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| Alan Craddock cover art. |
Out of the Shadows introduces the Assassin character (Acrobat-Assassin-Monk-Ranger combo) and two new stats, STEALTH and PERCEPTION. High Ranked characters get new special abilities. They're all for some other time (maybe) - this is a monster run-through after all.
This is a biggie - a bestiary of 'Saturday Night Specials' plus do-overs and power-ups from The Elven Crystals, then a slew of newbies and variants across the three adventures.
There are monsters that are common across systems, but comparisons with BX/OSE are less useful.
A few poor quality scans to give you an idea of the excellent Bob Harvey illos.
Denizens of Nightmare.
Starts out with an updated holy relics table to take in all those faerie or trollkin additions.
Automaton.
BAB +14 AC +5 att. weapon +1 HD 8.2 Rank 13th
Immune to direct-attack magic charm, death, sleep, hold etc.
Artificial warriors of metal constructed by the sort-of Ancient Greeks using the lore of the sort-of Ancient Egyptians. Ornate, graceful, bejewelled. Presumably magic, but why not technology sufficiently advanced to be indistinguishable from?
Considerable intelligence, but have no free will. Some can speak (in sort-of Ancient Greek), maybe discussing philosophy or reciting poems - even at the same time as fighting you with sword and shield.
STR 16+. Can see in the dark as well as the light.
Barghest.
BAB +9 AC +2 att. d8(d12) + venom HD 4.4 Rank 7th
Automatically surprises you.
Gaze Attack: 80% chance you meet its gaze when surprised, then use Basilisk mechanics for gaze avoidance; save at disadvantage/penalty or Transfixed: stand passively for 2d6 rounds/as many as you fail the save by or until attacked, you also forget the duration and the 2 rounds before it.
Psychic Venom: it's save or die, but vs. spells/psionics rather than poison.
Bark: d12 fright attack (as strong as a Ghost's) renders you feeble and helpless; otherwise, Weakened (-2 to Hit, -1 damage) for 2d6 rounds.
Half damage from non-magical weapons and/or not of solid silver.
Faerie hound larger than a wolf... fur is black or green-black... cold green glare of its eyes... the grinning jaws of the beast slaver with a luminous spittle.
Whether styled as the vengeful manifestation of the victims of atrocity, a faerie visitor from the otherworld, a hunter of damned souls or an elemental guardian of hidden treasures, this is a Black Dog straight out of the folklore of the British Isles.
If slain, it will let out a horrible howl that banishes the souls of the dead within 20m (c. 65') so that they cannot be raised by normal means. After that, all that's left is a log, a moss-covered stone or a stagnant pool.
Barudath (Eaves Phantom).
BAB +12 AC +2 att. touch 2d4 HD 8.6 Rank 15th
Fright Attack: d4, the first time you see it - though I suppose this could be enough to kill you RAW.
Trickery: you get an INT save vs. its attempts to fool you.
Gaze Attack: (when fully manifested) save at disadvantage/penalty or Transfixed (see Barghest); either make this a first-time only attack or use Basilisk gaze avoidance mechanics.
Ghastly Touch: (when fully manifested) only magical armour/protection bonuses count against it (allow DEX adjustment, for D&D adjacent).
Believed to arise from the forgotten grave of a suicide (you decide on the in-setting truth or not of this but it's a common trope), the Barudath seeks out an inhabited place to haunt - sometimes down the generations.
It's a horrible but not very frightening ghost, relatively speaking, but it's persistent and always trying to get itself invited in by making noises, imitating voices, appearing in wretched or tempting forms, or just wearing you down until you give in.
Once invited in (and this is open to interpretation, for dramatic purposes), it manifests as a tall figure with bone-white skin, eyes of gleaming jade and a long mane of flowing green hair. While it can pick up and use a weapon, it's touch is deadly and bypasses mundane armour. Once it's killed everyone available, it can't leave this place and settles down to absorb their psychic residue - topped up by the odd wayfarer.
If you don't have the spells or magic weapons to kill it, you can try to find its hidden burial plot (you need 8th level casters for any divination spell to be effective) and exorcise it, or dig up its remains and confront it with them - upon looking into the empty sockets of its own skull, the Barudath gives vent to an unholy shriek and disappears.
It's one of my favourites from the DW monster selection.
Blue Men.
BAB +12 AC +1 att. weapon +2 HD 4.8 Rank 7th
Immune to 1st to 4th Rank spells: as is, or downgrade to 1st and 2nd level only.
Half damage from missile weapons: but not sure why - I guess it's their dead flesh.
You encounter a dragon-prowed longship (limned with St. Elmo's Fire and visibly neither seaworthy nor from recent history) crewed by 30 of these Viking-esque undead with blue skin and beards tangled with weed. Oof!
They cannot be outrun or out-manoeuvred by mortal sailors, so you eventually have to submit to a contest of rhyme and counter-rhyme. Victory is hazily defined - one side falters or is forced to make an unconvincing or clumsy rejoinder - so you could reduce this bardic skill checks or some such.
If they lose, they depart. If you lose, prepare to repel boarders armed with bronze cutlasses and STR of 16+.
Beating the Blue Men in combat (25%+ casualties) means they will immediately depart, sinking under the water. The souls of the mortal dead go with them and cannot be raised by normal means.
Taking the fight to the Blue Men's vessel also results in them sinking into the water: DEX save at disadvantage/penalty, or you're sucked down with the ship. The Blue Men also pronounce a curse as they go: every adventurer (so every PC?) has to save vs. spells or the ship is becalmed 3d10 days, and everyone is exposed to d3 random diseases per day (normal chances of infection, unless conditions change).
From the description of their ship as waterlogged and impossibly afloat, I imagine you can't scuttle it or set it ablaze by normal means. Possibly dispel magic could work, but I expect you'd get the curse for that.
They're setting specific (or generic) Blue Men of the Minch, if you didn't already know that.
Boggart.
BAB +1 AC +1 att. weapon HD 2.2 Rank 4th
Automatic surprise vs. up to 3rd level characters (invisibility to mortals).
Surprise 1-4 on d6 vs. 4th level +.
Min. 4th level Magic User: RAW it's a 4th Rank Sorcerer (greater basic spell choice and energy reserves than D&D), so you could go higher.
Alchemy: can brew any potion or magical compound and usually carry three or four, a good way to introduce new and/or cursed potions into your game.
Hoarfrost spell 1/night: save or seized with deathly cold; 1st round d8 hits, save to endure/resist with disadvantage/penalty or die; 2nd round d6 hits, save to endure/resist or die; 3rd round d4 hits, save to endure/resist with advantage/bonus; 4th round it wears off, if you've survived. 10m (c. 30') range direct-attack magic vs. single target. Or reskin an existing cold spell.
Thorns spell 1/night: 10m (c.30') range vs. single target. Save to evade or wrapped in thorns for 2d6 rounds; you can struggle free in d6+1 rounds but take d4 hits per round. Remain motionless for no damage, if you think it wise.
Witchflame spell 1/night: tendrils of emerald flame, 5m (c. 15') range, single target saves to evade or takes 3d6 hits (reduced by AC +); 25% they catch alight and take d8 hits/round, until they put the fire out (on a 4-6 on d6 at the end of each round RAW).
Mist spell 1/night: the Boggart exhales a cloud of weird mist that appears to obscure a 2.5m (c. 8') radius area. However, it's much bigger on the inside, connects to the otherworld and you can get lost unless you're using practical or folkloric methods to prevent this. At the start of each round, roll d6: 1, you encounter the Boggart (+1 to next roll if you immediately retreat); 2-5, you're still wandering; 6, you step out of the mist, safe(ish). If you're still in the mist when it fades away, save vs. spells or you fade with it - interpret this as you will (go to appropriate otherworld, turn Ethereal, out of phase, as if bitten by BECMI Spectral Hound etc). Duration: Spell Expiry roll, or 2d6 rounds.
Befuddlement spell 1/night: direct-attack magic vs. d6 targets within 20m (c. 65'); basically a confusion spell, though one result is to remove bits of your armour. No duration given, so presumably Spell Expiry Roll intended, thus 2d6 rounds for D&D adjacent.
Phantasmal Claw spell 1/night: huge, luminous talon makes 1 attack up to 20m (c. 65'), at x3 effectiveness of the Boggart's normal attack, for d10(d12) hits. Fades without trace once it's done so.
It's basically a DW Goblin, though it's skin is like smooth ebony, delineated with highlights of greyish-green with wine-dark eyes flecked with gold. Plus, it dresses nicer.
Has various loosely defined mischievous spell-like abilities, plus the summoning and command of Bats (again, not defined). Rumoured abilities are shrinking themselves down to ride Bats, turning into a Bat when unseen by mortals, and dancing (teleporting) along moonbeams.
Will brew potions for you, if you can bribe or threaten them sufficiently.
Cool new spells. A Boggart turns up in one of the included adventures.
Cadaver.
