Totte - bestiary

Plants

Plants are the humblest of living creatures. They sprout, grow and die, but generally do not move, think or act. Some however display animal behavior; the distinction between plant and animal is not strict. In fantasy worlds, plants may step up and swing their branches about, lure not only insects but also large animals and humans into traps, or spend their stationary existence philosophizing.

Animals

Animals are lively but unimaginative creatures that go about their business of finding food and water, sleeping, mating and raising young. In fantasy worlds, some may be intelligent, even capable of speech. Some cultures have stories about 'kings of animals', unique creatures that each govern a species. The king or queen of an animal species is generally much stronger, faster and smarter than its subjects, on par with humans.

Nature spirits

Nature spirits inhabit and govern large natural phenomena like mountains, rivers and forests. Smaller spirits like Greek nymphs and dryads may do the same for smaller places like ponds and trees. Some can manifest themselves in human or humanoid form, others stick to the piece of nature that is their real body.
In fantasy worlds where animism is real, they are best appeased, certainly not angered. Shamans often mediate between humans and the spirit world. Nature spirits in general cannot be killed by finishing off their appearance as this is not their essence; they just manifest themselves again later. Their lives and fates are bound to the place that they inhabit. If the latter is affected in some way, the spirit is affected too.

House spirits

House spirits are nature spirits that have adapted themselves to human dwellings. Often they take the form of small humanoids, half human, half something else. They sometimes help out cleaning or tending to cattle, for a small reward like a little plate of milk daily, or none at all. If frightened or angered, they can curse a household, causing anything from small misfortunes to outright disasters. Therefore most people try their best to keep them in good standing. Examples are English brownies and hobs, Scandinavian nisse en tomtra. Russian Domovoi are cellar dwellers; German goblins tease miners; Danish nisse prefer clean houses.

Ogres

In contemporary media, ogres are often depicted as archetypical strong-but-stupid creatures. Originally though they are spirits who were used by parents to frighten children into obedience. They carry naughty children off in a big basket and eat them when they get hungry. If they cannot get enough of them, they may resort to extortion or steal livestock instead.

Man-eaters

Man-eating monsters represent the dangers of nature without roads, fences and rangers. They roam the wilderness like animal predators, though more intelligent and not afraid of humans. Norse trolls, that make vast dark Scandinavian forests truly dangerous places, are a good example. Others, like the German neck, Scottish kelpie and Aboriginal bunyip, are bound to pools and try to lure travelers into a trap and then kill them. Ghul hunt in the deserts of Arabia; Japanese funayure make the seas a dangerous place.

Spirit-robbers

These spirits prey on newborn children, who have not (yet) been accepted into the community, or on dead people, who have not (yet) been given a proper burial. Sometimes they do not prey on humans, but just herald deaths. Examples are the Irish banshee; the English barghest; Aztec cihuateteo.

Tricksters

Tricksters are spirits who reflect the fickleness of nature. They are intelligent and often have magical powers, but are unpredictable. When confronted with humans, they may grant boons but also play tricks on them, sometimes with dire consequences. Examples are the Japanese kitsune, the Irish leprechaun and Anansi the cunning African spider-hero.

Seductresses

This type of mythical beings are almost always female. They try to seduce men with their beauty and song, often to kill them like man-eaters do, though with other tactics. Examples are mermaids and sirens. Succubi are sex-devils, who have a male counterpart in the incubi.

Giants

Most giants are oversized humanoids. Some are evil, some are not; some are stupid, some are not. All are big and strong. Not all are humanoid; for example the Middle eastern Roc is an enormous bird, capable of lifting (and eating) elephants.

Lycanthropes

Lycanthropes are shapechangers, who can alternate between human and animal form. Sometimes they can assume a hybrid form or only take on some attributes of an animal. In some cultures lycanthropy is coveted, with hunters desiring to become as strong or fast as an animal. In others it is a curse, for example the European medieval werewolf.

Undead

Undead are dead people who still roam among the living in some form. The prime example is the ghost, often created by a trauma or unfulfilled task in life. Ghosts are primarily non-corporal, though can often take possession of objects (poltergeist), animals or even humans. Classic are stories of ghosts that can be put to rest only by solving their unresolved troubles.
Another famous type of undead is the zombie. The well known Hollywood zombie is an unbelievable brain eater, created by an infectious disease, but the original zombie actually is a soulless dead body that is animated by a witchdoctor. They are more like automatons than hungry predators.
A lich is a necromancer who has transcended death by storing his soul in a phylactery, where it can remain for ages. While it lasts, the undead wizard remains wielding powerful, often evil magic.

