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Wandering Monsters: Monster Mashups
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6154762" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>So, it's a tough balance.</p><p></p><p>I <em>quite like</em> the ettercap/feywild/pixie dust kind of thing. Real nice. Resonates with the monster's mythopoetry (evil spider guy) really well. It's a good hook. Not necessary, but it adds and doesn't subtract and that's awesome.</p><p></p><p>But the "It turns into an aranea!" is unadulterated doofus-juice.</p><p></p><p>For one, it turns pixie dust into basically the D&D equivalent of gamma radiation/solar flares/radioactive spiders/the yellow sun/capitalist wealth: IT GIVES YOU SUPER POWERS! That's lame. It's generic and boring and it doesn't add anything to pixies or the critters that prey on them to say Pixie Dust Did It. This is D&D. If an ettercap wanted to get magic powers, stick a pointy hat on it and give it a wand and call it Harry.</p><p></p><p>If eating pixies too much changes you, sure, but <em>changes you into a specific other kind of monster with an entirely different story</em>? No. Stop. That's like saying that orcs that eat too much bacon turn into halflings, or that if you don't eat your vegetables and get plenty of exercise, you'll turn into a gelatinous cube. These are different creatures. They are not the same. They have their own thing. Don't cram them together.</p><p></p><p>Which is really one of the big issues with it. It's not that ettercaps shouldn't get twisted when they eat pixies. That idea's fine. Give me that souped-up Corrupted Ettercap, bristling with pernicious fey magic. It's that <em>the aranea are not just super-magical ettercaps</em>. They are an entirely different creature with an entirely different story and an entirely different style. Beholders are not just people who love art too much. Halflings are not just humans who didn't eat their veggies. Myconids are not just dragons who took up psychadelics. <strong>These things are not the same, and your efforts to smash them together are silly and should be abandoned</strong>. </p><p></p><p>*deep breath*</p><p></p><p>But seriously, 95% of what they're adding to the ettercap is good juju. Just please stop pretending that the aranea is just a super-magical spider-thing. This is not its defining quality. Aranea are secret sorcerer spies (and make good PC's!). Ettercaps are wilderness trap-building predators of dim intellect. There is some overlap, they are not related to each mother any more than a galeb duhr and a vrock. Aranea have more in common with changelings and doppelgangers and other charismatic, intelligent shape-changers. </p><p></p><p>Also, if we're going to go down the whole pernicious wilderness creature route, lets not tie them too tightly to being the protectors and defenders of spiders. Spiders are natural wild creatures who, like most beasts, aren't necessarily evil (again, part of the aranea's schtick). Ettercaps are evil. They love torture and torment. This is not like a treant, watching over creatures it cares for. Ettercaps don't love spiders. They won't be upset if the adventurers kill one. They don't look for lost spiders, or protect young spiders. That alliance doesn't imply a paternalism or a power dynamic. It's more of an economic relationship: they fight alongside each other because the yields are greater, not because of any emotional bond. They're <em>spiders</em>, they devour their mates and spawn millions of young, they don't know that caring sensation, and ettercaps draw from the same psychology.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 6154762, member: 2067"] So, it's a tough balance. I [I]quite like[/I] the ettercap/feywild/pixie dust kind of thing. Real nice. Resonates with the monster's mythopoetry (evil spider guy) really well. It's a good hook. Not necessary, but it adds and doesn't subtract and that's awesome. But the "It turns into an aranea!" is unadulterated doofus-juice. For one, it turns pixie dust into basically the D&D equivalent of gamma radiation/solar flares/radioactive spiders/the yellow sun/capitalist wealth: IT GIVES YOU SUPER POWERS! That's lame. It's generic and boring and it doesn't add anything to pixies or the critters that prey on them to say Pixie Dust Did It. This is D&D. If an ettercap wanted to get magic powers, stick a pointy hat on it and give it a wand and call it Harry. If eating pixies too much changes you, sure, but [I]changes you into a specific other kind of monster with an entirely different story[/I]? No. Stop. That's like saying that orcs that eat too much bacon turn into halflings, or that if you don't eat your vegetables and get plenty of exercise, you'll turn into a gelatinous cube. These are different creatures. They are not the same. They have their own thing. Don't cram them together. Which is really one of the big issues with it. It's not that ettercaps shouldn't get twisted when they eat pixies. That idea's fine. Give me that souped-up Corrupted Ettercap, bristling with pernicious fey magic. It's that [I]the aranea are not just super-magical ettercaps[/I]. They are an entirely different creature with an entirely different story and an entirely different style. Beholders are not just people who love art too much. Halflings are not just humans who didn't eat their veggies. Myconids are not just dragons who took up psychadelics. [B]These things are not the same, and your efforts to smash them together are silly and should be abandoned[/B]. *deep breath* But seriously, 95% of what they're adding to the ettercap is good juju. Just please stop pretending that the aranea is just a super-magical spider-thing. This is not its defining quality. Aranea are secret sorcerer spies (and make good PC's!). Ettercaps are wilderness trap-building predators of dim intellect. There is some overlap, they are not related to each mother any more than a galeb duhr and a vrock. Aranea have more in common with changelings and doppelgangers and other charismatic, intelligent shape-changers. Also, if we're going to go down the whole pernicious wilderness creature route, lets not tie them too tightly to being the protectors and defenders of spiders. Spiders are natural wild creatures who, like most beasts, aren't necessarily evil (again, part of the aranea's schtick). Ettercaps are evil. They love torture and torment. This is not like a treant, watching over creatures it cares for. Ettercaps don't love spiders. They won't be upset if the adventurers kill one. They don't look for lost spiders, or protect young spiders. That alliance doesn't imply a paternalism or a power dynamic. It's more of an economic relationship: they fight alongside each other because the yields are greater, not because of any emotional bond. They're [I]spiders[/I], they devour their mates and spawn millions of young, they don't know that caring sensation, and ettercaps draw from the same psychology. [/QUOTE]
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