#5e monstrosity

[vivi-the-goblin]

Fun fact- lickitung couldn't learn lick in gen 1. It was exclusive to the Ghastly and Jynx lines. And...look, it's the end of the year. I'm gonna be real, my creativity's a bit burnt out from the holiday rush. maybe I'll come back and add encounter ideas later, but I'm just kinda out of it. Seriously, every entry for both of these just says it has a big tongue with paralyzing saliva. I've got little to go off here. and all my searches just say they're based on a yokai that licks the walls of old bathrooms? Which exists for some reason? So we're doing this without the descriptions like I used to. I'm gonna take a small hiatus to recover now, but I'll be back to posting when I can! I'll be back, and in the meantime will still be on youtube and posting the stuff I make for there. I know, it's not the same, but I need to take a break from one of the two to get any amount of freetime. The youtube algorithm will sweep away all my progress in 2-3 weeks, tumblr won't. I'll come back. I always do.

[vivi-the-goblin]

It's at times like this I wish I'd kept practicing art past like 14. because a cat sized Behir would be adorable. like a Doxin with more legs. When researching Behir I found out that these 40 foot centepede-dragon-crocodile things had apparently been selectively bred in one random offshoot 3e book to be half that size, with a mention of ones the size of a small dog. The Shining South only showed the "Guard Behir," but I realized this followed the trend of what we did with cattle and dogs, so I knew what I had to do. The Young Behir cannot yet control its electricity fully, leading to a constant discharge of electricity around it and a weaker breath weapon overall. They're sometimes kept by nobility as intelligent guards, and are loyal if treated well and kept full. Pocket behir are used as exotic pets and warlock companions. They're proud, but will bond with a companion that treats them well. This is despite thier dislike of people, and likely because some secret side of them realizes they aren't as strong as they act. They also make a good stand-in for hatchlings if your players come across some. And if you're interested in behir, here's a little video.

[vivi-the-goblin]

Shellder is known for latching onto a slowpoke for infinite meals. Cloyster is known for having the 6th highest defense of all pokemon (barring megas) and...I mean, we're in agreement that they knew what they were doing with cloyster, right? The horn placement, the HG/SS battle where the young couple had an onix and cloyster? Anyway, I tried to make the AC reflect how invincible the shell supposedly is without being completely busted. I'm actually kinda proud about the Cloyster. It has both the standard sets; the standard defensive and the Shell Smash/Skill Link. It incorporates how the spikes apparently grow in response to damage. It can fight a war of attrition if they're being cagey, but if it starts getting blitzed down it can Shell Smash and retaliate in kind. I like being able to switch up midway and surprise a party who thought they'd figured you out. Clams aren't exactly...complex, but here's what I got for encounter design. - a fishing village has a yearly shellder fest in the fall, full of festivities. The first day has a competition for most tongue-out shellder caught, as well as one for the biggest. The second day is the great cracking, where groups of fishermen and adventurers alike are placed in knee-high water. They can pick however many shellder they want to fight at once, whoever picks the largest amount and wins gets a prize! Third day is a great feast, with the local Bronze Dragon protector as the guest of honor. - A fisher bursts into the tavern, claiming he saw a slowpoke get dragged into the sea by a shellder the size of an orc. the young people laugh and say he must be drunk, but the elders are unnerved. Cloyster are a once-in-a-generation occurrence, and for one to be so hungry it hunts on land? That's a dangerous creature to be so hungry. Worse yet, the sea they rely on must be running low on good-sized fish. The party is asked to hunt it down. The town is too poor to offer a reward, but the black pearl of a cloyster is both unique and the size of a person's head. You can also add onto this one. Have the party later be hunter down by triton or merfolk. That was an escaped cloyster from thier ranch, as cloyster shell has the properties of adamantine if properly worked. They take 100 years to mature, and the party just wasted thier work. Also, an armored dragon (or other large coastal creature) now knows they "stole" its special giant pearl.

