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).