Saturday 9 September 2017
Of Bunnies and Badgers - Troubles with Beastmen 1
Beastmen in my DnD game replaced lots of monsters and add flavour easily to any cult or environment. They have improved my game alot. I changed the class name to abhuman as some ppl wanted to play rock men, tree men, ice men so the basic class worked for that. Later discovered made good orc and barbarians too possibly cave men or wild men. Ive also been reskinning halflings as smaller types of beastmen. But for now inspired by bunny men in medieval art im going to talk about the dozen top beastmen on Exile Island or at least in the Barrony. These ones are the evil bastard ones the good ones are more shy and avoid people and might even hide in elflands. All of these could use gnoll stats too. Gammaworld did great jobs with beast men it's amazing DnD has taken so long to catch up. Feel free to vote for your favorite beastfolk and i will do a thing on them. The Batmen might fit well in Veins of the Earth.
d12 Common Beastmen of the Barrony
1 Rabbitmen
2 Goatmen
3 Lizardmen
4 Snakemen
5 Badgermen
6 Pigmen
7 Ratmen
8 Frogmen
9 Batmen
10 Weaselmen
11 Dogmen
12 Catmen
d12 Common Highland Beastmen
1 Bullmen
2 Lionmen
3 Eaglemen
4 Apemen
5 Vulturemen
6 Antmen
7 Molemen
8 Beetlemen
9 Horsemen
10 Wolfmen
11 Centipedemen
12 Crowmen
d12 Common Coast Beastmen
1 Fishmen
2 Eelmen
3 Gullmen
4 Lampreymen
5 Sealionmen
6 Sharkmen
7 Crabmen
8 Turtlemen
9 Lobstermen
10 Puffinmen
11 Ottermen
12 Squidmen
d12 Common Forest Beastmen
1 Stagmen
2 Owlmen
3 Beavermen
4 Bearmen
5 Foxmen
6 Hedgehogmen
7 Boarmen
8 Unicornmen
9 Squirrelmen
10 Hawkmen
11 Toadmen
12 Bisonmen
Will do a series of beastmen write ups to encourage their use in game and demonstrate what they get up to.
Rabbitmen
Rabbitmen are utter bastards. Commonly known as lepus it is best not to laugh at them. Having seen what humans do to their tiny kin they do the same to humans. They delight in capturing humans, torturing them and skinning them alive. They also hate dogs and delight in killing hunters dogs and leaving them skin and hung up for all to see. Though they do same to foxes which people don't mind so much. They live for spite yet seem detached when going about their murder sprees. They live in burrows with their diminutive children who though only kobold size get up to mischief sometimes in peoples gardens or hunt dogs with tiny bows. People who chase these rabbitlings might find big brother bunny at the end of a chase who will horribly kill anyone. Rabbits surprisingly use stealth and team work often attacking from two directions and luring enemies into ambush. They are effective skirmishers and use hidden tunnels. They are not very magical but some say they have druids. They have a pantheon of rabbit gods including a trickster, the black rabbit (death), the blood goddess, great mother bunny and more. All rabbits are good at digging and jumping but some are very acrobatic and good at wisecracks and trap making. Haremen are kin but more loners who dont dig and are also horrible bastards who rabbitmen dont like. Good rabbitfolk tend to live in hidden woodlands far from man and tend to look more adorable and wear more clothing but their children might be mischievous.
d12 Rabbitmen Troubles
1 Children are being captured by rabbitmen and being raised as slaves in their burrows
2 A rabbitman druid has had cult building great whickermen full of humans to burn
3 Rabbitling children have been stealing vegetables from the local gardens and shooting village dogs
4 Rabbimen bandits have taken a section of road and murder everyone, they have a fortified bunker burrow full or traps and secret passages
5 A local lepus hero has been murdering shepherds, woodcutters and hunters, when a posse went after him several died and many were injured in traps
6 Rabbitmen have been leaving monster eggs around village fringes and children found several
7 A lepus blood goddess cult have decided to collect human blood for a ritual to make a killer hemogolem, they just need to kill a score at once in a ritual
8 A rabbitwoman witch has charmed lots of children and carried them away to her burrow in revenge for her murdered sons, she will give a child back for each killer who surrenders to her
9 Rabbitmen have taken over a ruined tower and have been shooting passers by for fun
10 Rabbitmen burrowed into village granary and stole everything
11 While a petty lord was away rabbitmen burrowed into the manour and carried away his wife and children and treasury
12 Local dwarfs complain humans have aggravated the rabbitmen who are hopping mad about something and on the warpath
Goatmen
Goatmen are savage lusty brutes frequently serving demons and chaos. They often serve witches and can be heard bleating and drumming in the woods by the full moon. The like to leave scents where they go and urinate everywhere vandalizing goods. This makes it easy to track them. They are very good climbers and sometimes you can hear them on the roof at night and they shit down chimneys for a laugh. They are notorious kidnappers and rapists, preferring to sacrifice victims at a ritual. They often guard and dwell in cursed places where witch cults thrived in the past. They often lead pursuers through obstacles they easily climb or leap over but humans cannot. Some goatmen are wizards or priests and they readily serve wicked humans who lead them to victory. Occasionally a promising kid develops sorcery powers at a young age and adults form a cult around the child. The chosen kid however finds this stifling and longs to interact with humans and cause own mischief. Goatmen have formed terrible armies and laid waste to regions. They thrive in mountains where man find impenetrable. Good goatmen are more druidic and worship earth and storm cults tending to hide in woodlands.
