LOST PREHISTORICA: LOST CREATURES
By Jesse Mohn (and Neal Levin)
Dark Quest Games product number DQG 1602
44-page PDF, $5.95
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures is the second PDF in the
Lost Prehistorica line by Dark Quest Games. While the first PDF provided everything you needed to create a "lost world" for your campaign, this one is focused specifically on providing new creatures for such a setting (28 of them, in fact - one being a template).
The cover art is provided by Steve A. Roberts, and it's almost identical to the cover to
Lost Prehistorica: the central painting is the same, with a different type of border around it (this one studded with pebbles and chunks of a blue stone) being the only thing differentiating it from the first PDF (with the obvious exception of the title). Still, PDF budgets are generally nowhere near as high as print-product budgets, so I certainly don't begrudge Dark Quest Games their recycling of cover artwork.
This is especially true when you look through the interior artwork of
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures and notice all of the
new illustrations. Jesse Mohn - yes, that's right, the primary author - provides 28 pieces of monochromatic artwork, one for each creature in the PDF (two of the illustrations show up elsewhere as well as filler art). These are all very well done; Jesse has a nice, clear style that lends itself well to showing texture: his ang-kur on page 3 looks very convincingly shaggy, and the scales on the ulret dragon on page 12 do an excellent job of making the beast look three-dimensional, even without much in the way of shading. Of course, while each monster illustration matches very closely to the creature's written description (not surprising, since the author and artist are the same!), that doesn't mean that all of these are fantastic-looking. For example, the bat-humanoid kamala (as if the desmodu hadn't already filled that niche to death) is hairless over his entire leathery body except for the lengthy hair covering his crotch area; as a result, it rather looks like he's having sex with a toupee. Still, the interior artwork is some of the best I've seen in a PDF, and I credit Jesse with having done an excellent job overall.
I just wish I could say the same about his writing (and Neal Levin's, who is credited as "Additional Writers" even though he is - to the best of my knowledge, anyway - just one person).
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures is riddled with errors. And when I say "riddled," I mean it took me nine and a half sheets of standard lined paper to document all of the errors I found in this 44-page PDF. We're talking such things as incorrect punctuation usage (especially a demonstrated lack of knowledge of how apostrophes are used to denote possessiveness), failure to master the concept of how capitalization works, frequent change (often in mid-sentence) as to whether the subject at hand is singular or plural (things like "
they can track by
its sense of smell"), the occasional doubled phrase (the best example here is "ignore the effects of surface of surface conditions"), frequent instances where they forgot to put a heading in bold font, multiple instances where two paragraphs aren't separated by a blank line, forgetting to italicize the names of spells and magical items more times than not, and the occasional misspelled word (which almost always ended up resulting in a perfectly spelled different word: "preying" instead of "praying," "compliment" instead of "complement," "chords" instead of "cords"). The latter would lead me to believe that editors Joanne G. Hurley and Angela Noll Mohn relied exclusively on a spellchecker to do their jobs for them, but that doesn't explain how "CHALLENG" made it in the title of one of the tables on page 43. Oh, and speaking of page numbers, page 34 is labeled page 35 - as is the real page 35.
And then there are the monster stats. Oh, God, the monster stats! I don't believe, before I read through
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures, that I had
ever seen a monster book (PDF or print) where
every one of the monster stats had multiple errors in them! Even
Ultimate Monsters Volume 1, the poster boy of bad monster stats, had a handful of Medium-sized creatures that were accurately done. (Actually, I take that back: I think
Pantheonic Dreams: The Ecology of Canton, Volume 1 had a 100% rate going as far as bad monster stats. Still, it's a rare phenomenon.) In any case, here's my "unofficial errata" for
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures:
- p. 3, Ang-kur: No Level Adjustment is given, but this is true of every monster in the whole PDF; I suppose we can assume it's "-" in most cases. I won't be mentioning this error for every monster, just those that provide information for use as PCs; those should have Level Adjustments provided. (The Ang-kur isn't such a creature; I'm merely mentioning it here because it's the first creature in line.) Touch AC should be 10, not 11 (-1 size, +1 Dex). Grapple attacks should be at +14, not +15 (+6 BAB, +4 size, +4 Str). Fort should be +5, not +6 (+2 as an 8-HD aberration, +3 Con). Ref should be +3, not +4 (+2 as an 8-HD aberration, +1 Dex). Jump should be +11, not +7 (he gets a +4 speed bonus that wasn't taken into account).
