Sunday 29 December 2019

Cerastes



I'm have about 22 unfinished articles my worst yet so I thought Id fix some. What's below about 6 months old...

EMO Monster Heraldic Manual Continues

Like many beasts this was a exaggeration of a real animal the horned adder exaggerated and mythologised. Even Davinci spread crap about cerastes. Unicorns are rhinos - roman ones had huge elephant feet then by middle ages they had cloven hooves and goat like. Today any 5yo girl will tell you they are horses. My little pony named the pegesus unicorn cross an alicorn which extends the same myth further as people forget this source and discuss as if a historic mythical beast. Exaggerating a normal animal as if described by hearsay for a thousand years might be a good methodology for monster making. I'm pretty sure Rhinos are unicorns. Todays beast was just a horned adder + a few thousand miles distance and a thousand years of gossip.

This site is gold too of course
https://abookofcreatures.com/2017/02/27/cerastes/


Cerastes

magical animal N Morale 9
AC +4
HD 5
Mov 12 crawl 9 swim through sand 3 swim through earth
Bite 2d4+poison or Horns 2d4 or Grapple

The cerestes is a boneless snake like animal with ram horns. It buries itself in sand or soil to ambush (surprise 1-4 on d6). Mostly they bite but they often constrict and they mostly use horns against foes they don't want to bite for fear of harming themselves. Once grappled a victim is +4 to hit with bite or horns. The horns are usually above the ground while buried to attract game. The venom of the cerastes liquefies bones of the victim causing the body to collapse and makes them easy to swallow. Even if brought back to life somehow the boneless body will need some other magic to save them from being a collapsed sack of loose flesh.

1in6 Venom causes madness instead of bone liquification, they try to keep mad victims in their underground larders
1in6 Get extra horn attack, with straight stabbing horns instead of ram horns
1in6 Get extra grapple attack
1in6 Iron scales improve armour AC+8
1in6 Have extra +2HD
1in6 Extra set of horns 2d6 butt attack
1in6 victim grapples make STR roll or get pulled into the underground burrow
1n10 Can spit blinding venom with a hit range 3
1in10 Generate an illusion on horns of something good to eat or alluring while body buried
1in12 have bat wings and fly 12
1in12 Intelligent and NE alignment
1in12 Aquatic version swims in water and mud
1in20 require +1 magic weapon to harm
1in20 Immune to 1st to 3rd level spells
1in20 Cross with amphisbaena, has extra head on tail and extra bite attack

d10 Cerastes Adventures

1 Sheep have been disappearing by a patch of sand on a farm near a wasteland
2 Local shepherds have been going mad, a cerebrates with poison that induces madness has been eating sheep is to blame
3 A strange elder tomb surrounded by sand has been seen. Strange horns seen moving in the sand as if something is swimming under the surface
4 Nobody has ever crossed a certain stretch of sandy beach and returned 
5 A island has caves visible from ship but those who land are seen to fall and be sucked under the sand
6 A ruin with broken statues of serpent folk has remained untouched. Something guards it's secret treasures
7 A strange patch of sand has been found and people have seen strange alluring food and voices from within. Locals warn to stay away but gossip about it
8 Something has been causing poorest folk in shacks to vanish by night
9 Since a snake cultist was arrested and hung, strange disappearances and deaths have occurred particularly on dirt roads
10 Locals prefer stilt houses and raised wooden walkways as some creature on ground has mad walking any paths alone dangerous

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