Spes Magna Games

Let’s take some undead monsters from the 1989 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WHF) and adapt them to Castles and Crusades, to include WHF’s idea that undead are subject to instability.

Undead Instability: Undead do not belong on the Material Plane. Some of whatever gives unlife to what should be a dead thing comes from another plane of existence. Undead might be subject to instability. This is common with uncontrolled undead who venture outside of desecrated or unholy places. Undead directly controlled by a necromancer or similarly powerful master may also avoid instability. Otherwise, check for instability by rolling 1d8 when an undead creature:

• Is reduced to half or fewer hit points.
• Fails a saving throw versus a magical effect.
• Is affected by a turn undead attempt.
• Enters a consecrated or holy region.

1-2: The source of the undead’s power and the Material Plane separate. The undead becomes incorporeal and can longer use any of its physical attacks. Each round, there is a 50% chance the undead becomes unable to act at all. The undead may be harmed by magical attacks (including magic weapons) as normal. This effect is permanent; don’t check for instability again.
3-4: The source of the undead’s power and the Material Plane separate. The undead becomes incorporeal and can no longer use any of its physical attacks. The undead is reduced to 1 hit point per hit die (if lower than its current hit point total). The undead may be harmed by magical attacks (including magic weapons) as normal.
5: The source of the undead’s power and the Material Plane flux. The undead’s move is halved, and it suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws for 1d6 rounds. If normally struck only by magic weapons, the undead can be harmed by normal weapons during this time.
6: The flow of negative energy from the source of the undead’s power to the Material Plane reverses. Roll the undead’s hit dice, reading the result as damage. Intelligent undead suffer half damage from this effect.
7: The flow of negative energy from the source of the undead’s power increases. For 1d6 rounds, the undead’s move is doubled, and it enjoys a +2 bonus to attack rolls and saving throws. If normally struck only by magic weapons, the undead takes half damage from such weapons during this period. If normally struck by normal weapons, the undead takes half damage from such weapons during this period.
8: The flow of negative energy from the source of the undead’s power increases. For 1d6 rounds, the undead benefits from number 7 above. Furthermore, the undead regenerates 1d4 hit points per round during the same period.

Carrion
Size: Large (7 ft. tall, 20 ft. wingspan)
HD: 6 (d8)
AC: 14
Saves: P
Move: 20 ft., fly 90 ft.
Attacks: 2 Claws (1d6), 1 Bite (1d8)
Special: Darkvision 60 ft., Dive, Fear, Twilight Vision, Undead Instability
INT: Inferior
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Type: Undead (Extraordinary)
Treasure: 2
XP: 300 + 6/hp

From WHF 248: “Carrion were once great birds of prey inhabiting the northern fringes of the Worlds Edge Mountains. Now are scarcely recognizable, having been captured and warped by Chaos into the present form. These great, Undead birds now serve the forces of Chaos as aerial scouts and fighters. Occassionally, they will carry a rider – typically a small Chaos Goblin mutant armed with a lance and a bow. They cannot carry heavier riders.”

“Carrion are skeletal flying beasts, mostly birdlike but with membranous wings and tails, reminiscent of bats or pterodactyls.”

Combat: “In combat, Carrion attack with two claws and one bite per round.” In melee combat, Carrion cause fear (PH 175-176) in a 10-foot radius; a creature that makes its charisma check against this effect is immune to that Carrion’s fear for 24 hours. A Carrion’s rider is immune to this fear. A Carrion bearing a rider is not subject to undead instability.

Dive: A Carrion can dive at a foe, gaining a +4 attack roll bonus, but it must move at least 45 feet in one round to do so. A successful attack means the target takes damage from both claws. Furthermore, the target must succeed at a dexterity check to avoid being grasped in the Carrion’s talons. If the check fails, and the target weighs no more than 100 pounds, the Carrion picks up the target and carries into the air. If the victim manages to stab or otherwise harm the Carrion, it immediately drops the victim. A Carrion cannot carry off a target and carry a mount at the same time.

Tags: C&C, monsters, undead, Warhammer

My Ludi Fabularum game club continues for another school year, this time running during the lunch/recess period, which lets more students play more often and keeps me from having to stay after school. Win, win. So far, I’ve got more than a dozen middle school lads divided into two groups playing an old-school hexcrawl using Castles & Crusades and several TSR D&D and AD&D modules along with a dash of Dungeon Crawl Classics. The picture below is the slowly expanding campaign map.

And here’s action so far:

Star. The shipwrecked adventurers swam to shore, ending up on the cold beach. To the northwest, they could see ice-capped mountains behind a vast forest. To the east? Nothing but rolling, grassy hills dotted with small woods.

