Monster generation inspired by the procedures illustrated in HANTU by the incomparable Zedeck Siew. Buy it now through itch.io https://athousandthousandislands.itch.io/hantu.
This post was also been inspired by the ongoing quest to make all the monsters you'll ever need:
https://shutteredroom.blogspot.com/2020/09/all-monsters-youll-ever-need.html
By Jef Cox, from PARIAH |
Taking Zedeck's procedure as a prompt, I've made my own series for weird spirits that might inhabit the world of PARIAH...
CONTEN WARNING: body horror, genital references, scatology...
[Range] The wise-ones warn that this spirit is found (d12):
- ...at the top of a mountain.
- ...in the boughs of a dead tree.
- ...lurking beneath the sands on the beach.
- ...at a point where two footpaths cross.
- ...sleeping in the tide pools upon the rocky shore.
- ...inside a clay jar belonging to a wicked sorcerer.
- ...the guts of a beached whale.
- ...at the bottom of a great lake.
- ...in the heart of a volcano.
- ...in the burial grounds of forgotten ancestors.
- ...in a cave where flowers grow.
- ...inside a polished piece of star-metal.
[Animal sign] They say that this creature prefigures its manifestation:
- A pair of magpies that move in sync with one another.
- Fish, gasping on dry land, far from any body of water.
- Gecko which drops from an overhanging branch and begins to immediately decompose upon hitting the ground.
- Bat without a face.
- Small ginger cat that walks on its toes in wide circles.
- Fox with no eyes.
- Dragonfly that hovers around the pariah's groin until shooed away.
- Howling monkey that is never see.
- Albino catfish. Within its belly, a piglet.
- Flock of green birds swirling in a great vortex. After a few moments, they all drop to the ground, dead.
- Arboreal octopus.
- Eight-legged calf.
[Smell] ...and that the air is redolent with the scent of:
- wet leaves on a dry day
- burning meat
- lingering death
- decaying flowers
- lion shit
- rotting fish
- sour milk
- dried squid
- weasel musk
- sulphur
- dog piss
- frankincense
[Shape] Its horrible appearance resembles:
- small child
- hairless man with a smooth, featureless face
- enormous boar
- adult human
- fierce tiger
- old woman
- giant chicken
- hairless chimpanzee
- horse with human hands for feet
- seven cats with their tails tied together, mewling incessantly
- dull-coloured moth as big as a dog
- huge grub
[Means of locomotion] It approaches you by:
- slithering on its belly
- swaying back and forth on its rounded bottom like a skittle
- oozing like a viscous liquid across the ground
- awkwardly walking on a pair of distended legs
- reaching out in all directions with tentacles and dragging itself along
- making great leaps and landing with a crash
- scuttling like an insect
- rolling over and over itself while laughing with the voice of an old man
- jerking unnaturally as though only moving when one blinks one's eyes
- flapping with a tattered set of bird's wings
- burrowing into the earth like a worm
- sauntering casually forward
[Prop] It is known to carry:
- beehive dripping with honey
- dead bird
- broken stringed instrument
- the shrunken head of its former master
- cloak made of human skin
- necklace of eyeballs
- sack holding the entrails of disobedient children
- enormous clay jar filled with vinegar
- blind kid-goat
- little boy playing the flute mournfully
- string of human skulls
- circular mirror hung about its neck
[Attributes] Three characteristics define its unnatural bearing (roll thrice):
- several grotesquely pendulous breasts dragging along the ground
- flapping phallus that speaks of eldritch horrors through its urethra
- head which is twisted in the wrong direction
- foot-long fingernails that curl back in themselves
- lashing tongue lined with thorns
- open sores all across its body emitting a malodourous stench
- ever present swarm of [1d6]1. ants 2. mosquitoes 3. crabs 4. rats 5. butterflies 6. cockroaches
- propensity to spawn [1d6] 1. undead babies 2. more of itself 3. things seen only in hell 4. ghosts which resemble family members 5. puddles of corrosive black liquid 6. a swarm (see above)
- mouth inside a mouth inside a mouth
- beak inside a mouth inside a beak
- rib cage which opens to reveal its REAL mouth
- additional bodypart(s) [roll 1d6] 1. eye(s) 2. arm(s) 3. leg(s) 4. hand(s) 5. ear(s) 6. mouth(s)
[Sustenance] It feeds upon:
- the hearts of unfaithful lovers
- shit
- the eyeballs of the ignorant
- anything which moves
- genitalia
- blood of the living
- flesh of the long-dead
- children
- cats
- a pariah's [1d6] 1. constitution 2. strength 3. dexterity 4. intelligence 5. wisdom 6. charisma
- the body fat of gluttonous individuals
- a human being's darkest secret
If you don't like rolling dice, I've taken care of a generator that will do it all for you!
https://perchance.org/malevolentspirits-pariah
If you're struggling with stats remember: everything is a bear.
https://perchance.org/malevolentspirits-pariah
If you're struggling with stats remember: everything is a bear.
Don't forget: I also made this spirit generator https://perchance.org/spirits-of-pariah, and that you can download PARIAH in its art-free form for no charge here:
Oh! This is brilliant. I really like 'It is known to carry'.
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