Cheiromancer
Adventurer
This is inexpensive collection of versions of monsters found in the Monster Manual but not in the SRD. The monsters fill roughly the same niche as their closed counterparts, but are creatively reimagined, not just rip-offs.
Iconic Bestiary: Classics of Fantasy is a nicely laid out and bookmarked PDF published by Lions Den Press. It is 28 pages long, and contains 23 pages of “crunch.” The document includes an illustrated cover by Beth Trott: a nice water color illustrating a Phrenic Scourge. Trott is also the artist of two half page sketches; one of the Ophidauns (showing all three castes) and the other of the Tunnel Brute. The page with the table of contents also has the license; all text is OGC. There's a one page introduction by the author, and a page of advertisements at the end.
Some of the monsters I liked better than others. Here are a few observations about each of the seven:
Ei’risai: The Ei’risai are analogues of the Slaad. While there are 5 different varieties of Ei’risai, they are not color coded; the traits of each Ei’risai is found by rolling on a number of tables, indicating what kind of head, limbs, etc. it has. It’s all rather reminiscent of hordlings, in fact. It would be a lot of work to stat out a group of the things (the one thing I don’t like about them), but luckily most of the variants don’t impact much on the combat stats. An Ei’risai with multiple eyes might have a -1 instead of a -2 on its AC when flanked, and an Ei’risai with horns might do piercing damage rather than bludgeoning damage; stuff like that. But a lazy DM can use the default stats without any problem. I do like the fact that their energy immunities are determined randomly; that’s one thing I would roll.
Evil Eye: The Evil Eye is a giant floating eye with a whip-like tail of “optic nerves” trailing from it. It has a gaze attack which can (and must) change from round to round. This gaze effect can be avoided by closing one’s eyes, and has a range of 150 feet. I kind of regret the loss of the ability to use telekinesis (though it can use its tail to manipulate things) or to disintegrate things. It also seems to me that its gaze effect would interfere with any minions it might have. But without minions it is virtually helpless against opponents who close their eyes. I think the Evil Eye needs a little more tinkering with.
Greymalkin: The Greymalkin is one of my favorites from the book. Instead of having a displacement effect, it generates a small number of mirror images (which are reset each round). It is normal in appearance, but I suppose it could be described as having multiple legs and tentacles if one wished.
Ophidaun: Snake people, ranging from almost human (though with scaly skin) to almost completely reptilian. They all have the at-will ability to implant ophibiophobia (fear of snakes) which could quickly become annoying to players. While affected you become panicked if there is a snake (or snakelike creature) within 20 feet, and can’t willingly get any closer. It could easily be changed to a (non-stacking) shaken condition. I can’t really do them justice in this brief sketch, except to say that their equipment, magical abilities and society are all elegantly and efficiently set out. They would make great villains in a campaign. Mind you, so would a number of other revisionings of this monster; snake people seem very popular.
Phrenic Scourge: Another great set of villains. They are all writhing tentacles; as much like the Worm-that-walks as a Mind Flayer. A phrenic scourge can implant larvae into a victim, who has 2-5 rounds to get a cure disease or die. Although I like the fact that grappling is not involved (I hate the grapple mechanic) I am not at all sure I like the way the implant attack is implemented. If implantation merely involves a tip of a tendril breaking off and becoming imbedded in the target, who cares whether or not the other tendril hit? Fast healing or regeneration prevents death (but does not expel the larva) which suggests that a cure light wounds should also delay death (the larva dies in 3-21 rounds if it doesn’t reach the brain first). Phrenic scourges are given a small number of psionic-flavored abilities (mind control and teleportation) but not the ability to disguise themselves. Well, with such an ability they could well be unstoppable, so perhaps it is for the best.
Scavenger Worm: This critter, which resembles a giant centipede, has a breath weapon that puts its targets to sleep. The sleep lasts only 2-9 rounds, which means that a victim is likely to wake up while it is being dragged away to be devoured. A Carrion Crawler in the same circumstance could use its tentacles on a helpless victim to ensure that the paralysis didn’t wear off; a Scavenger Worm, in contrast, can only spew its sleep poison once every 1d4 rounds. I don’t think it quite works.
Tunnel Brute: My only concern with this creature is that it is a giant rather than an aberration. It seems awfully weird to be a giant. It is an aura of despair (like the spell crushing despair, but nonmagical – it’s delivered by pheronomes) and a scorpion-like tail with a weak Dex poison (1d4/1d4 damage). I don’t like the confusion spell, so this monster strikes me as an improvement over the one in the Monster Manual.
I’ve left out a lot of important and interesting bits; I haven’t described what Phrenic Scourges use instead of a mind blast, nor have I talked about the backstory of the Ophidaun or the Evil Eye. But I hope that I’ve said enough to enable someone to make an informed decision about whether or not to buy it. There are a few things I might do differently, but on the whole this is an excellent revisioning of some quintessential D&D monsters.
