Still from Naruto, accessed at Narutopedia here

[Commissioned by @coldbloodassassin, the second of three Zetsu stats, following the white zetsu (since I’m making their combined form a third creature). Having made the decision already to jettison the ability from Naruto where the Zetsus can perfectly copy any technique they’ve seen, this creature was relatively straightforward. Possession is something that Pathfinder can handle, especially with the additions from Occult Adventures. By the by, it seems pretty obvious to me from looking at Black Zetsu that he’s something of a Venom expy. If you dislike or don’t want to use my klyntar stats as a template, consider this as a substitute.]

Black Zetsu
CR 11 LE Aberration
This creature resembles a humanoid form, but is black, rubbery and smooth. Its only facial features are luminous eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Its body warps and stretches as you observe it.

The black zetsu is a supernatural agent provocateur, capable of possessing enemies, warping their minds, and sewing dissent and distrust. They are functionally immortal unless slain, and most have come into contact with hundreds of minds in their lifetime. As such, they are a font of knowledge, geniuses by human standards, and are tireless in their efforts to achieve whatever warped goal they have set their mind to. Most black zetsu have serious and humorless personalities and view other creatures as tools to be used.

A black zetsu’s body is comprised of a semi-fluid mass of tissue, and its generally humanoid shape is more a convenience than anything—it is capable of stretching its limbs, contorting to fit through small passages, and has nothing resembling organs or vulnerable points. They have terrific reach with their claws, which can inject a toxin that saps the will. After softening the mental defenses of an enemy, they use their magic to either control its actions or simply steal its body.

When inhabiting a host, a black zetsu may choose to lay low, reading the mind of its victim and subtly steering its behavior with suggestion spells. If discovered, or if violence is its goal, the black zetsu effectively reveals itself, transforming the body of its host into a monstrous form with rubbery black skin and improved strength, agility or endurance. Black zetsus only fight to the death in this form, knowing that they will be ejected from their host when it dies and will have a chance to flee or possess a new target.

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Image © “Zetsu-san21″, accessed at their deviantArt here

[Commissioned by @coldbloodassassin. This stat block borrows abilities from both the black and white zetsus appearing previously. An encounter with each separately is a CR 12, so I wanted this version to be a little beefier so there was an ample reason to sacrifice the action economy of fighting two monsters at once.]

Perfect Zetsu
CR 14 LE Aberration
This humanoid figure is split down the middle, one half being black skinned and the other white. Both eyes are a luminous green. An enormous maw, like the leaves of a flytrap plant, extends over its head.

The black and white zetsus, despite their differing personalities and abilities, are in some ways two halves of the same whole. When combined, a black and white zetsu become a perfect zetsu. This process requires both participants to spend a full minute in uninterrupted contact and concentration, making it unlikely to occur in the span of a combat. But once combined, the perfect zetsu is a much more capable warrior than either of its halves, although it is not as good a spy as either. It loses the ability to possess a host or disguise itself, but is fast, strong, tough and deadly.

The personality of the white zetsu is mostly suppressed in this union. Most perfect zetsus are knowledgeable, serious and condescending in the manner of a black zetsu. Perfect zetsus may serve as field marshals for evil powers, or are the mastermind of schemes themselves. They often maintain armies of plant creatures that fight on their behalf. When badly injured, the two halves of the perfect zetsu separate, and both will usually attempt to escape with their lives and reunite in safety elsewhere.

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Image © Paizo Publishing, by Marko Horvatin. Accessed at ArtStation here

[Commissioned by @justicegundam82​. My first Starfinder conversion! Starfinder’s rules are sort of a transition between those of Pathfinder 1e and Pathfinder 2e, so this wasn’t a terribly difficult commission to make. In the original, since the timeline and the tech level has advanced, the ritual that transforms a kasatha into a mahadatari involves the Sensorium, a technological brainscan archive. I kept the details intentionally vague here, so that way it could be through technological or purely psychic means.]

Kasatha, Mahadatari
CR 19 LN Humanoid
This graceful figure is clearly alien, with luminous eyes, a tall forehead and four arms. Four additional arms seem to float alongside them, merging with their arms of flesh.

The mahadatari are kasatha who have enlightened themselves through an occult ritual. By sorting through the memories of millennia worth of preserved brains of other kasatha, they gain access to the psychic impressions left behind by the entire species. Transformation into a mahadatari involves multiple exposures to this barrage of sensory information, which is exhausting and dangerous. Only the most enlightened can survive the experience without going mad, and only the most dedicated dare try.

Although a mahadatari rarely seeks out violence, they are more than capable of defending themselves. They can access the memories of generations of kasatha warriors, giving themselves combat techniques in an instant and a preternatural ability to avoid danger. The figments of ghostly arms hover around their fists, granting them powerful enhancements to their blows. They can even create a reflection of Kasath’s great sandstorms to buffet and blind their enemies.

