DMR2 Creature Catalog - H

I'm going to say the Huptzeen is my favourite from this section, but it's also the one I've had the least time to think about - only learned anything about it by doing the research for this readthrough.

Haunt, Lesser.

Fairly traditional ghostly entity. Similar in motive, but not execution, to the MM2 Haunt.

You can't Turn it, you can't fight it - only certain haunts have the ability to cause fear (save or flee and unwilling to return), and you can only defeat/help it by special means decided by the DM.

It's a puzzle to solve or a (side)quest giver. For which you receive 100 XP.

Hawk.

If a Hawk (Normal or Giant) surprises you, it scores double-damage on its first attack.

Hephaeston.

Another one from Where Chaos Reigns - an iron-skinned giant with 25 HD. Can levitate and heat iron/steel objects, as well as grab you and throw you to the ground.

Basically Hephaestus/Vulcan as a monster species, and they're primarily interested in metalwork. Awesome as threat, ally or quest goal.

2e tells us that the weapons they make are +2 (non-magical), though I'm not sure how small, fiddly and human-sized they can manage. 

Herex.

I had some idea that the Herex were based on the Cynthians from Susan Schwartz's Heritage of Flight, but the novel is 1989 compared to AC9's 1986. But maybe that's because there are a lot of giant bug monsters across the monster manuals as well as sci-fi, and they start to blur into one another.

Their eggs can lie dormant for many years before hatching when you disturb them. The larva start out at 6 HD with an acidic, armour-damaging bite and they're hungry. The larvae then spend 5-10 months devouring everything they can, remaining underground, and growing an extra 6 HD.

At 12 HD, they burrow up to the surface, shed their skin and emerge as a 13 HD winged adult with acid bite and paralysing tail-stinger. Then they look for a mate, lay some eggs and die.

A fairly conventional lifecycle.

Without knowing their original context, the Herex feel like an almost-nostalgic monster pest scenario for high-level characters. For lower level play, the Herex could be something not meant to be fought - a source of devastation to shake up a campaign or to shape a setting.

2e says there's a use for their acid saliva, but not for their shed carapaces.

Hivebrood.

They're called The Hivebrood in AC9, suggesting equally a one-off and an omnipresent threat. They're not evil, but they use paralysed victims as hosts for their young and converting them into insectoids as their method of propagation. 

There's a heavy sci-fi scent to them, with a flavour profile incorporating Alien/Aliens, The Thing, Starship Troopers and 40k's Tyranids. How much of this retrospection, I can't really say, especially as the aforementioned are only the easiest examples - a hierarchical-hive-bug-monster that assimilates other creatures is not the rarest concept.

Presented as ant-like in their implacability, the Hivebrood could also work as a more flexible-minded and subtle foe - closer to Tyranid Genestealers or Innsmouth Deep Ones. In fact, they don't need to be enemies by motive, just biological and social incompatibility.

Lots of stats and mechanics, because there are multiple types that derive from each other - Broodlings, Hivebrood (workers and soldiers), Hiveleaders, Broodmothers and Hiveminds.

Hiveminds can gain the abilities of creatures they devour, including spell-casting, and share this ability with other Hivebrood through chemical transmission. So, Cy-Bugs from Wreck-It Ralph, too.

Simply because of their proximity on the page, you could combine Herex with Hivebrood (as one creature or separate threats) to really wreck a campaign.

They get a little bit of a name-change in 2e: Broodling, Soldier, Lieutenant, Mother and Controller. Nice detail that the Broodlings use their host's teeth to imitate the wet clacking sounds the more insectoid Hivebrood make with their mandibles.

Homunculus.

The Fylgar (a bit like a cherub/putti with a whip-like tail), Gretch and Ulzaq (Imp/Quasit analogues; with the Gretch/Quasit similarities being closest) - they're familiars, but are also the special form taken by an Immortal (demi-god and upwards) on a special mission or as a penance. You can attempt to bind them to you if they haven't chosen to serve willingly.

They're all closer to the Imp and Quasit in terms of abilities than they are to the MM's Homonculous (sic). 

Unanswered questions regarding the interface between Immortal and Homunculus identity, and the process of becoming/unbecoming. Could the Homunculus be a shortcut to binding a deity to your will, or an opportunity to overthrow them?

Called Familiars in 2e, because Homunculus/Homonculous is already taken, and because of the more complex alignment system of AD&D, the category is swelled by the (good) Aryth and the (evil) Bogan.

Bogan is an example of why you should (nowadays) always Google your made-up monster names.

Hook Beast.

The Hook Horror and the Hulker (Umber Hulk without confusion ability) are apparently related, with the latter being the brains of the operation (INT 6 vs. 4).

The Hulker - more eyes, less confusion, and those teeny claws do 2d6 damage each.

The Hook Horror stats are pretty much identical to the Fiend Folio version: it gets a hefty 3d6 bite in CC.

I never really cared for Hook Horrors in the first place, and pairing them with not-quite-Umber Hulks doesn't do much to change that.

Hutaakan.

Anubis-people. Jackal-headed 'tribal' humanoids that once ruled a great empire but are now reduced to isolated communities in the kind of places adventurers end up in. They've got infravision and Move Silently % as a Thief of equivalent level to their HD (so 1st or 2nd for most of them).

They're a haughty, callous race, dominated by their priests (min. 2 HD so they all have a spell, up to 11th level), but see themselves as a sensitive, civilized, intellectual people. No mention that they were slavers until the entry for Man, Isolated further down the line.

I can see potential in these stealthy Anubises, possibly seasoned with a little Cynidicean (see also Man, Isolated), to make something out of them away from their original Mystaran context. Possibly hidden people of the necropolis, pretending (as tricksters or delusional) to be spirits, ghouls and gods amongst the tombs and temples of the human inheritors/conquerors.

Hypnosnake.

Monster snake (8 HD) with psychedelic hypnotic gaze that puts you to sleep - and itself if you can make it gaze into a mirror for a full round (so not just a flash of the glass).

It doesn't need to be a snake; transplant the special ability onto any name and statblock you like.

What Was Left Out - Huptzeen.

A construct that resembles a fancy/ornamental/precious object, can cast spells (MU level=HD but only spells known to its creator) and moves by slow, magical flight. Explodes if you take it to 0 hp or less.

They have an INT of 11 and understand language (at least, Common).

You can leave one as a guardian (possibly a spy, but it doesn't say how they talk back); it's not clear how obvious it is as the source of the spells it casts.

More intriguingly, you can carry or wear one, and amulet and staff are given as examples. A cooperative Huptzeen gives a Magic User significantly augmented casting power: not only do you get extra castings of some of your spells, it can also cast them simultaneously with (better than haste) and independently of you (approaching contingency).

It makes a comeback in 2e, and some of my points above are addressed. For instance, it gets the ability to talk back to you, but only if it has access to a relevant spell. Costs but not process for construction, as well as recoupable fragments on destruction and price for selling on (you have to trust the seller hasn't told the Huptzeen to betray you).

It's a cool magic item as much as it is a monster; the intelligent sword for Magic Users.