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Every hero must have his villains, for every light casts a shadow. The dark places of the Sphere are teeming with creatures, wicked, wild, and hungry. Some are mere beasts, driven by primal urges, instinct, or fear. Others are intelligent, willful beings who despise the worlds of Men, devoting their time, power, and considerable cunning to seeing his cities burn and his works brought low. Still others are beings of pure darkness, serving the will of the Nine Hells, the Eldain, the Raksha, or any number of ancient, evil forces. Whatever their origin, whatever their motive, Man stands opposed on all fronts, his will to survive tested by monsters both within and without.
Outlined in this section are many types of antagonists which PCs may face during the course of their adventures. Since each individual is unique and monsters (especially intelligent ones) are no different, these beings are painted here in very broad strokes. In the real world, it’s rare to find a villain with no justification for his actions, no matter how poorly reasoned it may be – the same holds true in the worlds of the Sphere. A band of brigands may attempt to rob the PCs because they are desperate. A wild pack of dogs may attack because they are hungry. A violent golem may simply be guarding the ruins the PCs are pillaging. Though a demon may attack or scheme against the PCs because he truly despises all Men, such unfiltered, puerile evil is a rare find. Whatever the reason for their hostility, enemies can and should be more than mere targets. Giving your villains a reason to act against the heroes adds depth, tension, realism, and emotional resonance to a campaign. Even if your game is an action-packed dungeon crawl, giving the villains a reason to exist (even if it’s a shallow one) can only improve the game.
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Challenge RatingEvery Monster is assigned a Challenge Rating. Similar to a player character's Level, Challenge Rating (CR for short) is an "at-a-glance" means of determining roughly how strong a creature is and how much of a challenge it should present to the players.
When a GM creates an encounter, they should consider how difficult they want the encounter to be. When added together, the CR total for all Monsters, traps, and complications in the encounter should not exceed a certain threshold. To determine this threshold:
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ThreatNothing can undermine the danger of a monster like crappy rolls. NPCs may speak in hushed tones, warning the heroes about the horror that lurks in the fog, but a few bad rolls into the fight and the players just aren't feeling the threat. To help reflect how dangerous a monster is (rolls aside), each creature has a tool called Threat. The GM can spend a point of Threat any time to re-roll a dice roll he makes related to the monster, whether it's a Feat, an attack, a Save, Initiative, or some other roll, any dice roll is fair game. |
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Attributes & Definitions
Monsters are described in several ways within this section. At the top of each page, the three attributes listed are the creature's Rarity, Size, and Type.
SizeSize describes how large the monster is - specifically, how much space they take up on the game board. For the sake of simplicity, assume most creatures take up as much vertical space as they do horizontal space; the figures described here are a three-dimensional box around the creature representing how much space it takes up.
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RarityRarity describes how often one can expect to encounter this creature in the wild. In many cases, the more uncommon a creature is, the more it is regarded as a being of legend. Such creatures are little known outside of certain circles and must always be approached with great caution.
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HabitatThe environment a creature is native to. While many creatures can adapt to live anywhere, you are more likely to encounter certain creatures in specific environs suited to their biology.
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IntelligenceEvery creature has a level of innate intelligence that determines what it is capable of. Though there may be standout members of a species, most creatures of this type share similar powers of reason.
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DietWhat the creature eats. This informs where they live, what they hunt (and how), and how their particular biology helps in this task.
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SensesIn addition to its normal set of senses, some creatures have adapted special senses that allow them to perceive the world in unique ways.
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SocialHow the creature interacts with others of its kind (or otherwise).
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MagicThe creature's innate ability to sense and use magic.
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Tactics
This section describes how the Monster fights, including it's tactical role in a group, if it will kill PCs when given the chance, and if it will flee when defeat seems imminent or fight to the death. There are several short-hand descriptors used to describe a Monster's tactical role and approach to engaging enemies.
Artillery: An Artillery Monster strikes from the back-line with powerful ranged attacks and spells, decimating its enemies from afar. These Monsters are typically "glass cannons", having a great deal of firepower but little in the way of defense or durability. Such creatures rely on distance, escape powers, and stronger allies for protection and tend to flee when enemies approach.
Brute: The Monster charges into the thick of combat, relying on its durability and defenses to withstand enemy attack. The Brute recklessly engages enemies, ignoring all but the most deadly consequences for disrupting the opponent's strategy. Brutes are a wrecking ball in combat, attacking the party's back-line and disrupting all attempts to control the flow of battle.
Controller: An arsenal of abilities that weaken, disrupt, and disable is at this Monster's command. Controllers seek to keep their enemies contained, sapping their strength and disrupting their strategy until the enemy's will to fight is completely eroded. More often than not, Controllers are back-line combatants and avoid the melee in favor of using tactical abilities from a distance.
