What preys on children?

[DracoDei]

I'm asking this here, rather than in a subforum or the homebrewing area because it isn't quite so much about the system as about narrative convention, especially in faerie-tales and children's stories (including the ones that the Grimm brothers had to tidy up before they wrote their work). (See at the end)

Ok, with that out of the way, what sorts of creatures prey on children by preference? Kidnapping, transforming, cursing, corrupting, or eating all count, as does probably anything I haven't thought of (please specify).

For one thing, think "Be good or the ________ will get you!".

In my own thinking so far fae are definitely strong contenders, as are humans and near-humans (slavers, pedophiles, "hags"). Giants seem to me to be a good idea, but I can't think of a specific example that went after children by preference.

Weird beasties are of especial interest, as are devils/demons/evil spirits, and undead things. And, yes, I realize that "Evil Spirits" could include certain ghosts and such.

Now, TECHNICALLY I'm trying to think about which D&D 3.5 creature types would tend to include such creatures, but since y'all don't need to know anything about that to point me to examples, I'm posting this here. (Mods: Please consider carefully if you are asked to move this thread.)

[EDIT]
Should have mentioned this when I initially wrote this post:
Yes, I know about fey/elves, have for years. It has been established over and over again in this thread as well. I want to move beyond that since while that is the most important one, I want to decide what ALL the categories that have a strong enough showing to be something that someone who turns into a child to lure out and defeat things that prey particularly on children would have studied extensively, and which aren't worth covering.[/EDIT]


[EDIT^2]
Also, I'm NOT looking for NEW ideas. I'm looking for pre-existing precidents in folklore/myth/legend/etc and monster manuals from whatever system. This is about making something that fits what is already in existance, not coming up with what may be biased (or simply redundant) examples, especially from creature types that are already well established in my existing knowledge.[/EDIT^2]

[Grinner]

Other children.

[Vitruviansquid]

Anything that wants to use people as a food source would probably find the young ones more tender and tasty.

[Lurkmoar]

Off the top of my head, Tembo in the Dark Sun setting are infamous for skulking about looking for human or demihuman children to eat. I'll check back in a sec, but I'm fairly sure that there are plenty of Ravenloft monsters that snack on children.

Wererats are a common boogey men for kids in most D&D settings. Hags and evil fairies probably fit the bill as well.

[Kid Jake]

Clowns are children's most prominent natural predators, at least according to my 3 year old niece.

[DracoDei]

Other children.

*Chuckles, a bit darkly*
You probably meant this as a joke, but now that I think about it it is surprisingly relevant for my purposes.

To be more specific: I'm working on a character type who turns into a younger version of himself (or when their power increases, other child forms) to lure out this category of threat and defeat it. While the school-yard bully would be a pushover compared to a child-stealing giant, or a spider the size of a cat that wormed its way up through a crack in the floorboards, or a widow left open, there is a certain thematic appropriateness to roleplaying confronting such an individual.

Anything that wants to use people as a food source would probably find the young ones more tender and tasty.

Ok, but from a narrative/literary perspective what sorts of things have people heard of?

Off the top of my head, Tembo in the Dark Sun setting are infamous for skulking about looking for human or demihuman children to eat. I'll check back in a sec, but I'm fairly sure that there are plenty of Ravenloft monsters that snack on children.

Wererats are a common boogey men for kids in most D&D settings. Hags and evil fairies probably fit the bill as well.

What are Tembo? If you could tell me the creature type that would be especially useful...

Wererats? Interesting...

[Mr Beer]

Whatever is different preys upon children. That might require something pretty wacky in a D&D setting. In the real world the Blood Libel was believed by many. So this might be useful, depending on whether you want actual child predators or unfairly ghetto-ized victims of prejudice or actual child predators lurking amongst unfairly ghetto-ized victims of prejudice.

[Anonymouswizard]

Okay, I'd love to be corrected if I'm wrong, but I believe that 'troll' covers a diverse range of creatures (like fairy does), at least some of which would steal children.

I don't know any others, but I'll be watching this thread with interest, as it'll help me with ideas for a campaign I'm planning to run.

[Vitruviansquid]

Ok, but from a narrative/literary perspective what sorts of things have people heard of?

I have no idea what you're asking for here.

You've never heard of a story where the big, mean monster most enjoys eating kids who don't go to bed on time?

[DracoDei]

Whatever is different preys upon children. That might require something pretty wacky in a D&D setting. In the real world the Blood Libel was believed by many. So this might be useful, depending on whether you want actual child predators or unfairly ghetto-ized victims of prejudice or actual child predators lurking amongst unfairly ghetto-ized victims of prejudice.

