#creaturecodex

[doomboy911]

Theme Bonemound

Prompt List

@thecreaturecodex Art challenge (Last time I'll ping them.

Commentary

So I'm happy to be starting on this challenge that I brought upon myself. I spoke with the creaturecodex about producing an art challenge as the month of April has terrible art challenges to work with, they presented a lovely challenge rendering their monsters but now given a lot of freedom of choice I decided what would be fun is to give the choice over to another so I partnered with an old friend D6Damage they picked out some beasties and I'm going through rendering them. For this piece I decided that rendering the bones individually would be an exercise in madness so instead I focuses on the skull and implied a jumble of other parts here and there and for that 1 bit was perfect. I even got some dithering in there I'm very happy with. The best part though is definitely the ram skull, maybe I'll cut that away for later.

Palette picked

[pleb-the-original]

Day 4: Dragon

(Sorry if this took a while. I was dry on ideas and also went on vacation for a bit. I wanted to do the Codrille cause a plague dragon sounded really cool. It was only until today that I finally figured out a good theme for this piece. A care guide welcoming you to the job.)

Welcome to the Codrille Care Program! Once you have received the initial package containing this pamphlet, you are now an official member of the program. We’re glad to have you on board! The following segment will be a QnA dictating the extent of the program’s duties and history. What is the Program? The Codrille Care Program is a small organization tasked with caring for the small flock of Codrilles owned by the plague demons when they are not in use. We dutifully follow the care guidelines outlined in the master document and are dedicated to giving them the maximum quality of life possible. Fun Fact: Although Codrilles are noted to have a lower intelligence compared to other dragons leading to an inability to speak, that just means their intelligence is on par with highly intelligent animals such as dolphins or corvids. Why? It is our duty to uphold the Dragon’s Pact at all costs despite outsider opinions on the usefulness of Codrilles. Despite their unorthodox abilities disqualifying them from the usual smithing career many other dragons take, they are still an important asset to Hell due to their plague spreading abilities. Many plague demons have compared their impact to that of a warplane spreading a biological payload. Fun fact: Codrilles have flown alongside several military planes throughout history in order to boost the effects of their payload such as with the spread of Agent Orange. How? Cordille care is somewhat similar to the care of other dragons with a few notable key differences. The main difference lies their more animalistic nature. Codrilles are kept in stables and cannot directly communicate their needs and desires and thus must be either inferred or learned through bonding with the Codrille. Our Codrilles are highly personable with a variety of quirks that will make anyone fall in love with them. Another important aspect of care is their weekly crown polishing. A Codrille’s crown gem will lose its luster over time as it generates the Codrille’s natural plague aura. In the wild their gem is recharged by solar power and ambient earth magic but due to the Pact and human activity they are unable to access these resources. The gem can be charged and cleansed using demon magic however Codrilles have various different reactions to the process from complete calmness to rage. Fun Fact: During a Codrille’s juvenile salamander stage, it requires a heavy dose of pure natural magical energy in order to grow its gem. It has been theorized that humans looking at a Codrille and becoming aware of it sends some human magic into it which disrupts said delicate process and causes the Codrille’s death. What about me? Once you clock in for your first day, you will be assigned to a Codrille of any age stage. If you are assigned to our breeding program, you will be in charge of the chicken flock that hatches the Codrille and will note if the rooster lays an egg. Once the egg has been determined to host a Codrille (if it is not, they will be given to other dragon rehabilitators), you will be assigned to watch over its development in the mortal world. Do not look at it when it hatches before it sees you. Demon magic has been shown to corrupt a Codrille’s developmental stages leading to defects in adult life. If you are assigned to the juvenile program, you will be tasked with feeding the salamanders and tracking their food intake. You are not allowed to look at them in this state either but you will monitor their health based on the amount of bad luck emitted by them in this state. If you are assigned to the adult program, you will be placed with a team of carers assigned to a Codrille tasked with meeting its needs and keeping it satisfied in between the occasional deployment. You may be tasked with ride training a Codrille to get it accustomed to being ridden by a plague demon. Fun Fact: Codrille riders were one of the major forces that saved a lot of dragons from the cullings that occurred prior to the Pact. Good luck on your new endeavors with us! 

[wowieweirdwarlock]

Major Monsters: Pact Lich

Source: Creature Codex

Image source: Creature Codex, pg. 253

“Despite its frail appearance, this rotting, fiendish creature commands considerable arcane power.”

