Monsters worth worshipping

[JusticeZero]

The monster realized that it couldn't hide its depredations from the adventurers wandering the world. So the next village it came to, it showed its great powers and used them to help the village; in return, the townsfolk would serve and protect it..
What are some good monsters to set up a racket like this? Just being able to dominate in combat is obviously not enough; it has to be able to do something useful for peacetime to trade.

[Crake]

The monster realized that it couldn't hide its depredations from the adventurers wandering the world. So the next village it came to, it showed its great powers and used them to help the village; in return, the townsfolk would serve and protect it..
What are some good monsters to set up a racket like this? Just being able to dominate in combat is obviously not enough; it has to be able to do something useful for peacetime to trade.

I will respond with my favourite monster: A succubus. They can charm literally anything given enough time, so anything trying to attack the village will just end up helping protect it, and of course, everyone in the village will be kept happy, as long as the succubus gets her fill.... and any surplus of charmed bandits go straight into the succubus' soul bank to spend as she pleases.

[ChocoSuisse]

Actually, lots of intelligent monsters would work for this.
Young dragons and feys, for example.
I could easily see a Mind Flayer or a Rakshasa using villagers as their watchdogs, to secure the area around their lair. They would be benevolent to the villagers, and keep their evil plots secret or related to far away places. That way, any adventurer seeking confrontation with the monster would also have to deal with hundreds of peasants angry at him for wanting to hurt their protector.

[Chester]

Actually, lots of intelligent monsters would work for this.
Young dragons and feys, for example.
I could easily see a Mind Flayer or a Rakshasa using villagers as their watchdogs, to secure the area around their lair. They would be benevolent to the villagers, and keep their evil plots secret or related to far away places. That way, any adventurer seeking confrontation with the monster would also have to deal with hundreds of peasants angry at him for wanting to hurt their protector.

How big do you want to go?

Some hideous monsters exist in the Far Realm, including some god-like beings. Other "lesser" abberations are quite horrifying as well. Take a look at Grell!

[sakuuya]

It's not a PF monster, but I like the Verdant Prince from MM4 for this sort of thing. It's an evil humanoid fey (who could easily pass itself off as a nature spirit or something) that makes sinister deals with mortals. If the deals are broken, the dealbreaker takes a hefty penalty to ability scores, but if they aren't blatantly unfair/evil, I can see a village being willing to put up with those consequences--especially since they only apply to oathbreakers--in exchange for the protection of a powerful "nature spirit."

[Spore]

I got to love me some Rakshasas. Their whole schtick is to hide that they're outsiders. The Maharaja is a 18th level sorcerer (who just screams to be Disney's Aladin's Jafar to me) with the spells and skills to manipulate a whole kingdom. The fun thing is that the Caliph (spelled correctly?) is the one actually under suspicion by the PCs but not even True Seeing can foil the subtle manipulations of an outsider.

[Drrakerr]

You could go with a particularly smart (relatively speaking) Mountain Troll. The thing is able to carry houses for christsake. Bonus points if the villages are in mountains, were the Troll could terrace the landscape to make it more suitable for farming and the like.

[Psyren]

What kind of "depredations" did you have in mind? That would help us narrow it down immensely. Does it demand virgin sacrifice? Carnal pleasures? To drink from their life force? Treasure? Or just vanilla adulation?

[Fable Wright]

The monster realized that it couldn't hide its depredations from the adventurers wandering the world. So the next village it came to, it showed its great powers and used them to help the village; in return, the townsfolk would serve and protect it..
What are some good monsters to set up a racket like this? Just being able to dominate in combat is obviously not enough; it has to be able to do something useful for peacetime to trade.

Advodaza (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/devil/devil-nemesis). It's basically their modus operandi. They are fallen gods and nature spirits that used to be worshiped, and desire it as a core aspect of their being. They are able to grant fantastic powers to their followers, and slaughter those who use their gifts and turn unfaithful. They also have the bonus of being able to use Unhallow as an SLA, which grants the villagers some pretty fantastic always-on benefits, and Wall of Stone 3/day to be able to build churches to itself or homes/barracks for its followers. Finally, Greater Teleport at-will (self only) is a fantastic way of getting exotic merchandise that could enrich its followers and/or a community.

Basically, it's like having a minor deity watching over the town, complete with mandatory sacrifices and unquestioning obedience.

[Red Fel]

How about a different tactic - what about an Inevitable? A Kolyarut (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/inevitable/inevitable-kolyarut) - or even an Arbiter (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/inevitable/inevitable-arbiter) - could make for a very interesting figure.

