Glaugust 2026 #2: Cave Monster Classes

My second prompt for Glaugust is "Classic Monsters as Classes," which excites me a lot! After some thought and discussion with my partners, I have decided to do two monsters; the intellect devourer and the bulette! They're a little less iconic and maybe therefore less classic, but IM in charge here and I get to pick!!! For these classes, I don't imagine you are literally playing as a monster, more that their abilities have been turned into a class for any humanoid to take. In order to play them as the quadruped beasties they typically are, add this feature to both classes' Template As.

 

Beast - You are a monster or animal. You cannot wear or use standard equipment, but can use things designed for a horse or similar creature. Your starting equipment is designed for your body. You are frightening to behold. Your party will need to do some serious convincing that you're tamed. Your claws rend for d6 damage.

 

Class: Intellect Devourer 

You were experimented on by mysterious cave dwelling aliens. Your brain and body have been psychically and surgically altered to become a watchdog for their pod, but something in your programming went wrong. You still have free will.

Skills (1d4): 1. Caves 2. Torture 3. Guarding 4. Interrogation

Starting Equipment: Starry vestments, rough rope bracelets with purple stone woven within, a vessel containing a living brain (4 Intelligence)

 

Templates

A. Thought Eater, Telepathy

B. Sense Intelligence 

C. Psychic Puppet

D. Possession

Thought Eater - You cannot consume normal food, you have a trained revulsion to eating sensations. Instead, you must devour 4 points of Intelligence per day to survive. You can drain Intelligence from a living creature standing motionless within 4 arms' lengths at a rate of 1 point per minute. They may make a save to resist, but you can try again after 2 combat rounds of recovering from the psychic feedback. The referee or targeted player character will describe a belief, thought or memory consumed for each point drained in this way.  

When a creature reaches 0 Intelligence, they suffer brain-death. If a creature is not drained to 0 Intelligence, they may regain points at a rate of 1 per day of therapy by a doctor. Thoughts consumed will not be recovered, however.

If a person is drained to 0 Intelligence, you gain 1d2 Intelligence permanently.

Telepathy - You can speak with willing creatures through their minds from within the same room. If you ever need a maximum limit, it is roughly 4 body lengths away. You can speak with unwilling creatures, but they get a save to shut you out after 4 words.

Sense Intelligence - You know the exact direction and location of all creatures that are as intelligent as a 5 year old human within the hex you occupy. If not using hexes, it is roughly 6 miles. You can locate a specific creature on a 2-in-6 chance, so long as you know what its face looks like. If you fail this check, you are wracked with loud thoughts and lay writhing in pain for 1d4 hours.

Psychic Puppet - When you drain a creature's intelligence to 0, you may choose to puppeteer their body before they die. Your own body becomes unconscious, and you now control the creature as if it were your character. The referee will detail their statistics and other relevant facts to you, and you can access any of their memories at will. You use your own mental statistics instead of the creature's. If your original body is harmed, you are shunted out of the puppet. The puppet immediately dies when you stop the puppet show. You must still consume intelligence to survive while inhabiting this body, but your puppet will not be sustained and will starve at the normal rate.

Possession - You may use your Psychic Puppet feature on living creatures, so long as their Intelligence is lower than yours.

 Class: Bulette

Your nails are hardened and curled for shoveling soil, your brow and nose are stony and your spine protrudes an unnatural length. No one knows why you became this way, but you do; to see the world beneath your feet! To revel with worms and hum with the heart of the planet, to taste the blood and smell the bones of Gaia's beautiful body!

Skills (1d4): 1. Caves 2. Eating 3. Minerals 4. Running

Starting Equipment: Thousands of thin white scars, clay caked all over, razor teeth (d8 damage)

 

Templates

A. Burrow, Darksight

B. Goring Leap, Tremorsense

C. Tunnel, Ferrophage

 

Burrow - You can bore through soft soil, sand and gravel. It is nearly instant and you can move up to your running speed while burrowing. The narrow tunnel you leave behind collapses after 5 minutes.

Darksight - You can see in total darkness, though edges are blurred and there is no color.

Goring Leap - You can leap 6x your body length in a single bound, and can attack for free at any point in your jump. You deal +d6 damage on melee attacks made as part of a Goring Leap.

Tremorsense - You can sense motion and weight in an area 6x your body length, so long as that motion or weight touches the ground. 

Tunnel -  You can bore through solid stone. You may also extrude a waxy substance through your palms that preserves your tunnel for 5 hours.

Ferrophage - You can consume a ration sized lump of metal or stone, though it does not sustain you.