Use the stats for a high (min. 10th) level character, with the addition of 4 HD, Strength 18, AC +1 for dead flesh and immunity to all forms of mind control.
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| Bob Harvey |
These are the mighty dead, heroes of the distant past... elite fighters and warrior-saints. Hundreds, even thousands of years in the tomb, they are undead and undecayed by sheer force of will and the exalted status they held in life.
They're basically Knights, but there's no particular reason you couldn't use a different class - even a spell-caster for a Lich.
If you fight one when it's just woken up, it has a -5 to Hit and -5 AC penalty in the first round of combat. This reduces by 1 each round as it gets used to moving around after all this time. Could potentially apply similar diminishing penalties to other abilities if you've given it a different class.
They should have some decent magical equipment (except potions) ready to use. They can't speak, but they're not automatically hostile (something of a departure for DW monsters). It's not immune or resistant to non-magical weapons, which would certainly be the case for comparable D&D adjacent undead - this is a quirk of DW, rather than an oversight.
The text mentions two other powerful undead - Night Stalkers and Eidolons - which aren't statted here or anywhere else.
Compare with the Meortie undead from Dark Sun setting.
Caitshee.
BAB +3 AC +4 att. claws d8(d6) + special HD 2.2 Rank 4th
At One with the Dark I: cannot be seen in the dark by 1st to 3rd level characters.
At One with the Dark II: in darkness and low-light conditions, 1st to 3rd level characters fight the Caitshee at -4 to Hit and -4 AC; 4th level and above fight at half this penalty; penalties cancelled by magic giving darkvision and/or see invisible.
Jinx Casting: no range, but implied to be close (stalking or fighting); 50% chance of miscasting Magic User spells, 35% of miscasting Cleric spells. Not mentioned, but I'd rule spell-caster Elves are unaffected.
Magic or solid silver weapon to hit but wounds are not apparent until it is slain (fades like a shadow in sunlight).
Min. damage from spells.
Leap: 5m (c. 16') and attack in same round.
Claw Special I: ignores non-magical armour.
Claw Special II: save or Weakened (-2 to Hit, -1 damage) for 2d6 rounds.
Death Curse: whoever strikes the death blow is cursed, and will feel the effects in 1-6 months. Roll d10:
- All personal iron/steel equipment rusts within 1 day.
- 20% per combat first hit taken is a crit, first hit made becomes a miss.
- Save vs. spells at disadvantage/penalty, sunset to sunrise.
- x2 chance of wilderness encounters, and you're the focus of attacks.
- Sprained arm (-2 to Hit, can't use shield or two-handed weapons) or sprained leg (can't run, disadvantage/penalty to movement & evasion); even if healed, will recur within a month.
- 35% per adventure you break/lose best/most useful weapon/magic item.
- No steed will allow you to ride it, except with magical compulsion.
- Your eyes cannot bear the light of day and you take penalties as if in total darkness/vs. invisible.
- If you see a black cat, suffer a d8 fright attack. You die if you fail.
- Your gold treasure becomes silver, silver becomes copper, gems to bits of coloured glass.
So many mechanics that they forgot to say what it looks like.
A faerie cat, counterpart to the Barghest. Frequents cemeteries, woods and ruined abbeys, and likes to stalk adventurers to jinx their spell-casters. Gets its AC from very high DEFENCE.
Centaur.
Normal: BAB +1 AC unarmoured att. weapon HD 4.6 Rank 1st
Warrior: BAB +3 AC unarmoured att. weapon or kick d8(d10) HD 4.6 Rank 3rd
OSE: BAB +3 AC +4 att. x2 hoof d6 + weapon HD 4
Centaurs get an Elf-like +2 to Hit with bows and javelins, have chieftains of 4th to 8th level (Fighters, I suppose - DW Barbarian is implied here), and shamans of 1st to 6th level (DW Mystics, so Clerics or Druids). Text states that a Centaur could learn to be a Sorcerer, but it doesn't happen because they have no written culture (DW Sorcery is an academic pursuit).
Skilled hunters, excellent scouts. Hired as mercenaries, trackers and messengers, but unruly and can't be relied on (drunk on Goblin booze in The Elven Crystals).
The Centaurs of The Elven Crystals are steeped more in myth and fairytale, while these are the flesh, blood and steaming manure inhabitants of a world where they are merely legendary because they live so far away from your everyday.
Chimera.
BAB +14 AC +4 att. claw d12(d12) bite d8(d14) butt d12(d10) HD 8 Rank 14th
OSE: BAB +7 AC +5 att. x2 claw d3 gore 2d4 bite 2d4 bite 3d4 or breath 3d6 HD 9
Automatic surprise vs. 6th level + characters: because it's appearance is so astonishing.
Shock Attack vs. 5th level or less characters: this is a special ability of DW Assassins (introduced in this book). Roll d6 for your initial state, then recover 1 stage per round:
1 Stunned. Cannot act at all; automatically hit; auto-fail saves to evade,
2 Aghast. Only hit on a crit; auto-fail saves to evade; -4 AC,
3-4 Astonished. Only hit on a crit; save to evade at disadvantage/penalty; -4 AC
5-6 Surprised. Only hit on a crit.
If you don't normally use crits, make an exception for this.
Constrict: seize up to two characters in its snaky coils - preferably Stunned or Aghast, otherwise as a DW Python but for d6 crushing hits/round.
Multiple Attacks: it can use its butt or its bite in addition to claws and constriction. Allow it to split its attacks between multiple opponents, if this isn't already a thing at your table.
Weird Breath Weapon 3/day: a flux of refulgent green rays vs. single target within 5m (c. 16'); save at disadvantage/penalty or fighting ability reduced to 1st level and spell-casting to nil for d8 rounds.
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| Bob Harvey |
Forequarters of a lion growing from a powerful serpentine body... strong, curving horns... dragonish wings... eyes of white light blazing from a body that is otherwise uniformly green-grey.
Not much detail on this beyond its abilities and stressing that it's exceptionally bizarre. Rereading the description reminds me of encountering Call of Cthulhu rpg monster entries for the first time - we're going to need more hirelings to soak up the blood and guts so the PCs have a chance to get away.
Nice use of a newly introduced mechanic.
Chonchon.
Already done, here.
Cloudspider.
BAB +17 AC +4 att. bite d10(d12) + strong poison HD 10.2 Rank 16th
Terrible Cry: a high, rasping whine - d10 fright attack if you hear it (within 60m/ c. 200'); fail and you're senseless with fear for 2d6 round; drop what you're holding and run in a random direction (including into the Cloudspider's clutches).
Corrosive Black Mist: all missile attacks vs. the Cloudspider are -3 to Hit; -1 to Hit and -1 AC cumulative per round if in melee with it, until max. blinded/darkness penalty. Recovery within 2d6 rounds after leaving the mist, d6 if you rinse your eyes.
Corrosive Venom: save at disadvantage/penalty or paralysed, then dead in 1 minute (10 rounds), then irrevocably dead as your corpse rapidly decomposes.
A roiling black cloud of mist, within which the rugose body, sparkling eyes and clacking limbs of a giant arachnid are faintly visible.
Minimal information, not even much of a clue to its size, but presumably massive. You can't collect its venom, because it corrodes any container or weapon you dip into it. Roams the deepest levels of the dungeon.
Nice.
Cyclops.
BAB +13 AC unarmoured att. weapon +3 HD 14.2 Rank 10th
OSE: BAB +9 AC +4 att. club 3d10 or rock 3d6 HD 13
AD&D 1e: Cyclopskin AC +7 att. weapon +2 HD 5
-4 to Hit with missiles: lack of binocular vision.
Not much to go on but they're one-eyed giants that have very limited intelligence and are driven by wild urges which include a taste for raw human flesh and an irrational love of gold.
Implied Strength of above 19 (DW scale), because of the +3 damage bonus.
Dragoman.
BAB +6 AC +4 att. bite d6(d12) HD 3.5 Rank 2nd
Setting specific Lizard People of the tropics. Train monkeys as scouts and spies. There might be a 1st to 3rd level shaman (Mystic). +1 damage from STR when using a weapon (stone axes, wooden spears).
Bite instead of using a weapon 20% per round, and go into a killing frenzy (+4 to Hit, -4 AC) if subjected to fear/fright attack (or fail a Morale Check, I suppose).
The text does not have a high opinion of their cultural, intellectual and social development.
Fang Warrior.
BAB +13 AC +2 att. claws d6(d12) HD 4.8 Rank 7th
Immune to effects of emotion, fear, morale.
Use detect magic or similar to determine which 9 teeth of a Hydra (see below) can be used to create Fang Warriors.
Throw down a tooth, expend magical energy equal to a 4th level spell and it grows into a Fang Warrior in d8 rounds. DW uses magic points/psychic fatigue checks to measure magical energy, but spell-slots work too - possibly bring down the power equivalence to 2nd level for D&D adjacent.
They remain for 2d4 rounds, have STR 16+ and Reflexes/DEX 18 (adjust AC according to your system), will not fight others from the same Hydra and respond to the creator's thoughts. They will only serve to fight and each tooth works only once.
