Carrion Crown: Monsters


Carrion Crown

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And since we're here, here's a few from my own part of the world.

Pontianak
A local take on the vampire concept which is supposed to "possess the victim and suck their blood from the inside, slowly killing them." Other versions of the tale go with a more straightforward "rip, tear and eat" approach. Hilariously, a regional capital in neighboring Indonesia is supposedly named after the appearance of these creatures.

Penanggalan
Another local demon which comprises a floating attractive (usually) female head dragging it's entrails beneath it. Contact supposedly inflicts a supernatural affliction. Capable of melding into society by reattaching to it's original body and functioning like a regular human during daytime to keep up appearances.

Orang Minyak
Literally the "Oily Man", this is a naked supernatural rapist slathered from head to toe with black grease. (Less amusing is the fact that more mundane criminals have been known to emulate this, believing the grease makes them harder to hold on to if the attempt goes bad - trust me on this - as members of local law enforcement will tell you, the stuff stains.)

Toyol
A mystical servant (though thought to be a demonic creature) bound in a Human foetus. Usually thieves and pranksters, though capable of much more malicious acts. Often believed to be passed down through to successive members of the bloodline through inheritance (whether wanted or not).

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Headless Horseman! (High level threat, Vorpal Blade and a powerful need for a new head)

Pumpkin King - Pumpkin Head, candle-lit eyes and a master of terror.

Vengeance Spirit - Something like what you'd see in Ring or The Grudge, a monster that comes with a built in haunt.

Not a new monster but:

New Curses <- - - Being cursed is a big part of horror lore (see Drag Me To Hell for a recent example).

Dark Archive

Neo Otyugh and pumpkin heads (from Everquest 1)


James will like this one on two levels, and it covers the Loch Ness angle someone else chimed in with:

A zombie plesiosaur

I'm totally thinking Dana Knutson's cover from Castles Forlorn!


I've only got one suggestion/request:

The Gentlemen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series.


Cydeth wrote:

I'd say go for something along the lines of the Navajo Skinwalkers. I'm of Native American heritage myself, and my dad taught on a Navajo reservation, so I know that the stories of them are...frightening. Seriously, even thinking about them make me jumpy. A link to the wikipedia article can be found Here, and I'll add something my dad told me about.

In some of the legends he told me about, differing from Wikipedia, skinwalkers could take the form of someone still alive, but the only way to tell the difference is that their body is...mirrored. Left and right are exchanged, so if you know them well, you might notice it.

Edit: Fixed the Link.

Pretty much all I know of skinwalkers comes from a Tony Hillerman novel, but yeah, definately a good suggestion.

Contributor

Lots of VERY cool ideas here folks. Keep 'em coming, I'm definitely taking notes!

Liberty's Edge

Dies Irae wrote:

And since we're here, here's a few from my own part of the world.

Are you from Malaysia Dies Irae?

Those are some good creepy / horrific ones, if you haven't given the Paizo guys inspiration for Carrion Crown, maybe some of them will make it into Jade Regent (I very much expect we'll see Penanggalan in that AP one way or another).

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

The Pied Piper


Mothman wrote:

Are you from Malaysia Dies Irae?

Nope. Little RED dot next door. ;-)

Liberty's Edge

Dies Irae wrote:
Mothman wrote:

Are you from Malaysia Dies Irae?

Nope. Little RED dot next door. ;-)

Singapore?


Dies Irae wrote:
Mothman wrote:

Are you from Malaysia Dies Irae?

Nope. Little RED dot next door. ;-)

Indo maybe - not so little though...


You cant go past my favourite poem.....

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch

borogove (plural borogoves)A thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, something like a live mop

The Bandersnatch The form or size of the creature is not described,

The Jubjub bird Its voice, when heard is described "a scream, shrill and high" like a pencil squeaking on a slate, and significantly scares those who hear it

Rath — A sort of green pig

Tove — A combination of a badger, a lizard, and a corkscrew.


+1 for the Spring Heel Jack & new hags [the Glaistag perhaps - a blood drinking beguiling hag who could take the form of a goat...]

Norse Undead:

Draugr: stinking size changing corpses that brutally strong and could "swim" through the earth or become whisps of mist...

Haugbui: hungry barrow dwelling ghosts that could recite skaldic verse through stolen tongues...

