Humans. Expansionist, short-lived, cunning and reckless and numerous. A campaign against an evil human empire would be rad.
If I did this, I'd definitely do the Evil Wizard coalition thing. I think if I did it right it wouldn't be a total Irenicus rip-off.
|
Aasimar, and Fey.I actually have a player who thinks this would be a good idea.
I'm not sure how I could base an entire campaign on Fey though. Guess I could pull up some Irish Myths about them. (Irish were the ones who were all about evil fairies and leprechauns right?)
You can use Golarion.
A corrupted portal to First World that has led to turning amongst Fey to a more bold, and violent bend. Slowly spreading, and infecting other Fey.
I never really looked at Gremlin stats and I'm not sure why but now I wish I hadn't. DR and SR...with some pretty good attacks? Those are pretty disgusting for low level pc's!
Here is what I did to create the best villain ever: got that really helpful NPC that helped the party for 7 levels, and shows the party that everything they ever done helped the villain indirectly, and now they created a really powerful, world-dominant being. The NPC was the Gnome bard who helped with quests, identify items, sold scrolls and wands...
The gold rule is: No enemy is bitter than an old friend.
If you are looking into running a campaign around fey, Tales of the Old Margreve is probably your best bet. Ancient, sentient forest full of darkness and danger.
My favorite monsters are humans, but mostly because until recently, the only quick source I had for random NPCs was the GMG, and there's nothing but human NPC stats in it. The NPC codex may fix that. Maybe.
Hobgoblins leading goblinoid armies have made some prominent appearances, and I made my own variable template to apply to a selection of creatures from the bestiary to make them all Slenderman-related.
|
A campaign I always wanted to run is a "Lost World" campaign. Players are part of an expedition to a new continent. The place is incredibly verdant and primal, with skyscraperesque trees, swamplands teeming with life. The primary fauna consists of dinosaurs, the primary rulers of the land are Serpentfolk (served by Lizardfolk and Kobolds). Laying siege to these Serpentine City-States is an army of uplifted primates (Monkey-Goblins, Chimp-Hobgoblins and Gorilla-Bugbears) united under the banner of a Gorilla King, of course they use Megafauna (like Giant sloths and dire saberhounds) for their labour force.
Dragons of course are plentiful, what with the dinosaurs and megafauna so prevalent in the region they can feed quite well. The point is no classic race (as defined by races in the core rule book) has ever tread this land and the little colony will need to make and break alliances in order to grow their little colony.
I think it'd be nifty.
Pugwampis! With class levels, terrifying.
Death knights, Dragons, Giants, and various humanoids with class levels.
But I also like the Paizo take on the Death knights, aka Grave knights.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Halflings :D
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Shall I remind you that Hellboy 2 showed a really dark side of the Fey? You could use that.
|
For gruntish humanoid bad-guys, I like organized Roman Legion-esque hobgoblins and brutish hyaenadon-riding gnoll savages with mindless undead flunkies.
For low level 'masterminds,' it's aranea. All the plotty shapeshifting scheming goodness of rakshasa, at a much lower level, and way more alien and inhuman feeling than dopplegangers.
For endgame 'boss' monsters, I much prefer dragons to the usual outsiders or 'high level wizards.' A dragon with their own city-state or territory, their own armies, their own humanoid subjects, etc. can be fun (whether their true nature or status as behind-the-scenes ruler is known or not to their 'subjects').
I have always been partial to spell-casting, polymorphing, class-leveled dragons, usually sorcerer or wizard class levels.
Nothing says terror like a huge ancient dragon sorcerer suddenly appearing where the wizened old geezer was standing a second before...
Aasimar, and Fey.I actually have a player who thinks this would be a good idea.
I'm not sure how I could base an entire campaign on Fey though. Guess I could pull up some Irish Myths about them. (Irish were the ones who were all about evil fairies and leprechauns right?)
Read Dresden Files...He does Faeries amazing.
