Arduin Monsters for Pathfinder 1e! (updated 10/4/2021)
Aug 30, 2021 18:20:30 GMT -5
The Semi-Retired Gamer, The Perilous Dreamer, and 1 more like this
Post by cbsadiecat on Aug 30, 2021 18:20:30 GMT -5
Update Log:
8/30/2021 - Created thread. Posted a bunch of monsters.
9/1/2021 - Added "Hәll Hopper" to list. Decided to make an "update log" of sorts and put this at the top so viewers can see immediately what's up.
9/13/2021 - Added "Snow Maggoth" to list. Decided to add descriptions to the monsters so that anyone unfamiliar with Arduin can get an idea of what kind of monsters are these. Also decided to put the Deodanths, Phraints, and Throons in their own list of playable races.
9/14/2021 - Decided to overhaul the monster list--I've linked the name of every monster to their respective monster stat page. Also added the titles of whatever Arduin product a monster first showed up in below each entry. There's a decent chance I might get some of these wrong, so anyone who knows better should correct me if necessary.
10/4/2021 - Decided to write a few "important notes" regarding a few key questions people may have regarding these monsters at the BOTTOM of this post. (Forgot to specify that earlier, whoops!)
Original opening:
Hi there! To make a long story short, I like monsters. I like collecting monster books, both for D&D and other systems, though my interests mainly lies in third-edition D&D and its successor, first-edition Pathfinder. There's a guy on Tumblr, @thecreaturecodex, who posts monsters for use in Pathfinder. And a few years ago, I found out about Arduin and its eclectic bestiary of monsters. And so begun my mission...
I joined Tumblr so I can both support @thecreaturecodex and bring to light several of the more interesting monsters from Arduin. For the last three years, I've been commissioning many carefully selected monsters to the site for anyone who still plays Pathfinder 1e to use in their games, with many more still to come (that all depends on whenever @thecreaturecodex is open for monster commissions). Keep in mind, I do not plan to have every single monster converted, plus several of them have been "updated" in various degrees from however they're originally written, just so they can be on par with Pathfinder's more modern designs--that said, we try to stick as close to the source material as possible. Oh, I almost forgot--I've also commissioned the deodanths, phraints, and throons as playable character races since they're practically iconic to Arduin. All credit goes to @thecreaturecodex for converting these monsters (and PC races)--I simply paid them to convert them, is all. Here's a list, in alphabetical order, of Arduin monsters available thus far, plus any notable changes worth mentioning:
Air Shark: Because who needs dragons, griffins, or pegasi when you can ride a flying shark?!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Black Wind: An evil, mind-controlling thundercloud...thing.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Blue Bellower: A giant beetle, so named for its lightning-reflecting blue carapace and deafening bellow.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Blue Gunky: A simple, but nevertheless dangerous radioactive ooze. Name is changed to the unfortunately less-interesting "Blue Slime", but oh well!
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Brownie: Obnoxious fuzzy little fey who insist on "Trade! Trade!" Name changed to "Lubberkin" since there are already brownies in Pathfinder.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Chaeronyx: Centaur/medusa hybrid!
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Doomguard: A magically-animated suit of plate armor, with dual-wielding action and teleportation for sneak attacks!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Fire Snake: Fiery-tempered winged serpents of fiendish origin.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Freeze Bee: Bees. In the Arctic. My god...
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Fury: A harpy/gargoyle hybrid in the original. This conversion changes its name to "Dira" and turns it into a harpy-themed oni.
[The Compleat Arduin, Book 2]
Grey Horror: A cross between a giant spider and a giant scorpion. Actually, this one's more of a cross between said grey horror and a similar monster from D&D, gaining the special defenses of the former and the special attacks of the latter--a dangerous combination, indeed!
[Arduin Grimoire I (Grey Horror) / Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (Cildabrin)]
Hәll Hopper: Giant winged frogs from an alien jungle world. These were originally the sky-mounts of an alien race called the Gatwani (whom I currently have no information on, sorry about that!).
[The Compleat Arduin, Book 2]
Hәll Horse (1): Actually a slight goof-up; @thecreaturecodex didn't know at the time the Hәll Horse had its own stats, so he made up this completely "original" monster, but I decided to include it anyway in case anyone is interested nevertheless.