Iconic Bestiary: Classics of Fantasy is a nicely laid out and bookmarked PDF published by Lions Den Press. It is 28 pages long, and contains 23 pages of “crunch.” The document includes an illustrated cover by Beth Trott: a nice water color illustrating a Phrenic Scourge. Trott is also the artist of two half page sketches; one of the Ophidauns (showing all three castes) and the other of the Tunnel Brute. The page with the table of contents also has the license; all text is OGC. There's a one page introduction by the author, and a page of advertisements at the end.
Some of the monsters I liked better than others. Here are a few observations about each of the seven:
Ei’risai: The Ei’risai are analogues of the Slaad. While there are 5 different varieties of Ei’risai, they are not color coded; the traits of each Ei’risai is found by rolling on a number of tables, indicating what kind of head, limbs, etc. it has. It’s all rather reminiscent of hordlings, in fact. It would be a lot of work to stat out a group of the things (the one thing I don’t like about them), but luckily most of the variants don’t impact much on the combat stats. An Ei’risai with multiple eyes might have a -1 instead of a -2 on its AC when flanked, and an Ei’risai with horns might do piercing damage rather than bludgeoning damage; stuff like that. But a lazy DM can use the default stats without any problem. I do like the fact that their energy immunities are determined randomly; that’s one thing I would roll.
Evil Eye: The Evil Eye is a giant floating eye with a whip-like tail of “optic nerves” trailing from it. It has a gaze attack which can (and must) change from round to round. This gaze effect can be avoided by closing one’s eyes, and has a range of 150 feet. I kind of regret the loss of the ability to use telekinesis (though it can use its tail to manipulate things) or to disintegrate things. It also seems to me that its gaze effect would interfere with any minions it might have. But without minions it is virtually helpless against opponents who close their eyes. I think the Evil Eye needs a little more tinkering with.
Greymalkin: The Greymalkin is one of my favorites from the book. Instead of having a displacement effect, it generates a small number of mirror images (which are reset each round). It is normal in appearance, but I suppose it could be described as having multiple legs and tentacles if one wished.
Ophidaun: Snake people, ranging from almost human (though with scaly skin) to almost completely reptilian. They all have the at-will ability to implant ophibiophobia (fear of snakes) which could quickly become annoying to players. While affected you become panicked if there is a snake (or snakelike creature) within 20 feet, and can’t willingly get any closer. It could easily be changed to a (non-stacking) shaken condition. I can’t really do them justice in this brief sketch, except to say that their equipment, magical abilities and society are all elegantly and efficiently set out. They would make great villains in a campaign. Mind you, so would a number of other revisionings of this monster; snake people seem very popular.
Phrenic Scourge: Another great set of villains. They are all writhing tentacles; as much like the Worm-that-walks as a Mind Flayer. A phrenic scourge can implant larvae into a victim, who has 2-5 rounds to get a cure disease or die. Although I like the fact that grappling is not involved (I hate the grapple mechanic) I am not at all sure I like the way the implant attack is implemented. If implantation merely involves a tip of a tendril breaking off and becoming imbedded in the target, who cares whether or not the other tendril hit? Fast healing or regeneration prevents death (but does not expel the larva) which suggests that a cure light wounds should also delay death (the larva dies in 3-21 rounds if it doesn’t reach the brain first). Phrenic scourges are given a small number of psionic-flavored abilities (mind control and teleportation) but not the ability to disguise themselves. Well, with such an ability they could well be unstoppable, so perhaps it is for the best.
Scavenger Worm: This critter, which resembles a giant centipede, has a breath weapon that puts its targets to sleep. The sleep lasts only 2-9 rounds, which means that a victim is likely to wake up while it is being dragged away to be devoured. A Carrion Crawler in the same circumstance could use its tentacles on a helpless victim to ensure that the paralysis didn’t wear off; a Scavenger Worm, in contrast, can only spew its sleep poison once every 1d4 rounds. I don’t think it quite works.
Tunnel Brute: My only concern with this creature is that it is a giant rather than an aberration. It seems awfully weird to be a giant. It is an aura of despair (like the spell crushing despair, but nonmagical – it’s delivered by pheronomes) and a scorpion-like tail with a weak Dex poison (1d4/1d4 damage). I don’t like the confusion spell, so this monster strikes me as an improvement over the one in the Monster Manual.
I’ve left out a lot of important and interesting bits; I haven’t described what Phrenic Scourges use instead of a mind blast, nor have I talked about the backstory of the Ophidaun or the Evil Eye. But I hope that I’ve said enough to enable someone to make an informed decision about whether or not to buy it. There are a few things I might do differently, but on the whole this is an excellent revisioning of some quintessential D&D monsters.
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