Creature House Rules

Copyright John Duffield © 2010

Edited by Mario Butter for The Guild Companion

Creation

The following section outlines the rules and other information that were used to design creatures and monsters in Elendarhh, my own world setting.

Skills

To simplify the creation process, skills have been bought at one of five levels for any given creature. These levels are as follows:

From this the following guidelines were applied:

• The endurance skill was normally bought at R3
• The main attack was purchased as R3 or R2+ while the secondary was purchased at R2 or R1+.
• Primary skills were bought at rating from R2 to R3 while secondary skills are at R1 to R2.
• Resistance used which ever level applies best; normally this was R3 for extra strong areas, R2 for average and R1 for weak.

Movement

Note: The following rules are adapted and extended from ideas initially posted on the HARP forums by Tommi.

Limitations

The only real limitation applied to the various movement types is their maximum pace. These limitations appear in the tables below and are also listed below:

Speed Creation Tables & Factors

The tables at the start of this section show the base speed for a given creature based on the creature's Body Length (BL). It also gives the maximum pace allowed for a given movement type.

Using the tables above, to arrive at the final speed for a given creature, there are three key factors to consider, which are listed below:

• The creature's body length (feet)
• Any racial movement talents
• The QU modifiers (HARP p. 25) apply, except for Wormers who divide their QU BMR mod by three and round up

To calculate the Body Length (BL) in feet for a given creature use the following guidelines:

• A Flyer's BL is 1/3 of wingspan while for Gliders it is ¼ the wingspan.
• A Quadrupeds BL is 2x withers. (in extreme cases, like a giraffe, take the average hind and fore withers and round down).
• A Multi-legged creature uses either the Quadruped's BL calculation or is already known -- GM chooses.
• A Swimmer's and Wormer's BL are also already known, given their nature.

New Traits

Above Average Species

This species has above average speed for their given size and statistics. Whether this comes from magic, design or another source is up to the GM.

This trait grants the following increases to BMR based upon the structure of the species:

Blazing speed is cumulative with this talent.

Fast Species

This species is fast and moves at a much higher speed then others of a similar build. Where these speeds come from is up to the GM.

This trait grants the following increases to BMR based upon the structure of the species:

Blazing speed is cumulative with this talent.

Sensitive To [Outlook]

The creature is sensitive to a given Outlook and is at -25 when in an area aligned to that Outlook. Magical effects like Circle Of Protection against a given outlook work at double their area, effect and so forth.

Slow Species

This species is slower than normal, maybe due to weight, design or any other factor. For these creatures the BMR has to be at least 1' for Wormers and 2' for all others, except in the case of flyers where I suggest a minimum of 10' unless they use magic or some form of balloon suspension, in which case use 1' as the minimum.

This trait grants the following decreases to BMR based upon the structure of the species:

Blazing speed is NOT usable with this talent.

Tremor Sense

This species is able to sense the location and direction of others through vibrations, whether in the ground, water or air. The range at which this works is a function of the level of Tremor Sense the creature has.

Note: This trait may be used by player-characters and NPCs as well.

Very Fast Species

Enhanced by magic or design these beings are blindingly fast and capable of incredible speeds.

Blazing speed is cumulative with this talent.

Very Slow Species

This species is extremely slow and ponderous. This may be due to heavy armour, magic or other reasons. For these creatures the BMR has to be at least 1' for all types. Flyers must be able to float to have this trait.

This trait grants the following decreases to BMR based upon the structure of the species:

* Can only be applied to those beings that float via gases, magic or some other means.

Blazing speed is NOT usable with this talent.

Monster Stats

Overview

Monsters: A Field Guide lists in chapter nine the tables and rules for creating monsters based on their size. The tables below expand upon this, adding more depth to the process.

Revised Monster Base Point Tables

The tables below present a revised and expanded version of those found on page 120 of MaFG.

* This is modified by the Class Type below

Class Type [OPT]

This new table introduced the concept of class types -- in normal HARP the base stat value is obtained from the table above and is based on the concept of the fighter.

Note that there are two values listed -- one for Physical and one for Mental statistics.

To obtain the new values cross reference the Base Stat Value from the tables above with the value from the class table below.