Fantasy Monster: Fish-Out-Of-Water

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Fish-out-of-water

A sizeable bubble of water floating across air with a weirdly looking fish swimming inside.

CR 5; XP 1,600
N Medium Aberration (aquatic)

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +14

Defense
AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (+3 deflection, +2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 55 (10d8+10)
Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +8

Defensive Abilities water bubble

Weakness susceptible to freezing

Offense
Speed swim 30 ft.

Melee tail slap +10 (2d6+3)

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 1, Wis 13, Cha 7
Base Atk +7; CMB +9; CMD 21 (can't be tripped)

Feats Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative, Run, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (tail slap)

Skills Perception +14, Swim +10

Ecology
Environment any non-aquatic
Organization solitary, pair, or shoal (3–12)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Susceptible To Freezing A water bubble surrounding a fish-out-of-water is susceptible to effects that can freeze water or deal cold damage, staggering the fish-out-of-water for one round, while its psychokinetic abilities prevent the water from actually freezing.

Water Bubble (Su) A fish-out-of-water is surrounded by a psychokinetically maintained bubble of water that protects it from surrounding environment and allows it to swim through air, a few feet over the ground—which allows the fish to ignore difficult terrain caused by surface itself, but not anything that extends higher than two or three feet. Anyone attacking a fish-out-of-water suffers –2 penalty to attack rolls and inflicts half the bludgeoning and slashing damage (unless they have freedom of movement effect or otherwise ignore penalties for fighting in water), and anyone trying to move through its space, is treated as if moving through a square of deep water. The fish-out-of-water is unaffected by fighting in water penalties because of its instinctive psychokinetic control over the bubble itself. The water in the bubble constantly circulates, expelling any impurities and contaminants. It also replenishes itself by drawing moisture from the air, and trace amounts of water from nearby sources. A fish-out-of-water in environment completely devoid of oxygen suffocates after 1d4 hours.

A fish-out-of-water is a weird fish that thrives on dry land... By taking its own piece of ocean  wherever it flies swims. While looking exotically, with too many and often asymmetrical fins here and there, its behavior is not that different from an animal in its favored environment—though a lot of land life is unprepared to deal with them, making fish-out-of-water a surprisingly efficient invasive species.

Alleged sightings of much larger specimens showing here and there are never backed up with hard evidence. They always seem to come from fishermen known for their exaggeration when it comes to fish size.

Fantasy Monsters: Dead Men's Chest

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Dead Men's Chest

A chest made of bones fused together walks on skeletal arms and legs. Skulls adorn the corners, with their jaws acting as hinges for the lid.

CR 5; XP 1,600

NE Medium Undead

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., treasure sense; Perception +14

Defense
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+2 deflection, +2 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 55 (10d8+10)
Fort +4; Ref +5; Will +8

Defensive Qualities all-around vision, channel resistance +2; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

Melee 4 slams +9 (1d4+2)

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 15, Con —, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +7; CMB +9; CMD 24 (30 vs. trip)

Feats Acrobatic Step, Combat Reflexes, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Initiative, Nimble Moves

Skills Climb +10, Perception +14, Profession (navigator) +11, Stealth +15

Language understands Common, can't speak

Ecology
Environment warm aquatic, ruins
Organization solitary, pair, or trove (3–5)
Treasure double

Special Abilities

Treasure Sense (Su) A dead men's chest detects presence of coins, discarded pieces of jewelry, and precious gems within 60 ft. radius, even when concealed or buried. It can sense a general direction and distance toward any coin, piece of jewelry, or precious gem that was taken away from it unless concealed with magic of 4th or higher spell level.

Dead men's chest occasionally spawns when a buried treasure is surround by bodies of greedy individuals who were killed to hide those riches. The bones meld and fuse around the valuables forming a grotesque chest, they memories splinter and mix, and a singular will emerges, driven and torn between skittishness—desiring to preserve its wealth, equating its booty with itself, avarice—fill itself with more valuables than it can contain, and vengefulness—lashing at anyone who would try to steal from it and those who wronged the individuals whose memories the dead men's chest shares.

The dead men's chest is particularly unpredictable when it faces the person or people who personally killed the individuals from which it spawned—it fears and hates them immensely.

A dead men's chest often goes dormant for long periods of time, when it finds a spot it considers safe, at least until disturbed in some way. Some dead men's chest regularly relocate between multiple hiding spots, others, driven by half remembered circumstances of their creation, try to remove markers leading to their resting place, or leave misleading traces. A few particularly intelligent ones even go as far as create false hiding places, and set a few booby traps, though they rarely have patience and focus to create a really complex set up.

Fantasy Monster: Unbound Ba

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Unbound Ba

An owl-like shape with a face of a deceased person.

