No School Like The Old School: Monsters

Showing posts with label Monsters. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Creatures of Mu: Spawn of Yuggoth

Spawn of Yuggoth:

Hit Dice: 2
Armor Class: 9 [10]
Attacks: 2 x Pincers (1d4)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Fear, Flight, Greater Than Human Intelligence, Weapons Resistance (See Below)
Move: 4/10 (flying)
Challenge Level/XP: 6/240

These bizarre aliens resemble nothing less than pinkish, man-sized crustaceans with a convoluted, pulpy ovoid mass covered in short cilia and antenna answering for a head. Large membranous wings sprout from their back and they have several sets of insectile limbs protruding from its underbelly. Composed of matter beyond normal human understanding and possessing an anatomy that is more fungoid than animal, they are quite resilient to damage from physical attacks. Any non-magical weapon does the minimal amount (plus any Strength bonuses) possible. They are capable of communicating with humans through a buzzing parody of our speech.

Their main abode in our solar system is a distant, dark, dwarf planet called “Yuggoth” by some priests and arcane scholars, is only a small colony of a larger interstellar civilization. Eons earlier, the Spawn of Yuggoth came to Earth and built a great city around Mount Yaddith-Gho where they mined the volcano for rare elements. With them, they brought the Great Old One, Ghatanothoa , which they kept within their mountain colony for some unguessable purpose. After many millennia, the Spawn's colony became deserted; some believe they died out, others say it was abandoned.

While they can also be adept spellcasters, paying homage to Shub Niggurath and The Crawling Chaos when their uneartlhy designs require it, their scientific knowledge is vast. Artifacts from their reign are highly prized by scholars and sorcerers, particularly the magical lagh metal which only a few human artisans have learned to sculpt and smith into weapons or other devices.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Creatures of Mu: Crypt Dwellers (Ghouls)

Crypt Dwellers (i.e. Ghouls):

Hit Dice: 2

Armor Class: 7

Attacks: 2 Claws (1d4), 1 bite (1d4)

Saving Throw: 16

Special: Fear

Move: 9

Challenge Level/XP 3/60

These bestial, nocturnal. humanoids are marked by their canine features, hoofed feet, and fore claws. As carrion-eaters with a taste for putrescent human flesh, they haunt burial grounds and live in subterranean crypts and tunnel systems under major cities. They have no difficulty speaking Naacal and other human languages and communicate with each other in their gibbering, meeping tongue.

While they can be vicious opponents who will occasionally attack humans, Crypt Dwellers are not necessary inimical. Crypt Dwellers have been discovered in the service of powerful sorcerers, and some have even been employed to guard the tombs of powerful priests and nobles in exchange for being allowed to feast upon the bones of lesser personages. They have even been known to assist human adventurers with whom they find common cause. Human's who are welcomed to live in their warrens have a tendency to slowly mutate into Crypt Dwellers over time. However, for the most part, they just wish to be left alone.

(Note: The Nacaal would not use the word “Ghoul” since that name is derived from Arabic, a language that will not be uttered for thousands of years to come. Terms like “Crypt Dweller,” “Carrion Eaters,” “Grave Kin” and other similar phrases are the most common names given these creatures.)

Monday, January 27, 2014

Creatures of Mu: Deep Ones

Here we're going to start to translate some of the more popular Lovecraftian creatures into stats for the Swords & Wizardry version of my Mu Campaign. I'm using Chaosium's classic Call of Cthulhu as a guide for conversion as well as S&W's monster creation rules to help create the stats. First off, let's look at those ichthyic servants of Great Cthulhu, the Deep Ones:

Deep One:

Hit Dice: 2
Armor Class 6 [13]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d4) or weapon (1d8)
Saving Throw: 16
Special: Breathes Water, Fear
Move: 6/12 (Swimming)
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120

These amphibious humanoids resemble nothing less than an obscene melding of fish, frog, and man. They tend to be gray-green with pale bellies and their long, webbed hands with razor sharp claws, scaly backs and palpitating gills slits on the sides of their necks. They are superb swimmers, but can walk on land by lopping and hoping about. Their glassy eyes never shut and their croaking, baying voices are capable of generating human speech.

Despite their obvious genetic differences, the Deep Ones are somehow capable of interbreeding with humans. At first, such hybrid offspring would initially appear human, but upon reaching adulthood will slowly begin to change into a Deep One, eventually forsaking the land joining their fellows beneath the seas. Unless killed through violence, Deep Ones are virtually immortal, dwelling for centuries in their undersea cities and praying monstrously to Cthulhu and his cohort's Da'gun and Hi'dra. They yearn for the day when they will rise up and overthrow the simian surface dwellers, paving the way for the return of their slumbering lord. They often target desperate coastal communities, offering plentiful fishing and gold in exchange for devotion to Great Cthulhu, human sacrifices, and breeding stock.

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