Chapter 13: Gods & Monsters, Part 2
The rest of the monsters in the bestiary are mostly individual entries, with only a few grouped together by theme like we saw with the gods and dinosaurs. A recurring element I’ve noticed and criticism I have among the real-world animals are misspellings in the scientific names. For example, the Knucklecrown has “Uintotherium” in parentheses, when the proper spelling has no “o” but an “a.” Or in the prior post, the Littlesnap in the sourcebook has the parenthetical name “Euparkaria,” when in fact the second to last “a” is supposed to be an e: “euparkeria.” It’s not constant, but happens enough that it does throw me off when I look up the actual name and accompanying Wikipedia article to link.
Dire Sloths are inhabitants of Planegea’s many grasslands, being basically bigger versions of the non-dire animal. Some clans have used their size as lookout points, as they don’t react negatively to humanoids who approach them cautiously and non-aggressively. Pixies often live on them in a symbiotic relationship, sheltering among its thick fur while using their magical powers to alert the sloth to danger. It is a CR 5 monster that can attack with claws and has excellent 120 foot darkvision. Its climbing and walking speeds are a pitiful 15 feet each, but can double them for an hour in exchange for taking 3 levels of Exhaustion at the end of that hour.
Ghost Monkeys are malevolent spirits of primates in the Venom Abyss that look like transparent howler monkeys. They are the accidental result of when such animals come too close to portals to the Nightmare World, where rituals of the dread elves turn them into undead as a byproduct of their dark magic. The monster is an incorporeal flying undead that can see into the Ethereal Plane, and has a large variety of resistances and immunities to various damage types and conditions. Its primary means of attack are throwing phantasmal objects or using its natural attacks, all of which deal necrotic damage, or a rechargeable howl that has the effects of an AoE Confusion spell in a 60 foot radius. This can make them pretty deadly opponents in confined quarters, as they can effortlessly swoop in, howl, then use incorporeal movement to retreat while PCs deal with the effects of their confused party members.
The
Giant Armadillo may be a prey animal, but its sheer size, strength, and sturdy shell mean that most predators don’t attack it in favor of easier prey. Many hunters prize their shell for its various uses from armor to shelter as hard tents, and it’s a bit of a status symbol for those who manage to claim it. The armadillos also have a hatred of tents and other signs of mortal civilization, and will often barrel into villages and wreck everything in sight. As a monster, they are an elephant-sized (Huge) CR 8 beast with a variety of natural weapons which can deal more damage when charging, but due to its clumsy nature it is also restrained if it ever has the prone condition.
Glunch (both singular and plural) are reptilian humanoids who live in the Ghostmire and mastered the ability to speak the languages of all manner of bugs. They also know of various ways to ward off hostile spirits in the area, where they imbue magic into everyday objects that can be used to guard against and even capture ghosts and similar undead. Their main fear are fungi of all kinds, for to hear it from their ancestral ghosts they once had something to do with the Temple of the Mushroom Lord, during which time there people were psionically enthralled to fungal beings.
Glunch have two stat blocks. The regular kind is a CR ½ creature who can fight with poisonous spines in addition to manufactured weapons, can communicate with all manner of bugs and bug-like creatures, have advantage on ability checks and saves when interacting with undead, and can hide as a bonus action and get bonuses on Stealth checks when hiding in swampy terrain. A Glunch Manylegs Rider is a stronger version of the base creature, where in addition to higher general stats also has a lance weapon and a blowgun with paralytic toxins. The Multiattack entry mentions it has a shortsword attack, but such a weapon isn’t included among its attacks.
The Glunch sound cool enough to be a PC race, as in their description they don’t seem to be wicked or hostile like the giants, being described more as guarded and slow to interact with outsiders rather than violently xenophobic. Their stats list them as evil-aligned, which feels odd as unlike the other evil monsters in this chapter there’s nothing about their flavor text that indicates this.