- p. 4, Bonegore: With 3d12 HD, average hit points should be 19, not 16. Will should be +4, not +3 (+3 as a 3-HD undead, +1 Wis). The Special Attacks entry should include "bone gore." The Special Qualities entry should include "bony defense." Conceptually, I'm also surprised to learn that the creature can benefit from a resurrection spell if it's willing, considering that it's "a collection of jagged and sharpened bones that have been fused together into a humanoid shape." Just what exactly do you get when you resurrect a pile of bones coming from different creatures?
- p. 6, Chwepti: Fort should be +3, not +4 (+2 as a 7-HD fey, +1 Con). Spent 56 of 70 skill points. Survival should be +9 (+11 in aboveground environments) due to a +2 synergy bonus for having 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (nature).
- p. 8, Thrain, Cinder Ash Oolori Expert 5: Initiative should be +2, not +3 (+2 Dex). The Speed entry shouldn't have "Climb 30 ft." (The oolori is a race from Lost Prehistorica, and they don't have a climb speed, nor does taking levels as an Expert grant you one.) AC should be "16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural)" instead of "20 (+3 Dex, +7 natural)" - the standard oolori has no natural armor bonus, and the template only grants a +4 bonus to natural armor, not +7. Touch AC should be 12, not 13. Flat-footed AC should be 14, not 17. Skills should include the following: Diplomacy +5 [+1 Cha, +2 synergy from Bluff, +2 synergy from Knowledge (nobility and royalty)], Disguise +1 (+3 acting) [+1 Cha, +1 synergy from Bluff], Gather Information +3 [+1 Cha, +2 synergy from Bluff], Intimidate +3 [+1 Cha, +2 synergy from Bluff], and Survival +2 (+4 on other planes) [+2 Int, +2 conditional synergy from Knowledge (the planes)]. Also, Craft (scrollmaking) has to get bumped down to +10 [8 ranks maximum as a 5th-level character, +2 Int]; this makes the skill points even at 64 spent. With 5 HD, he should have 2 feats, not 3; dropping Alertness would bring Listen to +8 and Spot to +2, although other options are certainly possible. (I wouldn't grant one of the feats "bonus feat status," though, as neither the base creature nor the template explicitly grants any bonus feats.)
- p. 10, Deep Ooze: Speed line should specify "(8 squares)." AC should be 5, not 10 (-2 size, -5 Dex, +2 natural). Touch AC should be 3, not 10. Flat-footed AC should be 5, not 10. Slam attacks should be at +13 melee, not +15 (+9 BAB, -2 size, +6 Str). Fort should be +9, not +10 (+4 as a 12-HD ooze, +5 Con). Ref should be -1, not +0 (+4 as a 12-HD ooze, -5 Dex). Will should be -1, not +0 (+4 as a 12-HD ooze, -5 Wis). Has 12 HD as a Huge creature, yet Advancement is 14-18 HD (Medium); should be 13-18 HD (Huge).
- p. 11, Dragon, Ulret: Bite attacks should be at +14 melee, not +19 (+14 BAB, -2 size, +7 Str, -5 as a secondary attack). Bite damage should be 2d6+3 and 1d6 acid, not 2d6+7 and 1d6 acid (it only gets half its Strength bonus as a secondary attack). Fort should be +15, not +13 (+9 as a 14-HD dragon, +6 Con). Ref should be +9, not +6 (+9 as a 14-HD dragon, +0 Dex). Skills should include Survival +1 (+3 in aboveground natural environments) [+1 Wis, +2 conditional synergy bonus from Knowledge (nature)]. Spent 86 of 85 skill points. With 14 HD, it should have 5 feats, not 6, so drop one or make one a bonus feat. "Weapon Focus (tail)" should be "Weapon Focus (slam)" (or else the slam attacks in the Attack and Full Attack lines should be renamed). Why is there no save for the breath weapon? Traditionally, the acid breath weapon should allow a Reflex save at DC 23 (10 + 1/2 the dragon's HD + the dragon's Con bonus, or 10 + 7 + 6).
- p. 13, Dragon, Yarmas: Initiative should be +6, not +7 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative). AC should be 18, not 19 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +7 natural). Touch AC should be 11, not 12. Grapple attacks should be at +22, not +21 (+9 BAB, +4 size, +5 Str, +4 Improved Grapple). Bite attacks should be at +13 melee, not +12 (+9 BAB, -1 size, +5 Str). Tail slap attacks should be at +8 melee, not +7 (+9 BAB, -1 size, +5 Str, -5 as a secondary attack). "Tail slap" isn't a Special Attack, so it shouldn't appear on the "Special Attacks" line. Fort should be +10, not +9 (+6 as a 9-HD dragon, +4 Con). Ref should be +8, not +9 (+6 as a 9-HD dragon, +2 Dex). Only spent 75 of 84 skill points. Skills should include Gather Information +3 [+1 Cha, +2 synergy from Knowledge (local)] and Survival +2 (+4 in aboveground natural environments) [+2 Wis, +2 conditional synergy bonus from Knowledge (nature)].
