thecreaturecodex

[thecreaturecodex]

Sahkil, Penqual

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[Sponsored by @justicegundam82. The penqual fits in with the tumblak as PF2E sahkils that are a bunch of humanoids squished together. As such, and because their foci (claustrophobia and agoraphobia) are often seen as "opposites", I wanted the flavor text to include some reference to them both. The original stats make them a Huge swarm of Medium creatures; troop rules didn't exist in PF2e yet, but that seems like the logical mechanical niche in both editions.]

Sahkil, Penqual CR 15 NE Outsider (extraplanar) This seething mass consists of a mob of humanoid figures. Each of them is subtly disturbing in appearance—they have dead black eyes, no noses or mouths, and their fingers and toes are long talons. The mob moves as a single unit.

Penquals are sahkils that represent agoraphobia and the fear of crowds. Although they resemble a mass of separate humanoid figures, each penqual is indeed a single entity, their bodies held together with thin fleshy appendages like umbilical cords. They tend to wear clothes and disguise themselves as a group of mundane humanoids when hunting on the Material Plane. Penqual attacks tend to focus around festivals, markets and other places where crowds gather, where the monsters can mingle unnoticed while on the search for those who are already showing signs of discomfort and anxiety. Penquals and tumblaks, the sahkils of claustrophobia, view each other as rivals, and debate the relative merits of confined versus open spaces in causing dread.

Penquals do not bother with individual attacks, instead attempting to devastate all opponents in their reach with a flurry of claws and fists. Their look of fear renders creatures slowed in addition to afraid, and penquals delight in prolonging a futile chase for a few rounds before grabbing an enemy and tearing them apart. Penquals enjoy making people edgy and uncomfortable in addition to overwhelming them with terror. A penqual might use nightmare and antipathy spells to stoke tensions for days or weeks before a scheduled mass gathering, where they abandon subtlety and indulge to bloody violence.

Penqual              CR 15 XP 51,200 NE Medium outsider (evil, extraplanar, sahkil, troop) Init +9; Senses all around vision, darkvision 60 ft., Perception +25

Defense AC 30, touch 21, flat-footed 24 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 deflection, +9 natural) hp 216 (16d10+128) Fort +13, Ref +17, Will +18 DR 15/good; Immune death effects, disease, fear, poison, single target effects; Resist cold 10, electricity 10, sonic 10; SR 26 Defensive Abilities troop traits; Vulnerable troop traits,weakness to area effects

Offense Speed 40 ft. Melee troop (4d6+5 plus grab) Space 20 ft.; Reach 0 ft. Special Attacks constrict (4d6+7), look of fear, multigrab, spirit touch Spell-like Abilities CL 16th, concentration +24 Constant—shield of faith At will—fear (DC 24), nightmare (DC 25), paranoia (DC 22) 1/day—antipathy (DC 28)

Statistics Str 20, Dex 21, Con 26, Int 23, Wis 22, Cha 27 Base Atk +16; CMB +21 (+25 grapple); CMD 41 Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge,Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Wind Stance Skills Acrobatics +21, Bluff +24, Climb +18, Disguise +21, Intimidate +27, Knowledge (arcana, nobility) +19, Knowledge (local, planes) +22, Perform (dance) +21, Perception +26, Sense Motive +24, Stealth +24, Swim +18; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Infernal, Requian, telepathy 100 ft. SQ easy to call, emotional focus, skip between

Ecology Environment any land or urban (Ethereal Plane) Organization solitary or crush (2-4) Treasure standard

Special Abilities Look of Fear (Su) 30 ft., Will DC 26. A creature that succumbs to a penqual’s look of fear is shaken for 1d4 rounds, and during that time is staggered and suffers a -10 foot penalty to all of its speeds. Repeated failed saves do not increase the level of fear effect, but do extend the duration. The save DC is Charisma based and includes a +2 bonus for the sahkil’s emotional focus. Multigrab (Ex) A penqual can grapple a number of creatures that occupy the same number of squares as the penqual without penalty. Thus, a penqual does not count as grappling when it grapples 1 Gargantuan or Huge creature, 4 Large creatures or 16 Medium or smaller creatures. Troop Attack (Ex) A penqual’s troop attack deals bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage. It is treated as a magic, evil aligned weapon for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, and benefits from the penqual’s spirit touch ability

#sahkil #penqual #extraplanar outsider #troop #pathfinder 1e #pathfinder 2e #sponsored post

[thecreaturecodex]

Happy Goblinization Day!

2nd year anniversary and counting!

Have fun, you little monsters

#shadowrun #goblinization #goblin #april 30 #walpurgisnacht #transformation

[thecreaturecodex]

Theme

NPC ( Venger )

Prompt list

Creature Codex Art Challenge

Commentary

So yeah I love Venger I had a whole campaign lined up where they were the main villain with four lieutenants (They were the Elite four from pokemon (it was weird but I am weird)) So outside of dealing with car troubles there's not much to say. Bit of trouble with finding a good size while still working small. Maybe I'll come back and try it in different sizes.

Palette Picked

#pixel art #codexartchallenge #venger #D&D #dungeons and dragons #D&D cartoon #npc

[thecreaturecodex]

Shadhavar

Image © @iguanodont. Accessed at their tumblr here

[The first in a two-parter of musical Middle Eastern monsters.]

Shadhavar CR 3 NG Magical Beast This beautiful, antelope-like creature has a single horn growing from its head. The horn is covered in knobs and holes, making it resemble an exotic musical instrument.

