Creatures with rare vulnerabilities.

[Sysryke]

So, it may or may not be metagaming (depending on your group), but certain classic monster vulnerabilities are common knowledge. Most players, and many characters, know that silver will hurt lycanthropes, cold iron is for the fey, you burn trolls, and you need a (maybe?) wooden stakes to put down a vampire.

What I'm curious about are the more rare or exotic cases. Nothing totally unique to the same degree as artifact destruction. No "the monster must be pierced through its left ear, with a needle made from the bone of a red goat, consecrated in the tears of a thrice mother" stuff. I'm wondering are there creatures with things like DR#/gold, Fast Healing # stopped be glass-steel weapons, vulnerability to powdered sapphire type stuff?

Any examples from Pathfinder Bestiaries, adventure paths, or commonly known 3pp would be appreciated. My character is a monster knowledge specialist and hunter. I'm trying to figure out what to purchase, craft, or collect next (after the obligatory mithral/silver, cold iron, and adamantine weapons).

Thanks folks!

[I grok do u]

First one that comes to mind are Fext: vulnerable to glass and obsidian.

[Sysryke]

I grok do u wrote:

First one that comes to mind are Fext: vulnerable to glass and obsidian.

So cool! That's exactly the type of thing I'm looking for. Now I need to deep dive into special materials and figure out how to get/make/preserve glass weaponry. Fortunately I have both Craft Weapons and Glass as class skills.

[Sysryke]

Bump. What other rare vulnerabilities are floating around out there in the Bestiaries and APs?

[happykj]

Vorpal weapon bypass demilich / jabberwock's DR

Although you are unlikely to encounter them (or to get a vorpal weapon).

[Mr. Bonkers]

Here are a couple I remember:

Jiang-Shi: Recoil from mirrors or handbells, weak to weapons made of the wood from peach trees, and their dust must be scattered or mixed with rice.
Slithering Pit: vulnerable to extra-dimensional spaces. If it eats one, it starts tearing itself apart.
Waldgeist: Must make will saves, or go towards whoever is knocking on wood.
All Div's: every Div has a specific compulsion/weakness, but those are stated in their blurb. Pairaka cannot stand the color red and will not go inside a red room (and attack all that wear it immediately), Bushyastas avoid perfumed odors, and Sepids always do the opposite of what they claim (making Divs have a weakness of predictability).

[Sysryke]

Mr. Bonkers wrote:

Here are a couple I remember:

Jiang-Shi: Recoil from mirrors or handbells, weak to weapons made of the wood from peach trees, and their dust must be scattered or mixed with rice.
Slithering Pit: vulnerable to extra-dimensional spaces. If it eats one, it starts tearing itself apart.
Waldgeist: Must make will saves, or go towards whoever is knocking on wood.
All Div's: every Div has a specific compulsion/weakness, but those are stated in their blurb. Pairaka cannot stand the color red and will not go inside a red room (and attack all that wear it immediately), Bushyastas avoid perfumed odors, and Sepids always do the opposite of what they claim (making Divs have a weakness of predictability).

Great list! From a materials perspective only the Jiang-Shi has something to be accounted for, but these are all really neat. I don't know that I'll start with a peach wood weapon, but it's going on my wishlist. That's the sort of thing I want my character to be good at.

[Dragonchess Player]

The fext has DR 10/glass or obsidian.

[Sysryke]

Dragonchess Player wrote:

The fext has DR 10/glass or obsidian.

Ninja'd by I grok do u, but I appreciate you joining in :)

[Sysryke]

Wow! I can't possibly be the first person to have had this thought or broach this topic. Yet, when I just did a Google search for which creatures have vulnerability to adamantine in PF1e, this thread was the very first search result. Has no one ever thought or cared to group monsters by vulnerabilities?

Anyway, shameless bump, hoping to get more fun ideas on esoteric creatures.

[Mr. Bonkers]

Well, monsters usually have simplified weaknesses like DR/Magic, Slashing, Good, etc. This is so that players can always have "something", and are never truly stuck against creatures. And if a creature does have a very specific vulnerability, the creature usually is foreshadowed a bit for players to learn about it. In other words; the very rare vulnerabilities are rare indeed.

There are still some unusual ones, but even then it isn't really material based for weapons to be made of.
Magma Oozes are vulnerable to water, but you need a lot of it.
Giant Leeches are susceptible to salt, but that is like an acid flask.
The Colour Out of Space is weak/susceptible to Force effects.
The Hungry Fog is susceptible to wind effects, counting as a tiny creature (as are other gaseous beings).
Golems are their own entire thing, being immune to magic that allows spell resistance, but at the same time can be targeted by very specific spells.

But if you are looking for materials to use against monsters, then it might make more sense to look for specific items that deal with certain defenses monsters might have. There are a lot of items that specifically hamper oozes, for instance.
Dust of Acid Consumption can outright kill an Ooze if it fails its save (although Fortitude is a good save for most Oozes).
Bloating Solution suppresses the compression ability of Oozes, and reduces their AoO range.
Congealer Spray staggers Oozes and Plants on a failed save, and suppresses the Split ability on Oozes.

Heartstake Bolts are specifically designed to hunt Vampires with.
Garlic Tablets help you keep Vampires away without having to spent actions.

Bottled Sunlight is amazing, allowing you to target creatures with Sunlight Weakness or Sunlight Susceptability for a round.

Harpy Musk specifically targets Goblins, a low level creature.

Any type of alcohol is usually required to deal with pesky aberrations (Executioner's Hoods, Mimics, and Cave Fishers for example)

Gas-Trap Cylinders can be used against any creature that is gaseous, working like a ghostbusters trap.

Ghost Powder can be used to keep Incorporeals at bay (or even out of your house).
Vermin Repellent keeps swarms away and makes you the "not-preferred-target" for larger vermin.
Clockwork Keys make you the "target-that-one-last" person.
Waspguts can be used to designate a target for any vermin in the vicinity.

Creating a form of Darkness is also a good thing to be able to do, considering Lurker in Lights and Banelights exist.

So I wouldn't just focus on things like materials to bypass DR or target a weakness. A monster hunt knows how to deal with a monster in the most safe of ways. Undermining a creatures advantage against you is just as valid a reason to pack miscellaneous stuff.

[Sysryke]

Thanks Mr. Bonkers. All good info for down the road.

Currently, we have zero access to magic items or any alchemical items as part of the GMs custom campaign. These things will be available later to either hunt, create, be awarded, or maybe even purchase, but not to start. Hence my focus on materials. My character is coming partially from a smithing/crafting background, so it made sense to start from here.

The great defaults are always cold iron, mithral/silver, and adamantine. Then too, the obvious (or not so obvious) varied types of magic/energy vulnerabilities. I'm just looking for other groupings.

For instance, pretty much all lycanthropes are vulnerable to silver, but are there more creatures than just the Fext vulnerable to glass? I'm looking for the uncommon/rare, but not rare/unique material vulnerabilities. As though, hypothetically, all chimeric creatures were vulnerable to gold.