There is a carp(Sujin) type Kami in AP#52.
I would be interested to see what Pathfinder's versions of the Fomorians and Firbolgs would be like.
I think carps are boring, they aren't anything like the much more dangerous Catfish, they are good and cute and not monstrous, powerful and evil like the Namazu which I prefer a 100 times over any Kami.
I would also like Firbolgs. Fomorians are those ugly D&D giants right? Never liked them...
Fomorians got a meh treatment in 3.5 and 4th. Knowing how Paizo likes to keep to folklore, I can imagine much more of an overhaul for them.
Like the other giants of different cultures (Frost Giants, Nephilim, Titans), these guys are behemoths with a divine spark in them. They are closer to nature and usually oppose civilization.
I'd imagine that they'd Fey with the Giant subtype (weird combination eh?) although that would keep them at a 1d6 hit die instead of the 1d8 that most giants get. At least they'd have a DR/Cold Iron to make up for that. Also, I think they'd have to have some divine spell like abilities to show their divine heritage. Also, I'd imagine there would be two types of fomorians:
Formorian, Primal: The classic, brutish fomorian. Very muscular and has the head of a ragged goat. Not too bright, but loves to smash things.
Fomorian, Elathan: A much more handsome giant humanoid with a greater intelligence and perhaps a greater capacity for making peace with other races. I can see them as druids and clerics in addition to the martial races.
candiru
I get those little guys in print
I'm with Mikaze on that one.
Those fish are in a realm of cruel things far too horrible to inflict upon my players. Even in my most evil of GMing moods I wouldn't use them.
I'm out of the loop... what are they?
Candiru are parasitic catfish that supposely have a habbit of swimming up and lodging itself into a person's urethra.
Oh...
So... To change the topic from scary parasite fish... Penguins!
Personally, I want a zombie penguin apocalypse to happen at some point. We have the zombie template, but now I need penguins to make this dream work.
This sounds like the sign of an effective monster to me!
Oh...
Look who's glad he asked. :)
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Personally, I want a zombie penguin apocalypse to happen at some point. We have the zombie template, but now I need penguins to make this dream work.
Big ol' Mountains of Maddness style giant penguins? Hum. Could be something there.
Bestiary 4 should have a catfish entry with both Namazu & Candiru Swarm, problem of Catfish-lacking solved :p
And talking about cute little monsters, what about giving drop bears and jackalopes a chance? :P
It would be interesting to see the Fomorian and/or Firbolg as Fey.
It would be nice to see Fey that are based on the myths of other cultures like Japanesse, Native American, Australian, etc.
Drop Bears and Jackalopes would be nice.
Also, nothing specific, but I'd like more exploding animals.
"What do you mean the giant pill bug explodes upon death?!"
Drop bears: don't hold your breath.
Jackalopes: I can do SO much better than that. Just wait till August. ;)
Bestiary 4 should have a catfish entry with both Namazu & Candiru Swarm, problem of Catfish-lacking solved :p
And talking about cute little monsters, what about giving drop bears and jackalopes a chance? :P
NO!! I redraw this nonsense!!! If those two catfish are on the same page only one of them get a picture... bad idea!
Namazu should have a picture nomatter what the cost may be!! :p
And i'm happy with the new (probably) rabbit monster that replaces the Jackalope, I hope on something like the killer bunny from Quest For Glory 4! Jackalopes are too peacefull.
What does: Don't hold your breath mean in english? That I would die if I held my breath till the drop bears arive? Cuz they never make it into a product? :P
If those two catfish are on the same page only one of them get a picture...
Sometimes both monsters get a pic. The dire rat and rat swarm both appeared on the same page in the same picture, kind of.
What does: Don't hold your breath mean in english? That I would die if I held my breath till the drop bears arive? Cuz they never make it into a product? :P
That might be slightly grimmer than the saying usually intends, but yeah, something like that.