Shadhavars are magical, musical creatures that resemble unicorns. They patrol dry savannas and other arid lands, maintaining the balance of predator and prey and defending the land from exploitation. Shadhavars are social creatures that are gregarious among their own kind and with others, and their roaming herds are as much conversation circles as anything else.

The most notable feature of a shadhavar is its crest. This structure is covered in horn and studded with dozens of openings, all leading to a large central airy chamber. This allows them to play their crest as if it were a musical instrument, and shadhavars can mimic the noises of a dozen manufactured instruments, or even maintain two tunes at once. Shadhavars can harness their sonic mastery as a weapon, producing a blast of sound that can shatter glass, bruise flesh and scramble the mind. As shadhavars are herbivorous, they only use this effect in self-defense or when fighting to protect an innocent creature.

Shadhavars love music, both their own and that of other creatures. They are somewhat wary of mortals, however, as they are hunted to turn their crests into exotic musical instruments. They also hate creatures that use sonic effects to injure and kill innocent creatures, and fight crusades against harpies, siranis and other evil monsters that use music as a weapon.

Keep reading

#shadhavar #unicorn #iguanodont #pathfinder 1e #magical beast

[thecreaturecodex]

Shrine Skelm

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[The shrine skelm, like all of the skelms, rules, but I didn't like how it doesn't have any ability to magically conceal its alignment. Considering that spells like misdirection and nondetection exist in 2e (although now they have non SRD names like "veil of privacy"), it seems a bit of an oversight to have a monster whose whole deal is deceiving religious figures whose cover can be blown by any 1st level paladin. So I gave it the "feign faith" ability, and some spell-like abilities to synergize with it.]

Shrine Skelm CR 5 LE Monstrous Humanoid This gray-skinned figure is nearly human, except for his yellow eyes and rack of antlers. He wears priestly vestments and expensive-looking holy symbols.

Shrine skelms are skelms that specialize in abusing religious authority. Regardless of what faith they feign, they are skilled at interpreting its doctrines and stories in the most restrictive and cruel lights, using them as excuses for the abuse they heap onto their followers. All of their parishioners are at risk, of course, but shrine skelms focus their ire on those who question their authority, or those who have something that they envy. Exorbitant tithing is often the first sign that a shrine skelm has infiltrated a church. Shrine skelms are skilled at seeming like a wise counselor one minute and a cruel adjutant the next, listening to their followers at prayer and probing their minds to learn their hopes and fears. Worshipers or clergy especially prone to hatred, rage or anger may find themselves groomed to become a skelm themselves, and a church can rapidly be converted into a front for a synod of shrine skelms.

Shrine skelms prefer not to fight themselves, instead letting their minions get their hands dirty while supporting them with spells. A shrine skelm’s most formidable ability is the ability to steal divine spells cast by real clerics, paladins, inquisitors, etc., which can both be used as a combat tactic and to denigrate anyone who tries to display the truth of their faith versus the skelm’s disguises and lies. Once the chips are down and their true nature revealed, however, a shrine skelm is just as hateful and violent as any skelm, using their antlers and fists to gore and bash enemies.

Shrine Skelm CR 5 XP 1,600 LE Medium monstrous humanoid Init +3; Senses Perception +11, scent

Defense AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural) hp 57 (6d10+24) Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +7; -2 vs. emotion effects DR 5/cold iron

Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee gore +11 (1d8+5 plus trip), slam +11 (1d4+5) Special Attacks feign faith,seize prayer Spell-like Abilities CL 6th, concentration +11 3/day—aid, castigate (DC 17), command (DC 16), detect thoughts (DC 17) 1/day—enthrall (DC 17), retribution (DC 18)

Statistics Str 20, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 19, Wis 15, Cha 21 Base Atk +6; CMB +11; CMD 25 Feats Deceitful,Dodge, Magical Aptitude Skills Bluff +13, Disguise +13, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (religion) +10, Perception +11, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +12, Use Magic Device +13; Racial Modifiers +4 Intimidate Languages Aklo, Common, telepathy 30 ft. SQ change shape (Small or Medium humanoid, alter self),skelm traits

Ecology Environment any land and urban Organization solitary or synod (2-7) Treasure standard (holy symbols, other treasure)

Special Abilities Feign Faith (Su) When a shrine skelm wears a holy symbol, its alignment detects as the alignment of that god, and its castigate and retribution spell-like abilities treat the shrine skelm as a worshipper of that god. A creature attempting to detect the skelm’s true alignment must succeed a DC 18 Will save to do so. The save DC is Charisma based. Seize Prayer (Su) As an immediate action, a shrine skelm can attempt an opposed caster level check to steal a divine spell cast within 30 feet of it. This spell must have a verbal component. If the shrine skelm succeeds this check, both the skelm and the caster take 1d8 points of damage per level of the spell, but the shrine skelm becomes the spell’s sole target. Skelm Traits (Ex) A shrine skelm gains a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks and a -2 racial penalty on saving throws against emotion effects.

