Fantastic Stuff
Fantastic Stuff posted in Fantasy and Progress Level 3 forum comment posted by derek_holland Bards have a spell that turns any object up to human-sized into a musical instrument.
Rakshastas have an opposite among the guadinals, a ibex-headed being that equally enjoys manipulating mortals, but their their benefit rather than detriment or destruction. Fights between them are more like chess matches than gladiatorial combat.
One predator found on the Astral plane is a leech that turns its victims to silver upon their deaths. Each statue increases its psionic strength. When it hits a certain manifester level, the leech then can pass into the mortal world but as a dark dragon/bird rather than a worm.
One carnivorous marine plant uses ice bolts to drive and immobilize prey. Signs of its presence are obvious and very much unwanted as they have been known to attack ships, think the vessels are larger predators that will steal their food.
There are Neutral outsiders who are the best diplomats in existence. They can make allies out of races that have ancient blood feuds. They are usually hired by third parties tired by the bloodshed and chaos that impacts the whole region.
I mentioned reskinning carbuncles before and now I have a great example- steampunk gnomes. These are distant relatives to rock and forest gnomes. As builders of steamtech they have few equals and no one is faster than a community of steampunk gnomes working as a whole.
Memorization of spells is a time of intense magic, so shouldn't interruptions be hazardous?
Some magic items have triggers for more powerful forms or effects. These tend to be environmental or situational than material.
0 level characters (or commoners) can willingly become lycanthropes in times of great duress. Those who undergo this metamorphosis are stuck with the curse forever after as there is no mortal cure and the gods won't remove it.
One nasty weapon is a creature that consumes curses. When one dies, the consumed effects (spells or other) merge into a curse of the land (or sky, sea, etc.). These tend to affect large areas and make everything in them hazardous in some way.
One race of small constructs build mechs instead of using personal upgrades. For those unfamiliar with the machines, one could very well think a mechanical brain is what pops out of the ruined carcass.
What sorts of races would build these constructs (using Metamorphica and The Nameless Grimoire):
- Grim Darkening Crystal Elephant
- Loathsome Attracting Ember Slug
- Silent Dividing Charity Toad
Mass beaching of sunken vessels and other surface based materials happens when marine fey are cleaning the sea floor.
One can forage for just about any sort of object, including materials and artifacts as well as edible and medicinal plants. That means one could wander the earth in search of diamonds and find them. The chances are very slim of success, but it is a possibility.
Tying in with the foraging idea, some creatures exist to create or increase the value of extractable resources within their territories. Some require mining, logging or other extreme methods while others can be simply foraged.
One of the most useful magical maps can be changed with command phrases. That means no need of ink or quill and speedy updates for the mapmaker.
In one massive library the assistance staff are small constructs that treat the walls and ceilings as floors, falling between them as needed.
A legal coins of a realm can be planted within its borders and a food plant then grows over 1d4 minutes. The coin is consumed and the amount and quality of food is determined by the coin's value. This is a handy way to discover forgeries if one is willing to potentially give up the coins' worth.
Some damaging sonic attacks sound pleasant. It is only when the characters see their gear start to fall apart or their ears bleeding do they understand the danger.
Least air elementals are popular for dealing with pests- biting flies, younger siblings, advertising goblins, etc.
Candles enchanted with Creation spells make handy timers. When the flames have consumed X amount of the candle, the spell is cast.
All artifacts contain epic monsters and relics divine servitors. It can get strange if one of the latter is freed after their god has been slain or absorbed into another divinity.
Most animals and plants can be alchemically innoculated to create valuable pearls or burls. It is never a pleasant experience for the beast but some people find sacrificing of of their livestock every year makes up for bad weather or other natural disasters.
A common form of weather manipulation uses folk magic on kites. The more in the sky, the greater the chances for the desired weather.
Stone to Flesh creates inert biomass in earlier editions. I would change that slightly to allow a wizard to cast Polymorph Other or Reincarnation the round after to create something living.
Some locations that are cursed with flooding are surrounded by dry land. It may seem like a never ending source of water, but drinking or irrigating with cursed water is rarely a good idea.
Mashers are large worms or fish that consume coral. So to avoid them some reefs teleport from one ocean to another. This makes sea travel more hazardous and most sea faring peoples have large bounties on masher skulls.
A few minerals are immune to wild magic as they are the symbols of the Rock of Stability.
A wizard gave a kobold tribe the ability to regenerate (weakness Light effects) but only when they are in the caves beneath a specific mountain range. This has allowed them to drive off most of the other monsters. It helps when one can be swallowed and are not harmed by the consumer's gut (how many critters digest with light?).
I was skimming through Mongoose's book Crossbreeding (which is actually about fusing creatures) and it came to me that one way to increase or decrease the amount of random elements in any hybrid creation scheme is to include raw Chaos or Law. The latter allows the caster to select exact stats and appearance rather than hope for the best. The former is perfect for creating genetic sports that could have useful traits not found in either parent line (or garbage that needs to be culled).
Some monsters leave slime trails that inflict odd energy types of damage. Throw in some bizarre appearance traits and the players could have a ball after figuring out what the gunk is.
Arcane casters have dream muses, entities that allow mortals to bend or brake natural laws. They can be occasionally called upon to work some great magic (metamagic or higher level spells) at the cost of being unable to cast any spell for a duration (a day or week).
The mind is a powerful thing as psionics prove. Dream mining allows one to collect objects or energies from sleeping beings but there is a chance of mutation of the dreamer's body or a significant change to their behavior (i.e. alignment).
Many herd animals have castes that allow some to survive most disasters, natural and magical. Just try not to spear a horse that reacts to blizzards by belching flames, its internal fires may destroy the weapon and start a wild fire.
