Rules for Making Hybrid Monsters

[Nellisir]

The Complete Book of Templates might have something also -- I haven't time to check right now.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Dog Moon]

The Book of Templates describes a way to create Half- for pretty much anything. It goes through it step by step, but I don't think it has any other template which really does Hybrid creatures.

Grafts can be found in FF, Libris Mortis, Lords of Madness, and I think there's also a couple in Underdark and Serpent Kingdoms.

 

[Enamel_32]

Pardon my inexperience, but what would FF be?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Fiend Folio, I think.

 

[frankthedm]

For a PC who wants to make monsters, HEAVY work with the DM is going to be mandatory. "Most chimera /hybrids coming from wizards" is really just a convienient plot device, that often has the creators being the critters first meal of freedom.

Honestly, creative descriptions matter more for monster making than stats. Pick a beast or animal and start changing its description. A small bell and whistle here and there and bing;

Take a dire lion, slap a vulture head on it, give it a short ranged nausiating acid spit, upgrade it's stats to magical beast [adds a few HP and BAB becomes HD]. Add 1 or 2 to the CR depending on what you and the DM agree to.


Oh, BTW your new pet used its acidic vomit to melt the cage door and it is currently trying to eat you.

Stop by the creature catologe forums if you want ideas.

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by Patryn of Elvenshae
Fiend Folio, I think.

Yep, that's what I meant.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Oh, BTW your new pet used its acidic vomit to melt the cage door and it is currently trying to eat you.

I'm usually not as hardcore as Frank is, but here I'd probably do the same. A wizard who wants to create abominations is cool from a roleplaying standpoint and I'd work to have it happen. But if the player is expecting to create pet abominations for use in combat free of charge, he's going to be disappointed.

Not that I wouldn't be willing to work with such a player to create a prestige class or something that provides pet abominations, but it'd be balanced against a standard wizard, not on top of.

 

[Storyteller01]

Heros of High Favor: Half-Orcs has rules for creating half breed creatures (uses the rules to creat an actual breeding program; the only magic is what the beasts came in with).

The also have a Barb/Drd PrC that actually absorbs their animal companions. Yiu can some of their abilities for your trouble.

 

[Dog Moon]

Originally posted by demiurge1138
And the Advanced Bestiary from Green Ronin has a lot of templates for species alteration, especially the amalgam template, which essentially fuses two creatures into one.

I looked at this book because I heard good things about it, though I don't like enough of the templates to convince me to purchase it. However, this does sound like a cool template. Is there anyway to get a single template without buying the entire book?

 

[Corbert]

Mongoose had a Complete Guide to Crossbreeding book, and Green Ronin has the Almagram template in their Advanced Beastary Guide (from their advanced line). I don't know if the Mongoose book is still in print or PDF, but I do know that the Green Ronin book is.

The name of the book is Encyclopedia Arcane: Crossbreeding. And you're right, it is by Mongoose. It shows how to determine traits and ability scores, has magic items specifically for crossing creatures and some sample monsters. It only cost $15, so I consider it a bargain. It came out in 2003, so it should be still in print. I used it to introduce a BBEG who just hadn't quite finished his monsters before the PCs came crashing down his fortress.