Regardless of where you fall on the 'only rangers get pets' debate you surely are tired of Dire Wolves and Bears. Below is a list of exotic creatures that make for interesting pets or familiars and below that are example scenarios of how a party might encounter such creatures. I have not included any dcs or stats for any of the creatures or scenarios but there are several great threads on here about taming pets and I would recommend checking them out.
If this isn't the right place to post this let me know.
1) Stirge Your party travels a long worn road between farming villages; little more than a path for cows to follow. Around them are endless plains a view broken up only by the occasional rock or shrub. Your party is tiring of endless games of eye-spy when something new appears on the horizon. At first it looks like little more than large red lump but as you move closer it becomes clear that parts of it are breaking off and fluttering in the breeze. A sudden sound and the red creatures explode upwards in a swarm revealing the corpse of a cow. The Stirges circle your party in a swarm too many to easily count. After a fierce and painful battle the Stirges are driven off. Even those still feasting on the cow attempt to fly away but these are smaller juvenile and less able to fly. The older Stirges keep circling back encouraging their young to hurry up even picking up and carrying the slower ones. Eventualy the swarm moves off in the distance all that is left is a small Stirge barely twenty feet from the cow and mewling pitifully at being abandoned. You take pity on the creature and after a brief struggle to calm it down are able to convince it to take roost atop your pack. It happily stays there for the rest of the day.
2) Mimic Your Party is deep in the bowels of an ancient mage tower, so deep you find it hard to believe that the tunnels you walk through were constructed by mortals. Your party is jittery and eye even the most benign of objects with a suspicion born of days of being beset upon by mimics. You enter another stairwell so precisely constructed that surely it was made by some unholy machine of the deep-dwellers. The stair continues into the dark each landing you come across houses a score of inviting coffers, you are not so foolish as to delve their contents. Finally at long last the stairs come to an end. You are so removed from the sun that surely even a drow would be blinded by such darkness, and yet there is light down here. Your party enters a great chamber, the walls inset with panels lit by some unknowable force. In the centre of this ultimate room is a creature, some monstrosity of flesh and automaton. Throughout the chamber are what you can only describe as eggs. As the party approaches one the monster pulls itself to its feet and attacks. Through a great battle the Mother of Mimics is dead. The chamber is in ruins and all but a few of the eggs are smashed. Out of curiosity you take one of the few survivors and slip it in your bag.
3) Alraune Your Party travels through a forest teeming with life. Flowers and vines of all colours line the path on which you travel. Deeper in the trees you spy huge red flowers under which forest creatures cavort and play. Birdsong fills the air its sources flitting around so fast you can barely keep up. As your party travels deeper into the woods the flora gets larger and the path more worn. Where before the birds flew around your head, they now soar between the branches of the trees far above. The path becomes worn to the point that sometimes you are unsure if you are even going the right way. You find it again this stretch is home to small blooms of flowers. Not wanting to squash them you carefully step through but then a sudden noise startles you and you misstep. The toe of your boot brushes the tip of a flower and you nearly lose your foot as the creature sleeping beneath attempts to snap its spiny roots around its perceived attacker. Around the path the forest shakes itself to life as much larger flowers pull themselves free of the dirt and lumber towards the party. the attackers lie dead. the little flower that started it all is still sitting in the path crying to itself. Its far less threatening when it isn't trying to eat your foot. In-fact its almost kinda cute.
4) Floating Fish The ground lies stretched out far above you and you yearn for the days that gravity only went one way. Your party has been in these mountains for less than a day and yet you have already lost your lunch twice. You almost welcome the near constant attacks from creatures that swim through the air as though it was water. At least they keep your mind off the rocks that fall upwards or the clear ponds that stand vertically like mirrors. The path switches back on itself and you feel relief at having the feeling of sky overhead where it belongs. At least until you realise that now if you start falling upwards there's nothing to stop you from going forever. Its while you are gazing into one of the crystal clear ponds; after yet another fight against floating fish, that you notice a clutch of eggs suckered to the side of a rock. No doubt the spawn of the creatures you just slew, doomed to die... Unless someone takes them in and cares for them.
5) Tapioca Pudding Clean up detail at a sweets factory generally doesn't seem like hero work but its the job your party took and the massive black slime monster covering the factory floor is definitely your kind of work. The battle is long and fierce. Smashing the ooze up just seems to spread it around but eventually you are able to wash most of it down the drains. Job done time to get paid. Just got to empty out this vat you swept some of the sludge into. Except whats in the bucket isn't a gross black slime any more but a rather tasty looking (apart from the way its moving around and gurgling happily) tapioca pudding. Anything that absorbed that much sugar must be sweet right?