#skelm #shrine skelm #shapeshifter #monstrous humanoid #pathfinder 1e #pathfinder 2e

[thecreaturecodex]

Theme

Fearsome Critter (Jackalope)

Prompt List

Creature Codex Art Challenge

Commentary

So I had an instant thought with this little mythical guy. El-ahrairah from Watership down. So my thinking was to make the antlers hard to see and broken up to kind of look like stars so please give it a click to see it against the black. Also here's a variant for fun

Palette picked

#jackalope #fearsome critter #codexartchallenge #pixel art

[thecreaturecodex]

Theme Familar ( porcelyne )

Prompt List

Creature Codex Art Challenge

Commentary

So today I set the goal to go through the motions properly. A lot of my pixel art is by the seat of my pants more akin to painting and then adding onto what I paint. Today I made layers, I even labeled the buggers, I drew an outline and adjusted it before adding colors and I think that help quite a bit now the trouble is that I have to keep consistently doing it. I think I could've taken this piece further but I was kind of drawn to the palette which was a grey nebulous blob that while perfect for the skin tone made adding shadows to the dress difficult. This piece is kind of a yokai (another of my favorites) and based on the little china girl from Oz because she had a great look. I'm happy with my construction especially in the hair but I definitely chickened out elsewhere.

Palette picked

#codexartchallenge #porcelyne #wizard of oz #familiar #tsumkumogami #living doll

[thecreaturecodex]

Sewer Swine

“Demonic Pigs Attack” accessed @discardingimages here

[The theme for this batch is “hoaxes and hysterias”, creatures spread by urban legends, mass panics or outright frauds. First up, the Black Swine of Hampshire, because alligators in the sewer is declassé . ]

Sewer Swine CR 3 N Magical Beast This pig is jet-black and lean, and reeks of filth. Its hooves are wide and webbed.

Urban swine are both a resource and a nuisance in many communities. They can serve as meat and garbage disposals, but grow to large sizes and can be territorial and violent. Worse still are the sewer swine, descendents of pigs who moved underground to avoid urban hunters. Sewer swine have become fierce carnivores and scavengers. Although sewer swine can survive on the leavings of people above, they have a taste for meat.

Sewer swine are lean and agile compared to topside boars, and their coats are mottled black and gray for camouflage. Their hooves spread wide to give them traction in wet and uneven surfaces, and they can survive on even the most rotten and diseased food. Filth cakes their bodies and impregnates their teeth, acting as a potent weapon against their enemies. Sewer swine hate the light and flee from particularly bright light sources. Especially bold sewer swine, or those that are becoming overpopulated, emerge at night or even during overcast days to feed topside on pets, horses and vagrants. Pigfolk love sewer swine, and keep them as pets and guard beasts. Especially foul rumors suggest the two species may be able to interbreed, creating monstrously strong and feral hybrids.

Keep reading

#sewer swine #urban legend #black swine of hampshire #medieval art #pathfinder 1e #magical beast

[thecreaturecodex]

Niali

“Chupacabra” by Terry Maranda, © Storm Bunny Studios. Accessed at the artist’s ArtStation here

[The “sheep killer of Niali” was a short lived panic in 2017 and 2018 in the Niali district of Odisha. The creatures were shortly captured, and turned out to be two young wolves, both of which were placed in a zoo. You can read about the government response here. But, like so many mysterious animal killings, rumors of monsters started to spread in the wake of the incident.

So I took this opportunity to make stats for a monster that is a long time coming in Pathfinder– a canine chupacabra. The modern understanding of a chupacabra is often as a weird dog. PFRPG 1e makes the chupacabra some sort of a reptile, and PFRPG 2e gives it an appearance like a feral grey alien, similar to the original reports from Puerto Rico. But if you want a mystery canine for your game, here’s one you can use.]

Niali CR 3 CN Magical Beast This creature looks something like a hyena and something like a wolf, but with longer legs than either species, and front paws like a man’s hands. It has oversized canine teeth protruding from its mouth.

A niali is a canine vampire, a blood-drinking monster that prefers to prey on livestock. They are clever and quick-fingered, able to pick simple locks and lift gates in pursuit of prey. They are somewhat selective feeders, draining an animal’s blood, gutting it to eat the soft organs, and leaving the muscles and bones behind for other scavengers. A niali leaves no tracks, and is capable of confounding pursuers with a variety of magical abilities.

Keep reading

#niali #mass hysteria #chupacabra #pathfinder 1e #magical beast #urban legend #cryptid

[thecreaturecodex]

Malkin

Image © Angela Barrett, from the book The Witches and the Singing Mice. Accessed from @starxgoddess here

[Consider this one “loosely inspired” by Hackmaster.

In the Hacklopedia, there is a shapeshifting witch cat with thief powers. Unfortunately, it’s super gross and sexist. The design looks like erotic fanart of the one Batman TAS episode where Catwoman turns into an actual cat woman. They’re female-only, and all of the flavor text is about sexual jealousy. And it’s called the “mynx”. Yuck.

So my version is still a shapeshifting witch cat with thief powers, but (hopefully) less skeevy and misogynistic.]

Malkin CR 3 CN Magical Beast This creature resembles a housecat the size of a man. Its eyes have a mischievous glint, and its paws bear an eerie resemblance to human hands.

Sometimes referred to as “witch cats”, the creatures known as malkins were created by a master witch ages ago to be the perfect familiar. They are strong enough to handle themselves in combat, smart enough to be a decent conversation partner, and tricky enough to help a caster out of a pinch involving locks, larceny or other skills most arcane casters do not excel at.  A malkin has an inherent love for all arcane spellcasters, acting as guardians of novices, servants of archmages or friends to any other casters who cross their paths.