[@thecreaturecodex; VERY loosely based on the "Hәll Horse" from Arduin Grimoire I]
Hәll Horse (2): A more true-to-text revision of the above--an undead devil horse with cat-like fangs and hooves of bronze. Use this if you want the true Arduinian Hәll Horse!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Hәll Maiden: Vicious Valkyrie-like warrior women with skulls for heads. This conversion gives them the name "Hemnallid", and they gain the sahkil subtype, where they prey on people's fear of warfare (that was my idea).
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Hyclops: A four-armed, three-headed wolfman. They're enemies of the titans in the original; this conversion expands their enmity to all types of giants. As a sidenote, I commissioned the artwork for this one and several other monsters--I'll label those other monsters with "art by @tredlocity" as they come up.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Ibathene: A giant reptilian monster with a single red eye on a long eyestalk. Originally conceived to be a monster that's tougher than even dragons! It can also literally fight to the death because it's too stupid to realize it's supposed to be dead!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Khorb: Headless humanoids, with their mouths where their heads would be and a single large eye (that fires eye beams, by the way) in their chest.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Kill Kitten: They're dangerously adorable!
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Krag Spider: A spider-like monster with a petrifying bite and a rock-hard carapace.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Lightning Spider: Another spider-like monster, this time with high-voltage webbing! Also comes with a tougher red plasma-powered variant that lives high in the skies.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Moondog: Evil spirit-possessed canines, popular among vampires. Name changed to "Galleytrot" since there's already a moon dog in Pathfinder.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Moutharm: Giant mobile amphibious anemones that are found in swamplands.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Oront: A rhino-headed version of the minotaur, normally depicted with three horns. They also love lollipops, cherry flavor best (a detail taken from the Compleat Arduin books that was just too cute NOT to include!).
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Perrinite: A cross between an elf and dryad in the original; they're a race of humanoid plants in this conversion, but they're still experts in herbology. Named after Steve Perrin, who has collaborated with Hargrave in the past.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Pybra: A cross between a python and a cobra, with metallic scales, star rubies for eyes, and a scorpion stinger for a tail. Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Quarl: A monstrous saber-toothed cat, with six legs but only one eye. It lurks in the Plane of Shadows in this conversion.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Rakshasa: Hargrave's take on the evil spirit of Hindu mythology. Given the name "Subahu" to differentiate it from not just the more familiar rakshasa raja, but also the other types of rakshasas introduced in Pathfinder. Art by @tredlocity.
[The Compleat Arduin, Book 2]
Red Wraith: Also known as a "Lash Lich", a wicked skeletal spirit with tentacles of liquid darkness for arms! Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Dungeon 4; goes by the name "Lash Lich" there]
Skorpoon: A mutant baboon with a scorpion tail and an eye-searing color scheme (green fur, red eyes, and purple cheeks on both ends).
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Snow Maggoth: A giant furry snow slug. Related to the maggoth (giant slug from Arduin Grimore I).
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Spiga: Evil, intelligent spider-fiends that come in gold, silver, and blue flavors; they are devout followers of Shagrath the Red Moon Spyder (sic). Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Starspyder: Some...thing, with tentacles, a mouth like a furnace, and an eye like the sun. Usually found drifting aimlessly in space, but can occasionally show up if one attempts to open a magical portal, so watch out!
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Vroat: Toad/alligator hybrid. (Also my first monster commission, period!)
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Shagrath: The Red Moon Spyder (sic) himself. An evil spider god in the original grimoires, he seems to be important to Arduin lore--but I couldn't find much info on him, so we had to fill in a lot of blanks for what little info we manage to uncover. If there's a grimoire that explains Shagrath in more detail, I'd like to know! Anyway, in this conversion, he's mixed with Calyandagg (another spider archfiend, from Arduin Grimoire III) and is depicted as a Daemonic Harbinger. Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Grimoire I (namedropped throughout the grimoires)]
PLAYABLE RACES:
Deodanth: Arduin's answer to the drow from mainstream D&D--a race of evil elf-like beings of ghoulish descent. Nerfed from the source material (no more ogre strength or jumping through time), but have several feats to choose from to make up for that.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Phraint: A race of alien insectoids that resembles a cross between a mantis and an ant, but with only two arms and legs. What they lack in emotion, they make up for cold logic.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Throon: A big, burly race of four-armed humanoids. They don't do much except wander from place to place and hire themselves out as mercenaries--and with their high strength and extra set of arms, that's not hard for them to do! They're probably more of an "advanced race" compared to the deodanths and phraints; talk with your DM to see if Throons are right for you!