d12 Goatmen Troubles
1 Goatmen fouling water, pissing around village and shitting in chimneys and clogs, villagers are desperate
2 Bleating and screams are being heard more and more frequently and the village want to form a mob and hunt them but need strong leaders
3 Goatmen have captured a family from a farm and a child has left a trail or scraps from her dress behind them
4 Goatmen have occupied a bridge and wont let shepherds cross without letting goatmen molest their sheep and take their lunches
5 Goatmen have raided a winery stealing barrels of wine and now the drunkyards openly molesting villagers and being lewd at all hours
6 Goatmen have been molesting local herds and all this seasons kids started walking on rwo legs and ran away into the forest to join their dads, locals want them all killed
7 A witch coven has always lived in the woods but now they have recruited goatmen through fornication and the witches want revenge foe years of mistreatment from villagers
8 A goatman warlock has had a dream if he covers a evil monolith (the devils stool) in virgin blood, a demon will be released. The stars are almost right and the goatmen have been attempting to seize local virgins
9 Farm animals have all escaped and headed for the hills. A first people thought it was theft but it appears a local cult had been sacrificing the animals to goatmen and somehow the animals knew
10 Goatmen are having a contest. Whoever can fornicate with most number of animals or humans gets to be cheif
11 Goatmen have opened a dank forgotten pit into the earth releasing monsters sealed for aeons and provoking them. If only spmeone would stop them and seal the pit
12 Goatmen have squatted a old house and up late at night chanting and fornicating with witches and banshees and attracting cultists
Lizardmen
Lizardmen are a old race with many different forms and many are peaceful and live in isolated places. Marine iguana ones are close to coasts and even sail ships. Some like caves or jungles and deserts and some are more draconic or dinosaur like or serpentine. In ages past their powerful kings were slavers of humanity and some of those kings were wizards and even vampires. Some of the more degenerate ones long for strong leaders and are easy prey for sepernt men or cultists to manipulate. Some of the lost islands and deep caves have remains of advanced civilizations kin to dinosaurs and use those beasts as domestic animals. Others use giant komodo dragons or other prehistoric lizards or reticulated pythons as pets. The nicer sort are vegetarian but most eat anyone. Mutations among them have had plenty of time to develop including small albino cave dwellers, some have midget fast running skirmisher caste, a breed that ski on their tails in the snow, gigantic fighting breeds, pterodactyl gliding wings, amphibious and more. Most lizard men can hold their breath for ten minutes and swim faster than humans silently but some breeds can hold breath for an hour.
d12 Lizardmen Troubles
1 Lizard men in the wetlands becoming organised and using better weapons and armour, some fear legendary return of their vampire king
2 Albino midget lizard men came from a sinkhole and kidnapped a local youth
3 A cave was opened by a mudslide and occasionaly people have wandered in in a trance. Some dream of winged pteradactylmen in a cave Sacrificing humans to awaken their kin in chrysalises
4 Miners found strange bones and carvings in a cave they dug into and now lizard men and their monster pets have driven the miners out
5 Swamp tribes have been using war drums and a shaman has declared time to rise against humans again. A warband with a fortified battle turtle recently raided a roadside inn killing everyone
6 A three horned lizardman with a obsidian war club and a jade warclub from afar has been leading local lizardmen reminding them of lost glories, if he could be killed they might go back to their more peaceful ways
7 A serpentman wizard has built a basalt tower and has lizard men goons guarding him while he works on reviving his kind
8 Lizardmen have made a deal with smugglers and bandits, if only someone could make a better deal with them to stop dealing with criminals or just kill them all
9 Small fast lizardmen of a type not seen before are serving the lizard men scouting human lands. Someone went to check on them to find several mutant castes have developed and they are changing
10 A civilized metal using reptilian party have taken over the local band. They are looking for a ancient temple lost in area aeons ago for some reason
11 A dragon kin band of lizard men have been worshiping a black dragon effigy for decades but it seems they had brought a egg from somewhere and hatched it and they have been raiding farms for food and looking more draconic, a leader type even had wings and horns
12 Local lizardmen used to be friendly trading fish for goats but something has been stirring them up. It appears adventurers robbed their idol and the shamen in the old sunken temple are outraged
Snakemen
These ancient beastmen are machiavellian and domineering, always up to schemes to restore reptilian supremacy with them at the top. Actually some are kind and wise healers who teach men but they mostly hide now dealing only with specialty cults. Some of the bood ones have jeweled beards or horns. Snakemen propose a order with themselves on top, mammals to them are hideous and only good for eating preferably when young. Hidden arks across the world hold slumbering serpent men in hiding from the fall of their empire. Their magical slumbering chambers are designed to outlast the ages but the time for them to rise again keeps being put off. Serpentmen hybrids humans and cults are more prolific than the actual race and their sleep chambers revive a single scout every few hundred years to assess if the time is right. The sleep machines always say no when the scouts report and most go mad at thought of failure and being alone. They are frequently spell casters or at least the ones who survive best. When soldier caste are awoken they use arkane weapons provided by wizards. More often they use other races like lizard men or human cultists as dupes promising them power. Serpent men often use human disguises using magic items or spells to dwell among man. They are geniuses and feign human emotions brilliantly.