The Original. The first pact Lich was a powerful warlock whose patron was a being of undeath and magic. In a dire moment, the Patron decided to bring back it’s fallen servant as a being of dark intelligence with a hunger for souls.

Soul Devourers. Pact Liches must bring souls to their patron, for fear of their continued existence being snuffed out. Most Pact Liches possess a special item, such as a large diamond or magical focus, known as a phylactery, that they drain souls into to supplicate their patron.

Magical Rebirth. When a Pact Lich’s body is destroyed, their essence and consciousness is sent back to their patron, whom the Lich must face for their failure. If it’s patron is feeling particularly merciful, the Lich will be returned to the Material Plane near the object that serves as its phylactery.

Unique undeath. While all Liches require life force and magic to keep themselves existing beyond death, Pact Liches are the only ones that rely on the will of another being. As such, Pact Liches are unendingly loyal to their patron, as their entire soul and consciousness could be snatched from their body on a whim.

Ideas for using Pact Liches in a campaign:

A worshipper of a powerful arch fiend has been brought back after being slain by the party, and is amassing a cult around themself. They intend to hunt down the party and sacrifice them to their patron.

A member of the party’s soul has been trapped in a Pact Lich’s phylactery, and the party must kill the lich, and then destroy the phylactery before the soul js absorbed by the patron. While trapped in the phylactery, the Patron may offer a pact to the Player’s soul in exchange for freedom, as the Pact Lich has been disappointing the patron.

A warlock ally of the party has been slain, but suddenly came back. Despite this seeming miracle, they are acting strangely and are more dedicated to their patron than ever. Unbeknownst to the players, the ally has become a pact lich, and intends to sacrifice one of the players’ souls in order to cement their undeath.

There are many ways to achieve lichdom. In my personal opinion, Pact Liches are the most unique of all of them.

Most pact Liches serve their patrons unerringly, as most Patrons that grant this boon tend to be beings of Undeath or Darkness that do not suffer disobedience. Some patrons, such as Archfey or Fiends, also see the value in keeping particularly beautiful or loyal warlocks alive beyond death.

Many pact Liches are quite sad beings, as their whole existence hinges on the decisions and satisfaction of another. At least in life, some warlocks get a little bit of independence beyond their patron.

Pact Liches, however, are emptied of life force and ambition by their patron, and many are molded to suit their patron’s desires.

Luckily, I was spared that fate. My patron keeps me around as long as I make myself useful, sure, but at least I have a decent bit of latitude in my decision-making.

- A weird warlock.

[monstersdownthepath]

One thing I truly appreciate about Pathfinder's take on Jubilex is just how much they've apparently buffed him from his time in 3.5 as Juiblex. He was among the weakest of the Demon Princes, if not the weakest, but if his lore block in the Complete Book of the Damned is anything to go by, this is very much no longer the case.

Poisons which bypass poison immunity, acid which bypasses acid immunity, the ability to congeal air and turn it into difficult terrain, an acidic aura that blights the surrounding land and damages nearby enemies... and, most horribly, the ability to animate the bodily fluids of other creatures and turn them into voracious ooze monsters, even while they're still inside a victim's body!

It's certainly a loaded kit, a far cry from the simplicity of Juiblex's original stat block. My pipe dream is to one day see it in its full glory.

[unidentifiablelifeform]

Yes!! YES!!! Follow the creaturecodex to discover these and many other powerful beasts...

You are now a pokemon trainer! You look down at your belt to see six pokeballs, each containing a monster you have created a stat profile for on this website. Which six do you choose?

Oof. I have a hard enough time picking a Pokemon team of actual Pokemon!

So, in answering this, I'm going to give myself a few restrictions

I'm not going to just pick the Pokemon I have converted, because that seems to be missing the point of the exercise

I'm not going to pick all gods and kaiju (after all, the Gen 3 and Gen 7 version legendaries are basically pocket-sized kaiju for their impact on the world, and the Gen 4, 5, and 6 version legendaries are literal gods)

I want to get a diversity of creature types (in the Pathfinder 1e sense) and CRs

So, I'm going to pick 6 monsters I've made that I think would make good Pokemon. And I'll give the Pokemon types I think suit them best.