Once they have assumed the mantle of mahadatari, these creatures prefer to look outward instead of inward. They go on pilgrimage, usually alone but occasionally with a school of followers, in order to learn as much as they can about other species. They may collect relics to bring back with them to their homes, but such relics are more likely to be in the form of information, or items with particularly powerful psychic impressions, than gold and jewels.

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Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at aonprd.org here

[Commissioned by @razzelmire​. Betobeto-san is a relatively famous yokai, but like many such creatures, it’s not a monster to be fought so much as a physical embodiment of a spooky occurrence. That didn’t stop Paizo from making statistics for a regional variation, the bisha ga tsuku in Pathfinder 1e, and Betobeto-san himself in 2e. The 2e version has mechanics I don’t particularly like–it’s incorporeal, but they clearly walk, not fly, and wear physical sandals. The flavor text is also somewhat confused about whether they intentionally cause fear for nutrition purposes, or if their fear effects are an unintended side effect. I suspect another editing pass would have cleared this up.]

Betobeto-San
CR 12 N Outsider (extraplanar)
This creature looks like a blob of shadow, with strong arms, skinny legs and a wide toothy grin splitting it along the midsection. Incongruously, it wears a pair of wooden sandals.

Despite their monstrous appearances, the creatures known as betobeto-san are simply aimless travelers with a strong sense of politeness. They seek company, and walk behind people on the road at night. As they are invisible, and their footsteps laden with supernatural fear, this usually results in the person panicking and running at top speed away—the betobeto-san may then run to catch up, to escalating hysterical results. If a person is calm, they can get the betobeto-san to leave them alone as simply as by allowing them to pass; the creature keeps going, thankful for the courtesy.

A betobeto-san will not engage in combat unless it is attacked first, which happens relatively often, due to their frightening effects. They are intangible, but their teeth and claws are well and truly solid. Many betobeto-sans don’t know their own strength, and they can theoretically kill a mundane person in a single bite, as much from mental trauma as the physical wound. If they do so, they are intensely apologetic, but will continue to defend themselves. They prefer to retreat from combat without killing opponents if possible, using their mislead ability to back off to a safe distance, and then shadow walking away, grumbling all the while.

The betobeto-san are the results of strong emotions leaving an impact on the Shadow Plane, similar to a phantom in the Ethereal Plane. They are spirits created by the ripples of shadow walk spells when mortals rush through the Shadow Plane to reach the side of a distant loved one. As the Shadow Plane itself has little room for sentiment, the betobeto-san are created as a grim inversion of these journeys—someone heard coming but never seen, whose presence drives creatures away and has no friends or family. A creature that can conquer its fear and engage a betobeto-san in conversation is seen as a boon companion by the monster, and it may accompany them for some time. Betobeto-sans know many things about the regions in which they travel, and can be a source of information. They rarely carry treasure, but may know rumors of the location of interesting items.

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Image by Brian Despain, © Paizo Publishing

[Commissioned by @coldbloodassassin. The siktemporas were one of the last outsider categories invented by Paizo during Pathfinder 1e, with the misery siktempora appearing in one of the issues of Return of the Runelords. The Second Edition Bestiary 3 fleshed them out a bit more and invented more members, and so I’ve been commissioned to convert one back to PF1e. My version borrows from the 1e misery siktempora for some of the abilities.]

Siktempora, Hatred
CR 18 NE Outsider (extraplanar)
This creature appears as a distorted humanoid, its skin missing and exposing its tendons and bones. It has oversized hands and feet, and one joint too many in its legs. Its face is a blank mask, except for a single livid scar. Cords of strange blue material emerge from its hands.

Especially strong emotions can leave lasting ripples in the Dimension of Time, spawning a siktempora—an outsider that is the embodiment of that emotion. Few siktemporas are stronger than the hatred siktempora, spawned from an act of loathing or spite. They are cold-blooded killers that stalk all creatures that cross their paths, even other siktemporas. On rare occasions, a few hatred siktemporas will work together to hunt especially big game, but these associations are brief.

A hatred siktempora can form cords of pure hate from its hands, using them like whips and garrotes. A creature grabbed by a hatred siktempora has the breath magically forced from its lungs, and a hatred siktempora may have two foes grabbed at once, the better to savor the panic in the second when the first begins to suffocate.  Although they have the supernatural mobility of other siktempora, a hatred siktempora often loses itself to bloodlust, fighting until slain instead of fleeing a losing battle.

