AI Concepts: Monsters and Mayhem III

I had to do a lot of Demons in my Solasta run, as well as various flavours of Sorak. While Soraks aren’t a widely applicable monster class, they work great as any kind of menacing lizardman. And Demons are pretty Iconic in high level D&D. So here’s a rundown on how tended to render both..

Soraks

Soraks are the “big bad” in Solasta, consisting of an evil, shape-shifting lizardman race with a wide variety of specialized subspecies. Generally the baseline for all of them starts with this:

“***“jeff easley painting;hulking lizardman,hunched,black scales,tattered loincloth,sharp bony growths;in dark cave***“

From there, we modify into various subspecies like

Assassins:

“**jeff easley painting;sinister lizardman holding ebony dagger,shadow aura,sleek,hunched,black scales with yellow strips,tattered loincloth,sharp bony growths;in dark cave**“

Warriors:

“**jeff easley painting;hulking lizardman,muscular,hunched,black scales,tattered loincloth,sharp bony growths,large claws;in dark cave**“

Acolytes

“**jeff easley painting;sinister lizardman,hunched,white scales,red highlights,tattered tunic,sharp bony growths,summoning wispy black magic;in dark cave**“

Shikkath Anti-Paladins

“**jeff easley painting;menacing hulking lizardman,dark aura,ebony scales,muscular,hunched posture,evil,sharp bony growths,egyptian armor;large black scimitar,shadowy aura;in dark cave**“

Abominations

“**jeff easley painting;huge hulking lizardman,bestial,brown scales,hunched back,dorsal spines,bony spurs,long arms with huge claws;in dark cave**“

Sorr-Tarr

“keith parkinson fantasy painting;(huge lizardman,reflective copper molded armor,hunched stance,sleek,sinister eyes,dorsal spines,glowing purple and orange energy dancing across body);dim orange light;dark obsidian chamber“

Demons

Vrock

The biggest irritation with Vrock is the AIs tendency to make them more like Vultures than Vulture men. So you have to watch the order of the initial descriptors and emphasize the arms.

“**jeff easley painting;humanoid demonic vulture,long arms,long talons,tall,hunched,gray and black feathers;hellish terrain;dim red light**“

In action sequences, you sometimes want to portray them with their signature “stunning screech” as well.

“**jeff easley painting;humanoid demonic vulture screeching a swirling whirlwind,long arms,long talons,tall,hunched,gray and black feathers;hellish terrain;dim red light**“

Hezrou

Hezrou want to look “toad-like” without looking *too* toad like. The use of “balrog” here encourages “demonic but no wings”.

“**jeff easley painting;large toad-demon,muscular,hunched posture,large claws,bony spurs,glowing eyes,jagged teeth,foul gaseous cloud,hellish terrain;dim red light”**

Glabrezu

Glabrezu are a pain in the butt. The are such a bizarre mongrel mix of things – canine head, large pincers, a second set of arms nothing like the first…. Its just a nasty combination for rendering.

This is one take at them. Note that you may get extras crabs in the scene – the OpenAI Image Editor is good for removing those.

“**dark fantasy painting;dark fantasy painting;(gigantic anthropomorphic wolf-crab-demon,huge claws) looms out of the darkness;(gigantic wolf-crab-demon,dark red,bestial,glowing eyes);in blizzard”**

This is one has more of the canine look, but the pincers come out as long claws. Still pretty dark and menacing.

“**dark fantasy painting;(hulking jackal-demon,huge,horns,huge pincers,black wispy aura);large dark cavern**“

If you get more specific about the pincers you can get a better look for those, but be prepared to use the editor to remove stray lobsters from the scene.

“**clyde caldwell painting;(hulking jackal-demon,huge,horns,huge lobster pincers,black wispy aura) looms out of darkness;dark cavern**“

And for portraying them in their lurking inside their magical darkness, use something like this:

“**blurry,smeared;thick swirling darkness;grayscale fantasy painting;(huge hulking beast-demon,horns,glowing eyes,huge lobster pincers on muscular arms) looms out of the darkness**“

Succubus

Succubi, on the other hand, are quite easy. Just don’t *call* them “succubus” in the render tags, or you’ll get a 90% rejection rate from the filters. And expect a high rejection rate even without that. Other things in the scene – like adventurers interacting with her – can significantly ease the rejection rate.

“**larry elmore painting;long view;(red tiefling woman,leather armor,bat wings,glowing red eyes);in hellish terrain**“

Marilith

Marilith are another demon type that can be painful – simply because the AI is bad at counting – especially with things like 6 arms and 6 swords. I mostly get mine by rendering first and then using the OpenAI Editor to remove extra arms,extra tails, remove/redraw any swords that come out whacky, etc when I really care.

“jeff easley fantasy painting;large naga woman,six arms each holding swords;in old dark dwarven antechamber,green snake body,armor”

Here are some before/after shots showing the editor at work – move the slider to see the changes:

Sessroth

Sessroth was the demonic “big-bad” of my Solasta run. And he’s a good fit for a “demon-prince” sort of render. He’s also a good excuse to show off going nuts with the special effects:

“blurred motion;jeff easley painting;(large demonic klingon,glowing warhammer) takes flight and breaths cone of fire at the viewer;(demonic klingon,horns,demon wings,muscular,tattoos,dark arabian pants,alien mahogany ski);dark ebony temple;purple light;billowing purple mist“

6 responses to “AI Concepts: Monsters and Mayhem III”

atcDave

February 12, 2025 at 10:08 am

You have given so many tools for this stuff its amazing. I find myself referencing this site for almost every single post/update I do.

1. Zeno
  
  February 12, 2025 at 10:13 am
  
  I’m glad its proving useful! That’s rather the entire point of the site for me. I reference my own back articles just as often. Its so much easier to set up a scene when I don’t have to go back and figure out how to make something like a Vrock or a Troll all over again.
  
atcDave

May 23, 2025 at 8:14 am

Any thoughts on how to do a Vargouille, those undead winged head things. It’s sort of a horror show!

1. Zeno
  
  May 23, 2025 at 9:33 am
  
  Hmm… Let me play with it a little. Sounds like a fun challenge!
  
2. Zeno
  
  May 23, 2025 at 9:35 am
  
  Something like this?
  “dark fantasy painting;flying vampire head,bat wings,trailing slimy tendrils;flying through dungeon corridor”
  
  https://www.bing.com/images/create/dark-fantasy-painting3bflying-vampire-head2cbat-wing/1-682fbb98d28942839756c4745177fa31?id=CWcu9oqkiIPp49MiS7ZfgQ%3d%3d&view=detailv2&idpp=genimg&thId=OIG2.EY.WZwnHdN75ZznLN.1w&skey=AkNylgTM_ss9mES1QtAJ3xv-VRUPBQmlrxgWcqhRaoA&FORM=GCRIDP&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0
  
  1. atcDave
    
    May 23, 2025 at 10:03 am
    
    That is awesome! Yeah I didn’t have the “slimy tendrils” part and it was much less dramatic.
    
    You are the master.

Zeno's Ziggurat