I don't understand this hate for the Drop Bears, common! Flumphs and even normal Squirrels make it into the Bestiary! So why not evil Koala's that drop on you from a treebranche? :P
I would prefer the Almiraj over the Jackolope but I would be happy to some rabbit like monsters in general.
Also giant versions of starfish, platipus, snail, sea urchin(I know about the ones in serpant skull), sea cucumber, mongoose, stink bug, termites, sea slug, nautilus, cuttlefish, pistol shrimp, squirel, rat(large size), sea horse, clam/oyster/scallop, pill bug, worms(varius), moth/butterfly, blowfish, and daddy longlegs(harvestmen)
Creative Director
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Drop bears are, in my opinion, not really worthy of inclusion in a bestiary because they're not totally "sincere" monsters. They're like snipes, jackalopes, and hoop snakes—creatures made up by locals to fool visitors. The point of the monster isn's that it's something that's actually out there, but that it's a joke you play on the tourists. And this "design theory" tends to be borne out in the monster's behavior and appearance—they look and act like jokes.
As a result, I just don't have as much respect for them as opposed to things like actual mythological creatures or cryptids, and without my (or Wes's) respect, it's VERY VERY VERY hard to get into a Pathfinder product as a monster.
Joke? JOKE?!? Do you call this a joke?
I dare you to tell this fellow he's a joke in its face ;)
http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Drop-Bear.jpg
(just kiddn)
Well call the the hoop snake a Uroborus/Ouroboros and give it some strange reason or ability related to "eating" it's own tail.
Well these monsters would make a good "misfit monsters 2" though.
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I can't help but think of Ouroboros as needing to be a god-level entity at least. Possibly even something on the level of the Speakers of the Depths.
(halfway think the Speakers may just be some sort of Ouroboros figure actually, what with all the snake-like proteans)
Thinking about it further...a protean evocative of Ouroboros might be a natural fit...
Ouroboros/Uroborus as a Protean would be cool.
Ouroboros reminds me of Resident Evil 5 (if i'm not mistaken) really...
That black oozy stuff.
Actually it is a symbol of a snake swallowing it's own tail.
It also has been used in the Shin Megami Tensei series as a snake monster.
I really hope the Rokurokubi/Snake-necked Woman (who's on the cover of the last Jade Regent part) is in the Bestiary of Jade Regent part 6...
Otherwise I want it in a bestiary and it must be evil and monstrous like on the cover! I never seen really good art for this creature so i'm curious what the artists of Pathfinder are gonna do with this monster, will it be the best art for this monster yet like they did with so many other myths and monsters.
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Drop bears are, in my opinion, not really worthy of inclusion in a bestiary because they're not totally "sincere" monsters. They're like snipes, jackalopes, and hoop snakes—creatures
You make me sad. :(
Jackalopes were folklore monsters before they were used as cute mascots and taxidermy kitsch. Probably inspired by rabbits with a virus that causes antler-like tumors on their head.
I would like to see some American folklore monsters. Both from Native Americans like skinwalkers and Wild West Tall Tales.
Hodag fits more in the cryptoid area of legends, like sasquatch and the yeti. Plus it's not really silly compared to man eating koala bears...
My roommate from Wisconsin was pretty surprised to see the hodag in Pathfinder.
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Hmm, what about some kind of little red riding hood based fey creature? Or maybe a gremlin?
A miniature, red hooded, evil wolf-esque gremlin? Making it skilled at disguise and perhaps able to swallow whole unusually large things would be interesting.
Tsochar from the 3.5 Lords of Madness book. The artwork for them looks really cool, although I have no idea if they are OGL or not. Still, I love aberrations and this guy along with the grell was one of my favorites. Shame grell isn't OGL.
Hmm, what about some kind of little red riding hood based fey creature? Or maybe a gremlin?
A miniature, red hooded, evil wolf-esque gremlin? Making it skilled at disguise and perhaps able to swallow whole unusually large things would be interesting.
