The Messari

The messari probably have set some sort of personal record - they are the most frequently mentioned creatures in any of my games, but they are also the ones I have waited the longest to actually 'flesh out' (which is ironic, because they have no flesh). I mean, they are sort of quasi-undead / demons / dementor / Stranger Things Upside Down inhabitants. They are kind of all of that. But, I never had clear pictures in my head, other than 'like Mind Flayers but not Mind Flayers'. I ran a campaign in college where the heroes ended up in a city of the Mind Flayers, and there were all of these strange minions of the Mind Flayers that I'd created quickly and had rough stats for - strange things that tried to eat their brains and devour their souls. I had so much fun running that city - they ended up at the heart of the city battling a giant brain creature that was trying to consume their life force. Good times. I've always wanted to get back to that city and realize it properly. This morning, I finally took the first step and committed some messari designs to paper. These guys will be in the core rules. I finally know how they are mechanically different from undead or demons; they feed on fear. They can cause fear, but when they do, they get to regenerate based on the level of the creature upon whom they have projected this fear. Your fear, quite literally, makes them stronger. I think they actually might be able to create reserves of something like resolve (or maybe I'll steal the idea of tenacity from Stalwart Age - the ability to completely ignore an attack). They need to soak up some yummy fear first, but once they do they get some tenacity to use that turn. I think it would make encounters with messari different from encounters with other creatures, which is kind of the point.  

Parenthetically, the only real cartooning advice my mom ever gave me was when I was maybe 13 or so. She was looking at a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, and she pointed out to me that the lines often didn't connect. As I pulled the newspaper up to my face, I could see that there were all of these little squiggles that just hung in space. Hobbes' fur was just a collection of free-floating curves and loops. My mind was blown. How do you draw and not connect the lines together? I kept thinking about my mom's advice as I drew this morning. So many lines just hang in space.