Horse-Apes are a common sight in druid groves and the dwellings of treants, the latter of whom actually gifted them with intelligence to make use of their physical abilities. They have a language they can speak among themselves and graze on fruit and grass of the forests. Horse-Apes were bred to develop an instinctual fear of fire, and even the slightest hint of it is enough to send them into a violent frenzy.
As a monster Horse-Apes are monstrosities and not beasts, are CR 2, and like apes can fight with either their fists or a ranged thrown rock. When they sense fire or smoke within 60 feet, they go into a Barbarian-like rage that makes them better in melee but suffers disadvantage on mental saving throws.
Iramuk spend almost all their lives by themselves, traveling across the breadth of Planegea to graze upon enough food to sustain their great sizes. They tend to travel the same seasonal migrations and are non-aggressive, and it’s common for people to paint and dye them as a sort of mobile canvas. A few spellskins have have developed the tradition of painting spells on the animal’s sides as a means of spreading magical knowledge. The fact that they often flatten the paths they travel along gives rise to a sort of prehistoric network of “roads,” where clans use their traveled paths as a means of speedy and safe travel routes with minimal chances of getting lost.
As a monster the Iramuk is pretty simple. A big, Gargantuan CR 7 beast who fights with a neck and stomp multiattack, the former of which can knock a target prone, and they ignore movement penalties from difficult terrain. When moving through certain types of such terrain, they make it simple due to crushing/moving aside snow, debris, overgrowth, and the like.
Kelodhrosians are shapechangers native to the Venom Abyss. They have only existed for several generations, making them newcomers to the world of Planegea, and in their basic unevolved state they look like pale hairless humanoids with near-featureless faces and shiny blue eyes. We have general descriptions for the six major castes of Keoldhrosian society along with nine stat blocks ranging from CR ⅛ to 12. The
Unembraced are the weakest, being little more than Medium-sized kobolds in terms of stats and emphasis on tactics that inconvenience enemies such as poison darts and nets. Aspecters are the next caste up, when a Kelodhrosian has Embraced one or two victims and have a few alterations to their bodies:
Aspector Warriors are stronger versions of Unembraced with an unconventional movement speed and one or more natural weapon types, including a claw attack that can cause bleeding or an acid spit ranged attack. An
Aspecter Mystic, meanwhile, has minor sorcerer spellcasting capabilities along with one of three general magical attack types.
Kelodhrosian Priests come in two varieties: hybrid priests borrow aspects from many different kinds of victims, while monoform priests prefer Embracing a single or narrow type of creature so as to better become a flawless version of that being. Monoform priests aren’t a specific stat block so much as a template that can be applied to just about any creature type, turning it into a Monstrosity, making its eyes blue, and can speak Kelodhrosian. Hybrid priests come in warrior and mystic varieties like Aspecters, basically being stronger versions of those stat blocks but with some newer, more powerful abilities like +1d8 damage with weapon attacks for a warrior or the mystic being able to “multiattack” with magical damaging effects.
Archpriests are the rulers of Kelodhrosian society, having taken on so many forms that almost nothing remains of their original shapes. Once again they’re “improved stat blocks” of the lower castes, but for truly new things the warriors get partial magic resistance where they have a 50% to succeed on a failed save vs a spell effect, while mystics have a paralyzing gaze attack.
The last two Kelodhrosian stat blocks represent individuals who have unconventional roles to fulfill in their society.
Lost Souls are those who attempted and failed to Embrace a creature whose power is beyond them, and thus can take many forms but the base stat block is a hulking Huge CR 12 creature specializing in various melee attacks with different debuffs such as armor-rending claws or movement-reducing tendrils, and being within 30 feet of it forces a Wisdom save or a target becomes temporarily mad as they’re afflicted with a Confusion-like effect. The
Infiltrator is a priest who only Embraces humanoids so as to better walk among and infiltrate other cultures. Infiltrators are the most common type encountered outside the Venom Abyss, and can be summed up as CR 2 doppelgangers who can’t read minds and deal less damage. Strangely, they have the Aberration type, unlike the rest of their kin which have Monstrosity. I’m not sure why they’re the odd Kelodhrosian out; it would make more sense IMO for the Lost Soul to be an Aberration IMO.
The hippo-like
Knucklecrown is known for being one of the dumbest beings on Planegea. So dumb in fact you can feel the author’s contempt for the creature seeping in through the descriptive text. Here’s just a few samples:
There isn’t a beast in all of Planegea with a greater reputation for sheer stupidity than the lumbering knucklecrown. These heavyset, four-legged beasts are commonly domesticated by clans—an easy task given that even a young child can out-think a full-grown bull.
In form, knucklecrowns look very much like their cousin, the hippopotamus, but with a concave skull with between four and twelve knobby protrusions bulging from forehead to snout. Males have large fangs descending below their bottom lip, but these are mostly used to attract a mate, as the knucklecrown is far too moronic to hunt anything that moves.
Still, knucklecrowns tend only to prosper in out-of-the-way areas without much other
wildlife to compete with, as the blundering things always fall behind even the most meager challenge.
Man, what did knucklecrowns ever do to you?!
The sole real skill that Knucklecrowns have is their ability to stumble upon portals to Nod. The many defensive illusions and concealments don’t work on their simple minds, so they can be trained to sniff for plants that grow only in the fey realms as a means to find them. Statwise knucklecrowns are CR 2 animals that have your typical charge-based prone-inducing melee attacks. They also have advantage on saves vs being frightened, albeit their 9 Wisdom means there’s still a fair chance for them to be so affected.
A
Lapiscat is a big feline that prowls the areas between the World of Dreams and the rest of Planegea. They are our only fey creature in this bestiary, and as they can cast the Dream spell twice per day they are favored messengers by fey. Their presence in the area usually means that a portal to Nod is nearby, and since like elves they don’t have to sleep they also make for potent sentries. They’re very much fragile ambush predators, being CR ½ and aren’t the sturdiest in a stand-up fight, but their various special abilities encourage them to make use of stealth and mobility. For example, they have a pounce attack that grants them a bonus bite attack when they knock a foe prone, deal 1d6 bonus psychic damage to creatures they used their Dream spell on, and their silent movement makes them overcome any Perception checks reliant upon sound.
The
Laughing Boar is a creature of random destruction, capable of running at great speeds for long periods. Their predatory instinct triggers whenever something runs away, and they will run and continue to run even as their muscles rip and bones break. They are willing to eat anything and everything, from animals, plants, and even soil and rocks, and their maws look like wicked smiles and they make sounds halfway between a squealing pig and laughing hyena. The Winter Gods and their minions are fond of the animals for their violently chaotic ways, often letting loose into the world after they’re given a taste of whatever beings the demons want to make life miserable for.
Laughing boars are CR 4 monsters who are highly mobility-based: opportunity attacks suffer disadvantage against them, they deal additional damage and impose forced movement and the prone condition when attacking during a charge, and they automatically pursue any creature that moves at least 20 feet away from them (multiple qualifying creatures have them go after the closest). This last part is subconscious on the boar’s part and can be used to lure them into traps and other areas.
Manylegs is a catchall term for bugs. Such animals have negative connotations in most cultures of Planegea, including even the giants, due to their love of filthy environments, spreading of disease, infesting living spaces with their itchy bites, and unlike mammals are seemingly emotionless and mindless. Giant manylegs are considered especially loathsome and dangerous, and while some can be domesticated people who do so are often viewed as strange and of possible ill intent. That being said, these animals are valued for their poisons and tough chitinous armor, so they do serve a needed societal need of sorts.
Planegea provides us with 10 new beasts of buggy inclinations: to start things off, the
Blind Death is a CR 6 giant worm that camouflages itself as a rotting log to ambush prey, and like giant anacondas have a grappling bite and constrict attack.
Clawed Greatspiders are web-spinning creatures who live in coastal areas, feeding on fish and humanoids alike. They are CR 8 beings that are like giant spiders but with better stats and a Huge size.