d12 Snakemen Troubles
1 A strange visiting wizard questioned locals about caves and ruins then disappeared. Since then strange sounds have been heard from cellars and wells in the area
2 A sect settled in a abandoned property claiming they were fleeing persecution. They buy lots of young livestock but don't seem to raise any animals of their own. They have recently been digging a great pit and have been chanting and commissioning snake theme artwork
3 Vartak the healer has moved into the area a score years ago and has cured many children and youths with his arts. Some of the healed of late started shedding their skin and they and Vartak ran into the old caves never to be seen again
4 A old ruined temple was ocupied by bandits but a wandering priest and his followers declared they would destroy them. They did and have repaired the temple for their own use. Slowly all the bandits in the area and smugglers have disapeared. The locals are very pleased
5 A sect settled in the local swamps and have been living peacefully in secluion but recently a old barbarian tried to warn everyone they were up to evil and he was found in bed bloated and swolen with poison dripping from puncture wounds
6 Small albino lizard men in the caves used to keep to themselves but of late they have been stealing animals ang have just kidnapped a girl. Everyone wonders what set them off on this mischief
7 A wise scholar from the city has rented a shack and has been researching local caves and relics farmers find in their fields. Now after finding a forgotten cave he has disappeared. Locals hope he is well because he had lots of these old silver coins he used about town
8 Alabalintzer the kindly mage went crazy lately and went into the caves and has not returned. Someone saw him swallowing whole rats and rabbits before he fled. People searched his tower and found lots of snake idols and strange books made of skin. Nobody knows what to think
9 A robed priest was exposed as a snakeman and his followers awful hybrid cultists. Villagers in a angry mob went to burn them but were driven from their shrine with magic and snakes everywhere in the grass. Now everynight a villager disapears
10 A local wizard has been teaching youths for decades and to thank him on his birthday local youths built a statue of his symbol a great bearded horned snake coiled around a rune engraved column. A visiting inquisitor has got the wrong idea and has been trying to stir up trouble
11 A merchant who lived here about a year had the cheapest goods and was very popular. Sadly one day he fell in a well and wasn't seen again. Months later lots of strange children were born, some with fangs, snake eyes and toungues
12 A terrible cult came to dwell in the ruined bog temple. At first they seemed friendly and even helped kill bandits and marauding thieves. Then the began killing local leaders and clergy and now they roam freely taking whomever they please. Worse the burned the shrine and have erected two headed snake idols and glyphs everywhere and have eve branded some of the locals they spared
Badger Men
These fellows often live peacefully in burrows some some even co habit with other beast folk or dwarves inder roots of trees. But occasionally a large clan grow warlike and hostile, declaring men their enemies. As numbers grow so do their appetites and competitiveness. Donning armour, shields, spiked maces they wage war on man. They use burrowing to advantage entering homes and forts by basements and they are skilled stone and metal workers. They are willing to spare subordinate humans and tax them unlike other beastmen. They are also happy to round up human slaves and sell them to other races to depopulate pesky humans. Some inhuman armies employ them as sappers and siege experts. Sometimes the violent ones who cant get their tribe interested in military dictatorships become mercenaries and self exile themselves. They are of course expert night fighters and trackers. They are gruff and intolerant of fools or hotheaded idiots. They respect the aged and will treat old humans marginally better. They respect dwarves more than man but halflings are fools and delicious and soft. With plenty of food they can be content and useful neighbors willing to trade and fight troublemakers. Some even join adventurers. Badgers are not interested in wizardry but do have priests and druids. A wikked badgerman sorcerer would be an outcast.
d12 Badgermen Troubles
1 Local halflings disappeared a few months back and a few badgermen came to the market offering to sell halflings at low low prices
2 A local militia storehouse has been emptied, the thieves tunnelled in. Holes have popped up all over the place and the bandits in their gruberhole cave have been very quiet of late. The sherrif has been investigating
3 A old badgerman is looking for humans. He wants human mercenaries to kill a bunch of young upstarts he believes will take over and set the burrow on the warpath
4 Orcs have been seen coming and going in the area and seen leaving with chained human slaves missing from the area months ago. Someone is selling slaves to the orcs
5 Miners hired some badgermen to get rid of kobolds and now more badgermen have moved in because they like it and are even mining the claim. Miners will pay adventurers to drive the badgermen out and even kobolds might help but that would be asking for trouble
6 Badgermen and rabbitmen have been fighting for decades but after a apprentice blacksmith was caught dealing arms to both sides both races think humans are now involved. Somehow locals want peace with both sides or help one side win or get rid of them all
7 An old badgerman lived in the area for deades respected by all the local races for his wisdom and teachings but someone murdered him. Everyone is acusing each other and fights are breaking out. Worse still one of hi sons has brought a mercenary company and camped in the hills demanding justice. If the muderer is found many lives will be saved
8 Badgermen have been raiding local dungeons for treasure and competing with human adventurers. This has escalated to the point that the badgermen nation is ready to declare war if humans dont keep out of their treasure mines. Somehow peace needs to prevail
9 A wikked badgerman necromantic sorcerer has filled his burrow with undead and charmed wormmen slaves. Finally he is ready to start capturing humans to enslave or make into zombies if they don't obey. He has kidnapped some rotten kids and been training them as apprentices
10 A band of bitter badgermen have adopted a dangerous cult of the devouring goddess who keeps treasure for herself in the darkness. In order to emulate her they have decided to wipe out a village and sell and sacrifice the occupants. A badgerwoman hag priestess leads them
11 Badgermen have been here for hundreds of years and the humans barley notice their nocturnal ramblings. But human settlement has increased and badgers are on the warpath. They plan to steal all human children as hostages and slaves to keep humans from eating everything in the world before it is too late
12 badgermen have dug deep looking for tasty treats and have broken into a undead filled cave system. They simply sealed off their areas and looked elsewhere but undead from the age of necromancer kings have begun to wander to the surface each night. Only the badgermen can locate all the holes and seal them but some badgermen think they will wait a while till humans have thinned out. Not all badgers agree and their parliament has been debating the issue for months
