First draft written and statted. Now some refining and a lot of polishing.
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Got several strong ideas to pick from. Fortunately, at least one is suited for the next issue of Wayfinder if I don't make it or decide on another monster for Round 2.
Mark, you're allowed to create a monster that's only found in one particular city.
Good to know! I reckon this will be helpful in figuring out how to make these beasties uniquely Golarion-esque, as opposed to urban but world-neutral.
There're a lot of amazing Golarion cities out there...
Thought about using those floating cities but they are essentially ruins
Mark, you're allowed to create a monster that's only found in one particular city.
Quantium thaumaturgic sparrow?
Kaer Magan disemboweled prophet?
Huh... I should make note about the later for keeping it for Wayfinder, probably...
Anybody have any suggestions/advice on how to set up a good test combat, to put new monsters through their paces and make sure the CR isn't way off, or the abilities aren't too cumbersome at the table, etc.?
I think that assembling a stereotypical classical party of warrior type (fighter, barbarian, paladin or ranger), cleric (or druid or oracle), rogue (or bard or inquisitor) and arcanist arcane caster such as wizard or sorcerer with items worth suggested wealth by level should do the trick. Note that differences in composition can give the party advantage or disadvantage against monsters that focus on different tactics.
Thank you for the post Adam. I was able to take your advise when gearing up for my work.
Now what would you recommend for someone that is trying to use a two, three or four part name?
I ask this because we are limited on word count. Example, if I name my creature: Jung Ti Reaper it will of course cause me to sink 3 words an appearance into where ever I have to reiterate the name. Would it be ok to instead refer to it as Jung or Reaper in the text with the assumption the creatures name is already applied or understood?
Thank you again for taking the time to review the post.
Paizo tends to use the full name when they reference the monster in the description, at least the first time (see great white shark).
That said, three-word names seem pretty uncommon and it's not an absolute rule: Star-spawn of Cthulhu, for example, refers to the monster as just star-spawn in later references in the description. (They've also got an unusually long word count, since it's a two-page spread, so they reference the monster more often.)
I was afraid of that. Humm.. I have a real task on my hands then in trimming. I'll skim through the throngs of mobs again and see what style seems the most evident and go from there. I am set on the name.. so its about reduction of something else at this point cause I'm maxed.
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I'd say it depends- you should generally use the creature's entire name. However, I could see referring to the Absolom Horror (as an example) as just the Horror after the first use. Everyone in Absolom would probably know what you are talking about, or they would call it the Night Horror or whatever. The same way I refer to back bacon, while Americans tend to call it Canadian bacon.
However, if it was the Red Horror, it should probably be referred to as such at all times.
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Is there a preferred phrasing for saves?
Spot-checking Bestiary 3, I see
- "must succeed at a DC 20 Will save"
- "must succeed on a DC 20 Will save"
- "must make a DC 20 Will save"
- "requires a DC 20 Will save"
- "must attempt a DC 20 Will save"
Paizo normally uses "succeed at a DC 20 Will save."
Paizo has steered away from using "make" in the context of saves, as we want it to be clear that there's a difference between *attempting* the save, and *succeeding at* the save, and *make* the save could be interpreted as either.
Make a save could be a sound construction if the following sentences described effect of success and effect or failure - then "make save" would refer just to the fact that saving throw roll is attempted. But that eats words.
(I) only like cute monsters if they are really solid. (Says the guy with a flumph avatar.)
This sounds like a dare! Who is brave enough to take him up on this challenge?
Hello Kitty Lich of Doom coming right up...(I) only like cute monsters if they are really solid. (Says the guy with a flumph avatar.)This sounds like a dare! Who is brave enough to take him up on this challenge?
Or the Daigle-ite
A tiny six inch tall Daigle, carrying a half inch Bestiary tome stamped with bright red letters reading "under development".
