Clatter and clamor arose from the barn, spilling beyond its walls as the heroes cautiously approached. Their weapons were held at the ready and after a shared glance, the barbarian shifted his grip to pull open the door. The din grew clearer as did the thick, musky stench of the animals within – an odor mixed with the heavy, metallic scent of blood. Crimson painted the walls and beams of the building and as light stabbed into the dim, dusty realm, a donkey reared its head from one of the stalls. It brayed obnoxiously before a rooster’s head peered over the wall as well, adding its cry to the mix. A cat’s head peered around the corner and was followed by the muzzle of a dog as the horrid beast rounded the corner. It prowled forth on feline forelimbs while wings unfurled from its furry back. Blood dripped from its quartet of heads and as they fixed a green gaze upon the heroes, they rose their voices into a cacophonous harmony.
The inspiration of the bremensi comes from the German fairy tale of Town Musicians of Bremen. I wanted to make a chimeric creature using the animals from the tale as its components and was encouraged to build it as an aberration by some folks over on the Discord. Given the theme of the Town Musicians of Bremen, I wanted to have this be a creature that makes heavy use of sound as a power. A lot the bremensi's design comes from referencing the chimera, particularly with its attacks. Its damage is a little higher than I intended so I lowered the accuracy of its attacks in compensation. I wanted to differentiate its bites a little bit, leading to the inclusion of abilities such as trip or grab and mixing up damage. However, the bremensi's main armament comes in the form of its barnyard din, a radial sonic ability that damages and inflicts some sort of debilitation. I initially only had the conditions it inflicts last one round, but I realized that it couldn't take advantage of the conditions if I did that. As such, I extended the duration to 1d4 rounds. This allows the bremensi to overlap conditions by continually unleashing barnyard dins with its cacophony of voices. Two heads can join in a cry together with a harmonize, which increases the range of its noise and inflicts multiple conditions all at once at the cost of being a full-round action that puts two heads on cooldown. It was fun playing with the heads operating as a sort of resource that the bremensi has to manage. For example, it doesn't want to blast through all of its heads right away and should keep one in reserve so that it can employ its distracting chatter reaction against enemies that steps on its theme. Given its multiple heads, it has Combat Reflexes to take an extra reaction, whether it be another attack of opportunity or make another distracting chatter.
Pathfinder 1e:
Even more than its 1e counterpart, the PF2e bremensi heavily referenced the chimera, most notably with its Cacophony of Voices and Multiple Opportunities in regards to how it functions on a baseline. The counteract rules might give me a headache every now and then, but it felt like the best way to make Distracting Chatter function with the bonus based on a spell attack roll. In general, I actually based the bremensi more on a magical striker rather than a skirmisher or brute type creature with its abilities replacing any spells that it would use. The trait system provided a fun opportunity to make its attacks different and unique, varying damage with extra abilities and traits. It still has its Barnyard Din, which uses a DC between moderate and high, and the combined effects of its Chimeric Cry, which uses a DC slightly above high to compensate for the three-actions that it uses. I wanted to include an ability that allows it to mix in attacks with its cries, which led Savage, an attack to make two Strikes with a single action, as long as each come from a different head or limb. If the players don't force the bremensi to have to reposition for its Barnyard Din, they run the danger of it unleashing such an ability and then making two Strikes against nearby foes.
Pathfinder 2e:
Blue's D&D 5e:
Regrettably, I don't have encounter hooks prepped for this creature as I wasn't originally planning on posting it today and did so because I couldn't post the planned creature. Next week, I'm returning to the well of Monster Hunter critters with another sound-based beastie.
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Have a monstrous Monday!
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