When in doubt, ask the Masters...

[Jack_Danger]

Greetings. I am a newcomer to these forums, and somewhat familiar with the Ravenloft setting. I come with a request.

You see, in a seperate project, I have begun creation of a series of monsters called The Created.
The Backstory of these creatures is simple, but odd. There is what looks like a man, but isn't. He is ageless, very powerful, and seemingly unkillable. But this isn't about him. He is only the Creator. You see, his hobby is too collect the souls of sentient beings at the brink of their death, and use them, make them 'better.' He Gives this soul form and sculpts it into a new one. A master artpiece. this is his hobby, and he likes his hobby so very much.
The created themselves are unique, horrifying abberations that he handmade, and has let loose on the world. With horrifying bodies that he creates, sometimes using the fears and nightmares of the souls he has collected as inspiration, and a new mind that he puts equal work into, based to fit the body, The Created roam an entire world, feeding off fear and flesh. However, he considers himself to have no true 'peers', so his method of critique is somewhat warped. He observes his creations from afar, and watches the ones that are, eventually, destroyed by adventurers. Sometimes, he teleports these adventures into his fortress, sits them downs with a bottle of wine, and has a friendly discussion with them about how they beat it and how such a beast might by improved in future incarnations. He never seems angry unless truely, deeply insulted during one of these sessions. In his own words " I'm not evil. I'm just an Artist that works in an as yet untapped medium. You understand, don't you?"

By now, you are probably wondering why I am posting this here. I am doing so because I am requesting you aid in creating the Created. I imagine these beings as truely warped abberations that the description of makes the players shiver, but I have had trouble actually making some of these.
Also, there is another aspect of the Created. These creatures were once people. Under the right circumstances, and with alot of magic, the mental Barriars can be broken, and a Created becomes awakened, and their mind is returned to what it once was, but their body remains changed. Sometimes, they can only be awakened for a short time, with others it is permenant.
Some of the Awakened Created I have come up with are such:

A former Elf bard, known across the world for his singing voice, who is now a figure of darkness that looking into it reawakens horrible nightmares and causes violent hallucinations, He has covered his almost humaniod body in several layers of clothing, and can not speak. Well, he can, but with every syllablle causes terrible pain and sonic damage in all who can hear him.

So I was trying to come up with a bunch of creatures who are frightening, horrible, and in some cases, tragic. It wasn't untill today that I realized that the answer was right in front of me. Ravenloft!
However, I would prefer not to rip of Ravenloft Monsters, However, I humbly ask you, the masters of horror, for some advice, inspiration, or even stats, for such monsters. The only requirments:

There should only be one of each Created: They are unique.

They should be somewhat frightening, if not in their apperance, then in their methods of killing or their actions.

They should be harder to kill then your average encounter. If they can be killed at all. If, however, in the case of the latter, I would politly reccomend some means of incapacitating them, if only for a short while.

And, optionally, some sort of backstory and mindset for their former lives that might be seen if they were ever awakened.

Any who care to help will be thanked personally when I finally finish the PDF, and if you do not wish to help I understand fully.

Thank you for your time.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

There should only be one of each Created: They are unique.

Make sure your concepts don't collide with the Created already existing in Ravenloft universe.

[Jack_Danger]

Oh, I wasn't aware there was already a creature type called The Created. Guess I'll have to come up with a new name then.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

The Created is a general term for golems and other creatures given life by the obession of mortals.

It sounds like you are talking about broken ones.
Perhaps you can be more specific about what kind of a creature you want. Are you looking for something that's just ugly - or something with special powers?
EX: A horde of evil creatures - or a hulking monstrocity - or a deadly hunter?
Do you want something subtle or extravagant?
EX: People with no faces who suck sound and light from the area, creating an impenetrable silent darkness.
Or hideously emaciated "Humanoids" with syringes for fingers, hands for feet, and no mouthes or noses or chests (they're humans who have no organs so they suck fluids out of living beings to feed their brains).

[Jack_Danger]

Actually, I was hoping for a combination of the two. A disturbing enough concept and escription that the players have a good reason to be afraid of it in character, and abilities for it that make an unprepared party seriously consider fleeing before it spots you. However, capable of being defeated, if not destroyed.

Like if your syringe-finger folk are very good climbers how hide in shadowy corners of dark lit rooms, and leap out at their prey to drain the fluids of a person, then returning to the shadow, leaving only a dehydrated corpse behind. (With your permission, I will now run off and work up a creature along these lines.)

Edit: I just realized something. For this line of creatures, the fear aura ability is probably to be expect for a number of them.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Possibly, but don't forget that under Ravenloft rules, fear checks are standard against creatures of unimaginable horror.

