Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Sudowoodo! Sunflora! Donphan!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Rast! Ravid! Roc! Phoenix! Roper!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Goldar wrote: Tue Feb 27, 2018 12:41 am Oh! Ya got me again! First, I thought it was the cosmic Phoenix Force, and then I expected to see Stanley and maybe even Helen! You Trickster, you! :P
Hah- Thorpocalypse always makes that joke whenever he posts a Roper, too :).
Jabroniville
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Remorhaz

Post by Jabroniville »

ImageImage

REMORHAZ
Role:
Giant Arctic Apex Predator, Magical Beast
PL 10 (160)- Minion Rank 16, Sidekick Rank 32
Normal Version:
PL 9-10
STRENGTH 9 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Close Combat (Natural Weapons) 4 (+9)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 4 (+9)
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+6)
Intimidation 12 (+9, +14 Size)
Perception 6 (+7)
Stealth 6 (+7, -4 Size)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Diehard, Extraodinary Effort, Fast Grab, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Natural Weapons) 2, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 2, Startle

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 4 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision, Scent-Tracking, Extended Infravision) [6]
"Tremorsense" Senses 4 (Accurate Touch- Ranged 2) [4]
"Natural Weapons- Teeth" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

"Huge Burrowing Speed" Burrowing 10 (60 mph) (10) -- [11]
  • AE: Speed 5 (60 mph) (6)
"Arctic Predator"
Immunity 6 (Cold Environment & Damage) [6]
Enhanced Skills 16: Stealth 16 (+11 Size) (Flaws: Limited to Arctic Conditions) [4]
Movement 2 (Environmental Adaptation- Arctic, Slithering) [4]

"Natural Size" Growth 11 (Str & Sta +11, +11 Mass, +5 Intimidation, -5 Dodge/Parry, +1 Speed, -11 Stealth) -- (42 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [23]
Protection 4 (Extras: Impervious 9) [11]

Heat Aura 8 [32]
"Area Attack" Damage 8 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst) [16]

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Teeth +9 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Area Attack +9 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Heat Aura +9 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +12 (+5 Impervious), Fortitude +11, Will +4

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Remorhaz cannot speak to humans, nor use their limbs to easily manipulate objects.

Total: Abilities: -12 / Skills: 39--19 / Advantages: 11 / Powers: 120 / Defenses: 22 (160)

Era: Fantasy Worlds
Range: Any cave-like structures.
Colouring: Reds, browns, whites
Size: Up to 9 feet tall.
Encounter Groups: Solitary or small groups (2-10)
Tactics: Lash out with ensnaring "Strands", then pull target slowly towards mouth.

-Among the rarest creatures in all Castellia are the Remorhaz. They were once quite numerous Arctic predators, but their immunity to cold-based attacks, and propensity for generating tremendous heat, made them fearsome foes to the Frost Giants and Frost Dragons that lived in those regions as well. And so both groups altered the course of natural history by transplanting White Worms into Remorhaz territory, and hunted down the creatures wherever they were found. Many human Questers became wealthy on "Remorhaz Hunts", as they were some of the few Arctic denizens who didn't fear the heat. Within a few centuries, the once-common Remorhaz was rendered nearly extinct. As such, components of their bodies now go for astronomical prices, driving the hunts for them to even greater intensity. Rangers can either become wealthy hunting them, or fight those who endanger these creatures to obscurity and legend.

-Remorhaz are resemble gigantic, demonic centipedes, sporting dozens of pairs of legs, a chitinous exoskeleton, and insectoid eyes. Their white bodies glow red with heat, which emanates from their backs, and renders them burning-hot to the touch. Despite the wages Remorhaz Hunters can earn, hunting them is so horribly dangerous that even the greediest won't make attempts at it- only the true professionals are left alive.

-Though Remorhaz are very dangerous, they are no match for the Frost Worms one-on-one, and so the latter creature has driven them far from their original range. Most creatures vulnerable to fire will stop at nothing to remove these, though some clever Frost Dragons now keep some as guards- correctly assuming that most adventurers are rather light on "anti-heat" gear when doing Arctic hunting.