When not in service to an arcane spellcaster, malkins live on the outskirts of society. Like the domestic cats they descend from, they are carnivores that feed primarily on small game. Malkins have a fondness for creature comforts, and may sneak into town to steal what they cannot get lawfully. In humanoid form, a malkin resembles a particularly fur-covered catfolk, although catfolk usually dislike malkins—their criminal antics and disdainful attitude towards clothing tend to give catfolk a bad reputation.  

Malkins can be of any alignment, although they tend towards chaotic alignments. They advance by class level, with rogue and witch being the most common classes among them. Malkins know the struggles a familiar can suffer under a neglectful or cruel master—malkin spellcasters frequently dote on and pamper their familiars.

Keep reading

#malkin #witch cat #familiar #pathfinder 1e #hackmaster #magical beast #shapeshifter

[thecreaturecodex]

Theme Video Game (Chocobo) Prompt List

Creature Codex Art Challenge

Commentary

I was working hard on Tyrant but time was short and it just wasn't coming together in a way I liked. So I did another pass through the lovely Codex until I found something else I could work out. So I put some colors together and made this lovely boy.

Palette Picked

#chocobo #final fantasy #pixel art #codexartchallenge

[thecreaturecodex]

Div, Apaush

Image © @chimeride

[Sponsored by @crazytrain48, based on the "sun demon" from Arduin. Why these are sun demons is somewhat obscure to me; their scales and boluses suggest they should be iron demons, right? The art does an excellent job making it more sunny, with the solar disk head, which I love. I leaned into it by giving them the name of one of the Zoroastrian daevas of drought, and some of their spell-like abilities.]

Div, Apaush CR 9 NE Outsider (extraplanar) This creature is a vaguely avian humanoid, with a beaked head ringed by a structure halfway between a sunburst and an owl’s facial disc. It has fan-like wings, metal talons on its hands and feet and a long whip-like tail. Its body and wings are covered with overlapping metal scales that screech horribly as the creature moves.

The apaush are sometimes known as “sun divs” or “sun fiends”, as they are devotees of drought. They are native to the hottest, driest parts of Abaddon. An apaush on the Material Plane makes sure to use its weather controlling abilities to keep things sunny and hot, and the droughts they provoke lead to widespread starvation and thirst. The head of an apaush resembles a solar disk and some apaush work with clerics of evil sun gods and archfiends. An apaush constantly emits a rasping, screeching noise from the metal scales on its body and wings. Like all divs, the apaush have a psychological weakness; in their case, apaush hate silence. They make noise almost compulsively in quiet places, and in the area of a silence spell are edgy and uncomfortable.

Apaush are incredibly fast fliers, and prefer to attack from the sky. They make hit and run attacks while airborne, spitting boluses of molten iron that entangle and scorch enemies, casting destructive spells, or merely tearing into foes with their claws. An apaush’s metal scales provide it with supernaturally powerful protection against ranged attacks, and the screeching of its metal body is so loud as to be painfully distracting up close.  If forced to land, they usually cast defensive spells like fire shield and wall of fire, to punish melee combatants as much as possible.

An apaush is tall for a Medium creature, being taller than seven feet tall on average. Their whip-like tails are often that length again, but too weak to be used in combat.

Apaush               CR 9 XP 6,400 NE Medium outsider (div, evil, extraplanar) Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +15, see in darkness Aura screeching (30 ft., Will DC 19)

Defense AC 23, touch 12, flat-footed 21 (+2 Dex, +11 natural) hp 114 (12d10+48) Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +8 DR 10/good and melee; Immune fire, petrifaction, poison, sonic; Resist acid 10, electricity 10; SR 20 Defensive Abilities fiery body,healing petrifaction

Offense Speed 30 ft., fly 120 ft. (average) Melee 2 claws +15 (1d10+3 plus 1d6 fire), bite +15 (1d6+3 plus 1d6 fire), 2 wings +13 (1d6+1 plus 1d6 fire) Ranged molten bolus +14 touch (3d10 fire) Spell-like Abilities CL 12th, concentration +15 At will—detect good, dimension door, heat metal (DC 15) 3/day—cup of dust (DC 16), empowered searing light, stinking cloud (DC 16) 1/day—control weather (cannot cause precipitation), fire snake (DC 18), wall of fire

Statistics Str 16, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 17 Base Atk +12; CMB +16; CMD 28 Feats Empower SLA (searing light),Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Power Attack Skills Bluff +18,Fly +17, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (geography, planes) +16, Perception +15, Stealth +9; Racial Modifiers -8 Stealth Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Ignan, Infernal, telepathy 100 ft.

Ecology Environment any land and underground (Abaddon) Organization solitary or flock (2-6) Treasure incidental

Special Abilities Fiery Body (Ex) An apaush is so hot that it deals 1d6 points of fire damage to any creature touching it or striking it with a melee touch attack, natural weapon or unarmed strike. It deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage with all of its natural weapons. Healing Petrifaction (Ex) Any attempt to petrify an apaush heals it of 1d10 points of damage, plus 1 per HD of the creature for supernatural petrifaction effects, or caster level of the effect for spells and spell-like abilities. Molten Bolus (Su) As a standard action, an apaush can vomit up a blob of molten metal. Treat this as a ranged touch attack made with a thrown weapon with a range increment of 15 feet. A creature struck is entangled for three rounds, takes 3d10 points of fire damage, then takes 2d10 points of fire damage the next round and 1d10 fire damage on the third round. The blob can be scraped off by dealing 10 points of damage to it with a slashing weapon, or cooled down with a chill metal or quench effect (but the entangling still lasts the full duration). An apaush can use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. Screeching Aura (Su) Whenever an apaush moves more than 5 feet in a round, it produces an awful noise. All creatures within 30 feet of the apaush must succeed a DC 19 Will save or take a -4 penalty to attack rolls for 1 round from distraction. This is a sonic mind-influencing effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Wings (Su) The wings of an apaush are lined with razor sharp scales and deal slashing and bludgeoning damage on a successful hit.

