>>43247321

I think you're a boring faggot for ruining a cool concept with such base bullshit.

>>43247376

Ok. What would you suggest instead?

>>43247321
Sounds dumb, but think harder. Get the brain juices flowing, bump your head against it, train your creativity, then ask for critique. You don't come with nothing and say "Do my job for me!".

>>43247898

I'm just scouting for ideas is all. I literally found that picture in another thread and I liked it so much I wanted to see what people would do with them to make a race out of it.

>>43247321
So is the skull their actual skull? Is it a mask? Do they have another skull under that skull since that one would get all dirty and infected after awhile?

>>43247321
First of all, are those masks natural or worn? If they're natural that suggests calcified dermal deposits.

>>43248119
>>43248136

I would say the skull is actually fused with the inside of their head, but the risk of infection isn't there because its more like antler or horn, just a full mask.

If you pried it off, they would die. Additionally; I had the idea that each could have a secret name or symbol or spell or something in that head-mask, so Wizards might try to kill these guys for this reason.

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>>43248398
>If you pried it off, they would die.

How big are these guys exactly?

>>43247884
Not the rude anon but I agree those sound boring. Also >>43248136 brings up an important lore question on what direction to take them.
>Natural mask
How about they before partial necromancy as a form of healing? They essentially reanimate parts of the subject that have sustained massive injury so it can further function, at a reduced state and then they use medicines (or crafts). It would have the downside and risk of spreading to the rest of the body if not properly treated in a timely manor.
>Worn mask
Tribal species that preform ritual worship of the dead, and invoke the spirits of the dead during these rituals as a form of boon creation. The spirit can communicate with the host in most situations. They could also be used to haunt people and slowly drive them mad or even wound them physically as a form of curses. A good reference with what I direction I'm thinking is MTG's Abzan but with a more voodoo style and less order.
>Demon esque race
High quality demon assassins that can only be summoned in mass through a couple dozen bodies and ornamental skull masks. They attack in coordinated assaults with swift movements and form strike patterns with a pair going in to kill the target with another to pair to secure the corpse. The bodies are used to sacrifice for more summons, or maybe sent to some kind of arch demon who is the master of them all.

>>43248119
Vultures clean their beaks and exposed heads through sun bleaching to avoid infection, and it works out very well especially considering their primary food source. A species with "exposed" skull, or more likely very thick head plating, can easy keep it clean and avoid infection with care.

>>43247321
CUBONE!!!

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reminds me of this guy

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>>43248483

>>43248500
>Hey kid, wanna start a Totemist quest thread?

OP, this might be a big departure from your original vision, but personally, I would not resist the temptation to play on their rather terrifying appearance and the expectations that brings, and turn them into something that defiles it.
In other word, I'd make them into patient, fairly kind creatures, maybe some sort of a mount animal. A dog-like body, long tail, very nimble and agile. Perhaps - since their appearance slightly reminds me of that of a hyena, they could be scavengers, or at least used to be before they were domesticated. Live in small groups with a strict hierarchy, quite strong and potentially dangerous with their claws and fangs, but rarely actually aggressive - they are big enough (roughly the size of a small horse) actually makes them rarely a prey. When trained, they can be actually incredibly loyal and quite clearly caring and gentle, though when cornered an abused, they can go full on berserk.

I'd generally play out the whole "appearance vs. reality" theme, down to various predjudices towards them from certain cultures, iconography that depicts them as reapers (or generally associated with Death) or considering them demons or devils, while in reality their character absolutely does not support it.
That is the sort of stuff I'd do with an animal like this.

>>43248483
>Demon esque race
This has interested me. How were they summoned in the first place though? Just a ritual of a body and skulls?

>>43247884
>>43248483

Don't make them yet another not!furry race. These guys remind me of nature spirits and give off serious "eerie fey" vibes, so do something with that. Combine with the 'worn mask' suggestion of the other Anon, and you could have a race that are reclusive and aloof, coming and going and doing their own strange business and not explaining shit to anyone. How it works is that they might have personal missions that take lifetimes to complete, so the younger generation often dons the skull of their ancestor to essentially become them. This allows you to make a PC race that's different from the same old human/pointy-eared human/short bearded human route, by making them strange yet still giving incentive to adventure or do shit with a group. Bonus points for giving them a racial that allows them to blink short distances when not being observed, or raise mist or shit.

