Hero Forge alternatives: cheaper ways to get the mini you want
Hero Forge STLs are $7.99 each and printed minis cost more again. Here's what you actually pay, and the cheaper routes to a figure that looks like your character.
Hero Forge solves a real problem. You have a specific character in your head — the armour, the weapon, the pose, the cloak — and no manufacturer makes that figure. The customiser lets you build it.
It is genuinely good at that, and this post is not going to pretend otherwise. What it will do is separate the case where it is worth the money from the much more common case where people reach for it and shouldn’t.
What it actually costs
A single custom miniature as a downloadable STL is listed at $7.99, with promotional pricing sometimes bringing it to $5.99. A two-character pack is $15.98. Pre-made digital packs are also around $7.99.
Two things to be clear about:
That is the file, not the figure. An STL is a model. Turning it into something you can put on a table needs a 3D printer — realistically a resin printer for miniature detail — or a printing service, which costs more again.
Physical printed miniatures cost substantially more than the STL, and colour printing more again. If you want Hero Forge to ship you a finished painted figure, you are in a completely different price bracket.
Where Hero Forge is worth it
Your player character. One figure, used every session, for two or three years, representing a character you are personally attached to. Eight dollars for the file is a rounding error against that, and no other route gets you exactly the right pose and kit.
A recurring named villain. Same logic. The BBEG who appears in ten sessions earns a bespoke figure.
A gift. A printed figure of somebody’s character is a genuinely great present, and one of the few TTRPG gifts that is unambiguously personal.
That is the pattern: Hero Forge is for figures that matter individually. It is priced per figure because it is designed per figure.
Where it stops making sense
The moment you need quantity.
Twelve goblins. Six skeletons. Four wolves and a bugbear. Every session’s actual monster requirement is a group, and $7.99 per model — before printing — makes that absurd. Nobody customises twelve goblins.
The same applies to the long tail of NPCs. You do not need a bespoke figure for the innkeeper.
Cheaper route one: pre-made STL packs
If you own a printer, the economics change completely with themed packs. Instead of designing one figure, you buy a warband — bosses, rank-and-file variants, NPCs, terrain props — and print as many of each as the encounter needs.
The key difference is reprintability. A custom STL is one character. A warband pack is a file you print ten copies from, at the cost of resin.
If you are new to printing minis, our guide to 3D printing D&D miniatures covers supports, resin and what actually goes wrong.
Cheaper route two: paper minis
If you do not own a printer — which is most people — this is the answer, and it is not a compromise as often as people assume.
Printed double-sided on 160-250gsm cardstock and folded into a base, a paper mini stands up, shows correct facing front and back, and occupies its square exactly as well as plastic. At 28-32mm scale it sits correctly next to painted figures.
The customisation point people miss: any art can become a paper mini. A commissioned portrait, a piece of character art, even a screenshot of a Hero Forge design you never bought — print it as a standee and you have a figure that looks like your character for the cost of a sheet of card. The printable miniatures tool lays it out at the right scale, and how to make paper miniatures covers the fold.
There are also 50 free print-and-fold minis on Patreon if you want to test your printer settings before spending anything.
The split that actually works
After a year most tables land in the same place without planning it:
- Custom or painted figures for the four to six player characters and the recurring villain. Worth the money, used constantly, personally meaningful.
- STL packs for creature groups, if you own a printer.
- Paper minis or tokens for everything else — the goblins, the guards, the cultists, the wolves.
That gets you presence where presence matters and coverage where coverage matters. Trying to buy custom figures for everything is how people end up with four beautiful minis and a bag of dice standing in for an entire warband.
For the token route, which is cheaper still and often clearer in large fights, see where to get D&D monster tokens and our paper vs plastic cost comparison.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Hero Forge cost?
- A single custom miniature STL download is listed at $7.99, sometimes discounted to $5.99, with a two-character pack at $15.98. That is for the digital file only — a physically printed and shipped miniature costs considerably more, and colour printing more again.
- Is Hero Forge worth it?
- For a player character you will use for years, often yes. The customiser is excellent and getting a figure that genuinely matches your character is worth real money. For anything you need in quantity — monsters, NPCs, a warband — the per-figure cost makes it the wrong tool.
- What is the cheapest way to get a custom D&D miniature?
- Paper miniatures, by a wide margin. You print a standee of your character for the cost of a sheet of cardstock. If you own a 3D printer, pre-made STL packs give you many figures for the price of one or two custom ones.
- Do you need a 3D printer to use an STL file?
- Yes, or access to a printing service. An STL is a model file, not an object. Resin printers give the best detail for miniatures, and printing services will produce a file for you at a cost that varies by size and material.
- Are pre-made STL packs better value than custom minis?
- For quantity, clearly. A themed warband pack gives you bosses, rank-and-file and props in one purchase, which is the exact coverage a custom-one-at-a-time service cannot provide economically.
- Can you customise paper miniatures?
- Yes. Any character art can be turned into a standee, so a commissioned portrait or a Hero Forge screenshot can become a paper mini for the cost of printing. It is the cheapest way to get a figure that looks like a specific character.
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