Banshees

A banshee (or Bean-Sidhe) is the howling spirit of a dead elf woman whose appearance foretells death. Now, most elves in the land beyond the Drowning Woods are either marsh elves (sometimes called swamp elves) or pale elves. In other words, most elves aren't of the goody two shoes variety. What that means for the disposition of their ghosts is left up to the individual referee to determine.

Banshee: HD 9, AC 18, Speed: half as fast as an unencumbered man, Morale 12, Damage: 1d8 (claws), only vulnerable to silver & magic, 50% immunity vs. spells, typical undead immunities, AL: Chaotic.

• Death Cry: Once per night, a banshee may scream loudly, painfully and deadly. Everyone within earshot has to succeed at a save vs. poison or die painfully in 2d6 rounds. Everyone who fails their save also is immediately deaf due to ruptured eardrums.

Goblin-Spiders

A Goblin-Spider Forest of course needs goblin-spiders. These are not your  traditional Japanese variant. Goblin spiders are smallish to largish creature with the body of a spider and the head of a warty hooked-nosed goblin. Their two foremost legs are actually able to manipulate tools and weapons. Though they rarely use them.

Goblin-spiders: HD 1, AC 13, Speed: one-and-a-half times as fast as an unencumbered man, Morale: 8, Damage: 1d4 + poison (save vs. poison +2 or die) (bite), 1/day web (caster level = HD), AL: Chaotic.

This is the most commonly encountered variant. For larger variants increase HD, increase armor class by 1 for every 2-3 HD, at 3 HD loose the +2 save bonus, at 6 HD impose a -2 save bonus. Queen Tittania probably has at least 10 HD and may even be a magic-user.

Dragons

I just mentioned the dragon Anthrax the Purple Thunder, so it's logical to post my take on dragons. When I told a friend the name of the dragon, he immediately suggested heavy metal band name themed dragons. We'll see if I roll with that.

Dragon: HD 2 to 12, AC 12 + # of HD, Speed: half that of an unencumbered man on ground, thrice that airborne, Morale 8, Damage: 3d6 (bite), 2x 1d8 (claws), 1x 1d6 (tail slap), magic resistence at HD x5%, AL: see below.

• Alignment: 50% of all dragons are aligned with law, the other 50% with chaos. 
• Dragon breath: Lawful dragons breath a cone of cold. Chaotic dragons breath a cone of fire. 1d4 attackers will be caught in the cone. They take # of HD in d6 damage (save vs. breath weapon for half damage). Accordingly, lawful dragons are immune to cold, and chaotic dragons are immune to fire.
• Spells: Lawful dragons cast cleric spells. Chaotic dragons cast magic-user spells. They will know 1d6 randomly determined 1st level spells, 1d3 randomly determined 2nd level spells and 1 random spell of 3rd level. Each spell can be cast once per day. If a spell is rolled multiple times, it can be cast multiple times. Caster level equals dragon HD.

I don't know yet where I am going with the lawful/chaos thing. It just seems right. The dragons are not chromatic or metallic, instead rather traditionally scaled and mottled in grey and brownish scales. I am thinking Skyrim a bit too much here...

Black Unicorns

Okay, I know they have been done to death. But I still want to do them. Also, beyond the Drowning Woods there are no white unicorns.

Black Unicorn: HD 5, AC 19, Speed: twice as fast as running man, Morale 10, Damage: 2x 1d8 (hooves), 1d8 + cause disease (horn), 25% magic resistance, double damage if charging, teleport as MU lvl 5 once per day, AL Chaotic.

• Virgin sacrifice: If the black unicorn encounters a man who has sacrificed a virgin, it must save vs. spell or forevermore serve that man.

The Drowned Ones

The land beyond the Drowning Woods does not have a moon, yet there are strange tides. When the sun sets, the water rises. When the sun rises, the waters recede. Thus it has ever been, since the moonfall.

With the tides come the Drowned Ones. The unquiet dead of the sea. They go where the salt water flows.

