Basic Fantasy Field Guide Volume 2

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Bodmir-The-Gnome
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by Bodmir-The-Gnome »

Geminate Serpent

A Geminate serpent is very long double headed snake, it's heads are similar to those of a dragon, the two are commonly mistaken if the whole creature is not seen. A Geminate serpent moves around via slithering as a snake does, usually under the cover of darkness, natural fogs or its unique, smoke-like breath. These creatures are of elvish origin and live just as long if not longer. Similarly to many other creature that live a long time a Geminate serpent can be categorized based on its age into several age categories ranging from 1 to 7.
A Geminate serpent uses its long bodies to restrain its victims in combat; a serpent can carry and crush one creature per 20' of its body length. Creatures crushed take subduing damage and are taken to the lair unconscious for the young to meet. Creatures that are caught have their armor, weapons and shiny or dangerous looking items removed, such as books from robed fellows. These items are then stored in the serpent’s treasure pile. Creatures caught are kept in a hole that is as deep as half the parents length, once every two days a creature is removed to fight the child by itself under the supervision of the parent. Those who are winning will be put dropped back into the hole with the others or eaten if none have been eaten or killed by the child for 3 days.
Geminate serpents live to breed and will always have a child in their lair. An adult female of this species will take care of its young until they are going through their second or third stage of age categorization. During this time the parents will take turns hunting for food, bringing back unconscious and alive creatures if possible. If for there is only one parent the child will accompany them on hunts for non-intelligent creatures. If a Geminate serpent is with its young it will have a moral of 12 and will never leave its side even if it means its own death. Parents will try to kill any threats in the immediate area if they believe they are able to do so.

Each Geminate serpent may use its breath weapon as many times a day as its hit dice. It may however only use its breath weapon every other round. It can use a non-empowered version (basically just fog) for use as cover as often as it likes. Breath from Geminate serpents has unusual effects and will effect those with hit dice less than or equal to its own hit dice unless otherwise stated or a save vs dragon breath is made, creatures with at least five hit dice less than the hit dice of the Serpent do not get a save. These breaths will stay in the area until turns equal to the age category of the serpent has passed. The breath weapons are long lines emitting from the mouth of the serpent with the specified lengths and widths, breaths being as tall as they are wide. Each Geminate serpent is immune to its own breath weapon and all spells or poisons that replicate the effect.

Geminate serpents all speak their own language, Serpent, and have a set chance of knowing elvish dependent on their age category; this chance is specified in the tables below each type.


Geminate serpent, Green

Armour Class: 21
Hit Dice: 10**
No. of Attacks: 2 bite, 1 breath or constrict*
Damage: 2d10/2d10, breath or 2d8*
Movement: 30'
No. Appearing: Lair 1d3 +1
Save As: Fighter: 10
Morale: 8
Treasure Type: H
XP: 1300

Green Geminate Serpents are considered the most cowardly of all the serpents, they live in swamps, marshes and dense forests. Eating mostly deer and other similarly sized creatures they are scarcely seen by people. If a green serpent comes across a group of adventurers or is attacked by one it will throw up a smokescreen and imitate a dragon until it has agreed upon a deal to get rid of the adventurer, scared it away or put it to sleep. If it is known that the adventurer will revel the location of its lair it will go on an all out attack to prevent this.
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Geminate serpent, White

Armour Class: 20
Hit Dice: 8**
No. of Attacks: 2 bite, 1 breath or constrict*
Damage: 2d8/2d8, breath or 2d6*
Movement: 40'
No. Appearing: Lair 1d3 +1
Save As: Fighter: 9
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: H
XP: 1500

White Geminate serpents are the shortest of their species, living near and on mountains where it snows a lot. Seeking out humans to capture as they provide the most entertainment and best training for their young. White serpents attack by burying themselves in snow and jumping at opponents surprising on a 1-4 on a D6. The White Geminate Serpents use its web-breath to ensnare opponents when surprised and drags them back to its lair in the web. The lairs of white geminate serpents are usually underground burrows spun with webs to ensnare any unwary travelers, a white geminate serpents web does not disappear like the spell but will remain for up to years equal to the age category of the serpent. Just like the spell Web the web produced by a white geminate serpent is highly flammable.
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Geminate Serpent, Blue


