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How to create unique character and creature concept - darktiste - 05-05-2015
Have you ever enjoy creating cool monsters or amazing hero? but somehow you don't know what exactly you can do to make it special and truly unique?If the answer is yes stay with me and we will see what aspect help us to come up with new interesting idea before starting the thumbnail stage.
This thread will cover the following aspect:The environnement,Natural Role,Attack mechanism,Defense mechanism,Sex,Age,Size,Type,Type modifier and interesting concept template to build on
Before going more in depth i would like to tell you that this thread is focus on looking at the different element that can play a role in determining the look of the future thumbnail that we went to achieve.
The environment
The environment play a big role in the color and look of the character or creature that live in it.The environment generally help to determine what a character wear or what kind of skin a creature has.
Let look at the possible environment.
1-Aquatic
2-Arctic
3-Desert
4-Plains
5-Forest
6-Hill
7-Mountains
8-Marsh
9-Underground
10-Volcanic
11-Ruin
12-Space
for a quick description of each environment
Aquatic:The character or the creature live in fresh or salt water.
Arctic:The character or the creature live in extremely cold environments
Desert:The character or the creature live in any dry area with sparse vegetation.
Plains:The character or the creature live in any fairly flat area that is not a desert, marsh, or forest.
Forest:The character or the creature live in any area covered with trees.
Hill:The character or the creature live in any area with rugged, but not mountainous, terrain.
Mountains:The character or the creature live in any Rugged terrain, higher than hills.
Marsh:The character or the creature live in Low, flat, waterlogged areas.
Underground:The character or the creature live in Subterranean area
Volcanic:The character or the creature live near active volcano
Ruin:These forgotten locations were ravaged by the forces of time, the elements, or something more sinister
Space:The character or creature live in a almost zero gravity environment
Swamp:The character or creature live in a wetland that is forested
Natural Role
The natural role of a character or creature determine many of the body feature and how it behave in the world you create.
1-Predator
2-Prey
3-Parasite
Attack mechanism
This an important point to determine as it affect greatly the ''coolness'' of character or creature.
SLAM DAMAGE:such as punches,constriction, slaps, and the like.
BITE DAMAGE: mouth or teeth.
CLAW DAMAGE:by scratching, tearing, raking, or poking with an appendage.
GORE DAMAGE:any attack with a horn or antlers.
WEAPON DAMAGE:Any item Made to cut pierce or slam
Defense mechanism
This an important point to determine as it affect greatly the ''coolness'' of character or creature.
Camouflage
Escaping mechanism
Flying ability
Skin propriety: Acid, cold, flammable, in wood, incorporeal,Poisonous,metallic or gelatinous
Invulnerability to something specific:Fire,cold or poison
Thorn
Scale
WEAPON
Gender
The sex of a being generally affect the body proportion and there outfit in most case.
1-Male
2-Female
3-Hermaphrodite
4-asexual
Age
The classification can apply to any entity rather than represent a fix number of years it represent different morphological phase of an entity for example a human of a same age of a elf would not necessarly be consider both adult in there respective society.So age is a social construct to help determine the phycial evolution and statue of an entity.Not all entity age for example animated object.Some entity also do not necessary go from Very young to Ancient but are created to have the morphological propriety of it creator choose such as a clone for example such clone generally have a lower level of intelligence due to there leak of experience they would look similar to an entity of the same age but would be of a similar intelligence as a very young entity they are a clone of.Clone are not just physical entity resulting from
biological manipulation some are the result of magical experience for example an elemental could be cloned magical those clone are more instable they are not mere illusion but the result of splicing one entity into a fragment of itself such fragment is can also suffer from mental illness such as impostor syndrome unable to determine itself to be the real original or the copy.
Very young
Young
Juvenile
Young Adult
Adult
Mature Adult
Old
Very old
Ancient
Size
Because sometime size matter.
1-Tiny
2-Small
3-Medium
4-Large
5-Huge
6-Gargantuan
7-Colossal
Locomotion
How do they move
1-Leg
2-Arm
3-Tentacle
4-Fins
5-Wing
6-Mount
7-Prosthesis
8-Levitation
9-Vehicle
10-Paws
Type
Each type determine many of the creature characteristics and abilities
1-Aberration
2-Animal
3-Beast
4-Construct
5-Dragon
6-Elemental
7-Fey
8-Giant
9-Humanoid
10-Magical beast
11-Monstrous Humanoid
12-Ooze
13-Outsider
15-Plant
16-Shapechanger
17-Undead
18-Vermin
Type description
ABERRATION:This type works best for creatures that look just plain weird.
