Examples Please

I was hoping I could persuade some of you to post examples of magical, faerie, divine, or infernal creatures you have devised or used in your sagas. I'm hoping to get more of a feel for the development of such creatures by way of such examples.

thank you to any who take the time to contribute.

Angado, wizard of Cymril of the Seven Kingdoms

Was this a rude request? If so would someone please say so?

It's not rude, it's just asking for quite a bit of effort and for questionable ends. There's a difference between citing a rule or asking for an interpretation, and asking someone to transcribe a creature.

Also, from previous similar discussions, a request like this is arguably pointless - any single example is just that - one example of the infinite interpretations possible. Without the context of that game, those characters, the story line, questions like power-rating, appropriateness, balance, all get steamrolled.

If you're new to GM'ing Ars, then it will take some time to get a feel for NPC's, especially balancing them against your PC's. My suggestion is not to feel that any numbers you write down are written in stone. If your NPC's are dying in scores, bring out more, or make them tougher on the spot. If the reverse, then have them die earlier. (Starting with fewer is safer - you can always bring in more that were hiding behind a tree or door.) Don't let the story or that one encounter suffer because you misjudged some math.

Point is, my NPC's for my game are of little value to you in your game. There are examples in the book, you need to give your personal spin to your interpretations. From there, anything goes.

That said, some people will probably want to share - some are quite proud of their creations, and rightly so. Give it time, we'll see.

Okay, just wanted to make certain I hadn't asked for too much information, or broken a social norm.

Thanks for the clarification :laughing:

I've posted a couple before. Here are the links. Keep in mind that, as the Hound pointed out, a lot of it is somewhat arbitrary: what abilities to give a demon, what physical stats give an animal... judgment calls all of them.

Titivillus, patron demon of calligraphers
Arisitis, a magical ermine (incomplete, but somewhat detailed)

Our saga also added a miniature dragon and a magical gerbil (!) as magical animal companions. I'll post the stats when I grab the sheets off the players. :stuck_out_tongue:

I don't think the request was rude at all.

However, dude, you only gave it seven hours before your follow-up post. And I don't know if you're in the US or not, but here, Saturday the 14th was Valentine's Day. A lot of us gamer geek guys don't have girlfriends & wives, but many do. It's probably good to see that a lot of the guys here were away from their computers for a few hours.

I know the Internet helps feed the need for immediate gratification, but what risks coming across as rude is your impatience.

Here's a magical raven I made for the familiar of one of our magi (an excerpt from my email to the player). I use paper and pencil for most of our game so translating to electronic format isn't easy. I also frequently use just a few numbers rather than fully fleshed out creatures.

Cool, thank you all for your input.

Also sorry about the seeming impatience, I'm in the USA but I've been travelling alot so i often lose track of time.

Don't worry, i am picking up the slack for all the lazy gamers out there :wink:

Here is a creature I designed a while ago. Have not checked it in a while, so my numbers might be off...

Gryphon
Magic Might: 18
Characteristics: Cun +1, Per +0, Com +0, Pre +0, Str +6, Sta +3, Dex +2, Quik +1
Size: +2
Season: Spring (120)
Ferocity: 2 (6)
Virtues: +0 Magical Animal (No Hands, Mute), +4 Improved Characteristics (4x), +1 Ferocity, +1 Puissant Brawl, +1 Self Confident, +1 Tough
Flaws: -3 Magical Monster, -3 Proud, -1 Weakness (submission),
Natural Qualities: Accomplished Flier, Aggressive, Ambush Predator, Crafty, Fast Flier, Good Jumper, Hardy, Imposing Appearance, Keen Eyesight, Large Claws, Large Teeth, Tough Hide, Vocal
Qualities: +3 Essential Virtue (+6 Bravery), +3 Improved Abilities (3x), +5 Improved Might (5x), +1 Chimera Lion/Eagle (Accomplished Flier), +1 Improved Attack (claws), +1 Improved Attack (bite), +1 Improved Fatigue, +1 Improved Soak
Inferiorities: -1 Susceptible to Depravation
Personality Traits: Brave +5, Fierce +5
Reputations: Fierce (local) 4
Combat:
Large Claws: Init +1, Atk +17, Def +12, Dmg +10
Large Teeth: Init +1, Atk +15, Def +9, Dmg +9
Soak: +10
Wounds: -1 Lt (1-7), -3 Med (8-14), -5 Hvy (15-21), Incap (22-29), Dead (30+)
Fatigue: OK, 0, 0, -1, -3, -5, ko
Abilities: Athletics 5 (flight), Awareness 2 (smell), Brawl 5+2 (claws), Finesse 2 (flight), Hunt 4 (horses), Stealth 4 (stalking), Survival 5 (arid climates)
Natural Weapons: Large Claws (Init +0, Atk +5, Def +3, Dmg +4), Large Teeth (Init +0, Atk +4, Def +1, Dmg +3), Tough Hide (+2 Soak)
Powers: none
Encumbrance: 0
Vis: 3 Animal in heart
Appearance:
Note: The Minor Magical Quality of Chimera means that the beast is a combination of two different animals. Design the beast as if it were the Primary creature, but it has the Natural Qualities of both.

Very cool! Where can I find more information on creature creation, which sourcebooks?

Thanks for the really cool griffin example, thats really neat.

You are welcome :wink:

"Realms of Power-Magic" is one of the best sourcebooks in fifth edition. It is very useful for creating magic creatures. The other realm books have creatures of other types as well (Infernal, Divine, Faerie).

Thank you... I'll have to pick those up over the next few pay periods, or after my next seminar.

I thought it became Int -3. Is that something we house-ruled? I know I would consider it odd if a Cun -1 animal became more intelligent than an Int -2 animal after going through the familiar bond. Unfortunately, my books are lent out at the moment.

Chris

Agreed. Also, Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults (Bjornaer section) is really handy when dealing with animals. At very least they provide a good jumping-off point for your magical beasties. The online beastiary on the Atlas's ArM5 page helps, too.

Chris

No that's my house rule showing, not yours.