First, let's consider the latter. The Arbiter is traditionally a scout, preparing the way for its superiors. As it was scouting the area, it encountered some sort of chaotic creature - say, a Dretch or Quasit - harassing the townsfolk. Responding to its instinctive distaste for Chaotic creatures, it launches into the fray, which - combined with the fury of the townsfolk - drives the creature away. The people turn to their tiny mechanical savior, and for whatever reason it follows them back to their village. It discovers that they are in need of structure, and as it currently lacks a superior to whom to report in this region, it decides to act as lawgiver. (It has truespeech, remember?) It creates order and structure in the village, and prepares it as an outpost for other Inevitables passing through.

The former, a more powerful being, is even easier to consider. The Kolyarut is passing through in pursuit of an oathbreaker. After capturing and executing him summarily in the town square, the Kolyarut turns to discover a bunch of horrified people staring at the clockwork murderer. He explains, eloquently, that this man broke his word, and that there are consequences for such conduct. And the people are... Intrigued. This being an impoverished, isolated town, concepts like contract and obligation are a bit beyond their daily experience; people periodically break promises, and that stinks and they're jerks, but whatever. The Kolyarut realizes he's been presented with a blank slate, and proceeds to educate the populace (with a thoroughly LN bent) on the nature of oaths, vows, contracts, and rules. The people, in a town so small they don't merit a Cleric of their own, are mesmerized, and over time the Kolyarut - who has received no new mission since his arrival - becomes a sort of adjudicator of laws. He doesn't particularly care that they revere him like a god; he simply operates in his particular idiom, judging conflicts between the people of the town and executing orders and laws that create structure. There will be order and peace, and violators will be summarily executed.

[Psyren]

I dunno about that - an inevitable would never consent to being worshiped in earnest (that is the purpose of gods), nor would it consent to deceiving others into worshiping it.

Educating them might be something it would do, though that too would require deviating from its mission.

[Honest Tiefling]

But would an inevitable consent, provided that the village only turn their worship to worthy (i.e., lawful) gods? Not quite the same as what the OP, mind you, but I find it interesting.

[Tvtyrant]

Genies. I love using genies as magical Baghdad (like the Sandman version) Caliphs, Sultans and Shahs. They keep massive palaces filled with servants and worshipers, and user their powers to appear as majestic as possible.

[Faily]

Why vote for the lesser evils when you could have a full-on Cthulhu-cult (or Yog-Sothoth, or any other of them, really)? :smallbiggrin:

Bestiary 4 touched on the Cthulhu-mythos, so take one Elder Evil and go to town. Let's see the heroes fleeing in terror from the "people of the monolith". :smallamused:

[Psyren]

But would an inevitable consent, provided that the village only turn their worship to worthy (i.e., lawful) gods? Not quite the same as what the OP, mind you, but I find it interesting.

It would depend on the wording of their mission, and whether stopping to facilitate this sort of worship could be considered a dereliction of duty or not, I'd say. But I am pretty confident they wouldn't want themselves to be worshiped no matter what their mission was.

[Red Fel]

It would depend on the wording of their mission, and whether stopping to facilitate this sort of worship could be considered a dereliction of duty or not, I'd say. But I am pretty confident they wouldn't want themselves to be worshiped no matter what their mission was.

Inevitables have always struck me as not really acknowledging matters beyond the scope of their duties. One of their duties is to enforce Law in the cosmology. Supposing, for whatever reason, an Inevitable was suddenly without an explicit mission, and in a position to create Order, I could see it doing so for various reasons. Admittedly, a Kolyarut would be more likely to have a new task, but Arbiters are specifically scouts, designed to go ahead and prepare the landing site, as it were; creating a Lawful society in a given place is a great way to establish an outpost on the Material wherein other Inevitables can reconnoiter, regroup, and generally outfit themselves for missions.

With regard to worship, I doubt that most Inevitables would even acknowledge it as that. I question whether some would even recognize it as such; they might simply acknowledge it as reverence, which is due a being of pure Law. A Kolyarut, being more extroverted and familiar with the Material, might see it as worship, and might politely request that people refrain from such action in its presence, but at the same time might recognize that reverence for superior beings is a cornerstone for the establishment of Order in Material societies, and therefore permit some semblance thereof to continue. Frankly, creating the "Church of the Clockwork" or what-have-you would be an excellent and effective way of creating not only an orderly society, but a model orderly society upon which other orderly societies could base themselves. Founding a religion, even inadvertently, would allow the Inevitable to plant the seed of Law that would encourage other beings to seek a more Lawful path in life. And that would necessarily comport with an Inevitable's mission of punishing un-Lawful conduct, by encouraging more people to abstain therefrom.

I don't think Inevitables have an aversion to being revered; I just think they lack a desire to actually be gods (as attempting to become so would constitute a violation of the cosmic order).

[VoxRationis]

Dragons are classics; they especially work well if they have spellcasting abilities.

Aboleths also work well.