6)Fire Sprite Ill luck to any creature caught outside in a storm like this. The rain pours down like a sheet and the wind blows it so hard you think it may have split your lip and yet something is out there in the storm. A tiny light flickering pitifully in the darkness. You've been trying to make out what is causing it with every step you've taken yet its true nature still eludes you until you are almost on top of it. Its a fire spirit of some kind, trying its hardest to stay alight in a knothole of a tree. You reach into your pack and retrieve your tinder box. Its not much but it is designed to burn even when wet. The tiny spark leaps onto the very first match you hold out and clings there desperately until its burned down to the end, at which point you offer it another. You have a full tinder box and your companions are already offering you theirs. It will be a cold and unhappy night for both of you but at least you'll both survive.
7) Consecrated Catoblepass The ranger hasn't moved for hours now. Every cell in their body focused on meditating. Idly they wonder what manner of beast their new companion might be. In their youth they met a ranger with a bear for a companion. It towered above even the largest of horses and each step shook the earth just a little bit. A bear would make a fine companion but then again so would a wolf. Absolutely loyal and a friend for life, even without the bonds of magic. This region is home to many species of great cat. Perhaps one of those will be the rangers companion? Full of grace and stealthy as the night. The ranger is content in the knowledge that regardless of what their new companion is they will be happy. The ranger jerks as they feel a tug within their soul. Its here after eight hours of meditation its time to find out. The ranger opens their eyes and gazes upon a shaggy head attached to a long sinewy neck. The creatures body rests in a patch of flowers and behind it stretches a trail of sudden new growth. The ranger recognises this type of creature but from where? Suddenly they remember, entire forests blighted by rot, the animals all sick, and dying a trail of disease left behind a single creature. But this one is different, the land around it teams with life and it is reduced, frail almost, as though the evil that infused it has been sucked out and a new power planted yet to grow.
8) Rook This dungeon is like none you have ever seen before. Its layout seems to shift and change like a liquid, and the beasts may look like automatons at first glance but on closer inspection lack any form of machinery. Before your party lies a path. A path that you would all swear was not there a moment ago. It opens up into a chamber built from smooth sandstone blocks; like the rest of this maze. When you enter more of the machines that are not machines lift themselves off the floor to attack. Your party scatters at the barrage of magics that assault you and you prepare your self for battle. When the monsters finally lay defeated you are able to more fully appreciate the room you find yourself in. The walls are lined with a series of alcoves, in which are creatures much like those you have fought so much on this quest. Yet these are somehow more and at the same time lacking in life. Each shiny metallic shard is chained into its alcove with chains far thicker than needed to restrain a human. Even now the chains hum with the enchantments once woven within them. Towards the back of the chamber you discover one of the chained creatures still has life. It floats a foot above the floor and is surrounded by slowly swirling metallic fragments. As you gaze upon the beast visions fill your head. You see a great sorcerer pouring life into iron and creating ever stronger creatures, until they grow to powerful and have to be contained. You see powerful creations struggle against their captivity, until they have no life left to struggle with and they are all gone bar one and even it could not hope to achieve even a fraction of the feats of which it was once capable.
9) Myconid Its been several weeks now and the rash still wont go away. Maybe you should have seen a doctor immediately after the fight, especially now that its turned blue and started swelling. You will definitely need to do that in the morning... Its amazing what a good sleep will do. Your arm isn't itching at all! And you will probably stop hallucinating the dancing mushroom once you've had breakfast. Wait did that mushroom just call you 'mama'?!
10) Bone Shadow (Available in the homebrew monsters collection) Your party step into the abandoned building carefully. Its hard to believe just three days ago this was the economic centre of this town, difficult to believe this eerie place with its clinging shadows was home to hundreds of workers. You look at the bloodstained walls and try to convince yourself its from the Countless cows that met their fate here, not the barely recognisable corpse on the floor. Your party spreads out. You carefully step over sharp knives and blood buckets and other tools of the trade you would rather not guess at the function of. You wont be eating meat for at least a week after this. You are startled from your thoughts when a fox darts in front of you, at least you think it was a fox. Its hard to make out anything in this darkness. You can almost make out its shape underneath a food trough. You Bend down and call out to it telling it everything will be okay and you aren't going to hurt it. it moves closer towards you. Encouraged you reach out your hand for it to sniff. It steps out from under the trough and comes up to your hand. The silly creature has got its head caught in a cows skull. Its not until you reach out to take it off that you realise the "fox" you are trying to care for, is very much lacking in a body. Its just fragments of bones floating in a mockery of a skeletal system. You struggle to stay calm as the creature winds around your legs, with its too large skull bumping against your knees. it seems to like you for now...
