Beasts

Beasts are savage creatures reminiscent of the Monsters of old; horrors that seek to destroy the Races of Man, Monsters, and their works with a level of hatred and malice that passes fully into the realms of madness. Beasts superficially resemble natural animals, but are often warped in size, shape, capabilities, and behavior to become things which are clearly unnatural and horrifically dangerous. Many absorb Mana, and even Spirits, in order to gain special powers and innate magic, while others consume spells in order to gain their effects. Beasts prowl the wilderness and encroach on the edges of civilization, a lingering threat driven by murderous intent.

Beasts, while also a terrible threat to all reasoning creatures, are a valuable source of resources. Their natural weaponry, their hides and shells, their flesh, blood, and internal organs, and the Elementite and Occultite deposits that form within them all have uses in crafting, forging, smithing, alchemy, medicine, and magic. In truth, many of these uses remain a mystery, as Beasts only began to appear on Gaea in the past several decades, with new types being discovered regularly. Even their biology and ecological roles are unclear, with many theories suggested as to how they came to be and if they are creatures akin to Elementals, Fey, or other Spirits, natural organisms, or something else entirely. However, some seem to carry a strange and terrible affliction known as Beast Syndrome that may hold a key to their origin, and further, are wholly immune to the gentling influence of Taint.

## Behavior

Beasts are primarily defined by their hostility towards Men and Monsters; the creatures display an instinctive drive to kill both that frequently overrides any sense of self-preservation. While relatively harmless to their environs otherwise, with the exceptions of creatures like Lairights, they exhibit extreme aggression towards anything manmade, cultivated, or domesticated.

## Behind the Curtain

Beasts were originally conceived of as a way to fill a needed role in the setting; that vacated by Monsters. In the Wayfarer's Guide, Monsters are effectively people. Even those that would normally be wild animals in all but name in other settings. Most fantasy roleplaying games, and fantasy fiction more broadly, deal heavily with deadly combat between people and Monsters, often presented without moral or ethical consequences or implications. This doesn't work in a setting where Monsters are people for reasons that should be obvious, and while it should be possible to create such games or stories in the Wayfarer's Guide, I'd prefer that to not be the norm. However, the setting uses rules from what is effectively a tactical wargame. Combat represents the majority of the setting's rules. A game where fighting and killing carries all of the same implications as the real world is fine, but not what everyone wants, and honestly, not what the standard rules assume. Beasts were introduced to fill that void... and also to create a mutually-antagonistic force that can serve as common enemy for both Men and Monsters. Beasts exist to give our heroes something evil to fight without having to question its motives or rights.

### Stats for Beasts

Most Beasts use the game statistics for existing Monsters, reflavored, and modified with "equipment." For example, a spear-wielding Kobold from Pathfinder's core rules might be a rat-like Beast with a long, barbed tail that it thrusts at people. Others are essentially Dire Animals, Oozes, Plants, and giant Vermin played straight. Still others are normal Animals given Templates, such as Flying Creature, Amphibious, or Insectile Creature. Remember that Beasts can't use Magic, except as innate abilities. None are actually smart enough to do so, even if the stats you use say otherwise.

It's also normal to use the Unfettered Eidolon rules, expanded and modified, to design Beasts. Feel free to include any Evolutions available to normally Eidolons, even Weapon Training, though note that Beasts can't craft their own equipment.

### The "Beast" Creature Subtype

Beasts have their own Creature Subtype, with the following characteristics:

* **Anthropathy:** Beasts possess an intense and irrational hatred of Humanoids and creatures that emulate them, as well as their works. When presented with a Humanoid, similar creature, or manmade structure or object, the Beast must succeed at a DC 15 Will Save or attack the offending creature or object. If more than one is present, the Beast must attack the nearest living target unless it succeeds at a DC 10 Will Save. Dead Creatures and severely damaged structures do not trigger this response.
* **Spell Resistance:** Beasts are mildly resistant to common spellcasting. They receive Spell Resistance equal to half their Hit Dice, rounded up.
* **Wordless:** Even if a Beast has an Intelligence Score high enough to learn a language, it cannot understand, speak, read, or write any language. They are still capable of communicating with each other and animals, but their linguistic capabilities are fundamentally too stunted to function in this manner.
* **Some Kind of Animal:** Even if the Beast's Type is not Animal, spells and effects that target Animals affect the Beast. Beasts are subject to Wild Empathy and the influence of certain Monsters, such as Therianthropes and Entothropes. However, they add their Will Saves to the DCs of any such attempts to influence their attitudes and are always initially Hostile to Humanoids and those that resemble them, such as Monsters.
* **Incorruptible:** Beasts cannot gain Taint and are immune to Polymorph and similar effects that could change their species. Beasts are also immune to Awakening and similar effects.
* **Mutant:** Beasts have a number of Evolution Points equal to their CR, minimum one Point. These do not stack with Evolution Points from other sources.
* **Wroth:** Beasts are resistant to Charm, Dominate, and other Mind-Affecting effects, gaining a Racial +4 bonus to resist these... with the exception of effects that induce anger or rage, which function normally.
* **Poor Company:** Beasts cannot be made into Companions, Familiars, or any other sort of Pet-Type Class Feature.

