Volunteer your homebrew monsters for our Dragon magazine article project!

If you’ve been paying attention around here at all, we at the Creature Catalog forums (well so far, just me, Shade, and Knight Otu) have been working articles into the Dragon magazine staff to get printed in their upcoming Creature Catalog feature!

As of this writing, we have completed an article based on creatures related to mind flayers. If you submit some of your own original creations, that will give us more new monsters to work with, and you stand a chance at getting them published!

If you wish, you may submit 1, 2, 10, 100, or a million of your original creations. They must be something that you created out of your head (or helped with, if the other collaborators are willing to share it), and cannot be IP of any company other than WotC, and cannot be the creation of someone else that you are just slapping your name on. Either post them here in this thread, or post a link to them. BUT before you do that, read below for the risks.

First of all, if the monster is printed in an article, it becomes property of WotC and you lose all rights to it other than to say “I made this!” to people you know. That’s the big one – not my choice, simply the way it works.

Second, if you do volunteer a creature, it may be edited nine ways to Sunday. First off, me and anyone else working on the article may be picking at it like vultures and rearranging things as we see fit, but giving you the benefit of the doubt if you wish. Then, after we are done with it, if Paizo accepts our article submission, they may likely edit it to death all over again. So, your critter may come out looking a lot different than you originally wrote it.

Third, we may not be able to credit you for the monster, unless you become a “full partner” in the article, and help with the writing. We’ll try to get your name mentioned, but I can’t promise anything.

There may be other things that I can’t think of at the moment. Make sure to leave your name (or the name you wish to be credited as) here or e-mailed to me, and/or your current e-mail address.

So, with all that in mind, submit away.

I think you've seen this before boz....


Flayed worm (Young)
Small Aberration
Hit-dice: 1d8 (4hp)
Initiative: 7 (+3 dex +4 improved initiative)
AC: 17 (+3 Dex, +1 size, +3 Nat. armour)
Base attack/Grapple: +0/-4
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d6)
Full Attack: Bite -1 melee (1d6-2) or 5 Tentacles -6 melee (1d2-2) or Tail -6 melee (1d2-2 +1d6 acid)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special attacks: Improved grab, extract,
Special qualities: Illithid speech
Saves: Fort +1 Ref +4 Will +5
Abilities: Str 7 Dex 17 Con 10 Int 17 Wis 19 Cha 10
Skills: Hide+2, Jump+10, Move silently+2 spot+14 listen+6
Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bite, Tail) Alertness

Climate or terrain: Warm marsh, underground
Organization: Hive (5-17 medium-sized, 1-2 old, 2-5 young )
Challenge rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always evil
Advancement: Special

Flayed worms seem to be the concoction of an evil wizard tampering with Mind flayer tadpoles; they are at least 3 ft long snake like creatures.

With a round mouth and 5 tentacles, it resembles a mindflayer, around a contractible moth. It has a long (1/3 of the body) flat end of the tail, that seem to be webbed spikes. Flayed worms can jump high and often surprise large creatures. Young Flayed worms have 10's of eyes along it, these fall of at the advancement to medium-sized to 4 eyes around the mouth, these are dirty cream to yellow with almost no pupil, At the size large they have no eyes. Most of a Flayed worms life is spent not getting killed and the rest is eating, after an attack on their lair Flayed worms will sit perfectly still digesting flesh they have bitten of or brain tissue.

Combat:
Once encountered, Flayed worms swarm and jump at the attacking character, and latch on where ever they can, though most go straight for the head.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the Flayed worm must hit a Tiny to Medium-sized creature with its tentacle attack. If it gets a hold, it attaches the tentacle to the opponent’s head. A Flayed worm can grab a Large or larger creature, but only if it can somehow reach the foe’s head. After a successful grab, the Flayed worm can try to attach its remaining tentacles with a single grapple check. The opponent can escape with a single successful grapple check or Escape Artist check, but the Flayed worm gets a +2 circumstance bonus for every tentacle that was attached at the beginning of the opponent’s turn.