11) Zombie Your party moves through the empty town cautiously. The once friendly townsfolk have become your enemy; killed and brought to life by a foul Lich. Although the lich lies dead the empty buildings create a sense of unease in your party. The scent of death floats on the air, seeming to get stronger the further into the village you pass. You stop to gag as you pass by a particularly pungent building. It's clear many lost their un-lives there. Further into the village and now you must step over the bodies of the fallen with every second step. The sound of shambling footsteps behind you sends your party scrambling for cover. A single zombie staggers along. Once an vicious monster slavering for blood. It is now empty of purpose. The mind that once drove it is gone. Perhaps a strong mind might be able to replace that lost driving force?
12) Crystalized Kobold This place gives you the creeps. You don't like basilisks and somehow this is even worse. All those people frozen forever more in place, turned not to stone but to the rarest collection of gemstones. Each former life worth a fortune for anyone dumb enough to try to take them. This is the fate for those who anger The Goblin Queen and it is not a fate you wish to share. Something catches your eye, a difficult feat in a room made of sapphire. One of the statues is not like the others, while most are goblins or adventurers from the surface. Tucked into a corner is a lonely kobold. You can only imagine how such a creature could offend the goblin Queen to such a degree to end up here. You shrug and move on, you are here for a reason after all. You locate them quickly, your foolish companions who tried to take that which did not belong to them. It has taken you weeks to find a way to save them. When they hear that you bargained with a dragon they will no doubt call you a liar but you did and now you are here. All that is left is to touch each of them in turn and they will be awakened. Your companions praise you and celebrate being saved before deciding to make a prudent get away. Before you leave you stop once more in front of the kobold. You can no longer feel the dragons magic coursing through you so you think nothing of it to pat the pitiable creature on the head. Until that is you turn to leave and discover the sparkling multicoloured creature following you. Not cured of its affliction but no longer trapped in place for its trespasses.
13) Sentient Ballgown Maybe getting a demon to tailor your dress was a bad idea but there is no way you were getting into this party without it. You take a glance at your companions and give a sigh of relief to see they all made it in. A band plays up on stage and magics light up the room. Its clear that no expense has been spared in the setup for this party and you are once again glad you went the extra mile in the creation of your dress. It really is rather lovely and the ribbons are a nice touch especially the way they twist and sway even when you cant even feel a breeze. Pity about that headache you're getting; why must these nobles whisper so constantly? You spend some more time socialising, waiting for the signal, and just enjoying the night... You got away with it! The greatest heist this city has ever seen! Time to ditch the dress and put on something more practical. If you can get it over your head that is. You struggle and twist but simply cannot get the dress to budge, Not to mention your headache seems to be getting worse and you swear you can hear someone on the street outside begging for you to stop. Your attempts to cut the dress off are stopped short when you find a ribbon wrapped tightly around your wrist and for the first time that night you can here the voice clearly as it speaks to you.
14) Abandoned Unseen Servant This old workshop clearly once belonged to a wizard, if the magic paraphernalia didn't give it away the fact the books keep putting themselves back on the shelf would. You kind of wish they would stop trying to do it while you are still reading them though. Whatever wizard once lived here they are long gone. No doubt dead for many years. All that remains is some unseen servant, still tidying up and waiting for their return. You let the gentle insistent tugging take the book from your hands. You got what you needed from it anyway. It is a small ritual the ingredients you need are still sitting upon the shelves. After this the poor creature may return to whatever plain it came from and this old workshop can be claimed by dust. You set about preforming the ritual and soon enough the deed is done. You are no doubt alone, aside from your party downstairs. You go to grab your staff from where it leans against the wall and are surprised when it is handed to you. You are even more surprised when a few books are pulled from the shelf and put into a knapsack, which lifts off the floor to stand next to you. You can not see the creature you have befriended but together you start towards the stairs.
15) Failed Illitid Experiment The wizard concentrates on their task as they light the final stick of incense and immediately feel the flow of power into the room. Finding a familiar is a right of passage to this wizard and they are excited to see the payoff for their hard work. There is a flash of light and suddenly the wizard is no longer alone in the room. across the room; seemingly in some distress is a creature found in no text book the wizard has ever read. Its body is about a foot in diameter and looks very much like and oversized brain. The creature possesses a few long thin feelers with which it caresses the air around it. It hovers above the ground, though at the moment it seems to be struggling to keep aloft. The wizard sees its distress and quickly checks it over with magic. They quickly determine the creature is some form of mind eater and has attempted to consume a mind that it cannot digest. The wizard reaches into the creature with magic and drags the offending mind out of it. The young wizard can feel the touch of madness brushing the edges of their consciousness, as the offending mind is touched by their magic. It is only after releasing the mind into the ether and a fierce focusing of willpower that the wizard feels the madness slip away. The wizards new familiar hovers happily now that it is free of indigestion it looks forward to the adventures it might have with its new owner.
