I need coldweather monsters!
- Thread starter Tomalak
- Start date
I'm running a campaign right now in an Ice Age setting, with a number of homebrewed monsters; I'll go through my adventure notes from the low levels tonight and see what I can rustle up for you. I know I made up stats for a saber-toothed tiger, and there might be a couple others.
From the standard MM monsters, wolves (grey and dire) are of course the top pick - nothing says "arctic setting" quite like fighting a bunch of huge white wolves in the snow. The cave bear also works very well with a coat of white paint.
In addition to regular monsters, give some thought to incorporating natural hazards into your encounters. In an arctic setting, the world itself is a dangerous foe not to be underestimated, particularly for a low-level party. Here are some things I've either used or thought about using:
Battle during a snowstorm. The PCs are hunkered down in a small sheltered area; outside that area, the deep snow is difficult terrain (which the monsters ignore) and falling snow reduces visibility to 5 squares. Use skirmisher monsters that can attack and then fade back out into the snow - great place for wolves.
Battle on a snowfield, with crevasses hidden under the snow. PCs who step on the wrong squares fall in, taking 1d10, 2d10, or 3d10 falling damage depending on depth. Ridges of bare rock provide safe zones, but severely limit mobility for PCs not willing to move off them.
Battle on an ice-choked river during a thaw. The PCs and their opponents fight across moving ice floes that go at different speeds (for realism, they should go faster in the middle of the river and slower at the edges). If any of your players grew up in the '80s, be prepared for "Frogger" jokes.
Battle in a snowy forest. The forest is choked with deep snowdrifts. Snowdrifts are extremely difficult terrain; it takes 3 extra points of movement to move through them, and anyone subjected to forced movement in a snowdrift falls prone. Use with monsters that have push or slide abilities.
PCs can climb trees, and a PC who is in a tree can shake the branches and dump snow on a foe beneath. This is an area burst attack targeting Reflex, usable as a standard action. On a hit, the target is knocked prone and blinded until the end of the PC's next turn. Once this attack is made, that tree's branches are cleared of snow; if the PC wants to do it again, s/he must move to a different tree.
Skill challenge: Trek across the frozen wastes. At the end of each day, each character must make an Endurance check or lose a healing surge. Any character who is out of surges loses hit points equal to his or her surge value instead. Anyone reduced to zero hit points by this effect freezes to death in the night. Surges and hit points lost in this way are not recovered until the PCs are able to take an extended rest someplace warm.
In addition, each PC can attempt one additional skill check per day:
For best results, include one or two combat encounters during the journey, to break up the monotony of constant skill checks.
From the standard MM monsters, wolves (grey and dire) are of course the top pick - nothing says "arctic setting" quite like fighting a bunch of huge white wolves in the snow. The cave bear also works very well with a coat of white paint.
In addition to regular monsters, give some thought to incorporating natural hazards into your encounters. In an arctic setting, the world itself is a dangerous foe not to be underestimated, particularly for a low-level party. Here are some things I've either used or thought about using:
Battle during a snowstorm. The PCs are hunkered down in a small sheltered area; outside that area, the deep snow is difficult terrain (which the monsters ignore) and falling snow reduces visibility to 5 squares. Use skirmisher monsters that can attack and then fade back out into the snow - great place for wolves.
Battle on a snowfield, with crevasses hidden under the snow. PCs who step on the wrong squares fall in, taking 1d10, 2d10, or 3d10 falling damage depending on depth. Ridges of bare rock provide safe zones, but severely limit mobility for PCs not willing to move off them.
Battle on an ice-choked river during a thaw. The PCs and their opponents fight across moving ice floes that go at different speeds (for realism, they should go faster in the middle of the river and slower at the edges). If any of your players grew up in the '80s, be prepared for "Frogger" jokes.
Battle in a snowy forest. The forest is choked with deep snowdrifts. Snowdrifts are extremely difficult terrain; it takes 3 extra points of movement to move through them, and anyone subjected to forced movement in a snowdrift falls prone. Use with monsters that have push or slide abilities.
PCs can climb trees, and a PC who is in a tree can shake the branches and dump snow on a foe beneath. This is an area burst attack targeting Reflex, usable as a standard action. On a hit, the target is knocked prone and blinded until the end of the PC's next turn. Once this attack is made, that tree's branches are cleared of snow; if the PC wants to do it again, s/he must move to a different tree.
Skill challenge: Trek across the frozen wastes. At the end of each day, each character must make an Endurance check or lose a healing surge. Any character who is out of surges loses hit points equal to his or her surge value instead. Anyone reduced to zero hit points by this effect freezes to death in the night. Surges and hit points lost in this way are not recovered until the PCs are able to take an extended rest someplace warm.
