Monster Wrangler

A Smashing Update (on Brutes)!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 21, 2022 at 11:18:40 PM

In this update, we're going to toss subtlety aside and take a closer look at some of our Brute monsters!

Let's start with the Gelidon, a very large Cold/Slam monster. Gelidons are loyal monsters, but they have fierce tempers and are prone to flying into a rage when they become Bloodied (i.e., reduced to half Health). While these rages do make them more dangerous in combat, they also ignore any commands from their Wranglers while they're thrashing about, which gives them an unusual tempo in combat. 

Beyond that, Gelidon are essentially bullies. Slam Techniques gain extra benefits when they hit smaller characters, and Gelidon have the Heavy Built Trait, which makes them count as a size larger than they actually are! You really don't want a monster this big body slamming you. 

Gelidon are pretty rare, which makes sense given that they inhabit cold tundra regions where there aren't many humans. They are very likely to eat a Wrangler out of house and home, but on the other hand, an adult Gelidon is large enough that the entire adventuring group can probably ride around on their back, which in our book, is traveling in style. 

Temprill are awesome monsters with the Slam/Electric Types. The bone growths on their backs act like lightning rods, drawing in electrical charges which are then stored in the Temprill's body like a battery. It uses these charges to empower its already strong first attacks, ensuring that whatever they punch isn't getting back up!

Most of the time, Temprill are docile monsters that don't want much to do with humans. During thunderstorms, however, groups of Temprill are likely to be struck by multiple bolts of lightning. Each electrical bolt energizes a Temprill, sort of like a jolt of pure adrenaline, and this can get them worked up and hyperactive. There have been more than a few documented cases of "charged up" Temprill rushing down from the mountains, hollering and hooting as they destroy everything in their path. 

With luck, the settlements in their path of destruction when this happens will have enough brave Wranglers to fend them off!

Mycetar are a tragic species of Blade/Spore monsters. They were originally docile herbivores who would use their blade-arms to hack down trees and defend themselves, but at some point, they became infected by a parasitic fungus to which they were particularly vulnerable. The spores took over their bodies and dulled their minds, and with Mycetar becoming progressively more "zombie-like" as they age. Worse yet, their young are born infected, dooming them a life of gradual mental deterioration. 

A number of organization, including AMBA, are searching for a cure or treatment that might free Mycetars from the parasitic spores that have strangled these once majestic monsters, but thus far, their medicines have only been able to slow the infection, not cure it. A Wrangler who befriends a young Mycetar will invariably be forced to watch as they friend slips away, their mind slowly destroyed by the insidious hyphae burrowing into its brain.

On a brighter note, we have the Armathyst, a Claw/Light monster who is best known for being something of a walking rock tumbler. These slow-moving monsters subsist on a diet of foraged roots and small insects, which they scoop up in their big claws. Most of the time, they also end up swapping a good bit of rock along with their meal, and after these rocks have been worn smooth in the Armathyst's stomach, it regurgitates them, leaving behind piles of slime-coated minerals and gemstones. This can be a good source of (slimy) income for an Armathyst's Wrangler!

The crystalline growths on an Armathyst's shell absorb sunlight as they shuffle around looking for food. This causes the crystals to glow with a faint light about as bright as a candle, though the monster can focus this energy into beams of bright light that are released via the crystal in its forehead. 

It's got lasers!

Shivid are another cold-dwelling monster, though they're far more territorial and aggressive than Gelidons. As Cold/Spike monsters, their primary attacks involve either slamming their muscular, spike-laden tails into their opponents, or giving their tails a quick flick, sending dozens of ice-spikes flying through their air toward whatever unlucky creature drew their ire.  Despite being herbivores, Shivid are very aggressive and won't hesitate to attack anything they perceive as a threat or annoyance. 

A Shivid's body temperature hovers just a few degrees above freezing, and the ice spikes that form along their back are created from water excreted from their bodies. As the temperature increases, a Shivid's spikes become smaller and smaller, and they might even melt completely, which usually signals that the monster is overheating and in danger of perishing. 

