Spes Magna Games

While caecilians appear worm-like or snake-like, they are limbless amphibians. The largest reach lengths of five feet. Their smooth, moist skin hides calcite scales, and the secretions that keep their skin moist contain a hemolytic toxin that destroys red blood cells. Caecilians are largely blind, able to perceive the presence of light. They burrow, using their strong skulls to force their way through soil. In water, they swim much like an eel. Caecilians have acute olfactory senses.

Caecilia are 30-foot-long wormlike creatures found in the D&D Expert Rulebook. They swallow their prey whole 10% of the time. This monster does not seem to have made the transition to later editions of D&D. Perhaps the Powers That Be didn’t see them as sufficiently different from the more dangerous purple worm, which appears in the same rulebook.

Whatever the reason, I figure a GM can’t have too many giant, voracious predators.

Caecilia
Huge monstrosity, unaligned

Armor Class 14 (natural)
Hit Points 126 (12d12+48)
Speed 25 ft., burrow 20 ft., swim 30 ft.

STR 24 (+7), DEX 11 (+0), CON 18 (+4), INT 1 (-5), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 4 (-3)

Saving Throws Con +7, Wis +3
Damage Resistances piercing from nonmagical weapons
Senses tremorsense 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 6 (2,300)

Amphibious. The caecilia can breathe air and water.

Keen Smell. The caecilia has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Tunneler. The caecilia can burrow through solid rock at half its burrow speed and leaves a 5-foot-diameter tunnel in its wake.

Toxic Secretions. A creature that touches the caecilia or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 2 (1d4) poison damage.

Actions

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d6+7) piercing damage plus 5 (2d4) poison damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the caecilia. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the caecilia, and it takes 15 (6d4) acid damage at the start of each of the caecilia’s turns.

If the caecilia takes 15 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the worm must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 10 feet of the caecilia. If the caecilia dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 20 feet of movement, exiting prone.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters

The Ways Of…, which presents seven new monastic traditions for seven core races, seems to be doing well. I’ve gotten one three-star rating, which is okay, but also a bit irritating. Not that it’s three stars, mind you, but because I don’t know why it’s three stars instead of two or four. Tomorrow, I continue running The Lost City for four 3rd-level monks, each one using a different archetype from The Ways Of…. The first session went well, the only real problem due to laggy videoconferencing. (Nota Bene: That last link is an affiliate link. If you click and buy, I get a few copper pieces.)

I recently mused about what a 20-level samurai class for 5E D&D might look like. Those musings have been fleshed out into a document that includes said 20-level samurai class, three samurai archetypes, 12 new spells, and sidebars that briefly discuss samurai armor and weapons. I’ll be revising and editing the document more today and/or tomorrow before it too goes up on DriveThruRPG as a PWYW playtest supplement.

I have a few other Oriental Adventures-inspired ideas outlined. I’m probably going to put together a third OA-themed document, this one detailing subclasses. The bushi and sohei are fighter subclasses, the shugenja a cleric subclass, and the wu jen a wizard subclass. Likely the yakuza will get added in as a rogue subclass, but I’ve not outlined that one yet. I’m not sure about an OA-style barbarian subclass, and the assassin rogue archetype hits most of the ninja. More mulling over those that two must occur.

But none of that is what this post is about. This post is about a new 5E D&D monster.

Have you seen The Art of Stefan Koidl. No? Into the circle of shame you go. “Shame! Shame! Shame!” Now that those who deserve punishment have eaten their just desserts, let’s move on to the new monster. Since I don’t have the artist’s permission, I’m linking to today’s inspirational work of horror. If your SAN is low, don’t click here.

Hatiyara

The hatiyara is an undead monster that lairs in abandoned buildings or tunnel systems. In life, the hatiyara was an outcast, one who lived on the fringes of society, often surviving by begging and theft. In undeath, it survives by murder in order to consume the hands of its victims.

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 15 (natural)
Hit Points 90 (12d8+36)
Speed 30 feet

STR 17 (+3), DEX 12 (+1), CON 16 (+3), INT 8 (-1), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 15 (+2)

Skills Athletics +6, Sleight of Hand +4, Stealth +4, Perception +4
Damage Resistances cold, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing not made with silvered weapons
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages the languages it knew in life
Challenge 5 (1,800)

Dimension Door. As part of its move, the hatiyara can pass through a portal (such as a doorway or a window) and appear in another portal within 60 feet. The hatiyara does not need to be able to see the destination portal.

Regrowth. The hatiyara regrows severed arms after a short or long rest. When it regrows a severed arm, its detached limbs cease to be active.

Actions

Multiattack. The hatiyara makes three attacks with its claws.

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4+3) slashing damage plus 2 (1d4) necrotic damage.

Reactions

Severed Arm. When the hatiyara takes slashing damage, it can choose to have one of its six arms be severed by the attack. The hatiyara takes no damage from the attack. As a bonus action, the hatiyara can control its severed arms as long as they remain within 30 feet of it. If more than 30 feet separates the hatiyara and a severed arm, the severed arm “dies” at the end of the hatiyara’s turn. A severed arm has a base speed of 15 feet. It has the hatiyara’s AC, resistances, and immunities. A severed arm has 9 hit points, and it can make one claws attack on its turn.

