April Fools, everyone. This week, we’ll be covering commissions from @glarnboudin, who requested a variety of monsters from different incarnations of Scooby-Doo. Honestly, I was kicking myself that I’d never thought to do Scooby-Doo monsters before: as a young child who loved monsters but was a huge coward, Scooby-Doo was an excellent training-wheels way for me to get my creature fix.
The Creeper is perhaps one of the most iconic monsters from the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? series. He regularly appears in spin-offs, reboots, even a State Farm commercial. I’ve seen him referred to as a take on Frankenstein’s Monster, but I think he’s more a melange of multiple hulking brute killers from B-horror movies. The name is derived from Rondo Hatton’s character from House of HorrorsandThe Brute Man, and I feel like his look owes more to Lon Chaney Jr. in Indestructible Man than it does to Frankenstein]
Spectral Creeper This muscular humanoid is hunched over, with a dull, dead gaze and hands clenched. His skin tone is a gray-green, and he has clearly been dead for some time.
Spectral creepers are the reanimated corpses of cat burglars, pickpockets, and other non-violent thieves. Typically, a spectral creeper forms when one of these criminals dies with unfinished business—with a major heist planned, but not executed. If the creeper achieves this goal post-mortem, it continues with even bigger and bolder heists. A spectral creeper is never satisfied with the wealth they have, accumulating riches upon riches. A few creepers will even allow their treasures to be reclaimed just so they can steal them a second time.
A spectral creeper is most notable for its ability to pass through locked doors, solid walls. It can empty chests or lockboxes without opening them by reaching through their sides. They cannot do this endlessly, however. Most spectral creepers still carry thieves’ tools to help them disarm traps or open locks in case of emergencies or to assist their minions. Spectral creepers are also skilled in disguises, and may masquerade as the living in order to case a target or evade detection. Regardless of whether or not the spectral creeper was violent in life, all of them are willing to kill in pursuit of a mission. Their fists are heavy and their grip tight, but they still cannot resist rifling through the pockets of their victims even as they crush them.
[We end @glarnboudin‘s commissioned Scooby-Doo monsters with one from a DTV movie I was unfamiliar with. Apparently, it’s the ultimate source of the “Shaggy is all powerful” meme. There are several fake dinosaurs in Legend of the Phantosaur, but I went with the most outrageous, spooktacular version for my monster.]
Phantosaur This great luminous beast appears as a reptilian bipedal nightmare. Its head is massive and outfitted with great jaws and horns, its arms and legs each end in clawed appendages, and a row of spines runs down its back culminating in long spikes on its tail. The air around it shimmers.
Phantosaurs are born from the projections and expectations of mortal minds. They are composed of imaginings and nightmares about prehistoric beasts, especially dinosaurs, given solid form. As many hold perceptions that the beings of the past were savage killers, so too are phantosaurs driven to violence at random. No two phantosaurs look alike, but each resembles a patchwork of different dinosaurs and megafauna. Although they are born in the Dimension of Dreams, some make their way into the Ethereal Plane, and from there into the Material Plane.
A phantosaur’s entire life is devoted to violence, and they are exceptionally skilled at it. They attack with a variety of natural weapons—different phantosaurs may have different combinations of attacks, based on their physical appearance. Regardless, all phantosaurs have a deadly bite, which afflicts those struck by it with a regression to an imagined, feral past. Creatures so affected grow physically larger and bolder, but are incapable of even the simplest speech and are wracked with violent urges. Phantosaurs rarely encounter creatures capable of withstanding their onslaught, and as such often don’t consider fleeing until the last minute, if at all.
As creatures drawn from the mind, phantosaurs have no natural ecology. They may be corralled by dream hags and other evil creatures associated with the Ethereal Plane, but more frequently are free agents of chaos and destruction. Cults occasionally spring up around a phantosaur, seeing it as an embodiment of savagery—to these sects, surviving a phantosaur’s bite and being inflicted with its atavistic rage is a sign of the highest honor. Phantosaurs are typically solitary, but some have been seen cohabiting in sites sacred to Bokrug the Water Lizard.
