I want to create shark man monster based on madness

[Scalenex]

So I'm populating an undersea fantasy setting, I have shark men I call Karakhai.

I got a bunch of material on them here (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/scarterra-scalenex/a/karakhai-species), but you don't need to read that.

But they are basically humanoid sharks. Somewhere between orcs and klingon. They are often bad guys but they are not pure evil and they can be allies to other undersea people in the right circumstances. They are nomadic hunters that act as warriors when threatened.

Real sharks literally have to swim forward constantly or suffocate. Karakhai are physically capable of staying still, but they don't like it. A lot of their personality is based on sharks swimming forward.

Their main credos are. “Might makes right,” “New is better than old.” “Boldness is better than caution.” "Change is good." Karakhai sum all their attitudes together under the credo "Always swim forward."

If a Karakhai is physically bound or imprisoned, an ordinary Karakhai will die within five days. A PC-level Karakhai will die within ten days.

A very sadistic person could hypothetically use magical healing to imprison a Karakhai for much longer. This would undoubtedly drive a Karakhai into madness. I kind of want to create a rare fantasy monster based on this.

Should the monster be some sort of undead revenant or some kind of mutant?

[Lvl45DM!]

Sharkmen going insane from enduring what his species is unable to endure?

Sounds like an aberration to me. Make them more like Anglerfish or Lampreys maybe. The spooky deepsea fishies

[Jurai]

I'd make them Monstrous Humanoids. Being undead means they don't really change, which is in complete opposition to their philosophy. If anything, I could see them making excellent exterminators of the undead, since the undead are semblances of past existence brought back unnaturally. I would make the sitting still thing more of a flavor thing, maybe equivalent to torture for them.

"If a Kharakhai is bound in place for more than three days without being able to move, they suffer disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. On the eighth day, and each day after that, they gain a level of exhaustion, to a maximum of five levels."

This won't kill them (in 5th edition), but it will definitely make their lives a living nightmare, and offers a hook to DMs (read: you) trying to offer a timeline to get the party to move on.

If it's for 3.5/PF: "If a Kharakai is bound in place for more than three days without being able to move, they suffer a -2 penalty on Will saves made against effects that would charm or confuse them. On the eighth day, and each day after that, they take 1d3 Wisdom damage and suffer a -5 penalty on Will saves made against effects that would charm or confuse them."

[BerzerkerUnit]

So I'm populating an undersea fantasy setting, I have shark men I call Karakhai.

I got a bunch of material on them here (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/scarterra-scalenex/a/karakhai-species), but you don't need to read that.

But they are basically humanoid sharks. Somewhere between orcs and klingon. They are often bad guys but they are not pure evil and they can be allies to other undersea people in the right circumstances. They are nomadic hunters that act as warriors when threatened.

Real sharks literally have to swim forward constantly or suffocate. Karakhai are physically capable of staying still, but they don't like it. A lot of their personality is based on sharks swimming forward.

Their main credos are. “Might makes right,” “New is better than old.” “Boldness is better than caution.” "Change is good." Karakhai sum all their attitudes together under the credo "Always swim forward."

If a Karakhai is physically bound or imprisoned, an ordinary Karakhai will die within five days. A PC-level Karakhai will die within ten days.

A very sadistic person could hypothetically use magical healing to imprison a Karakhai for much longer. This would undoubtedly drive a Karakhai into madness. I kind of want to create a rare fantasy monster based on this.

Should the monster be some sort of undead revenant or some kind of mutant?

You may want to create subtypes. As seen here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejpLnP1OsCQ), not all sharks have to move to breathe.

Maybe a caste system or a division in which the buccal pumpers have stable communities that the nomadic types raid or demand tithe from.

Rather than simple imprisonment over the course of days being enough to kill them, I think the Restrained condition and a number of hours is a better fit for death. You can probably add a Wisdom Save with escalating DCs of 10+# of days imprisoned, failure results in rolls on the madness tables.

for 5e, I'd give them a Blood Frenzy ability. "The when attacking a creature at less than full hit points, a Karakhai can roll 1d4 and add the result to the first attack roll it makes in a turn. Once a Karakhai uses this benefit, it has disadvantage on perception checks for 1 minute."

[sandmote]

Should the monster be some sort of undead revenant or some kind of mutant?

I think this depends on the system and the mechanics of the transformation. First, I think you should flesh out what the transformation looks like.

If the madness kills them and turns their spirit into some sort of every-roving horror, that sounds like an incorporeal undead.

If they draw power from their madness they might retain their creature type, but gain powerful psionic abilities and some sort of inherent flaw that makes them unable to work with other Karakhai and/or unplayable. Perhaps these powers allow the new creature to escape capture or perhaps they imprison anyone around alongside it, making the prison unusable for whatever force trapped the Karakhai there.

If they draw power from the far realm, plane of shadow, or similar source, they would likely gain the creature type appropriate to that category.

[Scalenex]

Sharkmen going insane from enduring what his species is unable to endure?

Sounds like an aberration to me. Make them more like Anglerfish or Lampreys maybe. The spooky deepsea fishies

That is a very good idea. I've already been pondering a way to incorporate a monster based on the angler fish in this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?624024-I-want-to-create-a-monster-based-on-an-angler-fish&highlight=angler).



I'd make them Monstrous Humanoids. Being undead means they don't really change, which is in complete opposition to their philosophy. If anything, I could see them making excellent exterminators of the undead, since the undead are semblances of past existence brought back unnaturally.
If it's for 3.5/PF: "If a Kharakai is bound in place for more than three days without being able to move, they suffer a -2 penalty on Will saves made against effects that would charm or confuse them. On the eighth day, and each day after that, they take 1d3 Wisdom damage and suffer a -5 penalty on Will saves made against effects that would charm or confuse them."[/QUOTE]

I am fond of madness based undead but your point stands. Maybe imprisonment shouldn't literally kill them.