- p. 14, El-el: HD should be 5d8+15, not 5d8+18 (+3 Con bonus, no Toughness feat). Average hit points should be 37, not 35. Bite attacks should be at +7 melee, not +8 (+3 BAB, -1 size, +5 Str). Claw attacks should be at +5 melee, not +6 (+3 BAB, -1 size, +5 Str, -2 for secondary attack with Multiattack). Claw damage should be 1d6+2, not 1d6+5 (half its +5 Str bonus for a secondary attack). Spent 6 of 8 skill points; I'd recommend bumping Listen up to +5. Jump should be +9, not +7 (+5 Str, +4 speed bonus).
- p. 16, Firebrander: With HD 3d8+6, average hit points should be 19, not 22. Touch AC should be 9, not 10 (-1 Dex). Grapple attacks should be at +4, not +3 (+2 BAB, +2 Str). Spent 12 of 6 skill points. No Level Adjustment given, but it's a viable PC race.
- p. 17, Flash Ooze: AC should be 6, not 11 (+1 size, -5 Dex). Touch AC should be 6, not 11. Flat-footed AC should be 6, not 10. Grapple attacks should be at -3, not -4 (+1 BAB, -4 size, +0 Str).
- p. 18, Jekovar: No Level Adjustment given, but it's a viable PC race. BAB should be +1, not +0 (+1 as a War1). Grapple attacks should be at +2, not +1 (+1 BAB, +1 Str). Longsword attacks should be at +2 melee, not +1 (+1 BAB, +1 Str). Javelin attacks should be at +2 ranged, not +1 (+1 BAB, +1 Dex). Fort should be +2, not +1 (+2 as a War1, +0 Con). Ref should be +1, not +3 (+0 as a War1, +1 Dex; a 1-HD (or less) humanoid drops its racial save bonuses in place of those from its class). Will should be +1, not +2 (+0 as a War1, +1 Wis). Spent 7 of 4 skill points. Dodge should be annotated as a bonus feat. Has 1 HD, yet Advancement is listed as "14-18 HD (Medium)" - should be "By character class." According to "Jekovar Traits" on page 19, jekovar have low-light vision and a +2 racial bonus to fear-based spells and effects, but these aren't listed under Special Qualities. Automatic languages should only be Sylvan, with Common as a bonus language (according to the creature's description, although the "Jekovar Traits" section contradicts this).
- p. 20, Kamala: Full Attack should include claws and bite, not claws or bite. Bite damage should be 1d8+4 if a sole attack, or 1d8+2 if a secondary attack after claws. Ref should be +9, not +10 (+4 as a 13-HD giant, +3 Dex, +2 Lightning Reflexes). Will should be +6, not +5 (+4 as a 13-HD giant, +2 Wis). Spent 11 of 16 skill points.
- p. 21, Kohu: The Attack and Full Attack lines don't provide a "to hit" bonus for slam attacks; it should be +7 melee (+3 BAB, +4 Str). Fort should be +4, not +5 (+1 as a 3-HD monstrous humanoid, +3 Con). Jump should be +0, not +6 (2 ranks, +4 Str, -6 speed).
- p. 23, Lake Lurker: Slam attacks should be at +4 melee, not +5 (+2 BAB, -1 size, +3 Str). Spent 4 of 6 skill points.
- p. 24, Lazura: Flat-footed AC should be 11, not 13 (+1 size). Will should be +1, not +2 (+0 as a 1-HD animal, +1 Wis). Spot should be +5, not +4 (0 ranks, +1 Wis, +2 Alertness, +2 racial bonus).
- p. 25, Magmasaur: Touch AC should be 8, not 12 (-2 size). Grapple attacks should be at +22, not +15 (+7 BAB, +8 size, +7 Str). Slam attacks should be at +12 melee, not +14 (+7 BAB, -2 size, +7 Str). Slam damage should be 2d6+10 and 1d6 fire, not 2d6+7 and 1d6 fire (1.5 times +7 Str for it being the creature's sole attack). Trample Reflex save should be DC 22, not DC 21 (10 + 5 + 7).
- p. 26, Maqor: Fort should be +7, not +8 (+4 as a 13-HD fey, +3 Con). Spent 96 of 112 skill points. Survival should be +16 (+18 in aboveground natural environments) [12 ranks, +4 Wis, +2 conditional synergy bonus from Knowledge (nature)].
