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So I'm working on a dungeon set in an abandoned pyramid to an aztec god and I'm wondering if anyone knew of what types of creatures would fit thematically with the concept. For reference the party will most likely be 10th when they reach the dungeon and the plan is for them to be in and exploring the dungeon till about 12th so I'm looking for CR's in about that range.
Snakes and eagles would be thematically appropriate. I wouldn't expect to find eagles inside a temple though. Naga seem like a good advancement of snakes. Which god?
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Were jaguars! (Use were tiger stats with some class levels in Ranger or Oracle or whatever.)
Giant bugs, giant snakes, some undead (mummies, if the ruin is atop a mesa or something?), perhaps a 'feathered serpent' in a sacrificial pit that turns out to be a dinosaur...
Dig out a 3.5 Monster Manual and use the stats for a Mind Flayer, only describe it as a creepy tall and thin partially mummified figure whose 'stunning mental blasts' are terror-inducing roars (same game effect) and whose 'brain eating grapple' is a grappling hand that slowly burrows into your chest and tears out your heart (same game effect). The various spell-like abilities are refluffed to fit the theme, it teleports around like Jason in a horror movie, always ahead of you, or right behind you, no matter how fast you flee, and it's 'charm' is a madness inducing spell that makes allies flip out and attack each other (same game effect). If using a single 'heart ripper' buff it up to CR 10-12. Otherwise, use groups of them, and fluff them as the shriveled half-mummified remains of ancient heart-sacrificing priests, resurrected back to terrible life to defend the temple from these defilers.
Garudas, kamadans, and couatls. Plus definitely snakes, eagles, and jaguars.
Lillends.
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Snakes and eagles would be thematically appropriate. I wouldn't expect to find eagles inside a temple though. Naga seem like a good advancement of snakes. Which god?
Ohh hadn't thought of nagas. As for god the short answer is it was originally built in service to Tonatiuh. Long version is not long after that dedication the priests fell into worshiping Apollyon. After that the temple got assaulted and the daemon cultists culled by an ancient sect of followers of the empyreal lord turned god Gabriel, and now it's fallen back into the hands of worshipers of Apollyon. Despite all this it's inherent age, importance to the faith, and actual artifacts to him still hidden within the temple after all these years (including the founder, a powerful cleric of Tonatiuh turned mummy since his burial) attract and harbors creatures whatnot that are associated with Tonatiuh.
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Were jaguars! (Use were tiger stats with some class levels in Ranger or Oracle or whatever.)
Giant bugs, giant snakes, some undead (mummies, if the ruin is atop a mesa or something?), perhaps a 'feathered serpent' in a sacrificial pit that turns out to be a dinosaur...
Dig out a 3.5 Monster Manual and use the stats for a Mind Flayer, only describe it as a creepy tall and thin partially mummified figure whose 'stunning mental blasts' are terror-inducing roars (same game effect) and whose 'brain eating grapple' is a grappling hand that slowly burrows into your chest and tears out your heart (same game effect). The various spell-like abilities are refluffed to fit the theme, it teleports around like Jason in a horror movie, always ahead of you, or right behind you, no matter how fast you flee, and it's 'charm' is a madness inducing spell that makes allies flip out and attack each other (same game effect). If using a single 'heart ripper' buff it up to CR 10-12. Otherwise, use groups of them, and fluff them as the shriveled half-mummified remains of ancient heart-sacrificing priests, resurrected back to terrible life to defend the temple from these defilers.
Ohh god I would totally use a Mind flayer and damn that sounds tempting. Unfortunately I already have something like that in the form of an imprisoned Zushin Kami who has been pressed into the service of these new cultists and is bonded to the building itself. His basic goal is to slowly go crazy as he tries to fight off the intruders until the party either a.) finds the gate that functions as his anchor and kill him or b.) manage to convince him that they are not evil and can help him clear the final boss and finally start cleansing this place of Apollyon's taint. Also I already use a ton of aberrations and cthulhian monsters pretty regularly so I feel like I need to pull off a bit on the more overt references to them for a while so my party doesn't get wise.
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Garudas, kamadans, and couatls. Plus definitely snakes, eagles, and jaguars.
Which one is a kamadan? Also I'm liking the idea of were jaguar since I had planned for lycans (player subplot) but now that the aegis behind them has dropped the game having a nice replacement would be awesome (probably found some sort of forbidden rite inside the tomb somewhere). Also I don't think I really need to reskin considering how easy it is to make new lycans in pathfinder.
2nd ed AD&D had Maztica, a pseudo-South American continent as part of its Forgotten Realms setting. Googling for that might bring inspiration too.
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Which one is a kamadan?
Leopard with snakes coming out of it's back, that breathes a cloud of sleep gas, IIRC.
You can make it creepier by having the 'snakes' be blood-sucking parasitic vines that have engulfed and colonized a jaguar. Or the biting tentacles of a xenomorph-like Mythos critter that has crawled down it's throat and lives in it's belly...