As a result of this, Shivid are best raised in cooler climates, or - if that's not an option - provided with a large walk-in freezer that allows them to cool off when needed.

Last but not least (though certainly slowest) is the Dursulk, a Poison/Slam monster. They're very common and can found in just about every forest in the Chosu Region, where they live off diets of green and dead plants, algae, fungus, and rotting wood and bark. Their heavy shells grow with them throughout their lives, which requires a steady diet of calcium. Unfortunately, this draws Dursulk to civilized areas, where they chew up concrete and marble, making them a constant threat to roads, buildings, and monuments. 

Though they are relatively gentle and peaceful monsters, if a Dursulk becomes frustrated (by, say, some humans trying to push one away from a parking lot that they're chewing up) it can retaliate by spitting out poisonous slime. This makes removing these monsters a time-consuming task, and its often faster to flag down a Wrangler and get them (and their monsters) to chase the Dursulk away. 

When not destroying infrastructure, Dursulk enjoy painting their shells with bright colors and designs. Their short arms are only capable of making crude designs and smears, but they seem to appreciate more intricate designs and will generally sit patiently and allow humans to paint their shells for them. 

Those are all of our Brute monsters (so far, at least)! 

We're in the home stretch of our campaign, so tell your friends and let's get across that finish line!

A Vermin-licious Update
over 2 years ago – Mon, Jul 18, 2022 at 06:20:55 PM

Welcome to the last week of the Kickstarter! We've close to our funding goal, so please share links to the campaign wherever you can so that we can make that final push over the finish line!

In this update, we're going to take a look at some Vermin monsters!

First up is the Vespark! Despite their small size, these Electric/Spike Vermin are very violent and aggressive. They're capable of producing intense electrical pulses within their bodies, which cause them to glow with bright, colored light. This glow attracts smaller insects, which the Vespark then zaps, just like a floating bug zapper. The Vespark then drops to the ground to feed, which dissipates its electrical charge and causes it to go dark. It's during these periods of feeding that larger animals (and people) often draw too close to the unseen monster, prompting it to lash out with sudden bolts of electricity. Even creatures immune to electrical shocks should be careful, because the Vespark possesses a pair of dual stingers that can deal significant damage on their own. 

Vespark are popular among Wranglers because they're fairly easy to raise and naturally aggressive; a Vespark will go all-out trying to defend its family from attack, and that "protection" extends to its Wrangler as well. They're not great at telling the difference between a hug and a grapple, though, so Wranglers are advised to work with their Vesparks to help them learn the difference between benign physical contact and aggressive attacks. 

Hedekets are Claw/Electric monsters that live in desert environments. They don't have very good eyesight, but they do have thousands of tiny, vibration-detecting hairs all over their body and legs. They often lie in wait, partially buried beneath the sand, until their prey draws close, at which point they burst out of the ground and try to grab their soon-to-be meal in their heavy pincers.

If that doesn't work (or if their prey continues to struggle in their claws), the Hedeket unleashes bolts of electricity from its tail, stunning them into oblivion. As we mentioned, they don't have good eyesight, so any blasts fired at fleeing prey are unlikely to hit. Hedeket make up for this by just rapid-firing their electrical blasts without aiming, in the hope that at least one of the stray lightning bolts will land a hit. Where these electrical bolts strike the sand, they fuse it into glass "sculptures" called fulgurites, which at least make it easy to tell if you've wandered into a Hedeket's hunting grounds.

Also, they're big enough to ride, so that's fun!

Chasma are awesome Blade/Poison Vermin that infest the murky swamps and dreary wetlands of the world. They're relatively small - an adult only stands a little over a foot and a half tall - but they're exceedingly dangerous. Chasma have bladed forearms that they use to rip apart their victims, and if pressed, they can also spit out poisonous stomach juices. They don't particularly like spitting up on things, though, as they use those stomach juices to digest their meals, so doing so results in slower digestion once the battle is over.