I have a deep love for Native American, Aztec, Mayan, and Incan Cultures. I also have a deep love for European History (my favorites being Pre-Roman Brittania, Ancient Greece, and Age of Exploration). I also love the fantasy genre and I am a huge fan of RPG (in case you couldn’t tell). Thus I love the games I am about to point out.
Dragons Conquer America and Chronica: Age of Exploration.
Both are historical fantasy games set in/around the age of exploration.
Both are epic.
DCA, by Burning Games, is a great game with a unique system that involves Dragon Riders, Werejaguars, Headhunting Tribal Necromancers, Conquistadors, Inquisitors, Missionaries, Courtesans, Aristocrats, and more as Player Options. There are spells that require human sacrifice, spells that enable you to become the vessel for the horsemen of the apocalypse, spells that enable you to summon a giant serpent, seduction magic, magic tattoos, and more. Also, Ave Maria and Pater Noster are spells for Christian Spellcasters, while the Norse are under the rule of Giants, King Arthur is still alive and leads an army of Fairies, Eastern Europe is ruled by Vampires, and the Muslims have allied with Djinn. It is all really cool.
Chronica is a Pathfinder setting set in a historical fantasy version of our world during the age of exploration. There are Olmec Lizardmen, and Empire of Rakshasa, Atlantis, and The Library of Alexandria. You can be an Atlantean Elf, an Olmec Lizardmen, a Turkish Artillerymen, a Half-Rakshasa, and so much more. Also, Genghis Khan is back (he was frozen in stone all this time), and you should heed the rumors of the Bermuda Triangle. It is all really cool.
[Commissioned by @justicegundam82. An Italian giant, one said to cause earthquakes. Not a lot is available in English, and most of the readily Google translatable material I could find were about earthquakes, not giants.]
Orcolat This immense giant has gray, craggy skin, a furrowed brow and a maw full of jagged teeth. It wears merely a loincloth, and carries an enormous spiked club. The ground trembles under its feet.
Orcolats, called earthquake giants by some, are enormous and ill-tempered giants responsible for many temblors and avalanches. They live in high mountain caves, hunting rocs, megafauna and other massive creatures for food. Orcolats are cannibals of a sort, and they will gladly prey on smaller giants if they get the opportunity. They are large enough to shake the ground around them as they walk, but can create even more intense earthquakes through magical means.
An orcolat is a dim and stupid creature, and has little culture beyond crafting of simple weapons. They have an inborn sadistic urge, and enjoy hurting creatures smaller than themselves (which is almost everything). Cleverer giants frequently manipulate them with gifts and food, getting them to provide security for cloud castles and other remote strongholds. According to giant lore, the orcolats are the products of a divine curse—their ancestors wished to be even larger and stronger than they were, and as their bodies swelled, their brains atrophied.
The average orcolat stands sixty feet tall. They speak Giant in halting voices, and rarely have vocabularies more than 100 words.
[There were some complaints about this one when this PDF released. People wanted a killer rabbit ala Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the whole appeal to me of Night of the Lepus is that the rabbits are 100% ordinary except for their size. And their occasional, inexplicable bloodlust. The original version had a kick attack that did Str x. 2 damage, but that’s been removed in favor of an ordinary bite. Both because real rabbits bite when cornered, and because I had a cavalier player with a dire rabbit mount whose mount was positively broken at high levels.]
Dire Rabbit CR 1 N Animal The only thing out of the ordinary about this rabbit is its size—the animal stands half as tall as a man at the shoulder.
Overgrown relatives of ordinary rabbits, dire rabbits are inoffensive but can prove dangerous if cornered and destructive in numbers. Like their smaller brethren, they are strict herbivores and eat grains, roots and leaves. Diurnal creatures, they are most active during the day and return to their burrows once the sun sets. Dire rabbits are not very stealthy, relying on their keen senses and great speed to avoid predators. They will, however, fight savagely if cornered or confronted in their burrows. Dire rabbits tend to live communally in warrens, the burrows of which can extend for miles. These burrows contain a number of individual rabbits or mated pairs that live in loose association with each other and with no hierarchy.