White and wiry, the superficially human appearance of a Fang Warrior is quickly belied by its sharp claws and teeth and the glare of animal-like hatred in its eyes.
Fungus Man.
Already done, here.
Giant Beetle.
BAB +6 AC +5 att. bite d10(d8) HD 7.7 Rank 6th
Stag beetles the size of a large bull.
Burrow through earth and soft rock. Glide 6m (c. 20') and bite in the same round. These things mean it surprises 1-3 on d6.
Comparatively simple and unadorned, I feel it's here for a reason I don't know about. No obvious prototype from previous books, and doesn't turn up in any of the adventures I know of.
Golem.
BAB +13 AC +7 att. weapon +3 or fists d6(d14) HD 11.7 Rank 11th
Immune to mind -control, -detection and -reading.
Made of clay or stone by a Sorcerer, 12th Rank or higher, at the cost of 2 Ranks (D&Dish levels or 50,000 XP, whichever seems appropriate). It takes 221 uninterrupted days' work and needs a casting of Resurrect (choose suitable D&D adjacent analogue).
The creator must also roll 3d20 < INT + WIS (or CHA) + level or make a flawed Golem, which will eventually (days, even years) go kill-crazy or become possessed by an evil demon/spirit. Always tries to kill its creator first, as is tradition.
You do get a d20 < INT check to realise you've done it wrong. Whether that helps you much, I don't know, because the Golem is up and running already.
+3 damage bonus, so DW STR of greater than 19; Reflexes/DEX of 3, so it almost always acts last in a round (only Zombies can have a lower Reflexes score).
A glyph/rune/symbol on its forehead is its weak point. If you know about it and try to break it, RAW you need to successfully hit, roll under your Reflexes on 7d6 and make your Armour Bypass roll (so this would need to be a crit from most weapons). For D&D adjacent, this would be at least a Called Shot or a confirmed crit (whatever that is) or with disadvantage/penalty- I haven't crunched the numbers.
Otherwise, it's just your average Golem and considerably tougher than the one in The Elven Crystals.
Grave Gaunt.
BAB +5 AC +1 att. weapon or antlers d6(d6) HD 4 Rank 4th
Infected Wounds: antler damage cannot be healed using magic and carries risk of disease (RAW Wasting Disease).
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| Bob Harvey |
Flying ghouls with antlers! Or possibly the thing from the grave in HPL's The Hound.
Says their origins are lost in the mist of antiquity, implying they're thousands of years old and from the ancient tombs of past civilisations (analogues of Egypt, Greece and Rome, if not Babylon and Sumer).
Can range 100 miles in a night. Takes 1 round to unfold their wings when in combat. Prefer spears/javelins as weapons. Can't stand daylight, but doesn't say if it damages or destroys them.
Give them an extra +3 AC when they're airborne (their EVASION doubles).
Gryphon.
BAB +10 AC +2 att. bite d8(d14) claws d12(d10) HD 8.4 Rank 8th
OSE: Griffin BAB +6 AC +4 att. x2 claw d4 bite 2d8 HD 7
A Griffin. As interesting as you make it.
Hag.
BAB +5 AC +3 att. weapon HD 4.2 Rank 6th
Awful Stench: fight her at -1 to Hit.
Frightful Gaze: treat as an active gaze attack; d8 fright attack that strikes you mute for d6 days, unless relived by drinking holy water.
Vengeance by Warts: if you strike her, save or covered in unsightly warts and sores (-2 CHA or -2 to Reaction Rolls) until next new moon. They resist all treatments, except maybe remove curse.
Plague Bearer: wounds from the Hag expose you to the Black Death.
Power of the Moon: On the 3 nights of the full moon, she can cast spells as a 6th level dual-/multi-Magic User/Cleric; gibbous moon nights, 5th level; crescent/half-moon nights, 4th level; 3 nights of the new moon, 3rd level. Or your own alternative (RAW she's a 4th Rank Sorcerer).
Flying Device: a magical broomstick or cauldron that only works for her, and comes when called (save to evade or it'll knock you down on its way). She always knows where it is. Takes 7 months to construct/enchanct a replacement.
Night Bridle: 1 on d6 a Hag has one of these, made from the noose of a suicide. If she makes a Hit Roll and you fail to dodge it, you're subject to a spell that allows her to use you as a helpless flying mount. You take d10 hits when she lets you land just before dawn, and reduce your STR by 3 for the rest of the day. Presumably, this is what she does to anyone who destroys/steals her flying device.
Vulnerable to iron and steel weapons: takes +1 damage per die (she uses bronze, stone or wooden tools).
Vulnerable to holy symbol: affects her as a DW Vampire.
Vulnerable to salt: if forced or tricked into eating it, she can cast no spells for 4 hours.
A smelly, ugly witch-monster. Non-human.
The sun strikes her dead or turns her to stone, so she prefers to stick to her lair by day and brew potions (including the Potion of Hate, which she can throw at you - save or uncontrollably attack the nearest person for 2d6 rounds or till you are killed/KO'd). Carries 2-8 with her.
Harpy.
BAB +2 AC +7 (+2 vs. magical weapons) att. claws d8(d8) HD 5.3 Rank 3rd
OSE: BAB +2 AC +2 att. x2 claw d4 or weapon HD 3
Stench: save at advantage/bonus, or -1 to Hit and -1 AC when fighting them. They can only surprise 1 on d20/5% because of the stink.
Plague Bearer: filthy claw wounds expose you to 1-3 diseases.
Grapple: 20% they try to carry you off instead of clawing; successful hit, but no damage; they can only ascend 5m (c. 15')/round when so burdened and will drop you if you struggle too much (c.f. Forest Harpy).
No conflation with Sirens here. Their bird-parts are vulture and the description is clear that they don't have arms. They're stronger and tougher than Forest Harpies.
It's only their humanlike parts that are vulnerable to normal weapons (the plumage... turns aside all blows from nonmagical weapons), accounting for their good AC+. Some scope for messing around with mechanics here, if you prefer things less abstract.
Hellion.
d8 fright attack when encountered, but text not entirely clear on whether this applies to all individual Hellions or the group/procession it describes.
Vulnerability: can't come within 2m (c. 6') of a holy relic; can't harm someone holding one; affected by crucifix/ holy symbol as a DW Vampire.
Selection of tables for randomly generating demons.
Hellrot.
BAB +4 AC +2 att. weapon or bite d8(d6) + disease HD 6.6 Rank 3rd
Beefed-up version of the Hellrot that appears in The Elven Crystals, but substantially the same.
We learn they can be driven back with a crucifix/holy symbol like a DW Vampire. Can't harm someone holding a holy relic, and the touch of a relic is instantly fatal. Also, vulnerable to sunlight (burned and shrivelled), but no mechanical detail.
Hippogriff.
BAB +9 AC +3 (unarmoured vs. magic weapons) att. bite d8(d6) claws d12(d12) HD 6.6 Rank 8th
OSE: BAB +3 AC +4 att. claw/claw/bite x2 d6/d10 HD 3+1
Track from the Air: 70% effective.
Subdual: during the day, catch it with a special bridle (Hit Roll and DEX check to succeed), then two consecutive STR checks so it will submit to being stabled.
Then 3 consecutive d100 < STR + DEX + level to tame it (1/day) - each failure results in you getting hurt. Roll d12:
1-5 d6 hits.
6-8 d10 hits.
9-10 sprained shoulder - d4 hits, -2 to Hit & -1 damage for next 3 days.
11 broken arm/leg - no more training for 4-6 weeks, plus appropriate penalties.
12 broken neck - death without immediate magical healing; 20% you're paralysed anyway.
A carnivorous horse that turns into a monstrous winged carnivorous horse at night.
By day, they have sharp hoofs and curved fangs (stats as Warhorse with +1 damage roll and save vs. magic based on the stats above).
At night, they transform - sprouting wings, scales and talons, while their skull turns slightly ophidian. Transformation is at will during the night, but takes 2 rounds in which they can take no other action and seems painful.
If you're using Rangers and/or Animal Handling proficiencies (or similar), apply bonuses to taming attempts (or allow saves to avoid injury) - but it's never an easy or sure thing. The special bridle is enchanted, treasure-valuable, especially cruel or a combo.
An interesting and unique take on an often unremarkable monster, this Hippogriff has really grown on me. Not explicitly a magical beast. Nasty surprise stand-in for rumours of Pegasus.
Hydra.
BAB +8 AC +3 att. bite d8(d6) + weak poison HD 12 Rank 16th
OSE: BAB +4 to +9 AC +4 att. 5 to 12 bites d10 HD 5 to 12
Multiple Attacks: 2d4 bite attacks per round; poison save with advantage/bonus.
Spit Acid: save to evade or 2d6 hits + armour loses 1 point of protection permanently, including magical pluses.
