Descriptions for the undescribable

[catdragon]

So there are monsters in the PF system/world that are indescribable, or whose descriptions are malleable. The one that comes to mind at the current moment, because i am writing an adventure with it in it, is the animate dream.

How would you describe something like that? And as a followup, what about other monsters that are similar? Ghosts are fairly easy, since they sort of depend on what there were like in life. But what about the oozes? Plants? Or elementals?

Or we could expand the subject to different ways to describe common creatures to confuse your players and keep them on their toes.

[Sissyl]

The point of an ooze is that is it ALIEN. It is a creature that has no sensible explanation, and yet it is there, and it will digest your flesh slowly. They are somewhere between liquids and gels, and will run, dribble, slither, drip, and pool. Push them and they will jiggle. They should feel a bit like napalm - if it touches you, you will carry the scars forever. So... "As you watch, the pool in the corner of the room stretches out from its basin, somehow grabbing the floor and bulging toward you. In the light of the torch, you see that it's not actually clear, but rather a sick gray colour. The acrid smell in the room grows heavier, like sharp vomit. As it reaches you, a large gelatinous lump has formed, as the ooze attacks."

[catdragon]

How about something like an animate dream? Does it look different for each creature that sees it? Does it look the same? Does it change? It is "smart" enough to get psychic impressions from those its attacks?

Or is it a nightmare/dream that just stays the same? For example, Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street could be an animate dream.

[Lincoln Hills]

In the case of the animate dream, it doesn't have any special powers indicating that it looks different to different people, nor any sort of shape-shifting descriptor. And since peoples' nightmares tend to be extremely subjective, the form it's locked in might not be frightening at all... at least, until it attacks.

For monsters that really don't have a fixed shape, it may be best to focus on describing the way it looks or sounds as it perpetually changes. Useful words: convulse, glisten, deformed, shuddering, fluid, nightmarish, pulsing, incoherent, chattering, and involuntary.

[M1k31]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

In the case of the animate dream, it doesn't have any special powers indicating that it looks different to different people, nor any sort of shape-shifting descriptor. And since peoples' nightmares tend to be extremely subjective, the form it's locked in might not be frightening at all... at least, until it attacks.

For monsters that really don't have a fixed shape, it may be best to focus on describing the way it looks or sounds as it perpetually changes. Useful words: convulse, glisten, deformed, shuddering, fluid, nightmarish, pulsing, incoherent, chattering, and involuntary.

I would expect an Animate dream to change like Fan-art... It probably is created like a Freddy Krueger, so perhaps it would be best to introduce by first person accounts, Sightings, copy cat killers, or Urban legends.

It may even be productive to introduce it in a one-off... Tell players to make 1st level NPC's, draw upon players to write down horror/nightmare characteristics and kill off the NPC's with it, molding it as you go.

You could have players put descriptors in a hat and draw them out one by one, or print/write up lists of 6 options for each body part, personality, habits, weakness, backstory, etc. or Get players to each fill out a possibility for each and roll for it.

[Mudfoot]

I would point you at HP Lovecraft's favourite words.

I love me some squamous.

[Kahel Stormbender]

Thanks for that link Mudfoot. I now have an ebook of the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft on my tablet. :)