Seething Spirit

Image © Paizo Publishing

[Thank you, Paizo, for introducing more types of incorporeal undead in PF2e. The fact that,b y default, the seething spirit speaks Dwarven and Giant (well, Jotunn in PF2e) has some interesting world building implications.]

Seething Spirit CR 11 CE Undead (incorporeal) This reddish spectral figure is humanoid, its outline wavering as if seen through a shimmer of heat. Its eyes are furious, and its features contorted into a hateful grimace.

A seething spirit is an undead creature of pure anger. The souls that create seething spirits died in a state of extreme wrath, and the seething spirit carries that sentiment into the world. Seething spirits are particularly motivated by the specific target of anger—romantic resentment, a persecution complex, racism and straight-up spite are all common factors that might empower a seething spirit. Seething spirits remember little of their lives except their rage, and cannot be put to rest by resolving any unfulfilled business or the like. Seething spirits seek out people with similar resentments and possess them, turning them into a vessel to channel that anger into violence.

A seething spirit cannot willingly leave a possessed target, and so steers its host’s life into its campaign of hatred. They are excellent liars and capable of strategy, but often short-sighted and impatient around their focus of anger. Their ultimate goals are always violent ones, and if they can incite others into destructive mobs, all the better. A creature possessed by a seething spirit radiates rage as an almost palpable aura, and even their punches and kicks strike with the force of a greataxe. Appropriately enough for a being of extreme emotions, they are nearly powerless in the face of a calm emotions spell, which ejects them from their possessed hosts or tears away at their spiritual forms.

Nice job, my Love! The Seething Spirit feels like it's at least in part inspired by the Hate Plague from Transformers. It basically functions like it, but as a sapient creature, and the artwork is really reminiscent of it imo.

A good wizard always brings their spellbook, no matter how big it is😤📚

Suggested by @thecreaturecodex.

If I was a demon, would you summon me?? Be honest 🥺👉👈

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Azata, Aeolaeka

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[Sponsored by @razzelmire​, from Pathfinder 2e. I’m glad someone at Paizo is of the same mind as me as far as “rock cycle = naturally chaotic process”. I have a protean of plate tectonics in the works. Because the original flavor text stressed how they make deals with mortals, I wanted to make sure they were at the HD cap for planar ally and planar binding spells.]

Azata, Aeolaeka CR 12 CG Outsider (extraplanar) This beautiful humanoid is seemingly carved from stone and twice the height of a typical human. They have satyr-like features, with curling horns and hoofed legs.

Aeolaekas are sometimes called stone azatas, as they embody the chaos of rock and earth. Any substance that can become dust or diamonds is seen by the azatas as embodying chaotic potential. They are, however, more patient than most other azatas, as such transformations tend to require geological timescales to occur. They are often contacted by mortal summoners for their steady heads and willingness to make lasting pacts. Some of the angelic statues found in city squares or public buildings might even by an aeolaeka waiting patiently for the time when its contract needs to be fulfilled and it must fight to protect the innocent.

An aeolaeka is an implacable foe, batting aside lesser enemies in order to concentrate on the one it considers most dangerous (often the one dealing the most collateral damage). If facing a mass of enemies, they can crush them with an avalanche of magical boulders, but wouldn’t dare use this ability if innocents might be caught in the crossfire. They might make hit and run attacks if in a cave or on solid ground, using earth glide to take enemies unaware, but only if their charges are suitably protected without their direct physical presence. All aeolaekas are willing to fight to the death against the forces of evil if they must.

When not attending to mortal affairs, aeolaekas are often found admiring geological processes. As they are immortal and patient, one might remain in a cave for millennia to watch how stalactites and stalagmites grow and crumble, whereas another might live atop a mountain to monitor its erosion versus uplift. They often take the long term view, which makes them slightly at odds with typical azatas, but they get along well with creatures of elemental earth, even lawful ones such as shaitans. They often fight against evil elemental creatures, particularly salamanders and efreets.

A typical aeolaeka is twelve feet tall.

