Unique Monster Trait Tables

[Quickleaf]

I'd be very happy if someone playtests this to check how useful it is.

Actually I think you should write a DUNGEON article. Your charts would be a great resource to freshen up classic monsters now that 4e is mature. I really encourage you to go for it, don't pay any heed to naysaying. After all, AEG's Ultimate Toolbox is a book of entirely random tables and it's received very high reviews. I think you've got a great idea, and regardless whether this sort of thing gets into a monster book it would make a splendid DUNGEON article. Submissions open April 1st.

 

[Dog Moon]

Because the guy who wrote the list wrote down the first 15-20 things that came to his mind, crossed a few out and posted the rest.

As I said, it's not exhaustive or representative of all possible Orc encounters, it's just some random ideas that would make fighting an orc more memorable. You might as well argue that 44.4% of the population of Middle Earth are hobbits because of their prevalence in the Fellowship.


Gruumsh

It occurred to me while I was in the middle of writing that particular situation was bad because of Gruumsh, but I was totally on a roll there and wanted to finish.

I do like the charts though and their idea. I would totally help make some, but I never have enough time to do stuff like that. Which is exactly why I appreciate others doing the work for me.

 

[mkill]

Rust Monster

1d8
1 Wounded: Has an arrow sticking in its back
2 Black-scaled mutation [+4 Stealth]
3 Gourmet: prefers gold and silver over iron
4 Dog-like: Tries to adopt adventurer as new owner
5 Mother: Accompanied by 1d4 (harmless) children
6 Hungry and desperate: Attacks and feeds fearlessly
7 Burrowing: Hides in pool of sand
8 Afraid of magic: flees at first sign of spellcasting

Beholder

d12
1 Artist: Tries to petrify victims in interesting poses, keeps statues
2 Schemer: Built a network of agents to become a power behind the throne
3 Megalomaniac: Considers himself destinied to rule the world
4 Collector: Keeps a collection of wondrous artifacts and likes to trade
5 Dungeonmaster: Treats adventurers as lab rats
6 Philosopher: Ponders greater questions of the universe, uninterested in worldly matters
7 Prophet: Styled himself as a religious leader and is worshipped by lesser creatures
8 Destroyer: Enjoy to spread fear and disintegrate things with his eye ray
9 Gatekeeper: Was granted immortality to guard the passage to an ancient sacred place
10 Paranoid: Built a stronghold out of fear other beholders are out to get him
11 Plane Traveller: Wants to explore exotic worlds, despite the difficulties for his race
12 Loyal Servant: serves an even more powerful being, such as a demon lord

 

[El Mahdi]

...my suggestion is to include a small table for unique traits with each monster entry, so DMs can customize opponents on the fly.

The tables sound like they would make an awesome 3pp supplement for any edition of D&D (not just 5E), or any fantasy game period.

You should work on making it a pdf and selling it at RPGNow.com.

But a once-off large chart in the MM for creatures would be nice

Yeah. That would be very cool and very useful.

You don't want every orc war band to inc the 'guy with the eyepatch'.

Why not?

Because then they'd no longer be unique or identifiable...

...good DMs will give each opponent a trait that will make them unique and identifiable.

There may be some good DM's doing this, but doing this doesn't necessarily make one a good DM, just as not doing this doesn't make one a not-good DM... I'm assuming it wasn't your intention to imply that DM's aren't good if they don't do this.

Perhaps saying "This will provide DM's an easy option for giving opponents a trait that will make them more unique and identifiable.", would have been more accurate and less...problematic.

Banned for a month on RPG.net for being funny.

Being proud of being banned is not a good thing, and airing one's differences with other sites is generally frowned upon here.

Things like this tend to not impress ENWorlders very much, and more likely will have the opposite effect...especially with the Mods.

 

[KidSnide]

The idea of giving monsters identifying traits is a good one, but the implementation needs to differ from monster to monster.

For a creature like a beholder or a gelatinous cube, you are rarely going to meet more than one at a time. So, the identifying trait is more about "how is this monster unique" than "how do I tell beholder #1 from beholder #14." (If you typically run encounters with 14+ beholders, you're playing D&D very differently from how I play...)

For unique individuals, a little implied backstory or some unique abilities can be pretty cool. It's also less likely that a DM would ever roll on a table. Rather, it's more about picking the flavor that best matches the existing situation. Also, these monsters don't show up that often, so you don't need more than a few suggestions. 3-5 suggestions would be more than enough for most DMs.

For a creature like an orc, the objective is the one originally noted - telling the orcs apart. Here, a table of 12 entries isn't actually all that useful because a campaign could involve fighting hundreds of orcs and it would be really odd to have dozens each with a missing eye. Of course you could explain that by giving the tribe an eyepatch fettish, but then your random table is more or less going off the reservation adding weird details to your game world.

For humanoids, what you want is a software tool that prepares an encounter sheet with the monster stat block and a listing of individuals with their identifying traits and a place to track hp. That tool is going to want a much longer (and well weighted) list of characteristics and the ability to modify that list depending on the type of humanoid. I would probably want to adjust the trait table based on characteristics like (1) the environment the humanoids (or humans!) live in, (2) the race of the humanoids and maybe (3) the savageness of this particular tribe. You might also include on/off settings like whether the tribe is particularly religious, militeristic, superstitious, cult-like or whatever.

-KS

 

[Tortoise]

. . . random roll tables take up a lot of space and you've got to have high standards for what to include in a book that is expected to serve as a reference work for 5-10 years. If it something gimmicky that people use once or twice and then ignore, that's good enough for a spitball blog post but not good enough for the MM.

Rolling on a table is a rule, and must be tested for usefulness before stuffing it into the game, like any other rule. You don't get to just toss in random appearance tables any more than you get to toss in optional combat rules that pop into your head.

You seem to be unaware that the vast majority of random roll tables posted in OSR blogs are not actually used by anyone. People just like to look at them. They're decorative.

Since random tables can take up a bunch of space then the best thing would be to show examples and explain how DMs can create their own.

Rolling on a table doesn't have to be a rule, it can and should be an option. And yes, if you want things in your game and the players are amenable to it, you do get to just toss them into your game.

Random tables posted in OSR blogs are thought excersizes which can spark ideas, and are offered up for entertainment or use of the readers. It's not a bug, it's a feature.

 

[mkill]

Iron Golem

d12
1 Rusty: Squeaks when moving [no Stealth, Initiative -5]
2 Pyromaniac maker [breath weapon does fire damage]
3 Glowing runes: covered in runes that light up when it performs certain maneuvers
4 Blend in: Appears as humanoid in plate armor. Can shrink to medium size.
5 Chaotic Enchantment [Instead of immunity, reflects spells to random direction]
6 Decorational: Gold-plated, adorned with gems
7 Worker: simplistic design, larger hands [+10 Str when lifting]
8 Failing Magic [Unable to act for 1 turn if it rolls natural 1 on d20]
9 Talking: Keeps repeating warnings in a robotic voice
10 Hidden weapons: grows blades from arms [piercing damage]
11 Pacifist programming: Will disarm or knockout if possible
12 Demonic possession: eerie, pulsating red glow; nasty, traitorous temper