In addition, each PC can attempt one additional skill check per day:
- Perception: Find a sheltered place to camp (+2 to everyone's Endurance checks for that day).
- Nature: Help the party make better time (add one-third to the distance covered that day).
- Athletics: Break trail for the rest of the party (+2 to everyone else's Endurance and Nature checks for that day).
- Healing: Help a weakened companion survive the cold (+6 to one other PC's Endurance check for that day).
For best results, include one or two combat encounters during the journey, to break up the monotony of constant skill checks.
Last edited:
ExploderWizard
Hero
the Jester
Legend
That ape is just screaming to be converted into a yeti.
You gotta have yetis!
Well, here are my yeti, but they start at 9th level.
It would be easy enough to de-level one, though!
Not level appropriate, but I just came across this awesome image on the Wizards site. Rip off of an old Elmore composition, but awesome just the same.
http://images.onesite.com/community.wizards.com/wallpapers/wallpaper_04-1280.jpg
http://images.onesite.com/community.wizards.com/wallpapers/wallpaper_04-1280.jpg
Last edited:
FWIW, here is the Elmore image I was thinking of.
http://www.larryelmore.com/images/paintings/elmore_p056al.jpg
http://www.larryelmore.com/images/paintings/elmore_p056al.jpg
benjamin
Explorer
Put a Lich in a parker!
Benjamin
PS Sorry, failed my willsave.
**************************************
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Benjamin
PS Sorry, failed my willsave.
**************************************
Want incredibly atmospheric background
soundscapes for your gaming table?
Go to: www.syrinscape.com
Download for free!
See a program demo, and listen to mp3s
of Syrinscape in action.
**************************************
Tomalak
First Post
Sorry it took me to get around to it. Here's the adventure I made:
download | ifile.it
There's some issues with it, which I will sum up as best I recall:
* Most social interaction is left up to the DM's imagination, as I knew what I wanted to do, and didn't bother writing it down.
* The main battle has no set numbers of monsters, and thus is supremely flexible. The monsters' stats are there, though.
* The encounter with the Gibberlings is WAY too hard. I didn't really read their stats when I put them in, I just remembered old-school gibberlings and thought how cool it would be to use them. Those buggers are nasty!
* There's no battle maps, so you'll have to use your imagination.
* It's possible to get through the entire adventure without combat, if the players happen to get lucky and avoid the combat-only encounters, and if they choose not to fight the either-ors.
Some final notes on running the adventure:
Frost goblins are (in this adventure) incredibly isolationist. Their 'territory' is from the river to the road, and they zealously guard it. The neighboring villages don't know about the frost goblins, and the goblins like it that way. Boulder the cleric used the frozen river as a shortcut, and offended the goblins, who captured him and are deciding what to do about him.
The sailors lost their captain in a skirmish with goblins (or to the cold - take your pick). They have decided this place is cursed, and their only hope is to get out quickly. They are, however, lost in the forest. If the players give the sailors the way out without convincing them to wait, the sailors will make sail as soon as they get to the ship, as the offshore storm has played out by then. (note: This is bad, because of PLAGUE).
Anyway, best wishes to anyone who wants to use this in their own games!
download | ifile.it
There's some issues with it, which I will sum up as best I recall:
* Most social interaction is left up to the DM's imagination, as I knew what I wanted to do, and didn't bother writing it down.
* The main battle has no set numbers of monsters, and thus is supremely flexible. The monsters' stats are there, though.
* The encounter with the Gibberlings is WAY too hard. I didn't really read their stats when I put them in, I just remembered old-school gibberlings and thought how cool it would be to use them. Those buggers are nasty!
* There's no battle maps, so you'll have to use your imagination.
* It's possible to get through the entire adventure without combat, if the players happen to get lucky and avoid the combat-only encounters, and if they choose not to fight the either-ors.
Some final notes on running the adventure:
Frost goblins are (in this adventure) incredibly isolationist. Their 'territory' is from the river to the road, and they zealously guard it. The neighboring villages don't know about the frost goblins, and the goblins like it that way. Boulder the cleric used the frozen river as a shortcut, and offended the goblins, who captured him and are deciding what to do about him.
The sailors lost their captain in a skirmish with goblins (or to the cold - take your pick). They have decided this place is cursed, and their only hope is to get out quickly. They are, however, lost in the forest. If the players give the sailors the way out without convincing them to wait, the sailors will make sail as soon as they get to the ship, as the offshore storm has played out by then. (note: This is bad, because of PLAGUE).
Anyway, best wishes to anyone who wants to use this in their own games!
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