Chasma will work together to bring down larger prey, a habit which frequently brings them into conflict with humans and other monsters. A single Chasma is dangerous enough, but a dozen of them swarming together is enough to drive off even the fiercest of monsters. 

They're definitely not graceful monsters (they look at those tiny wings!), but they make up for it by being very, very good at what they do. Which is hacking stuff up, as it turns out.

Vacuum Beetle goooo! 

Zephid are Horn/Wind monsters that lack any sort of wings, instead possessing vent-like organs that can suck in air like a jet engine. The air is then expelled at high speeds from the Zephid's flat, wide mouth, allowing it to blow away dirt and leaves as it looks for food. It can even send other creatures hurling through the air with a focused blast of high-pressured air!

They can even change the flow of air, allowing their mouths to essentially become a vacuum that they use to suck in worms, bugs, and other small animals from far away. Their horns are mostly just used to attract mates and fend off unwanted suitors, but an annoyed Zephid is more than capable of using it like a weapon. 

The most interesting aspect of a Zephid (to humans, at least) is that the air turbulence created by their vents can cause localized rainstorms around themselves. Many farmers have a love-hate relationship with these vermin, importing them in times of drought only to chase them away once their fields start to flood. 

And then we have the Carnoid, a Beak/Spore monster. By far the most maligned of all the monsters, Carnoids are seen as a scourge upon the world. They devour everything in their paths, from plant matter to rotting carcasses, and will even chase down small animals to feed their hunger. They're blind, but they're constantly tapping their many clawed feet on the ground to send out vibrations, allowing them to maneuver via acoustic location. 

The spiracles that run along a Carnoid's back vent microscopic spores into the air each time it exhales, leaving it cloaked in a constant miasma. Any non-Carnoid that inhales these spores is overcome with coughing and choking fits, which is definitely not great when a murder-grub is trying to gnaw off your foot.

These spores are more insidious than they initially appear, however, for each one contains a small amount of genetic material. Once inhaled, they spores linger in the creature's body until it is killed, at which point they gestate and begin to grow into juvenile Carnoids, which devour the body and then scuttle off to start the whole process all over again. Oh, and they also possess rapid regeneration, as if they weren't already a global crisis waiting to happen.

Carnoids are not pleasant to be around, and Wranglers who attempt to train them usually end up with fewer pets and more newborn Carnoids than they had anticipated. 

If there was any monster that could be considered "almost as bad as a Carnoid," it would be the Wiggapede, which gets the pass only because they're far less common. 

Wiggapedes are Psychic/Tendril monsters that are the subjects of numerous myths and superstitions. They are seen as harbingers of despair, bearers of curses, and omens of misfortune, and for the most part, these baleful depictions are accurate. Wiggapedes actively feed on the spiritual essences of humans and monsters alike, siphoning away their victim's soul over the span of a few days, often while hiding under a bed or inside a nearby cabinet. During this feeding, the Wiggapede's victim becomes increasingly lethargic, though there is usually no outward sign than anything is wrong. 

The most distinctive feature of a Wiggapede is the large "evil eye" on its forehead, which is actually a tough organ that amplifies its psychic power. Its real eyes are much smaller and located beneath the head-plate of its shell. 

Wiggapedes generally don't try to get into combat - they prefer to just lay low and slowly drain their victims to death - but if pressed, they have more tools than just their psychic powers. The tendril-like growths on their heads and tails are made up of countless interlocking tiny barbs that can open flesh as easily as a knife. 

Wranglers who raise Wiggapedes have an alarming tendency to turn evil, but whether that's due to the malign influence of the Wiggapede or simple because stable people don't raise soul-devouring vermin is a matter of debate in monster-taming circles. 

As you can see, Vermin are definitely a fun option for Wranglers who want something a bit outside the box. Which ones would you like to have cuddling up to you at night?

Status Effects!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 15, 2022 at 07:21:08 PM

We've mentioned status effects a few times in other updates, so let's take a look at just how they work. 