Dire rabbits grow to maturity very rapidly and are extraordinarily fecund. Predation and disease generally keep the populations of dire rabbits in check, but massive surges in dire rabbit populations are not unknown. During such outbreaks, dire rabbits can blacken the plains with their numbers and do massive damage to croplands and grain stores. A dire rabbit stands about two feet high at the shoulder and weighs seventy pounds. Dire rabbits can be found in grasslands, forests and tundra. Arctic dire rabbits have the ability to shed their brown summer coats and grow thick white fur during the snowy winters—these dire rabbits gain a +4 racial bonus to Stealth checks made in snowy conditions.
Dire Rabbits as Animal Companions Starting Statistics: Size Small;Speed50 ft., burrow 5 ft.; AC+1 natural armor; Attackbite (1d3); Ability Scores Str 11, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 5; Special Qualities leap, low-light vision.
Another construct-related archetype, but this one isn’t actually focused on the construct creature type at all, and isn’t even from Construct Handbook!
Indeed, this archetype takes the concepts of construct artifice in a different direction, focused on replacement and enhancement rather than creating a new being.
If you’re a fan of cybernetics, particularly of characters that have one or more super-strong artificial limbs that let them do amazing things, you’ll love this archetype, for these brawlers have at least one artificial limb that they have modified and iterated on to be a truly incredible feat of engineering and/or magical innovation, which they use in battle to devastating effect.
Such characters might have lost a limb due to violence, or they might have been born without a fully functioning limb, but they have learned to turn what would normally be an ability aid into a strength.
Of course, we can’t bring up disabilities like this without addressing the elephant in the room. Plenty of people with limb problems and other disabilities participate in these hobbies too, after all.
Even in a world of magic, disabilities are going to exist one way or another, especially since not everyone has access to or can afford permanent magical solutions to their disabilities. Magically or technologically-animated limbs are a classic trope, but while it is tempting to give these out as flavor and then act as though the character is not disabled at all, it is important to remember that even with the most advanced prosthesis today, there are still plenty of challenges for those with missing arms and legs, to say nothing of the problems of disabilities covered by this archetype. Using a prosthetic limb extensively can probably strain the connection point, causing bruising and the like, and the character probably doesn’t sleep with it attached unless it is designed for comfort, to name a few.
In any case, this archetype really does revolve around the prosthesis that the archetype is known for. Whether it is truly magically animated or simply cleverly engineered, and whatever material it is made from, this prosthesis is built for fighting, benefitting fully from their brawler training, though the limb can also be enhanced separately, being rebuilt from special materials or enchanted accordingly, though it can only benefit from either an amulet of mighty fists or it’s own personal enchantment, not both at once.
Of course, these warriors don’t just stop at enchanting their prosthesis. Indeed, they also slowly engineer new innovations into it over time, including such things as multiple joints to turn the weapon into a tripping whip, building a grappling hook launcher into it, extensions to increase reach, additional armor to blow blows, a locking grip on the hand to improve climbing and grappling, edged blades for extra lethality, or spikes for much the same.
Additionally, these brawlers often learn useful techniques for the crafting of weaponry, including their prosthesis, including enchanting them despite not being spellcasters, all of which reflects their never-ending customization and upgrading cycle with their limb.
You miss out on the classic brawler ability: martial flexibility, but this archetype promises to make it up by giving you a limb you can enchant (which is much cheaper than the amulet of mighty fists), as well as various upgrades to the limb that you can take. With that in mind, I’d recommend you carefully select your feats alongside your upgrades, such as specializing in one or more combat maneuvers such as trip or grapple. Beyond that, pick your other feats according to your desires.
Like I said before, this archetype touches upon territory that can be handled poorly, so I advice both players and GMs to be aware of that when bringing it into your game. Remember that the rules for the long time it takes to put on a prosthetic are there for a reason, and that characters are not going to be wearing their prosthesis constantly while at rest. Disabilities are a constant part of a disabled person’s life, so depicting their prosthesis as magically getting rid of their difficulties entirely rather than helping them live a semi-normal life under their own power can be seen as problematic, so keep all that in mind.
Light and graceful, the mistsoul undine battledancer Revara found the idea of getting a prosthetic to be daunting, believing she would be weighed down by a crude implement bound to the remains of her thigh. However, when a master wizard, a fan of her performances, offered to craft her a new leg made of mithral, she dared to take the first steps, and now she can’t imagine life without it, even adding a few improvements of her own.
