Last week, I presented my version of the hisser queen, inspired by the Gamma World mutant. To recap: “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.”
(Nota Bene: I’ve updated the hisser queen’s stats a bit.)
This week, as promised, here’re the hisser drone and the hisser warrior. Enjoy!
Hisser Drone Frequency: Rare No. Appearing: 8-35 Armor Class: 5 Move: 12″ Hit Dice: 2 % in Lair: 10% Treasure Type: Nil No. of Attacks: 1 Damage/Attack: by weapon type or 1-4 Special Attacks: Nil Special Defenses: See below Magic Resistance: Standard Intelligence: Average to Very Alignment: As queen Size: M (6′ long) Psionic Ability: 105-150 Attack/Defense Modes: B/FGH Level/XP Value: II/36 + 2/hp
The hisser drone attacks either with a weapon or else with his bite. Drones are immune to fire/heat and sound-based attacks. The hisser drone is psionic. He has only the telepathy psionic ability. Hissers have no spoken or written language.
If found in their lair, there will be double the number rolled plus 1 hisser warrior for every 5 drones. A hisser lair always has one queen who resides in the lair’s egg chamber. The queen’s treasure is kept here as well. The 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.
Hisser Warrior Frequency: Rare No. Appearing: 1 per 5 hisser drones Armor Class: 4 Move: 12″ Hit Dice: 6 % in Lair: 75% Treasure Type: D, Q (x3) No. of Attacks: 2 Damage/Attack: by weapon type (x2) or by weapon type/1-6 Special Attacks: Paralytic poison Special Defenses: See below Magic Resistance: Standard Intelligence: Average to Very Alignment: As queen Size: L (10′ long) Psionic Ability: 126-175 Attack/Defense Modes: B/FGH Level/XP Value: V/425 + 6/hp
The hisser warrior attacks either with two weapons or else with one weapon and his bite. If the bite hits, a saving throw versus poison must be made to avoid being paralyzed for 2-12 turns. Warriors are immune to fire/heat and sound-based attacks. The hisser warrior is psionic. He has the clairvoyance and telepathy psionic abilities. Hissers have no spoken or written language.
We completed session three of The Kids’ Game campaign this past Saturday. The session began with the heroes attempting to interrogate Devris Poyer, the doppelganger assassin captured at the end of session two. Since we’re all learning the rules, I decided to treat the interrogation as a Dramatic Task. Lander Foxglove, fearsome rakashan warrior, took the lead on the interrogation. It was less dramatic than it was a resounding failure. A club suit card came up on the second action, and the player’s dice proved most treacherous. The heroes discovered too late that Poyer had concealed a poison capsule in his mouth. He died after choking out, “You’re too late. They’ve reached the Valley of the Dead by now.”
As I noted last Savage Wednesday post, the fight against Poyer was way more one-sided than I imagined it would be, in part because of my remarkable run of bad dice rolls, but also because I didn’t pay a bit of attention to the guidelines about balancing conflicts using Combat Ratings. I decided to remedy that latter problem this session.
The heroes raced toward the Valley of the Dead. The sun was setting by the time they reached the general area. The road heading north had dwindled to an overgrown path, and the trees’ branches intertwined overhead, blocking out most of what little sunlight remained. (Nota Bene: Remember lighting modifiers for heroes who can’t see in the dark.) The heroes heard an angry shout and a scream of pain. They left the trail and soon found themselves atop wooded hill looking down into a small slave labor camp.
Overseen by three goblins, more than a half dozen poorly clad humans labored in a large pit, exhuming bones which they piled up near one corner of the pit. Two larger tents and two small tents stood to the south of the pit. Light shone from one of the larger pits, and more angry shouts and sounds of violence were heard from that tent. The heroes split up. Haldir of Elveim moved toward the smaller tents. Foxglove stalked toward the lit tent. Dark Halo skirted the camp to come up on the near the other larger tent and close to one of the goblin guards.
Haldir made the decision about how events would progress by stepping out from behind cover and shooting an arrow deep into the heart of a goblin guard, who dropped with nary a sound that could be heard over the slaves’ labors in the pit. Foxglove burst into the tent to find a massive orc beating a human man whose tunic bore a constable’s badge. Foxglove roared and attacked.
During the ensuing battle, Dark Halo took out the skaven alchemist and a skaven warrior. Haldir dealt with the other two goblin guards and a second skaven warrior. Foxglove found himself alone in the tent facing a foe whose Combat Rating was a bit more than twice Foxglove working solo. The fight did not go well for Foxglove. The constable attempted to aid Foxglove, and he did help a little. By the time Dark Halo entered the fight against the orc, Foxglove was seriously injured. The orc put his Sweep Edge into play. Foxglove, then the constable, then Dark Halo all succumbed to their injuries.
The slaves revolted, charging the orc in a suicidal bid for freedom. They managed to delay the orc long enough for Haldir to make two Called Shots. The second arrow to the head killed the orc.
At the end of the session, more than half the slaves had been killed. The constable was dead. Two-thirds of the heroes were unconscious and seriously battered, one with an injury to the guts, the other with an injury to an arm. Remarkably, Haldir was unhurt. Haldir made Dark Halo and Foxglove as comfortable as possible. The slaves told Haldir that the constable was a regular visitor to the slave camp. He’d been cahooting with the orc, who had the slaves digging for some sort of tablet that was part of a map to something called the “Chalice of Possibilities”. The orc had grown impatient with the perceived poor quality of the constable’s information about the tablet’s precise whereabouts. The skaven were assisting the orc in exchange for the bones and the corpses of slaves who died during their labors. The bones and corpses were taken an irregular intervals by skaven deeper into the woods in the direction of the dreaded Caves of Chaos.
And so we ended the session after a considerably more challenging fight and now faced with the slow rate of healing in Savage Worlds. Both Dark Halo and Foxglove are out of action. (Haldir blew the Healing rolls.) With Vigor rolls for healing permitted every five days, Dark Halo and Foxglove are suffering some degree of injury for possibly weeks. None of the heroes can perform magical healing.
The lengthy recovery time isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It does take a long time to recover from serious injuries. That said, it certainly doesn’t seem cinematically heroic. I hesitate tossing in convenient healing in the form of potions or what not. So, what I am considering it tweaking the healing rules so that they are less applicable to Wild Cards. I’m not sure exactly what this might look like. Making everyone a Fast Healer is a possibility. Reducing the time between Vigor checks to heal for Wild Cards is another. What I’m leaning most heavily toward at the moment, however, deals more directly with the nature of the campaign.
This week’s Tuesday Terror is inspired by Anthony Champ, who you can check out on Facebookand 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.
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.
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.