Extract (Ex): A Flayed worm that begins its turn with all 5 tentacles attached and successfully maintains its hold automatically cuts through an opponents head, in the next round it extracts the opponent’s brain, instantly killing that creature, if the creature is large or larger the process takes +1 rounds for ever Size category larger then large.

Tail (Ex) The tail, on successful hit, deals 1d6 acid damage.

Flayed worm (Mature)
Medium-Sized Aberration
Hit-Dice: 6d8+12 (49hp)
Initiative: +6 (+2 dex +4 Improved initiative)
AC: 18 (+2 dex +0 size +6 Nat.AC)
Base attack/Grapple: +4/+4
Attack: Bite + 4 melee (1d8)
Full attack: Bite +4 melee (1d8) or 5 Tentacles -1 melee (1d3) or Tail -1 melee (1d3 + 1d8 Acid)
Reach: 5ft by 5ft/5ft
Special attacks: Improved grab, extract
Special qualities: Illithid speech, Acid spill
Saves: Fort +2 Ref +5 Will +5
Abilities: Str 11 Dex 15 Con 12 Int 18 Wis 20 Cha 10
Skills: Hide+2, Jump+10, Move silently+2 spot+4 listen+4
Feats: Weapon Finesse (Bite, Tail) (B), Alertness, Lightning reflex, Improved initiative

Climate or terrain: Warm marsh, underground
Organization: Hive (5-17 medium-sized, 1-2 old, 2-5 young)
Challenge rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always evil
Advancement: Special

Flayed worms seem to be the concoction of an evil wizard tampering with Mind flayer tadpoles; they are at least 3 ft long snake like creatures.

With a round mouth and 5 tentacles, it resembles a mindflayer, around a contractible moth. It has a long (1/3 of the body) flat end of the tail, that seem to be webbed spikes. Flayed worms can jump high and often surprise large creatures. Young Flayed worms have 10's of eyes along it, these fall of at the advancement to medium-sized to 4 eyes around the mouth, these are dirty cream to yellow with almost no pupil, At the size large they have no eyes. Most of a Flayed worms life is spent not getting killed and the rest is eating, after an attack on their lair Flayed worms will sit perfectly still digesting flesh they have bitten of or brain tissue.

Combat:
Once encountered, Flayed worms swarm and jump at the attacking character, and latch on where ever they can, though most go straight for the head.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the Flayed worm must hit a Small to Large Creature with its tentacle attack. If it gets a hold, it attaches the tentacle to the opponent’s head. A Flayed worm can grab a Huge or larger creature, but only if it can somehow reach the foe’s head. After a successful grab, the Flayed worm can try to attach its remaining tentacles with a single grapple check. The opponent can escape with a single successful grapple check or Escape Artist check, but the Flayed worm gets a +2 circumstance bonus for every tentacle that was attached at the beginning of the opponent’s turn.

Extract (Ex): A Flayed worm that begins its turn with all 5 tentacles attached and successfully maintains its hold automatically cuts through an opponents head, in the next round it extracts the opponent’s brain, instantly killing that creature, if the creature is Huge or larger the process takes +1 rounds for ever Size category larger then large.

Tail (Ex) The tail, on successful hit, deals 1d8 acid damage.

Illithid speech (Su) Flayed worms (Mature and adult) may communicate telepathically to any Illithid

Acid spill (Ex) Once a Flayed worm is killed a pool of corrosive acid accumulates in the square it was on. This Acid can burn through only organic materials.

Flayed worm (Adult)
Large Aberration
Hit-Dice: 10d8+30 (120 hp)
Initiative: +1 (+1 dex)
AC: 18 (+1 dex -1 size +8 Nat.AC)
Base attack/Grapple: +7/+13
Attack: Bite + 10 melee (2d6+4)
Full attack: Bite +10 melee (2d6+4) or 5 Tentacles +5 melee (1d4+4) Tail +5 melee (1d6 +4 +1d12 acid)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special attacks: Improved grab, extract, Tail sear
Special qualities: Illithid speech, Acid spill, Blindsight
Saves: Fort +4 Ref +4 Will +6
Abilities: Str 18 Dex 12 Con 17 Int 18 Wis 22 Cha 10
Skills: Hide+2, Jump+10, Move silently+2 spot+0 listen+12
Feats: Alertness, Lightning reflexes, Power attack, spring attack

Climate or terrain: Warm marsh, underground
Organization: Hive (5-17 medium-sized, 1-2 old, 2-5 young)
Challenge rating: 7
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always evil
Advancement: special

Flayed worms seem to be the concoction of an evil wizard tampering with Mind flayer tadpoles; they are at least 3 ft long snake like creatures.