Armour Class: 19
Hit Dice: 7**
No. of Attacks: 2 bite, 1 breath or constrict*
Damage: 2d12/2d12, breath or 3d4*
Movement: 50'
No. Appearing: Lair 1d3 +1
Save As: Fighter: 11
Morale: 11
Treasure Type: H + L
XP: 1700

Blue Geminate serpents live in colder more humid climates on top of hills and the like. Blue serpents feed off farmers and livestock it captures from the outskirts of towns and cities, using its breath to freeze its opponent and drag it back to its lair. creatures frozen are unable to do anything aside breath for 1d8 hours, once in a Blue geminate serpents lair they are frozen to the roof above where the serpent sleeps with its mouths agape waiting for any that try to escape to fall. Many captured creatures are simply left frozen to the roof if they do not provide enough struggle or have died. Each limb of a creature frozen to the roof can withstand 150 lb of weight before breaking.
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Geminate Serpent, Bone

Armour Class: 23
Hit Dice: 11**
No. of Attacks: 2 bite, 1 breath or constrict*
Damage: 2d10/2d10, breath or 3d6*
Movement: 50'
No. Appearing: Lair 1d3 +1
Save As: Fighter: 12
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: H
XP: 2000

A bone Geminate serpent is skeletal being, not requiring food to live it hunts for fun and to train its young, this has lead to them being the most feared of them all. Bone Geminate Serpents lie on their back and play dead to surprise their prey on a roll of 1-3 on a d6. Unlike most of its species Bone Geminate Serpents cannot breath but rather can cast the spell bones to blades instead, this turns the bones on its body to blades giving it improved armor class and damage, this also counts as a magic weapon. Once a day it can cast raise dead on all creature within a 30' radius that lasts the same amount of rounds as it's age category, this is what it uses to train its children. As a Bone Geminate Serpent does not need its prey alive constricting victims does real damage rather than subduing.
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Geminate Serpent, shadow

Armour Class: 21
Hit Dice: 8**
No. of Attacks: 2 bite, 1 breath or constrict*
Damage: 2d12+energy drain (1 level)/2d12+energy drain (1 level), breath or 2d4*
Movement: 10'
No. Appearing: Lair 1d3 +1
Save As: Fighter: 11
Morale: 7
Treasure Type: H
XP: 2200

Shadow Geminate Serpents are dark beings, living in the shadows they are seldom seen. These serpents were born of the shadow and cannot move outside of one, if they do they take 2d8 damage each round they are in direct sun or moonlight; if they die in light they turn to ash. The Shadow Geminate Serpent moves silently with the same skill as a thief of double its age category. They use this to pick victims off the back of groups and weaken them in preparation for their child. If their cover is blown they are very likely to run away and try again later. To aid them in this their breath has the same effect a the spell darkness.
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Geminate Serpent, Sea

Armour Class: 19
Hit Dice: 7**
No. of Attacks: 2 bite, 1 breath or constrict*
Damage: 2d4/2d4, breath or 1d6*
Movement: Swim 60', Slither 20'
No. Appearing: Lair 1d3 +1
Save As: Fighter: 13
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: H + J
XP: 1500

Sea Geminate Serpents live in oceans and other large bodies of water. Each bite a Sea Geminate Serpent takes has a 30% chance of paralyzing the target unless a save is made. Excelling in underwater combat Sea Geminate Serpents prefer to blast their opponents off ships and boats by firing water from its mouth, however once this has been done it must spend 1d4-1 rounds underwater filling up to do this again, any hit by a water spray will be move the by five times that age category feet away from the Geminate Serpent usually off their ship, a save vs dragon breath can be made to dodge. Sea Geminate Serpents do not have lungs and can only spent 5 rounds above water before needing to dive again, they must be submerged for at least 1 round to fully replenish their breath. Sea Geminate Serpents have their lairs in underwater caves in the shallows safe from water dwelling creatures.
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Geminate Serpent, Pleasant

