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Which monsters are common knowledge to PCs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Sejs" data-source="post: 498447" data-attributes="member: 4910"><p>(going off the MM only, atm)</p><p></p><p><strong>Humanoid</strong> types -Orcs, -Goblins, -Hobgoblins, -Bugbears, -Kobolds, -Ogres, -Giants, -Trolls, -Centaurs, -Gnolls. If they basically have the same needs as normal people (Food, Shelter, Etc), folks probably know about them. Details would probably be fuzzy, trolls heal fast and fear fire, but acid isn't common, so people may not know of a troll's vulnerability to it. They'd likely group all goblinoids (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear) together as the same race: Goblin. Orcs are the green-grey skinned barbarians.. people wouldn't necessarily know anything about their religeon. Giants are, well, giants. Gnolls.. well, they're dog-men. Maybe throw it a soup bone and it'll leave you alone. Lizardmen would probably fancy sunning themselves on a rock.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Evil Outsiders</strong> would tend to all be lumped to gether as Demons, reguardless of their actual type: -Demons, -Devils, -Slaadi (probably seen as evil, reguardless of alignment), -Yugoloth. Also, a good number of non-outsiders would probably be tagged as 'demons' reguardless of the truth behind it: -dopplegangers, -hell hounds, -arachnae, -ettercaps, -rakshaza, -vargouille as examples. Even phase spiders would probably be thought of as "demon spiders.. they can walk thru walls, and drag you off to the underworld!". To most people, if it's from a Bad Metaphysical Place, doesn't like you, and is, or seems magical.. it's a Demon. Even if a person doesn't know about initially, they'd probably give it the appelation demon if they encountered one.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Dragons</strong> would be known about, but their individual tendancies wouldn't necessarily be known by the common man. "What do you mean? All dragons breathe fire, eat virgins, and are hypnotised by beautiful music. It's in all the stories." Alignment by color wouldn't necessarily be common knowledge. Dragon-like creatures, hydra for example, or wyverns, would also be tagged as 'dragons'. Just another kind.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Fey</strong> would probably be known about by the layman. Again, lots of stories about pixies fixing shoes, leaving out a bowl of milk and a breadcrust for house brownies, the sad story of the soldier who fell in love with the dryad and became a tree when he died of a broken heart.. that sorta thing. </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Heraldric critters</strong>: griffons, hippogriff, dragonne, pegasus, unicorn.. people would recognise the shape of them (you see a picture of one every time a servant of Duke Balthor comes into town), but their abilities and habbits would be unknown. If it has wings it flies, if it has an eagle's head it probably sees well, if it has lion parts it would probably fancy a steak and roar.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Celestials</strong> would work under a similar aegis to Demons. If it's from a Good Metaphysical Place, likes you, and is or seems magical, it's a Celestial (or Angel if you prefer). Again, type and ability wouldn't necessarily be known, and similar creatures would be grouped with celestials by misake. Lammasu and Lillend would likely be mistaken for celestials were they encountered.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The various types of <strong>Undead</strong> would probably get jumbles up. If it's corporeal and eats flesh (zombie, ghoul, wight, ghast) it's a Zombie, if it's corporeal and drinks blood (vampire, vampire spawn) it's a Vampire, if it's incorporeal (allip, spectre, shadow, wraith, ghost) it's a Ghost. If you're not from an appropriately-cultured area, you've probably never heard of a mummy. No matter where you're from, you probably don't know anything about liches. They're powerful spellcasters who made themselves immortal somehow, but that's all you know. Real world type example of this~ Methuselah from the bible was said to have lived 969 years, and perished in the Flood. Maybe he was a lich, we don't know.. he was some guy, and he lived a really long time, and didn't exhibit any 'undead like' traits. Other, strange types of undead (devourers, nightshades, etc) are likely to be just totally unknown, or, following an above guideline.. thought to be Demons.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Animals, Beasts, and Magical Beasts</strong>.. some would be known about. The closer it is to a normal animal, the more common knowledge it would be. Dire animals.. yeah, they're just normal animals only bigger. Ankheg are probably just thought of as big bugs. Winter Wolves may be thought of as vengeful winter spirits, the teeth of the storm,.. rather then actuall flesh and blood creatures. Odd or reclusive creatures.. darkmantles, digesters, ythrak, krenshar, grey renders.. would probably be totally unknown to the average person.