Warm Marshes

Poisonous frogs are a bright green color, with additional bright yellow, red, or blue markings. They are just over a foot long and weigh 10 pounds. The poison of poisonous frogs is often gathered by primitive tribes and used to coat darts and arrows for hunting. You can make a larger poison frog either by applying the giant simple template or by giving a normal giant frog a poison frog’s venomous bite.

A shocker lizard has a pale yellow underside, with bright green scales elsewhere on its 3-foot-long body, and weighs about 25 pounds. Shocker lizards tend toward group living, as their electrical abilities grow in power when they are close to another lizard. A shocker lizard colony is usually located near a source of water. Once the colony has settled on a location, the lizards become very territorial and attack anything that intrudes on them. A solitary shocker lizard is a timid and hesitant creature—but when several of them gather they become formidable and fearsome opponents capable of killing creatures several times their own size. A shocker lizard relies on its electricity abilities in combat, and a lizard tends to bite only after its shock has rendered an opponent unconscious, or when the shock seems to have no effect at all. A solitary lizard flees once it delivers its shocks, but if other shocker lizards are nearby, they all hone in on their comrade’s discharges and attempt to administer lethal shocks to their foe. Many have attempted to capture and tame shocker lizards, but this often proves a difficult and painful task. Alone and in captivity, shocker lizards tend to wither and die swiftly unless their keepers spend a lot of time grooming and playing with the lizards to keep them company. Kept in pairs or larger numbers, captive shocker lizards thrive, but their increasing electrical ability makes them more difficult to manage for keepers who aren’t themselves immune to electricity.

These hulking frogs haunt warm marshlands and river shallows where thick undergrowth can conceal them. They are dangerous, aggressive predators that gorge themselves on smaller creatures or team up to bring down larger prey. They often climb to the low branches of ancient, mossy trees, picking off prey from the wetland’s floor before their existence is even suspected.

Swarming in dense, frenzied clouds, mosquito swarms are a relentless parasite, working in terrifying unison with their brethren. The very air seems to thicken and hum with their collective presence, as they descend upon unsuspecting creatures with a voracious hunger. While a single giant mosquito can rapidly exsanguinate a grown human, these swarms pose similar threat by overwhelming and incapacitating their prey with innumerable bites.

Most leshys are peaceful creatures that focus their efforts on tending the natural region around them. While flytrap leshys do not leave their homes to pick fights, they relish the opportunity to attack intruders. These carnivorous plants tend to attack before asking questions. While they rarely work together with other creatures, the aggressive creatures eagerly collaborate with others of their kind. They fight best in teams, and coordinate with each other so seamlessly that a group of flytrap leshys is nearly indistinguishable from a single creature—an illusion that the similarity between a flytrap leshy’s head and hands only compounds. While a typical flytrap leshy has one head and two hands, more powerful flytrap leshys exist with greater numbers of heads and hands.  Cantankerous flytrap leshys represent the harsh and seemingly cruel aspects of the natural cycle that are ultimately needed for the greater well-being of all creatures. When necessary to protect their homes, flytrap leshys start controlled fires, relying on their fire resistance to wade through the flames.  Unlike most of their kind, flytrap leshys eat flesh and are not picky about the kind of meat that they consume. They particularly savor insects, and one of the few ways to placate a flytrap leshy is to offer it a rare or unusual insect to consume.  A typical flytrap leshy is 2 feet tall and weighs 20 pounds.  

Frog fathers devour entire hives of monstrous vermin and any livestock that stray too close to their marshes, but happily gulp down any prey that crosses their paths. Their long, sticky tongues allow them to capture and restrain prey while they determine whether they want to consume it. A frog father’s chosen prey has little chance of escaping, as the frog’s powerful throat muscles allow it to swallow even large creatures rapidly.  

A carnage-hungry denizen of swamps, the ahuizotl is a ferocious-looking predator, even before one takes into consideration its most distinctive feature—a long tail that ends in a clawed but alltoo- humanoid hand. Whether from the entrance of its aquatic home (typically a sunken mass of trees or a flooded cavern) or the thick reeds and flora that grow at the water’s edge, an ahuizotl remains watchful for any intruder that might trespass into its territory. Upon sighting such prey, the beast uses its uncanny ability to mimic the sound of a humanoid in distress to lure victims near, so it can snatch them with its tail claw. Ahuizotls are particularly fond of feasting upon a victim’s eyes, and their tail claws are particularly adept at swiping away such organs for the beasts to feed upon. Teeth and fingernails are another of the creature’s favorite meals, and the appearance of mutilated bodies missing eyes, teeth, and nails along a river’s banks is sure evidence of an ahuizotl attack. Despite its preference for cruelty, an ahuizotl might come to mutually advantageous arrangements with other pernicious denizens of the swamps. Will-o’-wisps and ahuizotls often find themselves in such cooperative relationships, with the will-o’-wisp coaxing creatures near the ahuizotl’s lair and then lingering to feed upon the victims’ fear as the ahuizotl drags them into the depths. Some wily humanoids who fall into an ahuizotl’s clutches—typically lizardfolk, boggards, or swampdwelling humans—have successfully managed to bargain away the lives of others in exchange for their own. Such arrangements always lead to a series of vicarious murders, as the aquatic predator’s proxy coaxes new victims into the swamp for its fearsome partner to dine upon. Ahuizotls are exceptionally long-lived, and a single individual might live and feed in a particular area for several human generations. An ahuizotl is 9 feet long and weighs 1,200 pounds.

