Machine Beast
Image Š Wayne Barlowe
[The Sword of Shannara is perhaps the most brazen of all Tolkein derived fantasy. It has one new gimmick; the setting is a post-apocalyptic Earth, and all of the fantasy races (gnomes, elves, trolls, etc) are mutated humans. This concept would later be borrowed by Shadowrun. I am led to believe that Shannara originally found its own identity, but the first book, The Sword of Shannara, is basically just an outline of The Lord of the Rings with major nouns changed. A magic ring becomes a magic sword. A Ring Wraith becomes a Skull Bearer. Cross out the word âwizardâ, replace it with âdruidâ. And Shelob becomes a cyborg!
The nameless beast presented here fills the Shelob role from The Two Towers, guarding a hazardous pass, leading one of the characters to believe another one is dead, etc. It, or something like it, appears in a later book to save our heroes from rampaging robots. So I decided to make it a robot hunting monster. In a game set on Golarion, these could be creations of the Technic League, or natives of Aballon (in which case, you should give them the no breath ability). ]
Machine Beast CR 11 NE Aberration This creature is a horrible conglomerate of mammalian, arthropod and reptilian features, all of which are concealed by mechanical devices. It has fur in some places, scales in others, and metallic plates in patches. Its head is mostly insect-like, with two long, mobile antennae, each ending in a harpoon-like barb.
Machine beasts are strange cybernetic horrors, created by a combination of fleshwarping and technology. The base species used to make them is unknown, and may very well be a combination of various animals and monstrous vermin. They were designed by their original masters as independent weapons of terror in a technological warâmachine beasts hunt robots, killing them and stripping them for parts to attach to their own bodies. Unfortunately, machine beasts proved to be difficult to control, and some of them have gone rogue.
A machine beast hungers for both flesh and mechanical apparatus, and is not afraid to hunt humanoids. In fact, it seems to prefer such prey out of a sense of sadism, perhaps a warped reflection of conditioning as living weapons. They can smell the difference between robots and living creaturesâthey attack the former with EMP rays, and the latter with their claws, mandibles and stings. Strange chemicals burble within a machine beast, and it can send a surge of them to enhance one of its physical abilities for a short time. The venom of a machine beast is debilitating and deadly. Machine beasts have enough of a sense of self preservation to flee from a losing fight, especially if enemies can pierce their armored plates or deal electricity damage.
Strangely, machine beasts are capable of procreation. This is an asexual processâthe beast lays a single leathery egg, and spends ample time and energy to attaching robotic remains and other metallic junk to the egg, forming a second shell. The machine beast hatches with metal parts already integrated into its flesh, although it often replaces and replenishes them as it grows. Machine beasts are surprisingly good parents, making sure their young are fed both meat and metal, teaching them how to hunt and to repair themselves.
