Gryre

If your following the process, you know that the creatures section for the original Northern Realm looks a lot like Pathfinder. The balancing for creatures and their level were in fact wholly based on Pathfinder's nifty Monster Creation reference document (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/bestiary/monsterCreation.html). It was a great tool- to be used as a rough guide without taking complete shots in the dark. But since the changeover, the creature section needed a complete overhaul. So far I'm about halfway through the first edit of the creature chapter and I got to say, I'm happy with how easy it's been to convert.

In our last play session I even got to see how well the balancing is going. My character, Eckehard ran into a Gryre all on his lonesome- and boy was he in over his head. Bless my GM's little heart for having the rest of the party arrive just as it started tearing into me, otherwise he was toast. Ultimately, the whole encounter hit on two points that I really like. One, even though the Gryre was 3 levels higher than Eckehard, the situation wasn't hopeless. Eckehard is a bit of a badass and he's got a big 'ol enchanted sword, so he was able to stand his ground. And two, even after the party arrived, Eckehard was still very much in grave danger, in fact, even if the party had been there from round one, it probably would have played out very similarly. So point one, your never hopelessly outclassed (unless outnumbered, that's entirely different), you'll be useful and dangerous from level 1 on. Point two, you're never out of danger, the levels merely indicate how much danger your actually in.

As I work through I'll be showing off the creatures and eventually I'll add a link to section 2 in the right tab. In the mean time, here's what Eckehard faced:

Aberrations have the following features and traits:

·  Aberrations have alien minds; they are unaffected by mind-affecting spells. If a spell or ability attempts to see into the mind of an aberration (such as a Detect Thoughts spell) it necessitates a Will resistance check, DC 10 or it falls unconscious for 1d4 minutes. A successful check leaves the creature dazed for 1 round.

·  The physical laws that govern the Material Plane do not limit aberrations; they can change size at the cost of a movement within one size category of their stated size (for example a Large aberration can become a Huge or Medium sized aberration).

·  Aberrations are immune to temporal effects.

·  Immunity to all conditions and critical hits, except catching fire, falling, and death.

·  Damage reduction/magic.

·  Aberrations have no Luck score.

·  Aberrations have no shadow in the Shadow Realm.

·  Aberrations eat, but they do so at rates unique to each aberration, and what they consume ranges widely from meat to inorganic substances to mere essence.

  Gryre

This beast seems to be made up of mirrors. Its body is plated with countless immaculate reflective surfaces. It has no head, four limbs, and innumerable sharp edges. Its movement is the sound of a thousand mirrors breaking, its assault the source of nightmares.

The gryre was a creature most dreaded during the Great War. The aelfs called it deimos and the dunaelfs, strach. Its appearance struck fear into the hardiest of warriors. Hunted to extinction, gryre were thought long dead until the Aelf War, when one was discovered locked away in the deepest dungeon of Old Mramor. These creatures destroy the flesh with their claws and razor sharp edges. Wizards of the aelfen House of Maleinos discovered that gryre trap the souls of creatures they destroy, somehow imprisoning them within their body. Only by destroying a gryre can the souls of the creatures killed by it be released. 

Jagged Edges: Any creature that strikes a gryre with a handheld weapon (without reach), unarmed strike (including special attacks), or natural weapon has glass lodged into its body, dealing it 1 slashing damage. When glass becomes lodged into a creature’s body it cannot move faster than ½ speed, until the glass is removed. 

Reflecting Senses: Gryre have no sensory organs of their own. They are only able to sense creatures that can see, hear, feel, or sense them (including supernatural means of sensing), therefore a gryre can never be caught Flat-Footed or unaware. Creatures with eyes give sight to a gryre, but only when they are able to see it. Turning one’s back to a gryre will remove a gryre’s sense of sight, however being able to hear or feel it will impart these senses on the gryre. Reflecting sight activates whenever the gryre is observed (with no limit to distance), even if it is observed through another reflective surface. Scrying a gryre imparts the ability to scry on the caster for as long as the spell is active. A creature with tremorsense imparts that ability to a gryre for as long as it is within range.  

Note: The Northern Realm is now levelless so a lot of this has changed a tad.

Gryre (Large Aberration)

Life: 22 Life

Luck/SR: -

Power: 19 Power

Initiative: +10

Speed: 60 ft.

Armor Class: 20 (+3 Dexterity, +7 natural),

            17 Flat-Footed

Acumen/Grapple: +7/+13

Resistance Die: d20

Attack: Claw +13 melee (1d8+6)

Space/Reach: 10 feet/10 feet

Special Attacks: -

Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/magic,

            jagged edges, reflecting senses,

            spell immunity

Abilities: Str +6, Dex +3, Int +2,

            Intuition -, Will +2, Luck -

Skills: -

Environment: Underground

Organization: Solitary

Level: 7

Weakness: Gryre cannot see creatures without sensory organs. They are unable to see creatures not facing them, however they may sense these creatures by hearing them if the target has ears or by whatever means that creature may sense the gryre’s presence. A gryre is unable to move stealthily.