Tonberry and Final Fantasy monsters
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Mithral Silverwave
First Post
Well, the tonberry (and its greater form the masterberry) is probably a plant, and the marlboro (along with the big marlboro) is definately an aberration.
I'd go about creating a marlboro with:
Do marlboros have any abilities besides bad breath?
I have less experience with masterberries, so I'd have to say:
I'd go about creating a marlboro with:
- a nauseating breath weapon (Bad Breath)
- all-around vision (they have about eleven eyes)
- a decent bite attack
- 2 tentacle attacks using the outermost eyestalks
- Large size?
Do marlboros have any abilities besides bad breath?
I have less experience with masterberries, so I'd have to say:
- Medium-size
- about human ability scores
- Shadow Conjuration as a spell-like ability (Karma)
- Flurry of blows, or maybe true strike? (Knife)
- a dagger attack
Feathercircle
First Post
Tonberry
Malboro/Morbol
Err, are we thinking of the same monsters here, Mithral? I really don't see how anyone familiar with tonberries/ master tonberries as plants- They're the little fishtailed lizardy-looking guys. Despite the name, they aren't related to berries in any way. FF11 classifies them in the "beastmen" family, along with orcs and sahagin... I suppose that would imply Monstrous Humanoid, though I'm almost inclined to suggest Aberration.
Malboros or, if you prefer, Morbols, are the ones classified as members of the Plant family in most Final Fantasy games- which leads me to think you actually ARE familiar with the tonberries, but accidentally transposed the names. FF11 confirms your attribution of all-around vision to the Malboro, and also seems to imply Low-Light vision for the Tonberry. The fact that they carry those little lanterns everywhere means they probably don't have darkvision.
As to abilities, they vary from game to game. Tonberries, as a general rule, have VERY high HP- far more than you'd expect from something that barely comes up to your character's waist. They've usually got some kind of karmic attack, and their knife attack is usually lethal. They walk VERY slowly, though- it's pretty much ALWAYS possible to survive a tonberry encounter just by running away. They're almost invariably encountered in some kind of cavernous or subterranean area.
The problem with trying to quantify the difference between Tonberries and Master Tonberries is that aforementioned variation. In FF7, the only the master tonberry has Everybody's Grudge/Karma, while in FFX, even the basic tonberry can use it- and some games have only one kind of tonberry. I think it'd be easiest to just use the Karma-casting variety as our tonberry, since it's the archetype. They're tool-users and in some games, even talk to your characters, so they should probably have Intelligence somewhere around human average, at least. And despite FFX-2's use of the word "vicious", I've never percieved them as particularly malevolent creatures- their role as avengers of the slain leads me to imagine them as having more of a Lawful Neutral ethos than anything else- thoroughly dedicated to their own strange sense of justice, but not generally seeking to harm those who they consider "innocent". YMMV, though.
Other odds and ends about tonberrys:
*"Mysterious being living in dungeons. Walks slowly towards the enemy and kills with Chef's Knife"- FF8 Scan info
*Most games have them resistant to most status effects.
*FF7's tonberries absorb gravity magic, and FF9's are weak against cold- no other tonberries have any elemental weaknesses or resistance.
*"The king of the Tonberries. Appears to seek revenge for all defeated Tonberries." -FF8 Scan info
*Nonstandard tonberry attacks: Cry In the Night (a magic attack)-(Oversouled mega tonberry, FFX-2... triple the uberness!), Firaga (OS'd mega tonberry, FFX-2), Flare (OS'd mega tonberry again), Sleep (Oversouled tonberry, FFX), Bio (OS'd tonberry), Fira (OS'd tonberry), Junk (tonberry king, FF8), Voodoo (all FFX tonberries)
*"A [monster] that roams about by the light of its lantern. Don't be fooled by its tranquil demeanor. It's a vicious and persistant attacker."- FFX-2 Scan info
*"Advances closer four times. Defeat it before then, or..."- FFX Scan info
*FF8's Tonberry King and FFX-2's Mega Tonberries are MUCH larger than the normal varieties- and much taller than your characters.