Dire Locusts once numbered in swarms great enough to cover the whole of Planegea, but for unknown reasons disappeared. Albeit some rumors claim they sleep in the dark reaches of the earth, waiting to awaken and consume the world. They are CR 3 creatures who have grappling mandibles and leg spikes, but can also create an AoE drone as a bonsu action that imposes disadvantage on Perception checks and risk falling prone whenever they’re hit by an attack.
Faku-Baz are a variety of manylegs that are intelligent and capable of speech, appearing like giant praying mantises with forelimbs possessing opposable thumbs. But their motives are inscrutable, they are Unaligned despite being sapient, and have no desire to make peace or interact with mortals. They are CR 6 monstrosities (not beasts) who have a language of their own as well as telepathy, minor spellcasting capabilities, some natural weapons (one of which can grapple and restrain), and like trolls regenerate hit points unless they take fire or acid damage.
The
Giant Millipede is an overall non-aggressive animal whose first instinct is to curl up in a defensive ball and spew out a cone of acidic bile, which can dissolve attackers which the millipede then feeds on. It’s a CR 2 enemy with an acidic bite, can assume a defensive curl reducing its movement and increasing its Armor Class, and has an AoE acidic spray attack.
Ku-Zug are giant crabs and thus the most “agreeable” sort for mortals to domesticate. Many clans living near large bodies of water make use of them as mounts, and they are CR 2 creatures that can attack with grappling pincers and have antenna granting them blindsight which can be damaged and thus blinded if individually targeted.
Longwings are giant flying insects who are harmless to adults but can lift children off the ground to eat later. In spite of their reputation as child-snatchers, many consider their appearance to be a good omen, “as long as there are no young ones in sight.” They are the weakest of the manyleg entries, being CR ¼ creatures who attack with claws and can grapple and fly away with Small and Tiny creatures and objects weighing less than 20 pounds.
Salt spiders live camouflaged among salt deposits, waiting to ambush and attack such prey feeding upon these minerals. They are CR 1 and aren’t of the web-spinning variety, attack with a poison bite, barbed legs that can grapple, have advantage on Stealth to hide among salt deposits, and possess Pack Tactics.
The
Sea Scorpion is an aggressive predator, Large in size and is unafraid to fight merfolk and humanoids over caught prey. They are pretty sturdy CR 5 creatures with blindsight who can move as well on land as in water at 30 feet, and in addition to a grappling bite they have a poisonous sting that can paralyze a target who fails a Constitution save for up to 1 minute (new save can be made each round).
The
Squidshrimp is our final manylegs, attacking prey by latching onto it and clawing at it until it dies. They are simplistic in combat, being CR 2 and have grappling mandibles but can only breathe and move about underwater.
Simbakubwa is a larger cousin of the lion, and their appetites are so voracious that they unbalance the ecosystem of wherever they live. Simbakubwa are carrion eaters, and will often kill prey and leave it to rot for weeks before coming back to consume it. They are one of the few creatures that can unite warring clans, as starvation is a threat to all. Simbakubwa do enter a hibernation-like period during the night after eating their fill, where they retreat to caves where if they’re lucky enough to have a mate, have them watch over them while asleep.
As a monster the Simbakubwa is CR 5 and yet another natural weapons beast with a charge/pounce attack that can knock a target prone.*
Its major weakness is that when it’s full it has disadvantage on attacks and ability checks and moves at half speed, and this condition can only be erased when it takes a long rest. The book notes that unmated beasts are considered so vulnerable that some hunters consider it dishonorable to kill them. I mean, you can be all high and mighty, but when they’re considered an existential threat due to inevitable starvation I can’t see many people in Planegea adhering to such principles. It would be like people in a fantasy setting choosing not to kill plague rats with cats, mousetraps, or other efficient means and instead advocate killing them with hand-to-hand weapons.
*Kind of getting repetitive now.