#div #apaush #sun demon #pathfinder 1e #arduin #sponsored post #extraplanar outsider

[thecreaturecodex]

Gorphin

Image © Kenzer and Co., by Brian and Brendon Fraim

[If the sea is full of the equivalents of land creatures, as believed by so many early modern peoples, why not have land equivalents of sea creatures?]

Gorphin CR 3 NG Magical Beast This rugose creature looks something like a dolphin with a ridged armored shell on its upper surface.

Gorphins, called “land porpoises” by some, are burrowing dolphin-like creatures that swim through earth as if it were water. Rather than fins, a gorphin has four short, clawed legs. The claws are broad and spade-like, being much better suited to digging than to combat. A gorphin’s teeth are more varied than those of true whales due to its omnivorous diet—it has peg like incisors for grabbing moles, birds and other small ground animals, but has crushing molars to handle roots and tubers as well.

Gorphins are of human-like intelligence, and recognize other intelligent races as either potential allies or threats. Miners and those who lay deep foundations are frequently viewed with distrust, and may be harassed by gorphins seeking to maintain their territory. Simple farmers are usually able to interact peacefully, and if communication is established, they can form mutualistic relationships. The gorphins can patrol for and consume burrowing pests, and the farmers pay for them with a portion of their crops. As gorphins can swim through solid rock, they sometimes find precious stones and ores, which they bestow on particularly favored bipeds.

Gorphins are highly social creatures and are most commonly found in sizable pods. Baby gorphins take five years to reach maturity and are doted upon by all members of the pod for that time. Female children tend to remain in their mother’s pod and males tend to disperse to find a new pod, but these are not hard and fast rules. 

Keep reading

#gorphin #dolphin #land porpoise #pathfinder 1e #hackmaster #magical beast

[thecreaturecodex]

In AD&D 2e, the "foxwoman" could infect other people, but only women, and human women who were infected slowly developed elven features. When I was a kid, I thought this was the coolest thing, and imagined being turned into a werefox the same way.

In retrospect, it was one of many, many trans moments from my childhood.

Foxwere

“Kitsune” © deviantArt user foxfur, accessed at her gallery here

[Early D&D had several monsters that were almost, but not quite, based on yokai. The kenku, for instance, is sort of a tengu, but sort of not. Likewise, the “foxwoman” or “werefox” is clearly something like a kitsune forced into a lycanthrope-shaped box. They could infect others and were only harmed by silver, but their charming gaze, inherent spellcasting and pass without trace abilities all don’t fit in the 3.x conception of a lycanthrope as “mundane animal traits only”. Pathfinder RPG, of course, already has kitsune, so in tackling this monster, I used its charming gaze as a way to tie it in to the jackalwere.]

Foxwere CR 3 CE Magical Beast This woman has the head and tail of a fox, and carries a cruel dagger in her hands. Despite this, her smile is disarming and her gaze is inviting.

Urban and urbane cousins to jackalweres, foxweres are often mistaken for both lycanthropes and kitsune. Their true form is that of a fox, but they can assume humanoid shape in order to beguile and trick people, usually to fatal ends. A foxwere does eat the flesh of their victims, but gets as much pleasure from the mind games as anything else. Most foxweres are entangled in a number of schemes, the more elaborate the better, to enrich themselves and spread suffering in others.

The gaze of a foxwere is supernaturally soothing, and foxweres prefer to avoid conflicts they can’t win with charm. They also use this ability to encourage a potential mark to drop their defenses before burying a dagger in their back. A foxwere may keep a few select suckers strung along for a long period of time to act as bodyguards or servants—an especially favored con is to string along disaffected youths with promises of sharing their “lycanthropic gift”. They have a host of minor spell-like abilities, which they use to keep enemies off balance and jumping at shadows, or to facilitate a quick getaway if the foxwere gets in over its head.

Although the natural form of a foxwere is not humanoid, they are almost always found in either their humanoid façade or a hybrid form. Elven and half-elven faces are common among foxweres, and even human-faced foxweres tend towards elongated and willowy features. Their hair color in humanoid form matches their fur color in hybrid or fox form—silver is most common. Although they are commonly associated with women, foxweres of other genders certainly exist. Foxweres and jackalweres rarely get along.

Keep reading

#foxwere #werefox #kitsune #pathfinder 1e #D&D #magical beast #shapeshifter #trans moment

[thecreaturecodex]

A collection of Fey entities

A little different from my usual "a collection of..." posts. Making statblocks isn't my forte, surprisingly; I can, but ADHD Hellbrain kicks in and typically prevents me from actually finishing them, my energy and motivation running out typically by the time I need to select feats. A few of the creatures on this list are victims of that very phenomenon, but rather than letting them languish in my drafts forever, I figure I can share what I DO have in the form of lore and some basic ideas.

So, here's a bunch of fairies!

One of them I was going to write down, the Harvest Lords, are a concept I've developed too much for me to put here; they're a group of Archfey with proper domains and Boons, and thus will get their own post. Eventually.

