The Hunter’s Journal

An avid gamer and tabletop game lover; mediocre designer and artist. I make statblocks for D&D. He/Him 🏳️‍🌈

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Fun Fr-ednesday, with the second of three sets from Fire Emblem — the Bird Laguz! Unlike the largely unified Beast Laguz of Gallia, the Bird Laguz clans each live in separate kingdoms and cultures. The Hawk clan resides in Phoenicis, and are most similar to the Beast Laguz with their values of honor and integrity. That integrity puts them at odds with the Ravens of Kilvas, infamous for their scheming and self-serving natures. Finally, there are the Royal Herons, who formerly dwelled in the Serenes Forest and unlike most battle-hungry Laguz, led peaceful lives in harmony with order. Tragically, a great massacre of their people has left the Herons an endangered species and without a home. Even more so than the Beasts, the Birds have an enmity towards humans for the slaughter of the Herons and their slavery of Laguz. The sight of their massive wings and swift talons is one feared by many a sailor.

More Laguz, this time with the birds! I really love the Laguz for their cool designs, interesting lore, and their strong characters, and the Bird Laguz are no exception. The way they incorporate the differences among the bird species is really fun, especially compared to the fairly homogenous beasts (wolves notwithstanding). The hawks and ravens were fairly simple — I did consider adding royal variants, but it seemed slightly redundant and I wasn’t super interested. The herons took a lot more thought thanks to their various galdrars across the two games. Each spell and of course the vigor galdrar are meant to represent a specific galdrar from the games. Also a switch from chaotic to lawful to reflect their natural affinity for order, which is an important plot point in both games. Have fun and enjoy!

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Fun Fr-aturday, with the first of three sets from Fire Emblem — the Beast Laguz! On the continent of Tellius, there lives a race of shapeshifters called the Laguz. Able to shift between a humanoid form and an animal form, there are three branches of Laguz — the beasts, the birds, and the dragons. Prideful and loyal, the Beast Laguz have strong moral character and are quick to right injustices — sometimes to their own detriment. The cat tribe (known for their speed), the tiger tribe (known for their strength), and the lion tribe (the strongest and rulers of the Beast Laguz) dwell in the Kingdom of Gallia, while the ferocious wolf tribe dwell across the desert to the north. They are naturally distrustful of other races, but PCs of strong morals will find them staunch allies while evil or gray PCs may find themselves on the wrong end of a beast’s claws.

I should be working on my final projects, but I wanted to push this out. The Tellius games, while having their flaws, remain close to, if not my favorite Fire Emblem games. I’ve been making FE statblocks occasionally this past year and had the block for the Laguz sitting in my files for months, but never worked on it for one reason or another. So this is a long time coming and it feels nice to finally be done with it. I don’t have much to say about these ones, so instead I’ll just say that two more sets on the way (hopefully soon). Have fun and enjoy!

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Today we have by suggestion a monster from Inuit mythology — the Qallupilluit! Though the specifics vary between stories as is common with most stories, the popular depiction is of a tall, piscine humanoid wearing an amauti — a parka worn by Inuit women — that hides under frozen lakes. They wait for their prey, primarily children, to walk over the ice before breaking through and quickly kidnapping them. It is theorized that stories about the Qallupilluit were used to teach children not to walk over unstable frozen waters. Perhaps it be useful for teaching your players that very same lesson.

As was suggested, I have dipped my toes into Inuit mythology. Somewhat surprisingly, this statblock came together very quickly once I started working on it. The prominence of literal kidnapping led to several grapple based traits and a bite for slowing. Despite the simplicity, I REALLY enjoy this monster because of the potential with its abilities and lore. Grappling a player into freezing cold? That would make for a tense combat encounter that becomes less of a mission to kill and more to get your friend out the water. One last note, updates this month will be slow because of a lot of finals and projects coming up. Have fun and enjoy!

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Happy Halloween with the Big Bad of Luigi’s Mansion — King Boo! Though he has appearances under a different design in other Mario games, the LM appearance is by far his most iconic and memorable. Taking elements of his boss fight in all three games, King Boo is a powerful opponent. Fighting him in his lair elevates his challenge, and provides an opportunity for a fight in an exciting fight in a spooky haunted mansion setting. Who knows? Maybe the green plumber himself can help you as an ally against this phantasmal monarch.

The green bean’s arch-nemesis himself, King Boo is here! I was playing around a lot with what to do for Halloween this year, if anything at all. Last year I went with the decidedly scary Pyramid Head from Silent Hill and considered the zombies from Left 4 Dead this year, but this fun whimsical pair won out. The first Luigi’s Mansion was one of the first games I ever played, and it was very fun looking at how King Boo has evolved for this statblock. Have fun and enjoy!

