Reliquum Monstrum

Some monsters I thought of years ago, put on a map, no one went there.
I drew them a few months ago, and am rewriting them better now.

HD: 2

AC: as Chain Mail; tongue as Plate Mail

Move: 1/2 speed of running human. Flight. Hop 5ft vertically and horizontally. 

Attacks: Tongue slap (1d4), Special

Special: The Batrachian will attempt to steal food and shiny objects from above with it's long, sticky tongue. If it makes a successful attack against an object, the object is held as if with Strength 18. The Batrachian may immediately retract it's tongue on any round it hasn't moved or attacked. (For instance, it could position itself quietly hovering over someone one round, then dart it's tongue in and steal a gem or rations the next round; OR move into position and stick it's tongue to something, then retract it the next round.)

On the round after a successful tongue slap, they will rip their tongue off painfully (1d4+1 damage, target -1 to rolls next round)

They fly with a Stealth of 3 (on a d6, or slightly less than 50%)

HD: 3+2

AC: as Leather + Shield

Move: 2x human (flying), 3/4 human (walking)

Attacks: 1d4 (claws), 1d6+2 (beak)

Special: The Hachetbeak's beak attack can cause extreme wounding or damage to armor - see below.

# on to hit die	If target wearing metal armor	If target wearing non-metal armor	If target unarmored
16-17	No additional effect	AC reduced by 1	Wound will bleed 1hp/rd until healed
18	See above	See above	Roll 2d4, one is for duration in rounds D4: 1: R arm disabled 2: L arm disabled 3: blinded 4: knocked unconscious
19	AC reduced by 1	AC reduced by 2	as 18 but turns instead of rounds
20	See above	See above	As 18 but lasts until extensive bedrest or advanced healing magic

(in addition to damage)

The Jack-O-Bear

Thinking about a recent Scrap Princess drawing caused this to pop into my head while my subconscious cogitates on Santicore matters.

+Tom Tyson requested that +Scrap Princess draw a "Jack-O-Bear", and she drew this:

Many living near Forbidden Zones are familiar with the seasonal escapades of the JackO'Bear  These bizarre beasts wander into town every year at the seasonal change from Fall to Winter seeking treats and whatever trinkets of civilized ingenuity can amuse them. They are known to break into poorly secured shops, empty out larders, overturn garbage, free mounts, and steal all kinds of small moving gadgets for amusement (crossbows, jointed farming equipment, simple hinges, etc). During this time streets are empty of townsfolk at night, and sweet treats are left in front of dwellings. 

Young JackO'Bears are covered with vines that provide them some damage resistance. Eating the leaves will provide a robust natural healing to any creature able to digest them, but causes the vines to die. 

While still flush with vines, the young JackO'Bears are easy to hit but difficult to damage, making them very playful and trusting. They assume all creatures enjoy sparring as much as they, and will attack as a friendly greeting.

Mature JackO'Bears have usually been plucked of leaves in their sleep by enterprising wanderers, and/or been captured and held a winter for some nobles' amusement, and are thus wary and aggressive.

Whether young, carefree, and seeking a playmate, or old, aggressive, and wary of strangers, they tend to approach the same way - by detaching and throwing their heads, with regrow in 2-5 rounds. During that time, the creature is blind, deaf, and mute, but also silent and nearly impossible to see in the dark.

All JackO'Bears' heads glow with an inner fire, which provides light as a campfire around the beast's head.

If the head has been thrown, this lights in the regrown head at the end of 5 rounds - unless the flame from a previously thrown head is kept alight after exploding. In this case, the newly grown head does not have a flame, and the Bear has impaired vision and -2 to all relevant checks (but a +4 or 20% bonus to stealth) until the old flame is put out.

HD: 2-7 (1d6+1)

AC: 13-18 (1d6+12)

Damage Resistance: subtract sum of d6 results from HD and AC from 12

Attacks: Bite 1d4, Claw 1d8; Body Slam 1d6 Save VS Fort (or Paralysis) or be knocked to the ground

Special: Head - range: 30 ft, 1d8 on impact, 1d6 fire damage to all within 10 feet of impact til new head regrows

Vines - number of viable leaves equal to sum of d6 rolls from HD and AC, each leaf heals 2HP. Each leaf consumed by a creature other than the beast itself causes a loss of 1 point of damage resistance from the beast.