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Protean, Alengos

“Keeper of the corrupted coppice” © Timi Honkanen, accessed at his ArtStation here

[Our next protean is inspired by my annual teaching my students about ecological succession, and the subsequent explanation that the reality isn’t nearly as neat as the textbook version. I like to think that these guys are why there’s always potatoes in European fantasy settings hundred or even thousands of years before the Columbian Interchange (I’m looking at you, Tolkien.

As a reminder, all of these protean species have names that are anagrams of someone thematically related. Can you guess who “anelgos” is?]

Protean, Alengos CR 6 CN Outsider (extraplanar) This creature has a serpentine lower body and a humanoid torso, and appears to be composed of leaves woven together. Its head bears a crest of foliage, and its face is radially symmetrical, like a closed bud. Its hands are thick pincers, from which structures like the interior of a flower emerge.

An alengos is the protean of ecological succession. As new land is created and fields are left to go fallow, they are colonized by plants. Usually, this occurs in a somewhat predictable, stepwise fashion, but alengoses are perfectly happy to mess with the order of operations by magical and mundane means. Alengoses often seed plant species onto new islands or new continents, and they were fundamental in the creation of the Spawning Stone in the Maelstrom.

Alengoses are more likely to fight on the ground than many other species of protean, as their signature ability, the entangling aura, only functions when they touch a solid surface. Plants spring to life and grab at anyone in the area, except for other chaotic outsiders and plant creatures. An alengos will typically treat entangled enemies as lower priorities while it lobs caustic pollen at those that are not entangled, or merely crushes them to death in its coils. In the wake of a combat, an alengos will often spend some time making sure that dead bodies are broken up into suitable mulch to accelerate decomposition and increase nutrient uptake.

The influence of an alengos can be a boon or a bane to mortal farmers, loggers and other people who work regularly with plants. If properly mollified, or if the whim strikes them, an alengos can create a miraculous crop, or bring novel and useful plant species to the attention of people. On the other hand, their favorite plants are typically considered to be weeds, and their transplantations are as likely to be invasive as they are beneficial. The alengos itself rarely cares one way or the other, preferring the riot of life over any consequence their actions might cause in the long term.

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every time a trans girl infodumps me abt something they're passionate about i cant help but i fall in love a little bit

like yeah i wanna hear about that speed run record yeah absolutely tell me about that obscure proto-punk group that broke up in the mid 70s fuck i really wannq kiss you now

The Pathfinder Metaplot Is a Coded Trans Narrative

Starring a goth succubus queen.

Figured that’d get your attention.

Here is the cover of Paizo’s Book of the Damned, which is the big PF1e sourcebook about demons, devils and daemons:

Our representative for demons, who was also the cover representative on the softcover book about demons specifically, is Nocticula. The Queen of the Succubi, and the first succubus:

The byline is appropriate here: Nocticula is one of James Jacobs’ characters, and might honestly be his favorite. And throughout the history of Pathfinder RPG, she has been a background presence who transitioned from mysterious possible threat to ally, and eventually from demon to goddess.

Ever since the first entries in the Pathfinder setting, statuettes of two entwined succubi have been scattered in various adventures as treasure. At first, this just seemed like, “oh, we don’t have to follow Wizards of the Coasts levels of content standards, this is a darker, edgier, sexier game”. But eventually it became clear that this was an easter egg for something bigger. We eventually learned the name of the sculptor; Ayavah. Ayavah is an intersex tiefling woman with connections to the Pathfinders, whose artistic muse is erotic sculptures of succubi. She’s a member of a heretical sect called the Cult of the Redeemer Queen, which believes that Nocticula is trying to expunge herself of her demonic nature and be reborn as a goddess. This cult is correct.

Nocticula as a demon is the patron of succubi, darkness and assassination. Her domain is the Midnight Isles, each one of which is grown around the corpse of a powerful demon. There were rumors that she was Lamashtu’s assassin, but that doesn’t really hold. Nocticula and Lamashtu do not much like each other, and when Lamashtu’s ally Baphomet started mining the Midnight Isles, Nocticula killed him. He got better.

