Hey, there! I’ve conjured up another set of authors to create a new set of monsters to share with the world. Much like with previous entries, I gathered three authors together and gave them a prompt in the form of a cool image of a monster and let them go to town. They were to work on their own and create their take on the monster, which I get to share with you today. Each of these monsters has unique abilities and flavors and are open for anyone to grab for their games! So, how did things turn out? Let’s take a look!
First, here is the image that was used as the prompt.
There was one particular wrinkle for this entry. Rather than just have it open for any kind of monster, I wanted specific parameters. While this monster looks rather sinister and nasty, I asked the authors to make sure their monsters were not evil. The entry could be good or neutral, but LE, NE, and CE were forbidden. Let’s see how things turned out!
Disperse Guard by Rigby Bendele
Disperse Guard Creature 8
Uncommon, N, Huge, Construct, Ethereal
Perception +19; chaos scent (imprecise) 60 feet; darkvision
Languages Common (can’t speak any language); telepathy 30 feet
Skills Athletics +18, Intimidation +16, Society +16
Str +7, Dex +3, Con +4, Int –2, Wis +2, Cha +0
Items +1 striking bastard sword
Chaos Scent A disperse guard can smell chaos, including any chaotic good, chaotic neutral, or chaotic evil creature.
AC 27; Fort +19, Ref +13, Will +16
HP 165; Immunities bleed, death effects, diseased, doomed, drained, fatigued, healing, necromancy, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, unconscious; Resistances hardness 6; Weaknesses mental 6
Speed 20 feet
Melee [one-action] bastard sword +20 (magical, reach 15 feet, two-hand 1d12), Damage 2d12+9 bludgeoning
Melee [one-action] fist+27 (agile, magical, reach 15 feet), Damage 3d10+18 bludgeoning plus Grab
Hunt Iconoclast [one-action] The disperse guard designates a single chaotic good, chaotic neutral, or chaotic evil creature that it can see and hear or that it is Tracking as its iconoclast. It gains a +2 circumstance bonus to Perception checks when it Seeks its iconoclast and a +2 circumstance bonus when it Tracks its iconoclast. It also ignores the penalty for making ranged attacks within its second range increment against its iconoclast. Lastly, it gains a +2 circumstance bonus to Deception checks, Intimidation checks, and Stealth checks against its iconoclast and to any check to Recall Knowledge about its iconoclast, as well as a +1 circumstance bonus to AC against its iconoclast’s attack. The disperse guard can have only one iconoclast designated at a time.
Iconoclast Shot [one-action] Frequency once per round; Effect The disperse guard makes two bastard sword Strikes against its hunted iconoclast. If both Strikes hit, combine their damager for the purpose of resistances and weaknesses.
Salt the Earth [three-action] (divine, necromancy, negative); Frequency once per day; Effect A shockwave spreads from the disperse guard as it lets out a world-dampening scream. Plant life withers as the shockwave passes over it and nutrients sap from the ground. This burst deals 9d6 negative damage to all creatures within 30 feet (DC 26 Will save).
Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success The creature takes half damage.
Failure The creature takes full damage and is doomed 1, or increases its doomed value by 1 if it was already doomed.
Critical Failure The creature takes double damage and is doomed 3, or increases its doomed value by 3 if it was already doomed.
Rigby Bendele (they/them) is a tabletop game designer from Richmond, VA. They have a master’s degree in Sociology from Virginia Commonwealth University and did their thesis on white masculinity construction in tabletop gaming communities. You can find them on Twitter at slothscout, where they talk about games, monsters and queer theory.
Indherun by Ruvaid Virk
Indherun Creature 12
N, Large, Air, Elemental, Fire
Perception +23; darkvision, smoke vision
Languages Auran, Ignan
Skills Athletics +25, Acrobatics +21, Nature +23, Occultism+19, Stealth +25
Str +7, Dex +7, Con +5, Int +3, Wis +5, Cha +2
AC 32; Fort +21, Ref +25, Will +23
HP 158, slow burn; Immunities bleed, fire, paralyzed, poison, sleep; Weaknesses cold 10
Ash Cloud (aura, air, fire) 5 feet. The indherun puts out a constant stream of ash and cinders surrounding it. All creatures within the radius are concealed.
Slow Burn The indherun regains HP equal to fire damage it deals. This includes persistent damage.
Smoke Vision The indherun ignores the concealed condition from smoke
Attack of Opportunity [reaction]
Speed 25 feet, fly 30 feet
Melee [one-action] ember blade +26 (reach 10 feet), Damage 3d8+10 slashing plus 1d6 persistent fire damage
Melee [one-action] scorching claw +26 (agile, finesse, reach 10 feet), Damage 3d6+8 slashing plus 1d6 persistent fire damage and grab
Ranged [one-action] smoky tendril +24 (range increment 60 feet) Damage 2d10+7 bludgeoning
Billow [one-action] The indherun increases the radius of its ash cloud by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Deflagrate [one-action] Requirement The indherun has a creature grabbed Effect The indherun burns unnecessary life away. The grabbed creature takes 7d6 fire damage. If a creature is killed this way and is left undisturbed for a month, the body becomes consumed by cinders and rises as a new indherun.
