There are Unmarked spoilers below, you have been warned.
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Quarries
Quarries make up the bulk of the hunts within Kingdom Death, being the monsters that survivors actively seek out and hunt for resources. All quarries have three different levels of power that determine not only their statistics and special traits, but the quality of the rewards they provide upon defeat.
White Lion
The first quarry that survivors encounter in the base game, the White Lion serves both as an introductory fight and the source of materials for many early game items. The White Lion appears at first to be in stark contrast with the bizarre horror of the other monsters in the game, but further encounters and closer inspection will reveal the strange human-like hands it has for front-paws, and the apparent sapience it possesses, as well as hints at a lost civilization of White Lions.- Cradling Your Kill: With human hands, no less!
- Mama Bear: A random event has a chance where you can kill a White Lion cub which will provoke the mother or father into attacking your hunt party early.
- Scripted Battle: In the tutorial it has a pre-set AI deck
- Sense Freak: Loved the feeling of the human it killed so much that it grew a pair of human hands
- Starter Villain: A Scripted Battle with a White Lion is the subject of the game's tutorial, and White Lions in general are the simplest monster battles in the game.
Screaming Antelope
The second quarry survivors encounter in the base game. The Screaming Antelope acts similarly to a startled herbivore in combat to contrast the White Lion's predatory nature. The Screaming Antelope is notable not only for its size, but for the massive, toothy maw that runs along the length of its underbelly, and the small grabbing hands that line it, seeking to draw in anything or anyone that gets too close.- Belly Mouth: Has a massive maw on its underside. Get too close to it and it can indeed swallow a survivor whole.
- Mooks Ate My Equipment: Their "Ravenous" ability will eat a piece of gear from the survivor if it connects.
- Too Many Mouths: In this case, one more mouth is too many, and it's a horrifying Belly Mouth too.
Phoenix
The third and final quarry survivors encounter in the base game. It is significantly more powerful than the earlier quarries. The phoenix is a massive beast possessed of reasoning and apparent control over time, able to see into the future, selectively age, or de-age its opponents and teleport around the combat arena at will.- Bird-Poop Gag: Some of its Hunt Events involve the survivors encountering its droppings (including being bombed by it), and it even has a move called "Excrete" where it defecates on survivors behind it.
- Easy Exp: Some of its abilities give Hunt XP to affected survivors. This, however, is not a good thing, as survivors whose Hunt Exp exceeds the cap when affected by Spiral Age (one of said abilities) will cease to exist.
- Ret-Gone: It has a few abilities that can kill survivors on a temporal level. Survivors whose Hunt Exp exceeds the cap after Spiral Age affects them will cease existing, and all their family members lose weapon proficiency levels. Survivors with 6+ age tokens when hit by Analtorium cease to exist to the point where all their gear and resources are lost.
- Time Master: It has control over time and can even age/de-age the survivors at will. It can even cause unlucky survivors to cease existing on a temporal level.
Gorm
An expansion monster that can be fought from the first year onwards, replacing the White Lion. An enormous fusion of a pachyderm, angler fish and human infant, the Gorm provides an encounter as horrific as its grotesque appearance.- Acid Attack: It pukes out acid vomit extremely often, and can even use it as a reflex action upon being attacked in certain parts.
- Body Horror: If a survivor is killed by their Ancient Bite, the microbes in the bite cause them to gorily and messily melt in front of the other survivors, horrifying them.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Gorms vomit often and a few images of them have them spewing their stomach contents out.
- Weather Manipulation: During their mating season, Gorms cause foul weather characterized by acid rain, strong winds and seizure-inducing lightning.
Spidicules
An enormous forest dwelling spider-like creature that uses a human corpse as a lure for its prey, the Spidicules is an expansion monster that replaces the Screaming Antelope.- An Arm and a Leg: Should the survivors remove all the Spidicules' legs while leaving it alive, it'll be left as a legless ball that the survivors can take home as a Battle Trophy and silk generator.
- Flunky Boss: Is aided by Spiderlings during its battle.
- Luring in Prey: It uses the corpses of dead survivors to try and lure them in as prey.
- Revenge: Should a Spidicules be defeated, a new one will kidnap one of the victorious survivors as revenge. The survivors will need to initiate a showdown against it to save their ally before they're killed in four lantern years.
