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I'm going to keep a open mind about the Bestiary. I just hope we get some unique monsters. I rather not see. Here is a Earth Giant. Followed by a Rock then Soil Giant. With no real variation between them. It makes for less new monsters and more filler. Less goofy monsters as well imo. I can't ever send say the monster from the 5th Bestiary I think it was a undead form of hair. My players would laugh their heads off even as a I TPK their characters. Nothing says scary like being attacked by undead hair.
Will we also get more playable races?
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Will we also get more playable races?
You'll find four of them in the product description. ^_^
I can safely say that at least one of them will be excellent (if a bit tough to slot into regular campaigns for thematic reasons).
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I'm happy with the mix I'm seeing so far of creatures, and am looking especially towards the rougarou.
The only 0HD races in the book will be the Naiad, Rougarou, Monkey Goblin, Yaddithian, and Munavri.
I have no problem with "goofy" monsters. Also what one person might consider "goofy" or "lame", another will think is awesome or cool.
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No, the sentence just has some typos in its construction. Yaddithians are their own race. I should know. ^_^
(I also screwed up the number in my previous post - there are five races, two of which are reprints.)
I'm going to keep a open mind about the Bestiary. I just hope we get some unique monsters. I rather not see. Here is a Earth Giant. Followed by a Rock then Soil Giant. With no real variation between them. It makes for less new monsters and more filler. Less goofy monsters as well imo. I can't ever send say the monster from the 5th Bestiary I think it was a undead form of hair. My players would laugh their heads off even as a I TPK their characters. Nothing says scary like being attacked by undead hair.
Will we also get more playable races?
Too bad for us, they are hooked on the elemental and environmental drakes, golems and giants. Those will forever show up.
While I can somewhat come into the golem part, I think two bestiaries of environment/elemental giants would have been enough, 1 elemental drake bestiary would have covered that part for me, much better monsters (even drop bears and ravids) could go to their somewhat forced pages.
Ugh.
I like the elemental/environmental drakes, golems, and giants. But to me it is too bad they are hooked on demons and devils.
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It's not so much a issue so much that despite having different names. Some of the environment/elemental creatures such a giants really don't stand out. Is there that much of a difference between a lake, river and ocean giant. Beyond the descriptions. At this point with six bestiaries they are running into the same problem that Wotc did. Too much "been there read that". After a certain point one can only rehash and reuse so many environment/elemental monsters before it becomes redundant imo.
I like the elemental/environmental drakes, golems, and giants. But to me it is too bad they are hooked on demons and devils.
I don't really care for more demons and devil too, but in this bestiary there are probably only lords. (hopefully, I never want to see the Wrath-Adventure path demons in a bestiary, those are instant skip pages.
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It'd be nice to have the thoxel demon in a Bestiary, if only so I could reference it in other publications. ^_^
I have nothing against the elemental/environmental creatures, as long as there is a strong diversity in their stats and purpose. I don't care about their name - be it lake, river, ocean or stone, rock, soil - as long as each of then has THAT thing that makes then unique. What I don't like is having two creatures that serve the same purpose or those that won't be useful at all.
But, indeed, in Bestiary 6, I'm more concerned about the "epic" creatures. Every bestiary has a theme - classic (B1) or mythology (B3) - and now finally a bestiary that promises to bring a great number of deities and legends to the stat blocks.
Isabelle,
I'd love for that and some devils from Council of Thieves along with daemons from other sources. Like Obsiciodaemon.
I hope to one day see stats for Cerberus, Echidna, Typhon, Fenrir, Python, Ladon, Jormungandr, and other CR26+ magical beast, monstrous humanoids, and dragons.
The Cerberi is not a unique CR26+ magical beast, so it would not be a great choice for Cerberus.
The Drakania is not even close to Echidna. I see her as a part woman, part dragon, part serpant, and maybe some other creature traits. She would be a monstrous humanoid around CR28 and can spawn any type of magical beast, monstrous humanoid, and any non-true dragon. Her mate Typhon(or Typhonous) would be a CR30 monstrous humanoid.
Not even close? The Drakania is a high-CR female creature with a serpentine-like lower body who can mass-produce monstrous spawn (including any magical beast, monstrous humanoid, and any non-true dragon). She's not an identical clone of Echidna, but is quite similar and fills the "Mother of Monsters" niche.The Cerberi is not a unique CR26+ magical beast, so it would not be a great choice for Cerberus.
The Drakania is not even close to Echidna. I see her as a part woman, part dragon, part serpant, and maybe some other creature traits. She would be a monstrous humanoid around CR28 and can spawn any type of magical beast, monstrous humanoid, and any non-true dragon. Her mate Typhon(or Typhonous) would be a CR30 monstrous humanoid.
