Monster Monday - ZZZ Goblin//Rubblerouser

The druid sighed as he dropped onto the pile of rocks, quickly uncorking his waterskin and gulping down its contents. He lowered it with a sigh, hanging his head as he caught his breath. Several feet away, he could hear the ranger and sorcerer arguing as the barbarian, in a strange twist, played mediator. Silently, the druid watched the exchange for a few minutes, preparing to step in. Before he could, the ground suddenly erupted beneath his feet and he was launched into the air. A grunt left him as he crashed into the dirt, clumsily turning over as a great figure rose from the earth. Sod and dirt fell from its hulking form and it flicked some of the earthen matter from the clubs that merged with its wrists. The druid's former seat, a seemingly innocuous collection of stone slabs, were now arrayed around a core of pulsating blackness that seemed to carry a hint of malice as it inclined towards the dazed druid.

Built on bedrock, this burly brawler batters and bashes with the best, beating Byronic braves in a brief battle into a brutal burial. If you’d rather watch than read, check out the video over on YT!

I’ve built a couple of ZZZ characters in the past, but this time around, I’ve made one of its many monsters! In its home game of Zenless Zone Zero, this creature is known as the goblin and is ironically larger than the typical enemies. However, goblins already exist in Pathfinder so I have renamed it to the rabblerouser to reduce confusion. With them being the result of ether corruption, they are aberrations that generally follow the brute road map. These creatures typically have a weakness to ice and ether and while the former can easily be replicated with a weakness to cold, the latter is a little harder. Ether means something very different in Pathfinder and there isn't necessarily a damage type associated with it - aside from possibly spiritual but that didn't feel right. Especially when a lot of the ether agents we see in game wield star and space themed attacks such as Nicole with her black holes and Astra with her stars. I ended up skipping it but would appreciate any suggestions you might have for it!

Designed as a brute, the rubblerouser has health aplenty, a moderate Armor Class, and has high attack bonuses on both of its attacks. Due to the agile traits, its foot (which is based on the stomp it performs) only deals moderate damage. However, it does have high damage with its stone clubs - though I initially wanted to use extreme damage for this! But I knew that I wanted to include a damage-enhancing effect based on the roar it unleashes that amps its damage and resistance. This took the form of Enraged Roar, a simple ability that just increases damage and reduces all incoming physical damage for a minute. Also, I leaned into it being formed out of stone and other earthen matter, which led to the inclusion of burrow and Earth Glide so that it erupt from the ground rather than materialize out of midair.

Its remaining two abilities make use of its clubs. Swipe comes straight from the barbarian, which the rubblerouser shares a lot of DNA with. It is modified slightly since it's near impossible to get PCs next to each other, increasing the distance they can be a bit from each other by just a bit. It rounds things out with Batter Up, which doesn't really represent anything specific from the way that the ZZZ Goblin fights but it felt like a fun and fitting inclusion. Similar to Swipe, it is about dealing damage to multiple enemies but also allows the rubblerouser to control the battlefield a bit and launch foes into each other or into walls for a bit of extra damage.

Pathfinder 2e:

Blue's D&D 5e:

ENCOUNTER GOALS

Rabblerousing Rubblerouser Ruckus: In a twist from the original game, the presence of a rubblerouser is distorting the space around it. The heroes must eliminate it - and any other distortions it has created - before somebody gets hurt. This localized distortion might change the environment mid-combat, afflict the heroes with conditions, or cause other effects at the GM's discretion.

Boulder Buddies: A rabblerouser has fallen in with some earth elementals based on its own earthen construction. This might mean that a rubblerouser has somehow found a pet granite glyptodon, but a more insidious possibility is a xorn making use of the distortion effects of the rubblerouser to crystalize the environment and victims. The xorn then eats these crystals, which might be warping it as well to add another twist to the encounter.

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Have a monstrous Monday!