Manipulator: The Manipulator's strength is in numbers. This Monster is able to summon a host of lesser minions to do its bidding, using them to great effect during battle. A Manipulator can often heal and strengthen the creatures it summons, and wading through a horde of empowered creatures that serve and protect the Manipulator is no easy feat.
Mastermind: While the Mastermind may or may not lead a group of Monsters into battle, their true function is one of support. Masterminds give buffs, heal allies, and generally help their side of the battle to emerge victorious under adverse conditions. A Mastermind must be dealt with early on in combat, lest the fight begin to tip in favor of the Mastermind and their monstrous allies.
Ravager: With formidable strength and endurance, this Monster fights in the melee, using powerful close-range attacks to tear its enemies to pieces. Ravagers are especially effective at close range and can be difficult to take down one-on-one. Their ability to deal out great amounts of melee damage is complimented by powers that let them quickly close the gap to enemies and endure their foe's reprisal.
Skirmisher: Using speed, stealth, agility, or a special form of movement, this Monster dips in for a quick strike before retreating just beyond the reach of reprisal. Skirmishers are offensive players who excel at hit and run tactics. They are especially deadly when fighting alongside tanks, brutes, or other monsters who can focus the brunt of their enemy's aggression away from the nimble Skirmisher.
Stalker: The Monster prefers to strike from the shadows, beginning the encounter with a surprise attack and retreating back to a safe distance before attacking again from an unseen angle. This Monster will utilize traps, its environment, and other creatures to distract and deceive before attacking when its opponent is at their most vulnerable.
Tank: The Tank fights on the front lines of a battle, using their toughness and ability to control the flow of battle to protect its allies and direct enemy aggression towards themselves. Tanks excel at mitigating damage with defensive abilities, self-healing, and a high degree of durability, often forcing opponents into a stand-off they can't hope to win.
Artillery: An Artillery Monster strikes from the back-line with powerful ranged attacks and spells, decimating its enemies from afar. These Monsters are typically "glass cannons", having a great deal of firepower but little in the way of defense or durability. Such creatures rely on distance, escape powers, and stronger allies for protection and tend to flee when enemies approach.
Brute: The Monster charges into the thick of combat, relying on its durability and defenses to withstand enemy attack. The Brute recklessly engages enemies, ignoring all but the most deadly consequences for disrupting the opponent's strategy. Brutes are a wrecking ball in combat, attacking the party's back-line and disrupting all attempts to control the flow of battle.
Controller: An arsenal of abilities that weaken, disrupt, and disable is at this Monster's command. Controllers seek to keep their enemies contained, sapping their strength and disrupting their strategy until the enemy's will to fight is completely eroded. More often than not, Controllers are back-line combatants and avoid the melee in favor of using tactical abilities from a distance.
Manipulator: The Manipulator's strength is in numbers. This Monster is able to summon a host of lesser minions to do its bidding, using them to great effect during battle. A Manipulator can often heal and strengthen the creatures it summons, and wading through a horde of empowered creatures that serve and protect the Manipulator is no easy feat.
Mastermind: While the Mastermind may or may not lead a group of Monsters into battle, their true function is one of support. Masterminds give buffs, heal allies, and generally help their side of the battle to emerge victorious under adverse conditions. A Mastermind must be dealt with early on in combat, lest the fight begin to tip in favor of the Mastermind and their monstrous allies.
Ravager: With formidable strength and endurance, this Monster fights in the melee, using powerful close-range attacks to tear its enemies to pieces. Ravagers are especially effective at close range and can be difficult to take down one-on-one. Their ability to deal out great amounts of melee damage is complimented by powers that let them quickly close the gap to enemies and endure their foe's reprisal.
Skirmisher: Using speed, stealth, agility, or a special form of movement, this Monster dips in for a quick strike before retreating just beyond the reach of reprisal. Skirmishers are offensive players who excel at hit and run tactics. They are especially deadly when fighting alongside tanks, brutes, or other monsters who can focus the brunt of their enemy's aggression away from the nimble Skirmisher.
Stalker: The Monster prefers to strike from the shadows, beginning the encounter with a surprise attack and retreating back to a safe distance before attacking again from an unseen angle. This Monster will utilize traps, its environment, and other creatures to distract and deceive before attacking when its opponent is at their most vulnerable.
Tank: The Tank fights on the front lines of a battle, using their toughness and ability to control the flow of battle to protect its allies and direct enemy aggression towards themselves. Tanks excel at mitigating damage with defensive abilities, self-healing, and a high degree of durability, often forcing opponents into a stand-off they can't hope to win.
Types of Monster
Lore keepers and researchers have classified the various beings and monstrous fiends of the Sphere into eleven types. Click the images below to see a list of creatures belonging to this type.
AberrantAberrants are creatures that do not belong on the mortal plane of existence. They are outsiders, alien creatures from beyond Man's frame of reference called into this dimension by way of strange sorceries, given to mad cults and evil magicians through the machinations of the Raksha.