[vivi-the-goblin]

The hitmons. Got all the fighters here. You got a gladitorial boxer, you got stretchy fried chicken with eyeliner, you got bayblades with a bowl cut. And then thier scrappy little brother, because gen 2 really did insist on making baby versions of everything. At least this one doesn't need a special item to get, and is actually fairly clever in how it evolves. I decided to reflect this in thier natures. Hitmonlee is recklessly, violent, and weaponized disjointing his limbs like it's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. So Chaotic Evil seemed appropriate, might makes right and constantly fighting others for personal development, pretty standard. They're as straightforward in combat as it gets, blind rage and attacking. Hitmonchan is defensive, essentially forming thier own boxing associations. A conflict with the party actually might not end with death, and thier loose regulation lands them in neutral. Hitmontop are free spirits, the curious ones always trying new things and never focusing. You can make some basic encounters just from this. - Tyrogue are always looking for a way to improve themselves, and after moving into the fields by town they've started attacking villagers. Not lethally, they're more an annoyance than anything. The party is asked to deal with them. Rather than kill them, the party does have the option to train them. A particularly rousing speech or series of sparring matches could influence how they train. Hitmontop would spin themselves away, and hitmonchan wouldn't bother the town. Careful though, too aggressive and hitmonlee might spawn in droves. -Hitmonlee settled its territory on top of an entrance to a clan of giants' lair. The giants do not know or care about the differences between smaller creatures, and are preparing to launch an attack on the nearest settlement they can find in retribution. Either the giants or the Hitmonlee must be stopped, fast! -Hitmonchan are always looking to improve. A local tribe claims they're offering a prize for anyone who can beat thier champion in nonlethal- a pile of gems, valuable to the party if not to the hitmonchan -Hunters are struggling, the wildlife in the area is suddenly on constant alert. Farmers wake to find strange symbols gouged into thier field. Houses and trees have chunks ripped out of them, about eye level, and the whole village is on edge. The culprit? A hitmontop has wandered in; it got stuck in the wooded area and is bouncing around like a pinball. It needs to be tracked down and guided out of the woods before it accidentally wrecks the town!

[vivi-the-goblin]

You know what a prepared party expects in the actic? Remorhaz, there's only like 5 creatures native only to the arctic. You know what NO party expects in the middle of the desert? Remorhaz, it literally says in the description that they generate so much heat they'd drop without the arctic chill. But I had the idea of making one purely for the idea of it scorching tunnels of glass around it. Glass Remorhaz use that heat-expelling property that normal ones do, except they don't have an internal furnace and in fact are otherwise extremely well insulated. So thier insides are icy-cool, perfectly comfortable since they were already cold-proof, and great for piercing through the resistances of native creatures. Glass is great at retaining heat though, and they were already naturally heatproof, so thier outsides accumulate so much heat they gain a sort of heat-haze around them. Throw in Frosted glass isn't just a pun, it's transluscent but eliminates glare, and you have the perfect ambush predator. I imagine one nesting in a desert temple, waiting until an adventurer stumbles into it then blasting the whole group. The sand in its territory would glitter with tiny glass shards from old tunnels collapsed from sandstorms, a sign locals watch for. perhaps the party finds these strange glass tunnels, and finds a den of babies. A wounded Remorhaz might retreat into its tunnels, funneling the players in for a blast. watch the fear in the wizards eyes when they launch a spell and you describe the tunnel beginning to collapse, giving them juuuuuust enough time to book it. To learn more about Remorhaz proper, check out my video on the subject!

[vivi-the-goblin]

Fun fact- thematic background music helps with most projects, but not when working with galarian ponyta. Too much 2012 nostalgia, lost the whole day on a rabbit trail. Anyway, ponyta and rapidash, the classic flaming steeds! Terrifying too, as flame charge will have it constantly bouncing around the battlefield in hit-and-run tactics. The galarian unicor- sorry, "Unique Horn" version is definitely more of a support, with fairy wind making it difficult to chase through the forest. With rapidash, smart strike is weak but a good finisher for a weakened PC. Galarian form however will just knock someone down as a reaction to get advantage and retaliate by goring them. Take note that either of these can hold their own in a fight, but are definitely designed to have a companion. Both forms of ponyta will see weaker creatures like halflings or pixies riding them to provide fire support, things that appreciate a hit-and-get-out sort of strategy. The rapidash are suited for high level cavaliers/paladins, ancient elves and fey, and maybe a party member for the final battle. Speaking of battles, here are a few encounter ideas. - A rancher wants to break into the big leagues by raising Ponyta for noble mounts, but needs to capture a colt first. Thankfully random adventurers will do all sorts of things for the right price. - Locals swear there's a young unicorn in the woods. A small group are loyal to it, leaving it offerings and swearing that its mere companionship is sorcery of the highest caliber. The local priest thinks it's witchcraft, as nobody else has seen it and a celestial would obviously show itself to him. He offers the party a reward for proving they're enthralled by some fiend.