There are eight status effects in Monster Wrangler: Bleeding, Blinded, Burning, Frightened, Pinned, Poisoned, Sickened, and Stunned. 

Each status effect has a rank ranging from 1 to 10. If a character that already has a status would gain another instance of that status, she simply adds the values of those statuses together. For example, let's say that Chanda has Bleeding 2. If she's hit with an attack that gives her Bleeding 1, then he becomes Bleeding 3 (i.e., her existing Bleeding 2 plus the new Bleeding 1 equals Bleeding 3). 

Each status effect tracks independently from each other, so if Chanda, who is Bleeding 3, then becomes Poisoned 1, she's now Bleeding 3 and Poisoned 1. 

It's unlikely that a character will suffer from more than two or three status effects at any one time, but nevertheless, we've made it easy to track them by ensuring that there's section on each character sheet to track the status effects, complete with reminder text about just what that status effect does.  This makes it really easy to keep track of just how badly your character has been hampered!

Fortunately, characters have a few ways to recover from status effects. At the start of their turn, a character can make a Recovery Roll to reduce the value of one of their status effects. They can only reduce one, however, so if you're Stunned and Poisoned, you'll have to decide which one is the most immediate concern! The character then makes a roll using the Attribute tied to that status effect, and for each success, the value of the status effect is reduced by 1. If a status effect is ever reduced to 0, then it ends. 

So Chanda, who is still Bleeding 3 and Poisoned 1, decides that she's going to try to recovery from her Poisoned status, because she only needs one success to end the status, compared to three successes to stop bleeding. She makes her Vitality roll and gets once success, which lowers her Poisoned status down to 0. Now she's only Bleeding 3!

Characters can also use a Standard Action to make a Recovery Roll, which allows them to more quickly recover from status effects at the cost of not attacking that turn. 

Some monsters are just naturally resistant to certain status effects. Most Constuct monsters are immune to the Bleeding and Poison statuses due to their Machine Traits, and some monsters, and the Treconda automatically lowers the value of its Pinned status by 2 at the start of its turn. 

And, of course, there are Medicine Spray items that can instantly reduce the value of a status effect by a few points. Make sure to stock up on Antidote Sprays if you're expecting to fight lots of venomous monsters!

So now that we know how status effects work, let's see what they actually do. 

Bleeding causes the character to suffer 1 Damage, ignoring Armor, at the start of its turn (right after it makes its Recovery Roll). If the character has Bleeding 7 or higher, then this increases to 2 Damage, ignoring Armor! 

Bleeding is one of the three "damage over time" status effects and is particularly prominent on Claw Techniques. It's great against heavily armored enemies, as it slowly bleeds them out while ignoring their heavy armor. Obviously, it's less effective against monsters like Constructs who don't have blood. 

Blinded worsens the Success Value of the character's Skill and Technique Rolls by 1, making it so that the character only counts 8s or higher as successes, instead of 7s or higher. If the character has Blinded 7 or higher, their Success Value is worsened by 2, which means they need 9s or higher for success!

Making it harder for your opponent to hit you is a great, all-purpose debuff. It doesn't work on characters that don't have eyes, though, so there are a few monsters who just aren't bothered by a handful of pocket sand. 

The Blinded status is most common on Light Techniques. 

Burning causes the character to suffer 1 Fire Damage, ignoring Armor, at the start of its turn. If the character has Burning 7 or higher, then this increases to 2 Damage, ignoring Armor!

Functionally, Burning works a lot like Bleeding, save that the Damage being inflicted is Fire Damage, which can be more or less effective against certain monsters. It's mostly inflicted by Fire Techniques. 

Frightened is a status effect that makes the character's Skill and Technique Rolls unable to explode. In addition, if a monster has Frightened 7 or higher, it ignores all Commands given to it by its Wrangler. 

Frightened isn't the strongest effect, but it can definitely be annoying, as it prevents the character from gaining extra dice as a result of rolling 10s. Preventing a monster from receiving Commands is probably the strongest part of the effect, as it completely locks out an entire category of buffs from reaching the monster and, in tournaments especially, more or less cuts the monster's Wrangler out of the fight.

