Crinos' Monster creations

A side Blog I created in order to post my monster conversions for DnD 5e. If you like what you see here, consider supporting me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Jessiestaf or on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/crinos

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Watts Files Volume 2: Vampires (Introduction) | Jessie Staffler

Watts Files Volume 2: Vampires (Introduction) by Jessie Staffler on Patreon. Join Jessie Staffler's community for exclusive content and upd

[crinosmonsters]

Fear of failed tests

The Fear of Failed tests stalks the halls of academia, in particular those schools which put a high amount of pressure on their students to excel, and those which punish those students that fall behind with humiliation and ostracizing.

The fear of failed tests resembles a large human skull supported by multiple limbs, the top of its head is missing, instead filled with countless failed tests which flutter about, preceding its arrival. Its victim always see's their name upon these underperofrming exams. In its foremost hand it carries a massive blood stained quill, which it uses to inflict bloody mental wounds on those who get in its way and to block any magic that meets its path. There is no harsher critic than the fear of failed tests; every bit of arcane work, no matter how immaculate, fails short of its impossible standards.

The nightmare realm the Fear of Failed Tests draws its victims into is a neverending cycle of endless testing, each test ending more horrifically than the last; sometimes the tests are in an unknown language, sometimes the victim is falsely accused of cheating or forgot some vital tool needed for the test, just as often they just find their mind is a blank. In any case the end result is the same; shame, humiliation, and a complete destruction of the victims self worth.

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Fear of Lost Teeth

Many sages who specialize in studying dreams say that the dreams of losing ones teeth are a symbol of a fear of being helpless or impotent. Whatever the truth of it is, those who encounter the fear of Lost Teeth certainly take better care of their dental hygiene afterward.

The fear of Lost teeth resembles a massive lower jaw studded with multiple hands and a smaller gaping maw at its base. One of the weaker of the Nightmares despite its imposing size, its mainly notable for the mass of misshapen teeth jutting from its jaw body, mementos from previous victims.

The fear of lost teeth haunts any place where teeth might be lost: Fighting arenas, steep hills, hospital and nurseries, where it always seeks to add to its collection . Creatures trapped in its nightmare realm suffer the pain of having their teeth wrenched from their mouths over and over again, either with pliers, or just falling out or rotting in their mouths.

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Fear of Abduction

The Fear of Abduction is a silent, eerie figure that resembles a huge disembodied head of an unknown species. Some scholars believe these heads resemble humanoid creatures from far beyond the Astral sea, but most consider this a coincidence.

The Fear of Abduction preys upon those who fear being forcibly separated from those they love, either taken away from them or having them taken away; Overprotective parents, fugitives fleeing their pursuers, or wealthy and famous individuals who are the target of stalkers and kidnappers are all prime targets for the Fear of abduction.

The fear of Abduction likes to strike at night, either slipping into a victims home silently or tracking them in an isolated location, their ability to manipulate gravity allows them to slow potential rescuers and prevent their prey from fleeing, at which point they will snatch them into their nightmare realm and then quickly flee, hoping to drop their victim off miles away after thoroughly traumatizing them.

Those trapped in the Fear of Abductions Nightmare realm experience scenarios where they are locked away in strange alien prisons, often to be tortured or experimented on, or dropped in alien cities surrounded by unfriendly strangers. Those who fear having their loved ones taken will see them ripped away from them again and again, and sometimes will endure scenarios of hopeless, fruitless searchers which can last days or years, ending with the discovery of a horrifically destroyed body, a stranger who has changed so much to be unrecognizable to the victim, or, worst of all, nothing but painful, lingering doubt of what became of them.

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Nightmares, General Information

Nightmares are manifestations of fear, born from the subconscious terror of mortal minds. Some Nightmares are born spontaneously, while others are crafted by dark cultists or evil spellcasters. Nightmares exist for one purpose; to terrorize mortals that fear the thing they embody.

Each Nightmare is unique, and each represents a specific fear, as a result no two Nightmares are alike. When multiple people fear the same thing, that increases the power and size of the preexisting Nightmare, rather than spawning new ones.

When a Nightmare finds someone vulnerable to their fear, they pull them into their bodies and plunge them into a nightmare realm where they have to experience that fear over and over. Only by overcoming that fear or by being helped out by another can the person escape their nightmare prison. Those who stay too long can suffer terrible side effects in the form of long term trauma, scars, or curses which can only be healed with time or magic.

