Eszath, Doorway to the Frontier

Eszath
LN Small City

Corruption +1, Crime -2, Economy -3, Law -2, Lore +1, Society -1

Qualities notorious, pious (Yalma), racially intolerant (humans), superstitious, hunted
Danger 35

Demographics

Government Autocracy (Mayor Mavanas Ihanor)

Population 6,431 (5,080 humans, 578 dwarves, 321 halflings, 452 other)

Notable NPCs

Mayor Mavanas Ihanor (LE halfling aristocrat 3)

Guard Captain Daszlo Ironhammer (LG dwarf fighter 6)

Chief Accounting Archivist Marcellus Norbanus Indaletius (LN gnome expert 5)

Marketplace

Base Value 4,400 gp; Purchase Limit 37,500 gp; Spellcasting 3rd

Minor Items 4d4; Medium Items 3d4; Major Items 1d6

Originally planned as the gateway to the Sylvanor frontier, Eszath was officially founded in 928 of the Age of Dynastic Collapse. Its location was chosen because of both its proximity to Glastig as well as the massive, seemingly endless forests that lead inland, making it a wondrous source of lumber. With the rise of Whaleden and the hobgoblin empire, Eszath's influx of colonists and settlers looking to make their way north has almost disappeared. To make matters worse, in the last few years the streets have become the hunting grounds of a killer. The only thing that links the victims is that they are not human, leading many to suspect that the humans in the city are to blame.

From the Journals of Gronk, Frontier Goblin Wizard Extraordinaire

1097 of the Age of Northern Expansion
Mythday, 5 of Chazron

There are times when I wonder what my life would have been like had I stayed with my birth clan. Then I remember how miserable I was. No one respected the knowledge that writing could give, and the fire...the less said the better. No, my life with Garrek and Mathias, my friends and mentors, is better than any I could have imagined before I was cast out of the clan.

Oh life in the old barn was as bad as I feared at first, the townsfolk would come periodically to chase me out of town, I'd get cold and sneak back to the barn only to be chased out again in a week's time. Then one day I snuck back to the barn only to see tables set up with a myriad of odd plants and animal parts. The back stables also had two bedrolls and some pots and pans.

At the time I was terrified, I knew the common language of humans in these parts and knew that the town was having trouble making enough money ever since the copper mine went dry. It seemed like the barn I was calling home was given to some newcomers. I didn't dare hope that the new residents of the barn would let me stay, and some part of me just broke. I was tired, my life was an unending cycle of eating what roaches and rodents I could catch, sleeping in a dilapidated barn followed by running for my life out into the cold. I just wanted it to end.

After a few hours of standing in the middle of the barn, they showed up. A big guy with a sword that looked like a long piece of metal with an edge and a halfling with a belt and bandoleer filled with tiny clay pots. Garrek and Mathais, the half-orc and halfling business partners. And the greatest alchemists I've ever had the fortune of knowing.

I expected that they would chase me out or kill me. Instead, they asked who I was and why I was in their barn. I told them my name and that I slept there. I don't think that they knew quite what to do with me, they bought the barn to turn it into an alchemy shop and found a goblin squatting in their new property. Instead of chasing the goblin squatter out or killing him, they gave him a job and put him to work.

Oh sure, I have a bit of fun at their expense now and then, the first time I wold told to sweep I went to where he pointed and swept that spot for hours. The look on Garrek's face would make for one of my most entertaining memories for years.

Truely, the greatest gift that they gave me was a spellbook they took off of a dead wizard. Well, they gave it to me after they were done with it to get potion ideas. While I had no training in the arcane, I was a smart little goblin, and after two months of studying the book managed to produce an orb of light.

