Where do you normally take inspiration for new creatures to throw at your players ? Mythology/Folklore, spec evo projects, paleoart... ?
>>97940089pic related is a newly described giant octopus from the cretaceous that is believed to have preyed on mossasaurs and other giant marine animals, and to have been very intelligent for octopus standards
https://yokai.com
>>97940089Ayyy Nanaimoteuthis! Super excited about that paper. It reminded me of the Dark Krakens from 40k, bet they would love them
>>97940089Oh wow that's funny, was just reading an article about these guys a few minutes agoReally cool looking art
>>97940089Giant sea creatures are both overdone and underated
>>97940089put him against this 50ft long snek
>>97940089I usually take inspiration from other works of fantasy, whether I've read them in a book, a comic, or seen them on TV, a movie, or encountered them in a video game.And I tend to lean less towards realism, and more towards what I would find fun to throw a team of heroes against in a game, making sure the monster's existence in the game's world makes sense.
>>97940089Animal whitepapers desu. I've read a book about bumblebee economics that would ll get used to write up a bee forest, and I've made an environmental trap of giant frog eggs that rapidly grow when disturbed like real life
>>97940097thats a squid, anon
>>97940089>>97942962Wish i could find the feathered spinosaurid art piece this guy drew because it's the only time where i've seen one that actually looked natural
>>97940089Are you an actual human looking for an actual discussion, or did you make this thread just to put another thread on the board?
>>97946152It self-identifies as an octopus chud>>97946936I made this thread to get some inspiration and cool ideas for monsters
>>97946936You think having threads is inherently bad? Thanks for admitting your concern-trolling is fake bullshit
>>97947399>yet another self-entitled parasiteGood to know.
I remember speculating about this years ago. Cephalopods don't fossilize well, so there could very well have been much bigger ones without us ever knowing. Same with giant jellyfish, siphonophores, etc. But, of course, academics are overly argumentative and aren't imaginative enough to entertain the very plausible, and will shout "WHERE IS YOUR EVIDENCE???", even though the lack of evidence is precisely the point being made, to support such a plausibility.
>>97948573Funnily enough that is part of the rational behind the triassic kraken theory
>>97947515I'm getting sick of southern states soaking up so much welfare and putting nothing back.Even california manages to pay out more than it gets.
>>97940089Ultraman has some WEIRD kaiju, might be worth Look if you’re interested.
>>97946936This is one of the only decent threads on the board now, kill yourself you janny wannabe.
>>97942513Problem I have with them is that they are typically shown as seeing creatures as small as humans as prey when really they'd ignore them as not worth the effort or be filter feeders that would more than likely gobble them up out of accident.
>>97940089I've been working through 90s rail shooters for enemy designs for the past several years. Nobody's noticed.
>>97940089Browse art sites.Look for monsters.Find something vaguely appropriate for my players to face in combat or otherwise interact with.Figure out stats; given constraints from overall setting, specific location, anatomy, taste, and intended difficulty.
>>97952938they just need to be open sea predators like the oceanic whitetip shark, where they live in the maritime equivalent of a desert and have to eat anything they can get their hands on or starvethis would probably make even more sense if they had a giant's metabolism, ignoring how unlikely it is to have enough to feed itself in that case
>>97940089Card games are as good of a place as any
>>97953622Normal shark, really, lol? But seriously, what are some other particularly cool monsters you’ve taken from card games or at least think are cool?
>>97957562>Normal sharkwith arms
>>97949066>Funnily enough that is part of the rational behind the triassic kraken theoryReally now?
In the first game I ran I threw a gelatinous cube and mimic at my players on separate occasions, and both times had at least one person say they'd never encountered one in an actual game. So apart from mythological critters and general human(oid) goons, it makes me want to find other traditional D&D-type monsters to send at them. I had them fight a manticore early in the current campaign, and I'm thinking maybe pic related soon too.
