Breathing New Life into your Monsters

Paizo's take on Ogres: Big orcs? No. "You got a purty mouth," Deliverance and The Hills Have Eyes? Yes.

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Thats how I run orcs in the first place if left in small groupings.

I put this together on hobgoblins a little while ago. There is a bit more concerning their actual society, politics, and 'personality feats' (common hobgoblin personality traits that provide various mechanical effects) that I may post up if there is some interest.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=210063

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Eberron's Rakshasas. Those are wicked.

Harpies:

• A cross of woman and vulture, most harpies are not unattractive in form, though their minds and habits are truly foul.
  
  Harpies descend from an elven matriarchy that grew too proud. They spurned the gods, instead worshiping their queens and ladies as divine beings. When devils creeped into the shadows of the elven city, the rejected gods chose not to intervene. The devils worked a terrible curse of many layers. The harpies were the result.
  
  Harpies remain beautiful, but they are filthy scavengers at heart. Immune to disease, they wallow in nests dank with discarded bones, offal and scraps of food. They can (and often do) eat day or week old corpses, of animals, monsters and mortals alike. Because of the waste that typically mats the floor of their nests, the talons of a harpy tend to be filthy and often create festering wounds in those struck. The vulture women generally realize this, and often wound a target in the open wilderness, and then circle above while they wait for it to collapse from exhaustion or illness.
  
  In a cruel mockery of their matriarchy of old, harpies are only born from the union of a mortal and another harpy, and are always female. As a result, the creatures must either abduct men to ensure future generations, or they must form alliances with neighboring civilizations to obtain slaves or 'sacrifices'. Rarely are harpies found far from mortal dwellings, for they naturally seek to continue their race.
  
  Harpies are not unintelligent, but they lack the digits to readily wield weapons and tools. They are not above setting crude traps such as rockfalls or snares. Harpies tend to harass trade routes to obtain captives, fresh food and luxury items. A typical nest ranges from three to twenty individuals, and is led by the oldest harpy, called the 'Hag' or 'Hag Mother' in a respectful manner by her kin. The Hag tends to have class levels in ranger or bard.
  
  Harpies lair in mountainside caves or other high, sheltered perches. It is hard to miss such a lair, as a turn of the wind will bring faint scents of offal and decay. More telling are the songs - a nest will often have a harpy or three singing at any one time, elven hymns from days of old echoing over the landscape. It is hard to tell whether this is to remind the harpies of what they have lost, or whether it is to lure unwary victims closer.

Mongrelfolk

• Two centuries ago, a wizard sought to overthrow the imperial kingdom. To these ends, he created a great candle - one that attracted every lesser creature that lacked a kind heart. Goblins, kobolds, imps, quasits, kenku, kuo-toa and dozens of other races flocked to his tower where the candle stood.
  
  The wizard died when his close proximity to the candle created a schism between the evil in him and the small amounts of kindness and love he possessed. For years, the candle burned, and the lesser creatures of the region wallowed in a fugue, unable to escape it's light.
  
  As is the way with such creatures, they succumbed to base desires, and in their fogged minds, did not distinguish readily between race (though one might argue they wouldn't anyways). By the time the candle burned out, the lines between race were blurred.
  
  The Mongrelfolk have been a blight on civilization since. It is nigh impossible to predict their aims. A given group of Mongrelfolk (also known as Blighters, Blaggards, Bastids, Crawlies, and various other names) might spend months engaging in petty vandalism and harassment, only to abruptly decide to band together, raid a village and kidnap the children.
  
  They are chaos incarnate, in mind and body. No two appear alike, as one might appear stocky with a porcine face and deep red skin, it might sire a child that has an avian face, jaundiced skin and narrow limbs. It is not uncommon, given the strains of infernal blood in their lineage, for a mongrelfolk to have a minor spell-like ablity (20% chance that one will have a random level 0 ability). On the very rare occasion, a mongrelfolk will be born and simply won't stop growing. Often too consumed with finding food to lead, these brutes become tools for their brethren to use in attacking mortals. (Use stats for orc, ogre, troll, ettin or whatever else you might wish).
  
  Proving extremely difficult to exterminate entirely, mongrelfolk are quickly replacing goblins and kobolds as local nuisances (or worse, merging with them, and producing more mongrelfolk in ensuing generations). It is unknown whether magic plays a role in their unnaturally fast breeding, but any band of mongrelfolk that is not completely exterminated seems to resurface in several years' time.

Use stats for mongrelfolk, change up the descriptions. I wanted something that was a bit different from your typical goblins and kobolds, and went with a more traditional feel. These guys aren't remotely organized, and every shepherd or housewife has nagging worries about whether these creatures will appear and turn their lives upside down.

Hyudra, thank you for doing SOMETHING with harpies. I love it. Although there is one part I dislike.

Harpies descend from an elven matriarchy that grew too proud. They spurned the gods, instead worshiping their queens and ladies as divine beings. When devils creeped into the shadows of the elven city, the rejected gods chose not to intervene. The devils worked a terrible curse of many layers. The harpies were the result.

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1) If one wanted to integrate worshiping ancestors, heroes, and dead kings, I'd like it to be an option without the Gods getting angry.