This is Alushinyrra, the Porphyry City. Formerly Nocticula’s capitol, and a manifestation of another of Jacobs’ themes, “what if Mos Eisley was horny?”. Other manifestations include Scuttlecove from the Dragon Magazine days, and Vyre from Hell’s Rebels. All three of these cities have mortally ambiguous goth women who are most likely to be allies of the PCs in the adventures that occur within them.

For Alushinyrra, that adventure is The Midnight Isles, which is part of the Wrath of the Righteous AP. That AP starts with the PCs helping Anevia Tirabade, a trans woman, get home to her wife, the paladin Irabeth Tirabade. Irabeth sold her holy sword to afford for Anevia to get magical gender affirming care.

Anevia

And Irabeth.

The same AP also featured a character named Arueshalae, the Heretic Demon. She was a succubus who attacked a cleric of Desna and was imprisoned in a dreamscape because of it, and when she got out realized that becoming a better person wasn’t just a dream, but something she could work towards.

Any or all of these characters can be in your party when you go to the Midnight Isles to ally with Nocticula. And all three of them are thematically resonant with her.

Artistic, creative women are a running theme through Paizo’s APs and adventurers, and a secondary running theme is that a lot of them seem to be transformed into something one way or the other and need the PC’s help to get themselves back to the way they should be, ranging from mortals to goddesses. Both Shattered Star and Hell’s Rebels, for example, have half-elf Pathfinders who are turned to stone by the villains, and need the PCs help to rescue them and can then be recruited as allies.

Koriah Azmeren (Shattered Star)

Shensen (Hell’s Rebels)

The Reign of Winter AP is basically “Baba Yaga is Doctor Who”, and the Queen of the Witches is stuck in a set of matroyshka dolls for most of its length.

Arazni is one of the goddesses in the Pathfinder setting, who was the herald of a god but was turned into a demigoddess lich against her will. Very goth. The last 1e Adventure Path, Tyrant’s Grasp, involves her sacrificing her unlife to save the PCs. And then, in 2e, she’s back, with a new portfolio of protecting the abused, maintaining your dignity and getting revenge on those that have hurt you.

(That collar, btw, covers up an autopsy scar where her heart was ripped out. The scar was left customarily left exposed until she gained “dignity” as a portfolio item, which is a helluva piece of art direction)

And guess which of the Runelords, the wizard dictators that are how Paizo decided to introduce the Pathfinder setting way back when, which one of those is the only one to have redeemed themselves?

Sorshen, the Runelord of Lust, of course. Who now is one of the rulers of New Thassilon, a giant artist’s commune of a nation where Nocticula is practically a state religion.

Because Nocticula did redeem herself. Transform herself into the woman she was always supposed to be, even if she was born something different. She’s the goddess of artists, of exiles, of the soothing darkness. She’s adopted the caligni, known as dark folk to others and in D&D, who are all born the same but whose phenotypic destiny is forced on them by sinister outside forces, the owbs, to the point where they have different body plans and abilities that are forced on them by others. Caligni outside of owb influence can grow up to be whoever they want to be, and choose their own destiny. Sound familiar?

Here’s what Nocticula looks like as a goddess. Still goth AF. Still got the scary tails and the hooves. But she’s embraced her inhumanity with an unusual hair and skin color, and her feet are no longer literally blazing with suppressed rage. Nocticula looks much more whole and happy now that she’s transitioned from CE to CN, from demon lord to goddess. And if that’s not a trans narrative, I don’t know what is.

Protean, Temortanga

“Quetzalcoatl” © Leah Sutherland, accessed at her deviantArt gallery here

[After eight years, I’m finally doing it. I’m writing proteans. The proteans are the only one of Pathfinder’s outsider lineages I haven’t written any of before. This is because I find them too samey. They look cool, don’t get me wrong. And they pack a huge punch in combat; I have gotten really close to a TPK in a fight with three proteans versus optimized 15th level characters. But that’s all they seem to do is fight. We’re given hints about protean choirs, but all of their monster entries get very abbreviated in the Bestiaries, and all of them seem to be focused on fighting lawful creatures. There’s more to change than just destruction!