1. To the Forest. The adventurers traveled to the forest to seek shelter from the icy wind and the coming night. They encountered a frogbold raiding party. After a fierce but brief battle, the adventurers won the fight. Several surviving frogbold’s fled deeper into the forest. The adventurers rescued several sprites who had been captured by the frogbolds.

2. A Home Away From. The sprites led the adventurers to Brú na Bóinne, a magically hidden fort home to a community of friendly sprites ruled by the aloof Queen Titania. This fort now serves as the adventurers’ home base.

3. The Mad Hermit. The adventurers split into two teams that set out to explore Shipwreck Island. They hope to find a way off the island. One of the teams traveled north through the forest, where they found savage, dwarf-like creatures that had caught a mountain lion. The adventurers freed the mountain lion, which fled, and then defeated the dwarf-like creatures. They tracked the mountain lion to the tree-home of Phosterius and his shape-shifting daughter Susuarana. Phosterius told the adventurers that a way home might be found in lost Quasqueton, which lies somewhere to the west near the sea cliffs.

Group two meets tomorrow for the first of three consecutive sessions of gameplay. I’ve no idea to where group two’s PCs will travel other than they’re not heading out to look for the Mad Hermit.

Tags: C&C, DCC, Ludi Fabularum

The shipwrecked adventurers followed the freed sprites to Brú na Bóinne, a magically hidden fort home to a community of friendly fey creatures ruled by the aloof Queen Titania. From this safe haven, the adventurers split into two groups determined to find a way off the island. Group one set out in search of the Mad Hermit said to live in the woods. After several hours of careful travel, the party encountered a trio of savage, dwarf-like creatures trying to kill an ensnared mountain lion, which wore a collar.

The adventurers freed the mountain lion, which fled the battle, and also defeated the savages. Then, tge adventurers tracked the mountain lion back to its lair: a massive tree in the center of a circular clearing. The heroes circled the clearing, spotting a dimly lit entrance into the tree. After they had reached about the half way point to the tree, a voice boomed:

“Turn back! The Mad Hermit tolerates no trespassers!”

Phosterius the Mad Hermit
Size: Medium
HD: 5 (d6)
HP: 25
AC: 15 (leather armor, small wooden shield, +1 ring of true protection, DEX)
Saves: M, P
Move: 30 ft.
Attacks: +1 dagger (1d4+1)
Special: Druid and rogue abilities (see below)
INT: High
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Type: Humanoid
Treasure: 5
XP: 365

Phosterius, known as the Mad Hermit, has lived on Shipwreck Island for a bit more than two decades. His reputation for insanity and wild dangerousness is not completely without merit, but he neither truly mad nor murderous. What he values most is being left alone with his only companion, Susuarana, his daughter who was an infant when they were stranded on the island.

Phosterius has all the skills of a 3rd-level rogue, and he can sneak attack and back attack as a 5th-level rogue (+2 “to hit” and +4 damage versus an unsuspecting target or +4 “to hit” and triple damage with a successful move silently or hide check). He also zealously protects the territory around his tree-home, striving to live in harmony with nature. He enjoys a +2 bonus to saving throws against air, earth, fire, water, lightning, and cold attacks, speaks the druidic language, and casts spells as a 5th-level druid. Phosterius prepares four 0-level, four 1st-level, three 2nd-level, and one 3rd-level druid spells per day. He typically prepares these spells:

0th Level: create water, endure elements, first aid, light
1st Level: alarm, entangle, goodberry, invisibility to animals
2nd Level: cure light wounds, heat metal, summon swarm
3rd Level: snare

Phosterius avoids direct combat when possible. If pressed, he uses his +1 dagger. His magic ring adds its +1 bonus to both armor class and saving throws, but the former bonus does not function with magic armor. He owns a magic collar. When worn, the wearer becomes a mountain lion (M&T 204-205) in all ways except intelligence, maintaining this form as long as the collar is worn. Phosterius’s daughter often wears the magic collar on her jaunts through the forest.

Tags: C&C, Ludi Fabularum, monsters

While searching for shelter from the icy wind and the coming night, the shipwrecked adventurers trekked to the forest where they encountered encamped frogbolds and several war-trained axe beaks. The fight was fierce but brief. The adventurers won, and several frogbolds escaped into the deeper woods. Among the camp gear the frogbolds abandoned, the adventurers discovered several crude boxes on a cart. In the boxes? Sprites captured by the frogbolds for some dark purpose.