The
Stickymouth is a parasitic ooze that attaches itself to herbivores, where over time it gradually engulfs the animal and takes on its outer color and shape, not unlike a sheen of form-fitting plastic wrap. The poor herbivore’s internal body temperature is raised and its stomach is converted into a nutrient pouch for the ooze. The host then acts in a confused and delirious manner, and woe be to the hunter or predator who mistakes the animal for an easy kill! For the stickymouth is waiting for such beings to approach, only to attack them by surprise! This type of ooze’s existence is common knowledge in the Great Valley, so most people who see animals acting sick or erratic attack them at long range.
It is theoretically possible for a stickymouth to infect a humanoid, and there are some rumors that a few clans engage in a sort of primitive biological warfare by infecting herd animals with the oozes and sending them into the lands of the Giant Empires. The outbreaks of plagues and insanity in some giant cities has given credence to such ponderings.
In terms of stats the stickymouth is a CR 4 ooze who by itself is your typical slow-moving, low AC, dumb slime monster who attacks with poisonous pseudopods and a grappling “maw.” But its strength is when it infects a host creature, sharing its space, moving with it, gaining its senses, can transfer half the damage it takes to the host creature, and for onlookers they need to make an Insight and/or Medicine check to detect its presence.
Swordquills are giant horse-sized hedgehog-like animals who are a commonly domesticated species in the Great Valley. Their primary use by clans is as pest control, for they are willing to eat all manner of bugs, including the giant monstrous kinds that give experience points upon defeat. Their many varieties of quill colors are used in art and crafting, and can even be trained as an attack animal for hunting and warfare.
A swordquill is a CR 1 animal who attacks with claws and spines, and any creature who touches or hits it in melee can take piercing damage if the swordquill desires this. This is a free action, not a reaction, so there’s no limit to how many creatures it can affect this way in a round. They also have a burrow speed, and their 13 AC decreases to 9 while prone.
Terror Birds are vicious, flightless birds noted for their size, violent dispositions, and natural magical resistance. The animals are prone to attacking spellcasters first and foremost, as though they’re animated by something more than instinct. Orcs admire them for this and their otherwise fearless ways, interpreting this as a kind of instinctive anti-theism.* While they cannot be domesticated, terror birds are a favored target of orcish hunters who use their body parts as status symbols and for brewing magic-repelling potions.
*Their ire isn’t just limited to divine spellcasters, so this is more the orcs imposing humanoid values on the animals.
We have stat blocks for three different kinds of terror birds. Each of them have two unique abilities: Hatred of Magic grants them advantage for 1 round on attack rolls and +1d8 bonus damage against creatures it sees cast a spell within 100 feet, and whenever it fails a saving throw it has a 50% chance to succeed on the save instead. The andalgalornis is the smallest, standing a bit above an average adult human. It attacks with a stabbing beak and is a CR ¼ pack animal with Pack Tactics. The brontornis is even bigger, using sheer size and strength to smash prey as a CR 3 animal whose beak and claws can knock prone and restrain targets respectively. The kelenken is the biggest of all the terror birds, and its powerful legs can help it climb sheer surfaces and leap great distances (up to 30 feet long and 20 feet high) even from standing positions. They’re also CR 3, where their attacks don’t impose debuffs and their overall stat block is instead more mobility-focused.
Tricerataurs are descendants of an ancient civilization of humanoids who worshiped an evil triceratops-like god. Their ancestors lived in much of the Great Valley from a time before the rise of the Brother Clans, and over time they grew to resent their god’s cruel treatment. Their greatest shamans and warriors slew the god, feeding among his flesh to take the power for themselves. Sadly their liberation would not have a happy ending, for they became more like their god in body and disposition, becoming the tricerataurs of today. Now they occupy a position similar to drow in other settings: evil-aligned underground people who hate the sun, traffic in dark magic, and are as prone to fighting each other as they are outsiders. Tricerataurs are known for creating powerful magic weapons which invariably bear some kind of curse, usually driving its wearers to kill innocents in exchange for supposedly unlocking ever-greater powers.