The Bloody Knuckle Tavern hosts an illegal fight pit in it’s basement, the main rule that draws in the crowd being that there are no limits on who can enter, as long as they fight with their fists. Of course, nothing says they have to be made from flesh and blood, an oversight that the current champion: a dwarven lady with a mighty iron right, takes full advantage of.
With an arm and a leg withered by the breath of an umbral dragon, King Dynas had little choice but to accept amputation. However, only a fool assumes the scarred king is an invalid, for he used his resources to perfect replacement limbs just as strong as the originals. His dedication and investment further paved the way to similar innovation, and there is no better place in the land to find the prothesis or mobility device that suits an injured adventurer’s needs.
It’s fairly predictable that once we hit the word “construct” in my master list of archetypes and options for this blog that we would have at least one more archetype from Construct Handbook, and it’s yet another one that focuses on destroying constructs or using their remains after destruction, we’ve seen it all before… or have we?
From the perspective of occultists and psychic spellcasting in general, constructs can actually prove a proverbial gold mine even after destroyed. The vast majority of constructs are works of art and engineering, and you can’t pour your heart and soul into something without literally metaphysically pouring yourself into it, making constructs a natural receptacle for all sorts of mystical association and energies, and that’s before even considering the animating force that constructs serve as a vessel for.
The occultists known as construct collectors may be archeologists, treasure hunters, or antique dealers, but they all share a fascination for constructs, both the intact and destroyed alike. If at all possible they enjoy studying the psychic energies coming off of these beings, though for their own safety they often have to defend themselves from and destroy constructs. That intimate knowledge, however, does let them draw upon the last vestiges of a fallen construct, as we’ll see below.
Honestly while part of me sees this archetype as just another construct-breaker, the themes of the occultist class help elevate the concept for me.
By searching through the remains of constructs, these occultists can find mystically significant trinkets that still carry a bit of power: a stone shard with an intact cluster of runes, a clockwork heart, and the like. By keeping these items with them, they can draw upon them for a little bit extra focus in a pinch that is not tied to any of their implements. However, draining this energy from the components removes the last vestiges of power from them, rendering them inert and only valuable as collector’s bric-a-brac.
More impressively, with a surge of uninvested focus, these mystics can pour their power into a construct that has just been destroyed in order to animate it briefly under their control. This power starts out only lasting a moment, but later on they can invest more power to make it last several seconds, or even minutes before the construct collapses, inert once more.
A simple archetype, this version of the occultist doesn’t really specialize you for fighting against constructs, but it does reward you for slaying them, either by giving you a small supply of extra focus points, or that rare opportunity where you get to destroy a foe’s construct bodyguard and immediately turn it against them, which is a niche ability, but a satisfying one. The focus on having a supply of un-invested focus points means you’ll have to carefully decide when to invest and when to leave some points free, but you’re losing out on a portion of your focus powers as well as all the magic circle gimmick stuff anyway.
I never thought I’d look to modern collector culture for inspiration with an archetype, but there you have it. Construct collectors most likely have a large selection of bits and bobs taken from destroyed constructs, some from before they were able to draw power from them, many after. Even after they’ve used up the power within, I imagine they still keep many of them around as mementos or collector’s items from those meaningful encounters. Additionally, some may choose to learn how to craft constructs themselves, copying or drawing inspiration from ancient and novel designs.
For decades, the Red Eye, once the focus for a mighty robot weapon from the Star Invasion, has passed from construct collector to collector, seething with potential. However, unbeknownst to anyone, reinforcements of that invasion have arrived, and they are eager to retrieve and revive what once was theirs.
They say that the cecaelia once had a great undersea empire now long lost. Regardless of whether that is true, there are plenty of octopus-folk that are curious about ancient sunken ruins, and the guardians that their owners made long ago to protect them.
Alien and cryptic, flail snails are a mystery whose shells have strange mystical properties that were once valued by an ancient civilization, so much so that entire colonies of the beings are protected to this day by eternal construct guardians. However, this new interloper, Vaxi Thunderclash, is not interested in the flail snails, but rather, in their guardians, eager to study and collect bitf of the golems as an archaeological expedition.
And we’re back again, too soon, to my favorite punching bag: Construct Handbook, with another archetype.
