Monster suggestions

[Korik1]

So during a session one of my players was trying to figure out what monster was crawling through the sewers and asked me what sorts of creatures live in the area. This was something her character would know, but aside from real animals that would live in the climate I was having a hard time of thinking of any. Eventually I mentioned land sharks and crocodiles as possible culprits which the PCs took caution from (was actually a troll), but I realized I haVe a serious problem: I don't know what sorts of monsters fit into my low magic setting! Would you fine people suggest some? I already have giant scorpions, warns, and land sharks, but I am not sure what other naturally occurring monsters could work.

[Mister Andersen]

We really need to know something about your low magic setting.

[ludomastro]

We really need to know something about your low magic setting.

Indeed!

What era are you using?  What is the technology level? (This speaks to what people "know" about the animals.)  How far out of the main-stream/reality are we going here?  To me, land shark doesn't say low magic.

[Korik1]

More details, eh? Well I guess it is more of a moderate magic setting than low. The era sort of varies depending on the region. There are two nations at reason level, about five at feudal, two at ancient, and three at primitive.

Magic is dependent on belief so all mages must have an alignment to their school of magic. The schools of magic are fire, water, earth, air, metal, flesh, darkness, light, nature, and stars. Each has it's own associated paths, but I do not have those handy at the moment.

I suppose that the reason a land shark (bullete by another name) as a low magic monster works is because it does not have any abilities that are overly magical. Sure it can burrow really fast, but that can be explained by it being an extraordinarily good digger. Wargs are just really big sentient wolves that are allied with the hidden creatures of the forests (sidhe, fairies, kobolds) and their diplomats the root walkers. Giant scorpions are just giant scorpions ranging in size from large dogs to elephantine proportions. Generally all the monsters have reasonably magic free abilities, the only real exception being drakes and their breath weapons and fire braves but that's getting into creatures from outside of the world. There are no centaurs, no beholders, no dragons (though there used to be), and no Gorgons.

I hope this gives you a better idea of what I am looking for.

[ludomastro]

Fair enough.

Hmm, if your setting allows for such things, I would add feral zombies and skeletons.  ("Feral" because there is no longer a necromancer giving them orders.)  Or perhaps an Outsider is manipulating things.

The good ole' displacer beast - invisibility isn't needed or could be covered by adaptive camouflage.

Giant lizards are always good.  Komodo dragons are fun, especially if you super-size them.

Saber-toothed cats or large lions are good.

Giant birds are also fun: Phorusrhacids (aka "terror birds") and/or the giant moas  (No, it is your imagination.  These are most emphatically not a representation of a certain iconic bird of a long running video game series.  Sure, we'll go with that.)

An underrated animal is the wolf.  In packs they should truly strike fear into characters and players alike.  The closest I have ever come is a pack of coyotes while working on the ranch back home.  While an individual isn't scary - they are small and scrawny and not impressive - a determined/hungry pack could take me down without much effort - and I'm not a small guy.  They would occasionally take calves or try to take down a sick cow.  Remember that wolves are even bigger.

Hopefully that is a good start.

[Korik1]

I forgot to mention it but there actually are feral zombies and skeletons. An entire nation has been cut to a quarter of its former size and the other three quarters are now known as the Bonelands. They are basically a mystery, though I know what their deal is.

Again, displacer beasts are in setting as Shadow Beasts which are otherworldly monsters summoned by Candle Keepers (light/darkness sorcerors). Their magic is allowed because they are Not Of This World.

Giant lizards are indeed good. I LOOOOOVE dinosaurs for RPG settings because the players are not expecting but know just how terrifying they are without needing an in game explanation. I'll keep the giant felines and birds in mind too (rocs are already canon).

Wolves are good too, and I have a night time encounter planned where a pack of wolves lead by a warg will investigate the PC camp, but not engage them in combat. The warg can even be engaged in conversation of the PCs try.

I think I'm looking for more unnatural creatures that would work within these contraints. The displacer beasts fit perfectly into what I'm looking for.

[ludomastro]

Ok, I'm starting to see what you are after.

I'd go with unicorns because, well, I like them.  Not to mention that the idea of an extremely intelligent animal (assuming you don't go full sentient) with a weapon is appealing.  If you opt to make it magical as well, then I would go with some type of confusion or time related innate spell rather than full teleportation.

The bugbear (silly name, that) is something of a classic.

A cockatrice (poisonous rather than magical) with venom that causes "lockjaw" could be fun.

Swarms of nasty ... anything really.  I'm fond of giant mosquitos personally.

A giant version of the bombardier beetle could be nice.

Tribbles ... or some biological equivalent.

I would also mine ideas from the TV show Sanctuary - mind controlling Scarab Bugs come to mind.  Though this might be more plot device than creature.

Also, see if you can find the BBC program called "The Future is Wild."  In it, scientists speculated about the possible path of evolution 5, 100 and 200 million years in the future.  If nothing else, you can mine that series for creature ideas.  I particularly remember a land based squid.

[Mister Andersen]

okay, you have giant critters. What do they eat? What eats or kills them? The local environment -- landforms, urbanisation, temperature, water sources -- are all important factors.

Frex, land sharks are rural creatures; urban areas would likely impede their burrowing and the amount of destruction they'd cause infrastructure would see quickly mobilised extermination efforts to get rid of them before they collapse the joint.

What preys on your feral undead? If anything eats them, is it just like eating carrion or do the magics involved have a toxic or even mutagenic effect?

[Rohas]

Hmmmm, I know I'm new here, but is it proper to mention Other Gaming Companies(TM) websites?

The Pathfinder SRD Bestiary section breaks out everything by terrain.  For a quick reference, just click on whatever terrain matches yours, see what creatures come up that match your personal bestiary, and you're in business.

[Desertpuma]

The genius of the FantasyCraft system and its Bestiary is that you can take ANY D20 monster and funnel into a FantasyCraft monster.

[ludomastro]

The genius of the FantasyCraft system and its Bestiary is that you can take ANY D20 monster and funnel into a FantasyCraft monster.

As well as take a few more minutes and pull in pretty much anything you've ever seen in the movies, on TV, in an non-d20 system, etc.  The NPC system is one of my favorite parts of the system.

[snake]

My PCs met one of these in a sewer once: (thanks again to Mister Anderson)  

Voormis Degenerate (standard NPC - 104 XP).
Attributes: Str 16, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 6
Sz: L (1×1, Reach 1); Spd: 30 ft.
Grades: Init VII; Atk VIII; Def VII; Resilience VI; Health: VIII;
Comp: — ; Skills: Notice IV, Sneak VII, Survival IV
Qualities: All thumbs, darkvision, diving, fast healing, fearsome, feral, improved sense (scent), nocturnal, thick hide II, tough II
Attacks/Weapons: Bite I (dmg 1d6+3 lethal, error 1-2, threat 18-20, AP 4), Claw III (dmg 2d4+3 lethal, error 1, threat 18-20)

Turns out he was only an experiment created by some other evil critters. So you might want to start with a particular monster and have him lead to others (or an evil alchemist/Wizard)  

[paddyfool]

I'm not sure, but looking at your schools of magic:

- With flesh as a school of magic, you could probably have some really weird fleshwarped creatures of whatever stamp wandering around.  Chimerical beasts where different beasts have been merged together, for instance. 

- With metal, you can have war golems of whatever variety.  Whether you're talking swarms of small, sharp-edged machines that try to rush you and take you apart, or big hefty smithing golems with hammers for hands.