Warnings: There are unsanitary themes in the Brughyorb Gremlin spot, as well as Totagoda. The final entry (Rotten Crick) deals with themes of animal death and allusions to animal torture, dealing specifically with sea life.

Brughyorb Gremlins (CR 1/2 Chaotic Evil Small Fey) are small, round, filthy creatures that are almost all mouth and stomach, almost resembling cauldrons when they fully open their mouths and scamper about on their arms and legs, and are thus also known as Cauldron Gremlins, Burplings, and Bowlbellies. Their grinding teeth and powerful jaws are best suited for plant matter (wood is a delicacy to them), but they won't hesitate to feed on whatever carrion they manage to find... though the majority of what they eat isn't actually digested.

Brughyorb Gremlins hold most of what they shovel into their maws in the first of their two stomachs, where their pungent gut juices fester and melt their food into noxious sludge so malodorous it's actually acidic. Slow and unbalanced even when they're empty, they lay in waiting for an innocent passerby to cross whatever hiding spot they've holed up in before leaping out with a wet shriek, and when their victim inhales in order to scream in surprise, the gremlins unleash a horrific belch directly into the victim's face. Nausea and vomiting are the most common result of such a sensory assault (though especially unlucky ones may catch the fatal Filth Fever), victims disoriented not only by the scare, but their entire world becoming overtaken by an indescribably vile stink, preventing them from fighting back as the gremlin takes whatever it wants from them and scampers off into the shadows, cackling with terrible glee.

Though they're larger than most gremlins, Brughyorb Gremlins are just as cowardly and prone to fleeing whenever someone even moderately well-armed comes along. If a foe proves especially dangerous or driven and their burps aren't cutting it, they'll vomit up the contents of their stomachs to form slick, acidic pools that carry an eye-watering reek with them to trip up and potentially even kill their pursuers, either immediately through acid damage or eventually through disease. Being directly vomited upon is an experience so profoundly unpleasant that most beings subjected to it immediately switch careers into something that will prevent this incident from ever happening again... though the fact a Brughyorb's stench is nearly impossible to scrub away and lingers for many weeks means the horrible little beasts can easily track the scent of their past victims in order to get them again.

Despite their foulness, their gut juice is an alchemical reagent highly prized by alchemists for its ability to break down and, with a bit of tinkering, ferment just about any organic matter, making them highly desirable for anyone hoping to create not just powerful acids, but potent fertilizers, fermented foods, or alcohol. Alchemists desiring the gremlin's gut juice, of course, rarely risk seeking it out themselves.

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Tintink Gremlins (CR 1 Chaotic Evil Tiny Fey) are also known as Nail Gremlins, Sharpener Pixies, Hammerlings, Nailbiters, Sharpies, and other such names. While most fey fear the touch of iron, Tintink Gremlins collect the substance in earnest despite being just as vulnerable to it as any other fey; contact with cold iron burns and pains them, but rather than shrinking away from it, they revel in it, with many of them boldly wearing sharpened points of cold iron for the specific purpose of terrorizing and bullying other fairies... as well as protecting themselves from being bullied or terrorized by others.

Tintinks are obsessed with the collection and the sharpening of metal pins, tacks, screws, caltrops, and especially nails, pilfering such items from workshops, lumberyards, factories, and even homes. Loose items are of course the easiest for them to get, their tiny backpacks and leather aprons full to bursting with stacks of nails they sweep off workbenches, but they're also prone to using hammers, crowbars, and pliers sized for their tiny hands to wrench fasteners from floorboards, pillars, and rafters. They slowly but surely destroy any structure they infest, one stolen screw at a time, fleeing only when the building collapses entirely.

Even when they're not destroying buildings, Tintinks are horrid menaces. Their wretched claws, coarse palms, and rough tongues can shave metal with the ease of a whetstone, and they use these to sharpen whatever points they get ahold of until they can pierce the thick leather soles of most common shoes or gloves... and they lay them out in preparation to do exactly that, cackling in wicked glee whenever someone impales their feet or hands on their sharps collections.

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Steraba (CR 2 Neutral Good Diminutive Fey) are also known as Honey Fairies, Porridge Pixies, Mice Fey, and other such names. They resemble miniature humanoids with mouse-like features such as dewy eyes, rounded ears, long tails, paws, or combinations thereof (sometimes to the point they resemble anthropomorphic mice), scarcely larger than the pests they resemble. Despite their appearance, Steraba are not pests themselves and are in fact one of many helpful fey known as House Spirits, and can be a genuinely helpful force in one's home... despite their tendency to pilfer easily-missed items left in their field of vision.

Steraba make their homes in mouseholes inside occupied buildings, living among families of mice (they hold only animosity for rats) which they take great pains to keep safe, healthy, and out of sight of the mortals with whom they share a space. Their lives are spent going on frequent, exciting 'raids' with their mice families (whom they can both communicate with and easily train), scampering unseen through homes like a spy trying to avoid being spotted by guards as they run missions such as 'read the next chapter of a book,' 'steal the button,' 'get to the grain stores,' 'slay the attic spider,' 'push out the rats,' and other such objectives. Between missions, they engage in surprisingly elaborate crafting projects; anything inedible they steal is used to decorate their tiny homes, if not by itself, then as part of a greater project. Unknowing families may have entire miniature art galleries in their walls!

