Another Creature Catalog query for Dragon? (Pt 2)

[BOZ]

somebody get GreyLinnorm in here... the tirapheg is his "fault" so he's got to say something about it. i mean come on, Piratecat stopped in to help "save" the stwinger, so can GL do no less?

 

[GrayLinnorm]

I was thinking that maybe these creatures could be associated with the Barrier Peaks.

 

[Nightfall]

*keeps his mouth shut since in the presence of Monster Makers, NF is a complete novice.* But yeah guys keep this up!

 

[GrayLinnorm]

A few more thoughts on the tirapheg:

Obviously, we should play up the alien nature of these beings. We know they usually keep to themselves. I see them as kin to the "visitors". What if these guys are responsible for crop circles and cattle mutilations? We also know that they are capable of creating sophisticated illusions? Is it magic, or some form of advanced science? What other abilities or devices could these creatures have? (Did they ever describe the aliens who crashed near the Barrier Peaks? What if it was the tiraphegs?)

 

[BOZ]

i think the Barrier Peaks option is nice. we could keep both that option and the Far Realms idea available - rather than state explicitly where the tirapheg is from and what it does, i'd rather drop a million clues, like "no one knows exactly what a tirapheg does with its time, but it has been seen around the Barrier Peaks, animals often wind up dead where they go, and rotten corpses of all sorts are left in their wake", or something more well-written than that.

*keeps his mouth shut since in the presence of Monster Makers, NF is a complete novice.* But yeah guys keep this up!

i never want anyone to feel that, as a novice, you should keep quiet. if you've got something to say, speak up! if it's good we'll use it, if it's debatable we'll talk about it, and if it's not good (or nor what we're looking for), well we'll try to be nice about it.

 

[Nightfall]

I'm not speaking up mostly because I have nothing to say.

 

[Knightfall]

Dang, didn't make my suggestions it time... again

Anyay, for the NEXT Creature Catalog query, I nominate these three.

Dhour
Jagre
Shatjan

Also, I'd like to nominate the following from Dragon #190, for the NEXT CC query...

Dragon fish
Otter, super
Merhorse
Tube worm, giant

 

[Knightfall]

I think Shemeska's description was accurate. As for a name, since "geist" is Old German for "ghost", I looked up the German word for trick:

[n] a ludicrous or grotesque act done for fun and amusement.
auf Deutsch:Büberei

How about "Bubergeist"?

Alternatively, plugging "gnome" into the English to German translator...

[n] a legendary creature resembling a tiny old man; lives in the depths of the earth and guards buried treasure.
auf Deutsch:Wicht, Bursche, Zwerg, Gnom

That could give us "Burschegeist or Zwergeist". The latter sounds the most chaotic of the bunch.

I think Zwergeist is best for this creature's name.

 

[Knightfall]

well, if nobody dislikes that version, i'll be using it...

I like it.

You could also say that stwingers are closely related to quicklings, in that they "move really fast" as they swing (and possibly climb) from victim to victim. Thus, they would be hard to hit. Or perhaps they can "shimmer" out of phase with the rest of the world, sort of like the blur spell, or the displacer beast's displacement ability. If a stwingers whispers too long in a victim's ear then the victim might go insane. (A stwingers whispering is very fast, which can seem like buzzing.) Thus, the stwingers would be cute, but evil.

Just my two cents,

KF72

 

[Knightfall]

A few more thoughts on the tirapheg:

Obviously, we should play up the alien nature of these beings. We know they usually keep to themselves. I see them as kin to the "visitors". What if these guys are responsible for crop circles and cattle mutilations? We also know that they are capable of creating sophisticated illusions? Is it magic, or some form of advanced science? What other abilities or devices could these creatures have? (Did they ever describe the aliens who crashed near the Barrier Peaks? What if it was the tiraphegs?)

While I like this option, not every campaign has an event similar to that presented in the Barrier Peaks adventure.

I read the description and had the idea that tiraphegs were creatures of chaos (before I looked at its alignment), but the Far Realms work too. They would communicate through telepathy, IMO, but would rarely do so. They could be the result of a permanent portal betweeen Limbo and the Plane of Shadow, giving rise to their strange form and shadow-like illusion ability. The shadowy illusions could also be a side-effect of their diet, eating the rotting flesh of dead and undead creatures. The light burst could be a form of protection against undead, or an attack to hopefully immobilize their prey.

They would attack living creatures that carry shadow-based or necromatic magic, as they are drawn to these magical effects. Necromancers should beware the tiraphegs, as the aberrations are strongly drawn to such characters and their possessions. Perhaps tiraphegs could gain a temporary hit dice/hit point boost anytime they eat anything saturated with necromantic energy. Also, very rarely a tirapheg consumes too much of this energy and become an extraplanar undead creature that "feeds" off both the living and the undead.

Just my two cents,

KF72