Malboros are a bit more standard. They're all plants whenever the game bothers to assign them a "type" beyond just simply "malboro", they've all got the status-afflicting Bad Breath, they're all huge, and they've all got those little eye tendrils all over. Many of them have a nasty bite attack, and/or vomit up their own acidic digestive juices. They move by pulling themselves around on tentacle-roots, and are surprisingly fast at it. They're always immune to poison, and usually immune to most other status attacks as well. They don't seem particularly intelligent. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to their appearances, as they've been found at locations ranging from glacial mountains to temperate plains to the afterlife. There's powered up Great Malboros, but they don't so much do anything all that different from their lesser kin as just do it better.
Other odds and ends about morbols:
*FF9's malboros sometimes FLOAT. Maybe it's their internal gasses?
*"Uses Bad Breath, which causes all status abnormalities. Be ready with status defenses before fighting."- FF8 Scan info
*Status's inflicted by Bad Breath vary from game to game, but have included: poison, darkness, confuse, berserk, slow, silence, sleep, gradual petrify, curse, and mini
*Non-standard morbol attacks: Eerie Soundwave (FF8), Virus Tentacle (FF9), Osmose (FF9), Drain (FF9), Frozen Beam (FF7), Halitosis (Oversouled Malboro, FFX-2), Ingest (curative) Items (all Oversouled morbol types), Staccatto (Great Malboro, FFX-2)
*FF8's Malboro's are weak against both fire and cold and X-2's are immune to fire- the others have no elemental afilliation
*"The most despised [monster] in Spira, this [monster] oozes with poisonous sludge. Its shape alone is enough to warrant such loathing, but its Bad Breath puts it over the top."- FFX-2 Scan info
And that's the basics.
Malboro/Morbol
Err, are we thinking of the same monsters here, Mithral? I really don't see how anyone familiar with tonberries/ master tonberries as plants- They're the little fishtailed lizardy-looking guys. Despite the name, they aren't related to berries in any way. FF11 classifies them in the "beastmen" family, along with orcs and sahagin... I suppose that would imply Monstrous Humanoid, though I'm almost inclined to suggest Aberration.
Malboros or, if you prefer, Morbols, are the ones classified as members of the Plant family in most Final Fantasy games- which leads me to think you actually ARE familiar with the tonberries, but accidentally transposed the names. FF11 confirms your attribution of all-around vision to the Malboro, and also seems to imply Low-Light vision for the Tonberry. The fact that they carry those little lanterns everywhere means they probably don't have darkvision.
As to abilities, they vary from game to game. Tonberries, as a general rule, have VERY high HP- far more than you'd expect from something that barely comes up to your character's waist. They've usually got some kind of karmic attack, and their knife attack is usually lethal. They walk VERY slowly, though- it's pretty much ALWAYS possible to survive a tonberry encounter just by running away. They're almost invariably encountered in some kind of cavernous or subterranean area.
The problem with trying to quantify the difference between Tonberries and Master Tonberries is that aforementioned variation. In FF7, the only the master tonberry has Everybody's Grudge/Karma, while in FFX, even the basic tonberry can use it- and some games have only one kind of tonberry. I think it'd be easiest to just use the Karma-casting variety as our tonberry, since it's the archetype. They're tool-users and in some games, even talk to your characters, so they should probably have Intelligence somewhere around human average, at least. And despite FFX-2's use of the word "vicious", I've never percieved them as particularly malevolent creatures- their role as avengers of the slain leads me to imagine them as having more of a Lawful Neutral ethos than anything else- thoroughly dedicated to their own strange sense of justice, but not generally seeking to harm those who they consider "innocent". YMMV, though.
Other odds and ends about tonberrys:
*"Mysterious being living in dungeons. Walks slowly towards the enemy and kills with Chef's Knife"- FF8 Scan info
*Most games have them resistant to most status effects.
*FF7's tonberries absorb gravity magic, and FF9's are weak against cold- no other tonberries have any elemental weaknesses or resistance.
