Home Grown Monsters

[Tony Misfeldt]

I'd like to read about some new and/or improved monsters you've created for your D&D games. They could be something completely unique that you invented yourself (one of mine is a werearumvorax), an enhanced version of a common D&D monster (I created an intelligent race of ogres through selected breeding, they're 3/8 ogre, 3/8 verbeeg, and 1/4 human), or even give D&D stats to movie monsters (the creatures from the Alien movies, the aliens from the Predator movies, Krites from the Critters movies, etc). Give the stats so that other DMs could use them in thier own campaigns if they want.

Of course, if you're really lazy, you could simply supply us with the website of other players homemade monsters stats. For example...

Redneck Trees

www.somethingpositive.net/sp05042002.shtml (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05042002.shtml)

You can see those redneck trees in action at...

www.somethingpositive.net/sp04302002.shtml (http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04302002.shtml)

So go ahead and come up with some new and interesting monsters. I can't wait to read about them.

[Webhead]

I created them in 2e and the stats are somewhere at home, but I thought I'd go ahead and mention one of my favorite homegrown D&D creatures: the intelligent Shaved Weasels.

The Shaved Weasels are a rare and intelligent breed, appearing virtually identical in size and anatomy to regular weasels, but their fur never grows any longer than a few millimeters, creating a very thin stubble that makes the weasels appear and feel as if recently shaved. They have the equivalent intelligence and personality traits of a dolphin and are quite capable of clever learning through observation alone. They are natually unrelentingly curious and are horders of the most cunning sort. They are particularly impressed with shiny objects, retrieving them to be stashed in their underground burrows. They are naturally wary of larger creatures unless befriended, at which point they consider the "friend" to be a member of the community and regard the creature (as they do each other) with fierce loyalty.

Shaved Weasel communities generally number between two to three dozen adults with an equal number of pups, though larger communities numbering in the hundreds are rare but not unheard of. Disturbing the community or threatening its members is ill-advised as such disturbances are generally responded to by almost all adult members of the community. Disturb a Shaved Weasel burrow and you may find yourself assaulted by up to 3 dozen weasels or more. They communicate effectively over long distances using a high-pitched cry that can often be mistaken for bird calls by the unaware and their sensitive noses and scent glands assure that the weasels can locate each other quickly and efficiently.

Very rarely, an unusual specimen of Shaved Weasel is seen that has shiny, golden fur that extends several millimeters longer than normal. These creatures exhibit additional capabilities over their more common bretheren. Their special fur seems to give them a degree of resistance to magic. They also behave in a manner that suggests even higher intelligence than other Shaved Weasels and many are believed to possess some limited telepathic abilites.

For stats, use a regular weasel, but increase their intelligence to 5 or 6 for common Shaved Weasels and 7 or 8 for the "golden" variety. For "goldens", also add Spell Resistance between 15-25 and give them either a telepathic-themed spell or psionic power of your choice of a level not exceeding its hit dice. They can use this power 1/day.

There is also a special magic item pertaining to the Shaved Weasels, aptly named the Pewter Figurine of Shaved Weasel Summoning. The item is a 6-inch tall statue of a Shaved Weasel standing on its hind legs. Though anyone can touch and carry the item, it will not function unless possessed by a creature who has befriended at least one Shaved Weasel colony. In the possession of such an individual, the bearer can feel a slight tingling sensation whenever in the relative presence of Shaved Weasels. The intensity of the tingling is directly related to the distance to and number of nearby Shaved Weasels. The item can detect Shaved Weasels out to a distance of 1 mile. If the bearer is in danger and focuses on the item, up to 10d10 Shaved Weasels within range will be summoned to the bearer's aid. They will move to the bearer's location at top speed and once arriving, they will perform whatever tasks they can to assist the bearer and will sacrifice themselves if necessary, but will not do so foolishly. They will attack enemies, remove bindings or entrapping rubble for instance, but they will not trigger traps, drink poison or do other senseless things that do not serve the bearer's immediate, obvious survival. Once the bearer is safe from immediate threat, the weasels will hang around for a few moments to ensure that the bearer is no longer in danger and they depart for home, returning the way they came. This ability can be used 1/week. The item can also allow the bearer to polymorph into a common Shaved Weasel 1/day. The duration of the polymorph is 1 hour.

:D

[michaeljearley]

wow

[nijineko]

one of my favorite races involved a retrogressed technologically oriented race that did not believe in magic. so strongly did they not believe that magic would not function at all within range of their senses. or near their technology. a single npc of this race would drive all my players nuts trying to prove that magic worked. whereas this npc would try to convince them of that it was just a psychosis and all in their heads. ^^ great roleplaying.

[Webhead]

wow

Yeah, I know. Sometimes I scare even myself.

...and what's really frightening is that I could recite all that from memory... :shocked:

[gdmcbride]

Interesting non-standard monsters:

Treasure Golem -- lies around looking like a pile of coins until someone tries to steal one. Think the T-1000 made of gold pieces.

Phaeton One -- a prototype self-sufficient self-repairing battle tank from an age before the apocalypse. No one alive has sufficient clearance to order it around but it is smart enough it has figured out that the military it used to serve is long gone. It's mostly out roaming the wasteland looking for adventure, friends and 2 blueberry flavored OmniVac nutri-bars (the only thing currently missing from its otherwise complete standard survival kit). Potentially a useful ally. Just don't touch the survival kit. It's touchy about that.

Old Mister Click-Click -- a badly damaged battlebot that has long ago run out of ammunition. Its gun still tries to shoot anyone it meets (click-click-click). Its slow -- easy enough to avoid. Just pray it never finds any bullets for its rotary 30mm cannon.

Snapjacks -- Cute little lizards with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Friendly enough (even trainable as pets!) until mating season. They get extremely vicious and territorial during mating season. They can strip the meat off a skeleton in minutes during mating season. You've arrived the day before mating season. Long enough to get accustomed to these friendly, playful little lizards that are all around. Long enough to get completely surrounded.

Gary

[Valdar]

Most of the monsters I'm using now are custom, though many are conversions from previous editions that haven't shown up in 4e yet (last night's game featured will-o-wisps and mimics, for instance).

Most recent custom monster:

Sapling (Fey Skirmisher): Fey humanoids made of clumps of vines. When they are away from their native vegetation (sapling vines: large clumps of vines thick enough to conceal doorways and such), they resemble halflings, but they can disassemble into vines and shift through any squares containing sapling vines as a move action. They wield barbed whips dripping with acid, and can pull short vines out of their bodies that stiffen into javelins.

Sapling Pacifier (Fey Controller): Like the normal saplings, these creatures are made of vines and can travel through vine clumps easily, but coalesce into creatures resembling beautiful elf maidens when away from the vine clumps. Their main attack is a spray of hallucinogenic gas; to use this attack, they revert to their true form momentarily, that of a humanoid-shaped cluster of vines with a large orchid for a head. Creatures affected by this gas think they are back at home, safe and sound, and that the adventure was just a terrible nightmare (incapacitated, save ends). Sapling Pacifiers also carry whips similar to those used by normal saplings, but also use longbows, forming arrows from their bodies.

Tactics: These creatures use vine clumps to their advantage- wounded saplings will transit through the vines to take up position for ranged attacks, and fresh saplings will travel through the vines to replace them at the front line. The vines themselves can be destroyed (10 hp) to prevent them from doing this.