With a round mouth and 5 tentacles, it resembles a mindflayer, around a contractible moth. It has a long (1/3 of the body) flat end of the tail, that seem to be webbed spikes. Flayed worms can jump high and often surprise large creatures. Young Flayed worms have 10's of eyes along it, these fall of at the advancement to medium-sized to 4 eyes around the mouth, these are dirty cream to yellow with almost no pupil, At the size large they have no eyes. Most of a Flayed worms life is spent not getting killed and the rest is eating, after an attack on their lair Flayed worms will sit perfectly still digesting flesh they have bitten of or brain tissue.

Combat:
Once encountered, Flayed worms swarm and jump at the attacking character, and latch on where ever they can, though most go straight for the head.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the Flayed worm must hit a Medium-sized to Huge creature with its tentacle attack. If it gets a hold, it attaches the tentacle to the opponent’s head. A Flayed worm can grab a Huge or larger creature, but only if it can somehow reach the foe’s head. After a successful grab, the Flayed worm can try to attach its remaining tentacles with a single grapple check. The opponent can escape with a single successful grapple check or Escape Artist check, but the Flayed worm gets a +2 circumstance bonus for every tentacle that was attached at the beginning of the opponent’s turn.

Extract (Ex): A Flayed worm that begins its turn with all 5 tentacles attached and successfully maintains its hold automatically cuts through an opponents head, in the next round it extracts the opponent’s brain, instantly killing that creature, if the creature is large or larger the process takes +1 rounds for ever Size category larger then Huge.

Tail (Ex) The tail, on successful hit, deals 2d4 acid damage

Illithid speech (Su) Flayed worms (Mature and adult) may communicate telepathically to any Illithid

Acid spill (Ex) Once a Flayed worm is killed a pool of corrosive acid accumulates in a 10 ft square that can dissolve organic material and metals.

Credit it to Craig Stone

btw how is my other monster coming along?

Ferret said:

I think you've seen this before boz....

Click to expand...

I have indeed – but I wish you had spoken up before we finished the illithid article. oh well, perhaps there will be another chance to work it in somewhere else.

btw how is my other monster coming along?

Click to expand...

no word yet, unfortunately. Like me, you’ll have to wait until the ToH3 ToC is available.

Hi BOZ! Dunno if this would fit since it's not so much a specific creature, but rather a template... sort of...

What do you think of the Awakened Animals thread in my sig? Even though Awaken is a core spell, WotC never bothered describing in detail how exactly it works. In the thread, I've written the effects out as if you're applying a template - that's the logical way to implement it really. Still need to fill out the list of Level Adjustments though.

They are wanting just any kind of creature?

I already have like 50 over there in the monster forums at WOTC. I'm also perfectly willing to help write it out.

You two could probably just write your own articles if you wanted to. We could help you though, if you want the help.

Conaill, you could basically just pull a bunch of the text out of that thread and rewrite a few parts and you'd have a whole article right there.

Tribble, if you have that many critters and would want to do an article of your own, what you would need to do is select a few of them that fit into a particular "theme". Just don't try to use your Wacko Jacko. Appropriate themes might be creatures that all work in a particular ecosystem or terrain, or ones that have physical similarities or creature type, or some other idea that links them all together. Otherwise, you could give us some links as I described in the first post, and we will work them into other article ideas that we have had.

If either of you want to do this, we can help you write up an article proposal (a mandatory first step - Paizo doesn't look at unsolicited submissions), and if they accept we'll give you as much help as you need to get the article together.

