monstrous amendments

Shuji Imai is hella underrated and for WHAT

the laws of the monstrous state that all monsters are formed by the mingling of unlike elements in one unsettling frame, the being's essence alien to itself. yeah i'm trans what about it. 

since i wrote those laws, two more sets have been drafted; the laws of mastery governing ability and skill, the laws of the land determining the nature of the earth itself. 

now, with the conditions and limitations of those two sets in mind, I've amended the laws that rule monstrosity, creating a more chimeric and chaotic generator, and a set of true statements to bind the beast's nature. 

additionally, this is sort of the logical extension of the idea i was wrestling with in my puzzlebox monsters post, and i think does a good job of making the concept more elegant and really solidifying the idea that monsters have these kind of dire fairytale truths about them that must be avoided/exploited. ideally, a game played with these laws might achieve the satisfaction of system mastery while retaining the flexibility of fiction-first freeform. 

Akiya Kageichi is fuckin unmatched imo

Monstrous Amendments

The greater the might of the monstrosity, the more the binds of law sculpt and squeeze it. Such is the way of the world. 

1. can't be hit unless
1. restrained
2.  knocked prone
3.  flanked
4. hit from behind
5. dismounted
6. disarmed
7. unshielded
8.  blinded
9. deafened
10. cannot smell you
11. cannot see you
12. you can't see them
13. you can't hear them
14. you can't smell them
15. hit by ranged attack
16. hit by melee attack
17. their stomach is empty
18. their feet touch the earth
19. they trust you
20. they are distracted
2. can't be (1d6, 1-3: harmed, 4-6: killed)...
1. by slashing attacks
2. by piercing attacks
3. by crushing attacks
4. by unblessed weapons
5. except by fire
6. except by silver
7. by iron weapons
8. unless doused in water
9. while in the water
10. while in the sunlight
11. while in the moonlight
12. while their feet touch the earth
13. unless in sunlight
14. unless in moonlight
15. except by destroying their eyes
16. except by damaging their insides
17. except by destroying their heart
18.    one
1. who has never killed
2. who utters their true name
3. who truly loves them
19.     except by beheading
20.     except by destroying their phylactery
3. can always hit you if
1. you are standing still
2. they can see you
3. they can hear you
4. they can smell you
5. you can see them
6. you can hear them
7. you can smell them
8. you cannot see them
9. they are flanking you
10. they are grabbing you
11. you are bleeding
12. you are standing in a group
13. they are mounted
14. you are dismounted
15. you trust them
16. if they are attacking from range
17. if they are attacking from melee
18. they hit you from behind
19. you are prone
20. you are hungry
4. (1d6, 1-2: whenever, 3-4; every 2 times, 5-6: every 3 times) this monster strikes you it...
1. destroys
1. a limb
2. a hand or foot
3. a piece of armor
4. a weapon or shield
5. your food
6. your looks
2. swallows you
3. pins you to the ground
4. makes you their servant
5. makes you bleed out
6. sends you flying
7. grabs or restrains you
8. disarms you
9. steals a treasure
10. blinds you
11. makes you mute
12. deafens you
13. saps your strength
14. hobbles your speed
15. drives you mad
16. implants a parasite in you
17. knocks you prone
18. sets you on fire
19. stuns you
20. latches onto you
5. when this monster (1d6, 1-2: is struck, 3-4: reaches half health, 5-6: dies) it... 
1. grows a new...
1. limb
2. head
2. unleashes an area attack centered on itself
3. transforms into another monster
1. fully healed
2. still as wounded
4. releases a smaller creature from inside itself
5. divides into two weaker versions of itself
6. grows in...
1. size
2. speed
3. strength
7. becomes resistant to the type of attack that struck it
8. gains the ability to mimic the attack that struck it
9. gains a new...
1. ranged attack with an effect from table 4
2. melee attack with an effect from table 4
10. strikes you with a unique attack with an effect from table 4
6. this monster is usually
1. riding a steed
2. being ridden
3. above you
4. below you
5. found in pairs
6. in a swarm
7. waiting in ambush
8. issuing a challenge to you
9. hunting for...
1. prisoners
2. food
3. treasure
10. protecting
1. its young
2. its master
3. its home
4. a treasure

*if a monster has an on-death ability trigger that would be meaningless if it died (for example, growing a new head), the monster does not die, but remains one hit away from death, and the ability does not trigger again. 

is this Nagai???? maybe??? maybe not???