[Webhead]

Snapjacks -- Cute little lizards with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Friendly enough (even trainable as pets!) until mating season. They get extremely vicious and territorial during mating season. They can strip the meat off a skeleton in minutes during mating season. You've arrived the day before mating season. Long enough to get accustomed to these friendly, playful little lizards that are all around. Long enough to get completely surrounded.

Gary

Some of the strangest real-world animal behaviors occur during "mating season". For instance, there's a species of tree-bound mice in which the males will mate non-stop with females for 3 straight days, eschewing food, water or rest. By the end of the 3-day peroid, all the adult males drop dead from exhaustion and are eventually replaced by the new litters raised by the females. Glad I'm not one of those critters. :shocked:

[ryan973]

well lets see i had a lvl 38 caster in a dragonlance game of all places. Yes i planeswalked alot to level. But anyway my guy was obsessed with balance so i researched and developed an epic spell called origen of species and started making my own monsters and races to balance out the ones in the setting. here are the monsters i tride to make opposites for. There would have been more but the spell had an exp cost.

Displacer beasts- I made a race of albino inteligent tigers that bond with a humanoid and protect them. the were intelligent and could cast mirror image on themselves as aposed to displacement.

Draconians- I stole evil dragon eggs and purified them before using them as the component for my spell. I made a race of large size humans with dragon wings of each of the five chomatics. Each color had diffrent attributes and favored classes. and liek elves they when they bred they would only produce one of the parents liniendge. thus a blue winged dragon heir as i called them when bred with a red winged would produce one or the other be it blue or red. This was my favorite race as it got very fleshed out.

[Grandore The Giant Killer]

I've came up with a variety of monsters for the game I play in. Below are some of my favorites.

Biter Coins:

These in appearance look like regular average coins. Until someone opens up that treasure box and coins with sharp teeth start biting there flesh. Think of these things like the Scarabs from The Mummy. These things can be set as both a monster and a trap.



Death Striker:

Ok these things appear as small dark knights weilding a scythe. They can do 1 of 6 attacks.

1: fire
2: ice
3: Health Absorption
4: Telikinesis
5: Dark Energy (Automatic Death)
6: Paralysis

Roll 1 D6 to see which attack it will use. If you kill this creature you can take it's armor and scythe.

The Junk Monster:

This is basically a pile of scrap metal, old weapons, and other things from behind a weapon shop. It came to life with a magical dust. Basically no physical attack can harm it seeing as how if you attack it with a weapon, it will become fused to it's body. If you kill the monster whatever it's body was made of is yours.

The Gem Idol:

It's a gold idol with gems of all sorts fused onto it. Go ahead and take the gems off it's body and the once idle statue will come to life and start attacking with massive gold arms launching them like a cannon. Consider yourself rich if you slay this beast.

[Tony Misfeldt]

Mercury Golem: Basically the T1000 from the movie T2: Judgement Day. He has all the same abilities that the T1000 did in the movie. It has the same hit dice and strength scores as an iron golem. It has many of the iron golem's spell immunities as well. Lightning Bolt spells actually have a Haste effect on the mercury golem. Cold spells such as Cone Of Cold and Ice Storm will act as a Hold Person spell if they do damage equal to the mercury golem's total hit points. It is vulnerable to magical fire and could be totally destroyed by any such attacks that do enough damage. Physical damage in melee combat can only be done by weapons of +5 enchantment, and even then it only suffers damage from the magical bonus not the weapon itself (a greatsword +5 would only do 5 points of damage per successful hit, not 2d6+5). Should a mercury golem form its limbs into slashing weapons, it will have vorpal abilities on a roll of 17 or greater.

[Tony Misfeldt]

www.somethingpositive.net (http://www.somethingpositive.net) also has an entry for The Infernal Tax Collector, but I was unable to find it on the website. If any of you know where it is on the website or happen to find it while scrolling through the comics, please post the apropriate link on this thread so we can all enjoy it. It's quite humerous.

[tesral]

Höllekind -- Or "Hate Child" a creature from the depths of Hell itself. A demonic beast that eats human flesh and disguises itself as a helpless child to lure in victims. Höllekind are shape changers. They can assume several forms, notably a child, a semi-human beast with long claws, and a dog-like creature. They are extremely strong. Said to have the strength of six. They can only be harmed with blessed weapons and holy water. They must be summoned to get loose on the world, an act of hateful evil.

I peg this one at about 10 hd. +8 str, +4 wis and +4 cha in the child form. I go light on the super natural ability and spell like abilities. It is mainly a brick Hit points and AC. It doesn't summon other devils/demons. It is only ever found one at a time.

[ignimbrite]

I made a mithral wraith - think of a Midas's Golden Touch, but mithral and used by a wraith. I posted it here:
http://www.dmtools.org/details.php?id=799

[Tony Misfeldt]

Dream Stalker

Also known as a Sleep Slasher and a Dream Demon (though this last name is a misnomer as it isn't a demon from Hell or The Abyss, but rather an undead spirit). It is the vengeful spirit of an extremely evil person who comitted horrific crimes in life and was executed by a lynch mob without a fair trial. In order to become a Dream Stalker, one must first be of either a Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil alignment. Second, he must have an Intelligence and a Wisdom score of no less than 16. Third, he must be guilty of the most heinous of crimes (pedophile, rapist, serial killer, cannibal, or any combination there of). Third, he must be lynched for those crimes (thus, a serial killer who kidnaps, rapes, kills, and then eats children who is lynched for those crimes could come back as a Dream Stalker, one who goes off to war and dies on the battlefield could not). Even if all these conditions are met, there is still only a 10% chance of him returning as a Dream Stalker. Those odds increase by 5% for each point above 16 his INT or WIS was when he died (thus a 17 INT and a 16 WIS would equal 15%, a 17 INT and 17 WIS equals 20%, etc). Then, one year and a day after his lynching he begins stalking his victims again, this time in their dreams.

A Dream Stalker has the same hit dice, attack bonus/THAC0, AC, etc as a ghost. He can only attack his victims in their dreams. As long as you don't fall asleep, he can't hurt you. But once you're asleep, he has complete control over what it is you're dreaming. And when he attacks you, any damage your dream self suffers in your subconcious, your physical body suffers in real life. And the more people a Dream Stalker kills in their sleep, the more powerful he becomes. For every victim he kills, he gains one hit point. He can continue gaining hit points until his hit dice increases to that of more powerful undead (4HD becomes 5, etc).

Fighting a Dream Stalker is difficult at best. To fight him on his own turf, you must first take control of your own dream. This is done by making a successfull Willpower/Wisdom check. Once you have control of your dream, you must grapple with the Dream Stalker just before you wake up (this can be more difficult than it sounds if he likes to use weapons such as knives or axes). When you awaken, you force him from the Dream World into the Waking World where he is vulnerable to physical attacks. His physical body can now be destroyed. If defeated in simple melee the Dream Stalker isn't destroyed, simply banished for a year and a day when he will return with the same number of hit points/hit dice he had when he first returned as a Dream Stalker. In order to truly destroy him when brought into the Waking World, he must be turned/rebuked by a priest/cleric of Tyr, Torm, or Hoar who is powerful enough to utterly destroy an undead spirit through their deity, or he must be struck with a Mace Of Disruption by a Neutral Good cleric of one of those three deities. The priests or clerics of any other deity can only banish him for a year and a day.