The Frightened status is handed out by a good number of Psychic Techniques. 

Pinned sticks the target to something else, whether a nearby object, the floor, or an adjacent creature. This is great for limiting a character's movement, either preventing a melee character from moving closer or locking a ranged combat in melee by literally getting it stuck to its attacker. 

Tendril Techniques make great use of the Pinned status by wrapping up their enemies and then squeezing them hard. 

Poisoned is the third damage over time status effect. A Poisoned character suffers 1 Poison Damage, ignoring Armor, at the start of its turn, and that increases to 2 Damage if the character has Poisoned 7 or higher. 

The Poisoned status is, not surprisingly, most commonly given out via Poison Techniques. Mechanically, it functions much like Bleeding and Burning, but there are effects that interact with the Poisoned status that don't interact with the other two. 

Sickened is a powerful status effect that prevents the character from taking Reactions. Furthermore, a Sickened monster has to spend twice as much Rage to enhance its attacks, which makes it harder to super-charge its attacks with extra dice. Finally, if a character has Sickened 7 or higher, its movement is halved.

Sickened is a nasty status effect that mostly happens as a result of Spore Techniques, but it's really deliberating when it hits. 

Finally, the Stunned status prevents the character from successfully defending themselves. A Stunned character lowers their Defense and Willpower by 1, to a minimum of 1. If the value of the character's Stunned status is 7 or higher, then their Defense and Willpower are instead lowered by 2!

There are some very fast and dodgy monsters (and humans!) out there, and stunning them is a great way to daze them and make them vulnerable to follow-up attacks. A lot of Slam Techniques hit their opponent with such force as to leave them Stunned. 

So those are the status effects in Monster Wrangler! We really wanted a system that provided a bit more granularity than binary "you're bleeding / not bleeding" decisions, and giving the status effects ranks proved to be a great way to represent that. An attack that hits an opponent and makes them Poisoned 1 might deal a little bit of damage before their body neutralizes the poison, but an attack that hands out Poisoned 8 is really going to mess them up without some immediate medical attention. 

Most monsters can only hand out a few specific status effects, as determined by their Types and what Techniques they know, but you can really get some awesome synergy when different monsters end up fighting the same enemy. A group that uses a lot of Fire monsters is going to quickly drive up the Burning statuses of their opponents into the 2 damage "sweet spot," but groups that utilize monsters that can inflict Burning, Bleeding, and Poisoned statuses can leave an opponent reeling between three different damaging effects, only one of which they can passively reduce each turn!

The system allows monsters that deal more in status effects than direct damage to hold their own in combat, and our playtesters loved seeing how various monsters combined their efforts to leave bigger, meaning monsters at their mercy!

Plant Monsters!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jul 13, 2022 at 05:46:35 AM

Let's take a look at the various Plant monsters available for green-thumbed Wranglers to raise!

Starting us off right is the noble Pumpkeen! These curious little plants consist of one or two gourd-like growths connected to a network of tough, lashing vines. They were never considered to be much of a threat until the Crohm Uprising, when a large group of armed bandits terrorized the farmers of Varsole. According to legend, the bandits became drunk, and while they were passed out, dozens of curious Pumpkeen crept into their hideout and got into their makeshift armory. 

When the bandits realized what was happened and tried to get their equipment back, the Pumpkeen fought them off with surprising skill. The bandits were defeated, and without their weapons, they were quickly captured by Varsolan farmers, and the Pumpkeen became something of a national symbol. 

As one of the easier monsters to train, Pumpkeen are fairly common across the world, but especially so in Varsole. As Blade/Tendril monsters, they excel at making precise sword-strikes against opponents that are tangled up in their vines, which slow down anyone straying too close to them. 

