Donjon Kreechurs

[Wulf]

I decided to split this off into another thread. So why not join in, everyone?

Wulf

p.s. Why can't the Forge log me in automatically? It does from my work email...

[Wulf]

BARGUEST
The Celtic Fairie Dog, a terrifying ghostly grey-white hound about the size of a large dog, with huge, saucer-sized eyes. They hunt down lone travellers in wilderness areas, in small packs, although others are bound as temple guardians. Although not of exceptional strength, their most magical aspect is to shock their attackers, a magical charge being conducted through any melee weapon that hits them. When killed, they dissolve into mist.
LEVEL: 4
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility 5
Cerebrality 2
Discernment 4
Adroitness 3
Wherewithall 4
Sociality 1
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC 4
vs. PPT 3
FLESH WOUNDS: 4
ABILITIES:
Reflexive Melee Shock 5
Induce Fear by Sight 6
Bite 4
Flit Through Shadows 5
Race Down Victim 4

[Wulf]

The Strix (plural Striges) is a crow-sized bird with large eyes and a long, barbed beak Flocking around thrir victims, they dive to impale with their beaks, thereafter sucking blood from the target. The barbed beak prevents easy escape. They are intelligent enough to stab at weak points in armour, even eyeslits in full helms.

LEVEL: 1
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility: 1
Cerebrality: 2
Discernment: 4
Adroitness: 5
Wherewithall: 3
Sociality: 3
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC: 2
vs. PPT: 3
FLESH WOUNDS: 1
ABILITIES:
Barbed Beak: 3
Stab Through Armour: 3
Drain Blood (Wherewithall): 3
Fluttering Flight: 3
Mass Attack: 2

Note: the barbed beak is an attack, but also a damage ability when someone attempts to extract it.

[Wulf]

A ferrovore of the deepest caverns, the Rust Monster's only attack is to instantly cause decay and disintegration in metals. It will destroy swords and metal armour, turn spears into staves, and make coins disappear entirely!

LEVEL: 4
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility: 3
Cerebrality: 2
Discernment: 4
Adroitness: 3
Wherewithall: 5
Sociality: 2
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC: 3
vs. PPT: 3
FLESH WOUNDS: 5
ABILITIES:
Deteriorate Metal: 7
Armodillo Skin: 4
Subterranean Camoflage: 3
Sneak Up On Dunjoneers: 4
Smell Metals: 6

Wulf

[Wulf]

Your archetypical, huge, terrifying, fire-breathing dragon.

LEVEL: 10
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility: 6
Cerebrality: 2
Discernment: 3
Adroitness: 4
Wherewithall: 5
Sociality: 1
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC: 7
vs. PPT: 8
FLESH WOUNDS: 10
ABILITIES:
Dragonscale Armour: 8
Firebreath: 10
Fly: 6
Do Massive Melee Damage: 6
Bite and Claw: 10

I'd probably boost this by a level or two and add a sixth Ability, Terrify.

Wulf

[Wulf]

The Nukelavee is a sort of Celtic centaur, except with the usual Celtic flair, it's a bit repulsive. Like a man riding a horse, except the human torso blends directly into the horse's back, leaving the horse's head also. But the human torso has a huge, swollen head, cyclopsian, split by a wide, fanged mouth, and great, long arms reaching almost to the ground. The whole thing is skinless, sinew, muscle and veins exposed to view. Magically hardened anainst all blows, almost invulnerable to non-magical attacks, and terrifying in appearance, it has one vulnerability, to fresh, pure water, the Nucklavee comes itself from the sea.

LEVEL: 6
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility: 6
Cerebrality: 3
Discernment: 3
Adroitness: 3
Wherewithall: 4
Sociality: 1
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC: 4
vs. PPT: 4
FLESH WOUNDS: 6
ABILITIES:
Resist The Mundane (Except Water): 8
Hoof and Fist Blows: 9
Amphibious: 4
Look Scary: 5
Resist Melee Damage: 6

Normal, fresh water acts as a DR 1 attack per bucketful, while crossing a fresh running stream would be an automatic DR 9 damage check - it just won't do it!

Wulf

[Wulf]

The dreadful ROUS, feared by lonely travellers in wilderness and swamp.

LEVEL: 1
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility: 2
Cerebrality: 3
Discernment: 3
Adroitness: 4
Wherewithall: 3
Sociality: 3
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC: 2
vs. PPT: 3
FLESH WOUNDS: 2
ABILITIES:
Gnaw: 3
Leap From Cover: 3
Piercing Teeth: 3
Resist Blunt Blows: 2
Dodge Slices And Stabs: 2

Wulf

[Wulf]

Not the later, romanticised High Fantasy Unicorn of nobility and magic, but the original, pony-sized creature of fearful noise and mighty battle prowess. With a goat-like beard, cloven hooves, and a horn coloured white, black then red from base to tip, it was a beast of unique, but not intelligent, talents.