Dream Stalkers appear in your dreams much as they looked in life. They may take on the appearance of other people you know, perhaps even friends and family, in order to play mind games, but when they strike it's usually as themselves. Often their dream appearance is determined by the means by which they were killed. Someone who was drowned may always appear sopping wet, while someone who was burned alive may be covered in horrible burns, or someone who was decapitated may appear much like The Headless Horseman. But as it takes incredible mental discipline to even have a chance to become a Dream Stalker, this is often up to the individual spirit.

Preventing one from becoming a Dream Stalker simply requires them to be justly accused, tried, and convicted in a fair court of law (prefferably overseen by a priest of either Tyr or Torm). If sentenced to death, the execution must by lawfully completed and should be blessed by a priest/cleric of either Tyr, Torm, or Hoar. It's by the omittance of these steps that allow Dream Stalkers to exist at all.

As you may have guessed, this is the D&D version of Freddy Krueger.

[Tony Misfeldt]

I have several variations of the common medusa which I'd created. I used The Time Of Troubles in The Forgotten Realms setting to explain their sudden emergance. They are all virtually identical to the common medusae in hit dice, number of attacks, AC, etc. All the differernces are listed below.

The Mambadusa: The Mambadusa is a typical medusa in virtually every way except one. The snakes she has for hair are the deadly black mambas. They have a much greater reach than those of the typical medusa (when relaxed they hang all the way down to her ankles), but each one is as deadly as any other black mamba. When bitten, the victim must Save vs Fort at a very high DC (or Save vs Poison with a -6 penalty in 2e) or die. Even if he succeeds, he slips into a coma for 1d4+3 days. On the last day he makes a second Save vs Fort at a lower DC (or a Save vs Poison with no penalty in 2e). If he fails the second saving throw, he dies. If he succeeds, he recovers in another 1d4+3 days.

The Mirradusa: The Mirradusa is immune to the petrifying effects of her own reflection. Thus, unlike the common medusa, trying to use a mirror to defeat a mirradusa will end in disaster. Other than that, The mirradusa is identical to her more common cousin in every way.

The Minidusa: The Minidusa is a bit of a misnomer. The name has nothing to do with the size of the creature, but rather her lack of threat. She has no petrifying gaze attack, and the snakes in her hair are not venomous. About the only ability she shares with her cousins is an immunity to other medusae's gaze attacks and their disdain for humanity.

The Midassa: The Midassa is physically identical to the more common variety of medusa. The only true difference is in her gaze attack. Rather than turning her victims to stone, she turns her victims into gold. It's like the Midas Touch (hense the name). There are two reasons why the midassa is the most dangerous of all the medusa varients. One, there's no such spell as Gold To Flesh. And two, if she successfully uses her gaze attack on enough victims she could devalue the gold in an entire kingdom, continent, or even the world.

[DMMike]

Most of my home monster growing just involves a little reclassification. Here are some examples:

Bugbears -> barbaric dire goblins living in the unsettled hobgoblin lands.
Giants -> titans, reportedly god-blooded, and either playing benevolent community roles, or living in lands too hostile for mere medium sized creatures.
Trolls -> evil fey, generally serving as a marker where society meets nature.
Ogres -> giants, another unfortunate race facing extinction from the technologically, and magically, savvy. Luckily for them, a magi is born every generation or so to lead the tribes to prosperity.

If the five 3.X manuals weren't enough for you, I recommend the folks over at Creature Catalog-
http://www.enworld.org/cc/index.php

[Tony Misfeldt]

If the five 3.X manuals weren't enough for you, I recommend the folks over at Creature Catalog-
http://www.enworld.org/cc/index.php

To be honest, I don't own any 3.X Monster Mannuals. I'm still working on my 2e collection. 3.X made monster making far mor complex than it really needs to be.

[DMMike]

To be honest, I don't own any 3.X Monster Mannuals. I'm still working on my 2e collection. 3.X made monster making far mor complex than it really needs to be.

Not even the 3.0 MM? That's the only one I bought. It's a great baseline book - with animals, vermin, dragons, and goblins. But it goes a little overboard too; I'm not going to need the Lammasu, aboleth, or even a medusa (too pigeonholed).

I thought the monster making, if it must be done from scratch, was pretty easy: pick a creature type, pick a number of hit dice, add on some cool special abilities, and then choose a comparable challenge rating.

Not that I've had to do this - I save too much time by altering existing monsters.

[Tony Misfeldt]

Not even the 3.0 MM? That's the only one I bought. It's a great baseline book - with animals, vermin, dragons, and goblins. But it goes a little overboard too; I'm not going to need the Lammasu, aboleth, or even a medusa (too pigeonholed).

I thought the monster making, if it must be done from scratch, was pretty easy: pick a creature type, pick a number of hit dice, add on some cool special abilities, and then choose a comparable challenge rating.

Plus giving them all stats, feats, skills, etc. In 3.X you essentially have to make every individual monster into an individual character (at least that's my take on it). I prefer just choosing their hit dice, AC, combat ability/THAC0, damage, number of attacks, and any special abilities to make them stand out.

[Webhead]

Plus giving them all stats, feats, skills, etc. In 3.X you essentially have to make every individual monster into an individual character (at least that's my take on it). I prefer just choosing their hit dice, AC, combat ability/THAC0, damage, number of attacks, and any special abilities to make them stand out.

Interestingly enough, this is one of the major things I consider when getting invested in running a campaign with a particular game system: What is the level of detail and amount of time required to create a basic antagonistic NPC and have them be meaningful and effectual within the game rules?

That's one reason I'm so fond of games that tend to incorporate "minion" rules. Minions are usually summed up with just a handful of numbers.

Character creation in general should be a speedy process. If I'm familiar with a game, I don't like to have to spend more than 30 minutes writing up the stats of a full-blown character, PC or NPC.

But yeah, anytime you can minimize the amount of info needed for an NPC is good. There is such a thing as "too much detail".

[DMMike]

If you want to avoid time-consuming processes, and not use a MM, you have to ask yourself (punk):
Do I want a boss or fodder?

Bosses, by all means, should be fleshed out to the last detail. Including the stuff that MMs won't give you: personality, motivation, favorite torture method, etc.

Fodder doesn't need to be difficult. Or even legal. All you need are HP, attack bonus, AC, saves, speed, and a couple cool details. Most of these can be inferred based on the level of challenge you want to pose. Fodder can go without abilities, skills, grapple bonuses, CR, alignment (always evil), and even spellbooks.

Sheesh. I think I just saved myself hours of freetime...

[Valdar]

I've found that the best way to do custom monsters is to find a nearby equivalent monster and steal the stuff that's similar in mechanic, then completely re-work the special effect. That way you know it's balanced without having to do any playtest of your own...

Another time-saver I've found is, in 4e, a minion is only different in its name, number of HPs (one) and its damage (flat rather than roll). So, you can create two monsters at once, list them once on your notes with slashes, so it will look something like this:

Halfling Swashbuckler/ Jack Tar (Lv 3 Skirmisher/Minion) 150/37 xp
HP 32/1
Cutlass: +5 vs. Ref. d6+1/4 (2d6+1/6 with CA) Melee
Hand Crossbow: +5 vs. AC d6+3/6 (2d6+3/8 with CA) Ranged 10

[Webhead]

I've found that the best way to do custom monsters is to find a nearby equivalent monster and steal the stuff that's similar in mechanic, then completely re-work the special effect. That way you know it's balanced without having to do any playtest of your own...

