Hangman Tree.
Another big, tough plant monster that is more of an environmental hazard or adventure location than a blow-for-blow opponent.
As well as its strangling vine attacks, also has a hallucinatory perfume that fools you into thinking it's a normal tree or a friendly treant - it can back this up with a little bit of language it has picked up over the years. I would definitely expand the hallucinations to be a bit more involved than normal tree/ friendly treant - with nymphs and satyrs placing garlands around your necks, that kind of thing.
Due to a typo, this has a minimum of 61 hp, rising to 9,211 or more. 2e Monstrous Compendium corrects this and gives it a more reasonable 6 HD + 1 hp/year, but also has an optional age/hp guide using hp per HD, so a 2e ancient (151+ years) Hangman Tree has 48-60 hp rather than the average 178 hp RAW.
Haunt.
 |
| 2e Haunt. Suitably dead looking. |
They're obviously undead, but the entry never uses that word - and they can't be Turned 'because they are linked to the site of their death' - implying this condition might also apply to other undead.
It has a Dexterity drain attack (creeping cold and numbness) - another option for swapping out the more lethal energy/level drain - and can possess those who succumb, allowing them to complete the task they left unfulfilled by dying. Hold person has a chance to drive out the Haunt. An exorcism is also effective, but this is not italicised so might be any ritual, rather than a specific spell/ability.
'If the possessed victim has an alignment opposite to that of the haunt (good vs. evil), the haunt will try to strangle the character'. There's a strangling subsystem here (for reuse elsewhere), but the peculiarity is that the Haunt use 'its ghostly hands' to strangle you and needs to make a to-Hit roll - why not use yours, rather than reach out of your possessed body?
It's also something of a Gotcha! monster because they are 'similar in appearance to a groaning spirit, spectre or ghost, for which they are often mistaken'. More like a Ghost as a ghost, rather than Ghost as a monster.
Like.
Hollyphant.
Cute fluffy little flying elephant that trumpets sun-sparkles, but could be reskinned as a mighty being/ spirit of capitalised Good if you don't like that image - they've got powers enough.
Takes away player agency (no save): 'engender[ing] great fondness and desire to cooperate in good characters' - neutral get off lightly with unease; evil with narrative fear and loathing.
Has a banishment spell-like ability with enough detail that it could be modded for character use.
Their fur radiates a globe of invulnerability and their tusks make them immune to disease and poison. The entry specifies that the globe only works while it's alive and that 'the tusks do not function thus for others' - so no point hunting them for these.
Feels like a Gotcha! monster, but who for?
Hordling.
More Lower Planars. If only they could have been called D-something.
The entry is mainly made up of random tables to determine appearance and abilities, and there are similar tables in the 1e DMG.
A lot of this was lifted wholesale or lightly reskinned as part of d100 Mutations, back in the day.
There was a Dungeon magazine scenario, based around a Bodak with accompanying Hordlings (in a lighthouse?) that I remember liking, but I can't remember title or details off the top of my head.
Hybsil.
Described as 'antelope centaurs', but the illo (and I think later treatment in Dragon magazine) establishes them as faerie/ sylvan deer centaurs - that hood/helmet looks like it's part of the face/head.
Jann.
Put aside the wargame-y orientalism of the distribution of leader types (all sheiks and viziers), and the Strength cap for females, and this is a solid magical humanoid monster. No need to restrict to a particular milieu - there's not that much between faeries and genies, unless you're keeping strict canon.
It can take a party to the elemental planes (implied by omission that it's the primary four, but no reason it couldn't be any of the others), where it can survive for 48 hours before suffering 1 hit/ hour until it returns to the Prime Material. Characters will have to make their own arrangements.
Typos give Jannee sheiks 84 HD and amirs 95. This is now canon.
Jelly, Mustard.
A jelly with Average Intelligence, which implies something even though all the entry says in relation to this is: 'although not unintelligent, mustard jelly is not known to value treasure of any sort'. Do they have a culture? Do they communicate? What are their opinions on the dungeon politics of the day?
Electricity and magic missiles make it grow (the effect is to increase hp by damage taken). It emits a vapour that can never bring you to a complete standstill (halves movement cumulatively), and it can divide itself to get more attacks.
It can't crawl along the ceiling and it can't squeeze through small spaces, but is otherwise more colour on the jelly/ooze palette - mix them up and swap them around.
Kampfult.
Nowhere in the description does it say the Kampfult is a plant, though it says it's a monster plenty. I don't know if the ambiguity is intentional. According to 2e, it's definitely a plant - though of Low Intelligence and that Neutral (evil) Alignment.
Anyway, it's been hunted almost to extinction by humans, which explains why a 2 HD monster is Very Rare with a No. Appearing of 1.
It's an okay monster with a somewhat evocative illo, so you could use it as low-level stand-in for a Roper.
Kech.
'Evil forest fiends'.
A The Ecology of... article (Dragon 142) gave them an exclusive critical hit table: '18-20 Throat torn open' d6 hits/round until death or healing - spurty.
They seem to be defined (at least as editions and lore pile up) as something like intelligent predatory apes, but I prefer to think that they have a touch of the Ghoul about them.
Like.
Korred.
Wee faerie folk with great strength (can throw boulders), animated hair, and a laugh that stuns those who fail to roll higher than their Charisma on d20.
That they are 'rumored to have built the druid stone circles' and sprinkling holy water on their possessions turns the items to gold are nice folklore flavour.
They wouldn't suffer greatly to have their HD reduced and their earth elemental spell-like abilities removed (replace with ability to animate/summon 2d6 Bowlers or animate a big rock like a Galeb Duhr does).
Instantly likeable.
Kraken.
Splice together with an Aboleth and you've got a respectable Cthulhuvian one-off; take away its spells, intelligence and devotion to Evil and you've still got a working Kraken - apply BECMI Gargantua mods and set it loose on that civilisation you wanted sinking.
Lammasu, Greater.
See Basilisk, Greater.
Lamprey, Land.
That each Land Lamprey attached encumbers the character (-1 Dexterity for each Lamprey) is my favourite thing about it - an overbearing mechanic to use elsewhere.
Other than that, it's a blood-sucking worm - which is fine.
Luck Eater.
Weird little cat monster.
If you're not cat-lovers anyway, it takes away player agency (save allowed, though it is made each round). While hosting the Luck Eater, all important rolls are penalised by 10% (-2 on d20) and it needs you to make these rolls so it can eat this penalty - first it forces you to attack the next encounter and will eventually lead to you turning on each other.
Interesting. Reskin as anything other than a cat, including big-eyed lost children.
Lycanthrope.
The Foxwoman is a female elf that can turn into a fox or foxwoman, has levelled male minions and a Comeliness of 21 - which is meaningless if you aren't using it (but is basically a charm ability). Feels like a variation on a classic theme, and I've no real objections - I prefer the BECMI Werefox statblock, though.
You also get Lesser and Greater Seawolves. The Seawolf form is a wolf-headed seal/porpoise, with Greater able to become human and Lesser becoming wolf-headed humanoids. Rather than lycanthropes, I'd make these the male minions of a seal equivalent of the Foxwoman (using BECMI Wereseal statblock).
The Wereshark is pretty much what you'd expect. I houserule that they hunt down and infect anyone they hear saying sharks die if they stop moving.
I think there's an argument for just using the basic animal statblock and adding the silver-weapon-to-hit ability for the majority of werebeasts, rather than having to come up with individual entries - it's not like they all have distinct abilities that need defining.
No comments:
Post a Comment