CR 2; XP 600
LN Tiny Undead (incorporeal)

Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8

Defense
AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 15 (+3 deflection, +2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 22 (3d8+9)
Fort +4; Ref +3; Will +5

Defensive Qualities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, sanctified dead; Immune undead traits

Weakness corpse-bound

Offense
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)

Melee spectral talons +6 incorporeal touch (2d4 nonlethal plus curse of ba)

Special Attacks curse of ba (DC 14)

Statistics
Str —, Dex 14, Con —, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 17
Base Atk +2; CMB +0; CMD 10

Feats Flyby Attack, Lunge

Skills Fly +20, Knowledge (local) +4, Knowledge (nobility) +4, Knowledge (religion) +7, Perception +8

Language Celestial, Common (whatever form it might have taken at the time of the death)

Ecology
Environment urban, ruins, tombs
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Corpse-Bound An unbound ba is inseparably linked to the body from which it spawned. if the body is destroyed, the ba slowly dissolves into nothingness over the next day. An unbound ba always knows the direction towards its tomb and its corpse. If an unbound ba is reduced to 0 hit points, it vanishes and reforms in its tomb in 1d4 days.

Curse Of Ba (Su) Spectral talons—injury; save Will DC 14; frequency 1 day; effect nightmares preventing natural healing of hit point and ability damage, and rendering the victim fatigued for the next day. The curse can be broken by making a proper offering of expensive food, liquor, perfumes, and clothing at the deceased's tomb, and making a successful Knowledge (religion) check against DC of 20 (or more if the local funerary rituals has significantly changed since the deceased's passing). If the dead has no tomb or it has been desecrated, a shrine to the deceased needs to be constructed, reflecting the deceased station in life. Casting remove curse might be cheaper if the deceased had royal blood. The saving throw DC is Charisma-based.

Sanctified Dead (Ex) An unbound ba is created by sacred rituals that invoke powers of life, death, and rebirth. It is empowered by consecrated areas in the same way as regular undead are affected by desecrate, and healed by positive energy used to heal (including all healing spells, and positive energy channeled to heal living things). While an unbound ba is generally evasive of desecrated ground, it affects it normally, and it is otherwise reacting to negative energy in usual way.

Certain mortuary practices involve intricate rituals and procedures, aimed at preserving the body and exalting the spirit of the deceased to ensure continued favorable existence in the afterlife. Occasionally, due to mistakes, distractions, or interruptions to the proceedings, or more rarely malicious interference or curses placed on the deceased, the whole process might go wrong leaving behind spiritual vestiges, ghosts, and other undead beings.

Unbound ba has the face of a deceased person from which it sprang, and shares the dead's dominant personality traits and significant memories, though the former tend to be exaggerated. While it retains alignment of the dead, it might be somehow confused about its state and nature, expecting to be recombined with its ka to form the immortal spiritual whole. Some are distraught by their plight and hostile toward anyone approaching their tomb, others seek revenge for perceived wrongs on the living or trying to help those they cared for.

Fantasy Monster: Treeraffe

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Treeraffe

A very tall creature looking like a cross between a giraffe and a palm tree.

CR 6; XP 2,400
N Large Plant

Init +2; Senses far vision, low-light vision; Perception +15

Defense
AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 17 (+2 Dex, +8 natural, –1 size)
hp 75 (10d8+30)
Fort +10; Ref +5; Will +5; +4 vs. being knocked prone

DR 2/slashing; Immune plant traits

Offense
Speed 50 ft.

Melee 2 slams +10 (1d6+4)

Ranged coconut +10 touch (2d6 plus 2 splash)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks throw coconuts

Statistics
Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 7
Base Atk +7; CMB +12; CMD 24 (32 vs trip)

Feats Acrobatic Steps, Nimble Moves, Run, Throw Anything, Weapon Focus (coconut)

Skills Perception +15

SQ long legs

Ecology
Environment plains and forests
Organization solitary, pair, or herd (5–10)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Far Vision (Ex) A treeraffe extreme height lets it notice objects and creatures from faraway. Its visual Perception checks increase DC by 1 per 100 feet of distance, and it ignores range penalties to its throw coconut attacks.

Long Legs (Ex) A treeraffe can move through spaces occupied by Medium or Smaller creatures, though it provokes attacks for doing so. It can walk through water 15 feet deep without having to swim or hold breath (though it moves at half speed when doing so, and can't run or charge through water deeper than 5 feet). They are also surprisingly stable, gaining additional +4 bonus to CMD against trip attempts, and saving throws against effects that would knock them down.

Throw Coconuts (Ex) A treeraffe grows many small but hard coconuts on its leafy head-crown. It can shake its head in a way that causes one or more of those coconuts to fall off and land on enemies with a surprising accuracy. Each coconut dropped counts as thrown splash attack—though it doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity—with the usual 20 ft. range increment dealing 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a direct hit, and 2 points of piercing damage in a 5-ft. splash. When taking a full attack action, a treeraffe can either throw one coconut in addition to making its two slam attacks, or throw up to three coconuts at different targets.