(Interestingly beheading these undead meant they bestowed a boon of power and spiritual/soul substitution upon those who vanquished them)

On the Scottish front what about:

The Wulver - a benign wolfman who fishes to feed the poor

Shellycoats - mischevous river dwelling fey who wore rattling coats of shells

Just my 2 runes worth to this great thread

Grand Lodge

I will throw in support for Skinwalkers as well. Just darn scary to me.

Any variant on lycanthropy. I'd really like to see variations on werewolves and such.

Perhaps not exactly a monster but COULD be sort of... a definitive location (like Castle Ravenloft had so much character and flavor and just plain cool looking as a map) that is a massive haunt, alive, cursed whatever. The House of Usher comes to mind, Amityville Horror.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

What about the other Jacks too:

Jack Frost

Jack o' Lantern

Jack Be Nimble

An entire series of Jack Monsters based on seasons...


DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

What about the other Jacks too:

Jack Frost

Jack o' Lantern

Jack Be Nimble

An entire series of Jack Monsters based on seasons...

Jack-a-Nape

Jackalope


Ahh, the 8th dwarf has reminded me of another work, by the same author, The Hunting of the Snark which contains a little further (terrifying!) information on the Bandersnatch, and some stuff about jubjub birds too. (If I recall correctly jubjubs have some sort of weird collecting for popular [charity?] causes function, even though they don't actually believe in those causes themselves...)
The real villain in the Carroll canon is the snark which is a boojum, however... Those who actually meet with a boojum simply disappear and are never seen or heard from again. They might have time to try and get out a warning 'it's a boo...' before being cut off in mid-shout.


Mothman wrote:

Singapore?

Yep. Home of the few, the proud, the kiasu...

And so this doesn't turn into a waste of space post...

Shui Gui
Literally a water ghost, these are the disquiet spirits of the drowned which lurk near their point of death. Shui Gui surprise and drag victims underwater. Drowning the victim will restore the Shui Gui; to life leaving the newly drowned to take it's place.

Gui Lu
Literally translated into English as ghost road, the Gui Lu subsists on the travelers it draws onto itself. Some variants of this spirit are presented as fog created illusionary terrain, other versions as actual malicious sentient landscape. Either way the result is the same, once on a Gui Lu, the traveler is doomed to wander an endless path, trapped within the Gui Lu itself.

Admittedly, the above are probably more useful as haunts than actual monster

Pocong
Commonly presented as a hopping corpse wrapped tightly in a grave shroud restricting it's movements, the Pocong appears a somewhat comical concept and is usually created when a body is improperly prepared for burial. Some stories featuring Pocongs are less humorous though describing the creature as projecting feelings of constant rage at their ill treatment capable of driving men insane and scaring victims to death with their horrific countenances when the shroud is invariably breached.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2009, RPG Superstar Judgernaut

Dies Irae wrote:
Admittedly, the above are probably more useful as haunts than actual monster

So, not so! Oh, what I could do with these...

Dies Irae wrote:

Shui Gui

Literally a water ghost, these are the disquiet spirits of the drowned which lurk near their point of death. Shui Gui surprise and drag victims underwater. Drowning the victim will restore the Shui Gui; to life leaving the newly drowned to take it's place.

...and...

Dies Irae wrote:

Gui Lu

Literally translated into English as ghost road, the Gui Lu subsists on the travelers it draws onto itself. Some variants of this spirit are presented as fog created illusionary terrain, other versions as actual malicious sentient landscape. Either way the result is the same, once on a Gui Lu, the traveler is doomed to wander an endless path, trapped within the Gui Lu itself.

Very tasty stuff. :->


Paul Ryan wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

OMG!

IGORS AS A RACE!!!!

Awesome.

"I'm a 12th level igor! I have improved hunch!"

If you go there, read Pratchett for inspiration first. His Igors are fun.

Yes.. Igor Class.. "Bloodline Features".. like..

"You got your mother's eyes and your father's hair"
"Yes, I inherited them when they died.."


Dies Irae wrote:

Penanggalan

Another local demon which comprises a floating attractive (usually) female head dragging it's entrails beneath it. Contact supposedly inflicts a supernatural affliction. Capable of melding into society by reattaching to it's original body and functioning like a regular human during daytime to keep up appearances.

Exactly what I was about to recommend - nothing has ever struck me as so horrific as this creature (ever since a really old Dragon Magazine fiction story). Must have!


