So you want to use this monster

[Rechan]

After the success of So that's why you like it, I wanted to try a similar idea.

Often I'm thumbing through possible monster or race, and I really like one. But I can't think of a way to work them into the game conceivably. I may just feel that the monster needs a flavor face-lift, because while I like the monster, the attached fluff is done to death. Or, like many say, the monster lacks any fluff/lore.

If you want suggestions for your monster or race

Propose a monster or race, and ask for suggestions using it in your game. When you pose a monster, ask for one of the following:

I need an encounter hook! This is where you just want to use the monster in a single encounter, or a string of them. You can't think of how to work it in. What monsters would this thing be working with? Or what could it be doing where the PCs would just stumble across it?

I need a story hook! When you want more than just an encounter, you want this monster to actually have a significant role in an adventure/ story. What kind of plots would this monster be cooking up? What is it doing in this dungeon over here? What kind of role does it serve in an adventure?

I need fluff! Sometimes stats are just not enough. You want to know where this thing comes from, or perhaps some legend or rumor your PCs hear about it over a campfire, so it feels more real in your world. Where does it come from? What role has it served in the world? What are its habits? Does any mundane thing ward it off or attract it?

I need reflavoring! When the fluff isn't enough. Or rather, when the fluff has been played out and you want something new. Maybe you want a place and history for this monster in your campaign world, or you want it to be more unique and intriguing. What other origins could this monster have? What new ways could it express its role? This option also works for races, if you want a facelift for that every day demi-human.

If you're responding to a monster post

Offer 3 of whatever the poster needs. For example, if the monster needs flavor, suggest an origin, a legend, and a factoid. These don't need to be long - two sentences perhaps, unless you're feeling creative.

 

[Jack7]

In my setting I use Unique Monsters. There are almost no monster races, and monsters are created by accident, by accidental or intentional exposure to magic (called Elturgy) on Ghantik. The only real exceptions to this are demons who visit our world (Terra) - see World's Apart if you are interested in how the setting works.

But there is one monster I've always wanted to use in my setting (Terra-Ghantik) and I wanted to use it on both worlds, in the most interesting and unusual way possible. And that is a Ghost.

Ideally I'd like the Ghost to be the ghost of a Giant who had inhabited our world in ancient times. That giant encountered a "Scapegoat" - a sacrificial offering that had been chased into the desert and whose body became a home to and a sort of trap for a demon. (A scapegoat carried with it all of the curses and evil done by a people, as a sort of living housing for that evil, hence, it - a literal goat - became the scapegoat for the sins of that people.) Anyway the giant I mentioned, a Goliath-like figure of about 12 feet tall encounters the scapegoat then kills the scapegoat and eats it raw and dies as a result of absorbing the curses and evil of the scapegoat. The demon that is the embodiment of that evil comes to inhabit the "ghost of the dead giant" who cannot die properly, or be buried, or put at ease and he wanders the desert for thousands of years. A hungry, bitter, tormented, but ultimately powerless ghost that knows it is partially demon possessed, but cannot shake the demon or the curse of "scapegoat-death."

Over time it has tried dozens of different methods to die, or to possess the body of another, or to drive away the demon tied to itself. All to no avail. (It has also seen and learned a great deal of information and lore in that time, but cannot use it.) One day though it discovers the Weirding Road (a method by which it can travel to the world of Ghantik) and when it gets to Ghantik, thanks to the influence of Elturgy, it begins to transform.

I want the Ghost to retain many of its old and former Ghost powers from Earth, as well as to gain new ones, but I also want it to have entirely new powers that result form the interplay of Elturgy and the supernatural influences of its own nature.

I also want it to be unique, weird in the extreme, very frightening, and uncanny. I also want it to be able to do some things one might never associate with a Ghost. As a matter of fact they don't even know what a ghost is on ghantik and so would have know idea of what it really is, or where it came from, or how to combat it. (I want it to be unique enough that the players won't recognize it as a ghost either.)

I'd also like some interesting ideas on how to combat it (and maybe even put it down forever) as a giant, as a ghost, and as a demon possessing the ghost of the giant. And I'd like clerical magic or thaumaturgy involved in some way. There are also giants on Ghantik as a player race. I'd like this ghost to be connected to them in some way, or to be able to interact with them in a weird and dangerous way. I'll be open to any interesting suggestion about "this Ghost."

I'd also like a good name for this monster. Maybe a personal name, maybe just a "monster term." And some appropriate treasure or artifact associated with him.

