Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BlackTiger 03-25-07, 04:15 PM	I will be running a session where the party has to go after some ancient Dhakaan ruins somewhere in Darguun, and I was looking for some villain to serve as a cult leader for a conclave of feral hobgoblins who have turned away from their heritage in favor of a false diety. The radiant Idol from City of Towers seemed a good fit, but was a little too urban for my tastes. So, I am planning to make it tauric and give it the supernatural ability to bestow minor or aesthetic features of the animal it is taur'ed with upon it's followers. I am considering a large cat, but and looking for some alternate ideas for a powerful, non feline jungle animal to mix things up. And yes, technically it is an impossible creature, because the tauric tempalte can't -really- be applied to outsiders, and the lower body creature would normally have to be huge since radiant idols are large, but the template is mostly there for helping game balance for a very unique fallen celestial, not exactly a typical tauric creature. Anyway, any suggestions on other animals I should use before I fall back on a leopard or tiger? and any classes I should mix in with his cultists?
Belabras 03-25-07, 06:41 PM	A tauric Idol with behir as it's lower half would be all kinds of cool, imho. If you want to stick with cats Lion or Displacer Beast would also be quite neat.
Syltorian 03-25-07, 06:52 PM	I would stay clear of tigers, because the appearance there comes too close to the Rakshasa. Apart from that, given that Radiant Idols are fallen celestials, I'd take a look at celestials with animal features for inspiration. Those will mostly be guardinals (Leonal, in particular, if you want a lion-themed tauric creature; but also Ursinal, Equinal, Musteval, none of which are really jungle creatures...); but lillends would also work (if you would want to use a snake).
BlackTiger 03-26-07, 04:51 AM	My players have had a few brushes with Rakshasas, I don't think that a tigertaur lower half would immediately speak to it. I am thinking that the celestial might prefer a hobgoblin upper torso appearance, and consider itself attached to the goblinoids 'pantheon'. Still, being a fallen Leonal might work, and in MMII there is also mention of Lupinals among the Guardinals. The main issue is that another story arc coming up in Eldeen involves a werewolf lord and a werejaguar, so I want to stay well away from both of them to keep from overusing anything. Out of character I've had a few 'lion' themed characters lately and don't want to overdo that either, and I am a known tiger fanatic among my players, making it hard not to overuse -something-. I like the tiger idea because it could claim to its cult it's a guardinal, but anyone with a decent Knowledge: Planes check would go 'uuuuh, or not?' and the idea of a hobgoblin tiger-taur with the stripes fading up along it's body is pretty exotic, along with all of the raging, clawed, tiger-striped hobgoblins it's convinced to worship it.
Ehtiar 03-26-07, 08:33 AM	Throw in something more Bull like.. Radiant idol ala Minotaur style mayhap. Or being in the more reptilian style.. Giant Anaconda..or Crocodile.. Or make it truly freaky and strange.. Radiant Idol warped by exposure to Khyber... and make the lower animal something like...oh.. Dire Bat.. Hm, can you imagine the pc's fear levels when they catch sight of the hindquarters of a Dire Weasel... and the shock when they get the full view ? :D