The AP I'm trying to write at the moment features Rakshasa as a recurring theme. The final BBEG is going to be Ravana, one of the "super-" Maharaja. I may even make him mythic; we'll see. The PCs shouldn't even know about the Rakshasa involvement/conspiracy until level 8 or 9 (of approximately 15). The beast-headed baddies are really, seriously twisted horrors and I intend for them to be eerie and terrifying. Good times.
Qlipploth.
I play with a few old-time gamers. I can usually surprise them with qlipploth.
I had a fun campaign based off of a Necromancer Games module; we were fighting against psychically empowered aberrations, which were replacing the undead the module was written for.
I have most recently used a Harpy/Stirge threat and a Medusa/Lamia background struggle (Imagine having to choose between two separate predatory 'villains' that both see you as expendable!). The Rogue was actually 'stoned' in order to save his life. The Campaign ended with the wizard and a lower echelon Medusa necking.
I have most recently used a Harpy/Stirge threat and a Medusa/Lamia background struggle (Imagine having to choose between two separate predatory 'villains' that both see you as expendable!). The Rogue was actually 'stoned' in order to save his life. The Campaign ended with the wizard and a lower echelon Medusa necking.
oh adventurers... conveniently that paves the way for his next character.
|
|
As soon as I saw the title to this thread, I began a countdown until somebody mentioned 'humans'.
Yeah, we get it, "Humanity are the real monsters!" Bah! I'll grant you, given the choice, I'd probably take several of the monstrous races over humanity. But only because humanity represents the banality of evil. The monsters are big, grandiose larger-than-life villains whose schemes transcend the boundaries of reality itself!
For that reason, I love extraplanar beings, in particular ones who are not evil (They are always so threatening until someone plays a Paladin. I've seen a Level 5 Paladin single-handedly destroy a CR10 Contract Devil.) Inevitables and Aeons are some of my favorites.
There is nothing more frightening, more intense, than an outsider with a completely alien mindset (Good and Evil are at least understandable and quantifiable), singularly focused on accomplishing one goal. It will not be swayed by mercy or personal gain or reason. It will do what it was sent here to do unless it is destroyed.
Humans. I use Humans nearly exclusively. If my guys wouldn't lynch me there would only be Humans allowed for PCs.
Veggie Pygmies!!!!
@Threeshades: I'm Scotch-Irish. We are close to Dwarves and Elves.
Heck, Most Scottish Clans you couldn't grow a beard until you killed something of note. You weren't considered a man unless you were at least allowed to grow a beard.
@KaptainKrunch: It is all of Celtic Lore that had Evil Fae.
Haven't read the entire thread, but Gnolls man... they are just gold. From the demon-woshipping aspect of them to their cunning and fury - they aren't as generic as orcs and they're more powerful than goblins. You can REALLY make some great villians as from Gnolls.
But Goblins are the only ones that can fall victim to their own traps...
I'll throw another vote for hobgoblins. They have the evil covered plus they possess the discipline of lawful.
An existing empire or rising empire of hobgoblins would provide plenty of different chances for conflict.
With everyone going on about humans, I feel safe saying this: I find the term "monster race" itself a bit offensive. Looking at the core races, they are made up entirely of the ones that are "normal" enough for humans to find excuses to kill them for their resources, or trade routes, or 'xp.'
It is always about how well the race gets along with humans. Sure, I understand that from the fact that all the gamemakers and customers are human, but still, looking at the entry for Lizardfolk in the Bestiary for example, you get the clear idea that humans are racist, expansionist jerks, and the negative response some races give is only because they cannot backoff an inch or the humans would take over everything. Even if the race is described as some varying degree of "always chaotic evil," I have a hard time accepting it since it would always be stated through a (in game) human's perspective. I know enough about real life historical accounts to ever trust that.
Less moral ambiguity for most outsiders though, of course. A lot of them are literally born from a clear cut alignment.
Halflings :D
this reminds me of a an adventure many years ago when my Dm threw a crew of halflings in full plate at us at 1st level. It was utterly terrifying.
