I came up with this idea for one of our think tanks after finding the image. I like it so much I’m going to flesh it out.
On the far outer planes exist creatures that feed on your dreams. The more innocent and happy the dreams, the tastier they are. Toy Haunters prey on children by taking over the shadows of one of their toys. They emerge in the dark once the child is in bed and seep into their subconscious to sate their hunger. Of the shadow plane, they cannot truly exist in our world. When the light is upon the toy they are haunting, they are tied to it’s shadow, adopting some measure of the shape and form. They cannot be separated from the source of the shadow, the toy, but can be banished if the toy is burnt by holy fire. Without a real physical form, they use psychic assaults to repel attackers.
WIth this write up a pretty easy place to start with is Incorporate, Malevolent Spirit and Nocturnal. All three life advantages from Incorporate are very useful for this post’s monster: Fluid, Self and Yearning Soul. Ghost Walk, Intangible and Telekinesis are a good set of skills. The text on True Form doesn’t quite match with the description, but if used as a telepathic attack it is good for crowd control.
Malevolent Spirit doesn’t provide life advantages that are well suited. The creature isn’t Spiteful, as it doesn’t turn dreams to nightmares out of evil, it just needs to feed. Wail is also not much use as it doesn’t have a physical form with which to make noise. Terror on the other hand is ideal for the Toy Haunter and will work well with True Form. Chilling Aura could be used, but with True Form already it would be redundant.
The advantages from Nocturnal play well with the monster’s nighttime activities. It is both Camoflagued and Freaky. For skills, Environment (Low Light), Silent, Stealth and Silent Attack are perfect for a shadow being, though given it makes no sound, Silent might be overkill.
This is a good set of advantages, but lacking in key areas. The only real attack the monster has is true form, which whilst an area effect is a static advantage. This will limit how often the attack can be meaningfully used. Defensively, if you can find a way of hurting it, you are going to be able to do a great deal of harm. It doesn’t have much to resist attacks once it’s been discovered. I think it needs an extra offensive option and Soul Strike works. I’m also changing my mind about Spite as as a soul advantage it works well with Soul Strike. In the character write up it can be reasoned that if you’ve stopped it feeding, it’s going to be pretty angry at you.
You can find the completed monster character sheet . I’ve given it not a great deal of dynamic and static potential, but instead a lot of recoup. This makes a monster that moves and attacks quickly.
It’s not the monster under the bed that’s after you. It the one in the toy you’re cuddling that wants your soul.
Image Credit – 30 Monster Girl Challenge 11 – True Monster by LostCraftGhost – All rights retained by artist