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Bestiary

Lydera is inhabited by many hostile forces. Some are wild beasts, some are great monsters, and some defy description altogether.

This page gives enemies to build combat encounters with. While most of them are various types of wild creatures, there are also plenty of pre-built soldiers and bandits that can be used as allies or enemies alike.

Beasts

These creatures are wild animals, operating on primitive predatory instincts. They tend to only attack when an opportunity presents itself and will generally not provoke a superior foe.

Bird of Prey

These large birds rely on quick dives and surprise attacks to kill small prey, rarely targeting anything larger than a rabbit. Many birds of prey can be trained to aid hunters by harrying larger prey, however, and this tactic is sometimes used in war to break up small groups of enemies or distract back-line magicians.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 1, Endurance: 2, Precision: 2, Intellect: 1, Soulpower: 1
• Skills & Specializations
  • Primitive Attacks: 4, Resolve: 2, Awareness: 3, Vision: 4
• Attacks
  • Talon: Swipe with a talon as an unarmed attack with 2 base damage. Attack roll 6, damage roll 3.
  • Dive: If the creature spends the entire round flying and moving, an attack can be made halfway through with its talons that gains additional damage based on its speed. Attack roll 6, damage roll 9.
• Special
  • Winged Flight: The creature may fly, so long as it spends at least one action per round moving. If the creature cannot move, it falls. It must move in the direction that it is facing and it cannot rotate more than 60 degrees each time it moves into a new space.
  • Unarmed: This creature cannot use weapons or throw objects.
• Stats
  • Front defense: 3, Back defense: 3
  • Speed: 6 (1 on land)
  • Hit points: 5

Horse

While wild horses can still be found roaming the plains, they are much more often domesticated as mounts or beasts of burden for humans. Unless specifically trained for war, most horses prefer retreat over combat.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 6, Endurance: 3, Precision: 1, Intellect: 1, Soulpower: 1
• Skills & Specializations
  • Primitive Attacks: 3, Awareness: 3, Senses: 2
• Attacks
  • Kick: Kick as an unarmed attack with 0 base damage. Attack roll 4, damage roll 6, weak against armor.
• Special
  • Mount: This creature can be effectively used and trained as a mount.
  • Unarmed: This creature cannot use weapons or throw objects.
  • Sprint: When using the move action three times in a round, the creature may move three times as far (instead of twice as far).
• Stats
  • Front defense: 2, Back defense: 2
  • Speed: 4
  • Hit points: 9

Wolf

Wolves travel in packs in woodland environments, using superior numbers to take out strong prey. While they can be aggressive, wolves will back down from any fight that they cannot win and will usually draw back before taking any losses.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 4, Endurance: 2, Precision: 2, Intellect: 1, Soulpower: 1
• Skills & Specializations
  • Primitive Attacks: 5, Resolve: 3, Awareness: 5, Senses: 5
• Attacks
  • Bite: Bite as an unarmed attack with 3 base damage. Attack roll 7, damage roll 7, weak against plate and chain. Dealing damage automatically causes a grapple.
• Special
  • Grapple Mastery: If this creature rolls a tie on a grapple roll, it gains control of the grapple. If it already has control of the grapple, it may deal 1 damage to the opponent.
  • Keen senses: Senses skill rolls have their difficulty decreased by 1.
  • Unarmed: This creature cannot use weapons or throw objects.
• Stats
  • Front defense: 3, Back defense: 3
  • Speed: 5
  • Hit points: 9
• Equipment
  • Wolf pelts can sell for 1-6c when correctly skinned.

Monsters

While these creatures may exhibit more intelligence or organization than common animals, they still lack the full sapience that would allow them to form tribes or societies. While the vast majority are not inherently evil, they give little regard for human life and greedily seek human resources.

Blemmyes

Other names: Headless

These creatures resemble large humans, except that they completely lack a head. Instead, their facial features are on the fronts of their chests, with a gaping mouth full of sharp teeth in the belly and two enormous eyes in the shoulders. Their aggressive attitudes and craving for meat makes them persistent nuisances in border towns.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 4, Endurance: 3, Precision: 4, Intellect: 1, Soulpower: 2
• Skills & Specializations
  • Melee weapons: 3, Primitive Attacks: 2, Resolve: 3, Awareness: 5, Vision: 3
• Attacks
  • Bite: Bite as an unarmed attack with 3 base damage. Attack roll 6, damage roll 7, weak against plate and chain. Dealing damage automatically causes a grapple.
  • Roar: For 2 AP, the creature may attempt to stun all adjacent creatures. Endurance/Willpower of 3 or lose 2 AP on the next turn. Usable once per fight.
  • Weapon: attack with two shortspears. Attack roll 7, damage roll 9, light.
  • Weapon: attack with a warhammer. Attack roll 7, damage roll 11, armor piercing v. hardened, chain, and plate.
• Stats
  • Front defense: 4, Back defense: 4
  • Speed: 3
  • Hit Points: 10
• Equipment
  • Unarmed, two shortspears, or one warhammer
  • Belt and greaves worth 5c