16) Bystander "You've heard of Beholders, and you've heard of Spectators, but did you ever hear of their oft overlooked cousin the Bystander?" The con-mans drivel sounds like garbage to you but out of curiosity you decide to slip into the tent anyway. This circus has had some truly remarkable sights, like the Kenku acrobats or the Gnomish devices that can mimic the speech of people. Perhaps this tent too will contain something of interest. You are shocked nearly speechless when you spot the creature leashed inside the tent. It does indeed look just like a Spectator, without the eyes. You have no clue how the circus could have captured such a beast but you know that the creature is suffering here and you must save it. You stride forward and cut the rope that leashes the beast down. It hesitates not a moment before it flies out the tent and disappears into the sky. No doubt the circus will ban you from visits in the future but at least you helped a defenceless creature find freedom. Its two days later before you see the creature again and it ducks out of sight when it notices you watching it. When it appears again the next day and the next you realise you have made a new friend, even if its rather shy.
17) Gargoyle The ancient castle looms above your party and lightning crackles behind, it as though it has been trained to. The walls of black stone are crumbled and broken, they make a poor advertisement for the bridge up to the front gate. Your party crosses slowly. To either side open space drops away until it is lost in a thick malevolent fog. You finally cross the bridge after what feels like hours, though surely was not so long. The castle courtyard is in no better condition than the outside of the keep. Perhaps even worse with the plants that have forced themselves through the stone, and standing in the courtyard is a fierce-some sight. Its features are twisted in rage and its long stone limbs end in sharp claws. The unwise might mistake it for a statue but you know better. It is a gargoyle, an ancient protector. Though this one has no-one left to protect. Still it will likely not treat trespassers kindly. Not unless you can convince it your party means no threat. You wonder if it gets sad standing here amongst these ruins, impotent to stop nature from destroying the thing it is sworn to protect. You can feel the magic that powers it, bound to the very black stone that you stand upon. You have an idea. It is a foolish idea but it just might work. Carefully you take a broken lump of masonry and use your magic to crush it into dust and infuse that dust into your veins. Its painful, you nearly pass out from it but in the end the gargoyle turns to face you. It walks up to you slowly and takes a moment to examine you, then as if reaching a decision the gargoyle kneels before you and bows its head.
18) A Regular Cow You see a cow wandering alone in the wilderness. It bears no marks nor signs of ownership but begins to follow you as though it has been trained to
19) Chimera You spent days finding the perfect ingredients. Scouring lizard dens for the perfect iridescent scale. Following a bird around for days to catch a feather that had never touched to ground. Not to mention how hard it was to convince a wolf to let you pull out a tuft of its hair. But here you are, finally ready to preform your ritual and summon your animal companion. The waiting is the hardest part but you sit there and meditate for hours, until finally there is a rushing of air and you can open your eyes. Your companion sits before you, each of its scales shining in the suns reflected light, its feather sit proudly upon it and its fur looks like sunlight spun into silk. A Chimeara reflecting the beauty of each of your hard won ingredients.
20) Gorgon The Ritual is nearly complete! When you first found it tucked away in the forgotten corner of a forbidden library, you thought it was mad. Surely no power was worth a price that high? And yet as the days past you found your gaze returning to the parchment, asking yourself if such a price is truly too much. After months of agonising you decided to do it, and hear you are. Incense is burning around you and blood is still dripping from your knife. It hurts, you knew it would, had given yourself nightmares thinking about it. But soon the power will be yours and the price you paid irrelevant. The incense is burning low now, you can smell it. Its ironic how attuned your senses become in the darkness. You hear a slithering sound behind you, much larger than any snake you have ever encountered. You smile knowing that your familiar has arrived. If you were to gaze upon it you know you would be turned to stone, but you will never do so. In fact you will never gaze upon anything ever again. Such power you have gained and all for the small price of cutting out your eyes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Homebrew Races, Monsters, and Spells. Feel free to use or give feedback for.
Regardless of where you fall on the 'only rangers get pets' debate you surely are tired of Dire Wolves and Bears. Below is a list of exotic creatures that make for interesting pets or familiars and below that are example scenarios of how a party might encounter such creatures. I have not included any dcs or stats for any of the
creatures or scenarios but there are several great threads on here about taming pets and I would recommend checking them out.
If this isn't the right place to post this let me know.
