Engine of Pain

The last engine converting pain to desire is a rough, black cube as big as a cart.  Pain inflicted in its presence is said to slowly fuel a change in the inflictor.  And in this way the infamous lich Red Petals was said to gain the ability to stop time twice in a day, children tortured around him as he lay reading on the cube.

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Tally hit points of damage in the presence of the cube.  Once they equal the hit points the damage dealer needs to go up in level, the damage dealer receives an extra spell memorization slot for that level.  This can only happen once a level.

I'd say these spell slots would be usable even by non-wizards.  Because that would require a lot of damage to be dealt for it to become crazy powerful. 

Psionic powers is another possibility if you want to avoid spell-slots.

I might want other smaller pleasant effects such as removing addictions, removing fear and troubling afflictions of the mind, insanities and phobias and such.  Some positive effects that would happen immediately and get players messing with the engine.  But then, maybe the engine is more relevant as an artifact sought by the powerful of the campaign world-- something to be found and fought over in a grander way than just a toy to be examined by players in a dungeon.

Are engines just dark angels?  The world is never as simple as a binary.  Is it?  Are engines the engines that drive the function of the angels?  If so, what strange and terrible fuels could other engines run on?

Note: this came from a dream I had last night, the line "you are the last engine turning pain to desire" in my head as I woke up.  There was another line from earlier in the night but I forgot it.

More engines sure to follow.

The Angel of Memory

This angel appears as nine alabaster-white discs floating just above the ground.  If touched, they give some but won't move from their position.  If a creature stands on one of the discs it will forget something and remember something.  Stepping off and getting back on, or stepping to a different disc will result in the same thing but the process is hazy and inexact, the subject losing more memories each time.
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Stepping on a disc removes a memory and replaces it with one from someone else that has stepped on the angel in the past.  These may be aeons old.  What you remember could be:

1. The place you buried your ill-gotten gains.
2. Those ruins the great wizards go to to die.
3. The place you left the imprisoned djinn.
4. How to use an uncommon weapon.
5. Your signature spell.
6. Your recipe for a toxin.
7. A shortcut that makes travel between two common points half as long.
8. The name of a forgotten god.

What you forget, hmm, I'll leave that up to you.  I was thinking class skills basically, and that they could be remembered as normal be the time the character reaches next level, or sooner if they hire a trainer.  So a fighter might forget how to use long swords for a level but know a spell they can cast from their mind once.

Stepping on the first disc is free, additional cause the subject to lose 100xp per lvl.

I imagine it would be possible that a character would lose something so important to them they might step again and again onto the angel to try and get it back.  To simplify resolving this I might say a new memory is placed in the upper left disc and is shuffled through them with each new memory added.  So, a player has nine tries to retrieve that particular memory before it is rotated into the aether.  It isn't lost for good, because other memories are rotated into the discs each time they are used, but who knows how many thousands of attempts would take to find it after it has left the discs.

The Angel of Music

The Angel of music appears as three alabaster-white cylinders hanging in mid-air, each shorter than the last.  Disturbing one of these cylinders will produce a clear, resonant tone.  Each cylinder a different tone.  After three tones have been produced all living creatures in earshot will be affected in one of three ways:

1) Reduced in age to the time their kind is first ambulant.
2) Set to the prime age for their kind.
3) Increased in age to the time their kind is still just barely ambulant.

And then the Angel teleports to a random location nearby.
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To keep things simple, I would tie the effect to the first cylinder hit.  To keep things unpredictable I would determine this randomly.  In other words, the smallest cylinder doesn't necessarily turn everyone into a toddler.  But if I rolled that cylinder "B" is the youthening one, then any three tone sequence that starts with that cylinder will turn things into toddlers of their kind.

You have to hear the tones for the effect to work. 

For the second effect I would make it a complete refresh: parasites, scars, tattoos gone, lost limbs regained etc.  This could serve as the bait (they've read about it somewhere and want to get an eye back or something) that could make a cautious party mess with the Angel at all.

If this interests you see this and this.