Treeraffes are motile plants that can be confused with giraffes from a distance, especially when sharing habitats with them. They seem to be a four-legged palm trees roaming grassy plains and sparse forests, either alone, or in small groups. While they might look like they are foraging through the day, they are actually seeking water, and patches of particularly fertile soil to root for the night.

As plant creatures, they are often at odds with herbivore animals and beasts, including giraffes that they resemble, but they often peacefully coexist with carnivores, birds, many vermin, and some small primates that travel on them between groves, and patches of suitable woodlands. They also seem to carry windborne seeds or even occasional saplings of other plants with them.

A few nomadic tribes discovered how to tame treeraffes, using them as beasts of burden—while they require far more effort to load or unload than horses, donkeys, or camels, they are much safer from predator attacks. Particularly old and big treeraffes (with giant template added once, or twice) can even carry small huts build around their torsos.

Giant Treeraffe (CR 7) has AC 20 (+1 Dex, +11 natural, –2 size), 95 hp, Fort +12, Ref +4, DR 3/slashing. Atk slam +11 (1d8+6), coconut +8 (3d6 plus 3 splash), CMB +15, CMD 26 (34 vs. trip).

Elder Treeraffe (CR 8) has AC 20 (+14 natural, –4 size), 115 hp, Fort +14, Ref +3, DR 5/slashing; Atk slam +11 (2d6+8), coconut +5 (4d6 plus 4 splash, 10 ft.), CMB +19, CMD 29 (37 vs. trip).

*Both retain their Acrobatic Step and Nimble Moves due to their long legs, despite technically not meeting Dexterity requirement.

Twelve Years A Game Designer

I started this blog over twelve years ago, in anticipation of my first (English) publication and the first paid-one.

It was Commander, released by Amora Game exactly twelve years ago (or at least I posted about that on 2nd of November).

And it was funny, in that my first publication was sort-of-happy accident...

Wait... How do you get published accidentally?!

Oh, boy...

I was—just for funsies—designing a Captain class, in a forum posts on Paizo message boards. It was an attempt to capture the spirit of the class of the same name from Lord Of The Rings Online for Pathfinder (1st edition). And then, unexpectedly, I was contacted by Greg LaRose from Amora Game, who told me that he wanted to publish a similar class when he saw my creation and he wanted to use my work as the basis for rework of what he had in mind.

After shaking off the initial dazed condition, I somehow negotiated a very neat deal with Greg, and the commander was born as a fusion of what I had in mind, and what Greg had in mind...

After some less than stellar initial release, we went through revision that ended receiving four out of five stars from Endzeitgeist.

I collaborated with Greg multiple times after that over years, as well as doing some things for Green Ronin, Jon Brazen Enterprise, Little Red Goblin Games, LPJ Designs, Wayward Rogue Publishing, and Zenith Games. I hope I haven't missed anyone.

I ended writing things for 1st edition of Pathfinder, 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, Chronicle System (that's Green Ronin's Saga Of Ice And Fire mechanics), and Savage Worlds.

With that said, it has been years since my last publication—currently I am doing little when it comes to designing beyond writing weekly blog posts, though I am in no way shape or form rejecting the possibility of more things coming in the future (I have no intention of dabbling in self-publishing).

Fantasy Monster: Hungry Hut

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Hungry Hut

A rather inconspicuous hut standing in a small grove.

CR 9; XP 6.400
NE Gargantuan Aberration

Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 120 ft.; Perception +15

Defense
AC 23, touch 7, flat-footed 22 (+1 Dex, +16 natural, –4 size)
hp 114 (12d8+60); fast healing 10
Fort +9; Ref +7; Will +12

Defensive Abilities all-around vision; Immune disease, electricity, poison, slowed, staggered

Offense
Speed 10 ft.; creeping

Melee 3 tentacles +16 (1d8+10 plus pull)

Space 20 ft.; Reach 30 ft.

Special Attacks pull (tentacle, 20 ft.), swallowing maw (10d6 acid, AC 18, 22 hp)

Statistics
Str 30, Dex 12, Con 20, Int 11, Wis 19, Cha 13
Base Atk +9; CMB +23; CMD 37 (can't be tripped)

Feats Blind-Fight, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Critical (tentacle), Lightning Reflexes, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (tentacle)

Skills Disguise +16 (+36 when mimicking buildings), Knowledge (local) +15, Perception +19, Use Magic Device +15

Languages Common, one other local language

SQ mimic building

Ecology
Environment urban or rural
Organization solitary, pair, or neighborhood (3–6)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Creeping (Ex) A hungry hut is such massive and lumbering creature, that it ignores difficult terrain, and displaces obstacles that are Large or smaller unless they are part of the ground itself and made of hard stone or harder substance fused with the ground. It can't be knocked prone. Only Colossal creatures or mythic magic can attempt to forcibly move it. Moving through a hungry hut's space requires climbing or running across its roof (and usually triggers swallowing maw).