Stealth in daylight in wooded areas is as that of a 10th level thief. At night it is half that unless their head light is dark as detailed above.

As mounts, JackO'Bears are nearly impossible to keep tame. They require a weekly reaction roll (or however you handle taming wild creatures) when in civilized areas, and a daily roll in wilderness. When this roll does not favor the rider, the JackO'Bear will wander off at the first opportunity, using wit and stealth if need be.

Knights often quest to capture one as a pet for amusement over the long winter, then release it in the Spring.

Rumors about the JackO'Bear:

1. They eat the souls of misbehaving children 

2. Are avenging spirits of the recently dead 

3. Faeries and similar creatures will be revealed in their true form by a JackO'Bear's light, removing illusions and invisibility (t)

4. Magic spells of invisibility and illusion cast by mortals are dispelled by the JackO'Bear's light 

5. Faeries will avenge the slaughter of any JackO'Bear 

6. Faeries ride them as mounts 

7. Faeries hate them (t)

8. All knights of Escavalon must eat the head of a JackO'Bear before being knighted 

9. The blood of a JackO'Bear will keep a fire lit forever 

10. If one does not pluck the leaves, and wrestles with it often, they can be good and loyal mounts (t)

The last one stops being true the moment any of the leaves are plucked.

The 7 Daughters of Fury: Hexenbracken's Lost Queens

A bunch of us on G+ filled in the hexes on a map and called it Hexenbracken because Zak S had a good idea and then someone else had the good idea to keep adding detail to it and so like the Overlook Hotel, once you get in, you never really leave.
Here's one of mine:

1321

There 7 Penlaggans here with their gut strings accidentally tied together, floating out of weapons' reach. If one unties them and lets them leave, they will tell you: Leave a blood sacrifice in hexes 1121 1521 1219 1323 and 1419, then 1121 again, then return here. A demon will be summoned and have to do your bidding for a day. (Obviously they're describing topographical features and not giving pcs hex numbers, but you get the idea.)

Apparently I don't know how to spell Penanggalan!

A General in the Bleak Wars sought to end the conflict by having the wives, daughters, and consorts of his enemies kidnapped, ransoming for peace. He was ignored and defeated in battle, leaving him with a marginal force and seven women trapped in his tower. At the end, as his last stronghold was falling, he had them eviscerated - the stories say it took up to five strong men to hold each women still.

These women were nobles, a general, a sorceress; women who bowed to no one and were denied nothing. They did not bow to Death and would not be denied existence. The Seven rose again as Penanggalan.
They drove the General and his men insane before consuming them, then moved on to their own relatives who had not saved them. Some say it was truly they who ended the Bleak Wars, and in this the General got his wish. Others say it is more complicated than that.

More recently, a nameless traveller used their fury to blind them, and tricked them into tangling with one another. The Seven will calm their fury and leave peacefully if untangled, but it is gory, dangerous work. The current location of their bodies is unknown. Their heads float over a barren stretch of dirt between forests, so they can easily float out of reach and observe any who come near.
The Demon they know how to summon and bind is indeed the General, transfigured after death. They delight in seeing him suffer at menial tasks, or get defeated and summoned again. Those carrying out their instructions are typically safe from the Penlaggans themselves, who in slow times feed off the sacrifices once the ritual is successful.
Keep in mind that they really want to get untangled, and don't necessarily like each other. They really will look favorably upon anyone freeing them, unless also attacked by them.

Use +Jack Shear 's better stats here, but add the following appearance and ability notes:

Grrnuh: Lizard-Woman head, can spray the slime detailed in the Entrail ability up to 30 ft. from her eyes; proud warrior

Ssstithgor: Leech-faced Halfling head, Bite: 1d4, same damage every round until magically healed or given serious medical attention, STR check to free oneself from bite but even then it continues to bleed; sees everything as a commercial transaction

Renala: Human head with Charm Person 3x/day as if cast by 7th level M-U; spoiled but knowledgeable.

Strolnyra the Unforgiving: White Elf Head, can cast spells as a 7th level Magic User and a 3rd level Cleric (or if you have a Sorcerer or Witch class, use that); master strategist.