She is not sexy enough for him probably ;-)
I love the Drakaina, good replacement for Echidna. I just think an unique Drakaina is called Echidna.
Well... Echidna is part of a class of female serpent/dragons with humanoid features from Greek mythology known as Drakaina.
Or, to put it another way:
Not all Drakaina are Echidna; only one of the Drakaina is Echidna.
Of course, this doesn't mean that Echidna cannot be statted up as a unique/advanced/demigod Drakaina (or even something else, like a Devil? Demon?).
But until then, one could just use Drakaina-stats for her.
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Well I asked Mr. Jacobs if Wild Hunt was a single creature or a group of creatures that form one stat block. He said they are a group but I am not sure if he meant like a type/subtype of creature or a group of creatures that are stated as one like a troop or swarm.It might be neat if it was a template, and creatures 'caught' by the Wild Hunt could be transformed and forced to join the hunt.
I know this isn't the product for it, but... there could be some really flavorful (and terrifying) future archetypes/hexes/revelations/a curse for witches, shamans, and oracles who have the Wild Hunt as their patron/mystery.
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No, the sentence just has some typos in its construction. Yaddithians are their own race. I should know. ^_^
(I also screwed up the number in my previous post - there are five races, two of which are reprints.)
There. are. FOUR! FIVE! races!
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I know this isn't the product for it, but... there could be some really flavorful (and terrifying) future archetypes/hexes/revelations/a curse for witches, shamans, and oracles who have the Wild Hunt as their patron/mystery.Well I asked Mr. Jacobs if Wild Hunt was a single creature or a group of creatures that form one stat block. He said they are a group but I am not sure if he meant like a type/subtype of creature or a group of creatures that are stated as one like a troop or swarm.It might be neat if it was a template, and creatures 'caught' by the Wild Hunt could be transformed and forced to join the hunt.
Seconded, though I might add mediums to that.
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It would be nice to see more undead based on other 0HD races like dwarves, tengu, catfolk, merfolk, etc.
It would be nice to see more undead based on other 0HD races like dwarves, tengu, catfolk, merfolk, etc.
At least for the dwarfs we already have one, the forge spurned.
Though it would also be nice to see more non-humanoid shaped undead as well.
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From the PRD:
"Skeleton" is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (referred to hereafter as the base creature). It uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Skeleton Size . . Natural Armor Bonus
Tiny or smaller . +0
Small . . . . . . +1
Medium or Large . +2
Huge . . . . . . +3
Gargantuan . . . +6
Colossal . . . . +10
Hit Dice: A skeleton drops any HD gained from class levels and changes racial HD to d8s. Creatures without racial HD are treated as if they have 1 racial HD. If the creature has more than 20 Hit Dice, it can't be made into a skeleton by the animate dead spell. A skeleton uses its Cha modifier (instead of its Con modifier) to determine bonus hit points.
Saves: Base save bonuses are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +1/2 HD + 2.
Defensive Abilities: A skeleton loses the base creature's defensive abilities and gains DR 5/bludgeoning and immunity to cold. It also gains all of the standard immunities and traits possessed by undead creatures.
Speed: A winged skeleton can't use its wings to fly. If the base creature flew magically, so can the skeleton. All other movement types are retained.
Attacks: A skeleton retains all the natural weapons, manufactured weapon attacks, and weapon proficiencies of the base creature, except for attacks that can't work without flesh. A creature with hands gains one claw attack per hand; the skeleton can strike with each of its claw attacks at its full attack bonus. A claw attack deals damage depending on the skeleton's size (see Natural Attacks). If the base creature already had claw attacks with its hands, use the skeleton claw damage only if it's better.
Special Attacks: A skeleton retains none of the base creature's special attacks.
Abilities: A skeleton's Dexterity increases by +2. It has no Constitution or Intelligence score, and its Wisdom and Charisma scores change to 10.
BAB: A skeleton's base attack bonus is equal to 3/4 of its Hit Dice.
Skills: A skeleton loses all skill ranks possessed by the base creature and gains none of its own.
Feats: A skeleton loses all feats possessed by the base creature and gains Improved Initiative as a bonus feat.
Special Qualities: A skeleton loses most special qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks.
So you can make anything you want into a skeleton, just use normal stats and make adjustments.
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I am talking about unique/specific undead, not templates.
HOw can you even create an unique Tengu undead that isn't a Tengu Zombie or a Tengu Skeleton? A Tengu Mummy?
Nah, I hope to see more non-humanoid undead. Something like the Boneyard from D&D, the BEST undead monster like EVAH.
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HOw can you even create an unique Tengu undead that isn't a Tengu Zombie or a Tengu Skeleton? A Tengu Mummy?
I'm assuming he's referring to an undead creature that ties into specific themes pertaining to that race.
For a tengu, something to do with remaining tied to a beloved sword (reflective of their swordtraining trait) or involving language (related to their linguistics knack).
For a dwarf, something involving stonecunning (tied to a certain area of earth and stone, perhaps 'haunting' a trap or rockfall), or greed (tied to a piece of jewelry or hoard of coins), or hatred (one's hatred for orcs or goblinoids manifest as a raging spectral entity that targets those creatures specifically, but is incapable of directly harming them, so possesses and influences the living to carry on their genocidal vendettas).
An elven-specific undead could bond with a spellbook she wrote in life, or even 'possess' a specific spell, so that every time it is prepared, she lingers in the spellcaster, and when it is cast, she gets a moment of freedom or control, or involve possessing an animal companion or familiar that the elf once bonded with, before their death, so that some fragment of the elf's rage at their sudden death remains lodged in the animal, driving it mad.
Not just, oh, it's a ghoul, with a beak, or, oh, it's a mummy, with pointy ears.
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Creative Director
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When a humanoid creature becomes undead, it changes to that undead. A wraith or a mohrg or a ghoul or a shadow or an anything else is exactly the same, statistics-wise, whether it was a human or an elf or a tengu or a lizardfolk or a dwarf or a kasatha or a tiefling or any other Medium humanoid. Small or Large humanoids who become undead of course have slightly different stats, as appropriate for their size change. So there's no reason why the next time you have your party attacked by wights that they can't be orc wights, or the next time the PCs encounter a huecuva it can't be a catfolk.
Specific undead that come from specific races, such as banshees or vukodlaks or wyrmwraiths or the like, are indeed an interesting venue to take undead into, though. We don't really have any undead in this category so much in Bestiary 6, but the fact that it's such an interesting and rich untapped source of potential ideas is like my reason 30 why I'm not concerned about "running out of monster ideas" for bestiaries anytime this century.
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Creative Director
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Not just, oh, it's a ghoul, with a beak, or, oh, it's a mummy, with pointy ears.
Don't underestimate the power something like that has in play. Simply saying that these undead look like they were tengus in life but then just using the stats for a ghoul can REALLY put players on edge and freak them out and make them approach the encounter with as much fear and uncertainty as they would with an entirely new monster.
I am talking about undead that are unique to that race or creature. We have some like that but very few for non-human races.
I wished the creator of the mohrg would have been more creative with it. Instead of just a skeleton mass murderer how about this idea: the mohrg is actually a disease/corruption from the far realm that clings itself to extreme vile murderers, assassins and killers, it grows like a cancer with every kill the host makes until eventually it becomes so big it bursts out of its host and becomes its own creature, an cancerous mess that controlls the bones of its old murderous host. This turns the mohrg into an aberration though.
I hope this bestiary has an animated grimoire monster, a possessed spellbook of evil that absorbs creatures into its pages so it can summon its own copies of the creatures to fight/capture more other creatures with.
I also want to see something like the d&d hullathoin, a non-humanoid force of undead that creates undead outbreaks everywhere it goes, all that dies in its aura rise as suiting undead, all undead gain more power when the creature is near and fight with more ferocity. They are like Gods among the undead. Atropal could also work for this role.
While I do like undead - those come from specific races even more - I hope bestiary 6 has lots of outsiders, magical beasts and fey.
Yet,
Speaking of templates, I would love to see something that would be the counterpart of the Broken Soul template in Bestiary 6. Something that would turn evil into good, like a Redeemed Soul or Enlightened Soul template.
A redeemed/enlightened soul template would be interesting. If they do make such a template they need to use a succubus or vampire as the base creature.
A redeemed/enlightened soul template would be interesting. If they do make such a template they need to use a succubus or vampire as the base creature.
. Because it would make a boring pretty girl picture? No. They should take a very evil and ugly creature like a aboleth or vrock.
A redeemed/enlightened soul template would be interesting. If they do make such a template they need to use a succubus or vampire as the base creature.. Because it would make a boring pretty girl picture? No. They should take a very evil and ugly creature like a aboleth or vrock.
I have to agree with Nightterror, mu bronze cousin. Taking an ugly creature would cause a greater impact. My choices were a Babau, a Bearded Devil, indeed the vrock, a meladaemon or a pit fiend. I would also like a red dragon, a lich or a nightmare.