Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:39 pm  
Horrors of Hepmonaland, the Zhem'Tahl

I was reading through the Hepmonaland article in OJ24, and starting reading up on the Zhem'Tahl at the end. They are described as such...

Quote:
The Zhem’Tahls look much like humanoid bats, with furry fox-like faces and membranous wings where their arms would be. Their wings have well developed hands and fingers about midway along their edge, and the Zhem’Tahls are so dexterous at using them that they can even wield weapons in their wing hands while they fly.


Bat people. Sounds like a fruit bat face. I think of the Nycter from (3.5) Monster Manual III, and the Desmodu from (3.0) Monster Manual II... only fruit-bat-ish. Sounds cool.

This is the part I hate... because I feel like I'm ragging on someone else's artwork, which I'm not. The picture that (I think) accompanies the stat-block depicts a very slender humanoid creature, with armor and a helmet/mask of some sort (that's how I'm interpreting it). He has a red cape, and some spikes that come out of his arms? I definitely don't see any wings. In my mind... he just doesn't look like a bat to me. It's a GREAT picture. Maybe I'm seeing it wrong, like the picture where you either see an old woman or Albert Einstein depending on the way you look at it.

Point of the matter is that I want to draw a zhem'tahl, and I want to do justice to both the author of the creature as well as the artist who did the artwork. I just want to get the details right.

Any suggestions?