Monster Theme

[Dausuul]

So, one thing I've been thinking about lately is giving certain monster types "themes"--patterns of behavior that the monster exhibits, which manifest in encounters with that monster. It's kind of like 4E's monster racial abilities, but broader in scope and less rule-dependent.

Here are some of the themes I'm using in my current campaign:

Orcs: Orcs enslave big monsters and use them as shock troops or mounts--giant wolves, wooly mammoths, wyverns, whatever they can get their hands on.
Goblins: Goblins are mechanically inclined. They build traps, war machines, and sometimes constructs.
Gnolls: Gnolls are not right in the head due to excessive use of demonic magic. They are often accompanied by demons or summon them on the battlefield, and they have a habit of unleashing destructive forces that hit both sides unpredictably.

Still trying to decide what I want to do with trolls and giants.

Anybody else have monster themes you use, or want to use, in your campaigns?

 

[Almacov]

Some themes going on in my game:

Goblins and Hobgoblins are opportunists, easily swayed by promises of power. There are hints that in the past they were more down-to-earth, but in current times thirst for power has overwhelmed reason, and their society is a cruel, hierarchical push towards gaining an upper hand that always seems to elude them.

While perhaps in the past they trained, employed and lived alongside wild animals like wolves, they're starting to associate with less wholesome beasts, keeping aberrations like Carrion Crawlers and Gricks, and are even being lured down the path of necromancy.

Kobolds have learned something from their proximity to dragonkind. They're manipulative little buggers, and despite being feeble looking, are very capable of calculated maneuvers, pseudo-political and otherwise.
Yes, they are subservient to mightier creatures generally, but they are subservient to MUCH mightier creatures...

Kobold warbands are liable to be home to amateur alchemists, chaotic-seeming arcanists, and a handful of magical constructs.
Also, anyone they can manipulate into filling out the front ranks.

Trolls are cave dwellers that live in small family units. They're culture is matriarchal and rife with shamanism, ritual, and superstition. Sympathetic magic prepares them for a night stalking through dark valleys and ruins. A hunter cuts his nose off to the nostrils, blood calling for blood, blurry visions of prey, imagined or not, swimming in his head.
The matron calls down spirits, or simply a hungry fleshlust, playing the right notes at the right time, to ease the pack into a stalking lope or whip them into frenzy.

They don't need anyone from outside their pack to be a terror. In combat, they each fall into roles, but their roles are so fundamental to their culture, so ritualized, that they appear more as instinctual behaviour than anything.

 

[Barastrondo]

Fun topic!

Goblinkin are malevolently fey in aspect: like elves, they were once fey creatures that became mortal. They draw a lot of inspiration from redcaps and other cruel faerie ideas. Goblins are like the wretched peasants and scum of the group, and have a certain childishness to their malice. Hobgoblins consider themselves "aristocratic"; they like to field knights in tarnished, stained armor with spiky gothic exaggeration. Bugbears are like the "country squires" and yeomen of the lot, though they're also the serial killers of the woods who dye their hair with blood and hunt humans for sport. All goblinkin have some affinity for insects, arachnids, centipedes, worms or other vermin.

Orcs prosper under discipline and go savage without it. The most dangerous orcs are military cultures ruled by tyrants with Spartan-like codes of stoicism and mercilessness.

Gnolls are an animistic, very pragmatic people. They're infused with hyena nature; matriarchal, clan-based, eat or use every part of a prey carcass. They make vicious enemies, but don't believe in fighting until the clan's extinction, so they can be reasoned with (if one can play their dominance games well enough).

Trolls are the product of bad land. They lair where the elements have gone sour, or mingle; some do prefer caves under stone bridges, because to a troll's mind the earth-over-water is a good sign. They have some clear tie to hags, who may take over trollish clans or teach a troll witchery.

Medusae, harpies and lamiae are all cut from a similar mold; they are the monstrous descendants of priestesses of a fallen goddess of earth and fertility. Legend holds that the harpies were once temple choristers and slaves, lamiae were attendants and sacred prostitutes, and medusae were the oracles of the mystery cults. All three races breed via parthenogenesis, said to be a gift of their fallen and ruined goddess. While most of these monsters have forgotten their ancestral patron, they feel some longing for that old connection; lamiae and medusae in particular may form cults around themselves, becoming priestesses again in a fashion.

