What Enemy Should I Use?

[Maverick898]

So I'm thinking of doing up a little adventure and want to use a race that isn't often featured as enemies. Kobolds, Goblins, Orcs are your standard affair, but what other races don't get enough attention? I was thinking Gnolls. Thoughts or suggestions?

[Sir Belmont the Valiant]

Bugbears might do the trick. Or you could do something completely different and go for a small enclave of Catfolk/Lizardfolk/Tengu.

Or dare I suggest... Minotaurs? It depends on your party levels.

[Maverick898]

I'm aiming for something that would challenge an APL of 5. Catfolk and Tengu are quite the interesting options though.

[*Thelith]

If you're playing an evil campaign... Or, just not "good"...

Unicorns.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Halflings.

[VoodistMonk]

Gnolls are good, especially because they are immune to Pugwampi's Unluck Aura... which allows one to also use Pugwampi. And any time you can use Pugwampi, you probably should. Lol. There's lots of fun Gnolls, too... if you want to use monster creatures mixed in with the playable race version. Flinds and Giant Demon Gnolls, oh my.

Centaurs, Ogrillion, Trox... all fun in their own ways, but don't see much use. Strix, too.

[Pizza Lord]

Nymphs, either evil or they just don't like the PCs.

Two, each with a favored companion, like a bard. And they use entangle and aqueous orb to push people back into the entangle spell while shooting them with arrows and waiting for them to go blind.

Then they leave them hung coiled in the shaped branches of a tree, upside down, blind and naked (maybe a fig leaf for modesty or a blue silk ribbon, tied into a bow).

And then they're saved by a Pugwampi, an outcast from his tribe. Cast out because he loves cheese and dairy... but is horribly... and flatulently lactose intolerant.
"Call me, Poot" the unseen, but tiny voice says as you hear it crawling along the branch before your feet come free and you tumble headfirst onto the unseen ground beneath you.

And he promises to take them to a nearby healing pool or unicorn or druid or healer or shaman or herb that cures blindness. But 'nearby' is subjective and they can't go through the tiny tunnels or paths he could take, and they're blind. So he must be their eyes. Also, he eats cheese along the way. The PCs cheese if they have it... or he brings his own. Either way, he sits on someone's shoulder but it's unpleasant for everyone.

Not only do they have to reroll all their d20 checks, they also can't sneak up on anyone with him around. And they have to cross a ravine, over an old log, blind, and rolling checks twice... and there's a waterfall, where he has to shout directions... but they need Perception checks to hear him.

And then they reach the pool or the healer... and after getting cured of blindness and regaining their vision... the pool turns out to be protected by, or the healer is... a medusa.

[Mark Hoover 330]

weird niche creatures to build an encounter around:

1. A pack of Akatas have just escaped their alien, metal cocoons. Some have already created a handful of Void Zombies to gestate their larval young, but more stalk the landscape

2. The rookery of a Dread Corby warpriest of Norgorber has been defiled. Now She and her Dire Corby kin are on a hunt for a new home... and vengeance

3. Despite their typically neutral outlook, the cruel vengeance of Fungus Leshys can be truly horrible. Recently a cluster of the creatures was obliterated by a vain mortal merchant in order to pursue his mining claim, so the remaining Sporefolk have pooled their resources to resurrect an ancient, cursed mold. Having infected several mortals now, the substance claws away the Charisma of the victim while turning them monstrous; the final stage of the infection turns the victim into a Thawn. Now the leshys have targeted the merchant's daughter, and only they can cure the poor girl

4. A horde of Troglodytes, hewing more to a draconic heritage, have taken to using cruel and clever Tatzlwyrms as their "dogs" for surface raids. Their goals are to sow hatred and fear, while framing the local kobolds for their crimes

[Mysterious Stranger]

If you really want something different got with a Reptoid from Bestiary 5. Their shape change means you can use them anywhere including in a urban setting. At first the party is going to think they are just facing humans until one of enemy is killed and it transforms back into it natural form. Now every person they meet is a potential enemy.

The bonus to STR makes them better than average in combat. The bonus to CHA allows you to throw in CHA based casters. A Reptoid Anti-Paladin would make an good boss.

[VoodistMonk]

If you want to stick with playable races, a great place to start looking is the racial archetypes of different classes. You expressed some interest in Tengu, so I will use them as an example...

Tengu have a racial Oracle archetype called the Shigenjo. The archetype gets Ki Pool, which is neat. Tengu also have the Swordmaster Rogue archetype, which gets pounce (Tiger Trance), and Swordmaster stacks with Scout for Sneak Attack on a charge. Using your Trance leaves you fatigued, not unlike a Barbarian exiting Rage... I like to gestalt the Oracle and the Rogue, so you can take the Lame Curse for immunity to fatigue. Then just take the Metal Mystery for Dance of Blades to get your 10' of movement speed back. Lol.

Catfolk make pretty decent Monks... Nimble Guardian and MoMS stack. They have an appropriately named Rogue archetype, as well [Cat Burglar].

Hobgoblins have the fearsome Fell Rider Cavalier archetype, and an alternate racial feature that gives a +4 to Intimidate [Fearsome]. They also make decent Monks, stacking Hungry Ghost and Ironskin archetypes.