So I’m putting my own spin on it. Each of my proteans is going to focus on something else that changes, and have some sort of ability that changes themselves as well as changes others. And each of them will have some sort of goal that isn’t directly tied to “kill lawful creatures”. They’ll be designed to fit into CR gaps among existing proteans, so that way there’s a stat block for each CR 2 through 20. And I am going to cap this off with a protean lord, although in this case she’s not my character; she’s a collaboration.

So the temortanga is the one protean I’m writing who doesn’t fit into a CR gap. It’s another CR 4 protean, after the ourdivar, which is my least favorite protean, both conceptually and mechanically. Conceptually, they only exist when summoned. Mechanically, the most interesting thing they do is explode when they die.Not to toot my own horn too much, but “Cinderella’s fairy godmother as a fashionista” strikes me as a cooler concept.

Oh, and because I like to play games, each of these entries contains a riddle. The names for my proteans (minus the protean lord) will be anagrams of people’s names who are thematically related to the protean. Can you guess who “temortanga” is named after?]

Protean, Temortanga CR 4 CN Outsider (extraplanar) This creature is humanoid from the waist up, with a beautiful if noticeably inhuman face. Below the waist, she is serpentine, with scales in rainbow hues. Her arms have a set of feathers like long sleeves, and similar feathers grow from the tip of her tail.

A temortanga is a protean trendsetter; they represent changes in fashion and appearance. Their faces are more humanoid than those of most proteans, at least typically. A temortanga can change its face if it chooses to a more serpentine one, or to something wholly novel—they usually use this ability when interacting with non-humanoid races to make them feel more comfortable, or occasionally for shock value. They are not especially interested in combat, much preferring to talk, perform or play dress-up. They can create new clothing out of thin air, and their scales and feathers crumble away to form various kinds of paints, dyes and other cosmetics. Their fashion alterations are usually temporary, but a temortanga might slip a piece of its own real jewelry or fancy clothing into a costume for someone it especially likes, or incorporate previously existing materials into a new look.

If forced to fight, temortangas can scratch and lash out with their tails, but not especially well. They prefer a support role, supporting their allies with bardic performances and using spells to damage or embarrass enemies. Their passion for fashion does have a defensive purpose as well; a temortanga can imbue one of its garments with protective magic, and they change this as they need to in order to be safer in their particular fight.

Temortangas are usually obsessed with being in the spotlight; what they do, they do for the applause. Their attitudes tend towards excitable, even giddy, although they are skilled enough at social graces that they can maintain a poker face when they need to. Temortangas are cliquey, with shifting friend groups based on artistic interests and fashion choices, but moving back and forth between groups is seen as perfectly acceptable. They know that they are relatively weak compared to other proteans, and may use flattery and charm to recruit stronger proteans as allies. Unlike many other proteans, they enjoy being summoned by mortals, because it gives them a chance to share their talents with a new audience and catch up on new trends  

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Dread Domicile

"The Dread Gazebo Updated" 3-D model by Michael Zavala under the Creative Commons license. Accessed at My Mini Factory here

[Sponsored by @balmz. "Eric and the Dread Gazebo" is a classic bit of tabletop gaming lore, which is older than I am. I haven't had this exact experience, of course, but as someone who uses a large vocabulary at the table, I have been on the receiving end of similar confusion. Rather than just make mine a gazebo, I took inspiration from the AD&D house hunter mimic.]

Dread Domicile CR 16 NE Aberration What appeared to be a gazebo reveals itself as a monster, its entrance growing a fanged maw and lashing tentacles growing around its perimeter. It has leering, dreadful eyes.