Yep, yep. I like taking a monster, changing its appearance and giving a few of its powers different flavor text and then watch my players' reactions as they encounter something "new".


Another time-saver I've found is, in 4e, a minion is only different in its name, number of HPs (one) and its damage (flat rather than roll). So, you can create two monsters at once, list them once on your notes with slashes, so it will look something like this:

Halfling Swashbuckler/ Jack Tar (Lv 3 Skirmisher/Minion) 150/37 xp
HP 32/1
Cutlass: +5 vs. Ref. d6+1/4 (2d6+1/6 with CA) Melee
Hand Crossbow: +5 vs. AC d6+3/6 (2d6+3/8 with CA) Ranged 10

This is very cool too...

[mrken]

As I use minis the monsters all look the same as gamers would expect. It is the stats that I have changed that take them back. First time a player fights an orc they will never look at my monsters with contempt. In fact they become cautious again like when they played their first game. lol It is kind of funny to see a gamer you know is a hack and slasher stop as he sees the monster. You can see the gears grinding as he sizes up the monster and the party. Sometimes as the fight ensues the player might look at the damage the party has taken and the lack of damage the monster has taken and decide they made a mistake and try to find a way to extradite themselves. I love not letting the PC's know everything before they play the game, makes the game fun again. Encourages them to role play rather than using math to see what the odds are of winning.

[Webhead]

As I use minis the monsters all look the same as gamers would expect. It is the stats that I have changed that take them back. First time a player fights an orc they will never look at my monsters with contempt. In fact they become cautious again like when they played their first game. lol It is kind of funny to see a gamer you know is a hack and slasher stop as he sees the monster. You can see the gears grinding as he sizes up the monster and the party. Sometimes as the fight ensues the player might look at the damage the party has taken and the lack of damage the monster has taken and decide they made a mistake and try to find a way to extradite themselves. I love not letting the PC's know everything before they play the game, makes the game fun again. Encourages them to role play rather than using math to see what the odds are of winning.

Yes. I do not like my players relying on "routine". "Oh, they're just orcs. We'll kill them the same way we kill every orc."

I like to throw "new" and unusual mosters at the party, and I like to add uniqueness to "regular" monsters to keep the players guessing.

I especially love to put a twist on the oh-so-common player trope of "all monsters are evil and have evil plans, so we'll just kill them". Its fun when the players make the realization that the monsters they thought were the enemy were actually just bystanders defending themselves from the "savage, blood-thirsty brutes" (aka the PCs).

[Tony Misfeldt]

Interestingly enough, this is one of the major things I consider when getting invested in running a campaign with a particular game system: What is the level of detail and amount of time required to create a basic antagonistic NPC and have them be meaningful and effectual within the game rules?

That's one reason I'm so fond of games that tend to incorporate "minion" rules. Minions are usually summed up with just a handful of numbers.

Character creation in general should be a speedy process. If I'm familiar with a game, I don't like to have to spend more than 30 minutes writing up the stats of a full-blown character, PC or NPC.

But yeah, anytime you can minimize the amount of info needed for an NPC is good. There is such a thing as "too much detail".

When I was referring to "monsters" I was referring to the typical garden variety of that species (be it orc, dragon, troll, whatever). Of course unique or "bosses" are going to rquire more details. Whenever I create the leader of any group of NPCs, I always treat him more or less like I would the creation of a PC. I work out his stats, class, level, skills, proficiencies, traits and disadvantages. I roll for his hit points, choose which spells he knows (if he's a spellcaster), everything I would expect of the players with their PCs. Then I do the same for his leutenants and henchmen. But the basic fodder? They body of his army, rather than the head and arms? Those should be as scaled back as possible.

When I look at a 3e MM in the store, trying to decide whether or not to buy it just for the CR ratings, the monsters all look like they're all meant to be played as individual NPCs right down to the last kobold. I think that's just too much work for an individual DM. It's like rolling individual attack rolls for every NPC during a massive battle that the PCs are involved in. A huge waste of time.

[mrken]

When I was referring to "monsters" I was referring to the typical garden variety of that species (be it orc, dragon, troll, whatever). Of course unique or "bosses" are going to rquire more details. Whenever I create the leader of any group of NPCs, I always treat him more or less like I would the creation of a PC. I work out his stats, class, level, skills, proficiencies, traits and disadvantages. I roll for his hit points, choose which spells he knows (if he's a spellcaster), everything I would expect of the players with their PCs. Then I do the same for his leutenants and henchmen. But the basic fodder? They body of his army, rather than the head and arms? Those should be as scaled back as possible.

When I look at a 3e MM in the store, trying to decide whether or not to buy it just for the CR ratings, the monsters all look like they're all meant to be played as individual NPCs right down to the last kobold. I think that's just too much work for an individual DM. It's like rolling individual attack rolls for every NPC during a massive battle that the PCs are involved in. A huge waste of time.


When I write up my monsters I don't roll anything. The hit points and the damage points are pretty much decided by the mini and how strong I need them. Special abilities are written down as are the spells and damage. Tactics used might be written down. But much of this info is overlooked while playing for game effect when I need it to be. The MM is seldom used except as a brush up of what interesting abilities are used for different monsters. I don't like to copy abilities from the book to the game on the same monsters. I like to throw a lot of curve balls to my players.

[Tony Misfeldt]

:focus:

PREDATOR

Predators are aliens from another planet that travel to other worlds to hunt other species for sport. They're best used in Spelljammer campaigns, or at least worlds which can be reached by Spelljammer Ships (ie: Dark Sun and Ravenloft are out of the question, unless the alien arived there by accident and can't get home). Predators are Large humanoid creatures, about 8' in height, and weigh about 800 lbs. They have a natural AC of 20 in 3e or 0 in 2e, and 8 hit dice, due to incredibly tough skin and dense muscle and bone tissue. They're also as nimble as any elf or halfling, dispite their incredible size, and have the strength of a Stone Giant (STR 20 in 2e, I don't know what it is in 3e). They have several high tech weapons and gadgets, which would appear magical to less advanced civilizations. They are as follows:

1) Camoflage: They have the ability to bend light around their bodies, giving them a camelion like ability to blend into their surroundings. This makes them 90% undetectible while standing still, and 75% undetectible while moving. This technology has a weakness, however... water. When a predator gets wet, his cloaking technology shuts itself off and won't work again until thoroughly dried. It requires large amounts of water to accomplish this. Just throwing a glass of water at a predator or getting him out in the rain when it's only a light drizzle isn't enough. He has to be completely submerged in a lake or pond, tricked into walking through a waterfall, or forced to chase you into a rainstorm with gail force winds.

2) Shoulder Canon: This weapon is as deadly as any offensive spell cast by any wizard or priest. It's guided by a lazer targeting system, which gives it a nonmagical +5 to hit, and does 10d10 damage. Any nonmagical armor worn by a target is ignored, and magical armor only provides the bonus of its enchantment to the wearer (ie: a plain suit of full plate mail will provide as much protection as a wizards robes, while a suit of studded leather armor +5 will provide the wearer with an AC bonus of +5).