Mirchei: Human head by day, wolf head by night; haughty, vain, weakness for flattery.

Aaeron: Half-elf head, Command 4x/day as cast by 4th level; pretends innocence and humor; hated by the other 6.

Som Megat: Human head, can become Invisible at will. Aloof, charismatic, longs for being human but merciless toward them.

I'll leave the Demon ex-General for you to stat up!

KIPPLE (monster)

"The rooms of the abandoned palace were lined with all kinds of trash: decaying robes, damp parchment, rusty metal goblets, bones, discarded wrappings. We didn't think anything of it. Then we noticed Fen Tak missing, and assumed he wandered off. When Sheilar was no longer behind me, though, I knew something was wrong.
We found their bodies later by accident, faces covered, garbage stuffing every orifice. Harald and I kicked at the trash, but did not discover who did it."

KIPPLE
Ignored trash begins accumulating and following creatures, gaining 1 HD/rd. When it gets above 10HP, it will try to envelop a nearby creature and suffocate them. If not attacking or seeking prey, it collapses back in a normal pile of trash.

HD 1-4

AC 14

no. Attacks 2

Damage 1d4

Special Attacks Entanglement, Suffocation

If both attacks hit, the Kipple has entangled a creature, which is also immediately gagged. If not freed, such a creature will suffocate in 2d4 rounds. Creatures can attempt to free themselves with a BB/LG roll or contested STR roll against the Kipple's STR 18. 

Carrion Eye (monster for sci fantasy games)

Carrion Eye

Carrion Eyes begin as a smooth cylinder or orb (30in circumference) floating a few feet above the ground, with a large apertured eye at one end. When they encounter dead creatures, the Eye will roll on the corpse, which will be stuck to it through the Carrion Eye's strange energies. These energies can also reanimate limbs of the corpse to activate special abilities or even attack with weapons. The Eye's control of these limbs are as if they were it's own naturally, and its preferred mode of conveyance is to crawl with them. Sometimes they are so decayed they become little more than tentacles or claws, however.

A Carrion Eye will typically follow trails of corpses, absorbing them, until it finds whatever is killing things and begin silently stalking them. Once the Carrion Eye has doubled it's mass, it becomes agitated and desires to shed the current accumulation to begin anew. It cannot do this itself, however, and will provoke other creatures to attack it. The Eye's goal is to wound the creatures sufficiently in battle that it can begin new accumulation with their corpses after they have destroyed the current outer mass. (Either way, it'll try to flee after being reduced to half HP unless opponents are hurt sufficiently).

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Fresh battlefields, sci-fantasy dungeons, silently following you
ARMOR CLASS: -2/22 (base body) 5/15 (accumulated tissue; basically when it's at half HP use the harder AC)
MOVE: Hover/scuttle 10ft/rd, maneuver 20ft/round if falling (permanent "feather fall" effect)
HIT DICE: 7-16,  base body always has 6 and accumulated mass the rest, see below
TREASURE TYPE: Might be some sweet loot on the accumulated corpses, or useful animal parts
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1-4
DAMAGE/ATTACK: Eye Ray for 5-16/ claws 1-4/ weapons
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Whatever abilities the creatures it's accumulated had, Eye Ray, Infinite Gaze
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Regeneration (base body only, 2HP/rd), Construct immunities (immune to disease/poison/charm/sleep); half damage from fire and cold to base body
INTELLIGENCE: Cunning
SIZE: M - L
Eye Ray: 5-16 points of energy damage;

Infinite Gaze: anyone staring into the Eye's lens is transfixed by the seemingly endless depth - save VS Petrification (or roll under WIS-2) or be transfixed

Carrion Eyes move completely silently until they have absorbed a decent amount of dead stuff.

