Creature Guide Introduction

I have gathered the information provided during my travels on Nisumari. While the information from this document could be beneficial to those who live on the continent, I felt it was too much information for them to have. Should it fall into the wrong hands, the contents of this document has the power to manipulate and control the creatures on Nisumari. Therefore, I have only released these documents to you, the creatures of a completely disconnected reality to the universe Unkai exists in.

Creatures throughout the world come in many shapes, sizes, and forms. The sizes of creatures range from as small as a few inches tall to as large as over one fifty feet tall. Others have supernatural abilities that go beyond energetics, as if they are from another world. To get a better idea as to just how large a range of different creatures there are in the world, refer to the size category table later in this book.

Most of the information in this book is from old tomes and miscellaneous parchment discovered throughout the world. Using detailed investigation and analysis, scholars could determine that they were all written by the one who goes by the name, The Explorer. Some of what is written in this book is taken from The Explorer’s own research. To keep the content as authentic as possible, it has been transcribed exactly as he wrote it.

Combat Level (CL)

Combat level shows the creature’s general strength. As they reach higher levels, they become more powerful and challenging. You can tell the character's level by the top header. The first column shows the combat level of the creature. The columns list the number of characters at a particular level for a fair but difficult fight.

The half indicator (.5) reflects character who are one level lower than the party’s general level. Here, the battle will still be a fair challenge. For example, say you have four characters in your game. Three are level five, but one is level four. They could take on a creature with a combat level of seven as a fair challenge.

Doubling or quadrupling the number of creatures is necessary for a fair challenge if their levels are half or lower. Anything with a dash (-) shows the characters are more powerful than the creature and the creature should not be a threat to the characters. Characters that fight creatures that have a dash should not gain any experience points for the combat because the challenge is to low.

Having the general party level be one to two levels below the creature’s combat level means the fight will be more challenging but should reward more talents. Likewise, having a general level of the party be higher than the creature’s general combat level means the battle should be less of a challenge; therefore, rewarding less experience.

Warning: Impossible Battle Ahead

Traveling throughout Nisumari comes with its risks. This includes wandering into territories with creatures of superior level to the characters. It is only natural that some creatures are going to be tougher and stronger than player characters, depending on their current level. This means they might come across creatures that if fought are impossible battles simply because the creature is too high level. A good rule to help balance combat encounters is never put a creature that is three or more levels than the player characters’ level. Any creature that is higher than that is an impossible fight and will more than likely cause character deaths. Change the creature's stats if facing a creature 3 or more levels higher than the player’s characters. Unless you are intentionally going for a total party, kill, which is never recommended or encouraged.

Creature Categories

During my travels, I have discovered there are a variety of different creatures throughout the world. My research showed a diverse selection of species which can be categorised. Some overlap into multiple categories.

Abomination

My research has shown that most of the creatures in this category live in the Midway. Most of the abominations I have discovered prefer dark spaces and many do not have normal sight. If encountering creatures of this category, is it advised to keep your distance.

Abominations are creatures that have been disfigured, mutilated, mutated, or naturally have an abnormal appearance compared to that of a humanoid or other category.

Alien

There are some creatures that I could not identify as to their origins. It is unclear which god created them or if the gods created them at all. It’s almost as if they are not of this world. Further research is required.

Animal

I have found that creatures of this category are some of the most seen throughout the world. They comprise creatures that thrive in the wilderness, such as bears, rodents, cats, wolves, birds, snakes, and many more. I have found that most creatures in this category walk on two to four limbs, but some slither on their bellies or have wings for flight.

Construct

These fascinating creatures have been constructed from materials other than organics. My understanding is that something must power them with pure energy or some other power source. While most constructs I have discovered are mindless and can only follow simple commands, I have run across some who are sentient. How they got their sentient existence is a mystery.

Dragon

This category is significant, as it could contain the oldest creatures in Unkai. Talking to the gods has revealed that reptilian dragons possess great historical knowledge. Most of the creatures have gone mad or grown to hate other creatures.