I plan to include this monster in an on-going basis and in more than one plot/adventure line.

 

[Rechan]

It might be best if future requests are slightly less in depth and special. My general thinking is that the suggestions are just two-three sentences, unless the author wants to go further.

This way potential posters aren't scared away by the magnitude of the request.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'll be your huckleberry...

First off, the human(oid) form of the scapegoat is known as a Sin-Eater.
Sin-eater - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Second, it might be interesting for the undead giant/demon to be consumed by bugs like the ones in The Bone Snatcher. They retained something of the awareness and minds of the creatures they ate. (The Bone Snatcher (2003))

Third, to add to the horror, check out the novelet "Adaptogenia" by Wayne Wightman, which appears in the June/July 2009 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine. As a mini-spoiler, the story revolves around insects that have learned to swarm in such a way as to mimic the forms of other creatures and objects with great accuracy...although they still have a telltale but slight hum from the beating of their myriad wings. (http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/current.htm)

Put these all together, the swarm consumes the giant/demon, effectively returning to scapegoat status, but the swarm not only retains the knowledge of the giant (and demon), but also the recollection of the physical forms of the people whose sins were consumed...which the hiveminded swarm can then mimic...

Imagine, then, being confronted by a buzzing, protean vision of yourself, telling you about your own sins, how you had them eaten...and how its going to eat you.

Because of its hivemind nature, to kill it, you need to kill every member of the swarm, including/especially the queen.

Because it is not truly undead, Turning and similar clerical powers will be less useful against it, if they work at all.

The more creatures it eats, the more knowledge- and shapes- it gains.

It can cast spells. It "learns" them by eating spellcasters it defeats. It cannot relearn spells- once a spell is cast, that "memory" is forever lost to the swarm. In a sense, it is like a living Ring of Spell Storing.

Name...how about Soul-swarm? Ghost-swarm? The Buzzing Doom? Buzzkill?

If you want something a bit more classical sounding..."Lord of the Flies?" or "Legion?"

 

[Jack7]

I'll be your huckleberry...

I'll be durned Danny, but most of that is excellent. Really excellent.

I'll be thinking about how to use that Sin-Eater approach for awhile, as I see numerous possibilities. I'm familiar with the idea, but hadn't even considered it in this context, but it certainly makes a lot of sense.

Funny you should mention the insects because in Ghantik there is a form of magic called Eldarik. You might think of it as a cross between biological magic, and industrial magic. What it does is manipulates very small creatures, even down to the microbial level, to create and manufacture things that the "Eldarik user" can envision in his mind, but has no tool or technology to create.

The microscopic creatures, though sometimes insects are used as well, then act like tiny "imagination robots" to build things through small bits of matter from the bottom up. (The better you are at Eldarik, the smaller the creatures you can control and communicate with, the more complex things you can build, and the very bets users can even build things molecule by molecule, meaning they don't have to melt or smelt material to use even extremely hard or difficult to use substances.) Sometimes the user can't even see the creatures being employed because they are microscopic, and the process takes a long, long time, but in this way the user can build complex things he imagines by controlling the small creatures. I know there is a way to fit in what you suggested with the insects to this form of magic. It just seems "natural."

I also really like the idea of the Protean Ghost who has such an immense store-house knowledge of accumulating sins that he automatically knows the sins of the person he is facing.

I also really like the idea of "turning" being far less effective. Because of the way things work in Ghantik I also though now see a means of combining Eldarik with supernatural means like "turning" to create a sort of effective "amalgamated" way of attack. As one possible means of how to fight the thing.

I was laying in bed last night re-reading my Bible passages on the Scapegoat when it occurred to me that the demon name for the Giant Ghost might be the Scapeghost. Yeah, it's kind of a sappy name, but the irony would not be lost on either the demon or the spirit of the giant. But I'd also like the a really fine name for how others would perceive it, who might know nothing of its background but would only know how weird and frightening it seemed to them.

I'm also trying to think of a relic and/or an artifact (it doesn't have to be one from a gaming book, could be from myth, religion, or something you just thought of) that would be a suitable match to the thing that it might have gained control of over time.

The one thing I'm not gonna use is the implication you made of it killing and consuming others (if I read you right). I don't want it to be a killing machine, rather I want it to be a frightening, weird-creation machine. That is encountering it will temporarily "mutate or transform" the ones it encounters, in very bad and bizarre ways. But it won't result in immediate physical death so much as psychological and spiritual "staining and corruption." I can though see it inflicting long term diseases of the body, mind, and soul through extended exposure. And causing others to do things against their nature.

