This week we begin an exploration of the creature types in the Menagerie, highlighting a few of the more interesting examples from each one as we go. There are a lot of creature types to go through, so we'll take them in several somewhat-related bunches. Overall, we'll look at Aberrations & Chimeras; Angels, Demons & Devils; Animals, Beasts & Insects; Axiomites & Constructs; Fey & Proteans; Dragons & Elementals; Plants & Fungi; Giants & Swarms; and Oozes and Undead. First up this week is Aberrations & Chimeras.
Both Aberrations and Chimeras offer a look into a bizarre reality that twists the familiar and turns it freakish and nightmarish. For Aberrations, in particular, this almost-but-not-quite quality is largely the only thread that can distinguish why a creature falls into that creature type, rather than into any other. Chimeras, on the other hand, are typically less existentially terrifying. As amalgamations of otherwise recognizable creatures seemingly fused together at random, this creature type is proof that evolution is not the only force at work in the world to shape the development of species.
As we look at these creature types, and some examples from the Menagerie, it's important to be refreshed on some of the conventions that the book uses in order to maintain its level-agnostic format. Important statistics like attacks, skill, saves, or the DCs for special abilities do not list a number. Rather, they simply call out a difficulty level from the challenge table. For a DC, this is always whatever the number is directly. For an active roll, such as an attack or saving throw, this is the number on the table minus ten. Hit Points are given as a multiple of the monster's level, and damage is typically listed without a number of dice included. When listed this way, damage dice are assumed to be one die base, plus another die for every five levels the monster has. For example the first monster we'll look at, the Emotional Vampire, would deal 1d8 mental damage to targets that fail a save against its Ramble ability from levels 1-4, 2d8 from levels 5-9, 3d8 from levels 10-14, and so on.
ABERRATIONS
Aberrations are typically strange and unnatural beings. Often including shape-shifters and tentacled monstrosities, many aberrations make use of deception and subtlety to walk unseen among humanoid societies, while others cannot possibly hope to blend in if they wanted to.
With aberrations, even those that look like familiar creatures are different in unexpected ways. This can make aberrations difficult to understand and recognize. A check to identify an aberration is always one step more difficult than standard for a creature's rarity. These unusual differences also give many aberrations resistance to critical and precision damage.
This creature type is commonly associated with eldritch horror and other occult and obscure lore. As such, those at least trained in Occultism can treat that skill as a Knowledge Specialty when attempting to identify aberrations.
EMOTIONAL VAMPIRE ABERRATION
Role: Balanced (+Durability)
[Aberration, Evil, (Medium or Small)]
Senses: vision, Empath; Perception: [med]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [med]
Hit Points: 15x[level]; Regeneration (good, mental)
Fort: [med], Ref: [med], Will: [hard]
Resist: mental, physical
Defensive Abilities: (1 Reaction)
{R} Attack of Opportunity
Fragile Ego: If an emotional vampire loses Hit Points from mental damage, its regeneration is suppressed for 1 minute instead of 1 round.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 5
Melee Attacks:
{A} fist [med] (d4+1 B; agile, disarm, finesse, grab, non-lethal, shove, trip)
Special Attacks:
{AA} Ramble: The emotional vampire talks in detail about dull, niche topics. Creatures within hex 4 must attempt a [med] Will save. A target has a circumstance bonus to this save equal to the number of Knowledge Specialties it has. This effect has the lingual trait.
Success: As failure, but half damage.
Success (+5): As success, and 5 less damage.
Failure: Target takes d8 mental damage and increases its dizzy value by 1 for every 10 Hit Points it loses. The emotional vampire recovers 5 Hit Points per dizzy value inflicted this way.
Failure (-10): As failure, plus 10 more damage and the target is confused for 1 more round.
STATISTICS
Str: +1, Agi: +3, End: +2, Int: +4, Wis: +0, Cha: +2
Languages: see Jargon
Hard Skills: Arcana, Deception, Diplomacy, Knowledge, Nature, Occultism, Religion
Special Abilities:
Empath: An emotional vampire can sense the emotions of creatures as a precise sense within hex 10.
Jargon: An emotional vampire is supernaturally academically fluent in all common and uncommon languages, and possesses all possible Knowledge Specialties.
ECOLOGY
Unlike true vampires, emotional vampires are not undead. This does not make them any less dangerous. Indeed, their ability to exist in sunlight allows these energy parasites to fully integrate into societies. Emotional vampires tends to develop a preferred feeding ground, like a business or a political institution in which it insinuates itself as an integral member. While in such an arrangement, emotional vampires can lightly feed off of many different minds at once without draining any one to depletion. Such feedings can go unnoticed for weeks, or even years in particularly favorable contexts.
