Friday 12 June 2020

Inverted Monsters

A simple concept. Sum up some classic D&D monsters in three bullet points, invert those points, then make them into their own monster.

As always, if your idea can't be summed up in three bullet points then maybe it's too complicated for an RPG monster.

Art from artbreeder.

Beholder
  • Lots of eyes
  • Floats and shoots beams
  • Hates everything
Becomes
  • Eyeless and Blind
  • Grounded melee fighter
  • Loves everything


Adorer (Inverse Beholder)
STR 15, 8hp, Stony Body (Armour 2), d8 Trample.
  • Sniffs out signs of life and is drawn towards them. Has infinite love for all other beings, so much so that it can hardly contain its overlapping emotions.
  • If it encounters any beings in conflict for any reason it lashes out as a punishment, hoping it will stop the conflict.
  • If it in inadvertently kills another being it does everything in its power to isolate itself permanently.


Rust Monster
  • Mostly harmless critter
  • Eats metal
  • Dumb scavenger
Becomes
  • Physically dangerous
  • Produces metal
  • Ultra smart predator



Steel Demon (Inverse Rust Monster)

DEX 18, 9hp. Two d6 Claws.
  • Senses any movement of metal objects within a mile.
  • Spits out a hail of metal discs (d6 blast) or a single spike (d10, target pinned in place on Critical Damage). 
  • Harasses prey with hit and run tactics from vantage points.


Gelatinous Cube
  • Absorbs and dissolves anything
  • Weird geometric shape
  • Amorphous
Becomes
  • Can create anything
  • Pleasing natural shape
  • Rock solid form


Calciferous Mound (Inverse Gelatinous Cube)

STR 15, Armour 3, Immobile. 
  • Hums a hauntingly beautiful song to attract visitors. 
  • Can create any stony handheld-sized object from its shadowy innards, but only if it is fed something it wants.
  • It longs for knowledge, the more secretive the better.


Purple Worm
  • Huge creature
  • Burrows around
  • Poison sting
Becomes
  • Small creature
  • Flies
  • Healing Touch



Viridian Moth (Inverse 
Purple Worm)
STR 1, 4hp.
  • Begins as a bright green, stinking grub with acidic spit that will eat away at practically anything. This lasts for three days and it is insatiable. 
  • When it enters its cocoon form it emits an unpleasant, ultra high-pitched whistle every few minutes. This lasts for one day. 
  • When it emerges as a beautiful green moth it can shed spores that heal any ailments and can even regrow limbs with enough exposure. It remembers everything about how it was treated in its earlier phases, and only helps those that have previously helped it. 


Bulette
  • A shark, but in land 
  • Armoured shell
  • Eats people
Becomes
  • A bull, but in water
  • Soft body
  • Delicious to eat



Sharling (Inverse Bulette)

STR 16, 5hp, Big Soft Body (Armour 1), d10 Gore. 
  • Patrols its territorial waters and rushes anybody that it sees as a threat. 
  • If you can catch one its fatty meat is a delicacy (£2k for a full carcass).
  • Anybody that eats some of its meat is Deprived each day they do not eat some more. The addiction wears off after a week of not eating any meat at all. 



Mind Flayer
  • Ultra smart psychic
  • Eats brains
  • Physically weak
Becomes
  • Stupid and devoid of empathy
  • Absorbs muscle
  • Physically strong



Force Leech (Inverse Mind Flayer)
5hp. d8 Sledgehammer.
  • Wants to assert physical strength over others and has no concept of empathy
  • When it causes STR damage it gains that many "Muscle Points" (MP)
  • Can spend MP in place of HP or to add to Damage rolls, to the maximum of their die type

7 comments:

  1. This is genius. I'd be tempted (or lazy) to just invert "Eats X" to "Produces X", which in the mind flayer case would be interesting (or maybe even wants to put _another_ brain in there).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A parasitic cancer-brain, too disorganized for proper cognition. Drives its host-body to frantic (and inevitably fatal) hypertrophy. Uses the brief window in which it is the strongest thing around to find new homes for its overflowing neural matter.

      Delete
  2. Reminds me of the reverse monster manual Scrap Princess kicked off a few years ago. That was fun, and this is likewise.

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  3. The Adorer reminds me of the Aunt Beast and the other Ixchels from "A Wrinkle in Time" - they were also eyeless and all-loving.

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  4. This is a fun idea. Here's one for the Roper

    - Ambush predator
    - brings you to its mouth
    - Physically durable

    - Attacks head on, does not fear reprisal
    - Bring its mouth to you/Has a long trunk-like mouth
    - Main body is physically frail, plays keep away

    The new monster I'm imagining is like a flesh vacuum cleaner, it goes along the dungeon hoovering up everything 100ft in front of it around corners and whatnot.

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  5. This is a really neat approach! I was doing something similar with reversed character archetypes, although I like your patented 3-bullet-point format better.

    5e Monk:
    - practices combat techniques at a cloistered monastery
    - still and calm but spends life force to do wire fu and move quickly
    - can use their fists as effectively as someone else using a weapon

    NegaMonk:
    - practices combat techniques in public and offers classes to anyone passing by
    - hyperactive and emotional but spends life force to remain still and calm
    - uses potentially deadly weapons only to perform gentle attacks (sword slap!)

    Also, really excited to see you dipping into the uncanny world of Artbreeder.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I LOVE it!! Here are my musings:

    Bugbear:
    - Bigger, impressive evolution of the goblinoid species
    - You won't hear it coming at you
    - Sadistic bully, reveal in torture

    Cuddle-Mogwaï:
    - Smaller, innoffensive evolution of goblinoid specie
    - Always cutely moan, sing, and announce its presence
    - Purely innoffensive purring bull of fur, reveal in cuddles

    ---

    Hobgoblin:
    - Taller evolution of the goblinoid species
    - Smart, military hierarchized and disciplined
    - Uses Goblins and Bugbear in their armies

    Bugblin:
    - Smallest evolution of the goblinoid species
    - Animalistic monkey-level intelligence
    - Used other goblinoids as cannon-fooder or food

    ---

    Mummy
    - Undead wrapped in ragged bandages that became so through lengthy preparation
    - Chance of getting Rot disease when touched by one
    - If you put it at rest, will curse you in a way that will prevent any benevolent magic or cleric spells to affect you

    Sower
    - Naked humanoid made and born of fertile soil dirt
    - Chance of getting Sprout disease when touched by one, your wound will grow vegetation
    - Blessed by the positive plane, receive double-effect on any beneficial arcanic or clerical spell

    ReplyDelete