Arthun wrote:
Paul Ryan wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

OMG!

IGORS AS A RACE!!!!

Awesome.

"I'm a 12th level igor! I have improved hunch!"

If you go there, read Pratchett for inspiration first. His Igors are fun.

Yes.. Igor Class.. "Bloodline Features".. like..

"You got your mother's eyes and your father's hair"
"Yes, I inherited them when they died.."

Hmm, and that is a very good demonstration of why I think Terry Pratchett (and Igors) are exceptionally good for slapstick comedy, but I have doubts that they'd fit the general tone of Golarion, let alone of Ustalav. It seems to me that only He Whose Name Must Not Be Posted But I'll Post It Anyway (Nick Logue, in other words) might be able to make Igors work, but he seems to have disappeared entirely since the Larazod play (assassinated, like the original playwright?).

:-?

There have been 'broken ones' around in the game though for a while. Some variation of those?

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I think Igors could work great in Golarion. As always it's a matter of flavour and style.

What could be creepier than a race that literally retains its immortality by stitching pieces of other people to themselves? Furthermore they always seem to serve mad wizards, insane alchemists or power mad vampires. Pushing them just that little bit further than conventional sense or morality would dictate...


DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

I think Igors could work great in Golarion. As always it's a matter of flavour and style.

What could be creepier than a race that literally retains its immortality by stitching pieces of other people to themselves? Furthermore they always seem to serve mad wizards, insane alchemists or power mad vampires. Pushing them just that little bit further than conventional sense or morality would dictate...

You could make the Igor an advanced form of homunculus.


(edited, tidied up)
On a practical note it also seems to me very likely that Terry Pratchett's igors are the intellectual property of Terry Pratchett, and that Paizo would have to obtain his permission before even using the word 'igor' for a manic servitor race or putting out anything which otherwise closely resembled them.
Possibly Steve Jackson games might have to be involved too. (Isn't there already a Discworld GURPS?)


Charles Evans 25 wrote:


Possibly Steve Jackson games might have to be involved too. (Isn't there already a Discworld GURPS?)

Yup, there is. Been meaning to get that one, but Paizo keep publishing stuff that pushes it down on the priority list. Wouldn't surprise me if it's gone out of print now.

Dark Archive

This is a 100% PF inspired creature and draws little from actual mythology - more from cinema I guess.

Also due to the nature of the origins of the creature, it may be hard to incorporate into a CC bestiary, but hey....
apologies in advance for any lameness and liberties/mistakes with regard to Golarion and the Darklands

Blightburned (Template)- The rare undead who arise after dying from exposure to the deadly blightburn crystal formations found in the Darklands.
The corpses which arise a riddled with sores and and burns, most if not all of their hair has withered off their heads and bodies. What is most disturbing is the slight greenish glow which continuously emanates from their bodies. While this radiation is not as deadly as the source crystals which created them, the Blightburned touch conveys a simliar horrid energy to those they comes into contact with, their mere touch causing painful burns and sores.
The unholy energy which animates them also makes the use of Teleportation or Dimension Door much more difficult in their immediate vicinity, making them ideal if not dangerous guardians for the evil cleric or necromancer who can find a means to control these creatures. The large the number of Blightburned, the greater the difficulty to use these spell successfully.
Due to their brittle bones and desiccated bodies they are not too difficult to actually destroy, but at great risk to those who come in close contact during the course of combat.

The Blightburned seem to arise spontaneously in the Darkland realm of Sekamina under the surface lands of Ustalav. Some attribute this to the cursed nature of Ustalav but sages who have a greater understanding of the Darklands suspect that these abominations arise from chance undetected marrowstone veins which contain large quantities of Lazurite located near the deadly Blightburn crystal formations where these creatures originally died.


Because every list needs an unpublishable suggestion or two...

Hantu Tetek
Because the topic would come up eventually, I might as well point out this downright surreal Hantu Tetek. Hantu is Malay for Ghost or Demon. The more filthy minded may have already figured out what Tetek refer to. Literally the Breast Ghost. Looks like an attractive woman with exceptionally sized... assets. Preys upon men by smothering them to death with her massive bosom.

Hantu Galah
The Pole Ghost or Hantu Galah initially appears as a emaciated lanky human male that is drawn to sound. When the spirit realizes it is being observed, it begins to stretch and grow in until it reaches immense height, with thin dark stick like legs. Observers are often hypnotically compelled to watch the creature's growth and cursed with the inability to lower their head as their neck becomes trapped in place. Usually, attacks anyone who attempts to walks between his legs but is passive (if unnerving) for the most part unless provoked.

