Those We Don't Speak Of (March Monster Movie Mayhem! Oh, and spoilers!)

OK, OK, I know. The monsters in the Village weren't actually monsters. But they had such potential, and their design was so cool, that I made them. Enjoy! Comment! Please?

Unspeakable One
Medium Fey
Hit Dice: 8d6+24 (52 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30ft (6 squares)
Armor Class: 19 (+2 Dex, +7 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+8
Attack: Claw +8 melee (1d6+4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +8 melee (1d6+4) and bite +6 melee (1d4+2)
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Fear aura, rend 2d6+6
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60ft, DR 5/cold iron, low-light vision, scent, woodland stride, yellow aversion
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +8
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 15
Skills: Climb +15, Hide +13, Listen +13, Move Silently +21, Spot +13, Survival +13
Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Multiattack (B), Spring Attack, Track (B)
Environment: Temperate forest
Organization: Solitary, pair or pack (3-7)
CR: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually neutral evil
Advancement: 9-16 HD (Medium), 17-21 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: +4

This humanoid creature has the skull-like head of a beast, long scything claws and is covered in feathers and quills. It stands with a hunch, and quills jut from its bright red cloak.

The unspeakable ones are a race of malign fey that preys on the terror of mortals.

Unspeakable ones are social creatures, traveling in small packs and looking for prey. Although they are carnivorous (preferring the skins of animals to their flesh), they relish the sensation of fear, and are often found at the borders of remote communities, taking tribute in the form of food and respect from the terrorized villagers. In order to maintain this fear, the unspeakable ones will leave reminders of their power, such as skinned animals or blood painted on walls in the night.

One of the odder aspects of the unspeakable ones is their relationship with color. Despite their forest lives, they wear cloaks of the brightest red, and they seem attracted to the color red (called “the bad color” in areas wise to their ways). Conversely, the color yellow seems to repel them, and the unspeakable ones are less likely to enter areas or attack persons displaying bright yellow.

Despite their evil natures, unspeakable ones bear a certain strange compassion. They seem to be able to sense those of pure intention, and will sometimes let trespassers with noble goals pass through their woods with little harassment. Those without, however, will be torn apart without provocation.

The average unspeakable one, despite its hunch, stands over six feet tall, and weighs about 200 pounds. They speak Sylvan, but are not talkative.

Combat
Unspeakable ones initiate combat with a spring attack, running past their prey and striking fear into its heart. They then close for melee, tearing savagely with claws and teeth.

Fear Aura(Su): An unspeakable can radiate a 60-foot-radius fear aura as a free action. A creature in the area must succeed on a DC 16 Will save or be affected as though by a fear spell (caster level 8th). A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same unspeakable one’s aura for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect, and the save DC is Charisma based.

Rend (Ex): Whenever an unspeakable one hits an opponent with both claws, it tears the flesh, dealing an additional 2d6+6 points of damage.

Woodland Stride (Ex): Unspeakable ones may move through natural thorns, briars, overgrown areas, and similar terrain at their normal speed and without suffering damage or other impairment. However, thorns, briars, and overgrown areas that are enchanted or magically manipulated to impede motion still affect the unspeakable one.

Yellow Vulnerability (Ex): Unspeakable ones despise the color yellow, and are disturbed by its very presence. An unspeakable one within 60 feet of a bright yellow object (including clothing) must make a Will save (DC 15) or be sickened until it can no longer see the yellow object.

Skills: An unspeakable one has a +8 racial bonus to Move Silently checks.

Demiurge out.

Edit: Typos, and changed frightful presence to fear aura.

demiurge1138 said:

OK, OK, I know. The monsters in the Village had such potential, and their design was so cool, that I made them. Enjoy! Comment! Please?

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That's pretty awesome, especially as I saw The Village about a week ago!

The only very minor thing I disagree with is that the Unspeakable Ones actually were quite noisy, especially when they were in the brush just outside the village (i.e. when there was a villager nearby that could hear the UOs--that was on purpose, of course, and since you saw the film you know why [so I won't get into spoilers]). Everyone could hear their scrabblings and twig-breakings, etc in the nearby forest....which added to the tension of the movie and/or in-game encounter with these beasties. What if the Frightful Presence and +8 Move Silent abilities were replaced with a more extreme fear effect, such that being located within a certain radius of the creature induced terror within the villager/adventurer? (Remember the courage contests the villagers played, to see who could keep their backs turned to the forest longest?) The only problem with the Frightful Presence ability is that the UO has to attack in order for the fright to occur--the UOs seemed to practically exude a terrible, malign aura that made the villagers tremble! Could the fear ability be used to "tweak" this a bit?

...Just an idea, mind you--otherwise I think this is a great write-up!

Good idea. Still, I think the Move Silently bonus should stick. They could be quite stealthy, until they wanted to generate fear. Switching out frightful presence for a supernatural fear aura does fit, though.

Demiurge out.

Haha! Very cool. I was thinking of doing this very thing.

The Village is one of the best movies I've seen this year, though it seems to be getting alot of negative reviews.

demiurge1138 said:

Good idea. Still, I think the Move Silently bonus should stick. They could be quite stealthy, until they wanted to generate fear. Switching out frightful presence for a supernatural fear aura does fit, though.

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Since, as you could tell from my previous post, I'm a newbie to the whole moster creation business, does changing the Frightful Presence to a fear aura change the CR in any way? How much, and why? It's talked about in the MM, but it's just not that clear to me how making certain "tweaks" will effect the end result that the PCs fight.

The Vorpal Tribble said:

The Village is one of the best movies I've seen this year, though it seems to be getting alot of negative reviews.

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I agree. The "gimmick" was criticised, but I thought it was quite clever and--dare I say?--almost believable. I enjoyed it muchly. [/hijack]

The fear aura replacement for frightful presence may very well boost the CR a very little, but I don't feel that it's worth it to boost it a full category, especially since fey have a d6 hit dice and 1/2 base attack. They're not exactly combat machines, and the fear aura is probably their most powerful ability. Which is how it should be.

Demiurge out.

Now that I look at this closer it impresses me even more. THIS is a cool creature. Usually fey are cute or somesuch. I like the idea of a predatory fey. I think I may use it in my game even

I was planning on using these very creatures in a Masque Of The Red Death campaign. I was going to have them as little more than a malicious presence that the PCs would never directly encounter or fight with, but now that someone's statted them up, I think I may well change my mind! Thanks!

Nice work! I absolutely hated that movie, but had the creatures turned out to be what you've created, it would probably be one of my favorites from the past year. I had pictured them as outsiders (aliens), but I like the fey concept.

One suggestion...perhaps have the quills do something, perhaps similar to the howler.