The ahuizotl from Bestiary 3 is Aztec, as is the tzitzimitl from the same book. The shadow giant from the Inner Sea Bestiary certainly has an Aztec look/feel.
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Some critters, while depicted in garb suitable to their origins, such as genie, work fine as capricious favor-granting trickster nature spirits of all sorts of cultures. Dress a Marid or Shaitan up in Aztec looking clothing and jewelry, and replace any mention of brass with obsidian or whatever, and you've can turn a Persian-esque critter into a Aztec one pretty easily.
In my custom setting I had the origin of vampires be a group of Mesoamerican-style priests who had been so bloodthirsty and corrupt in their worship of a sun god that their own god cursed them.
They turned to worship of darkness, blood and evil, calling dark powers to empower their curse and turn it into a boon so they could seek revenge on those that dwell in the light.
I used mostly Pathfinder vampire stats, except that creating a new vampire required a ritual plus some weakness/power differences. At midnight, the aspirant (usually a favoured acolyte of the blood cult) has his or her heart cut out with an obsidian dagger, and replaced with a chunk of obsidian. From that point, the vampire can no longer be permanently killed unless its obsidian heart is captured and sacrificed to the sun god on one of the old altars.
They could turn into black jaguars instead of wolves/bats. Their DR was changed to 10/Glass (including obsidian). I don't recall the rest, but it was more or less along the lines of powers themed on malevolent blood priests.
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The ahuizotl was described as dog-like, with hands capable of manipulation and an additional hand on its tail. The ahuizotl was feared due to its liking for human flesh, especially nails, eyes, and teeth. It was said to live in or near the water and uses the hand on the end of its tail to snatch its prey.
Chanekeh, Chaneque or Ohuican Chaneque, as they were called by the Aztecs, are legendary creatures in Mexican folklore. They are conceived of as small, sprite-like beings, elemental forces and guardians of nature. By tradition, these beings would attack intruders, frightening them so that their soul would abandon their body, which the chaneques enclosed in the depth of the land. If the victim did not recover their soul through a specific ritual, he or she would become ill and die soon after.
In Aztec mythology, Cipactli was a primeval sea monster, part crocodile, part fish and part toad, of indefinite gender. Always hungry, every joint on its body was adorned with an extra mouth. The deity Tezcatlipoca sacrificed a foot when he used it as bait to draw the monster nearer. He and Quetzalcoatl created the earth from its body.
Also, in Aztec mythology, the Quinametzin Giants who, legend says, populated the world during the previous era of the Sun of Rain and its ruler was the god Tlaloc, but they were punished by the gods because they did not venerate them, and their peak-civilization came to an end as a result of great calamities and as a punishment from the heavens for grave sins they had committed. The construction of the pyramid of Cholula and the City of Teotihuacan (The Place Where Men Become Gods) was attributed to the Quinametzin Giants.
Encantados are a Brazilian legendary creature. They live in a deep underwater realm named the Encante. Encantados are most commonly described as a type of freshwater dolphin or sea snake with the ability to shapeshift into human form. The transformation is rare, but when they do it's usually at night. They can't disappear while shapeshifting and they show magical abilities, such as the power to control storms and haunt humans. Encantados are musically talented, seductive, and they have an attraction to parties. They use various mind control techniques and can inflict illness, insanity, and even death. The creatures are known for kidnapping humans, and that is why many villagers will not go near the Amazon River at night. Plenty of South Americans believe in the existence of the encantados and claim to have seen and interacted with the species.
The Mono Grande ("Large Monkey") is descibed as an ape-like, hairy cannibal with a man-like torso. This creature has been sighted in South America. The mono grande is reported as being aggressive to humans, and it attacks humans on sight but might carry off women for breeding. The first formal report of the large monster was in 1533, when Pedro Cieza de León reported sightings from natives and one Spanish settler.
The Cherufe is a creature of rock and magma. It is said that Cherufe inhabit the magma found deep within Chilean volcanoes and are the source of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Some say this creature is the source of meteorites and volcanic stones that cause damage in volcanic regions. The only way to avoid the destruction by the hands of the Cherufe was to satiate the beast's taste for human flesh - the Cherufe likes virginal maids to be thrown into the volcano. There is a creepy legend that says the Cherufe likes to ignite the disembodied heads of the sacrificed maids and hurl them out of the volcano.
According to native folklore the mapinguari has a series of unnatural characteristics related to other fantastic beings of Brazilian mythology. These include the creature only having one eye, long claws, caiman skin, backward feet and a second mouth on its belly. In more recent eyewitness accounts it has consistently been described as resembling either an ape or giant ground-dwelling sloth and having long arms, powerful claws that could tear apart palm trees, a sloping back, reaching heights of 7 feet when standing on its hind legs and is covered in thick, matted fur.
These creatures should get you started.
The maftet could work. Winged half great cat humanoids who roost in ruins.
They are in bestiary 3 also.