Jab's Notes: I was initially skipping the Remorhaz, owing to it being just another kind of Frost Worm- very redundant. But then I thought about it, and figured that A) the things look cool, and B) the creatures could fit a certain niche. Since they generated heat, it made sense that Frost Giants & Dragons were AFRAID of them, and so the "redundancy" of White Worms existing in the same world could be used as a weapon- the Remorhaz have been hunted nearly to extinction and DELIBERATELY replaced with redundant creatures. This, plus the different abilities of these things (they're 2 points weaker and less durable than White Worms, and swap a Breath Weapon for a Heat Aura), gives them a unique role to play. Their rarity means PCs can make a TON of money by getting one.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Tue Feb 27, 2018 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Woodclaw
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Rast! Ravid! Roc! Phoenix! Roper!)

Post by Woodclaw »

Since D&D took inspiration from many sources (from classic mythology to Gary gygax's personal collection of plastic dinosaurs) I wonder where the idea for the remorhaz came from.
"You're right. Sorry. Holy shit," I breathed, "heckhounds.”

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Jabroniville
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Rast! Ravid! Roc! Phoenix! Roper!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Woodclaw wrote: Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:54 am Since D&D took inspiration from many sources (from classic mythology to Gary gygax's personal collection of plastic dinosaurs) I wonder where the idea for the remorhaz came from.
I looked it up, but couldn't find anything. But yeah, it goes all the way back to 1977, shockingly enough. It looks distinctive, so I feel like it MUST have come from somewhere, unless they just added bug traits to one creature and called it a monster. Pretty typical of mythical beasts, really.
Jabroniville
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Rust Monster

Post by Jabroniville »

ImageImage

RUST MONSTER
Role:
Most Feared Beast Ever
PL 5 (69), PL 8 (69) to Metal Objects
Normal Version:
PL 9-10
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Perception 6 (+6)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 7 (Acute & Extended Scent, Metal Detection- Ranged 3, Acute) [7]
"Corrosive Touch" Weaken Toughness 10 (Extras: Reaction +3) (Flaws: Limited to Metals) Linked to Damage 4 (Extras: Reaction +3) (Flaws: Limited to Metals) [46]

Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Corrosive Touch +6 (+10 Weaken, DC 20)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +4, Fortitude +4, Will +1

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Rust Monsters cannot speak to humans, nor use their limbs to easily manipulate objects.

Total: Abilities: 8 / Skills: 6--3 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 53 / Defenses: 5 (69)

Era: Fantasy Worlds
Range: Typically underground caves.
Colouring: Reds, browns, greys.
Size: Up to 5 feet long.
Encounter Groups: Solitary or small groups (2-10)
Tactics: Attacking nearest metallic objects.

-Though they lack real hitting power, Rust Monsters are easily among the most feared creatures in all of Castellia. Resembling man-sized beetles with distinctive feathery antennae, Rust Monsters are metal eaters, and possess the ability to quickly degrade and consume metals of nearly any variety. Able to "sniff out" magic or metal with ease, no small amount of magic weaponry has fallen to these creatures.

-Rust Monster ecology is little-studied, as the metals they so love to devour are necessary for survival in this harsh land. Their antennae sport a corrosive touch that will instantly disintegrate most weaponry into useless piles of rust, which they will then consume. Suits of armor take slightly longer, but will also surely be destroyed. Typically they live underground, where they might find veins of ore to consume, or simply eat rocks (which do provide nourishment). If they spot metallic materials, they will stride forward without delay, and attack the source of their hunger at all costs- only certain death will stay their hand.

Jab's Notes: The infamous, Magic Item-destroying Rust Monsters, created from a plastic toy that Gary Gygax owned and given random powers, specific to the purposes of destroying adventurers. I really love the fact that many of the early, iconic D&D monsters in fact came from "well, what powers can we give this toy?". It's EXACTLY the kind of thing I did when I was a kid, and the fact that these things have become so legendary is great.
Spectrum
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Roc! Phoenix! Roper! Remorhaz! Rust Monster!)

