You've head the rumors. Now learn the truth from the journal of Howell, Tim Nightengale's character in James Jacobs's legendary Shadows Under Sandpoint campaign.
Entry from the travel journal of Howell B. Talbot III, Servant of Abadar 18 Pharast (late morning)
All praise the might and justice of Abadar!
A quick missive here, as we have met and vanquished the object of Styrian's obsession: the Sandpoint Devil!
I must say that the pictures and descriptions that Styrian has shown me do not convey its sheer horror. The wolf-horse devil was summoned by one of the ghouls that waylaid us inside the back passages of Kanker's lair, by means of a large spiraled horn. The devil's approach was marked by such a scream that both Zandu and Rummy-Tum-Tugger fled in fear, and its arrival was punctuated by a flash and explosion that left Velmarius blinded. The horror flew in over the summoned pit, and proceeded to vomit a flame over Vorn that left him with horrible burns.
A hound archon summoned by Balazar seemed to occupy the devil, while Ostog, Melga (now, where did she come from, and where is Hazel?), and I moved up to attack. It was then that I called upon the Justice and Glory of the Gold-Fisted One, and finally, after many a failed attempt at smiting evils on this mission, I buried Thundergütter deeply in the chest of the Sandpoint Devil, causing it a truly grievous wound, and doubly-so as I wrenched the axe free. Ostog, as always, delivered the killing blow. Unfortunately, the beast's final act was to spray us with its infernal breath, leaving Ostog and myself, along with Vorn, charred and bleeding despite all healing. And yet, the Sandpoint Devil is no more, reduced to a cleaned skull in the hands of the scholar that has tirelessly pursued it. Styrian tells me it belongs in a museum....
Reports are coming in of a doughty band of adventurers facing off against the legendary Sandpoint Devil in bloody battle beneath the stones of western Varisia. Could it be true that the infamous beast, cow killer and hermit spooker, has been slain? Tune back in next week for the full report.
Until then, gird your sanity as we page through the journal of that chronicler of terrors and outrages, Styrian Kindler.
Last Thursday an unlikely group of strangers gathered on the docks of Sandpoint, beginning what will doubtlessly be one of the most unfortunate misadventures in the usually peaceful town's history. This marks the beginning of the Paizo editorial pit's new biweekly Pathfinder RPG Campaign: James Jacobs's The Shadow Under Sandpoint! Watch the calamity unfold with ongoing character reports, missives, comments, journal entries, and sketches on the Shadow Under Sandpoint thread here.
And wish good luck to the people of Sandpoint—they're going to need it.
The real world is a great resource for monsters. Many of the game's critters come from real-world myth and legend, but one venue that seems to have been largely ignored are cryptozoological accounts. I'm talking about Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, of course, but also about more obscure creatures like the hodag, Mokele-Mbembe, and the Yowie. And, of course, the Jersey Devil, the inspiration for one of Pathfinder's first new monsters. Rumors and legends of a rarely seen but terrible monster have preyed upon the fears of Sandpoint's populace for decades. The rumors listed below comprise the most common—though oft-conflicting—tales regarding the famed Sandpoint devil.
Bad Omen: It's bad luck to see the Sandpoint devil. Any who do are cursed to suffer an ill fate. Before tragedies, murders, and shipwrecks, it's said the devil flies unseen by all but the doomed through the night sky.
Devil-Spawned: The Sandpoint devil is the son of a widow named Agatha Leeds, a woman who used to live north of town and was said to practice dark magics and consort with evil beings. When she wandered into town round with child, she ignored all questions about her pregnancy. Weeks later, her home was found reduced to cinders with its mysterious owner missing. It wasn't long thereafter that the first sightings of the Sandpoint devil began.
Disappearances: Evidence of Sandpoint devil sightings often disappears before it can be examined. Tracks, bitten animals, weapons dripping with its blood, and similar such evidence simply vanish, no matter how well watched or guarded. In fact, even those who have sought to catch or kill the Sandpoint devil have disappeared without a trace, both during their hunts and in the weeks after returning home from a failed attempt.
Fire Starter: Paintings and reports of the Sandpoint devil mysteriously catch on fire, sometimes burning entire homes to the ground.
Immortal Protector: Some Varisians claim they Sandpoint devil has lived along the Lost Coast for thousands of years, and that it protects the coast's resources from those who seek to exploit the land. Its modern misdeeds are merely its way of fending off the most recent encroachment of civilization.