A dread domicile is a giant variant of mimic, capable of disguising itself as a whole building. Cottages, barns, sheds and gazebos are common choices for camouflage, and the dread domicile can enhance the appearance with lights, props, and even the sounds of conversation, farm animals or music. Unlike ordinary mimics, dread domiciles are typically evil—they actively hunt and eat sapient prey above all others. A number of them live in shantytowns or other rundown urban neighborhoods, where their victims won’t go missed.

Dread domiciles are slow, so they use ambush to hunt. They can feel vibrations in the ground, and so usually close their eyes until a creature has actually touched it. Their gaze causes creatures to cower in fear, so any creature that is not glued in place is usually unable to assist its allies. Glued prey is then transferred to the domicile’s mouth and swallowed whole, sequestered in a little pocket that acts as a stomach. A dread domicile will swallow multiple creatures if it can, and rapidly reshapes itself to accommodate new victims if a creature cuts its way out. Because of their low speed, a dread domicile is more likely to surrender and try to negotiate for its life than it is to flee. They collect plenty of treasure, which they use as both bait and bribes.

Variant Dread Domicile A dread vessel is an aquatic version of a dread domicile. It masquerades as a small ship, or occasionally as a raft, floating driftwood or even a whale carcass. A dread vessel is a dread domicile with the aquatic subtype, amphibious special quality, a land speed of 10 feet and a swim speed of 40 feet. A dread vessel is still a CR 16 creature.

Fun fact, but the famous Gazebo story is not the only someone’s thought that word sounded like the name of a monster.  In fact, it’s been used as the name of an actual kaiju!

Meet Gazebo, from Ultraman: Towards the Future!  This monstrous “tapirsaurus” (for lack of a better descriptor) is a forest-dwelling guardian beast from the Australian outback!  You can read more about him here: https://ultra.fandom.com/wiki/Gazebo?so=search

Now, kaiju with names that, through linguistic coincidence, do not sound nearly as impressive to an English-speaking audience are nothing new, but, oddly enough, this kaiju hails from one of the very few pieces of Ultraman media up until very recently produced in an english-speaking country!  Ultraman: Towards The Future was a fairly short-lived Australian Ultraman show (hence the beast dwelling in the outback).  UTtF has amassed something of a cult following amongst the western Ultraman fandom, due to being one of the more accessible pieces of Ultraman media in the west for a long time, though as I understand it it’s not very popular in Japan.  It also has an absolutely buckwild cast of kaiju, including, but not limited too: UF-O, a flying saucer-eurypterid-horseshoe crab-combination; Gerukadon, a monster notable for having the most nonsensical wing structure on a kaiju ever; Degunja, a wind spirit that it took me a stupidly long time to realize was a pastiche of the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes; Plant Bios, a cyborg plant monster in the most absurd yet direct possible interpretation of that concept; and the series’s most iconic adversary, Gudis, a giant slug from Mars with a tentacled, semi-humanoid upper body and giant external brain that’s also a living virus.  This is why I love Ultraman.  And that’s just a few of them.  I don’t even know how to succinctly describe something like Bogun.

As for Gazebo himself, and his weird name, I’ve heard it hypothesized that his name was a reference to the Gazeka, which, given the location, I find quite believable, and choosing to end it with a “bo” could very well be a joke.  Bogun’s name almost certainly is.  If so, it would make Gazebo not a Tapirsaurus, but a Palorchestes-saurus.  Which, frankly, rules.

Priscilla

Image © @iguanodont​

[A present for my girlfriend, @abominationimperatrix​. As you may be able to tell from the art, this OC started life as a Houndoom in a Pokemon setting. So we talked about how to fit her into Pathfinder, particularly my take on Pathfinder, and settled on the gerulfus. There’s definitely a tradition, possibly more in line with fakelore than folklore but still, of relatively benevolent dog-headed humanoids, like the wulver or dwayyo. Plus, I’m still awfully proud of digging up “gerulfus” as a generic name for dog-headed humanoids.]