Poison Cloud: 2m (c. 6') radius; if you take a breath, save or die (with advantage/bonus if you cover your mouth and nose with a wet cloth); you can hold your breath for rounds=STR, or half that if you're doing something strenuous (like fighting). If you're saying magic words, you're breathing.
Regeneration: edged weapon damage is added to the Hydra's hit points unless it also suffers significant fire damage (cauterising the stumps, as is traditional). Blunt, piercing and magic damage isn't regenerated.
Starts out with nine heads, so 2-8 bite attacks and the difference in spit attacks each round. As decapitations are abstracted, you choose whether to add the extra head per round of edged damage or per successful wound of edged damage.
Nine of its teeth can be used to make Fang Warriors. Each maw contains enough venom for 2 applications to your weapons (1 round to treat a weapon, first wound is save or die, needs to be used within 10 rounds/1 minute or becomes useless), and can be stored in a suitable airtight container.
More coherent and substantially more powerful than in The Elven Crystals.
Imp.
One turns up in Gallows Wood in The Elven Crystals, but I left it out because it had no stats. It doesn't have stats here either, though inviting it to kiss your crucifix scares it off.
Invisible to everyone below 5th Rank, except Elves or if it wants to be seen. It also has the highest STEALTH and PERCEPTION scores in the bestiary.
You need min. Reflexes/DEX of 16 to have a chance of catching an Imp and attempting to wring a favour/promise out of it.
Ire Goblin (Bugbear).
BAB +4 AC unarmoured (+2 vs. non-magical weapons) att. claws d6(d6) HD 2 Rank 3rd
Swell Up 1/encounter: on the round after taking a wound, for a total of 3 rounds, cumulative +3 hp, +1 to Hit and +1 damage. It then abruptly/rapidly returns to normal.
Gangling creatures... with bulbous heads, large slit eyes, and fiercely grinning mouths full of sharp triangular teeth. Matted hair clumps their shrivelled bodies and long limbs, and stands erect in a stiff comb above the bony ridges of the Ire Goblin's face.
Only 120cm tall (just under 4'), they don't look much like other DW Goblins, and behave more like wild animals. They run around naked, spitting blood because they've bitten their lips in a frenzy, and use no weapons more sophisticated than a thrown rock.
Swell up to more than twice their size when wounded, and may be mistaken for berserkers or werebears by terrified survivors.
Faerie folk - their size-change is a magical ability, they're resistant to normal weapons and (some) holy relics have an effect on them.
Able to go about by day when it's stormy or overcast, but prefer the night.
Jumbee.
BAB +6 AC unarmoured att. special HD 5.3 Rank 6th
Immune to non-magical weapons.
Grave-cold Touch: -1 STR or DEX (recovers 1 per day if Jumbees defeated), or -100 XP (or traditional 1 level energy drain); touch bypasses armour (magic and DEX only), and the first time you are touched you suffer a d10 fright attack - incurably insane if you fail or at least unable to defend themselves, if you prefer.
Your Friends Cannot Help You: anyone other than the victim has a 40% chance of breaking any weapon or miscasting any spell they use against the Jumbees; magic items used have a 10% of being permanently disenchanted.
Damnassi curse: if the victim does not submit willingly and/or their companions try to save them, the Jumbee's lay a curse on the survivors: next fright attack suffered is +d6 intensity (or fear save at disadvantage/penalty).
Excellent - ghostly undead that manifest as three figures: the young man (STR drain), the maiden (DEX) and the withered elder (XP).
Only the single victim they select is able to see them with any clarity - others only see them as a trio of shadowy outlines. They unintelligibly whisper the manner and time of all your deaths - D&D adjacent, you might have spells that could decipher this.
They won't harm anyone else or lay a curse if their victim submits, fading from the world with the Jumbees as they drain them.
Habitat: thorn-tangled ruins, underworlds, forests, jungles, moors.
By name, I would expect to see this in an 80s/90s Voodoo/Horrors of the Caribbean supplement, rather than quasi-medieval pseudo-Europe. It's a cool and creepy monster, whatever milieu you find it in.
Kappa.
BAB +1 AC +3 att. weapon HD 2.4 Rank ?
Eerie beings, vaguely manlike but with long, many-jointed limbs. Their bodies are mauve-pink and hard - more easily chipped than cut. Out of salt-water they begin to weaken within a few hours, and their gleaming pearl eyes cannot tolerate bright sunlight.
The Kappa are crustaceous coral people from under the sea, transformed and adapted by the demonic forces they once enslaved. They remember that they were once human and ruled lands now drowned, and this has become a hatred for surface-dwellers hardened over thousands of years.
Seven Kappa are led by a 1st-4th level Cleric, three of these squads by a multi-class 5th level Fighter/5th-8th level Magic User, and Kappa generals are 9th level Magic Users, several heads taller, pale blue in colour, and able to mesmerise as a DW Vampire - but able to completely alter the victim's allegiance.
They have a strange, fluting tongue that Humans cannot speak. But they can clearly speak intelligibly with Humans - it's in RAW for DW Vampire mesmerism, plus how else do they give their Human spies their missions and receive feedback?
May also be accompanied by Sentinel Crabs (below).
Dave Morris also wrote a gamebook (Eye of the Dragon) with a really good Russ Nicholson pic of a Kappa (they're the main antagonists), but I can't find a decent version of it and no longer have a copy to scan it from.
Krask.
BAB +9 AC +3 att. sting d8(d16) + shock HD 6.2 Rank 8th
Infravision: the only DW monster with it - it sees patterns of heat and therefore cannot be surprised by living creatures in the cold fastnesses of an underworld. Doesn't see inanimate objects (or undead, unless they're extra-cold) very well.
Chromatophore Camouflage: surprises 1-3 on d6, because it can darken, lighten and pattern itself.
If it does surprise you, it will rapidly cycle patterns on its underside as it swoops to attack - save or befuddled, you stand motionless as it gets an automatic hit against you.
The DW mechanic is 2d10 =/< 3d6 - victim's level or befuddled.
Half damage from edged weapons due to tough hide.
Electric Shock: save or KO'd; recover on 1 on d6, roll every minute/10 rounds.
The skin of the Krask is prized for various uses - in particular, for making, gloves, capes and sword-hilts.
Under normal circumstances, I'm not that interested in giant subterranean manta ray monsters, and this is one of them. But I like it - it gets me thinking in ways I didn't expect, about the world that it's part of.
It's an alien beast, fauna of the deepest dungeon levels (my thoughts are deep as in days of travel - Veins of the Earth not The Lost City), but its hide is well known enough to be prized for such prosaic things - even the 100gp value (1,000 DW silver - the price of 10 crossbows or 4 horses or 2 suits of chainmail) seems unlikely.
The Krask feels to me more like something no-one even knows exist, and no one will ever hear of them again once the protagonists have encountered one. We don't need to know their biology, ecology, the why or the how, just that it was there and now it's just a memory, a rumour, a weird tale.
It fits the setting better than the Orc.
Lycanthrope.
Transformation: automatic to wereform by night during the full moon's phase; automatic to human by touch of the sun's rays (stunned d12 rounds); otherwise, to wereform by 2 round concentration/process, but sun or killing an intelligent creature to revert to human. Clothing and equipment do not transform.
Wereform: as the animal, but +2 to Hit, AC, saves and damage (DW STR 19 - superhuman). As an option, x2 hit points (but not HD) - this is the DW RAW but might not work as well for D&D adjacent. Try it and see.
Damage Resistance: half damage from non-magical weapons in wereform, and automatically heals this damage on resuming human shape. Magic and silver do normal damage and these wounds transfer to the human form, possibly killing them on reversion.
Wolf, Tiger, Bear, Snake, Boar and Ape are given as possible wereforms, so with the potential to be as profuse and exuberant as D&D across the editions, but with only one extra bestiary entry. Tight.
This is more the werebeast of pop-culture than folklore, and the Werewolf in The Elven Crystals would have been sufficient and maybe fits better with the setting. However, I'm not in charge. I like the wound transference from beast to human, which is a folkloric characteristic missing from the earlier iteration.
My own preferred version would meet somewhere in the middle.
The Malgash.
BAB +21 AC +6 att. whip d12(d24) or weapon +4 HD 13.3 Rank 25th
Strike Terror: RAW, it's a d10 fright attack to encounter the Malgash. If effective, 90% run in fear for d6 rounds or 10% paralysed by fright d4 rounds.
True Seeing: as the spell, and might be able to see into other planes idk.
Immune to non-magical weapons.
Spell Breaker: can dispel magic up to max. 9th level within 5m (c. 16') but cannot attack in same round; max. dispel level depletes in line with spells broken; recovers at 1 level/round.
Heat Exhaustion: at the start of each round, if within 2m (c. 6'), anyone not immune to/protected from fire/heat must make a STR save or -1 STR; at 0 you are helpless (recovery in 1 minute/10 rounds if taken somewhere cool & given water, but -2 to Hit and -1 damage for next hour.
Whip: range 12m (c. 40') and ignores non-magical armour and shields; if struck, can be pulled into the demon's clutches; can be a save to evade attack rather than a Hit Roll if preferred.