The tricerataur stat block is a CR 5 monstrosity, being closer to a minotaur in that they attack with mauls and a gore which deals extra damage on a charge. They have a Reckless ability much like the Barbarian’s Reckless Attack, and any weapon they wield is considered Cursed, meaning that struck targets can’t regain hit points until the start of the tricerataur’s next turn. They also have decent Stealth and Perception scores of +5 each, indicating that tricerataurs are eager to use subterfuge and ambush rather than just blindly charging into combat.
Visitants are basically celestials, fiends, and other extraplanar beings reflavored to fit Planegea’s cosmology. But that doesn’t prevent the book from adding several new ones of its own. All of the new monsters here are Celestials and thus good-aligned, and the chapter goes into some detail of common traits among good-aligned visitants. They instinctively desire to live for and encourage positive behavior, albeit even among themselves celestials have different interpretations of how to best make the world a better place. There is a hierarchy of sorts among celestials, albeit the more powerful ones see themselves as caretakers and role models for their less powerful subordinates, and have no qualms against endangering their own lives to save their “lessers” from danger.
We have seven celestial visitants:
Glimmers are the smallest and weakest, appearing like sparks of light, being CR 0 creatures who are harmless flying beings who can heal 1 hit point of a target at which point they die.
Notars are small winged beings who typically serve as messengers by embodying a single thought or feeling of their creator deity, and are incorporeal flying CR ¼ creatures who have a limited amount of minor spells, a twice per day song of healing, and only ever have one emotional state that cannot be altered.
Choristers are a more powerful version of notars, having more nuanced and complex expressions of their single thoughts and feelings, and have the base abilities of a notar but with better stats, a wider variety of magic, and can fight back with ranged light-based attacks.
Refractors are warriors made to use violence in carrying out the will of their creators, and as CR 1 beings have a variety of minor martial attacks such as the ability to materialize weapons which can deal more damage by exploding them in a Sundering Strike, or as a bonus action can turn their backs to a target and become invisible until they attack, cast a spell, or move.
Emissaries can take on humanoid disguises and are thus entrusted with more subtle tasks requiring them to move among mortals. They are CR 2 beings with minor shapechanging features, can become ethereal at will, have a variety of defensive and beneficial spells, can heal by touch, and each has a unique message to deliver to a specific person. This message can be up to 1 minute in length, and they can then cast a spell of up to 9th level which their creator deity casts by using them as a conduit.
Envoys are akin to elite Refractors, mighty warriors sent out when violence is inevitable, appearing not unlike towering angels.* Their stat block is heavily combat-based, such as a selective healing aura that heals creatures 1d8 hit points up to 20 feet away each round, can attack with a staff or ranged bolt both dealing radiant damage, can cause an AoE frighten effect as a “presence pulse,” a rechargeable single-target blinding light attack, and a few light and combat-focused spells such as Beacon of Hope, Dispel Magic, and Banishment.
*But are still Medium size.
Image Bearers are fashioned in the likeness of their creator god made to act as divine representatives, and are CR 6 creatures who have some offensive abilities but whose greatest features are less offensive, such as treating the area within 30 of them as a constant Hallow spell effect, or being able to cast Teleport once per day but can only take up to 5 willing creatures.
Woolly Unicorns are not natural animal, but celestials who task themselves with acting as guardians over particular areas of Planegea, most of which are cold and lonely stretches of land like mountain peaks and tundras. It is said that the first of their kind was a god who voluntarily surrendered their divinity to better travel the world to fight evil. The woolly unicorn’s horn is the source of its powers, and spellskins and hunters with few scruples have been known to seek them out to kill them and harvest the horns for their magic. However, such an act is viewed with disdain by many, for woolly unicorns are vigilant defenders against fiends and other evils, and their spirits can haunt their killers long after their deaths in their nightmares.