The Arborne is a rare example of a monster that changes drastically as it ages. Juvenile Arborne are small, pinkish plants that waddle around on their tiny roots, often ranging far away from their inattentive parent. Once a young Arborne has absorbed enough nutrients and strengthened its roots, it burrows into the ground and begins its transformation into adulthood, which occurs over a two-week period of rapid growth.

Adult Arborne most closely resemble a walking, leafless tree, and each stands about six feet tall. They are Slam/Spore monsters who fearlessly fight off their enemies by wading into combat and throwing their prodigious weight around, crushing any would-be predators beneath their heavy bark. Even if their attacker is nimble enough to avoid being crushed, the clouds of pollen spores that surrounds these plants make it difficult for anyone to linger near them without becoming sickened.

While Juvenile Arborne are considered to be quite delicious, Arborne in general are considered to be an invasive and unpleasant species by most humans. Needless to say, people with pollen allergies probably shouldn't spend too much time around these lumbering plants.

Cactodo are desert-dwelling Plant monsters that are covered in sharp spines. Despite their formidable appearance, Cactodo are relatively docile monsters. When agitated or excited, they often stomp their feet on the ground and rapidly gulp in air, puffing themselves up to a much larger size. Though they can only remain in this "puffed up" state for a few minutes, it's usually enough time to frighten off a predator (or to attract a mate). 

If pressed, these Fang/Spike monsters can flick their tails to send dozens of sharp spines at whatever is annoying them, turning a would-be attacker into a pin cushion. If that fails, Cactodo also have large mouths filled with plenty of sharp "teeth quills" that are perfectly capable of ripping flesh from bone. 

While not the best monsters for hugging, Cactodo make dependable and easily-trained monsters. Their spines damage anyone foolish enough to strike them with melee attacks, and some subspecies of Cactodo even have poisonous spines!

The Scovine is a lovely little plant that is best known for the "fire peppers" that grow along its whip-like vines. These stringy peppers have a thick, waxy skin and internal juices that combust when exposed to air. The peppers are quite valuable to hikers and other travelers, as they can be used to quickly start campfires. Plus, the peppers them are quite tasty and more or less cook themselves, though they are also very, very spicy. 

While it is perfectly capable of defending itself by whipping its vine-arms at its enemies - often causing the peppers along them to pop open and burst into fire - that's not what makes Scovine infamous in the minds of park rangers across the world. You see, Scovine contain a great deal of that highly flammable juice in their central bodies, and they can expel it at high volumes from their central flowers. Since the juices ignite when exposed to air, this basically means that each Scovine is essentially a walking flamethrower. 

Their waxy "skin" makes Scovine incredibly resistant to fire, and most Scovine won't think twice about dousing an enemy (and, often times, the flammable forest around that enemy) with copious amounts of napalm-like juices. After all, if the forest burns down around it, that just means that there are fewer tall trees to get in the way of the sunlight.

If you like flamethrowers, napalm, and spicy peppers, then a Scovine is definitely the plant for you. 

Though often treated as a single monster, Rhyzo are technically more like mobile colonies of different fungi all working in tandem with each other. Their bodies are composed of tough but spongy material that lets them bend a stretch in strange ways, and their navigate by sensing vibrations in the air rather than by sight, which makes them all but impossible to blind or sneak up on. 

As Horn/Spore monsters, Rhyzo generally fight by charging forward and plowing into whatever anything in front of them. They can expel great clouds of spores from their "mouths," often leaving their opponent coughing and weakened. Their lack of a central nervous system (and with it, pain receptors) also makes them quite resistant to being stunned, and a Rhyzo can endure a surprising amount of damage before being knocked out of a fight. 

Domesticating a Rhyzo is less about befriending the monster and more about herding it. They're surprisingly agreeable to commands and make for reliable companions, but their Wrangler will have to accept that, without regular and diligent cleaning, everything they own will be covered in layers of colorful mold and tiny mushrooms. 

Finally, we have the Gympix! These small, lightweight monsters are native to grasslands, shrublands, and plains. They're Spike/Wind monsters who possess the ability to manipulate wind to create strong gusts that lift them up into the air. As they slowly float back to the ground, they spin and twirl, riding the air currents as far as the wind will take them. 

