James Bell

CREATOR

4 days ago

Project Update: Sneak Peek: Drodo, Phooph, Shroops

Hello Tail-blazers,

Another preview today ahead of our complete Enemies chapter coming tomorrow. This time, all of the fun names!

Drodo

(OL 1; Enemy)

Drodo are strange, flightless, metamorphic birds with crystalline bodies whose conical, metal heads perch atop segmented metallic necks. Their unique physiology allows them to merge with other drodos, increasing their mass, number of heads, and ability to wield horrifying elemental powers.

The smallest drodo has a single head, is the size of a large turkey, and has a body formed of a monocolored crystal. When two drodos merge, to form a drododo, they become the size of a pony, the two heads of the new drododo perched atop a crystal made of the blended colors of the original bodies.

Drodotos are horse-sized and their three heads rest atop a body covered in a tiger-stripe pattern reflecting the coloration of the drododos that formed it. On rare occasions, two drodotos merge into a building-sized drodoquo, whose body ripples iridescently with the colors and patterns of its constituent parts. This is also the only type of drodo whose wings are said to be capable of flight, although few believe such accounts as a four-headed, eight-winged creature the size of a small house must be a flight of fancy.

Tactics: Fueled by rage, drodos live to cause chaos and hunt the target of their ire. This is seemingly random, but once a drodo has set its sights on its prey, nothing can prevent them hunting it down. They don’t need to rest and think little of destroying anything in their way.

Defense: 12 (crystal skin)
Stamina Points: 15
Speed: 30 ft., 10 ft. flying (four heads only)
Experience Bonus: +1
Attributes: Agility +2, Might +2, Vitality +0, Cunning -1, Intellect -1, Presence +1
Skills: Traverse
Attack: Peck (+3 melee, 1d6 + 2 stabbing), elemental gaze (+3 ranged, 1d6 + 2 electric)
Morale: +1; at 3 or fewer stamina points.

Tricks: Low-light Vision; resistant to electric damage

Combination Form: A drodo’s stats are different based on the number of heads it possesses. For every head after the first: its OL and Defense increase by 2; its maximum stamina points increase by 20; its experience bonus increases by 1; it gains the Notice (two or more heads) and Intimidate (three or more heads) skills; it can deal heat (two or more heads) or cold (three or more heads) damage with its elemental gaze attack; it can make a number of attacks equal to the number of its heads; its attack dice increase by one stage (e.g. 1d6 becomes 1d8); and it becomes resistant to the new damage types of its elemental gaze.
Disintegration: A drodo reduced to 0 stamina points crumbles into crystalline dust.
Reintegration: When two drodo are within 5 feet of each other, they may reintegrate as a supplemental action. If a smaller drodo merges with a drodo with more heads, the larger drodo regains stamina points equal to half the smaller drodo’s maximum total. If the drodo have the same number of heads, they merge into the next largest drodo with its stamina points at half its maximum.

Phooph

(OL 1; Minion)

Few things in the Underneath are benign, but phoophs are the closest to it that anyone can remember encountering. Their sponge-like, star-shaped bodies drift slowly, and absently, through the empty tunnels and caverns of their home, and they form small shoals for mutual protection and socialization.

Natural telepaths, they passively read the minds of any they encounter and share their pain when attacked. Rodents who travel the further reaches of the Underneath know to run when these largely harmless creatures turn hostile, as it’s a good indicator that something much larger and hungrier is nearby; likely something that has forced the phoophs from their home cavern and is now looking for more prey.

When not chased from their homes, phoophs are content to let travelers pass peacefully through their territory.

Tactics: Phoophs flee danger automatically. They instinctively use their Think About What You’ve Done trick when provoked and use the resulting mental agony to distract their attackers.