In other words: humans, and human-like things (dwarves in areas with a dwarven population etc etc).

Good enough, already established, but we need to move on.

I'm talking about stuff like the monsters under the bed, or other such obviously INhuman things now I think... or if they LOOK human they still really AREN'T biologically.

Okay, I'd love to be corrected if I'm wrong, but I believe that 'troll' covers a diverse range of creatures (like fairy does), at least some of which would steal children.

I don't know any others, but I'll be watching this thread with interest, as it'll help me with ideas for a campaign I'm planning to run.

Yeah, but someone needs to tell us what sorts of trolls tend to do that sort of thing...

I have no idea what you're asking for here.

You've never heard of a story where the big, mean monster most enjoys eating kids who don't go to bed on time?

I most certainly have heard of that SORT of thing... the problem is I need some fairly specific descriptions of what as many examples of such creatures, both physically, behaviorally, and metaphysically.

[Thrawn4]

Something that immediately comes to my mind is the boogeyman, aka the thing in your wardrobe. Most children are afraid of the implication that they are not sure whether the door of the wardrobe was in exactly this position five minutes ago. I know I was...
For inspiration I would recommend the short story by Stephen King or the Ghostbusters episode.

Something that might be a relative of the boogeyman – the thing under the bed. You know, the reason why you make sure your feet are savely under the blanket.

The witch from Hansel and Gretel.

[DracoDei]

Something that immediately comes to my mind is the boogeyman, aka the thing in your wardrobe. Most children are afraid of the implication that they are not sure whether the door of the wardrobe was in exactly this position five minutes ago. I know I was...
For inspiration I would recommend the short story by Stephen King or the Ghostbusters episode.

Something that might be a relative of the boogeyman – the thing under the bed. You know, the reason why you make sure your feet are savely under the blanket.

The witch from Hansel and Gretel.

Again, I need specific physical and/or metaphysical descriptions here... at least in the case of "boogeyman"/"the thing under the bed"/"the thing in the closet".

I'd rather not be referred to sources I might not have ready to hand. (Edit: Although I HAVE seen "Monster's Inc." so that is reasonable, although I feel like we should be looking into older sources as well... myths and legends.)

I have to categorize them fairly precisely or there is no point. My overall objective is to figure out what categories DO contain a significant number of examples and which categories DON'T... and by categories I mean the D&D 3.5 creature types, but knowledge of what those are isn't necessary for people to answer the question since with good enough descriptions I can do the categorizations myself.

For instance: The witch in "Hansel and Gretel" is either a human, or a "hag"... which tells me all I need to know as it happens.

[Vitruviansquid]

I most certainly have heard of that SORT of thing... the problem is I need some fairly specific descriptions of what as many examples of such creatures, both physically, behaviorally, and metaphysically.

Okay.

Take anything, make it big, give it lots of teeth or shaggy fur or slithery locomotion, and you have your monster. If you want concrete examples, watch "Monsters Inc." and basically all the scarers in that movie are some play on that trope.

[Honest Tiefling]

Elves in the original mythology stole children. (For some reason, they seemed to have a preference for the blonde ones. I guess blondes don't really have more fun...)

Of course, if elves are a player race, this quickly causes problems. Unless the thief is something in elfskin clothing, if you catch my drift. Nothing like something that rips off or digests the innards of a creature to wander around in the skin like a stylish, if bloody, suit.

There's also that pesky long life. Maybe the mortal mind was never meant to keep going, and going and going. So older elves tend to get a little bonkers. Either these elves simply become crazed, or in their insanity call to something from the Far Realm. Maybe a mind so warped and so experienced really appeals to those aberrations fellows looking for a nice summer home.

[DracoDei]

Elves in the original mythology stole children. (For some reason, they seemed to have a preference for the blonde ones. I guess blondes don't really have more fun...)

Of course, if elves are a player race, this quickly causes problems. Unless the thief is something in elfskin clothing, if you catch my drift. Nothing like something that rips off or digests the innards of a creature to wander around in the skin like a stylish, if bloody, suit.

There's also that pesky long life. Maybe the mortal mind was never meant to keep going, and going and going. So older elves tend to get a little bonkers. Either these elves simply become crazed, or in

Yeah, that is a classic (Please keep them coming people!)... which means it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to you that I've thought of that. "Elves" are either fae or humanoids to me. And I've already categorized both "fae" and "humanoid" as "things that might tend to prey on children".

their insanity call to something from the Far Realm. Maybe a mind so warped and so experienced really appeals to those aberrations fellows looking for a nice summer home.

Do things from the Far Realms have any literary precedence for preferring children?

