For posting ideas and subtance on the variety of games I play and DM.
Monstrous Compendium Annuals 4e (ish)
Posted 7th October 2008 at 07:48 AM by Kamikaze Midget
I'm going through the old 2e Monster Manual Annuals and seeing what I can do to get some coolness into 4e monsters. I've got two "full monsters" in my signature, but there's others that I'd like to see the light of day that are just variants. I think I'm most proud of the "encounter seeds" for a lot of these, which, really, give you almost an entire night of gaming right there. I've got fancypants illustrated PDF versions, but this section on variants is a work in process. So, without further ado...
Abyss Ants
Abyss ants are similar in many ways to normal giant ants. They two feet long and have bulbous pink bodies. They originate in the demonic depths of the Abyss as elemental beasts, and their origin gives them particularly potent acidic bile – abyss ants deal +3 acid damage on their basic melee attack. They are Small sized and have only 44 hp.
They attack en masse, coordinated and clever, mobbing one victim before moving on to the next. They establish nests in the natural world, far away from their abyssal origin, and proceed to destroy and defoliate large swaths of land in their chittering, drooling, dissolving hunger.
Encounter Seed (Level 4): A colony of abyss ants was founded on the outskirts of a small farming village where the PC’s are staying. A local constable went to investigate and wound up agitating the nest, which is now marching for the center of down, killing everything in its way. In order to thwart this marching armada, the PC’s need to perform a daring raid on the abandoned nest where five soldier-ants remain. Inside, they can grab the queen (who is incapable of attacking), and the colony far away will be instantly alerted, coming back to attack the PC’s rather than the town. All the PC’s need to do now is find a place to ditch the queen. If they kill the queen instead, the abyss ants will not stop marching on them until they have been killed down to the last ant, and their colony is easily 300 ants strong.
Al-Jahar (Dazzle)
Al-jahar, known as dazzles, are fey creatures similar to the succubus, but without the affiliation with diabolic realms. They feed off of strong emotion, and so they seek to cause it. They share the statistics of the succubus, except that they are fey humanoids (shapechanger subtype).
Their kiss is also slightly altered. Rather than defending the al-jahar, the person affected by the kiss suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls that are not directed against their allies until they hit an ally.
Their natural form is that of a glimmering humanoid with large, gossamer wings, but they are usually found in their seductive humanoid guise. Their touch does not corrupt, but it shocks with primal energy. Their strategy revolves around getting allies to attack each other, and the tension that generates feeds them.
Encounter Seed (Level 9): An enemy of the PC’s discovers the inn that they frequent, and uses their fey connections to recruit a dazzle to cause trouble for them at the bar. The al-jahar enters the bar and, playing the flirt, kisses as many people as she can, causing rife jealousy and anger. If she can kiss a PC, all the better, but the PC’s will be busy also fighting off the other bar patrons, which include six level 9 minions (the town guard, using the Orc Warrior statistics) as well as the 30 or so level 1 minions (the regular bar patrons), all of whom are fairly innocent. The al-jahar herself has some defenders – two fey panthers who creep in during the chaos and watch for any PC’s that might attack the dazzle.
Baneguard
Baneguards are skeletons who possess some limited arcane power (typically, the ability to fire magic missiles and to blink in and out of reality). They have been given this power by their creators, cultists of gods of death and undeath, who employ them in their skeletal armies.
Baneguards are considered to be skeletons with the Wizard or Warlock class templates. They fight as programmed to fight – usually from a distance, launching their attacks behind the rank-and-file skeleton soldiers.
Encounter Seed (Level 3): There is a place known as the Wizard’s Graveyard that the PC’s must pass through. Here, a duo of baneguards (based on skeleton soldiers; a wizard and a warlock) have assembled other skeletons (two soldiers and two decrepit skeletons) and set up a mockery of an empire. As the PC’s pass through, they attack, and the party must crush this rather dilapidated kingdom.
Banelar
Banelar are a specific breed of dark naga, one that has become highly trained in the ways of spellcasting, and which has abandoned their role as protectors of prophecy. Rather, the banelar seek to change destiny and history to benefit themselves. It is in this way that they often intersect with PC’s, who are typically chosen by destiny in some respect. Banelar share all of the statistics of the dark naga, except that they also have the Cleric class template. They often learn Religion-based rituals such as Consult Oracle, which allow them to discern (and then pervert) destiny’s intent. They tend to be petty, jealous creatures with a fondness for gold and magic items. In combat, they basically resemble the Dark Naga, except that they likely have a handful of cleric powers to draw on as well.