Despite their beauty, Gympix can be a bit twitchy, and they respond to anyone drawing too close with a salvo of tiny, poison-filled thorns launched from their arm-like appendages. Their poison is not especially deadly, but it is incredibly painful and can remain active in the target's body for hours.

Domesticated Gympix are "free roam" monsters; they do not handle enclosed spaces well and instead prefer to roam freely outdoors. It's not uncommon for a Gympix to wander away in search of excitement, only to reappear days later, calmly gliding down from the sky to rejoin their Wrangler as if no time had passed at all. 

And those are the Plant monsters of the Chosu Region! Or at least, the ones we have so far... who knows what new sorts of plants will get added from backer pledges? 

Monster Stats, the Treconda, and You!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Jul 09, 2022 at 06:47:34 PM

Welcome back!

This time, we're going to talk about monsters, their stats, and what it all means. 

For this example, we're going to use the Treconda, because Treconda are cool.

The two icons at the top of the sheet, right near the monster's name, designate its two Types. A monster's Types determine what sort of Techniques it can use in combat. The Treconda has the Fang and Tendril Types, which means that in battle, it's generally going to be either biting something or wrapping it up in its snake arms or tails. 

If you jump with me all the way to the bottom of the left column, you'll see the monster's Starting Techniques. These are the four Techniques (and their ranks) that your average Treconda knows. In this case, it has the Fang Techniques of Clamp Down, which damages the opponent and leaves them Pinned to the Treconda, and Drink Blood, which damages the opponent and heals the Treconda. From its Tendril Type, it has Wrap, which either makes the target Pinned to the Treconda or damages an already Pinned target, and Constrict, which damages and stuns everyone Pinned to the Treconda. 

So clearly, the Treconda is really a monster that wants to get an opponent all wrapped up so that it can squeeze the life out of them. 

Let's take a moment to look at this monster's stats and how those represent this aggressive murder-hugger. 

Strength is the monster's physical strength, and it's typically used as the basis for attacks that deal in raw attacking power. All of the stats listed here are for a Juvenile Treconda, but some of them - such as Strength - have a bracketed [+1] after them. These brackets are the bonuses the monster gets when it grows up to become an Adult (which typically takes around two sessions).  

So while a Juvenile Treconda has a Strength of 2, when it becomes an Adult, it's Strength will increase to 3!

It's worth noting that monsters gain experience from adventuring just like Wranglers, and they can spend their experience to, among other things, increase their stats. If a Juvenile Treconda manages to increase its Strength to 3 through spending XP, then when it becomes an Adult, its Strength will still increase by [+1] to a mighty 4! 

Agility is another attribute that influences attacks, this time ones that rely more upon agility and quickness than brute force. For the Treconda, its Wrap Technique uses Agility, while Clamp Down, Drink Blood, and Constrict Techniques all use Strength. This puts it at a bit of a disadvantage to start with, since its one good Agility-based Technique has fewer ranks than its Strength-based Techniques, but that's certainly not the end of the world, and it gives an interesting choice to Wranglers: do you increase your Treconda's Strength to take advantage of its array of Strength-based Techniques, or do you teach it new Agility-based Techniques to compliment its high Agility? Or maybe a combination of both?

Energy is an Attribute that is typically used with Techniques that create bursts of fire or bolts of electricity. There are a few Energy-based Techniques in the Fang and Tendril Types, but for the most part, these Types lean into Strength and Agility, so the Treconda's average "2" is perfectly fine here. 

Mind is a defensive Attribute that determines the Trenconda's Willpower, which is its resistance to mental attacks. As you can see, the Treconda is... not a bastion of strong mental fortitude. They're basically hungry snake monsters that live day to day only caring about their next meal, and their simple minds are easily distracted. This gets a little better when they become Adults, but they're always going to be a bit vulnerable to distractions and mental attacks. 

