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This malformed humanoid creature has a bestial appearance. Its brutish face bears a short muzzle and two small horns erupt over its sloping brow. A sparse coating of pale fur covers its muscular, scaly body. It clutches a bloodstained axe in one of its clawed, webbed hands.
Caliban CR 2
XP 600
CN Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision,; Perception +6
----- Defense -----
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)
hp 22 (4d10)
Fort +1, Ref +6, Will +3
----- Offense -----
Speed 30 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee handaxe +5 (1d6+1/x3), claw +0 (1d4) or 2 claws +5 (1d4+1)
Special Attacks share deformity, unsettling scream
----- Statistics -----
Str 13, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 11
Base Atk +4; CMB +5; CMD 17
Feats Athletic, Nimble Moves
Skills Acrobatics +4, Climb +8, Intimidate +7, Perception +6, Stealth +7, Survival +4, Swim +11
Languages Common
----- Ecology -----
Environment temperate and warm forests and marshes
Organization solitary or gang (2-4)
Treasure standard (handaxe, other treasure)
----- Special Abilities -----
Share Deformity (Su) Once per day as a standard action, a caliban can make a touch attack against a humanoid creature. If it hits, the opponent must succeed a DC 12 Fortitude save or have its form warped horribly. A creature affected by share deformity suffers a -4 penalty to one ability score of the caliban’s choice for 24 hours. During this time, the caliban gains a +4 enhancement bonus to that ability score. This ability cannot reduce an ability score below 1. This is a curse effect. The save DC is Charisma based.
Unsettling Scream (Ex) As a standard action, a caliban can wail horribly. All creatures that can hear within 60 feet must succeed a DC 12 Will save or be deafened for 1 round and shaken for 1 minute. Creatures affected by this ability are immune to the unsettling scream of that caliban for 24 hours, regardless of whether they pass or fail the save. This is a sonic fear effect. The save DC is Charisma based.
When the Mother of Monsters turns her attention to Golarion, her favor manifests itself as twisted, deformed offspring. Lamashtu’s blessings are the calibans, a disparate race of wretched creatures. The birthing of a caliban is frequently fatal, and only worshipers of Lamashtu are likely to raise such a monster rather than abandon it. As such, most calibans live in the wilderness, favoring areas near rivers and swamps to conceal their four-toed tracks and hide them from pursuers.
Despite their demoniac origins, calibans are not inherently evil creatures. Lucky calibans may find themselves befriended by understanding druids or fey, but all too many are turned towards wickedness by hags, harpies, or Lamashtan cults. Calibans are both fearful and curious of humanity. They have little material culture of their own, scavenging tools from the cast-offs of others. They are mercurial, occasionally violent creatures, and the sight of human beauty and happiness may provoke them into a rage. Such outbursts are typically meant to frighten and punish the targets of a caliban’s ire with temporary deformity rather than kill them, but may provoke escalating violence from authorities and adventurers.
Calibans are usually found where Lamashtu worship is common, such as Varisia, the River Kingdoms, and the nations of Garund. Those calibans not adopted by Lamashtu’s cultists treat the Mother of Monsters with more of a fearful respect than with love and worship. A caliban stands a head taller than the average human and weighs about 160 pounds.
Initial Impression: Interesting choice for the twisted children of Lamashtu, creative abilities, hampered, in my view, by Shakespearean name which seems to make these less creative than they actually are.
Welcome to Round 3! I'm posting this little blurb at the top of my reply for everyone. FYI, I'm not going to crunch all the math in your stat block, for several reasons. One, I don't have an hour for each monster. :) Two, I'm sure you've been very diligent about this and if anything is wrong, it's probably only off by a little bit. Three, if you were writing this for publication in a Paizo book, you'd be using our stat block spreadsheet, which takes care of the math for you--your job is to understand the rules and bring the mojo. :) My focus in this review is on the overall coolness and balance of your monster, with an eye on how efficiently you put it together and a spot-check of stat block elements that catch my eye.
Okay, your monster is a misshapen thing created/conceived by the power of Lamashtu.
I'm feeling a little sad for these things. They're not evil, but they're outcasts. They have weird magic that justifies others shunning or even attacking them, and prone to outbursts that make it hard for them to live in a civilized society.
Share deformity probably needs to only affect physical ability scores.
I agree with clark that the name "caliban" has a lot of literary baggage, good or bad.
I DO recommend this monster for advancement.