A cleric or ur-priest lich, probably with some sort of glamor or at least a sufficiently-adorned funerary mask, could also do the job. Ur-priest gets bonus points for being inherently inimical to any divine casters among the party, for reasons that your average peasant might not respect, particularly if they were raised under the auspices of the lich. I'm not sure the shenanigans you would have to pull to get it to the CL 11 prerequisite, though.

[JusticeZero]

It doesn't need to be any specific CR to count, just enough that it can be revered by a smallish area. Besides, you can make up the CR with advancement and a couple of class levels of needed.

[Chester]

Why vote for the lesser evils when you could have a full-on Cthulhu-cult (or Yog-Sothoth, or any other of them, really)? :smallbiggrin:

Bestiary 4 touched on the Cthulhu-mythos, so take one Elder Evil and go to town. Let's see the heroes fleeing in terror from the "people of the monolith". :smallamused:

Hell yes.

The Nine-Tongued Worm is a god from the Far Realm....he could come with his very own Tsochari incursion!

[Faily]

Hell yes.

The Nine-Tongued Worm is a god from the Far Realm....he could come with his very own Tsochari incursion!

What can I say? Currently re-reading Howard's Cthulhu Mythos stories, and also playing Laundry Files (Call of Cthulhu, with more bureaucracy) for the weekly game, my mind instantly went to the most sinister sort possible.

And besides, it's too rare for D&D adventurers to face truly unspeakable horrors. :smallamused:

[weckar]

The way I often see them played, this one of the main Modus Operandi used by Aboleth. Plus mind control.

[Donny_Green]

I think a Red Dragon could work well.

[Someonelse]

Does it have to be evil? Because the first thing that comes to mind for me is a gold dragon.

[supermonkeyjoe]

The Radiant Idol from the book Sharn: City of towers pretty much does this by default, they're fallen angels cursed never to fly again that tend to enjoy setting up cults around themselves.

[RedMage125]

Dragons are classics; they especially work well if they have spellcasting abilities.

I have to second (or fourth?) the Dragon vote.

What you are describing, OP sounds like typical Dragon behavior. Even normally evil and destructive dragons crave dominion and worship.

Advodaza (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/devil/devil-nemesis).

Man those things remind me of Mannoroth in Warcraft, both in appearance and MO.

[ChocoSuisse]

Just found another one that would work very well : an Ifrit sorcerer, with the Wishcrafter archetype.
Basically, he uses wishes of people as components to cast more powerful spells.
Also, he can force people to confess their desires.

[Chester]

What can I say? Currently re-reading Howard's Cthulhu Mythos stories, and also playing Laundry Files (Call of Cthulhu, with more bureaucracy) for the weekly game, my mind instantly went to the most sinister sort possible.

And besides, it's too rare for D&D adventurers to face truly unspeakable horrors. :smallamused:

Have you read H.P. Lovecraft's original material? I always say, go to the source! A perfect blend of otherworldly mythos and the undead.


Dragons are classics; they especially work well if they have spellcasting abilities.

Aboleths also work well.


Aboleths--more denizens of the Far Realm!

Dragons work, yes. Still, they're kind of . . . been there, done that. I back Faily on this: unspeakable horrors are rare enough that this could be quite an opportunity to really spark fear in your players. Aboleths are absolutely insane.

[Faily]

Have you read H.P. Lovecraft's original material? I always say, go to the source! A perfect blend of otherworldly mythos and the undead.

Why, of course. I just actually prefer Howard's narrative-style for his Mythos-stories, as his prose just seems to flow better, imho.


I wonder if a celestial being of some kind (Good) would accept being worshipped, though...

[FabulousFizban]

seems like classic blue dragon behavior. They like their minions.

[FabulousFizban]

Dragons are classics; they especially work well if they have spellcasting abilities.

Aboleths also work well.

A cleric or ur-priest lich, probably with some sort of glamor or at least a sufficiently-adorned funerary mask, could also do the job. Ur-priest gets bonus points for being inherently inimical to any divine casters among the party, for reasons that your average peasant might not respect, particularly if they were raised under the auspices of the lich. I'm not sure the shenanigans you would have to pull to get it to the CL 11 prerequisite, though.

Oooo yes, Aboleths. Is the town near an ocean or lake? The Aboleth could could drive fish and other food to the village in return for their service. The villagers are slowly becoming skum/gillmen while serving their new master. What lengths will they go to to hide the truth? What is the Aboleth's ultimate goal? If the Aboleth is generally helping the town and wants nothing more than faithful servants, is it right to kill it?

[137beth]

A Sea Hag could do pretty well, particularly in a small village. Use Control Weather to show you are powerful (or use it secretly to create trouble), then send Dreams to everyone that one specific person chosen by the gods can help end whatever trouble the sea hag secretly created, then the sea hag ends his/her own spells.