Redcap anyone? :D
Drop bears are, in my opinion, not really worthy of inclusion in a bestiary because they're not totally "sincere" monsters. They're like snipes, jackalopes, and hoop snakes—creaturesYou make me sad. :(
Jackalopes were folklore monsters before they were used as cute mascots and taxidermy kitsch. Probably inspired by rabbits with a virus that causes antler-like tumors on their head.
Regardless of the origins of jackalopes, these guys are solidly on the same list as chinchilla for me. Sure, we could spend a page (or more) providing stats for them. Or we could do nearly anything else. I have memory, notes, lists, and books full of more interesting creatures that inspire far more exciting RPG encounters than a jackalope or drop bear do, and know I, my co-workers, and our freelancers can imagine up even more beasties that I'm more excited about sight unseen - largely because I know they'd be custom tailored to the Pathfinder experience.
This isn't a value judgement on the stories, folklore, or cultures that spawned these creatures, its a question of what makes a fun encounter for a roleplaying game. Somethings do, somethings don't. To paraphrase our illustrious publisher, Pathfinder "...is a game about sharks and bears." It's not about squirrels and pigeons, so don't expect them or their mythological equivalents to show up in Bestiaries any time soon. As long as more exciting options exist, they will receive preferential choice.
All of that said, if you're really excited about jackalopes and drop bears and having them in your game, go for it! For the jackalope, might I suggest using the statistics for a cat, replacing its bite attack with a size appropriate (or one size-category higher) gore attack. For the drop bear, I'd suggest using the stats for a badger, but replace its burrow speed with a climb speed.
No drop bears, snipes, or hoop snakes, and yet they include the Hodag.
How about a squonk?
Seriously? You're telling me that if you line up pictures of a drop bear, a snipe, a hoop snake--heck, even throw the jackalope and the squonk in there--along with the hodag that the choice of which one most deserves to be on a heavy metal album cover (or a Robert E. Howard story, or a Gygax adventure) isn't obvious? It is, after all, the only one that's a monster and not a chimeric mash up or an animal that does something unusual.
As for the squonk, this is another case of, "Okay, sure, it's a thing. But how does that make a cool Pathfinder encounter?" First off, the squonk pretty much just looks like dog, and not even a particularly unnatural dog, a pug or bull dog. Then, its "special" powers include... um... it's skin not fitting right and... sobbing. Not great grist for the mill, there.
Now, could I see some crazy First World reinterpretation of the squonk as some sadness fey whose tears create whole swamps and affect those who come within infectious melancholy? Sure, but that's not not a story about the creature, that's just something I came up with. At that point, I could call the monster a squonk or anything else that I wanted, making the only potential tie the name.
My strong preference for picking up mythological and folkloric monsters is to choose creatures with abilities and stories well suited to inclusion in Golarion and with interesting abilities that could be well represented by the Pathfinder rules - and thus have the potential to create interesting encounters.
So yeah, we could do the squonk - I'd even put it higher on the list than some of those we've been talking about as there's some precedent for it being something other than just a weird animal - but I think we can all come up with cooler monsters from legendry and past RPGs we'd rather see more.
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Hodag fits more in the cryptoid area of legends, like sasquatch and the yeti. Plus it's not really silly compared to man eating koala bears...
My roommate from Wisconsin was pretty surprised to see the hodag in Pathfinder.
What can I say, James and I both love cryptids. Expect more by the end of the year... in a big way.
So in other words we will get the Drop Bear and Jackolope by bestiary 12...maybe..if you feel like it.
I have an idea for a plant monster. Because Plant Monsters are awesome. Also, movie spoilers down below.
A while back, I saw a movie called The Ruins. It was a horror film that took the silly idea of a man-eating plant and made it into something truly horrifying. It was a large, predatory vine that could move and grasp people with it's vine branches. It could also infect them with these seeds that drove them crazy (possibly due to a toxin but probably because HOLY CRAP THERE IS A PLANT INSIDE OF ME!}. But the most insidious part about it was that it's flowers could mimic sounds that it heard. Things like a cell phone, a cry for help, a significant other committing adultery... it could do it all. Rent the movie. It's a good horror movie and this is coming from someone that thinks horror movies are lame.