Other than that I like all of your ideas.
Thanks for the links too by the way.

This way potential posters aren't scared away by the magnitude of the request.

It's your thread of course, but I don't know Rech, Danny did pretty okay by my book. There's a lot of good imaginations on this board. I wouldn't sell em too short.

 

[Kinneus]

Ooo, good idea for a thread. I have a request. I want to use a classic shambling mound. The thing is, my players are very casual, and not familiar with many D&D icons. They won't recognize a shambling mound when they see one, so I need help flavoring it, describing it, and basically understanding it. How would you explain a shambling mound and its place in the world to somebody not familiar with one at all?

Particularly, I'm struggling with the lightning immunity/lightning healing thing, which might seem like a screw-you to my lightning-breathing Dragonborn player. Why is a plant immune to lightning? Anyone want to step up to the pseudoscience bat for that one?

 

[Jack7]

I have a request. I want to use a classic shambling mound. The thing is, my players are very casual, and not familiar with many D&D icons. They won't recognize a shambling mound when they see one, so I need help flavoring it, describing it, and basically understanding it. How would you explain a shambling mound and its place in the world to somebody not familiar with one at all?

You know, before I suggested the Ghost I was actually gonna suggest how could I make a really interesting Shambling Mound? I've never used one either but thought it would make a great Swamp Thing like creature for the wilderness and for somebody stuck in a seemingly endless bog or swamp. I wanted to make it interesting and unique too.

I think it's a good idea for a monster.

Gotta leave for church now, but I'll think on it a'bit.
Be interesting to see what others come up with too.

 

[Hereticus]

I ask (not mandatory) all players to write a background for their characters, and in it they include many things that could be used as story hooks. I wasn't the first to do this, I copied the idea from a friend who used it as a DM.

One of my characters wanted to fight Ice Devils, so his background stated that a horde of Ice Devils destroyed his home city, and they continued to hunt down all the survivors.

This played out at lower levels with Ice Mephits or Ice Abashi being more frequent in random encounters, or following the party. The other party members had similar situations.

As the character and party grew stronger, the encounters would also get tougher.

The DM also rewarded us with a bonus feat for choosing an enemy. I liked the idea, so I stole it.

 

[fba827]

Ooo, good idea for a thread. I have a request. I want to use a classic shambling mound. The thing is, my players are very casual, and not familiar with many D&D icons. They won't recognize a shambling mound when they see one, so I need help flavoring it, describing it, and basically understanding it. How would you explain a shambling mound and its place in the world to somebody not familiar with one at all?

Particularly, I'm struggling with the lightning immunity/lightning healing thing, which might seem like a screw-you to my lightning-breathing Dragonborn player. Why is a plant immune to lightning? Anyone want to step up to the pseudoscience bat for that one?

In previous editions, I believe shambling mounds were represented more as sentient mounds of vegetative compost (a large blob mass with vine-like tentacles as part of the mass). In the more recent pictures, it has a slightly more humanoid look. I only mention this in case a pile of compost fits in easier for you than a vaguely humanoid plant creature. But in either case, it essentially is a blob-like plant.

As for the lightning, it all can be explained by its creation process.
Maybe when it is created, it is struck by lightning (either natural, or magical. and either by chance or on purpose). And now it is lightning that courses through it, like blood, to give it life.

When the PCs see the creature, perhaps add in the description that there seems to be a cackle of electric energy, like electrical impulses in a brain, when it gets up and starts moving towards them. Or perhaps a part of its body mass is just sheathed in sparks of electrical energy currents.



A related side note:
In a recent game session (because I like shambling mound but could not fit it as it was), I used the stats, but reskinned it as a shadow-blob-like creature, I had also changed it's lightning-related properties to cold-related... To go along with the one shambler, I had several vine horrors that I also reskinned as shadow creatures as well (I also adjusted the level for the party). So at the start of combat, the reskinned shambler "created" the reskinned-vine horrors. It actually got quite a reaction from one player in particular as the shadows around them started to spring to life (the vine horrors) - of course, a lot of that was all from the fluff and build up, not the stats themselves..

 

[Noumenon]

I have to mention this site as an aid for building an encounter around each monster. It doesn't have much for pixies, though, and I can't see them being very fun to fight what with the perma-invis and all those damage reductions. How would you use them?