I would make the sitting still thing more of a flavor thing, maybe equivalent to torture for them.

"If a Kharakhai is bound in place for more than three days without being able to move, they suffer disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. On the eighth day, and each day after that, they gain a level of exhaustion, to a maximum of five levels."

This won't kill them (in 5th edition), but it will definitely make their lives a living nightmare, and offers a hook to DMs (read: you) trying to offer a timeline to get the party to move on.


A long time ago I was creating this setting for 3.5, but now I'm creating this for a homebrew system that is adapting White Wolf's d10 based system for fantasy. I've creatively named it D&D10.

I don't know if it's better or not, but my group of friends really likes the d10 system and we like D&D, so for at least us it's a good fit.



You may want to create subtypes. As seen here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejpLnP1OsCQ), not all sharks have to move to breathe.

Maybe a caste system or a division in which the buccal pumpers have stable communities that the nomadic types raid or demand tithe from.

I find marine biology fascinating and I have been reading about lots of types of sharks. There are too many to include them all and I figured the buccal pumpers were not cool enough to merit inclusion, but your idea is far better than anything I came up for them.

That said, my ocean floor is pretty crowded with a lot of fantasy critters, so I'm not sure if I can squeeze bottom dwelling Karakhai into the mix.

So far I have Isuran Karakhai (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/scarterra-scalenex/a/isuran-karakhai-ethnicity) which are based on mako sharks. They are a bit smaller and more nimble and prone to long wandering.

Somnios Karakhai (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/scarterra-scalenex/a/somnios-karakhai-ethnicity) are based on greenland sharks because I wanted a Karakhai type that can thrive in cold waters.

Spyrnian Karakhai are based on hammerhead sharks. Hammerheads are one of the few real world sharks that traveling schools, so I thought they would be good for the predominant tribe. Also, they have a good jack-of-all-trades thing going relative to other sharks. Hammerheads are not the biggest and the strongest sharks, or the fastest sharks, nor do they have the keenest senses but they are above average in almost every metric.

Blue sharks and Great Whites are on my maybe pile. Great White Karakhai would sort of be like shark ogres and blue sharks would be rivals to the hammerheads. Honestly the main reason I want to include blue sharks is I think they look cool.


Rather than simple imprisonment over the course of days being, enough to kill them, I think the Restrained condition and a number of hours is a better fit for death. You can probably add a Wisdom Save with escalating DCs of 10+# of days imprisoned, failure results in rolls on the madness tables.

for 5e, I'd give them a Blood Frenzy ability. "The when attacking a creature at less than full hit points, a Karakhai can roll 1d4 and add the result to the first attack roll it makes in a turn. Once a Karakhai uses this benefit, it has disadvantage on perception checks for 1 minute."

I'm using a trait based d10 system rather than a level based d20 system, but that doesn't mean I cannot use blood frenzies in somewhere. I'll think about it, but I'm not sure I want to support the stereotype of sharks going into blood frenzies. I mean Bruce is really a nice a guy. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM4CTuNACDM)

[BerzerkerUnit]

That is a very good idea. I've already been pondering a way to incorporate a monster based on the angler fish in this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?624024-I-want-to-create-a-monster-based-on-an-angler-fish&highlight=angler).



If it's for 3.5/PF: "If a Kharakai is bound in place for more than three days without being able to move, they suffer a -2 penalty on Will saves made against effects that would charm or confuse them. On the eighth day, and each day after that, they take 1d3 Wisdom damage and suffer a -5 penalty on Will saves made against effects that would charm or confuse them."

I am fond of madness based undead but your point stands. Maybe imprisonment shouldn't literally kill them.




A long time ago I was creating this setting for 3.5, but now I'm creating this for a homebrew system that is adapting White Wolf's d10 based system for fantasy. I've creatively named it D&D10.

I don't know if it's better or not, but my group of friends really likes the d10 system and we like D&D, so for at least us it's a good fit.




I find marine biology fascinating and I have been reading about lots of types of sharks. There are too many to include them all and I figured the buccal pumpers were not cool enough to merit inclusion, but your idea is far better than anything I came up for them.

That said, my ocean floor is pretty crowded with a lot of fantasy critters, so I'm not sure if I can squeeze bottom dwelling Karakhai into the mix.

So far I have Isuran Karakhai (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/scarterra-scalenex/a/isuran-karakhai-ethnicity) which are based on mako sharks. They are a bit smaller and more nimble and prone to long wandering.

Somnios Karakhai (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/scarterra-scalenex/a/somnios-karakhai-ethnicity) are based on greenland sharks because I wanted a Karakhai type that can thrive in cold waters.

Spyrnian Karakhai are based on hammerhead sharks. Hammerheads are one of the few real world sharks that traveling schools, so I thought they would be good for the predominant tribe. Also, they have a good jack-of-all-trades thing going relative to other sharks. Hammerheads are not the biggest and the strongest sharks, or the fastest sharks, nor do they have the keenest senses but they are above average in almost every metric.

Blue sharks and Great Whites are on my maybe pile. Great White Karakhai would sort of be like shark ogres and blue sharks would be rivals to the hammerheads. Honestly the main reason I want to include blue sharks is I think they look cool.



I'm using a trait based d10 system rather than a level based d20 system, but that doesn't mean I cannot use blood frenzies in somewhere. I'll think about it, but I'm not sure I want to support the stereotype of sharks going into blood frenzies. I mean Bruce is really a nice a guy. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM4CTuNACDM)

“Hunter’s Instincts. You can reroll a die and add the new result to checks made to track or make melee attacks against injured creatures.”