Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What's the colour of a chameleon?

I don't know what to say today, more than that I hope to be able to focus more on this blog in the coming weeks. Looks like there might be chance of that. Where I sit there is frost covering trees and grass, and down by the lake the light looks amazing. Very fantasy-ish if I may say so, and inspiring.

Thanks to Memphis Roleplayer's Association and Warrington Gamers for informing their members about this place. Also thanks to Turnwatcher.com for recommending this site. As always, feel free to contact me with suggestions or ideas, and of course, to comment about the creatures right here. The silent feedback (increasing number of visitors) is very good, but it would be great to hear more opinions about these monsters.

If you remain all quiet you can't expect anything other than what you receive, so don't blame me for the Thelossian. ;)



≡THELOSSIAN≡




------GENERAL-----------------------------------------
CATEGORY: Mammal
TERRAIN: Woods
FOOD: Carnivore
AGGRESSION: Normal
SIZE: 5 feet tall (150 cm) at the head
NUMBERS: 1 to 5


------CHARACTERISTICS-----------------------------
STRENGTH: 12-16
AGILITY: 15-24
ENDURANCE: 15-22
INTELLIGENCE: 5-8
MENTAL RESILIENCE: 15-24
CHARM: 2-8
(If stats of a human ranges from 3 to 18)

SPEED: Running x 2, Swimming x 1
(Multiple is times human speed)

MAGIC POWER:0
(Ranges from 0-100)

HIT POINTS: 11-18
(If a human commoner has about 11 hit points)


------PROTECTION-------------------------------------
AVERAGE: 3
HEAD: 2
BODY: 3
LEGS: 2
TAIL: 3
(If Full Plate Armour is 10)

The skin of the Thelossian is thick and mostly covered by very thick fur, which makes fo a good natural armour, in case wits and camouflage fails to protect it.


------ATTACKS/DAMAGE---------------------------
2 CLAWS: 1-2 (1-4 as fists)
1 BITE: 1-4
(If a Long Sword makes a damage of 1-8)

The small claws on the hand-like paws of the Thelossian do little damage. Instead it tends to draw its fingers together in a fist-like manner in physical situations.


------POWERS/EFFECT-------------------------------
CAMOUFLAGE: The Thelossian is a natural when it comes to hiding and camouflage. Due to its powerful sense of sight it knows how to conceal itself from most gazes. It can change the colours of its fur at will, and with great speed. It can also enter into a state of cryptobiosis, within a couple of rounds. In this case that means instantly stopping its own heart and lowering the temperature of its blood to that of its surroundings. The creature will be as dead, but with the capacity to revive itself to life when it wants to. This also takes but a few rounds. In the state of cryptobiosis the creature retain a weak trace of awareness, Just enough to sense and to judge if the potential danger has passed.

MASTER OF SIGHT: The five pairs of eyes of the Thelossian all have a unique way of registering the world. Besides seeing normally (like humans) it picks up heat radiation, electrical vibrations, spiritual auras, and magical fields. Heat vision allows it to move about in total darkness and make out all lifeforms from afar. Electrical vision enables it discover creatures hidden under leaves, buried in earth, or moving behind thin walls. Spiritual vision displays the spiritual aura of all living things to the Thelossian, which gives it a good idea about the nature and disposition of any creature. Finally, magical vision makes it capable of noticing and reading all magical fields emanating from spells and magic items. Thus it may know the kind and power of magic it faces.



------DESCRIPTION------------------------------------
Usually Thelossians run about in the world rather fearlessly. Only when they are starving, or wilfully makes a move towards danger, do they run the risk of being killed. Their unusual gift of sight allows them to avoid most enemies long before they are spotted, but like all creatures, their level of attention may of course vary.

The Thelossians live alone or in small families, hunting and eating creatures, like beetles, frogs, worms, birds etc. They are very intelligent and can hunt in groups as well as communicate with signs, sounds, and patterns of colour. They have no real language but may figure out ways of making themselves understood when encountering friendly creatures or beings.

Elves, and other benign woodland folks, have been known to befriend the Thelossians for the sake of mutual interest. They make perfect guards of course, but will not enter into such service without good reason. They are also eminent trackers and have been seen in the company of elven scouts, druids, and experienced woodland rangers.

As creatures of many eyes the Thelossian have developed great wisdom and are attracted to natural harmony. They care about the surrounding forests and the diversity of life within them. The creatures may attack small bands of orcs and other disregardful forms of life, if they display ignorant or destructive behaviour towards their home environment.

The Thelossian are very agile creatures. They swim well, and even if they tend to make their living at ground level, they enjoy climbing trees, and often do so when hunting. They also like to relax and enjoy life while lazily playing about with their more energetic young. Normally they sound as deep-voiced monkeys, but are not loud, and do not growl like big cats. Being intelligent they can imitate most animal sounds and do so when it suits their purposes.

Most Thelossians die before the age of 50. They keep to the same partner throughout their lives and reproduce only once. Their young tend to stay with the adults until fully mature. When meat is scarce the creatures can eat and survive for months on nutritious roots, nuts, berries, and fruit. If there is no food at all Thelossians may go into cryptobiosis and remain in such a state until food comes along. At the brink of starvation the creatures will attack and eat larger life-forms if necessary.




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© Copyright 2010 - Nicholas Cloister