Yakfolk -- Why the jokes?

[TarionzCousin]

I think they look rather intimidating myself....

FIFY

 

[Wolfspider]

FIFY

ROFLMAO!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I once saw a yak gore a man to death in Lhasa, just to watch him bleed.

Gotta watch them yaks. Especially when they might flip out and kill people at any second.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Especially when they might flip out and kill people at any second.

You mean like... NINJAS?

Yakninjas...

BTW: There's probably a certain dissonance with "docile animals, that can flip out" and "crafty, controlled schemers". You simply don't expect anthropomorphic yak to be scheming.
I mean... minotaurs work, because you associate bulls with ferocity - do you associate yak with scheming conspirators?

Cheers, LT.

 

[Great Green God]

This actually seems like a really good reason for me to take a look at some Al-Qadim stuff. I've not used yakfolk, but they seem really fun mechanically from a monster-geek perspective and potentially quite flavorful. For example, the recent Dungeon Seeds of Sehan campaign arc didn't do it for me, but the Inscrutable Ones were great.

Sorry Seeds of Sehan wasn't your cup of hot tea Freyar, but as the guy who ran herd on much of the yak activity in the arc I'm glad you like the Inscrutable Ones. I actually hadn't seen the Yak Folk until 3.0 myself and then I looked at thier laundry list of powers (use any magic staff, snatch bodies and gain all that person or giant's skills, and command evil genies - just jann now days) and went "Whoa, how would someone ever use all that in one adventure?" It seemed like from then on, everytime I picked up MMII, I flipped to them and thought about how I could squeeze this jumble of stuff into something so when we started brainstorming the arc I suggested them as an underused/unique monster that we could use (I like spriggans too, but Tom beat me to the punch on suggesting them ). Anyhow it had been my not-so-secret plan to build them up into the next drow or githyanki, you know that in bad guy race that makes everyone want to play outcast dual-scimitar-wielding antiheroes. I agree about the name, and it was apparently a fight to get it past the hardcore anti-yak sentiment that some among the Paizo editorial staff harbored.

Still it is all about the Eastern flavor I think, and that's mainly where I pulled my inspiration from. Yaks are considered symbols of benevolance, wisdom, patetience, and stalwartness to some people. The blurb in MMII makes it apparent that the yak folk are as a species an arrogant lot, and wouldn't you be arrogant too if you had a personal genie slave. Even the low caste yak folk guards of the Dread Pagoda use jann as living weapons, a side-arm, another bit of stardard equipment to throw at would-be invaders.

As mountain spirits of myth, I envisioned them a bit more like devious rakshasa than thuggish minotaurs. These guys are cultured, sneaky, and thoughful, not to mention paranoia-inducing. Their body swapping powers and somewhat alien mindsets as well as the overall Mythos flavor of the story put me in mind of Lovecraft's Great Race from whom they picked up a affinity with aberrations (though they don't like the neogi at all, viewing the slavers as greedy, honorless thieves, while the neogi in turn see the yaks as sanctimonious hypocrites).

Anyhow, I was pretty happy with the way they turned out at the end and glad other folks like them as well, name or no,
Matt

 

[freyar]

Sorry Seeds of Sehan wasn't your cup of hot tea Freyar, but as the guy who ran herd on much of the yak activity in the arc I'm glad you like the Inscrutable Ones. I actually hadn't seen the Yak Folk until 3.0 myself and then I looked at thier laundry list of powers (use any magic staff, snatch bodies and gain all that person or giant's skills, and command evil genies - just jann now days) and went "Whoa, how would someone ever use all that in one adventure?" It seemed like from then on, everytime I picked up MMII, I flipped to them and thought about how I could squeeze this jumble of stuff into something so when we started brainstorming the arc I suggested them as an underused/unique monster that we could use (I like spriggans too, but Tom beat me to the punch on suggesting them ). Anyhow it had been my not-so-secret plan to build them up into the next drow or githyanki, you know that in bad guy race that makes everyone want to play outcast dual-scimitar-wielding antiheroes. I agree about the name, and it was apparently a fight to get it past the hardcore anti-yak sentiment that some among the Paizo editorial staff harbored.

Well, not to derail the thread, but the main issue I had about Seeds of Sehan was the change in mid-stream, so to speak, from the aberrant Far-Realmsy bit over to the yak-folk. The individual adventures were good, but I just couldn't quite wrap my head around how to put them all together. (Too much like RL, I guess, in that the plot connects through loose strands.) Like I said before, though, the yakfolk were great in it, and I'd love to plop down the Dread Pagoda somewhere in a campaign.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Things that seem funny or harmless at first sight often arent.

Consider the pigeon:

It looks harmless... peaceful... no threat to anyone.

Until you take a closer look at its mad, reptilian eyes:

It is the same with the yakfolk. They look like a joke - just like the minotaurs. But if you are good enough, you can portray the evil, alien intelligence behind their eyes - possessed a species more powerful than humans in every way. And who will be laughing then?

Make encounters with yakfolk part of a horror adventure. Let the players laugh - after all, don't all protagonists of horror stories initially laugh at the danger? But then let them face the power of the yakfolk on their own turf. Make the PCs feel helpless and overwhelmed. Make them feel that they have only survived through sheer luck.


Maybe then they will start taking them seriously.