Ideas for Magical Augmentations

[Dr. Cliché]

I want to have some monsters in my adventures that have been magically augmented to have unusual powers/abilities.

I'm looking for inspiration for some interesting powers/abilities.

Any suggestions?

[DragonSorcererX]

I want to have some monsters in my adventures that have been magically augmented to have unusual powers/abilities.

I'm looking for inspiration for some interesting powers/abilities.

Any suggestions?

What is the theme of your campaign?

[Drackolus]

Fin-wings that grant both a flying and swimming speed - terrifying on boats.
Spikey hide that does damage to grapplers.
A crossbreed of sword and phase spiders.
Acid spitting fish.
Giant maggots that spit balls of glass shards and adhesive saliva that burst on impact.
Giant ice-snakes that shapeshift into beautiful men/women who shift back once they have their prey in their embrace, making it virtually impossible to escape due to rheir freezing cold skin.
That's what I got off of the top of my head.

[JNAProductions]

Fin-wings that grant both a flying and swimming speed - terrifying on boats.
Spikey hide that does damage to grapplers.
A crossbreed of sword and phase spiders.
Acid spitting fish.
Giant maggots that spit balls of glass shards and adhesive saliva that burst on impact.
Giant ice-snakes that shapeshift into beautiful men/women who shift back once they have their prey in their embrace, making it virtually impossible to escape due to rheir freezing cold skin.
That's what I got off of the top of my head.

O_O

What'll happen if you get time to think?

[Drackolus]

O_O

What'll happen if you get time to think?

A creature that was once a mad alchemist that attempted to transmute himself outside of reality as a form of apotheosis by "transcending his physical form," which turned him into some weird goopy creature. Primary attacks include "vomiting" himself in a stream and reforming from where he lands (emptying from the bottom-up out of his mouth) and attempting to form over a creature and physically move them. All the while, his mind has actually met some weird kind of success, freeing him from the constraints of structured thoughts... causing him to speak in multiple voices - some withered and begging for death, others demonic and screaming for murder, others seductive and offering a new life.

Planning on throwing this one somewhere in CoS. I like mixing up the published adventures.

And yes, there is almost certainly some FMA inspiration there, though I actually knew about "real" world alchemy long before I saw the anime. I was exposed to some weird stuff as a kid.

[Slipperychicken]

It's claws, fangs, and spikes are now made of metallic materials, and the creature naturally produces toxins that cover them. Its natural weapons are much more deadly now.
Its has much tougher hide than before
It has been given a chameleon-like power to blend into its surroundings. This makes it very difficult to see, especially when it's preparing an ambush.
It has the power to spit toxins into enemies' eyes, blinding them. The blindness persists until treated by good doctoring or a lesser restoration spell.
It has the power to leap great distances and survive tremendous falls. It can drop from high spots like cliffs and rooftops to ambush prey, and can do "jump attacks", leaping high into the air before dropping onto opponents.
It's heart has been enchanted to give the monster more endurance so it keeps fighting longer
It has been enchanted to reduce its fear response, meaning it's far less likely to flee even when other monsters of its type would run in terror
The monster has humanlike intelligence (yet retains its bestial instincts and evil intent), and has the power to cast one or more spells that the enchanter knew

[Gastronomie]

Fluff stuff takes more time to think up, but as for some mechanical ideas, perhaps adding it traits from other monsters could be interesting, like "Amorphous" or "Regeneration". And when doing so, it's important to create a battlefield or situation where the abilities actually mean something.

Also, innate spellcasting. Spells like Enlarge, Thunderwave, Phantasmal Force, Evard's Black Tentacles, and so on. Re-fluffing can make them pretty interesting as well. If needed, you can cut concentration requirements, or give them the War Caster feat.

Enlarge... Suddenly grows in size, its muscles bulging, bones splitting apart and growing outward like branches, etc. (Sorta like Younger Toguro from Yu Yu Hakusho)
Thunderwave... Monster's mouth opens wider than it should (like a deep-sea fish), and from within instantly wriggles out another mouth, perhaps with a more venomous coloring, which also opens wide, from within wriggles out... and so on, sorta like a matryoshka. And the last mouth screams at the top of its lungs, which results in this shockwave that blasts away those who were too close to the monster. After the scream dies down, the monster's mouths retreat back into its throat, it shakes its head in discomfort, and hisses steam from in-between its teeth.
Phantasmal Force... Monster has a third eye on his forehead that makes others hallucinate.
Evard's Black Tentacles... Monster's chest splits open and a bunch of pitch-black parasites resembling tentacles erupt out, flying into the area of the "spell", where they writhe and squirm upon the floor. Monster's chest proceeds to close itself as though nothing ever happened.

...And so on.

[arrowed]

You could have venom that causes conditions on top of or instead of poison damage, like paralysis, insanity, or a charm effect from it causing euphoria. In 3.5e one of the templates in the MM2 was spellstitched, which was basically magic runes on an undead creature that let it cast spells. I don't think it would take much refluffing to work it as runes tattooed into living beasts. Personally, I quite like the limited magic immunity feature of the Rakshasa, it gives nonmagical classes some spotlight time while forcing the spellcasters to be more creative with their magic (or so I imagine, I've never met one myself). Alternatively give your beast a conditional power, like being healed by fire or empowered by fear.

[JellyPooga]

Lazer Eyes. You have to have Lazer Eyes (with a "z"...none of your sci-fi or real world nonsense). It's in the rules (pg.1034).

[Drackolus]

Lazer Eyes. You have to have Lazer Eyes (with a "z"...none of your sci-fi or real world nonsense). It's in the rules (pg.1034).

Don't really need a reason for it, either. After all, they gave it to Superman with no real reason and everyone loved it.

[Socratov]

O_O

What'll happen if you get time to think?

Well, Australia is a real-life thing...

On topic: Why don't you take some inspiration from Australia's wildlife. I'm sure you can come up with something...

[Dr. Cliché]

Thanks for the replies, chaps.


What is the theme of your campaign?

Well, the current bit has taken a somewhat Gothic turn with vampires, werewolves, hags and such.

In general I'm aiming for a somewhat dark/visceral setting.

[MrStabby]

Well, Australia is a real-life thing...

On topic: Why don't you take some inspiration from Australia's wildlife. I'm sure you can come up with something...

Not appropriate for fantasy.

More appropriate for horror.

[DragonSorcererX]

Thanks for the replies, chaps.



Well, the current bit has taken a somewhat Gothic turn with vampires, werewolves, hags and such.

In general I'm aiming for a somewhat dark/visceral setting.

For the Undead theme you could give monsters necrotic powers, necrotic resistance, shadowy and stealth powers or make them undead.

For the Lycanthropic theme you could make animals and plants look more dire and aggressive... basically just make everything look dire and aggressive...

For Hags watch The Last Witch Hunter.

For Dark Fey and stuff like that watch Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

[Addaran]

For undead (or even live target if you want more horror) big lump or inflated wounds. Inside there's some kind of parasite or small monster(s).

They could try to infect the character (after a grapple, the parasite try to go inside the character or like the eggs with a slaad claws) or when the creature die, the monster exit and attacks (a cat sized bug or a swarm).

Acid blood is cool too. Maybe con mod damage for every melee hit with a slashing or piercing weapon? And on the death-blow if bludgeoning.

[Socratov]

Thanks for the replies, chaps.



Well, the current bit has taken a somewhat Gothic turn with vampires, werewolves, hags and such.

In general I'm aiming for a somewhat dark/visceral setting.


Not appropriate for fantasy.

More appropriate for horror.

I rest my case :smallamused: