In the Bullywug Gambit the Pc's are attacked by a "savage Phanaton" while in the smugglers caves. Anyone know if these obscure little creatures will pop up later in the campaign. I know they were featured in the original Isle of dread module, I'm wondering if they are featured more in the STAP.
thanks,
The phanaton in "Bullywug" is indeed forshadowing. Phanatons play a fairly large part in "Tides of Dread," and would certainly make excellent choices for mid-campaign PCs for replacement or new characters.
Thanks james... Thats what I figured. Anyone know where I can get a decent picture of a phanaton?
Creative Director
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There's plenty of good phanaton pictures coming up in both Dragon and Dungeon. They were updated to 3.5 in a recent issue of Dragon as well (the one with the Lady of Pain on the cover). Plus, the old classic Isle of Dread has lots of great line drawings of them doing their thing.
They were illustrated several times between Isle of Dread and Savage Tide, but I personally didn't care for most of those illos; they looked less like phanatons and more like raccoons. Pass.
There's a picture of a phanaton over on the Vaults of Pandius pages. It's from the Savage Coast download available on the WotC site (but, conveniently enough, it's also on Pandius, and in a viewable online version as well- just in case you were interested in learning a bit about its Mystaran origins).
They were illustrated several times between Isle of Dread and Savage Tide, but I personally didn't care for most of those illos; they looked less like phanatons and more like raccoons. Pass.
I think I know what you mean here, but to be fair, the phanatons were originally described as a cross between raccoons and monkeys. As a result, most of the pictures of them really seem to play up the raccoon aspect (making them, basically, just humanoid raccoons). The tiny picture of them in X1 (orange cover) has a big raccoonish face on it- though it looks the least like a raccoon than many later pictures of the phanaton.
Terry Dykstra's illustration of the phanatons in Dragon #188 was okay- though they were notably missing their wingflaps. The phanaton in the Creature Catalog is a bit iffy. I think the best illustrations of them that I have seen are the one I linked to from Red Steel, and the one in the Mystara Monstrous Compendium (one of the real gems of that product).
Sadly, the blue cover X1 is one of the few classic modules I don't own. I know it has some different artwork of the kopru (one of the few places to get the image of those guys right, actually), and from what you describe, evidently it has some different artwork of the phanatons. One more reason I need to pick up that version one of these days.
I look forward to seeing the phanatons in Savage Tide, but now that the point has come up, will there be any full-bodied pictures of Kopru in STAP?
There's a picture of a phanaton over on the Vaults of Pandius pages. It's from the Savage Coast download available on the WotC site (but, conveniently enough, it's also on Pandius, and in a viewable online version as well- just in case you were interested in learning a bit about its Mystaran origins).
That link takes you (or at least me) to the list of files on the Vaults. The direct link to the Savage Coast entry is here and a direct link to the picture is here.
Regards
Mortis
Sadly, the blue cover X1 is one of the few classic modules I don't own.
I don't own it, but I did own it at one time. Sadly, it disappeared during a blasphemous period of my life when I didn't think role playing was cool. (I've recovered and taught my kids and wife to love it too.)
However, I do still own the original Lost Caverns of Tsjocanth(never can spell that without looking at the module). Wish I still had that Isle of Dread though....
There's plenty of good phanaton pictures coming up in both Dragon and Dungeon. They were updated to 3.5 in a recent issue of Dragon as well (the one with the Lady of Pain on the cover). Plus, the old classic Isle of Dread has lots of great line drawings of them doing their thing.
They were illustrated several times between Isle of Dread and Savage Tide, but I personally didn't care for most of those illos; they looked less like phanatons and more like raccoons. Pass.
Thanks for the info James...guess I wait for the new pics to come out. Thanks for the links guys, but IMO that one is too Racoon-ish as well. :)
Why are phanatons not extinct? They appear to be much furrier than monkeys (more like Siberian huskies, in most of the illustrations)--perfect for a Pleistocene climate--but they live in a modern tropical rainforest environment! And, unlike sloths, they seem to be extremely active. Maybe there's some sort of magic at work here (resistances: fire 10? immunities: nonlethal heat damage?)
Why are phanatons not extinct? They appear to be much furrier than monkeys (more like Siberian huskies, in most of the illustrations)--perfect for a Pleistocene climate--but they live in a modern tropical rainforest environment! And, unlike sloths, they seem to be extremely active. Maybe there's some sort of magic at work here (resistances: fire 10? immunities: nonlethal heat damage?)
They live on the Isle of Dread, explanation enough. things don't go extinct there.