No, the 3.5 Bugbears were like Wookies with Down-Syndrome.Thank you for that image!
Wait are we talking Scottish or Irish Celts?
Scottish Celts = Primal Dwarves.
Irish Celts = Primal Elves.
If you want you could make them a Dwarf/Elf Hybrid Society.
The Scots you're thinking of, the short stocky ones, those were Picts, not Celts.
As for villains, I enjoy the frenzied, disorganized, yet endless waves of Demons. For extra fun, the organized religion of a kingdom is secretly controlled by Devils, so the people become unwitting pawns.
|
I was reasonably jazzed to see Mothman make it into Bestiary 2. It's a pretty well-done monster. To lower-level parties, it'll feel at least a little bit like an encounter with Q....
Just a spontaneous idea: Mothman (maybe it's one, maybe it's several, who knows?) haunts, bedevils, and generally antagonizes the characters continuously from levels 1-10. Eventually, they corner it, and whaddya know?
Turns out it's not such a bad entity, and everything it had been doing up to that point was to fight the REAL BBEG! Suddenly, welcome to the deep end....
I was meaning the Background and Personality not the appearance.
Caledonian Celts were infamous for being drunken gruff warriors. They also were superstitious and only trusted what was to them divine. I think that translates well into a distrust of Arcane Magic.
@I'm hiding in your closet: I actually have done that. I messed with my players. Especially when I pulled a Star Wars style betrayal on them.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Personally, I'd build a campaign around Boggards.
It's hard to beat their combination of suave sophistication and devastating good looks.
No comment...
Also, Fotts in Battlelords of the 23rd Century, 6ft tall Redneck Rabbits
...big, grandiose larger-than-life villains whose schemes transcend the boundaries of reality itself!
you have just described the human wizards. all of them.
Goblins!!!
Magic the Gathering inspired goblin greatness.
Crazy dangerous and humorously inept.
Aboleths -- Ancient, all-knowing, evil, utterly convinced of their superiority and it's actually quite difficult to argue the point with them, if they're portrayed effectively. A true aberration, and a water creature to boot. Everything about these guys is utterly terrifying.
|
|
Veggie Pygmies!!!!This is how we know Drow are evil. They made a sentient race to devour, and it was a *plant.*
If even dwarves ever made a sentient race to devour, it would be made out of bacon, and have beer for blood. Meatpygmies for the win!
I think that we can just call them Pigmies.
Too bad Golarion Orcs aren't Pigfaced, it'd explain why they were so keen to get away from the dwarves.
|
|
Veggie Pygmies!!!!This is how we know Drow are evil. They made a sentient race to devour, and it was a *plant.*
If even dwarves ever made a sentient race to devour, it would be made out of bacon, and have beer for blood. Meatpygmies for the win!
I think that we can just call them Pigmies.
Too bad Golarion Orcs aren't Pigfaced, it'd explain why they were so keen to get away from the dwarves.
I think the genocide thing kind puts Orcs off of Dwarves as well.
Nothing makes for a better villian then an Elf. Then again I've been playing Skyrim ALOT here recently.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Nothing makes for a better villian then an Elf. Then again I've been playing Skyrim ALOT here recently.
I play an orc barbarian that bumrushes every single Thalmor patrol he comes across without exception, typically sending heads rolling down the roads for miles, and he still comes across like a saint.
Nothing makes for a better villian then an Elf. Then again I've been playing Skyrim ALOT here recently.I play an orc barbarian that bumrushes every single Thalmor patrol he comes across without exception, typically sending heads rolling down the roads for miles, and he still comes across like a saint.
Yup I do the same, just as a khajit.
Has anyone worked in making Elder Scroll Race Conversions for Pathfinder?
And can we include Homebrew races if we can link to it as a Bestiary Style Statblock?
I have a Homebrewed Gnoll Variant that I always use in place of the standard Gnolls.
Heck, if you talk to my players they have a Love/Hate relationship with all my Homebrewed Races...