RULES SUMMARY
Resultant Creature Types
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‘ord is more or les akon for eran but tone pon the
creature existed only inthe fevered imagination ofa wizard
willing to undergo be expene and effort bring his
creation lif. Many ober tenures are suspected ohave
crombrocting- based origins: the pf, composed of
equal prs ion and tee te hinpogtit hore eagle
Ayr the ragonne, part brass dragon and pat ion the
shle pegnss,obvioaly made hore sok fied with
tome ge ithe sea ion, pr ih and pr in he
chimera, an mania ison of gout, tion and dragon.
Some aces might even party derive frm humanoid tock —
just look at centaurs, grigs, harpies, lamia, lammasu,
tefl, mints, ays, andorphints ted
ynosphinss, ears and yun. Imagine how easily
mmapcaerossbreesing mish explain thi eitenee.
‘The creation of anew species can bean exhilarating thi
fora wizard. Bringing about a new life that would not have
existed but for your own effort and dedication — what
‘wizard would not like to make sich long-lasting
contribution to the world? There isa sort of immorality
invalved here (and more than a ite arrogance a, long
after the wizard has gone on to his just rewards in the next
life his creations will live on, breeding in greater numbers
and becoming anestablished race on the fice of the planet.
‘Hybrid created through magical crossbreeding arenot
‘generally sterile, as few wizards would wish to create such a
"flawed" creature. Indeed, many who pursue this field af
study do 0 inorder to be “father” 10a whole species of
‘propagating creatures, nota single, finite creature that will
bring the wizard no legacy
Naturally, noc everyone who investigates the field of magical
crossbreeding has such long-term goals. Many just want to
design a gpeificcreeture fora particular purpose and have
lite ono thought about establishing entire new races. The
-wizard who fuses his warhorse with a rhinoceros might
only be concerned with having a tougher combat mount on
‘he batlefield. Similarly, many wizards and sorcerers see
{he ie of magical crossbreeding asa way to inerease the
ower and wily oftheir familiar, or even themselves. The
‘reasons for creating new forms of life are numerous ~ there
may well beas many different reasons to enter the field as
there are practitioners
Recreating Existing Species
Magical crossbreeding ned not alvays beabout rsting
never before-seen ces, however. Insome cans the
practic isused to crete copies of pre-existing species
This canbe done for many reasons; oon cen, tis morely
titi ioe! aspen rok-vie
‘There are few that doubt the existence of the gods; ater ll,
the gods themselves grant divine spells to their clerics,
druids and high-level paladins and rangers, Occasionally,
the gods may bave even appeared on the face of the world,
walking among the sentient races and interacting with them
for good or il, However, despite the frequently
‘overwhelming evidence that the gods do in fatexist, there
are sill hose mortals who deny theirexistence as divine
beings. To these individuals the gods are nothing more
‘han extremely powerfil entities. Those ofthis view hold
that any being, were he to gain as much power as that
\wielded by the self proclaimed gods, would becomea god
himself, The field of magical crossbreeding is often used as
‘type of proof, showing that the act of creation is
something that snot inherently capable only through
goilike power. “So the Sea God claims to have ereated the
smerfolk race? asks the wizard sceptc. “Well wath this,
can magically merge a human anda fish to ereatoa merfolk
‘myself! Does this make me god?”
‘Many arcane spelleastrs who pursue this path hold similar
belief about the nature ofthe beings that call themselves
gods. Perhaps this is because their own brand of magi is
‘ran from the direct manipulation of mystical energies,
‘ater than tha provided by someone or something else. It
is easy to see how these arcane spelleasters might look
down upon divin spellerat the arcane spellcaster wields
his magieal power through his ov efforts — itis not being
hhanded down to him in exchange for worship. These arcane
spellcasers often go so far as to believe divine magie tobe a
subcategory of arcane magic, type ofeldritch magic that
can be passed down from a powerful beng to one less
powerful. By creating creatures that were allegedly created
bythe gous, these arcane spelleasters seek to take the gods
down a peg or two and demonstrate that one need not bea
“aod to create new life
Magical crossbreeding is also frequently usa to recreate
existing races as an exercise to demonstrate the possible
otis ofthe race in question. While centaurs might have
their ov origin myths, believing theirraceto have been
created by a powerful centaur god, spticl wizards might
tempt o create a centaur ‘fiom scratch’, usin
transmutation rituals to fase togetheran lfand a horse, to
demonstrate how the centaur race was realycreated.
Whether thee isany truth to these suppositions remains MAGICAL CROSSBREEDING ~ AN OVERVIEW
‘uneertain, but there are quitea few common monsters
‘whose origins eould easily be explained by magical
crossbreeding.