Here's a chart if you need some quick ideas for what weird abilities it's accumulated:

1	Rotting arm holding longsword (1d8)
2	Rotting monster/animal claw (1d6) (50% poisoned)
3	Wizard arm holding orb with stored spell (roll level and spell randomly)
4	Undead Arm with Drain: 1. Ability score 2. Level 3. Age/Time 4. Remote Blood sucking
5	Beholder Eye Stalk (roll randomly)
6	Monster Head with Breath Weapon
7	Monster part with Fear effect (1-2) or Charm (3-4) like a siren’s head
8	Monster part that grants Carrion Eye Invisibility (1-2) or Improved Invisibility (3-4)
9	Some kinda flame thrower or laser gun limb
10	Carrion Crawler stalks
11	Field of Electricity like Flaming Hands but Electrical damage; metal armor doubles damage
12	Anti-magic field

Every 8 points of damage it takes has a 10% chance of eliminating one of the special abilities, as the accumulated corpses are destroyed/knocked off/burned/etc.

If this seems confusing, maybe run the base body as one creature and the accumulated ick as a second creature, where they can't hurt the first one til the second one's dead.

(pictures from Takato Yamamoto)

Communitas Monstrum

I asked people to point me at monsters n traps they want me to stat up. They obliged.

+Jensen Toperzer : "This Guy

keep in mind that he's about 20 ft tall and his signature ability is shutting down your spells"
DRONE, MAGICKILLER
AC 2 or 17; MV 120’/480’; HD 8-12; #AT 4; D 2d8/2d8 & 1d8/1d8; SZ Huge (20ft tall); +5 tH man sized or larger/-5tH smaller or by HD; The 2d8 damage listed is from the two large Khopesh it carries, the 1d8 damage is bare-fisted; instead of using it's two free hands to attack, however, it usually uses them to cast spells as a Magic User of level 5; the third set of hands hold two Anti-Magic Orbs above its head that, when both are held by the same creature, cause a Dispel Magic effect in a 30ft radius. Individually, the Orbs can cast Dispel Magic as an 8th level Magic-User 3 times before losing their magic. The Drone, Magickiller is immune to the effect of the Orbs together, but the effect from just one will cancel it's own spells as effectively as anyone else's.
Immunities: Damage resistance 5 against edged weapons and fire;
Vulnerability: takes double damage from electricity attacks; if air flow is cut off, will enter stasis until restored.
These constructs were built to fight an ancient war to purge Magic-Users from the land; they are animated with the consciousness of a warrior from that time. The intervening centuries have driven them quite mad, except when they are fighting Magic-Users, which gives them clarity and purpose. 
XP: 950


+Mike F requests these two, conceived of by +Scrap Princess with flavor text cut n pasted from her blog; +Chris Hales wanted me to stat up a cat pic, so I stuck it in where I thought appropriate :

 The Crime bird.  Its beak is prized as a lock pick, it picks pockets, pillages houses and roosts on stolen jewellery, trading up whenever it can, the lesser stuff stashed in obscure nooks. Why is it not long dead? For one , it voids itself on its stolen goods, imparting a stink near impossible to remove, and secondly its beak, originally evolved to pluck deep borrowing rock worms, will take a eye out faster than you would believe. Lastly and most importantly ; it is a complete and utter cunning shit of a bird.




   

• CRIME BIRD
  
  AC 7 or 12; MV 10’/360’; HD 1; #AT 1; D 1d4; SA Eye Pluck Save VS Breath or lose an eye; Pick Locks and Pockets at 75%, other Thief Skills at LvL 5; Guano is as Stinking Cloud with 2ft radius; SD Never surprised; SZ S; Int Utter Cunning Shit; AL C; XP 20+1/hp 
  Beak: if harvested and properly preserved, adds +15% to Pick Locks rolls when used as lock pick.

 While certainly small, 4 limbed and mostly bipedal , the piss pixie seems named more as a horrible joke than any other resemblance to its name sake. They are appear to have something of a languid intelligence, but little drive other than sucking up sweet, vinegary or alcoholic dregs, and often fond sleeping instead a vessel used for this purpose, their form extremely rubbery and flexible.
 If menaced they defend themselves by squirting forth a horrible smelling stinging yellow fluid into the eyes of the attacker, and then slither off to hide in some  unplausible gap or nook. They lack a jaw and their face resembles a prolasped anus partially dried in the sun.
There is a uncommon poison, that is odorless and tasteless,  and makes the blood of the drinker smell overwhelming attractive to the piss pixie. They will be able to smell the victim from leagues away and wait to the victim is asleep where they will latch on with their horrible snouts and suck the blood right through the skin, like a hickey of the damned. They will not stop until the victim is bleed dry.