*"The king of the Tonberries. Appears to seek revenge for all defeated Tonberries." -FF8 Scan info
*Nonstandard tonberry attacks: Cry In the Night (a magic attack)-(Oversouled mega tonberry, FFX-2... triple the uberness!), Firaga (OS'd mega tonberry, FFX-2), Flare (OS'd mega tonberry again), Sleep (Oversouled tonberry, FFX), Bio (OS'd tonberry), Fira (OS'd tonberry), Junk (tonberry king, FF8), Voodoo (all FFX tonberries)
*"A [monster] that roams about by the light of its lantern. Don't be fooled by its tranquil demeanor. It's a vicious and persistant attacker."- FFX-2 Scan info
*"Advances closer four times. Defeat it before then, or..."- FFX Scan info
*FF8's Tonberry King and FFX-2's Mega Tonberries are MUCH larger than the normal varieties- and much taller than your characters.
Malboros are a bit more standard. They're all plants whenever the game bothers to assign them a "type" beyond just simply "malboro", they've all got the status-afflicting Bad Breath, they're all huge, and they've all got those little eye tendrils all over. Many of them have a nasty bite attack, and/or vomit up their own acidic digestive juices. They move by pulling themselves around on tentacle-roots, and are surprisingly fast at it. They're always immune to poison, and usually immune to most other status attacks as well. They don't seem particularly intelligent. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to their appearances, as they've been found at locations ranging from glacial mountains to temperate plains to the afterlife. There's powered up Great Malboros, but they don't so much do anything all that different from their lesser kin as just do it better.
Other odds and ends about morbols:
*FF9's malboros sometimes FLOAT. Maybe it's their internal gasses?
*"Uses Bad Breath, which causes all status abnormalities. Be ready with status defenses before fighting."- FF8 Scan info
*Status's inflicted by Bad Breath vary from game to game, but have included: poison, darkness, confuse, berserk, slow, silence, sleep, gradual petrify, curse, and mini
*Non-standard morbol attacks: Eerie Soundwave (FF8), Virus Tentacle (FF9), Osmose (FF9), Drain (FF9), Frozen Beam (FF7), Halitosis (Oversouled Malboro, FFX-2), Ingest (curative) Items (all Oversouled morbol types), Staccatto (Great Malboro, FFX-2)
*FF8's Malboro's are weak against both fire and cold and X-2's are immune to fire- the others have no elemental afilliation
*"The most despised [monster] in Spira, this [monster] oozes with poisonous sludge. Its shape alone is enough to warrant such loathing, but its Bad Breath puts it over the top."- FFX-2 Scan info
And that's the basics.
Mithral Silverwave
First Post
Sorry, I've only played FF Tactics Advance. No malboro I've ever fought has actually used Bad Breath, and a Tonberry has only used Karma once. Not only that, but the Tonberries in FFTA have rounded faces with yellow eyes and a sort of round snout (actually, rather like an alligator) and wear a long cloak, though you can see the tip of their tail...
So, Malboros are plants? Odd.
So, Malboros are plants? Odd.
Hashmalum
Explorer
More source game info
Ok, here's some more detailed info on the morbol and tonberry families from FFXI. This info was mostly taken from http://ffxi.allakhazam.com and http://mysterytour.web.infoseek.co.jp/ffxi
Most FFXI Tonberries have a player job: thief, ninja, black mage, or summoner. This suggests high Dexterity and Intelligence scores. I would also think that rogue would be a favored class for tonberries. The already-mentioned freakishly high hit points that tonberries tend to have also suggest high Constitution. On the other hand, they're pretty short (not much taller than tarutaru); this would suggest small size (with an attendant Strength penalty and slow movement). Weapon Finesse feat would be a good idea. FFXI tonberries also have a minimum level of about 45 or so; tonberries in other games tend to have fairly high levels as well, so tonberries would probably have fairly high racial hit dice.
FFXI monsters have a TP (Technique Point) gauge that fills up as the monster attacks and takes damage just like players do, and each FFXI monster family has its own set of TP-consuming special skills. Tonberries have the following skills:
Everyone's Grudge: Deals damage based on the number of tonberries killed by the target. There is a special quest players can undertake to reset this hidden counter.
Everyone's Rancor: A stronger version of Everyone's Grudge, used by NM (Notorious Monster) tonberries. (NMs are "boss monsters".)
Throat Stab: Instantly reduces target's HP to 10%. Mercifully, it also discharges the tonberry's 'enmity' towards the target (the tonberry will turn its murderous intentions towards another party member).
Lateral Slash: Deals physical damage and reduces the target's defense by 75%.
Vertical Slash: Deals physical damage and reduces the target's evasion.