3) Wrist Blades: This is a pair of blades attached to a metal bracer of sorts, which extend and retract in a way similar to cats claws. They are of a metal unknown in any gaming worlds, and can slice through any known metals as easily as cloth (even adamentite or mithril). Due to their extreme toughness and sharpness, they have a nonmagical +5 to strike and damage, as well as a nonmagical vorpal ability. On any roll of a natural 15 or better, the predator lops off a limb or head (determined randomly or DM's choice).

4) Wire Net: This net is attached to several pitons which, when shot at a target, dig into the surrounding surface (often a stone wall or floor). Once set, the pitons start drawing int the net, pulling it tighter and tighter, causing it to cut into the prey trapped inside. If not stopped, the net will cut the prey into little cubes. Only enchanted metal armor can keep the wires from cutting into flesh. Likewise, only enchanted weapons (or those of alien origin) can cut through the wires, though it takes some doing. Each wire requires 10 hit ponits of damage to cut through it.

5) Javeline: The predator's javeline is extendable for easy transportation. It can be reduced in size to a baton, then extended to its full length when ready to use. Due to it's alien make, it also ignores all nonmagical armors, and only the magical AC bonuses are used to determine the AC of those wearing enchanted armor. It does 2d12+5 damage when thrown by a predator, and on the roll of a natural 20 the prey is impaled (instant death).

6) Wrist Projectile: I don't quite know what else to call this one. It shoots small dart like projectiles from the creature's wrist. It's rather like a drow hand crossbow, but more lethal. First, it does damage as an arquebus (1d10, reroll 10s and add the results together). Second, like all alien weapons, it ignores all nonmagical armors.

7) Boomerang Chakram: Again, that's the best description I can come up with for this weapon. It's a circular bladed disk that's thrown at its prey. After cutting through its intended targets, it returns to the one who threw it. It does 2d6+5 damage, ignores all nonmagical armors, and on a natural roll of 15 or better decapitates its targets.

8) Infravision: Predators can only see in one spectrem, infrared. Unlike drow, dwarves, elves, and other races that can see into the infrared spectrem (at least in 2e), they don't need complete darkness to see in infrared. Bright lights and total darkness are completely meaningless to them. A rogue's Hide In Shadows skill, a wizard's invisibility spell, and a barbarian's Camoflage skill are all virtually useless. Their heat vision does have its weaknesses though. For one thing, large heat sources can partially conceal ones body heat. So you're better off hiding behind a giant bonfire than in a shadowy cave. Also, if you can block your body heat somehow you'll appear to him as a lump of rock or pile of dirt. Thus covering your body in a thich coat of mud, or using the spell Briza Do'Urden cast on Zaknafien before his incursion into the Hu'Nett chapel in the beginning R.A. Salvadore's novel Homeland would be more useful than a Ring Of Greater Invisibility or a Cloak Of Elven Kind.

9) Last Resort: This is a bomb which the predator uses if he ever finds himself hunting prey which he cannot kill. If trapped and certain to die in his attempt to conquer his prey, he sets a timer on a device on his wrist. When time runs out, everything within a 10' radius of the alien is vapourized (instant death, no saving throw) and everything within a 1000' radius takes 12d12 damage (save for half damage). Needless to say, you either want to prevent him from setting the bomb or get as far away as you can as quickly as you can.

10) If forced to, predators can use their natural weapons of teeth and claws to kill their prey. They can claw twice for 1d6 damage+STR bonus, and bite once for 1d10 damage per round. They'd have to be stripped of all their technology before they would resort to such primitive tactics, however.

While humans might view the predator species as being evil, it's closer to the truth to call them Lawful Neutral. While they may see humans as mere prey to be hunted and killed, they have a certain code of conduct which they live by. First of all, they only hunt the warriors of any species. That means they only go after those who are armed for battle. They typically don't hunt women, unless the women in question happen to be as dangerous as the men. They also won't hunt children or the elderly. There's no sport in hunting the helpless. Also, if a predator should ever be defeated by his prey and be unable to set off his last resort, others of his kind will come to take him away and leave no physical evidence of his being there. They also won't take personal vengeance against the prey. He was the stronger, so he deserves to live.

The predator home world is very hot, therefor they only ever hunt in places of heat and conflict. So if placing a predator in your campaign, you should set it in either a tropical, subtropical, or desert setting. Especially if there's a war between countries or races in that region. Temperate climates might be acceptable, but only during summer months and preferrably if that summer happens to be extremely warm (during a drout for example).

[Scifione]

I like making new monsters. Besides the fact it exercises the mind, it keeps players on their toes. They just can't metagame about what they remember out of the MM. Also d20 suppliments are a good source for unknown (to the players) monsters.

I once mad a demon the a jaw like that of a dragonfly larva. It had 10ft. reach with its bite. :hungry:

[DMMike]

It's too easy, and too important, to re-imagine a cliche monster. After all, how would a bunch of metagaming, 4th level characters know what to do in their first troll encounter?

"The DM almost said 'troll!' Does anyone have a Burning Hands scroll?"

Well, the party sorceror knows the spell. But she doesn't know that this troll has fire resistance 5, casts Entangle 3/day, and has never heard of Regeneration.

[Tony Misfeldt]

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[tesral]

I wondered when that one was coming out.

[Blydden]

Well I create lots of monsters. In fact I created the Argus, for 4E. (Take a look)
http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/blog.php?b=900

Also, I am working on other monsters, like the...

OMG! The redneck tree is back for me! Runs aways!

[Tony Misfeldt]

I wondered when that one was coming out.

I mentioned the Redneck Tree and the Infernal Tax Collector in my first couple of posts, actually. I just figured I'd try posting the pictures and complete stats on the site (wasn't sure if it would work). When I have the time I'll write my stats for aogres (originally called Advanced Ogres, I decided to shorten it).

[tesral]

By standard English an aogre would be an absence of orgre, as anhydrous is the absence of water.

[mrken]

Was just remembering the time I tossed the group a rust puppy. These folks love pets and they are always begging for them so I toss them things like lizards, frogs and crows and stuff. So, when I told them about the whimpering at the bottom of the hole one of them fell into and it being a low light situation, it looked like a medium sized dog to them. They loved that dog, especially after they fed and watered it. That dog followed them around a couple of days while they were underground. Wasn't for a few days after that that the armor and all started to rust and fall apart.

[Malruhn]

I've always just liked variations.

One of my favorites was something I read on another board many years ago... A standard red dragon who's eyes emitted beams of light like twin spot lights (stolen lock, stock and barrel from the original "The Hobbit" cartoon with Orson Bean). The light had no effect and was just a visual thing - and scared the hell out of a party of dragon-slayers. They had killed about a dozen huge-ancient reds before, and this was the only difference.

They ran. (insert evil laugh here!)

The rest are just taken out of mythology... Chinese versions of vampires (Cross? Garlic? Holy Water?? Don't do NUTHIN'!!!), American Indian myths, silly crap from movies (Bloody Mary, Candyman, Freddie Kruger...)

I love keeping things fresh. It keeps players on their toes.

[Anaesthesia]

I created these, but never had a good excuse to use them:

Dronkeys (http://www.barroks-tower.net/tower/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4862)

Gingerbread Golem (http://www.barroks-tower.net/tower/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5518)

Gingerbreadfolk (http://www.barroks-tower.net/tower/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5513)

What I wanted to create, for my Fighting Fantasy-based game, some of the FF monsters for D&D. Like the Blackhearts (http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Blackheart) (Orc/Black Elf crossbreeds, for instance). One day I'll make them..