Mimic Building (Ex) A hungry hut can assume a general shape of a Gargantuan building, such as a hut, a cottage, or a similarly sized house or a building (though never outhouses for some reason). A hungry hut cannot substantially change its size. While most of its body is hard and has rough texture, it can produce softer flaps to mimic things such as curtains. A hungry hut gains +20 racial bonus to Disguise checks to mimic buildings, and it can use it in place of Stealth to avoid being recognized as a threat. Disguise is always a class skill for hungry hut.

Swallowing Maw (Ex) When a Large or smaller creature is pulled to a space adjacent to a hungry hut, or takes an action that would provoke an attack of opportunity while adjacent to a hungry hut, the hungry hut can, as a free action, attempt a grapple check against the creature, swallowing it whole if successful. A hungry hut can have Large or up to four Medium creatures swallowed at the same time, digesting their remains in 1d4 rounds after they die while swallowed. Swallowed creatures gain grappled condition, and can attempt to escape by winning a grapple check, or cutting their way out with a light slashing or piercing weapon, dealing 1/5th of the hut's hit points in the process, similarly to swallow whole universal monster ability.

Hungry huts are quite likely a larger and more dangerous relatives of the common mimics. Too large to fit inside dungeons or most other constructions, they disguise themselves as small buildings instead, either pretending to be a cozy cabin at the edge of forest, an abandoned house in the slums, or, more rarely, together with a few siblings imitate a quiet thorp. 

At least once, denizens of a remote village came to a mutually beneficial deal with one of those creatures, directing bandits, invaders, and other undesirables to a hungry hut living in the middle of the settlement, claiming it to be the headman's house. It took three missing tax collectors and one royal messenger mistaken for the former for the ruse to be discovered. Allegedly, the monster's presence also helped keep in check misbehaving children and stray dogs.

Mawed Mansion (CR 12) are even more dangerous, Colossal-sized specimens with 16 HD. They have AC 27 (–1 Dex, +26 natural, –8 size), hp 184, Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +16; Atk 3 tentacles +15 (2d6+12 plus pull, 40 ft.); Str 34, Dex 8, Con 24; CMB +32 and CMD of 45. They have Iron Will and Improved Vital Strike in addition to hungry huts' regular feats. All their skill bonuses are 3 points higher, and their mimicking abilities are even more developed gaining +30 racial bonus for a total bonus of 49 when disguised as buildings. They occupy 30-ft. space, and have 60 ft. reach with their tentacles. Their swallowing maw inflicts 10d10 points of acid damage, escaping requires dealing 36 points of damage against the internal AC of 23.

Fantasy Monster: Chestnut Golem Swarm

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Chestnut Golem Swarm

An amassed legion of tiny manikins made out of chestnuts, with some of them even wearing chestnut shells as impromptu helmets.

CR 2; XP 2,400
N Diminutive Construct (swarm)

Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +0

Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 size)
hp 22 (4d10)
Fort +1; Ref +1; Will +1

Defensive Abilities multiplication, swarm traits; Immune construct traits, weapon damage

Weakness vulnerable to fire

Offense
Speed 15 ft., climb 15 ft.

Melee swarm attack (1d6)

Special Attacks distraction (DC 12), chestnut rain (3d6 nonlethal, Ref DC 13 negates)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.

Statistics
Str 1, Dex 10, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
Base Atk +4; CMB —; CMD —

Skills Climb +3, Perception +0, Stealth +12

Ecology
Environment urban, forests
Organization solitary, pair, or park (3–10)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Chestnut Rain (Ex) A chestnut golem swarm can throw a rain of chestnuts as a standard action, striking 5-ft. radius burst within 15 feet. All the creatures within the area that fail a Reflex saving throw (DC 13) suffer 3d6 points of bludgeoning nonlethal damage. The chestnut golem swarm can't use this ability again until they move over the area that was bombarded by chestnut rain, or another space covered in chestnut and chestnut shells. The saving throw DC is Constitution-based and includes +1 racial bonus.

Multiplication (Su) A chestnut golem swarm is capable of creating more of individual chestnut golems to replenish the loses. A chestnut golem swarm standing within an area covered in chestnuts and chestnut shells may recovers 2d6 hit points as a standard action, clearing the area of chestnuts.

Individual chestnut golems are little more than home-made toys, seasonal poppets made for children by their magically-inclined caretakers that rarely last until the next year, being broken or lost long before the following fall.

However, when too many chestnut golems are made and gathered in a single area, either because too many children brough they seasonal toys, or because they ended being discarded at the same time, they might synchronize into small armies, moving together and building more of themselves. They often keep traversing parks and chestnut groves, fighting mock battles between each other, or actual battles against creatures that would steal chestnuts for food, ingredients, or trinkets. They might also attack entities that disturb chestnut trees, or even someone who unwittingly starts cleaning or gathering fallen leaves under which the swarm might hide.

