Creative Director
|
Pathfinder #33 is pretty much the most we've done with these guys; we even have a (undead) cyclops on the cover!
There's a LITTLE bit more information about them in the upcoming Inner Sea World Guide. Basically, cyclops empires once existed in Ghol-Gan (what is now Mediogalti Isle, the Shackles, and the Sodden Lands, more or less) and also up in Iobaria (the region just off the map to the east of Brevoy and the River Kingdoms and Galt) a LONG time ago.
I really like the Cyclops from Fell Beasts Volume III, from Adamant Entertainment.
They look like the old cyclops, like in Harryhausen movies.
|
Creative Director
|
I really like the Cyclops from Fell Beasts Volume III, from Adamant Entertainment.
They look like the old cyclops, like in Harryhausen movies.
So do the great cyclopes in our world, in fact. We statted them up in the aforementioned Pathfinder #33 (but first hinted about them in the cyclops entry in the Bestiary).
We've got big plans for those big horned Harryhausen style cyclopes, in fact.
Big plans.
In case you find this useful, I gathered the info out there on the myths of the Cyclops in the Padishah Empire thread, here. It might provide some ideas.
The cyclops from PF 33 was a great idea. There is a chained deathless cyclops in Qadira (Gurat), he serves to the Keleshite rulers as an oracle.
I wonder if Paizo will ever mention fomorians.
So do the great cyclopes in our world, in fact. We statted them up in the aforementioned Pathfinder #33 (but first hinted about them in the cyclops entry in the Bestiary).
We've got big plans for those big horned Harryhausen style cyclopes, in fact.
Big plans.
OOH! Any clue on the nature of those big plans? PWETTY PWEEEASE...
Any info would be immensely helpful, either from fans or if any of the writers could offer any insider insight on how Pathfinder deals with the cyclops race.
There's another cyclops appearing in...
...the final chapter of Serpent's Skull in "Sanctum of the Serpent God" where I basically had him trapped in suspended animation from before the Starstone's Earthfall event. Ages ago, he served as a general in the allied armies of Azlant while fighting the serpentfolk back in their hey-day. And he sort of serves as an example of what a cyclops at the height of his civilization's power might have been like. Along those lines, my original turnover for General Aveshai also used the Time Seer template from the Advanced Bestiary as a heightend portrayal of the cyclops' "flash of insight" racial ability, but that bit of his design hit the cutting room floor during development.
Originally, I envisioned this guy as an adventuring cyclops out of Iobaria...but, based on the information James just shared about the other geographic locations of ancient cyclops civilizations, it probably makes sense to have him come from the area related to the Shackles and the Sodden Lands to help explain his association with the Azlanti and subsequent involvement in their battle against the serpentfolk city of Ilmurea.
I wonder if Paizo will ever mention fomorians.
In the context of the First World, probably, they match it the most.
|
Creative Director
|
The cyclops from PF 33 was a great idea. There is a chained deathless cyclops in Qadira (Gurat), he serves to the Keleshite rulers as an oracle.
I wonder if Paizo will ever mention fomorians.
The ant people? yes. We mentioned them in brief passing in "The Great Beyond." We have specific plans for them, but those plans won't see fruition for quite a few years, at this rate.
The ant people? yes. We mentioned them in brief passing in "The Great Beyond." We have specific plans for them, but those plans won't see fruition for quite a few years, at this rate.The cyclops from PF 33 was a great idea. There is a chained deathless cyclops in Qadira (Gurat), he serves to the Keleshite rulers as an oracle.
I wonder if Paizo will ever mention fomorians.
Fomorians are the Irish giants/titans; Formians are the ant people. It is true that Formian was a poor choice of name for an ant race.
Yes, I meant the Irish ones.
I always wanted to band them with cyclopes and beholders, but the d&d take on them was weird.
Maybe gigas of the First World.
Yes, I meant the Irish ones.
I always wanted to band them with cyclopes and beholders, but the d&d take on them was weird.
Maybe gigas of the First World.
Weird fact: Lugh, god of heroism, the sun, ravens, et al., an all-around good guy, has a Formorian for a mother. This may be an extension of the idea that giantesses are beautiful (a trope in Norse legend).
The Formorians and the Tuatha De were so closely related that the genealogies (see this website) intermingle them-- the father of the triple war goddesses Nemain, the Morrigan, and Badb appears to be a Formorian.
I'd make them some sort of shadow, or bad aspect, of the First World Fey lords, myself.
Fomorians aren't open content. At least, as giant mutants or big deformed giants, as they exist in D&D, aren't open content. The mythological fomorian is quite different from the version that D&D has, and as such we can't really do much with it.
That's ok, I'm much more interested in seeing a more true to myth version. The ugly giants never seemed that interesting to me.
We've got big plans for those big horned Harryhausen style cyclopes, in fact.Big plans.
Since they're huge, will they need to use the squeezing rules to fit into the plans?
|
Creative Director
|
That's ok, I'm much more interested in seeing a more true to myth version. The ugly giants never seemed that interesting to me.Fomorians aren't open content. At least, as giant mutants or big deformed giants, as they exist in D&D, aren't open content. The mythological fomorian is quite different from the version that D&D has, and as such we can't really do much with it.