The Bridge of Crows

A wide chasm.  Riches rumored to be on the opposite side.  Murders of crows cawing and hopping about on this side.  If you sleep near the crows they form a bridge in your dreams that you can walk across the ravine.  If you wake while walking the crows fly away leaving you to fall.

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The bridge of crows is from an actual fairy tale I haven't read.  I just saw an illustration of it as I hunted for silhouette material.  It showed up in my dreams chart.  I suppose it's more a location or feature than a monster.

I think I would make it so that one or more players would have to find a way to fall asleep near the crows, even with all the noise.  And it would take 1d6 turns for them to see the bridge and cross it.  Hopefully there is some encounter in the mean time to make things tense.  Maybe something lairs right next to the crow landing.

Crossing the bridge successfully would essentially teleport the character to the other side.
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So, I think that's about the end of my fairy tale run.  I was trying to think of some more direct threats, monsters pcs could actually fight.  But from my experience fairy tale threats are either beaten by simple rules or gobble you up whole-- not much exciting combat going on.  If you've got ideas post them in the comments.

The Russet Bear

The russet bear has reddish hair and likes the sweetest things.  It will follow you about hoping for more if you feed it berries or cream.  Whistle a song it will amble along and dance the happiest dance.  Any who see the Russet Bear dance will wish to join in (save at -2, fairy tale magic is powerful).  It has different dances for different tunes:

The twirling dance (twirling, dizziness afterward, prevents attacking etc.)
The hide and seek dance (all viewers flee while the song lasts)
The ring-around-the-rosy (all viewers come in close and link hands)
The single file dance (all viewers form a conga line and follow the bear which will follow the tune maker)
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Set a simple tune that players might know like Happy Birthday or the Do Re Mi song, or the William Tell Overture for each specific dance.  That way players will have to experiment a bit to discover the different dances.  And have actually actually whistle the tunes they are trying, heh.  The song doesn't have to be whistled in game, players could use instruments or hum.  To clarify who is affected you could say anyone whistling along is not.  So the whole party can be safe as a dance starts and savvy foes might start whistling too.

The bear will usually wander off in the night unless the party goes to great pains to keep it stocked on lots of sweet foodstuffs.

So the bear is less a monster than an awkward magic item.  I tried to keep the dances whimsical but potentially useful-- say the players are ambushed and have the bear tagging along-- start up the hid and seek dance and the ambushers will clear out giving time for escape.  It might be more about hijinks too, like taking the thing to court and making all the nobles do the conga.  Or I suppose the Russet Bear could be following a troubador npc and be used against the party.

Update: After posting I'm feeling I didn't get the tone quite right here, it's a little too twee.  With the last two posts I was trying to get the creepiness and threat that seems to underlie the apparent childishness of fairy tales.  To get more of that here, I might make the dances more frightening - the twirling dance like the tarantella will dance people to death, maybe add London Bridge which will send dancers over cliffs like waves of lemmings at each chorus of "we all fall down." Something to make players a little afraid of the bear themselves.  Hmm, maybe if you don't keep it fed with sweets it will make you dance.

The Milk Maid

A barefoot, young girl with a wooden pail of warm milk walks in a dangerous place.  Oddly unharmed, she says to the party "All worried and weary come drink from my pail.  Come drink this warm milk and feel hearty and hale."

Drinking the milk will always heal the drinker (2d6 hit points) but other effects depend on the kind of milk it is.  The milk in the pail actually comes from a local denizen, so it might be unicorn, dragon, or ogre (don't think too much about the specifics it's a fairy tale).

Refusing to drink from the pail means the next encounter will be with something that has.  (This will be obvious because of the empty pail nearby or milk dripping from its chin.)

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So, this monster isn't really ready to run out of the box.  You'll need to decide what the milk of each of the creatures on your random encounter table would do (if an ogre drinks dragon milk?  If a unicorn drinks kobold milk?).  If players decide to drink the milk, have them roll on your encounter table what kind of milk it was (it seems funnier and creepier to know you just drank rot grub milk than to just feel the effects).

Also, I think this milk maid would work best with some foreshadowing.  Have the local village peasants arguing about whether you should or shouldn't drink from her pail with examples of what happened when their second cousins did etc.  That way, even her appearance is a kind of an event.