Armour Class: 22
Hit Dice: 10**
No. of Attacks: 2 bite, 1 breath or constrict*
Damage: 3d8/3d8, breath or 3d6*
Movement: 50'
No. Appearing: Lair 1d3 +1
Save As: Fighter: 12
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: H + K
XP: 1800


A Pleasant Geminate Serpent is a cruel being, its unique ability allows it to hide in plain sight; any whom look upon this creature can see it and are usually overcome with fear until they look away. Those who look away will not remember seeing the creature and will not know that it exists. Using this a Pleasant geminate Serpent simply slithers up to its prey and picks them up. Its breath weapon has a similar effect and will wipe the memories of all creatures caught for a length of time before the breath stated below, this also fills the heads affected with pleasant memories of the time forgotten. Any who save against this twice successful become immune to it.
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Last edited by Bodmir-The-Gnome on Fri Jun 02, 2017 2:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Bodmir-The-Gnome
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by Bodmir-The-Gnome »

Bear, Gummy

Armour Class: 16
Hit Dice: 6*
Attacks: 2 claw/1 bite or 1 jump
Damage: 1d4/1d4/2d4, 2d10
Movement: 40'
No. Appearing: 1d6
Save As: Fighter 6
Moral: 9
Treasure Type: None
XP: 350

A Gummy Bear initially appears to be a normal brown bear (although vibrantly colored ones are not unheard of). However, if an observer is close to the creature, it can seem to be translucent. Its flesh is rubbery and springs back to shape when squashed; it also tastes just like bear.

A gummy bear uses it springy legs to jump to up 30' and land on its opponent. There is no roll to hit, however the blow can be avoided with a successful save vs. Death Ray. A gummy bear is so bouncy that blunt weapons do no damage and will bounce out of the attacker’s grasp, unless a d6 Strength test succeeds; if the save fails, the weapon will be launched 1d20+5 feet away.
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teaman
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by teaman »

I love it!!!!

OH BOTHER!
Bodmir-The-Gnome wrote:Bear, Gummy

Armour Class: 16
Hit Dice: 6*
Attacks: 2 claw/1 bite or 1 jump
Damage: 1d4/1d4/2d4, 2d10
Movement: 40'
No. Appearing: 1d6
Save As: Fighter 6
Moral: 9
Treasure Type: None
XP: 350

A Gummy Bear initially appears to be a normal brown bear (although vibrantly colored ones are not unheard of). However, if an observer is close to the creature, it can seem to be translucent. Its flesh is rubbery and springs back to shape when squashed; it also tastes just like bear.

A gummy bear uses it springy legs to jump to up 30' and land on its opponent. There is no roll to hit, however the blow can be avoided with a successful save vs. Death Ray. A gummy bear is so bouncy that blunt weapons do no damage and will bounce out of the attacker’s grasp, unless a d6 Strength test succeeds; if the save fails, the weapon will be launched 1d20+5 feet away.
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Bodmir-The-Gnome
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by Bodmir-The-Gnome »

Shackile

Armour Class: 16
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1 weapon/1 beak
Damage: 1d6 or by weapon/1d4
Movement: 30', fly 10'
No. Appearing:1d6, 1d6 wild, 3d6 in lair
Save As: Fighter 2
Moral: 10
Treasure Type: S each; D lair
XP: 100

A Shackile is a humanoid creature with the head, neck, and wings of a goose; on its humanoid torso is the face of a human. This human face has control over the legs; the goose head controls its arms and wings. The two function separately, and each have their own separate hit dice value. If either is destroyed, the other may still use its own body parts. A shackile’s goose head attacks anything that gets close to it, apart from its own kind. A shackile cannot fly well, and will only fly to escape an opponent. Shackiles are shunned by mankind and live in tribes far from civilization. In each tribe of shackiles there will be a leader with 4 hit dice and 18 armor class. A shackile speaks Common and will attempt to negotiate before getting too close to enemies. If a shackile surprises an opponent, on its first attack it may break an arm unless a save vs. Death Ray is succeeded.