- p. 28, Nanjee: HD should be 2d8+2, not 2d6+2 (monstrous humanoids have d8s for HD, not d6s). Fort should be +1, not +2 (+0 as a 2-HD monstrous humanoid, +1 Con). Special Qualities should include "Adrenal rush." Spent 13 of 15 skill points.
- p. 29, Niag: AC should be 20, not 19 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +10 natural). Flat-footed AC should be 19, not 18. Claw attacks should be at +18 melee, not +15 (+15 BAB, -1 size, +4 Str). Bite attacks should be at +13 melee, not +10 (+15 BAB, -1 size, +4 Str, -5 secondary attack). Spent 155 of 162 skill points. Skills should include Survival +1 (+3 following tracks and on other planes) [+1 Wis, +2 conditional synergy bonuses from Search and Knowledge (the planes)]. Special Qualities should include fire immunity and poison immunity.
- p. 31, Osor: Slam attacks should be at +4 melee, not +3 (+3 BAB, +1 size, +0 Str). Fort should be +5, not +6 (+1 as a 4-HD aberration, +4 Con). Ref should be +1, not +2 (+1 as a 4-HD aberration, +0 Dex). Spent 17 of 21 skill points. On the Special Qualities line, "Alternate Form" should be listed as "Animal Form." Spells/Day should be 6/8/6/4, not 6/6/5/3 (it looks like they forgot to take the creature's +5 Cha bonus into account).
- p. 32, Pohei: HD should be 1/2d10, not 1/2d8 (magical beasts have d10s for Hit Dice). Grapple attacks should be at -10, not -8 (+0 BAB, -8 size, -2 Str).
- p. 33, Qetz: Grapple attacks should be at +12, not +11 (+5 BAB, +4 size, +3 Str). Bite damage should be 1d8+3, not 1d8+4 (+3 Str). Claw damage should be 1d6+3 (if sole attack) or 1d6+1 (if secondary attack), not 1d6+4. Full Attack should be listed as bite and claw, not bite or claw. Will should be +1, not +2 (+1 as a 5-HD magical beast, +0 Wis). Jump should be +10, not +6 (3 ranks, +3 Str, +4 speed bonus). Also, under Habitat/Ecology, the green qetz is listed as both being worth 800 gp (along with red qetz) and 1,000 gp (along with blue qetz).
- p. 34, Soex: Fort should be +14, not +13 (+11 as an 18-HD outsider, +3 Con). Spent 175 of 189 skill points. Skills should include Survival +1 (+3 on other planes) [+1 Wis, +2 conditional synergy bonus from Knowledge (the planes)]. With 18 HD, he should have 7 feats, not 6.
- p. 36, Storm Petal: AC should be 17, not 16 (+1 size, +6 Dex). Touch AC should be 17, not 16. Flat-footed AC should be 11, not 10. Slam attacks should be at +3 melee, not +2 (+3 BAB, +1 size, -1 Str). Ref should be +12, not +11 (+4 as a 4-HD elemental (air), +6 Dex, +2 Lightning Reflexes). Spent 5 of 7 skill points. Under Special Attacks, "Breath weapon" should be renamed "Ozone blast" (as it's called in the creature's description).
- p. 37, Und: Ref should be +7, not +8 (6 as a 20-HD giant, +1 Dex). Will should be +10, not +11 (+6 as a 20-HD giant, +2 Wis, +2 Iron Will). Spent 74 of 92 skill points. Skills should include Gather Information +4 [+2 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (local)] and Survival +2 (+4 in aboveground natural environments) [+2 Wis, +2 conditional synergy bonus from Knowledge (nature)].
- p. 39, Vardu: Grapple attacks should be at +14, not +9 (+6 BAB, +4 size, +4 Str). Fort should be +3, not +4 (+3 as a 9-HD construct, +0 Con). Ref should be +4, not +5 (+3 as a 9-HD construct, +1 Dex). Will should be +2, not +3 (+3 as a 9-HD construct, -1 Wis). Listen and Spot should both be -1, not -2 (-1 Wis). Under Special Attacks, "Charge" should be listed as "Powerful charge."
- p. 40, Whip Bug: Full Attack should include 2 slashes and a bite, not 2 slashes or a bite. Under Full Attack, bite attacks should be at +3 melee, not +8 (+5 BAB, +3 Str, -5 secondary attack). Whip-stun Fortitude saves should be against DC 16 (10 + 3 + 3) if Strength- or Dexterity-based, or DC 15 (10 + 3 + 2) if Constitution-based, not DC 13.