Contributor; Publisher, Kobold Press; RPG Superstar Judge
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Initial Impression: CR 2 and a humanoid of Lamashtu with a Shakespeare reference? Wow, this designer is living on the edge, could be a trainwreck.
On further reflection, Pathfinder has plenty of other literary references, from the hounds of Tindalos to the pegasus and shoggoth. So a "caliban" seems fine, and the baggage is perhaps part of the appeal.
The monster itself is a bit of a tragic figure (and that's fine), and fits in with Lamashtu well. I like the monster's flexibility as either a possible ally or enemy as well.
The share deformity ability requires recalculating some game elements after every ability score adjustment, and that's usually more annoying than entertaining. Maybe it's just a pet peeve for me in monster design, but I suspect I'm not the only one who finds it not worth the trouble at the table.
I DO recommend this monster for advancement.
Nicholas, way to bring it into Round 3!
Now that I’ve read all 16 entries, I can say that there are some real strong entries here—more strong entries than spots, unfortunately. Some good submissions won’t make the cut. I am only going to recommend 8 of you since only 8 can advance. In close cases, I took into account your prior work.
What I am looking for: I’m a big picture guy more than a minute details guy. I don’t think just seeing if you crunched out the rules properly is the right way to judge a good entry for this round. Of course you need to execute the stat block properly. Luckily, Sean and Wolfgang are way more qualified than I am to talk about the nit picks and issues with the stat block so I will leave that to them. My comments to you will be more “big picture.” For me, I want to see a monster that is fun and playable—a monster that leaps of the page and makes me find a way to incorporate it at the game table. That, to me, is a superstar monster. So here we go…
You got my Initial Impressions above. I’ve now read all 16 and I’ve given some real thought to the name and I’ve softened a bit on that. This is still a very, very good submission and clearly deserves to advance.
Design (name, overall design choices, design niche, playability/usability, challenge): A
You know my soft spot: I love the swing for the fences. I’m a go hard or go home kind of guy and with these twisted children of Lamashtu you did just that. Good on you! While I’ve softened on the Shakespearean reference in the name, I still think a different name would have been better. I agree other parts of Golarion have themes from literature, but bringing that baggage was a small mark against you, in my view. So it’s an A not an A+ for you in this category.
Execution (quality of writing, organization, Golarion-specific, use of proper format, quality of content—description, summary of powers, rules execution, mechanics innovation): A
When Sean and Wolfgang aren’t finding a laundry list of things that means you did a great job and I agree with them. Very well done set of powers and your execution is what I would expect from a budding Superstar.
Tilt (did it grab me, do I want to use one in an adventure?, mojo, just plain fun factor): A+
Uh, yeah you grabbed me with these. I liked them right away and unlike a bad sugar rush the feeling didn’t fade over time. These things have mojo.
Overall: A
Nicholas, when my only gripe is the baggage from your name, man you are doing something right. This is a solid entry and is a clear top submission. No question.
Final Verdict: I DO RECOMMEND this monster advance.
Your gorget was one of my personal favorites from Round 1 and your Huckster knocked me out, too. You are one of a handful of contestants that is really starting to build a truly Superstar-worthy portfolio. Keep it up.
Good luck!
I *knew* you'd be the one with the CR 2. A swing for the fences kinda guy.
Early impression- favorable.
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Everyone else is mentioning Shakespeare, but I immediately thought of X-Men. That probably says something not so impressive about me. : ) Still, I'm expecting one of these guys to replace Charon as the horseman of death.
I like the share deformity ability. It's nasty, but still within CR2 range.
Everyone else is mentioning the name; the first impression I got was in the creature type. I've been going down the list alphabetically and you're the first person with the gusto to try a humanoid creature (monstrous, sure, but still somewhat humanoid!) That left a neutral impression; by the end I was very impressed. The monster itself is awesome; you managed to give this beast a niche without actually creating anything too absurdly powerful. This thing instantly drew pictures in my mind of the Beastmen of Warhammer Fantasy; a good feeling to invoke, and one surprisingly not done often.
I like this creature a lot (probably my #2 favorite), and I am hoping to see what else you can do looking forward.
Naming: Torn on this one. The literary origins are a plus and a minus. Thrown a bit by making a singular name a creature name, though of course it's not the first time that's been done. In the end, though, I lean to slightly favorable.
Cool Factor: High. Mega-props for attacking the CR 2 and pulling it off. But beyond that, you imply a whole little culture and mythology. You make these fit into a game world quite nicely. I think the outbursts are a very nice touch. These are both fun and coherent.