Energy

Although this category of creatures is more so an addition to the other categories, it has a few creatures that fall only under this category. Energy creatures comprise mostly energy or have an insanely strong connection to energy. Most creatures of this category also belong to another, but those who solely fit within this category are of pure energy. I assume the major energies created these creatures, but I have no definitive proof of this.

Humanoid

Probably one of the simpler categories. The humanoids are creatures that have at least two arms, two legs, and walk upright. The more common species, such as humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes, fall under this category.

Insect

Like the animal category, this category has many common creatures seen throughout the world. They are creatures that range from many sizes with an exoskeleton.

Monsters

My encounters with creatures I have categorized as monsters have yet to be peaceful. Each time I try to study these creatures, they attack me or view me as their next meal. What I have discovered is that these creatures are more savage than civilized.

Monstrous

The day I created this category, a elder cyclops nearly crushed me. This category, like the energy category, is an addition to the others. It represents creatures that are extremely large compared to other creatures, or a smaller version of themselves. I like to think of this category as a warning for anyone who might study this tome and wish to seek these monstrosities.

Plant

While there are many plants and wildlife within nature, the creature’s categories under this category are sentient. They live within nature as a plant does, but they can respond on their own and even have conversations with others based on their regional location. I have even discovered societies of plant-based creatures deep in forests and other landscapes.

Undead

I pray to Gaia that the creatures of this category can find peace. The amount of research I have been able to perform on the creatures of this category is unfortunately small. While I have learned that the undead are once living creatures filled with necrosis energy, I also discovered most of the ones who have sentient though are forced into the life they live. However, I have run into white necromancers who claim to only use their undead for good and raise corpses who have had their life force returned to Gaia. Here, they are simply animating a lifeless body, without trapping their life force within.

Creature Hordes

To help keep combat running smooth, you can combine larger groups of creatures into one larger creature horde. The creatures must be all the same and once they have been grouped together, they are considered one creature and are called Horde of “creature”. Creatures cannot be grouped into hordes if they are level 6 or higher.

For example, a group of 6 zombies would be a horde of zombies. The horde works as a single creature and only makes one roll for the entire horde. It is recommended to not create hordes larger than six creatures, as they can become powerful.

There are two options for creating a horde. The first option is when attacking the horde makes a single attack roll but adds a bonus equal to the number of creatures in the horde. So if there is a horde of 6 zombies, they get a +6 to their attack. The hordes’ health is determined by adding all the creatures’ health together. Their movement and defense remain the same as if individuals. All skill and test checks are done as if one creature.

The second way to create a horde is when attacking, they don’t gain a bonus but their health is still combined. A die is rolled to determine how many of the creatures in the horde make an attack. This die should be closest to the max number of creatures in the horde. So if you have a horde of 6 creatures then a d6 is rolled, hordes of 16 creatures have 2d8 rolled, or a horde of 14 creatures a 2d8 is still rolled but 15-16 is a re-roll. Each creature does not make their individual attack, but one attack is made that represents all the creature’s attacks. So if there is a horde of 6 creatures and a d6 is rolled with the result of 4, then one attack roll is made and those 4 creatures either hit or miss based on that one roll. Movement, defense, skills and test checks are the same as option one.

As the hordes health is reduced, each time, it is dropped equal to the maximum health of the creature, the number of creatures in the horde reduces by one.

When grouping the creatures into hordes, the size of the creature increases the more creatures grouped together. The more creatures in the horde, the larger the size of the horde is considered when treated as a single creature.

Creature Stat Breakdown

Creatures don’t require as many components as a player character, so their stats are not as in depth. However, there are still aspects of their stat blocks you will need to understand in order to use them properly.

Level

This shows the combat level of a creature. The higher the level, the more powerful the creature can be. This works in the same way as adventurers and ranges from one to ten.