To this day

~~~~~~

"WAIT A MINUTE, YOU PRANKED ME?!"

The goblin nearly leapt out of his skin at the bellow just above and behind him. Face pale, Gronk turned around to see the furious half orc that had been reading over his shoulder.

"Ah-w-w-well...um...the thing is...Gronk," he started, trying to think of a way to talk himself out of Garrek's fury.

"I know full well you know how first person works, Gronk. Now what do you have to say for yourself for pranking me in that way all those times over the years?"

"Y-y-you see...it-was-Mathais's-idea-bye!"

A slow grin spread across Garrek's face as he looked out at the goblin running down main street. His business partner walked up from in back and looked at the amused half-orc.

"You figured out that he was pranking you two months in, why'd you wait more than ten years to bring it up with him?" the halfling asked.

"The last two times Gronk wasn't doing it because it was funny, he was doing it because it was routine. This way he'll find something new to entertain himself. Perhaps it'll be at your expense this time Tablespoon."

"Don't start that again," Mathais groaned as he went back inside, though Garrek managed to overhear the halfling mutter the old material under his breath, "A dash is not a unit of measurement."


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If you like my work and want to support me, check out my homebrew race book here.

Race: Dohrnii

No one within the Cyan Shelf can remember a time without the dohrnii. Roaming the seas since time immemorial, the ancient race has delved deep into esoteric secrets of reality, consciousness, and dreams.

Physical Description. Though sailors will oft describe them as spell-casting jellyfish, the other races that call the ocean home think of them as resembling translucent eels. Built like merfolk, dohrnii have long tails that they whip back and forth to propel themselves through the water, while their upper bodies possess the basic humanoid features (head atop a torso that bears two arms) but that is where the similarity ends. Dohrnii lack a rigid skeleton, instead having a cartilaginous skeleton like sharks and rays. Additionally, their skin is translucent enough that many think that they can see the outline of bones and organs. Dohrnii are amongst the rare races with the ability to emit bioluminescent light of a myriad of colors. The normally nocturnal dohrnii use these bioluminescent patches to create breathtaking displays of light and color.

Behind the Screen: Monster Making Madness II - Themed Creatures

Last time I talked about some quick and dirty ways to have new creatures to vex your players. This time I'll be taking a different approach. I won't being going into mechanics very much but I will provide stat blocks of the creatures that I use for examples.

Say that you're building a new homebrew world and you want to populate it with creatures besides what you find in the Bestiary or Monster Manual. Unless you have a particular campaign feel in mind, I wouldn't completely throw them out, but you can recapture the wonder that we all felt when we first read or saw Lord of the Rings by doing this.

While you could create each creature individually, this will drive you to madness rather quickly. Alternatively, you can come up with a unifying theme, location, or niche and build around that.

For a new dark fantasy setting, Dale decides that he wants to have his players face off against demon cults with horrifying abominations. Thinking about what he has seen done in the past, he has the sudden idea to have the abominations be the still living sacrificial victims of the cults. Thus he has his starting point: humanoid abominations that were once ordinary people.

Now you have something to unite your focus on this slew of creature building. You still need to create the first creature. While the mechanics will vary depending on the system you are designing monsters for, if there is already something that suits your purposes just use the mechanics from that.

Dale decides that the first monster that he makes will be a stealthy scout. Something that avoids combat but rather keeps an eye out for trouble and reports back. Smaller is better, and Dale recently read about the Blood Eagle so he figures that this scout is nothing but head, spine, and ribcage. Wanting it to have more than eyes and ears, Dale figures a low-level, passive magic detection would finish it off nicely. Last up is the name, and because the mental image reminds him of cloakers, Dale settles on the name bloodcloaks.

You now have your first creature, and from here ideas should start percolating up. Each creature should tie back to that unifying concept, while expanding and building upon what came before it. Rise and repeat until you have enough creatures that you are happy with.