Frogbold
Number: 4-24, 40-400
Size: Small
HD: 1 (d4)
AC: 15
Saves: P
Move: 20 ft., hop 30 ft., swim 20 ft.
Attacks: By weapon
Special: Darkvision, 60 ft., Hopping Charge, Light Sensitivity
INT: Low
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Type: Humanoid
Treasure: 1
XP: 7 + 1

Frogbolds are small, frog-like humanoids, the largest being somewhat bigger than a halfling. They have moist, smooth skin that has an almost leather-like toughness. Neither particularly clever nor notably brave, frogbolds prefer to attack outnumbered or obviously injured prey. Their tactics tend to be simple: charge into the fray and gang up on enemies as often as possible.

Frogbolds make their lairs in caves near bodies of water, whether fresh or salt. When above ground, they may set up crude shelters for a temporary camp used as a central location from which to radiate out and make raids to capture weapons, armor, and prisoners (for use as food or sacrifices). Frogbolds know little of crafting or mining, and so they seldom modify their cave lairs to any great extent, nor do they manufacture their own tools.

Female frogbolds lay eggs, which must be deposited in water (again, either salt or fresh). The frogbold spawn consist of round clusters of eggs connected into ribbons by a gelatinous substance. The tadpoles develop and hatch quickly, and they are cannibalistic, ensuring that only the strongest survive the few weeks necessary to grow into air-breathing humanoid form.

Most frogbold lairs have no more than 40 or so adult male members. Rarely, a strong chieftain (2 d8-HD) rises up to rally several family groups into a tribe numbering as many as 400 adults. A chieftain is served by one sub-chief (1 d8-HD) for every 10 frogbolds in the tribe. The number of females in a tribe typically equals two-thirds the number of adult males with an additional one-fourth the number of adult males in hatchlings.

Combat: Frogbolds can make a hopping charge into melee combat, leaping up to 30 feet (reaching a height of 15 feet during the jump), thus gaining a +2 to hit and damage for that attack (but suffering a -4 to AC until the start of their next turn). They use basic weapons, especially spears and javelins. They wear crude leather or hide armor, and seldom use shields. Chieftains and sub-chiefs have better armor and weapons, and any magic items possessed by the tribe are surely in the possession of these leaders. Due to their light sensitivity, frogbolds suffer a -1 to hit penalty when fighting in bright light.

Special: Frogbold witchdoctors are druid/wizards, but they are limited to fifth level. They do not use spellbooks even for their wizard spells, but instead prepare their spells once per day as does a druid. Some chieftains may have levels as a barbarian or a ranger, but they seldom have advanced to higher than third level in either class.

Tags: C&C, Ludi Fabularum, monsters

“Spider-Deer! Spider-Deer! Its fleshy antlers causing fear!”

The spider-deer is a cunning, malevolent predator, usually solitary but during mating seasons large numbers of aggressive males competing for females could be encountered. These creatures stand about five feet high at the shoulder. Their hairless flesh is spottled darker on the back, head, and haunches than on the legs and belly. They move quickly, and seldom fail to attack creatures that appear weak, injured, or elfish.

Init +4; Atk bite +1 melee (1d4 plus poison), gore +5 melee (2d5 plus grab), or web +5 ranged (entangled); AC 15; HD 5d10; MV 40′, climb 30′; Act 2d20; SP immune to charm and fear, weird glow; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2; AL C.

Entangle: Roll the spider-deer’s action die plus HD opposed by defender’s action die plus the higher of AGI or STR modifier. If the spider-deer wins, the defender is grappled and pinned. The original roll is the DC to escape from the webbing.

Grab: The gored victim man-sized or smaller is grabbed by the spider-deer’s fleshy antlers. The spider-deer’s attack roll is the DC to break free from the grab. A spider-deer gets a +4 bonus on bite attacks against a grabbed target.

Poison: DC 13 Fort save or 1d4+1 Dex. Fail by 5 or more causes paralysis for 2d3 hours. Paralyzed victims are conscience but can take no actions, move, or speak.

Weird Glow: Spider-deer’s glow in the target when agitated. The glow sheds light in a 20-foot radius. Each spider-deer’s glow might also have a special effect. Roll 1d5.

1-2: No special effect.
3: The spider-deer is invisible to creatures with infravision that are within the glow’s radius.
4: The spider-deer is displaced. Ranged attacks suffer a -4 attack roll penalty. Melee attacks suffer a -2 attack roll penalty. Spells that specifically target the spider-deer suffer a -2 spell check penalty.
5: The spider-deer’s glow is charged and regularly emits electrical arcs. Once per round, 1d3 random targets within 20 feet are shocked for 1d8 points of damage. A DC 13 REF saves halves the damage. A target wearing metal armor suffers a -4 saving throw penalty.

Tags: DCC, monsters