- p. 41, Yenda: The Speed line should list "Fly 60 ft. (12 squares)" or "Fly 40 ft. (8 squares)" - but definitely not "Fly 60 ft. (8 squares)." Grapple attacks should be at +23, not +21 (+9 BAB, +8 size, +6 Str). Slam damage should be 2d6+6, not 2d6+9 (+6 Str, it's not the creature's sole attack). Fort should be +4, not +5 (+4 as a 13-HD construct, +0 Con). Ref should be +4, not +5 (+4 as a 13-HD construct, +0 Dex). Will should be +7, not +8 (+4 as a 13-HD construct, +1 Wis, +2 Iron Will). Skills should include Gather Information +1 [-1 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (local)]. Also, the illustration on page 42 should have a mouth, as the description says they always have carved mouths.
Not an errata list that inspires confidence in the diligence of the people designing the monsters, is it? Sadly, the monster stats themselves weren't the only problem I had with the monsters in
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures. The writers went out of their way to ensure that all of the creature types were represented (for those interested, we have 2 aberrations, 2 animals, 2 constructs, 2 dragons, 2 elementals, 2 fey, 2 giants, 2 humanoids, 2 magical beasts, 2 monstrous humanoids, 2 oozes, 2 outsiders, 1 plant, 2 undead (one of them a template), and 1 vermin), but why? That makes for a very well-balanced generic monster PDF, but since this is supposed to be focused on "lost world" campaigns (or sections of the campaign, for those that might have a "lost island" or "primitive land demiplane" or whatever), you'd think that the creatures would have been focused a bit more in that direction. There are certainly many "logical" creatures in this PDF - the ulret and yarmas dragons, el-el, lazura, nanjee, qetz, and whip bug all seem suitably "primitive" enough for inclusion - but many of the monsters just seem "forced." Take the magmasaurs, for example. Here we have creatures from the Elemental Plane of Fire that "have adopted the forms of dinosaurs for unknown reasons." So it's a magma-creature that lives on the Elemental Plane of Fire and looks like a dinosaur. (The illustration - nicely done, by the way - looks like a stegosaurus.) I suppose you could always have one fall through a planar rift from the Elemental Plane of Fire and into the campaign's "lost world," but dinosaur-elementals-for-no-apparent-reason-other-than-dinosaurs-would-be-logical-in-this-monster-assortment don't make a whole lot of sense to me. Likewise, the niag is a devil used as a messenger and diplomat by its infernal patrons. Not the sort of thing you'd expect to see in a lost world, is it? For my money, neither are the soex (neutral good, four-armed outsiders with two bald otter heads that like to wrestle evil opponents) or storm petals (giant, flying daffodils from the Elemental Plane of Air that spit lightning).
Still, I don't want to leave you with the impression that none of these creatures are worthwhile. On the contrary, I liked both of the oozes (maybe it's just the phrase "primordial ooze," but I think oozes should play a big part in lost words), all of the pseudo-dinosaurs I listed above as seeming "logical" in the paragraph above, and many of the humanoids, monstrous or otherwise. I liked the fact that neither dragon had wings, and the yarmas dragon was even serpentine in form - it makes sense that these "primitive" dragons would be less like the standard dragons of the
Monster Manual. It was nice of the writers to include combat strategies for each of the creatures for the first 3 rounds or so, even if several of the creatures' strategies are so basic that they really didn't warrant the attention. I was also impressed to see that two of the creatures were suitable either as familiars (the lazura) or wizardly companions (the pohei). That's the sort of touch that makes a monster PDF like this more valuable to those running a lost world campaign, and which the whole PDF should have been geared to in the first place.
The final problem I had was with the tables on page 43. It was nice of the authors to compile the creatures by challenge rating, by size, and by creature type. It would have been nicer still if the tables were complete. (Actually, looking back on it, only the challenge rating table had creatures actually missing; the creatures by size table was fine and the creatures by type table merely had punctuation and capitalization issues). Still, the problems there fall into the same category as the problems through the whole of
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures: poor attention to detail. Fortunately, as is my habit when reviewing PDFs, I typed up my list of noted errors and emailed them to the company; with any luck, they'll fix up these problems and anybody purchasing this product might actually get a bit more value for their money. As it currently stands, I cannot recommend purchasing
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures in its present state.
I give
Lost Prehistorica: Lost Creatures a rating of "2 (Poor)." It was saved only by some generally excellent artwork and a few well-thought-out and logical creatures, even though the rampant stat block errors and several nonrelevant monsters made me consider giving my first one-star rating ever.
