Biggus Geekus: Homebrewed Monsters

This week's Biggus Geekus episode largely pertained to homebrew monsters (though I think the entire episode merits a watch). This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and around the 50-minute mark Randy mentions Dungeons & Delvers and how we put our own spin on many of the monsters pulled from Dungeons & Dragons.

Here are some examples of monsters that we tweaked:

Angels
Angels are more inline with Christian depictions, or about as best we could do given limited information on their capabilities. You get some winged humanoids (which from what I can tell is accurate in some cases), but also some stranger configurations (but not really all that bizarre in context to a fantasy dungeon crawler game).

I suppose these are more original than tweaked from Dungeons & Dragons, as we didn't even bother referring to D&D angels. In order of overall power, you have the malakh, principality, power, virtue of sacrifice, cherub, and seraph. We omitted the throne/ophanim, but will be adding that in 2nd Edition, along with some more virtues.

I find the virtue of sacrifice the most interesting one due to its Sacrifice ability: when a creature within 60 feet suffers damage, the virtue can suffer that damage instead. This damage goes straight to its Wound Points (bypassing even its natural DR), but it gains Vitality Points and temporary VP each time. This will help it survive longer, but at 0 WP it dies, anyway.

Beholders
We renamed beholders to argons, and changed whatever the 4th Edition origin was to be wizards, or something like wizards, who relied too much on magic. They also constantly modified themselves using magic, which ultimately resulted in their current form of a fleshy sphere with a bunch of eyes and a few dangling limbs.

An argon's spells are contained within its eyes, which it can swap out and exchange with other argons. They can also be used to craft alchemical and magic items. Characters could even implant argon eyes into themselves (if they learn how), gaining access to whatever spell it contains.

Devils
Some devils are fallen angels, which are each tied to sins and would also be more original takes, while others are based on D&D monsters.

We changed the D&D devils where we felt they were too boring, like the bone devil. While it loses stuff like dimensional anchor and wall of ice, it gains the ability to conjure a wall of bone, and cause a creature's bones to break by simply touching it. It also has its own specific venom, which causes your bones to soften or become brittle over time, until they eventually become sludge.

I think for 2nd Edition we'll rename these devils into demons or something, so there's a clearer difference between them and fallen-angel-devils.

Doppelgangers
Doppelgangers are constructs, created in flesh vats via wizardry that while not necessarily forbidden is probably for the most part frowned upon. Their default form is a waxy, fleshy blob, and they have to learn how to assume other forms. They can also be given a creature's blood, allowing it to effortlessly and flawlessly assume its shape. The easiest way to determine if someone is a doppelganger is to cut it: its "blood" is white, and any parts removed revert to a fleshy mass.

Something I did in a playtest game but didn't mention in the description or as an ability, is that they can create empty pockets inside their bodies. In the playtest game a group of doppelgangers concealed swords in their torsos. Will try to remember that next time.

One thing we did do with some monsters is provide optional abilities that up the XP value. For doppelgangers you can add on mind-reading and/or the ability for it to transform its outer "skin" into metal. This makes it more durable, but it can also transform its limbs into weapons, giving it a kind of T-1000 vibe.

Dragons
In addition to multiple examples, there's an entire section on randomly generating dragons (which can also determine magical abilities, if any, and its general intelligence). Some of the what you could call pregens include a red and blue dragon.

Both are clearly derived from Dungeons & Dragons, though the blue looks different (having feathered wings and a snake-like head), was created due to a curse, and has many different abilities. For example, its bite is venomous, its body can electrocute opponents that touch it, and it can turn water to dust and create lightning storms given enough time.

The red dragons on the other hand are pretty much stock fire-breathing dragons (not unique to Dungeons & Dragons at all), but for 2nd Edition we're going to change this up a bunch as well.

Elementals
Rather than Dungeons & Dragons elementals (which as of 5th Edition for some reason have something that resembles a face), we used the Paracelsian versions as defaults: gnomes, salamanders, sylphs, and undine. We only included 1 HD versions of each due to space limitations, though we did state that these are the weakest versions and that GMs can and should create more powerful ones if desired.

