Tuesday 30 July 2019

Monster Flashback

Since this blog is now over 10 years old I've been looking back through cringes of shame at those early posts. Is there any merit in that old material? Can I recycle it in an act of blog meta-digestion?

Let's pull the monsters from this post and see if I can make them better as encounters for Electric Bastionland. Back when I wrote that post I was thinking about monsters as entries in a monster manual rather than making them inspiring chunks of the world to throw down onto your table.

My main considerations are going to be:
  • Cut down all that prose and rub it into the actual workings of the monster through their moves. 
  • Make them more impactful and scary.
  • Give them a bit more nuance beside just being something new to fight.
Nightmare art taken from GANBreeder

Blood Servants (formerly Bloodlings)



STR 5, DEX 5, CHA 5, 5hp. d6 Needle-Swords, Bloated Bodies.
  • Waddle about serving their Blood Master in disgusting body-horror chores.
  • Bicker with each other about who Master loves most of all (he loathes them all).
  • If reduced to STR 0: Explode in a shower of burning blood (d6 Blast) invigorating their Master (restore their STR). 
Floating Corpse - Not-Quite-Right Dead Forms



STR 8. No HP, but automatically pass Saves vs Critical Damage. You have to hack them down to STR 0.

  • Float silently, patrolling along a set route.
  • Bump harmlessly against intruders, making a gross mess and distracting from other tasks.
  • In the presence of the Dark Wizard that animated them they errupt in a flailing spasm (d8 claws)

Spider Dragon


STR 18, 15hp, Pale Chitin (Armour 2). Bristling Multi-Jaws (2d8) and Thrashing Limbs (d6 Blast).

  • Ceaselessly seek juicy cattle to drag back to their web-lair.
  • Spray a sticky web-acid (d10 Blast, anyone taking STR Damage is webbed until cut free from the outside) once per day.
  • Cower in fear from even the smallest bird.

1 comment:

  1. I love the spider-dragons fear, it fills a niche for a dread horror that inexplicably had not run riot through all a region - because birds, obviously... Perfect.

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