Pets List
1) Stirge
2) Mimic
3) Alraune
4) Floating Fish
5) Tapioca pudding
6) Fire Sprite
7) Consecrated (or regular) Catoblepass (Ranger Beastmaster Compliant)
8) Rook
9) Myconid
10) Bone Shadow
11) Zombie
12) Crystalised Kobold
13) Sentient BallGown
14) Abandoned unseen servent
15) Failed Illithid Experiment ('Find Familiar' Compliant)
16) Bystander
17) Gargoyle
18) A Cow just an ordinary cow
19) Chimera (Ranger 'Beastmaster' Compliant)
20) Gorgon ('Warlock Pact' Compliant)
Example Scenarios
1) Stirge
Your party travels a long worn road between farming villages; little more than a path for cows to follow. Around them are endless plains a view broken up only by the occasional rock or shrub. Your party is tiring of endless games of eye-spy when something new appears on the horizon. At first it looks like little more than large red lump but as you move closer it becomes clear that parts of it are breaking off and fluttering in the breeze. A sudden sound and the red creatures explode upwards in a swarm revealing the corpse of a cow. The Stirges circle your party in a swarm too many to easily count. After a fierce and painful battle the Stirges are driven off. Even those still feasting on the cow attempt to fly away but these are smaller juvenile and less able to fly. The older Stirges keep circling back encouraging their young to hurry up even picking up and carrying the slower ones. Eventualy the swarm moves off in the distance all that is left is a small Stirge barely twenty feet from the cow and mewling pitifully at being abandoned. You take pity on the creature and after a brief struggle to calm it down are able to convince it to take roost atop your pack. It happily stays there for the rest of the day.
2) Mimic
Your Party is deep in the bowels of an ancient mage tower, so deep you find it hard to believe that the tunnels you walk through were constructed by mortals. Your party is jittery and eye even the most benign of objects with a suspicion born of days of being beset upon by mimics. You enter another stairwell so precisely constructed that surely it was made by some unholy machine of the deep-dwellers. The stair continues into the dark each landing you come across houses a score of inviting coffers, you are not so foolish as to delve their contents. Finally at long last the stairs come to an end. You are so removed from the sun that surely even a drow would be blinded by such darkness, and yet there is light down here. Your party enters a great chamber, the walls inset with panels lit by some unknowable
force. In the centre of this ultimate room is a creature, some monstrosity of flesh and automaton. Throughout the chamber are what you can only describe as eggs. As the party approaches one the monster pulls itself to its feet and attacks. Through a great battle the Mother of Mimics is dead. The chamber is in ruins and all but a few of the eggs are smashed. Out of curiosity you take one of the few survivors and slip it in your bag.
3) Alraune
Your Party travels through a forest teeming with life. Flowers and vines of all colours line the path on which you travel. Deeper in the trees you spy huge red flowers under which forest creatures cavort and play. Birdsong fills the air its sources flitting around so fast you can barely keep up. As your party travels deeper into the woods the flora gets larger and the path more worn. Where before the birds flew around your head, they now soar between the branches of the trees far above. The path becomes worn to the point that sometimes you are unsure if you are even going the right way. You find it again this stretch is home to small blooms of flowers. Not wanting to squash them you carefully step through but then a sudden noise startles you and you misstep. The toe of your boot brushes the tip of a flower and you nearly lose your foot as the creature sleeping beneath attempts to snap its spiny roots around its perceived attacker. Around the path the forest shakes itself to life as much larger flowers pull themselves free of the dirt and lumber towards the party. the attackers lie dead. the little flower that started it all is still sitting in the path crying to itself. Its far less threatening when it isn't trying to eat your foot. In-fact its almost kinda cute.
4) Floating Fish
The ground lies stretched out far above you and you yearn for the days that gravity only went one way. Your party has been in these mountains for less than a day and yet you have already lost your lunch twice. You almost welcome the near constant attacks from creatures that swim through the air as though it was water. At least they keep your mind off the rocks that fall upwards or the clear ponds that stand vertically like mirrors. The path switches back on itself and you feel relief at having the feeling of sky overhead where it belongs. At least until you realise that now if you start falling upwards there's nothing to stop you from going forever. Its while you are gazing into one of the crystal clear ponds; after yet another fight against floating fish, that you notice a clutch of eggs suckered to the side of a rock. No doubt the spawn of the creatures you just slew, doomed to die... Unless someone takes them in and cares for them.