The Wallers

Those who have seen them say they look like knee-high bearded men .  They build walls of dirty grey brick that appear to be made of cinders and ground bones.  Any tool used to break through these bricks will become useless or dulled (consumes tools and spikes / -1 to weapons until worked on by a smith).  Wallers work quietly and and quickly; blocking a 10' corridor in a as many minutes.   They will flee if provoked but will return again and again until the spot they were walling is walled.

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This is my take on a fairy tale-like monster.  I was spurred on by this post.  I'll try to come up with some more.  The idea here is not that players will be tricked into losing their way ( the bricks look different than surrounding dungeon) or even that it will consume resources (eating up spikes to break through) just that it is odd and makes little sense.  It will hopefully give players the heeby jeebies and have them wondering what else might lurk in the underworld.

Low Ghosts

Low ghosts are so old they've almost faded away.  Or, some say they're just the spirits of those most powerless and forgotten.  Either way they seem incapable of harming someone, only possessing them.  A low ghost will follow a person, moaning in the shadows, until they take possession of them (can attempt each round).  Once they possess a person they wander off and lose themselves in the darkness.  Even their ability to possess is weak, though; and the more souls nearby the less likely it becomes (every person touching a target gives it bonus to save).

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More a distraction than a direct threat, but I had an image come to mind while falling asleep one night of a party all holding hands with these things all around them and then coming to a ladder or rope down . . .

Organ Thieves

They are said to look like black leeches the size of squirrels.  They seem to slip into camps after everyone has drifted off to sleep (move silent 3-6 on 1d6).  The sleepers awake with flower-shaped bruises and . . . things missing:

1. heart -- nothing really matters, does it, no levelling up
2. lung -- can't get your wind, -2 to all rolls from now on
3. intestines -- you are constantly hungry, eat a ration/hr or -2 on all rolls
4. kidneys -- you are constantly thirsty, drink a skin of water/hr or -2 on all rolls
5. liver -- put that drink down, brother.  Any alcohol=save vs poison
   
6. just bruises - no organ gone, but what was it doing there?

The thieves slither off with their prizes and assemble them into a . . . thing.  The Viscera.  Viscera are 10 organs from different organisms that levitate and rustle wetly.  They are powerful hypnotists (Rank 6) and will convince visitors to go fetch more organs to create more viscera.

Note: if players can find their organ, certain healers should be able to open the wound and return them . . . otherwise the dwarves are said to make interesting replacements.

Note 2: Alchemists and unsavory types might be able to render the thieves down into St Petruccio's Spit, Seep, or just a powerful anaesthesia.

The Angel of Color

It appears as three rows of perfect, floating cubes.  These cubes are alabaster white.  If touched, they bob a little, but don't move much unless pushed horizontally or vertically toward each other.

When this is done far enough so that the two cubes touch, the cube being touched turns a brilliant color.  Also, all within 30' must save or lose their sense of direction.

Touching a colored cube with a white cube will drain its color leaving them both white. Touching two colored cubes together will make each turn new brilliant colors.

Returning all the cubes to their colorless state will restore a sense of direction to anyone within 30'.

The loss of direction may not be noticeable at first, because it will not affect the creatures ability to move just to conceive.  It will manifest itself in an inability to tell which way left, right, up or down is.  In a room with two doors an affected creature would choose randomly or by features other than direction, "The red one. The small hallway."

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I'm thinking for the colors you could go to a hardware store and get some paint color cards.  The idea is not to confuse or trick the players, so you'll need to keep track of which cubes are colored in a way easy for players to see.

It would probably be good to have this in a chamber that isn't close to any right/left hallway or door choices so their predicament takes a while to set in.

I haven't tried this yet, but may this Friday.

The Angel of Geometry

A perfect alabaster pyramid floats motionlessly.  If disturbed, anyone within 30' must save or go blind.  Those who save will see the pyramid has been replaced by a perfect alabaster sphere, floating motionlessly.  If disturbed all within 30' must save or go deaf.  The sphere is replaced by a cube - disturb it, save or go mute.  Next is a torus - disturb it, and a pyramid will re-appear, anyone still within 30' will have all senses returned to normal.
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This is something I cooked up for playing my parents.  I figured it would be alien and curious in a non-creepy way.  I think it may be a 4 dimensional creature cycling through aspects of itself, or maybe through stages in its life cycle.  But who knows.