Like most House Spirits, Steraba dislike being seen or acknowledged, and spending too long looking at one or talking about its existence aloud with one's family or neighbors is a sure way to drive it off completely. Even more than this, harming a mouse is a grave insult to the Mouse Pixies, who may respond by pilfering valuable or treasured items with Mage Hand, performing acts of vandalism with Prestidigitation and mundane tools, and even causing painful or humiliating household accidents against repeat and grievous offenders. Treating the mice with the calmness and respect one would treat a neighbor, however, will see a household blessed by the tiny pixies who use their talents--magical and mundane--to slay more harmful pests, drive off more malevolent fey, and provide just as well for their "big families" as they do the "small families." A Steraba can magically turn a single grain into a whole loaf of hot bread or a bowl of nutritious porridge that's filling even for a Medium-sized creature, letting them stretch the most meager of food stores for days or weeks on end, and can conjure small amounts of honey, sugar, and jam each day to assure the meals are never stale. A Steraba who has lived in a home for many years and established a positive relationship with its big family may even begin gifting the mortals with pieces of art it has made, which act as good luck charms so long as the owner takes care to say it was a 'gift from my neighbor' if they are ever asked where the trinket came from.

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The Filoxenia (CR 11 Neutral Medium Fey) are humanoid fey with golden skin and hair like stalks of wheat, so rare that it was believed there was only one for quite some time. These are fey many cautionary tales are spoken of, fey for whom the Laws of Sacred Hospitality are absolutes and generosity is the holiest of virtues. These fey take on the shapes of beggars, wanderers, and vagrants of various ancestries as they travel the world in the search of kindness, visiting the lowest muckrakers in their hovels, to the meager homes of farmers, to the mansions of nobles and royals to test their treatment of visitors. How, exactly, they perform their tests always varies, but it almost always begins with a simple request: Shelter, just for one night, and a meal of whatever the host can provide, just enough to let them see the next dawn.

The Filoxenia cannot be identified while they're in disguise, their own magic thwarting magical attempts to pierce it; the most reliable way to tell that you've encountered one is the gentle smell of honey and wheat which accompanies them, a scent they take pains to hide with mud and dusty clothes or, in rare cases, perfumes, but which they can never completely cover. Even if you know, however, it is in your best interest to play along and not allow it to sway your decision, as treating your new guest as you would any other is part of the test.

These fey exist to test mortals in their proficiency with and knowledge of the Laws of Sacred Hospitality, and each one has different means of both testing and rendering judgment. Lawful Filoxenia typically treat their task with the utmost of seriousness, and have a mental checklist they gradually move down during their stay in a mortal's home where failing even one step fails the whole test. More chaotic Filoxenia are much more likely to act as unruly guests, assessing the patience of their host, making gradually more unreasonable requests to see just how far the host is willing to go and rendering their judgment based on the host's breaking point; too soon (strict) or too late (lenient) and they fail.

The reward for passing their test is often something simple but always beneficial; they may arrange for a parcel of valuable gems to be delivered to the host, repair flaws in their home, or magically enchant a tool or piece of furniture the host owns in a way which will always be useful to them. Impressing the fey may cause them to perform feats such as keeping the host's food stores full for a year and a day, blessing the host with a boon of good luck and health, grant them a useful magical item, blessing their livestock with health and virility, or introducing a helpful House Spirit into the home... but for all their potential blessings, their curses are the stuff of legends and horror stories.

Providing the bare minimum of hospitality is one thing (which earns the stingy host naught but a bowl of gruel or perhaps a new pair of socks for their trouble), but treating the Filoxenia poorly or, most damnably, rejecting their plea for mercy and assistance at one's doorstep? Such a host would be lucky if the worst thing that happened to them was the death of their livestock. An especially offended Filoxenia, such as one physically harmed by the host, can go as far as to curse an entire household to experience grave misfortune which, eventually, will lead to the death of all within in no more than a year.

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Totagoda, the Uninvited Guest (CR 13 Chaotic Evil Large Fey) is a unique fey entity, an object of both scorn and amusement in the First World and a downright blight in the Universe whenever he deigns to enter it. He is a wild combination of a bloated toad and a gluttonous goat, standing on his back two legs as a man does, with three bulbous eyes always surveying the area as he searches for his next meal, the remains of which adding to the breathtaking tapestry of reeking stains over his clothing and skin.

Totagoda is a gluttonous, wretched beast of a fey, his primary modus operandi involving taking the shape of beggars, wanderers, and vagrants, hoping to gain invitation into the home of unsuspecting mortals who do not realize just what's come through the doors. Unfortunately, as one may surmise from his title, he is quite liberal with determining what qualifies as an 'invitation' into someone's home, with even strained conversation or simply holding a door open for too long is cause for him to push past his unfortunate host and slip inside; only slamming the door in his face and refusing to speak will cause him to move on. Once inside, he takes a seat at the kitchen table and bullies his hosts into providing for him, often relying on the victim's fear or good manners (or both) to prevent them from seeking aid even as he wolfs down whatever food (or anything close to food) they can provide.

Victims of the Uninvited Guest quickly find themselves eaten out of house and home as his loud demands for food grow ever more violent and unreasonable, with him threatening their belongings, their health, or their very lives if they don't comply, the foul fey holding their treasured belongings or even their family members hostage to force them into the marketplaces, where they're expected to spend all their remaining money on a banquet for the fey. Victims who can give no more may find themselves simply ensorcelled and forced to provide against their will, butchering their livestock, pets, or even their own neighbors to feed Totagoda, until eventually he grows bored with the current fare and snaps up his host whole and alive with his massive tongue, moving on and leaving any surviving family members nothing but a destroyed home and horrific memories.