>demon assassins
Yeah, some good ideas, but you fucked it up. I like the idea of summoning a murderous creature to do your bidding through a skull, you could keep that. But they should be solitary, unstoppable terminators until their bidding is done or some convoluted bullshit quest is done to stop them. Instead of making them demon, just make them an ambiguous spirit.

>I had the idea that each could have a secret name or symbol or spell or something in that head-mask, so Wizards might try to kill these guys for this reason.

That's stupid.

>>43248546
A tangent on this, I'd like to see a miyazaki approach. Have them be enigmatic, and strange even when you get to know them, but not malicious. At most I'd have them be undertaker type of deal. The party comes across a skeleton out in the forest, one of these guys comes and picks up the skeleton and carries it behind a tree, disappearing without a trace.

Or if you were going for sapients, I might have them be quasi-spirit people. Very tribal and ritualistic, anybody of the race that fights would be rangers and warlocks, and overall have a very native-american feel to them, buying really into the whole spirit-magic stuff

>>43248546
>>43248605
>>43248613

To combine some ideas here, why not make them weird carrion eaters; but for the spiritual world instead?

So they are fully formed as-is in the woods, sauntering out and mingling with normal society, but always on the outskirts. They'd normally be painfully neutral, and aren't necessarily evil or scary, just a bit weird.

However their main ecological 'niche' is that they eat ghosts. Lost spirits and souls of the departed sometimes linger in our world before entering the spirit realm and either reincarnating, becoming a spirit entity, or being dissolved away into spiritual-pathos that flows through all living and dead things.

So instead, these guys are kind of like the eaters of the carrion of the spirit realm, and as such ghosts and the undead are terrified of them. Maybe they even get a bit of power or energy from doing this, besides just physical nourishment. Maybe they live forever, supping from this ghostly life force.

>That's stupid.
Why? It plays into the old Phrenology idea of skulls and brains housing knowledge and gives them a mystical edge that explains, at least for this creature/race type, why Wizards may be interested in their body parts.

>>43248666
>A tangent on this, I'd like to see a miyazaki approach.
Funny thing, I was actually thinking of Miyazaki when I wrote that post. Yeah, I think that is a good option to. I would not go as far as making them quasi-people, but making them sentient and enigmatic, something akin the weird elk creatures in Naushicaa (the manga) might not be a bad idea. These creatures everybody thought were just clever animals eventually turn out to be much more than that - god know what they really want and are capable off, but they clearly aren't malicious. They are just kinda... there, doing... their things.

>>43248690

>Why

Look at the homebrew beastfolk race I made that look evil but are actually good and misunderstood and evil wizards kill them because they want their power

I like the spiritual carrion eaters idea, they ear ghosts and other forms of undead, and perceive astrally

They stalk the boundaries of the afterlife, consuming spirits foolish enough to wander too far

>>43248690
I like that idea. That's good. How did they form in the first place though?

>>43248605
>Sause of demons
Arch-demon-mc-needs-a-name Is essentially a trickster who disguises himself as a lesser devil seeking to make deals with mortals. He offers them some kind of service through his large amount of demon-man-power for a "fair but good" price while gaining more then he is letting on from the act of deal. Both parties gain, the summoner trusts Arch-demon more, seeks his service more, he gains more resources, everyone wins (as long as he needs them). I would imagine his summoning would be kept note off and in some way passed down through generations of warlocks, or we can stick to him personally making the deals with the summoner.

>>43248613
>Generic DIE OR SOLVE MY ARBITRARY PUZZLE monsters
So it's a generic demon but with a deus ex machina enabling puzzle mechanic?

I like the idea of them being free spirits completing some kind of strange task though.