At first I was going to have the platonic solids, but I didn't want to have to explain what an icosahedron was to my parents.

It seemed to work well in the session last night, causing great consternation and chaos (I'll blog about that later).  I recommend having lots of little cards with B, D, & M on them.  You can place them in front of players, otherwise it's difficult to track the many different combinations of disability characters will end up with.  You might be thinking: "assuming they mess with it."  Trust me, they will mess with it.

There are other angels.

Deadly Distraction - Blood Dove

Found underground as well as above, these exquisitely plumed birds are most often encountered singly. Appearing unfrightened and curious, the dove will observe for a few minutes before flying off to the largest natural predator nearby. Predators have learned that blood doves mean prey and will follow them wherever they lead. If the predator is successful in scoring a kill, the blood dove will dart in to eat scraps and bathe in the blood of the slain prey. Their iridescent red feathers are rare and valuable.

The Unborn

Fleshed out more fully from here. And attempting another frightening, perplexing monster.

The Unborn

Found in tight spaces underground, the only sound they make is the quick inhalation of breath, as if surprised. Some say this is them realizing, over and over, that they live. When encountered by living creatures the unborn, usually in small groups, will approach, mindlessly clubbing with fingerless hands. Cutting their flesh open reveals dry, gristly meat almost like sausage. If they successfully hit a human, that person's mind is transfered into the unborn's body. The human's original body will stare mutely or wander randomly. Scholars say this happens because the unborn have no soul of their own.

A victim newly trapped in an unborn body will find they cannot speak and can only gesture at their allies or attempt to touch their former body to swap their mind back. Tales of doughty fighters butchering unborn often end with the strange fate of the rest of the party-- oddly docile for the rest of their days.

The Unborn
Armor Class: 9 [10]
Hit Dice: 2
Attacks: Club-like arms 1d6
Saving Throw:16
Special: Touch causes bodyswap
Move: 6
Challenge Level/XP: 4/120

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Yeah, the pic has them on a swing (it's unborn recess!), but imagine those bodies crawling toward you in a cave with a two foot ceiling and that noise they make. . .

Update 7/9/10:

After posting I'm thinking these guys might be a little too powerful. I might drop damage to 1d4 HD to 1 and maybe even give players a save versus the soul swap, but not sure on the last.

In Praise of the Vomiter

You can find Zak's creation here. I'm not interested in badass monsters much, seems like the depths of badassery have been thoroughly plumbed (beholder, anyone?). I'm more interested in monsters that perplex players or work on their emotions. Thus my series of Deadly Distractions. I think the vomiter deserves some attention along these lines.

I like the vomiter for several reasons:

• It is surprising the first time encountered-- What the hell is coming out of his mouth!?
• It is still surprising on later encounters-- I don't want to stick around and find out what is coming out of her mouth!
• But it's also tragic-- here is this victim suffering before you and to dally trying to think of how you might help them could cost you your own life.

The vomiter is reminiscent of the old Alien chest-burster but different in the second two points above. First, you never know what you're going to get (like a really nasty box of chocolates). And second, a person screaming and having chest pains might freak you out and raise the tension level, but someone throwing up in front of you is more likely to elicit sympathy, at least it does for me. Because vomiting isn't usually life-threatening like a heart attack, maybe there is just more emotional space to feel sorry for the individual puking.

So, I wanted to make some creatures that might work similarly, not the surprise so much, I don't think you can top the vomiter there, but the sympathy.

Many players couldn't care less for npc's in trouble, though, so how do we make them care? By putting them in dire need. And so, based on the humble Rat King I give you:


The Peasant King

Sometimes known as a Dark Throng, Petitioner's Circle, or just Tom Tangle, this rare mass of humanity is found moving across the countryside at night, or in dark, abandoned places. Formed from what appears to be a circle of men, women, and children with hands fused together, it moves along clumsily, slowly spinning in the direction of travel.