By my own admission I rag on that book as a disappointment a lot, but today’s archetype I don’t actually mind that much, and in my opinion provides an elegant solution to something that felt missing from the game for a long while: A summoner character that conjures a construct-like eidolon to aid them!
Unlike other summoners, construct callers use their rote and rituals to literally build their eidolon, crafting astral quintessence into a perfect orderly form which might resemble any sort of construct, from a golem to a clockwork to something more cultural or regional. However, others might resemble more esoteric concepts, such as a mathematical or geometric equation given roughly humanoid form. Unlike inevitables, however, they are not necessarily lawful.
Some of these summoners might craft their eidolon entirely from scratch, but others might instead use an eidolon consciousness as a “seed” or core around which their body is built. Either way, as we’ll soon see that prove to have impressive control over their eidolon’s form.
As this archetype specifically works with the eidolon subtypes of the unchained version of the summoner class, it is limited to that version, but we’ll soon see exactly what that means.
The summoner’s eidolon functions much like an inevitable, but having no constitution and having size-based vitality. What’s more, their durability against all but the most chaotic attacks is instead bypassed by the hardest materials.
Additionally, due to how thorough their control over their minion’s form is, they prove able to squeeze more unique abilities and evolution out of their eidolon than most.
A simple archetype which provides a different sort of companion creature at the cost of limiting the progression of their ability to summon other creatures, this option is a fun, flavorful way to scratch that “pet automaton” itch, no matter what form it takes. You’ll be a bit less reliant on your other summons, so I suggest a build focused on supporting your eidolon in particular.
While some of these summoners might be brilliant engineers, capable of crafting complex esoteric constructs, the fact that they remain charisma-based casters does suggest that there may be a significant portion that are not so extremely gifted when it comes to engineering expertise, and might instead construct their eidolons because they lack the ability to craft such a being from components more restricted by the laws of physics than quintessence. In such cases, many might struggle with imposter syndrome, particularly if they had construct-crafting or engineering-focused peers. Conversely, however, some may see their creations as just as much art as engineering, not as bothered by the intricacies under the hood. Of course, this is less likely to come up with construct callers that have eidolons that resemble solid-material constructs like most golems.
Researching the strange denizens of Leng is no easy task. One needs a companion that can handle the rigors of that maddening environment, and Kadia envisioned such an ally, a construct eidolon, into being. Even still, she reaches out to the part for help with a particularly nasty target, a leng hound.
Endlessly fascinated by crafting and invention, many catfolk around the Scarred Cape take up a craft to pass the time, and some even learn to summon their ideal creations into existence. Some resemble the ruined automatons seen throughout the region, while others resemble more rustic materials. Jokes about yarn, however, are not appreciated.
Rather than being scorned as “false craftsmen” the construct callers of Vendia are reknowned as innovators, constantly perfecting their eidolons with new designs which true crafters study in order to realize them as true constructs. However, plagerism with the help of evolution surge and devolution spells is common.
I’ve said it several times when bringing up the Investigator class, but truly, along with the bard, it is an example of a class that is not limited to one particular aesthetic or methodology, especially when archetypes are involved. An investigator, after all, could indeed be a detective, or they could be a researcher, or simply a brilliant tactician or scholar.
They might even be criminals, if the mastermind archetype and today’s subject are any indication.
Today’s archetype centers around an investigator that prefers to hide their activities from others. Many are true to the archetype’s name and seek some dubious end that they have to keep hidden. However, others might have good intentions, but have to hide their methods and activities, either because of their moral questionability, or because those they strive against are constantly watching.
In any case, these investigators are constantly on the lookout, not only for a new angle for their own goals, but also to avoid the attention of their rivals and foes.
As one might expect, these investigators have learned to use their talents and inspiration for more underhanded skills than most other investigators, though they can spend some training to develop the more classical inspired skills. In addition, they are especially adept at appearing innocent or hiding their identity.
They say it’s only paranoia if nobody is actually out to get you, and conspirators have a knack for spotting observers, even magical ones, and have trained themselves to notice the telltale signs of even invisible magical sensors, making them very hard to spy upon.