Only rarely, chestnut golem swarms can survive more than a few months past the fall, though, replenishing their ranks until all the remaining chestnuts in the area that weren't buried are consumed.

An individual chestnut golem has a price of about 2 gp, and take Craft Wondrous Item feat prestidigitation spell, and about a minute to make. It takes approximately 1,500 chestnut golems to form a functional swarm. 

Fantasy Monster: Dratgon

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Dratgon

A scruffy beast covered in patches of scales and fur, with scaly, pink tail, a pair of bat wings, and a rat-like head on a short neck.

CR 7; XP 3,200
NE Large Dragon

Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +15

Defense
AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 15 (+5 Dex, +6 natural, –1 size)
hp 85 (10d12+20)
Fort +11; Ref +12; Will +11

Defensive Qualities swarm shape; Immune disease, paralysis, sleep

Offense
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (poor), climb 20 ft., swim 20 ft.

Speed (swarm shape) 15 ft., climb 15 ft., swim 15 ft.

Melee bite +14 (2d6+5 plus disease), 2 claws +14 (1d8+5)

Melee (swarm shape) swarm (6d6 plus distraction and disease)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (0 ft. in swarm shape)

Special Attacks disease (DC 17), distraction (DC 17), noxious breath (30-ft. cone, DC 17, nauseated 1d4+1 rounds or dazzled for 1 round)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th, concentration +9)

Constant—speak with animals (rats and rat-like animals only)

3/day—commune with rats (as commune with birds, excepts affects local rats)

Statistics
Str 20, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 9
Base Atk +10; CMB +16; CMD 31 (35 vs. trip)

Feats Combat Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Nimble Moves

Skills Climb +10, Fly +12, Knowledge (local) +11, Perception +15, Stealth +14, Swim +10

Languages understands Draconic

SQ compression, rat-kin

Ecology
Environment underground (sewers)
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure standard (trinkets and trash collected by rats)

Special Abilities

Disease (Su) Galloping filth fever: Bite or swarm—injury, physical contact with infected—contact; save Fort 17; onset immediate; frequency 1/hour; effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage; cure 3 consecutive saves. Anyone coming in physical contact with the victim of galloping filth fever has to make a Fortitude saving throw or become infected as well. Prolonged or repeated contact (such as taking care of the sick) forces a new Fortitude saving throw each hour. The saving throw is Constitution-based.

Noxious Breath (Su) A dratgon can breathe a cloud of noxious fumes covering 30-ft long cone-shaped spread once every 1d4+1 rounds. Creatures caught within the cone become nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds on a failed Fortitude saving throw (DC 17). A successful saving throw renders them dazzled for 1 round instead. The saving throw DC of this poison effect is Constitution-based.

Rat-Kin (Ex) A dratgon recognizes rats, and is recognized by them as kin. It can influence rats, dire rats, rat swarms, and similar rat-like creatures of animal-intelligence as if using wild empathy with an additional +4 bonus (for a total bonus of +13). It can affect animal-intelligence, rat-like magical beasts with a –4 penalty. Animal-intelligence rats never attack dratgon, and it is completely immune to rat swarm damage, natural, magically controlled, or summoned.

Swarm Shape (Su) A dratgon can polymorph into a swarm of dire rats as a standard action. It counts as swarm of Tiny creatures in such form, with AC 19, listed speed and swarm melee attack. Dratgons use this ability to traverse pipes, half-collapsed parts of sewers, and occasionally venture underground, or kill victims in a way that leaves much less attention than their full-scale bites. If a dratgon in a swarm shape moves to space occupied by a mundane or summoned rat swarm, it can take a swift action to absorb the rat swarm regaining hit points equal to the rat swarm's current hit points.

A strange draconic beast that can be occasionally found in the sewers below particularly large and cities, a dratgon looks like a loveless child of a dragon and a rat, or three. While dragons are indeed known for their fecundity and ability to crossbreed with creatures of all kinds, it's really unlikely that they would found suitable rat paramours. Which makes the origins of dratgons a mystery—are they an experiment gone wrong? A descendants of a particularly desperate dragon? A lineage of rats that feasted on a preserved dragon carcass until they grew to resemble their fodder? A lineage of petty dragons that feasted on rats until they degenerated until they started to resemble their prey? Victims of a curse?

Other dragons have little respect for those creatures, considering them degenerate cousins at best, and twisted mockeries at worst, rarely if ever acknowledging any possible kinship.

Setting Ideas: The Green Compromise

Today, we are taking a break from an endless queue of stat-blocks. Recently, I ran into an old background idea of mine that I wrote elsewhere, so I decided to post it here (with a few sentences polished here and there and a few new paragraphs added).