Flower Knight
The first of Kingdom Death's many Knight expansions, the graceful Flower Knights patrol and protect the abyssal woods from threats to its ecosystem. The Flower Knight fights from within a mystical fairy ring that can increase its martial power.Lion God
The Lion God was once the ruler of the Silver City. Now, inhabited by a large parasite known as the Knowledge Worm, the ruler has taken on this monstrous form and stalks angrily through the abandoned streets of his city. As its name would indicate, it is extremely powerful.Sunstalker
Bizarre and unsettling in appearance, the light-producing sunstalkers usually live high in the clouds of the Kingdom Death world. They serve as a powerful quarry that can manipulate light and create living shadows, as well as provide exceptionally strong weapons and armour. In the "People of the Sun" campaign a special Sunstalker serves as the final encounter.- Yin-Yang Bomb: It's capable of manipulating both light and shadow and has attacks that affect survivors in the light as well as attacks that affect survivors in the shadow.
Dragon King
An enormous wyvern hosting a radioactive core within its exposed rib cage, the Dragon King is currently the largest monster model in Kingdom Death. In the "People of the Stars" campaign, a unique Dragon King serves as the final encounter.- Last of His Kind: And you have to kill him. Bastard.
- Our Dragons Are Different: This one is radioactive
Crimson Crocodile
The first quarry survivors encounter in the Dream Keepers campaign, replacing the White Lion in the Prologue.- Bloody Murder: The crocodile can affect the blood flow of its enemies, as well as using its own scabs as armor. Defeating it can grant special pieces of glass with blood contained within.
- Rustproof Blood: In a more literal sense of the phrase than most, certain weapons made from the crocodile's bloodglass can make themselves far more resistant to becoming worn out or damaged if its user is bleeding. Of course, the blood inside bloodglass is always red, as well.
Smog Singers
The second quarry survivors encounter in the Dream Keepers campaign, replacing the Screaming Antelope. Fought as a group, instead of one at a time like most monsters. Battling the Smog Singers tends to fill survivors with guilt at what they are doing.The King
Originally planned as part of the scrapped "Lantern Festival" event, The King serves as a Node 4 quarry in the Dream Keepers campaign, encountered after the Phoenix. Nemesis
Nemesis monsters are brutal beings that attack settlements directly.
The Butcher
The first Nemesis in the base game. The Butcher is a survivor from outside the settlement who lost their mind, first forsaking their own people, and then becoming consumed with fear and insanity until only a pure white-hot rage was left. Decked in heavy armor and wielding massive, axe-like cleavers, the Butcher is reminiscent of slasher villains, appearing suddenly to brutally mutilate the defenders of the settlement, or else raid and empty their resources for his own use. The Butcher is covered in stolen lanterns, which have in turn, the faces of their former owners draped over them like shawls.- Battle Trophy: He keeps the lanterns of every survivor he kills, each bearing the skinned face of its previous owner.
- Was Once a Man: Originally just another human survivor, until he went insane and somehow became a huge bestial humanoid.
The Kingsman
Encountered soon after the Butcher, a troop of armored soldiers arrive in the settlement, seemingly taking census and brutally punishing the settlement if there are too many survivors, rounding up the strongest and the bravest for culling. Or potentially aiding the settlement instead, providing resources to encourage their brutal lifestyle. Regardless, a lone Kingsman will arrive some years after to engage the strongest survivors in combat. Although outwardly human in appearance, the Kingsman slowly reveals itself during the battle to be otherworldly, the finishing blow revealing that the armor was empty the entire time.- And Then John Was a Zombie: The survivor that lands the killing blow will slowly start to turn into a Kingsman themselves, ultimately resulting in this.
- Animated Armor: Although it wasn't always.
- Body Horror: The King's Curse, inflicted upon any survivor that lands the killing blow on a Kingsman, will begin to gradually, forcibly change the victim's body into living armor. The story event page's illustration for this is particularly horrific.
- Dance Battler: The Kingsman fights with a rhythmic, dance-like style, making them very difficult to pin down. Survivors can catch on to this rhythm themselves, becoming this trope, as well, while making the Kingsman easier for them to fight.
- Was Once a Man: While it is unknown if this is true of every Kingsman, the King's Curse will slowly turn survivors into Kingsmen themselves, applying this trope to them.
- You Kill It, You Bought It: Killing a Kingsman will cause the killer to turn into a Kingsman themselves.
