New Creature Type: Great Beast

One of the biggest, and most well-known, threats to anyone living in Requerm is the ever-present existence of Great Beasts. Great Beasts are powerful animals that wander the wilderness, and are known primarily for their ruthless, aggressive, territorial behaviors that go beyond the scope of normal animals. While they are usually not strong enough to take down strongholds by themselves, they are often powerful enough to wipe out small adventuring parties, and even entire settlements, if their targets are not prepared enough. Because of this, an entire industry has developed around the hunting of these precarious beasts, with specialists trained to track down, study, capture, and slay them.

"Great Beast" is, mechanically, a new creature type meant to reflect the many boss monsters that originally appeared in the Monster Hunter series. They are essentially more powerful variants of the animal creature type and share many similarities to them, to the point that smaller creatures brought over from the Monster Hunter series are, in fact, animals.

Great Beast is a creature type with quite a few subtypes, to the point that any effect/ability where you have to choose a creature type, such as humanoid and/or outsider, you must also choose a subtype if that ability or effect requires you to choose a subtype for humanoid and/or outsider. For example, the Ranger's Favored Enemy class ability requires you to pick a subtype if you choose Great Beast because it requires you to choose a subtype if you pick humanoid and/or outsider.

Features: Great Beasts have the following features-

• d12 Hit Die
• BAB equal to Hit Dice (Fast Progression)
• Good Fortitude and Reflex Saves
• Skill points equal to 2 + Int modifier (minimum 1) per Hit Die. The following are class skills for Great Beasts: Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim.

Traits: A Great Beast possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry)-

• Intelligence score of 1 or 2. (no creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher can be a Great Beast)
• Low-light vision.
• Alignment: Always neutral.
• Treasure: None.
• Proficient with its natural weapons only.
• Proficient with no armor.
• Great Beasts breathe, eat, and sleep.

Common Abilities: While Great Beasts vary greatly in their specific abilities, skills, attacks, etc, there are a few abilities that are mostly consistent between all creatures with this creature type. Below is a list of known abilities.

Great Rage (Ex): When a Great Beast's fight or flight reflex is triggered, typically when its HP is reduced to a certain threshold specified in its stat block, it takes significant damage in a single hit, and/or another sufficiently dangerous action is taken against it, it may enter into a Great Rage as a free action. This functions as the Unchained Barbarian's Rage class ability, using the creature's HD as its effective unchained barbarian level. Depending on the Great Beast, it may also gain a bonus to its Great Rage as if it had the Unchained Barbarian's Greater Rage (i.e. Apex Predators) and/or Mighty Rage (i.e. Elder Dragons) class abilities. Additionally, a Great Beast may obtain Rage Powers the same way an Unchained Barbarian does.

Raging Screech (Ex): When a sufficiently powerful Great Beast uses its Great Rage ability, as part of the action, it may make a Raging Screech, debilitating all creatures within a specified radius. There are several tiers to the strength of this ability depending on the specific Great Beast, with higher DCs and more conditions inflicted on creatures in wider radiuses when used by stronger Great Beasts. The DC to resist this screech is, typically, 10 + 1/2 the Great Beast's HD + the Great Beast's Constitution Modifier. This is a sonic effect. If enough rounds have passed, and the Great Beast is still raging, it may screech additional times, up to a number of times specified in its stat block. The following is a list of the aforementioned tiers, with the usual descriptor of the Great Beast in parenthesis (This is more of a guideline than a rule, however. It is the specific creature's stat block that determines the actual tier):

• Tier 0 (Standard Great Beasts): These Great Beasts, while having the capability to scream, do not scream loudly enough to have a physical, mechanical impact on their adversaries.
• Tier 1 (Advanced Great Beasts): On a failed fortitude save, creatures within 10ft of the Great Beast are dazed and deafened for 1 round. A successful saving throw prevents the dazed condition.
• Tier 2 (Apex Predators): On a failed fortitude save, creatures within 20ft of the Great Beast are stunned and deafened for 1 round. A successful saving throw reduces the stunned condition to the dazed condition. Creatures between 20ft and 30ft are treated as if affected by the tier 1 version of this ability.
• Tier 3 (Elder Dragons): On a failed fortitude save, creatures within 30ft of the Great Beast are stunned and deafened for 2 rounds. A successful saving throw reduces the stunned condition to the dazed condition. Creatures between 30ft and 45ft are treated as if affected by the tier 2 version of this ability, and creatures between 45ft and 60ft are treated as if affected by the tier 1 version of this ability.

Desperate Retreat (Ex): When a Great Beast reaches a certain threshold specified in their stat block, they will often attempt to flee. While attempting to take a withdraw action while this condition is met, all of the Great Beast's movement speeds are doubled, and it does not provoke attacks of opportunity while moving through any threatened squares. After the initial withdraw action, the Great Beast can continue to sprint towards safety in this way (By taking run actions) for minutes equal to its constitution score before it is forced to rest. The moment it stops fleeing and begins to rest, it is exhausted for 1 hour. A Great Beast usually attempts to flee towards a designated resting spot that it considers its home, although it will not do so if it knows the location isn't safe.

Tempered Great Beasts: A Tempered Great Beast is a Great Beast that has survived the harsh climates of Requerm long enough to develop new, special skills, stronger attacks, and bulkier defenses, compared to their younger brethren. These Great Beasts are easily identified by their Navy Blue Scar Mark, considered by many to be a special form of Arbiter's Mark that has only ever been seen on Great Beasts. It is believed that, unlike other Arbiter's Marks, the Navy Blue Scar only appears on a Great Beast after it has accumulated enough experiences to warrant its associated strength. This goes against most scholars' understanding of other Arbiter's Marks that typically appear on a living creature the moment they first arrive in Requerm. Mechanically speaking, a Tempered Great Beast is one that has ascended to mythic status, obtaining mythic ranks the same way any base creature obtains additional strength when ascending to mythic.

Subtypes: Below is a list of subtypes for the Great Beast creature type. Details on these subtypes may be made available as players progress through the game.

Bird Wyvern

Flying Wyvern

Piscine Wyvern

Carapacean

Amphibian

Fanged Beast

Leviathan

Snake Wyvern

Brute Wyvern

Fanged Wyvern

Elder Dragon

A note on taming: Despite their many similarities to the animal creature type, Great Beasts are currently unable to be tamed in the same way. A handle animal check, at best, may deter a Great Beast from attacking immediately. Handle Animal checks can still be rolled against Great Beasts, but with a -5 penalty. The same can be said for a Druid's Wild Empathy class ability, or other such similar abilities. Despite any character's best efforts, Great Beasts are either too complex and/or too aggressive to be trained as animal companions, or even frankly just pets. Those wishing to see Great Beasts in a peaceful environment must rely on the Krakonia National Zoo , a subsidiary of the The Hunters Guild of Krakonia (HGK, where highly trained animal taming experts keep Great Beasts safely locked away for research and educational purposes. Even these experts cannot truly tame a Great Beast, however, but can at least keep them from harming civilians.