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New Product: The Jolrhos Bestiary


Christopher R Taylor

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Kestrel Arts is especially proud to present the Jolrhos Bestiary, a tome packed with monsters and more.  Available for pdf download on the Hero catalog!

 

Allies and antagonists!
 
You won’t find goblins or giants in this book, no dragons or orcs or werewolves. What you will find are strange, unique, and exciting creatures; creatures to stir the imagination and surprise your players with. With almost three hundred different creatures from the Accursed to the Zhar, this book is packed with friend and foe, and none of them fit the usual pattern.
 
What will your heroes do when faced with the fearsome Black Spore, or when they are hunted by the Prowler? What strange fate awaits those who encounter the Scarlet Polyp? Can your character master the Plated Steed? The Jolrhos Bestiary is filled with strange and wonderful beasts that can be found in the campaign world of Jolrhos, giving stats to the Boletid and the Geryon.
 
The Jolrhos Bestiary is a valuable tool for any fantasy role playing campaign. Packed with useful tips and information far beyond just lists of detailed and fully illustrated monsters, every GM will find something useful in this book!

 

 

I've been posting samples from the Bestiary in the "Monster of the Day" post on here, but that's just a part of what you can find in the book.  I put a lot of effort into trying to create a product with more to offer than just more targets for PCs to hit.

 

For example, I've listed the "body loot" from various creatures - things you can loot, skin, pluck, and otherwise harvest from the creatures such as leather, scales, feathers, alchemical components, and so on.  The time it takes to collect this, what it sells for, how much it weighs, what skill is required, and so on are all there.  This attercop:

 

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Can be skinned for its chitin, which can be made into armor.  But be aware, it weighs quite a bit and takes up a lot of space! 

 

Further, the book has information on training pets and mounts.  You can teach your pet special talents and skills, and what's more there's an optional list of suggested positive and negative traits that a creature can be assigned by the GM.  Maybe your mount is especially bold, but he tends to chew on things nearby.  Maybe your pet Griffcat is particularly loyal, but has an allergy that you have to work around for feeding it.

 

The Jolrhos Bestiary is useful for your campaign whatever game you play, but especially Fantasy Hero.  Packed with over 250 new and unique monsters, and loaded with tables and indices to make finding creatures especially easy, you will find this a valuable addition to your gaming library!

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Summon Bore Worms: (Total: 80 Active Cost, 19 Real Cost)
Dull the Wits. Drain INT 1d6 (standard effect: 3 points), Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+1/4), Sticky (+1/2), Constant (+1/2), Cumulative (24 points; +1), Damage Over Time, Target's defenses only apply once, Lock out (cannot be applied multiple times) (7-8 damage increments, damage occurs every 5 Minutes, +1 1/2), Delayed Return Rate (points return at the rate of 5 per Hour; +1 3/4) (70 Active Points); One Use At A Time (-1), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), Lockout: Cannot use PRE except defensively (-1/2), Physical Manifestation (-1/4), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Unified Power (-1/4) (Real Cost: 17)
plus
Numb with Boredom. Darkness to Touch Group 1m radius, Costs Endurance Only To Activate (+1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Sticky (+1/2), Time Limit (1 Hour; +1 1/4) (10 Active Points); Extra Time (5 Minutes, Only to Activate, -1), Concentration, Must Concentrate throughout use of Constant Power (1/2 DCV; -1/2), Lockout: Cannot use PRE except defensively (-1/2), Gestures (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Physical Manifestation (-1/4), Unified Power (-1/4) (Real Cost: 2)

This spell summons a large heap of the least interesting worms imaginable. All within 1 meter (close enough for the languidly wriggling creatures to touch immediately upon summoning) lose the sense of touch within 5 minutes as they become literally numb with boredom, and those within 4 meters (close enough to see the worms clearly in all their dull and dismal details) lose 3 INT each 5 minutes until having lost 24 INT. The effect lasts as long as the caster concentrates, and then begins to fade after an hour after concentration ceases. So powerful is the soporific effect of the worms that those who contact someone already under the spell will become afflicted with the same apathetic lassitude. The caster is not effected; for some reason, no one is ever bored by their own worms.
 

edit: Besides breaking the caster's concentration, it is possible to physically attack the worms, although most don't find them interesting enough to be worth attacking.

 

Lucius Alexander

Even the palindromedary is bored now

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The Bestiary is sixth edition, but I use the older format for stats because its what I'm familiar with, what most Hero players know, and because in the official downloadable guide to Hero Product format, they still have the 5th edition information and I'm trying to play by the rules.  In the Introduction I go over the layout, format, and other little details such as MAN - its "Mana" and that's how the magic system in my game setting is fueled.  It works like Endurance, but is separate and only used for spells.  The Fantasy Codex has a full explanation of mana and the spell system.

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I have sent a packet of all the monsters in the Bestiary to Hero for review.  They're Hero Designer files of every monster and variant; no art or background, none of the goodies in the intro or indices, but the raw data is there for you to use in your game and plug into the Hero Combat Manager, once they're active!

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The next book covers trade skills and goods around the world, that is planned for release sometime next year.  After that a treasury of loot and items.  Then I will put out the player's handbook type book about the world, with basics on the setting and a specific area written up in detail.

 

When I started out on this path my idea was to make it possible to put out modules and adventures in a fantasy setting without needing to explain too much in each book.  By putting out a spell book I don't have to write up all the magic in a module.  By putting out a monster book I can refer to creatures without adding in builds for each monster I mention in a n adventure.  So the focus is not on building a world for people to use, but on building a world around particular adventures.  

 

So it might seem backward the way I'm putting stuff out, but just another setting book wouldn't be very useful or enticing on its own.  By doing it this way I'm hoping it builds up to a useful, rounded product.

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At some point the Hero Designer files for all the monsters in the book is going to be up in the catalog for a small price.  It will be bundled together with a short intro and includes all variants and builds in the Bestiary, but none of the images, background info on the creatures, or indices.

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