A simple archetype, but one that gives the investigator a more roguish set of skills to use inspiration for free on, though they can get back some of their more traditional skill bonuses by sacrificing an investigator talent. Honestly you can build them much like any other investigator, though their keen perception will come in handy when secrecy is important. That being said, in some games the villains watching the heroes and anticipating them can often be part of the challenge, so discuss it with the GM first so that you don’t find yourself frustrated by having the gimmick you built your character around ignored in favor of GM fiat. And likewise, GMs should keep in mind when a party has a character with this archetype or similarly seeks to keep their actions secret, and be careful how they use fiat to determine how much the bad guys know. Not saying you can’t have the baddies anticipate the party’s moves, but be sure to find ways for the conspirator to get the drop on them with plays of their own.
When you’re trying to enact your goals in constant secrecy, it can be hard to find it in yourself to trust anyone. As such, many of these characters might struggle to open up to the party, or even include them in their plans. Over time, however, they may learn to open up to a select few.
For years, Ipak has tried to get back several sacred gnoll artifacts that are on display in a museum in human lands, but she has been vexed at every turn. No longer content to ask and petition, she has begun planning to get them back by any means, requiring her to act in utmost secrecy to do so.
When the water of river Manka turns blood red and is filled with a writhing, oily mass, many suspect some sort of curse. However, following a hidden trail of clues reveals that someone has chosen to poison the water with a blood algae swarm, and the culprit is someone that nobody suspects.
For generations, the Whitemark family has been plagued with mysterious misfortune that has steadily drained their fortunes and stained their reputation as many folks try to avoid contact with the “cursed” family. However, this malediction is no supernatural event, but rather, the cruel manipulations of a deathless doctor with a vendetta against the family.
So for this week, I’ve decided to take it a bit easy and work on personal projects, but fear not, I’m not leaving you with nothing. Instead, I’d like to take this week to showcase some of the things I have created off the blog.
Now, some of these thing are things I have posted to my Patreon, but rest assured they are only things that I set to make public after about a month. Items that remain exclusive to my Patreon shall remain so until I create enough to perhaps self-publish something in the future.
Anyway, this first entry is not from my Patreon, but rather a gift I made for friend: a Pathfinder 1e ancestry/race interpretation of itself within the plurality system they are part of. With @dzhukhe ‘s permission, I hereby post this. (Hope you like the lore I extrapolated, let me know if there are changes I need to make!)
Lumin
Blending elements of several insects into one body, the lumin are humanoid insects with four arms, a trio of simple eyes in the middle of their foreheads similar to a mantis alongside their two compound eyes, and elytra like a beetle, as well as a separate abdomen to their thorax, both of which contain redundant internal organs. This last trait reflects another curious trait of theirs: their blend of mammalian traits such as the ability to grow scalp hair.
Hailing from the taiga, mountains, and cool forests, lumins typically live underground, digging out local caves or soil into complex tunnel cities with a keen engineering sense akin to ants, though they are not eusocial in nature, their species having a relatively even distribution of fertile members of any and all genders.
Growing up, lumins only undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, their children being softer, squishier but otherwise true to their adult molt aside from matters of proportion.
According to Lumin beliefs, they were born from the same divine word that gave rise to the greatest of beasts, the mighty divine behemoths, the primordial kaiju, and other titanic beasts like the legendary unique Tane called Leviathan. They even know the individual names of such beasts. To the lumin, these beings are avatars of divine or near-divine will, and though they are often engines of destruction, they are to be revered for their majesty just as much as their wrath is feared. Lumin perhaps have the most encyclopedic body of knowledge when it comes to the origin and behavioral quirks of such beasts as well, making them a useful resource when trying to quell a behemoth or kaiju on the rampage.
Despite revering such massive and destructive creatures, the lumin have no desire for the most part to emulate their more violent aspects. Instead, they live much like any other race, some content to live simple lives, others eager for adventure.
Lumin
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Dex
Type: Lumins are humanoids of the lumin subtype
Size: Lumin are medium creatures
Speed: 30 ft.
Senses: Lumin possess low-light vision and the scent special ability
Megafauna Affinity: Lumins gain a +2 bonus to Animal Handling and Diplomacy checks to interact with living creatures of huge size or larger
Multi-Armed: A lumin has four arms. One hand is considered its primary hand; all others are considered off hands. It can use any of its hands for other purposes that require free hands.