The creature runs into empty dungeon rooms, opens the book to a random page spawning a host of nasties that are tested by any PC's unfortunate enough to stumble into that room. He remains invisible during the encounter, noting how the beasties can be "improved".
p.s. It is rumored that he wait's until the PC's are in the corridor leading to that room ;)
The Pipe Fox from beastiary 4 is about as cute as they come. He's tough to top.
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Since Beholder's are Wizard's property I am going to make a totally original monster called the "Inhaler". It has one giant nose as well as ten others on stalks. Each nose has a different snot-related power.
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Since Beholder's are Wizard's property I am going to make a totally original monster called the "Inhaler". It has one giant nose as well as ten others on stalks. Each nose has a different snot-related power.
You might want to reconsider. That idea kind of blows.
Since Beholder's are Wizard's property I am going to make a totally original monster called the "Inhaler". It has one giant nose as well as ten others on stalks. Each nose has a different snot-related power.You might want to reconsider. That idea kind of blows.
(ROFLMBO) Excellent!
Since Beholder's are Wizard's property I am going to make a totally original monster called the "Inhaler". It has one giant nose as well as ten others on stalks. Each nose has a different snot-related power.You might want to reconsider. That idea kind of blows.
Awesome humor is Awesome.
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Since Beholder's are Wizard's property I am going to make a totally original monster called the "Inhaler". It has one giant nose as well as ten others on stalks. Each nose has a different snot-related power.You might want to reconsider. That idea kind of blows.
An "Inhaler?" It kinda sucks, in all fairness...
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Awesome humor is Awesome.Since Beholder's are Wizard's property I am going to make a totally original monster called the "Inhaler". It has one giant nose as well as ten others on stalks. Each nose has a different snot-related power.You might want to reconsider. That idea kind of blows.
Especially when it sucks...
Make a save could be a sound construction if the following sentences described effect of success and effect or failure - then "make save" would refer just to the fact that saving throw roll is attempted. But that eats words.
True, which is why we'd say in that context, just so there's no ambiguity.
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(I) only like cute monsters if they are really solid. (Says the guy with a flumph avatar.)This sounds like a dare! Who is brave enough to take him up on this challenge?
Mine sort of is a "cute" idea. If I make the top 32 you'll see it there. If not, I'll happily post it to the forums for the fun of it. =)
It will make encounters very interesting.
It's whatever is appropriate for the monster. Keep in mind that a monster with a 100% summon chance means that monster is probably going to use that ability whenever possible, so the PCs will have to face the main monster and its summoned ally.
Well, I was tossing around some ideas today, and I think I happened upon something solid. It might need one more shiny, unique ability though...
I just came up with a cool idea. Now if only I can make it work.
Ok, one thing I'm a little confused about: A lot of people are discussing how to integrate their monsters smoothly into a given Golarion city/region, which makes sense if the submission is assumed to be written for, say, an adventure path. Bestiary entries, on the other hand, seem to specifically avoid mentioning specific Golarion locations. So maybe I missed a clarification somewhere, but I'm wondering now which I'm supposed to do. I assumed it was the latter (Bestiary style), but so much of the chatter here seems to assume its the former (adventure path style) that I'm starting to get concerned about looking lazy if my entry doesn't mention specific Golarion environs.
It is my understanding that both ways are acceptable. My question is which way will be better received by the voters?
Ok, one thing I'm a little confused about: A lot of people are discussing how to integrate their monsters smoothly into a given Golarion city/region, which makes sense if the submission is assumed to be written for, say, an adventure path. Bestiary entries, on the other hand, seem to specifically avoid mentioning specific Golarion locations. So maybe I missed a clarification somewhere, but I'm wondering now which I'm supposed to do. I assumed it was the latter (Bestiary style), but so much of the chatter here seems to assume its the former (adventure path style) that I'm starting to get concerned about looking lazy if my entry doesn't mention specific Golarion environs.It is my understanding that both ways are acceptable. My question is which way will be better received by the voters?
As I voter, I can honestly say it doesn't matter to me which way they go about tying it to the setting (so long as the attempts to tie the monster to the setting do not take up so much of the word count that the monster suffers in other areas).