Well... the ugly giant version IS pretty popular. And I happen to quite like those versions of fomorian giants a LOT. So I'm not going to be greenlighting a revision to them to "overwrite" the other version anytime soon.
At least, not until we have some sort of replacement giant mutants to play with in Pathfinder.
Well... the ugly giant version IS pretty popular. And I happen to quite like those versions of fomorian giants a LOT. So I'm not going to be greenlighting a revision to them to "overwrite" the other version anytime soon.
At least, not until we have some sort of replacement giant mutants to play with in Pathfinder.
I didn't realize they were all that popular. I can't think of any classic adventures that featured them, nor have I ever encountered one in game. Then again, I've never seen an aboleth before and they are fairly iconic.
|
Creative Director
|
I didn't realize they were all that popular. I can't think of any classic adventures that featured them, nor have I ever encountered one in game. Then again, I've never seen an aboleth before and they are fairly iconic.Well... the ugly giant version IS pretty popular. And I happen to quite like those versions of fomorian giants a LOT. So I'm not going to be greenlighting a revision to them to "overwrite" the other version anytime soon.
At least, not until we have some sort of replacement giant mutants to play with in Pathfinder.
I don't know if overall they're "popular," but I've always been fond of them. They were first introduced in S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and that's an adventure that certainly stuck in my head.
That's ok, I'm much more interested in seeing a more true to myth version. The ugly giants never seemed that interesting to me.Fomorians aren't open content. At least, as giant mutants or big deformed giants, as they exist in D&D, aren't open content. The mythological fomorian is quite different from the version that D&D has, and as such we can't really do much with it.
Fomoiri (sing), Fomoire (pl) or Fomhoire are the correct Old Irish (not a standardized spelling, however) for these creatures, and one of those spellings could be used for a more mythically based version.
I don't know if overall they're "popular," but I've always been fond of them. They were first introduced in S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and that's an adventure that certainly stuck in my head.I didn't realize they were all that popular. I can't think of any classic adventures that featured them, nor have I ever encountered one in game. Then again, I've never seen an aboleth before and they are fairly iconic.Well... the ugly giant version IS pretty popular. And I happen to quite like those versions of fomorian giants a LOT. So I'm not going to be greenlighting a revision to them to "overwrite" the other version anytime soon.
At least, not until we have some sort of replacement giant mutants to play with in Pathfinder.
Still one of my favorite modules! And the picture of the formorians was also great (love the mace and chain action).
I'd love to see something done with the formori in one form or another.
In an old homebrew 3.x campaign, I statted them up as dark fey giants- giants with minor magical effects.
They were first introduced in S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and that's an adventure that certainly stuck in my head.
Ah, that's the only "S" module I haven't read. Good to know. I've always heard good things about it.
I still wouldn't mind seeing the Irish myths in some form, even if you use an alternate spelling or make them a subtype of titans or gigas. But no rush, I'm sure something will come up eventually.
|
Creative Director
|
They were first introduced in S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and that's an adventure that certainly stuck in my head.Ah, that's the only "S" module I haven't read. Good to know. I've always heard good things about it.
I still wouldn't mind seeing the Irish myths in some form, even if you use an alternate spelling or make them a subtype of titans or gigas. But no rush, I'm sure something will come up eventually.
We've got a few in Bestiary 2. There will be more.
|
In my Homebrew the Formorians are the evil, twisted giants that worship the Demon Lord Balor, kinda like drow to Lolth, orcs to Gruumsh and goblinoids to Maglubiyet. So, yeah, Balor is a unique individual, not a group of demons (Mariliths are bumped up to CR 20) and I've made Formorians a BIG part of my game.
So I'd love to see Paizo design a redo of them even knowing that they can't be like the Gygax Fomorians cuz WotC owns that intellectual property. I'd especialy love to see a Fomorian redo where their deity or patron is not mentioned, or, at least very ambiguous -- but of course I couldn't really expect that.
|
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
|
Formians may have been a bad choice for a monster name, but that choice predated D&D by about 50 years. The ant creatures were invented by Ralph Milne Farley, who created them as a villainous race of creatures living on the planet Venus for his various "Radio Man" science fantasy stories, which appeared in Argosy magazine in the 1920s. These books were reprinted in the 1960s, which is probably how they got ported into gaming (like a lot of other pulp stuff read by the TSR staff in the early days).
In any event, I expect they'll show up officially in Pathfinder about the time we detail our own Green Planet, Castrovel.
Ooo...great spoiler and history lesson! Thanks, Erik.
I don't miss the name formian. Now, if the Aspis were only OGL...there's a monster!
Formians may have been a bad choice for a monster name, but that choice predated D&D by about 50 years. The ant creatures were invented by Ralph Milne Farley, who created them as a villainous race of creatures living on the planet Venus for his various "Radio Man" science fantasy stories, which appeared in Argosy magazine in the 1920s. These books were reprinted in the 1960s, which is probably how they got ported into gaming (like a lot of other pulp stuff read by the TSR staff in the early days).
In any event, I expect they'll show up officially in Pathfinder about the time we detail our own Green Planet, Castrovel.
Formians, may seems a bad choice for a monster name, but as a french speaking person, it makes perfect sence as ant in french is spelled "Fourmi" and after some search the latin name of ants is "Formicidae"