Natural armor: Lumins have a +2 natural armor bonus to AC
Redundant Organs: Once per day, when a Lumin is hit by an attack that is a critical threat, the Lumin may force the attacker to roll twice and take the lower result when rolling to confirm the critical hit.
Languages: Common, Lumin. Lumins with high intelligence scores can choose from the following bonus languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Terran
Alternate Racial Traits:
Flight: Lumin with this racial trait have larger wings under their elytra, and have a fly speed of 30 feet with clumsy maneuverability. This replaces Megafauna Affinity
Oh! This is belightful! I knew that it was being worked upon, but to see it thusly….
Some additional notes, from the bug itself:
As with many of the great beasts we revere, we blur the lines between different categories of living creatures. Outwardly, we have many similarities to arthropods of superorder Dictyoptera (termites, cockroaches, and mantids). However, we also possess a number of mammaloid characteristics; if you were to cut open the exoskeleton of a deceased lumin, you would find that the internal structure is remarkably akin to most humanoids and monstrous humanoids (naturally, we tend to instead regard those as luminoids), although we would still be monotremes compared to such creatures. Whether we are arthropods with mammaloid traits or mammals with arthropod-like traits is a matter of some debate, outside of those circles that simply attribute our origins to divinity or magic.
While we are as sensitive to the environment as most other living beings, we have a strong cultural bond to the environments where we are found. This is not to say that there could not somewhere be lumins who prefer a tropical or desert environment….
Lumin societies vary, but there is a common thread to recognize at least the genders of gyne, drone, aner, dyne, and ergate. Because we are not bound by our characteristics at birth, most lumin societies do not attribute these to sexual characteristics. A child generally decides upon their gender while reaching maturity, and receives it formally.
We have a strong cross-cultural fondness for armor-like ornamentations and clothing that evokes the image thereof; this has led our name in some non-lumin tongues to be armor bugs, although this is not our preference.
I would personally describe our adoration of the great beasts to be akin to any other culture’s reverence for charismatic megafauna; where humans or orcs may esteem the lion and the eagle, we admire the behemoth and the ziz.
I shall attempt to say more on this, later tonight!
One of the coolest manga I have read recently was Dungeon Meshi, or “Delicious in Dungeon”, a story about a traditional fantasy universe centering around a party of adventurers exploring the depths of a self-replenishing megadungeon… and finding out how to cook and eat the monsters on the way down.
In honor of that, one of my “pay to see it now, will be free eventually” posts on my Patreon revolved around converting one of my favorite of the early monsters in the series to Pathfinder, the Mimics of Dungeon Meshi, or as I refer to them here “mimic hermits”
Now, fantasy RPGs, jRPGs in particular, all have their own interpretations of the classic mimic as a monster, ranging from being a shapeshifter just like the original, to being a bizarre creature that folds up to look like a treasure chest, to the disturbingly sexy gams on the Mimicuties from Kid Icarus: Uprising, but today’s subject falls into the category of mimics that find a chest or other container and just live in it, ambushing prey that goes poking around inside.
Indeed, the mimic hermit really is just a giant hermit crab that lives on land and hides out in various containers, switching out for new ones as they grow bigger much like their mundane counterparts. Such a combination of real-world animal behavior and classic RPG tropes was incredibly endearing to me, (and the idea of some hot crab meat elicited my hunger response), so I decided to write them up!
Ambush Strike (Ex): A mimic hermit that is currently retracted into its shell container may as an immediate action make two claw attacks against a creature that opens, looks into, or otherwise interacts with its container. This causes the mimic hermit to automatically extend its limbs, as described in the shell container ability., constrict (1d3+6), grab (medium)
Shell Container(Ex): A mimic hermit inhabits a container roughly the same size as itself, which provides it with protection and a place to hide. Regardless of its composition, the container provides a +2 armor bonus to AC. The shell can be sundered and damaged like normal armor, using the hardness and hp of an object of its type. Additionally, a mimic hermit can retract its limbs into its container as a full-round action. In this case its armor bonus increased to +8, it’s speed drops to 0, it gains the freeze universal monster ability to pretend to be an ordinary container, and it cannot attack except with its ambush strike special attack. Extending its limbs again is a standard action. A mimic hermit can also be pulled out of its container with an opposed strength check which the mimic hermit gains a +4 bonus to. A mimic hermit whose container has been removed or destroyed loses its armor bonus to AC and cannot retract its limbs.