Pigmen
Sometimes confused with orcs and sometimes even interbreed with orcs or humans, their snouts give away their ancestry. Pigmen are mostly red or black or piebald or pink and live in tribes or villages mostly the same colour but some are mixed especially the larger towns. They live and dress much like men and compete for farmland. they see themselves as more civilized than their wild boarmen cousins in the forest. many are quite content farming and living villager lives. Alas those orc hybrid ones tend to be aggressive and even ride giant battle pigs. Some humans call these swine folk Porcs but they don't like this joke. So the hybrid ones tend to be dispossessed, aggressive and nomadic. They envy everything their soft cousins or man has and seek to take it. But the purebloods are not always quiet. Occasionally a quiet village of porkers feel put upon by humans pressure and attack. Sometimes they are swayed by a devil swine or a wizard or cultist to wage war. When enraged they will raid humans stealing, smashing and eating everything. Many think it is fair to eat humans who eat their stupid quadrupedal kin. However if their evil influence can be dealt with gifts of food can easily bring peace. Some bigger towns let pigmen browse their midden heaps for edible trash and this keeps them happy. Occasionally someone sells a swineperson corpse as meat for humans who cant tell and this provokes a man pig war. Both genders can be quite lusty, greedy and violent. If attacked or disturbed in their breeding pens they might eat their children and blame the deaths on their enemies a situation that is hard to resolve. Pigmen are so similar to man they will have any occupation or alignment a human could. They breed faster than man but are very delicious.
d12 Pigmen Troubles
1 A band of porker nomads on battlepigs come from the hills, with gluttony for glory and goodies to gobble in the lands of man
2 Human farmers held a huge pig on a spit feast as the pigman king and his entourage came looking for a lost swine prince. Horrified the pigmen attacked and the misunderstanding has resulted in the villagers being imprisoned and burned at the stake if the prince is not returned but he is in a dungeon exploring with his party
3 A devilswine has become mayor of pigtown and has mobilized them for war to get himself food and women. He knows humans bred with porkers will be pigmen in only two generations ready for the next phaze of his conquest
4 A young swine rooting through a town trashheap found a cursed wizard skull and has become possessed. Now he is stirring up trouble driving man and pigman to war. If the skull can be revealed there can be peace
5 Piggies were living in peace but slowly retreating from man. but a orc chief has convinced them they are kin and must turn on man
6 A gardener killed eight piglets who strayed into his vegetable garden and hid their clothes and sold them to a wedding feast. Their angry mother has taken eight human village children to replace them. If the matter is not resolved their will be open fighting. humans dont know orcs have offered to help the pigmen side as a pretext to invasion
7 A huge trasheap in a bog has been claimed by a porker hero in the name of his tribe and he has demanded trash and feces tributes from outlaying humans. His tribe like to wallow in muck and snack on filth. Humans haven't taken this very seriously but as the horde gets bigger the trash diminishes and soon the porker posse will thunder across human lands. Only a few humans can see the coming pork storm
8 A piggy wizard has decided his race needs more sows so he is polymorphing human women while invisible and leaving them maps to his village Swineton. Humans are not amused even though he said he is helping them because humans women are ugly anyhow
9 A group of pigmen pilgrims arrived in a human village which horrified the local clergy. They deny god has a pig form and considers pigmen filthy beasts. Offended the pigfolk head home and prepare a crusade against the human heretics who reject gods infinite love and kindness
10 A devilswine has corrupted a porker village with alcoholism to help his moral corruption of them. Now a band have raided a brewery gotten drunk and unleash havoc on a country village
11 Humans invited piggies over for a feast and game of sportsball, but a pig saw on the seed filled leather ball his missing uncles tattoo and hell has broken out. Pigs have taken over and running a kangaroo court. Perhaps someone can resolve this and restore sanity
12 A roadhouse diner has for years invited pigs to dine for free on the lower floor on human feces that drops through the floor from the latrine. But a pig moral crusader saw this practice and is outraged demanding to be served on the upper floor. A fight has broken out and pigs have taken over and locked humans in the lower floor
Ratmen
Ratmen are common in cities and less so in towns and and occasionally found in rural places. If there are sewers there are rat men. The rural ones are probably less horrible and evil like the amiable river rat folk who act as traders with non humand. Some ratmen take to the sea on ships and make able sailors or more commonly pirates. As merchants rat men are not well recieved. Ratmen frequently hate humans and seek to exterminate them. Tired of living in the shadow of man they happily serve chaos and demons. They readily use disease, famine and alchemy as weapons. They make potions to pollute and poison as well as gunpowder. Deep under human cities they build their own labyrinths and occasionally erupt to destroy the works of man. Of course they depend on man too so this tends to be a failure as they do not make cities of their own. This leads to more jealousy and spite. Their desire to do all things man shuns also leads to problems and the demon cults they worship don't always pay off what you put in. Were rats mix freely among them and act as their agents but most are too human to be really included in the ratmen world and will be destroyed eventually like man. Normal rats, foot long giant rats and bear like gargantuan rats are welcome in their world and they resent the supernatural thrall wererats hold over their kin. Human rat cults abound still and serve their purpose especially in the criminal classes and slums and underground sweatshops. occasional ratman hybrids must hide from humanity and are second class among rats. Ratmen practice any magic they can but druidry is mostly used by country rats. Elemental powers are not used by city rats and most hate fire. Mutant ratmen are one obvious side effect and there are terrible ten headed ratking wizards and bands of brothers with fused tails who share life force or rare vampire ratmen. The plaguebearers cults are black, the fighting creeds are grey the brown specialize in subterfuge. White rat alchemists are rare working in their labs inside rat cities and often using prisoners as test subjects. Rat towns are more 3d and denser and very dangerous. Fire causes mass panics as do floods. Ratladies will always flee to save their children from disaster at the first sign of trouble. Mousemen are smaller and not as malicious but are abused and enslaved by rats and even eaten by them. Mousemen in rural areas are less desperate but sometimes reach plague proportions. Ratmen copy human tech but mostly steal or find what they need.