Ghasts

When a person's soul is destroyed, the body will almost certainly become a ghast. Their bodies are wrinkled and pale, often shivering and muttering with a vacant expression. Despite this, they have the same strength and cunning that they possessed in life. While the mannerisms of a ghast can vary, they are all unquestionably evil.

The stats given below are for a commoner turned ghast, or perhaps a stronger ghast whose body has withered away over time. To turn an existing creature into a ghast, give the attacks and special abilities below to the base creature.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 3, Endurance: 2, Precision: 3, Intellect: 3, Soulpower: X
• Skills & Specializations
  • Primitive Attacks: 3, Vision: 3, Senses: 2, Awareness: 2, Read Emotions: 2, Academics: 1
• Attacks
  • Gouge: Savagely tear at an opponent as an unarmed attack with 2 base damage. Attack roll 6, damage roll 8. Strong against unarmed, weak against plate and chain.
• Special
  • Beyond Fear: This creature is not affected by fear or pain.
  • No Soul: This creature does not have a Soulpower score. Any attempt to make a roll involving Soulpower automatically fails. This creature is immune to manipulation of the soul, including the Rending, Mending, and Domination soul specializations.
  • Combat Savagery: This creature has at least 3 ranks in Primitive Attacks.
• Stats
  • Front defense: 2, Back defense: 2
  • Speed: 3
  • Hit Points: 5
• Equipment
  • Coins worth 1-6c

Monopods

These creatures resemble short, thin humans, except they only posses a single leg with one enlarged foot. They are not aggressive per-se, but they are natural tricksters that tend to overdo their pranks.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 4, Endurance: 2, Precision: 5, Intellect: 2, Soulpower: 4
• Skills & specializations
  • Ranged weapons: 5, Senses: 3, Awareness: 3, Stealth: 3, Soul Casting: 2, Telekinesis: 2, Mobility: 2
• Attacks
  • Trip: Once per round, the creature may use soul magic to trip a target within 6 meters as it moves. Soulpower/Resolve or Precision/Agility of 3 (monopod's choice) or be knocked down, interrupting movement. Must be used on the target's turn during a move or slow move action.
  • Throw: Telekinetically throw an object at a target for 2 AP. Attack roll 6, damage roll 6/Weapon Base Damage difficulty 5.
  • Weapon: attack with a sling. Attack roll 10, damage roll 8.
• Special
  • Jumping: This creature jumps instead of walking. Each move action must be in a straight line up to 4 spaces long and may move through enemies, difficult terrain, and obstacles up to 4 meters tall. They only trigger reactive attacks at the beginning and end of each movement.
  • Smooth Lander: This creature ignores all fall damage.
• Stats
  • Front defense: 3, Back defense: 3
  • Speed: 4*
  • Hit Points: 6
• Equipment
  • Proficient with bows and slings
  • Stolen knickknacks worth 10c

Great Monsters

These creatures can rival or even surpass human might and intellect. These are the types of creatures that inspire lasting legends, either of their great aid to kingdoms past or the colossal destruction they can wreak. Despite their abilities, they all avoid civilization for one reason or another.

Cyclops

Cyclops are colossal beings, easily standing four times the height of a grown human, who live along secluded coastlines. While they tend to be slow learners, this is offset by their seemingly limitless lifespans. While few of them could be truly considered wise, they tend to master the usage of weapons and the building of stone structures over their lifetimes. They often build simple iron tools and extensive masonry walls for their own use, as none have been known to form societies with their own kind.

Cyclops appear human-like, but with exceptionally muscular bodies and very coarse grey hair that grows long and wavy. While they have wrinkles and age spots, their bodies retain a youthful appearance and energy. Most distinctive, of course, is the single large eye in the middle of the cyclops' foreheads. While this eye seems to be an obvious target, it is significantly more durable than a human eye and is protected by a leathery eyelid that, according to myth, can deflect gunfire.

