ThursdAD&D: Grens
Today I fight back against a nagging headache that I caught in time before it went migraine on me while offering for your consideration another AD&D conversion of a Gamma World mutant. (Nota Bene: The Gamma World link is an affiliate link. If you click it and buy the book, I get a bit of money.) I’ve already done this with fens, arks, and badders.
Today I bring to you the reclusive, peace-loving grens. To quote their entry in Gamma World: “Grens appear to be completely normal Pure Strain Humans…except for their deep green skin! They are intelligent and live secluded lives in harmony with nature. They inhabit only deep forests, where they cannot be seen or sensed by any creature until they reveal themselves.”
Translating grens to AD&D requires a bit of poetic license. Grens have 20 Hit Dice in Gamma World, which corresponds to a Constitution of 20 in terms of ability scores. Since I don’t want secluded forests full of 20-HD, green-skinned humanoids, I decided on the following:
Gren
Frequency: Very rare
No. Appearing: 15-150
Armor Class: 9 (or better for leader types)
Move: 12″
Hit Dice: 1+2
% in Lair: 40%
Treasure Type: Individuals K; A in lair
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: By weapon type
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Mean: very to highly
Alignment: Neutral good
Size: M
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
Level/XP Value: II/28 + 2/hp
In their forest homes, grens are invisible and inaudible unless a gren chooses otherwise or attacks. For every 30 grens encountered, there will be an additional 2nd-level ranger. For every 40 grens, there will be a 3rd-level ranger, and for every 50 grens there will be a 4th-level ranger. Grens will be led by a druid of 5th, 6th, or 7th level — 5th if under 60 in the party, 6th if under 125, or 7th if more than 125. The leader will have 2 assistant druids of 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level as a personal bodyguard. All these characters are in addition to the number of grens indicated by the dice.
For every 50 grens encountered, there is a 15% chance that there will be an illusionist of 5th or 6th level, accompanied by two assistants of 1st or 2nd level in addition to the other members of the group. If more than 100 grens are encountered, the illusionist will be of the higher possible level.
Grens are semi-nomadic, and they build simple villages from native materials. In their lair, there will be females equal to 200% of the males and children equal to 100% of their number. Females are equal to males, but have 1 Hit Die. Children are noncombatants. For every 50 females, there is a 15% chance there will be a female fighter of 3rd to 5th level who is imbued with great determination and skill. She adds 1 to her hit probability and damage dice, and she never checks morale. These warrior women command great respect within gren communities.
Grens shun combat. Most grens use simple weapons and shields for defense. Leader types will be better armed and armored. Grens speak their own language, a strange mixture of Common and the elvish tongue.
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