Gnomes are quite strong and tough despite their size, and have a Recharging stomp-quake. Salamanders are the most animal-like, with a fiery breath weapon and the ability to hide within flame. Sylphs can turn invisible and create a small whirlwind. Undines can become effectively invisible within water, and have two different options for blasting enemies with water.

Water weirds also make an appearance, able to divine the future via hydromancy. They also have access to hematomancy, using blood to determine a creature's location, state of health, where it's going, etc. They can even use the blood of dead creatures to utilize necromancy. If you pick a fight with a water weird and she gets some of your blood, she's also more likely to score critical hits. 

Ghouls
Ghouls are based on Arabian mythology. They aren't undead that can paralyze you, but demons capable of changing their shape and stealing the faces of those they eat. I think this makes them more interesting, though might have to tweak them so they can better handle a party on their own.

Giants
Many giants have inherent magical abilities that they didn't before, such as frost giants having the option to conjure blizzards and possess an icy breath weapon. Giants are also different in that they don't roll to hit Medium-sized and smaller targets, you instead have to save versus their attacks (suffering half damage even if you succeed, which makes some rogue and ranger talents more useful).

Golems
These are more inline with what we could find on mythological golems, with new flavor material based largely in part on our golem class for Dungeon World. 

Ability-wise they're still fairly similar, though the iron golem's breath weapon was changed from poisonous gas to fire. We also added gargoyles to the golem category because it made more sense this way (and they can unleash powerful jets of water and sense evil).

Gnolls
Gnolls are created via compelled cannibalism: gnolls capture a few people, throw them into a pit or prison, and wait to see who eats who. Whoever gives in then transforms into a gnoll. This I think makes them more, well, monstrous, and avoids the mostly-standard D&D approach of having a monster be something that more or less naturally evolved.

Kobolds
Here we used the Germanic kobold as a basis. They appear much like halflings, but possess some minor magical powers that make them more interesting than essentially half-pint humans, perhaps with some luck thrown in the mix. 

We're considering changing their appearance, adding a few animalistic features, so a mine kobold might have larger eyes and bat-like ears. At the least, we'll be adding in twisted, malevolent versions of each kobold type. For example, evil mine kobolds will be knockers, and have gruesome, bat-like features, while ship kobolds will look more like shark-people.

Mimics
Mimics are similar to doppelgangers in that they were also created from flesh vats. They also differ in that they can adhere together to form larger objects, and while they can change their shape they can only maintain a specific texture while immobile, plus they have to digest materials that they want to mimic. For example, to mimic a wood-like texture the mimic has to digest wood.

In games I've had a mimic queen take on the appearance of a ship, carrying her brood around inside, all of which appeared as crates and chests filled with genuine treasure. The queen would float into port, people would investigate and remove the treasure, then at night all the smaller mimics would feed while the queen sank beneath the water and swam away.

I also had them use people as meat puppets: the mimic bites someone's head off, uses an acidic tendril to sort of hollow out the corpse. It would then wriggle inside, fill in the gaps, and then transform the upper part into a helmet. There's an article about that here.

Mind Flayers
Mind flayers were renamed to thulid (based on the name Cthulhu). The origin was also changed, so that instead of being a tadpole that eats your brain, it's a sort of facehugger-esque creature that latches onto your back and slowly mutates your body. This makes them more dangerous, as the parasite can hunt you down. Need to stat those out for 2nd Edition.

Orcs
Orcs are basically demons in service to Orcus. We initially had it set up so that orcs were summoned by skinning a human, stitching it closed, and then having the orc's spirit-essence encased inside. They would be black and oily in appearance, and burned by sunlight. But the skin would tear and decay over time, so they had to regularly create new skin-suits to transfer into.

Melissa had another idea for them, so we'll be changing this in 2nd Edition.

Owlbears
Owlbears are essentially the same as their D&D counterparts, but possess wings that allow them to glide over short distances. Instead of just tromping around like a normal bear, they climb trees and attempt to divebomb prey when it appears. Simple, but effective.

Remorhaz
The remorhaz looks more like a giant insect, but instead of flapping wings to raise its body, it emits powerful jets of steam. I thought of this because the remorhaz's body is normally hot enough to melt metal, and thought about it eating snow and using the steam as a weapon. It could also do this to create concealment when trying to escape.