[An Enemy Spy]

The Julajimas from the Monster Manual 2 is specifically noted as a child eater. Parents tell their kids cautionary tales of a child keeping a cute pet secret that turns into the monster at night and eats them.

[Lurkmoar]

What are Tembo? If you could tell me the creature type that would be especially useful...

Wererats? Interesting...

A Medium sized Magical Beast. Not sure if they were offically converted from 2ed to 3rd, but I have come across one posted on a forum.

Spoiler: Tembo

Show

Tembo

Medium-Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 4d8+16 (34 hp)
Initiative: +8 (Dex)
Speed: 40 ft.
AC: 16 (+4 Dex, +2 natural)
Attacks: +5 claws x 4, +2 bite
Damage: 1d4+3 front claws/ 1d6+3 back claws/ 1d8 bite.
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Level Drain, Death Field
Special Qualities: 13 % Magical Resistance, Psion, Dodge missiles, Immune to fear
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +4
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills: Climb +8, Hide +10, Jump +8, Listen +8, Move Silently +8, Spot +10
Feat: Improved Initiative, Multiattack*

Climate/Terrain: Tablelands and mountains
Organization: Pack (1d6)
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: chaotic evil
Advancement: 5-10 HD (Large)

Combat

Though all Tembo love to fight, their battle tactics are unpredictable as these vicious beasts. Some prefer to sneak as close as possible to their victims and a short distance trying to kill them with Death Field. Others prefer, leap to leap into the target, meleeing their victims from the first round.

Death Field(Ex): This power allow Tembo, generate a field that drain life of the victims. This field reach 5 feet high, 5 feet wide, and 30 feet long, for 6 rounds; damage 6d6, Fortitude half DC 16. This field can through walls, stones and iron. Tembo can use this power 3 times a day.

Dodge Missiles(Ex): When attack from the distance, Tembo have a 40% chance to dodge ant non-magical missile.

The Way(Ex): Tembo can use the following psionic powers:

Shadow Body 2/day; Ectoplasmatic Form 3/day
At will: Chameleon, Dismissal, Highness sense, Immovability.

Immunity to fear: Tembo display no fear and prefer fight to the death rather that run. However Tembo can be affected by magical effects that cause fear, but gain a +6 bonus against fear.

Level Drain(Ex): The greatest danger of Tembo comes from its horrid mouth. When, Tembo strikes with its powerful jaws, the victim must make a Fortitude save or lose one life level. This loss is permanent, and must be made each time that Tembo lands a successful bite.

Feats: Multiattack is a bonus feat.

The poster was worried it might be under CRed. I'll PM you the link if you're interested in further reading, not sure if this is one of the 'forbidden' forums that can't be posted.

Edit: Still got them in my Wander's Journal. I'll post their habitant and ecology as well if you're interested.

[Maglubiyet]

There was an old Dungeon magazine adventure that featured a Berbalang that was preying on the town's children cyclically every 28 years or something.

I always thought that the movie Jeepers Creepers was based on that adventure.

[Honest Tiefling]

Do things from the Far Realms have any literary precedence for preferring children?

I think by definition, no. Abberrations are the unknown, so precedence doesn't really work for them. I think they work best if the DM plays around with them each time, giving the players a mystery to solve, or a mystery to eat their minds and leave them as gibbering husks. One of the two.

[DracoDei]

Spoiler: For People who Know d20 system

Show

I'm working on a class. They hunt things that hunt children. I'm trying to decide which Knowledge skills are justifiable to give them. The ones I'm currently uncertain about, and the creature types they apply to, and other reasons for potentially including are:

Arcana:

Creature Types:
Constructs: Beyond the one scene in the original movie of Frankenstein, I'm not recalling much that relates to this.
Dragons: Generally go for nubile virgins, not prepubescient ones...
Magical beasts: This might count if we can find enough examples in myth and OLD stories, or if we count "Monster's Inc." and the like. I actually think that there should be some examples here, but I can't think of many SPECIFIC ones.
Non-Creature Relevance:
Seems relevant to "the dark and mysterious woods" that is central to many faerie-tales, and other such things.

Dungeoneering:

Creature Types:
Aberrations: Again, this seems like it should be rife with examples, but I'm getting surprisingly few.
Oozes: Too dumb to be picky about their prey, but I suppose that their hunting strategies might make them more likely for a child to run afoul of them in some cases?
Non-Creature Relevance:
Kidnapped creatures being kept in a cavern seems thematic, so this would help this character class find their way into and out of such areas safely.

Religion:

Creature Types:
Undead: Can't think of any examples beyond the idea of certain ghosts targeting children in movies and books: Poltergeist, The Lady in Black (might be the name of the movie, the creature, or neither), and the ghost that was causing a lot of crib death in one of the Dresden Files books.