The Green Compromise

A sect of benevolent (or at least staying away from bloodthirsty might-makes-right, eat-or-be-eaten, you-are-either-hunter-or-prey mentality) druids came to a conclusion that further development and expansion of civilization is impossible to stop without resorting to cataclysmic solutions which they wanted to avoid for various reasons (ranging from compassion for other living beings that would be annihilated, through the fact that power needed might exceed their means, and last, but not least, they might destroy themselves as well). Instead, they decided to influence the civilization development, hoping to shape it into a more acceptable form.

They noted that the horizontal and numeric spread of civilization is primarily driven by need for agricultural lands, and at the same time new agricultural lands lead to further increase in population which drives further territorial expansion. This lead them to conclusion, that the territorial spread could be reduced by either preventing or at least reducing population growth or by increasing efficiency of food production.

One of the factions decided that preventing population growth is not feasible solution so they choose the second solution: they harnessed their earth, water, weather, and plant magic to increase soil fertility, provide water and sun in right proportions, enhanced the plants, and multiplied the crops by orders of magnitude. As intended, this slowed but not completely stopped cultivation of new lands for farming, allowing to sustain much bigger urban populations without need for corresponding increase in rural population.

Their assistance came at certain conditions, giving the druids political voice in settlements, important advisory role in matters related to necessary expansion, a degree of sovereignty over wilderness, and some degree of control over population growth and expansion.

However, constantly growing population increases demand for mineral resources, which can't be solved that easily. While some druids have ideas for promoting safe and stable mining practices, even they know it might be a road to nowhere. Unlike plants and animals, minerals can't really be tended to grow in sustainable way... And the process of transporting them alone is a huge issue that requires building roads, reshaping the land, and seeking more and more deposits before the old ones are depleted.

The Green Compromise has to deal with other issues as well. Many forces subtly or not so subtly work to undermine it from all the sides—those who want the expand the untamed wild lands and diminish the civilization, the apologists of unrestricted urban growth, the free farmers who detest the organized, strictly controlled agriculture, and even darker groups scheming to undermine the very balance of the world, destroy the civilization and corrupt the nature. Various druidic factions and wildland communities view the Green Compromise with suspicion, contempt, or outright hatred. Arcane colleges are slowly developing their own alternatives to druidic magic, intending to replace village druids with agricultural magicians. Priests of both rural and urban cults envy the good old times, when they did not have to share their spiritual authority with uncouth animists. Common folk, mercantile organizations, and nobility alike rarely understand the intricacies of equilibrium needed for the system to work, responding to stable supply with increased consumption. Many would like to turn all the wilderness, which was supposed to be preserved by the Green Compromise, into more and more cities and estates.

Can the Green Compromise survive? Will it quickly collapse under onslaught from all the sides or slowly fade away, hacked away piece by piece? Who will come on the top after all is said and done?

Campaign Idea: Rise Of The Green Compromise

The Green Compromise is an idea, a proposal brought by groups of druids before the monarch of a young kingdom surrounded by deep forests and high mountains. They offer to aid the realms with their magic—blessing crops, warding off pests, and mitigating unpredictability of weather—asking in return for restrictions on expansion of settlements, lumbering, and mining.

The court is intrigued but not yet sold on their ideas, and various factions push for and against committing the kingdom to the compromise. Aristocrats holding a lot of agricultural land already, are favorable toward having stable, secure harvests, as do yeoman farmers tending their own farms—while those who hold fiefs which are more forested and would like to expand further, and landless farmers, whose only hope for prosperity is to be settled on newly cleared areas are less swayed by the ideas of lumbering and settlement restrictions. The merchants worry about securing suitable routes through the forests and mountain passes, the priesthoods preach both for or against the idea, as directed by their deities dogmas.

Are the PCs agents of one of the factions working to fulfill their goals (druids, royal court, a magnate or an alliance of many)? Envoys of the court whose role is to examine the possibility of proposed coexistence in practice (or secretly investigate if the druids are trustworthy and honest in their proposals, and not having a secret hostile agenda)? Assembly of representatives of various factions designated to deal with issues that could undermine the Compromise in its infancy?

Fantasy Monster: Dryadcula

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Dryadcula

A lithe figure, sensual despite her proportions being just slightly off, with a mane of yellow, orange, and red leaves instead of hair. Her skin is chalky white with patches of brown, like a sickly birch. Her arms end in gnarled, branch-like talons.

CR 8; XP 4,800
CE Medium Undead

Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +15

Defense
AC 21, touch 18, flat-footed 16 (+3 deflection, +5 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 95 (10d8+50); fast healing 5
Fort +8; Ref +10; Will +11

Defensive Qualities channel resistance +4, leaf swarm; DR 5/magic and cold iron; Immune undead traits

Weakness hollow tree

Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.