Encounter Seed (Level 21): In a great temple devoted to a deity of light and goodly power, two banelar begin to preach blasphemies, killing those who oppose them. They call themselves the Two Trees, and their chanting can be heard reverberating through the city at night. They are up to something insidious, performing a great lost ritual to raise a giant mummy from beneath the temple. The giant mummy is the corpse of an ancient hero of this deity, and the banelar want to attract adventurers to the location to slay it, so that it cannot rise on the Day of Destiny at the End of Time. Once the mummy is slain, the banelar toy with the party fo a while before slinking away, laughing to themselves.
Abyss Ants
Abyss ants are similar in many ways to normal giant ants. They two feet long and have bulbous pink bodies. They originate in the demonic depths of the Abyss as elemental beasts, and their origin gives them particularly potent acidic bile – abyss ants deal +3 acid damage on their basic melee attack. They are Small sized and have only 44 hp.
They attack en masse, coordinated and clever, mobbing one victim before moving on to the next. They establish nests in the natural world, far away from their abyssal origin, and proceed to destroy and defoliate large swaths of land in their chittering, drooling, dissolving hunger.
Encounter Seed (Level 4): A colony of abyss ants was founded on the outskirts of a small farming village where the PC’s are staying. A local constable went to investigate and wound up agitating the nest, which is now marching for the center of down, killing everything in its way. In order to thwart this marching armada, the PC’s need to perform a daring raid on the abandoned nest where five soldier-ants remain. Inside, they can grab the queen (who is incapable of attacking), and the colony far away will be instantly alerted, coming back to attack the PC’s rather than the town. All the PC’s need to do now is find a place to ditch the queen. If they kill the queen instead, the abyss ants will not stop marching on them until they have been killed down to the last ant, and their colony is easily 300 ants strong.
Al-Jahar (Dazzle)
Al-jahar, known as dazzles, are fey creatures similar to the succubus, but without the affiliation with diabolic realms. They feed off of strong emotion, and so they seek to cause it. They share the statistics of the succubus, except that they are fey humanoids (shapechanger subtype).
Their kiss is also slightly altered. Rather than defending the al-jahar, the person affected by the kiss suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls that are not directed against their allies until they hit an ally.
Their natural form is that of a glimmering humanoid with large, gossamer wings, but they are usually found in their seductive humanoid guise. Their touch does not corrupt, but it shocks with primal energy. Their strategy revolves around getting allies to attack each other, and the tension that generates feeds them.
Encounter Seed (Level 9): An enemy of the PC’s discovers the inn that they frequent, and uses their fey connections to recruit a dazzle to cause trouble for them at the bar. The al-jahar enters the bar and, playing the flirt, kisses as many people as she can, causing rife jealousy and anger. If she can kiss a PC, all the better, but the PC’s will be busy also fighting off the other bar patrons, which include six level 9 minions (the town guard, using the Orc Warrior statistics) as well as the 30 or so level 1 minions (the regular bar patrons), all of whom are fairly innocent. The al-jahar herself has some defenders – two fey panthers who creep in during the chaos and watch for any PC’s that might attack the dazzle.
Baneguard
Baneguards are skeletons who possess some limited arcane power (typically, the ability to fire magic missiles and to blink in and out of reality). They have been given this power by their creators, cultists of gods of death and undeath, who employ them in their skeletal armies.
Baneguards are considered to be skeletons with the Wizard or Warlock class templates. They fight as programmed to fight – usually from a distance, launching their attacks behind the rank-and-file skeleton soldiers.
Encounter Seed (Level 3): There is a place known as the Wizard’s Graveyard that the PC’s must pass through. Here, a duo of baneguards (based on skeleton soldiers; a wizard and a warlock) have assembled other skeletons (two soldiers and two decrepit skeletons) and set up a mockery of an empire. As the PC’s pass through, they attack, and the party must crush this rather dilapidated kingdom.
Banelar
Banelar are a specific breed of dark naga, one that has become highly trained in the ways of spellcasting, and which has abandoned their role as protectors of prophecy. Rather, the banelar seek to change destiny and history to benefit themselves. It is in this way that they often intersect with PC’s, who are typically chosen by destiny in some respect. Banelar share all of the statistics of the dark naga, except that they also have the Cleric class template. They often learn Religion-based rituals such as Consult Oracle, which allow them to discern (and then pervert) destiny’s intent. They tend to be petty, jealous creatures with a fondness for gold and magic items. In combat, they basically resemble the Dark Naga, except that they likely have a handful of cleric powers to draw on as well.
Encounter Seed (Level 21): In a great temple devoted to a deity of light and goodly power, two banelar begin to preach blasphemies, killing those who oppose them. They call themselves the Two Trees, and their chanting can be heard reverberating through the city at night. They are up to something insidious, performing a great lost ritual to raise a giant mummy from beneath the temple. The giant mummy is the corpse of an ancient hero of this deity, and the banelar want to attract adventurers to the location to slay it, so that it cannot rise on the Day of Destiny at the End of Time. Once the mummy is slain, the banelar toy with the party fo a while before slinking away, laughing to themselves.
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