Like said in a previous thread:Sometimes the idea of a giant animal is enough for a creature. And something as simple as a frog can be scary if it was giant, and screams of still living people/prey echo in its belly and players are on the menu.Another cool inspiration was how would creatures be mix and matched hybrids and if they could be domesticated.>Got a desert region? This desert region has white sand and shelled burrower dinosaurs that come out when it's cool at night or rain. The shell is also water absorbant and the animal can drink just by having water on its skin after evolving to also drink from underground water basins/moisture. They are primarily herbivorous so rely on supernutritional baobamb-cactus hybrids for food. >Said plant hybrids rely on their fruits to be eaten with the seed still in tact to reproduce and then shit out of. Of course, not all seeds survive being eaten, but that's why the plant makes many fruits.>Settlers rely on these burrower animals for their keen sense of smell and other receptors for water and food. They feed them the cultivated cacti and use them to look for reservoirs and as transport animals and livestock, but said dinos get the benefit of protection from predators that roam the night or fly.It's fun to have some fantasy heavily inspired from reality if you're going homebrew. There are many animals that do crazy things if you google "what animal can [action: drink from its skin]" and then you see some inspiring stuff to make a creature of your own.
>>97963158I'm doing something similar in my campaign. This is a first campaign for most of us (including me as the DM), so I want to have as many as the classic monsters as makes sense for the campaign. I'm starting with Lost Mines so the party has already run into goblins and bandits, will be running into an owlbear, a manticore, some drow (including driders), and a gelatinous cube or two. I've got a good idea for how to use kobolds in one of their next adventures, and of course there are going to be dragons of various stripes, but I want to find some more classics to throw in there depending on where the party ends up going.
>>97949066The triassic kraken theory is pure bullshit built on the idea that giant icthyosaurs needed a giant cephalopod as prey like sperm whales do because people didin't expect them to be active predators
>>97963426I'm a big fan of mimics, and throwing one at the party every once in a while keeps them on their toes, but be careful not to do it too much or they'll treat it the same way others treat constant betrayal/backstabbing by NPCs: they'll lose all trust in the loot and by extension the guy who is supposed to hand it out. But every once in a while can be a fun encounter.
>>97965751Oh, for sure. Maybe this is me being sadistic, but part of me wants to save a mimic for the part of the adventure where my players go island hopping chasing after pirates. They can find a map, go to where the treasure is buried or hidden, and then find out that it was a mimic.
>>97965847>WHO THE FUCK BURIES A MIMIC LIKE IT'S TREASURE?!
>>97940089I think of an ecological niche and then try to imagine cool ways it would solve the problems of that niche. I don't really worry so much about the realism of it, since you'll never have the full context of it to satisfy some nitpicky zoology nerd asking about gas compositions and shit anyways. Just enough to explain what a pigeon shrimp is to someone is fine. I've been working on an archipelago world for fun so most naturally occurring life on it is oceanic or amphibious.
>>97946152no, it's not, look it up
>>97957562For starters there's the Eldlich/Golden land Archetypes that are a full campaign concept on themselves
>>97940089I’ve been considering looking at speculative evolution stuff, does anyone here have any specific suggestions on that front?
>>97969888https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKIlXdGJqB4
>>97969888LG - Neocene LN - Diyu LE - SerinaNG -Speculative dinosaur project N - After Man NE - SnoutersCG -The Future is Wild CN - Metazoica CE - Man After Man
>>97969888Kaimere has quite a few interesting creature that can fit either low or high fantasy setting, if you can ignore the authors faggotry
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>>97940089I don't like 5e, but Sol'Kesh is great.gf d/eDbSAR
>>97940089Lots of mythology, often leaning into some creatures that can be rather obscure. That said, my monster balancing can be a bit.... bad.
>>97969888man after man
Salt water frogs have a lot of potential, imagine something that can go out to sea and get stupid-big and then come back to shore to hunt. Imagine you stray too close to the sea so the sea opens its mouth and grabs you with a 50-foot tongue. The really big ones can beach themselves because they’re too heavy to crawl effectively, but they’ll still do it if there’s a good spot for eating harpies, sort of like the octopus that hangs out in tide pools to catch crabs. They can survive until the next high tide (which is very high in this world), but it’s still dangerous, it shows that they’re getting desperate because it used to be a rare blue-moon-peak-tide type event and now you see it all the time. How stupid is this?
