Love the weresharks, Shemsu! And I've always loved the music from Strahd's Possession. It'd be amazing to have a version for NWN.
Here's a few more Ravenloft monsters that'd be great to see:
Broken Ones:
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Broken ones (or animal men) are the tragic survivors of scientific and magical experiments gone awry. While they were once human, their beings have become mingled with those of animals and their very nature has been forever altered by the shock of this event. It is rumored that some broken ones are the result of failed attempts at resurrection, reincarnation, or polymorph spells.
While broken ones look more or less human, they are physically warped and twisted by the accidents that made them. The characteristics of their non-human part will be clearly visible to any who see them. For example, a broken one who has been infused with the essence of a rat might have horrific feral features, wiry whiskers, curling clawed fingers, and a long, whip-like tail.
Mongrelmen:
Mongrelmen are a mixture of the blood of many species: humans, orcs, gnolls, ogres, dwarves, hobgoblins, elves, bugbears, bullywugs, and many others. Their appearance varies greatly, combining the worst features of their parent stocks. They are usually clad in dirty rags; they are ashamed of their appearance and try keep their bodies concealed, especially among strangers. They have no distinct tongue of their own, but speak a debased common, mixed with grunts, whistles, growls, and gestures. Their names often mimic animal noises.
In Ravenloft, mongrelmen inhabit the domain of G'henna, and are the result of a curse inflicted upon the unlucky as a result of the darklord's ire. Yagno Petrovna, high priest of the beast god Zakhata, places those he deems heretical upon an altar and strips away their humanity, leaving a mongrelman behind.
While mongrelmen and broken ones look similar, there are some important differences:
1. Broken ones always combine a human with the features of a particular animal, and many times are the result of surgery, and thus often have surgical scars in the places where animal and human meet.
2. Mongrelmen combine the features of various humanoid races, and only have bestial features from bestial humanoids (such as gnolls or lizard men). The mishmash of races appears natural on the body of the mongrelman and it does not have scars like broken ones often do.
Ravenloft Elementals:
Grave and Blood elementals
Mist and Pyre elementals
All four types. Background, left to right: Grave elemental, Pyre elemental, Mist elemental. Foreground: Blood elemental
Ravenloft elementals are not dissimilar to their more mundane cousins. However, they are created because of an unusual interaction between the Mists of Ravenloft and the fabric of the elemental planes. Thus, they tend to absorb some of the dark aspects common throughout the land and take on an aura of the macabre not found in elementals elsewhere.
Pyre Elemental
The wild and dancing pyre elemental is drawn from the flames of a funeral pyre or some large burning associated with a burial rite.
A pyre elemental appears as a slender column of intense flame with tendrils of fire licking away from it like the waving arms of a dancer.
Blood Elemental
A blood elemental can be called forth only from a large quantity of blood or from water drawn from the lungs of drowned men. Because of the difficulty in obtaining these materials, they are the rarest of the Ravenloft elementals.
Blood elementals appear as roughly humanoid creatures composed entirely of blood. They leave a trail of drying blood on the ground behind them and fill the air around them with the smells of salt and iron. A pair of fluid tentacles whip about the creature and allow it to manipulate objects and attack enemies.
Mist Elemental
A mist elemental is a relative of the traditional air elemental who has been formed from the essences of the Ravenloft Mists themselves. Once conjured, the mist elemental appears as a drifting cloud of white vapor that looks like nothing more than a patch of fog. Because of this, a mist elemental that is moving about in a region of fog or mist is treated as if it were invisible.
Grave Elemental
The grave elemental is a variant earth elemental that is drawn from the soil of a graveyard or similar resting place of the dead. It appears as a towering, man-shaped mass of earth with bones and the shattered remnants of coffins protruding from it.
Ravenloft Golems:
Left to right: Gargoyle golem, Glass golem.