Fiery Sword: how much of the damage bonus comes from the strength of the Malgash, the size of the weapon and/or from the flames is not defined.
The Balrog. I mean, it's a demon of fire and darkness, possessed of great power - which is always handy, but feels like a nod to a more generic fantasy milieu than integrated into the setting.
Turns up in one of Dave Morris's Golden Dragon gamebooks - same series with the Kappa, though I don't know they share a setting (with DW and/or each other).
Mere-Gaunt.
BAB +9 AC +4 att. grapple, weapon or bite d10(d12) HD 6.6 Rank 8th
Mystical: 5%/1 on d20 has abilities of 1st-5th level Cleric.
Grapple: 2 attacks and 2 chances to grapple/escape: 3d6 < average of your STR & DEX to break free; otherwise, it auto-bites you on the next round.
Bite: the text implies the bite is only used if the grapple succeeds and the victim suffers a d8 fright attack (paralysed d4 rounds) from seeing its face open up.
Disease: 75% you catch Swamp Fever if wounded by the Mere-Gaunt.
Nocturnal: sunlight causes them great pain but no mechanical elaboration.
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| Bob Harvey |
The body of a Mere-Gaunt is knobbly and hard, and is often draped with matted reeds in a parody of human clothing. The creature's arms are very long and multiple jointed, ending in four-fingered hands on which all the slender digits are mutually opposable. The face is a chitinous mask of overlapping plates, behind which the eyes are visible as macabrely rolling, slimy yellow orbs.
Its deadly bite: the hard segments of its face open up like a vile blossom revealing the unendurable horror of the true face beneath... its sharp, spine-edged 'tongue' lashes out and impales the helpless.
I immediately like this guy, lurking under the water and being horrible - after it eats you, it carves your bones into obscene artifacts which it scatters around the shores of its domain.
Gruesome scrimshaw yes, but everyone needs a hobby. That, and the chance of Mystic abilities gives me a little bit more to think with on this monster than (say) the Gryphon or the Wyvern.
Minotaur.
BAB +17 AC +1 att. horns d12(d12) or weapon +2 HD 6.2 Rank 12th
OSE: BAB +5 AC +3 att. gore d6 bite ? or weapon +2 HD 6
Charge: 2d6 hits and flung/knocked prone d3 rounds.
Fighting Style: 40% chance per round of using its weapon (at DW STR 19) instead of its horns.
Blood Rage: after 4 rounds of combat, goes into a killing frenzy (Barbarian Blood Rage):
• 0 level 80% likely to flee; 1st-2nd level 25% likely to immediately retreat
• gets its ascending AC (total) as + to Hit, but an AC penalty of 9
• +1 to weapon damage
• can function at 0 hp (and less, if that's how you figure death vs. KO)
• d20 < INT to regain control (randomise or check another monster book to determine INT)
Immune to mind-control.
Born to human parents who've (supposedly) done something awful - illicit union between a monk and a nun is one example. The text is somewhat sympathetic.
Then we get into the flesh-eating, torture, heavy drinking and ultra-violence.
Minotaurs have the ability to go into a Blood Rage, like an 8th Rank Barbarian can, and I'd be interested to know whether monster or character class had the ability first.
Mordu (Headless Warrior).
BAB +9 AC +5 att. weapon +1 HD 6.4 Rank 8th
Immune to non-magical weapons, stealth, invisibility, illusions (all or just visual) and direct-attack magic.
Fright Attack: d10 intensity, 10% of heart failure; otherwise, paralysis 2-8 rounds.
The Mordu's entire body seems to glow faintly and occasional flickers of cold white fire dance across its armour - but otherwise a headless undead Knight.
Physical attack with a weapon at DW STR 16+, with DW Armour Factor equal to plate armour, but seems to step out of thin air and has a traditionally spectral appearance.
Text mentions possibility of properly burying its bones/remains and/or finding its lost head as methods to dispel/placate the Mordu.
This is one of the few types of undead that are not hindered by the light of day. Doesn't say why.
Necrochor.
BAB +2 AC unarmoured +1 att. weapon HD 4.8 Rank 6th
Spell-caster: 6th level Cleric and/or Magic User, but only 1 spell of each available level - they use most of their reserves of magical energy to maintain their existence.
Antiquated Technique: their spells are always the last thing to happen in a combat round, or increase casting times if using them.
Implanted with Scorpions: if wounded by an edged weapon, 1-4 live scorpions fall out of the Necrochor and land on the attacker; they each sting once per round (normal Hit Roll for lowest HD monster), save at disadvantage/penalty or die. Use your combat round to brush them off.
Vulnerable to Fire: as a DW Mummy, plus it will kill any implanted scorpions. Necrochors never use fire spells.
A Mummy variant of the setting analogue of the Ancient Egyptians, ritual priests that (possibly) volunteered to be tomb guardians.
An interesting variation on a theme. The scorpions were particularly the practice with the embalmers of the XIIIth and XIVth dynasties, so not every Necrochor will have them - and leaving room for surprising alternatives in both more ancient and more recent tombs. As written, the spell-casting technique is an elaborate sequence of weaving, ritual motions ('the Arcane Dance'), so may lack verbal and material components altogether.
Nightmare.
It only comes when you're all sleeping.
Anything that would detect it or warn against it has only a 60% chance of giving the barest of hints, but most likely you'll be too sleepy/asleep to notice.
If someone's awake, it will use a special sleep spell on them - save at disadvantage/penalty, works regardless of HD/levels. If you make your save, you become aware of the Nightmare's attempt and will be able to wake everyone else - it was trying to put you under to prevent this.
The Nightmare takes over all your dreams (no save!) and you can't tell that you're dreaming anymore. As far as you're concerned, adventures and life go on - whether it's just the next encounter or the rest of the campaign, it's all a construct of the Nightmare and completely under its control.
Eventually, the Nightmare will want to kill you or drive you mad, as this is how it feeds. Your fate might be literal or symbolic in the dream, but if you roll (d20 > average of WIS and CHA + your level) you wake up rather than succumbing. Otherwise, you die, lose your wits, fall catatonic etc, depending on what happened in the dream. Game over.
(As the text notes, psychically gifted but inexperienced characters are most prone to suffer at the Nightmare's clutches, but DW has Psychic Talent as an Ability Score and this doesn't have an easy analogue in D&Dish systems. I've used average of CHA & WIS, but you could build your own subsystem, taking into account psionics and magical specialism. If you want.)
Everyone else in the shared dream also gets 2d20 < INT check to be shocked back to wakefulness on seeing the horrible fate of a companion.
The Nightmare can also go after an individual rather than a group, attempting to use them as a sleepwalking puppet (mechanics as if using its sleep spell).
It can also haunt an individual, returning night after night to mess with their head while they sleep (or try to sleep). The victim doesn't appear to get any save, and is tired and drained (-3 STR, -3 CON) until the Nightmare is exorcized (undefined). Even if this occurs, the stats recover but the character's hair turns stark white and he remains nervous and uneasy for the rest of his life (+2 to fright attack intensity RAW, but you can call it save vs. fear at disadvantage/penalty).
Apart from killing it in the dream (it always appears, even if you don't recognise it) and exorcism, there doesn't seem to be any other way of defeating the Nightmare.
This is a cool monster that you should probably only use once, and formed the basis for my Sleep Paralysis Demon.
Okeman.
BAB +16 AC special att. claws d8(d10) HD 17.3 Rank 14th
(Super)Natural Concealment: cannot be detected as anything other than a tree, except by a min. 8th level Elf. As written, the Elf is also a Mystic using the ESP ability. Druids and Rangers might also qualify.
Call of the Woods: summon/send 4-40 Wolves, Stags (Bulls), Snakes (Pythons) and Wild Boars to deal with intruders/despoilers. They do this in preference to revealing themselves, unless the threat is great.
Weapon Resistance: +7 AC vs. spears, sword, arrows (plus firearms and common wooden weapons); +4 vs. axes, flails, maces (plus specialised or massive wooden weapons, whatever they might be).
Alternatively, AC as you wish but minimum damage from spears, swords, arrows, firearms etc.
Vulnerable to Fire: +1 damage per die from fire attacks, but will only be ignited by especially fierce fire (magical or otherwise - volcano, forest fire, dragon's breath, failed save vs. fireball).
Once alight, it takes cumulative 1d6 hits per round. At the end of each round, it can beat out the flames 1-2 on d6 (or jump into water deep enough).
Retributive Strike: if a burning Okeman cannot extinguish itself in 4 rounds, it calls down a lightning strike which destroys it and strikes 2d4 foes within 15m (c. 50') with lightning bolts.
These are equal to DW Deathlight spells (3d6+10 hits), which converts by my method to 6.2 damage dice (6d6+2 or 6d8+2). You decide.
Stealth/Perception: Okemen have some of the highest STEALTH and PERCEPTION scores across the bestiary, so I suggest you give them abilities based on the stealth, detection and surprise abilities of Elves, Halflings, Rangers and/or Thieves.