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Fraetor
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by Fraetor »

Edit of the Shackile:

A Shackile is a creature with the neck, head and wings of a goose, and a human face on its torso. The human face has control over the legs; the goose the arms and wings. The two heads function separately and each have a hit dice to them, if one is dead the other may still use its own body parts. A Shackile’s goose head attacks anything apart from its own kind that gets close. A Shackile can not fly well and will only fly to escape an opponent. Shackiles are shunned by mankind and live in tribes far from civilization. In each tribe of Shackiles there will be a leader with 4 hit dice and 18 armor class. A Shackile speaks common and will attempt to negotiate before getting too close to enemies. If a Shackile surprises an opponent, on their first attack they may break an arm unless a save vs death ray is succeeded.
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Fraetor
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by Fraetor »

My latest expedition into the wilderness has yielded more monsters for the field guide.

Dynamo

AC: 15
HD: 2*
Attacks: 3 bolt
Damage: 1d4
Movement: fly 40'
No. Appearing: 2d6
Save As: Fighter: 2
Moral: 6
Treasure Type: none
XP: 100

A Dynamo is a six inch metal sphere that floats a few feet off of the ground and is enveloped by a aura of lightning. This lightning ranges from a pale blue to a deep purple. Anyone who touches it with something conductive (such as a metal sword) must save vs. Spells or receive a -2 penalty to hit due to numbness for 1 turn.

A dynamo fires bolts of lightning at its foes, cooperating to bring forth a storm of bolts to suppress foes. Despite appearances these spheres are quite cowardly and may attempt to run if heavily wounded.

Wind Wolf

AC: 20‡
HD: 8*
Attacks: 2 claw or 1 howl
Damage: 2d12
Movement: 30', fly 120'
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: Fighter: 8
Moral: 11
Treasure Type: L
XP: 945

A Wind Wolf is an ethereal wolf composed of intricate air currents. It has a set of tempestuous claws that it uses to rend through foes. Once every other round it can release a howl that summons a gale strong enough to push even the stockiest adventurer back 5d10 feet.

A Wind Wolf is most commonly found in windy places, enjoying the tempest at the tops of tall towers, and the squall at the summits of mountains.

Monk-ee

AC: 18
HD: 4*
Attacks: 4 punch or weapon
Damage: 1d6 or by weapon
Movement: 60'
No. Appearing: wild 2d6, lair 6d6
Save As: Fighter: 3
Moral: 10
Treasure Type: S, I in lair
XP: 280

A Monk-ee is a furry, tailed humanoid of short stature, appearing clad in white or brown robes that allow for ease of movement. A monk-ee is adept at the arduous cultivation of the inner self that brings forth great speed and strength.

A monk-ee attacks with a hail of blows, utilising its great speed to dive at a party and then retreat back, limiting the harm it is exposed to.

A pack of monk-ees will be headed by a Semi-Enlightened Monk-ee of 6 hit dice and 19 armour class (555 XP). In the lair there will be a Grand Enlightened Monk-ee of 8 hit dice, 20 armour class, 6 attacks per round, and 1d8 damage per attack (945 XP).
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by MedievalMan »

A few infernals for the guide. The XP value might be a bit off, its been awhile.

Infernal, Shadow Fiend

Armor Class: 16
Hit Dice: 6***
No. of Attacks: 2 claws or 1 projectile
Damage: 1d6/1d6 or 1d6
Movement: 40' Fly 60'
No. Appearing: 1d4
Save As: Thief: 14
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: E
XP: 665

A Shadow Fiend is an insubstantial infernal that feeds off the fears, doubts, and nightmares of nearby creatures. It appears as a winged, humanoid figure composed of shadow whose lower body trails off into nothing. A shadow fiend is invisible in areas of darkness and moves in complete silence. They have the ability to manipulate small objects (up to 2 pounds in weight) and can hurl them up to 60'. A shadow fiend is immune to non-magical weapons and only takes half damage from spells. It can cast darkness, dimension door (self only), and phantasmal force at will. A shadow fiend takes 1 point of damage for each round in remains in an area of bright light. A creature killed by a shadow fiends claws will rise as a shadow (see BFRPG Core Rules) on the following round and will follow the shadow fiends orders.

