Building Blanks pt. 2: Core Concept and Resources

Alright so we've got our concept, The Ogrekin Battle Cattle. The design doc is simple, and the bullets are laid out as follows.

• Needs to be strong and hit hard
• Needs to be tanky and both it and it's mount needs to be able to survive more than a few hits. This matches its giant nature and makes sure it doesn't just die to ranged attacks or a brace. 
• Needs to be kind of funny: It sounds silly and that's part of the point. They are like fallout super mutants on a cow. The players will laugh, and it will be disarming, which will make that first charge one of these (or a group in a cavalry charge) gives to the players all the more terrifying when it hits and the target basically explodes. It will be funny, then terrifying

Now, to step 2!

Step 2: Resources

So, I know I want to make a mounted character, I know I want to put him on a cow, and I want him to charge things at high speed and blow them up with a single powerful hit. From previous experience in my home games I know I'm going to need 

• Spirited Charge, 
• a Lance
• a Cow Animal companion

Now, I know the first two are going to be pretty easy to come by, but for the latter I've got a couple of choices. I could build a ranger, a cavalier, or even a barbarian or fighter with the right feats & archetypes. But for this build, I'm going to go with a 3rd party class I enjoy and use the Hussar from Fat Goblin Games for the class. So, for right now that means I'm going to need the Core Rulebook, Ultimate Wilderness for the mount, Advanced Class Guide (for Undersized Mount), and Call to Arms: Horses & Mules for the Hussar class. 

Step 3: Build & Format

Since this is going to be a blank, I like to use the standard format for monsters from the Pathfinder Bestiaries. You can find this in any of the books or online as part of any of the many standard reference documents others have hosted. This allows you to save time on constructing your page, avoid missing anything one might not notice on the line when doing it by hand, and allow you to potentially find a build you already like as a base to build your own designs off of. In this case, I will be using one of the Hussar blanks I created before as both the template for my base layout and build for the Battle Cattle going forward. That template should be going up alongside this post and helps to illustrate the second benefit of blanks, versatility. 

By constructing NPC Blanks as they come, you can repurpose them for a different use. I this instance, I've built a cavalry unit designed after Native American Cavalry and now, years later I can take that core design idea and repurpose parts of it like the layout and mechanics to build something new in a similar vein. This is helps SEVERELY cut down on build times and helps you as a GM cut down on prepping stats and getting back to playing.