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Anything can be urban!
I've though of a few urban variations of a Pathfinder favorite:
City Goblin
Goblin of the Streets
West End Goblin
Traffic Jam Goblin
Parking Garage Goblin
East Side Goblin
Slums Goblin
Goblin of the 7 Lattes
Time Square Goblin
Goblins of 5th Avenue
Central Park Goblin
Subway Goblin
Condo Goblin
Crackhouse Goblin
Goblin of the Taxicab
See... it's easy...!
And so much flavor...
Make a save could be a sound construction if the following sentences described effect of success and effect or failure - then "make save" would refer just to the fact that saving throw roll is attempted. But that eats words.True, which is why we'd say in that context, just so there's no ambiguity.
Ok...
*sigh* I got accustomed to writing this that way... I'll need to overcome what I got used to.
Crackhouse Goblin
Dibs!
And you left out Brothel... err, "Dance Hall" Goblin.
...and the silly "no vote" goblin. :)
Goblin no vote! Goblin no politico-politici-polito-cocroach!
Entry must be a new Golarion monster (not world-neutral or set in a world other than Golarion).
I'm a little confused about what this means exactly. Since the creature type doesn't appear to be restricted, does this rule effectively eliminate outsiders, since they come from somewhere other than Golarion? Or is "Golarion" used here as a reference to the campaign setting, which encapsulates the inner and outer planes as well?
Given the rule above, would the Witchwyrd, one of the few published monsters that can qualify as urban, be disqualified because it's technically an alien that comes from a different plane?
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A few more easy urban monsters:
Occupy Wall Street Goblin
Panhandler Goblin
Pretzel Vendor Goblin
Goblin-Actors-That-Waitress-Part-Time
Doorman Goblin
Goblin Dog-Walkers (Mythic)
Firehouse Goblin
Welfare Queen Goblin
Art-For-Art's-Sake-Goblins
Chinatown Goblin
Fish Monger Goblin
Pandering Goblin (Political Subtype)
Undocumented Goblin
Soup Kitchen Goblin
Iron Worker Goblin
Goblin Bee-aatch (Night Club Subtype)
Crazy-Goblin-Directing-Traffic
SWAT Goblin
Gobl-In-Da-Hood
When I make it to the Top 32* there doesn't seem like there will be much of a competition.
Paizo may as well send me my crown now and save everyone a lot of trouble and heartache.
Everyone please e-mail Paizo and tell them as much.
Oddly enough, I'm not getting much of a response from them so far...
*mythic myth of much myth-making
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Brian, I think this post by me from 2012 should answer your question. :)
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How does the environment interact with Outsiders? Phrased differently, if a given Outsider such as an Imp is commonly seen in urban settings (indeed, many Imps are familiars and would be relatively common in areas such as Cheliax), can it be used for round two, or would its environment simply be Hell?
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How does the environment interact with Outsiders? Phrased differently, if a given Outsider such as an Imp is commonly seen in urban settings (indeed, many Imps are familiars and would be relatively common in areas such as Cheliax), can it be used for round two, or would its environment simply be Hell?
Hell would be the proper environment only if the Imp was stuck behind a computer screen voting in a contest where his submitted item was promised to show up but he had to constantly choose between dental bling and and wispy cloaks for all eternity and all he had was a "Both" button.
Brian, I think this post by me from 2012 should answer your question. :)
It does indeed. Thank you.
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How does the environment interact with Outsiders? Phrased differently, if a given Outsider such as an Imp is commonly seen in urban settings (indeed, many Imps are familiars and would be relatively common in areas such as Cheliax), can it be used for round two, or would its environment simply be Hell?Hell would be the proper environment only if the Imp was stuck behind a computer screen voting in a contest where his submitted item was promised to show up but he had to constantly choose between dental bling and and wispy cloaks for all eternity and all he had was a "Both" button.
I take it all back. No one nor nothing could conceive of such an infernal punishment, or ever carry such a punishment out even if they could...