Okay.

That was pretty normal unless you mistook a Hantu KengKeng for a Hantu Galah. It's often easy to make the mistake until it beats you to death with well... his... well... third leg.


I would like to see vampires in the image of Nosferatu, like in the old Murneau movie, and not just Dracula-like ones.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Malaclypse wrote:


I would like to see vampires in the image of Nosferatu, like in the old Murneau movie, and not just Dracula-like ones.

Nosferatu have been published in Pathfinder #8. Granted it was 3.5, but I'm not sure it should take up pages in an AP bestiary section twice.

Sovereign Court

Majuba wrote:
Dies Irae wrote:

Penanggalan

Another local demon which comprises a floating attractive (usually) female head dragging it's entrails beneath it. Contact supposedly inflicts a supernatural affliction. Capable of melding into society by reattaching to it's original body and functioning like a regular human during daytime to keep up appearances.
Exactly what I was about to recommend - nothing has ever struck me as so horrific as this creature (ever since a really old Dragon Magazine fiction story). Must have!

Spoiler:
Used as a variant vampire in Dave Gross' Pathfinder Novel Prince of Wolves!

Someone mentioned the Revenant, this would be a good time to update it from AP2.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Dark Riders Like from Lord of the Rings.

Chemical Mutant When an Alchemist overdoses and becomes something truly monstrous and wrong then the chemical mutant is born. Driven by unbridled Id.

The Little God It controls the haunted and spooky woodland that it lives in. The little god accepts only blood tribute to allow passage for those who enter its domain, and relentlessly punishes those who do not pay the price.

The Twisted Cultist Sewing their eyes and mouths shut, the twisted cultists have been given a twisted power by their dark and malevolent benefactors. Supernaturally strong and terrible in their conviction they are immortal so long as their connection to their dark patron exists.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

The Brain in A Jar A mind so powerful it can control those around it. The Brain in a Jar might be a long forgotten alchemical experiment or a strange attempt at immortality by a spell-caster. In any case it continues its bizarre experiments as it seeks a new and suitable body. The Brain That Wouldn't Die...

Great Beast An animal of great size and evil cunning. It turns hunter into hunted, attacking the players at their weakest. Anaconda, Jaws, The Ghost and the Darkness


Paul Watson wrote:
Malaclypse wrote:


I would like to see vampires in the image of Nosferatu, like in the old Murneau movie, and not just Dracula-like ones.

Nosferatu have been published in Pathfinder #8. Granted it was 3.5, but I'm not sure it should take up pages in an AP bestiary section twice.

Cool, didn't know that. Thanks for the tip.


GeraintElberion wrote:
Majuba wrote:
Dies Irae wrote:

Penanggalan

Another local demon which comprises a floating attractive (usually) female head dragging it's entrails beneath it. Contact supposedly inflicts a supernatural affliction. Capable of melding into society by reattaching to it's original body and functioning like a regular human during daytime to keep up appearances.
Exactly what I was about to recommend - nothing has ever struck me as so horrific as this creature (ever since a really old Dragon Magazine fiction story). Must have!

Used as a variant vampire in Dave Gross' Pathfinder Novel Prince of Wolves!

Someone mentioned the Revenant, this would be a good time to update it from AP2.

The penanggalan are mentioned in the Aswang entry of Vampiric Breeds in Classic Horrors Revisited. They aren't statted-up, but they're described in the same sentence as manananggal.

Classic Horrors Revisited, page 49: "Seemingly related to these grotesque undead are the dismembered manananggal and penanggalan, horrifying vampiric witches that respectively abandon their lower bodies or all but their heads and dangling entrails as they take to the hunt."

Would be cool to see them statted up, but when it comes down to it, they sound like an undead variant vargouille.

By the way, SOME of us aren't that far in Prince of Wolves yet. I'm not, but I have a pretty good idea of who is the monster in question (now that you mentioned it). *mumbles about spoilers*

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

In on honor of the chupacabra, I think the Cucuy needs some love, or the llorona (though thinking on it a ghost or banshee could fill her role).


what about something a bit like the "eye monster" from pan's labyrinth?