It is impossible for Man to fully understand the mind and motives of an Aberrant creature, so far removed are they from infantile mortal concepts like reason and morality. Many serve the purposes of the Raksha; to awaken the Elder Gods from their slumber and put an end to the curse of reality. Others simply wish to feed on mortal sanity. Whatever their purpose, Aberrants are unfailingly malicious and mind-bendingly hideous beings who would not exist in a sane and benevolent universe. |
AccursedAccursed creatures were mortal once, but have lost their mind, body, and souls to the power of an evil curse. Curses come in many forms. Some are dark magic cast upon witless victims. Some are punishment from powerful beings for a perceived sleight. Most are the consequences of a mortal's deeds, sometimes a just punishment for wickedness, many times time cruel machinations of fate.
Those afflicted by such curses are driven to violent acts against mortals and can be difficult to best in a physical confrontation. Many times, there are ways to alleviate or even break the curse entirely, removing the afflicted individual from its influence. Such rituals, while not easy to perform, are often the only way to truly defeat an accursed creature and rid the land of their evil forever. |
ConstructMortal creativity is a gift from the gods, an echo of their creative nature and divine spark. Unfortunately, as often as this gift is used to create, it is also used to destroy. Constructs are mortal creations made in Man's image but with no soul, mind, or moral compass of their own. Their consciousness is a crude facsimile of Man's. Constructs have no capacity for emotional nuance, basic empathy, sense of right and wrong, or the spark of divine inspiration emblazoned on the mortal soul.
If offended, wronged, or turned against their creators by accident or intention, a Construct can become a nearly unstoppable destructive force. Their single-minded devotion, physical power, and inability to feel pain, love, anger, fear, joy, or remorse makes the Construct a monster in the truest sense of the word. |
DragonWhen The Sphere was made, Dragons were divine beings appointed by the Gods to watch over the progress of Mankind. They were to insure that Man never rebelled against the gods and overthrew them as the gods had done to their own creators. Some Dragons became tyrants in the name of this charge, working to undermine and sabotage Man at every turn. Others became benefactors of Man, helping him to understand his place in the larger cosmos.
Today, only a handful of True Dragons remain. Their offspring are a vulgar and deplorable lot, each generation debased further than the last as the gene pool grows more distant from its progenitor. Though many dragons are little more than clever beasts and apex predators, they still have the same mindset towards Mankind as their distant ancestor and can be a help or a danger to mortals based on their heritage. |
GiantThese massive creatures are characterized by enormous size, brutish strength, and savage tendencies. While the largest varieties of giant are (thankfully) rare, the mere existence of these beings poses a great threat to mortal civilization in the remote and wild regions they call home.
While elusive and secretive, giants are quite aggressive and have no qualms about attacking mortal caravans, raiding fields of livestock, or hurling boulders at city walls out of spite. While a handful of smaller giants prefer living in primitive tribes, most are solitary creatures, spending their long lives wandering the countryside like living mountains, attacking and eating anything smaller than themselves (a stipulation which doesn't exclude much). |
GodlingAt the dawn of Creation, the great Celestial gods appointed a host of lesser divines called Medicon to watch over The Sphere, protecting and ruling over its streams, mountains, and forests as their own. In the absence of the Celestials, these Medicon soon formed kingdoms and courts of alliance, rivalry, intrigue, and betrayal. Their empires spanned all the wilderness, every leaf, stone, and blade of grass governed by a spirit of nature.
Mortals have always had a strained relationship with the gods of nature. On the one hand, they must exploit nature to survive and grow as a species. On the other hand, Mankind must live in harmony with nature, giving back part of what is taken so that the land may thrive. Those who break this accord or fail to show proper deference to the spirits who inhabit the land will find the fury of nature and the wrath of beasts turned against them as the ire of the local Godlings grows. |
HominidWhether they are the misshapen children of a dark and wicked entity, or a naturally evolved creature, the term "Hominid" is applied to beings who are similar to Man in their biology but distant in mind and spirit. Though some are elusive and peaceful, most tribes of Hominid are quite primitive, savage, blood-thirsty, and inexplicably hostile towards Mankind.
Tribes of Hominid can be found in most wild regions of the world, from the darkest marshes to the most inhospitable deserts and glaciers. Their way of life puts them at odds with frontier cities and any who venture through the wilderness. Adventurers are regularly called upon to deal with Hominid tribes that threaten travelers, disrupt trade, and pose a threat to any living outside the safety of city walls. |
InfernalJust as the Celestials are served by Medicon, so too are the Raksha served by their own host of beings. Infernals are a dark mirror of the Medicon, presiding over disease, famine, and ignorance as a petty god rules the seas, plains, and woodlands. Some surmise that Daemons were once Medicon, corrupted by the Raksha while others theorize that they came from Outside and anchored themselves to the worlds sometime during The Collapse. Whatever their origin, Daemons are terrifying beings who despise mortals and work ceaselessly to torment and destroy them.