d12 Ratmen Troubles
1 Plague breaks out in city ward and streets are sealed and everyone under curfew. Swarms run openly in the streets. Now ratmen break into houses to kill inhabitants and steal everything
2 Sewer workers hiring to battle strange rat monsters. Turns out mutrant ratmen have conjured a chaos spawn into their templa and can bareley contain it
3 Several explosions have gone off in city and law is hunting the criminals. The secret police know it is ratmen and need a crack team (expendable) of murder hobos to kill the culprits
4 A mighty mutant ten headed rat king has occupied a abandoned palace and every night sends out his minions to bring him youths of noble families to infect with lycanthropy
5 Some of the plague doctors in their head to toe masks with their miasma fighting incense braziers have been replaced by ratmen instead spreading plague
6 A crack ratman suicide squad with guns and bombs attack sewer workers guild and if not stopped all records and subsystem maps will be destroyed reducing mans control
7 Ratmen disguised as gongfarmers have entered a house through toulet and stolen a merchants babies to blackmail a house producing rat poison and traps for the ratters guild
8 Ratters guild house is on fire, several in a row have burned down in a week. Rats are up to something big in this area or expanding operations
9 At the annual ratcatchers feast somebody poisoned all the food and the cook was replaced at the last moment then found dead. The new cook is nowhere to be seen. Who would perform such a cowardly act?
10 Were rat sailors on the docks have been increasingly common and many poor sailors have turned themselves in for treatments. The secret police have of course executed them for the cure is too expensive even with many churches doing their best to treat the problem. many sailors did use a certain brothel however
11 City granaries are being cleared and officials secretly using stores from tomb sacrifices intended for the dead in the afterlife. Secret police looking for someone to destroy the rats and if possible recover the grain
12 A rat princess has had trouble selecting a mate with all the political troubles in rat clans so she has sent spies to find eligible human heroes to be turned into ratmen
Frogmen
Frogmen are not always evil, many live idyllic lives in rural areas but where other races have encroached on them including man or fishman or reptile man they have called on chaos out of desperation. But perhaps it is easy to claim underdog and victimhood after losing so many times. many other amphibian races have fallen and nobody remembers them now. Frogmen come in many colours and patterns and sizes. the require water so still thrive in swamps and tropics where humans have yet to dominate. In the barrony frogmen proliferate in the sewers and drains of Shadelport where they constantly wage war on fishmen and ratmen to survive. The hellbogs the frogmen worship the great evil swamp spirit and it has made them a mighty race indeed. Frogmen come off worse and end up food but some varieties secrete poison, blinding venom and hallucinogens. At least one kind can make finger bones pierce their finger tips as claws. Some have sharp teeth. Amphibians do have some edges unlike their enemies and they are good ambush predators and night fighters. They sing a lot at night the first beings to have voices. Frogmen like magic especially elemental water magic. There is no type of magic frogmen somewhere will not try if it gives them a edge. They also can recuperate massive losses, some carry their eggs on their back and one breed gestate eggs in their stomachs. Some have superior climbing prowess and some mountain frogmen can survive being frozen every year. Some if they eat poison can vomit up their stomache and clean it by hand and swallow it again. They will eat anything almost up to their own size and halflings are a special treat. Dwarves are not so nice. leaping is of course a special skill and frogmen use it when planning escapes and ambushes. The great frog gods are many and the frog god Slaani of chaos have dominated the primal pool of chaos as they did when they first colonised the land. Froglings are smaller breeds and croakers are larger over seven footers who easily eat a whole human.
