Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Destrachan

Back in 2000, the destrachan was easily one of the standout new monsters from 3.0 Monster Manual, with evocative artwork from Todd Lockwood that instantly showed off its potential.  Perhaps some of the bloom has fallen off the rose—it didn’t appear in Pathfinder till the Bestiary 2—but it’s still a striking and flexible monster.  A solitary destrachan can be a twist on the usual minotaur at the center of the maze.  Intelligent creatures, packs of them make a good underground menace for GMs tired of the usual duergar, drow, and derros.  And then there’s their saurian aspect: In your campaign, destrachans might be the next stage in dinosaur evolution (along with yrthaks, 3.5’s digesters, super-intelligent lizardfolk, and whatever other monsters you can dream up).

A mendicant minotaur cleric seeks to redeem members of his race from the worship of demon lords.  But the maze of Mal Shem is not occupied by minotaurs, as everyone supposes, but by a destrachan who prefers fresh meals to ministry.

Lost worlds do not have to stay lost…or stand still in time.  A sage following the migration of the mythical yrthak comes across a canyon-strewn landscape where dinosaurs still roam.  Over time, many of the deeper-dwelling species have evolved sonic abilities to help them navigate and find mates in their canyon homes—pterodactyls that use echolocation and compsognathuses that sing from bullfrog-like throat sacks.  The sage seeks adventurers to mount a full expedition, unaware that not all the dinosaurs he wishes to study are dumb beasts.

A party comes across a duergar settlement that seems largely deserted.  Those that remain are scavengers.  They speak of another, older settlement just below theirs, haunted by what they call the Howling Deaths.

Pathfinder Bestiary 2 83

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