Saturday, March 7, 2020

Better Sea Monsters

This was one of the more difficult sections to write up. I haven't used many sea monsters in my own game. I expect to make more than a few changes to these before I publish the final PDF. Any feedback would be much appreciated.



Monster Type
Number Appearing
Armor Class
Move in Inches
Hit Dice
Merfolk
30-300
7
15 (swimming)
1 + 1
Sahuagin
30-300
5
18 (swimming)
1 + 1
Dolphins
2-20
6
21 (swimming)
2
Giant Crabs
2-12
2
6
2
Giant Eels
2-12
8
12 (swimming)
2
Men-of-War
2-12
8
3 (swimming)
2
Sea Horses
2-20
7
18 (swimming)
2
Crocodiles
2-12
6
9 / 12 (swimming) 
3
Sharks
2-12
5
21 (swimming)
3-6
Kraken
1
3
15 (swimming)
12
Sea Dragons
1
2
18 (swimming)
12
Great White Whales
1
2
18 (swimming)
16

These aquatic monsters all have the ability to swim and breathe under water indefinitely, except where otherwise noted.

Merfolk (Sea People)
Merfolk have human heads and torsos and fish tails. They live in cities beneath the sea, where they live, hunt, trade, and enjoy themselves just like humans on land. Merfolk nations have even been known to go to war with each other, though their true enemy is the evil sahuagin. As aquatic creatures, merfolk get on well with sea creatures and ride sea horses and dolphins as mounts. They prefer spears and nets as weapons and wear armor made of seashells. Though merfolk prefer to breath water, they can remain on land for up to four hours at a time. They will sometimes sit on the beach, hoping to attract the attention of humans of the opposite sex. Merfolk, if chosen as a player character, advance as fighters, but cannot progress further than 6th level.

Sahuagin (Devil-Men of the Deep)
Sahuagin are devils of their deep. They have leech-like mouths, razor-sharp yellow teeth, and green reptilian eyes. They live in large cities and worship a host of Chaotic tentacled monsters, whom they serve. Sahuagin feed exclusively on the flesh of men, elves, and merfolk and take great glee in the killing and torture of their victims. While merfolk ride dolphin and sea horses, sahuagin tame and ride sharks. In combat they favor tridents, nets, and daggers as weapons. High-level sahuagin advance as fighters and magic-users in the same manner as elves. 

Dolphins
Dolphins are high in intelligence. They travel together in packs and can communicate with each other by screeches and whistles. Dolphins will come to the aid of human who are attacked by other denizens of the deep. If trained and outfitted with a harness, they can carry a rider into battle like a sea horse.

Giant Crabs
The heavy shells of these armored crabs are four feet in diameter and their powerful pincers are nearly a foot long. They cannot swim, but rather walk across the bottom of the ocean. While they stay close to water, they can move across land unimpeded. Giant crabs are territorial and will not hesitate to attack. Mermen hunt giant crabs for food.

Giant Eels
These creatures live in rivers and oceans. They are long, grey fish, measuring up to 7 feet long. Giant eel hunt by stunning their prey with an electric shock, which delivers 2 dice worth of damage. A single eel can generate 3 such jolts every hour. 

Men-of-War
The bodies of these giant jellyfish stretch 6' across and possess 10-60 deadly tentacles, each up to 100 feet long. A man-of-war's attacks do not inflicts damage; instead the touch of its tentacles will paralyze a character, who the man-of-war then begins to slowly digest. Men-of-war live in deep seas and oceans, far from land.

Sea Horses
Sea horses serve as steeds to mermen. While they cannot attack on their own, a seahorse's speed makes a mounted merman armed with a spear as a deadly combatant as an armored knight on land. Sea horses can he captured and sold for great sums of gold. An adult is worth upwards of 2000 Gold Pieces while a young sea horse sells for 500 Gold Pieces.

Crocodiles
These vicious predators live in swamps nearby rivers and lakes. They stretch nearly 8 feet long and weigh up to 180 pounds. Crocodiles will wait, hidden in muddy waters, to attack travelers without provocation. They will even attempt to overturn small boats in order to feast on the passengers inside.