PISS PIXIE

AC 5 or 14; MV 120’/60’; HD 2 ; hp 2-16; #AT 1; D 1-4; SA Stinking Spray range-10ft Save VS Breath or 1d4 DMG and Incapacitated for 20 minus CON rounds; suck blood for 1HP/rd, anesthetizes locally, undetectable to victim; HS/MS at 65%; Can fit into bottles, nooks and crannies as if size Tiny; SZ S; Int Low; AL CN; XP 20+2/hp 

Jensen ToperzerFeb 28, 2013

fuck that stat up the Tyrannosaurus Hex 

 You are insane Wizard and you have an excess of enchantments , scar runes, and  magic tattoo designs. Oh and Tyrannous Rex.
Tyrannosaurus Hexes are what happens when you  use more or less laminate every square centimetre of a T-rex in magic wards. They are extremely dangerous , extremely unhappy and disrupt all magic around them in dangerously and unpredictably ways. Have you seen Holy Mountain ? This is your T-rex right here (the one not talking) THE WHOLE THING IS ON YOUTUBE WHAT ARE WAITING FOR? (watch it from the start after though. Well okay watch that scene with the Timothy Leary parody, then watch it from the start). Hmm maybe they are addicted to eating magic? Nah then it just makes them some kind of Disenchanter monster that seems to only exist to take stuff off the p.cs. Thinking...thinking..
Okay Tyrannosaurus Hex have a marauder phase where they just run around screaming at the new colours and eating people. But after that they realize they are intelligent and conscious and driven by the desire to formulate the fantastic new ways of magic  they can  just about grasp. The T-hex then attempts to study magic and experiment, as best as it can do with a wild magic field ( that it can learn to suppress) two dainty forearms , the mind of apex predator and no formal training what so ever.
Like an Outsider artist if art could blow things to pieces and turn those pieces into spider-wolves. And the artist was a giant bipedal killing machine.

...

Oh god.
TYRANNOSAURUS HEX

• AC 5 or 14; MV 150’; HD 18; #AT 2; D 1-6/5-40 (tail/bite); SA 
  30% of the time the T-Hex will be encountered in a frenzy, attacking only with its tail and bite - during this time, any spell cast within 50 feet will interact with its stored magic to produce a Wild Magic Surge (Basic Version); 
  The other 70% of the time, the T-Hex is encountered during a sentient phase, and will attempt to use its stored magic to cast spells like a 1d6th Level Magic User, with a 1 in 6 chance to cause a Wild Surge. The T-Hex in this state can choose whether other casters trigger a Wild Surge or not. These T-Hexes like to use whatever's in the room to make pets to defend itself. Let's say you get "Crab Demon" on that summon generator - that means the T-Hex makes a big crab thing out of dead PCs, the smashed door, and the pile of gold in the room. For instance.
  SZ L; Int 30% Non 70% medium; AL N; XP 6,550+25/hp 

+Chris Hales   Chris HalesYesterday 12:27 AM

Anything from here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/insects-studio-stacks/pool/

TANK BEETLE BOMBADIER

• AC 4; MV 90’ but hates to walk - see below; HD 3; #AT special; SA
  This breed of Bombardier Beetle secretes explosive orbs - each acts as a Fireball spell as cast by 3th level Magic user; The Beetle itself is immune to this, with one exception - it is blown by the blast to the perimeter of the effect. These creatures are sometimes encountered in the wild, propelling themselves along with their explosive orbs or drifting back and forth in "play".  SZ M; Int Non; AL N; XP 125+3/hp.  

I'll leave these two for crowdsourcing, I couldn't think of anything good:

+Joshua Macy   Joshua MacyFeb 28, 2013

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How about a portable, easy to set up trap suitable for dungeoneers to carry and deploy against the denizens. I'm thinking something like a bear-trap in a sack, so that it doesn't clank and you could deploy it either with a chunk of meat or something valuable inside sack or on the ground concealed by the sack.

Pearce SheaYesterday 8:54 AMn  +Pearce Shea 

Also, any of these:

http://gameswithothers.blogspot.com/2013/03/and-also-these-things.html

Comment here or this G+ thread