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Fun Fr-aturday, with the lean grean bean Luigi! Specifically, this variant Luigi is primarily based on his appearance in Luigi’s Mansion. While he can pack a punch with the Thunderhand and jump with the best of them, the Poltergust 3000 is the star of the show here. With a powerful suction that can trap ghosts in the right conditions and even absorb certain elemental attacks, this Luigi may not be the best fighter or even the bravest, but he is a great friend for ghost hunting misadventures.

Halloween’s soon, so I thought I’d try my hand at making Luigi. Since this is based mostly on his Luigi’s Mansion games (the first one especially as that’s the only one I’ve personally played), he lacks some abilities he has in other Mario games or in Smash. He’s a little gimmicky, especially with the mechanics of the Poltergust, but I think he’d make for a fun companion in a ghost hunting one-shot. Have fun and enjoy!

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Today, we have a Japanese yōkai — the Inugami (dog lovers beware; some pretty horrible lore here). Created through a ritual that involves cutting off a dog’s head and imbuing it with magic, an Inugami serves as a guardian spirit for its master. While it has a variety of protective magic, the most notable ability of an Inugami is possession. Despite the dark abilities, many Inugami are as loyal and benign as normal dogs. Dangerous Inugami always act on the orders of humans, or as a result of a failed creation ritual resulting in a feral Inugami. Regardless, the true evil lies not in the heart of the hound, but in that of the man.

Here’s a yōkai I’ve seen a lot in various media, but never researched or looked into until now. I designed the Inugami to be structurally similar to my Kitsune and Nekomata statblocks, with a set of spells that focus on defense rather than offense or trickery. Contrary to my image of a sword-wielding dog, possession is the most notable ability of an Inugami, so that’s what I went with for offense. Nothing too complex for this one (refreshingly) and in hindsight I might’ve made Yuki-onna or some other “scary” yōkai, but I’ve wanted to finish this one for a while. Have fun and enjoy!

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Fun Fr-atruday with the final boss of Chrono Trigger itself — Lavos! An alien parasite that travels to different worlds to consume their energy before continuing the cycle. Lying dormant for thousands of years, Lavos will plunge the world into destruction the day it awakens unleaded stopped. Lavos has three phases, first of which is the large outer shell that rains down devastating beams. The second form is its strongest, taking a humanoid-esque form that has many deadly abilities with and without its arms. The final form is the core, which shifts the battle across time periods to unleash different attacks. A grueling fight that should take as many allies, artifacts, and abilities as the player can get to overcome, just like the base game.

Exactly one year ago, I posted the statblock for Yakra — the first boss in the game. I thought it was cool that today, I’m posting the final boss. As you can probably guess, this took a while to make, researching each form and their moves and then translating it to 5E. The biggest difference is in the first form, which now lacks the ability to copy other bosses. This was both because it was too complicated to bring over to a statblock and because it felt a little brutal considering 5E’s system on top of an already hard fight. The size of each statblock also made it impractical to put in my usual format, so the default statblock template it is. Playing around and making the (legendary) actions for the two latter forms was really fun, and while there is sure to be errors or balancing issues, I think I’m pleased with how it turned out. Have fun and enjoy!

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Today we have a yōkai based on the legend of the Sesshō seki! In Japanese mythology, the Sesshō seki is said to be a stone that was possessed by the spirit of the nine-tailed fox Tamamo-no-Mae after her death. That stone was said to kill any living thing that touched it, and it was not until a Buddhist priest convinced the spirit to leave that it was restored to normal. This statblock depicts a Sesshō seki as a stone possessed by any dark spirit. With an aura of decay and death, the mystery of a deadly stone and who or what is possessing it should make an interesting hook for your players.

I’m alive, barely. This statblock took far longer than it should have and it’s entirely because of my recent difficulties focusing in between classes. Anyways, at first I played around with making this the specific stone possessed by Tamamo-no-Mae, but I decided to make it more generic so to speak. Death and decay were the name of the game here, so auras and waves of necrotic damage were a given. I liked a complication of not being able to take short rests more than a straightforward damage effect, so I threw that in as well. Have fun and enjoy!