Aberrations have bizarre anatomies, strange abilities, alien
mindsets, or any combination of the three.
Get inspiration by looking at deep sea creature, parasite,alien,insect,worm
Keyword:Bizarre anatomies and strange abilities
Animal:This type usually won’t be suitable for any creature you’ve dreamed up yourself unless you’re setting out to create a completely alien ecology and you need creatures to fill the same ecological niches that Earth animals do.
Animals are non-humanoid creatures, usually vertebrates. If the creature lived on Earth during human history (a bear, for example), it’s an animal. A creature that is just a larger or fiercer version of a normal animal is also an animal.
Keyword:vertebrates,nonhumanoid and no magical abilities.
Get inspiration by looking at animal kingdom
Beast:This is a step up from a normal animal. Use it for any fairly mundane creature that doesn’t have any magical abilities. Though beasts can be smarter than animals, they can have animal Intelligence . You can use this type for real world creatures that were extinct at the dawn of recorded history, such as dinosaurs.
Keyword:vertebrates,nonhumanoid and no magical abilities.
Get inspiration by looking at animal kingdom
Construct:Use this type for any creature that was built rather than born.Construct can be made of anything with the help of magic.
Constructs are animated objects or artificially constructed
creatures (a golem, for example).
Keyword:Animated,mechanical
Dragon:Use the dragon type for variations on the basic dragon design (a flying reptile with supernatural abilities).A dragon is exceptionally powerful,combining excellent defense with combat abilities and a wide selection of skills. If your creature is essentially just a flying reptile (such as a pterodactyl), the beast type is probably more suitable.
Dragons are reptilian creatures, usually winged, with
magical or unusual abilities (a red dragon, for example).
Any dragon with magical abilities or breath weapons should
include an elemental subtype (air, earth, fire, or water).
Keyword:Winged Reptile with elemental ability
Elemental:Use the elemental type for any creature composed of one of the four classical elements(air, earth, fire, or water).
Elementals are composed of one or many of the four classical
elements (a fire elemental, for example). But don't limit yourself an go wild the can be made of pretty much anything.
Keyword:Made of a specific element
Fey:Fey are creatures with supernatural abilities and connections to nature or to some other force or place (a dryad, for example). They are usually human-shaped.
Keyword:Humanoid,Nature bound,supernatural abilities
Giant:If your creature is human shaped and is at least as big as an ogre it’s probably a giant, especially if it doesn’t have a lot of special abilities but has great strength.
Keyword:Humanoid,giant size version of a normal entity
Humanoid:Anything that resembles a human and is smaller than an ogre probably should be a humanoid.
Humanoids usually have two arms, two legs, and one
head, or a humanlike torso, arms, and head. They have
few or no supernatural or extraordinary abilities, and
usually are Small or Medium-size (a goblin, for example).
Keyword:one head,humanlike torso,two arms and two legs
Magical beast:If your creature resembles an animal but has supernatural or spell-like abilities, it’s probably a magical beast.
Magical beasts are similar to beasts (see above), but have supernatural or extraordinary abilities
Keyword:animal,supernatural or spell-like abilities
Monstrous Humanoid: Use this type for just about anything that combines elements of human and animal or monster anatomy unless it is weird enough to qualify as an aberration.
These are humanoid creatures with monstrous or animalistic features, often having supernatural abilities (a medusa,for example).
Keyword:one animal or humanoid head,animal or humanoid torse,two arms animal or humanoid,two legs animal or humanoid
Supernatural,Hybrid
Ooze:If it’s a mindless, amorphous blob, it’s an ooze. Otherwise, it’s probably an aberration.
Oozes are amorphous or mutable creatures (a gelatinous cube, for example).
Outsider:If it comes from another plane of existence and it’s not an elemental, it’s an outsider.
Outsiders are nonelemental creatures that come from other dimensions, realities, or planes (a devil, for example).
Plant:
Shapechanger:Use this type for any creature whose favorite trick is turning into something or someone else.
These are nonamorphous creatures that can assume other forms (a doppelganger, for example).
Keyword:Shape shifting ability,
Undead:Undead are once-living creatures animated by spiritual or supernatural forces (a zombie, for example).
Keyword:once-living creatures
Vermin:Use this type for giant bugs and other mindless invertebrates. If your creature has an Intelligence and you’ve considered the vermin type, it’s probably a beast or aberration instead.