Speed, meanwhile, measures the monster's quickness and determines its Defense, which is its resistance to physical attacks. A Defense of 3 is very good, and it makes the Treconda particularly quick and hard to hit. 

Its final attribute is Vitality, which determines is Health. This is how much damage the Treconda can suffer before it gets knocked unconscious. A Health of 6 is pretty average, but like all monsters (and humans!), it becomes a bit sturdier when it becomes an Adult. 

The second set block of stats are primarily derived attributes such as Defense, Willpower, and Health, which we just talked about. When a monster is attacked, you check to see whether the attack is resisted by Defense or Willpower. The defender's value in that attribute then becomes the Difficulty of the attacker's attack roll. 

For instance, if you had a baseball bat and wanted to hit a Treconda, that would be resisted by its Defense, because it's a physical attack. The Treconda's Defense is 3, so when you make your attack roll, you would need at least 3 successes in order to hit it. If you get more than 3 successes, each additional success becomes a Raise that you can spend to deal more damage, knock the Treconda prone, or so on. 

The Treconda also has Armor, which determines how much it reduces all the damage that it suffers. A Juvenile Treconda doesn't have any Armor, but when it becomes an Adult, its scales thicken and it gains Armor 1, which means that whenever it takes Damage, it reduces that Damage by 1. There are some attacks that ignore Armor, of course, but overall, Armor is really great for keeping a monster alive, especially against weaker attacks.

Next we have the Treconda's Movement, which tells us how fast it can move as both a Juvenile and an Adult. Treconda also have a Swim speed, which allows them to quickly glide through the murky waters of their swamps and rivers that are frequently their homes.

Moving on, we come to the monster's Traits! Each monster has three Innate Traits that are always present for each member of that particular species. Treconda have Ambush Predator, which grants them extra dice to roll when they attack Surprised opponents, as well as Grappler, which is an amazing Trait for a monster with so many Techniques that revolve around Pinning the opponent. In addition to allowing the Treconda to quickly wiggle out of being Pinned itself, Grappler allows a Treconda to move at full speed when dragging a smaller creature. 

Last but not least, every Treconda also has Long Limbs, which increase its effective melee range from 5 feet to 10 feet. This is a nice little bonus that increase the threat range of a Treconda quite a bit. 

Each monster species also has three Secondary Traits. When a monster is first encountered, the GM simply picks (either randomly or deliberately) one of the listed Secondary Traits to be present in that monster. Thus, a Treconda encountered on one adventure might possess the ability to Mesmerize its opponents to lure them closer, while a second Treconda encountered weeks later might have Shed Skin, allowing it to quickly end its Burning, Poisoned, or Stunned statuses. 

Secondary Traits are a great way to make monsters feel different from each other, even when two players have monsters of the same species traveling with them. A Treconda with a poisonous bite is going to utilize different tactics than one that prefers to lure its enemies out of cover and into range of its allies' attacks. 

It's worth noting that when you create a character, you get to pick your starting monster and its Secondary Trait, giving you a little bit of extra say in the abilities of the monster that you grew up with.

We already talked about the Treconda's Starting Techniques, so there's really only two important mechanics left to talk about. The first is the monster's Category, which is listed on the side of the page. Treconda are Beasts, which is exemplified by their status as fast predators. Wranglers who take Abilities from the Hunter Class will be able to push Treconda a bit further than others, but it's still a great monster all on its own!

Finally, we have the monster's Rarity. Rarity is measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 representing relatively common monsters and 5 representing extremely rare monsters. A Treconda has a Rarity of 3, which means that they're pretty uncommon, but still well-known enough that people generally know what they're all about. In addition to providing a quick way for GMs to know how common a monster is in the world, Rarity also serves as the base Difficulty for when a character uses the Monster Lore Skill to identify a monster and see how much they know about its habits and abilities. 

So that's the Treconda! 

If you're looking for an aggressive monster that really wants to lock down an opponent and squeeze them until they see stars, they might be the right monster for you! 

Just make sure to keep them well fed.   >_>