Hatred siktemporas have no way to travel the planes on their own. They may be conjured by spellcasters looking for powerful assassins, or on rare occasions bully another creature into letting them escape the Dimension of Time. Some mortal bigots assume that they can control a hatred siktempora with their particular prejudice, but this is a foolish supposition—hatred siktemporas hate everything other than themselves with the same fervent intensity. Their favorite haunts are the courts of tyrants, sites of hate crimes and other places where acts of great loathing were committed.

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It’s been a while, so I figured I’d open up commissions for a bit. If you want to commission one or more monsters for Pathfinder 1e, check here for information. If you do make a commission, it might be a while before it posts–I have another week’s worth of reruns queued up, and new commissions will go up after that runs through

“thancrus” © alkan009, accessed at their deviantArt here

[Commissioned by @coldbloodassassin. You know the fandom is small when the best image of a major antagonist on the internet is a fan trace of an official image, the original of which only appears online tiny and lo-rez. In the source material, Thancrus is a unique “Hyper Zoanoid”, one of a mini-boss squad. For these commissions, I’m treating all of the Hyper Zoanoids as species.]

Zoanoid, Thancrus
CR 12 LE Aberration
This pale green humanoid is covered in a shell of chitin armor. Its head bears a fin like the plume of a helmet, and four thin tendrils grow from its temples. Its arms end not in hands but vibrating, sword-like blades, each deadly keen. It moves with incredible speed.

A thancrus is a powerful zoanoid designed for speed and precision. They are capable of moving at an incredible pace, covering wide ranges in mere seconds in their search for targets to destroy. Their tentacles are purely sensory, allowing them to detect vibrations and pinpoint hidden foes. Instead of hands, they have deadly blades with a thumb-like projection to aid in balance. These blades vibrate so fast as to create an edge of cutting sound, and a thancrus can chop through enemy fortifications or weapons rapidly to aid their fellows. The fin on a thancrus’ head radiates heat, both to protect them from fire and to cool them down after their incredible exertions.

The personality of a thancrus is typically quiet and reserved. They are thoughtful and observant, and are always contemplating the possible weaknesses of friends and foes alike. They tend to be rather cocky once battle is joined, and a thancrus is often surprised if an enemy can keep up with their barrage of blades. Thancruses work well in groups, either in small squads of their own kind or in mixed zoanid bands.

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Pathfinder 1e did a much better job keeping its monsters on an even level of balance between products than its progenitor, D&D 3.x, did. But even so, there was some room for improvement. One of the most notable gaps, I feel, is the power level of classic D&D humanoids compared to other monsters of their CR. The power discrepancy between a gnoll and an orc is a well known example, where the orc has a lower CR on paper but is a much nastier combatant. But compare across the same CR and you’ll notice similar patterns. Look at a boggard, a bugbear and a morlocks, for example, and it’s pretty clear that the bugbear is rather less powerful than its supposed peers. I suspect that’s for reasons of backwards compatibility.

I don’t care about backwards compatibility.

So here’s how I would alter and augment some of the classic D&D humanoids to be more in tune with their Pathfinder flavor text, and to be more challenging to your players. Many of these are just adjusting mental ability scores upwards, but there’s a few more complicated changes in store as well.

Bugbear

Boo! (Ex) A bugbear can make an Intimidate check to demoralize a single target as a move action. If it takes a standard action instead, it gains a +2 bonus.

Tools of the Trade (Ex) Bugbears count saps, light hammers, warhammers and earthbreakers as simple weapons, and treat one exotic weapon of their choice as a martial weapon for the purposes of proficiency (bolas, garrotes and lassos are popular choices).

Drow

Fueled by Spite (Su) As a standard action once per day, a drow can grant itself temporary hit points equal to their Hit Dice plus Charisma modifier (minimum 1 temporary hit point). These hit points last for 1 hour, or until expended.

(Yes, I know that PF2e is writing the drow out as part of them continuing to cut ties with D&D. I have my own ideas of how to handle that).

Giants

Greatclubs are simple weapons, so any giant with Martial Weapon Proficiency (greatclub) can trade it for a different feat. A suggested feat for hill giants is Dazzling Display or Toughness, and a suggested feat for stone giants is Combat Reflexes or Improved Initiative. Fire giants gain weapon familiarity with greatswords and longswords, treating them as simple weapons. Suggested replacements for Martial Weapon Proficiency for a fire giant include Greater Sunder, Greater Overrun, or Improved Critical (greatsword). Frost giants gain weapon familiarity with battleaxes and greataxes, treating them as simple weapons. Suggested replacements for Martial Weapon Proficiency for a frost giant include Improved Initiative, Iron Will, or Vital Strike.