Words of Bane: Adds curse status to the target. (FFXI curses reduce movement speed, maximum HP, and maximum MP.)
Light of Penance: Adds blind and bind status to the target. (FFXI bind status prevents the target from walking or running.) This attack also resets the target's TP gauge, impeding its use of weapon skills.
Sigh: Boosts the tonberry's evasion.
I would suggest giving tonberries a Dying Curse special quality that is cumulative with itself and inflicts penalties on Charisma-based skills versus tonberries and ups the damage dealt by Everyone's Grudge.
Tonberries also have a strange fondness for cooking. Quite a few tonberry NPCs are chefs. There's even a Tonberry Chef NPC in the Chocobo's Dungeon games. I'd suggest giving them ranks in Profession (cooking).
The FFVI monster called 'Tonberry' is weak against fire and lightning, but absorbs water. The FFVI monster called 'Tonberries' is weak against fire, but absorbs water. The FFVI Mastery Tonberry absorbs water, but has no elemental weaknesses. FFXI tonberries are weak against ice and lightning.
FFXI morbols are mercifully much simpler. They aren't smart enough to have jobs and have fewer techniques:
Impale: Does physical damage and paralyzes the target.
Vampiric Lash: Drains HP from the target and adds it to the morbol.
Sweet Breath: Puts everyone in front of the morbol to sleep.
Bad Breath: The notorious attack that inflicts nearly every status anomaly there is on everyone in a wide area.
FFXI morbols are plant-type monsters that are weak against fire. Their eyesight is poor, but their hearing is very acute (they aggro by sound, not sight). FFVI morbols are also weak against fire, and absorb water and poison attacks (for normal morbols) or all other elements (for great morbols).
One interesting ability that morbols have that hasn't been mentioned so far is the ability to infect other creatures with a virus that turns its victim into a morbol itself. The Great Morbol from Final Fantasy Tactics can use a Moldball Virus attack if an allied character with the Monster Skill ability is within 3 panels; this attack instantly and permanently changes monsters (although not humans) into normal morbols. FFIX marlboros have a virus attack as well, although I can't recall details. In Chocobo's Dungeon 2, the thunder god Ramuh was turned into a morbol.
Ok, here's some more detailed info on the morbol and tonberry families from FFXI. This info was mostly taken from http://ffxi.allakhazam.com and http://mysterytour.web.infoseek.co.jp/ffxi
Most FFXI Tonberries have a player job: thief, ninja, black mage, or summoner. This suggests high Dexterity and Intelligence scores. I would also think that rogue would be a favored class for tonberries. The already-mentioned freakishly high hit points that tonberries tend to have also suggest high Constitution. On the other hand, they're pretty short (not much taller than tarutaru); this would suggest small size (with an attendant Strength penalty and slow movement). Weapon Finesse feat would be a good idea. FFXI tonberries also have a minimum level of about 45 or so; tonberries in other games tend to have fairly high levels as well, so tonberries would probably have fairly high racial hit dice.
FFXI monsters have a TP (Technique Point) gauge that fills up as the monster attacks and takes damage just like players do, and each FFXI monster family has its own set of TP-consuming special skills. Tonberries have the following skills:
Everyone's Grudge: Deals damage based on the number of tonberries killed by the target. There is a special quest players can undertake to reset this hidden counter.
Everyone's Rancor: A stronger version of Everyone's Grudge, used by NM (Notorious Monster) tonberries. (NMs are "boss monsters".)
Throat Stab: Instantly reduces target's HP to 10%. Mercifully, it also discharges the tonberry's 'enmity' towards the target (the tonberry will turn its murderous intentions towards another party member).
Lateral Slash: Deals physical damage and reduces the target's defense by 75%.
Vertical Slash: Deals physical damage and reduces the target's evasion.
Words of Bane: Adds curse status to the target. (FFXI curses reduce movement speed, maximum HP, and maximum MP.)
Light of Penance: Adds blind and bind status to the target. (FFXI bind status prevents the target from walking or running.) This attack also resets the target's TP gauge, impeding its use of weapon skills.
Sigh: Boosts the tonberry's evasion.
I would suggest giving tonberries a Dying Curse special quality that is cumulative with itself and inflicts penalties on Charisma-based skills versus tonberries and ups the damage dealt by Everyone's Grudge.