All nightmares share the following traits:

Sense fear: A Nightmare can sense the specific fears of any creature within 120 feet. If a creature is afraid of the thing the Nightmare embodies, they gain advantage on perception checks to find them.

Never ending Nightmare: When a Nightmare is reduced to 0 HP, their form dissipates and they will reform after a period of time near someone who fears the thing the Nightmare embodies, possibly in a different form from its previous manifestation.

Conquered Fear: Each Nightmare has a specific weakness that can help its victim overcome the fear; a fear of losing ones teeth may be countered by gluing one's teeth in place, a fear of being laughed at may gag the horror. If the victim knows the secret to countering the fear, they have advantage on will saves to escape the nightmare realm action (See below)

In addition, all Nightmares have the following bonus action:

Nightmare Realm: The Nightmare may target a creature within 5 feet of them. The target must make a DC (Varies based on the Nightmare) wisdom save or be drawn into the Nightmare, trapped in a Nightmare realm where they suffer the fear the Nightmare represents.

When the target is drawn in, the Nightmare moves into the targets spaced and the target takes XX (Based on the Nightmare) Psychic damage. The target is also blinded and restrained and takes an additional XX psychic damage at the start of each of their turn. The target moves with the Nightmare.

The Nightmare can only engulf one person at a time, If the target makes a successful XX DC Wisdom save at the start of their turn they are ejected from the Nightmare and appear at an adjacent space of their choice. A creature within 15 feet can also attempt a DC XX Charisma (persuasion) check to help free the target from the Nightmare realm. Regardless if they make the save or not the creature takes XX psychic damage from the attempt.

If a creature ends their turn within the Nightmare realm 3 times in a row, or takes more than half their maximum hit points in damage from the Nightmare realm, then they are afflicted with a secondary long term effect, the actual effects and duration of which vary based on the Nightmare.

Authors note: Behold my next project: Mor Magic the Gathering builds, this time Nightmares, specifically the Nightmares from Duskmourn: House of horrors. For these builds I am generously cribbing from the Dragonlance monstrous compendium on DnD beyond, specifically the Dream Eater creature, but I am adding my own flavor and spin on these bad boys. In any case, stay tuned.

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Cuckoo Hag

Cuckoo Hags hunt children who are dissatisfied with their lives, disguising themselves as trusted love ones and luring them into their pocket dimensions with treats and sweet dreams, once the victim agrees to stay forever, the Hag drains their life away and captures their soul.

The third of the new Hags from Pathfinder 2e: The replacement for Night Hags. They keep the same MO as soul thieves, but are based on the Beldame/Other Mother from Coraline. I kinda beefed the Sweet Hag statblock so I'm glad I'm getting back in the swing of things with this one.

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Sweet Hag

The Sweet Hag uses colorful decor and delicious confectioneries to lure in their victims before devouring them. Their preferred prey are poor children who will not be missed when they disappear.

This is Pathfinder 2e's replacement for the Green Hag. And is, well, the witch from Hansel and Gretel. Always a personal favorite of mine.

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Iron Hag

Iron Hags are kidnappers and abductors who prey on the smallest and weakest. They snatch babies and small children and spirit them away to isolated locations, raising them as their own and keeping them put with tales of how dangerous and frightening the outside world is, if they still try and leave, the Iron Hag will resort to more brutal, direct methods to keep their victims "Safe."

Iron Hags live up to their names, with bones, teeth and claws made out of solid iron, and long sturdy arm which are perfect for child snatching.

Authors note: Yep I'm back on DnD again, and I'm back doing Pathfinder conversions. Recently Pathfinder did their own update to second edition (In an effort to move further away from DnD after the whole OGL mess) and one of those steps was revamping their hags, making them more like famous fairy tale witches or figures from popular media. In this case, the Iron Hag is Mother Gothel/the Witch from Rapunzel, and is the Pathfinder equivalent to the Annis hag.

Also bear in mind while this is meant to line up with the 2024 version, I'm still using a Statblock generator based on the 2014 rules (mainly because they never bothered to post monster creation rules for 2024). so this is 2014ish... I think? Its probably fine.

[funnypages]

A witnesses’s sexual history is usually considered out of bounds in a court of law. Unless its used for comedy.

[crinosmonsters]

See this is what I'm talking about. Whatever ethics violations there are in sleeping with your client. That was not what was focused on. It was entirely shut shaming Jen because she *gasp* HAD SEX.

