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Otyugh
Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2023 7:18 pm
by Zora
Name: Otyugh
Habitat: Swamps, damp forests, animal pens, graveyards, high concentrations of waste
Rarity: Uncommon
Threat: High
Description: An adult Otyugh can get to be 15 feet tall and weigh 1-2 tons. While there are variations, these creatures are primarily recognized as four legged mammals with a large mouth (filled with many sharp teeth), two tentacles, and a third tentacle which acts as an eye stalk.
Otyugs consume waste and typically bury themselves in it to stay hidden. They use their eye stalk to examine their surroundings so it’s rare to spot one. If one is seen moving about, it’s usually not a good sign as it suggests they will soon run out of waste to consume and they’ve decided to go expand its territory. This typically puts them at odds with other creatures that feed off of waste, such as other Otyughs.
While they serve an incredibly useful function, it is incredibly dangerous to keep them around. They are territorial and are more than willing to attack those that it doesn't associate with its food supply (junkyard workers, etc).
Biome Role: Waste consumption
Diet: Waste, trash
Aging & Reproduction: Can live to be 100. Reproduction takes about a year and produces several children, most of which die. They mate in the summer and it's during this time that they produce a pheromone that smells like rancid garbage, strong enough to attract mates from many miles away.
Size: Large (15’ tall, 2 tons)
Abilities and Features:
Large – can be bigger than an elephant and much more deadly
Eye stalk – will likely see you before you see it
Tentacles – can grab and throw things
Mouth – sharp enough teeth to shred through metal
Cultural Significance (If applicable):
Reasons to interact:
Killing one that's wandering outside of its territory
The reason this creature can process garbage is due to a unique organ located near their stomach called a Pestile Bladder. This organ can be harvested and used to make a toxin called Pestile. It makes a victim's bowels work backwards, filling their stomachs with waste. The organ can be found on the black market for 5gp.
Recommended Stats: These are sturdy creatures that are tough to put down. A team of 8-10 non-magical people with expert skill would be needed to hunt and kill one in its habitat.
Journeyman Poison or Alchemy to harvest and make use of Pestile
Re: Otyugh
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:56 am
by Mirage
Hello!
This creature looks good, save for one small portion. As of right now it does not make sense for Pesticyte to grow in these creature's stomachs. The shard itself is highly corrosive, and quickly degrades even if left alone. My recommendation is to instead make this a property of one of their specialized organs instead, which would be highly useful to alchemists.
Re: Otyugh
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 3:26 pm
by Zora
The reason this creature can process garbage is due to a unique organ located near their stomach called a Pestile Bladder. This organ can be harvested and used to make a toxin called Pestile. It makes a victim's bowels work backwards, filling their stomachs with waste. The organ can be found on the black market for 5gp.
Recommended Stats: These are sturdy creatures that are tough to put down. Expert to hunt and kill.
Journeyman Poison or Alchemy to harvest and make use of Pestile
how's this?
Re: Otyugh
Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 12:02 pm
by Mirage
A few notes once again.
Two things. First their biology and reproduction is similar to that of other large mammals, and while they could be an issue aver multiple decades the rate of their reproduction isn't so high that it would lead to over population being a problem overly often. The bigger issue is how long lived they are, which is quite a long time for any creature. That life span paired with gestation suggests these things probably don't start reproducing until about 12-15 years old, and likely don't do so very often if they have multiple children with each cycle. Its likely they would start targeting one another for resources before they started targeting other creatures as they are not technically carnivores. My suggestion would be if you are wanting them to attack other living things then they would likely need to be extremely territorial, which again would make population a non issue as they would try to keep others of their kind away from their hunting grounds.
Typically in the case of large mammals that are territorial the locals do not target them for death, instead they plot out their territories and avoid entering that area unless necessary. Then it only becomes an issue when they start wandering outside their territory.
The second thing is in regard to their threat level. If these things are the size of an elephant, AND are known to become aggressive towards other creatures their size and natural abilities easily make them Deadly threats. Meaning to take down an adult Otyugh you need a team of 8 - 10 experts with various abilities at the very least to hunt one of these things safely.
Take a bit of time to consider these notes and make adjustments as you like. Remember creatures that live off of waste and carrion rarely attack other animals unless resources are scarce, and they don't suddenly turn into hunters. They instead invade other animal's territories and try to take their resources instead. Hopefully the areas they are in are carefully monitored and maintained by someone who can keep their activities under control, which in the Imperium would definitely be the case given their usefulness.
Re: Otyugh
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 5:48 pm
by Zora
I made a bunch of edits.
added what you suggested to the stats
changed the first reason to interact
added details to reproduction
edited the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of the description to incorporate feedback
Re: Otyugh
Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2023 11:09 am
by Mirage
Approved!