Flash Fire [three-actions] The indherun slams their sword into the ground as they ignite the area of their ash cloud. Creatures within the radius of ash cloud must attempt a DC 32 Reflex save. The indherun cannot use Flash Fire again for 1d4 rounds.
Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success The creature takes 5d6 air damage.
Failure The creature takes 5d6 air damage and 5d6 fire damage and is sickened 1.
Critical failure The creature takes 11d6 fire damage and is sickened 2.
Indheruns are a representation of the ebb in the natural cycle of life. Found within forests and temperate grasslands, indheruns ensure that the dead remains of old life are burned away with controlled fires to make room for new generations of life. They act to protect their homes from unnatural and intrusive destruction, fighting with fiery resolve. Though indheruns prefer to be left alone, they are not typically hostile until they perceive a threat to themselves or their home.
Ruvaid Virk is a Pakistani RPG freelancer based out of Detroit, Michigan. A lover of all things board games and Pathfinder, he spends his free time either writing about redacted topics or playing any number of games. His Paizo contributions can be found in Pathfinder Second Edition’s Bestiary 3, the Ruby Phoenix Adventure Path, and the upcoming Secrets of Magic. He can be found playing in a 2E homebrew actual play on Wednesday nights called The Longstriders. For all other things, he can be found on Twitter as @Darth_Ruvaider.
Quieted Epitaph by Ryan Costello
Quieted Epitaph Creature 13
CN, Medium, Monitor, Protean
Perception +20; tremorsense (imprecise) 60 feet
Languages Protean
Skills Athletics +27, Deception +24, Intimidation +27, Religion +22, Stealth +24
Str +9, Dex +4, Con +5, Int +5, Wis +8, Cha +5
AC 33; Fort +26, Ref +23, Will +26
HP 290; Resistances precision 10; Weaknesses lawful 15
Attack of Opportunity [reaction]
Sense Less (aura, divine, necromancy) 30 feet. Ashen smog soundlessly whips around a quieted epitaph, stifling the senses of those who approach it. When a non-protean ends its turn in the Sense Less aura, it must attempt a DC 30 Fortitude save. On a failure, it loses the use of one of its senses, randomly determined. Typically, this includes:
• Sight: The target is blinded for as long as it stays within the Quieted Epitaph’s aura, and 1 minute after.
• Hearing: The target is deafened for as long as it stays within the Quieted Epitaph’s aura, and 1 minute after.
• Smell: The target loses any scent-based abilities for as long as it stays within the Quieted Epitaph’s aura, and 1 minute after.
• Taste: The target loses its sense of taste for as long as it stays within the Quieted Epitaph’s aura, and 1 minute after.
• Touch: The target is Clumsy 1 for as long as it stays within the Quieted Epitaph’s aura, and 1 minute after.
The targets of a quieted epitaph’s ash attack gain a Sense Less aura of 10ft. Ending the ash attack’s persistent damage also removes the Sense Less aura from the creature.
Speed 30 feet
Melee [one-action] chaos sword +29 (versatile P), Damage 3d12+21 slashing
Ranged [one-action] ash +25 (fire), Damage 5 persistent fire damage and Sense Less aura
When a soul truly at peace lays to rest, the Maelstrom won’t stand for it. A quieted epitaph, a being of the unpredictable whims of the universe, rises up. Such instances of absolute closure offend the primal plane of chaos, so much so that it unleashes a being created from everything that could have gone wrong in the soul’s life.
A quieted epitaph takes the shape of the soul, formed out of the ashes of the soul’s mortal form, or from the soil in which their body lay. It delivers the heartache absent from the soul’s last moment unto their loved ones, all the while dripping with blood and discorporating in the breeze.
Ryan Costello lives in Montreal, Quebec with his wife, daughters, and collections of tabletop games and action figures. Known for his love of Pathfinder and the d20 systems that came before it, he’s made a name for himself as an RPG influencer, a writer and product developer for Blind Ferret Entertainment and Laughing Dragon Studio, and as the director of logistics at the Know Direction Network. Recently, he worked with Renegade Game Studios on their upcoming Hasbro license RPGs, in particular the G.I. Joe Roleplaying Game.
And that’s our monsters! I hope you enjoyed both checking out these monsters and appreciating the different takes on the monster design here. If you’re interested in contributing to Summoned Monsters or have a prompt for a future article, please drop me a line at KnowDirection@hotmail.com or reach out to me via Know Direction’s Discord!
