The Chauncey's renkroda is staring intently at the photographer's lighting stand; immediately after this photo, the renkroda shorted out the photographer's environmental protections and absconded with the light in the confusion.
In pre-technological and traditionalist communities, jeweled renkroda have been kept as partially-tamed game animals for millennia, with the creatures serving as trash disposal, living decoration, and occasional meal. For their part, the renkrodas not only enjoy the plethora of food scraps left behind, but seem to revel in their role as (mostly) harmless tricksters - and villages and explorers alike provide a constant source of entertainment for the little dinosaurs.
One of this renkroda’s most unique characteristics is a bioelectrical aura that disrupts nearby technological devices. A jeweled renkroda can cause communication devices to spontaneously engage, energy pistols to randomly discharge, and any number of other electromechanical mishaps. The fearless (or clueless) creatures will often use this to their advantage, turning an unsuspecting adventurer’s camp into a maelstrom of technological chaos while the renkrodas abscond with food and shiny pieces of metal - frequently weapons, knives, or toolkits.
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| He smol, He purple, He stole Da earple |
Across the continent, the omnivorous Jeweled Renkroda has adapted to fill almost every niche in the food chain, with some even serving as pollinators and seed-carriers for various plant life. While all jeweled renkrodas are opportunistic feeders, studies have shown that individuals have clear preferences for certain types of food, such as fruits, carrion, insects, or smaller vertebrates. Some of the most daring and aggressive creatures will flock together to hunt larger fauna, their camaraderie lasting only as long as it takes to bring down their quarry.
Their small size leaves them vulnerable to predation, and the jeweled renkroda is a favored mark for mid-sized predators and carnivorous flora. Though they are quick and canny, they are easily distracted by bright or colorful objects and will disregard their personal safety for the promise of such a prize. The jeweled renkroda’s most dangerous predator, a carnivorous fruit bush, has evolved to exploit this weakness, luring the creatures with low-hanging, brightly-colored fruit. The plant’s victim then falls into the acidic digestive pits that lie hidden beneath the tangle of roots.
Chauncey's Renkroda
CR 1
XP 400
CN Small animal
Init +4; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5
Aura bioelectrical aura (30 ft.)
DEFENSE
HP 17
EAC 11; KAC 12
Fort +3; Ref +3; Will +4
Resistances electricity 2
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d4+1 P)
Ranged static zap +4 (1d4+1 E)
STATISTICS
Str +0; Dex +4; Con +0; Int -4; Wis +2; Cha +1
Skills Acrobatics +10, Athletics +5, Sleight of Hand +5, Stealth +10, Survival +10
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bioelectrical Aura (Ex) Any technological device with an item level of 2 or less has a 25% chance of behaving erratically when within 30 feet of a Chauncey’s Renkroda. Roll a D4 on the following table to determine the effect.
Alright, we promised some announcements for this month, so I guess we need to hold to that?
First off, those discerning eyes amongst you may have noticed that the accompanying art for this month’s blog post is, how shall we say it… way less “made with Paint and a pint of whiskey” than our usual visual tripe. That’s all thanks to the talented artistic rendering of Savannah Hensley! Savannah really captured the adorable mischievousness of the jeweled renkrodas, and we couldn’t be happier with the art she made for us. You can find more of her work @rockingyourstar on Instragram!
Of course, none of this wouldn’t have been done without our developer and editor taking the lead and getting us some art. That’s right - Starfinder Facts now has Natalie Kertzner officially providing our development and editing needs! Natalie is a local EverGM, an author with multiple Paizo Starfinder credits to her name, and is the founder of BeanCity Gaming, Inc., a non-profit organization hosting a new charity mini-convention in the Boston region this September. Her experience and creativity has been invaluable for us as we make plans for our next big project, while keeping the Starfinder Facts train a-rollin’!
Now, those of you who have been paying attention may have noticed that Starfinder Facts was working to produce our very own scenario, working under the Summer 2019 RPG Writer’s Workshop session. The nice thing about working under a series of escalating deadlines was the lovely whooshing sound they made as they flew by - but we still got a lot of content created, even if it isn’t quite ready for public consumption yet. We’re excited to announce that we’re currently creating a separate publishing entity, Bearly Factual Productions, in order to branch out from the Community Use projects that we’ve been producing and instead create commercial projects under the Open Game License, with our first scenario already underway!
“Oh no!,” you may gasp, “does this mean that I’m going to be paywalled away from the absurd content that I have come to rely upon and crave??” No, dear reader, that is not what this means - what it means is that we’ll be expanding the variety and scope of content that we’re creating in order to give ourselves (and the community!) more opportunities to grow our shared hobby. There’s some big plans in the works that we’re not ready to announce yet, but if you’re interested in seeing what we do when we aren’t making elaborate jokes with attached statblocks, please give us a follow at our OGL home - the newly announced Bearly Factual Productions! We look forward to providing even more Starfinder content for you all!