Sending out invitations to a party or celebration when Totagoda is stalking an area is a dangerous affair, because no matter what the celebration is for, one can be assured it will end in tragedy and horror; many malevolent fey have, in fact, wielded the Uninvited Guest as a weapon by gifting him invitations to the party of a rival or hated enemy. When feeling especially peckish and shameless, he will use the public nature of taverns, restaurants, markets, and other such spaces where food may be found to barge in and begin stuffing his face, charming or outright dominating the owners into ignoring his crimes until they become too great to rationalize. He prefers the 'thrill' of forcing his way into the homes of helpless mortals who cannot seek aid to feed him, using public eateries as a last resort, as he despises the concept of experiencing consequences (which is why he flees the First World as much as possible; he has made many enemies among Archfey and Eldest). Despite his considerable power and unnatural resilience, Totagoda is a coward and a bully, and at the first sign of any trouble (even trouble he could easily deal with) he is more likely to flee than fight, flinging his disease-ridden, acidic dung and unleashing devastatingly nauseating belches at any pursuers until he can finally escape.

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That Old and Rotten Crick, (CR 15 Neutral Evil Medium Fey), also known as Rotten Old Crick (and variants thereof), the Devil Fisherman, the Demon Angler, the Barnacle, Captain Hook, and a thousand other names with varying levels of fear or vitriol, is among one of the strangest denizens of the First World. Appearance-wise, he is a humanoid being, though not a hint of true flesh can be seen through the coverall-clothing of an angler that he wears; what isn't covered by clothes is studded with barnacles or coral growth. His vest is adorned by countless hooks, flies, whatever equipment he wishes to keep on hand rather than in his beaten up but magical tacklebox, the Artifact known as the Tomb of Karaphas, and extra parts for his Artifact-level fishing rod and primary weapon, the Tidepool Reaper. His face (if he has one) perpetually hidden in the shadow of a pulled-up collar and his fishing cap, and he speaks with the cadence and purpose of a devil.

Nearly an Archfey in terms of power, Rotten Crick does not seek influence and remains outside of whatever political nonsense the others have going on... though his actions have a great many Archfey and even one of the Eldest furious with his very existence. Rotten Crick, you see, despises all life in the sea, especially the lives of any creature a mortal calls a 'fish.' His absolute hatred for all sealife has earned him a great many enemies in the form of waterway guardians and sea-dwelling fey, but just as many allies, though not for the reasons one may think; many stories circulate across many worlds of a mysterious angler approaching a fisherman or sailor with promises of rods, reels, baits, hooks, and nets which will assuredly catch enough fish to feed not only them, but their families and the families of their neighbors as well. Indeed, Rotten Crick has no animosity towards most mortal life, and is actually quite amicable, willing to help any down-on-their-luck man on the coast fish enough to live or even make a business out of. There are rare stories of him going out of his way to save the lives of fishermen whose lives are endangered by the sea... but it is all for the singular goal of extinguishing the lives of as many fish as possible and inspiring others to do the same. He will sit with other mortal anglers for many hours, fishing alongside them and making occasional, casual conversation, but anyone who knows what they're dealing with is advised to keep it casual, because any extended conversation with him will gradually turn towards alarmingly enthusiastic diatribes on how terribly fish suffer when hooked and dragged from the water or disturbingly thorough explanations of the many deaths caused by sea beasts all over the world in order to justify their torture and extermination.

He doesn't even eat any of his catches, enraged by the very idea of putting a fish in his body. If there is no one nearby to gift them to, he either abandons them on the shore to rot or, if feeling especially spiteful, slices them apart with fillet knives and hooks and leaves the disassembled bodies for the birds. He holds no love for "betrayers" such as dolphins, whales, and seals, such creatures earning swift and terrible ends by his hands and knives. Intelligent sea beings, especially merfolk, are in danger of torturous disassembly while still alive, as he draws sadistic joy from hearing their cries.

Why, precisely, he harbors such irrational hatred for sealife is something he has never explained to anyone who's asked, and likely never will. At the very least, any grand and far-reaching plans to depopulate the seas of Golarion he may actually are slow going, if they're happening at all, held back by the sadism and hatred which drives him; it has been explained to him many times (primarily by daemons) that he could efficiently depopulate the seas by way of pollution, poison, and industrial expansion, but his hate is so great that he seems to prefer the more visceral, personal approach.

#pathfinder rpg #pathfinder 1e #fey #creature development

[thecreaturecodex]

Theme D&D Monster (Beholder)

Prompt List Creature Codex Art Challenge

Commentary

First off god bless CC for giving me the beholder in pathfinder both as a dm and as an artist because this beauty is a treat to make. I drew this nightmare creature while watching the Bluey special. I knew I wanted red and grays and the bath palette worked great. Teeth are good and the eye is stupendous. Happy artist happy piece.

Here's a version without text.

Palette Picked

#beholder #D&D #dungeons and dragons #pixel art #codexartchallenge

[thecreaturecodex]

Theme Arduin(Tri-Color Dragon)

Prompt List Creature Codex Art Challenge

Commentary

So yeah pixel art is my passion. I had a three headed dragon and a vision. While I may have lost some detail like the red wings I think I captured what's most important. I put all my heart into making those big ol eyes perfect.

Palette picked

#tri-color dragon #arduin #dragon #pixel art #king ghidorah #codexartchallenge