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Hello all. My Kingmaker players have entered the territory of another nation that I have based heavily on some early Slavic kingdoms. I've been scouring the three bestiaries in search for any and all monsters that are based on creatures from Slavic mythology. So far I have found:
Rusalka
Vodyanoy
Gorynych
Leshy
Sadly I don't have much time until the game tomorrow so I am hoping people can help me find some other appropriately themed monsters. Thanks.
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I just don't think there really ARE a lot, sadly. You would probably do better to give a little Eastern European flair to existing monsters and your NPCs.
I'd love to hear what you've come up with though - I definitely got a big Russian vibe from the whole region and always imagined the towns to look like old, medieval-Russian wooden villages. I think next time I run the game I'm going to give Pitax a soviet flare with lots of spy warfare and whatnot...
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Category:Slavic_mythology
Rusalka I think have a write up. And Dhampir is in there.
Well, the country (I've called Oskyev) and land they are visiting is based on a mixture between old Polish culture and old Cossack culture. The country lies on a large area of steppes bordered by mountains on one side and swamps on the other. Towards their east is the PC's kingdom and to the southeast is another nation based around old Kiev Rus.
http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Category:Slavic_mythology
Rusalka I think have a write up. And Dhampir is in there.
I have that, was just hoping to find ones already made up in the Bestaries 1,2, and 3.
Brykolakas and Dhampir are Balkan based.
Brownie should work well playing Domovoi (Slavic house spirits).
Boruta is based on its early Slavic shape as swamp demon (in general, non-D&D sense of that word) - later Boruta evolved into Polish Noble Devil.
Drekavac is one of many Slavic restless spirits of unborn/very young child.
Dhampir is here.
Vilkacis (the word itself is Latvian/Lithuanian word for werewolf) represents lycanthropic spirit.
Vrykolakas is creature that is related to vampires and werewolves.
Nosferatu models Slavic vampires closer than regular vampire template.
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Also in Bestiary 3, the Adlet, Animal Lord, Cold Rider, and Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing could all be made to work well in a Slavic setting. Any hag or fey would also fit the bill, and of course there are plenty of monsters in the Kingmaker bestiaries that aren't exactly Slavic, but just felt right in the setting for me.
I guess what it boils down to (for me at least) is that any sort of fey, woodland, or cold-subtype creature without any obvious connections to other mythologies can be made to "feel" Slavic.
Good thing I have the lot of those. The vrykolakas might save me the trouble of making a vulkodlak or even give me something to work with.
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From Bestiary 2, you could also use the Marsh or Tundra Giants (giant cossacks?) Scarecrows, Twigjacks, and Viper Vines.
Tales of the Old Margreve is also a great source to look through - It's a campaign setting very similar to the Stolen Lands, and it's extremely well made. Anyone running KM is bound to find inspiration in there, and it definitely has a strong, Slavic tone. The included bestiary has a few more slavic monsters, specifically the Vila and Zmey (the artwork leaves something to wish for, but whatevs). They released a free supplement which has a few NPCs and magic items you might find useful, like the magical matryoshka doll.
EDIT: My bad, that supplement wasn't free :l It's only $2 though, and you can find it here.
Some names to be used:
Upir [pronounced like oopeer]: A Slavic undead, the term currently means wraith/specter but historically being corporeal entity that would be similar to ghoul, vrykolakas described above or vampire: consuming blood or/and flesh night. The term could be also used when referencing regular vampire or nosferatu.
Mamuna: Female spirit, feyish or undead, that harassed pregnant women, stole children or substituted her own for another children.
Strzyga [pronounced stshiga]: While the name was borrowed from Latin strix it refers to Slavic undead related to upir. When a person was born with two souls and a full set of teeth it would become strzyga after death - the first soul fled while the second (considered to be unbaptized in christian times) would animate the body forcing it to feed on human blood and/or flesh.
Poroniec [poroni-etz]: Undead formed from a baby that was either miscarried, aborted, born dead, died soon after childbirth or was killed by mother. It was grave danger to pregnant women and new born babies.
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A Hag with levels of witch: Baba Yaga.
Siren: Alkonost.
Horned Devil: Bies.
Tarn Linnorm: Brosno dragon.
Svirfneblin w/ Young Template: Domovoi.
Dire Crocodile with Advanced Template: Dragon of Brno.
Satyr: Dusios.
Annis Hag: Dziwozony.
Green Hag: Dziwożona.
Half-Celestial Vampire: Kresnik.
Great wyrm Underworld Dragon: Svarog.
Nymph Druid: Vila.
Very Old Black Dragon: Zirnitra.
Half-Celestial Pyrohydra Druid: Zmej.
Horned Devil: Bies.
Bies was sort of Slavic forest or swamp demon. Little information about it survived and for at least five or six hundred years the word became equivalent of term diabeł (devil).
Czart: Very similar story to bies - meant some sort of forest or swamp demon and later evolved (or devolved) to mean devil.
Annis Hag: Dziwozony.
Green Hag: Dziwożona.
Dziwożony is plural of Dziwożona [pronounced a bit like jivojona, with caveat that ji at the begining (Dzi) pronounced quite softly, similiarly to Japanes ji, while the j in the middle (ż) pronounced like j in French Jean]
A few monsters to be added:
Zmora (lit. nightmare): Night Hag.
Lady Midday, Południca: A female spirit that appeared during the noon on fields and, depending upon the myth either engaged the victim in conversation, questioned or lured to a wild dance until the mortal suffered heat stroke. I just found a note that she might behead her victim instead.
I might think of something more later.
The idea of a Half-Celestial Vampire tickles my fancy... do go on :)
Another classic Slavic creature: podmieniec (changeling) - an ugly replacement for stolen baby left by many child-stealing demons, spirits and fey.
Some clarification of my previous note: zmora means nightmare in the sense of bad dream, not night mare (female specimen of horse).
My ex-girlfriend....
-sorry.
Changelings and dhampir NPCs... that will be interesting.
I'll have to look at Zmora to see how I'd make it.
And an oven construct would be cool to face.
Thanks again and definitely keep them coming!
Changelings and dhampir NPCs... that will be interesting.
I'll have to look at Zmora to see how I'd make it.
And an oven construct would be cool to face.
Thanks again and definitely keep them coming!
At first I thought about using regular Night Hag for Zmora but after looking once again I think I would make her a Green Hag with Weakness special attack replaced with a Dream Haunting ability that causes 2 points of Strength damage and fatigue upon sleeping victim (or maybe just with nightmare spell-like ability with huge racial bonus to saving throw DC). I would also replace pyrotechnics, tree shape and whispering wind spell-like abilities with deep slumber.
Dragon 290 had a whole section of slavic monsters. In fact it had a whole slavic section that you might be interested in.