One sort of spell I don't see much of are those that create caches, hiding spots, and stables for use in a dungeon. Yes, Rope Trick allows for a safe place to rest but it isn't that useful for keeping the horses safe while the party tromps around in the dark.
Spell unlocks are another idea I haven't seen at all. They are meant for innate casters (sorcerers and psions) and allow access to smaller spell/power lists upon completion of specific tasks or events.
There are locations of Atonement, one for each theme of sin. It may be seven, it may be 100 depending on the setting.
All stars are living entities that watch the world, studying its petroglyphs in an attempt to gain a better understanding of reality (i.e. reverse astrology).
Colonization boxes can not be opened if conditions are wrong. Otherwise they contain the colonists and their first community. Each is about 20-200 pounds with 10 colonists and their supporting material per pound.
Sea water from the Chthonic Lands turns to crystal when exposed to sunlight. It slowly reverts in other forms of illumination, taking a week or so without sunlight to complete turn back into brine. Each sea's crystals have their own color and pattern scheme.
There are legends of hiding one's heart for immortality. What about other organs? Eyes to prevent vulnerability to gaze and other sight based attacks. Livers for immunity to poison. Spleens for immunity to disease. Brains for immunity to Intelligence sapping effects. Etc.
A poorly designed spell to prevent petrification has been used extensively in a dwarven city and has given it weather. Every time the spell is used there is a chance of wind or rain.
A former crow familiar has taught several murders how to use alchemy to capture and collect lobsters. If the local fishermen had any power, it may be in trouble. But they don't and it isn't. This is swelling its ego and it is thinking of other ways to show its dominance over non-casters.
Skull shaping of dinosaurs rarely creates wizard level intellects.
Mummies made from animal bodies and human(oid) heads is becoming more popular as guardians. Who would want to face an undead cave bear that can kill with a touch and cast spells?
Occasionally I prefer combinations of mutations rather than rolling individual ones. One simple way to represent this is with subrace traits. If an elf encounters a dwarven relic and gains the traits of a deep dwarf, what does that do to the elf? Keep in mind these traits are in addition to the elf's.
Necromancers are limited by how many bodies they have access to. There are a few ways around this limitation and one that is highly effective is a 3rd level spell that turns dead plants or fungi into animal carcasses of the same mass. From there a spell from Advanced Arcana (I want to say IV or V), Mortia's Corpseshaping, allows the wizard to further transmute the bodies into whatever they desire.
A new threat to the civilized kingdoms comes in the form of vegetable imposters (rather than lizard people). They exist to steal secrets of agriculture and magic from humanoids and expand their control over the terrestrial world.
Meteors are being sent by who knows what to add new forms of weather to the world. If they are found and destroyed, the weather fades away. A few examples:
- Glowing clouds that create soft crystal rain. These stones are apparently addictive to aberrations.
- Vortex winds that carve glyphs into exposed rock.
- Pockets of air that refract light, causing weak illumination in large areas (shadows, not darkness).
- Droplets or bubbles of oil full of weird plants. They only survive in the oil and so far alchemists and wizards have yet to find uses for them.
- Chime clouds that produce music in breezes and cacophonies in storms.
Some personal examples of strange cyberlimbs and implants (I used the tables in the revised Metamorphica and it worked like a charm):
- Flabby Chariot Leg: a limb replacement with wheels. Though it is bulky, having such a leg increases the character's movement rate by 1/3rd, 1/2 if both legs are replaced. Being bulky each leg can also be used to store one or more very small items.
- Scaly Sheet Thigh: a replacement of the upper leg by a tether that allows the character an increased chance of dodging projectiles. It looks very strange in action and the DM may include an initiative penalty for the next round as the character rights themself.
- Prehensile Halo Shell: tortles and bullywugs occasionally get this modification. It increases their armor class by one and can act as a primitive limb (like a possum tail).
- Bright Fan Teeth: a covering for the pearly whites that reflects gaze and light based attacks.
- Tubular Spiral Hair: a small number of implants for the head that act as a helm and deflect decapitation attacks.
A common problem with merlane and vivimancer labs is the living tissue that grows on the walls, floor and ceiling. If not controlled, they are sources of contagion and contamination.
Elementals are not harmed by material forms of their opposite elements. For example a fire elemental can walk along the sea floor, boiling away all the sea water that surrounds it.
Instead of a chance of dying by fusing with the ground, teleport can have a different fail state. Instead of a clean cut between locations, it tears at reality. There is a chance (any roll that usually results in damage or death) that something was dragged along. These creatures initially exist in an unreal state. They flee and then incarnate into something solid. From there it grows in power over time, becoming a significant danger to anyone that encounters it. I suggest having a series of monsters and simply reskin them to something horrific, something that evokes the Far Realm.
The Sun spawns the world's moons and consumes them when they wear out. Watching the machinery work is something most children enjoy.
Deities slain by other gods are turned into suns to provide new life, mostly in the form of worshipers for the winner.
Forge stars are those modified by mortal wizards to create almost anything. Smiths use only mirrors and lenses for their work.
Dragons are sexless and reproduce through scale rain. Each scale turns into a tiny scaled worm which then burrows into the closest ground. The very few survivors eventually emerge as "hatchlings" which are then protected by the first adult they encounter.
Castle builders are massive spiders that use lightning to harden their silk to the consistency of stone. Over 5-10 years they create honeycombed mounds used to lure and capture prey. They then move on and other things (including people) take over and reshape the mounds to castles or lairs.
Bride of Frankenstein inspired question- can flesh golems be created so they can successfully reproduce?
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