[Arduin Grimoire III]
...Phew! That should be every single Arduin monster on the list thus far. And yet, I'm not even done yet--still slowly but steadily working my way through the first three original grimoires. I'll update the list periodically as more monsters become available--remember, though, @thecreaturecodex puts them out at his own discretion, and again, I'm just someone who commissions them whenever commissions are open. Anyway, I hope anyone who plays Pathfinder will find this useful. If you're interested in more monsters besides what you currently see here, visit this thread for more information...or, alternatively, just click this link to go straight to a list of over +1300 creatures!
(At this point, I know it feels like I'm just advertising some other guy's Tumblr, but this really means something for me, and I feel I need to say something now!)
Important Notice #1 - None of this is in any way endorsed by Emperor's Choice or whoever currently owns the rights to Arduin, nor is it ever made to be published for money. This is purely a labor of love for monsters, and is always meant to be free for use. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the official releases whenever and however you can.
Important Notice #2 - There's been some confusion regarding artwork attached to the monsters. @thecreaturecodex only writes the things; any pictures he puts up are taken from other sources and credited accordingly (always right below said picture and before getting to the actual monster stats). I thought I should mention this because it may not be immediately clear that, for instance, @thecreaturecodex and @tredlocity are actually two different users on Tumblr. And now you know, hopefully.
Important Notice #3 - While we strive to stick as closely to Hargrave's original writings as possible, several of these monsters are modified in some way. For those who think "That's not what this monster looks like" or "That's not how that monster behaves", consider this--it's sometimes not easy to find suitable artwork for certain monsters, such as some of Arduin's weirder monsters (which is why I've been commissioning to @tredlocity for help in that area). Also, I must say that some of the monsters as originally written simply aren't that interesting (the pybra is one example--a nice visual with the star ruby eyes and all, but its original mechanics are bland and it has no official artwork available that I'm aware of), so expect to have them buffed up in some way so they can be more interesting encounters for modern players.
...That should be it for the moment. Have fun!
8/30/2021 - Created thread. Posted a bunch of monsters.
9/1/2021 - Added "Hәll Hopper" to list. Decided to make an "update log" of sorts and put this at the top so viewers can see immediately what's up.
9/13/2021 - Added "Snow Maggoth" to list. Decided to add descriptions to the monsters so that anyone unfamiliar with Arduin can get an idea of what kind of monsters are these. Also decided to put the Deodanths, Phraints, and Throons in their own list of playable races.
9/14/2021 - Decided to overhaul the monster list--I've linked the name of every monster to their respective monster stat page. Also added the titles of whatever Arduin product a monster first showed up in below each entry. There's a decent chance I might get some of these wrong, so anyone who knows better should correct me if necessary.
10/4/2021 - Decided to write a few "important notes" regarding a few key questions people may have regarding these monsters at the BOTTOM of this post. (Forgot to specify that earlier, whoops!)
Original opening:
Hi there! To make a long story short, I like monsters. I like collecting monster books, both for D&D and other systems, though my interests mainly lies in third-edition D&D and its successor, first-edition Pathfinder. There's a guy on Tumblr, @thecreaturecodex, who posts monsters for use in Pathfinder. And a few years ago, I found out about Arduin and its eclectic bestiary of monsters. And so begun my mission...
I joined Tumblr so I can both support @thecreaturecodex and bring to light several of the more interesting monsters from Arduin. For the last three years, I've been commissioning many carefully selected monsters to the site for anyone who still plays Pathfinder 1e to use in their games, with many more still to come (that all depends on whenever @thecreaturecodex is open for monster commissions). Keep in mind, I do not plan to have every single monster converted, plus several of them have been "updated" in various degrees from however they're originally written, just so they can be on par with Pathfinder's more modern designs--that said, we try to stick as close to the source material as possible. Oh, I almost forgot--I've also commissioned the deodanths, phraints, and throons as playable character races since they're practically iconic to Arduin. All credit goes to @thecreaturecodex for converting these monsters (and PC races)--I simply paid them to convert them, is all. Here's a list, in alphabetical order, of Arduin monsters available thus far, plus any notable changes worth mentioning:
Air Shark: Because who needs dragons, griffins, or pegasi when you can ride a flying shark?!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Black Wind: An evil, mind-controlling thundercloud...thing.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Blue Bellower: A giant beetle, so named for its lightning-reflecting blue carapace and deafening bellow.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Blue Gunky: A simple, but nevertheless dangerous radioactive ooze. Name is changed to the unfortunately less-interesting "Blue Slime", but oh well!