Post by Spectrum »

Oooh,a video about my favorite D&D monster, the neogi just came out.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
Jabroniville
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Roc! Phoenix! Roper! Remorhaz! Rust Monster!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Neat! I built them last July. I should put them with the other Abominations in my list, though.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jabroniville
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Otyugh

Post by Jabroniville »

ImageImage

OTYUGH
Role:
Monstrous Beast
PL 6 (66)- Minion Rank 5, Sidekick Rank 14
Normal Version:
PL 4-5
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 5 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+7)
Intimidation 10 (+7, +8 Size)
Perception 6 (+7)
Stealth 4 (+4, -2 Size)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 3 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision) [3]
"Natural Size" Growth 2 (Str & Sta +2, +2 Mass, +1 Intimidation, -1 Dodge/Parry, -2 Stealth) -- (8 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [5]
"Feverish Bite" Weaken Stamina 4 (Extras: Linked to Unarmed Damage, Disease +2) [12]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Feverish Bite +7 (+4 Weaken, DC 14)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +5, Fortitude +6, Will +4

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Otyughs cannot speak to humans, nor use their limbs to easily manipulate objects.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 20 / Defenses: 8 (66)

Era: Fantasy Worlds
Range: Underground.
Colouring: Browns.
Size: Up to 7 feet tall and wide.
Encounter Groups: Solitary or small groups (2-10)
Tactics: Surprise attack from burrows.

-Otyughs are disgusting monsters that feed upon refuse, particularly underground. Very large and quite dangerous, they have two large, toothy tentacles sticking out of their blocky bodies, which are comprised mostly of a giant mouth. A long "stalk" contains the creatures eyes and olfactory organ. Subterranean creatures are known to use Otyughs as garbage disposal, but the creatures also have a predatory nature that makes this dangerous- generally, creatures have specialist "waste disposal" types that bring the refuse to the lairs of Otyughs. This is necessary, because the creatures have a tendency to stay beneath piles of refuse, leaving only their eye stalks sticking out.

Jab's Notes: Huh- these things look a lot more terrifying that what their "Challenge Rating 4" nature shows. They're not very big, their tentacles don't do much damage, and their only unique stuff is "Constriction" and a Feverish Bite, neither of which are that overwhelming. Nonetheless, they're an original creation of Gary Gygax, going all the way to 1977, where they seemed to occupy a role as a "hidden threat", using their eye stalks to observe potential prey.
Shock
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Roc! Phoenix! Roper! Remorhaz! Rust Monster!)

Post by Shock »

Early D&D was very adversarial when it came to DM vs players and you can see it in early monster designs like the Roper, Cloaker, Mimic, etc. There's a lot of "gotcha" monsters in there. This was mainly because the goals of the game were much different than the shared storytelling that is more common nowadays. It used to be "see how far you can survive into the dungeon that's designed to kill you."
Gamebook
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Roc! Phoenix! Roper! Remorhaz! Rust Monster!)

Post by Gamebook »

Yeah, looking back at early D&D it was in many ways more like a boardgame than an RPG as we think of them today. The rules were not really designed to be open-ended. Spells like 'Passwall' which would make castles obsolete in a medieval world were actually just meant for circumventing the layout of the dungeon.
BriarThrone
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Roc! Phoenix! Roper! Remorhaz! Rust Monster!)

Post by BriarThrone »

Buddy of mine was playing a barbarian with a cultural taboo against using worked metal. The party gave him so much grief. Then, the module the DM was running called for a rust monster encounter. Suddenly, that crude stone axe doesn't seem so hilarious, huh? :lol:
Jabroniville
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Phase Spider

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

PHASE SPIDER
Role:
Nightmare Fuel
PL 9 (121)- Minion Rank 8, Sidekick Rank 24
Normal Version:
PL 7-8
STRENGTH 7 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -5

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+11)
Close Combat (Bite) 2 (+10)
Expertise (Survival) 8 (+4)
Expertise (Craft Webs) 7 (+3)
Intimidation 15 (+12 Size)
Perception 8 (+8)
Stealth 6 (+9)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Bite), Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 3, Startle

