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Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead
- Thread starter Shade
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Shade
Monster Junkie
Updated.
So we're not giving racial bonuses to the ghoul skills to the victim?
Organization: Solitary?
Challenge Rating: 3?
Treasure: None (unless possessing a victim)?
Advancement: 6-12 HD (Medium)? (Most loumarae do not increase in size, but some exceed the usual double/triple base HD advancement)
So we're not giving racial bonuses to the ghoul skills to the victim?
Organization: Solitary?
Challenge Rating: 3?
Treasure: None (unless possessing a victim)?
Advancement: 6-12 HD (Medium)? (Most loumarae do not increase in size, but some exceed the usual double/triple base HD advancement)
freyar
Extradimensional Explorer
Your suggestions sound right.
As for skill bonuses to the victim, let's put in
Skills: A spirit-ghoul victim gains a +2 racial bonus to Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, and Spot checks. In addition, the spirit-ghoul victim may use the spirit-ghoul's skill ranks in place of its own for any skill check. A spirit-ghoul victim otherwise retains its own skills and ranks.
That look ok?
Also, for abilities, I'd like to go with
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +2, Dex +4. In addition, a spirit-ghoul victim uses the possessing spirit-ghoul's Int, Wis, and Cha.
As for skill bonuses to the victim, let's put in
Skills: A spirit-ghoul victim gains a +2 racial bonus to Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, and Spot checks. In addition, the spirit-ghoul victim may use the spirit-ghoul's skill ranks in place of its own for any skill check. A spirit-ghoul victim otherwise retains its own skills and ranks.
That look ok?
Also, for abilities, I'd like to go with
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +2, Dex +4. In addition, a spirit-ghoul victim uses the possessing spirit-ghoul's Int, Wis, and Cha.
Shade
Monster Junkie
BLACK ANNIS
FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 15”
HIT DICE: 11
% IN LAIR: 50%
TREASURE TYPE: I,X
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spells
SPECIAL DEFENCES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (10' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
HER CAT
FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 18”
HIT DICE: 9
% IN LAIR: 50%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-8/2-8/2-16
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENCES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
A monster related to ghouls is Black Annis. Her legend is part of the basis for the AD&D game monster annis (MM2). Black Annis is a man-eating hag with a blue face and iron claws. She is supposed to live in a cave in the Dane Hills in Leicestershire England. There was a great oak at the mouth of the cave in which she was said to hide; she would leap out from behind the oak to catch and devour travelers. The cave, which was called Black Annis. Bower Close, was supposed to have been dug out of the rock by her own nails.
On Easter Monday, it was the custom from early times to hold a drag-hunt from Annis. Bower to the Mayor of Leicester.s house. A drag-hunt is an overland hunt in which the hounds follow the scent of a dead animal that has been dragged over the ground to make a trail. The bait dragged was a dead cat drenched in aniseed. The bait was symbolically important; aniseed is associated with the second part of Black Annis’s name. Black Annis was also associated with a monstrous cat, a kind of pet or familiar. The drag-hunt custom died out at the end of the 18th century.
Ruth Tongue, in her Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English Counties, reproduced a tale about Black Annis the hag, as told by an evacuee from Leicester in December 1941. The description seems to show that the tradition of Black Annis was still alive as late as World War II. The hag was said to be “ever so tall and had a blue face and had long white teeth”. The hag ate people and only went out when it was dark. When Black Annis ground her teeth, people could hear her in time to bolt their doors. They kept well away from the windows, too, in case she reached inside and grabbed for villagers (which was why Leicestershine’s cottages lacked a lot of big windows). When Black Annis howled, people could hear her five miles away. Even the poor folk who lived in huts fastened skins across the windows and put witch-herbs above them to keep Black Annis away.
Black Annis personifies the spirit of death and fears of the wilderness. It seems likely that she was once a goddess-figure that had to be ritually propitiated. Perhaps she was the dark side of Anu (Dana), a Celtic mother goddess. If so, it shows the staying power of memories of horror. The good aspects of the mother goddess (fertility, rebirth, and the cycle of the seasons) have been forgotten, and only the evil aspects remain.