Iguanodons are large, herbivorous dinosaurs that inhabit swamps and forests where they can take advantage of abundant vegetation. The iguanodon is capable of moving on two feet or on four, quickly switching from one stance to the other, depending on whether it needs to move through dense foliage or to reach delectable morsels hanging up in the canopy. Although iguanodons are herbivores, they are notoriously quick to anger. Their thumb spikes make their claws particularly devastating weapons—a well-placed blow from one of these claws can turn a hungry predator into a cowering beast with one swift strike. Iguanodons are 30 feet long and weigh 6,000 pounds. found dwelling in regions inhabited by such creatures. A fully grown adult dimetrodon can reach a length of up to 15 feet and weigh upward of 2,000 pounds.

Of the multitude of slithering predators that infest jungles, forests, and swamps, few inspire such terror as the giant anaconda. Incredibly strong, fearless hunters, these creatures are capable of taking down and eating elephants, dinosaurs, and giants. Their olive green and black mottled scales afford them exceptional camouflage in the murky waters they call home. A giant anaconda can grow to a length of 60 feet.

Peludas loathe all weak, fragile creatures smaller than themselves, especially humanoids. Some hunt in nearby farmlands before returning to their own lairs. Some are worshipped as gods by lizardfolk or other swamp creatures, though a peluda’s short temper means it may eat its devotees if affronted. A typical peluda is 15 feet long and weighs 300 pounds.

Lording over the darkest swamps and marshes, black dragons are the undisputed masters of their domain, ruling through cruelty and intimidation. Those who dwell within a black dragon’s reach live in fear. Black dragons tend to make their lairs in remote parts of the swamp, preferably in caves at the bottom of dark and fetid pools. Inside, they pile up their filthy treasure and sleep amid the roots and muck. Black dragons prefer their food a bit rotten and will often allow a meal to sit in a pool for days before consuming it. Black dragons prefer treasures that do not rot or decay, making their hoard, full of coins, gemstones, jewelry, and other objects made from stone or metal.

A towering presence among the vast creatures of the wetlands, the creature's elongated, crocodilian snout speaks of its mastery as a predator. Especially adept at securing aquatic prey along coastal and river shorelines, it isn't solely its colossal size or predatory might that mesmerizes onlookers. The most enchanting feature of the Spinosaurus is the vibrant sail-like ridge that elegantly adorns its back—be it for thermoregulation, display, or some other mysterious function unique to this magnificent beast. A spinosaurus is 60 feet in length and over 25,000 pounds.

Titanoboas are deadly ambush predators, striking quickly from beneath the surface of the swamps and jungle waters they call home. Titanoboas vary in their coloration to camouflage effectively in their homes, typically patterned gray-brown and green to match the coloration of local foliage, water, and ground.  A titanoboa is 45 feet long and weighs 2,500 pounds.

An ophiotaurus is a strange beast tied to apocalyptic prophecies, yet imbued with the power to alter destiny and bend fate. They typically measure about 20 feet long and weigh over 4 tons.

Most kaiju are ancient creatures that have dwelled in hidden lairs since the dawn of civilization, prehistoric monsters woken from eons-long slumbers, or alien entities who visit the world only rarely. But Vorgozen (referred to as the Shapeless Feeder by some, and as Queen Vorgozen by those who wish to see all magic abolished from the world) is a relatively recent addition to the world’s kaiju. This accidental but overwhelmingly powerful creation was forged from the unfortunate combination of hubris and arrogance. The absolute destruction of the remote academy in an immense fen that gave rise to the Shapeless Feeder left few clues as to the nature of the potent magic the wizards there were toying with. What hints remain suggest it involved reverse-engineering an artifact in an attempt to distill the potent powers held within the core of a once-flying city.  Born as she was out of the abuse of magical power, Vorgozen is very much a personification of the arrogant wizard who values the study and mastery of magic and the pursuit of arcane power over all else. The Shapeless Feeder was not content to remain at the epicenter of her accidental creation, and has instead seeped through the world, drawn by powerful magical auras or supernatural foci. Fortunately for civilization, after emerging to destroy, the Shapeless Feeder invariably retreats to vast swamplands such as the site of her genesis to hibernate for decades before rousing once again from her slumber. The powerful magic of other kaiju’s supernatural abilities is particularly coveted by Vorgozen, and she enjoys polluting these effects more than any other. She is often drawn to places where other kaiju rampage as a result.  Queen Vorgozen is an immense mound of protoplasm nearly 80 feet in diameter. She weighs 24,000 tons.