I’ve made monsters from scratch. I’ve taken the existing D&D monster and given it a Fantastic Beasts tweak. This is the first time I’ve taken two homebrewed characters and smushed them together. But it makes sense for a Hidebehind. That’s pretty much how the species got started.
Long story short, a Demiguise mated with a Ghoul. There’s a lot of questions left unanswered, of both a biological and logistical nature. But they were both stuck on a cargo ship together, what else were they going to do, I guess.
And, because Demiquise and Ghoul both come before Hidebehind in the alphabet, I’ve already made their D&D stat blocks. So this was a case of blending the two and seeing what made the most sense to leave in.
Hidebehind
In the real world, cross-species breeding usually either fail or produce something weaker than its forebears. Ligers can be bigger than lions and tigers, but with some serious health issues. But this is a fantasy setting, where the opposite is usually true for hybrids.
So the result is a creature with the beefiness and strength of a ghoul, with the sneakiness and some of the magic of the Demiguise. Fantastic Beasts alludes to the stealthy nature of a hidebehind, and I’d given both its parents the stealth skill so that tracks.
The most interesting word in the Hidebehind’s description, is the word ‘infest’. These tall and skinny, bear-like entities don’t live, they ‘infest’ wherever they are. This, as well as the description, means that this is definitely and lurking, aggressive aberration that could lend itself to a scary encounter.
Lean into the name of this creature, and have it follow a group for a long time before striking: “you feel like you’re being watched…”
Thank You For Reading
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