Creatures

Understanding the Creature Block

The creature block is how creatures' stats, actions, and descriptions are outlined. They all appear like so:

At the top of the creature block is the name, hazard word, modifier of the creature, and reactivity status. In this case we have a Grizzly Bear that is classified as a deadly hazard with a +0 modifier and marked as un-reactive. Un-reactive creatures do not get reactions during combat.

A creature's hazard word is an indicator of how dangerous the creature is. Regular people never go beyond moderate, unless they are well equipped, so anything above moderate is capable of being very dangerous to a person.

A creature's modifier (in this case, +0) is the number that gets added to skill checks and actions. So, if this bear would attack you with its claws, it would roll 2d6 and add 0. If it were to investigate an area with its nose, it wouldn't add anything.

The top-left box (top box on mobile screens) of the creature block outlines the creature's stats. The creature's Tough, Nimble, Competence, and Constitution are outlined here, as well as the amount of Harm they can take before dying and their Armor score.

When a creature rolls a stat check, they will add their stat to the roll. So, if a character wanted to try and grapple a bear, both would roll 2d6. The character would get no more than a +3 to the roll, but the bear would get +14 to the roll, making it impossible to grapple the bear alone.

The bottom-left box (center box on mobile screens) on the creature block gives a description of the creature. This generally outlines what the creature looks like, how it behaves, and other important information.

The large, right box (bottom box on mobile screens) on the creature block outlines all the common actions that the creature would use. After the title of the action is a number in parenthesis. This is the Bonus to the attack that the creature has for that action. If the creature is successful when using the action, the Bonus is then added to the dice roll to determine damage.

Creatures can perform actions outside of the listed actions. The actions outlined are all the regular, combat-oriented actions that the creature would use so that the Game Master has clear rules for how much Harm a creature could deal given a certain action.

Types of Creatures

In the world of Guildsmen, there are three types of creatures: people, beasts, and Mythical. The first two are pretty obvious. People are non-player characters that are one of the playable species, and beasts are animals that are common to this world like bears and wolves. Mythical creatures, however, are integral to the lore of the world since they are the only source of Navidus Crystals.

The only thing that distinguishes a Mythical creature from any other kind is that they carry a Navidus Crystal of some size within their body. Generally, these creatures are hunted to procure those crystals, but doing that is very dangerous. As outlined in the Invention chapter, Navidus Crystals break as easily as glass jars and, when they do break, they explode violently. So, when battling a Mythical creature, it is crucial to keep this concept in mind. If you strike to hard in the wrong place, the creature will explode and die, possibly taking you with it.

It's also good to know that Mythical creatures will usually have the power to manipulate one element or another. For example, a phoenix will have the ability to manipulate fire, and since their body is always on fire, they have a large source to pull from to send blasts of fire out. The Abominable Ram has power over water and use it to manipulate the snow that permeates their natural habitat. So, when hunting or encountering a Mythical creature, be cautious and keep in mind that they do have extraordinary powers.

With that said, all creatures generally fight to preserve their own life and Mythical creatures usually aren't incredibly creative with their powers. While Mythical creatures are generally much more aggressive than beasts and people, their first priority will be to keep their self alive. So, the Abominable Ram might use their powers to whip up a small blizzard to obscure it while it runs away rather than doing something more damaging and aggressive.

So, tip for the Game Masters: people, beasts, and Mythical creatures are primarily focused on survival. While Mythical animals are very aggressive compared to the other types of creatures, they will not fight to the death if they can help it. Once things are looking more dicey for them, they will probably try to run.

Creating Custom Creatures

The creatures outlined within in the Bestiary are just a sample of the wide variety of creatures that could be encountered, but there are many, many more in the world. If you want to create creatures of your own, there are two ways of doing it.

You can (1) take a creature that is already made and use all its stats and actions for your custom creature, just changing the descriptions and titles for everything, or (2) use the charts below to create a creature from scratch.

When choosing the second option, you'll first need to decide on a hazad word for your custom creature. These range from none to unsurvivable. Unsurvivable creatures are meant to be taken on by large groups of people or even entire armies. The following table outlines each hazard word with an example creature that would fall under that category.

From here, you can determine their stats, their Bonus when attacking, and the Harm they can take using the following chart.

Max stat is how high their Tough, Nimble, Competence, and Constitution stats can be. That does not mean they should be this high, only that they shouldn't be higher than what's listed. Bonus is the range that their Bonus should be when an attack is successful. Max Harm is the maximum amount of Harm that they can take before dying.

When deciding a creatures modifier, remember that the modifier generally shows an amount of overall skill and knowledge. After all, the creature would add that number to any skill roll or action roll that they make. Generally only people and other smart creatures will have more than a +0 modifier. However, keep in mind that this is the general number. If it makes logical sense, a creature may get up to a +5 on a skill check that makes sense for them. For example, a Grizzly Bear might get a +2 or +3 to an investigate skill check relies on smell since bears have an excellent sense of smell. This is completely up to Game Master discretion.

Note: The modifier a creature is given should subtract from the bonuses they would normally get on a successful attack. That is because the modifier gets added to actions and if it's successful, the bonus gets added as well, so the numbers stack.

All creatures should also have a specific size. The following is a chart to help determine the size of a creature:

From here, outline your creature with specific stats using the charts above and preset creatures as guidelines. Be sure to give them a good description and unique actions.