GM seeking monster for long term relationship...

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Humans, aligators and cats

Thanks. There's lots of interesting stuff here.

To check out list: Yuan-Ti, Bodaks, faceless mindflayers (with hollow, brain sucking fingers?) and Ogre mages...

Stargate D20 - didn't even realise that existed. Will have to see if my local shop can get it for me. Could have some rather useful material for egyptian themed bad guys Is it any good?

I'm interested in scarred lands... but homebrewing at the moment. Still, one I'd like to play sometime.

 

[jgsugden]

If you want something that the PCs won't know how to handle, I suggest either making up your own stuff or asking someone to pass along a homebrew race from their campaign.

If you're going to do this, I suggest starting from a different angle, however. Create bad guys to fit the situation, not the bad guys and a bad situation. Start by figuring out where the bad guys went for all those years. Then, figure out who sent them there. Then, just picture those two forces in battle. Figure out how the bad guys and good guys operate. Once you have an image of both sides, begin to flesh them out with a description. Work backwards from that description to appropriate game merchanics. The storyline is the star of an adventure ... the monsters and NPCs are just a means to serve the storyline.

And as a final suggestion: Avoid the 'mental domination' ("And now I shall control you with my mind!") cliche. Every evil overlord race you run into can charm or dominate their foes. You should look for other methods for these BBEGs to control their people. Perhaps through fear ("Follow us or die, pathetic mortals"), physical domination ("Ogremaster, beat them until they understand the meaning of hard work.") or 'diplomatic' manipulation ("I understand that your people have taken ill to a plague that resists the spells of clerics. We don't have a cure for that plague, but we can halt its progress in the body of a victim. Creating the treatment, however, is very time consuming. Your people must serve us so that we can spend the time needed to provide the treatment.")

 

[andargor]

Stargate D20 - didn't even realise that existed. Will have to see if my local shop can get it for me. Could have some rather useful material for egyptian themed bad guys Is it any good?

Well, my answer will be biased, because I'm a Stargate fan.

I don't actually play the RPG, but I bought the book anyway. It is of very high quality, hefty, and very rich in material. Basically, it's the equivalent of the PHB and DMG rolled up into one.

Lots of good ideas there. As Clarke said it, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", so I think putting some gua'uld in a D&D universe is plausible.

More info here

Andargor

 

[Tewligan]

Privateer Press' Monsternomicon has the Cephalyx - a humanoid race dressed all in black leather that levitates and has these crazy, spidery metal arms popping out of their backs. They surgically attach these big helmet-y things to people to dominate them. They rock.

 

[Blue Sky]

Well, the first thing that popped into my mind when you mentioned Egypt was cats, so I think you should use:

Rakshasas! Why would they make a good overseer race? Detect thoughts, the ability to shift to any humanoid form, and nearly invulnerable to low-level humans. (DR 20/+3 in 3rd, 15/good and piercing in 3.5, succeptible (sp) to only the most powerful spell casters) And they start at CR 9, which is close to what you're looking for.

They could stay in alternate form for any length of time, so smart players won't immediately ID them.

 

[demiurge1138]

I'd nominate rakshasas. They don't get used nearly enough. Add in their genius intellects, alternate forms and spellcasting, and they're a villain that can go a long way.

If you have access to the Fiend Folio, the ethergaunts sound like they'd fit well. Likewise, if you have the Creature Collections, use Slaraciens (although you'd have to make their actual stats yourself).

Demiurge out.

 

[pawsplay]

The first thing I thought of was Malferas was OD&D. Faceless mimics. Very weird, very cool. Probably easy to convert.

Putting Liches in Egyptian bandages might through your players for a loop.

How about a cabal of half-troll hobgoblin Mystic Theurges?

Want weird? Aasimir. Their daddy is a half-celestial gone bad, and their mothers are his cultists. They're a bunch of weird Sorcerers with golden skin and silver hair, and they believe they're destined to be gods.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

jgsugden - I'd gotten most of the way through those points already - i.e. know where they've been, what they'd been up to and so on...

I normally make up quite a lot of my own monsters. But most of them are 1 offs - if I got the balancing wrong for a BBEG race, it would annoy me a lot. Hence wanting to use some fairly core stuff.

The last point is a good thought. You're right - most evil overlord races do use some form of mental control. I rather prefer the idea of a combination of diplomacy and terror to do the job instead... would certainly make for some more interesting underlings.



Rakshasas sound like they'd fit just right. Not used much (by me). Pass for human. Scary. Easily Egyptianised. Hit my requirements nicely!

I'm going to have a bit of re-write to combine some of my ideas with the stuff I've seen here... Still subject to change, but here goes:

The Rakshasas used a combination of trickery, diplomacy, near indestructability and big teleporting pyramids (yay!) to rule their ancient empire. They tended to fight and play strange games against each other - generally using people, nations, etc as their playthings.

Eventually a small group of humans made certain deals allowing them to curse the entire race. This wording of the curse was twisted - didn't actually kill them - simply 'bodak-ed' them a bit... some of the survivors lurk in the remains of their ancient cities.

A small number of them were frozen in stasis for various reasons - they've just been set free by a (very unlucky) kobold tribe. The curse has started to bite into them and they need to break it... Neatly tying them back into the other bits of the plot.

As a future BBEG - Lich in mummy wrappings is definitely stolen

That and I'm going to buy a Stargate book.

Thanks!

 

[Wippit Guud]

... near indestructability and big teleporting pyramids (yay!)...

You just described Necrons from Warhammer 40k

 

[Nightfall]

Check out the High Gorgons in Creature Collection 1 for Scarred Lands, sounds like just the thing.

Finally! An SL suggestion that's not from me. (Btw CC Revised has a better High Gorgon.)

If you want a good fairly high CR, Alligator Warrior is an interesting choice as well.