(One need not dismiss the gods completely to view magical
crossbreeding a the origins of other species. Some pecple
believe tha the gods originally crested the humanoids and
‘animals and tha further species from thai point on have
largely been che result of magica hybridisation. It should be
noted that this view often leads inexorably to racial bigotry —
ifone considers the origins ofthe merfulk race to be nothing,
‘more than the magical merging of human ane fish, then itis
‘no great step fo view merfolkas being somehow ‘essex*
‘Han bumans. The creation of a human took the workings of
‘agod, afterall, while ‘any old wizard” can whip up
_merfolk, Needless to say these are not popular views
among those races whose origins are suspected by some to
stem from magical crossbreeding. Its perhaps telling that,
of the humanoid races, this view ischiefly embraced by
‘humans.
Finally, magical crossbreeding is occasionally used w mimic
‘an existing species so that humanoid can easily infiltrate a
society of such creatures, although for these endeavours the
polymorph other spells usually more cost elective, A
Fnuman might be fused with a ish the better to penotrate
merfolk society, for example.
Differences from Polymorph Spells
phouiieaaea conical
Hypo inseam ce donate
on Secret aeeee
ee tigt cso a
Soo oes
en er
Se
Meek secre a.
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ee
oe ae
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‘cannot be duplicated by the simple casting ofa pofsmarph
nie ere on
hush rey aor proce
Sesccsen pier 7 didegae erat
such work, tis now possible to use polsmorph other to
teansforman ori nt-or any other creature at east,
the size af a pony-intoa rhinohorse.)
‘Another limitation to polhmorph spells is the fact that a
polymorph creature retains its own creature type after the
‘yansformation. A human polymorphed into a ted retains
the humanoid type and thusis stil susceptible to spells that
target humanoids, such as charm porson. This also means
thatthe polymorphedl creature will haven effect on further
‘generations ~since the toad is still considered a humanoid, i
cannot father offepring with other toads, Furthermore,
while polymorph other isapermanent spell, creature
under its effect revert ots original orm when slain and
any body parts revert fonormal once removed. Thus, the
Jnuman-turmed-toad reverts toa human when sain andif it
hhada limb removed a a toad, the limb would revert to that
of ahuman, The spell might las the nataral span ofthe
transformed creature's life, butevery polymorph other spel
{sultimataly of imited duration.
Magical crossbreeding, on the other hand, is permanent
alteration of the constituent creatures. Again using the
‘hinofhorse hybrid example, ance the fusion has been
suecessfully made the creature type changes permanently a3,
oll In this ase, the two animal progenitors result in a
beast), The creature is now permanently a rhinohorse an,
fit mates with another thinohorse, will produce thinohrse
offspring. Ifthe creatures slain it remains a dead
rhinohorse; it does not revert to the bodies of the rhinoceros
andthe horse that were used in its creation. Of course,
magical erossbreeds are no more ressian to polymorph
spells tan their progenitors. A rhinohorse polymomphed
imjoa toad becomes. toad, bu retains the beast creature
type of the chinohorse and reverts to rhinohorse for if
slain asa toed
‘Finally, takes much longer prepare and perform the
areane rituals mvolved in magieal crossoroeding than it does
‘oprepare and casa simple polsmorph other spell. The
spall canbe readied after a single night and the casting
process completed asa sinele action, whereas the ritual at
thecore of magical crossbreeding ian undertaking that ean
‘ake days—and only after months of careful planning and
preparation. Depending upon te desired result, polymorph
spells may be moce desirable than the rigors and expense of
magical crossbreeding,
The Practitioners
‘The world of magical crossbreeding is not open tal
practitioners ofthe arcane arts, Because the crossbreeding
rocess requires functional laboratory, untold valusnes of
notes, treatises and arcane formulae, 2s well as.a great deal
oftime and effort making excruciatingly detailed and precise MAGICAL CROSSBREEDING — AN OVERVIEW
preparations, wizards make up the ranks of magical
srossbreeders, While sorcerers and bards often wield
various individual spells of the Transmutation school,
neither class is particularly wel suited toward the magical
crossbreeding proeass. Soreerers, with their intuitive wasp
ofthe workings of arcane magic, lack the expertise
nocessary to concoet and perform the elaborate and
puintangly precise rituals than enable hybridisation to
\work—toa sorcerer, arcane magic is an ar, while to @
wizard, itis more ofa sefonce. The field of magical
crossbreeding is, without a doubt, well groamded in the
“seienoo’ end ofthe arcane magie spectrum. Bardie magic
tends 1 be as intuitive as sorcery, without even a need for
proper spellbooks, and most bards areas eonfounded by the
wane preparations inherent tothe magical erossbreeding
process 2s most sorcerers
(Chaos wizards cant perform magical crossbreeding using
their own inherent channelling ofthe raw power of chaos,
as wild sorcery cannot be used to create a permanent effect
andthe sion af flesh and bone accomplished through
magical hybridisation is permanent.