Anyways, that'd make an awesome plant monster.
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My wish : High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
More specifically, some Hive minded horror, so alien that qlipphoth look like carebears in comparisons.
Or the Chinese Wugong Sui. It is a centipede-human hybrid feeding on fear and terror, killing its target and getting bigger.
Some other big monster, like Bigorne and Chicheface.
Some normal critters, like dinosaurs.
More clockwork.
What can I say, James and I both love cryptids. Expect more by the end of the year... in a big way.
Aha, this together with some other hints form James seems to point to something like "Cryptids Revisited".
I can see cool dropbears looking like small monstrous bear-cubs (NOT koala's more wolverine/bear-cub things, maybe even a koala/tasmaniandevil crossbreed) living in trees, they have this awesome power of absorbtion which functions like the Zorbo from D&D, with this ability they can absorb rock or wood into their skin to become heavier and sharper than they truly are so they can crush, cut or gore the creatures walking beneath their favorite trees by falling onto them. (or gravity control inside their own body to make themselves light as a feather to escape predators, or heavy like rocks to crush creatures walking beneath their trees.)
Remember the Rusalka also changed in appearance and so did the minotaur, medusa and all those other mythological creatuers, so why the Drop Bears should be 100% like their real-world counterparts from stories?
Also Jackalopes could rend some properties of Al-mi'raj and Killer Bunnies, maybe even the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
Just to weigh in on the Jackalope issue for a sec., but the Deadlands RPG (in all of its incarnations) does have the Jackalope as a monster and it's a pretty nasty one at that, but it fits better in that genre than in a straight up fantasy system like Pathfinder.
That said, more american folk-lore monsters would be greatly appreciated:
The Skunk-Ape
The Leeds Devil (also called the Jersey Devil)
The Piasa Bird
and a few from native american mythologies
the Pox-Walker
Spear-finger (a type of hag, that eats the livers of young women)
Dzoo-no-Qua (spelling is atrocious, but a NW indian ogre-type spirit that hold the leash of a pretty nasty critter in its own right - the Wusiutl)
They already have the Jersey(Sandpoint) Devil.
Yeah, I gues they would have enough cryptids to have a revisited book.
Probably the best way to do a drop bear would be to stat up a thylacoleo and have 'drop bear' mentioned very quietly as an alternate name for them. According to more recent research they were very dangerous, very heavily built wrestler-type predators that could climb - they'd probably fit the bill nicely.
Other Australian-type stuff - hmm. We've already got megalanias, kangaroos and thylacines. The bunyip has already been done (though imho it was a rather uninspiring adaptation, sadly), min-min lights can just be will'o'the'wisps, and yowies are just variant yetis. Bullockornis (assuming that it's a predator on the paleontologically shaky grounds of 'it's cooler that way') is a terror bird. Many shapechanger-type legendary figures in aboriginal myth can be implemented as animal lords.
Quinkans
Quinkana (the long-legged land crocodile that got named after the above, you might have to call it Baru to avoid confusion!)
Nargun
The Rainbow Serpent (now THAT'S an epic critter!)
Meiolania
Sawfish
Yara-mya-ya-who (they drink your blood with their tentacles, then eat you, then throw you up later to do it all over again - and again and again until you become one of them)
Perhaps some of the other megafauna like procoptodon or diprotodon
An 'extremely poisonous' simple template! Just to make regular snakes, spiders, jellyfish etc more interesting... ;)
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These are all the monsters from 3.5 edition D&D books that I would like some way or another into the Bestiary books, because most are under protection of copyright I would like their powers, abilities and behavior inverted into similar but yet very different creatures.