Sharks
Sharks vary in color from orange to light blue. Most can reach sizes of 12' in length. Sharks can detect the scent of blood in water from extremely long distances. Enough blood will result in a feeding frenzy. Larger sharks (up to 20" long) have up to 6 hit dice and are vicious creatures that inflict 2 dice of damage on a hit.

Kraken
Kraken are huge, fierce octupoids. Their bodies are the size of whales, and they have pointed beaks and red eyes. Their tentacles are so long they can rip apart ships in a matter of minutes. In combat, a kraken can make 6 attacks each combat round, each of which inflicts 3 dice of damage on a hit. While only semi-intelligent, kraken gather gold and treasure in their deep ocean lairs.

Sea Dragons
Sea dragon are 30' long sea serpents with thick green scales. They can breath fire in a 9" line, 1/2" wide, up to three times per day. Any creature caught it their breath weapon takes 6 dice of damage. A sea dragon's bite inflict 3 dice of damage and, like purple worms, sea dragons are capable of swallowing their prey whole. Any die rolled to attack that score a 20 (or else 4 more than the number required to hit) swallows the victim alive. A swallowed character will be dead in six combat rounds and completely digested (thereby preventing resurrection) in twelve unless the sea dragon is first killed.

Great White Whale
These are the largest mammals found in the sea or on land. They can reach lengths of up to 300 meters and are truly a spectacle to behold. Rather than doing actual damage, the great white whale simply swallows its prey alive. A swallowed character will be dead in six combat rounds and completely digested (thereby preventing resurrection) in twelve unless the great white whale is killed before then.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Better Monstrous Humanoids

This class of Chaotic humanoids band together in clans and tribes. They are generally scavengers and pillagers who live off the spoils of nearby human villages too weak to defend themselves. 




Monster Type

Number Appearing

Armor Class

Move in Inches

Hit Dice

Kobolds

30-300

7

9

½ 

Goblins

30-300

6

9

½

Orcs

30-300

6

9

1

Hobgoblins 

20-200

5

9

1 + 2

Gnolls

20-200

5

12

2


Kobolds
Kobolds are small hairy creatures with that walk on two leg. They have sharp claws and keen senses. Kobolds live underground in tightly-knit family groups, scavenging and hunting for food. They rarely have treasure of their own, but are often found in the service of more powerful creatures. They are easily bullied and cling to stronger creatures for protection.

Goblins
Goblins are small humanoids with large fangs and green skin. They are incredibly ugly and have foul breath. They are cunning craftsmen and delight in trapping, torture, and looting. They are especially fond of magic charms. They love to seed discord and enjoy the taste of man flesh. Goblins hate dwarves and gnomes and will attack them on sight. Sometimes, goblins will keep wolves as pets.

Orcs
Orcs are larger than goblins and walk upright. They are built like athletic men with pig-like faces. They delight in war and carry scimitars and short bows. Orcs organize themselves into tribes. Infighting is common between clans. Orcs live in caves guarded by sentries or villages protected by palisade walls. They use traps and siege weapons and often sell their services as mercenaries to high-level highers and magic-users or dragons. When encountered in the wilderness, there is a 50% chance that the orcs will be escorting a train of wagons from one Chaotic outpost to another. The wagons contain 200-1200 Gold Pieces of supplies.

Hobgoblins
These large goblins are warlike and organized. They walk upright and have rough reddish skin, and wolfish features. Hobgoblins run their villages like highly regimented military forts. Unlike orcs, hobgoblin clans are headed not by the strongest warrior, but by the most tactically gifted one. Also, unlike other humanoid, hobgoblins do not dislike sunlight and often venture out on raids during full daylight. Hobgoblins favor pole arms, swords, and short bows as weapons.

Gnolls
Gnolls are wild and vicious humanoids with the face of dogs and thick fuzzy fur. They tend towards larger weapons, usually axes. Gnolls raid towns and travelers because they disdain the notion of  meaningful work and physical labor. Fortunately for their victims, gnolls are very disorganized and travel is loose bands; their raiding parties generally spend as much time arguing and fighting among themselves as they do pillaging. 