I always thought this one was my best slaadi.

Antimagic Slaad
Large Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 15d8+105 (172 hp)
Initiative: +9
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 31 (+5 Dex, +17 Natural, -1 Size) touch 14, flat-footed 26
Base Attack/Grapple: +15/+28
Attack: Slam +23 melee (2d6+9/19-20/x2) or disjoining touch +23 (see below)
Full Attack: 2 slams +23 melee (2d6+9/19-20/x2), bite +18 melee (3d8+4/18-20/x3) or disjoining touch +23 (see below)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Augmented critical, disjoining touch, improved grab, pounce
Special Qualities: Antimagic field, blindsight 60 ft., damage reduction 10/lawful and magic, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 5, immunity to sonic, low-light vision, resistance to acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5, scent, spell resistance 27, telepathy 100 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +14, Will +13
Abilities: Str 29, Dex 21, Con 25, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 18
Skills: Bluff +22, Concentration +25, Decipher Script +22, Intimidate +24, Knowledge (arcana) +22, Knowledge (the planes) +22, Listen +22, Search +22, Sense Motive +22, Spellcraft +24 (+26 with scrolls), Spot +22, Use Magic Device +22 (+26 with scrolls)
Feats: Ability Focus (disjoining touch), Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Environment: Ever-Shifting Chaos of Limbo
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 17
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic neutral
Advancement: 16-30 HD (Large), 31-45 HD (Huge)

This albino frog-like creature looks hunched over and warped. Its ravaged body looks malformed and sickly, yet muscular and profoundly strong. It has razor-sharp claws and rows of incredibly keen teeth, slick with drool. The creature has a malevolent grin that reveals a lust for physical conflict.

Antimagic Field (Su): Three times per day as a free action, an antimagic slaad can create an antimagic field around itself. The field is always centered on the antimagic slaad and extends to the edge of its reach. The field last a number of rounds equal to the antimagic slaad’s Constitution bonus.

Augmented Critical (Ex): The antimagic slaad’s bite threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 18-20, dealing triple damage on a successful critical hit.

Blindsight (Ex): An antimagic slaad has acute hearing that gives it 60 ft. of blindsight.

Damage Reduction (Ex): An antimagic slaad’s damage reduction is extraordinary.

Disjoining Touch (Su): Three times per day as a standard action, an antimagic slaad can disjoin any magical effect or magic item it touches with a touch attack. That is, a spell or spell-like ability is ended as a dispel magic spell and a magic item must make a successful Will save (DC 23) or be turned into a normal item. This ability has a 15% chance of destroying an antimagic field, but has no effect on artifacts. A carried or worn object’s AC is equal to 10 + its size modifier + the Dexterity modifier of the carrying or wearing character. An item attended by a creature makes saving throws as the creature or uses its own saving throw bonus, whichever is better. A failed touch attack ruins the attempt. The save DC is Charisma-based and includes a +2 bonus from the Ability Focus feat.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, an antimagic slaad must hit a Large or smaller opponent with a bite attack. It can then attempt to grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Pounce (Ex): If an antimagic slaad charges, it can make a full attack in the same round.

Scent (Ex): An antimagic slaad has an acute sense of smell that gives it scent.

Tremorsense (Ex): An antimagic slaad has an acute sense of touch that gives if 60 ft. of tremorsense.

Boz! Be sure to post this over on the Necromancer Games board, too! One post in the General forum and one in the Tome of Horrors forum ought to do it.

Good luck to everyone who participates!

Erica, done and done.

Wouldn't know how to start on an article for WOTC, though maybe after I see a few examples of what is wanted and/or expected I might.

Here is a link to the majority of the critters I've made.

VT's Creation Page

I'd love to have a section on dream-based psionic creatures, as I've quite a few of them, though I also could have an entire selection on forest creatures or artic creatures or even dinosaurs. I go through phases where I take a particular interest in a certain variety of beasts. Now, maybe 5-6 of these may still be a little unbalanced, because those would be the first ones I made years ago before knowing what I was really doing.