As of right now, the v1.1 update to the CORE20 Playtest Creature Package is live for your gaming pleasure! As always, you can find the new document and all the other v1.1 playtest docs in the CORE Playtest Files folder on Google Drive:
http://tinyurl.com/CORE20Playtest
(If the short URL doesn’t work for you, you can click or copy the full link here.)
The initial v1.0 Playtest Package featured a solid array of over 180 creature stat blocks from d20 fantasy, covering potential foes, foils, enemies, and allies for your CORE20 games. The v1.1 package ups the monstrous ante to over 240 stat blocks with the addition of 54 new creatures, including:
- Bulette
- Grick
- Hippogriff
- Ilvalaak — a new name for the naga
- Kraal — inspired by the grell
- Krenshar
- Werebear
- Mesmeroth — a renamed and reworked gibbering mouther
- Oni
- Peryton
- Praetyrian and venenatus — two new drakes
- Remorhaz
- Revenant
- Satyr
- The skulker — a revisiting and combining of the classic AD&D monsters the trapper and the lurker below
- Specter
- Transfixer — the piercer, but really cool
- Vampire spawn
- Vargouille
- Vermacarn — a reworked carrion crawler
- Vocoeur — CORE20’s version of the displacer beast
- Wurfrur — the renamed blink dog
- Xorn
- Lineage traits for the gnoll and the mergyyr (a new name for the merfolk), allowing the easy creation of a broad range of NPCs
And many more!
In addition to new threats and allies, the Playtest Creature Package has seen all manner of updates, tweaks, corrections, and rules and language fixes. Huge thanks as always to all the folks in the playtest who have pointed out typos and asked the questions that have let us make the game even better. (The Playtest v1.1 Changelog doc in the playtest folder notes changes to existing stat blocks and lists the playtest package’s new creatures.)
Once again, the CORE20 Playtest Creature Package is available in two variations. The regular version features the stat block color-coding throughout all sections of the stat block, while the “(Low Color)” version features the color coding only on stat block section heads. (A post back toward the beginning of the public playtest talks about the evolution and design of the stat block format, including using color to make it easier to navigate stat blocks during play.)
I’ve been playtesting and fine-tuning all these new creatures in my own campaigns for a while now, and I’m happy to finally turn them loose. Good gaming!
Art by Xavier Beaudlet
