The backstory: This was an old mod for df2014, that was a collection of ideas and lightweight additions to the game that were in the spirit of the vanilla. Some of the more limit-testing creatures never made it into the mod, but included a balls of zombies that melted upon arrival and castes of elves who transmogrified themselves into other creatures ala druidic magic.

Now, it seeks to add little touches to the world and create variety. Some items and creature have a defined niche, some of them seek to challenge the player or the fort, and some are simply there for variety.

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There is a reference sheet file located next to the readme, both files have more detailed information about what has been added and possibly what advice/ideas might be taken into it.

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-B12 LINK: https://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=175682.0

This mod is a mashup of many small changes. Some of those changes began years ago, others are recreations of changes that were lost, and still more are new additions. It has grown to the point that it is no longer practical to talk about every small change made, so I will attempt to broad stroke them below.


- NEW CREATURES:

- starting with the version uploaded on 27JUL2026, there are dozens of new creatures joining the handful of strictly fantastical ones that were previously present. Old monsters such as Caccodemon, Innocent Devils, and Tyrannus are joined by a mix of mundane and fantastical creatures, including several vermin and giant versions.
- Poisonous, aggressive, and benign creatures, such as the dragon millipede that secretes liquid cyanide for extraction to dive spiders who stalk the caverns to giant armored pillbugs and spindly long-legged cavern crabs.

- The caverns have received significant amounts of new creatures, primarily in the form of non-mammalian insects and reptiles.
- Glowworms that spit out sparse amounts of hunting thread to spotted salamanders who can hopefully provide an underground alternative to cats and their vermin hunting.

- New semi-megabeasts to attack your fortress and night creatures who affect your adventures and world generation.
Creatures that rule the sky such as wyverns, or terrors like the Limerant that will create its own undead.

- vermin of all sorts, from the bothersome to the completely mundane.
- Including book scorpions with a mild vemonous jab, fruit bats who roost in jungle trees, harvestmen spiders, and springtails.

- More planned, as this was just the low-hanging fruit.
- for sure: More mammals/creatures in the caves, more biodiversity for the mountains/tundra/glaciers, and animals that will go into hives.


- NEW ITEMS

- The mod features a couple of new weapons, mostly aimed at diversity and equipping smaller creatures for the moment.
- Tiny spears for animal men, small picks for kobolds, a javelin ranged weapon, and more.
- Armor variety. Chestplates and fused armor to offer various protection for tradeoffs, helmets with masks on them, and clothing accessories such as headbands and kilts, both for civilian and solider use.


- NEW ENTITIES

- The entities of vanilla are redesigned, with the intention of offering more focus and variety both.
- New positions for elves and dwarves, a human thematic redesign to focus more on coastlines, and elven/goblin redesigns to make them fantastical and magic creatures within their own rights.
- New creatures and entites such as double talking ambusher merlock, collectivist and industrious klaxxon bug-people, and stout barbarian cavemen Altainians.
- Variations of dwarven culture with the deep dwelling dwarves and the martial dwarves, who focus on different aspects of dwarven culture and life.
- Variations of human and goblin entities have been added, giving them more distinct themes. For instance, humans have 'agriculture', focusing on labor, family, and war, and they have 'tribal', being focused on stronger laws and desert themed attire.
- Added a Waipiti dark fortress creature. This massive 250k hostile entity wields only the largest weapons, and doesnt need ogres or trolls to take the fight to you. Theyre amphibious, and they bring their own version of a giant crossbow for serious ranged power.

- NOTES, AND ASIDES

- Various failed or otherwise put aside ideas are documented within a separate folder.
- List for quick reference, such as material reference sheets, common gait speeds, spheres of worship, or personality traits.


- OTHER MODS
- While this mod is a stand alone, as are all of the mods I've made, it was designed with the others in mind, as one big mod.
- PKs frequency mod attempts to make common creatures spawn less often and rarer creatures spawn more often. It contain a file to make that compatible with this.
- PKs crop mod rebalancing growing times and seasons for all farm-plotable plants, giving them values that much more closely match their real-world counterparts. Farms need to be larger and more carefully planned as a result, but on the plus side you cant grow whole plants in 27 days.

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There is a reference sheet file located next to the readme, both files have more detailed information about what has been added and possibly what advice/ideas might be taken into it.

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This mod is a stand alone product, but was designed to work with the other pks mods. This wants to be loaded before the other mods.

- pks mod https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=17820
- pks frequency mod https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=17869
- pks crops https://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=17873

is the load order recommended.