Level 10+ Creatures

While I have classified most creatures between a combat levels of one to ten, there are some creatures that are so powerful, they exceed the levels of my system. These creatures are extremely dangerous if provoked and I recommend it to proceed with caution when in their general vicinity.

Size

This is shown by one of the size categories names (i.e. tiny, small, medium, giant, etc.). The size category determines the general height and weight of the creature. The size of the creature determines if it has any special advantages or disadvantages.

Age Damage

Every size category above large has a +2 versus aging effects per category.

Non-Energetic Damage Reduction

Gigantic and larger creatures have natural damage reduction against smaller creatures. For every two size categories below their size, they gain ten damage reduction.

Actions

I broke actions up between attacks and special abilities. However, before looking at what actions they have, look at how many actions they have per round to spend.

I list actions for the creature with cost in parentheses (e.g. short sword x2 (2-1)). Some actions will have multiple action costs, which represent being able to use that action multiple times for different costs. Such as dual wielding, attacking with the first sword costs two actions and the second costs one action. Hence, the appearance of (2-1). The player’s guide explains more about dual wielding and how to use actions. Dual wielders must obey the same rules as players. You can find these rules in the player’s guide under the combat section of the game rules chapter.

Passive Abilities & Free Actions

Actions and abilities with (Passive) or (Free Action) next to its name are always active or they are abilities that do not require any actions to use. However, while the passive abilities are always active, free actions description might override this. The creature can use their free actions multiple times per round, costing them actions like a player's character. See the player's guide for more information.

Channeling

I only show this section for creatures that can channel. You mainly use this section for spells, but we also show it to creatures that can channel. Such as a creature could have an ability that uses their spell difficulty for the difficulty rating, but they don’t know any spells. Likewise, a creature could have an attack that is energetic and uses their channeling skill for its accuracy.

Known Spells

This sub section lists all the spells the creature has access to. This works in the same way as player characters, except that some spells might be special abilities or have special variants. These types of spells have a description of their special ability.

Over Channel

Creatures that use energetics can channel spells outside of their limit just like player characters. Typically, any spell that is listed in the creature’s stat block is within their channeling limit, or they have an innate ability to channel it. Those who don’t have the innate ability can get new spells (typically added by the game master) to channel that could be beyond their limit. Each time they channel these spells, it increases the creatures over channel instances.

Spell Channeling

Some creatures can channel energy into spells. Some do not require a conduit to channel because of the creature. For example, a skeleton mage does not need a conduit because of the necrosis energy flowing through its bones. This type of channeling is an innate ability.

Wild Energy

This section shows how many energy surges each part of the creature’s body can withstand when using wild energy.

• Head: Head Limit
• L.L.L.: Left Lower Limb Limit
• L.U.L.: Left Upper Limb Limit
• R.L.L.: Right Lower Limb Limit
• R.U.L.: Right Upper Limb Limit
• Torso: Torso Limit

Combat

This section shows the creatures’ grapple, initiative, and movement that is mostly used during combat encounters.

Grapple

This shows the creature’s ability to grab, pin, or otherwise immobilize another creature. It works in the same way as standard grapple rules.

Initiative

This is added to the result of a d10 in order to determine the creature’s place in the turn order. It shows how quick they are to respond at the beginning of combat. The standard initiative rules from the player’s guide is used for creatures.

Movement

The different types and distances of movement a creature can move within a turn is listed under the movement section. Some creatures have multiple types of movement which are shown by a letter before the distance (i.e. G25ft. F40ft.).

• Burrow (B): Movement while moving through earthy terrain.
• Flight (F): Movement while in the air.
• Ground (G): Movement for walking on a solid surface; typically, the ground.
• Swim (S): Movement while in water or other liquids that are like water.

If there is no letter showing which movement the creature has, they can only move on the ground.

Defense

The defense section shows the type of defense the creature has. This section includes information about dice, bonus, passive protection, defense type, and armor accessories.

Critical Defense

This ability is only used with creatures that use dodge for their defense. However, unlike player characters, some creatures could have a natural ability to critically defend themselves regardless of their dodge skill.