d12 Frogmen Troubles
1 Boats on the river are being ambushed by chaos frog men who promptly sacrifice everyone then flee. Merchant are offering a reward
2 The croaks of frogmen in the swamps are getting louder every night and the locals live in terror of that once in a century full moon when the frogs will come and eat everyone
3 The locals have witnessed frogmen and fishmen fight for centuries but less know their hybrid cults wage a secret war and over generations some have blood of both. This new breed has dedicated itself to chaos water elementals and now have shown their hand and built a new cult temple outraging the elders of man frog and fish
4 A frogling has found a lost relic of the fish men and they have been hunting him across the riverlands before he can throw it into the frostfires of the burning glacier of mount Gloom
5 A frogman wizard and his cult have been singing for constant rain and the the humans are sick of it. They will reward anyone who can stop it
6 Many swamp fishermen and all the small and medium sized animals have vanished. A clan of hungry croakers are breeding out of control thanks to a mighty priest and his fertility relic
7 A frog wizard and his tadpole apprentices have declared section of bog his private kingdom. Various tribes of frogmen have flocked to his clarion croak. Unfortunately nobody wants a new frog kingdom and a bounty on the wizard has grown
8 A section of sewers has grown very froggy and even the ratmen are worried. Many sections are accessible only by water. A wizard is offering a reward and potions to help and he sez he is definitely not a fishman cultist
9 A frog god cult have made contact with a real frogman magi and thrived from his wisdom. They have developed new water elemental spells that human wizards will pay big money for
10 A slimy frogman has come from the depths offering humans locations of local fishman cult agents and secret temples. All he wants is amnesty for a few years for his race
11 An ancient temple of the frog god has been uncovered when a local bog drained and the frog cult want it back. Some long lost treasure is there from the frog empire
12 A temple of chaos frog monks has been operating in the swamp teaching cultists martial arts and the illumination of complex fluid dynamics of true chaos. Cultists are flocking to this dawn of a new age of frog god wisdom
Batmen
People don't realize how many millions of batmen dwell beneath the earth in huge colonies squirming up close. One day they will swarm up and eat everyone. Most batmen cannot fly but can climb and like to hang from ceilings and branches to sleep. Some do have wings but these tend to not use weapons. There are small batmen or batlings who the flightless ones ride giant bats. Some mistake them for goblins who also are batriders. There are also large flightless bats that walk on two legs with huge jaws and claws used as hunting dogs if small ones or mounts if large ones by the batfolk. Some batfolk of aristocratic bloodlines of the great vampire bat goddess are also blood drinkers, the most savage and evil of them all. Bats use any magic and never forgot many vile rituals and disgusting rites. Under the earth they build step pyramids where they perform bloody sacrifices to feed their goddess or she will devour the universe. They became one of the ruling monster races of the olden times for their savagery against the previous insect and worm races, the only mammals in the Monster Empire. At night they still surface but restrain themselves in fear man will destroy them They also creep into the sewers but keep away from contact with man till the time is right and they can blot out the sun forever and eat everybody, even their past allies. They often blind their captives and slaves. Hybrid batfolk cultists are rare and very secretive. Some degenerate batmen have lost contact with their race and are mere savages now. The flightless ones use climbing and leaping prowess and also make hair ropes for swinging and abseiling.
d12 Batmen Troubles
1 A underground stream fed pool keeps washing up heartless terror stricken scratched corpses. As numbers rise and people vanish authorities offer a reward
2 A ancient obsidian dagger for not quite human hands was stolen from a private museum and the owner offers a reward
3 Bloodless corpses have been washing up from the sewers prompting vampire hunters but their usual techniques of finding undead don't seem to be working
4 Strange footprints have been found and something is gutting sheep and returning to the local caves
5 A strange monolith with carvings of a bat cult have prompted scholars to investigate a cave mouth depicted on the petroglyphs. Murderhobo veterans are required for their underground survival skills to escort scholars
6 A vigilante has been killing criminals, tearing out their hearts as a warning. The thieves guild offer a reward for any who can identify this masked mad man. Some say it is similar to the prostitute killer a few years ago. Some say he has a secret cave hideout
7 Thousands of bats have taken roost in a old ruin and several people who went to investigate have been found half eaten and brutally murdered
8 A cult have been seen meeting in the bat filled caves by night dragging naked victims with them. The rumours and sightings have increased and authorities are assembling a posse
9 A blinded madman was found screaming in the bottom of a well bats have been seen swarming into. He claims there is a underground city of horrid batmen plotting to destroy the surface. He is identified as a local lad who vanished decades ago
10 A secret meeting of frog and rat cultists has been raided by the secret police who found they were cooperating on finding a mutual enemy the law was not aware of. A inspector wants to assign adventurers to investigate this hidden menace
11 Goblin bat riders have been seen for years in the area spreading spores of magic mushrooms across the land hoping to initiate the great rot. But recently someone noticed the riders had different ears and trapped one in a net to see. It was a horrible bat creature wearing a loincloth of human leather carrying a scribe set and messenger bats with notepaper of human skin vellum and blood ink. Many attended the public vivisection and examined the artifacts of this unknown civilization. Scholars offer research and exploration grants to learn more
12 A wizard has been using clairaudience to probe dark depths of the earth for sounds. Recently he heard millions of chittering voices in the deep and after a while he realized they were intelligent beings using a unknown language. He wants to send explorers via teleportation or spelunking to investigate
Weaselmen
While attractive and cute to some weaselmen are savage bloodthirsty fearless maniacs who kill beings many times their own size. Weaselmen kill more than they need and store corpses in the snow. they attack so fast many don't see them coming thus they are popular to hire as thugs, killers and enforcers. many work with organised crime and cults find them too unstable and impulsive. They like to wrestle with their muscular snake like bodies and bite or stab victim in the base of the skull or just hold on chewing through the victim. many are berserkers. If in trouble they can shoot a stinking musk once a day. Most think of them as bad luck but they are also fearsome monster slayers. They can also be quite fun and love to dance. They use this dance to hypnotise and confuse victims. They are kin to stoatmen, ferretmen, pinemartinmen, minkmen and other savage rodent like killers. Their killer rep has some employed in the city sewers where they murder ratmen and they don't even care about the pay. Rabbitmen are also common enemies. They ear half their body weight in meat a day which gets expensive so murder is preferred. Mostly dwell alone and mothers try and hide when caring for their young from their horrible lewd fathers. While they can be friendly and entertaining they are very hyper and quick to kill anything that moves. Mostly chaotic and uncivilized wild ones are frequently evil. They dont have the attentions span for magic mostly and often prefer short stabbing weapons or crossbows or darts.