>>43248740
To act as a balance between the world of the living and the world of the dead would be my thoughts on it. Maybe some god's idea of "hey, I don't like all this undead stuff in my 'natural order' things. I think I'll make some sort of varmint that'll clean up after things die off. Like vultures or hyenas, but for undead things"

>>43248775
The why would you summon a spectral assassin if it can be killed by a schmuck in plate mail?
Demons are so fucking overdone anyway.

Making them wanderers that mind their own strange business that sometimes conflicts or aligns with the doings of other people is best. Could make them a bit like not!Vorlons in personality. Not manipulative or like that, but shortspoken, goal-oriented and not prone to telling anyone else anything but the absolute necessities. Would seem cool. Mix that with the spirit-carrion eater thingy if you want.

>>43248740

Two ideas.

The first is the more spiritual/mysterious approach that they just form without much understanding as to why, how or where, or the answer that perhaps dead souls can reincarnate as them to guard the spirit world, or they are the souls of the unborn giving a chance to live life half in one world and half in the other, and so forth.

The other more intricate and less mystical idea is;
They form from a hive-mind like commune of algae deep in the Earth; within aquifiers and gysers. These algae are the true members of their race, but occasionally they send up scouts to learn things about the world. Because they are still using the genetic run away and fossiled remains of creature from thousands of years ago, they just slap on whatever features on these guys that make sense to them; hence they have fur, claws, horns, fangs, bladed tail, maybe poison and so on. Then, they shoot them up to the world from gysers and sinkholes, typically with a bag of special silver coins minted deep in the earth that are of great quality.

The ghost eating thing can just be a weird side effect of them being created from this group, or like a way for them to 'gain a soul' by absorbing other souls and compositing one, maybe? So when they die they can float down to the realm and talk about what they learned? Pretty crazy, this one.

Also found another pic or two.

>>43248846
You clearly didn't read the first post on the demon assassins idea because it says they are summoned in packs, and hunt in packs. You can only summon a group of them at a time because individually they are pretty useless, but they have very strong synergy with themselves. Their power and ability to pick off targets is from their coordination and team work, not their raw power.

>>43248929
If the art is more stuff of the OP, be careful. Some of it gets gay.

>>43248948

Yeah I did, and it's still boring and stupid. If you got the magical power to summon spirits, you're going to be pretty fucking rich most likely, so just hire like thirty thugs. Same thing, less risks involved.

Or you know, summon something that actually gets shit done.

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>>43248948
>Some of it gets gay.

I wish I could just find more of it. I had to go to pintrest and fucking use inspect element and delete just to save these shitty pictures because it wanted me to MAKE AN ACCOUNT or SIGN IN WITHE FACEBOOK!!! So fucking bad. Christ.

>>43248986
Pintrist fucking sucks I agree. I know the guy is on tumblr some where, but I can't fish his account out.

>>43247321
Make them shed their skullplates annually with the change of seasons.

They use discarded skullplates as magic focuses and totems, and grind them down or strap them together as bone weapons and armor.

One decorates their homestead with their own skull faces all over the walls and thresholds, claiming it with their own visage the way wolves piss on patches.

Their burial mounds are macabre menageries of partial skulls. Lifetimes' worth.
They even arrange different sizes and consistencies of horns into musical instruments that clung soothingly when struck.

Because of this much of their architecture, dress, tools, weaponry, and cultural contributions are all derived from their own biology. They were born with the tools of survival and adapted them to the tools of society, and war.

Pretty damned animalistic.

>>43249082

I like it. But part of the mystery of the race is not knowing what they look like under their mask. If they shed their skulls that much, it seems like it would happen.

>>43249105
It should be like snake skin. A old layer being removed but not the entire thing.

>>43249105
Under this model the "mask" is their real face.
You never see under it because it is it. Without the skullplate there is only a spot where a face aught to be but isn't.

>>43249116
I like this, especially if the new layer is especially white and maybe even a little transparent. In the sunlight and from the right angel you can even see the nerves from their eyes traveling back to the start of their brain, and the reddish pink tint of their blood flowing just underneath their death mask.

