Example Tailed Beasts

The following are some examples of different Tailed beast Mythos you might want to use. Though they arn't truly "tailed" beasts per say, they reflect the same themes, ideas and rolls as normal tailed beasts. Each of which requires sucessively less effort on the GM's part

The Horned beasts: Full disclosure, this is the setup I use in my own campaign. Very similar to the tailed beasts, my monsters each bear a number and an associate appendage, and each has a very clear power set and speciality, many of which have kekei genkai or other specialties. This campaign has a very strong focus on nature, animals, and humanity's place among them. This is reflected in the power and styles of the beasts. Each of these creatures uses a custom stat block.

The One horned Unicorn- This massive horse bears a single golden horn and holds power over yang style, in particular the aspects of healing. The one horns is pure good, to the point of it being an inconvenience for even the most noble ninja. It’s outright inability to kill puts the village holding it at a considerable disadvantage compared to other villages, but it’s healing powers make up for it.

The Two Horned Jackalope- Vastly different from the other Horned beasts, this creature is a fairly normal sized rabbit with a pair of great jet black metal antlers. It is a creature of Yin and Yang affinities and it’s power comes primarily form it being the bearer of the rinnegan and all the powers therin. The jackalope is a clever beast of deception and illusion.

The Three horned minotaur- This huge beast has three gigantic horns and is the master of the physical form. The Minotaur is filled with the power of yang chakra, and especially the aspect of manipulating animals. It has the power of body integration. (The kekei genkai used by Sakon and Ukon). This beast finds the most valuable and powerful traits of other animals and takes them into itself, permanently changing it’s body, becoming more monstrous with every change.

The Four Horned Leviathan- The primordial hunter from the depths of the sea is the first predator, the first carnivore, the first hunter. This beast has some natural aptitude for water style, but primarily is regarded as the inventor and keeper of taijutsu. Pure martial knowledge flows through it’s mind. Every strike, block and blow can be traced back to it’s wild animalistic fighting style.

The five horned Chimera- The king of all animals, the five horns rules over the beasts of the world. The Chimera has the ability to use wind style but it’s true power comes from the ability to not only summon but control any of the worlds animals without requiring a contract. It can even summon parts of these other creatures, allowing it to instantly call on the abilities of other animals.

The six horned cerberus- The Cerberus is a massive jet black hound created entirely out of the burning fires of Amaterasu. This beast is the embodiment of blaze release and it scorches all that it touches. Obviously this creature grants incredible power of fire, and it is feared as the most ferocious and savage of all the horned beasts.

The seven horned dragon- Also known as the “Truth seeking dragon” this great beast with 7 heads and 7 horns has one head for each of the different nature affinities, potentially granting mastery of all the elements to it’s host. But even this is not it’s full power. While normally the 7 heads each have various ideas and opinions and exist as a discordant assemblage, they can unite to release their true power. In it’s other form, when all the heads are united, this creature forms a perfect jet black sphere, a gigantic truth seeking orb that cancels out all ninjutsu and disintegrates anything it touches.

The eight horned spider- The “Bukijutsugomo” or “Ninja tools spider” is a massive spider that is the master and inventor of ninja tools. With it’s webbing made of ninja wire it is able to spin tools into existence, forging weapons on the spot and even weaving explosive tags from it’s metallic silk. This creature is the originator of technology, it gave fire to humans and taught them the art of weaving. Though it’s natural element is lightning the spider is far better known for it’s use of traps, explosives, and puppets expertly controlled by it’s web.

The nine horned mushroom- Also known as the “Sage shroom” this gigantic mushroom is the originator of sage style. It’s roots reach across entire continents, allowing it to sense nearly everything that happens, and it’s vast size and ability to draw on senjutsu make it an incredibly powerful creature. It also possesses the power to utilize wood release, and thus water and earth style, on a level that allows it to shape and create entire forests.

The ten horned terrasque- This massive engine of destruction contributes nothing to humanity. It lives only to rampage, destroy, and consume all that it comes across. It has no elemental nature and is known for it’s incredible and invulnerable hide that can reflect enemy nijutsu and it’s phenominal ability to regenerate from damage.

The Dungeons and dragons classic: This set of monsters is a loveletter to classic dnd monsters. Of course being a pathfinder game there may need to be a few careful and clever adjustments. Some stat blocks will need to be dug up, converted, or entirely recreated. Also conveniently this set can pretty easily fit a theme of having numbers of tentacles which happens a lot in classic monsters. To fit the role of a Tailed beast it would require either a very low level, or to heighten the power of the monster in question, but since many of these beasts arn’t availible in pathfinder statblocks anyways one might as well customize them.

The One tentacled Purple worm- This hulking and massive earth dwelling worm is the lord of the earth and stone. Gliding through solid rock it can unearth itself and unleash devastation at a moments notice. It has speed, power, and even deadly venom at it’s disposal making it suprisingly useful in a world of ninja.

