Cleon
Legend
GURGOTCH
by Roger Musson
Originally appeared in White Dwarf #14 (“Fiend Factory” edited by Don Turnbull, August/September 1979).
by Roger Musson
| No. appearing: | 1-2 |
| Armour class: | 1 |
| Movement: | 12” |
| Hit Dice: | 8D8+3 |
| Treasure: | F |
| Attack: | 2 tusks (1-10 each), charge (4-40), trunk (special) and breath weapon (special) |
| Alignment: | Chaotic evil |
| Intelligence: | average |
| Magic resistance: | 50% |
The Gurgotch, or Demon Elephant, is another of the infernal forces once conjured forth to do war against the forces of Good; the remnants now wander the Earth, seeking the depths from which they originated.
In form the beast resembles a large black elephant with big saucer-like glowing white eyes and a tail resembling a trident.
Its usual mode of attack is with its tusks which are set about 6′ apart and with its trunk, with which it lifts its opponent (assuming it has scored a hit) and either drops them off a handy precipice or throws them to the ground with twice the force of a normal fall. Its initial charge against a group of adventurers delivers 4-40 points of damage (by trampling its foes underfoot) to each victim who fails to ‘save against his dexterity’.
It has one other deadly weapon — its breath. In place of an ordinary tongue, the Gurgotch has a great trumpet-like funnel from which it exhales a noxious gas which acts on the central nervous system of a victim. All caught in the cloud must ‘save against constitution’ or lose all conscious muscular control from the neck downwards (in effect, they are paralysed); they also lose 4 points of dexterity and 2 points each of strength and constitution. Those making their saving roll are not paralysed but still suffer the effects of the loss of characteristic points. In either case the loss of characteristic points is permanent unless a bless and cure disease are cast, in that order and one immediately after the other, on the victim within a week (of course a paralysed victim will have had to have the paralysis removed first).
Comments: More suitable to a wilderness encounter than a dungeon, though in a restricted space its charge will be even more effective. A lot of decisions for the DM to make here — how many in the group of victims would be ‘caught’ in the charge? Can the tusks skewer two different victims at the same time (after all, it’s had plenty of practice)? What range and area of effect has the breath weapon?
In case the concept of ‘saving against a characteristic’ is not familiar, let me briefly explain (though I think many DMs use this in one form or another). Quite often there arise circumstances in which the character’s ability to avoid a certain action should be related to one of his characteristics (for instance his ability to avoid a charge will be a function of his dexterity, his chance of taking a sensible course of action in confusing circumstances will be related to his intelligence, and so on). In such cases DMs often resolve the problem by asking the character to roll under his characteristic score, his action succeeding if he does so and failing if he doesn’t. Thus if a character with a dexterity of 15 stood a chance of avoiding the charge of a Gurgotch, the DM might ask him to roll 3D6 (2D6 if he wants to make it easier — in this case certain — or 4D6 if the DM thinks the chances are rather small). If the character rolls 5+3+2=10 he has ‘saved’ and has avoided the charge; if he rolls a 17, he gets trampled. This is a useful way of testing any particular ability, and also useful in dealing with non-player-characters if there is any doubt about the actions they would take, the advice they would give and so forth.
In form the beast resembles a large black elephant with big saucer-like glowing white eyes and a tail resembling a trident.
Its usual mode of attack is with its tusks which are set about 6′ apart and with its trunk, with which it lifts its opponent (assuming it has scored a hit) and either drops them off a handy precipice or throws them to the ground with twice the force of a normal fall. Its initial charge against a group of adventurers delivers 4-40 points of damage (by trampling its foes underfoot) to each victim who fails to ‘save against his dexterity’.
It has one other deadly weapon — its breath. In place of an ordinary tongue, the Gurgotch has a great trumpet-like funnel from which it exhales a noxious gas which acts on the central nervous system of a victim. All caught in the cloud must ‘save against constitution’ or lose all conscious muscular control from the neck downwards (in effect, they are paralysed); they also lose 4 points of dexterity and 2 points each of strength and constitution. Those making their saving roll are not paralysed but still suffer the effects of the loss of characteristic points. In either case the loss of characteristic points is permanent unless a bless and cure disease are cast, in that order and one immediately after the other, on the victim within a week (of course a paralysed victim will have had to have the paralysis removed first).
Comments: More suitable to a wilderness encounter than a dungeon, though in a restricted space its charge will be even more effective. A lot of decisions for the DM to make here — how many in the group of victims would be ‘caught’ in the charge? Can the tusks skewer two different victims at the same time (after all, it’s had plenty of practice)? What range and area of effect has the breath weapon?
In case the concept of ‘saving against a characteristic’ is not familiar, let me briefly explain (though I think many DMs use this in one form or another). Quite often there arise circumstances in which the character’s ability to avoid a certain action should be related to one of his characteristics (for instance his ability to avoid a charge will be a function of his dexterity, his chance of taking a sensible course of action in confusing circumstances will be related to his intelligence, and so on). In such cases DMs often resolve the problem by asking the character to roll under his characteristic score, his action succeeding if he does so and failing if he doesn’t. Thus if a character with a dexterity of 15 stood a chance of avoiding the charge of a Gurgotch, the DM might ask him to roll 3D6 (2D6 if he wants to make it easier — in this case certain — or 4D6 if the DM thinks the chances are rather small). If the character rolls 5+3+2=10 he has ‘saved’ and has avoided the charge; if he rolls a 17, he gets trampled. This is a useful way of testing any particular ability, and also useful in dealing with non-player-characters if there is any doubt about the actions they would take, the advice they would give and so forth.
Originally appeared in White Dwarf #14 (“Fiend Factory” edited by Don Turnbull, August/September 1979).