An emotional vampire’s ability to drain targets is hampered if the target is knowledgeable about topics used by the vampire. Mental damage, though resisted, is nonetheless the best way to permanently deal with these parasites. As such, these parasites tend to avoid the territory of other emotional vampires, since they are fatally susceptible to their own tricks. Emotional vampires possess the size and features of common ancestries, though their appearance is always non-descript and suitable for blending in without arousing suspicion. Emotional vampires can be small or medium in size, depending on the ancestry they most take after.
One of the things that makes this monster dangerous is its unusual damage type. Mental damage is not easy to come in Realm of Runes, nor is mental resistance. Furthermore, the Emotional Vampire's ability to blend into society at large makes one difficult to recognize. Players might not even realize they are encountering this dangerous beast at first, and rooting one out can be quite difficult thanks to the lack of typical tells and weaknesses. Fortunately, those with many varied fields of expertise will have a very good chance of resisting the Emotional Vampire signature ability, giving knowledgeable characters an edge against it.
SLENDERMAN ABERRATION
Role: Aegis (Boss)
[Aberration, Epic, Medium]
Senses: darkvision, Fear Sense; Perception: [hard]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [hard]
Hit Points: 20x[level]; Regeneration (good, silver)
Fort: [med], Ref: [hard], Will: [hard]
Resist: elemental, physical
Immune: fear
Weak: good, silver
Defensive Abilities: (5 Reactions)
{R} Attack of Opportunity
Mental Static: Slenderman cannot be more than sensed by non-mindless creatures.
Fear Aura: A creature that senses Slenderman at the start of its turn must attempt a [med] Will save. This is a mental, fear effect.
Success: Target increases its scared value by 1.
Success (+10): No effect.
Failure: Target increases its scared value by 2.
Failure (-10): As failure, and increase the scared value by 1 more.
{R} Not There
Trigger: An attack fails against Slenderman
Effect: Slenderman Steps anywhere within Stride distance, and the triggering attacker must make a new save against its Fear Aura. This ability has the teleportation trait.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 7
Melee Attacks:
{A} claw [med] (d4 S; agile, finesse, grab)
Special Attacks:
{A} Behind You: Slenderman Steps adjacent to a target from any distance. Any creature adjacent to Slenderman in its new location must attempt a new save against its Fear Aura. This ability has the teleportation trait.
{AA} Torment: A scared target Slenderman can see must attempt a [hard] Will save.
Success: As failure, but half damage.
Success (+10): As success, and 5 less damage.
Failure: The target takes d8 mental damage and increases its drained value by 1 per 10 Hit Points is loses. Slenderman recovers 5 Hit Points per value of drained condition inflicted.
Failure (-10): As failure, plus 10 more damage.
STATISTICS
Str: +0, Agi: +4, End: +0, Int: +4, Wis: +2, Cha: +2
Languages: Aklo (academic)
Hard Skills: Acrobatics, Deception, Intimidation, Occultism, Stealth
Special Abilities:
Cryptid: There is only one Slenderman.
Epic Invulnerability: This monster's resistances and immunities cannot be circumvented by any means.
Epic Restoration: This monster recovers quickly from harmful conditions. At the end of its turn, it can choose one condition it has. The value of that condition is reduced by 1. A condition without a value is cured instead. The monster can choose another condition to reduce this way for every 4 party members. It cannot choose to reduce the same condition more than once this way. This ability cannot cure consistently applied conditions, such as flat-footed or flanked.
Fear Sense: Slenderman can sense scared creatures as a precise sense within hex 50.
Nightmarish: A creature that senses Slenderman is affected by recurring nightmares, but the effect is not magic.
ECOLOGY
Referenced in fearful whispers, this cryptid stalks forests and other dark, primeval places. Due to the mental clouding that accompanies it, none can say with certainty what this unspeakable creature looks like and no mortal has ever been able to ascertain its true motives. Some speculate that it feasts on fear. Those that have encountered Slenderman find that it continues to stalk them for weeks or even months before losing interest in the victim, frightening it to death, or both.
One of the bosses in the Aberration chapter, Slenderman is a formidable opponent at any level. Any encounter with him tends to snowball quickly, too, as scared creatures becomes more likely to fail saves and become more scared, and then are also more likely to take mental damage and become still more scared. Worse, even directly engaging this cryptid is difficult, as you can never be quite sure where it is thanks to its mental static ability. The best ways to fend off this monster are to utilize strong protections against fear or to make use of mindless minions like those from conjure creature, animate object, or animate dead. If all else fails, you can always hope SLenderman just decides to lose interest.