Black Annis is a man-eating hag with a blue face and iron claws. Her cat is a giant cat, larger than a sabre-tooth tiger, having blue-black fur. While sunlight does neither Black Annis nor her cat any real harm, both of them prefer darkness and are normally encountered at night or in deep caverns.
Black Annis has the following spells: darkness 15. radius, detect magic, dispel magic, clairaudience, clairvoyance, dig, confusion, and animate dead. Her cat has three attacks (claw/claw/bite); Black Annis has only one, which could be either a physical attack or a spell. Black Annis is sometimes encountered alone, but her cat will be encountered only if the hag is also present.
Because of her close association with death, Black Annis could be considered an undead spirit seeking living victims. If so, she would be in the “special” category regarding turning. But Black Annis does not have to be a type of undead—she could merely be an evil spirit haunting the night. The final choice whether or not to make her undead is left strictly to the DM.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #138 (1988).
FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 4
MOVE: 15”
HIT DICE: 11
% IN LAIR: 50%
TREASURE TYPE: I,X
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-12
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spells
SPECIAL DEFENCES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 50%
INTELLIGENCE: Exceptional
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L (10' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
HER CAT
FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 18”
HIT DICE: 9
% IN LAIR: 50%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-8/2-8/2-16
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENCES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
A monster related to ghouls is Black Annis. Her legend is part of the basis for the AD&D game monster annis (MM2). Black Annis is a man-eating hag with a blue face and iron claws. She is supposed to live in a cave in the Dane Hills in Leicestershire England. There was a great oak at the mouth of the cave in which she was said to hide; she would leap out from behind the oak to catch and devour travelers. The cave, which was called Black Annis. Bower Close, was supposed to have been dug out of the rock by her own nails.
On Easter Monday, it was the custom from early times to hold a drag-hunt from Annis. Bower to the Mayor of Leicester.s house. A drag-hunt is an overland hunt in which the hounds follow the scent of a dead animal that has been dragged over the ground to make a trail. The bait dragged was a dead cat drenched in aniseed. The bait was symbolically important; aniseed is associated with the second part of Black Annis’s name. Black Annis was also associated with a monstrous cat, a kind of pet or familiar. The drag-hunt custom died out at the end of the 18th century.
Ruth Tongue, in her Forgotten Folk-Tales of the English Counties, reproduced a tale about Black Annis the hag, as told by an evacuee from Leicester in December 1941. The description seems to show that the tradition of Black Annis was still alive as late as World War II. The hag was said to be “ever so tall and had a blue face and had long white teeth”. The hag ate people and only went out when it was dark. When Black Annis ground her teeth, people could hear her in time to bolt their doors. They kept well away from the windows, too, in case she reached inside and grabbed for villagers (which was why Leicestershine’s cottages lacked a lot of big windows). When Black Annis howled, people could hear her five miles away. Even the poor folk who lived in huts fastened skins across the windows and put witch-herbs above them to keep Black Annis away.
Black Annis personifies the spirit of death and fears of the wilderness. It seems likely that she was once a goddess-figure that had to be ritually propitiated. Perhaps she was the dark side of Anu (Dana), a Celtic mother goddess. If so, it shows the staying power of memories of horror. The good aspects of the mother goddess (fertility, rebirth, and the cycle of the seasons) have been forgotten, and only the evil aspects remain.
Black Annis is a man-eating hag with a blue face and iron claws. Her cat is a giant cat, larger than a sabre-tooth tiger, having blue-black fur. While sunlight does neither Black Annis nor her cat any real harm, both of them prefer darkness and are normally encountered at night or in deep caverns.
Black Annis has the following spells: darkness 15. radius, detect magic, dispel magic, clairaudience, clairvoyance, dig, confusion, and animate dead. Her cat has three attacks (claw/claw/bite); Black Annis has only one, which could be either a physical attack or a spell. Black Annis is sometimes encountered alone, but her cat will be encountered only if the hag is also present.
Because of her close association with death, Black Annis could be considered an undead spirit seeking living victims. If so, she would be in the “special” category regarding turning. But Black Annis does not have to be a type of undead—she could merely be an evil spirit haunting the night. The final choice whether or not to make her undead is left strictly to the DM.
Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #138 (1988).
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