The list goes on and on...

[Mark Hoover 330]

Don't forget to check unique FCBs for your alternate races too. Grippli are a great way to annoy the heck out of your players. They get proficiency with nets and a Climb speed, plus they're small with a +2 Dex so they make great ambushers that deliver Entangled.

Grippili slayers however get +1/3 damage when using bone weapons. Bone weapons have the fragile condition. Give the grippili slayers three levels and the Splintering Weapon feat and now, though it might be a bit tougher for them to hit with their broken bone weapons, if they DO hit those weapons deal normal damage, +1, plus 1d4 Bleed.

Taking this race in another direction, there are alternate race traits that let the grippili generate their own poison, called Toxic Skin. It can be delivered by a Touch attack or can be smeared on their body so anything hitting them with a Natural or Unarmed attack suffers the poison on their first successful hit.

This poison is DC 10 +1/2 the grippili's HD, plus their Con modifier. The effect is only 1d2 Dex 1/round for 6 rounds with a cure coming after only 1 save, but still. Coupling this trait with the racial feat Agile Tongue means the grippili can deliver the Touch attack while standing 10' away.

Normally a grippili only gets this ability 1/day, but the FCB for Alchemist with this race is +1/4 uses per day. Couple this with 4 levels in Alchemist(Toxicant) and the grippili gets 2 uses/day of it's own Toxic Skin, then it also gets a Toxic Secretion that it can deliver as a Touch attack a number of times per day equal to it's Alchemist level + Int modifier.

The Secretion carries a Fort save of 10 +1/2 level + Int mod and deals damage equal to the grippili's Int mod. Since the grippili is level 4, the poison lasts for 2 rounds, so if the victim fails it's first save it has to save again next round, and the Secretion ALSO delivers a Condition; I suggest sickened since this weakens the victim's future saves.

[Hugo Rune]

I think I will have to second the halfling idea. The friendly chatty little scoundrel who wouldn't hurt a fly turns out to run a huge criminal network and is in to things so dark that he can only be described as evil incarnate.

[VoodistMonk]

Halflings?!?!

Wonderful!

Quick tip...

Abuse alternative racial features!

I really like taking Disciple of the Pike Cavalier into the Halfling Opportunist prestige class... Cavalier 8/ Halfling Opportunist 5...

Order of the Dragon for a glorious Aid Another/Bodyguard build... the Underfoot alternative racial feature stacks with Bigger They Are.

Order of the Blossom for a fun Sneak Attack/Trip build...

Plus all the Slingstaff/Warslinger builds... I love Halflings...

Their Resourceful alternative racial feature counts as Catch Off-Guard/Throw Anything... opening up Shikigami Style... for anyone so interested...

[VoodistMonk]

Small races with an available Climb speed + Vexing Mouser build = DO IT!!!

[Mark Hoover 330]

VM, when you say Vexing Mouser, you mean this right? If so, that's bananas. First off, I love halflings, but secondly I've begun to love grippili but I've been upset there isn't a lot of grippili specific feats, archetypes etc out there for them.

Combining Vexing Dodger and Mouser in this way, especially with a natural Climb speed is genius. Plus with grippili there's another debuff you could include, if the foe you're climbing on is Medium; they get proficiency with nets. Add Entangled to the penalties of your foe's attacks? Nice!

[VoodistMonk]

Yeah... there are several Vexing Mouser builds... my favorite involves 7 levels of Mouser Swashy for the Hamstring Deed, and 8 levels of Vexing Dodger UnRogue for Distracting Climber. Usually Mouser 1/Vexing Dodger 4 is the best way to start...

[Hugo Rune]

For me it's less about the cool class features and more about the concept. The GM could deliver truck loads of barn-door sized clues and the players will fail to associate the likeable scamp chatting to them in the bar with the BBEG they've been hunting down. Why, because of their preconceived notion that BBEG's aren't chatty halflings.

[Sysryke]

Hugo Rune wrote:

For me it's less about the cool class features and more about the concept. The GM could deliver truck loads of barn-door sized clues and the players will fail to associate the likeable scamp chatting to them in the bar with the BBEG they've been hunting down. Why, because of their preconceived notion that BBEG's aren't chatty halflings.

I think you hit the wrong thread. I'm reading the one where this response makes sense, but this thread was asking about rarely seen enemy races/monsters to use.

[Hugo Rune]

Sysryke wrote:

Hugo Rune wrote:

For me it's less about the cool class features and more about the concept. The GM could deliver truck loads of barn-door sized clues and the players will fail to associate the likeable scamp chatting to them in the bar with the BBEG they've been hunting down. Why, because of their preconceived notion that BBEG's aren't chatty halflings.

I think you hit the wrong thread. I'm reading the one where this response makes sense, but this thread was asking about rarely seen enemy races/monsters to use.

It's the right thread. The thread starts asking about unusual races for an enemy. Somebody suggests halfling, which I second and go on to describe a most unusual BBEG. Some others build on that with a breakdown of classes to use and I come back to it's the fact it's a seemingly normal halfling who is in plain view that the players will never cotton on to being the antagonist that makes it interesting - not class feature x and feat y.