Tonberries also have a strange fondness for cooking. Quite a few tonberry NPCs are chefs. There's even a Tonberry Chef NPC in the Chocobo's Dungeon games. I'd suggest giving them ranks in Profession (cooking).
The FFVI monster called 'Tonberry' is weak against fire and lightning, but absorbs water. The FFVI monster called 'Tonberries' is weak against fire, but absorbs water. The FFVI Mastery Tonberry absorbs water, but has no elemental weaknesses. FFXI tonberries are weak against ice and lightning.
FFXI morbols are mercifully much simpler. They aren't smart enough to have jobs and have fewer techniques:
Impale: Does physical damage and paralyzes the target.
Vampiric Lash: Drains HP from the target and adds it to the morbol.
Sweet Breath: Puts everyone in front of the morbol to sleep.
Bad Breath: The notorious attack that inflicts nearly every status anomaly there is on everyone in a wide area.
FFXI morbols are plant-type monsters that are weak against fire. Their eyesight is poor, but their hearing is very acute (they aggro by sound, not sight). FFVI morbols are also weak against fire, and absorb water and poison attacks (for normal morbols) or all other elements (for great morbols).
One interesting ability that morbols have that hasn't been mentioned so far is the ability to infect other creatures with a virus that turns its victim into a morbol itself. The Great Morbol from Final Fantasy Tactics can use a Moldball Virus attack if an allied character with the Monster Skill ability is within 3 panels; this attack instantly and permanently changes monsters (although not humans) into normal morbols. FFIX marlboros have a virus attack as well, although I can't recall details. In Chocobo's Dungeon 2, the thunder god Ramuh was turned into a morbol.
Sephiroth, if you're interested
some friends and I played a FF spoof game shortly after d&d 3.5 came out, we started at level 10 and got to 17 (it was great, HEAL was the cleric from final fantasy, VIVI was an evoker from ff9, Cloud Strife the fighter/paladin, Sephiroth (me) a fighter/sorcerer, and Zindane the rogue) Anyway, if you're interested, here's what I ended up with as sephiroth at 17 (as a screw-around game we got some freebie skill points or feats from time to time through mystical quests and whatnot, so it doesn't quite match up with a 17th lvl character from the book)
Name: Sephiroth
Race: human
Class/lvl: fighter 10/sorcerer 7
Alignment: Neutral Evil
description: medium humanoid, male, 6'2", 190lbs, white hair, striking green eyes. Wears a fine black silk outfit with intricate silver threaded embroidery and carries a 9-foot long, single-edged 2handed sword. He is well spoken but quiet, aloof, imperious, and occasionally taken by bouts of insanity.
str 24 +7
dex 31 +10
con 18 +4
int 15 +2
wis 14 +2
cha 24 +7
Fort 13
Ref 15
Will 7
HP: 161
AC: 33 (10+5+10+5+3)
BA +13/+8/+3
full attack (Masamune) +26/+21/+16. Dmg 2d8+17+2d6(unholy)+2d6(vicious, +1d6 to wielder). Crit 15-20x2. ghost touch, unholy, vicious, ethereal.
relavant skills: balance+14 concentration+18 disguise+11 intimidate+15 knowledge(history)+7 spellcraft+12
feats: exotic weapon proficiency: masamune. weapon focus: masamune. weapon specialization: masamune. improved critical: masamune. item creation (magic arms and armor). spell focus: evocation. dodge. mobility. spring attack. combat expertise. whirlwind attack. leadership (bunch of failed clones). power attack. Soldier training (+4 str +4 dex +2 con -2 to all saving throws against spells or spell-like abilities, must make a will save DC equal to character level each week or be affected by an insanity spell)
spells known (save DC 17+spell level):0: arcane mark, detect magic, flare, light, mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost . 1: charm person, expeditious retreat, shield, shocking grasp, true strike . 2: alter self, resist energy, scorching ray . 3: fly, lightning bolt .
spells per day: 6/8/8/6
possessions: Masamune, dagger+2 with spell storing throwing and returning, bracers of armor +5, amulet of natural armor +3, gloves of dexterity +6, girdle of giant strength +4, cloak of charisma +4, heward's handy haversack, boots of striding and springing, ring of protection+5, ring of spell storing, crystal ball, potion of cure 3d8+5 x2, potion of bull's strength, scroll of (fireball 5th lvl, magic missile 3rd level), wand of dispel magic (8 charges left), assorted non-magical gear.