CHIMERAS
Sometimes referred to as “monstrous humanoids” when they have anthropomorphic forms, chimeras are hybrid beings that represent the fusion of two or more other creatures. Some of the most common chimeras blend the anthropomorphic form with animals, as with centaurs, merfolk or sphinxes. As a hybrid trait, chimeras do not have weaknesses, resistances or special abilities common to the entire category, but instead borrow those possessed by the creatures they blend together.
Despite their often monstrous appearances, chimeras have incredibly divergent levels of intelligence. A large number of more bestial chimeras, like manticores, have no more than animal intelligence. Those that are more anthropomorphic in nature tend to have intelligence levels that vary more on an individual basis, and may even make for suitable player character ancestries. Some, like sphinxes, may even have intelligence far surpassing that which mere humanoids could hope to achieve.
While chimeras are most often thought of as hybrid in nature, this creature type is nonetheless distinct and independent from those forms that they incorporate and do not have creature type traits that might be expected based on outward appearances. This can make chimeras surprisingly tricky to properly identify. The difficulty to Recall General Knowledge is one step worse than standard for its rarity. Unlike aberrations, this difficulty increase does not apply to Recall Knowledge using an appropriate Knowledge Specialty.
The unusual twisting of forms inherent to chimeras makes this creature type more occult and obscure than any of its outward appearances might indicate. As such, those at least trained in Occultism can treat that skill as a Knowledge Specialty when attempting to identify chimeras.
SPHINX CHIMERA
Role: Balanced (+Defense)
[Chimera, Large]
Senses: darkvision, hex 8 smell; Perception: [incredible]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [hard]
Hit Points: 15x[level]
Fort: [med], Ref: [hard], Will: [hard]
Resist: mental
Immune: confusion, fear
Defensive Abilities: (3 Reactions)
{R} Attack of Opportunity
{R} Meant To Be
Trigger: A creature the sphinx can see is affected by a fortune or misfortune effect
Effect: The creature does not benefit from the triggering effect and only rolls once.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 6; hex 5 fly
Melee Attacks:
{A} claw [hard] (d6+4 S; agile, finesse)
Special Attacks:
{AA} Rending Claws: The sphinx makes two claw attacks against a target at its current multiple attack penalty. If both hit, it deals damage as if it hit with three claw attacks and the damage is added together before weakness of resistance.
{AA} Riddle Me This: The sphinx poses an esoteric mental challenge. The next foe in initiative order must attempt a [hard] Recall General Knowledge check. This ability has the lingual, mental and compulsion traits, and ends once every foe has attempted the puzzle, even if none solve it.
Success: The target knows the answer, and may give it as a free action. Giving a correct answer immediately ends this ability. Otherwise, the next foe in initiative order must also attempt the check.
Failure: The target takes d10 mental damage and increases its dizzy value by 1 per 10 Hit Points it loses.
Failure (-10): As failure, plus 10 more damage.
Occult Powers: ([med] DC)
At Will – lorekeeper’s fortune, prying eye, read fate, terrify
3/day – confusion, interrogate corpse, locate, read omens, scrying
1/day – foresight, nudge destiny, retrocognition
STATISTICS
Str: +2, Agi: +3, End: +1, Int: +8, Wis: +4, Cha: +2
Languages: all languages (academic)
Incredible Skills: Arcana, Knowledge, Occultism
Hard Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Crafting, Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Religion, Society
Special Abilities:
Legend Lore: All sphinxes know the legend lore esoteric ritual.
Legendary: The difficulty to identify a legendary creature is an [easy] DC.
ECOLOGY
Possessing the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the head of a woman, sphinxes are as enigmatic as they are bizarre. While perhaps best known for their love of puzzles, especially riddles, this tendency for mental acrobatics stems from a deeper, almost insatiable curiosity about the nature of reality. Most sphinxes prefer to engage opponents in conversation or games of wits rather than resorting to violence, but are nonetheless capable combatants if the need arises. Patient creatures, a sphinx will spend years or even centuries in physical solitude while astrally and mentally probing the depths of the esoteric nature of the universe.
An iconic monster from mythology, the enigmatic Sphinx likes to hit parties where they are typically not prepared: in their Knowledge. This might be easier to defend against if it were not specifically their general knowledge, which tends to be worse. While certain characters, like those with Bardic Knowledge or Cultural Osmosis, may tend to have an easier time matching wits with the Sphinx in the arena of the mind, clever parties may also need to game the initiative order as well, to ensure that those best suited to solve the Sphinx's puzzles get the first crack at them.
