#plankta

Planktas are odd. Bestiary 5 describes them as “stony creatures formed from the shattered remnants of ancient island civilizations devastated and inundated by natural or magical cataclysms”—okay, check, we got that—“and given life by unleashed magical energies and the anguished spirits of those lost in the tragedies.” Makes sense. Except…planktas do not remain creatures of unleashed energies and spirits—in other words, they are not outsiders or fey or even undead. Instead, they become aberrations—true mortal creatures, albeit alien ones.

Of course, becoming such a creature also means having the drive to procreate…and in the plankta’s case, that means destroying more island civilizations. It’s a grisly life cycle to say the least.

None of that will probably ever come into play at your game table, unless you’re really deeply exploring themes of climate change and island cultures. And even the choice to make them aberrations probably had to do more with behind the scenes math—“We need X number of aberrations in this book, and we only have Y, so get brainstorming.” But once the monster is in print, I find it super interesting to wrestle with the implications of what’s in the stat block.

One more thing about planktas: They are described as animate jumbles of buildings and rock, and the illustration makes them look vaguely hermit crab-like. But that’s by no means made explicit in the text, so their forms might be even more outlandish, depending on the nature of the cataclysm that formed them…

A band of adventures began its career in the shadow of an exploding volcano, ferrying passengers out of the doomed city of Hestius. Now the Hestian Beast, a plankta born of Hestius’s destruction, threatens their adopted home of Sanctis. Now far more experienced and with a clear enemy in sight, this time they resolve to fight rather than ferry.

Ships have been disappearing along Giant’s Foot Strait. A clan of deep merfolk has been blamed, but the truth is a plankta has been raining boulders (and its own discorporated rocky body) on the passing ships. Investigating the mystery may uncover the hitherto unknown sunken city whose destruction birthed the plankta, as well as unlock a runic alphabet that has had researches stumped for years.

The Ringwrack is a vast chain of archipelagos circling the Sea of Rage. Planktas are more common here than anywhere else in the world, thanks to the extreme level of volcanic activity in the region and the destructive procreation of the planktas themselves. Planktas that were fathered rather than arising spontaneously tend to resemble their sire. Those that resemble stony hermit crabs were born from Old Karg, those that resemble weeping whales made of marble were sired by the White Witch, and those that resemble massive iguanas seem to trace back to a mystery progenitor near the equatorial line.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 5 195

Name: Nargun

Alternate Names: Stone Beast, Planctae (related, Greek Mythology), Symplegades (related, Greek Mythology), Plankta, Wandering Rocks, Crushing Rocks, Magnetic Elemental (Mythika only)

Mythology: Australia Aboriginal Legend or Folklore

Size: Large, Plankta are huge

Environment: Coastal, Waterfall caves, lakes, fast-flowing rivers, cliffs

In Mythika: Strange rock elemental monsters that are made entirely from magnetic Magnetite rocks which gives them magnetic abilities. Nargun mostly lair in caves underneath waterfalls because if they don’t they are covered in weapons, shields and armor of their victims, the waterfall often cleans those steel and iron objects off. Fighting a Nargun with iron/steel weapons is very difficult as their magnetic force is very powerful, weak fighters immediately lose their weapons and shields and some of them get stuck on the Nargun with their armor intact. The best way to deal with a Nargun is to use earth-based magic, earthquake spells are most effective. Nargun look like Water Strider insects made entirely from dark rock, they can’t walk over water though like their insect look-alikes and their legs are much thicker, but their overall appearance matches, they eat only magnetite rocks, but see any creature around their waterfalls as hostile and always confront it in battle.

Plankta, Planctae or Symplegades are enormous Nargun that haunt coastal areas or ocean cliffs, these ancient stone beasts lack the magnetic abilities of their lesser cousins but they have two extra stone legs which they use to crush creatures with, some Plankta work together to crush ships between the two of them, then feast on the crushed wood, and often eat the sailors with it too. Plankta are just as aggressive as Nargun and attack anything that comes close to their lair.