5) Tapioca Pudding
Clean up detail at a sweets factory generally doesn't seem like hero work but its the job your party took and the massive black slime monster covering the factory floor is definitely your kind of work. The battle is long and fierce. Smashing the ooze up just seems to spread it around but eventually you are able to wash most of it down the drains. Job done time to get paid. Just got to empty out this vat you swept some of the sludge into. Except whats in the bucket isn't a gross black slime any more but a rather tasty looking (apart from the way its moving around and gurgling happily) tapioca pudding. Anything that absorbed that much sugar must be sweet right?
6)Fire Sprite
Ill luck to any creature caught outside in a storm like this. The rain pours down like a sheet and the wind blows it so hard you think it may have split your lip and yet something is out there in the storm. A tiny light flickering pitifully in the darkness. You've been trying to make out what is causing it with every step you've taken yet its true nature still eludes you until you are almost on top of it. Its a fire spirit of some kind, trying its hardest to stay alight in a knothole of a tree. You reach into your pack and retrieve your tinder box. Its not much but it is designed to burn even when wet. The tiny spark leaps onto the very first match you hold out and clings there desperately until its burned down to the end, at which point you offer it another. You have a full tinder box and your companions are already offering you theirs. It will be a cold and unhappy night for both of you but at least you'll both survive.
7) Consecrated Catoblepass
The ranger hasn't moved for hours now. Every cell in their body focused on meditating. Idly they wonder what manner of beast their new companion might be. In their youth they met a ranger with a bear for a companion. It towered above even the largest of horses and each step shook the earth just a little bit. A bear would make a fine companion but then again so would a wolf. Absolutely loyal and a friend for life, even without the bonds of magic. This region is home to many species of great cat. Perhaps one of those will be the rangers companion? Full of grace and stealthy as the night. The ranger is content in the knowledge that regardless of what their new companion is they will be happy. The ranger jerks as they feel a tug within their soul. Its here after eight hours of meditation its time to find out. The ranger opens their eyes and gazes upon a shaggy head attached to a long sinewy neck. The creatures body rests in a patch of flowers and behind it stretches a trail of sudden new growth. The ranger recognises this type of creature but from where? Suddenly they remember, entire forests blighted by rot, the animals all sick, and dying a trail of disease left behind a single creature. But this one is different, the land around it teams with life and it is reduced, frail almost, as though the evil that infused it has been sucked out and a new power planted yet to grow.
8) Rook
This dungeon is like none you have ever seen before. Its layout seems to shift and change like a liquid, and the beasts may look like automatons at first glance but on closer inspection lack any form of machinery. Before your party lies a path. A path that you would all swear was not there a moment ago. It opens up into a chamber built from smooth sandstone blocks; like the rest of this maze. When you enter more of the machines that are not machines lift themselves off the floor to attack. Your party scatters at the barrage of magics that assault you and you prepare your self for battle. When the monsters finally lay defeated you are able to more
fully appreciate the room you find yourself in. The walls are lined with a series of alcoves, in which are creatures much like those you have fought so much on this
quest. Yet these are somehow more and at the same time lacking in life. Each shiny metallic shard is chained into its alcove with chains far thicker than needed to restrain a human. Even now the chains hum with the enchantments once woven within them. Towards the back of the chamber you discover one of the chained creatures still has life. It floats a foot above the floor and is surrounded by slowly swirling metallic fragments. As you gaze upon the beast visions fill your head. You see a great sorcerer pouring life into iron and creating ever stronger creatures, until they grow to powerful and have to be contained. You see powerful creations struggle against their captivity, until they have no life left to struggle with and they are all gone bar one and even it could not hope to achieve even a fraction of the feats of which it was once capable.
9) Myconid
Its been several weeks now and the rash still wont go away. Maybe you should have seen a doctor immediately after the fight, especially now that its turned blue and started swelling. You will definitely need to do that in the morning... Its amazing what a good sleep will do. Your arm isn't itching at all! And you will probably stop hallucinating the dancing mushroom once you've had breakfast. Wait did that mushroom just call you 'mama'?!
10) Bone Shadow (Available in the homebrew monsters collection)
Your party step into the abandoned building carefully. Its hard to believe just three days ago this was the economic centre of this town, difficult to believe this
eerie place with its clinging shadows was home to hundreds of workers. You look at the bloodstained walls and try to convince yourself its from the Countless cows that met their fate here, not the barely recognisable corpse on the floor. Your party spreads out. You carefully step over sharp knives and blood buckets and other
tools of the trade you would rather not guess at the function of. You wont be eating meat for at least a week after this. You are startled from your thoughts when a fox darts in front of you, at least you think it was a fox. Its hard to make out anything in this darkness. You can almost make out its shape underneath a food trough. You Bend down and call out to it telling it everything will be okay and you aren't going to hurt it. it moves closer towards you. Encouraged you reach out your hand for
it to sniff. It steps out from under the trough and comes up to your hand. The silly creature has got its head caught in a cows skull. Its not until you reach out to take
it off that you realise the "fox" you are trying to care for, is very much lacking in a body. Its just fragments of bones floating in a mockery of a skeletal system. You struggle to stay calm as the creature winds around your legs, with its too large skull bumping against your knees. it seems to like you for now...