Some cyclops can crudely mimic archaic speech. but most will only grunt and yell on the rare occasions that they decide to communicate. This dislike of language is the main reason they isolate themselves, as they find humans to be shrill and annoying.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 14, Endurance: 8, Precision: 4, Intellect: 2, Soulpower: 5
• Skills & Specializations
  • Melee Weapons: 15, Primitive Attacks: 10, Resolve: 10, Vision: 15, Agility: 3, Demolition: 5, Conditioning: 12, Willpower: 10, Metalworking: 3, Construction: 5, Survival: 5, Mobility: 5
• Attacks
  • Weapon: attack with a two-handed iron axe. Attack roll 19, damage roll 30, range 3, knocks down targets smaller than the cyclops.
  • Weapon: attack with a thrown boulder. Attack roll 24, damage roll 20 difficulty 3, can attack two adjacent targets, Athletics/Resolve of 7 or be knocked down if smaller than the cyclops.
• Special
  • Colossal: This creature takes up all adjacent spaces on a battle map. Additionally, this creature cannot be grappled by human-sized opponents. A human-sized opponent that becomes grappled by this creature cannot gain control of the grapple.
  • Legendary Durability: This creature has twice as many maximum hit points as normal.
• Stats:
  • Front Defense: 7, Back Defense: 6
  • Speed: 5
  • Hit Points: 64
  • Hardness: 4
  • ATE: Hardened

Dragon

Humanity has long feared the wrath of dragons. They are terrifying and chimeric beings, resembling all of the most frightening animals. The scales of a serpent, the jaws of a wolf, the wings of a bat, the claws of a lion, and the size of a mammoth - if not larger. This impossible anatomy is held together by a soul more powerful than some Celestials.

• Attributes
  • Athletics: 12, Endurance: 12, Precision: 10, Intellect: 8, Soulpower: 20
• Skills & Specializations
• Attacks
  • Claw: Swipe with a claw as an unarmed attack with 12 base damage. No armor weaknesses.
  • Energy Breath: Dragons store aetherial energy pockets in their souls that can be unleashed at any time as a roar of thunder and fire. Make an area elemental attack along a 20 meter line with Precision/Primitive Attacks. Roll for damage with Soulpower/20. Enemies who successfully defend still take 5 damage from the incredible heat. Usable once per fight.
  • Bite: Bite as an unarmed attack with 12 base damage. Attack roll 10, damage roll 24. Dealing damage automatically causes a grapple.
  • Consume: Any creature grappled by the dragon's bite can be consumed for 3 AP. This deals 24 damage to the creature and prevents it from escaping the grapple until the dragon is killed. The creature additionally takes 12 damage per round while consumed. The dragon can no longer target the consumed creature and may perform actions as if it was not grappling.
  • Dive: If the creature spends the entire round flying and moving, an attack can be made halfway through with its claws that gains additional damage based on its speed. Attack roll 20, damage roll 30.
• Special
  • Winged Flight: The creature may fly, so long as it spends at least one action per round moving. If the creature cannot move, it falls. It must move in the direction that it is facing and it cannot rotate more than 60 degrees each time it moves into a new space.
  • Colossal: This creature takes up all adjacent spaces on a battle map. Additionally, this creature cannot be grappled by human-sized opponents. A human-sized opponent that becomes grappled by this creature cannot gain control of the grapple.
  • Legendary Durability: This creature has twice as many maximum hit points as normal.
• Stats:
  • Front defense: 9, Back defense: 7
  • Speed: 6 (6 while flying)
  • Hit points: 68
  • ATE: Dragonscale (All weapons are weak against dragonscale except mythril and blood iron)

Fighters

Commoners

These are common humans, created to be generally weaker than adventurers. While they can pose a threat in the right environment or in large numbers, they will lose in a fair fight against a player character.

Grunt

This front-line combatant represents a lesser trained fighter. While not necessarily weak, they lack any specialization. They are best used as common militia or bandits, usually under the command of a more veteran fighter.

Adventurer Level

These fighters are generated using the same rules as 1st level player characters. They can present a formidable threat to an adventuring party, especially as leaders of weaker enemies. They go into combat with a clear strategy and will not start a fight they cannot win, unless some long-term victory can be achieved through their sacrifice.

Brawler

This front-line combatant deals heavy damage but lacks defense. They can be used as shock troops to flank an enemy or as pikemen to add extra threat to a phalanx of warders.

Warder

This front-line combatant has high health and a shield. They should be used to guard chokepoints or as a phalanx, using the Shield Intercept maneuver to guard back-line magicians and archers.

Archer

This back-line combatant attacks with ranged weapons.

Elite Level

These fighters are generated using the same rules as 5th level player characters. They are seasoned veterans, usually found serving as elite soldiers for local barons or as bandit warlords in their own right.