Those bodies closer to the center of the circle have eyes and mouths fused shut. Those on the outside beg for help of anyone in earshot. If a person touches this mass of bodies they must make a save versus petrification or begin fusing to the mass themselves. One limb is quick, the rest following as the hours pass (generally an hour per hit point before complete fusion).

If a person makes their save and resists the fusing, all the bodies not completely fused will be released as well. A person trapped in the Peasant King will know this, will feel the circle's binding strained to the limit. They will also realize that each new person touched gives a chance of release. Stories tell of strong individuals dragging the King from village to village seeking just that. Those viewing the horrific wheel of flesh generally feel differently and flee at its sight.
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So, the idea is one of your players will touch this thing, get caught, and then desperately beg for help knowing just a made save is between them and freedom. The rest of the party will have to decide whther the gamble is worth it, pull out the hacksaws, or just harden their hearts to the begging as the walk away.

p.s. I thought of calling it the Serf King, but every time I thought the name I heard surf guitar. :)

Deadly Distraction Compilation

I threw together all my troublesome creatures so you can have them handy. It's not a work of art and will need revision, but I wanted to make it available. Three of four players canceled for our planned session today, so that's why I've got so much time to post.

• Telecanter's Deadly Distractions

Enjoy.

Deadly Distraction - Cave Locusts

Mention of the Albino Ape on the Swords & Wizardry Forums had me thinking of other monsters from Moldvay Basic.

I think I acquired the book as a hand-me-down from my DM friend when he got the Advanced books. I read it lovingly and got to know it, even though all our play went into 1e.

There were several monsters that never crossed over into 1e, which helped give the two systems, which seem very close rules-wise, different flavors for me. So, I dug out my Moldvay and perused it again. Here are some of the monsters unique to the red book:

• Ape, White
• Cave Locust
  
• Living Statue (Crystal, Iron, Rock)
• Rock Baboon
• Thoul

And, yes, gnolls are rumored to be the result of a magical combination of gnomes and trolls. Weird and wacky. No mention of that when we get the 1e hyena-men.

Now this is probably old news to many of you. But it's interesting for me to look at the different flavors as someone who spent my gaming career focused on 1e. The cave locust seemed interesting to me way back then, I may have even made a little dungeon with them placed in it. I think I liked them because they could be a logical fit to the environment, Gygaxian naturalism, I suppose. But now looking back at them I realized they were a Deadly Distraction! Look at some highlights from their description:

• They are camouflaged in their stone environments and may look like a statue
• They are nervous and will flee rather than fight
• It can accidentally jump into characters, injuring them
  
• Frightened or attacked, they start shrieking, drawing wandering monsters
• Cornered, it will spit brown yuck that makes you unable to do anything for a turn and causes people to get sick until you wash it off.

First, it seems to lure in the unwary by looking like a statue, it's trap-like. But, second, it doesn't want to fight. And, finally, it can cause a severe distraction to an adventuring party if they get any of its spittle on them. I think these are all features I've been trying to incorporate into my Deadly Distractions monsters.

But think about it, this one monster is practically a primer in old-school encounters: Be cautious, "Hey look at this statue over here . . . "; Fighting everything is a bad strategy, "Now it started shrieking, it's shrieking!"; Umm, yeah, fighting everything is a bad strategy, "It spit on me . . . oh, the smell . . . blarrrgh."

Who designed this creature? Anyone know? I'd like to congratulate that person on a finely designed old-school monster. And I hadn't planned it when I started the post, but I can't resist, my Swords & Wizardy conversion homage:

Cave Locust
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 1d6
Attacks: Bump (1d4) or Spit
Saving Throw:18
Special: Spittle causes nausea
Move: 6/18 (flying)
Challenge Level/XP: 1/15

These skittish herbivores the size of a dog, are a mottled-grey that blends into cavern walls. If seen, they appear to be a large statue of a locust. If bothered, their first inclination is to flee, which entails leaping with their powerful hind legs. Unfortunate adventurers in the path of such a jump will not soon forget it.

