Monsters: How do they happen?

[frogglesmash]

A common trope that reoccurs throughout the various WotC Monster Manuals is the creature that was born through wizardly tampering, stuff like the Owl Bear, or the Ulgurstasta, and quite possibly, Mimics and Displacer Beasts. Now, while it's accepted that a mage's meddling may manifest as monstrous miscreations, I can't actually recall coming across any spells or magical items that could facilitate the creation of a new species. Does the playground know of any rules that could be used for this purpose? If not, are there some homebrew/3rd party sources I could be pointed towards?

[Draconium]

... Epic spells, maybe?

Actually, I do have a vague recollection of a spell that might be able to do this, but I can't quite recall it.

[DrMotives]

I think the reason you never find a published spell to make new creatures is that such a spell would basically say "Hey DM, homebrew yet another beastie my PC wants to create. This one has the <X> of an <Y> and the <A> of a <B>, only kinda sort like a <Q>."
No DM wants that. And for NPCs, the DM with just made the monster and handwave away how the NPC did it.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

In Pathfinder, a common trope among dragon creatures is that some monsters are offshoots or inbred versions of true dragons.

[OldTrees1]

"A wizard did it" usually refers to something longer than a single spell/magic item. It usually is referring to magical experiments. Thus you would not expect to find any detailed rules on it.

However one of the creatures in the Monster Manuel is actually a synthetic biological lifeform created by an example Epic level spell from ELH.

[Scheming Wizard]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/originOfSpeciesAchaierai.htm

This spell creates a new species. It is an epic spell, but if every epic caster casts it twice (once for a male and once for a female creature) that is a lot of new species walking the world.

Not all monsters are arcane creations either. Some might be natural to the world like tigers and whales are to ours. Some might be created by Deities. Some are native to other planes of existence and ended up in the campaign world.
Salamanders are actually from the elemental plane of fire, but end up on the material plane from time to time.

Undead are often the result of the create undead spells. Some monsters like Vampires and Lycanthropes have the means to create more of their race.

[Renen]

Well... When mommy Echidna and daddy Typhon love each other very much...

[Draconium]

Well... When mommy Echidna and daddy Typhon love each other very much...

That is hilarious. :smallbiggrin:

[Renen]

I try!
Very very hard :D

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I've not got the books available at the moment, but I strongly suspect there's something in Dragonlance for this, what with Raistlin and the Live Ones and all that. Most of the other crap he does gets printed spells in various supplements, so might be something in one of the second/third party sourcebooks for that setting.

[Mechalich]

Generally it's probably breeding experiments. The utilization of fiendish creatures might be explanatory. You can find a fiendish version of just about everything, and by virtue of being fiendish it has expanded breeding capabilities. So to create an owlbear you breed ordinary bears with fiendish owls. After a few generations of back-crossing you've bred the fiendish taint out and have a new lifeform.

It is also possible for wizards to create demiplanes and alter the rules of physics within those demiplanes so as to make all sorts of weird living beings. Some of these beings could later escape or be deliberately introduced to reality and prove robust enough to survive in the material plane.

In Pathfinder the Elohim have the power to straight-up create life. Sufficiently powerful spellcasters could presumably summon one or find some other way to make it do what they want.

[frogglesmash]

So to create an owlbear you breed ordinary bears with fiendish owls. After a few generations of back-crossing you've bred the fiendish taint out and have a new lifeform.
For some reason I feel that breeding a bear with an owl, no matter how fiendish, is not something that can be achieved with significant magical aid.

[Bullet06320]

the only spells I've seen other than epic are 2 spells in Pages from the Mages, its a 2nd edition forgotten realms book

[Mechalich]

For some reason I feel that breeding a bear with an owl, no matter how fiendish, is not something that can be achieved with significant magical aid.

It probably should, but the requirements for the Fiendish and Half-Fiend templates are pretty darned broad (I mean, according to RAW you can create half-fiend aboleths, something I suspect even Cthulhu finds rather squicky). Controlling the process would probably require magical aid sure, but something less over-the-top than epic spellcasting.

[Hrugner]

I imagine "shape change" to a homemade monster tailored to breed with a select creature, followed by extensive use of the impregnate extraordinary ability, should really do the trick. Maybe throw in a few "awaken" spell for good measure. You could probably just wish that a mother produced your chosen abomination though.

[Jay R]

I always assumed that the creatures aren't created merely by a wizard, but by the unintended consequences of magical research.

Imagine that a wizard has been researching modified love potions and polymorph potions, and they did not work. They were poured out, and the two interacted. Downstream, both an owl and a she-bear drink this residue.

[Perhaps a chicken and a beaver did the same thing, but the chickenbeaver line died out quickly, easy prey for the new owlbears.]

[BWR]

Distort Life (Necromancy) I-III
Level 4-6
Allows you to breed monsters, giving/removing traits. Takes a while since you sometimes need several generations for a trait to fully manifest but they breed true eventually.

Or Lifeblend (Necromancy 9) to let it go a lot faster by literally mixing two creatures. Examples given are owlbears, perytons, bulettes.

2e, for all your 3e spell needs.

[Telonius]

[Perhaps a chicken and a beaver did the same thing, but the chickenbeaver line died out quickly, easy prey for the new owlbears.]