Non-Creature Relevance:
Evil cults might go in for sacrificing children? Certainly has historical precedence in real-world religions.

The planes:

Creature Types:
Outsiders: Fiends that "will get you if you are a bad child"? Seems plausible, but again I'm drawing a blank for specific examples.
Elementals: Probably not, but someone might surprise me.

Non-Creature Relevance:
Fey Realms are often depicted as being on another plane. Plus the Ethereal makes for a good place for ambush hunters to work from, and might allow moving through walls to get at a sleeping child?

The Julajimas from the Monster Manual 2 is specifically noted as a child eater. Parents tell their kids cautionary tales of a child keeping a cute pet secret that turns into the monster at night and eats them.

Okay, I have that book*...

Let's see here... Okay, that is one "specimen" for "Aberration". More would help me nail down if that should be included.


*If I hadn't I would have asked you for the creature type.

A Medium sized Magical Beast. Not sure if they were offically converted from 2ed to 3rd, but I have come across one posted on a forum.

Spoiler: Tembo

Show

Tembo

Medium-Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 4d8+16 (34 hp)
Initiative: +8 (Dex)
Speed: 40 ft.
AC: 16 (+4 Dex, +2 natural)
Attacks: +5 claws x 4, +2 bite
Damage: 1d4+3 front claws/ 1d6+3 back claws/ 1d8 bite.
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Level Drain, Death Field
Special Qualities: 13 % Magical Resistance, Psion, Dodge missiles, Immune to fear
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +4
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 14
Skills: Climb +8, Hide +10, Jump +8, Listen +8, Move Silently +8, Spot +10
Feat: Improved Initiative, Multiattack*

Climate/Terrain: Tablelands and mountains
Organization: Pack (1d6)
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: chaotic evil
Advancement: 5-10 HD (Large)

Combat

Though all Tembo love to fight, their battle tactics are unpredictable as these vicious beasts. Some prefer to sneak as close as possible to their victims and a short distance trying to kill them with Death Field. Others prefer, leap to leap into the target, meleeing their victims from the first round.

Death Field(Ex): This power allow Tembo, generate a field that drain life of the victims. This field reach 5 feet high, 5 feet wide, and 30 feet long, for 6 rounds; damage 6d6, Fortitude half DC 16. This field can through walls, stones and iron. Tembo can use this power 3 times a day.

Dodge Missiles(Ex): When attack from the distance, Tembo have a 40% chance to dodge ant non-magical missile.

The Way(Ex): Tembo can use the following psionic powers:

Shadow Body 2/day; Ectoplasmatic Form 3/day
At will: Chameleon, Dismissal, Highness sense, Immovability.

Immunity to fear: Tembo display no fear and prefer fight to the death rather that run. However Tembo can be affected by magical effects that cause fear, but gain a +6 bonus against fear.

Level Drain(Ex): The greatest danger of Tembo comes from its horrid mouth. When, Tembo strikes with its powerful jaws, the victim must make a Fortitude save or lose one life level. This loss is permanent, and must be made each time that Tembo lands a successful bite.

Feats: Multiattack is a bonus feat.

The poster was worried it might be under CRed. I'll PM you the link if you're interested in further reading, not sure if this is one of the 'forbidden' forums that can't be posted.

Edit: Still got them in my Wander's Journal. I'll post their habitant and ecology as well if you're interested.

Thank you, but "Magical Beast" was about all I personally needed to hear (description of appearance and abilities might still be useful for giving the non-D&D fans in this thread a frame of reference).

[Kid Jake]

I seem to recall Grey Jesters from Heroes of Horror being fond of luring children off for nefarious reasons. Heroes of Horror also had an interesting take on Dragons where their version of greed made covet that which meant the world to people rather than tying value to actual material worth; so a beggar's last copper, a farmer's beautiful daughter and sword made out of diamonds all looked equally appealing in their eyes.

I could easily see that manifesting as stealing away a herd of children from a nearby village to create its own version of the sims.

[Keltest]

Any sort of creature that is likely to prey on humans for whatever reason is going to be used in that sort of context. Think like a predator. Children are small, weak and unable to use the tools that people are so fond of, at least effectively. That makes them ideal prey. A guaranteed meal that is smaller will be chosen over a larger meal that has a moderate chance of survival or worse, outright victory, every time.

[Telonius]

Various kinds of Fey are supposed to do this - basically, stealing babies and taking them back to Faerie (or whatever local variant name). Associated with the Elf stories, but sometimes the line between Elf and Fey is a little blurry in folklore.