Melee 2 claws +12 (1d4+2 plus blood thorns)

Special Attacks blood thorns (entangled, 3d6 bleed, DC 27 to escape)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th, concentration +15)

Constant—speak with plants (dead plants only)

At Will—blight (4th, DC 19), warp wood (DC 17)

3/day—tree stride (dead trees only)

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 20, Con —, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 21
Base Atk +7; CMB +9; CMD 27

Feats Acrobatic Step, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Nimble Moves, Weapon Finesse

Skills Acrobatics +15, Climb +10, Escape Artist +15, Knowledge (nature) +11, Perception +15, Stealth +18

Ecology
Environment forest
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure standard (pieces of ironwood harvested from the remnants of dryadcula's hollow tree)

Special Abilities

Blood Thorns (Su) Creatures struck by a dryadcula's claws are immediately entangled by thorny vines, suffering 3d6 points of bleed damage each round, until they free themselves (or are freed) with a successful grapple or Escape Artist check against dryadcula's CMD.  The vines will anchor the target in place, if the target was in area of light or heavy vegetation or adjacent to a tree when struck. Attempting to free the victim is a standard action. Effects that kill, control, or shape plants (e.g. blight, control plants, warp wood or wood shape) allow the target to be freed immediately. Note that magical healing or bandaging stops the bleeding for a moment, but as long as the creature remains entangled in blood thorns, the embedded thorns reapply bleeding on the following turn anyway.

Hollow Tree Each dryadcula is bound to a single dead tree, hollow inside, often dry rotted and covered in fungi. If the hollow tree is ever destroyed, the dryadcula is destroyed as well. The hollow tree has hardness 10 and 150 hit points, the same saving throws as dryadcula, and recovers lost hit points equal to bleed damage inflicted by dryadcula's blood thorns.

Leaf Swarm (Su) A dryadcula can turn into a cloud of leaves, acting as a swarm of Fine creatures while doing so, with AC of 23, flight speed of 30 ft. (perfect) and Fly bonus of +17. While in that state, dryadcula is immune to weapon damage but becomes vulnerable to area attacks and can't attack or use her spell-like abilities. When a dryadcula is reduced to 0 hit points, she transforms into a leaf swarm and tries to return to her hollow tree, where she rests until she fully recovers over the next 24 hours. If she fails to reach her hollow tree in a single hour, or is caught in sunlight, she is destroyed.

Dryadculas are a cruel, twisted remnants of dryads turned into vampiric monstrosities—the earliest recorded specimens were the first victims of newly vampirized baron Voohrsk who unleashed his newfound powers against the unruly and rebellious fey of his lands that opposed his vision.

Dryadculas roam the areas surrounding their hollow trees, hunting prey for blood they need to sustain their hollow trees, which are slowly but eternally rotting, while trying to keep the location of their trees secret, for their very existence is dependent on them. They are particularly hostile toward those who would clear the forest (especially lumberhacks), for obvious reasons, but they also strike at those who would clear woods of darkness, corruption and undead. It seems as if their mere presence acts as an attractor for darker things and evil forces to converge on the areas they inhabit.

Fantasy NPC: Baron Voohrsk, The Shadow Of A Vampire

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Baron Voohrsk, The Shadow Of A Vampire

A shadow silhouette creeps across the wall.

CR 11; 12,800 XP

LE Medium Undead (incorporeal)

Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., lifesense (whole castle); Perception +14

Defense
AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 10 (+6 deflection, +8 Dex, +1 dodge)

hp 126 (12d8+72); fast healing 5
Fort +10, Ref +12, Will +12

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, shadow body; Immune undead

Weakness sunlight

Offense
Speed 40 ft.

Melee 2 shadow touches +17 incorporeal touch (6d6 plus 2d6 bleed)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks haunt dreams

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th, concentration +18)

At will—telekinesis (single target at a time)

Statistics
Str —, Dex 26, Con —, Int 17, Wis 15, Cha 23

Base Atk +9; CMB +17; CMD 37
Feats Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Defensive Combat Training, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will

Skills Diplomacy +18, Intimidate +21, Knowledge (arcana) +15, Knowledge (local) +15, Knowledge (nature) +15, Perception +14, Stealth +23

Language Common, Duc, Infernal, Sylvan

Haunt Dreams (Su) Baron Voohrsk can sense anyone sleeping within his castle, and can touch their dreams, sapping their vitality. He can focus on single creature at a time, dealing 1 point of Strength damage per hour of sleep. Creatures that are trained in lucid dreaming or are otherwise in control of their dreams can recognize what is happening (though they can't exactly identify the source of effect beyond it being channeled through the castle itself) and wake up after the first hour. Other creatures can make a Wisdom check after each hour (DC 15) to wake up and realize they feel weaker. Creatures that suffer total Strength damage equal to their Strength score die and become vampire spawn under baron's control. Protection from evil, death ward, thaumaturgic circle, and anything that would prevent nightmare or possession protects from the effect, as does resting within consecrated, hallowed, or an extradimensional space, such as rope trick or magnificent mansion.

