Hello, fellow nerds:
What are some neat monsters or creatures I could use for a new campaign I’m running in 2025. The gist is that one of the four sons of the Vyshaantar Empire has gathered strength, occupied a castle in the Misty Forest, and is looking to take over the entirety of the territory and spearhead a resurgence of the Vyshaantar Empire. (Or, to put it even more succinctly: Nazi Elves.)
I’ve got a few Vyshaantar enemies built out, like a Vyshaantar Sniper, Elven War Golem, Corrupted Treant, and Pyromancer.
What are some others that are different but would fit this kind of campaign?
For flavour, I recommend that all “regular” animals that normally have sharp-pointed ears now have human-shaped round ones.
Ha! Could be fun.
Inspired by MTG I’d say a Displacer Kitten. Basically a house cat sized version of a Displacer Beast, either naturally young or kept young with magic. All the cuteness of a kitty with the deadliness of a Displacer Beast
Oh hell yes. It will fit right in next to the El Pollo Diablo I created for our April Fools session last year. Love it.
Is El Pollo Diablo haunting Puerto Pollo?
Nah, he’s the enchanted pet of a goblin slave smuggler out of Skullport named Old Feztuz, who calls him Winky.
Fey creatures in general. High level fey are where things start to get tricky though. Pixies that are police for instance, obsessed with checking peoples’ papers. Or how about gnomish pacifists. Hags are also fey, so an easy addition, I’d perhaps go with them as the potential allies - they are usually unaligned and wouldn’t want to side with elves or a kingdom
Oh man, a Nazi pencil-pushing pixie sounds like great fun.
In some settings bulettes hate the taste of elves, and maybe that could allow militaristic elves to domesticate them for use as raiding mounts. I’m imagining an elven archer atop a saddle with a bulette-hide shield along the dorsal fin. The shield is sturdy enough that it allows the rider to duck down and be protected while the mount tunnels, as well as providing cover when shooting their bows. I think this could work well for a single scout ambush encounter at level 5+, and as a special siege unit that the party has to defeat later on.
Maybe they learn about it from a group of wounded soldiers recounting a recent battle where a castle wall collapsed without warning, and in the chaos three mounted land sharks tore through their ranks until they were ordered to retreat.
Great idea! Elven War Golems flanked by weaponized bulettes? That’ll be a fun and pants-pissingly scary encounter, mwahahahaha.
Check out the Fomorians or Nothics, could treat those as a company of the enemy elves tried controlling dark magic for the war effort and were corrupted by it.
I have plans for one of the party members to get called to duel a Fomorian in the Feywild at some point during the campaign. House honor and all that.