2) So much of 4e races are "Devils did it". Duergar, Tieflings, etc. I'd likely switch Devils with something else.

I'd also think that the Harpies would call their leader Queens, as a twisted reverence to their old ways.

While the "They capture men as slaves and sacrifices for breeding" is awesome, another thought occurs to me. What if Gargoyles are male harpies, and harpies are female gargoyles?

Well, I personally like 'devils did it' as it sort of gives devils something to do. If devils never accomplished anything major, then why are they around? Feel free to make it a magical experiment gone awry or such.

The harpy bit there was basically a throwback to one story series I wrote at one point. I wanted to contrast a natural beauty (or at least, normal appearance) with a totally vile and twisted nature.

The Hag Mother bit ties to that. Harpies are, at root, about survival... and when a harpy reaches old age, it gets the respect of all the other harpies. As such, it's a title of respect. Feel free to throw in your own titles and reasoning.

The 'must capture males' bit ties into the survival part as well. It gives them a reason to be near civilization (they need men) and it also changes their tactics & style... it's almost the inverse of orcs or such, as they kill the women & take the men.

They're more about capture than killing, about survival than cruelty... but by virtue of what (and how) they are, they're abhorrent. That's what I was aiming for, anyhow.

[edit]BTW, I added another bit below harpies on my last post.

My own variations are not so much variations as they are fleshing out and placing more emphasis on subtle cultural traits that may have been in present in canon text, but I'm expanding them and giving them my own personal twist:

-Orcs are brutally lawful, militaristic crosses between men and warthogs that live and die by the sword. Kings replace one another through vicious fights, rule their societies through fear and might, and are imbued with a near-religious power by their priests...until they're replaced. Patriarchal and vicious, rival orc tribes hate each other even more than they do dwarves and elves.

Orcs are also among the most religious and devoted of humanoid races, to the point where their tribes often select a given orcish god and name their tribe after his symbol. The animosity between orc tribes comes from the fact that they all try to prove their deity superior to that of their rivals.

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=603

-Goblins are well-known for their resilience and adaptability; they can be found living in the most civilized of areas under man's nose. They've suffered many defeats, but have also been victorious against dwarves, giants and drow through their stubbornness and refusal to give up. Their stratified social structure allows kings absolute power over their people, until the goblins decide they're tired of listening to their leader, and simply despose him by will. They also constantly bicker and maneuver with each other to move up or down the ladders of power.

One notable trait of goblins is their long inventory of oral history and tales. Mythology and lore are important to goblins, often naming their tribes after significant myths or events. The goblin elders are also masters at reciting very long, very complicated tales that demonstrate how the little humanoids have much richer histories than humans or dwarves give them credit for.

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=604

-Kobolds are self-hating, perverse little creatures that are constantly trying to prove their worth, whiners who complain bitterly about their mistreatment and then cackle about the revenge they get, usually through their twisted, sadistic traps. They live a cycle of depression and self-loathing, and constant attempts to overcome these insecurities through various actions, to the point where they often name their tribes after their favorite ways of hurting bigger races.

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=623

-Brutal, militaristic and warlike, hobgoblins live only to fight and kill, whether it be with rival tribes or races, to the point where they often name their tribes for the way they kill their victims. Their most famous trait are their Iliad-like epics of military glory and battle (which is where I got the idea from), used as an indoctrination and propaganda tool to instruct young hobgoblins in the values of hatred towards the enemy and glory in battle.

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=628

-Ogres are a cross between Homer Simpson, Al Bundy and his NO MA'AM buddies, the stereotypical Animal House fraternity, every schoolyard bully in America, and the Trailer Park Boys. Their favorite hobbies include belching, eating, farting, scratching themselves, getting drunk, getting into drunken fistfights with each other, and most of all picking on people smaller than themselves, whether they be smaller ogres or humans. Their frat-boy mentality leads them to name their tribes after what they do to their victims-"Bonk" them on the head, make them go "Splat" against the wall, or "Crash" them with a club.

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=622

-Gnolls have the mentality of a sentient pack of animals, constantly sniping with one another for power and dominance, and travelling across a very wide area to seek out fresh prey. Gnolls can join and leave packs, constantly travelling in order to seek fresh prey and combat, and may end up travelling farther in their short lifespans than most elves do in a thousand years. Their lust for combat and the hunt is such that they often name their packs after their pre-battle rituals and actions.

http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=708

Hyudra said:

Well, I personally like 'devils did it' as it sort of gives devils something to do. If devils never accomplished anything major, then why are they around? Feel free to make it a magical experiment gone awry or such.

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Oh, I fully understand. Just saying that a lot of monster races are "Devils did it". Although, the Drow have more mixing with Demons than devils.

The harpy bit there was basically a throwback to one story series I wrote at one point. I wanted to contrast a natural beauty (or at least, normal appearance) with a totally vile and twisted nature.

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Reminds me of Medusa. Which is supposed to be a hot lady who just turns people to stone.

But as I said, I love it what you did. Because I felt that harpies had basically no flavor.