 

[The_Gneech]

In my current campaign...

re: trolls and giants, I try to make each sub-race of giant very distinct from each other, but keep some recurring elements among all of them. For instance, hill giants are little more than pumped-up ogres, while frost giants are crafty and intelligent (but very warlike), wheras fire giants are master craftsmen -- but they all carry the signature "giant bags" and among all of them males are much more common than females, but only females can be spellcasters (usually divine). Trolls, while technically giants, are generally considered wretched freaks by the others of giantkind and are typically slaves.

Drow have made a small but memorable appearance, as creepy and amoral mercenaries who will slay their own just as quickly as their enemies if there's something to be gained by it. But cruel and depraved elves are still elves -- even their military barricades are characterised by intricate carvings and exquisite (if disturbing) artistic motifs.

Orcs in my game are considered to be goblinoids, using a pretty straight-up LotR-films model, mapping thus:

goblin = shrimpy Moria goblins
orc = typical "middle of the road" orc like the warg-riders
hobgoblin and/or half-orc = uruk-hai

Bugbears have not really made much of an appearance in my campaign, as ogres have tended to fill the "even bigger brute" slot.

The most recent new appearance in my game has been several hags at the head of an invading army of frost giants. They are being led by "The Cold Woman," an annis hag druid with an affinity for cold (essentially a cold-based creature template), and each hag has their own particular shtick. "The Keening Crone" is essentially a bard; "Mother, Maiden, and Crone" are a trio who are always together and gain various benefits from their semi-permanent covey; and so on.

-The Gneech

 

[Dausuul]

Goblinkin are malevolently fey in aspect: like elves, they were once fey creatures that became mortal. They draw a lot of inspiration from redcaps and other cruel faerie ideas. Goblins are like the wretched peasants and scum of the group, and have a certain childishness to their malice. Hobgoblins consider themselves "aristocratic"; they like to field knights in tarnished, stained armor with spiky gothic exaggeration. Bugbears are like the "country squires" and yeomen of the lot, though they're also the serial killers of the woods who dye their hair with blood and hunt humans for sport. All goblinkin have some affinity for insects, arachnids, centipedes, worms or other vermin.

I love this, especially the part about hobgoblins as knights in spiky gothic armor. May have to hijack it for my next campaign!

Medusae, harpies and lamiae are all cut from a similar mold; they are the monstrous descendants of priestesses of a fallen goddess of earth and fertility. Legend holds that the harpies were once temple choristers and slaves, lamiae were attendants and sacred prostitutes, and medusae were the oracles of the mystery cults. All three races breed via parthenogenesis, said to be a gift of their fallen and ruined goddess. While most of these monsters have forgotten their ancestral patron, they feel some longing for that old connection; lamiae and medusae in particular may form cults around themselves, becoming priestesses again in a fashion.

Also this. Very cool idea and way to tie together seemingly disparate monsters.

 

[Barastrondo]

I love this, especially the part about hobgoblins as knights in spiky gothic armor. May have to hijack it for my next campaign!

It comes from a fondness for Brian Froud, Tony DiTerlizzi and other artists who really have a dingy, spiky take on goblins. I recommend giant beetles or spiders or the like for hobgoblin cavalry: a hobgoblin knight on a massive Hercules beetle has a somewhat unfair advantage in a joust, as his mount has a lance of its own...

Also this. Very cool idea and way to tie together seemingly disparate monsters.

Thanks! It came from the realization that I prefer all those monsters to be female-only, and therefore maybe they could use a common theme or origin point so I could get away with it. Glad it inspires!

 

[Aramax]

Ive allways been fond of Gnolls.What I do with them is a very few young gnolls get demonic insparation and go out and form thier own tribe based on a new fundemental idea.For example Mountain Gnolls use a shield and long sword and get a special block ability,twin gnolls fight w/ 2 weopans,
feral Gnolls fight claw claw bite and so on giving each gnoll tribe its own combat identity.