Priscilla CR 19 N Outsider (native) This humanoid appears to be an anthropomorphic hellhound, with curving horns and a spade on the end of her tail. Her fur is a dark magenta hue, and growths like an external spinal column and ribs stretch along her back and sides. She wears mismatched leather armor and a spiked collar.

Before there was Priscilla, there was a gerulfus in the Sanos Forest. Created by the fears and anxieties of the people of Sandpoint, Wartle, and other nearby communities about everything from goblins to ghouls to the Sandpoint Devil, this gerulfus was determined to make the Sanos Forest its territory. Unfortunately, there was already a powerful monster occupying the forest—a phouka witch named Gigi, who considered herself the “Scary Fairy Godmother” of Varisia. Time and again, the gerulfus threw itself at Gigi, and time and again, Gigi repelled her with tricks and spells. Eventually a combination of fatigue and curiosity got the gerulfus to ask, “Why haven’t you just killed me?”

Gigi explained that she was impressed by the gerulfus’ tenacity and zeal, and thought that those qualities could be turned to more productive use. That was enough to start a friendship, which eventually blossomed into a romance. They talked of Gigi’s patron, Mormo the Goddess of Predators, and about how Golarion in general and the Inner Sea region specifically was plagued by demons and on the verge of ecological collapse. They also talked of identity and presentation, and Gigi helped Priscilla to decide on her new appearance, gender and name. Now reborn as her better self, Priscilla is Gigi’s right hand monster, and one of Mormo’s most powerful servitors in Avistan.

Priscilla is the bogey’s bogey. She hunts monsters that cause undue suffering and ecological catastrophe. Priscilla’s favorite prey are demons, as they are tactically challenging, worthy opponents, but she has fought an entire codex of creatures and lived to tell the tale. Prisciilla might be the foremost authority on monster biology, behavior and abilities in all of Avistan: certainly in Varisia. She has sworn her service to Mormo, and combines divine spells with her natural cunning in combat to eradicate Lamashtu cults and powerful monsters. Varisia is her most frequent hunting ground, but she can and does use her gerulfus magic to open portals to travel across the globe and into the First World.

Priscilla is a tenacious combatant. She may stalk prey for hours, even days, in order to observe their strengths and weaknesses. Her spells are primarily used to enhance her tracking abilities and to bolster the strength of her and her allies. Priscilla often fights alone, but may also lead commando raids of other Mormo worshipers, or work with local monsters and people who want to fight back against greater threats. Although she carries a bow and arrow for flying enemies, Priscilla eschews the use of melee weapons—she still likes to get her teeth and claws dirty. Against weaker foes, Priscilla uses stealth to take them out with a single decisive strike, but she does enjoy a good old fashioned, knockdown brawl now and again.

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Swarm, Time Flies (Monster)

(art by DenisZhbankov on deviantart)

(This is a fun one- it started with the pun, but quickly I realized the potential for cosmic horror. Originally they were concieved as being inhumanoid, being intended as fat, spiky, botfly shaped creatures, but that was a bit hard to find art for. Feel free to use the original description if you like!)

CR17 LN Tiny Outsider Although they are called “time flies”, these creatures are far more humanoid than the small, harmless insects they’re named after. Enigmatic creatures native to the Plane of Time, they are almost always the first creatures to emerge when a rift to the plane is opened (most often through repeated uses of Time Stop). Many an unprepared wizard has been devoured by these deadly beasts after playing with forces beyond mortal ken.

Time flies' minds are completely alien, and evidently without mercy or compassion. Their primary focus is consumption of magical energy and temporal rifts, although time flies worked into a frenzy by particularly large rifts are generally a danger to any creature that draws near it.

Due to the enigmatic nature of the Plane of Time, the natural ecology of time flies (what they normally eat, how they behave in their natural habitat, and how they interact with other denizens of their plane) is a mystery. Some occultists suspect, however, that time flies are relatively weak within the Plane of Time- a terrifying prospect, as they are incredibly dangerous creatures.