Mimic hermits are unusually large hermit crab-like creatures that favor a subterranean lifestyle. Like their mundane kin, they protect their softer rear carapace by wearing protection. In the untamed caverns, these usually take the form of the shells of giant gastropods, but those that find their way into settled subterranean complexes or dungeons are what give these creatures their name. Such mimic hermits often make shells out of containers that they find in such complexes, such as treasure chests, ornate vases, and more.
Mimic hermits are predators, and their preferred method of hunting is to hide within their container shells to ambush prey, and have a knack for remembering exactly how the container was positioned prior to them moving in, helping them keep up the façade. With such a sedentary lifestyle, they can go a very long time without eating, but eventually, they must move on, carrying their shell with them if they can, which is usually the case, as even nailed-down containers can be uprooted by the creature’s surprising strength.
So for this week, I’ve decided to take it a bit easy and work on personal projects, but fear not, I’m not leaving you with nothing. Instead, I’d like to take this week to showcase some of the things I have created off the blog.
Now, some of these thing are things I have posted to my Patreon, but rest assured they are only things that I set to make public after about a month. Items that remain exclusive to my Patreon shall remain so until I create enough to perhaps self-publish something in the future.
Anyway, this first entry is not from my Patreon, but rather a gift I made for friend: a Pathfinder 1e ancestry/race interpretation of itself within the plurality system they are part of. With @dzhukhe ‘s permission, I hereby post this. (Hope you like the lore I extrapolated, let me know if there are changes I need to make!)
Lumin
Blending elements of several insects into one body, the lumin are humanoid insects with four arms, a trio of simple eyes in the middle of their foreheads similar to a mantis alongside their two compound eyes, and elytra like a beetle, as well as a separate abdomen to their thorax, both of which contain redundant internal organs. This last trait reflects another curious trait of theirs: their blend of mammalian traits such as the ability to grow scalp hair.
Hailing from the taiga, mountains, and cool forests, lumins typically live underground, digging out local caves or soil into complex tunnel cities with a keen engineering sense akin to ants, though they are not eusocial in nature, their species having a relatively even distribution of fertile members of any and all genders.
Growing up, lumins only undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, their children being softer, squishier but otherwise true to their adult molt aside from matters of proportion.
According to Lumin beliefs, they were born from the same divine word that gave rise to the greatest of beasts, the mighty divine behemoths, the primordial kaiju, and other titanic beasts like the legendary unique Tane called Leviathan. They even know the individual names of such beasts. To the lumin, these beings are avatars of divine or near-divine will, and though they are often engines of destruction, they are to be revered for their majesty just as much as their wrath is feared. Lumin perhaps have the most encyclopedic body of knowledge when it comes to the origin and behavioral quirks of such beasts as well, making them a useful resource when trying to quell a behemoth or kaiju on the rampage.
Despite revering such massive and destructive creatures, the lumin have no desire for the most part to emulate their more violent aspects. Instead, they live much like any other race, some content to live simple lives, others eager for adventure.
Lumin
Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Dex
Type: Lumins are humanoids of the lumin subtype
Size: Lumin are medium creatures
Speed: 30 ft.
Senses: Lumin possess low-light vision and the scent special ability
Megafauna Affinity: Lumins gain a +2 bonus to Animal Handling and Diplomacy checks to interact with living creatures of huge size or larger
Multi-Armed: A lumin has four arms. One hand is considered its primary hand; all others are considered off hands. It can use any of its hands for other purposes that require free hands.
Natural armor: Lumins have a +2 natural armor bonus to AC
Redundant Organs: Once per day, when a Lumin is hit by an attack that is a critical threat, the Lumin may force the attacker to roll twice and take the lower result when rolling to confirm the critical hit.
Languages: Common, Lumin. Lumins with high intelligence scores can choose from the following bonus languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Terran
Alternate Racial Traits:
Flight: Lumin with this racial trait have larger wings under their elytra, and have a fly speed of 30 feet with clumsy maneuverability. This replaces Megafauna Affinity