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Brownie: Obnoxious fuzzy little fey who insist on "Trade! Trade!" Name changed to "Lubberkin" since there are already brownies in Pathfinder.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Chaeronyx: Centaur/medusa hybrid!
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Doomguard: A magically-animated suit of plate armor, with dual-wielding action and teleportation for sneak attacks!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Fire Snake: Fiery-tempered winged serpents of fiendish origin.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Freeze Bee: Bees. In the Arctic. My god...
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Fury: A harpy/gargoyle hybrid in the original. This conversion changes its name to "Dira" and turns it into a harpy-themed oni.
[The Compleat Arduin, Book 2]
Grey Horror: A cross between a giant spider and a giant scorpion. Actually, this one's more of a cross between said grey horror and a similar monster from D&D, gaining the special defenses of the former and the special attacks of the latter--a dangerous combination, indeed!
[Arduin Grimoire I (Grey Horror) / Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix (Cildabrin)]
Hәll Hopper: Giant winged frogs from an alien jungle world. These were originally the sky-mounts of an alien race called the Gatwani (whom I currently have no information on, sorry about that!).
[The Compleat Arduin, Book 2]
Hәll Horse (1): Actually a slight goof-up; @thecreaturecodex didn't know at the time the Hәll Horse had its own stats, so he made up this completely "original" monster, but I decided to include it anyway in case anyone is interested nevertheless.
[@thecreaturecodex; VERY loosely based on the "Hәll Horse" from Arduin Grimoire I]
Hәll Horse (2): A more true-to-text revision of the above--an undead devil horse with cat-like fangs and hooves of bronze. Use this if you want the true Arduinian Hәll Horse!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Hәll Maiden: Vicious Valkyrie-like warrior women with skulls for heads. This conversion gives them the name "Hemnallid", and they gain the sahkil subtype, where they prey on people's fear of warfare (that was my idea).
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Hyclops: A four-armed, three-headed wolfman. They're enemies of the titans in the original; this conversion expands their enmity to all types of giants. As a sidenote, I commissioned the artwork for this one and several other monsters--I'll label those other monsters with "art by @tredlocity" as they come up.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Ibathene: A giant reptilian monster with a single red eye on a long eyestalk. Originally conceived to be a monster that's tougher than even dragons! It can also literally fight to the death because it's too stupid to realize it's supposed to be dead!
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Khorb: Headless humanoids, with their mouths where their heads would be and a single large eye (that fires eye beams, by the way) in their chest.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Kill Kitten: They're dangerously adorable!
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Krag Spider: A spider-like monster with a petrifying bite and a rock-hard carapace.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Lightning Spider: Another spider-like monster, this time with high-voltage webbing! Also comes with a tougher red plasma-powered variant that lives high in the skies.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Moondog: Evil spirit-possessed canines, popular among vampires. Name changed to "Galleytrot" since there's already a moon dog in Pathfinder.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Moutharm: Giant mobile amphibious anemones that are found in swamplands.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Oront: A rhino-headed version of the minotaur, normally depicted with three horns. They also love lollipops, cherry flavor best (a detail taken from the Compleat Arduin books that was just too cute NOT to include!).
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Perrinite: A cross between an elf and dryad in the original; they're a race of humanoid plants in this conversion, but they're still experts in herbology. Named after Steve Perrin, who has collaborated with Hargrave in the past.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Pybra: A cross between a python and a cobra, with metallic scales, star rubies for eyes, and a scorpion stinger for a tail. Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Grimoire II]
Quarl: A monstrous saber-toothed cat, with six legs but only one eye. It lurks in the Plane of Shadows in this conversion.
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Rakshasa: Hargrave's take on the evil spirit of Hindu mythology. Given the name "Subahu" to differentiate it from not just the more familiar rakshasa raja, but also the other types of rakshasas introduced in Pathfinder. Art by @tredlocity.