The Beast Subtype is unusual in that it can be applied to multiple Creature Types, similar to Shapechanger. It can be applied to any living, corporeal creature that is not a Fey, Outsider, Elemental, Living Construct, or Half-Undead. Perhaps surprisingly, it is even seen on Humanoids.

### Beast "Equipment"

Many Beasts have "equipment," of a sort. From odd natural weapons and armor, mutations that don't belong on the creature... or really *any* natural creature, to symbiotic plants and fungi and other Beasts that serve the same function as magic scrolls, potions, and even ranged weapons. This "gear" is often magical, and commonly harvestable. Consider "spending" the GP value of a Beast's CR on these "items." That way, even if they end up destroyed in battle, the value might still be recoverable through Trophy rules.

In practice, you are equipping the Beast with common items and gear, including consumables, as if it were a normal Monster, but merely reflavoring this gear to either be a natural part of the creature or some kind of symbiotic organism.

### Mutating and Evolving Beasts

Feel free to apply Evolution Points to Beasts even if you don't use the Unfettered Eidolon rules. They all have at least one, after all.

### Beasts and Their Categories

Beasts have a number of categories that are meant to, generally speaking, reflect common appearances, capabilities, and behaviors. Ordinarily, these would just be stat blocks as per most Creatures. The Vermidon, which normally uses the statistics for Goblins, Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Orcs, and Kobolds, is an example. However, many Beasts are better reflected as Templates applied to other Creatures. The Dragnaught, Veilurk, Malegion, and Festrek are examples of this latter category. This creates an interesting scenario in which Beasts may belong to more than one category, such as a spider Macrovore that is also a Malegion, or a lizard Dragnaught that is also a Veilurk *and* a Malegion, or a Plasmorph that's an Outcaster.

### Advanced Beasts

Beasts come in some powerful variations. The most common of these are called Lords or Kings after the hierarchies of Monsters. In practice, the former are Mythic Creatures, and the latter are both Mythic and have the Dread Lord Template applied to them.

### Beasts and Everyday Magic

Many Beasts possess rudimentary magical abilities similar to the Everyday Magic used by Man and Monster. These are always innate Spell-Like Abilities for Beasts, and in some cases are tied to unusual biological features. Beasts follow the same rules as other Creatures for determining how many and of what Level they know.

### Beasts and Arts Progression

Like Men and Monsters, Beasts develop methods of attacking and defending. While they lack the capacity to develop or learn fighting Styles and Maneuvers, their natural instincts and behavior often mimic the results of same.

Beasts usually gain Maneuvers based on their *role* rather than their casting abilities, as Men and Monsters do. Weaker Beasts intended for fodder, such as common Vermidons, tend to have Arts Progressions as akin to what a Magus or Bard would (starting with only a pair of Basics), while major threats tend to progress more like a Ranger or Paladin... and Beast Lords and Kings boasting Progressions akin to a Fighter. Beasts treat their Challenge Rating as their Class Level for the purposes of determining how many Maneuvers they know.

### Beasts and Stunts

Beasts don't normally gain Stunts unless they're unique threats like a Beast Lord or King. In cases where they *do,* they normally only know a small number; usually no more than one fourth of their CR.

### Inspiration for Beasts

I've drawn inspiration for Beasts from various sources; the Monster Hunter game series, the movie Love and Monsters, classic D&D and Pathfinder Monsters, Dinosaurs, various bestiaries for fictional settings or world's (such as are featured on the Curious Archive Youtube channel), the enemies from the Ori metroidvania games, and Arvalis's Realistic Pokemon on DeviantArt.

Beasts are generally supposed to be hideously warped and deformed, horrifying animals. Creatures that have mutated, devolved, or degenerated into unnatural forms.

### Naming Beasts

Beasts primarily use portmanteaus as names, similar to many Pokémon. The reasoning behind this has to do with proprietary names in fictional works and a desire not to overlap with the common names of Monsters. If one were to have, say, a Beast whose name was just it's niche, like, say, a Choker, Mind Flayer, or Maneater, it would likely overlap with existing properties or be too generic to make the creature memorable, fit my personal preference... or both. This can result in some somewhat silly sounding names for things that are intended to be horrifying. This is unfortunate, but still distinctive. I suggest maintaining this practice.