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Certain types of <strong>Lycanthropes</strong> would probably be known about,.. werewolves for example,.. and they'd probably all be seen as evil. Their vulnerability to silver would be known, but not necessarily something everyone prepares for. Alternatly, because of lycanthrope legends, maybe weapons of blessed silver are thought of as a cure-all for all types of evil creatures. Werewolf? Blessed silver will fix his wagon. Vampire? Blessed silver will steer you straight. Marauding Tentacled Thing Making Men Go Insane, And Eatting Peoples Brains? Blessed silver will do the trick... uh... -you- go fight it.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Elementals</strong>, and elemental-type creatures like Xorn, Genies, or Azer, would probably be thought of as Spirits, very similar in type to how people would think of Fey. Black haired, red skinned woman with eyes like embers? Well she's a fire spirit. Squat little tripod creature that is mollofied when you give it your whetstone to gnaw on? Well that's an earth spirit. Tiny little glowing figure with wings like a dragonfly and a voice like tinkeling bells? Air spirit. Towering figure made of earth and stone? Another earth spirit.. maybe it'd like a whetstone to eat. Slender woman with vibrant green eyes and skin like ash-bark? She's a spirit of the woods. </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Ooze</strong>? Nuh uh. Rare. Wierd. Dangerous. Uncommon. Normal people would have no reason to know about them.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Golems</strong>. People would probably know about Golems.. sorta. They'd know that golems are inanimate objects brought to life by magic. To the average person, there'd be no difference between a Stone Golem, and a statue brought to life with the animate object spell. It's hard to hurt a stone statue by swinging a sword at it, it's hard to hurt a stone golem by swinging a sword at it. Same difference. The one execption would be Flesh Golems would would probably be mistaken for undead. </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Other</strong> types of creatures, people probably would not know a single thing about. They wouldn't know what an Aboleth does, or what a Xill looks like, or that a Gibbering Mouther has a real taste for opera. This blank space coveres alot of creatures. Mind Flayers, Ravid, Digester, Cloaker, Chuul, the list goes on and on. </p><p></p><p></p><p>Hope this was of some assistance.</p><p></p><p>^_^</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sejs, post: 498447, member: 4910"] (going off the MM only, atm) [b]Humanoid[/b] types -Orcs, -Goblins, -Hobgoblins, -Bugbears, -Kobolds, -Ogres, -Giants, -Trolls, -Centaurs, -Gnolls. If they basically have the same needs as normal people (Food, Shelter, Etc), folks probably know about them. Details would probably be fuzzy, trolls heal fast and fear fire, but acid isn't common, so people may not know of a troll's vulnerability to it. They'd likely group all goblinoids (goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear) together as the same race: Goblin. Orcs are the green-grey skinned barbarians.. people wouldn't necessarily know anything about their religeon. Giants are, well, giants. Gnolls.. well, they're dog-men. Maybe throw it a soup bone and it'll leave you alone. Lizardmen would probably fancy sunning themselves on a rock. [b]Evil Outsiders[/b] would tend to all be lumped to gether as Demons, reguardless of their actual type: -Demons, -Devils, -Slaadi (probably seen as evil, reguardless of alignment), -Yugoloth. Also, a good number of non-outsiders would probably be tagged as 'demons' reguardless of the truth behind it: -dopplegangers, -hell hounds, -arachnae, -ettercaps, -rakshaza, -vargouille as examples. Even phase spiders would probably be thought of as "demon spiders.. they can walk thru walls, and drag you off to the underworld!". To most people, if it's from a Bad Metaphysical Place, doesn't like you, and is, or seems magical.. it's a Demon. Even if a person doesn't know about initially, they'd probably give it the appelation demon if they encountered one. [b]Dragons[/b] would be known about, but their individual tendancies wouldn't necessarily be known by the common man. "What do you mean? All dragons breathe fire, eat virgins, and are hypnotised by beautiful music. It's in all the stories." Alignment by color wouldn't necessarily be common knowledge. Dragon-like creatures, hydra for example, or wyverns, would also be tagged as 'dragons'. Just