Like Marvel has a lot of problems, bur one of the big ones is their creepy preoccupation with sex. This is the same company that tried to tell Peter and Gwen never has sex. Like WTF.

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The Night Unending

The Night Unending

Phenomenon type: Bubble (Motivation: To keep inside things in and outside things out)

The Night Unending is a magical curse which creates a pocket dimension that simulates an endless, all consuming night.

The Night Unending is based around a magical anchor, an item such as a mirror or a watch, which when interacted with transports the victim and people in the general vicinity into the pocket dimension. The anchor activates at night, usually tricking the victims into thinking they are still in the real world.

The Night Unending resembles the section of the real world around the anchor, extending a mile. The only initial indicator that something is wrong is there is no natural light; the sky is totally empty, with no moon or stars. There is also no power or electricity, no lights working at all, and of course aside from the people pulled in the plane is entirely absent of life.

The Night Unending does not last forever; after twelve hours the realm begins to break down, disintigrating back into the darkness, within 24 hours only an area left the size of a house, a few hours after there will only be a room, then after that nothing. After the Night Unending collapses, anyone still inside will be gone forever, utterly consumed by the darkness.

Weaknesses: There are two ways to escape the Night Unending. The first is to destroy the anchor, this will dispel the Night Unending and return the victims to the real world. Of course the key is even realizing that you aren’t in the real world before its too late.

The other method is to use a bit of light to cast a shadow, which can be used to create a door back to the real world. Since there is no naturally occurring light in the Night Unending, it must be done with a light source brought from outside, like a flash light or a cell phone.

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The Silent Knight

The Silent Knight

Monster type: Executioner (Motivation: to punish the guilty)

The Silent Knight is a mystical knight who is the guardian of an ancient, frozen treasure.

The Knight wears ornate armor stained blue by the cold, and wields a powerful morningstar. He looks like he is was chiseled from a block of ice. Under the armor his skin of frostbitten and desiccated.

The treasure of the Silent Knight is left up to the Keeper. But its usually something immensely valuable or immensely powerful. Once its taken, the Knight will track the thief to the ends of the earth, and will slay the thief and take the treasure back. The Knight will destroy anything or anyone in its path.

Powers: Unnaturally cold, creates cold and ice all around them. Can track its treasure anywhere, immortal and undying.

Weapons: Icy Morningstar: 3 harm forceful, hand, messy

Armor: 3 (magic armor)

Harm Capacity: 8

Weakness: Prolonged exposure to high temperatures will cause the Silent Knight to thaw out and eventually go dormant, although he will revive when he becomes cold again.

He can be permanently destroyed if someone of royal blood relieves him of his duty. This will cause him to rot and then melt away like ice.

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The Sorority of Sin

The Sorority of Sin

Monster type: Tempter (Motivation: To tempt people into evil deeds)

The Sorority of Sin is a group of seven Succubi sisters who each represent one of the seven deadly sins. They rarely work in tandem, instead each going out on their own in order to wreak as much havoc as they can by tempting people into evil deeds based on their sins.

The sisters are:

Gloria: Representing the sin of Pride, she presents herself as a life guru and spiritual advisor, acting as a patron to unsuspecting people and turning them into arrogant entitled snobs.

Trixie: Representing the sin of Greed, Trixie takes the guise of a banker or tech specialist, often pushing ponzi schemes and fads like cryptocurrency or NFTs, her schemes often make her victims rich, at the expense of everyone around them.

Katt: Pushy and violent, Katt represents the sin of Wrath. She often poses as a martial arts instructor, a gym coach, or a self defense teacher. In any case, she teaches her unfortunate students that violence and anger are the only answer to any problem.

Mimi: The sin of Envy, Mimi is an online influencer who singles out her victims and tries to outshine them at every opportunity, poisoning them with bitterness and resentment that makes them suspicious and spiteful.

Sophie: Sophie represents the sin of Sloth. She is a tireless and dutiful maid and servant who enters a victims life and does everything for them, slowly making them dependent on her as they work to isolate them from their friends and family.

Candy: The Sin of Gluttony, Candy is a friendly jovial chef who works hard to cook sumptuous meals for her victims, and encourage them to eat themselves into physical and often financial ruin.

Lillith: Last but not least is the unofficial leader of the Sorority, Lillith, the sin of Lust. She does pretty much what you expect of a Succubi, and leaves a string of broken hearts and ruined lives in her wake.

In their default state the sisters look like beautiful women with bat wings, horns and hooves.