In terms of stats a Woolly Unicorn is a CR 13 creature who can attack with hooves and a horn, both of which are considered magical, and like a regular unicorn it has a healing touch and limited teleportation. They have a few innate spells such as Blinding Smite, Detect Evil and Good, and Heroism, and their legendary actions allow them to attack, heal themselves, or create an AoE blinding burst of radiant damage. Their lairs are often caverns beneath tundras and frozen lakes, in mountains, and in some cases repurposed lairs of evil creatures they slain. Woolly unicorns don’t have Lair Actions, but their lairs do have regional effects beneficial to good-aligned beings. Such as mists that can help them hide, being able to safely rest despite the surrounding weather, and having advantage on checks when using divination magic to locate evil creatures.
NPCs is our final part of the chapter and is quite short, containing a half-dozen stat blocks for general Prehistoric archetypes. They’re all low-powered, ranging from CR ¼ to 4, and are more meant to be common types of people PCs may encounter when traveling to various settlements as opposed to significant figures in the adventure.
Ancestors are friendly undead spirits who persist in a clan after death to serve as instructors to their descendents, and are basically weak incorporeal undead whose major feature is to give a single-use Guidance like effect on a willing creature, provided the Ancestor first succeeds on an Intelligence or Wisdom check to impart such knowledge.
Hunters and
Lead Hunters are CR ¼ and CR 2 warrior type NPCs who fight with spears or longbows. The Lead Hunter has two special Reactions where they can let allies they can see take the Hide action by spending their own Reactions, or a Hunting Shout that can grant +1d4 to an ally’s attack roll.
Shamans and
High Shamans are people tasked with attending to a clan’s spiritual needs, and high shamans are often favored agents by their god. Both of them have cleric spellcasting and a variety of stereotypical Cleric spells, and both have a Smite like ability where they can spend spell slots to deal bonus radiant damage on a weapon attack.
The
Sorcerer represents arcane spellcasters of that persuasion in clans who often use them as general “magic handymen” when a more specialized chanter or spellskin may not be around. They are CR 3 characters who can cast up to 3rd level spells and tend to have an emphasis on combat abilities such as Shield, Scorching Way, and Hold Person. Once per long rest they can use the Twinned Spell metamagic ability.
Thoughts So Far: Like the first part of the bestiary, a good portion of the monsters here are animal-intellect beings, usually predators of some variety. While there is a bit of sameness in combat roles and abilities (so many charge and grapple attacks!), there are some clever individuals here and there like the parasitic Stickymouth ooze, the magic-hating Terror Birds, or the “all too easy to aggro” Laughing Boar.
As for the more intelligent variety of monsters, they often have strong themes that also come with neat background details. Glunch are a clear means of adding a more “human” and tactical element to the Manylegs and other buglike monsters in giving them trainers and handlers, and their anti-undead crafting capabilities give PCs a good reason to seek them out in case they need to deal with a haunted dungeon or the like. The Tricerataur are rather simplistic in how they function in combat, but they make for a good means of adding cursed treasure and similar “evil” magical items in a campaign. The Kelodhrosians have a small smattering of alterable features to make them feel fresh even when using the otherwise same stat blocks, and the broad Monoform template can make just about any other monster or NPC archetype be a Kelodhrosian in disguise. Another good aspect of game design is the weaving of creature abilities into wider applications in the world beyond adventuring, such as the Lapiscat’s Dream spells making them used as long-distance messengers or the Iramuk’s slow yet unstoppable trodding along being used as primitive “roads” by clans. I have to give major props for this.
Final Thoughts: It goes without saying that I love Planegea. Not only does it cover a concept that hasn’t really been done before among DnD publishers, the world it creates is chock full of interesting content suitable for a variety of campaign styles and adventures. It has a little bit of something for both players and DMs alike, and its ability to make a Prehistoric Fantasy setting feel not only plausible, but varied and in-depth, is a major accomplishment on the part of its creators. I thus highly recommend Planegea to anyone interested in seeing one of the most novel campaign settings to come about in recent years.