Alternatively, cannot be surprised by and automatically surprise enemies in their natural environment.
Ent or Treant or Swamp Thing, they are woodland spirits that have taken up permanent residence in trees. You can't tell them from vast and ancient trees until they move to attack (or communicate).
They're less hostile than Gnomes, because they tolerate normal hunters and woodsmen as creatures of the forests just as much as any beast or plant is. They may even be very friendly and helpful to Elves and men of good character (however that it is defined).
As well as general defenders of the woods, they also avenge/protect the sacred groves the druids left - Druids being a historical/underground faith rather than a contemporary presence in DW.
Has superhuman strength (DW STR 19).
Oni.
BAB +11 AC +4 att. claws d8(d8) + special HD 4.6 Rank 12th
Invisible in daylight, but still casts a shadow - treat as one step less effective than full invisibility for mechanical adjustments. It isn't specified, but I'd rule that this is not cancelled by attacking and is an involuntary condition.
Change Form: appear as a human or animal, but must change back to attack. Only 5%/minute of interaction/observation of being able to see flaw in this: the Knight may have suspiciously long fingernails, the nun a rather hairy face, the cat or dog lacking a tail.
Shock Attack: its true appearance is so horrible that it gets an automatic shock attack vs. characters below 8th level. Details are with the Chimera, above. Everyone eligible is affected, but the Oni can only attack one target in a round.
Breath Weapon: every 5th round, it can blow poison gas into the face of one melee opponent. Save to evade and/or save to resist (latter at disadvantage/penalty because it's DW strong poison) or permanently reduce INT by half if antidote/cure not applied within 5 minutes (50 rounds).
Energy Drain: claws sap life-energy; 500 XP based on DW RAW.
Spell Caster: 6th level Cleric. Using an interpretation of the text, I'd rule that any charm-type spells cast by an Oni are only effective on unlevelled NPCs and monsters.
Flight: Oni have the innate ability to fly; when not up in the air, they glide along eerily as though its feet were barely making contact with the ground.
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| Bob Harvey |
Ogres of the Far East. Impatient, and not particularly bright by human standards. A tall apparition in flowing robes.
Only visible after dark, when they use the ability to change form to get close to their victims.
Text suggests to play them as slightly more sophisticated Ogres with a battery of magical powers.
Phoenix.
BAB +12 AC unarmoured att. beak d10(d8) talons d6(d10) HD 5.7 Rank 7th
Terrible Cry: anyone 1st to 3rd level who hears it is -1 to Hit vs. the Phoenix.
Resistant to Magic: saves at advantage/bonus.
See invisible and all attempts to sneak past it/hide from it are at disadvantage/penalty.
Resurrection: on death, it bursts into flames for 5 rounds then is reborn at full strength (though loses d4 hp permanently for each resurrection after the first). Only a large quantity of human blood or volcanic ash can douse the fire.
Legendary/mythical Phoenix.
It has an 8m (c. 26') wingspan and an implied DW STR of 16+, so maybe it can carry you off.
Rakshah.
BAB +13 AC +6 (+3 vs. magic weapons) att. hoofs d8(d8) + special HD 7.7 Rank 8th (by day)/ 12th (at night)
Change Form: at night can appear as an animal or human, even a specific individual, but this is purely physical and it cannot supress its evil nature and cruel intent. Cannot cast spells while transformed.
Multiple Attacks: makes 1-3 hoof attacks per round against a single target; if hit, victim must save (once only) or hp immediately reduced to 0 (KO not death in DW).
Spell Caster: spells as a 6th level Magic User, but can only cast up to 9 spell levels. During the day, this cumulatively blocks spell slots; by night, it recovers 1 spell level slot per round!
Half-eaten Zombies: a D&Dish Rakshah couldn't animate dead RAW, but if it could, the Zombies would have only half the normal hp (or HD, your choice): Rakshahs keep a casually strewn larder and graze indiscriminately.
As an option, allow MU animate dead as a special additional spell. It still consumes 5 levels of slots.
Catch-Spell-and-Spit-Back: during the night (only), the Rakshah has a 20% chance of catching in its mouth fire and lightning (spells, wands etc) that hits it. It can then spit it back at you next round (as its action): damage is reduced by 1 point per die, and saves are with advantage/bonus.
Cumulative Spell Resistance: once successfully struck by a Magic User spell, the Rakshah is immune to that same spell from that same Magic User until sunrise. This ability only functions at night.
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| Bob Harvey |
For a long time, based on this, and based on the illo in the Usborne Guide to the Supernatural World, I thought the mythical Rakshasa was traditionally portrayed as a lion's face in a wheel of hoofed legs. But that's
Buer.
Anyway. The DW Rakshah is an interesting and unusual monster; just look at those special abilities for a start.
Why do you finding them guarding treasure on the deepest dungeon levels? Because that's how they organise their society - a Rakshah always garners treasure for the day when it can seek out others of its kind and 'buy its way' into one of the communal treasure-halls.
They're reverse-adventurers, monsters adapted to dungeon-logic. I like that.
I see them as apparently rational, conversational and droll, in the vein of Vancian monsters, with relatively delicate feelings, sulky tendencies and possibly the ability to poke through the fourth wall now and again.
Either they are excellent or innate time-keepers, or the absence of recognisable day/night in a dungeon can be used against them.
I'd love to know more about them, but maybe not too much - so as not to spoil them.
There's also no mention of an association with DW's sort-of India (if there is/was one).
Sentinel Crab.
BAB +3 AC +5 att. pincer d4(d2) HD 2.6 Rank 2nd
OSE: Giant Crab BAB +2 AC +7 att. x2 pincers 2d6 HD 3
Delicious giant crab. Size of a dog. Trained as guards and fighters by the Kappa.
Shadow Walker.
Dwell normally in a murky dimension from which they can occasionally peer into our world... cloaked in the semblance of another, it joins the party's ranks by stepping out of the very shadow of the character it has copied.
Rather cool Doppelganger variation - at least, I like it. Stats and equipment as the original - magic and all.
Has all the victim's memories and perfectly imitates their mannerisms, so you're only able to (initially) tell them apart if you see it step from their shadow - only 10% chance if they were at the rear (otherwise 80%) and no chance if the party was split.
No spell can penetrate the Shadow Walker's duplication (at least, in the DW spellbook), and it will attempt to convince you that it is the original and the original is an evil Shadow Walker.
Can only change form or return to its home dimension if all who saw it in its current form are dead, which it will try to do itself, if it can't get you to fall out with and turn on each other.
Suggestion that they have no physical reality but are all in your mind.
When slain, any remains and all equipment vanishes.
Shen Lun (Black Dragon).
BAB +13 AC +7 (+4 vs. magical weapons) att. talons d10(d14) HD 9.5 Rank 15th
Magical Flight: it doesn't have wings and this power is thought to reside in its horny crest. Treat as fly, or add in things like airwalk and/or windwalk. Implication it can be dispelled or the generative organ damaged/purloined.
Lightning Bolt: doesn't say if it's a breath weapon, but a Shen Lun can discharge every 5th round; 20m (c. 65') range vs. 2-8 targets; save or 2d12 hits (DW RAW - converts to 5.3 damage dice).
Spell Casting: 1 on d4, the Shen Lun has 1st to 5th level Cleric abilities (and see below).
A Dragon indigenous to the Orient that may turn to ponder the true Mystic Way, attain Adepthood and become human (leaving behind it's horns, which can be made into a flying device, and a magical pearl that contains its draconic power).
Just giving it Cleric levels doesn't really carry the flavour this monster deserves, so (if you can) give it AD&D Monk or BECMI Mystic abilities along with Cleric spells. Until it hits 5th level, it's a typical monster (with unexpected powers), but once it starts its quest for enlightenment it will become less quick to terrorise and despoil and hoard treasure. Go nuts and splice in later edition Monks of all types.
If it fails in its initial attempt to become an Adept, it may turn monstrous again out of bitterness and regret - this time with higher level powers and a grudge.
Skullghast.
Already done, here.
Sphinx.
BAB +13 AC +4 att. claws d12(d14) HD 11.7 Rank spell-casting level +7
Spell Caster: 75% it's a 6th to 11th level Cleric; otherwise, a 5th to 10th level Magic User.
Immune to ESP/mind-reading/telepathy, non-magical weapons, cold/heat.
Drain Oxygen 1/day: 8m (c. 26') radius. Implied this is a sudden effect; DEX check/save to take a last breath; guess you're KO'd if you can't - otherwise you're conscious/holding your breath for rounds=STR (this seems to be the DW standard). Deoxygenation lasts 5 minutes (50 rounds) and doesn't say whether it's eventually fatal, so that's up to you. Normal recovery roll (1 on d6) per round once back in breathable air.
Five times bigger than a full-grown lion. Doesn't have wings in this iteration.
Apart from that drain oxygen ability and its inclination to force you to join some absurd quest it has been following for centuries this is a Sphinx. Apparently generous with rewards if you help it out, but does insist that it is the senior partner.