d12 Weaselmen Troubles
1 A weaselman serial killer has been at work on the streets killing the homeless and anyone about at night. Occasionally militia find a house with walls stuffed with corpses after investigating a crime. Actually there is more than one at work independently
2 A weaselman has terrorised a colony of ratmen or rabbitmen under a town or village who burst onto the street running and screaming and attacking anyone in their way
3 A weaselwoman is shanking a ogre corpse by the road covered in blood. She looks with her adorable face and asks if you are adventurers and can she join your murder hobo exploits huh please please please!?
4 A group of weasel bullies twitching with thrill of a kill demand protection money to cover you from murder related accidents. Actually they might be up for hire for the right price and some killing
5 A assassin squad have been sent by enemies to kill your party, using deadly thief skills and distractions they manage to get a surprise backstab attack pretty often
6 While camped somewhere see a wired up kill crazed weaselman dancing for joy after dragging a corpse into a hole. With care he can be spoken too but movement might set off a beserker craze as he is only just over his blood lust. In a city this might be a manhole or crawlspace
7 In the distance a weaselman happily hopping along is snatched up by a giant eagle or owl or wyvern which moments later crashes with the weasel stabbing away as if this happens everyday
8 A weaselman is dragging a naked corpse while shanking it joyfully while being chased by angry yelling cultist coven who want their sacrifice back. The cult want no witnesses the weasel just up for some more murder hijinx
9 A mutant weaselman walks into town foaming at the mouth, its eyes bug out at all the meat just walking around and it begins it;s hypnotic murder dance. It just ate someone tainted by chaos and is crazed beyond hope
10 A adorable but exited weaselman offers you fresh meat, he has lots at the moment he doesn't need. His exited bounding towards you might be menacing to some people and it is happy to have a fight
11 A bandit gang with a blindfolded weaselman threaten to let him go if you don't hand over your weasel insurance money right away
12 Weaselmen are playfully tossing goblin corpses in the air and dancing, if they see movement they will be exited by a new play opportunity as their current toys have stopped moving or bleeding
Dogmen
Dogs are loyal, obedient and mans best friend? Dogmen kingdoms have been found in isolated places and have reached civilization equivalent to man. But the local dogmen do not seem to have this quality. They are more like feral street mutts or the wild packs in the forest that bring down lions and bears by sheet weight of numbers. Dogmen vary in size from smaller doglings to seven foot tall savage dogmen in the mountains who are always hungry. They have a love hate relation to man and copy human technology and dress. Many are bandits. Some have been raised since pups or recruited by men and form long lasting friendships. Some have pure bloodlines like poodlemen, greyhoundmen, wolfhoundmen, mastiffmen. Some packs are mongrels and vary in size using the advantages of all to great effect. While a big dog attacks your front a terrier man will run between your legs and stab you in the genitals or ankle. They prefer to work in a group and that group might be even non dog. dogmen may operate in huge packs of 200 or more to destroy a particular enemy. Many have come to be indoctrinated by chaos or devil cults who often prefer black coats. Cults enjoy the fanaticism and loyalty and ancient dogmen cults teach man was unfaithful first. They cite some great betrayal after the monster empire fell. Dogmen did help man revolt from the monster empire and hate many of the other beastmen races. Some slavers castrate their dogmen servants but the dogs bare a seething resentment for this. Many dogmen castrate their human slaves as a form of revenge. Dogmen like to sniff for scents and tag areas with their own using the hidden scent language of animals. humans find this disgusting. They are expert trackers and know much about a human without a word being spoken. Sniffing each other butts and submissive body language to superiors is a part of their hierarchical code. they love to bury treasure and caches. Any mongrel and feral dogmen tribe speak broken simplistic language while black poodlemen minions of devilcults speak finest courtly language and recite poetry. Dogmen are not great magicians but have same posibilities as man. Dogmen are quite lawful but their banditry is legitimate warfare on man. Sometimes someone convinces dogmen tribes to be friends and once friendship is given it is long lasting.