Damage Reduction

Some creatures might wear armor, while others might have a natural ability to avoid damage because of tough skin or being incorporeal. This works in the same way as other damage reduction found in the player’s guide.

Passive Protection

The number under the passive column can be used instead of rolling the creature’s defense. The number represents the defense result as if you rolled and got one below half on the defense dice plus the creature’s defensive skill total. So, if a creature has a four in their unarmored defense (1d10 + unarmored skill total) their passive defense would be an eight.

Equipment & Spoils

This section gives a list of all equipment and valuables, such as coin or even furs/hides, the creature is carrying. You should change this generic base list based on each encounter. For example, if this list shows a bandit having 1d20 arrows, but the bandit ended up using all their arrows in combat, then there would be no arrows to collect as a reward. Or, if you hurl a fireball at an animal, it will highly likely scorch and damage its hide beyond use.

Health, Essence, & Age

The stats of the creature are divided into two sections. Health, mental health, and essence of the creature are shown in the first section. The second section lists the current age, elder age, and death age of the creatures.

Age

Every living creature eventually grows old and dies. However, some abilities or spells can decrease the time it takes to become elderly and die. Each creature has a death age that when reached death. If a creature is forced (typically, through energetic means) to age enough to equal or exceed their death age, they die, but only if the aging is permanent.

You can adjust the listed age of the creature for different situations. Typically, the age range can be -/+ 10 years per creature.

Essence

A creature’s essence is used to activate abilities that are listed under the special abilities section, actions, or to channel spells. Some creatures will have essence (as it is natural for nearly all creatures to have some essence) but won’t have any abilities that require it. This represents the essence that most creatures naturally have.

All creatures, regardless of their special abilities, can use Quick Strike if they meet the requirements.

Health

This represents the creature’s life force and how much they have before death. If a creature's health decreases to zero, it automatically suffers the dying condition.

Mental Health

Nearly every creature has a mental limit on how much they can handle before breaking down. I represent this through their mental health points. A creature will have a complete mental breakdown and become completely insane when their mental health points are reduced to zero. While for most humanoid creatures, this causes them to not be able to function both physically and mentally, some creatures to become more violent and crazed.

Languages

Not every creature understands languages. The more instinctual wild creatures, such as animals, have no languages. However, those who have a high enough mental, know specific languages.

Some species of creatures have their own language that is native to their culture. These languages are so rarely known that no one outside of their culture speaks it.

Brood

The rough and crude language of the Blood Savages. Brood comprises more grunts, gargles, and spitting than actual words. Often, this sends the wrong message and causes squabbles between less intelligent savages (Blood Goblins).

Feric

The language of the fey is a beautiful romantic flowing language. Speakers of the fey language use physical touching and body movements along with their words. The context and meaning of the words are based on the type of touching and movement made when saying them.

Gartal

The guttural language of trolls that involves a lot of spitting and slobber in the speech.

Plainific

The language of the minotaurs. It is a very gutteral deep sounding language mixed with hoove stomps and grunts.

Tremratic

The unspoken language of the Tree Folk. This language uses vibrations in the ground and the Tree Folk’s bodies to communicate. There are no vocalized or written words for this language and is very hard to translate or understand if you are not a Tree Folk.

Vision

This shows the type(s) of vision the creature can see with. While most have normal vision, some have sound, night, or one of the other vision. There are even some creatures that have special visions unique only to creatures. See the unique vision section later in this chapter for specifics.

Statistics, Skills, & Mentality

The statistics and skills section show the creature’s total statistics, untrained skills, expertise skills. The UTS column shows what their skill total would be if using an untrained skill associated with that statistic. Otherwise, the expertise skill section shows what skills they excel in.

Instincts

The creature’s instinctual skills are Guts (Might), Reaction (Agility), Psyche (Mental), and Stamina (Vitality). They represent the creature’s ability to resist effects that are related to each individual instinct. For example, moving out of the way of an area of effect to avoid damage by using their reaction check versus the difficulty rating of the area of effect.