A black coach driven by a team of black horses that runs between here and hell. A battle fought in a graveyard where the dead are rising. Swamp monsters. Doorways to hell and mortals who have made a deal with the devil. Some form of headless horseman doing the nazgul thing. A carnival of the damned (complete with insane, undead, clowns).


Apart from all the Norse and Scots bogie men and barrow dead that I mentioned above, also think this: scary assed water spirit from a safety ad from my childhood should feature...

Cloaks and water [shudders] - guarenteed Shaken condition to this day lol


Not folklore, or even rea world, but the Rat King from Terry Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents has got to be one of the scariest monsters in recent literary history - despite appearing in the same book as someone called Doppfelpunkt.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Folklore Rat King.

Contributor

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Folklore Rat King.

Mr. Meister, this is the most @#$%ed-upitly awesome thing I've seen on this thread and I'm TOTALLY sold on it. Nicely done.

Liberty's Edge

F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Folklore Rat King.
Mr. Meister, this is the most @#$%ed-upitly awesome thing I've seen on this thread and I'm TOTALLY sold on it. Nicely done.

Rat Kings are indeed very cool and f%%*ed up.

For a very good take on this style of Rat King in literature, read Rats and Gargoyles by Mary Gentle (it’s also a very, very good book, I like its sequel The Architecture of Desire also).

Silver Crusade

OH GOD THOSE RATS AGAIN

Imma throw out those Horned Witches from Irish folklore again. ;) But other than those...

Seconding Rusalkas, loudly in fact. (and I'll cop to the fact that I only know them because of Quest for Glory 4(I'd request Necrotaurs if I could!))

A Dullahan is fine too.

Mowing devils, trolling farmers.

And while it's a place and not a creature, please please please do something with beautiful, sunny Kutna Hora.

Sovereign Court

Gothic horror shouldn't be about how tough the robeast is you fight, it HAS to be about the story and HAS to contain some romance, no matter how frightening that concept is for some gamers.

I suggest the classic monsters only: vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, both real and accused. Envious humans. Haunted places should be the Ustalav trait. Those should be your monsters. Foul sites with memories of ancient deeds...Architecture that helps invoke that slow sense of pleasing terror that is essential to the genre. Otherwise its just horror not Gothic horror.

Rat King...that straight out rocks the kasbah though...

Contributor

Cardinal_Malik wrote:
I suggest the classic monsters only: vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches, both real and accused. Envious humans. Haunted places should be the Ustalav trait. Those should be your monsters. Foul sites with memories of ancient deeds...Architecture that helps invoke that slow sense of pleasing terror that is essential to the genre. Otherwise its just horror not Gothic horror.

Then I think you'll be pleased with the descriptions of the upcoming Carrion Crown APs. Here I'm primarily soliciting ideas for the bestiaries included in each volume.

Sovereign Court

Perhaps variants on the classic OGL monsters. I love the way the Derro are handled in the classic monsters revisited. Torture, is an element of old gothic horror too. The Nosferatu from Crimson Throne was awesome, I think monsters in this vein (pun) are the ideal. A variant Lycanthrope, like a weremink or wereparther, Variant flesh golems that are perhaps stitched together from the decayed remains of demons? Creepy Zon-Kuthon favored creature like a pain priest or some torture acolyte. Intoxicating plants that give cosmic shattering hallucinations that cause the victim to enter murderous rages, simple, friendly folk that abhor religion and sacrifice adventurers to help their crops grow...

Liberty's Edge

Cardinal_Malik wrote:

Foul sites with memories of ancient deeds...Architecture that helps invoke that slow sense of pleasing terror that is essential to the genre. Otherwise its just horror not Gothic horror.

Yes, architecture (and to lesser extent landscape) is of extreme importance in Gothic Horror. Think of classics such as The Castle Otranto, Northanger Abbey (ok, a parody of the gothic style, but still...), Wuthering Heights, Dracula, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Turn of the Screw, and the role that architecture (and/or landscape) play in these.

Also, as well as monsters, don’t neglect madmen /women, sinister or mysterious religious figures (nuns, monks, priests, even angels), and evil but all too human villains with a tragic past.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Folklore Rat King.
Mr. Meister, this is the most @#$%ed-upitly awesome thing I've seen on this thread and I'm TOTALLY sold on it. Nicely done.

Cool, when I get the issue with the Rat King in I'll enjoy a smug sense of satisfaction. :)

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