[The Compleat Arduin, Book 2]
Red Wraith: Also known as a "Lash Lich", a wicked skeletal spirit with tentacles of liquid darkness for arms! Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Dungeon 4; goes by the name "Lash Lich" there]
Skorpoon: A mutant baboon with a scorpion tail and an eye-searing color scheme (green fur, red eyes, and purple cheeks on both ends).
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Snow Maggoth: A giant furry snow slug. Related to the maggoth (giant slug from Arduin Grimore I).
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Spiga: Evil, intelligent spider-fiends that come in gold, silver, and blue flavors; they are devout followers of Shagrath the Red Moon Spyder (sic). Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Starspyder: Some...thing, with tentacles, a mouth like a furnace, and an eye like the sun. Usually found drifting aimlessly in space, but can occasionally show up if one attempts to open a magical portal, so watch out!
[Arduin Grimoire III]
Vroat: Toad/alligator hybrid. (Also my first monster commission, period!)
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Shagrath: The Red Moon Spyder (sic) himself. An evil spider god in the original grimoires, he seems to be important to Arduin lore--but I couldn't find much info on him, so we had to fill in a lot of blanks for what little info we manage to uncover. If there's a grimoire that explains Shagrath in more detail, I'd like to know! Anyway, in this conversion, he's mixed with Calyandagg (another spider archfiend, from Arduin Grimoire III) and is depicted as a Daemonic Harbinger. Art by @tredlocity.
[Arduin Grimoire I (namedropped throughout the grimoires)]
PLAYABLE RACES:
Deodanth: Arduin's answer to the drow from mainstream D&D--a race of evil elf-like beings of ghoulish descent. Nerfed from the source material (no more ogre strength or jumping through time), but have several feats to choose from to make up for that.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Phraint: A race of alien insectoids that resembles a cross between a mantis and an ant, but with only two arms and legs. What they lack in emotion, they make up for cold logic.
[Arduin Grimoire I]
Throon: A big, burly race of four-armed humanoids. They don't do much except wander from place to place and hire themselves out as mercenaries--and with their high strength and extra set of arms, that's not hard for them to do! They're probably more of an "advanced race" compared to the deodanths and phraints; talk with your DM to see if Throons are right for you!
[Arduin Grimoire III]
...Phew! That should be every single Arduin monster on the list thus far. And yet, I'm not even done yet--still slowly but steadily working my way through the first three original grimoires. I'll update the list periodically as more monsters become available--remember, though, @thecreaturecodex puts them out at his own discretion, and again, I'm just someone who commissions them whenever commissions are open. Anyway, I hope anyone who plays Pathfinder will find this useful. If you're interested in more monsters besides what you currently see here, visit this thread for more information...or, alternatively, just click this link to go straight to a list of over +1300 creatures!
(At this point, I know it feels like I'm just advertising some other guy's Tumblr, but this really means something for me, and I feel I need to say something now!)
Important Notice #1 - None of this is in any way endorsed by Emperor's Choice or whoever currently owns the rights to Arduin, nor is it ever made to be published for money. This is purely a labor of love for monsters, and is always meant to be free for use. No copyright infringement is intended. Please support the official releases whenever and however you can.
Important Notice #2 - There's been some confusion regarding artwork attached to the monsters. @thecreaturecodex only writes the things; any pictures he puts up are taken from other sources and credited accordingly (always right below said picture and before getting to the actual monster stats). I thought I should mention this because it may not be immediately clear that, for instance, @thecreaturecodex and @tredlocity are actually two different users on Tumblr. And now you know, hopefully.
Important Notice #3 - While we strive to stick as closely to Hargrave's original writings as possible, several of these monsters are modified in some way. For those who think "That's not what this monster looks like" or "That's not how that monster behaves", consider this--it's sometimes not easy to find suitable artwork for certain monsters, such as some of Arduin's weirder monsters (which is why I've been commissioning to @tredlocity for help in that area). Also, I must say that some of the monsters as originally written simply aren't that interesting (the pybra is one example--a nice visual with the star ruby eyes and all, but its original mechanics are bland and it has no official artwork available that I'm aware of), so expect to have them buffed up in some way so they can be more interesting encounters for modern players.
...That should be it for the moment. Have fun!