Powers:
"Arachnid Physiology"
"Arachnid Senses" Senses 1 (Radius Sight) [1]
"Tremorsense" Senses 4 (Ranged Touch- Accurate 2 & Extended) [4]
Speed 3 (16 mph) [3]
Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]
"Chitinous Exoskeleton" Protection 3 [3]
Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling 2) [4]
Extra Limbs 4 [4]
Burrowing 2 [2]

"Natural Size" Growth 3 (Str & Sta +3, +3 Mass, +1 Intimidation, -1 Dodge/Parry, -3 Stealth) -- (12 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [7]

"Spider-Bite" Strength-Damage +1 Linked to Weaken Stamina 6 (Extras: Progressive +2) & Affliction 4 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Paralyzed) (Extras: Progressive +2) (Quirk: Takes 3-4 Rounds to Start -2) (29) -- [32]
AE: "Irritating Hairs" Dazzle Visuals 4 (8)
AE: "Webbing" Snare 8 (Flaws: Touch Range) (16)
AE: "Ethereal Jaunt" Movement 1 (Dimensional Travel) (2)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Bite +10 (+8 Damage, +6 Weaken & +4 Affliction, DC 23, 16 & 14)
Initiative +15

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +9, Fortitude +8, Will +0

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Spiders cannot speak to humans, nor use their legs to easily manipulate objects.

Total: Abilities: 18 / Skills: 50--25 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 64 / Defenses: 7 (121)

Era: Modern
Range: Fantasy Realms
Stereotypes: Evil monsters.
Colouring: Nearly any.
Size: Up to 12 feet long (700-1,500 lbs.)
Encounter Groups: Solitary.
Diet: Vegetation, flesh (via enzyme-draining)
Tactics: Stealthy approach followed by a sudden diving attack with lethal venom

-Phase Spiders are dangerous, aggressive predators that have the ability to transport between the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane at will- this makes them deadly ambush predators, even moreso than the unusually-common Giant Spiders that are found all over Castellia. They utilize hit & run tactics, disappearing after successful attacks. Whereas Giant Spiders are common as minions or "Trap Animals", few attempt such things with the notoriously hard-to-keep Phase Spiders, which are understandably hard to keep in one spot.

Jab's Notes: This creature has a really cool picture in the 3e Monster Manual, but it's basically just "Spider With Teleport", making it one heck of an easy build. It's only CR 5 in D&D, but a friggin' huge Spider is a PL 9 Elite Monster in my world. "Normal" versions are typically lesser.
Jabroniville
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Re: Castellia- A Fantasy Setting (Roc! Phoenix! Roper! Remorhaz! Rust Monster!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Shock wrote: Thu Mar 01, 2018 3:51 pm Early D&D was very adversarial when it came to DM vs players and you can see it in early monster designs like the Roper, Cloaker, Mimic, etc. There's a lot of "gotcha" monsters in there. This was mainly because the goals of the game were much different than the shared storytelling that is more common nowadays. It used to be "see how far you can survive into the dungeon that's designed to kill you."
Oh yeah- any time I see a particularly weird or disguised low-level monster, I assume it's from the "old days" when you were supposed to just throw everything you can at your players and try to kill them :).
MacynSnow
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Re: Remorhaz

Post by MacynSnow »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:04 am Image
Intresting story 'bout this ol'boy; My gaming group(the infamous GREED-E for all of you that don't read my posts) ran into one of these when they were ill-equipped to fight it.So,they instead Shrank it by pouring not one,but two permanent Shrink Potions down it's throat(getting some rather lucky rolls from the party Rogue,i might add). After shrinkage occurred,instead of killing it,which would've been the smarter idea,the party Ranger catches it and put's it in a cage intending to sell it as a "Great Northen Cat"......
Shock
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Re: Phase Spider

Post by Shock »

Jabroniville wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:17 am

"Spider-Bite" Strength-Damage +1 Linked to Weaken Stamina 6 (Extras: Progressive +2) & Affliction 4 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Paralyzed) (Extras: Progressive +2) (Quirk: Takes 3-4 Rounds to Start -2) (29) -- [32]
Man I hated these things back when I was playing D&D computer games. They were a pain to kill and the poison was save or die. Maybe it's just the way M&M works but I feel like the damage on a bite should be low with the poison being the big threat that drives PL up.
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