The Hand
Presumably, the Hand of the King. The Hand is one of the most powerful and unusual combatants in the game. The Hand sees through the eyes of all the Kingsmen, and it is for this reason that he arrives at the settlement, first to visit it personally. He then proceeds to pass judgement on it, killing survivors or destroying resources as he wills, unless the settlement cleaves towards a particularly brutal lifestyle, where he may instead provide various benefits before leaving. On his return, despite being fully willing to kill, the Hand sees the battle that ensues as more of a test, or tempering of the settlement, applauding the survivors as they do well, and feigning weakness and injury at times to give them advantages.- Berserk Button: If it's forced to perform its instinct action because there was no valid target (or if it misses with certain moves), it will use "The Penalty" where it deals an attack that can One-Hit Kill a survivor on a successful save (if they have no survival to spend) and will One-Hit Kill a survivor on a failed save.
- Extremity Extremist: It only uses its hands to fight despite having a sheath and weapon.
- Graceful Loser: Depending on the result of the survivors' victory dice roll, The Hand may bow graciously and vanish, leaving a package behind with a lot of resources.
- Sore Loser: Depending on the result of the survivors' victory dice roll, The Hand may throw a fit in defeat and punt a lantern at a random survivor's head in frustration.
- The Omniscient: Implied by the introduction blurb given in its Showdown rules.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Groin Attacks. Hitting him in the codpiece will knock him down, and if he's wounded during this period, he gains 20 tokens to Impossible Eyes, turning it to Respect and ending in the survivors' victory no matter his level.
- Worthy Opponent: If the survivors survive long enough for him to use Applause, or if they manage to actually wound him once for him to use Respect (wounds normally go to his Impossible Eyes ability until a limit), the fight ends with the survivors victorious. In the former case, he even heals the survivors, albeit painfully enough to possibly kill them.
The Man Hunter
The Lion Knight
The Slender Man
Yes, THAT one.The Tyrant
A special Nemesis monster found in the Dragon King expansion, to be used in the "People of the Stars" alternate campaign.Atnas
A new Nemesis added as part of the Dream Keepers campaign from the Gambler's Chest expansion. Atnas is also known as the Child Eater.- Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": Atnas is depicted with a crazed, open mouth smile on his face, as if laughing. One of his abilities is called "Spark of Joy".
- Sdrawkcab Name: Atnas is Santa spelled backwards.
Final Bosses
The final bosses of each campaign function similarly to nemesis fights, though you will only ever fight them once on the final lantern year.
The Watcher
- Always a Bigger Fish: The Watcher is the reason most monsters avoid the settlement. This leads to issues when it dies.
- Hope Crusher: It can cause the Stolen Dreams status on survivors without max courage and understanding, which knocks down a survivor and prevents them from getting back up unless helped up by at least two other Survivors or retinues.
- Light Is Not Good: The heart of the Lantern Hoard, without which the survivors would be doomed, is a horrible monster that intends to devour the settlement after emerging from its cocoon.
- No Ontological Inertia: Its cocoon is the source of the lanterns and their light. When the Watcher is slain, all of the lanterns in the settlement go out.
The Gold Smoke Knight
The Gambler
The namesake character of the Gambler's Chest expansion, The Gambler takes over The Watcher's node in the Dream Keeper campaign made of new materials added in the Gambler's Chest. As the Keeper of Dreams, he takes the place of the Lantern Horde at the center of the settlement.- The Gambler: Naturally, it's right there in the name! He even gets his own special dice.
- Luck Manipulation Mechanic: He has several of these, including changing the rules of critical rolls. A major key to defeating him is for survivors to take his Luck Manipulation abilities for their own use
The God Hand
The new ultimate final boss of the Dream Keeper campaign, part of the Gambler's Chest expansion.- Off with His Head!: The God Hand's model is depicted holding a stack of decapitated survivor heads in his right hand.
Encounters
Encounters, a system added in the Gambler's Chest Expansion, are battles against monsters that will randomly ambush the survivors while out on the hunt.
Bone Eaters
The very first Encounter added to the game. Bone Eaters are large humanoids, roughly twice the size of survivors.- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: They are Bone Eaters. They eat bones.
- Slasher Smile: Several of the Bone Eaters have very wide, unsettling grins on their faces.
NPCs