Typhlotherium: Ground/Fighting

Skeletal Thrasher: Rock/Ghost

Necroton: Steel/Fire

Dragon Bug: Dragon/Bug (obviously)

Kilblain: Ice

Ofalth: Poison/Grass

[nerdimmersion]

Today is a good day. #dnd #dnd5e #DungeonsAndDragons #nerdimmersion #koboldpress #CreatureCodex https://www.instagram.com/p/BnWKZMyBY-X/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=isvpi6z8vem

[dndeed]

Tome of Beasts 2!

[chimeride]

Barrel snake*, the 189th Known One.

“The foreparts were of enormous size, its head being fully as large as a barrel. A few feet behind the creature’s head two large scales were visible, which glittered in the sun like polished shields; further back were two huge claws on either side, about 2 feet apart, which were all the monster had in the shape of feet. The rest of its body was comparatively small and tapering to the end of its tail. It traveled at a rapid gait, sometimes rearing its whole body up from the ground, and walked on its four claws. He watched it till it disappeared over a little hill, and then he started to look after his burro.” - from “Cowboys and Saurians: Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Beasts as Seen by the Pioneers.” (source)

Suggested by @thecreaturecodex.

*i made up the name based on the description, if someone has the right one i’ll correct it thank you

[jpowersart]

Burrower Wurm - a giant blind snake-like creature that burrows through the earth to attack unsuspecting prey. #illustration #sketch #fantasy #monsters #characterdesign #conceptart #rpg #creaturedesign #creature #snake #dragon #wurm #tremors #creaturecodex #tweets http://ift.tt/2D8IyRJ

[pleb-the-original]

Day 3: Construct

(ok so I kinda didn't want to do another a- monster but the entry just intrigued me too much.) Alright welcome to Agrippa duty. How bad did ya fuck up? Don't play coy, you had to fuck something up to end up down here. Ah, there it is. Yeah, I can see why they sent you down here. Anyways, this is your orientation as a new employee working for the care and keeping of the Elders' agrippas. What is an agrippa you may ask? Well, have ya heard of the Liber Primus? Big magic book with a human soul inside? Think of that, but a demon soul instead. Basically a long long time ago back when the humans up in Europe were in castle times, a bunch of priests managed to capture some demons and stuffed them into books. You'd think this would've been an issue, since, ya know. Humans stuffing us into books. But instead of doing something actually helpful with the potential crisis on our hands, the Elders decided they wanted in too. Now soul manipulation back then wasn't as refined as it is today, especially dealing with hellfire remnants. Research hadn't gone too far into figuring out the specifics in using hellfire remnants to form a soulfire with only a few successes such as that cat gal. But the Elders tried anyways. They plucked a handful of flames from a couple fires, placed them between the pages of a book and closed it shut. No I am not joking that is actually how they did it. The worst part was that it worked. I could go on about intention powering magic and the Elders heightened capabilities but who gives a shit about that? Not the Elders after having new toys to play with. They basically used the agrippas like journals, documenting their sacred knowledge inside. Some of them actually did useful things with their agrippas like collecting research notes. But some of the others one just wrote whatever the home was on their mind. Before you ask, the only one that didn't participate was Dantalion. I'm surprised he actually didn't say anything considering everyone was ripping him off. Maybe he knew what was to come. Because yeah, turns out stuffing an entire demon into a confined prison and feeding it untold wisdom does in fact lead to bad things happening. The agrippas got hungrier for knowledge. They soon became feral and started eating anything with information they could find. They even managed to trap normal demons within their pages by shutting them inside. It was mayhem! Once the Elders got their agrippas together, they locked 'em away down in the deepest bowels of Pandemonium so no one ever has to learn about one of the many times they fucked up. Oh yes this isn't the only incident, trust me. Working down here, you get to learn a lot about their dirty laundry. You can't ever let them know of course but trust me, you'll learn a lot. As for what we actually do, we just do rounds to make sure the locks are stable and the books are complacent. If they do get rowdy, you just gotta swing on by a booth to find a book to read to them. I am not kidding. Does this face look like it kids? No? Good. We do get assigned specific agrippas to deal with just in case they get out. And you gotttttttt……Vassago's. Eh, not bad. His gets a little testy sometimes but it ain't too bad. They must've gone easy on you. Yes, this is going easy. Trust me, things could be a lot worse. You could have gotten Andras'. I know right? If you do see any of the guys working with that one, just give them a hug. Or a pat on the back. Or anything really. Just don't make any sudden movements around them. Or the agrippa itself. Actually just stay as far away as possible at all times. You can tell which one it is by the caution tape…and the acid stains…and the paint. But I don't think things'll too bad for you. I mean you're only assigned down here for a couple months. Just make sure when you get outta here not to do anything to make them wanna send you back. I hate it when I get repeats.