Abilities: Shapeshifting, teleporting, can entice mortals with sinful thoughts and influence their actions.

Weapons: deadly nails 1 harm hand innocuous

armor: none

Harm Capacity: 7

Weaknesses: The sisters cannot cross a line of salt. Also they can be driven off with objects made of Silver. A Big Magic ritual can be used to banish them from the mortal plane, but only if all seven are in the same place at the same time. Luckily they always meet once a month to compare notes and share stories.

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The Pane of Pain

The Pane of Pain

Phenomenon type: Zone (Motivation: To harm all who enter within)

The Pane of Pain is a magical pane of stained class designed to go into a church window, it depicts numerous saints being killed in various gruesome ways: Burned at the stake, dismembered, broken on the rack, and so forth. The Pane is actually inhabited by the spirit of a malicious demon, and will seek to destroy and corrupt others.

Once the Pane is installed in the window of a church, it will begin seeking out and killing members of the congregation; It does so by causing an invisible presence to follow them and arrange an accident that kills them in a manner similar to one of the saints depicted on the glass. On average, it kills one victim a month. Once it kills a victim, the pane will change to depict another type of horrible death.

Once the Pane is fed, it will begin to give its protection to the priests of the church; they will find themselves becoming incredibly wealthy and successful, and they will find that they become immune to legal consequences of any wrongdoings they commit; something will always happen to keep them from being caught; evidence will disappear, people will just forget, legal loopholes will get them off, or law enforcement will just look the other way. The Church staff will eventually become aware of the evil Pane being somehow responsible for it, and its up to them whether they try and rid themselves of the evil Pane or to protect it and reap the benefits.

Weaknesses: The Pane can only be destroyed by being smashed by a holy relic, something with true spiritual significance. Of course the real challenge is discovering the Pane at all, and then getting around their protectors and avoiding dying long enough to do so.

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The Feasting Hall

The Feasting Hall

Phenomenon type: Bubble (Motivation: To keep things inside in, and things outside out)

The feasting hall is a liminal location that can manifest in different places, taking the form of an eatery of some sort, where it ensnares victims and then begins feeding them an endless feast.

The feasting Hall takes many forms: It can appear as a small family restaurant, a part of a popular fast food chain, a fine dining establishment, a cheesy kids pizzeria with animatronics, In every case though there’s always a sense of subtle wrongness to the place; words on the menu are strangely misspelled or give strange, off putting messages, the attendants always seem to stare a little too long, the layout of the restaurant doesn’t make any sense, or a strange smell in the air.

The supernatural effects of the Feasting Hall begin as soon as a victim begins eating their meals. The meals provided by the feasting Hall never end; plates never empty no matter how much food is eaten, and new plates are constantly brought out. At the same measure, the victims never feel full, and will continue eating perpetually as if in a trance.

If a victim does attempt to pull themselves away from the food for a moment, they will feel a mental tug that prevents them from wanting to leave. No matter what they will always justify staying in the restaurant to themselves, no matter how strong their will their resolve will eventually break. On top of that the desire to return to eating will always be present, and eventually it will overwhelm them and return them to their seat.

Time does not exist inside the Feasting Hall, the only measure of time is how fat victims grow from their endless eating. Eventually anyone who stays in the Feasting Hall will become a massive immobile blob unable to move. The hall is actually full of people like this, but are shielded by a mental screen that makes them invisible to newcomers. Its only after they begin eating and the trap has already closed around them do they notice the other patrons, that will soon be their future.

Weaknesses: Only someone who has not yet eaten the food of the restaurant can enter or leave of their own volition, and they have the ability to force out other patrons who have been enchanted by the food (Assuming they have not grown too large to get through the door). Once outside the victim returns to their senses and also will lose any excess weight they did not start has. (Generally speaking, most hunters will instinctively know something is wrong and not eat the food, unless they are a Hunter type who is supposed to get into trouble like the mundane). In addition, if someone who has eaten the food is fed real food from outside the Hall, they will temporarily regain their senses and be able to leave.

The only way to destroy the Feasting Hall is to sneak back into the kitchen and sabotage it, either by turning off the freezers, cutting off the gas to the ovens or releasing a bunch of bugs or rats on the premises, if this is done the flow of food will cease, and the Feasting Hall will be closed down by the cosmic health inspectors, and all victims returned to their homes of origin.

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The Family

The Family

phenomenon type: Conspiracy (Motivation: To gather power, keep secrets, and create confusion)

The Family is a clan of nearly identical looking individuals characterized by platinum blonde hair and pale eyes. They are extremely insular, creepy, and always on the look out for new members of their “family.”