[tesral]

I hurt DMs for pastry monsters.

[Blydden]

You should include a vulnerability to being eaten.

[tesral]

I statted this one out.

Höllekind -- Or "Hate Child" a creature from the depths of Hell itself. A demonic beast that eats human flesh and disguises itself as a helpless child to lure in victims. Höllekind are shape changers. They can assume several forms, notably a child, a semi-human beast with long claws, and a dog-like creature. They are extremely strong. Said to have the strength of six. They can only be harmed with blessed weapons and holy water. They must be summoned to get loose on the world, an act of hateful evil.

The usual MO is to hang around an area looking pitiful until taken in, and once inside it wrecks it havoc. The majority of it's victims are women, but it will gladly kill and eat the entire family.

Size/Type: small/medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 10d8+50 (100 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), climb 30 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+4 Dex, +4 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+16
Attack:
Child: slam 1d2+6 (+16)
Man-beast: Claw 1d8+6 (+16)
Beast Bite: 1d6+6 (+16)
Full Attack:
Child: slam 1d2+6 (+16/+11)
Man Beast: Claw 1d8+6 (+14/+14/+7/+7)
Beast: Bite 1d6+6 (+16/+11)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: fear -- paralyzes within 20 feet DC 19
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to electricity and poison, resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10, spell resistance 21, telepathy 100 ft., true seeing
Saves: Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +7
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 18
Skills: Climb +13, Bluff +13, Hide +9, Listen +4, Spot +8
Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved intuitive, Persuasive
Environment: Cities
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: none
Level Adjustment: none

[Anaesthesia]

I hurt DMs for pastry monsters.

Heh. At least none of them made an appearance in any of my games..

[Tony Misfeldt]

I created these, but never had a good excuse to use them:

Dronkeys (http://www.barroks-tower.net/tower/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4862)

Gingerbread Golem (http://www.barroks-tower.net/tower/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5518)

Gingerbreadfolk (http://www.barroks-tower.net/tower/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5513)

What I wanted to create, for my Fighting Fantasy-based game, some of the FF monsters for D&D. Like the Blackhearts (http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Blackheart) (Orc/Black Elf crossbreeds, for instance). One day I'll make them..

Gingerbread Golem vs Scooby Doo & Shaggy!

[tesral]

Gingerbread Golem vs Scooby Doo & Shaggy!

Run run fast as it can, or it won't be the gingerbread man.

[tesral]

Ghoul Hags

Size/Type: Medium Monstrous Humanoid
Hit Dice: 6d8+6 (34 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 30 ft.
Armor Class: 16(+1 Dex, +5 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+8
Attack: Claw +8 melee (1d6+4)
Full Attack: Claw +8 melee (1d6+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Change appearance, revulsion, charm
Special Qualities: Darkvision 90 ft., spell resistance 18, fast heal (variable) Con damage
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +2
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 14
Skills: Concentration +5, Craft or Knowledge (any one) +5), Hide +6, Listen +7, Spot +7 Swim +9
Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight
Environment: Cities
Organization: Solitary or covey (Up to six hags)
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: —


Ghoul Hags are the entrappers and destroyers of men, They hang out in old houses on the edge of settlements seeking lone men to catch and add to their harem of undead.

It is said that Ghoul Hags are what becomes of loveless women that display a high degree of misanthropy, usually those that have been jilted or scorned by those they thought would love them. They reject men, reject society, and slowly their hate turns them into Ghoul Hags. Other hold that a pact with dark forces is required. In any case they are no joy to encounter.

Combat:
Ghoul Hags will first attempt to entice a lone male to come with them in the guise of beautiful women. Once they get him charmed they can literally get their claws into him and tear him apart destroying his Constitution and making him their own. When faced with strong opposition the Hag will retreat unless cornered. A covey will usually attack.

Ghoul Hags do not have the covey abilities of other hag types. Indeed other hags despise these creatures as much as do common men.

Fast Heal: The Ghoul Hag gains 2 points of fast heal per male in her harem. the only way to stop this healing is to destroy the harem, or kill the Hag.

Con Damage: A Ghoul Hag drains 1d4 Con per hit once a male victim is at 0 Con they are part of the Hag's undead harem. Females just die.

Spell Like abilities.

Change Appearance: A Ghoul Hag can assume the appearance of a beautiful woman at will as a full round action. She cannot attack physically or use her Con damage in this form.

Revulsion: When a hag changes appearance any that view it must make a Will save DC 15 to avoid being sickened for 1d4 rounds.This does not stack, if severla Hags change in one round, only one save need be made but at +1 to the DC for each additional Hag changing.

Charm: By not changing appearance the hag can charm males to add to her harem. She gets her con damaging attack automatically. DC 15 to resist. Only works on males.

Harem: A Ghoul Hag will have 2d4 males in her harem of undeath. Fro each male she gains +2 to her fast heal.

The males conform to the stats of ghouls, but can take no willful action and cannot attack. They are 2d12 hit points and an AC of 6 They have saves of +0. they otherwise conform to undead stats.

[Tony Misfeldt]

I statted this one out.

Höllekind -- Or "Hate Child" a creature from the depths of Hell itself. A demonic beast that eats human flesh and disguises itself as a helpless child to lure in victims. Höllekind are shape changers. They can assume several forms, notably a child, a semi-human beast with long claws, and a dog-like creature. They are extremely strong. Said to have the strength of six. They can only be harmed with blessed weapons and holy water. They must be summoned to get loose on the world, an act of hateful evil.

The usual MO is to hang around an area looking pitiful until taken in, and once inside it wrecks it havoc. The majority of it's victims are women, but it will gladly kill and eat the entire family.

Size/Type: small/medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 10d8+50 (100 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), climb 30 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+4 Dex, +4 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+16
Attack:
Child: slam 1d2+6 (+16)
Man-beast: Claw 1d8+6 (+16)
Beast Bite: 1d6+6 (+16)
Full Attack:
Child: slam 1d2+6 (+16/+11)
Man Beast: Claw 1d8+6 (+14/+14/+7/+7)
Beast: Bite 1d6+6 (+16/+11)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: fear -- paralyzes within 20 feet DC 19
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to electricity and poison, resistance to acid 10, cold 10, and fire 10, spell resistance 21, telepathy 100 ft., true seeing
Saves: Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +7
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 18
Skills: Climb +13, Bluff +13, Hide +9, Listen +4, Spot +8
Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved intuitive, Persuasive
Environment: Cities
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: none
Level Adjustment: none


I like this one. I may use it in a future adventure. (Of course, that's what this whole thread is meant for)

[Tony Misfeldt]

I'm bumping this thread because I happen to think it's a very interesting and useful topic.

[Tony Misfeldt]

I've met a player recently who played a druid that discovered The Elemental Plane Of Cookies. He was told by his DM that there were an infinite number of elemental planes, so he deduced that logically if there are an infinite number of different elemental planes that somewhere must exist the Elemental Plane Of Cookies. He discovered a magical mirror which allows the user to scry upon other planes of existance, as well as travel there. So he gives it to a sage with instructions to find the Elemental Plane Of Cookies. It took several years, but eventually, as the druid was delivering the sage's annual payment, he is informed that the Elemental Plane Of Cookies had at last been found.