Masamune (minor artifact): as 2handed sword but exotic weaopn, 2d8 dmg. +5 enhancement bonus, ghost touch, vicious, unholy, wielder gains +2 insight bonus to charisma. wielder must have 24 str to wield and have the Soldier Training background feat. If wielder is Good, Masamune inflicts 3 negative levels (plus 1 for the unholy quality) that can't be healed or removed while he/she carries masamune, but dissapear when masamune is discarded. If wielder is Evil, Masamune allows them to speak with the dead at will, and gains the ethereal quality when drawn as per the armor special ability in the DMG.
some friends and I played a FF spoof game shortly after d&d 3.5 came out, we started at level 10 and got to 17 (it was great, HEAL was the cleric from final fantasy, VIVI was an evoker from ff9, Cloud Strife the fighter/paladin, Sephiroth (me) a fighter/sorcerer, and Zindane the rogue) Anyway, if you're interested, here's what I ended up with as sephiroth at 17 (as a screw-around game we got some freebie skill points or feats from time to time through mystical quests and whatnot, so it doesn't quite match up with a 17th lvl character from the book)
Name: Sephiroth
Race: human
Class/lvl: fighter 10/sorcerer 7
Alignment: Neutral Evil
description: medium humanoid, male, 6'2", 190lbs, white hair, striking green eyes. Wears a fine black silk outfit with intricate silver threaded embroidery and carries a 9-foot long, single-edged 2handed sword. He is well spoken but quiet, aloof, imperious, and occasionally taken by bouts of insanity.
str 24 +7
dex 31 +10
con 18 +4
int 15 +2
wis 14 +2
cha 24 +7
Fort 13
Ref 15
Will 7
HP: 161
AC: 33 (10+5+10+5+3)
BA +13/+8/+3
full attack (Masamune) +26/+21/+16. Dmg 2d8+17+2d6(unholy)+2d6(vicious, +1d6 to wielder). Crit 15-20x2. ghost touch, unholy, vicious, ethereal.
relavant skills: balance+14 concentration+18 disguise+11 intimidate+15 knowledge(history)+7 spellcraft+12
feats: exotic weapon proficiency: masamune. weapon focus: masamune. weapon specialization: masamune. improved critical: masamune. item creation (magic arms and armor). spell focus: evocation. dodge. mobility. spring attack. combat expertise. whirlwind attack. leadership (bunch of failed clones). power attack. Soldier training (+4 str +4 dex +2 con -2 to all saving throws against spells or spell-like abilities, must make a will save DC equal to character level each week or be affected by an insanity spell)
spells known (save DC 17+spell level):0: arcane mark, detect magic, flare, light, mage hand, prestidigitation, ray of frost . 1: charm person, expeditious retreat, shield, shocking grasp, true strike . 2: alter self, resist energy, scorching ray . 3: fly, lightning bolt .
spells per day: 6/8/8/6
possessions: Masamune, dagger+2 with spell storing throwing and returning, bracers of armor +5, amulet of natural armor +3, gloves of dexterity +6, girdle of giant strength +4, cloak of charisma +4, heward's handy haversack, boots of striding and springing, ring of protection+5, ring of spell storing, crystal ball, potion of cure 3d8+5 x2, potion of bull's strength, scroll of (fireball 5th lvl, magic missile 3rd level), wand of dispel magic (8 charges left), assorted non-magical gear.
Masamune (minor artifact): as 2handed sword but exotic weaopn, 2d8 dmg. +5 enhancement bonus, ghost touch, vicious, unholy, wielder gains +2 insight bonus to charisma. wielder must have 24 str to wield and have the Soldier Training background feat. If wielder is Good, Masamune inflicts 3 negative levels (plus 1 for the unholy quality) that can't be healed or removed while he/she carries masamune, but dissapear when masamune is discarded. If wielder is Evil, Masamune allows them to speak with the dead at will, and gains the ethereal quality when drawn as per the armor special ability in the DMG.
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