestimate the effect your hair, hats, and other decoratoins can have on the overall feel of your character. If you’re a chaos sorcerer, maybe you don’t have a schoolboy haircut with a razor-thin side part. Maybe your ranger puts her hair up or wears a hood while fighting. No matter what species or class you are playing, it’s worth thinking about the top of your character’s head, as it is often the most visible part of that minifigure among the terrain, monsters, and other characters on the battle mat. Most critically, for characters with features they’re prone to hiding, including horns and pointed ears, hoods and other options can cover a wide variety of needs.
While the classic LEGO minifigure has yellow skin, one can find many variations from different kits, including an infernal red, light gray, dark gray, black, and more. There are also hands and legs that match these options, if you hunt them down, which adds to the overall effect. Remember that all hands are interchangeable, so if you have a suited torse/leg combination, but want the hand colors to be different, they are quite easy to swap out.
Some species have specialized anatomy, such as wings or a tail. There are actually a number of options for wings, including translucent wings, the butterfly creature attached to a backpack adapter, or even attaching a cloud element (or two) to give the appearance of wings. As for tails, the belt slot has a number of options, including mammalian, reptilian, and fiendish tails.
With the endless available customization options, you can create any fantasy species with LEGO minifigures, regardless of size, shape, color, or any other feature. And remember that most of the options shown in this tutorial are currently available through Pick-a-Brick, so you can order exactly what you need. (Do note, though, that Pick-a-Brick options are always changing, so keep an eye out for the pieces you want, and get them when you can.) Stay tuned for Part 2, where we detail the many ways to represent gear options for your character, including armor, weapons, and containers. Part 3 will go over spell effects, animal companions, and wild shape options. If you want to learn about the benefits of using LEGO at your game table, check out our post on How to Choose the Perfect Dungeons and Dragons Mini.
Disclaimer: LEGO has previously provided some of the elements shown in this post for review or evaluation purposes. This post is not endorsed or sponsored by LEGO, and all ideas and images in this article are generated by the author.
Click through to read all of “How to Make any D&D Character with LEGO—Part 1: Species” at GeekDad.If you value content from GeekDad, please support us via Patreon or use this link to shop at Amazon. Thanks!
Like many others, I jumped directly into my Apple Music Replay this year filled with…
It's time to stuff the stockings that were hung with care with our must-have stocking…
It's time to get styling and stocking up on everyday necessities that we think you…
Every geek loves a new gadget. Here’s a selection from the GeekDad and GeekMom writers,…
If you enjoy 3D printing with filament and are interested in something new, resin printing…
After spending some time with xTool's M1 Ultra, the other tools in my maker arsenal…