Cave locusts unable to flee unhindered begin emitting a piercing, shriek-like noise that may draw wandering monsters. As a last resort, a cornered cave locust will spew brown spittle on attackers. This sticky mess is so noisome as to cause anyone smelling it to become nauseous enough to hinder their ability to move and fight.

Deadly Distraction - Glass Golem

A glass golem most often appears as a hollow glass figure half again as tall as a man. Inside its clear glass shape, green-black swirls can be seen curling like foul smoke. Often a representation of a dignitary or civil servant, they are created to watch a doorway or prevent access to an area and are found holding glass tablets inscribed with these instructions. Though these tablets have a razor sharp edge to them, a glass golem will only attack if forced to in fulfilling its orders.

Glass golems are silent but may try communicating their orders through gestures. If the golem is shattered the noxious vapors trapped inside it will be freed to the doom of all onlookers.

Glass Golem
Armor Class: 9 [10]
Hit Dice: 3hp
Attacks: Glass (1d8)
Saving Throw:18
Special: Releases poison cloud on shattering
Move: 6
Challenge Level/XP: A/5

Deadly Distraction - Blind Agnes

Appearing as a girl or young woman, pale and eyeless, stumbling through dark passages, a blind Agnes is an ill omen for those that see her. Anyone close enough to see the white holes of her eyes will have their own eyes stolen by Agnes. She will gain her victims eyes and with them sight. Once she is able to see, blind Agnes will attempt to flee.

The poor soul that loses their eyes to blind Agnes will still see, but through the eyes set in Agnes face. Their vision will follow wherever Agnes goes while they must negotiate their actual surroundings sightless. Stories tell of men crying out about wondrous treasures only to step unknowingly off of ledges to their death.

There are at least two ways for the victim of a blind Agnes to regain their sight. The first is by waiting, after a matter of hours they will regain their eyes and see as normal. The second is by slaying the blind Agnes. But as she falls dead, her eyes see things no man was meant to see, and a victim that regains their sight in this way is often reduced to whimpering and moaning of the horrible sights they were forced to witness.

Blind Agnes
Armor Class: 9 [10]
Hit Dice: 1d4
Attacks: -
Saving Throw:18
Special: Sight will steal vision
Move: 12
Challenge Level/XP: A/5

Deadly Distraction - Torporous Worms

These worms are actually a kind of caterpillar that dwells in the small cracks and crevices of underground passages. They are covered in fine bristles which numb flesh even through clothing. On seeing a motionless creature, torporous worms will beginning crawling towards it, slowly, by the hundreds. Once this silent tide of grey worms is moving it can seem as if the very stone of a floor is undulating.

A creature covered in torporous worms will drowse, undisturbed, while the hungry caterpillars begin feeding. Stories tell of adventuring parties foolish enough to bivouac underground, waking to the wet sound of flesh being stripped from their comrades' bones.

The worms themselves are defenseless if not handled, and on any movement or commotion around their prey, will begin retreating.

Torporous Worms
Armor Class: 9 [10]
Hit Dice: 1hp each
Attacks: 1hp per turn
Saving Throw:18
Special: Touch causes numbness & drowsiness
Move: 3
Challenge Level/XP: A/5

Deadly Distraction - Greater Crested Potionguide

This bird looks much like a small, dark-grey owl, except for it's finely feathered double crest. On encountering a potionguide, it will generally put on a display-- riffling its crest, unfurling its wings-- and then take flight a small distance away to repeat the process. Its intent is to get onlookers to follow it and to travel towards its eventual goal-- a cache of potions. Potionguides can sense potions through doors, through walls, even in locked chests. If any obstacles appear in the path toward their goal, they will hang back, only to continue leading once the obstacles have been dealt with by those they guide.

On achieving the potion cache, the potionguide will attempt a surprise attack on anyone with a potion in hand. Using a flurry of wings, its aim is for the potion to be dropped and shattered, where it can lap up, with its broad grey tongue, the magical liquid it so desires.

Greater Crested Potionguide
Armor Class: 8 [11]
Hit Dice: 1d4
Attacks: Flurry (1d3)
Saving Throw:18
Special: Can detect potions
Move: 4/18 (when flying)
Challenge Level/XP: A/5