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Fun Fr-aturday with a Nightmare and a Psychonaut from, well, Psychonauts! An organization of secret agents with psychic powers, the Psychonauts work to maintain peace, investigate paranormal incidents, and explore the mind. Their many powers often come at the cost of greater mental vulnerability to abnormalities and attacks. Psychonauts have the ability to travel into the mental worlds of other humanoids, where various entities dwell, including the Nightmare. A manifestation of ones deepest fears and traumas, Nightmares vary in strength depending on the source and intensity of the fear, but like real nightmares, they strike unexpectedly and viscerally.

Two statblocks in one since updates have been slow. Psychonauts 2 just came out, and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. So I decided I’d make a statblock in celebration of its long awaited release (taken from the first game, so no worries about spoilers). The Psychonaut has various traits taken from the Gith, and of course their psychic powers. The 3/day are powers from the first game and the 1/day are from previews for the second — as much as I could replicate with 5e spells anyways. The Nightmares took some tinkering, but I settled on a regeneration and death burst combo to replicate how to beat them in game. Have fun and enjoy!

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Today we have a yōkai — the Tatarimokke! An owl that has lived to 1000 ye- wait, what? It’s not?! The Tatarimokke is the spirit of a deceased child that has taken the form of an owl. Most families will treat the owl spirit as their own flesh and blood, and in turn the Tatarimokke will grant blessings to the family’s bloodline. If the child was killed or neglected by the family, it will instead curse their bloodline. The reveal that a player character has cursed blood from the actions of their ancestors could be an interesting plot hook. Or just an interesting element for a combat encounter.

A new semester has started for me! Joy. Anyways, that means I’ll be busier these coming months and this might not post as regularly. But if experience tells me anything, I’ll be even more productive now that I have something to procrastinate on. ANYWAYS, the monster. The most interesting part of this was writing the lore/drawing the illustration and coming up with ideas for my home campaigns. It was interesting making a very situational trait that’s pretty inconsequential if the DM doesn’t rule that a character has marked blood. I tend to leave details like that in the lore for DMs to mess around with, but I thought I’d try giving it statistical effects. Have fun and enjoy!

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Fun Fr-aturday with the penultimate boss in my Chrono Trigger series — Queen Zeal! Once the wise and fair ruler of the Kingdom of Zeal, she became obsessed with the otherworldly alien Lavos and the concept of eternal life. Enclosing herself in the Black Omen, she patiently waits several centuries for the awakening of Lavos and the destruction of the world. A powerful spellcaster devoted to Lavos, Zeal makes use of the Mammon Machine, a device that absorbs both physical and magical energy but is vulnerable to radiant damage. Her true form is that of a floating mask and two disembodied hands. There are no tricks to this fight; simply a battle of endurance against a powerful woman’s absolute zeal.

The climax boss of the Black Omen (and certainly more memorable than the mutants), Zeal has three “forms” in her boss. The big problem, particularly with her regular form, is the emphasis on Halation, which reduces HP to 1. Obviously, this isn’t very practical in D&D where healing is much more infrequent than CT. For her base form, I thought it’d be interesting to make her a cleric of Lavos and give her some high damaging necrotic spells to simulate Halation. Mammon Machine was relatively simple; I probably could have made a full statblock for it, but I didn’t feel like it. The final form has no gimmicks like some other bosses (particularly with multiple parts). It’s just a brutal fight with powerful moves and some devasting necrotic attacks. Hope your party is good at CON saves. Have fun and enjoy!

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Today we have another animal yōkai — the Onikuma! You know the drill by now; a bear that lives roughly 1000 years old undergoes a transformation into a yōkai. The Onikuma — literally “demon bear” — is a huge bear, nearly double the size and strength of a regular bear. Their general behavior is mostly the same as normal bears, though an Onikuma’s great size means they require more subsistence and are more likely to prey on larger animals such as cattle or horses. Human contact almost always ends in violence, and players will be rewarded handsomely for killing one. Wisteria leaves can be used to ward one off, which may be useful if the players want to set a trap for this grisly beast.

Ah bears. How I enjoy making you lot, even if you’re a little boring in game. Anyways, I saw a picture of an Onikuma grabbing a cow and horse by the neck while researching and immediately knew I had to focus on that. So I made the bear a grappler, with its monstrous strength making it challenging to escape for lower-end parties. This along with the blood frenzy trait and its 40 ft. speed means an Onikuma has incentive to drag an injured PC away from its party to be mauled to death. One last note unrelated to the statblock itself, but I’m playing around with the illustrations a bit and going for a more stylized look. How’s it look? Have fun and enjoy!

