That sounds fun! I could be a rust monster… so hated and misunderstood, but all he wants is to eat your sword. And armour. And are you done with this buckler?

I’ll talk to a few people on other games and will let you know.

Here's the Monstrous campaign concept. Let me know if you're interested.



The arena is a glorious battlefield of victory and defeat. But many do not know the struggles of the slaves in the pits waiting for their possible doom every day. The monsters captured and taken from their homes to be put in a cage to fight for their lives for sport and entertainment. Though many of these monsters are mindless beasts and many of these slaves wicked criminals who spilled innocent blood long before their incarceration...not all of them are...

Welcome to Monstrous. You'll take the role of a low CR monster who has found kinship with other creatures enslaved in the arena. One of your allies, a clever goblin by the name of Ruckus, has revealed that he knows a way to escape. Together you've hatched a plan to not only escape the arena, but to escape the city and get back to your homelands...hopefully in one piece. The journey will not be easy. Guards roam the streets, and monster hunters roam the wilderness, and adventurers can pop up anywhere. You'll need to stay on the run, struggled to find resources, and most importantly, work together as a team to overcome the perils that await you outside. After all, what's a little more life-threatening danger when your freedom is on the line?

Game System: Pathfinder 1e. Pick a monster of CR 4 or lower. You gain racial hit dice and monster feats instead of normal levels up. You can trade a monster HD for a class level by defeating adventurers with those class levels and swiping their stuff. Adventurers are their own class of NPCs that are far more dangerous than most others (especially if you get caught wandering off alone from your party).

 This seems fun, I'm definitely in.
 I'll message a few people with a link to here.

Haha sounds fun, I’m in too :)

I like what I’m seeing…

Thinking thinking, what monster do I want. Can I find one that Josep failed to kill in a monster fight?! Or the child of a powerful beast murdered before the crowds? This place has a great history archive so why not use it…

Yeah I think doing a twist and playing a monster jail break will be fun.

I can use the NPC codex to throw guards, gladiators, adventurers, and monster hunters at you guys while you make the journey back to safety.

As for the party, we'll need....

At least 1 "muscle" character with high STR and CON
At least 1 "smart" character with high INT and/or WIS
At least 1 "face" character with high CHA.

A "scout" would be nice too but the NPC quest giver Ruckus will also fill that role so it's not needed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:00, Thu 22 July 2021.

 As per usual, Josep will happily patron the "smart" character.

 In terms of monsters, I can remember a Dragon utterly destroying Josep and Hiro...

 Early in his career, Josep did an Endurance match, where several reptilian creatures took turn being frozen in place, and finally a big tree suffered the same fate. Maybe there's something there?

 Have you had any RTJ? Maybe from someone called cpncthulhu? He seemed intrigued by the game.

 Also, yay 36k!

Cptcthulhu has indeed joined.

Welcome on board, old chap.

What role does the revenant fill?

Okay I've got one with face and scout capabilities!

I don’t see any rules for wealth though, even though the example ogre has stuff…

Gain wealth as a normal character of your level. Everyone starting level 6th.

Most people won't trade with monsters so try not to have too much leftover cash.

Would you guys rather have a "build your own monster" option? It'll take more time but we could do that instead if you can't find any monsters you like. Name a few ideas and brainstorm if you need.

 As much as I enjoy (adore?) optimisation, I'd rather keep it simple in this instance.

 Guys, I have three concepts in mind:
- Smart: Greensting (Josep's scorpion familiar, awakened as a wizard in his own right)
- Scout: Waleza (one of the air elementals regularly summoned by Josep has decided to unionise the Elementals, and is making a run for it)
- Muscle: Stavros (the Minotaur at the centre of the maze is tired of killing adventurers, and even more tired of being killed and raised back to life when the opposition is strong. He just wants to move out of the city and start a seasonal produce farm.)

 Any thoughts on which one you'll be? I don't have a strong preference.

 I've now looked at what CR2/3/4 monsters are available, and have a deluge of new ideas.

 Any thoughts on playing a Wyrmling dragon? Or a Gargoyle?

I’m looking at a faerie dragon. I was thinking I’d do a derro poet for face/scout but Derros have all terrible stats, so I wouldn’t have access to Arkrim’s rogue talent feats for example. But as a muscle alternative I could take Taff, Vry’s transmuted animal companion, who might just want to find out what creature he really is, beneath it all…

Waylun (cptcthulhu) is considering Beastfolk Alligator or Crocodile. He'd make good muscle if he went that route.

Derro? There stats aren't bad but that sunlight vulnerability is rough.

Although it would be funny if one of you went Dragon Wyrmling, another Faerie Dragon, and another some Half-dragon just to make it a dragon squad.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:16, Wed 28 July 2021.

Could we then morph into a Large dragon ? :)
Wyrmling Dragons have average stats, but could be fun to play…

Say Waylun is the Muscle, Vry are you leaning towards Face or Brains?
I’m fine with either, I feel like I need to narrow down my options though :D

In reply to GM Arkrim (msg # 272):

I mean, they have bad/slow save progressions, 3/4 bab progression etc. Objectively much worse than the dragon which has d12 hp, full save and bab progression and many class skills (not that I need all that, but a few of those things do give access to your monster feats :) ). Balance for the dragon, I guess, is the fact that dragon type isn't a prerequisite for any type-specific monster feats :P

Yeah monster stats aren't balanced. ...we could do:



I'd actually prefer this balance-wise if you don't mind the extra steps.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:45, Thu 29 July 2021.

I don't mind extra steps. I notice that Beastfolk get the same proficiencies as Monstrous Humanoids. Is that Simple weapons and Light armors?

They get simple weapons plus whatever armor the base creature's wearing and anything lighter than that. If you're beastfolk you get simple weapons, but if you want light armor you gotta pony up a feat for it. Two or three feats for medium or heavy.