Hey yall, im currently DMing my first game and the overarching villain is a sentient cactus who happens to be an eldritch being. Only problem is i suck at making monsters being i dont fully understand how to do it. Advice would be great or even if yall wanna take a crack at making the monster.
The only thing that comes to mind is the Cactuar. (Always found those things unnerving in FF15 with the way the do and don't move.)
One of those games has a Cactuar boss, but I barely played two of the games out of the oodles of FF games there are... and more when considering remakes.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Star Spawn Larva Mage [Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, pg. 228] is sorta like if an elder evil poured itself into a (willing?) cultist and became a bunch of worms in a robe and mask. but, since 'flavor is free' you could instead decide they're rooted to the ground, covered in spikes, and inhabited by a nest of desert owls (why not?). oh, except that the spines are actually worms laying in wait. a Larva Mage of Cult of Haask, the Voice of Hargut (described in the MotM book so you don't have to invent it yourself if you like) could send one of the worms to charm (which i assume means 'burrow into the ear of') a humanoid that stumbles upon this majestic 'cactus' look-alike. then they can bring more people out to see it, and they can be charmed. it can be a whole thing. a town of tired-eyed locals whose friendly words are not matched by their blank, hungry faces and the way they keep dropping hints about a treasure in the desert nearby...
Lesser Star Spawn Emissary [Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg. 245] comes from the Far Realms to prepare the way for even more horrible things. they have "no misplaced pride" and so will take any shape including lowly humans and animals. and a cactus? maybe if you make it angry (or happy?) enough it'll split at the seams, showing it to be filled with "agitated organs, self-cannibalizing alien orifices, and appendages suggestive of forms it has previously assumed." imagine if you thought you had to go out into the desert to find the thing but then pretty soon the cactus began to find you. in deserted alley ways, in dark alcoves of humble churches, in the closet of the rich mansion you were burglarizing, etc. and just when the players have gotten their heads wrapped around how to kill a cactus it changes shape. does it then resemble someone they trusted before? does it take the shape of a loved one or an authority figure? is it just mocking the party or has it begun to infiltrate the city? and maybe on the final fight it busts its guts loose and begins with the acid and psychic damage.
Hey yall, im currently DMing my first game and the overarching villain is a sentient cactus who happens to be an eldritch being. Only problem is i suck at making monsters being i dont fully understand how to do it. Advice would be great or even if yall wanna take a crack at making the monster.
The only thing that comes to mind is the Cactuar. (Always found those things unnerving in FF15 with the way the do and don't move.)
One of those games has a Cactuar boss, but I barely played two of the games out of the oodles of FF games there are... and more when considering remakes.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
If it were me I would start with an awakened shrub as a template and then follow the guides in the DM’s Workshop section of the DMG regarding how to homebrew a monster: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/dungeon-masters-workshop#CreatingaMonster). If you tell us more about your “eldritch being,” I can make further suggestions.
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Star Spawn Larva Mage [Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, pg. 228] is sorta like if an elder evil poured itself into a (willing?) cultist and became a bunch of worms in a robe and mask. but, since 'flavor is free' you could instead decide they're rooted to the ground, covered in spikes, and inhabited by a nest of desert owls (why not?). oh, except that the spines are actually worms laying in wait. a Larva Mage of Cult of Haask, the Voice of Hargut (described in the MotM book so you don't have to invent it yourself if you like) could send one of the worms to charm (which i assume means 'burrow into the ear of') a humanoid that stumbles upon this majestic 'cactus' look-alike. then they can bring more people out to see it, and they can be charmed. it can be a whole thing. a town of tired-eyed locals whose friendly words are not matched by their blank, hungry faces and the way they keep dropping hints about a treasure in the desert nearby...
Lesser Star Spawn Emissary [Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg. 245] comes from the Far Realms to prepare the way for even more horrible things. they have "no misplaced pride" and so will take any shape including lowly humans and animals. and a cactus? maybe if you make it angry (or happy?) enough it'll split at the seams, showing it to be filled with "agitated organs, self-cannibalizing alien orifices, and appendages suggestive of forms it has previously assumed." imagine if you thought you had to go out into the desert to find the thing but then pretty soon the cactus began to find you. in deserted alley ways, in dark alcoves of humble churches, in the closet of the rich mansion you were burglarizing, etc. and just when the players have gotten their heads wrapped around how to kill a cactus it changes shape. does it then resemble someone they trusted before? does it take the shape of a loved one or an authority figure? is it just mocking the party or has it begun to infiltrate the city? and maybe on the final fight it busts its guts loose and begins with the acid and psychic damage.
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