>>97940097>been very intelligent for octopus standardsBased on what? The only remains are a beak, and its living relatives are less intelligent than incirrina octopuses.>>97966522It's probably closer to a vampire squid than an octopus (although vampire squid are not 'true squid' but more closely related to octopuses, they are still called 'squid').
>>97949066cool
>>97976496The only two problems is frogs don't really have huge tongues and to survive in seawater they'd need to be more eel than frog like externally or have scales. A giant moray eel/pacman frog thing would be pretty brutal honestly and probably be able to flatten itself so much it could still ambush on land even with its size.
>>97976703>Based on what?Based on asymmetric wear patterns in the beaks that indicates side preference when using the tentacles, what in modern octupi tends to correlate with intelligence
>>97960292Yes, as normal shakes have dude.
>>97983058Nice! Do you have any more of these please?
>>97995330a few
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>>97966522Hey, I'm that anon you quoted, I came across a video talking about the Nanaimo Octopus, turns out you were right. weird how it looks like a squid though on azccount of the shape of its mantle/head.
>>97996317It is less weird once you see these.https://youtube.com/watch?v=pxuBwfNp2wk&pp=ygUQYWRvcmFibHkgb2N0b3B1cw%3D%3D
>>97996276Why did they have to give her HIPS
>>97940089I know Pokémon has come up here a couple times, but what about Digimon? Has anyone taken ideas from there?
>>97997397Yeah I've seen these little critters before, but you look at a squid and the resemblence is obvious. here's a Umbolt Squid for refference
>>97991247Not just octopi. Pretty much anything with opposable limbs having a dominate side is an indicator of high intelligence.Now the big question is what killed them off.
>>98002390>what killed them offlikely it starved as all it's preys died of after the meteor hit
>>98002547You'd think, but cannibalism is not off the table with a lot of marine life.
>>98003193It's not "off the table" it's practically mandatoryLiving in the sea fucking sucks
>>98000482That is not nearly a terrifying-enough representation of humboldt squid. They are hyper-aggressive pack-hunters the size of you.
>>98002390>Now the big question is what killed them off.Probably parasites. They're huge targets and just don't have the tough skin to stop them from burrowing inside after coming into contact with them via their prey.
>>97999422I already used Goddramon and Magnadramon as celestial warlock patrons and as being of legend that the party had to seek out after failing to stop a demonlord from being summoned
The thing about using digimon in a regular games is that you need to come up with a way to explain all the cybernetic parts for a bunch of them
>>98007991Nice! Thanks!
>>98013696you wellcome
>>98015156Nice! We need more like these!
>>98007991That's the most badass Togemon has ever looked. Also, are the dates on them when the episode where they first showed up debuted? If so that's base.
>>98014196>Detective Patamon
>>98007991Sauce?
>>98019037herehttps://shimhaq.tumblr.com/post/614775716889952256/finally-done-with-the-original-8-of-the-digimon
>>97940097Imagine the size and number of brains!Prehistoric creatures are such that you can take them straight and put them into a setting. Dinosaurs? Perfect. Put it in. Giant centipedes? Do it.
>>98026492I love images like these because they pulled the size directly out of their asshole with no real basis in reality
>>98026546Only if you're treating illustrations as some kind of scientific diagram. The point is, how big would they need to be to prey on the biggest whales? If the limbs and everything are similar proportionally to the current largest cephalopods, then about this size. It's possible the body plan is different at scale or the limbs rely on some kind of combined levering action instead of pure size, or a million other things.
>>98026553Yeah but when these kind of illustrations come out right when a new species is discovered with all kinds of size comparisons they tend to act as wannabe diagrams.
>>97940089I love elemental-type creatures, golems, Phoenixes, etc. How do you feel about them, and what have you done with them in the past? Any advice?