Hyudra's harpies remind me of the ones in WoW, who are descended from female elven nobles who were warped by demonic forces. While they also practice the abduction of male elves and humans to propogate their race and keep it vital, they are capable of reproducing asexually as well, their offspring being exact clones of their mother, complete with the race-memory of their lives as nobles and the circumstances which lead to their curse.

That said, it really is difficult to come up with a new twist on these creatures, and I admire everyone's work in this thread. Spartan dwarves, dragon-bred trolls, noble bastard ogres, drow as anti-human terrorists, and devilish harpies are all ideas I might have to make use of in my own setting(s) at some point.

Speaking of which, I may as well toss in a few goodies from my own setting.

Hags
In my "Volkheim" setting, hags are humanoid or giant women who have given themselves over to the powers of entropy and darkness. Hags believe themselves to be the consorts of the elder god of evil and despite, and revel in behavior that promotes destruction and suffering. To this end, they see it as their duty to pervert their own potential for procreation and motherhood to evil ends. Mothers of monsters, hags have spawned many of the creatures which terrorize the world, either from their festering wombs or through horrific rituals and experimentation.


Ogres
Ogres are the spawn of hags mated with hill giants, their uniquely twisted genes making them capable of breeding with almost anything in turn. They are hulking creatures covered with thick, matted hair and infected sores, like a leprous upright ape. They will gladly follow the orders of any hag they encounter, adopting her as their mother even if they have no genetic relation. Without a hag to guide them, they will defer to either a female ogre who has some magical potential, or else to the meanest and strongest of their kind. While ogres are known for being relatively stupid and reckless, with all the subtlety of a fireball in a privy, orcish tales tell of lone ogres, known as "sasquatch"who master the arts of woodcraft and manage to elude even the greatest hunters.


Trolls
Trolls owe their existence to a terrible ritual in which a hag taints the elemental essence of the wild. Often performed in peat bogs, where water and earth mix with the decaying remains of plants and animals, the ritual requires the hag to spill a substantial amount of her own blood into a pool of standing water, and thereafter sing a ritual incantation which conjures a storm of freezing winds, lightning, and thunder. At the climax of the ritual, a lightning bolt strikes the pool, and the thundercap drowns out the hag's chanting. As the storm ebbs away, a fully grown troll emerges from the pool, born of hag's blood and the elemental forces of cold, electricity, and sound.

A troll's flesh is made up of the elements of the land (earth, water, and the flesh of plants and animals), and is infused with the vigor and growth of nature, making it capable of regenerating even the most terrible of wounds. However, since fire and acid play little part in the ritual of their creation, these two forces are still capable of destroying the troll's body.

Sadistic and obsessed with pain, trolls often mutilate themselves and one another, pushing bits of rock or plant matter through their flesh. It is not uncommon for a troll to rend another into pieces and then dump the bits into a thornbush or on opposite sides of a fence or tree, the troll then heals around the obstacle, sometimes pinning them in place or resulting in grimly comedic deformities (such as a troll with a living rose bush blooming across his back). During the spring, when other creatures of the wild are engaged in mating, Trolls will gather in groups of a dozen or more and engage in "pulling" contests, in which they lock their hands around each other's wrists and pull until one of the arms comes off. A group of trolls will repeat this process until only one troll remains with at least one arm attached. This final troll will then rip the limbless trolls apart and scatter their remains across the forest, where each piece will grow into a new troll if given enough time.

Robert "Probably some other stuff to come" Ranting

Dwarves are the masters of the underworld; earth, stone, ore and crystal. Aeons ago, dwarves uncovered the psychic power inherent in all gem and crystal formations, and it warped their minds. Greedy by nature, this pushed the dwarven psyche over the edge, and made them craven and untrustworthy beings. Their society is very xenophobic, quite secretive and highly organized and efficient, with vast underground super-tunnels heavily guarded and highly taxed - and usually open only to other dwarves and Deep Gnomes.

Dwarven cities are bleak and unremarkable in look and form, and are micro-divided by the vast and all-enveloping caste system - where you live depends on who you were born to. Lineage is one of the only subjects which can rouse dwarves to any length of conversation, and even this is usually limited to talks between dwarves. If you wish to move from your Birth City, officials from your Birth City, if they accept your proposal at all, will send papers to the other, and you are assigned your house and occupation upon arrival.

Most work in the cities revolve around mining ore, stone, gems and crystal. The crystals are used to feed vast psychic forges which sap the crystals of their innate powers and render them useless - though good for fusing together using psychic powers and creating weaponry with. These forges run a variety of different services in the city, and do everything from create well-lit streets and buildings to certain basic forms of automatons, which are generally in the form of a spider and are capable of climbing walls and ceilings - though these are few in number and prone to mishap.

Most dwarves are Psions, some are Psychic Warriors, and a few of the mad ones (all too common it seems) are Wilders.

cheers,
--Ryan

EDIT: I wanted to do this spin on dwarves which made them psionic and downright nasty in nature. Taking a few of the basic dwarven traits which we take for granted (lineage is important, masters of the underworld, great miners, greedy bastards) I've morphed them into a psionic caste-society of miners and everyone-hating crystal-hoarders. Which I think is mighty cool and a good twist on dwarves