another kind. [b]Fey[/b] would probably be known about by the layman. Again, lots of stories about pixies fixing shoes, leaving out a bowl of milk and a breadcrust for house brownies, the sad story of the soldier who fell in love with the dryad and became a tree when he died of a broken heart.. that sorta thing. [b]Heraldric critters[/b]: griffons, hippogriff, dragonne, pegasus, unicorn.. people would recognise the shape of them (you see a picture of one every time a servant of Duke Balthor comes into town), but their abilities and habbits would be unknown. If it has wings it flies, if it has an eagle's head it probably sees well, if it has lion parts it would probably fancy a steak and roar. [b]Celestials[/b] would work under a similar aegis to Demons. If it's from a Good Metaphysical Place, likes you, and is or seems magical, it's a Celestial (or Angel if you prefer). Again, type and ability wouldn't necessarily be known, and similar creatures would be grouped with celestials by misake. Lammasu and Lillend would likely be mistaken for celestials were they encountered. The various types of [b]Undead[/b] would probably get jumbles up. If it's corporeal and eats flesh (zombie, ghoul, wight, ghast) it's a Zombie, if it's corporeal and drinks blood (vampire, vampire spawn) it's a Vampire, if it's incorporeal (allip, spectre, shadow, wraith, ghost) it's a Ghost. If you're not from an appropriately-cultured area, you've probably never heard of a mummy. No matter where you're from, you probably don't know anything about liches. They're powerful spellcasters who made themselves immortal somehow, but that's all you know. Real world type example of this~ Methuselah from the bible was said to have lived 969 years, and perished in the Flood. Maybe he was a lich, we don't know.. he was some guy, and he lived a really long time, and didn't exhibit any 'undead like' traits. Other, strange types of undead (devourers, nightshades, etc) are likely to be just totally unknown, or, following an above guideline.. thought to be Demons. [b]Animals, Beasts, and Magical Beasts[/b].. some would be known about. The closer it is to a normal animal, the more common knowledge it would be. Dire animals.. yeah, they're just normal animals only bigger. Ankheg are probably just thought of as big bugs. Winter Wolves may be thought of as vengeful winter spirits, the teeth of the storm,.. rather then actuall flesh and blood creatures. Odd or reclusive creatures.. darkmantles, digesters, ythrak, krenshar, grey renders.. would probably be totally unknown to the average person. Certain types of [b]Lycanthropes[/b] would probably be known about,.. werewolves for example,.. and they'd probably all be seen as evil. Their vulnerability to silver would be known, but not necessarily something everyone prepares for. Alternatly, because of lycanthrope legends, maybe weapons of blessed silver are thought of as a cure-all for all types of evil creatures. Werewolf? Blessed silver will fix his wagon. Vampire? Blessed silver will steer you straight. Marauding Tentacled Thing Making Men Go Insane, And Eatting Peoples Brains? Blessed silver will do the trick... uh... -you- go fight it. [b]Elementals[/b], and elemental-type creatures like Xorn, Genies, or Azer, would probably be thought of as Spirits, very similar in type to how people would think of Fey. Black haired, red skinned woman with eyes like embers? Well she's a fire spirit. Squat little tripod creature that is mollofied when you give it your whetstone to gnaw on? Well that's an earth spirit. Tiny little glowing figure with wings like a dragonfly and a voice like tinkeling bells? Air spirit. Towering figure made of earth and stone? Another earth spirit.. maybe it'd like a whetstone to eat. Slender woman with vibrant green eyes and skin like ash-bark? She's a spirit of the woods. [b]Ooze[/b]? Nuh uh. Rare. Wierd. Dangerous. Uncommon. Normal people would have no reason to know about them. [b]Golems[/b]. People would probably know about Golems.. sorta. They'd know that golems are inanimate objects brought to life by magic. To the average person, there'd be no difference between a Stone Golem, and a statue brought to life with the animate object spell. It's hard to hurt a stone statue by swinging a sword at it, it's hard to hurt a stone golem by swinging a sword at it. Same difference. The one execption would be Flesh Golems would would probably be mistaken for undead. [b]Other[/b] types of creatures, people probably would not know a single thing about. They wouldn't know what an Aboleth does, or what a Xill looks like, or that a Gibbering Mouther has a real taste for opera. This blank space coveres alot of creatures. Mind Flayers, Ravid, Digester, Cloaker, Chuul, the list goes on and on. Hope this was of some assistance. ^_^ [/QUOTE]
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