Infernal, Eldri
Armor Class: 16
Hit Dice: 8** (AB +7)
No. of Attacks: 2 claws or fire ray
Damage: 1d4/1d4 or 3d6
Movement: 50' Fly 90'
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: Magic-User: 12
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: G, O
XP: 1,015

A Eldri is a very powerful infernal spellcaster, its magical might only equaled by its ambition and disdain for lesser creatures. Both male and female eldri exist and it appears as an attractive 9 foot tall red-skinned humanoid with fiery orange hair and three perfectly smooth, spike-like horns crowning its head. Two of these horns are black and sweep back along the sides of the eldri's head, while the third is red and protrudes from its forehead. A eldri is immune to non-magical weapons and can only be affected by spells of 3rd level or higher.

Eldri prefer to attack enemies from afar using their fire ray, which has a range of 120'. In addition it can charm a single creature it can see within 30 feet. The target must make a saving throw vs Spells or be magically charmed by the eldri for 1 day. The charmed target obeys the eldri's spoken commands, but if it suffers any damage from the eldri or its allies or is given a suicidal order it can make another immediate save vs Spells to break the charm. A target that succeeds on its saving throw vs the eldri's charm cannot be charmed by that eldri for 24 hours. A eldri has the spellcasting abilities of a 14th-level Magic-user. When a eldri is killed it explodes in a manner equal to a fireball spell cast by a 14th-level Magic-user. Any equipment the eldri was carrying is unaffected by this blast, and only the eldri's red horn will remain after its death. If this horn is not destroyed within 1 year, the eldri will reform and seek vengeance upon its slayers. The exact means to destroy an eldri's horn is up to individual game masters to devise.
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Fraetor
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by Fraetor »

Does anyone know of a guide to the rules of formatting monsters for the field guide, and if not then what the specific rule/standardised formatting techniques are?

It would help editing efforts greatly if knew how stat blocks and certain mechanical elements should be written, such as a standardised 'save vs. XXX' phrasing, and other conventions.
Last edited by Fraetor on Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SmootRK
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by SmootRK »

I wrote this some time ago when the first Field Guide was being developed as a rough guide to the flow that I was trying to follow. I am going to put this info into the first post of this thread to help locate this again in the future. Of course, this relates to the "flow" of the text and not specifically to your mentioned specific conventions or exact phrasing used for particular mechanics.
First paragraph used generally for a gross description with perhaps a detail or two related to the habits of the creature.
Next Paragraphs used mainly for Combat Info, starting with their primary attack (or main physical attack). If all such attack and related combat special abilities can be housed in one coherent paragraph then I leave it alone, otherwise, another paragraph might appear after to organize the abilities.
After combat and other special abilities, I detail any organizational info, which mainly for humanoids details info about leader types.

Of course there could be an exception or two. Extremely simple beasts might just have one paragraph; something complex or pulled from a game/resource with a lot of baggage might take more (for instance if I pulled 'classic' Drow into BFRPG it would take a fair amount of description - not that I am doing that, just an example).

And, all the while, doing what I can to simplify the wording and remove excessive description, which in my opinion belongs in the realm of the GM and Player's minds. This is BFRPG anyhow, and not a zoology tome... things need to be basic.
Again, this was rough guidance for how I was approaching the writing portions so that we would have some semblance of consistency of the contained text.... and it was applied really subjectively. And, just to note it, Chiisu is in charge of this endeavor, so his opinions may trump my ideas here.
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chiisu81
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Re: Basic Fantasy Field Guide 2

Post by chiisu81 »

The style guide linked in my sig will cover some of that as well. Smoot is correct as far as the general format of a creature entry goes. Some flexibility is of course inevitable.

So far FG2 has been far more cavalier and open-door as far as entries as well as entry format(s), and that's entirely on me (for better or worse). If it's to see print, we'll have to do some major editing and clean-up to get it up to Core and FG1 standards...
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