Vampires

Vampires became famous after the publication of the novel of Bram Stoker, but the belief in vampires is much older and diverse than the book. Almost all vampires are a kind of parasites that live by suckling blood from humans and animals. They are often ranked as undead, but many types of vampire fall outside that category. Some are created by curses; others by being 'sired' by another vampire; a few can even get children. Some vampires can change shape, some are restricted to darkness, many can be killed only in special ways.

Dragons

Dragons are large snake-like lizards, many with hands, feet and wings. Despite being fearsome, they are revered by many people.
Middle Eastern / European dragons are often evil. They often have special powers, like a venomous bite, the ability to breathe out fire; a basilisk can kill with its gaze. A wyvern is a kind of half-dragon.
East Asian dragons represent forces of nature. Most are much more benevolent than their western counterparts. They take on roles are guardians of treasure or messengers. They are also more varied in form, ranging from snakes to turtles and two separate connected bodies.

Elemental spirits

These beings are spirits that are bound to one of the classical elements: earth, water, air or fire. Prime examples are the Arabian jinn, for instance the ifrit (spirit of fire) and marid (spirit of water). They are perfectly at home in their element: air spirits can fly like the wind; fire spirits do not get burned even by the hottest fire; and so on. Mages are fond of summoning them and binding them into service, though this is often risky as the elemental spirit may be powerful and have an agenda of its own.

Devils

Devils are spirits of evil, intend on causing harm and mischief to humans. They are most common in monotheistic religions that divide the world into good and evil. Devils often are servants of an arch-devil, who is like an evil overlord. Their counterparts are angels, servants of the good god.

Demons

Demons are creatures from outside the 'normal' world who have somehow entered it. They should not be confused with devils (spirits of evil) or dæmons / daimons (Greek nature spirits). Demons are not evil, though because they are alien to the world they often cause trouble by their alienness. They do not understand the ways of the world and often are (meta-)physically different too, which turns out bad more often than good.

Gods

Gods are spirits who worked themselves up from ancestor spirit via village protector to city god or even state god. At every step they have accumulated worshipers and attributes of other, lesser spirits and gods. Eventually they have become very powerful beings, representing entire aspects of life. Some govern parts of nature like the seas or skies; others are protectors of hunters, craftsmen or even thieves; some handle aspects of life like love or death. Some gods receive sacrifices from worshipers in exchange for boons, others get sacrifices to abstain from curses. In some cultures gods are rather abstract entities who do not interfere much with the world; in others, like the Greek and Norse pantheons, gods are very human-like in appearance and character. In many cultures, characters that display exceptional power, ability or wisdom may attain the rank of demigod, transcending human existence.

Greek monsters

The ancient Greeks had a pantheon stacked with powerful gods that showed basic human vices and flaws. In their mythology, heroes battled with a range of unique monsters, many of whom made it into European medieval mythology: amphisbaenae, snakes with a head at each end; centaurs, half man and half horse; cyclopes, one-eyed giants; snake-haired gorgons like Medusa; griffons and hippogriffs; the hybrid manticore, taken from Persian mythology; the riddling minotaur; sea monsters like Scylla and Charybdis; many others. They also knew spirits that were not monsters: benevolent spirits like daimons; fickle nature spirits like satyrs; lovely nature spirits like nymphs and dryads.

Norse folk

The old Norse people had a lively mythology filled with human-like gods, just like the ancient Greeks had. A number of creatures frequent their tales frequently: the half-magical elves; dwarves, subterranean master smiths; dangerous trolls who cannot stand daylight; ice and fire giants; valkyries, who roam the battlefields. Many people know them from the tales of J.R.R. Tolkien and subsequent modern fantasy stories, but these are often quite different from the original old Norse creatures.

Indian creatures

India knows the nagas, semi-divine creatures that are half cobra, half human. They are so common in India-influenced east Asia that almost every culture has one or even several distinct types of them. Most rakshasas a.k.a. ashura are man-eaters, though some are positive towards humans. All are powerful warriors, wizards and illusionists. Other creatures of note are the vanaras, intelligent monkeys.

Japanese creatures

Japanese mythology has its share of common monsters like ghosts, giants and oni (Japanese devils), but also a number of creatures that are unique to the east, like the kappa who carries water on his head and the tengu, well versed in the martial arts. Kitsune, mentioned above, are master tricksters.