Dale wants a total of four monsters. He has a scout, but cultists aren't known for having much in the way of martial capabilities. That, along with watching 300, gives Dale the idea for the next beastie: a frontline, phalanx-type combat oriented monster. Additionally, he wants a ranged combatant and a heavy hitting tank. Taking a look around online, he stumbles across images of the early stages of the video game Dead Space. The zombies with blades coming out of their palms are an almost perfect fit for the weapons of the phalanx monsters. The various husks from Mass Effect 3 give Dale the last inspiration that he needs for the other two: the ranged combatant has a second person grafted to their arm and can spit teeth and other small bones while the tank is composed of four people grafted together forming a tall, lean monster with massive cudgels for arms. Deciding that of the four monsters, the phalanx one is the oldest while the remaining three are new creations. Thus he gives the phalanx monster the name skark while the ranged and tank ones are bonespitters and lumbering brutes respectively.

Bloodcloak             CR 1/2
XP 200
NE Tiny aberration (demonwraught)
Init +3; Senses Perception +10, darkvision 60 feet, passive detect magic
Defense
AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+2 size, +3 Dexterity)
hp 3 (1d8-1)
Fort -1, Ref +3, Will +1
Offense
Speed 5 ft.; 50 ft. fly
Melee grapple 1d4-1
Tactics
During Combat When at all possible, the bloodcloak avoids combat. It watches, observes, and slinks away to report back to its masters. When combat is unavoidable, it tries to escape so that it can make its report. The sole exception is when it spots a lone intruder, at which point it will try to strangle it with its spine/tail.
StatisticsStr 8, Dex 16, Con 8, Int 6, Wis 8, Cha 4
Base Attack +0; CMB -3 (+5 grapple); CMD 10 (15 grapple)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Perception +10, Stealth +15
Languages Common
SQ darkvision 60 ft., passive detect magic (does not gain more than round 1 information), Innate Grappler (gain a +8 racial bonus to grapple checks)

Skark             CR 2

XP 600

NE Medium aberration (demonwraught)

Init +3; Senses Perception -2, darkvision 60 feet

Defense

AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 shield, +2 Dexterity)

hp 22 (3d8+9)

Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +1

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee bone blade +6 melee 1d8+4 (19-20 critical)

Tactics

During Combat When more than one is present, skarks will form a phalanx with their bone shields interlocking and the blades sprouting for their opposing hand in position to thrust into their targets. Additionally, they will attempt to demoralize their targets by shrieking and screaming (Intimidate) as their jaws open far too wide.

Statistics

Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 4

Base Attack +2; CMB +6; CMD 18

Feats Shield Wall, Intimidating Prowess

Skills Acrobatics +8, Climb +10, Intimidate +7, Swim +10

Languages Common

SQ darkvision 60 ft.

Bonespitter             CR 3

XP 800

NE Medium aberration (demonwraught)

Init +4; Senses Perception -2, darkvision 60 feet

Defense

AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dexterity, +2 natural)

hp 22 (3d8+9)

Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +2

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Ranged bone dart +5 ranged 2d6 piercing 80 ft.

Tactics

During Combat Bonespitters tend to hand in the back, avoiding melee while shooting at the enemies that look to be the most dangerous.

Statistics

Str 12, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 6, Cha 4

Base Attack +2; CMB +4; CMD 18

Feats Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot

Skills Intimidate +4, Survival +5

Languages Common

SQ darkvision 60 ft.

Lumbering Brute             CR 4

XP 1,200

NE Large aberration (demonwraught)

Init -1; Senses Perception -2, darkvision 60 feet

Defense

AC 18, touch 8, flat-footed 18 (-1 Dexterity, -1 size, +10 natural)

hp 42 (5d8+20)

Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +5

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee slam +6 ranged 2d6+12

Tactics

During Combat Lumbering brutes are simple combatants: they go towards the nearest adversary and try to smash it into paste.

Statistics

Str 18, Dex 8, Con 18, Int 4, Wis 6, Cha 8

Base Attack +3; CMB +8 (+12 bull rush, overrun); CMD 17 (21 bull rush, overrun)

Feats Power Attack, Improved Bull-Rush, Improved Overrun

Skills Intimidate +7

Languages Common

SQ darkvision 60 ft.

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If you like my work and want to support me, check out my homebrew race book here.