>>98027560In my world there's many rifts and confluences zones where an area is either under heavy influence of some other plane or saturated with an specific magical energy, and in either case it resulted in the local wild life mutating or developing magical abilitiesI often have a region being influenced by one or two elemental planes and have most encounters in the area being either plain elemental creatures or animals with elemental traits like a moose that forms a blizard around itself when angry and that can run over lakes and rivers by freezing the water under its hooves or wolves with ice reinforced coats and that cause frostbites along side their normal bites
>>98026553well given that there was about 40 million years between these guys and the first whales, they were probably eating pretty good. especially since the ichteosaurs died out around the same time these guys showed up due to a series of anoxic events and other bullshit, and the mosasaurs hadnt arrived to replace them. im no sea-lizardologist, but my guess is these things did the usual cephalopod strat of breeding super fast, evolved hugeness in an uncompeditive environment, then got swept when a new top marine vertebrate showed up willing to challenge them
>>97940089Wasn’t there one speculative evolution project all about a world dominated by hamsters? That could be a useful source of inspiration.
South American and other underused mythologies are great sources, at the same time they give interesting creatures they prevent metagame as the player legit don't know what they are facing
>>98036316>>98040729>oh man african folklore is so nuts bro they have such crazy monsters>just a weirdo bigfoot and chimerasevery time
>>98041061>oh man american folklore is so nuts bro they have such crazy cryptids >just generic animal+man suffix every time
I like the local fire snake that fucking hates humans.>>98022306I love dragons.I'll always love dragons.
>>98041126who are you quoting? I didn't see anyone saying that.
>>98041061isn't that, plus giant version of normal animal, piratically every folklore and mythology ?
>>97963158this fucking face my god
>>98041061African folklore gets treated in the same way teachers treat special needs students, for the same reasons too
>>97971655I love, LOVE the diyu stuff, and his Ryleh stuff inspired some location of my setting.
>>98045003Both Diyu and Ryleh being unfinished are tragedies comparable to the burning of the library of Alexandria
>>98045012So many good ideas and cool concepts for the animals, it begs for a Journal like exploration narrative to it. Its also an ideal gritty, brp d100 like game of horror setting.
>>98041061>africanit's Dutch you nigger>b-but Afrikaaners are-Dutchmen. They're filthy, stinking, Dutchmen.
here me out
>>97940089I tend to pick a mithology, folklore or whatever, and think what dominions 6 would do with it. Also I use pokemons/fakemons as spirits in my games, changed a little.
Taxxons could be a horrifying encounter.
>>97996276Vagina Dentata!Oh what a horrible phrase!Vagina Dentata! I can’t feel my diiiiiiiick!She bit off my balls! Now I’m bleedin’ out!She nipped off my tip!I’m Jewish now!Vagina Dentata!
>>97965847>>97965883It's not traditional DnD or even western, but there are Japanese "mimics" in the Nioh series called Nurikabe, which are essentially just mimic walls instead of chests. In Nioh, you have a several gestures that you character can perform that have distinct "moods" to them; if you perform a gesture with the correct "mood" the Nurikabe will allow you passage. There's some other details, but I'll let the video explain the rest if you're interested:https://youtu.be/tsXl3CEdrpk
>>98063303It is surprising that dragonflies are so old.
>>98063303The idea of giant centipedes is absolute nigthmare fuel.
>>98063821that's a millipede
>>98063710those were griffenflies, a more primitive relative of the true dragonflies
>>97940089Prehistoric critters are a classic. I still remember that Lochwolves story.
>>98066173did someone said Lochwolves ?
>>98041142Didn't see anyone saying what you claimed either.
>>98066173>>98070598I counter with prairie otter
>>98004423Gives me Urotsukidoji vibes. You know, the guy cutting his dick off and replacing it with the demon phallus.
>>98018288part of me wonders if I made a campaing arround a minecraft world how long would me player take to realize it
>>98081685What system would work best for that? And if you do end up doing that, please let us know how long it takes.
