Game Master / Adversaries / Creature Identity
Creature Identity
Identity has three layers: Creature Type (broadest nature and body logic), Subtype (which kind of member of that family), and Trapping (presentation, e.g., fire vs. frost burst, that doesn't change the mechanic). Start with the type.
Senses: by default an adversary sees, hears, smells, touches, and tastes like a person. A type or subtype may remove a sense entirely or grant enhanced ones; these stack with senses from traits, maneuvers, or mutations.
| Type | Nature | Subtypes |
|---|---|---|
| Aberration | Alien anatomy, intrusive mind or space influence | Psychic, Tentacled, Brood, Void-Touched, Fleshwarped, Reality-Warping, Seer / Blind-Sense |
| Animal | Non-magical living vertebrate, no innate language | Pack Hunter, Great Beast, Burrowing, Climbing, Flying, Aquatic, Venomous, Territorial, Nocturnal |
| Construct | Artificially made and animated | Animate, Clockwork, Homunculus, Wooden, Siegeborn, Geometric, Arcane, Industrial, Guardian, War Machine, Patchwork |
| Dragon | Legendary magical reptiles | Fire, Frost, Storm, Venomous, Stone, Shadow, Radiant, Ancient |
| Elemental | Made of or governed by a primal state; all have Elemental Body (ignore ordinary suffocation, drowning, and flesh-only bodily stress) | Fire, Frost, Storm, Stone, Tide, Corrosive, Wind, Ash |
| Fey | Enchantment, glamour, story-logic | Trickster, Glamour-Bound, Wild Hunt, Winter, Summer, Gloom, Thorned, Bargain-Bound |
| Humanoid | Person-shaped, language and culture | No subtypes; uses Mutations as Identity Traits |
| Magical Beast | Animal body with supernatural ability | Monstrous Body, Unnatural Venom & Feeding, Aerial/Mobility Predation, Serpentine/Grasping, Aquatic/Drowning, Mutable Form, Displacement |
| Ooze | Mindless amorphous mass; no sight or hearing, Blindsense 10 ft (Strong magnitude) | Gelatinous, Corrosive, Predatory, Splitting, Parasitic, Mimetic, Tarry/Sludge, Luminous/Arcane |
| Outsider | Origin beyond the mortal world | Celestial, Infernal, Abyssal, Void-Born, Spirit (Blindsense 15 ft, no conventional senses), Heraldic, Tempting, Exile/Wanderer |
| Plant | Living vegetation; no sight or hearing, Blindsense 10 ft (Strong magnitude) | Thorned, Rooted, Fungal, Parasitic, Wooden, Blooming, Blighted |
| Undead | Reanimated by unnatural force | Ghostly (Blindsense 15 ft; no sight, hearing, smell, taste), Corpse-Bound, Skeletal, Vampiric, Necrotic/Deathly, Shadowed, Plague-Ridden |
| Vermin | Invertebrates: insects, arachnids, arthropods | Swarm, Webspinner, Venomous, Burrower, Carapaced, Brood-Bearing, Leaping/Skittering, Parasite |
Each subtype grants one signature trait/maneuver (see compendium). Humanoids take mutations (Bite, Claws, Horns, Wings, Dermal Plating, Scent, Venomous, etc.) as Identity Traits; a plain humanoid or one with only cosmetic mutations may spend that selection on a Role or Generic maneuver instead. Humanoids may also carry a second Creature Type, using the multiple-subtype rules.
Essence Traits
Abilities carry Essence tags used by crafting: Fire, Frost, Storm, Acid, Spirit, Vitality, Death, Blood, Shadow, Mind, Fear, Motion, Space, Ward, Edge.
Essence Traits
Abilities carry Essence tags used by crafting: Fire, Frost, Storm, Acid, Spirit, Vitality, Death, Blood, Shadow, Mind, Fear, Motion, Space, Ward, Edge.
Trappings
A trapping changes how an ability looks without changing what it does: an elemental burst might be fire, frost or storm; a draining touch might be necrotic, psychic or corruptive; a movement aura might be shadow, wind or mist. Pick trappings to suit the creature, then adjust damage types and crafting tags to match.
Each Creature Type has its own page in this journal with its subtypes, senses, and every trait and maneuver it grants.