- There is a single Rapidash in the area, a stallion known as The Lord of the Dale. Locals give him offerings, hoping for his continued protection after it slew a chimera. Today it has appeared in town. Wounded. It cannot speak, but it appears to be asking for help. A roar sounds in the distance. (whatever it is, if healed the rapidash will willingly carry party members into battle.) -Did you know that spells like Revivify are necromancy? It can tell there's a necromancy, but Blight and Spare the Dying all feel the same to its ability. You have entered the rapidash's glade, and the forest will heed its call.

[vivi-the-goblin]

TIL if tumblr's just deleting all your text when you submit, post the textless post then edit, it sticks. Anyway, here we have the PSI pokemon, most well known for being banned in the card games after an 80 million dollar lawsuit about infringing on Uri Geller's name/spoon trick. These pokemon aren't hard to put down once you get close, but good luck getting close. I suggest you take a good look at your party's abilities before throwing this one at them in a combat encounter, because they could quickly destroy a party too slow or magic reliant to deal with thier constant misty stepping. Speaking of encounters, here are a few to spark your imagination. - The town's food supply has been draining quickly, but the locks on the storehouse are intact and there are no tracks. A stealthy party will discover a clutch of a dozen abra, silently floating in at night to steal for thier clan's kadabra. If a single shot is fired towards them they will immediately teleport home, perhaps never to be seen again... - A kadabra asks for the party's help. A few abra going missing is concerning, but its mate disappearing as well is alarming. So is the figure it swears it saw outside its cave. Its fear turns out to be right, but the poachers with dimensional shackles will offer the party a cut of the bounty. All they have to do is lure out thier new kadabra friend... - A few clans of Kadabra have formed a sort of transportation network, using the power of themselves and thier clutch as rapid transport for hire. A local wizard has been harrassing them lately for 'infringement,' backed with money from the caravan guard's guild. The kadabra approach the party for help, as they feel this might get ugly. -A local village has an Alakazam as an advisor. She warps in on a monthly visit to serve as a neutral judge for hard decisions and important trials. She's missed her usual date however, and the town fears the worst. When the party arrives however, they may find that she was not assaulted. Curiosity sometimes leads to dark paths, and she may not have the most friendly of intentions for unexpected guests...

[vivi-the-goblin]

So are we not going to talk about how Slowpoke got so many forms? Because I wasn't expecting it at all. I guess it's hard to talk much about them, what you see is pretty much what you get. Slowpoke move in herds, but are so slow to react the only benefit t is "maybe they'll attack someone else." They turn into slowbro accidentally, where they acquire a spikey club on thier tail. That or a megaman-style launcher. They are dumber than that int score lets on, there is nothing going on behind those eyes. Except slowking, but one of them just sits by the shore philosophizing and the other is a shellfish piloting a flesh mech. Anyway, encounter ideas! - Locals have gathered by the river each spring to collect dislodged slowpoke tails for generations. Over the last few nights however, the slowpoke have started to go missing. No tracks to show them leaving downstream or blood to show a struggle. The party is asked to find out what's happening. (kidnapping, giant bird, dragged into water, plenty of options)

- Wisdom states that if you have a trouble, ask a slowking. The village slowking, however, has reverted to a slowpoke! Signs of a struggle, but the slowpoke seems fine...someone took its crown. But who? - A shoal of shelder swam further upstream than usual, causing an unexpected wave of slowbro. That makes food scarce however, and one is just too hungry or stupid to swim downstream. It has begun to hunt anything approaching the water to drink... -A galarian slowking has begun to form a small band of its other forms, even going so far as to catch and attach shellder to its kin. Its experiments have taken a deadly turn, as local wildlife and people are now being captured in the night... - Pity the mega slowbro, it must keep hunting and fuel its regeneration lest its shell consume it entirely. Don't stop swimming while you pity though, because it IS coming for you, slow yet inevitable as the rising tide.