They will usually attempt to befriend and ingratiate themselves to new potential members, befriending them in a casual setting. Once they get their hooks into a victim though, they begin a campaign of isolation, manipulation, and gas lighting, culminating with abducting the victim to their home and initiating them into their family, once there they will begin an intensely strict and cruel regiment of abuse and torture to break the victim until they fully assimilate into their new role in the family. The victim will even be physically transformed by unknown means into an identical member of the family.

The Family generally consists of a Father, mother, and two to three kids. Elder members are sometimes also present, but are usually ignored and eventually die off from neglect.

Weakness: The family can be destroyed if their home is located and burned to the ground with them inside. However usually any potential victims who are in the process of being brainwashed must be found and released. After their house is destroyed the Family will either die in the flames or be exposed and arrested by the proper authorities.

Typical Family member

Minion type: Traitor (Motivation: To betray people)

This is a typical member of the family. It should be noted the family is more than just some sort of cult or family of slashers, the process seems to change them entirely into something otherworldly.

Abilities: Immune to pain and fear, surprisingly strong.

Weapons: improvised weapon, 1 harm, hand

Armor: 1 (can’t feel pain)

Harm capacity: 8

Weaknesses: Individual family members can be easily killed, but there always seems to be more.

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Mr. Nice

Mr. Nice

Monster type: Parasite (Motivation: To infest, control, and devour)

Mr. Nice is a strange figure: He resembles a man in casual dress with a large yellow smiley face in lieu of a head. Despite this, no one seems to find his appearance unusual; they just seem to ignore his strange head and accept him as a member of the community.

Mr. Nice is a psychic parasite who feeds on the more aggressive and hostile aspects of the human mind, slowly draining those feelings out of those he spends time around, until they are unable to experience or express any negative emotion; Fear, anger, worry, sadness, all become unavailable to Mr. Nice’s victims.

This may seem as a blessing at first, but eventually the horror of what he’s done will become apparent, as human beings cannot function without their full range of emotions. A person drained by Mr. Nice becomes a placid zombie, unable to defend themselves or even react to harmful and dangerous situations, a victim will sit in a burning house sipping their coffee and thinking “this is fine”, they will not even react if someone is murdered in front of them.

Which is good for Mr. Nice because once he feeds on his victims emotions and had his fill, he will turn on their bodies next, his round head splitting in half and opening to reveal a mouth filled with numerous rows of razor sharp teeth, with which he quickly and messily devours his prey.

Abilities: Seems normal to most people, drains the negativity from people around him.

Weapon: Deadly bite: 4 harm, Intimate, Messy, Slow

Armor: none

Harm Capacity: 7

Weaknesses: In order to defeat Mr. Nice, he must be weakened. This can only be done by being as friendly and positive around him as possible, to a sickening degree. No matter what he says or does, the hunters must show no outward negative response, even the slightest slip of the mask will give him the foothold he needs to try and drain them. Eventually though, the overwhelming positive emotions will sicken Mr. Nice, when his yellow head turns green, it means its time to strike.

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Naughty Doll

The Naughty Doll

Monster type: Trickster (Motivation: To create chaos)

The Naughty Doll is an animated doll, crafted of food and very ugly and misshapen, who loves to commit evil actions and frame children for them.

They usually like to lurk around thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets and other places you are likely to find a used toy. Once it enters a home, it will single out the nearest child who is old enough and begin to target them.

It starts out small, with pranks and minor offenses, but will always make sure to leave evidence point to its chosen child. Eventually it will escalate to more serious crimes, including deadly acts of sabotage and property damage, culminating with the murder or attempted murder of the child’s family. The end result is that the child is either left an orphan, or is institutionalized or sent away by their family who think their child has become a dangerous killer. Once satisfied, the Naughty Doll will slip away and find a new family to menace.

Abilities: seems like a normal doll when not moving, master of stealth and sabotage, very quick and crafty.

Weapons: Improvised weapon: 1 harm hand Innocuous small

Armor: 1 (wooden body)

Harm Capacity: 4

Weaknesses: In order to destroy the Naughty Doll first it must be exposed. This is not an easy feat, since it is quite clever and knows to avoid or destroy cameras and other recording devices. But its not impossible, Once exposed, the Doll will throw caution to the wind and attack in a desperate frenzy, at this point it can be easily dispatched.