I've seen some theories that dragons themselves are just an amalgamation of real-world predators that early humans had to contend with - crocodiles, big cats, and some sort of particularly large bird (which may also be the source of the Roc legends). Any one of those could target human children.

Will-o-the-Wisps might lead anyone astray, but a little kid who hadn't ever heard of them, seeing a bright shiny light, could be particularly vulnerable.

Cats (regular domestic felines) were supposed to steal the breath of infants. Just one more reason for the average Commoner to fear them.

[Ettina]

Pretty much anything that offers a saving throw vs their feeding ability, or that makes spawn by draining stats (and wants to make spawn) would probably like children, because their stats are really bad.

So, off the top of my head, that would include allips, wraiths, shadows, ghouls, vampires, and many other undead, as well as illithids (they want to mindblast their target to make it easier to eat its' brain), and probably others that haven't come to mind.

[DracoDei]

I seem to recall Grey Jesters from Heroes of Horror being fond of luring children off for nefarious reasons.

I was excited about this. Then I saw that apparently we both had forgotten they were fey.

Again with the fey... I know about the fey... I'm trying to figure out what else.

But, as I said, you probably just forgot that little detail about them.

Heroes of Horror also had an interesting take on Dragons where their version of greed made covet that which meant the world to people rather than tying value to actual material worth; so a beggar's last copper, a farmer's beautiful daughter and sword made out of diamonds all looked equally appealing in their eyes.

I could easily see that manifesting as stealing away a herd of children from a nearby village to create its own version of the sims.

Yes, that could certainly work, but I'm not sure how well an optional interpretation serves as a justification for granting particular knowledge of the broad category that dragons belong to (along with other types of creatures, such as constructs and perhaps very relevantly, magical beasts).

Any sort of creature that is likely to prey on humans for whatever reason is going to be used in that sort of context. Think like a predator. Children are small, weak and unable to use the tools that people are so fond of, at least effectively. That makes them ideal prey. A guaranteed meal that is smaller will be chosen over a larger meal that has a moderate chance of survival or worse, outright victory, every time.

So... basically, anything goes as far as you are concerned?

Various kinds of Fey are supposed to do this - basically, stealing babies and taking them back to Faerie (or whatever local variant name). Associated with the Elf stories, but sometimes the line between Elf and Fey is a little blurry in folklore.

Right, again with the fey. I should probably put a note in the original post... [EDIT]Done.[/EDIT]

I've seen some theories that dragons themselves are just an amalgamation of real-world predators that early humans had to contend with - crocodiles, big cats, and some sort of particularly large bird (which may also be the source of the Roc legends). Any one of those could target human children.

Will-o-the-Wisps might lead anyone astray, but a little kid who hadn't ever heard of them, seeing a bright shiny light, could be particularly vulnerable.

Cats (regular domestic felines) were supposed to steal the breath of infants. Just one more reason for the average Commoner to fear them.

Interesting thoughts, especially that last bit!

See below for the first two...

Pretty much anything that offers a saving throw vs their feeding ability, or that makes spawn by draining stats (and wants to make spawn) would probably like children, because their stats are really bad.

So, off the top of my head, that would include allips, wraiths, shadows, ghouls, vampires, and many other undead, as well as illithids (they want to mindblast their target to make it easier to eat its' brain), and probably others that haven't come to mind.

I see...

Still, this is based on extrapolation, rather than long-established folk-lore. I'd have to think about how much that would count...

[Keltest]

So... basically, anything goes as far as you are concerned?

Well... yes and no. On the one hand, pretty much everything in the monster manual is going to be hostile to humans. But not many of them actively prey on humans for entertainment or sustenance.

[Mastikator]

Bed bugs! Or what about giant flies that fly in through open windows, inject eggs into the kid while it sleeps. And then horrible things happen.

[DracoDei]

Well... yes and no. On the one hand, pretty much everything in the monster manual is going to be hostile to humans. But not many of them actively prey on humans for entertainment or sustenance.

Right, but since I'm only worried about individual races in as much as they might or might not provide an argument for their creature type (aberration, construct, dragon, elemental, magical beast, ooze, outsider), and via that, the associated knowledge skills being included, that means you would seem to be in favor of "everything" when it comes to the knowledge skills I'm still on the fence about. Note that the creature types I've listed in the parantheses above are said creature types, and the associated knowledge skills are Arcana, Dungeoneering, Religion, and The Planes.

[Maglubiyet]

fyi, there are a wide variety of child-eating critters from different cultures' folklore under the wiki page for Bogeyman.

[Hawkstar]

Other children.

On this note - Goblins, given that they are physical manifestations of the worst of children.