[monstersdownthepath]

Perhaps predictably, I've found my new favorite obscure D&D 3.5 monster (converted into 5e by this gentleman in the vid).

If you like tabletop monsters as much as I do, I also greatly recommend Dungeon Dad, since I'm showing you one of his videos! He converts monsters from all over into D&D5e and works to make all of them mechanically distinct and interesting, while also going over the history (in and out of universe) of each monster, tactics they may use in battle, and adventure hooks for DMs using these monsters.

[thecreaturecodex]

Hello CreatureCodex! With the arrival of Pathfinder 2e, I'm not sure how this affects the future of your page, but I was wondering if you're planning on creating statistics for a Primal Inevitable? I find your content here really amazing (I think my favourite has to be your Empyreal Lord Holda, as I'm a fan of those uber powerful creatures) and love that you've really expanded the horizons of Pathfinder. I would love to see your take on a Primal Inevitable's abilities, and hope to hear from you!

I don’t have any current plans for inevitable demigods on the roster, but never say never.

Of course, truth be told, I don’t have any plans on the roster right now except for working though a large backlog of commissions. The new job is running me through the wringer at the moment.

[badgerlordstudios]

Posting some more Tome of Beast and Creature Codex monsters from @koboldpress that I have drawn up for my Dungeons and Dragons game. The group has recently discovered the Kobold Kingdom on the mysterious island of miasma, and have meet the Swolbold! As with most of the monsters from any source book I have to do some artist tweaking. When I draw kobolds I tend not to do a long snout. #kobold #koboldpress #tomeofbeasts #dungeonsanddragons #dungeonsanddragonsart #dnd #dndart #dndmonsters #art #artistsoninstagram #drawing #instaart #instaartist #instaartwork #illustration #fantasyart #fantasy #rpg #rpgart #roleplayinggame #ttrpg #ttrpgart #badgerlordstudios #procreate #monster #creaturecodex #dnd5e #dungeonsanddragons5e https://www.instagram.com/p/CY183wPPeEu/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nerdimmersion]

If any of you pick up the super awesome #CreatureCodex by @koboldpress, be sure to check out my monster in there! I don't think you'll be disappointed! #dnd #dnd5e #DungeonsAndDragons #nerdimmersion #Kobolds #Swolbold https://www.instagram.com/p/BnRNSIHhd6J/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1k17qyhghbrli

[dndeed]

What a deal, my monster was featured on Monster Monday.

[pleb-the-original]

Day 2: Animal

(At first the animals I kept finding in the codex were all prehistoric in nature and I honestly did not want to go back to Prehistoric Paradise this soon. Then I found the Buru and figured it'd be interesting to see how hell handles a creature that is believed to be extinct by humans)

Buru Welfare Project Report 1

Things have gone a lot smoother than initially predicted. The Buru in captivity still kept to their wild instincts, even attacking one of the workers while they were attempting to lure it into the transport aquarium. I was worried that their time spent with the monster keepers would've sanded off some of their wild instincts but it appears their cruel nature outweighs the comfort of free food and shelter. Our initial plan was to dump the Buru population into a cordoned off area of the lake wherein they would be able to acclimate to the water's condition and the scent of the Depth Maidens before getting into contact with them. This enclosure would've also allowed us to test their hunting capabilities to see if they had regressed during their care. This did not go as plan. One of the Depth Maidens swam especially close to the net that bordered the area. We believe that a Buru that did not recognize the scent perceived the new stimulus as a threat and proceeded to rip through the netting. The Depth Maiden, sensing the aggression in the Buru, then went into an aggressive state as well which caused the two beings to wrestle each other violently. The commotions soon attracted other Depth Maidens which then completely ripped the net apart to get to the other Buru to wrestle them as well causing a frenzy that no one on our team dared risk interfering with. We worried how this event would effect the relations between the two species but after the brawl was settled, we spotted the Depth Maidens actually giving a select few Buru a helping of fish. The two species now coexist together in the lake with amicable grace towards each other. Our hypothesis was that the brawl that occurred acted as a test of dominance, similar to play fighting in many animals. The Buru most likely passed the test and earned the respect of the Depth Maidens due to their aggressive hunting prowess. We will now continue forward confident in the welfare of the Buru. Although we may need to look into artificially increasing the population of prey animals.