Gargoyle Golem
The gargoyle golem is a stone construct designed to guard a given structure. It is roughly the same size and weight as a real gargoyle (6’ tall and 550 pounds). Although they have wings, they cannot fly. However, a gargoyle golem can leap great distances (up to 100 feet) and will often use this ability to drop down on enemies nearing any building the golem is protecting.
Glass Golem
The glass golem is very nearly a work of art. Built in the form of a stained glass knight, the creature is often built into a window fashioned from such glass. Thus, it usually acts as the guardian of a given location – often a church or shrine.
Glass golems, like most others, never speak or communicate in any way. When they move, however, they are said to produce a tinkling sound like that made by delicate crystal wind chimes. If moving through a lighted area, they strobe and flicker as the light striking them is broken into its component hues.
Left to right: Mechanical golem, Zombie golem
Mechanical Golem
The mechanical golem is a nightmare combination of magic and technology first woven together in the mind of a madman. They come in many sizes, but are generally man-like in shape. In most cases, they have some manner of melee weapon built onto one of their arms.
A mechanical golem moves with a variety of whirs, clicks, and other mechanical sounds. It occasionally releases a hissing sound and a cloud of steam. Despite the creature’s jury rigged appearance, however, it is a smoothly functioning and deadly machine.
Zombie Golem
First created by Azalin from information he gleaned while in the employ of Strahd von Zarovich of Barovia, these foul creatures look much like flesh golems. Unlike those traditional golems, however, these creatures are composed of rotting body parts and carry the stench of death about them wherever they go.
Unlike flesh golems which are able to emit a guttural roar when they engage in combat, zombie golems are utterly silent. They move slowly and without thought, attacking in a lackluster manner that has been retained from their undead status.
Left to right: Doll golems, Bone golem.
Doll Golem
The doll golem is an animated version of a child’s toy that can be put to either good uses (defending the young) or evil uses (attacking them). It is often crafted so as to make it appear bright and cheerful when at rest. Upon activation, however, its features become twisted and horrific.
Bone Golems are already in NWN.
Maggot Golem:
A maggot golem at first glance appears to be a shambling, offwhite mound that is vaguely humanoid but with a constantly shifting form. It walks upright on two legs and has two arms but these appendages are constantly changing in length and thickness, as are the dimensions of its torso. The maggot golem’s head is also in flux, at times appearing as a mere nub on the shoulders, at other times having definite features such as eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
The explanation behind this shifting is that this type of golem is constructed of living organisms, maggots, to be specific. These are constantly turning into flies which circle around the golem’s head and return to the golem to lay eggs, completing the cycle by hatching more maggots. Some of the maggots drop from the golem and lie writhing in its wake, but these are replaced at a phenomenal rate.
Snow Golem:
First discovered on the arctic island of Todstein (as described in the adventure Ship of Horror), snow golems are similar to greater golems. Like others of their ilk, they are usually employed to guard an important item or entryway.
A snow golem can be sculpted in any appearance, but is usually portrayed as a humanoid figure wearing armor and a helmet. It usually carries no weapons and does not use a shield. Their helmets are usually sculpted into bizarre, frightening shapes such as snarling animals or horrid, leering faces. Because they have been hardened beyond the consistency of snow, they resemble white marble statues. Indeed, they are often mistaken for such things or for snow-covered topiary figures.
Snow golems cannot speak, although the wind seems always to blow mournfully when they move, creating a haunting sound that can chill the heart as surely as the cold climate does the flesh.
Mist Golem:
Mist golems are creatures of fate, brought into being accidentally by misguided wizards and priests who do not fully understand what they are doing. No one sets out to build a mist golem, but in a fool’s rush to complete the building of some other automaton, tragic circumstance often takes a hand, and even the most dedicated of labors goes astray.
Mist golems look very much like swirling wisps of vapor and billowing clouds of steam mystically constrained in the shape of a 12-foot-tall man or woman. They often resemble the man or woman responsible for creating them. When moving through areas of fog. they are all but invisible, although they may be plainly seen whenever they wish to be.