Cystbearer (Monster)

(art by Kev Walker)

(So I ended up statting up a LOT of Phyrexian monsters back before their arc reached its climax. I'll be posting them under #phyrexia project, with the hope that once I'm done you'll have a robust monster list for a Phyrexian invasion campaign.

My phyrexia is mostly a blend of old Phyrexia and Phyrexia as depicted in Scars of Mirrodin block, as that's how I was first introduced to them. We'll be seeing a lot more of them as this blog continues. I haven't statted up the Praetors yet, but I'm imagining them as CR21-25 range monsters who grant divine spells and have Mythic ranks.

Cystbearers are, to me, an iconic creature of Scars of Mirrodin, being decently costed common infect creatures with no other ability. They also look nasty as hell, in a good way.)

CR4 NE Large Aberration

Cystbearers are early vanguards of Phyrexian invasion, virulent and resilient beings grown in massive Phyrexian breeding pools. They are remarkably fast to grow, with a new cystbear going from single celled germ to fully developed Phyrexian beast in the course of about a week in the noxious pools. They are then released into the world, typically with orders to kill and infect indiscriminately- orders they perform with gusto.

Cystbearers have barely enough intelligence for sadism and an understanding of the harm they're causing. For all intents and purposes, a cystbearer acts more like an unusually aggressive animal, rather than an intelligent being who can formulate plans in combat or be negotiated with.

Drubb (Monster)

(art by Jim Nelson)

(This was a Magic card- Muck Drubb- with the perfect combination of evocative art and interesting ability, so I of course HAD to make it a monster! This one's flavor text is just real sad and delves into slavery, so you've been warned. Perhaps freeing a population of enslaved drubbs and finding one of the hiding families to take them in would be a fun side quest for your heroes!)

CR3 TN Medium Aberration

Drubbs are unfortunate creatures whose physiology naturally attracts magic. At one point in history they were nearly extinct, but have been brought back from the brink by black market breeders, as unscrupulous criminals and military officers realized that their sacrificial abilities make them excellent defensive allies. These drubbs, though sentient and able to speak, act as little more than sacrifices for their owners, living to be targeted by a deadly spell that was meant for someone else. 

In nature, drubbs live in close matriarchal groups, with the oldest female- generally a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to various members of the group- teaching their children philosophy and religion, as well as practical survival skills and safe hideaways. Males typically stay in these groups even while sexually mature, and only leave when they are knowledgeable and confident enough to secure a mate and a place in another herd. These herds are extremely rare these days, however, with only three or four free families believed to still exist.

Drubbs are sentient and their mouths are dexterous enough to wield weapons, but they generally progress by advancing racial HD. Learning magic is a taboo in drubb society, both because of the scars spellcasting slavers have left on their society, and more practically because casting magic around friendly drubbs is rather hazardous.

Drubb hide is magically potent, and the skin from a single drubb can serve as up to 1,000gp worth of leather when crafting magic items of the Abjuration school; in particular, they are a common source of Cloaks of Resistance.

Voidslug (Monster)

(Art by Der-Reiko on deviantart)

CR4 NE Medium Ooze

A voidslug is a living tear into the plane of negative energy, the coagulation of its entropic energy given wretched animation. While a dedicated adventuring party can take one out easily, it leaves a path of dead animals, withered plants, broken structures, and barren soil behind it as it wanders; a single voidslug can render a small area inhospitable if allowed to exist too long.

Mindless undead are naturally drawn to a voidslug, and the creatures seem to tolerate their presence, often worsening a zombie infestation. Particularly nihilistic or destructive intelligent undead may keep a voidslug around as a source of healing and strength, but those who desire the material or interpersonal usually recognize the voidslug’s potential for collateral damage.

Inside a voidslug is a solid, gemlike mass of crystalized negative energy. This gem can be used as 1,000gp worth of Onyx Gems for the purpose of Animate Dead, Create Undead, and similar spells, or towards creating any construct that has the aforementioned spell as a component.

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth - Sherlock Holmes

The logic is airtight.

This is the logic behind so many cryptids.