Monsters Unleashed Update!

While Perry is working the development of the Lands of Porphyra, I've mostly been occupying my time on layout, management and the further development of Monsters of Porphyra (Monsters Unleashed).

Monsters Unleashed/Monsters of Porphyra is the spiritual successor to the Forgotten Foes book that Stefen Styrsky and myself wrote for Tricky Owlbear Publishing. Like Forgotten Foes, there have been some production delays that have cause me to modify our intended monster list a bit and required a few art changes. Based on the way things are now progressing, I hope to have Monsters of Porphyra out in the first quarter of 2013. Here is one of the monsters I was working on today, as always he is a work in progress.

Greenfeeder

Roughly humanoid, this creature is composed of fallen branches, bone shards, and scattered battlefield debris. Its ivy and vine wrapped limbs end in rusty blades plucked from the ground.

Greenfeeder by Gary Dupuis

GREENFEEDER (CR 3; 800 XP)

CN Large aberration

Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +0

Defense

AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 14

(+1 Dex, +5 natural, -1 size)

hp 34 (4d8+16)

Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +4

Offense

Speed 30 ft.

Melee 2 short swords +8 (1d6+6/19-20)

Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.

Special Attacks bleed (1d4)

Statistics

Str 22, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 3

Base Atk +3; CMB +10; CMD 21 (can’t be tripped)

Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Stealth)

Skills Stealth +5 (+9 forest), Survival +5 (+15 track by scent); Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth in forests, +10 Survival to track a bleeding creature

Ecology

Environment any forest

Organization solitary, or hunting pack (2-7)

Treasure standard

During battle, blood feeds the living earth, and the trees hungrily devour the red rain. A soldier returning to the same battlefield a year later often discovers that verdant greenery cloaks the land.

   Sometimes this bloody bounty proves insufficient for the land. The living earth develops a hungers for more sustenance. Greenfeeders arise from this thirst, the scent of blood, and the desire for nourishing gore.  Combat draws them, and they rush in to ensure that those who bleed do so generously and often. Once they complete their horrific mission, they sink back into the reddish mud, waiting for the next unfortunate victim to venture into the forest.

   They are extensions of the forest, and they have no true will or life of their own. Not every drop of spilled blood calls a greenfeeder—if the surrounding trees are healthy and well nourished, the forest has no need to supplement its diet with warm blood. Greenfeeders last about a month before falling apart, though most sink back into the forest floor long before their unnatural lives end. The healthier a forest, the less need for greenfeeders.

Summoning a Greenfeeder

Bloodshed summons greenfeeders from the forest’s floor. While in the forest, there is a base 1% chance per five points of damage inflicted in a single attack that a greenfeeder arises. For example, if a fighter cuts a hobgoblin in two by inflicting 20 points of damage, there is a 4% chance that a greenfeeder appears. Greenfeeders arise within 1d4 miles of the bloodshed, but the chance of an appearance should be modified up or down, depending on the state of the forest. 

On Porphyra

Greenfeeders are a common threat in the Holdfast of Celestial Parishes where the blood of many fey, aasimar and avoodim fell. All who travel the Celestial Parishes are cautious on the old battlegrounds for the land still yearns for blood.

Knowledge (dungeoneering or nature)	Lore
DC 10	Though they appear plant-like, these creatures are actually aberrations of nature.
DC 15	They possess limited intelligence and lash out at any injured creature in range.
DC 20	Wounds are slow to heal in the presence of a greenfeeder.
DC 25	Greenfeeders can smell spilled blood within one to four miles.

Purple Duck Note: For monster lore, I believe I'm going to go with the 10/15/20/25 model that was used by 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming in their Monster Knowledge card products.