Arrowhawk - Because it looks pretty awesome and I like more bird-monsters.
Formian - We need more ant monsters and they need to be intelligent, good enemies for Girtablilu.
Phasm - Pretty please a very big change in appearance as its D&D appearance sucked, but I like creatures that can change into a cyclops, white dragon and gnoll in the same battle.
Ravid - Its appearance should change into a more Rage Drake like form but still with its heavenly blue color intact, its abilities should stay and be nerved, so that it can only animate a maximum of 3 or 5 objects at one time.
Firbolg - I would like a very natural-based, hunting, king of wild beasts version of this giant.
Fomorian - More magical and fey-like than their D&D counterparts PE-lease.
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The following monsters are bound by copyright, but I would like similar creatures or just their unique abilities composed into totally different looking and behaving creatures:
Beholder - Any creature composed out of eyes is a must, Argus comes to mind here or some kind of spy creature.
Boggle - I really like its teleport ability which it uses to create teleport holes it sticks it hands in to steal far-away treasure.
Darktentacles - I like a swamp-octopus creature with so many long and chaotic tentacles.
Abyssal Maw - A demon that looks like a humongous gaping maw is never out of place! I would like a inner plane for this monster as well, everything it eats will be teleported to a realm inside this demon or maybe a link within its maw that connects to the abyss.
Jovoc - This little demon has the unique ability to pain mirror attacks made against it, so if you attack this horror you will be hurt yourself as well, it’s the aura I like, the monster itself is pretty pathetic.
Advespa - Devil (or demon/daemon) + wasp = win situation.
Burning Effigy - Coolest monster in Monster Manual 2 3rd edition... Like the Shadow Demon it takes possession of other creatures, but because it has so much negative energy inside of its flame-body, the body it possesses will start to burn in black flames after a while, until only a skeleton remains.
Ethereal Slayer - Mantis + Etherealness = Win, and its plane-anchor ability is awesome.
Famine Spirit - A fat zombie/ghoul creature that needs to eat as endless hunger plagues the creature.
Fiendwurm - Its demon belch ability is really awesome, puking out demons from an inner portal is really original.
Gravorg - A creature controlling gravity is awesome, but like the Gravorg it must be a creature that ONLY controls gravity, not some god-like monster that controls everything.
Hook Horror - I like underdark creatures that have hook-like claws to pull creatures into the darkness.
Julajimus - A large monster that takes the forms of cute little animals to lure its prey and even is taken inside the family only to eat the child at night is awesome!
Morkoth - I really like its underwater coral maze home.
Neogi - Slave takers from the underdark, count my vote please.
Nightmare Beast - Its nightmare aura is horrible and freaky, if you sleep within some miles from a nightmare beast you will be haunted by horrible visions and nightmares.
Orcwort - A tree monster that grows monstrous or mobile, hunting fruit or leaves is nice.
Thri-Kreen - Mantis people that look more monstrous than the Thri Kreen and aren't playable races but more monsters for a bestiary, I didn't really like the Thri-Kreen because their arms weren't really like a mantis...
Battlebriar - A large thorny creature that is like a battle-ram for druids and dryads, their ultimate protector.
Brood Keeper - A large beetle creature that can unleash a huge swarm of smaller versions of itself, maybe a huge scarab beetle that releases smaller scarabs.
Plague Spewer - A humongous creature that spews forth swarms of cockroaches or diseased rats or other plagues from its gaping maw.
Ragewalker - A creature that brings negativity everywhere it goes, old palls and friend will attack each other in its aura.
Snowflake Ooze - Frost/Snow/Ice + ooze.
Splinterwaif - Nasty version of the Dryad.
Zorbo - Like I already told before, Drop Bears.
Joystealer / Grey Jester - A creature that steals positive energy and turns it into negative energy and emotions.
Lodestone Marauder / Metalmaster - Magnetism, and again not some ultra-powerful creature like the plasma ooze but something that is not that intelligent and uses the magnetism to hunt prey more easily, much like the metalmaster does.