This type includes insects, arachnids, arthropods, worms, and similar invertebrates (a monstrous spider, for example).
Type modifier
A type modifier indicate that a creature is associated with an element,a form of energy,a state of being,or the like.
1-Air
2-Aquatic creature
3-Aphibious Creature
4-Cold
5-Earth
6-Fire
7-Incorporeal
TYPE MODIFIERS description
Such modifiers include:
Air,Earth,Fire,Water,Aquatic,Amphibious,Cold,Incorporeal.A type modifier creates a subtype within a larger type, such as undead (incorporeal); links creatures that share characteristics, such as humanoid (goblinoid); or connects members of different types. For example, white dragons and frost giants belong to the dragon and giant types, respectively, but they are also of the cold subtype.Some common type modifiers that affect the creature’s abilities are listed below.
Air:They probably have a special effect related to Air
Aquatic creature
suited for water
Amphibious Creature
suited for both land and water
Cold:Cold creatures are immune to cold. They don't generally mix well with fire type.They probably have a special effect related to cold.
Earth:probably have a special effect related to the earth
Fire:Fire creatures are immune to fire. They don't generally mix well with Cold type.They probably have a special effect related to fire.
Incorporeal:Incorporeal creatures have no physical bodies. They can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures.
abilities. They are immune to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons.Incorporeal creatures can pass through solid objects at will.
Below you will find interesting concept that can be apply to enhance the uniqueness of a character or creature
Abominations
(often called hybrids) are fusions of two normal creatures that are just as often intelligent as they are rampaging beasts. No one knows how abominations come to be: perhaps the result of experimentation by a mad wizard or druid, a wish or miracle gone awry, or the wrath a deity. The end result that fuses two creatures together often destroys the mind of the hapless beings, forcing them into madness and evil.
Arctic
This kind of creatures dwell in extremely cold environments.
Beast of Chaos
A beast of chaos is a animal that has been warped when the demonic forces. A beast of chaos vaguely resembles the animal it once was. Its skin and fur become leprous and patchy; its color fades to a dull sheen; its teeth become razor–sharp and more pronounced; its eyes turn to a bright golden yellow.
Chimeric Creature
Chimeric creatures are hybrids that combine the traits of a monstrous goat and a chromatic dragon with those of a third creature, which must be an animal, beast, or vermin.
A chimeric creature has at least three heads. The goat head sits to the right of the other heads. It has glowing amber eyes and long ochre horns. The scaly dragon head sits to the left and has black eyes. The dragon scales of a chimeric creature may be black, blue, green, red, or white. The central head of a
chimeric creature is the head of the third creature. A chimeric creature has the hindquarters of a black goat, the wings of a dragon, and the forequarters of the third creature.
Corrupted Creature
Powerful evil, unchecked and rampant, can horribly alter any aspect of the physical world, and creatures are no exception. Twisted by malevolence, corrupted creatures take on a hideous appearance and gain evil powers and dire intent.Corrupted creatures have unique countenances, each reacting to the source of malevolence in a different way.Most have twisted, misshapen (often asymmetrical) forms; mottled, discolored flesh; and reddish eyes. Although one might be tempted to confuse a corrupted creature with a fiendish or half-fiend creature, the corrupted creature usually has a more mutated and ungainly appearance.
Dustform creatures
Creatures long-dead eventually become dust, and as dust they can return. Dustform creatures appear more or less as they did in life, though in form only. Even casual observation reveals that they are composed entirely of compacted dust, like realistic but not quite finished statues.
Fungal
A fungal creature is an animate plant with the appearance of a living being. It grows from spores implanted in the dead body of a host , and takes on the host basic form and many of there abilities.Their skin is pale fungus rather than flesh and blood. Mushroom caps and shelf fungi sprout from a fungal creature's body, along with fungal gills to deliver the fungal creature's spores.
Ghostly
A ghost is the semitangible being. Instead of a physical body made of muscle, bone, and blood, it has a ghost body made of transparent ectoplasm.In general, a ghost appears as it did at the moment its physical body died, although some ghosts learn how to reshape their ectoplasm and alter their appearance.
Gluttonous
A gluttonous being is capable of consuming much more than would seem healthy for a member of its race, and its weight certainly shows.
Half-Forged
Half-Forged are being made as you can imagine made of flesh and metal .
God touched
Those being are generally stronger version of there normal counterpart working for a specific divinity
Hellspawn
Coming from the infernal planes; those being generally have red skin and horns, as well as claws.