Tags: 5E D&D, Character Classes, monsters, samurai

It’s no secret I like making up new monsters or adding my own twists to classic creatures. Often, my inspiration comes from an illustration. Other times, I’ve taken inspiration from W. B. Yeats (Aengus Wandero’er in Chance Encounters III), wonderfully bad movies (the shark storm in Shallows & Sharks), and medieval bestiaries (the cinnamologus in Chance Encounters II and the bear-ape in Chance Encounters IV).

Bestiaries inspire today’s new monster. You can read a summary of the pard’s history by visting Atlas Obscura. If you want AD&D stats for the monster, they’re on my Google Drive. Enjoy!

The Pard

The pard bears a superficial resemblance to a great cat, such as a lion or leopard. From its whip-like tail to its almost-human face, from its sinuous neck to its curved talons on raptor’s feet, the pard’s unnatural origins cannot be missed. In the Nine Hells, pards roam in packs, hunting lesser creatures for sport. In the Material Plane, the pard uses its powers to mate with female great cats, especially lionnesses. Females cubs born from such a union are leopards; males are juvenile pards, which immediately abandon their mother and siblings. A juvenile pard reaches full maturity in a matter of days, at which time it plane shifts to the Nine Hells.

Medium fiend (devil), lawful evil

Armor Class 15 (natural)
Hit Points 52 (8d8+16)
Speed 50 feet

STR 19 (+4), DEX 15 (+2), CON 15 (+2), INT 10 (+0), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 14 (+2)

Saving Throws STR +6, CON +4, WIS +4
Skills Stealth +4, Perception +4
Damage Resistances cold, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nomagical attacks not made with silvered weapons
Damage Immunities fire
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 4 (1,100)

Devil’s Sight. Magical darkness doesn’t impede the pard’s darkvision.

Innate Spellcasting. The pard’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components.

At will: animal friendship, detect evil and good, speak with animals
3/day each: charm person, phantasmal force, suggestion, teleport
1/day: animate dead, fear

Keen Smell. The pard has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.

Magic Resistance. The pard has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Pounce. If the pard moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a talons attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the pard can make a talons attack against it as a bonus action.

Running Leap. With a 10-foot running start, the pard can long jump up to 25 feet.

Summon Devil (1/Day). The pard has a 20% to summon another pard.

Actions

Multiattack. The pard makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its talons.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing damage.

Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.

Tags: 1E AD&D, 5E D&D, monsters

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.

Tags: CoronaCon, Matt Jackson, monsters, Swords & Wizardry

A few days ago, I introduced the Ahmeek to 5E D&D, taking inspiration from the pages of Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha. If you missed these evil, intelligent beavers, you can check them out here. With their tough hide and powerful build, Ahmeek warriors can be rough customers for Tier 1 characters, especially if the Ahmeek have the home court advantage. You surely noticed in that first Ahmeek-themed post that these wicked dam-builders are magical. The common Ahmeek warrior lacks magic powers. This isn’t true of the Ahmeek’s dam-leaders.

When considering magic abilities for the Ahmeek, the Song of Hiawatha shows that they can polymorph other creatures into Ahmeek form. This doesn’t seem like something that ought to pop up too often in a game. Neither does it sound like a useful attack or defense. So, I asked myself, “What sorts of magic would the Ahmeek have?”

Well, it seems reasonable that this magic ought to focus on the Ahmeek’s environment, which includes wood, trees, water, and animals found in forests and ponds. This lends itself to a distinctly druidic feel. Thus, the Ahmeek’s magic-using leaders are evil druids of sorts. I like that. I picture Ahmeek druids standing atop dam-forts, gnawing the limbs off sacrifices to their dark deities of water, wood, and ice.

Ahmeek Druid
Medium monstrosity, lawful evil

Armor Class 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points 52 (8d8+16)
Speed 25 ft., swim 30 ft.

STR 14 (+2), DEX 14 (+2), CON 14 (+2), INT 12 (+1), WIS 16 (+3), CHA 13 (+1)

Saving Throws Intelligence +3, Wisdom +5
Skills Nature +3, Perception +5, Survival +5
Damage Immunities cold
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Giant Beaver
Challenge 3 (700)

Hold Breath. The Ahmeek druid can hold its breath for 15 minutes.

Ice Magic (Recharge 6). As a bonus action when the Ahmeek druid casts a spell, it targets a creature that it can see within 30 feet. The target must make a DC 13 Fortitude saving throw, taking 9 (2d8) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save. Also, if the target takes cold damage from this ability, the target’s speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of its next turn.

Siege Monster. The Ahmeek druid deals double damage to objects and structures made of wood.

Spellcasting. The Ahmeek druid is a 7th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 13, +5 to hit with spell attacks). It has the following spells prepared:

Cantrips (at will): druidcraft, poison spray, resistance
1st level (4 slots): cure wounds, entangle, longstrider, thunderwave
2nd level (3 slots): enhance ability, hold person, spike growth
3rd level (3 slots): conjure animals, dispel magic, sleet storm
4th level (1 slot): control water

Swimby. The Ahmeek druid doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it swims out of an enemy’s reach.

Actions

Multiattack. The Ahmeek druid makes two melee attacks, one with its bite and one with a weapon.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4+2) piercing damage plus 1d8 (4) cold damage.

Spear. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage plus 2 (1d4) cold damage, or 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage plus 2 (1d4) cold damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, The Song of Hiawatha