From Advanced Skinwalkers being inspired by lycanthropes and stores of native american shapeshifters to Advanced Androids being inspired by science fiction characters like Data, Ash, Bishop, the Terminator, the skin jobs from Bladerunner and Vision, all our options in the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Series draw from a myriad of sources. Advanced Gillmen is no different in this respect.
While I am still working on it, I thought I would share with you some of those sources of inspiration:
- Cthulhu Mythos. How many times have we heard about people walking out of the sea having the “Innsmouth look” to them? Well, we want to make sure that these guys are solidly in keeping with that.
- Advanced Race Guide. There is precious little in the ARG about the gillmen race. What there is is the race’s origin: they were created by the aboleths. So we are sticking to that story. More over, this origin had a sizable hand in shaping gillmen culture. This has a strong influence on the way they are today.
- Creature from the Black Lagoon. Both my wife’s love for this classic monster movie and Erik Mona citing this as a reason for making this race is enough reason for me to pay serious attention. You will find racial options in this book to make this classic character
- Aquaman. I have to mention the whale in the lake. Without a doubt, we made sure to include some Aquaman love in here. Being able to call sea creatures to aid you in your fight against evil is something that only the most worthy can do (and Player Characters are always worthy).
- Hellboy. Abraham Sapien is an aquatic man-like creature that enjoys a good book, if someone can turn the pages for him. We made sure to include some fun bits inspired by this story.
Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Gillmen is part of the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium. Download the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium now at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, d20PFSRD, and Paizo.com.
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