11) Zombie
Your party moves through the empty town cautiously. The once friendly townsfolk have become your enemy; killed and brought to life by a foul Lich. Although the lich lies dead the empty buildings create a sense of unease in your party. The scent of death floats on the air, seeming to get stronger the further into the village you pass. You stop to gag as you pass by a particularly pungent building. It's clear many lost their un-lives there. Further into the village and now you must step over the bodies of the fallen with every second step. The sound of shambling footsteps behind you sends your party scrambling for cover. A single zombie staggers along. Once an vicious monster slavering for blood. It is now empty of purpose. The mind that once drove it is gone. Perhaps a strong mind might be able to replace that lost driving force?
12) Crystalized Kobold
This place gives you the creeps. You don't like basilisks and somehow this is even worse. All those people frozen forever more in place, turned not to stone but to the rarest collection of gemstones. Each former life worth a fortune for anyone dumb enough to try to take them. This is the fate for those who anger The Goblin Queen and it is not a fate you wish to share. Something catches your eye, a difficult feat in a room made of sapphire. One of the statues is not like the others, while most are goblins or adventurers from the surface. Tucked into a corner is a lonely kobold. You can only imagine how such a creature could offend the goblin Queen to such a degree to end up here. You shrug and move on, you are here for a reason after all. You locate them quickly, your foolish companions who tried to take that which did not belong to them. It has taken you weeks to find a way to save them. When they hear that you bargained with a dragon they will no doubt call you a liar but you did and now you are here. All that is left is to touch each of them in turn and they will be awakened. Your companions praise you and celebrate being saved before deciding to make a prudent get away. Before you leave you stop once more in front of the kobold. You can no longer feel the dragons magic coursing through you so you think nothing of it to pat the pitiable creature on the head. Until that is you turn to leave and discover the sparkling multicoloured creature following you. Not cured of its affliction but no longer trapped in place for its trespasses.
13) Sentient Ballgown
Maybe getting a demon to tailor your dress was a bad idea but there is no way you were getting into this party without it. You take a glance at your companions and give a sigh of relief to see they all made it in. A band plays up on stage and magics light up the room. Its clear that no expense has been spared in the setup for this party and you are once again glad you went the extra mile in the creation of your dress. It really is rather lovely and the ribbons are a nice touch especially the way they twist and sway even when you cant even feel a breeze. Pity about that headache you're getting; why must these nobles whisper so constantly? You spend some more time socialising, waiting for the signal, and just enjoying the night... You got away with it! The greatest heist this city has ever seen! Time to ditch the dress and put on something more practical. If you can get it over your head that is. You struggle and twist but simply cannot get the dress to budge, Not to mention your headache seems to be getting worse and you swear you can hear someone on the street outside begging for you to stop. Your attempts to cut the dress off are stopped short when you find a ribbon wrapped tightly around your wrist and for the first time that night you can here the voice clearly as it speaks to you.
14) Abandoned Unseen Servant
This old workshop clearly once belonged to a wizard, if the magic paraphernalia didn't give it away the fact the books keep putting themselves back on the shelf would. You kind of wish they would stop trying to do it while you are still reading them though. Whatever wizard once lived here they are long gone. No doubt dead for many years. All that remains is some unseen servant, still tidying up and waiting for their return. You let the gentle insistent tugging take the book from your hands. You got what you needed from it anyway. It is a small ritual the ingredients you need are still sitting upon the shelves. After this the poor creature may return to whatever plain it came from and this old workshop can be claimed by dust. You set about preforming the ritual and soon enough the deed is done. You are no doubt alone, aside from your party downstairs. You go to grab your staff from where it leans against the wall and are surprised when it is handed to you. You are even more surprised when a few books are pulled from the shelf and put into a knapsack, which lifts off the floor to stand next to you. You can not see the creature you have befriended but together you start towards the stairs.