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So have we decided on a name?

I personally like Ghost Drinkers, it also allows you to easy insult them and call them Soul Suckers to those superstitious other races that believe them not to be carrion eaters of the spirit world but predators who want to steal away what little hope for immortality humans already have.

>>43249544
Ghost Drinkers is a good colloquial name, but naming the race is gonna require us to dig into etymology and culture. They'll have a name for themselves and having it just be "Ghost Drinkers" is lazy writing. These guys give me a sort of Native American or African culture vibe, so we might wanna start by looking for names there.

>>43249592

Wendigos
Brujas
Bouda

>>43249655
Cucuy

>>43249544
Kin

>>43250166

Why Kin or Kindred? I'm not seeing a connection here.

>>43250078
Cucks

>>43250224
well I mean I saw some discussion about demon backgrounds
if they're as closely tied to demons as some were discussing It would be fitting
they're tied to 2 blood lines so they're sorta a link between societies/worlds

>>43248425
I was having a terrible day but you made me smile Anon.

>>43248500
>You ever tried human flesh?
>Heard it's pretty tasty...
>You should try some.

>>43249544
>>43249592
>>43250309

>Have a cool picture
>Start building a concept around it, some cool ideas get thrown in
>Some faggots make it into a demon furry soul-eater race with an edgy name

Fuck you /tg/, you can create beauty, but you sure know how to fuck things up too.

>>43250423
Did you see a cooler concept in it?

>>43250423
if it was my call they'd be brutal forest dwellers who solved mating fights through head butt contest
and have a specialty in necromatic magic a society made from slave zombies and harsh tribe like standards.

>>43247321
Call them Hollows and name them Gillian, Adjuchas and Arrancar.

>>43250568
Although you're likely joking there are plenty of skulled monsters in the myths and legends related to all south american cultures, there may be good sources of inspiration there that would already align with these forms.
Probably blood sacrifice related or even through the origins of Mexico's Day of the Innocents/Dead.

>>43249076
Hey I think I found it http://captainhanni.tumblr.com/

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>>43250713
lookit this fucker
he's gonna take those scissors
and barber the fuck out of you

>>43250713
>20 pages down the art tag later.

Shit. I'm in love.

So the skull-face is apparently Belial, if that means anything.

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>>43250713

Now this is starting to get good.

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>>43250861
You're telling me.

Player Report.

I've introduced one of the earlier variations of these creatures as outlined in several of anon's posts, (aloofness, dragging a skeleton behind a tree, etc.)
The approach my players have taken is putting the cleric-analogue in front of the party and calling the woods they are now discussing how to approach the cursed woods and the "obvious" necromancy held within.
Will update as things progress. They're more spooked than I thought they'd be, that's about all so far.

>>43249529
That would be cool but wouldn't make sense if the mask is bone. If we want something like it, it should be a crystal substance.

>>43250986
If we are sticking to the aloof nature of them but still having necromancy in their nature I would consider bone shrines built into trees to be the most fitting. Effigies of the dead for some kind of mysterious purpose that the players can figure out (or try to destroy them all for being vaguely demonic).

Maybe what they're actually doing is collecting the remains of people who suffered horrible fates in their forest and performing a ritual to put their souls to rest.

>>43248986
http://fuckyeahbelialandreno.tumblr.com

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>>43253310
>What are you doing?

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>>43248425

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>>43253310
>scrolling down
>random picture of the dude getting buttfucked by that thing

>>43247321
>I have no idea what to call them
Throwing together a bunch of syllables is the shitty fantasy writers way of doing it. Avoid that.

Translate some words associated with them into another language then see if any of those are good names. If not, see if you can combine two (no more then two) or drop a few letters to get a better fit.

I'd start with Latin, though if there is a particular language or culture they reflect then you should start there. If you do go with the whole Fey idea, then check out various Celtic languages.

>>43250486
This.
This.
THIS.

How would you describe this to your players well without showing them a picture?