MOTHMAN CHIMERA
Role: Balanced (Boss)
[Chimera, Epic, Large]
Senses: Heat Vision; Perception: [hard]
DEFENSE
Armor Class: [hard]
Hit Points: 20x[level]; Regeneration (sunlight)
Fort: [med], Ref: [hard], Will: [med]
Defensive Abilities: (5 Reactions)
{R} Attack of Opportunity
{R} Vanish
Trigger: Mothman is attacked
Effect: Mothman becomes invisible to vision for the remainder of the triggering attacker’s turn. If the attacker lacks other precise senses, it must also roll twice and take the worse result. This effect has the misfortune trait.
Unsettling Presence: A creature that starts its turn within hex 5 of Mothman increases its scared value by 1 and cannot reduce its scared value below 1 while within this aura.
OFFENSE
Speed: hex 5; hex 6 fly
Melee Attacks:
{A} fist [hard] (d8+4 B; agile, disarm, finesse, grab, shove, trip)
Ranged Attacks:
{A} wing buffet [hard] (d8+4 B; hex 8 range; agile, propulsive, reload 0, shove)
Special Attacks:
{F} Gusting Buffet
Trigger: Mothman deals damage with its wing buffet
Effect: Mothman Shoves the target. It cannot choose to move with the target.
{AA} Piercing Gaze: Mothman stands unnaturally still and stares into the soul of every creature around it. Creatures that can see or sense Mothman must attempt a [hard] Will save. This ability has the emotion, fear and mental traits.
Success: No effect.
Success (+10): The target is bolstered.
Failure: The target takes d10 mental damage and increases its scared value by 1 for every 10 Hit Points it loses.
Failure (-10): As failure, plus 10 more damage.
{AA} Screech: Mothman unleashes an ear-splitting sonic screech. Creatures within hex 5 must attempt a [med] Fortitude save. This ability does not have the auditory trait, but creatures that can hear take a -2 circumstance penalty to the saving throw.
Success: As failure, but half damage.
Success (+10): As success, and 10 less damage.
Failure: The target takes d10 sonic damage. It increases its scared value by 1 for every 10 Hit Points it loses.
Failure (-10): As failure, plus 10 more damage.
STATISTICS
Str: +2, Agi: +3, End: +2, Int: +4, Wis: +2, Cha: +0
Languages: Aklo (fluent)
Hard Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, Stealth
Special Abilities:
Cryptid: There is only one Mothman.
Daylight Blindness: Mothman is totally blind in an area of direct sunlight.
Epic Initiative: When this monster rolls initiative it is only used to determine the first time it acts. After it has taken its first turn in combat, its next turn is always inserted into the initiative order after two party members have acted consecutively. Party members that choose to delay their turns do not count toward triggering this monster's next turn.
Epic Resilience: This monster can bolster its saving throws. If the result of its saving throw is any failure, it can use reactions to treat the result as success instead. This costs 1 Reaction if the save is based on an [incredible] DC or better, 2 Reactions if based on a [hard] DC, 3 Reactions if based on a [med] DC. The monster cannot use this ability if its saving throw is based on an [easy] DC.
Heat Vision: Mothman can see heat signatures as a precise sense with no range limit.
ECOLOGY
This cryptid appears to be a large humanoid with a huge wingspan, and eyes that glow red in the dark. Indeed, its glowing eyes and silhouette are often the only features that can be used to identify Mothman, as it has only ever been encountered at night. Whether this chimera prefers the dark to move unseen or is actively harmed by sunlight is not known. Scholars suggest the creature’s natural night vision would render it entirely blind during the day, and this remains as good of a hypothesis as any.
Mothman’s motives remain inscrutable. It typically appears contemporary with other strange and destructive events. None can say whether these other circumstances attract Mothman, or if Mothman itself is the cause. Areas where Mothman has visited tend to develop cults following it as a harbinger of doom. Over time, such cults usually devolve into mere superstitious festivals.
Like Slenderman above, Mothman is another cryptid and one of the bosses from the Chimeras chapter. While the fear snowballing effect is not quite as strong with Mothman, this foe makes up for it by acting much more frequently thanks to its Epic Initiative. Landing successful attacks against it are similarly difficult thanks to its ability to suddenly vanish, and its Epic Resilience lets it leverage its many reactions into making area effects similarly ineffective. Since a reaction pool refreshes each turn in combat, and Mothman takes many extra turns, this ability can be used a great deal. Fortunately, one typically only has to worry about encountering the Mothman at night.
Aberrations and Chimeras make for strange, and often frightening creatures. This unsettling quality is especially compounded when the monster in question is a boss. Next week we'll continue our tour of the Menagerie with a trio of creature types: Angels, Demons & Devils.
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