Oxygen drain ability is a riff on Sphinx approximating "strangler" in Ancient Greek. Also related to "sphincter", if you want to do something with that.
Spriggan.
BAB -2 AC +4 att. barbs d10(d4) HD 1.1 Rank 1st
Sting: wounds from Spriggans take x3 as long to heal with natural healing.
Camouflage to Mortals: not quite invisibility, but they can't be found/seen by mortals 1st to 4th level (except Elves) when out of doors.
Stealthy and Subtle: abilities as a 7th level Thief.
Spell Caster: curse (reversed bless) an individual 4/day, dancing lights (or light) 3/day, weaken (reversed strength) 1/day, phantasmal force 1/day (DW - Curse, Moonglow, Weaken, Illusion).
Grotesquely ugly and dangerously spiteful faerie creatures... Gnarled, spiky appearance, their brown-black integument is tough like an acorn husk... little red eyes... inflict stinging scratches with their talons and barbed tails.
They're 30cm (c. 1') tall, but Number Appearing 5-40. Sometimes set as treasure guardians - you can try to get the location from them, by threats or guile, implying that they hide it away as well as protect it.
They get +3 of their AC from having a high DEFENCE relative to their ATTACK.
Titan.
BAB +16 AC +5 att. weapon +2 HD 14.6 Rank 15th
Strongly resistant to magic: save at advantage/bonus.
Superhuman Strength: DW STR of 19.
Blow Up A Gale: no other action in a round it's blowing; 1st round, just a light breeze; 2nd -1 to Hit; 3rd -3 to Hit, -1 damage; 4th STR check to make an attack, half movement, anything flying within 3m (c. 10') of the Titan is dashed to the ground. I'd also rule that missile attacks take double the penalty, and only firearms have any chance of hitting in the 4th round (still need STR check to aim).
Gale continues for 4 rounds after the Titan stops blowing, then dies down. Up to you whether this is abrupt or in reverse order.
Shocking Touch: at the cost of d6 hp, the Titan will give you an electric shock via your weapon when you hit it (doesn't specify metal weapons): save to resist, or dazed for 1-4 rounds (-1 to all rolls, including damage).
Bordering on the psychedelic, Titans are extra-planar giants with an inflexible code of honour and armour carved from the ivory of the Sky Narwhal (their AC +5). They can be summoned and bound to service by magic, but cannot forgive this dishonour - likewise theft of his sword, murder of someone in his protection, and insult to his ancestors.
Stand 4m (c. 13') tall and sometimes cross into our world during electrical storms in the mountains.
Water Leaper.
BAB +8 AC +1 att. bite d6(d10) + poison or swallow HD 11.1 Rank 10th
Gurgling Shriek: if you hear it, save or your bones turn to jelly and you die, instantly and floppily. This is defined as a magical attack, a terrible spell. If you survive, you're immune to it thereafter - not clear if it's this Water Leaper or all Water Leapers.
Poison: presumably save or die; it can also spit it up to 5m (c. 16') and it's save or die if it gets on your bare skin (80% if unarmoured, 60% leather or chain, 50% plate - I suppose you could commission a special protective suit for better %).
Swallow: doesn't use a Hit Roll, so save to evade or it gulps you down; d6 hits/round from digestion (d4 if wearing better than leather) and you'll be unconscious from suffocation in rounds=STR.
Roll d10 =/< your level or you panic and can't use a small bladed weapon to attack from the inside.
Diseases: 5% Leprosy if wounded; 30% if you survive being swallowed.
Fly: winged, but slow and ponderous (or only short hopping flights).
A huge, leprous-white, limbless toad with a distended belly, leathery wings and a long, tapering tail. Tiny, needle-sharp fangs line its wide maw.
It's the Llamhigyn Y Dwr of Welsh folklore. I like this iteration.
Wyvern.
BAB +10 AC +5 att. bite d8(d8) sting d8(d6) + strong poison HD 13.3 Rank 10th
OSE: BAB +6 AC +6 att. bite 2d8 sting d6 + poison HD 7
Sting: save at disadvantage/penalty or lose d3 hp permanently.
A Wyvern. As interesting as you can make it.
Adventure 1 - The One-Eyed God.
The two adventures in Book 2 and the first two here, for me, form the core mini-campaign that embodies the folkloric, medieval world and spirit of Dragon Warriors.
This one takes the party into an ancient barrow in pursuit of a fleeing Assassin. It's being squatted by Goblins, led by a Boggart, and is the resting place of an ancient king who is an analogue of both Odin and King Arthur.
Also, a bottomless pit that is almost casually confirmed to lead straight to actual Hell.
The Pendragon's Spirit.
BAB +9 AC unarmoured/ethereal att. touch d10(d10) HD 3.5 Rank 11th
Darkness: just before the spirit manifests, all light sources are snuffed out and cannot be relit; magical illumination is reduced to a murky blood-red glimmer.
Fright Attack: d12 intensity when it appears; effect undefined, so presumably fatal.
Death Spell: every 3rd round, as a Wraith.
Immune to non-magical weapons.
Immune to direct-attack magic and can only be harmed by conjured/summoned monsters and weapons likewise (eg. shillelagh, Mordenkainen's sword, spiritual hammer, blade barrier, psionic discipline of body weaponry).
No more description that it arises from his corpse in a wreath of red flames... with a terrible shriek. It's a modified DW Spectre/Wraith combo. Reflexes/DEX 16.
The only spells that can inflict damage on it are Phantasm, Vorpal Blade, Sword of Damocles, Battlemaster, Steel Claw. It is immune to direct-attack spells.
One reading of this suggests it is also immune to indirect-attack spells, but I don't know if this was the intention.
You also can't fight the Pendragon's Spirit with its own +3 sword: it will work for one hit then shatters into a thousand fragments rather wound its ancient master a second time. Fortunately, defeating the spirit and plundering the barrow is not the aim of this adventure.
Adventure 2 - The Sins of the Fathers.
Plunge into an ancient barrow (this never really gets old for me) with the baron's son to rescue/retrieve the corpse of a loyal retainer, with a levitating spear to guide the way.
Described as 'seminal', this adventure has a semi-optional railroad running through it and has at least one hoofed foot planted firmly in the horrific.
This is a dungeon, but it is also an otherworld, a mythic underworld - I suspect it would have no physical presence if not for the events that set the plot of the adventure in motion.
Rimwolves.
BAB +6 AC +1 att. bite d6(d12) HD 2.6 Rank 3rd (based on XP award in text)
Larger and stronger than normal wolves. Reflexes/DEX 16.
Faerie wolves that may or may not materialise out of the darkness.
There are seven of them in the adventure, and only one of them is vulnerable to damage at a time - the others suffer no harm, no matter the number or strength of attacks. If the vulnerable one is struck, the wound appears on the others and they all take damage.
The vulnerability then transfers to a different randomly determined Rimwolf.
The vulnerable one can be detected using the lowest level detection spells, but otherwise appears no different to the others. It's possible a DW Elf might be able to use Sixth Sense or ESP to detect the right one, but it's not specified.
Cool ability, think I'll take it.
Mummified Warriors.
BAB +7 AC +2 att. weapon or antlers d6(d12) HD 5.1 Rank 6th
Embalmed warriors with stags' heads. In this instance, armed with warhammers (d8 hits). Reflexes/DEX 9.
Slightly lower attack strength and hit points than DW Mummies. Can't lay a Doom on their slayers, but are equally as flammable.
Jack-in-the-Green.
BAB n/a AC n/a att. brambles d8(d6) HD 7.3 Rank 9th
A nature spirit... a tumbling, rolling column of damp soil, twigs and leaves.
If it can catch you (moves at a fast walking pace), it engulfs you.
The 1-6 automatic hit thorn attacks per round might be a bit much, as D&D lacks the Armour Bypass mechanic, so maybe just d6 or d8 automatic damage per round. The ripping thorns are accompanied by a magical attack: save each round or drained of d4 hp and d12x100 XP - if the draining kills you, either by hp or XP you're irrevocably dead because your soul's been destroyed/devoured.
The victim does, however, get auto hits against the engulfing monster but can only use a dagger. Can't cast spells with somatic components (DW all Sorcerer spells).
Attack the Jack with edged weapons and roll d20 < Reflexes/DEX to avoid hurting your trapped companion while you do. I think there's some ambiguity in the text, but it suggests to me that the Jack is not harmed by blunt or piercing weapons and the engulfed victim takes a beating and a poking.
Tweak the HD to the D&D standard hierarchy and use this as the Earth Elemental.
Winged Snake.
BAB +8 AC +4 att. bite d8(d6) HD 4.6 Rank 9th
Venomous: save at disadvantage/penalty or permanent loss of d3 STR and 1 hp.
Spit Venom: -4 to Hit (-6 vs. full helm), blinds 2-8 rounds.
It's part of a challenge/puzzle/trap. Description reads that it's an otherworldly creature - wings of greenish shadow and there's an item in the dungeon that turns the Snake into a magic item.