Better Fairies

Fairies are magical woodland creatures. Fairies generally prefer magic and trickery over force of arms, even when threatened. Many fairies possess powerful charms that only affect members of the opposite sex. These charms are not spells, per say, but magical abilities driven by sexual allure.



Monster Type
Number Appearing
Armor Class
Move in Inches
Hit Dice
Nixies
10-100
7
12
½ 
Pixies
10-100
6
9 / 18 (flying)
½ 
Dryads
1-6
5
12
1
Leprechauns 
1-4
7
12
1
Nymphs
2-12
7
12
1
Sylphs
1-6
6
12 / 24 (flying)
1
Elves
30-300
5
12
1 + 1
Satyrs
2-12
6
12
1 + 1

Nixies
Nixies are water fairies with pale skin, golden hair, webbed feet, and razor-sharp teeth. Though they have gills, nixies can breath and speak above water for short periods of time. Nixies are fond of human flesh. Sometimes, however, they charm and capture members of the opposite sex who they find particularly attractive. Rather than direct combat, nixies prefer to lure their victims into their lair by invitation to a lavish feast, where the unknowing victims will be served as the main dish.

Pixies
Pixies stand 6 inches in height and possess beautiful dragonfly wings. They can make themselves invisible to humans, though highly magical creatures like dragons can still see them. Pixies are fierce warriors who arm themselves with tiny bows and swords, but will only attack if threatened, for they prefer mischief over battle. When pushed to fight, pixies tip their arrows in a poison that places its victim in a magical slumber for 1-6 hours.

Dryads
Dryads are tree spirits who live in dense woods and take the form of beautiful women. Each dryad is tied to a specific tree. Though they can wander around, dryads cannot stray more than a mile from it. A dryad can only be harmed by cutting or burning its tree down. Though naturally shy, dryads are usually helpful towards travelers, but will attempt to charm men (for their charms do not function on women) who cut down trees and build fires and instruct them to attack their companions. Anyone man by a dryad's will never return from the forest.

Leprechauns
Leprechauns are miniature men with pointed ears. They are wild and shy; thus they avoid humans and civilizations whenever possible. Leprechauns dress in shades of brown and green and will hide from passersby. They also possess powerful magic; leprechauns  can cast the phantasmal forces and dimension door spells simply by snapping their fingers. Only if a leprechaun is somehow caught, will he reveal the location of his treasure (100-600 Gold Pieces).

Nymphs
Nymphs are nature spirits who take the form of beautiful women. They live in forested groves and watery lagoons, where they frolic naked in the waters. Any male character who lays eye on a nymph will fall under her charm. Ugly men will be forced drown themselves, while more attractive specimens will spend their days frolicking with the nymphs. Nymphs do not fight; Instead a nymph relies on her charmed male companions to defend her from harm.

Sylph
Sylphs are beautiful women with large transparent wings. Like pixies, they can turn themselves invisible. Unlike pixies, however, sylphs do not fight. Instead they can charm males with their magic. If a sylph is captured, she will try to buy her freedom. Sylphs always hide their treasure hidden on treacherous mountaintops; a sylph's treasure typically consists of 100-600 Gold Pieces worth of jewelry.

Elves
Elves are woodland creatures, slightly smaller than men and who live in cities built in treetops. They are thin and flexible with pointed ears and a flair for song magic. Male elves are skilled warriors who favor bows and swords. For more information on elves, see Men & Magic.

Satyrs
Satrs are forest creatures with the upper bodies and men and the legs of goats. They have bristly hair and goat horns. They enjoy drinking, dancing, and merry making. Though they dislike human men and will attack them without provocation, satyrs will attempt to seduce women, especially maidens. Likewise, satyrs are sometimes found in the company of nymphs. In combat, satyrs favor simple weapons, like clubs. 5% of satyrs can produce magic from a set of pan pips and are capable of casting the sleep and confusion spells with their music.