>>98051513Haven’t thought about Animorphs in ages.Oh, don’t forget about Visser Three’s various forms.
>>98083281I will probably use pathfinder or the warhammer fantasy system, the one my group are more used tooMy main idea is having the players in a boat, have it caught in a arcane/warp storm and have the boat wreched beach near a village From there I will throw some undead and pillagers attacks, have the villagers ask the players to track the pillager outpost and deal with the pillagersAfter that someway to point the party towards a woodland mansion, have them find a way to learn about the nether portals and how to get to the End where I might put a way for them to get back homeor just have them be natives of the world but all the nether/end/skulk stuff be some esoteric almost lost lore that will be mostly ripped off game theory videos
>>98066173I was going to have my party visit a remote archipelago and find demon-corrupted dinosaurs there but honestly some of the Pleistocene megafauna looks way cooler as a monster base
>>98041130if I remember her legend correctly, she eats the light from other beings eyes and her fire comes from all the light she has consumed
>>98026492Giant centipedes were only viable due to higher oxygen levels of that period, but it is still cool so who cares. But absolute peak are animal hybrids as monsters. Just slap two animals together and they become instantly fantastical, while also being easy to imagine for players. Bunny-bears, horses with the head of a snake, venemous apes with anteater heads. You really get infinite options.
>>98099885would
>>98063710They're odonata, the old wings. In terms of oldness silverfish are the oldest insects (no wings), then mayflies and damselflies (flat wings), then butterflies and moths (top folding wings), then mantids, wasps and cockroaches and beetles and such (wings fold back) If you want old look at the arachnids>insects are land prawns>prawns are unfolded crabs>crabs are short millipedes>millipedes are antennae'd horseshoe crabs>horseshoe crabs are jawed arachnidsThese fuckers have been on land longer than trees. Moss, mushroom-towers and proto-spiders as far as the eye can see
>>98093518So does she eat the actual eyes or suck the light out from a distance?
>>98104474it depends with what version of the legend you go within some versions she it eats the eyes whole, and usuly just the eyes, in other it just eat the all the light from the eyes leaving the victim blindthere also an origin story telling that it was originally just a giant snake that after a great flood gorge itself on the eyes of the dead, it's favorite cut, and was ignites into a being of fire by all the light still reaming on them
Not sure if this is the right thread but I recently made this page and stats for the Trolls from Hilda ( one of my fav takes on trolls). So...Enjoy
>>98116377Thanks! Have you made any other stuff for Hilda?
>>98115345I thought that the grasper on the left was its head and neck for a second, lol.
>>98117263I have this one I just made.I know they could have been a simple water elemental reskin but I wanted to try something new
>>98123132Impressive work! I hope you do more!
>>98123132Impressive, what fonts did you use? It looks very nice.
>>97940089minecraft
>>98137504Hildahand
>>98007991Always enjoyed Angemon.
>>98139516So, mechanical creatures are your jam? Nice!
>>98139516Let me present you to the irl Silver Swan
>>97991247actually a really cool answer, learned something today. thanks anon
>>97940089You know how some animals do things like eye patterns to scare predators? That but even more extreme so they look like they’re completely covered in eyes.
>>98000482>oh its just a squid>>98004423Its as big as men, and hunts as a pack?? So the fucking squids from that avatar movie are based on reality somewhat wtf
>>97940089Digimon lore is full of gems
>>98070598Those shits produced hell on earthhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftR7u2LxpLI
>>97940089Would be soooo cool if there was a cephalophode monster that has some kind of big stabbing apparatus in addition to the tentacles, maybe instead of the normal beka they have. They would grapple their victim from a range, just like the one on the OP then ejected a harpoon like BOINK straight onto the target
>>98159977Gorgonops my beloved
>>98168175Do you have any more like this please?
>>98041061Africa doesn't really need folklore monsters, they have actual elephants and rhinos and lions and gators the size of minivans.>>98041126>unprompted seething about AmericansIf anything logger myth cryptids are some of the more bizarre mythological critters this side of yokai.
>>98172469like this ?
