Monster Monday - Rompopolo

The barbarian waded through the thick, blackened mud. Close behind him, his party followed in his wake, trying to keep close enough before the viscous mire filled in behind him. A scowl was etched into the sorceress's face from the berserker's refusal to carry her through the muck and she lifted her gown as she begrudgingly advanced. She bumped into the druid's back as the barbarian suddenly lifted a closed fist, signaling for a stop as he glared at the surroundings. His grip tightened on his axe just before the sludge began to bubble and a hideous form of sagging flesh. However, as the saurian shape rose to its towering height and the oily silt slid from its form, its hanging flesh surged and inflated into swollen growths along its tail, back, and head. Crimson eyes glimmered in the dark as a demented head somewhere between a bird and insect twitched back and forth, regarding the intruders before it unleashed a hideous shriek.

Rompopolo from Monster Hunter Wilds

A powerful purveyor of perfidious poisons, this predator perpetuates pain and pangs with a pernicious passion, perpetrating particularly potent peccadillo.

I'm back from vacation though with a monster matching the morbid month that just passed us by. I'd appreciate any attention you can give to the video and let me know what you think!

We continue with construction of creatures from Monster Hunter Wilds with the next in the line-up - the rompopolo! While nowhere near as fun and rolly-polly as its name suggests, this onerous oil ogre is still a fascinating creature that shares a level with the previous Wilds weirdo I made, the uth duna. Its base statistics aren't anything too crazy, it's built as a bit more of a brute than anything else, including a moderate Armor Class and high Hit Points, but its Strikes don't exactly have the damage to match that design. However, that is because I had much of its power allocated to its abilities, which pack quite a punch.

I spruced up its Poison Flood a bit from an ordinary area of effect to one with some variety to it. It can go for a cone with damage in between limited and unlimited use area damage and also get the opportunity to expose enemies to its Rompo Venom - which also uses a high DC - or it can go for a longer range line that inflicts fully limited use area damage and uses a slightly higher DC since it also doesn't inflict Rompo Venom. Uniquely among designs I've done in the past for Components, the anterior and posterior sacs of the rompopolo can reinflate. I sought to represent this by using a lower health pool for them and instead of disabling them, it simply puts the related abilities on cooldowns or extends those cooldowns. However, once the ability comes off of cooldown, the sacs reinflate and thus regenerate and can be targeted once more. The anterior sacs put its Poison Flood on cooldown whereas the poster sacs affect its Rupture Field.

This is its big attack, based on the action where it stabs its tail into the ground beneath it and blows up everything around it. With it being an emanation, I went for three actions and used damage just a bit beyond limited use area damage along with some ability to make creatures prone and potentially even poison them. Along similar lines to this, the rompopolo can also make smaller areas with a similar effect through its Gas Pockets, which have a bit of delay to them because I think that's fun to play around. Players might not fall for it after the first time and might catch onto something even before that, so I did end up giving it a moderate Athletics skill so that it can try to Shove or Reposition enemies into position for this, which deals unlimited use area damage. Even still, I think it's handy for field control. That does leave us with Rend, which is a standard monster ability and allows it to put its almost mantid-like claws to greater use to save foes.

PF2e Rompopolo

PF2e Components Rule

When designing gear for the rompopolo, I wanted to do something with its highly distinctive hammer, the Rompo Robustox. With this being a hammer, I obviously wanted to use a hammer weapon but had to find one that had access to piercing damage given the beak featured on the weapon. I went for the orc skewermaul as its description felt like a slightly better fit than the earthbreaker and it does at least come with the two-handed traits to deliver those heftier hits. However, I added the injection trait to this particular weapon given its poison damage in game. I did also want to expand upon it a bit through its unique action, Drinky Bird, and allows it to borrow the toxin of another creature. This poison either keeps its DC or is enhanced by the hammer to a DC appropriate for the item's level.

PF2e Rompopolo Gear

Rompo Robustox from Monster Hunter Wilds

Blue's D&D Rompopolo

ENCOUNTER HOOKS

Poison Pals: An alchemist has somehow managed to befriend or tame a rompopolo despite the creature's typically territorial temperament. The alchemist may make use of the poison of the rompopolo but could have a special ability to inject the rompopolo with his or her own toxins to change what the rompopolo weaponizes - and unleashes with its Poison Flood. You could also mix it up a little bit and make it a bit more of a martial alchemist that is able to wield the rompo robustox.

A Sinking Feeling: This concept takes some inspiration from the rompopolo's home field of Oilwell Basin, placing the rompopolo into a field that will slow down players. It should maybe move through this area without issue and feature islands where movement is easier. You could even use its Gas Pockets and Rupture Field to create temporary islands that slowly sink into the oil field. For added danger, characters that fall prone may start suffocating, which could prove dangerous if the rompopolo than grapples the creature.

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Have a monstrous Monday!