Gnolls

Bite Attack: All gnolls have a bite attack as a primary natural weapon that deals 1d4 points of damage. The Snapping Bite feat still exists; it increases the bite damage to 1d6, and allows the gnoll to make bite attacks while wielding weapons at a -2 penalty, as if it had the Multiattack feat.

Weapon Familiarity (Ex) Gnolls treat flails and heavy flails as if they were simple weapons, and nunchaku and flindbars as martial weapons.

In addition, there are two subraces of gnolls, the Carrion Crewe and the Packmasters. Carrion Crewe gnolls tend to be chaotic evil in alignment, whereas Packmaster gnolls tend to be neutral. Each has an additional unique ability modifier, and its own racial ability.

Carrion Crewe Gnolls: +2 Con

Plague Born (Ex) Carrion Crewe gnolls gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease, ingested poisons, and becoming nauseated or sickened.

Packmaster Gnolls: +2 Wis

Hopeful (Ex) Packmaster gnolls gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against fear effects and emotion effects such as despair, grief or boredom. They do not gain this bonus against rage effects, or other types of emotion effects, such as an unnatural lust or overwhelming presence spell (GM’s discretion).

Goblin

-2 Str, +4 Dex, -2 Wis: Goblins are fast, but physically weak and prone to foolishness

Hobgoblin

Spurn Elf-Magic (Ex) Hobgoblins gain a +2 racial bonus to all saving throws against arcane spells.

Kobold

-4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha: Kobolds are physically very weak, but have agile muscles and strong personalities

Ogre

+10 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Con, -4 Int. Ogres do not have a penalty to Charisma, as they are very good at jug playing, dancing, and terrifying their victims.

Orc

+4 Str, -2 Int, -2 Cha. Orcs are in tune with their senses and surroundings, even if they do tend to fight first and think later.

Troll

+10 Str, +4 Dex, +12 Con, -2 Int, +2 Wis, -2 Cha. Golarion’s trolls are not as stupid as their cohorts in other versions of reality. They are stubborn, and have the keen senses of a predator.

Vegepygmy

A vegepygmy is as it appears in Pathfinder Bestiary 1, but is a CR 1/3 creature. Their endonym is a succession of short popping sounds. If you dislike the word “pygmy” in the name (which is fair, and I’ve had people discuss in my notes before), consider calling them “russetoids” or “stemons” (named after the brown slime mold genus Stemonitis)

Image © PBS, by Samuel Allen. Accessed at his ArtStation here

[Part 3 of this year’s Christmas series, following the Yule Lads and Grýla. I love this image; it’s good at stressing that this is a giant domestic cat, not a “big cat” like a pantherine, indicates scale delightfully, and is a very recognizable feline behavior. Although in context, much more sinister. Bad kitty!]

Yule Cat
CR 13 NE Magical Beast
This creature resembles nothing so much as a fluffy domestic cat the size of an elephant. Its fur is gray with white mottling, and its eyes are wide and yellow.

Once upon a time, on a distant planet, a god of strength was challenged to perform seemingly simple tasks by a trickster titan. These tasks were all impossible but disguised with illusions, and one of them was to lift the giant’s cat—in actually, the Midgard Serpent, a primordial beast that encircles that globe. When the god tried to lift the serpent, and managed to get one paw off the ground, a kitten was born that was a metaphysical echo of the immovable cat. That kitten kept growing and growing the more she ate, until she was the size of a wagon. This is the Yule Cat.

The Yule Cat is a predator of small game, like any domestic cat, only due to the Yule Cat’s size, “small game” is Medium and Small humanoids. The Yule Cat prefers the taste of succulent young flesh, but hates the taste of newly made clothing. Thus, she preferentially attacks the impoverished and already suffering. In places where the Yule Cat roams, children are given gifts of clothing in the winter in order to make them less palatable to the great cat. The Yule Cat cannot be moved unless she wants to, and can be an impassible obstacle if she decides to set herself in front of a door or bridge and just wait for prey to pass by

The Yule Cat is “owned” by the fey troll Grýla, but like all cats, is as much an associate as a dependent. The Yule Cat stays in Grýla’s cave for most of the warmer months and goes off hunting in the colder ones, but always manages to be by Grýla’s table in the winter to demand a portion of her finest human stews. Of Grýla’s children, the Yule Lads, she likes Stumpy the best, and will occasionally let him ride her. Rumor has it that the Yule Lads, Grýla and the Yule Cat once all lived on a distant world called Earth, but a ritual spell intended to force that darn cat to get up and move had the unforeseen consequence of sucking the whole monstrous clan through a portal and depositing them on Golarion. That said, the actions of gods and monsters can send distant ripples throughout the cosmos, and reports of “jotunn cats” may indicate that the Yule Cat is merely the most prominent member of a whole species.

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