>>43256244
"A scrawny and lengthy monster approaches you. It's body is covered in charcoal fur and is matted. It's tail is long and swings freely behind them. Their heads resemble that of a rabbits but they have a skull mask with two long horns arching to behind them stained grey. Their eye sockets apear empty and dark."
"A strange beast wanders towards your party. It's fur is a dark grey and looks to be a mess. It's tail is long and swings freely, with fur covering it like the rest of it. The top portion of it's face is exposed bone and forms a shape similar to that of most vermin. A pair of horns grow outward from the top of the head and point upward. The nostrils and eye sockets have are full of darkness."

I like the idea of making them like voodoo witch doctors

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SO PREPARE FOR THE COUP OF A CENTURY! PREPARE FOR THE MURKIEST SCAM! A SHINY NEW ERA, IS TIP TOEING NEARER

>>43257024
I like this. You could take goatmen/skinwalker stories from /x/ as inspiration for encounters

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Maybe instead of appearing one at a time they can sometimes appear in groups and philosophically decide what their purpose is.

>>43257173
So they just happen all of the sudden? I'm imagining a bar being empty one moment and full of them the next, giving the bartender a heart attack.
I like the idea of them traveling in a group but not spontaneous genesis. They need a cause, a source if they form on their own and aren't a breeding species.

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>>43257297

Potentially. I think that having more then one of them in a region would make them a bit more well adjusted and less super 'last of my kind' style personalities.

Of course, many of these pictures show them with expressive faces, including this one, which I don't know how I feel about. I think having the skull face locked in to one normal shape would make them weirder and more harder to see what they are feeling, which is also an interesting take on them.

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>>43257384
>many of these pictures show them with expressive faces, including this one, which I don't know how I feel about

Maybe make them so the skulls are like Drama Masks, where they mimic or make a mockery of human expressions in a way but are locked into that expression.

>>43257384
>Expressive faces
No, they have expressive bodies. Their faces are fairly stagnate, with minor shifts of the eyes, often being a glare. It's why most people are going with the aloof and free spirit personalty type of them.

>>43257494
That would be cool. Like, for each person it displays different expression and it shifts every time it reenters their peripheral vision. Would they be more of a trickster devil style then? I like the idea of drama masks, but it would feel weird if they were still aloof wanders or soul eaters.

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So, what other powers and abilities should these guys have?

The Ghost Drinker idea earlier up in the thread is neat, but don't forget about what this could mean. Some of them are gentle beings who try to suck up ancient insane ghosts, basically helping them move on or cease existing. Then, others could kill people and suck up their souls as they die, just to be edgy or spiteful.

Perhaps due to their bestial nature they have some enhanced physical stats and senses.

>>43257297
How about an off shot of the hive mind deal? Or perhaps wolfpack schtick?

They hunt souls, yes?

Why not undead in general?

As if the magic that permeates the animated dead and souls of the bound is like honey to a fly, the rotting stench of carrion to a vulture.

While they cannot technically die since they're something from deep within the earth that knows neither life nor its counter, there are times when they can lose their state, and thus when encountering strong or numerous undead and or souls, either or, they call out, calling for a hunt to gather.

This often leads them to attacking certain religious figures of powerful religions, attacking vamps, ghouls and all sorts of the like. But with them being so rare and uncommon, only rising to the earth in times of great death, stories of the truth become myth, myth becomes legend, and all too soon, those who wish to bury it all are the only ones left remaining.

Legends tell that if you see one, be kind. They will not attack you, many thinking they see a kindred spirit and will protect as such, for they are lonely creatures, intelligent as they may be.

And if you see more than just one in the same wood you live in, take care and ready to beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. The only time you may see two in a single lifetime is when war is on the horizon and they can smell the charion from beneath the soil they rest. They can hear the cries of the dead wandering those rusted grounds of wrought iron and red soil.

bump

>>43247321
What system?

>>43268564

None, or system agnostic. I intend to add them into my homebrew.

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If you want some design tips for it.
Just read The Magus' bride.

>>43268564
>wouldn't mind a Pathfinder stat block myself.

bump