Combined with previous work, this moves you into my 2 or 3 favorites for the contest.
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I immediately sent this to a player who wrote something like this into his backstory. These will be in my campaign.
Like the Boggard, I feel like this should be a race more than it should be a monster, and it should get class levels. But it is well done, and I love the flavor.
No reason they can't take class levels on top of their normal HD, though admittedly the 4 HD does make them unattractive options for a low level start.
Love these guys.
Nicholas, this is a really neat creature. I like the hideous mutant thing. I especially like that these creatures are horrifying and monstrous and potentially dangerous without them actually being evil.
And so far at least, you really stand out for me in that regard. A CN monster can absolutely be an antagonist. It can also be an NPC, or a helper or lots of other things. It's all kinds of good. However, I do figure you designed this up as a 1/2 CR creature, instead of a CR 2 creature, just because it feels like a new race more than a new monster.
GReat little beasties, they'll be great evil minions too great work!
Ooohh, I like these. Now this is, I think, a good example of adapting a preexisting monster and making it still feel original and fun. Admittedly, the Shakespearean Caliban doesn't have a lot of established abilities you need to adapt to the game (I think he was mostly good at getting drunk & being horny...), but I think you do a good job inventing them as needed here, including the neat tie to Lamashtu and the cool warmping/mutation power developing out of that.
I especially love the variable role you have built into these; sometimes you see a new monster write-up and get a neat idea for a non-antagonistic encounter and then the monster info is all 'and these monsters eat nothing but babies all the time'. So I like that options for a GM to use them are built right in without requiring overlooking any baby-eating.
I think that calibans have a really good shot at my vote.
This thing instantly drew pictures in my mind of the Beastmen of Warhammer Fantasy; a good feeling to invoke, and one surprisingly not done often.
DITTO
I share the excitement at an entry describing a versatile monster, which can be used in or out of combat with equal ease. That's an awesome, superstar goal, and very well-executed :D
That being said, I'm feeling a certain lack of meat to this entry - a lack of unique flavor to the race. You spend a lot of your wordcount describing how calibans come to be, and who takes an interest in them. In order to use these creatures outside of combat, though, I need to have a better sense of how they behave, what they want, how they operate. I need to know how calibans are different as a race from CR 2 nonevil goblins, or gully dwarves, or dire termites, or whatever.
Here's the info you've given me that might help me run an actual encounter:
[list]
Basically, when you introduce an intelligent race that isn't combat-only, I expect to see at least a little bit of culture-building - because really, what is an RPG race if not a culture? I think you missed that here - which is a shame, because I think you could easily have fitted in at least one or two brilliant defining characteristics - a race of deformed people who can warp people's shapes is a really strong idea with plenty of room for inventing unique, intriguing behavior.
I could definitely be missing something here, and I think others see more character in the caliban than I do (or, less need for such to be detailed at the scope of a monster entry). I'd be glad to hear others' opinions.
And, due criticism aside, you did a lot of great stuff here, and will probably getting my vote. :)
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka JoelF847
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So we have a tall thin deformed freak that can transplant their deformities on others. I'm not really sure what these bring to the table that's not already covered a bit by mongrelmen, faceless stalkers, and dopplegangers. They're bestial, but not evil, outcasts, but not really having a built in motivation - as a straight out enemy, not much different from a gnoll or something, but a bit more sympathetic, and as a potential ally, they don't really bring much to the party that any old humanoid would.
Also, it's not clear to me if these are a distinct race that breeds true, has their own tribes and culture, etc, or if they're born through Lamashtu's blessings on random pregnancies instead of a normal offspring.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
aka JoelF847
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I'm not really sure what these bring to the table that's not already covered a bit by mongrelmen, faceless stalkers, and dopplegangers.Are you kidding? The abilities these guys have are some of the most ingenious game mechanics I've seen all year.
Share deformity is like an ability damage attack with a built-in limit, so you don't have to pull any punches when designing encounters. You can have PCs fight wave after wave of caliban gangs if you want, knowing they'll suffer ability score attrition in the process without anyone ever dropping too far into the red.
And unsettling scream includes a safeguard that prevents it from becoming overpowered when multiple calbians are encountered at once. Unsettling screams from multiple calibans can theoretically make someone first shaken and then frightened. But the ability includes 1 round of deafness as part of its effect, thus preventing any character from being affected by more than one unsettling scream per round.
