Tag: creatures

August 13, 2008

Carnival Post: There goes the Zombiehood…

The Undead I don’t use a lot of undead in my games. There are a number of reasons for this. First is the zombie issue. Zombies are among the most commonly used undead, but (I know this is sacriledge among many) I don’t get excited about zombies. Zombie movies? They can be OK, but only if they aren’t about the...

August 1, 2008

Housecats vs. Wizards: Test Case I

You know how in certain editions of D&D a housecat could pretty easily take a wizard? Well, we had a bit of a test of that the other night. Jenn (housemate) seems to have acquired a cat. It has been living in her room since July 4th. I have a cat. Angela also has a cat. Angela’s cat, Tempest, is...

June 28, 2008

Five monsters for the price of one…

I was thinking about 4e’s encounter design, and something hit me that may well be applicable in several sorts of games. In 4e, the base assumption is that you’ll have one foe per character. This is modified by a bunch of things – minions count as multiple foes, elite creatures count as two, and things like that. I find this...

May 19, 2008

4e: Minions, mooks, and extras, oh my!

Today’s 4e preview is about minions. Essentially, a minion in 4e is an opponent that is made to come in a horde. You can wade through them, dropping them left and right, but you can’t ignore them. In 3.x, this was very hard to accomplish. Someone of sufficiently low level to be dropped with a hit or two was often...

May 12, 2008

Monster Overhaul: Secret Weaknesses

It is a bit weird how, in D&D, Vampires have a bunch of weaknesses: garlic, holy symbols, running water, etc. Few other monsters, have any such weaknesses; a few are blinded by strong light, and that’s about it. The reason that vampires have such weaknesses, of course, is because they are a part of real-world folklore. We have a lot...

May 7, 2008

Blood Shark

I entered one of the Sinister Adventures dark challenges, but I didn’t win… so I have this monster write-up sitting on my computer with which I’m unlikely to ever do much. So I give unto you:SPAWN OF DAJOBAS Size/Type: Large UndeadHit Dice: 12d12 (78 hp)Initiative: +6Speed: 15 ft. (3 squares), swim 60 ft.Armor Class: 19 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +7...

May 5, 2008

I which I offer a preliminary criticism (or two) about 4e encounter design…

I appreciate the fact that Wizards, in making 4e, took a long, hard look at encounter design and found it lacking. I’ve written before about how big a difference numbers make in 3.x – a group of PCs against one powerful enemy has a disproportionate advantage due to the per-round limit on actions. This could make climatic fights against the...

April 11, 2008

The Gnoble Gnoll?

I’ve always had a soft spot for gnolls. I’m fairly certain that it is the visual of a hyena-person that I appreciate, since I don’t actually like most of what D&D has done to them over the years. I’m not a fan of their demonic associations. I don’t like the characterization of them as shiftless and overly-lazy. I don’t really...

March 24, 2008

Against my better judgment…

I give you a giant, flying, cave dolphin. …a special bonus monster overhaul on the Yrthak. This one can keep all the stats the same, I think. Here’s the flavor text: Ages ago, the aboleth began cultivating blind cave dolphins as slaves, food, and subjects for their bizarre experiments. The yrthak is the product of one such experiment: a breeding...

March 21, 2008

Krenshar: the less stupid version?

The Krenshar. Along with the Yrthak (which I won’t even link to), it embodies the worst in 3e monster design: “We need a CR [X] [creature type Y] with an attack of [type Z].” In the case of the KrensharX=1Y-magical beastZ=fear It is a big-ish cat-like monster that can pull its skin off of its face to scare you. Lame.Jeff...