Changeling Exile

Apparently, changelings are supposed to be a whole family of creatures, but we only get one so far - the exile, spawn of night or dreamthief hags.

The isolated, secluded town of Blackhornshire has long been a safe haven for changelings. For several decades, the secret was well kept, and the changelings' hag mothers had not shown up. Recently, however, there have been whispers of infiltration and betrayal - apparently, some of the changelings may have changed sides, and could be working to not only break the cover, but indeed, convert the rest of their brothers and sisters. A trusted group of investigators, who have helped the town before, are called in to sniff arround - but discretion will be of utmost importance.

Misfortunate Mariah was doomed to become an evildoer from the very beggining of her life - as a tiefling changeling, evil was bound to be woven in the fabric of her being. And yet, she chose a life of quiet devotion to the Emerald Gods, becoming a druid.
When the nearby town is struck with tragedy - in the form of a series of apparently ritual killings - the townsfolk are quick to accuse the poor woman. While the druid's small band of friends discover clue after clue, the people become increasingly violent towards Mariah, pushing her to lash out.
On the brink of her radicalization, as she is becomes increasingly open to the idea of unleashing her powers on the terrified people, it is revealed that the person behind the killings is none other but then her own night hag mother.

Stendra Sourheart is a changeling who takes resisting hags to a whole new level - having long ago slain her mother, she poses as a naive and lost soul looking for sisterhood, infiltrating covens, and then using her unique talents to slay the hags who form them.
A few months ago, she ended up finding something too much even for her - a coven consisting of exactly thirteen dreamthief hags, hiding in the Shard mountains. She is looking for a group of people good with swords but great with sneaking -as she intends to draw out the hags, while her allies ambush them.

Ceustodaemon

The ceustodaemon, the mook by design, always obedient but never subservient foot soldier of the daemonic armies.
The fluff suggests using these evil outsiders as guardians is common, and its statblock does support the idea - it has a decent reach, some nice supernatural senses to keep it alert.

While three ceustodaemons are a tough combat encounter on their own, it is not F'Nuk, G'Nuk, and Ch'Nuk's job to kill intruders - rather, it is to keep them from running away, while their conjurer master comes back. The conjurer needs merely a minute to dimension door back once the alarm in the tower has been set off - but a lot can happen in a minute.

Ceustodaemons might be obedient, but they aren't exactly loyal. A ceustodaemon named Blagnach is in the market for a new master - as he stands no chance breaking the bonds created by his summoner, Ser Mortimer The Vile, on his own. While a valuable ally, Blagnach is almost certain to eventually betray his new master(s) as well.

The Bloodbath is a gory, bloody event in the arenas of the warlock-run emirate of Thuum. The unlucky men who participate in it are tasked with defeating a ceustodaemon without ever drawing a weapon - instead relying on the fiend's vicious wounds ability to wear it down as the fight goes on. While only a rare few contestants pull of this insane and suicidal feat, the reward is a wish granted by the emirate's dark and enigmatic patron deity.
The fact that many of the contestants end up in the event twice - once as mortals, and once as daemons (as these vile creatures are often formed from the souls of those who intentionally hasten their own demise) doesn't seem to bother the general populace, only out to see more blood spilled in the arena.

Centipede

You know, spiders are something of an overlooked cliche these days, and other creepy crawlies just don't have as much of a squick factor to them... except for centipedes. Want to make your players skin crawl? Describe in excruciating detail the tactile sensation of a gajillion of these little buggers swarming over their character.
If you, for some reason, dislike swarms, you can also throw a big ole giant centipede at them.

Under the city of Garkhanas, in the ancient sewer system, the giant ootyugh known as the Sludgemother reigns. While she could easily get such things of her own accord, as payment for keeping the canals running and the surface world (mostly) odourles, she demands thousands of tasty centipedes be delivered to her daily - and it is the city's many squires who most often end up having to collect those.

The kobolds of Hollow Mountain Clan carefully choose where they build their tunnels - choosing terrain that attracts large colonies of giant centipedes. While these vermin aren't too dangerous encountered in the open, fighting them while crawling through the tight, low tunnels is hard even for the most experienced speleolgists. The clever kobolds, annoyingly, keep the recipe for a balm whose scent repels the creepy critters a close-guarded secret.

Killing giant centipedes is an easy enough task. Killing them, but preserving their venomous glands intact, calls for a bit more finesse. The local alchemist guild is paying a decent sum for every intact set of glands they can get their hands on.

Centaur

Hell yeah, centaurs.
The fluff in the bestiary essentially makes them a blank canvas for you to use.
I'd say that also encourages experimenting with their stat blocks (a cleric ability or two for a spiritual tribe, maybe some barbarian options for a more feral one, etc), but that's just me.


The zebrataurs of the N'Tongo expanse rarely tolerate intruders in their vast territory - but they are famously fond of creatures light on their feet. Someone who brings them a live cheetah, raptor, or any other speedy critter, can easily trade it for their life.

Centaurs are notoriously scared of crossing bodies of water - be it on boats, rafts, or any other way. Unfortunately, Old Ogord is the last centaur in the Ikothrad expanse, cut off from the world by seas on the north and west, and by a great river to the south and east. The great old centaur's last wish is to die surrounded by his kin, but he knows not of a way to achieve it. Anyone who helps him is sure to learn the many secrets of the plains his tribe once roamed, as well as earn his friendship and gratitude.