[Raven777]

Oooo yes, Aboleths. Is the town near an ocean or lake? The Aboleth could could drive fish and other food to the village in return for their service. The villagers are slowly becoming skum/gillmen while serving their new master. What lengths will they go to to hide the truth? What is the Aboleth's ultimate goal? If the Aboleth is generally helping the town and wants nothing more than faithful servants, is it right to kill it?

It's beginning to look a lot like fish men (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tTHn2tHhcI) :smallbiggrin:

[Applejaxc]

Vampire Choker Wizard (http://www.monsteradvancer.com/generate.maurl?monster=Choker&hd=3&size=S&str=10&dex=15&con=14&int=15&wis=13&cha=12&templates=Vampire&classes=Wizard6&feats=Lightning%20Reflexes,Stealthy)

In exchange for sacrificing a virgin/the first born/something every so often, the Choker watches the only path that leads to town. It uses detect evil, detect good, detect law, or detect chaos to protect the town from opposed alignments, and uses mind-reading abilities to tell if anyone entering town wishes harm. If any bands of bandits/whatever show up, a good fire ball ends the threat. It's win-win? Plus, if it's a low-magic setting (the best kind of setting... sorry Eberron), the townspeople wouldn't know he was evil and would be amazed at his magic.

[Raven777]

You have Vampire Choker Wizards scurrying about in a low magic setting? XD

[Svata]

Dragons are classics; they especially work well if they have spellcasting abilities.

Aboleths also work well.

A cleric or ur-priest lich, probably with some sort of glamor or at least a sufficiently-adorned funerary mask, could also do the job. Ur-priest gets bonus points for being inherently inimical to any divine casters among the party, for reasons that your average peasant might not respect, particularly if they were raised under the auspices of the lich. I'm not sure the shenanigans you would have to pull to get it to the CL 11 prerequisite, though.

Orange Prism Ioun Stone, Practiced Spellcaster, and I'm sure there's several others, but that's just off he top of my head.

[Thiyr]

I'll be honest, this entire idea just reminds me of the setup at the end of Carpe Jugulum. spoilered if you haven't read.

Big thing about the book is the family of vampires, the de Magpyrs, were terrorizing everywhere, being vampires who trained themselves out of the traditional weaknesses. the OLD count deMagpyr, though, he gets woken up because Igor got sick of their shenanigans. And after the new guys are dealt with (by others), he reveals to them the reason he did things the traditional way. The traditional way, of course, meaning following the classic vampire movie tropes to the hilt. As described elsewhere,
The more intelligent vampire nobles know better than to oppress the local peasants too much, realising that there's no sense in driving them to become a torch-bearing mob. Others are too arrogant to worry, or see the whole business of feeding on humans as a very complicated, relatively stylized hunting sport. These vampires (most notably the old Count Magpyr, who returned from the dead so often his coffin had a revolving lid) "play by the rules" and give their quarry ample opportunity to defend themselves. Realizing that even death is rarely permanent for a vampire, these traditionalists like to give their prey a sporting chance and so keep their castles stocked with large collections of holy water, garlands of garlic, wooden stakes (complete with anatomical diagrams detailing the position of the heart in order to reduce the likelihood of their being left looking like a pincushion), metal decorations easily bent into holy symbols, and very clean windows covered by easily pulled-aside drapes.

This could easily be twisted in the direction you're looking for. The vampire feeds on the town, but treats the victims with the utmost of respect. He/she "abducts" them, probably leaving some kind of calling card, then takes them back to luxurious accomodations. Feeds some, but not enough to cause lasting damage, and probably provides something to help with recovery. Then the town shows up to "defeat" the vampire, (maybe even as a training exercise for the younger members of town), freeing the victim and taking them home. The vampire is "killed", but reforms in their coffin as normal, and they never try to find/destroy the coffin to put an end to the problem permanently. Vampire gets free feeding, a town that isn't trying to get him perma-dead'd, and loyal support when needed. The town gets the vampire's protection, the wisdom of an old vampire guiding them (either indirectly, or passed on via the victims), and a vampire actively seeking their prosperity (because a happy herd is a docile herd). Plus, daylight-protection from trigger-happy adventurers. Win-win for everyone.

[Applejaxc]

You have Vampire Choker Wizards scurrying about in a low magic setting? XD

Yes, I do. The enemy is almost always magical in a low-magic setting, or otherwise some kind of high-fantasy creature (like a dragon)

[Phelix-Mu]

Didn't read all the responses, but my vote is:

MEDUSAE

During war, some potent abilities, especially if rules/DM allow them to refine their own poison from their snake hair. And, um, what was the other one....

PETRIFYING GAZE! *power chords+distortion*

During peacetime, incredibly realistic statues of woodland animals, available on demand.

:smallsmile: