Spes Magna Games

This week’s Tuesday Terror is inspired by Anthony Champ, who you can check out on Facebook and Instagram. The two pieces posted below to the right were provided by Mr. Champ and are posted with his kind permission.

The xylomorph is a strange and fierce predatory plant creature. Despite its humanoid form, it prefer to stalk on all fours, attacking by surprise when possible. Its most dreaded attack is its piercing tongue that injects a magical toxin capable of turning flesh and soft organs to wood. The xylomorph feeds on the transformed flesh and organs of its victims, leaving behind the skeletons, which are unaffected by the xylomorph’s bizarre venom.

Xylomorph
Medium plant, unaligned

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 52 (8d8+16)
Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft., swim 30 ft.

STR 16 (+3), DEX 19 (+4), CON 14 (+2), INT 6 (-2), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 11 (+0)

Saving Throws CON +5, INT +1
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances cold; piercing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, exhaustion, poisoned
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 15
Languages —
Challenge 5 (1,800 XP)

Amphibious. The xylomorph can breathe air and water.

Thorns. The xylomorph is covered with thick growths covered with tough thorns. At the start of its turn, the xylomorph deals 5 (1d10) piercing damage to any creature grappling it.

Tree Stride. As part of its move, the xylomorph may enter a living tree at the same as itself. This costs 5 feet of movement. The xylomorph instantly knows the location of all other living trees of the appropriate size within 80 feet. As part of the move used to enter the tree, the xylomorph can pass to one of those trees or step out of the tree it is in. It appears in a spot of its choice within 5 feet of the destination tree, using another 5 feet of movement. If the xylomorph has no movement left, it appears within 5 feet of the tree it entered. The xylomorph can use this transportation ability once per round.

Actions

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) slashing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, the xylomorph can automatically hit the target with its claws, and the xylomorph can’t make claws attacks against other targets.

Tongue. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, one creature that grappled by the xylomorph. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature turns to wood and is instantly petrified. Otherwise, a creature that fails the save begins to turn to wood and is restrained. The restrained creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, becoming petrified on a failure or ending the effect on a success. The transformation lasts until the creature is freed by the greater restoration spell or other magic.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, Tuesday Terror

When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains; so a man’s filth remains in his thoughts. The kiln tests the potter’s vessels; so the test of just men is in tribulation. The fruit discloses the cultivation of a tree; so the expression of a thought discloses the cultivation of a man’s mind. Do not praise a man before you hear him speak, for this is the test of men. (Sirach 27:4-7)

Okay, got to be honest. This time the magic item doesn’t really have much at all to do with the quote, which was part of the first reading at Mass this past Sunday. Once the idea presented below got stuck in my head, it wouldn’t let go.

Sieve of Sirach
Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)

This leaf-shaped wondrous item is a bit longer than a human’s hand and made of silver. While holding the sieve, a monster capable of incorporeal movement cannot move through creatures and objects in a 15-foot square area around you. This effect does not prevent normal movement. Also while holding the sieve, you have advantage on saving throws against the incorporeal monsters’s attacks and magical powers.

The sieve can be used as a weapon. You can use the Attack action to make a melee spell attack with the sieve against an incorporeal creature. Your attack bonus with the sieve equals your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus + 1. An incorporeal creature hit by the sieve takes 3d6 radiant damage. If the target has 25 hit points or fewer after taking this damage, it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be destroyed.

If the creature is destroyed, a fine powder remains in the sieve. You can use an action once per day to sift this powder to find 1-4 smoky crystals called ghost stones. A ghost stone sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet when within 60 feet of any undead or fiend. This glow lasts for 1 minute and then the ghost stone dissolves into mist. Also, an unactivated ghost stone retains its power for 1 hour, at which time it dissolves into mist.

Tags: 5E D&D, Catholic, magic items

I delve further into Gamma World to reach the hisser: “This 3-meter long half-man-half-snake inhabits the more arid regions…, often settling near an oasis or well. … Their society is matriarchal, one female leading a group of…males and young. She, like a queen bee, lays all the eggs for eat settlement, and all of them hatch as males.”

The hisser is a tough monster in Gamma World: AC 3, 18 Hit Dice, some interesting mutations. For my AD&D conversions of mutants, I’ve been scaling back the Hit Dice. Arks, for example, have 8 Hit Dice in Gamma World, but my AD&D ark has 2 Hit Dice. I scaled the 20-HD gren way back to 1+2 HD.

With the hisser, however, I’m drawn to the idea of a hisser matriarch ruling over male hissers, who I envision has a sort of insect-like hivemind complete with drones and warriors.

So, today, we meet the hisser queen. Drones and warriors show up next ThursdAD&D.

Hisser Queen
Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 3
Move: 12″
Hit Dice: 10
% in Lair: 75%
Treasure Type: D, Q (x3)
No. of Attacks: 2
Damage/Attack: by weapon type (x2) or 1-6/2-12
Special Attacks: See below
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: Exceptional
Alignment: Any
Size: L (10′ long)
Psionic Ability: 151-250
Attack/Defense Modes: B/FGH
Level/XP Value: VII/2,250 + 14/hp

The hisser queen attacks either with melee weapons or else with her powerful bite. If her bite hits, she constricts for 2-12 points of damage per melee round. If several strong creatures (such as 4 humans of 17 or greater strength) can grasp the queen at head and tail, the can uncoil her in 2-5 melee rounds.

Once every four melee rounds, the queen can emit a piercing hiss that causes 3-18 points of damage due to ruptured tissues to all creatures (except the queen) in a 30-foot radius (no saving throw). Creatures damaged by the queen’s hiss are deafened for a number of melee rounds equal to the damage taken (saving throw versus breath weapon halves the duration). She is immune to fire/heat and sound-based attacks.

The hisser queen is psionic. She has the following psionic abilities: clairvoyance, hypnosis, and telepathy. The latter power is the queen’s primary means of communication. Hissers have no spoken or written language.

The hisser queen is guarded by 2-20 drones and 2 warriors who fight with special ferocity, gaining a +2 on “to-hit” rolls to defend their queen.

Hissers are territorial and carnivorous. The alignment of a hisser brood matches that of the queen. Good-aligned queens tend toward benevolence and may aid travelers. Neutral-aligned queens may do likewise, but often only in exchange for goods and services. Evil-aligned queens and their broods cannot be trusted, and they often capture intelligent creatures for use as slaves and food.

Tags: AD&D, Gamma World, monsters, ThursdAD&D

Our campaign using Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer’s Edition has launched into its first full-blown adventure involving elements cobbled together from Keep on the Borderlands and West End Games’s The Destiny Map. As mentioned last Savage Wednesday, what I thought would’ve been a modestly challenging encounter with a doppelganger assassin ended up being pretty much a cake walk for the heroes. During the fight against Devris Poyer, I expected that either the characters would win or Poyer would escape. The heroes beat him pretty easily.

Interesting.

Now, I expected the heroes to win. I almost always do. I also had a probability warping run of low die rolls when attacking and inflicting damage. The heroes subdued what I thought was a pretty tough customer, all without any real damage suffered and not a whole lot of effort expended, especially once the grappling started.

During the down time between sessions, I’ve read more carefully the section on Balance and Combat Ratings. I think I grok them pretty well. (Some of what follows is a repeat of a social media post; if you’ve already seen it: Mea culpa.) So, I grabbed my son Christopher’s elven warrior character and studied him with combat rating in mind:

Haldir of Elveim
Half Maximum Damage of Typical Attack: +6
Combat Edges/Special Abilities: +2
Toughness over 5: +1
Total Combat Rating: +9

There are three other heroes in the group. I don’t have their characters at hand, but it’s safe to assume they are approximately the same Combat Rating as Haldir. That means the group’s total Combat Rating is about 36. During the last session, the group tracked down and subdued Devris Poyer, a doppelganger assassin:

Half Maximum Damage of Typical Attack: +6
Combat Edges/Special Abilities: +2
Toughness over 5: +2
Total Combat Rating: +10

If the guidelines in SWDEE are accurate (and I have no reason to doubt them), this means Haldir alone versus Devris alone should be a moderately difficult encounter. Devris alone against all four heroes? No challenge for the heroes.

I next looked at a orc and a chieftan orc:

Orc
Half Maximum Damage of Typical Attack: +8
Combat Edges/Special Abilities: +2
Toughness over 5: +3
Total Combat Rating: +13 ÷ 2 for not being a Wild Card = +7

Chieftan Orc
Half Maximum Damage of Typical Attack: +10
Combat Edges/Special Abilities: +3
Toughness over 5: +6
Total Combat Rating: +19

For a moderate encounter involving these orcs, I should pit the heroes against two orcs and one chieftan orc, for example. That’d be Heroes 36 versus Orcs 33. For a tough fight, add a couple of more orcs.

But back to Devris. I adapted his role from The Destiny Map. In that adventure, the assassin was from the Cyberpapacy. He had some pretty hefty stats, including cyberlegs and a really big gun. I remember running The Destiny Map while stationed in Hawaii. We had about a half dozen players in the group I gamed with most often. Those 5-6 heroes did not fare well against the cyber-assassin once he’d been cornered. If I recall correctly, he seriously injured one or two heroes, and then escaped, handily evading pursuit.

For doppelganger Devris to do the same, I guesstimate his combat rating would need to be close to doubled. That means adding 2 to 3 “adds” for each of the three categories, assuming things were spread out more or less evenly. This rougher, tougher Devris might look like this:

Devris Poyer, a Doppelganger Wild Card
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d10
Skills: Climbing d6, Fighting d10, Persuasion d6, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Throwing d8
Charisma: +0
Pace: 8
Parry: 7
Toughness: 7 (2)
Gear: studded leather vest (+2), studded leather vambraces (+1), shuriken (STR, 3RB, range 1/2/3)

Special Abilities:

Change Shape: Devris can change his appearance to another humanoid ranging in size from -1 to +1. If Devris mimics a specific person, someone familiar with that person can see through the disguise with Notice -2.

Improved Extraction: Make an Agility roll when withdrawing from combat. If successful, one opponent doesn’t get a free attack. With a raise, all opponents currently in melee lose their free attack.

Improved Martial Artist: Devris is never considered unarmed. STR+d6 damage unarmed.

Improved Sweep: Make a single Fighting attack against all currently adjacent targets. Resolve each damage separately.

Mind Reading: Devris can read another’s thoughts by opposing his Smarts against his target’s Smarts. If Devris gets a raise, the target is unaware of the intrusion.

This new Devris would be about an 18 Combat Rating:

Half Maximum Damage of Typical Attack: +7
Combat Edges/Special Abilities: +7
Toughness over 5: +4
Total Combat Rating: +18

Tags: Savage Wednesday, Savage Worlds, The Kids' Game

Today’s picture is “Hish” by that uncanny illustrator of the weird Sidney Sime. Sime lived from 1865 to 1941, and he is best known for his iconic illustrations of Lord Dunsany’s tales and poems.

The hish are mysterious creatures, part shadow, part silence, or so it seems. They are seldom seen or heard, even by their victims, for the hish practice assassination as a form of religious devotion to their strange deities.

Hish
Medium fey, any evil

Armor Class 16 (studded leather)
Hit Points 90 (12d8+36)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.

STR 13 (+1), DEX 18 (+4), CON 16 (+3), INT 15 (+2), WIS 13 (+1), CHA 12 (+1)

Saving Throws DEX +8, INT +6
Skills Acrobatics +8, Deception +5, Perception +5, Stealth +8
Damage Resistances necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks not made with silvered weapons
Condition Immunities blinded, deafened, poisoned
Senses darkvision 90 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Common, Sylvan, plus any two languages
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)

Assassinate. During its first turn, the hish has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn’t taken a turn. Any hit the hish scores against a surprised creature is a critical hit.

Hish Senses. Magical darkness does not impede the hish’s darkvision. Magical silence does not impeded the hish’s hearing. The hish cannot be blinded or deafened.

Innate Spellcasting. The hish’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material or verbal components:

At will: disguise self, invisibility (self only)
2/day each: darkness, silence
1/day each: pass without trace (self only), vampiric touch

Sneak Attack. Once per turn, the hish deals an extra 14 (4d6) damage when it hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of the hish that isn’t incapacitated and the assassin doesn’t have disadvantage on the attack roll.

Spider Climb. The hish can climb difficult surfaces including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Actions

Multiattack. The hish makes two shortsword attacks.

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Light Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

Reactions

Misty Step. The hish surrounds itself with silvery mist and teleports up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that it can see.

Tags: 5E D&D, monsters, Tuesday Terror