d12 Dogmen Troubles
1 A gang of dogmen mongrel bandits has taken up territory on the highway charging tolls for passage and taking any meatgoods and draft animals for food
2 A diabolic wizard in his tower has his poodlemen minions kidnap victims for his vile rites and slave labour. Ultimately they serve a duke of hell not him
3 A band of adventurers had a tame dogman named Rufus. When they underpaid him he left them but came back with a pack who took the bad men away to their lair to punish them. one of those men was a merchants son and the merchant needs some one to buy the son back or rescue him
4 The sheriff has been hunting dog men for months with no success. he cant figure out why his hounds lose the trail and lead him to wrong places and even places where dog skirmishers ambush him
5 Rabbitmen and Dogmen have been waging a war. The dogmen have better armour and bites but the rabbitmen have secret burrows and bows. They both tend to ignore humans but now they have been battling right in the village and inocents have been hurt and merchants are keeping away
6 A village had some doggo slaves but wild dogmen lured them away and now the dogs wish to castrate every man in the village
7 Dour faced pugmen bandits demand all the bones and joints of meat delivered by sundown or they will feed themselves on whatever they can find
8 A druid kept the doggo tribe on good terms for years but when the new priest drove the druid away the doggos adopted him. The druid has deemed the humans enemies of nature and with his doggo buddies is terrorising the area and burning the newly built church and shrines
9 Local bandits have teamed up with a dogman tribe as brothers and now there are twice as many bandits who are using the best skills of both. Some of the bandits have even been turned into dogmen through some canine secret ritual
10 Wiry grey furred wolfhoundmen have landed by ship and these seadog raiders have come up and down the coast attacking and looting, crying blood for the blood dog! The fear nothing and have beaten superior numbers of soldiers
11 Dogmen do live in the city even forming gangs. Recently a gang calling itself the hellhounds have begun spitting fireballs and daring the law to stop them. The secret police say the pack are not our concern and the militia are terrified. What is their secret and why no official action against them? Some say they even work for the secret police
12 A gang of ugly mongrel dogmen have been breeding with orc hounds and working with orcs as shock troops. More disturbing is they have begun worshiping the orc gods and now have priests who call themselves the warhounds of the one eyed god. They are remarkably sophisticated and the city want them onside with loyalist orc forces not the mountain renegades
Catmen
Catmen are often seen in the city or the woodlands. They are renowned as lazy, vain and luxury loving. The wild ones are savage hunters. The city ones are effete dandies who act like nobility even if they are homeless streetpunks. Many are loners but many follow a queen who leads a large extended family and has several lovers as satellite clan members. While some are friendly especially if it gets them a cushy well fed job some are more bitter and twisted. Many do not trust them which is sometimes unfair. The do have a sadistic streak, toying with their prey and loved ones. Some do serve cults and witches and the trouble is telling which. Many suspect the black ones are thieves and witch pets but this tends to outrage most cats. The cat goddess is portrayed as a luxury and love goddess but she is also a war goddess. Other hellcats serve devils and recruit friends to evil and temptation and corruption which earns the rewards in hell. Cats in the wild are more unpredictable and wear less clothes. Some are charming bumpkins others cruel bandits. They quite like crossbows and fencing foils and sabres over heavy swords and also like knives and darts and pistol. Country cats like staves, spears, javelins and slings. Many if not outright evil are assassins for hire, duelists or thieves or conmen. they are far more flexible in morality and telling their alignment is tricky. many do have a code of honour but that might not include humans. Of all beastmen catmen enjoy murder the most and many daily go into the sewers to kill a fishman or ratman. Catman learn any magic but druidry least common.
d12 Catmen Troubles
1 A catman duelist tries to pick a duel with with you or a friend no doubt hired by a enemy
2 A flamboyant catman bandit has been stealing cream and fish from local poor and jewelry from rich women in carriages. He also steals nice clothes. His ambushes are legendary and he has many cunning tricks to get rid of guards
3 A local witch cult has been active in the area but are almost never seen. Most of their dirty work is committed by a black catman thug who kidnaps, steals, commits arson and cut the priests throat leaving him alive and speechless. They say he has nine lives but actually he has eight identical brothers
4 A chowder of catmen has been charging toll on the riverway leaping from bridges onto boat decks and swinging away after. The fishmerchant guild is furious.
5 A catwoman witch has been using shapechanging magic and charm spells to con men out of their magic treasure and money. She only kills the ones who come after her but the treasure goes to funding a rich city coven
6 A wild tabby catman killer in the woodlands leaves half chewed corpses on the roadway and kills more frequently each month. Nobody knows why or what his story is.
7 Black tom is a famous catman warlock in service to hell and he has been crossing from the barrony into the Empire to commit dastardly crimes and fleeing into the barrony where he has no bounties. The governor of the Empire colonies is outraged and gossip says Tom works for the secret police
8 A famous rascally catman Greywhisker and his amiable but stupid Doggo barbarian comrade Jarred often join adventurers and can point out dangerous dungeons and tombs. Problem is they often use adventurers as decoys or run off with the loot. He has infamous battles with the city ratmen and the law there will not touch him
9 Hucko is a well known catman from a country town who wears lederhosen and investigates mysteries with his talking snake friend, Squirmy. Wherever he appears a murder or theft happens and he is quick to drag others into solving the crime
10 Daisy Dutton a tortoiseshell girl roams the countryside in her country maid dress and bindle seemingly a friendly traveller but actually at war with snakemen. You can bet if you meet her and travel of camp with her snakemen assassins or charmed dupes will attack. She has other dresses in her bindle for dungeons or barmaid jobs she takes for spare cash. The jobs dont last long with all the murder. Occasionaly someone finds her paralysed in a ditch from snake venom covered in dirt and starving
11 Ferris the wondercat is a roaming wizard who keeps all kinds of stuff in his carpetbag of tricks which he uses to get out of trouble. Various evil gnomes always want his magic bag and are up to all kinds of schemes. All his spells use the bag as a focus and at night it turns into a tiny shack with a lit stove
12 A pair of evil siamese brothers who work as assassins and drug smugglers or anything to get a hit of lotus resin. When not on adventures the lads are in a drug den or bordello. mostly they are trouble and both have been resurrected several times by one of the lords of hell.
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So much awesome, all at once!
ReplyDeleteMarvellous.
ReplyDeleteI frickin love these, nore more !
ReplyDeleteThis is really great stuff. Everyone does rats and frogs and lizards, but the goats and rabbits and weasels are brilliant. What happened to the +1 button?
ReplyDeletei can still see the g+ button?
DeleteIm not really sure