Talents

Strength

Strength is closely related to body size and differs vastly among creatures because their body sizes differ vastly too. Details are given in the section on combat below.
Most spirits have a strength that matches their bodily form.

Health

The health of animals falls in the same range as that of humans. Weak animals are rare as they tend to die from dangers, without a tribe to protect them. The GM may sometimes assign bonuses for specific applications of health, like endurance in wolves or horses; regeneration in salamanders; resistance to poison and infections in komodo dragons.
Other creatures with bodily forms also have normal health scores. Several spirits don't have a body or can form and dissolve one at will. These creatures do not get tired, thirsty, hungry or sleepy and are immune to all kinds of physical damage.

Dexterity

Regarding agility, speed, reactions and balance, most animals match or outmatch humans. In finger dexterity, most lag far behind. Creatures with flexible claws have a finger dexterity of around 0; elephants with their trunks 2.
Some creatures have above average dexterity, for example Indian spirits and gods that have more than two arms and are capable of directing them all at once.

Charisma

Most animals have a charisma of 0; they can transmit only basic emotions.
Hideous monsters have a negative charisma; seducers like succubi, some vampires and dragons may have scores higher than 6.

Perception

Though they often lack the brain capacity to recognize complex patterns, many animals have keen senses, outranking humans especially in hearing and olfactory power.
Spirits may have senses outside the physical world, for example vampires that are drawn to blood on which they feed.

Intelligence

Smart primates have an intelligence of 0. Keen animals like ravens, dolphins or elephants on average rate at -1; somewhat intelligent ones like dogs or horses, at -2. Most carnivores and the smarter herbivores have an intelligence of -3 and creatures that rely heavily on instinct like very stupid herbivores have -4 or -5. The bottom is an intelligence rating of -6, which represents a level where learning ability is zero and a creature can only act on instinct. Plants and most insects are at this level. There are exceptions, for instance some animals like elephants have a memory that rates 1 point above their overall intelligence score.
Many mythological giants are known to be somewhat dumb, though not much more stupid than the average human. On the other end, one may expect a lich to be very intelligent indeed.

Skills

Almost all animals are too dull to learn any skills beyond their normal package. The latter may include many body, wilderness and martial skills. In these, animals can quickly rise to average levels, though generally not beyond that.
Most spirits tend to have a handful of specializations, in which they can reach very high levels. Mermaids can swim as well as fish; sirens are magical singers; Japanese tengu are masters of the martial arts; Norse dwarves can forge magical items from almost anything. In fact, several heroes of myth learned their skills from mythical beings.

Size and strength

Many creatures are larger or smaller than humans. This affects combat in several ways:

• More smaller creatures can surround a large one and less large ones a small one.
• Greater or smaller body size modifies the ability of the attack feat in melee / formation style fighting. The bonus or penalty is 1 point for every 1 point of difference in body size.
• Body size is roughly proportional with strength, which modifies the ability of the wound / pummeling damage feats.
• Greater or smaller body size itself modifies the difficulty of all combat damage feats. The base score is increased or decreased by 1 point for every 1 point of difference in body size.

The table below covers a wide range of body sizes and corresponding strengths. Body weights are averages, in kilograms, for adult males.

Weaponry

Many mythical creatures wield weapons and armor just like humans. This is of course sizes proportionally to their body size. No special adjustments to attack, defense and damage factors needs to be made for this, as the size difference is already handled by strength and body size. GMs should make adjustments when characters pick up weapons from over- or undersized creatures. A human dagger may well constitute a battle sword for a hobbit; the hammer of a giant is probably too heavy to lift for even the strongest human.

Animals do not wield weapons, but use parts of their body for attack. Though inferior to most man made weapons, they are better than nothing. The table below gives some guidelines on how to rate the combat value of these natural weapons.

Skill

Skill in fighting varies greatly from creature to creature. Undead warriors are of course capable fighters; Japanese tengu are famous for their prowess in martial arts. On the other end of the scale, many creatures such as dryads do not occupy themselves with combat at all and tend to have minimal skill. Some creatures are much older than humans and so have had plenty of time to become experts, masters or even grandmasters - again only if they pursue the martial arts.

Almost all animals daily face the need to catch prey, evade predators or battle competitors for access to females. As such, they all have some skill in fighting, often more than the average human. The table below gives some guidelines, based on age.

'Top adults' are not always the eldest animals. They are however the leaders of herds (for herbivores) or the most successful hunters (for carnivores). Skill levels listed are for melee skill; formation and missile skill are usually zero.