Or not...

http://www.amnh.org/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/amnh/images/behind-the-scenes/platypus/739571-1-eng-US/platypus_imagelarge.jpg

[Sagetim]

Well... When mommy Echidna and daddy Typhon love each other very much...

...And they go to Uncle Vecna...

[Jay R]

Or not...

http://www.amnh.org/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/amnh/images/behind-the-scenes/platypus/739571-1-eng-US/platypus_imagelarge.jpg

You make a strong case, but that's really more of a duckbeaver.

[And it's really the sparrowgopher who had the worst problems.]

[Renen]

...And they go to Uncle Vecna...

But Vecna outsources to Lolth...

[TheCrowing1432]

Easy they take max ranks in Craft: [Monster]

[SangoProduction]

And, of course, there's always the case of evolution. Magic = a driving force. Gods = a driving for...well....lol, there's your answer. Gods of Nature or whatever, rejoice!

I actually had something going there with magic, but I kinda forgot it. Oh well.

[frost890]

There are also chases of wild magic and chaos magic and rolling a 1 on polymorph. If the summoned elemental/extra planer creature gets stuck in our world it might get lonely. Some creatures like to assert dominance. like a dog humping your leg. Well magic left over from the battles during the war allowed the child to be made.

[Thealtruistorc]

Inner Sea Magic mentions a process called fleshwarping, which has been used to create several iconic beasties in the world (while also enabling fusions and original monsters). The only thing not set is a price point, save for "upwards of 10,000 gp."

[afroakuma]

A 2E wizard variant in Dragon magazine had the answer and the spells: the Merlane, a creator of weird creatures. Ported into 3.X the spells would be hilariously broken, of course, but there might be some useful direction to be found.

[Devas]

Does the playground know of any rules that could be used for this purpose? If not, are there some homebrew/3rd party sources I could be pointed towards?

There's a third party sourcebook from Mongoose for 3.0 called Encyclopaedia Arcane: Crossbreeding (http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/ebooks/d20/encyclopaedia-arcane/crossbreeding.html) which deals with this topic.

I haven't checked it out myself, so I can't vouch for the quality, but it might be worth a look for ideas.

[nyjastul69]

I always thought it was the BoEF. Come on... Someone had to say it. ;)

[Coidzor]

A common trope that reoccurs throughout the various WotC Monster Manuals is the creature that was born through wizardly tampering, stuff like the Owl Bear, or the Ulgurstasta, and quite possibly, Mimics and Displacer Beasts. Now, while it's accepted that a mage's meddling may manifest as monstrous miscreations, I can't actually recall coming across any spells or magical items that could facilitate the creation of a new species. Does the playground know of any rules that could be used for this purpose? If not, are there some homebrew/3rd party sources I could be pointed towards?

Failed attempts at creating a new feat within the system. Custom spells which were lost when the creator and their spellbook was eaten in surprise by an enraged family of owlbears.

[umbergod]

the Heroes of High Favor: Half-Orcs has a barb/druid prestige class themed entirely around making all sorts of nasty beasties via forced breeding programs. The prestige class in question is called Moulder.

[Malimar]

Failed attempts at creating a new feat within the system. Custom spells which were lost when the creator and their spellbook was eaten in surprise by an enraged family of owlbears.

This.

To elaborate: I figure it generally has to do with using the "researching a new spell" rules, and the reason it takes so much work and experimentation is that there isn't a spell to crossbreed any two animals, there's a spell for every viable pair. For example, the cross duck with bunny spell is a lower level than cross owl with bear, which is lower level than cross armadillo with elephant. And there are a lot of combinations that are nonviable, even with magic, so duckbunnies, owlbears, and armadillephants are possible where, say, chimpanzeebeetles are not (with there being no rhyme or reason to whether a combination is possible or not).

(Theoretically, I suppose there could be a cross anything with anything spell, limited to viable combinations or not, but it'd be 9th level or epic, and there are few mages powerful enough to even cast spells that high, let alone research new ones.)

But that's just my headcanon.

[Ruethgar]

It isn't Wizardry, but Life Shaped creatures at some point become "normal" creatures not of the construct type according to some Athas creature entries. There are no rules for that process, however humanoid creatures are easy enough with Incarnate Construct or a spell researched version for magical beasts, animals etc. Also of course if they go by the tower they could just mutate to magical beasts by DM fiat.

Without dipping into Dark Sun, normal constructs can be made living the same way, but they are not explicitly able to breed as Life Shaped Constructs are(and just like the Living Construct subtype you technically keep it through Incarnate).

[Jay R]

What always confused me was the structure of the chimera.

Wizard: I've decided to use my powerful magicks to merge three animals, making a new, unique horror for the world.
Servant: What three beasts have you chosen, master?
Wizard: First, the dragon - the epitome of arcane ferocity. The dragon is a large, fierce magic wielding beast, known throughout the world for its power and its cunning.
Servant: Of course, Master. The dragon is feared in all cultures. And what will you join to it, master?
Wizard: I have chosen the lion - the king of beasts. The symbol of physical power and might, a pride of these great cats can defeat and eat any beast it chooses.
Servant Excellent! The lion is indeed a feared animal. And what of the third? What fearsome creature have you decided deserved to be included with the lion and the dragon?
Wizard. The ... um ... well, the goat.