I have dozens of wholly original monsters, waiting in the wings for art before I post them, and this is one of them! With work done by the brilliant Daniel Larios, I'm excited to present this creature to you. Don your spelunking gear and stick close as we delve into the dens of the desravi.
These creepy critters come from my personal campaign setting where, when the god of earth was slain, earthquakes wracked the planet. During that time, the desravi were ground-dwelling bird people who became caught in the tremors and tumbled below the surface. Unprepared for what lay below, they were easy prey for other dangers lurking there before turning to worship of dark forces.
My basic idea for the desravi was based on burrowing owls who had become ultimate scavengers, using every piece of whatever they could find to ensure their survival. Everything from their clothing to their homes to their weapons are made from the bones, hide, and carapace of other creatures they have slain. Their darkvision allows them to pierce the surroundings of their home. While their flying capabilities may have atrophied, they have developed into capable climbers, moving across cavern walls and ceilings to get the drop on prey. They wield a variety of weapons, all crafted from bone or other hardened animal parts, but also have a viciously hooked beak that they can use to rip away strips of flesh and inflict bleed. As owl people, they can also twist their own head to look at those behind them, making it more difficult to surprise them while also shocking others. I was initially unsure how I wanted to use twist head and thought about giving them all-around vision before settling on having it be an Intimidation-based ability. I wanted to make these creatures relatively low-level inhabitants of the subterranean world that then have various class levels to differentiate them - as demonstrated with the desravi ravager.
PF1e:
When it came to the Pathfinder Second Edition version, there wasn't too much that I wanted to change. I decided to make Tear Flesh take an action to perform to give the desravi something extra to do with their third action. I also made Twist Head into a reaction that functions similar to Demoralize but is different so that they can still use Demoralize normally. The ravager's Blood Frenzy comes from the sea devil ability by the same name though I included some class abilities in its make-up as well. In addition, I included a third variant for 2e in the form of the bonespeaker - a priest in the twisted, morbid faith of the desravi. Spending its entire time around corpses and filth, the bonespeaker has acquired a powerful Stench as well as some cleric based abilities such as its spells and Sap Life. As one of the primary carvers of the victims of their kin, bonespeakers have developed an eye for where exactly to strike their victims in the form of their Calculated Butchery, based on the ability of the from the Gamemastery Guide.
PF2e:
Blue's D&D 5e Version (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/XSVlrnPq)
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Buried Deep: With the recent acquisition of a map to an ancient dwarven ruin beneath the ground that supposedly holds great treasures, the heroes have found a possible payday. However, they must make the perilous journey through twisting tunnels into the long-abandoned city. The treasures are sealed away in a vault that was meant to protect them when the dwarves were forced to abandon them and the famous dwarven craftmanship has ensured the traps protecting it are still functional. However, after the heroes actually make it to vault, they find it largely emptied – as well as some tracks in the dust and rubble. The heroes can attempt to follow the tracks, but if they are unable to, they soon find themselves targeted by the ones who took the artifacts before them – a tribe of vicious desravi now armed with the relics of the dwarves.
Daemon Daze: A slew of recent disappearances have been plaguing a small mining community that was forced to shut down the local mine after a series of deadly accidents that preceded the disappearances. When the heroes are brought in to investigate the vanishings, they find the town besieged by daemons that don’t seem to be the source of the kidnappings. The heroes must help fight off the daemons while gathering clues that point them towards the mines where they find a desravi bonespeaker calling fiends from beyond to torment the town and destroy it. The digging of the mine weakened the earth that caused a collapse that wiped out the rest of his tribe but also made a way for him to reach the surface. Enraged over the death of his kin, he seeks to consign the surface dwellers to an even worse fate and has been stealing away victims to sacrifice in his dark rituals to summon daemons.
I'm real happy to be posting stuff from my world with their own unique art! These were fun little critters to come up with and build. If you'd like to join in on the discussion of creatures I'm building, show off your own stuff, or just have a general chat about whatever TTRPG you're into, come join our Discord! I'm also looking for artists at the moment to pull some pressure off my main man, so if you want to work something out, contact me through Discord.
Have a Monstrous Monday!
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