Insanity

The creature’s mentality is divided between the amount of damage they would take on failed insanity checks (Mental Damage), their difficulty rating for when they need to make an insanity check (Insanity DR), and what stage of insanity they are currently at (Insanity Stage)—the higher the stage, the more insane the creature is. For creatures that are affected by insanity, marks of insanity are collected in the same way as player characters.

Insanity Aura

This is the indication that the creature can cause marks of insanity when seen. An insanity check is required to not gain the shown number of marks of insanity and to resist and insanity damage.

This is shown in different ways. Some creatures have a radius around them that when entering it causes the target to make an insanity check every time. Others have marks of insanity listed (i.e. 2 Marks) to show that when seen for the first few times, an insanity check is required and failing the check causes the shown number of marks of insanity.

Other creatures with this ability can cause additional insanity damage on top of the character’s base. Each time a character needs to make an insanity check because of a creature’s insanity aura, the standard insanity check rules apply plus any additional effects the creature causes. For example, creatures with the Horror ability double the insanity damage die if a character fails their insanity check.

Special Abilities

Some creatures have special abilities and features that are unique to either the individual creature or their species/ group. These abilities are not limited to only advantages but also disadvantages, such as vulnerabilities.

Immunities

Items listed under immunities are effects, damage types, and other properties the creature cannot be affected by.

Resistance

Whether the resistance is damage or effect based, this section lists the properties of the resistance the creature has.

Universal Special Abilities

Species of creatures with this section in their parent’s profile show that all those creatures have the listed special abilities. For example, Imps have a universal ability that allows them to teleport to each other if they are within ten miles of each other.

Vulnerabilities

Some creatures have weaknesses which give them a vulnerability. These weaknesses are listed in this section.

Customizing Creatures

Decorative

An item that is mostly for show. It cuts the stats in half and it cannot chain any damage. However, because of its splendor, it provides a +1 to influence checks.

Guard Outfit

Standard issued clothing for guards and other military authority. The shirts have a unique patch sewn into the breast and shoulders of the organization the guard represents. The quality of the clothing is typically fine or exquisite. Their durability is based on the clothing section of the marketplace chapter in the player’s guide.

Rotten/Rusty Armor

-1 to damage reduction, durability, and protection. Rotten armor is slippery giving a +1 to avoid/escaping grapples.

Rusty Weapon

-2 damage and durability but cause infection on critical strikes. See infection condition in the conditions section of the game rules chapter in the player’s guide.

Tribal Garb

Furs, leathers, and pelts are crudely stitched together to make clothing. They have a durability of one.

Worn

-2 durability to equipment with this condition as they have not maintained it to keep its quality.

Unique Visions

Antenna/Whiskers Sense

This type of vision is does not use the eyes but uses parts of the creature’s body to feel their surroundings. This vision has a very limited range of ten feet.

Energy Sense

Creatures with this type of vision do not see with normal vision. Instead, they can sense other creatures based on the natural energy flowing through them. Regardless if a creature is a blood channeler, undead, or a normal everyday humanoid with essence, these creatures can see their auras. The auras take the shape of their body. However, when using this vision to see objects, only crafted items are visible because of the minimal amount of essence put into the object by the craftsman when it was made.

Energy sense does not allow creatures to see through walls, objects, or other surfaces. It also is not considered an all-around sight, as the creature must be facing the general direction of the aura to sense it.

Smell Sense

Creatures with this type of vision don’t use their eyes to see. Instead, they use their nose to detect smells around them to navigate when they cannot see. This vision can detect smells up to twenty feet away but can be affected by the environment, such as changes in wind direction.

Vibratic

Vibratic vision uses vibrations in the ground to sense their surroundings. Any form of movement, including their own, sends vibrations through the ground, allowing them to see as if their surroundings are being outlined. Without the vibrations, the creatures are blind. This vision has a maximum range of 240ft.