15) Failed Illitid Experiment
The wizard concentrates on their task as they light the final stick of incense and immediately feel the flow of power into the room. Finding a familiar is a right of passage to this wizard and they are excited to see the payoff for their hard work. There is a flash of light and suddenly the wizard is no longer alone in the room. across the room; seemingly in some distress is a creature found in no text book the wizard has ever read. Its body is about a foot in diameter and looks very much like and oversized brain. The creature possesses a few long thin feelers with which it caresses the air around it. It hovers above the ground, though at the moment it seems to be struggling to keep aloft. The wizard sees its distress and quickly checks it over with magic. They quickly determine the creature is some form of mind eater and has attempted to consume a mind that it cannot digest. The wizard reaches into the creature with magic and drags the offending mind out of it. The young wizard can feel the touch of madness brushing the edges of their consciousness, as the offending mind is touched by their magic. It is only after releasing the mind into the ether and a fierce focusing of willpower that the wizard feels the madness slip away. The wizards new familiar hovers happily now that it is free of indigestion it looks forward to the adventures it might have with its new owner.
16) Bystander
"You've heard of Beholders, and you've heard of Spectators, but did you ever hear of their oft overlooked cousin the Bystander?" The con-mans drivel sounds like garbage to you but out of curiosity you decide to slip into the tent anyway. This circus has had some truly remarkable sights, like the Kenku acrobats or the Gnomish devices that can mimic the speech of people. Perhaps this tent too will contain something of interest. You are shocked nearly speechless when you spot the creature leashed inside the tent. It does indeed look just like a Spectator, without the eyes. You have no clue how the circus could have captured such a beast but you know that the creature is suffering here and you must save it. You stride forward and cut the rope that leashes the beast down. It hesitates not a moment before it flies out the tent and disappears into the sky. No doubt the circus will ban you from visits in the future but at least you helped a defenceless creature find freedom. Its two days later before you see the creature again and it ducks out of sight when it notices you watching it. When it appears again the next day and the next you realise you have made a new friend, even if its rather shy.
17) Gargoyle
The ancient castle looms above your party and lightning crackles behind, it as though it has been trained to. The walls of black stone are crumbled and broken, they make a poor advertisement for the bridge up to the front gate. Your party crosses slowly. To either side open space drops away until it is lost in a thick malevolent fog. You finally cross the bridge after what feels like hours, though surely was not so long. The castle courtyard is in no better condition than the outside of the keep. Perhaps even worse with the plants that have forced themselves through the stone, and standing in the courtyard is a fierce-some sight. Its features are twisted in rage and its long stone limbs end in sharp claws. The unwise might mistake it for a statue but you know better. It is a gargoyle, an ancient protector. Though this one has no-one left to protect. Still it will likely not treat trespassers kindly. Not unless you can convince it your party means no threat. You wonder if it gets sad standing here amongst these ruins, impotent to stop nature from destroying the thing it is sworn to protect. You can feel the magic that powers it, bound to the very black stone that you stand upon. You have an idea. It is a foolish idea but it just might work. Carefully you take a broken lump of masonry and use your magic to crush it into dust and infuse that dust into your veins. Its painful, you nearly pass out from it but in the end the gargoyle turns to face you. It walks up to you slowly and takes a moment to examine you, then as if reaching a decision the gargoyle kneels before you and bows its head.
18) A Regular Cow
You see a cow wandering alone in the wilderness. It bears no marks nor signs of ownership but begins to follow you as though it has been trained to
19) Chimera
You spent days finding the perfect ingredients. Scouring lizard dens for the perfect iridescent scale. Following a bird around for days to catch a feather that had never touched to ground. Not to mention how hard it was to convince a wolf to let you pull out a tuft of its hair. But here you are, finally ready to preform your ritual and summon your animal companion. The waiting is the hardest part but you sit there and meditate for hours, until finally there is a rushing of air and you can open your eyes. Your companion sits before you, each of its scales shining in the suns reflected light, its feather sit proudly upon it and its fur looks like sunlight spun into silk. A Chimeara reflecting the beauty of each of your hard won ingredients.
20) Gorgon
The Ritual is nearly complete! When you first found it tucked away in the forgotten corner of a forbidden library, you thought it was mad. Surely no power was worth a price that high? And yet as the days past you found your gaze returning to the parchment, asking yourself if such a price is truly too much. After months of agonising you decided to do it, and hear you are. Incense is burning around you and blood is still dripping from your knife. It hurts, you knew it would, had given yourself nightmares thinking about it. But soon the power will be yours and the price you paid irrelevant. The incense is burning low now, you can smell it. Its ironic how attuned your senses become in the darkness. You hear a slithering sound behind you, much larger than any snake you have ever encountered. You smile knowing that your familiar has arrived. If you were to gaze upon it you know you would be turned to stone, but you will never do so. In fact you will never gaze upon anything ever again. Such power you have gained and all for the small price of cutting out your eyes.
My Homebrew Races, Monsters, and Spells. Feel free to use or give feedback for.
Also this thread I would love input on.