In the utilitarian and pragmatic Bo'hag empire, every species has their use. While some of them serve as scouts and rangers, most centaurs born under the imperial banner are conscripted to become harbingers - an elite, centaur-only military unit, that acts as both heavy and light cavalry. Squads of five centaurs each will first harass their foes from afar with barrages of arrows from their longbows, but then switch to lance and shield as they enter melee, fully using their speed to their advantage.
While they are, thankfully, a rare sight, harbingers are a cruel lot. Anyone not in possession of imperial identification when they meet a squad is almost certain to be attacked.

Cauthooj

Well, its been a while.
The global pandemic kinda drastically changed my rhytm of life, so beastfinder had to go on hold for a while - but I'm back now, and should start posting (semi)regularly again.

For the creature that opens this new season, we have the cauthooj. One of the first beasts to catch my eye in the first skim through the book, before i knew the system too well, two campaigns later this feathered asshole intrigues me at least as much. It seems hellbent on forcing parties to reconsider their tactics, which always makes for an interesting encounter.

Durdenshire was hit by a terrible tragedy - the many hobbits of the settlement often went missing in the woods. Luckily, a group of merry daredevils happened upon the quiet town, decided to help the poor fellows, and found the culprit - an eerie bird called a shrill shrike, that lurked on the outskirts of town and preyed upon the weak. The townsfolk asked the creature be delivered to them alive, so they may exact justice on their own terms. When the heroes left the town, the beast was scheduled to be publically beheaded.
Unfortunately, at the long-awaited beheading, the executioner's axe missed its mark, for the first time in the fifty years he has been on duty - instead, it hit his apprentice, standing a mere foot away.
The town took to this as an omen from dark gods, signifying that the bird is one of their chosen beasts, and have since let it reign free, and leave it sacrifices and offerings.
When the heroes return to the town, what they find is radically different from what they left. The beast obviously needs to be slain once for all, but how will the townsfolk react?

In the gladiator pits of Ghoulipoll, shrill shrikes free for alls are one of the most popular events. Dozens of mighty warriors are set upon each other... and then the hellish bird is released in their midst. While they more often then not try to cooperate to bring down the larger foe, the bird's redirection of attacks and telepathic abilities make short work of such temporary alliances. The inevitable backstabbing, be it of sound mind or directed by the bird's cries, is considered the highlight of the battle.

The Weeping Wetlands have always been an area most sane people avoid or outright consider to be cursed. Recently, a few people previously to be missing or dead, have returned from the swamp, and they all keep muttering things about the "feathery apocalypse" and "cracking the world-egg".
It is of note that the area is rumored to be home to a population of Puppet Master Birds intelligent enough to converse in common.

Catfolk Pouncer

The catfolk pouncer's statblock is really nothing radical and new with two special abilities, one lifted straight from a fighter feat, and another potentially falling into the category of what the Gamemastery guide calls "invisible abilities" and suggests avoiding.
That said, the catfolk have appeared in so many media across the years, in so many different incarnations, evil, good, and everything inbetween, that you have an insanely big well of ideas to draw from, and not giving them something interesting lorewise would really be a mistake.

In the world of Landya, there is a dark secret behind the catfolk's creation. Apparently, long ago, the world was ruled by humans (now reduced to small, hairless, semi-bipedal primates) while the cat "folk" used to have a form of mere "cats", quadruped forms of their now bipedal bodies. A small white cat prayed to the god of dreaming, to end the cats' suffering, and when she woke up, the world was as it is today.
When a druid with a human companion learns of this, he seeks out sages, wizards and clerics, seeking to find a way for both versions of reality to coexist.

The Unluckies are a group of black catfolk who specialize in divination and illusion magic, as well as thievery. While they are well known to be thieves and scoundrels, there are many legends that say those who try to go after them bring misfortune upon themselves. Of course, such stories may be circulated and inflated by the catfolk themselves...

Thuomas and Gerardo are a famously opposed catfolk and ratfolk. Thuomas is a paladin of Arslan, a catfolk deity of "might and light", while Gerardo is a chaotic scoundrel, popular among the common folk, but hated and hunted by many authorities. The stories following the two's escapades are numerous and possibly inflated, but that chaos follows wherever one of them arrives is certain.
While clearing out the basement of a chateau they inherited, a group of heroes stumble upon a ratfolk nest, with the notorious scoundrel easily identified among them. He offers them riches beyond measure if they smuggle him out, but behind the golden-fanged smile there's the obvious threat of a knife in the dark if they rat him out (pun damn well intended).
Otherwhere, the city has seemingly overnight been covered with posters promising gold and the mercy of gods to those who report any information about Gerardo to the Paladin, currently staying at a local tavern...

Cat

Ok, we've got another multiple-stat entry on our hand - this time, we have the leopard, lion, tiger and the mighty smilodon on our hands.

In the Bakshii savannah, big cats are a sign of prestige. 
Shamans are rarely seen without leopards trailing them, local warchiefs hunt with lionesses, and the high warchief is bonded with an old, heavily maned lion. Any travelers who may have cat companions such as jaguars or tigers are greeted with utmost respect, but those traveling with canines are seen as dirty and barbaric.

An insane druid has taken over a pack of lions, and has been using them to cut a trail of blood through the countryside. At this point, the pack has developed so much of a taste for hobbit meat that simply eliminating the druid - in the skin of a great, white lion - won't be enough to stop the slaughter.

A notorious bounty hunter known simply as "Fang" refuses to show his face, securing deals only through trusted underlings. Curiosuly, Fang never takes on deals where the target is wanted alive - going in only for the kill. The truth is, Fang is an awakened smilodon, who hates his newfound awareness, and is collecting money to reverse the spell. If he is confronted, he is quick to attack, but promising him help on his quest to revert to a simpler life might save many more lives, not the least of which are the ones of those who make the promise...