Drowned one: HD 1 to 3, AC 13, Speed: 3/4 of a walking man, Morale 12, Damage 1d8+3 (sabre), undead immunities, upper-half damage from bludgeoning weapons, vulnerable to rock salt, AL Chaotic.

• Watery touch: Drowned ones with 3HD or more can forego their weapon attack and instead touch the target. Target must save vs poison or die from drowning within 3 rounds. The corpse will rise as a drowned one in the next night. 
• Cursed treasure: Drowned ones carry 1d6 brass coins which will gleam like silver at night; tattered leather which will function as leather armor at night; sabres that will gleam as if struck by moonlight at night, but are useless in daylight (still count as magic weapons!). If anyone carrying part of such treasure is slain, he must save vs poison or rise the next night as a drowned one.
• Breaking the curse: Either prevent victim from drowning with appropriate spells or cast a cure spell on him. After the victim has turned into a drowned one, only a remove curse spell will work. But the victim will still be dead.

Note: At night, the tides are rising and all hexes not occupied by hills will flood with salt water. Villages and towns constructed on those hexes lie in elevated areas or have been elevated.

Marsh Elves

In the Swamp of Dreadful Dreams and the Swamp of Submerged Secrets, the marsh elven tribes roam. Marsh elves look wizened, with flinty eyes and long gnarly legs & arms. There ears are large and pointed.

A marsh elven tribe usually consists of 10d10 people travelling in strang boat-like wagons with big spidery wheels. About 90% of a clan are 0-lvl individuals. 10% are marsh elves (as medium-sized halflings) of levels 1-10. The highest level individual will be the leader. There is a 50% chance that the clan has a marsh witch. The witch is a female of level 5+1d10 and casts spells as a magic-user of equal level. She usually has 1d3 apprentices of levels 1-6.

Clan Names: Use the tables below to create a two-part name. The table could conceivably be used to generate tribal or clan names for other species (orcs, gnolls, goblins, etc.)

First part (roll 1d10)
1 - Blood(y)
2 - Black
3 - Gray
4 - Rusted
5 - Gnawed
6 - Bleached
7 - Crimson
8 - Purple
9 - Rotted
10 - Ghostly

Second part (roll 1d10)
1 - Bones
2 - Skulls
3 - Teeth
4 - Eye
5 - Fingers
6 - Boots
7 - Gauntlets
8 - Swords
9 - Knives
10 - Wheels

Mermaids

Currently, I reading Death's Master (part of the aforementioned Tales from the Flat Earth). The hero Zhirem is currently captured in an undersea kingdom. That reminded me of my take on mermaids.

Mermaids are of course no gentle creatures. They are murderous monsters bend on drowning and devouring sailors and other unfortunate men. So lets build a mermaid. Again, I am going for the lower end of the hit dice spectrum. Merman are usually given 1 HD. But I find that a bit underwhelming. So lets settle for 3. Enough to be a more serious threat. Armor class is probably going to be 12. They are unarmored after all. Let's add one more point for higher dexterity. They will be very fast in water, but not so much on dry land... Morale will be above a snivelling creature (6) but below a courageous monster (9). So I am settling for an eight. Damage will be by sharp teeth or claws. Somewhere around d6. Of course they are able to breath water and air. Also, they can cast charm person at will (instead of an attack). But the spell will only work on males.

All in all, nothing special here. They want to drown and eat you, so better forget any romantic notions about live under the sea.

Mermaid: HD 3, AC 13, Speed: double that of a walking man in water, practically nil on land, Morale 8, Damage: d6, Able to breath in water and air, charm person at will, AL: Chaotic.

Vampiric, crimson etc. mist

Again, a monster that conjured my imagination when I read about it. There was a short passage in a play report where a magic-user cast a fireball at such a mist monster and it retreated. The actual stats disappointed again. Here is my take on the mist monster. Let's call it Mist of Betrayal for no particular reason than liking the sound of it.