LEVEL: 3
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility: 4
Cerebrality: 2
Discernment: 4
Adroitness: 3
Wherewithall: 4
Sociality: 2
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC: 3
vs. PPT: 2
FLESH WOUNDS: 4
ABILITIES:
Ferocious Attacks: 6
Deep Piercing Horn: 3
Nutralise Poison: 4
Dodge Melee Attack: 4
Terrorise With Braying: 4

Note: As the Unicorn was supposedly most fearful and capable of beasts in combat, and capable even of killing an elephant with one stab of it's horn (although quite how one would MEET an elephant I'm not sure...), an extra level or two to raise Adroitness, Dodge and Deep Piercing Horn would be useful, but as a basic model this does.

Wulf

[Mike Holmes]

Your archetypical, huge, terrifying, fire-breathing dragon.

What kinda namby-pamby Obliettes and Otters dragon is that? I'd call that a Minor Drake. This is a dragon.

LEVEL: 30
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility: 8
Cerebrality: 4
Discernment: 2
Adroitness: 3
Wherewithall: 9
Sociality: 2
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC: 18
vs. PPT: 18
FLESH WOUNDS: 30
ABILITIES:
Dragonscale Armour: 18
Firebreath: 18
Fly: 10
Do Massive Melee Damage: 10
Bite and Claw: 18
Fearsomeness: 18

Now that's a Great Elder Dragon from the old days!

ROUS's? I don't think they exist...

Mike

[Wulf]

Your archetypical, huge, terrifying, fire-breathing dragon.

What kinda namby-pamby Obliettes and Otters dragon is that? I'd call that a Minor Drake. This is a dragon.

Well, true, but at level 30, you'll never be able to use it until your player characters are about level 25+. Far easier to start at level 10 and add dice to suit the party. I stick to level 10 maximum for the basic stats, so none of the creatures are wasted and unusable for years.

Wulf

[Mike Holmes]

I know Wulf, just giving you a hard time. ;-)

Still, I want to see what things look like at "high-level". Besides, advancement in this game is pretty quick. Players can expect a level or so per adventure, I think. That means fighting the dragon in only a year of playing every other week!

Trolls!!
Gotta have some trolls. How do these sound?

Code Select Expand

Stat         Forest  Stone  Cave  War  Moss

LEVEL:            6      7    12    9     5      
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility:         7      7    10    8     6
Cerebrality:      2      1     0    2     2
Discernment:      1      0     0    1     1
Adroitness:       3      2     1    3     4
Wherewithall:     6      9    11    7     5
Sociality:        1      1     0    0     1
SAVING THROWS:
vs. IC:           1      1     8    2     3
vs. PPT:          4      6     9    7     4
FLESH WOUNDS:     7      8    14    9     5
ABILITIES:
Smash!:           7      7     9    9     4
Tough Hide:       7     10     9    8     5
Sense of Smell:   7      5     8    7     7
Long Reach:       6      7    10    8     4
Specific*:        6      6     8   10     8

*Specific Abilities
Forest - Track
Stone - Carve
Cave - Roar
War - Tactics
Moss - Sneak

Note. I am not a fan of the regenerating Troll, But you can easily remove sense of smell, and then make Smash! into Smash with Club (or perhaps Fists) and then make regen the primary. Note that these are gigantic, more "tolkienesque" Trolls. As for the "moss troll" think Wormy.

Most Trolls will have a weapon to use with Smash, and big ones at that. War Trolls will also be (yikes!) heavily armored, making them nearly impervious.

Use the reach ability to cancel out player attempts to hide in trees, hidey holes, and the like. :-)

Mike

[Wulf]

Trolls!!
Gotta have some trolls. How do these sound?

[code]Stat         Forest  Stone  Cave  War  Moss

LEVEL:            6      7    12    9     5      
ATTRIBUTES:
Virility:         7      7    10    8     6
Cerebrality:      2      1     0    2     2
Discernment:      1      0     0    1     1
Adroitness:       3      2     1    3     4
Wherewithall:     6      9    11    7     5
Sociality:        1      1     0    0     1

I've avoided giving any zeroes to any creature that shows any ability, however low. Trolls can see, hear and otherwise detect people, so I wouldn't give them a zero Discernment. That's supposed to be reserved for a creature with no capability in that area (p55). Likewise, anything above the brain capacity of a slug I'd give at least 1 Cerebrality.

Otherwise our Trolls would get along just fine together (but after reading 'Three Hearts and Three Lions' I just LOVE the regenerating Troll - mine even has a Primary Ability of 'Severed parts Animate', but I have NO idea how to use it...).

Wulf

[Mike Holmes]

The problem is that it makes the range hard to deal with. At 18 plus one per three levels, that's only around 20 points or so for most creatures (even the dragon only had 28). As such, this means that any stat above "human" level means all the rest are going to be one's and twos. Just not a lot of room to customize.

Zero seems to work pretty well, mechanically. For perception the trolls will use their smell exclusively, and do just fine. They just can't make anything of anything except to figure that most things are food.

I think that in play, I may go with one attribute point per level. The fifteen to one Ability to Attribute ratio seems very steep. That, or I will just go with very high levels of ability. To counter, I may just drom the EXP factor R to fifteen or even ten. That would probably do it.

Another thing to do would be to just ignore the 18 +1/3 levels limit, and rate creatures any way you like. For these purposes, however, I'm trying to stay within the guidelines. Just missed that zero definition.

Anyhow, just some thoughts.

Mike