Bestiary

The Bestiary contains a list of templates suitable for use as NPCs. It contains both monsters (beasts, horrors, and similar), as well as templates for mortal NPCs. The narrator should feel free to use a mortal template from the Bestiary to quickly have access to common adversarial mortals (such as a soldier, witch, or thief); alternatively, the narrator may choose to construct any mortal NPC using the rules for player characters. For more details, see the Narrator's Guide.
Each Bestiary entry contains a description of the creature, a table of attributes and other values, a danger rating (used by narrators to provide balanced encounters by aligning to danger points), and a unique set of talents. Talents available to creatures in the Bestiary work similarly to the tales available to players; each may have one or more signatures, which all members of that species innately have at no cost. In addition, each has some number of additional talents - unlike tales, there are not always exactly six, and they are not categorized by tiers. To unlock one of these talents, the danger rating of the creature rises by the value specified in the talent (for example, a creature worth 50 DP that takes a talent worth 20 DP is now a 70 DP creature). Creatures do not need to take their talents in any order, nor do they have any restriction on unlocking them. For more details, see the Narrator's Guide.
Note that some talents (and signatures) in Bestiary entries are weapons. In this case, these weapons are available (if not exclusively) for the creature to use when take the Attack (Weapon) action. These are often natural weapons, such as razor sharp claws or immense fangs, but in some cases may be crafted weapons.
Finally, each Bestiary entry has a suggestion for loot tables - it is at the narrator's discretion if these tables should be used, or modified in any way.

Differentia

Some entries in the bestiary share common talents, called differentia. These entries are listed below.
  • Poison Resist (10 danger): This creature reduces all poisoned condition durations by 3.
  • Magic Resist (10 danger): This creature reduces all damage from any Magic action by 1.
  • Frightening (10 danger): Any character that looks upon this creature must make a Bravery vs Steel check; if successful, they are no longer afraid of the creature. If they fail, they cannot be nearby this creature (they can't move to a nearby space, and they must leave on their turn if they are); a character that failed can attempt this check again once per turn, at the end of their turn.
  • Flying (20 danger): This creature can fly.
  • Consuming (20 danger): If an unconscious character is nearby, this creature must spend its movement to be adjacent to the character, and must spend its action eating the character. The character is fully consumed by the creature in this action.
  • Alluring (20 danger): As an action, this creature can make a Charm vs Wits check against all nearby characters of its choice; for each success, that character must move towards the creature on their next turn (and cannot leave an adjacent space once arrived).
  • Immense (20 danger): This creature adds its Bravery to the damage it causes for all Attack (Unarmed) and Attack (Weapons) actions it takes.
  • Incorporeal (30 danger): This creature cannot be hurt by mundane weapons or unarmed attacks. Any effect based in Magic, or any type of special or enhanced weapon can harm this creature as normal.
  • Thorns (20-40 danger): Any Attack (Unarmed) or Attack (Weapons) action made against this creature deals 2, 3, or 4 damage back to the attacker (the danger scales with the intensity of the thorns).

Lords

Some entries in the bestiary refer to the Lord differentia; these signatures and talents often provided improved attributes, equipment, and more, and are unique to each entry. Importantly, the Lord differentia itself is used to identify which NPCs should (commonly) be allowed to gain weakened conditions as opposed to immediately being unconscious on taking damage beyond their breakpoint (see the [Narrator's Guide]narrators/pcs-vs-npcs for details).

List of Creatures

  • Amalgam: a construct of bodyparts, animated with galvanism or necromancy
  • Anur: an immense froglike creature that will swallow adventurers whole if given the opportunity
  • Aquien: a siren-like fae that lurks in small cliques near enchanted ponds and lakes
  • Arachnia: a dangerously fast spider-like creature with debilitating fangs
  • Bathite: an avatar of Bathemos, a being of pure fire summoned by ritual at a great revel
  • Bog Menace: a territorial bipedal mushroom-like creature that collects equipment from the fallen trespassers
  • Bulwark: an avatar of Athya that guards her other avatars while they perform their task
  • Cinderkin: a devilish sub-mortal species known as vicious thieves and murderers
  • Corveast: an enormous birdlike predator that stalks the moors
  • Crimson Monarch: a vampiric insectile humanoid that disguises itself to hide amongst the crowds
  • Darkhorn: an embodiment of ill fortune, a midnight blue horse with a single crystalline horn
  • Echo: a creature capable of taking on the form of a loved one
  • Eldis Odder: a being of energy that must consume mortals to grow
  • Emotion: a creature of energy able to curse the foes it touches
  • Empty: a threadless spirit that has failed to pass from the mortal worlds to Zh’vael
  • Entius: a tree-like fae that guards a sacred forest or grove
  • Executor: an avatar of Athya that renders her judgment on the threads of mortals
  • Fae'dra: a dragon, daughter of the pagan god Fae'la
  • Grotesque: a winged stone guardian constructed during the age of the spires
  • Horrifowl: an enormous chicken-like creature with human arms and the ever-screaming face of its last mortal victim within its open beak
  • Industus: a mechanical elemental addicted to the tastes of the golden threads
  • Ivorian: an ivory humanoid that is only seen when heralding great events
  • Miasmar: a living mist that envelops its victims and consumes them alive
  • Nettling: an offshoot spiretech experiment in animated plant-life
  • Nightmare: one of the fallen foal of Norami, a horse of chaos and flame
  • Nordle: a disgusting swamp-dwelling creature with human hands for feet
  • Prismatic: a being of crystalline light that can pass through windows and other clear surfaces
  • Rat King: an amalgamation of rats coalesced into an embodiment of plague and suffering
  • Scry: an avatar of Athya that reads the threads and decides the fates of mortals
  • Shel: a demon that takes the shape of an eyeless human child until transforming into its true form
  • Umbra: a being of negative energy contained within the mundane form of physical equipment
  • Unicorn: an enchanting horse with a single piercing horn whose presence is said to bring luck
  • Ursun: an enormous bear-like creature whose mouth hides a swarming mass of poisonous tentacles
  • Vermin: large pest-like creatures often found in sewers and abandoned basements
  • Vivikin: an animated physical object operating via various machinations
  • Wikked: wolf-like creatures that prowl the woods, hungry for the next meal
  • Wolloi: a fae creature that feeds on fear and horror, slowly draining the life-force from its victims

List of Mortal Species Templates

  • Bandit: a common thief, rogue, cutpurse, or pirate
  • Champion: a character whose name is known throughout the land
  • Enchanter: a magic users whose operation may be public or kept quite secret
  • Knight: a trained fighting character commissioned to act in the king’s name throughout the land
  • Laborer: a common worker, farmer, or peasant
  • Merchant: a well-to-do citizen whose coin is made in trade
  • Noble: a person of the upper classes with the best education and a lifetime of experience in society
  • Soldier: an armed and armored individual working as part of a trained fighting force