Swordwing - I really like them, something similar should be fun.
Draudnu - I really am in love with its horrible ability to make other creatures believe they have something growing inside of them, if your friends start to cut their own bodies to get something out it surely freaks you out!
Solamith - A fat demon that throws it own burning flesh.
Graveyard Sludge - I really tired of the ooze + acid combination... this ooze that animates the bones of its victims is much more original.
Merchurion - Anything made from quicksilver or mercury is cool in my book!
Verdant Reaver - This creature animates nature and plants around it and turns everything into a dangerous place.
Ripper - Some horrible creatures living in the streets and eating the organs of the homeless or lost children, they look like horrible disfigured humanoids with mantis features.
Purple Dragon - A underdark dragon would be cool.
Fetch - A creature stalking the vain and attacking them from beyond the mirror or pulling them through the mirror into the mirror realm is really cool, I really dislike the Nerra though, I prefer a demon like the Fetch or Mirror Mephit, something not so impossible and difficult as the Nerra.
Phane - A time-bending creature that is evil.
Caller in Darkness - Its probably legit to use as were its Crysmal and Intellect Devourer brothers.
Phthisic - A creature born from an insane mind.
Puppeteer - A small creature (such as a leech, tick or scarab) that controls the victim by attaching itself to its body.
Fossergrim - This one is taken from folklore and can be used freely.
Sporebat - A flying fungus.
Steel Predator - A creature made from steel to hunt and eat other steel/iron creatures.
Domovoi - Just like the creature from folklore.
Marzanna - A frost hag.
Blood Amniote / Blood Ooze / Blood Rot - Another original ooze made from blood, so much possibilities!
Boneyard - one of the best monsters out there, much like the bone golem but more like a shape shifter version of the bone golem, takes the forms of everything boney and absorbs the bones from its victims into its own form.
Cinderspawn - Undead elementals in general are cool!
Skin Kite - A creature made from shed skin or flayed skin.
Skirr - Mummy monsters that aren't humanoid.
Deepspawn - Creatures (maybe echidna) that gives birth to creatures it has eaten to form armies out of them.
Phargion - I really would like a monster that can turn itself into a ball to roll down over enemies, some woodlice or armadillo monster for example, Lufia has a cool monster named Tartona that could be used.
Beast of Malar - A monster that takes the shapes of different animals to hunt in every environment.
Saguaro Sentinel - Cactus monsters or humanoid cacti people, anything cactus is good.
Sand Hunter - Monsters that can merge together to create bigger versions of themselves, so while they are very small dog-like creatures all by itself they can merge with their family members to become something gargantuan.
Coral Golem - A creature created by the Sahuagin or any other sea race would be fun.
From the Lords of Madness book, so probably not OGL
Tsochar: Go look up a picture and you;ll find this awesome image of one. Basically an aberrant pile of tendrils that form a serpentine shape. They have a penchant for taking people's bodies by force.
Tsuchinoko
This creature is in many games, its some kind of earth-snake.
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Although Fomorians and Firbolgs would be awesome as well. You can never have enough Celtic/Irish monsters.
Indeed-y!
A 'Formorian' template that one could add to Ogres, Hill Giants or even larger forms of Giants, depending on what sort of CR you want to threaten, could be funky.
I prefer using Ettins, Athach and Cyclops as 'mutations' of Hill Giants or Ogres, in this manner, and adding a few other options (such as a version of the Fachan that doesn't look silly) under a blanket 'Formorian' mutatation / deformity template could work.
The Phasm would be neat, especially if it was made of energy that could take the physical form of other creatures. But retained it's immunites and defences since it was energy inside and doesn't bleed.
Coral golem would be cool but I really don't like it being limited to one race.
more bat-like monsters would be cool.
Rainbow serpents got my vote as well.
A non-evil Purple dragon that breaths fire and cold and is immune to both.