I was referring to the niche of the monster, not the mechanics. While the mechanics are certainly different from the other monsters I mentioned, I wasn't wowed by them - the share deformity really isn't that different from other types of debuffs - whether that be doom, poison, or ray of enfeeblement - and while it also combines with a buff for the caliban, and that made it stand out some, it still wasn't wowing me. As for the unsettling scream, fear effects are pretty common for monsters, and while they certainly have their place, a) I'm not a big fan of them, since especially if they can take a PC to frightened, that really puts them out of a fight - for double the duration of the fear effect, since they then have to run back to the combat, and b) they're a fairly common monster ability, and not something that is particularly interesting to me at least.
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Contributor
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My initial impression from the flavor text led me to believe this was a slightly more powerful version of the mongrelman, but that's not what we get. Kudos for creating a cool monster at CR 2, something I'd hope a superstar could do.
Good luck in this round!
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Pardon me Eric while I steal a bunch of those for future plot threads.
No reason they can't take class levels on top of their normal HD, though admittedly the 4 HD does make them unattractive options for a low level start.
Love these guys.
You can always adjust the HD when you are DM, and convince other DMs to do the same.
Everyone is commenting about the Shakespearean name. Am I the only one who immediately thought of Calibos from the original Clash of the Titans?
Or am I just so old that I'm the only who remembers that movie?
To be honest I am not familiar enough with Shakespeare to have recognized the reference. I didn't know the name had been taken from somewhere else until I saw people's responses, and had to wiki it.
Yeah Clash of the Titans is what I first saw, though they did name that character after Shakespeare's iirc.
Congratulations Nicholas,
If this was just a mutant with vendetta against the pretty that would have ended it for me. But sharing deformity is something my characters will definitely remember. As GMing him goes not too tough and definately lots of RP potential. Overall this is something I can see on my table: you get the GP. Not an insta-grab, but solid work and lots of fun.
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Thank you all for your comments and your votes! I'm glad that the caliban was able to speak to so many of you. Now, to peel back the curtain and reveal some of my thoughts and design philosophies behind the caliban.
Even before I knew I was an RPG Superstar contestant, I started thinking about the monster round. I'm a monster buff through and through, and I knew I wanted to do a few things in particular.
Firstly, I wanted to make a low-level monster. There's a lot of perception that low CR = boring, and I wanted to do my part to overturn that. Second, I wanted to make a non-evil creature that nevertheless serve as an antagonist. I wanted to make something to hang plots around, not just serve as a speedbump... but could also serve as a random encounter if the GM wanted to. Last, I knew I wanted to make a monstrous humanoid. James Jacobs has said that there aren't enough monstrous humanoids in the game, and I agree with him. And so many of them come with baggage. Morlocks live underground. Sahuagin live in the ocean. Skum live in the ocean underground. Doppelgangers are urban, and centaurs are good guys (for some reason).
I do hate to disappoint some of you, who either wanted the caliban to be a playable race or suspected it was "upgraded" to a CR 2 monster from a homebrew race, but the caliban was always intended to be a CR 2, Hit Dice-having monster. I don't believe that all vaguely people-shaped things in RPGs have to be playable. I also wanted to tinker with having high Hit Dice for the CR, but low ability scores. I think that those tweaks worked pretty well.
So the caliban was actually the third monster inspired by real-world legends this round, along with the argopelter and the boto-ocota-de-rosa. Not just the eponymous Caliban, but a whole host of cryptids from the American South. The South is home to lots of stories about hairy hominids with goat-like, reptilian and fishy features, such as the Maryland Goatman, the Lake Worth Monster of Texas and the Honey Island Swamp Monster from Louisiana. These provided a lot of the trappings for the caliban--the fishy/goaty appearance, the unsettling scream, the hatchet (favored weapon of the Goatman) and the four toed tracks (left by the Honey Island Swamp Monster, or possibly an American alligator, depending on whether you ask a True Believer or not).
Yes, the caliban is named in reference to The Tempest, although the Clash of the Titans reference was also somewhere in the back of my mind. The name was inspired by Caliban's role as a monstrous birth. I tinkered with "mooncalf", an old-fashioned word for a monstrous birth and one that is actually used to refer to Caliban himself, but mooncalf had two strikes against it. Firstly, the word is pretty obscure. I was afraid if I used it that I'd get lots of confusion about why it wasn't very cow-like or from the Moon. Secondly, there's already a mooncalf in "the world's most popular roleplaying game", and it is from the Moon. So mooncalf was out, and caliban was in.