Now that the druid knows the plane's existance and location, he can use his magic mirror to gain additional knowledge about the plane. One thing he discovered was a new spell, Conjure Cookie Elemental. It's basically like an earth elemental, but made entirely out of raw cookie dough. I don't know the exact stats, but I laughed my butt off when I heard that. One thing I do know about cookie elementals: When they are dismissed, only their spirit returns to their home plane. They leave behind a gargantuan mound of raw cookie dough. And while I wasn't specifically told this, but I would imagine the elemental is vulnerable against fire (cooks him until he can't move).

[tesral]

And deathly afraid of large blue furred monsters.

[rabkala]

I have also heard of such a thing before as well. Many years ago I was attacked by a cookie golem (called a cookie monster) in a game. It also reminds me of the calzone golem in Something's Cooking by Andy Collins. I wonder what the original inspiration was...

[tesral]

I still have a DM I need to hurt over than one.

[gaming poet]

Some of the strangest real-world animal behaviors occur during "mating season". For instance, there's a species of tree-bound mice in which the males will mate non-stop with females for 3 straight days, eschewing food, water or rest. By the end of the 3-day peroid, all the adult males drop dead from exhaustion and are eventually replaced by the new litters raised by the females. Glad I'm not one of those critters. :shocked:

I had a fighter who was killed by wood nymphs that way!

---------- Post added at 11:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:27 PM ----------


I've met a player recently who played a druid that discovered The Elemental Plane Of Cookies.

Sounds like a GM of mine who attacked us with an undead Cookie Monster. The guy playing the cleric still boasts about turning the Cookie Monster!

[Malruhn]

Well, with the changes to Sesame Street, the Elemental Plane of Cookies has nothing to fear from The Cookie Monster any more. He's now the Veggie Monster, because, "Cookies are a sometimes food"!!

What a crock!

And gaming poet - I've killed PC's before with wood nymphs and dryads before... it seemed like an interesting way to die.

[nijineko]

reminds me of the elemental plane of candy, complete with stats for indigenous critters. as i recall, one of the wotc's april fools web releases.

[Soft Serve]

reminds me of the elemental plane of candy, complete with stats for indigenous critters. as i recall, one of the wotc's april fools web releases.

Written by the ghost of Dr. Seuss.

[Sascha]

Written by the ghost of Dr. Seuss.
Theodor Geist-el

[nijineko]

Theodor Geist-el

ghost god?

[tesral]

Undead in general. Outside the really low end stuff, Zombies, skeletons and the like I want a reason that person X is undead. I tend to customize undead depending on the circumstances of their death. A few samples.

The Frozen:. These are people that have died in the high mountain passes by freezing to death. Like Zombies but have damage resistance 5/ -- and hit twice as hard, they are frozen They seek sources of heat. In the passes of the Mountain range it is an old custom to never refuse anyone to sit at your fire. The Frozen only fight to get to the heat. If you let them sit, they leave you be and you find their bodies by the fire in the morning. Turn them away and you have a fight on your hands.

Hungry Wraiths: These are people of less than generous spirits that have starved to death, usually after eating the bodies of the dead in an extreme situation. With spirits holding eough hate they rise as wraiths not ghouls. However unlike normal wraiths they do decent physical damage as well as the level drain. They leave bloody wounds that have the wounding property if a save vs Fort is not made.

Ghosts: I vary this creature wildly. Ghosts might not even be malevolent. They are people that left something undone, or died violently in the middle of a task. They might be trapped, either magically or even by the hobgoblins of their own mind. Hit dice are all over the scale as are the effects of the ghosts. All ghosts will have a means of laying them, otherwise the ghost regenerates on the spot several days later. It might be sending a message, doing a task, seeing their body buried. Some might no longer be possible. If they need to get the message to Jimmy and Jimmy is several centuries dead, you see the problem.

[Sascha]

ghost god?
(Lack of hyphen might have ruined the pun.)

[Tony Misfeldt]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bRHl8uBRyYQ/TX5jmX9C4uI/AAAAAAAAA-4/pMzDyOmwmYo/s1600/THE_CRAWLING_EYE_by_mister_bones.jpg


Soulriders
No. Enc.: 0 (2d10)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 180' (60') Armor Class: 8
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: Special
Damage: Special
Save: L2
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: None

The Soulrider is a deviously intelligent, brain-sized, pulsating mass of a creature. A Soulrider has one leering eye and moves about through the use of a set of tentacles on its underside. Soulriders are never encountered singularly; rather they are a nesting society of creatures, which leads directly to the threat they pose.

Because Soulriders are so physically weak, they use their ability of possession to overtake a victim's mind, commanding them to act as their virtual slave -- providing the Soulrider with food and protection. Soulriders will usually enter a village unseen and, over the course of time, will dominate every individual within. Soulriders will also use their metaconcert mutation to coordinate their actions amongst themselves. Once the entire village is dominated, the Soulriders will run the village as hidden slavemasters. PCs may pass through a village without even realizing the entire town is being manipulated by a hidden Soulrider society.

Soulriders are incapable of any degree of attack or defense. If discovered, they will command their thralls to attack on their behalf. A PC may find himself attacked by an entire village once a single Soulrider is discovered. (It's a fair bet that the discovery of one Soulrider means that more are lurking nearby.) Soulriders do have one defensive ability. They have the mutation of quickness, which means that they can lift themselves up onto the tips of their tendrils and skitter away at an incredible rate of speed once discovered or if combat turns against them.

Soulriders thrive on creating larger and stronger communities, as they see strength in numbers. Once a nest of Soulriders hatches a new generation, the village may be overly welcoming to new visitors. Unless on alert, these visitors may become the newest possessed residents of the village.


Mutations: possession, metaconcert, quickness

[Soft Serve]

I like the Soulriders idea. And art since I'm mentioning it.

Has anyone made a monster like the one in John Carpenter's The Thing?

[nijineko]

what purposes do the soulriders have? what advantage or disadvantage to they represent to those dominated? do they have goals or purposes in harmony or at odds with their hosts? are they purely parasitical and drain some sort of essential resource?

i remember once adapting the garthim from the dark crystal to d&d. they proved to be effective in spooking the players and causing caution in combat. i find that they work best in crystal heavy areas, probably in a campaign with or even based around psionics.

does that count?

[Soft Serve]

what purposes do the soulriders have? what advantage or disadvantage to they represent to those dominated? do they have goals or purposes in harmony or at odds with their hosts? are they purely parasitical and drain some sort of essential resource?

i remember once adapting the garthim from the dark crystal to d&d. they proved to be effective in spooking the players and causing caution in combat. i find that they work best in crystal heavy areas, probably in a campaign with or even based around psionics.

does that count?

Aren't the soulriders looking for a basic method of general protection? That and species procreation. At least that is what I gathered, those being basic instincts anyway, it made enough sense to not delve any deeper. If there is more to it though I am definitely curious. Like are they capable of symbiosis as opposed to simply leeching the host? Also think of the possibilities in one as a hyper intelligent major or recurring villain.

[nijineko]

especially if they transmit data through generations. it would be interesting if a particular hive, as it were, shared a collective pool of subconscious knowledge. kill most of them off, and if even one survives, the trauma activates the subconscious link, and that one can reconstruct, or restart another generation with it at the head, and all the memories of the deceased....