Defense: 12 (squishy hide)
Stamina Points: 1
Speed: 20 ft. / 5 ft. flying
Experience Bonus: +1
Attributes: Agility +3, Might -2, Vitality +0, Cunning +1, Intellect +1, Presence +0
Attack: Slam (-1 melee, 1d6 - 2 blunt, plus Think About What You’ve Done)
Morale: N/A

Tricks: Immunity to Blind, Deaf, and Prone; resistance to blunt damage; weak to mental damage

Think About What You’ve Done: On a successful slam attack, the target takes 1d4 mental damage at the start of each of their turns and can’t apply their experience bonus to attack or damage rolls. Making a Cunning test (difficulty 13) prevents this damage and the effect. Targets who fail may attempt the test again at the end of each of their turns until they succeed, ending the effects of this trick.
Hurlenflee: Once per battle, the phooph may vomit the contents of its stomach in a 15 feet cone to escape an opponent. Every character within the cone is covered in a brightly colored, sickly-sweet spray and Immobile until they make a Might test (difficulty 13) as an action or another creature uses their action to make a Might (Traverse) check at difficulty 13 to break them out. Making an Agility test (difficulty 13) prevents this effect. The stubborn, cotton-candy smell remains for 1d4 hours, imposing a hindrance on Hide checks, unless the target takes the time to clean themself and their equipment in fresh water.
Psychic Sensitivity: The spongy makeup of the phooph makes them extremely sensitive to psychic abilities. The phooph hears any telepathic communication that occurs within 60 feet of it. It has immunity to any effects that allow a creature to sense emotions or read thoughts.

Shroops

(OL 3; Enemy; Amphibious)

Shroops are psychic crustaceans that share some similarities with fungi and can sometimes be found living alongside rollust colonies, but are more often encountered in the largest underground lakes and waters, dwelling amongst the brightly-colored corals that thrive within the Underneath. They form a symbiotic relationship with the corals they live amongst, becoming host to part of the reef in exchange for a portion of the energy generated by the polyps that take “root” upon their shell.

They are pacifists by nature, and their colonies spend most of their waking hours engaged in telepathic conversations concerning water temperature, the health of the reef, and other simple matters. They can converse mentally with explorers, but few choose to do so and fewer still have the opportunity. When threatened, or startled, a shroop can send the stillness found at the bottom of their lake into the mind of an explorer, causing them to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When this occurs above the surface of the water, the shroop will flee slowly towards the sanctuary of the deeps. When explorers stumble upon a shroop colony in its territory, however, they often drown as the shroops are unaware that most creatures need air more often than they do.

Many stories abound concerning the origin of shroops, but the most popular is that they are the dreams of Men who drowned in the time before time. Some rodents believe that if they could connect with a shroop colony on a deep, psychic level, and survive the experience of being far below the surface of the water, they might learn secrets that have been forgotten since Man disappeared.

Shroops regularly shed their shells as they grow, seeking larger and larger replacements, and these cast-offs are valued by a handful of collectors throughout the Underneath for the plastic content that can be processed from them with enough time and effort.

Tactics: Shroops aren’t inherently aggressive and will use their Sleep of the Deep trick at the start of their first turn. Should this prove ineffective, they attempt to flee their aggressors, hiding amongst the coral reef or retreating to the nearest body of water.

Defense: 15 (coral shell)
Stamina Points: 32
Speed: 30 ft. swimming
Experience Bonus: +2
Attributes: Agility +0, Might +1, Vitality +1, Cunning +0, Intellect +2, Presence +0
Skills: Know Culture, Persuade
Attack: Tail slap (+3 melee, 2d6 + 1 blunt + 2d4 poison)
Morale: +0; when at 4 or fewer stamina points

Tricks:

Hivemind: Any shroop within 240 feet of another can sense when one takes damage.
Sleep of the Deep: Once per combat, the shroop can use an action to overwhelm a character with calming vibes, causing them to fall Unconscious. Making a successful Cunning test (difficulty 15) prevents this. The target may attempt the test at the start of each of their turns and remains Unconscious until succeed, take any amount of damage, or can finish either a rest or a nap.

Who doesn't want to encounter some Phoophs and Shroops now?

We're halfway throught he campaign now, with two weeks behind us and our final two weeks ahead. Still lots of cool stuff to come! Remember to spread the word and get ready for the dangers of the Underneath tomorrow!

Edit

Comments 3

Back It

Drodo

Phooph

Shroops

Share

Confirm