Again, thank you for all of the comments, criticism and feedback. I'm especially impressed by Eric Morton's caliban plot-hooks. I've been an admirer of your monster request thread for some time now, and I'm happy to have grabbed your imagination.
See you in R4!
Shouldn't all Firefly and especially Serenity fans know about Caliban from his relationship with Miranda. ;-)
It's also a cognate of cannibal, which can also be fun and exciting...
Shouldn't all Firefly and especially Serenity fans know about Caliban from his relationship with Miranda. ;-)
I was not aware that's where the name Miranda came from either.
I presumed since Miranda is one of the moons of Saturn (I think?) that it came from some Greek/Roman mythical source.
Uranus, actually. A lot of its moons have Shakespearian names - Titania, Ariel, and Desdemona off the top of my head.
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If I ever get to run my d20 Firefly campaign, it's going to deal with Miranda, a reaver-occupied moon called Caliban, and a crashed ship called the Prospero. :-P And if the PCs survive, they can get medical attention on Ariel. ;-)
I do hate to disappoint some of you, who either wanted the caliban to be a playable race or suspected it was "upgraded" to a CR 2 monster from a homebrew race, but the caliban was always intended to be a CR 2, Hit Dice-having monster. I don't believe that all vaguely people-shaped things in RPGs have to be playable. I also wanted to tinker with having high Hit Dice for the CR, but low ability scores. I think that those tweaks worked pretty well.
Personally, I dislike the philosophy idea that every race that has rules for PCs is playable. I like that Kobold is noticably weaker as a race and bugbears should never be allowed without some major penalty. But they both still have stats that the GM can use to quickly create enemies. I find racial templates easier to use and add to a game than modifying a monster. I don't have to worry about how adding class levels to my monsters causes their stats to do rediculous things and I can just take an existing build and add the racial adjustments.
The Caliban has nothing that makes me think it cannot learn and grow like a normal human, and it is low enough in power that I feel like the Monsterous Humanoid HD are actually an impediment to it more than a bonus.
These guys would mix amazingly well with an Ed Greenwood monster I love using form time to time the Thawn.
Both are CR2 critters and can of course gain from templates or class levels to be adapted for higher level parties. Both have special abilities that add a different dimension to the combat (with thawns its that you can get sickened by looking at them if you fail a will save) and both share a self-loathing destry the pretty things motivation.
Hmm my kingmaker game might get an outcast gang at some point maybe 1 of these with some barbarian levels, a thawn with some rogue levels, and a mongrelman with some cleric levels, maybe a troll fighter or ranger for a monsterous gang of Raiders could be really fun...
I'm not really sure what these bring to the table that's not already covered a bit by mongrelmen, faceless stalkers, and dopplegangers.Are you kidding? The abilities these guys have are some of the most ingenious game mechanics I've seen all year.
I'm going to have to disagree with you on that.
Share deformity is like an ability damage attack with a built-in limit, so you don't have to pull any punches when designing encounters. You can have PCs fight wave after wave of caliban gangs if you want, knowing they'll suffer ability score attrition in the process without anyone ever dropping too far into the red.
This is exactly the standard rule for ability score penalties. A penalty can never reduce your score below 1. And even that doesn't help that much... Sure, you won't pass out from a low stat, but you still become highly ineffective and/or easy to kill.
And unsettling scream includes a safeguard that prevents it from becoming overpowered when multiple calbians are encountered at once. Unsettling screams from multiple calibans can theoretically make someone first shaken and then frightened. But the ability includes 1 round of deafness as part of its effect, thus preventing any character from being affected by more than one unsettling scream per round.
I don't see this as particularly special. A second one can just use it next round, or do it again the same round to trigger saves from everyone who made it against the first one? I admit it's nice to not go from normal to feared in one round from a "shaken" ability, but there's plenty of fear abilities which do exactly that, and there's a whole 9 more rounds in which you can be affected by it again.
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Wow I'm surprised only one encounter used the Caliban. If I had made it into rpgs I'd have used them.
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Yeah, the caliban is one of my favorite monsters in a long, long time.
I hope it gets to join Golaron canon.
I'm going to use one of these in an intro to a homebrew campaign of mine. :-D
any possibility of getting this one as a PC race? Even as as NPC?
I would love them as a 'cursed race' in search of redemption.