[Tony Misfeldt]

what purposes do the soulriders have? what advantage or disadvantage to they represent to those dominated? do they have goals or purposes in harmony or at odds with their hosts? are they purely parasitical and drain some sort of essential resource?
Well, to be honest I didn't come up with the soulriders myself. They're from a different game entirely. However they can be easily adapted for D&D usage.

From what I can tell from what was written about them, soulriders have just as varied and complex personalities as humans do. Thus, one hive of soulriders might be completely symbiotic with their hosts, while another could be completely parasitic. It depends entirely on the DM.


i remember once adapting the garthim from the dark crystal to d&d. they proved to be effective in spooking the players and causing caution in combat. i find that they work best in crystal heavy areas, probably in a campaign with or even based around psionics.

does that count?
Yes that counts. Post the stats here if you still have them.

---------- Post added at 04:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:45 AM ----------

I specifically got the soulrider from www.savageafterworld.blogspot.com.

There's a post apocolyptic rpg on there called Mutant Future, with lots of neet mutants/monsters which could easily be adapted for a D&D campaign.

Here's another one . . .

Fleshmelt

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vDtBDn3_lSE/TY_kbCBQ9II/AAAAAAAAA_Y/zXJ5n72yOHs/s1600/snaqkemonster5.jpg
No. Enc.: 1 (1d3)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 150' (50')
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 11
Attacks: 1 (bite)
Damage: 2d8
Save: L9
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: None

The Fleshmelt is a huge lizard-like creature found in deep underground caves and caverns. Due to its appearance, it is believed the Fleshmelt is a descendant of the Ancient komodo dragon. It lumbers about on four legs, however, due to its size, it has a faster-than-expected movement rate. Fleshmelts are a deeply subterranean race of creatures. Due to the many generations of living in pitch blackness, Fleshmelts are completely blind, relying only on sound and smell to guide it to its prey. They have not evolved any enhanced senses, but they are fairly accurate with their other senses.

The Fleshmelt primarily attacks with a sharp-tooth-lined mouth, which it uses to bite for 2d8 hit points of damage. But the true danger of a Fleshmelt is from its dermal poison slime. The Fleshmelt's skin secretes the same digestive juices normally found in the stomach. (The Fleshmelt's own skin is obviously immune.) This acidic substance dissolves organic materials such as wood, plant life, and - yes - flesh. Any contact with a Fleshmelt results in 2d8 hit points of burning acidic damage. Unless a save versus poison is then made, this hit point loss will become permanent and should be subtracted from the PC's maximum hit point total. The PC will undoubtedly be stunned as he watches the skin and muscle whither and drip from the point of injury. It is said that the shrieks of agony coming from a dissolving victim also helps the creature locate its prey.

Mutations: sensory deficiency, dermal poison slime (special)

[tesral]

I would add a lack of pigment to the critter. If they have been underground long enough to become blind they are likely dead white to clear as well.

[nijineko]

hmmm, i don't, that was a long time ago, but off hand:

according to the first movie and the official adapted book:

dr 10-20/magic and crystal.

high ac (heavily armored)

tend to be slow moving, but capable of surprisingly fast charges. perhaps best represented by a sprint ability or speed bonus during a charge. probably 20 foot movement rate, but 40 during a charge or sprint.

large size. 10' reach.

very heavy.

really high str. (able to knock over trees in a single blow / push).
con is non-ability due to technically being a construct.
average dex.
low wis.
low int.
low cha.

racial bonus to listen and spot.

tentacle based movement - ignores rough terrain penalty, can also be used as a crude grapple or manipulator. (can pin opponents)

trample ability.

large grasping hand with three fingers, large claw with blade on outer edge. bludgeoning and slashing. which limb is left and right varies from garthim to garthim. two slam attacks, or a slam attack and a slashing strike or may grapple twice in a round, once with each primary limb instead of attacking, or they may grapple with one limb and attack with the other. damage probably between 2d6 and 4d6 per weapon. claw hand should count as two handed weapon when calculating damage.

multi-jointed limbs - can reach anywhere on its body with either limb, including blind spots on its back. the sole exception is directly behind it down by the "tail" area, but the tentacles can grab anything it becomes aware of even there. garthim will often spin to check around it.

improved trip.

improved bull rush.

special attack - can make a free trip or grapple attempt once per adjacent opponent, each round with the motive tentacles underneath. typically will trip first and then grapple prone opponents. if the garthim moves no more than 20 in a round, then it can maintain an existing grapple without any additional penalty, dragging the grappled prey with it. (must still succeed the grapple check as normal.)

special quality - empathic cruelty (su). enjoys the sounds and feelings of negative emotions in other creatures, especially pain, suffering, weeping, sadness, and will toy with or torment captured prey to evoke such emotions. when not under duress or specific orders, this play will eventually tear creatures limb from limb, and shred them into little bits. when capturing prey, it is all business; play is only for safely captured prey.

special quality - quick spin (ex). a garthim can spin in place as a free action to face any positioning once in any round it does not move more than 5'. this is often used to check for opponents and prey in the surroundings, and to ensure that nothing is in the blind spot.

special quality - remote power source (su). garthim are powered by a cracked (subverted) crystal artifact with alignment qualities suspended over a shaft of fire and air. healing / repairing the crystal destroys the motive force of the garthim, revealing that they are empty shells which fall apart. suggested adaption: a power source which can be blocked or deactivated somewhat more easily than major quest level antics.

special quality - obey the masters (ex). garthim will obey only a narrow selection of identified masters. they are not smart enough to know or care if one is in disfavor or banished or not. in the movie this was a race consisting of 9 individuals, with 9 mirror opposites - apparently of another race, whom could also control or pacify the garthim at will.

construct traits, as they are technically constructs.


according to the second book:

they can be killed without special weapons. (the dr might be x/crystal instead of x/magic and crystal.)


feel free to ask questions, i'll try to clarify.

[cplmac]

Useful thread this is. I want to officially thank tesral for the idea of the Ghoul Hag. I used these in my 2E game that started back up again yesterday. I wanted something to get things started with a bang and that fit the bill. If interested in the encounter, you can read about it on my P&PG blog. Again, thanks tesral, the group had quite a time in battling those creatures.

[nijineko]

i recall stat-ing out the thundercats back in 2nd ed, and trying to figure out which psionics would fit tigera the best. ^^ i think panthero was a monk, liono was a fighter, cheetara was a thief acrobat/monk combo i think-with a bit of psionics for her intuitive powers, and wilykit n wilykat were thieves. i don't believe i stat-ed out snarf. i recall attempting to fit the sword of omens and eye of thundara into magic items, and wound up in the artifact range before too long. ^^

i'm also suddenly reminded of a trio of races that i created, which whenever introduced to pcs always drove them nuts. usually, only one of the three races was introduced at a time. the main feature of the race they ran into (as far as they were concerned) was that not only did they not believe in magic, it did not function in anyway or anywhere that could affect their senses. so, in other words, magic could not function in any fashion within range of their perceptions, whether natural or boosted via artificial means. the players would go nuts trying to figure a way around the limitation. it didn't help that the npc in question would kindly offer them medical (psyc) assistance in order to be cured of their delusions of belief in magic.