‘Specialist wizards area special case. Naturally, those
‘wizards concentrating on the Transmutation school ofmagie
{ene to make excellentcrossbreeders. For reasons ust as
‘obvious, specialist wizards that have Transmutation 2
prohibited schoo! cannot perform the rituals necessary to
fil the hybridisation oftwo beings into one
(Clerics and druids avoid magical crossbreeding, tending to
vow itas either the domain ofthe gods ora perversion
‘gainst nature. Indeed, most eleries and druids will actively
‘oppose wizard they discover to be practising magical
crossbreeding, even going as far as use violence ifall else
fails,
[Note thar no all wizards who try their hand at magical
crossbreeding necessarily devote ther live tothe task. On
the contrary, for every wizard wo has made magical
‘crossbreeding his life's work, there are numerous others
‘who investigate the feld of study fora specifi purpose and
then distegard such endeavours once that goal has been
achieved. The easons for creating a magica hybrid are
limos as diverse asthe number of ereaures its possible to
create by sch a process. Perkapsit isthe desire fora riding
mount with movement abilities not possessed by the
common riding horse or draft mule that drivesa wizard to
‘explore the paths of magical erossbreeding, or the need for a
fearsome creature to guard his teasure vault. Others might
bein it strictly for the money —after all, nce the processes
for creating a specific ereature is perfected, there is oftena
agreatdeal of coin tobe mace providing such creatures to
those willing to pay the costs for their cretion. Many
magical crossbreeders are merely curious about the nature of
nas
smatomy and see their hybrid experiments asa way fo learn
‘mote about te fundamental structure ivi things.
Others of more evil bent might use magical crossbreeding
asa torble ponishment to inflict upon their captured
Rogardless ofthe reasons for entering sucha fied, most
‘magical crossbreedershave several tras common, Firs,
they are focused —they must be, forthe magical
hybridisation of members of wo entirely different species
requires many long hours of devoted sty and practic.
‘They tend to be detail-oriented (or atleast the successful
‘ones do), for magical crossbreeding isan exacting science,
‘where the slightest miscalculation can have catastrophic
effects onthe resulting bybrid creature. Given the length of
time and expenditure of resouress often required to create
such anew life form, most crossbreeders prefer to erron the
ie of caution; meticulousness is shared trait among many
‘who adopt this fel of study. Finally, while many wizards
Team the basis ofthis field of study during their initial
‘raining in the arts of the arcane spelleaster, those who put
‘their owledge to actual practice are more froquantly of
higher level. A neophyte wirard can attempt tocreatea
magical crossbreed of his own, but more often the attempts
made after he has hada few years’ experience under is belt
‘and has amassed enough money and equipment to ake the
aternpt worth, DESIGNING MAGICAL CROSSBREEDS.
DESIGNING
MAGICAL
CROSSBREEDS
eating a magical crossbred might seem lke a
daunting task, especially considering al ofthe
possible creatures available as potential test
subjects. While magical crossbreeding is indeed a difficult
‘as, itneed not be an impossible one, especially ifthe
‘wizard takes tone step a atime and maintains a methodical
approach to his endeavours. Naturally, before hybrid ean
be ereated it ust frstbe fully conceptualised inthe mind of
itsereator. What will took like? What will tbe abe to
do? These answers must be determined before the
crossbreeder begins any actual preparation of the
‘Whena player decides that his wizard charactor will attempt
‘o createa magical hybrid, the player must writeup the
proposed statistics of what his creation should look like, if
all goes successfully i the transmutation tual, Ths ig not
necessarily winat the hybrid wi look like, merely the target
{or which the crossbreeder is shooting. The hybrids
statistics should mirror the format of those used in Core
Rulebook Il and the Saraple Hybrids chapter ofthis guide.
‘There is no particular order in which these statistics must be
filled out, butt is usually best to decide upon the hybrid’s
‘overall desired traits and ability scores ist, so we will
‘examine these things initially and then work our way down
the standard creature statsties block.
‘The ‘Reading the Entries’ seetion of Core Rulebook His an
invaluable aid when working on a proposed hybrids
statistic block
Determining Desired Traits
The first thing to consider when designing a magical
‘rossbreed is whieh traits you wish to take fiom each of the
‘Progenitors, which is best accomplished by comparing the
‘wo creatures to be used inthe hybridisation process. Any
traits that are shared by both creatures will automatically be
present in the hybrid; owlbears have low-light vision
‘because both owls and beats have low-light vision, Any
properties based purely on creature type, such asa beast's
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