The two tentacled displacer beast-  A swift ferocious predator that relies on stealth, misdirection and agility perfectly meshes with the styling of a ninja. This beast clearly channels the power of yin to create illusions and manipulate shadows.

The three Tentacled outyugh- A foul toxic creature that consumes everything in it’s path while spreading plague and disease. This creature is a natural contender for yang or water element, or perhaps even a particularly bizarre kekei genkai based around disease or poison. This monster serves as an excellent source of biological warfare.

The four tentacled mindlfayer - The mind flayer devours the hopes, dreams, and very identities of those it encounters, shattering their minds like glass. This is a creature of terrifying yin energy that is a master of countless forms of yin release. It’s relatively frail body can barely contain the immense psionic power deep inside, and that makes it an especially big threat to it’s own host. The risk of having one’s body stolen by a body possession jutsu are very real, and many foes regain control of their motor functions only seconds before their brain is pulled from their skull.

The five tentacled shambling mound- A creature of living plant matter, this beast seems like a natural candidate for wood style, but it could also be used as a master of lightning release since it can absorb and harness electrical energy to heal. The abnormal needs and habits of a living plant that can level cities makes for a fascinating threat.

The Six tentacled Aboleth- This deep sea dwelling beast seeks not to consume, but to confound the minds of others. Prone to water style and genjutsu, this creature relies much more heavily on illusions and manipulation rather than outright possession.

The seven tentacled Cthulu- Of the three beasts that focus on the mind, this ancient abominaiton most embodies madness and the incomprehensible. It may spread this insanity through common means like genjutsu, but it may also have no reliance on such comprehensible methods, instead simple causing insanity by it’s mere existance, or by summoning or creative creatures to carry out it’s incomprehensible plans across the globe.

The eight tentacled kraken- A beast of the ocean, but one that also has the power over the skies. The kraken might have wind, water, or even storm release as a suitable elemental nature. Regardless of it’s exact powers it controls movement across the sea, destroying some ships while protecting and speeding the travel of others. This creature has a strong impact on the world around it and could be valuable to pirates or mercantile industries alike.

The nine tentacled flumph- This beast and it’s potent acid is perhaps the most prone to doing good and right, by liquefying evil from the inside out. Acid falls under boil release, a combination of fire and water, which could also serve to explain how this creature floats and drifts about like a hot air balloon.This entity might continually drive it’s host to do battle with the forces of evil, whether they want to or not.

The ten tentacled Beholder- This beast, more than the others, relies on a plethora of powers and abilities. It’s likely to have most, if not all of the elements available to it, though it’s likely that it relies on just one or two of each element, giving it many reliable tools. It’s powers could also grant great insight and awareness to it[‘s host, while enhancing their sense of arrogance, superiority and possibly paranoia.

The Planar tour:  This method is best for truly fanciful stories where the players are likely to do plane hopping. It’s also one of the easiest since each of these beasts comes pre-included with a whole assortment of minions, themes, and character background pre-written. Rather than pick out specific monsters, all the GM has to do is choose one or more type of outsider and then find the cr 20+ monster of their choice and BOOM, instant tailed beast. For a few ideas you could try:

Good vs evil vs law vs chaos: An Empyrean angel, A Olethrodaemon, A Lhaksharut inevitable, and a Izfiitar protean can easily be grabbed to represent the four moral corners of the alignments. If you want 5 beasts just add a Pleroma Aeon. Or if you want to keep it at 9 beasts and add some nuance to things you can easily add a Balor, Pit fiend, Brijidine Azata and a Star Archon. Or take your pick from any of the other assorted alignment divided outsiders

The lords of hell: Instead of exploring eveyr alignment point, one could also focus entirely ona  single branch of the outsider family. If you’re looking for 9 very powerful beings to bestow mortals with their powers why not look to the 9 lords of the 9 hells? This practically writes itself. Each lord of a hellish layer either imbues a mortal with their power, or has been sealed away inside a human and try to wage proxy wars against each other and mankind.

Battle of the elementals: A series of incredibly powerful beings, each representing a different one of the major elements, are bound, forced into submission to a dominant human who contains their elemental power and uses it to serve their country. This story could go in a number of different directions, warring elemental beings easily reflect the elementally themed nations of Naruto. Or you could use this as a jumping off point to explore other ideas. What happens if a new beast emerges? Possibly even one with the same element as an existing one? This sort of story could lead to a definitive fantasy experience.

A flight of dragons: Pick a bunch of dragons of roughly the same challenge rating. Those are your beasts. Easy as can be. Each one is bound to a specific human. They have incredible power, elemental abilities, massive size, cool lore, it’s all there. For extra drama add in the “Dragon orb” artifacts that let people control those dragons, allowing them to steal the jinchuriki or guardians of other countries. This one is super easy.

The improvisational method: Of course, planning and overplanning isn’t for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with leaving it vague as to how many beasts there are. Maybe no one really knows? Make that a mystery or something. And if you suddenly need to pick one on the fly, grab that nearby monster manual flip to cr 20 or more and just grab a monster. Once you get the ball rolling you might figure out where you wanna go from there.