The monster should be a challenge and withstand a fireball (at least theoretically). So it should have at least 6 hit dice. It's not particularly hard to hit, but all the various mists seem to be immune to anything less than a magic weapon +1. Let's keep that and intensify: the mist is immune to any weapon attack. But they are vulnerable to any sort of fire. If hit by magical fire they must make an immediate moral check or withdraw. The mist doesn't do conventional damage. It is deadly cold and sucks your life energy away. If you remain conscious, the betrayal will happen. A random member of the group is charmed to attack his comrades (save vs. magic; save can be repeated each round). Effects wear off, as soon as the group leaves the mist.

That's what my mist of betrayal looks like. It's more of a natural hazard than a monster. But still it can be "killed".

Mist of betrayal: HD 6, AC 14, Speed: half that of a walking human, Morale: 6, Damage: special (see below), Immune to all weapon attacks, vulnerable to fire (if attacked with magical fire must pass morale check or flee), AL: Chaotic

• Hard to perceive: Succeed at a bushcraft check to notice the mist before it solidifies.
• Cold, clamy mists: Save vs. poison each round inside the mist. On first failed save, you are knocked out. On second failed save, you die. If only knocked out, you regains consciousness one round after leaving the mist.
• Betrayal: A random party member who is not knocked out must save vs. magic or be charmed to attack his comrades. Save can be retried each round. Leaving the mist ends the effect.
• Leaving: Take a round to flee outside the mist. Do not attack during that round.

The Peryton

When I first saw an illustration of a peryton: half-eagle, half-deer, I found this very inspiring. But the actual monster stats aren't that interesting. It has 4 HD, an AC 7, a fly speed about twice as fast as a human, it is immune to normal weapons and gets +2 to hit due to sharp antlers. I also remember reading that they hate elves and harvest hearts from a freshly killed body. Strangely, their claws are sharp enough to tear a heart out and even carry some aloft, but too weak for fighting? Seriously?

Here is my take on the peryton: let's keep the HD, 4 is a nice challenge. AC 7 would equate to AC 13 in a straight conversion and proly AC 15 in Lotfp. Let's say they are tough and their AC equates to chainmail (AC 16). Then, since they are flying birds and have big flapping wings that will mostly likely disorient the combatants, I would give them AC 17. Tough critter. Since magic weapons aren't common in Lotfp, I would do away with the resistance to ordinary weapons. Rather, I would do it backwards: the peryton is vulnerable to magic. Magic attacks do twice their hit points in damage. That's also why they hate elves. Elves have magic. The get an attack bonus for sharp claws. That's also rather contra-productive in Lotfp, where magic armor is also rare. So rather than an attack bonus, let's have them do extra damage. They'll use their sharp claws, because using the antlers for anything more than mating games is impractical. The Monstrouos Manual gives their damage as 4-16 (4d4 I guess). A bit much... I'd scale that down to 2d4+2 giving an average of 7 damage and making them quite lethal.

The end result is a weaker peryton useable at lower levels, but one I feel will still be a challenge to the adventuring group.

Peryton: HD 4, AC 17, Speed: flighing twice as fast as a human, on the ground half as fast as humans, Morale: 9, Damage: 2d4+2, Vulnerable to magic (twice damage), AL: Chaotic

Tactics and special abilities: they will always attack elves first, because they just hate them. A peryton will not change the target of its attack, until either the target or itself is dead. As soon as they have slain an opponent, they will tear his heart out (obstacle to raise dead...), this will take one round during which they are vulnerable to attacks (AC reduced to 14). When they have the heart, they will end the attack and fly away.

Monsters!

Back when I was mostly reading about D&D instead of playing, certain monsters grabbed my imagination and they just sounded wonderful. Monsters like the peryton or some sort of vampiric mist. I imagined what kind of interesting abilities they might have and how an encounter with them would play out. Then I did my research and was very disappointed. Instead of cool abilities they just were big bad monsters. Big bad equated a lots of hit dice (more than any beginning group of players could hope to handle), being invulnerable to normal weapons, enjoying some sort of special to hit bonus and doing massive damage. In short: booooring!

Some articles of this blog will revisit the old monsters, try to spark the imagination and turn them into interesting monsters Lotfp style.