The cleric traced his fingers over the ancient carvings and paintings with reverent respect, a steel glance over his shoulder ensuring that his companions were similarly behaved. Skeletons of varying sizes were scattered across the cavern floor and he paused over them, praying over the ancient souls as he progressed towards the back of the cave. Towards a sloping passage that had been left unlit for centuries. Holding his shining staff aloft, he led the way into the musty tunnel that was choked with stale air and the scent of rot. Behind him, he could hear some of his allies grumble but faithfully follow as they descended deeper into the caverns.
When the passage finally opened, it was into a vast, looming area filled with puddles. A ghostly glow suffused the air, provided by luminescent fungi growing across the floor and walls. In a bed of the fungi lay an immense beast, elk-like in shape but far surpassing such creatures in its immensity. While the bones above had been picked clean, flesh and gore tenaciously clung to the skeletal frame of the immense beast. With a steadying breath, the cleric advanced towards the corpse only for it to shudder and begin to rise. A crown of antlers sprawled from its head, scrapping against the ground as it dragged itself up. It fixed the party with an eyeless stare as it unleashed a hideous, reverberating bellow.
In the continued interest of branching out to some monsters from franchises other than my beloved Monster Hunter (and to honor some suggestions/requests), I took a crack at converting a boss monster from the latest gaming craze, Elden Ring. I wanted to start out with something a little bit simpler while still being interesting, and the ancestor spirit was suggested to me as one such option. In designing the monster, I had to use what little lore there was surrounding the ancestor spirit to make my own and produce the basics for the creature. Given that it's only a monster that fights you when you go out of your way to disturb, I liked giving it a neutral alignment and decided to make it an undead, with all the usual stuff that entails. My research into the creature revealed that it was immune to sleep, madness, and death effects, which is pretty bog standard for undead. Its weaknesses are fire and holy but holy effects in Pathfinder deal good damage, which doesn't make sense for a neutral undead to be vulnerable to. Additionally, from how holy damage in Elden Ring was described to me, 'good' doesn't exactly seem to apply to it.
The main abilities I was looking at bringing over was its ability to leap through the air, which I sought to achieve with the ability of flight. It can combine this ability with its powerful charge to achieve the effects of its prance drop attack. For its antler sweep attack, I gave it the Cleave and Great Cleave feats. Its buck and frontal stomp attacks are basic attacks made with its hooves though possibly using Power Attack with those strikes. Finally, I had to capture the effects of its ethereal flame, achieved with its breath weapon. I worked in the fact that the flames linger on the ground but had to make a wholly new ability to capture its flight coupled with its breath weapon, which led to the creation of fiery flight. I think its weird that they gave a creature with a weakness to fire the ability to spit out fire, but I guess it can fly over it. Finally, I misread some abilities regarding the ancestor spirit and regal ancestor spirit and by the time I realized my mistake, I had already designed drain vitality and really liked the ability, so I decided to keep it.
Pathfinder 1e:
I was working off the same abilities as before, but I decided to swap out flight for a constant air walk effect. Additionally, in bringing over its buck ability, I gave it a Mule Kick reaction to represent it, which I enjoyed. Given the wide, sweeping attacks that the ancestor spirit makes with its antlers, I decided to give that attack the backswing and swing traits and then gave it Rampaging Horns as a stand-in for the Cleave line of feats. Beyond that, it's a fairly faithful translation of the 1e version.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Buried Gods: The discovery of the remnants of an ancient civilization that mysteriously disappeared has attracted a number of interested parties, including the heroes. Whether the heroes are archaeologists in their own right or are employed by a more studious team, they find themselves defending the site from those who would barbarously plunder it. However, when a dig goes too deep, it isn't the threats from without that the heroes must worry about - it's the undead god of the long-gone civilization that they dredged up. The heroes can slay the ancestor spirit or they can attempt to use clues that they've gathered during their uncovering of the lost site to put the piteous being to rest.
False Idols: After getting lost on the way to their next adventure, the heroes find themselves in a remote but friendly village who treat the heroes to a meal and room for the in exchange for some tales of their adventures. The folk are kind, but characters well-versed in history or religion may notice iconography for a god from a distant and long-dead civilization. The townsfolk wave away comments on the subject as following traditions left by their ancestors, but in truth, the townsfolk discovered an ancestor spirit that they have begun to worship. While content to keep to themselves, travelers that happen across the village are drugged and given two options. They can convert to the worship of this risen god or becomes sacrifices for it. Fed on these dark offerings and worship, the ancestor spirit is stronger than others and is on its way to becoming a full-fledged god - one of wicked sacrifices and suffering.
Sorry for the late post, had some issues this morning and then a long day at work. Hope you guys enjoy this one, it was a fun creature to explore. If you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures I'm working on or just discussing your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.
Have a monstrous Monday!
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