Infernals classify themselves in one of nine Circles; the lower the Circle, the greater the demon's power. Mortals classify Infernals in one of three categories: Furies are destroyers; beings of insatiable hunger, violence, and chaos. Sithia are corruptors, tempters, and purveyors of mortal sin. Eloi are deceivers, angels of false light who corrupt and destroy by giving mortals what they want. |
Lusus NaturaeA great many creatures exist within The Sphere, living and dying within the natural context, having a place in the food chain, and harmonizing with nature. Lusus Naturae have no place within nature. They are abnormal creatures of uncanny size, strength, and ferocity who exist due to magic, divine meddling, or something gone wrong within the natural order of things.
Lusus Naturae come in all shapes and sizes. Some are beautiful, peaceful, and magical creatures who shine with light seemingly from another world. Others are cruel and nightmarish beasts with razor claws, slavering maws, and row upon row of blood-thirsty fangs. Those who venture through the wilderness are often beset by such creatures and heroic hunters regularly work to purge the land of these threats. |
MortalWhile many of the threats an adventurer will face come from the monstrous denizens of The Sphere, the most dangerous and insidious of villains are nearly always fellow Mortals. Some, driven by a hunger for power and wealth or by some darker thirst, commit atrocities which put the most evil monsters to shame.
Mortal enemies come in almost as many varieties as monstrous creatures, and wield powers that are just as diverse. Some may be deadly with a blade, while others are master marksmen. Some may have magical power while others wield power that is sociopolitical in nature, weaving vast webs of conspiracy by which they ensnare the weak and corrupt society. Whatever form they take, a Mortal enemy often presents a unique challenge, as the hero is set against not a mindless beast, but one of their own kind. |
UndeadUnder normal circumstances, the dead remain buried as the two parts of the soul break apart. The Lu ascends to the afterlife while the Mon slumbers with the body, returning to the earth as the body decomposes. But sometimes things go wrong. The restless Lu becomes a ghost, trapped and tormented in a state between life and death while the furious Mon becomes a rampaging corpse, full of rage and hunger. The dead who do not rest are known as Undead.
In cases of brutal, violent deaths, a corpse may awaken or a spirit may linger. Most of the time, however, Undead are the product of a foul, taboo magic called Necromancy. Those who practice such arts hold sway over the risen dead, commanding them to do their bidding. Whatever their origin, the Undead are an abuse of the natural cycle of life and death, a threat to the living, and an insult to the dead. |
Elite Monsters
Some enemies are especially challenging due to their importance in the story. These can typically be thought of as "boss monsters". Elite enemies come in all shapes and sizes from the monstrous warchief to the vampiir lord. Whatever their appearance, whatever their role in the story all Elite creatures have a strength in common that sets them apart from the common rabble of monsters.
The GM can make any creature Elite. Making a creature Elite gives them points of Destiny which may be spent any time the creature makes a Feat to automatically succeed on that Feat (even if it could normally be opposed, like an attack Feat). Elite creatures also cannot be subjected to one-hit kills or effects that instantly doom a target. They may Save twice during their turn (once at the beginning and once at the end), rolling two dice each time and using the best result. Elite creatures also award special Components and additional ExP. To summarize, Elite creatures...
The GM can make any creature Elite. Making a creature Elite gives them points of Destiny which may be spent any time the creature makes a Feat to automatically succeed on that Feat (even if it could normally be opposed, like an attack Feat). Elite creatures also cannot be subjected to one-hit kills or effects that instantly doom a target. They may Save twice during their turn (once at the beginning and once at the end), rolling two dice each time and using the best result. Elite creatures also award special Components and additional ExP. To summarize, Elite creatures...
- Have an amount of Destiny equal to their Challenge Rating; this Destiny can be spent to automatically succeed on any Feat they make.
- Are immune to Stun and Charm effects.
- Cannot be subjected to one-hit kills or instantly reduced to 0 HP (except in cases of falling into a volcano, being eaten by a dragon, etc. These occurrences should happen in dramatic fashion at the end of the fight, if they happen at all).
- May Save at both the beginning and end of their turn to end conditions. When Saving, Elites roll twice and use the best result.
- Award a special Component (based on their creature type) used for creating Decoctions (see below).
- Aberrant drops Umbral Heart
- Accursed drops Tainted Blood
- Construct drops Soulstone
- Dragon drops Dragon's Breath
- Giant drops Giant Tallow
- Godling drops Ectoplasm
- Hominid drops Savage Sinew
- Infernal drops Demonic Ichor
- Lusus Naturae drops Monstrous Fang
- Undead drops Grave Ash