[Maverick898]

Hugo Rune wrote:

Sysryke wrote:

Hugo Rune wrote:

For me it's less about the cool class features and more about the concept. The GM could deliver truck loads of barn-door sized clues and the players will fail to associate the likeable scamp chatting to them in the bar with the BBEG they've been hunting down. Why, because of their preconceived notion that BBEG's aren't chatty halflings.

I think you hit the wrong thread. I'm reading the one where this response makes sense, but this thread was asking about rarely seen enemy races/monsters to use.

It's the right thread. The thread starts asking about unusual races for an enemy. Somebody suggests halfling, which I second and go on to describe a most unusual BBEG. Some others build on that with a breakdown of classes to use and I come back to it's the fact it's a seemingly normal halfling who is in plain view that the players will never cotton on to being the antagonist that makes it interesting - not class feature x and feat y.

I love reading this kind of stuff. As much as I enjoy the "Gotta save the world" adventures, I actually prefer the sillier, more grounded type that have less world ending stakes, which is why I'm amused by the halfling concept.

The one I'm building involves gnolls that have stolen barrels of ale from a town just before the big "Beer Festiv-ale" The PC's will be tasked to get back the stolen casks before the start of the event. In addition a famous brewmaster has hidden himself deep within the confines of the brewery, having gone mad trying to create the most delicious and potent ale imaginable!

[Hugo Rune]

Maverick898 wrote:

<snip>

I love reading this kind of stuff. As much as I enjoy the "Gotta save the world" adventures, I actually prefer the sillier, more grounded type that have less world ending stakes, which is why I'm amused by the halfling concept.

And why can't a friendly, likeable and funny halfling be the high priest of Asmodeus?

[Sysryke]

Hugo Rune wrote:

Sysryke wrote:

Hugo Rune wrote:

For me it's less about the cool class features and more about the concept. The GM could deliver truck loads of barn-door sized clues and the players will fail to associate the likeable scamp chatting to them in the bar with the BBEG they've been hunting down. Why, because of their preconceived notion that BBEG's aren't chatty halflings.

I think you hit the wrong thread. I'm reading the one where this response makes sense, but this thread was asking about rarely seen enemy races/monsters to use.

A clear explanation.

My bad. The phrasing threw me a bit when you mentioned the BBEG. This post of yours would also seem to fit in the thread about how you show the party the BBEG is evil/the villain. Sorry for the confusion.

[Dale McCoy Jr]

Ogres are a solid choice and they are covered in the Monster Codex. The first in that book is CR 4. They go all the way up to the Ogre King which is CR 13.

Maybe an ogre Troglodyte troll alliance for some extra pazaz.

[Mark Hoover 330]

Maverick898 wrote:

The one I'm building involves gnolls that have stolen barrels of ale from a town just before the big "Beer Festiv-ale" The PC's will be tasked to get back the stolen casks before the start of the event. In addition a famous brewmaster has hidden himself deep within the confines of the brewery, having gone mad trying to create the most delicious and potent ale imaginable!

I did something similar once. Mine was a dwarven town that has a religious beer festival every year. They deliver a cask down into an old, spent quarry pit and each year a new statue appears the next morning. They think its a gift of their deity.

Actually there's a korred living in the hills nearby. One year he snuck into the quarry and stole a cask of the really good beer the dwarves brew here, but then as a way to repay the mortals he used Stone Shape to make a statue for them in the pit. Thus the tradition was born, through a misunderstanding.

Anyway, for the adventure, this year a bunch of mites crept in ahead of the korred and replaced the good beer with a sour batch. The korred came in, drank the sour stuff, got sick and out of anger shattered the barrel, leaving no statue behind.

So the adventure begins with the town in chaos, thinking their deity is displeased. While the clergy begins to gather folks for impromptu atonement (the NPC religious types in this settlement are only Adepts) the mayor asks the PCs to investigate. There's tracks in the area along with other clues to get the PCs out into the hills but they'll have to act quickly since the dwarven clergy is desperate.

The entire adventure is a prank war between the mites and the korred. The mites wanted a magic belt from the korred, made of the creatures fantastic hair. What they got had a tickling curse so whoever wears the belt is constantly squirming. The mites, in retaliation, swapped the beer. The korred goes back to his cave to nurse his sick gut and plot worse revenge on the wicked little gremlins; this is hopefully where the characters arrive.

[Boomerang Nebula]

Gnolls are definitely a good option. You could also consider dark folk, hiding underground or in sewers, venturing out only at night. Or, quicklings hiding motionless in plain sight, waiting for the right moment to strike.

[ShroudedInLight]

Faceless Stalker.

These guys are a favorite of mine, easily boosted with any amount of armor, weapons, or feat choices. A group of faceless stalkers are quite hard to track down among a populace while able to go about whatever plan they have unhindered.

Add class levels for extra spice, you don't even need to give them the class advancement stat adjustment (4, 4, 2, 2, 0, -2) though you can if you want.

They make excellent Vigilantes, Mesmerists, Ninjas, or even Kineticists. Round up their Wisdom and Dexterity for extra fun and options.