Shadow Body (Su) Baron Voohrsk is a shadow. For all effects and purposes he can be treated as an incorporeal being, but unlike truly incorporeal beings he can't move through objects or fly. Instead, he slithers along any surfaces convenient to him, often weirdly distorted, ignoring difficult terrain, and can move around obstacles or slip through the smallest openings, lacking substance that he would need to squeeze through. When reduced to 0 hit points he dissolves into the walls of his castle and reforms after the next sunset somewhere in the crypts beneath. He can't leave the boundary of the castle, but he has little wish to do so anyway.

Sunlight Weakness Baron Voohrsk can be permanently destroyed by exposure to sunlight—losing a third of his hit points per full round, and being finally destroyed after the fourth round. It will be hard to achieve, though, because his insubstantial form is almost impossible to pin down or immobilize giving him plenty of opportunity to retreat from sunlight. Magical sunlight effects injury and hamper him as if he was a vampire.

Baron Voohrsk is a shadow of what he was. Literally. He was a strict and heartless man, obsessed with discipline and obedience in life, and became a real monster after (his first) death. His second death deprived him of most means of achieving his goals but did little to change his shriveled cold heart.

Even in life, he was obsessed by imposing his ideas of order and civilization on the wild lands he was granted as a fief—and as both the land itself and its denizens resisted him, he resorted to more cruel and ruthless methods. The slowness of the progress only made him dream of methods of extending his reign as he vowed that he will not rest until he sees the wild vale reshaped according to his will.

He made a deal with a dark fey mistress—the contender to the dryad queen that was a focal point of the opposition to his efforts, learning many secrets and gaining command over many of her servants in the process, but as the time passed, he recognized that his consort was merely playing war, enjoying the struggle itself instead of wanting to actually help him achieve his overarching goal. He killed her, tearing her heart out, and burned her body in their throne room. With her dying whisper she turned him into a vampire—though even he wasn't sure if it was to be a punishment, or reward for his action.

That transformation gave him all the time he though he would need to subjugate the land and its people. And he had a plenty of time, and now wielded more personal power than ever—allowing him to spread his (then still metaphorical) shadow even further from his castle. He ruled for over a century, but the tales of his cruelty and the signs of dark presence involved slowly cut the inflow of the settlers, and led many of his subjects to flee for brighter lands, perish from the many threats, or go native. Even as his reach extended to its farthest, his support dwindled until a group of murderous thugs (a party of adventurers, aligned with the druids and fey that formed the core of the opposition to the baron) reached him in the heart of his castle and put him down for good. His shadow remained behind, still bound by his vow, lingering in castle, now only inhabited by his monstrous minions—undead, evil fey, and more abominable things that came later.

Fantasy Monster: Lumberhack

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Lumberhack

A pallid, wretched thing with mad eyes, dead flesh, missing jaw, and hatchets stitched where his hands should be.

CR 3; XP 800
NE Medium Undead

Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +1

Defense
AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 33 (6d8+6); fast healing 3
Fort +3; Ref +4; Will +6

Defensive Qualities channel resistance +2, undying; DR 5/magic or silver; Immune undead traits

Offense
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft., burrow 10 ft.

Melee 2 hatchet-arms +6 (1d6+2, ×3)

Special Attacks pounce, wood-bane

Statistics
Str 14, Dex 14, Con —, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +3; CMB +5; CMD 17

Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Nimble Moves

Skills Climb +10, Perception +1, Profession (lumberjack) +7

Ecology
Environment forest, ruins
Organization solitary, pack (2–12)
Treasure standard

Special Abilities

Undying (Su) A lumberhack reduced to 0 hit points drops incapacitated but isn't destroyed unless it is burned, decapitated, or exposed to direct sunlight. It remains inert until fully healed by its fast healing ability. If an incapacitated lumberhack is carefully pierced through and stuck to the ground with a long piece of wood or metal, it remains pinned and can't remove it on its own.

Wood-Bane (Su) A lumberhack attacks gain +2 enhancement bonus and inflict 2d6 points of extra damage against plants, plant creatures, wooden objects, and constructs made of wood and similar plant materials. They also count as cold iron.

More than zombies, but not quite ghouls, wights, or vampire spawn, lumberhacks are semi-feral undead lumberjacks.

Originally, they were mundane lumberjacks that came to serve a vampire baron who lorded over a thoroughly forested vale, enticed by the pay he promised to those who would work his lands. When he sent them to clear the heart of the forest, they fell to the charms and phantasms invoked by the fey of the land, and were sent back, without fulfilling their orders three time, with each time the wrath of their master growing. Finally, he trapped those who returned in the crypts of his castle, starving and tormenting them, slowly turning the last few of them into animalistic monstrosities whose only instinct was lashing against the forest and its denizens.

Lumberhacks roam the forests, alone or in small groups, trying to chop particularly old or beautiful living trees, those that move on their own, or those that are splashed with blood. They also lash at anyone and anything that interferes with their duties.