One of Many: The Sandpoint devil is sometimes seen in the company of other local legends and spooks, most commonly a white stag, the ghost of a young girl, and a zombie with missing feet.
I've made no secret of my obsession for new monsters. I love them. I can never get enough of them. Will I ever use all the monsters I've collected through my decades of RPG enthusiasm? Absolutely not. But I wouldn't give up any of them.
Unlike magic items or spells, new monsters are things that a GM can introduce into a game without fear that they'll disrupt a campaign. If they prove too lame (as was the case of my home campaign's flying, slavering eradu—a sort of warthog-shark intended to be the "new bulette," but who ended up being glass-jawed, one-hit loser), it's easy enough to never use them again. But once your PCs get your hands on things like new spells and new magic items, it's much harder to back them out of the campaign without a lot of tears and thrown dice.
With Pathfinder, we're embracing the new monster completely. Every volume will feature a bestiary that spotlights roughly six new monsters. Some of them will have roles in that month's adventure while others might just be there to add flavor to our new campaign setting. A few might even be previews of an Adventure Path years down the road. Some will be drawn from real-world myth, some from cryptozoological reports, and some wholly from the minds of our authors. Hopefully we'll all have some new favorite monsters in the months to come!
But talking about monsters isn't enough. We don't have art in yet for the six new monsters that are going to be in the first volume of Pathfinder to support the first adventure, "Burnt Offerings," but we do have descriptions of them. And while names of these monsters are placeholders in many cases, their descriptions are locked in. Check them out! (Warning: as with most of these blogs, spoilers below!)
Attic Whisperer
This undead thing resembles a child's skeleton with the paws and grinning skull of a fox. It is gray and covered with cobwebs, and dust falls endlessly from its mouth. It holds a ragged stuffed child's toy, its eyes pierced by pins, in its skeletal, fox-like hands. The creature is dressed in a small sleeping gown that looks like it was partially burned in a fire, as if it were the remains of a child who had died in bed.
Giant Gecko
There are two breeds of giant gecko in Varisia. The first is the size of a small horse or pony, maybe 8 feet long from head to tail. His eyes are bright blue and his body brightly colored. His open mouth holds hundreds of fangs, and his feet have large flat toes.
The second breed is much larger and more muscular, running about 14 feet long from snout to tail tip. This gecko has horns and a ridge of spines running down its back. Its eyes are bright red, and green smoking drool drips from its mouth, indication of its venomous bite.
Goblin Dog
While goblins ride worgs, wolves, and giant geckos when they can get them, most goblins are stuck with these disturbing mounts. Shaped like a limber greyhound but with a feral, ratlike face and tail, goblin dogs share their masters' hatred of real dogs. Their front two paws are tiny, black, ratlike hands, and their attitudes are all snarls and froth.
Goblin Snake
This strange snakelike monster is about 6 feet long and coiled around the roots of a tree that hang down from the roof of a cave. The snake has a black body with a thin racing stripe down its flank. Its back is a ridge of tiny horns. Its head is actually that of a goblin, but with a forked tongue and no ears. It has wide white snake eyes and a large mouth with two large viper fangs in the front. Some sages hold that goblin snakes are atrophied, deformed nagas, while most goblins believe that they're reincarnated heroes sent back to this world to punish goblin enemies.
Runespawn
Humanoid but deformed, the runespawn is an emaciated horror with unnaturally long arms and legs. Its hands each have two talon-tipped fingers and a thumb, and their legs bend like those of a dog. It's dressed in tatters and rags that expose much of its skin; veins bulge all over their bodies, forming dark blue or red patterns that look like twisted runes. Their flesh is pale and hairless. The runespawn's heads are curiously elongated. They have only a pair of slits for a nose, and their eyes are bulging and red, with no visible eyebrows. Yet for all this horror, their mouths are the most disturbing, for their lower jaw splits in half at the chin into pedipalps that end in tiny three-fingered hands that writhe about, eager to feed delicious morsels into an open gullet with a lolling tongue.
Sandpoint Devil
This critter is heavily inspired by the northeastern U.S. legend of the Jersey Devil. The Sandpoint version of this monster is a horrible horse-like creature with a fang-filled mouth, large bat wings, and a reptilian tail. Rumored to have been birthed by a woman cursed by Lamashtu, goddess of monsters and madness, the Sandpoint Devil is one of the most famous local legends. Despite long-standing rewards for its capture, it has never been caught. But when hunters and travelers go missing, chances are you'll hear tell that the Sandpoint Devil got them.
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