CoronaCon: The Hopping Prophet!
Matt Jackson is at it again, this time offering up a walled village map to kick off CoronaCon!, and you can take a gander at the map by clicking here. Shortly after I gandered at the aforelinked post, I saw one of those hybrid animal pictures. The photomanipulator had added a jungle frog’s head to the neck of a large-breed dog. Something like a mastiff. For the Facebook group in which I saw the frog hound, I added 5 D&D stats for the creature, noting that frog hounds are used by devotees of Wastri the Hopping Prophet to hunt demihumans.
Of all the minor deities of Greyhawk, Wastri is my favorite. What DM could fail to love the demi-god of bigotry, self-deception, and amphibians? According to the Dragon magazine “The Deities & Demigods of the World of Greyhawk”, penned by E. Gary Gygax for issue 71 way back in March 1983:
Wastri, the Hopping Prophet, Hammer of Demi-humans, dwells on the Prime Material Plane (now in the region of the Vast Swamp). It is he who preaches the ultimate superiority of humankind. While humanoids can serve, demi-humans are fit only to be slain — especially dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. These, with the aid of his gray-clad “Servants,” he hunts with his toad packs and exterminates whenever possible (Dragon 71, March 1983, p. 56).
I mean, seriously, that is all sorts of awesome, and it gets better. Wastri’s chief Servant, his “Immaculate Image”, is a 12th/6th-level cleric/monk who hops like a giant toad. Wastri’s “Lesser Servants” work “to breed and maintain superior toads.” And there are Wastri’s ceremonies that “involve sacrifices, strange musical instruments, and croaking chants.”
Ha!
So, what’s this got to do with Matt’s CoronaCon! map? Simple. Someone playing Swords & Wizardry has to defend the tiny village from these guys.
Lesser Servants of Wastri
Hit Dice: 1, 2, 3, or 4
Armor Class: 7 [12]
Attack (Damage): Weapon (1d8+1)
Move: 12/6 swimming
Save: 17, 16, 14, or 13
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 1 HD (1/15), 2 HD (2/30), 3 HD (4/120), 4 HD (5/240)
Special: Speak with Amphibians, Spells (2+ HD)
The Lesser Servants of Wastri form the bulk of the Hopping Prophet’s clergy. A Lesser Servant casts spells as a Cleric of a level equal to the Lesser Servant’s Hit Dice. These wicked beings fight with polearms and wear leather armor. Once per day, a 4-HD Lesser Servant can jump 30 feet forward, clearing a height of up to 15 feet.