Reflexes/DEX 17.
Redcap.
BAB +9 AC +2 att. weapon +1 + disease HD 3.7 Rank 7th
A large, gnarled Goblin-like creature with a rusty cleaver.
DW STR 16+ and Reflexes/DEX 10. Basic save or you get Wasting Disease from any wounds.
It's hidden behind an illusion in the adventure, but there's no indication whether this is a property of the location or the monster.
It can see in the dark. I don't whether it's Armour Factor comes from natural protection or represents leather armour.
Beast Men.
BAB +3 AC unarmoured att. weapon +1 HD 2.2 Rank 1st
A bunch of drunken animal-headed humanoids - wolves, badgers, hares, stags, boars and eagles. Creatures of the old wood that look upon men as game.
DW STR of 16+ and Reflexes/DEX 8 - maybe this would be higher if they weren't drunk?
Whether because they're drunk or because they eat people or because they're monsters, 1-4 on d6 that if you throw them sufficient cooked flesh or rotting meat they'll drop to the floor to devour it instead of fighting.
Man-Slug.
BAB +11 AC unarmoured att. bite d6(d8) HD 7.3 Rank 7th
Automatic surprise as it bursts from the earth and for its horrific appearance.
Swallow: on a crit; d3 hits/round.
Dislikes Fire: 20% retreats from significant fire (2nd level spells and up).
It has the glistening body of a slug; its manlike head has a mouth filled with serried fangs and a slug's probing horns in place of eyes.
It's big, because it can swallow you, but otherwise nothing on the dimensions. Reflexes/DEX 6.
Using surprise instead of fear/morale/sanity is a nice touch, but if you (or your character?) voice that you suspect something like it is up ahead after seeing its mucus trail then you're prepared enough for it just to be a normal surprise roll.
Garambar.
BAB +15 AC +5 (heavy armour) att. weapon +2 or tusks d6+1(d12) HD 6.8 Rank 13th
Boar-King, Overseer of the Forest, who have ruled here since ancient times. I am Lord of the Beasts and you who have come from the world of mortal men have no place in my realm.
Has a spear +2 (that can fly around by itself), a silver horn that summons a Boar, Wolf or Stag when blown and a bronze shield +1 that gives a +2 save vs. Elven magic, though he uses none of them when fighting the adventurers (having offered them the chance to leave in peace).
Any Beast Men nearby (undefined range) will come to his aid in 3-12 rounds. DW STR 19 and Reflexes/DEX 16.
He's immortal, unless you kill him. But if you do, from then on all woodland animals will single you out during encounters (and you probably get a big penalty on your Reaction Roll, too) - this extends to everyone who was involved, not just who struck the final blow.
His brother is already slain by mortal hand.
Adventure 3 - The Greatest Prize.
Join up with Knights to conquer the castle of a Sorcerer, or join the Sorcerer to fight off the Knights, or turn on everyone to take it for yourselves. Don't mistake DW for a low magic/ subtle sorcery setting - this is all happening out in the open, with transformations, summoned elementals and animated skeletons on the battlements.
The monsters below are part of the esoteric initiation quest in a hidden dungeon that need not be a part of the adventure.
Ifrit.
BAB +10 AC +5 att. weapon d8+1(d16) HD 5.5 Rank 5th
Illusions: conjure fire-based illusions; these are flashy, noisy and threatening but have no power to do harm.
Scimitar of Flame: or any other weapon, shaped from elemental fire, produced and dispelled at will. It has a +1 magical bonus. Cannot be used by anybody else.
Skin of Molten Bronze: as well as the armour protection, this causes d6 hits to anyone striking the Ifrit. Metal armour protects for d4 blows, but then heats up sufficiently to cause damage.
Gout of Flames: save to evade or take 2d6 damage, range 20m (c. 65').
Blossom of Flame: at the cost of d10 hp, the Ifrit can produce flames affecting everyone within 5m (c. 16') radius if they fail to save to evade: 3d6 hits, reroll 1s.
Fire genie of the Arabian Nights variety - turban, scimitar, baggy silk trousers. Remove stereotypical culture baggage and use as a Fire Elemental.
Telamon.
BAB +14 AC +6 att. first d10(d10) HD 7.7 Rank 12th
The Telamon is an animated stone guardian, shaped like a human (male) figure, named for the architectural feature.
The text describes it as being like a (DW) Gargoyle, so maybe apply some of the details of that monster if you re-use the Telamon, but there's no ambiguity that it's anything other than a construct.
There's magnetic force in the room it inhabits (-1 to Hit, AC & damage if using metal weapons/wearing metal armour, half movement in metal armour), though it's a property of the location not the monster. You could splice the Telamon and the Magnetic Monster from The Elven Crystals for a slightly more interesting Earth Elemental.
Anaxagor.
BAB +11 AC +2 att. claws d8(d10) HD 6.6 Rank 9th
A permanently invisible monster. It might have hands and becomes visible when it is killed, and rapidly degenerates into a shapeless grey mass of clay.
It's outline is visible for 1 round when it is struck by indirect-attack magic (though the text could be read to mean only electricity/lightning), and being able to see invisible etc. only helps you fight it rather than reveals its appearance.
While the statblock gives it panoptical vision (can see equally well in all darkness/light conditions), the text suggests that fighting it in total darkness will cancel out the advantage of its invisibility. Which I prefer.
Anaxagoras, the name, doesn't give me any clues as to the naming of this monster, or ideas of its appearance. I've always had something canine in mind, possibly the monster dogs from Ghostbusters.
The Challenge of the Unreal.
BAB +16 AC +5 att. d10(d12) HD 8.4 Rank ?
Fear: d12 fright attack each round or run & refuse to return
It's not real, but it's not an illusion.
It inflicts fear and harm based on feedback from your own fears. Adopts a new and terrifying form every round, and adjusts its strength and abilities (always upwards) if you give the GM clues as to how powerful you think it is and as to what you think it is.
You can't disbelieve it like an illusion, but you can block up your ears and cover your eyes. Without access to these senses, it cannot access the others and the feedback loop is broken - it no longer exists for you.
Roll d20 < INT if/after you discover it's unreality and you'll get back half the hit points you lost to it.
Could be used as the mechanical basis for some of the more powerful illusion spells.
Savage Warriors.
BAB +4 AC unarmoured att. weapon HD 3.3 Rank 1st
Savage warriors in blue warpaint.
Armed with axes, they rise up in pairs, pulling substance from the fog. I don't think they're undead, but I don't know if they're conjurations, summonings, illusions, elementals or plucked out of time.
Commentary.
Of the new monsters in the bestiary, only one (the Boggart - oh, and a hint of off-camera Gryphons) turns up in any of the adventures. While many are genre staples and/or updates of prototypes from The Elven Crystals, they're an overall interesting bunch.
There are few hints of monster life outside of the encounter - the Rakshah is my favourite exception - and the bestiary presents the monsters as things to kill or be killed by (often made explicit in the adventure text). But this does give space for development, whether as part of setting ecology or making them unique. Some of the monsters could be served up as the last remaining representative of their species.
As well as setting and system, the four adventures I see as being DW's core share common characteristics:
- each is an episode in the story of Baron Aldred, his fief, and his political life - the PCs are bit-players, not the heroes.
- each has a clear mission/quest that happens to take them into a/the dungeon.
- each dungeon has a legendary/powerful monster at the end, but defeating it is not necessary to complete the mission/quest.
- the dungeons are simple, almost to the point of linear, but I think this reflects the 'reality' of a site's construction rather than logic of the dungeon-for-adventure-gaming.
- the obstacles and problems during the adventure almost always have their solutions elsewhere in the dungeon, as long as you bring your ingenuity.
'The Greatest Prize' also fits this rough model, with the PCs being bit-players in someone else's drama - though they have the opportunity to seize control of it. It's also the only adventure that feels like walking away is a realistic option - with the others, there's an element of compulsion in the set-up.
Further Note on Crude Conversions.
Armour Bypass, Armour Factor and DEFENCE do not convert well to AC, so the numbers come out low compared to D&Dish. Anything with AC +5 is equivalent to DW plate armour, so can always be raised to the system norm; if you do that, anything above +5 (where it doesn't specify the AC + is from DEFENCE, EVASION, flight etc) can be increased. I'd hesitatingly suggest +6 (stone) getting an additional +2 and +7 (special resistance) getting a +3. Or use the nearest equivalent monster AC from your host system.
Because of the Armour Bypass roll, monsters with a first-listed damage die of less than d6 can only beat DW plate armour on a crit. In these cases, you could give a BAB/to Hit penalty of -2 if it doesn't already have a negative, or a similar penalty to damage rolls.
BAB is the real outlier and should be toned down to better fit the HD - unless you're wanting to run things closer to the epic level. I've mostly kept it as a point of comparison/interest, a legacy of the original conversion method.
Of course, another option is to take the host system's nearest equivalent and plug the special abilities straight into it.