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Fun Fr-unday with the Lavos Mutants! A trio of mutant guardians that patrol and defend the Black Omen, the twisted palace where Queen Zeal resides. The aberrant creatures share a similar appearance, but each has unique abilities for fighting intruders. The Mega Mutant exhales ailing gas, the Giga Mutant flings flame and lightning, and the Tera Mutant swells in energy to physically defeat its foes. These three are the last obstacles before Zeal and Lavos, and while they may not defeat a party, they will surely weaken them before the climatic battles.

I’ll be completely honest, I was a good bit into designing Zeal’s statblock before searching up a few walkthroughs for research and remembering these guys existed. Whoops. This statblock is an amalgamation and gross simplification (I prefer the term creative liberties) of the three bosses in game because of that, as I’m not particularly interest in these bosses flavor-wise or mechanically. Still, it was a pleasant surprise to have an opportunity to design a base creature with different variations all in one statblock, lifted from the Obzedat Ghost stat in Guide to Ravnica. I wanted to give the mutants a more distinct specialization than they have in game, where they kind of blended together (to me at least). Have fun and enjoy!

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Today we have another yōkai — the Ōgama! Similar to how almost every animal yōkai is born, the Ōgama is a toad that has lived to 1000 years, its body growing with each passing year. Large enough to be mistaken for a boulder, the Ōgama has a taste for humans and is more than willing to hunt them for a quick meal if any enter the wet areas it dwells in. Its rainbow colored breath has powerful charming properties and can lull a person into a trance long enough for it to shove a spear through their heart.

It’s been a good bit, but the yōkai train is back. I read a bit about these creatures, but wasn’t particularly interested until I saw an illustration of their rainbow breath. It wasn’t too difficult; using the giant toad statblock as a base and adding some spear attacks and a charm breath (because rainbow screams charm). I will note that the Ōgama does have shapeshifting powers in some stories, but I liked the idea of them hiding as part of the environment in other stories more. Feel free to have them shapeshift if it fits your needs though. Have fun and enjoy!

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Fun Fr-aturday with the Demonic Beasts from Fire Emblem: Three Houses! When an individual without a Crest, a powerful ability that is passed down through bloodlines, attempts to wield old artifacts known as Crest Stones, they will eventually be transformed into a Demonic Beast. Huge mindless monstrosities, Demonic Beasts maintain a passive barrier that makes it incredibly difficult to harm them, thus requiring the barrier to be broken piece by piece. However, once completely shattered, the beast will be stunned and vulnerable.

Another Fire Emblem monster, this time from Three Houses. The game has a LOT of unique monsters, but I decided to keep it simple with the “generic” Demonic Beast. The barrier system is definitely the most important part of fighting them, so I wanted to integrate it. The game used it to make players consider gambits and positioning in their strategies, but that doesn’t correlate well to 5E. Breaking the barrier incrementally through damage minimums was my attempt without getting too convoluted. Have fun and enjoy!

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Another original monster using a generated prompt — the Thays! A 2-feet tall cow-like monstrosity with spindly legs and a hooked beak, the Thays can be found in dry and arid regions. They have a strong sense of smell and an extremely sensitive tongue that can sense lingering traces of creatures that have passed through an area previously. With DM permission, they would make for good familiars or pets. Even as a creature in the wild, the Thays is a dynamic monster that can prove new and interesting for players.

The second part of my collab with @erlanddrow on Instagram. I took a few liberties with the prompt here and there, keeping what I felt was interesting or made sense for the creature I was making. Been a while since I made a familiar, so I went with a more docile creature, taking inspiration from snakes smelling with their tongues for the statblock. Surprisingly, the most fun part was writing the description and coming up with the behaviors and different ways it could interact with its environment and be interacted with by players, something I’d like to do more but haven’t really delved into as much before. Have fun and enjoy!

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I’m back with an original monster — the Raikame! Based on a generated prompt, the Raikame is an undead monster that resembles a turtle with a black rod sticking out of its shell. A relentless predator, a Raikame marches resolutely after its prey, heedless of whatever it tramples along the way. In a fight, lightning will be attracted to the rod and be added to its attacks. It will try to crush targets under its massive body, especially if its body is crackling with lightning, while withstanding attacks from other enemies with its massive shell. A dangerous creature to meet on a stormy grassland, the Raikame is sure to make for a shocking encounter.

And with that I’m back. First off, this was part of a collaboration with @erlanddrow on Instagram in which we would come up with monsters based on the same prompt. For my interpretation, I wanted to emphasize the monster’s bulk. Somewhere along the way, it turned into a turtle-type creature. I liked the idea of it just plopping down on top of something and smothering it, and the possibility of lightning making the crush even more dangerous. Have fun and enjoy!