Upcoming: Psi-Watch Bestiary

At this point I'm about a week away from putting out the Psi-Watch mega-bestiary. The final critter roster will top out at between 165-170 creatures, about 40 of which have been previously published and 5-6 of which are familiars.

In addition to some existing artwork and stock I'll be using for this project, I've gathered a huge amount of new artwork by John Picot, Amanda Webb and Vic Shane to illustrate new creatures. Today I thought I'd spotlight a few images that you'll be seeing in this upcoming sourcebook.

 First, three images from John Picot. The first illustrates the Luminate, a high-CR, high-flying energy blaster inspired by The Authority's Apollo. Next, Sekhmet Ammt makes the jump from the older Action Galaxy sourcebook to menace Psi-Watch heroes. She is the 'capstone' on an adventuring thread pitting heroes against an ancient cult of Egyptian super-cyborgs. Finally, a spectacular image of the Irish Magdalene, a heroic Catholic demon hunter inspired by Top Cow's Magdalena, but incorporating some pretty dark (and real) elements of Irish history. Honestly, she's probably my favorite of all the images John provided for this book. I love how she came out.

Next, two from Amanda Webb, out of the many images she provided for the book. The Necrofficer is my take on Spawn, a corrupt military official who comes back as a powerful undead but loses none of his tactical acumen or military mindset. Mechanically and story-wise, the Necrofficer is really fun to write. Beneath the Necrofficer image, we've got Dr. Oblivion Van Der Merwe, a riff on Cameron Hodge from X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda, which remains one of my favorite X-stories to this day. Like Hodge, Dr. Oblivion sits at the head of the Republic of Cebrary chain of command, and is the capstone villain for that adventure path. Amanda told me she specifically hypersaturated the bold pink of the laser blasts to mimic the coloring from the crossover, and I love her rendition of one of the most terrifying X-villains of the early 1990s.

Finally, take a look at two of Vic Shane's contributions to the book. The Cultureborn Adamant is inspired heavily by obscure Wildstorm character, Union, and is a supercop/bodyguard for the Culture. He's designed as a CR 14 challenge, and can take on a spaceship on his own. Tough with cool powers, substituting an enchanted adamantine spear for Union's justice stone and glowing quarterstaff projected from it. Finally, we've got an elite troop for the Republic of Cebrary, a Stormfront Elite. You'll fight these guys at every level of the campaign. He's visually inspired by Jim Lee's design for the Genoshan Magistrates, obviously.

Look for another preview in the next couple days, and the book in a week or two.

Happy Fourth of July,
CHRIS