Lich
A lich is skeletal and usually humanoid
(although some monstrous humanoids and aberrations occasionally follow the lich path). Its flesh is parchment-dry and clings tightly to its bones, and a thick encrustation of glittering white salt covers its
body. A weird green light lights its hollow eye sockets.It is garbed as it was in life, which is generally in a
simple and practical costume rather than the ornate robes of typical liches. A lich is undead created by means of an ancient ritual. Those who choose this path to immortality escape death by becoming, undead, but prolonged existence in this state often drives them mad.Liches are cold, scheming creatures that hunger for ever greater power, long-forgotten knowledge, and the most terrible of arcane secrets.
Living spell
For reasons unknown spell effects occasionally took on sentience and refused to dissipate.
Mutant
A new mutation of a already existing living being
Swarm-Shifter
The vampire that explodes into a flock of bats, the mummy that crumbles into a pile of scorpions—these are swarm-shifters,that have the power to become swarms.A swarm-shifter appears like a normal being until its body explodes into a swarm.
Tauric
A tauric creature is a hybrid being possessing the head, arms,and upper torso of a humanoid, and the legs and lower body of an animal, beast, or vermin. Some are created as the result of magical experiments or as divine punishment for failing their deities. not to be confused with two-legged humanoid/creature hybrids such as the minotaur or the satyr,which have different traits from their apparent component creatures.
Woodling
Woodling creatures have bonded with nature; to a large
extent, they have become plant creatures.They are one with nature.
Possessed Creature
A Possessed Creature often have Glowing eyes, bristly hair, warts, boils, scars, long nails, and twisted limbs or no sign at all
Monstrous Lycanthrope
this modifier can be add to any humanoid
A Monstrous Lycanthrope can assume many form.The humanoid form,is animal form and is hybrid form
(Example a werewolf can assume is human form, is wolf form and a hybrid form combining is humanoid side and is creature side.
Skeleton
This modifier can be add to any corporeal being (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
Slimy
This modifier can be add to any corporeal being
This creature is covered by colored secretion or simple turn into a semi transparent version of them self
Vampire
A vampire is a creature that can create vampire spawn .Some are intelligent and act similarly to normal vampires, while others are bestial and are merely powerful hunters with new dangerous abilities augmenting their normal ones.A vampire appears much as it did in life its features are often hardened and feral; creatures that already have such an appearance sometimes acquire red glowing eyes,longer teeth, and larger claws.Vampires often suffer a chromatic change after their transformation, becoming darker or lighter in color.Vampires cast no shadows and throw no reflections in mirrors.
Zombie
This modifier can be add to any corporeal creature (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (referred to hereafter as the base creature).Raise from the dead those being are generally pale and weak version of there one living self in different stage of decomposition.
Role
1-Artillery
2-Brute
3-Controller
4-Lurker
5-Minion
6-Skirmisher
7-Soldier
8-Elite
9-Solo
10-Leader
Artillery
Excel at ranged combat.
Brute
Specialize in dealing damage in melee.Brutes have relatively low defenses but high vitality.They don’t hit as often.but they deal a lot of damage when they hit.They don’t move around a lot, and they’re often big.
Controller
Controller manipulate their enemies or the battlefield to their advantage. They restrict enemy options or inflict lasting conditions, alter terrain or weather, or bend the minds of their adversaries.
Lurker
Lurker have some ability that lets them avoid attacks, whether by striking from hiding or by turning into an invulnerable statue while regaining strength.They usually deliver devastating attack when they judge the moment in there favor darting in from time to time with a well-timed strike. Lurkers study the there prey before going into combat generally.
Minion
Designed to serve as shock troops and cannon fodder
Skirmisher
Skirmisher use mobility to threaten there target
Soldier
Generally a group of being working together under the supervision of a Leader or Elite
Elite
Elite are tougher than there standard counterpart and constitute more of a threat than standard counterpart
Solo
They have great vitality, and they deal alot of damage and will prefer to fight alone
Leader
“Leader” is not a stand-alone role.It is an additional quality or subrole of some brutes, soldiers, skirmishers,
lurkers, artillery, and controllers.A leader grants bonuses and special abilities to its followers, improving their attacks
or defenses, providing some healing,or enhancing their normal abilities.
RE: How to create unique character and creature concept - Lege1 - 01-30-2023
@darktiste What an amazing write up and thank you for taking the time to do this! This is information is very helpful and informative and following this can really help the potential in making a really great and successful creature concept!