[Jack_Danger]

Vampridigit Stalker

Size/Type: medium aberration
Hit Dice: 12d8+24 (78 hp)
Initiative: +10
Speed: 40 ft
Armor Class: 22 (+4 Dex, +8 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+15
Attack: + 11 Claw (1d6+2 + drain)
Full Attack: 2 Claws
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Drain Fluid
Special Qualities: Blindsight 80, Pounce, Regeneration, Fire resist 10
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +9
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 22, Con 15, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 11
Skills: Balance +13, Climb +10, Escape Artist +11, Jump +35, Listen +15, Move Silently +11, Sense Motive +8, Tumble +11,
Feats: Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Endurance, Diehard
Alignment: lawful evil

You’re not sure when it happened, but at some point, you stopped hunting it, and it started hunting you. Surprising it during the daylight hours, when it was supposed to be asleep, seemed like the best plan. But now, you know it wasn’t asleep. It never sleeps. It only sits in the dark, dormant.
And then you hear it. A noise, or rather, a number of smaller noises at once. The cracking of knuckles larger then any human’s. You turn to look, but you see only the darkness of the cavern. You hear the sound of cracking knuckles again, and you spot it. Crouched in the upper corner of the cavern wall. Even in the relatively low light given off by your torch, you can make no mistake; this is the beast you entered the caves to find. It looks almost human, just human enough to be disturbingly different. There are no facial features. No eyes, no ears, no nose. Not even a mouth. Its arms just seem to hang there, too long for a person. You can see the metallic needles jutting out of the tip of the fingers, like ten, blood stained syringes. And at the end of its legs sit the oddly shaped giant feet, as if it had the hands of a gorilla at the end of each leg.
The thing looks right at you. Never mind that it has no eyes to see, it is looking at you. And then it suddenly grows so much larger as it flings itself across the cavern. Ten tiny pinpricks slide in between your ribs, and the world goes black.
The Vampridigit Stalker is one of the most feared of The Created. Not simply because of its horrific appearance or its taste for blood, but because it is, to date, the only one of the Created to enter the cities. All other Created lie in wait between the towns, taking their sustenance from passing travelers and caravans. Only the Vampridigit Stalker traces its prey back to the source.
The one sign given before the Stalker strikes is the sound of it cracking the knuckles on its hand like feet. It is said it does this because walking around on what are essential giant hands is somewhat uncomfortable, and it wants to have full flexibility before a fight.
The Vampridigit Stalker is 6 feet high, weighs 200 pounds, and doesn’t communicate with anyone or anything. The one mage to attempt to cast Detect Thoughts on it spent what little time he had left in the world of the living vomiting before the Vampridigit Stalker, having rushed right past several enemies and a large group of easy prey, dispatched him, but did not feed.

Drain Fluid (Ex)
The Vampridigit Stalker can suck all the body fluids from a living victim with its claws by making a successful attack roll. If it hits the foe, it drains fluids, dealing 1d4+1 points of Constitution drain each for each claw that hits. On each such successful attack, the Stalker gains 5 temporary hit points. On a successful grapple, the Vampridigit Stalker is considered to automatically hit with both claws.

Blindsight (Ex)
The Vampridigit Stalker can use hearing to ascertain all foes within 80 feet as a sighted creature would. In addition, the Stalker ignores the effects of illusions (including blur and invisibility), and is immune to gaze attacks.

Pounce (Ex)
The Vampridigit Stalker can make a full attack at the end of a charge.

Regeneration (Ex)
The Vampridigit Stalker heals at an amazing rate. However, it’s form of regeneration is different then most. It has regeneration 4, with only fire and acid damage being unaffected. In the event that a piece of the Stalker is cut off, it will start to regrow that part from the piece attached to the head. This is where all the fluid is stored. All a severed piece of the Vampridigit Stalker needs to grow into a new Stalker is a sizable amount of any liquid other then acid. However, it has been shown that no matter how many new Vampridigit Stalkers are formed, only one will survive. All of the others do all in their power to regenerate into their full form, and then die in a matter of hours. Why this occurs is currently unknown.
Unfortunately, this odd form of regeneration has saved the Vampridigit Stalker often. There have been several recorded cases of the thing being hunted down and destroyed, only to have it crop up somewhere else after a rainstorm at the place of some battle with it.

____________________________
I actually play tested this on sunday. Seemed to work well. They spent a week in game tracking it down before they finally managed to disintigrate it. This was after they had cut off several fingers with a bastard sword. They even watched to make sure there was no sign of it growing back. Boy were they peeved when it came looking for them a few days later.