Shade
Monster Junkie
Lesser Colossus
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVE: 12”
HIT DICE: 11 (50 hp)
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3-18
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (11' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Greater Colossus
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVE: 18”
HIT DICE: 33 (150 hp)
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 10-60
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L ( 33' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
In a story entitled "The Colossus of Ylourgne" by Clark Ashton Smith, the evil Nathaire created a terrifying giant undead creature. "The Colossus of Ylourgne" was first published in the magazine Weird Tales (June, 1934) and has since been published in hardback and paperback as part of the collection of stories entitled Genius Loci and Other Tales.
Nathaire was a powerful alchemist, astrologer, and necromancer. Working with his 10 students, he robbed a graveyard of all its corpses. In a kind of magical assembly-line, the corpses were stripped of all clothing, then the flesh and bones were separated into separate vats and rendered down to a pliable mass. All the bones were then reshaped and rehardened to form a huge skeleton. Finally, the skeleton was once again fleshed out. The separate ingredients were thus used to create a giant zombie. Along similar lines, the lesser and greater colossus herein may be added to the AD&D game.
A colossus is essentially a giant zombie magically made from many corpses. A lesser colossus is about 11' tall (between the size of a hill giant and a stone giant). A greater colossus is an amazing 33' tall (larger than the largest titan). Either one can rip up a whole tree to use as a club, doing double-normal damage. Otherwise, colossi use only their massive fists.
Colossi have the same invulnerabilities to magic and cold as do normal zombies, and they always lose initiative from their slowness. Holy water does 2-8 hp damage to them. A cleric has the same chance to turn a lesser colossus as he would a mummy. The greater colossus is in the "special" category regarding turning it away by a cleric.
Note that the actual Colossus of Ylourgne and many other monsters and characters created by Clark Ashton Smith appear in the section on Averoigne, which is part of the D&D module X2 Castle Amber (Chateau d'Amberville). While most sections of that module were completely made-up, the Averoigne section was based on the Averoigne stories of Clark Ashton Smith and was written with the express permission of the Clark Ashton Smith estate.
A skeletal version of this monster, the bone colossus, appears in the AD&D module GDQ 1-7 Queen of the Spiders, page 111. This colossus even regenerates its wounds!
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #138 (1988).
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-2
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVE: 12”
HIT DICE: 11 (50 hp)
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3-18
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (11' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Greater Colossus
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVE: 18”
HIT DICE: 33 (150 hp)
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 10-60
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Non-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L ( 33' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
In a story entitled "The Colossus of Ylourgne" by Clark Ashton Smith, the evil Nathaire created a terrifying giant undead creature. "The Colossus of Ylourgne" was first published in the magazine Weird Tales (June, 1934) and has since been published in hardback and paperback as part of the collection of stories entitled Genius Loci and Other Tales.
Nathaire was a powerful alchemist, astrologer, and necromancer. Working with his 10 students, he robbed a graveyard of all its corpses. In a kind of magical assembly-line, the corpses were stripped of all clothing, then the flesh and bones were separated into separate vats and rendered down to a pliable mass. All the bones were then reshaped and rehardened to form a huge skeleton. Finally, the skeleton was once again fleshed out. The separate ingredients were thus used to create a giant zombie. Along similar lines, the lesser and greater colossus herein may be added to the AD&D game.
A colossus is essentially a giant zombie magically made from many corpses. A lesser colossus is about 11' tall (between the size of a hill giant and a stone giant). A greater colossus is an amazing 33' tall (larger than the largest titan). Either one can rip up a whole tree to use as a club, doing double-normal damage. Otherwise, colossi use only their massive fists.
Colossi have the same invulnerabilities to magic and cold as do normal zombies, and they always lose initiative from their slowness. Holy water does 2-8 hp damage to them. A cleric has the same chance to turn a lesser colossus as he would a mummy. The greater colossus is in the "special" category regarding turning it away by a cleric.
Note that the actual Colossus of Ylourgne and many other monsters and characters created by Clark Ashton Smith appear in the section on Averoigne, which is part of the D&D module X2 Castle Amber (Chateau d'Amberville). While most sections of that module were completely made-up, the Averoigne section was based on the Averoigne stories of Clark Ashton Smith and was written with the express permission of the Clark Ashton Smith estate.
A skeletal version of this monster, the bone colossus, appears in the AD&D module GDQ 1-7 Queen of the Spiders, page 111. This colossus even regenerates its wounds!
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #138 (1988).