Drowned Raven Knight
Subtle + Crowned + Steed
Cables + Raven + Chains

can't be hit unless unshielded

can't be killed while in the water

fallen knight of the air, bound to his horse which is in turn bound with rusty chains to the bottom of the lake he drowned in. bedraggled raven crowning his head, wet and choking. wields a great winged shield that speeds his reactions, allowing him to effortlessly deflect attacks as it flits from side to side, sweeping his shield arm with it. in his other hand, a thread-thin cat-o-nine-tails, barely visible. so long as he is bound to the lake, his chains will not let him die, moving his body no matter how pained and broken. he wants more than anything to be free, but should he ask, the chains move to cover his mouth and gag him. 

Canker Burl

Mutation + Wood + Claws
Goblin + Innocent + Sores

when this monster reaches half health it strikes you with a unique attack that blinds you

can always hit you if you are hungry

ropy, brambled wood growths with fat clusters of scarlet berries. bud from the wood of old, withered trees that have been smothered away from sunlight by their kin, turning to flesh to feed themselves. Their false fruits are hard for the hungry to resist, but any hand that reaches is caught by cruel claws that leave lingering sores, flesh wrinkling into calcified buboes that prevent the wound from healing. striking them is a risky game; as they near destruction, the berries burst into sprays of caustic, clinging sap that burns and blinds. Children are warned to bring food with them into the woods; the forest provides no free meals. 

Vainglory Ghouls

Weight + Mocking + Clammy
Madness + Gnash + Promise

every 2 times this monster hits you it destroys your looks

this monster is usually above you

can always hit you if you are standing still

heavy folds of clammy skin, eyes bulging with jealous hatred under leathery eyelids. hang above you like huge teardrops, weighty with anticipation. endless inane mockery; childish taunting to chanted bigotry. slow moving; want you to engage, to stand still long enough to drop their mass on you, crushing the air from your lungs, blunt teeth ripping at your face, gnashing until it is as ugly as their own.

Radiant Angler-Wasp

Radiant + Leather + Exhaustion
Hook + Rattling + Lightning

can't be killed unless in sunlight

can always hit you if you can't see them

when this monster would die, it transforms into another monster (still as wounded, so 1 hit from death)

little lights in the darkness; coins, or phosphorus, gleaming crystal? bait; touch it, and your hand seizes closed around it. flashes of bioelectricity faintly illuminate a line, leading to the withered, nearly mummified angler. sapping your living energy into itself as you grow faint. the body is only a shell, a shelter for the real being. once it feeds enough, it will burst free, something like a wasp, a lightbulb, a satellite dish of coiled intestine, brain, and raw lightning. it'll fill as many hosts as it can with its electric seed, intent on birthing the next generation. natural light will melt the shell before the thing hatches; you'll stand a better chance as the premature pupae quivers. 

Lonely Gut Weaver

Terror + Dissection + Weaving
Wounds + Ogre + Lonely

can always hit you if you are bleeding

when this monster strikes you it makes you mute

fractal fingers; tiny needle hands tipping each sword length digit, microscopic hands atop the fingers of those, down and down and down. will unmake you entirely, wear your whole being in a blood-shroud around his shoulders. in this way staves off the loneliness. your tongue is the first to go; hard to work over wailing and whimpering. hums to himself in the brutal silence, draws blood out of your wounds like string. .

The Sleipnir Witch

Blindness + Cannibalizing + Passion
Witch + Mare + Arrows

can't be hit unless hit from behind

usually protecting its young

horse headed, blind, her empty sockets full of arrows sheathed in the grey matter of her brain. eight arms, four planted in the earth, the others wielding two bows of grey ash. broad back bent under the weight of her sharp-toothed children, who cling to the rough mane that runs from her scalp down her spine. her belly is marked with the scars of where they gnawed the teats from her body. they ate her eyes when she had nothing left to feed them. each of her children would make an unmatched familiar. she fights only to protect them, fires unceasingly ahead of her. arrowheads poisoned with the passions of her brain-blood; if it enters your bloodstream, her furious love of her children becomes your own.