Thursday 6 April 2017
Xor Monsters 2 (MM2 & BX)
OK so next will look at MM2, the BX monsters and im looking at the Dragon Creature Catalogs becauses they had some nice planar monsters. I might have trouble getting them because ppl tended to seperate them from mags (ppl like me...).
MM2
Aboleths - awesome critters to live in deeps of Xor
Afanc - big killer fish with 15HD could be handy
Ant lions - someone has to eat those ants
Ascomoid - fungal critters are good
Aspis - insectoids colonised Xor
Basidirond - mobile fighting fungus
Basilisk Greater - i could add more mythic powers including fire breath, poison touch etc
Bat, Mobats are good riding bats, on Xor lots of bats are albinos
Deathwatch Beetle - these really freak out high level players when make those death saves, many a follower in my games has died from these
Slicer beetle - hilarity of limb removing criticals and own funny magic item mirth of incomplete boot and glove sets
Behemoths - are just dire hippos
Behir - love guarding neural chambers and feed of electricity
Boalisk - big smakes but as i said before snakes and worms are a bit confused on Xor
Boggle - kinda pathetic and funny googly eyed guys who scuttle about Xor. The can communicate by ear wiggling
Boobrie - giant bloodthirsty herons with bat membranes instead of feathers
Catfish, giant - more fish monsters
Cave Cricket - eat dead stuff and make monster attracting noises, ones in Jackson's King Kong are awesome
Cave Fisher - wonderful cave and dungeon predators
Cloaker -monsters that pretend to be magic items - dungeon comedy gold
Daemons - In my setting I like DCC having Cthulhu mythos for Nuetral evil but I also like the gygaxian Daemons and there is no reason to have both. In my setting Devils are lawful persecutors of mankind who buy souls and tempt with worldly power and lie like lawyers. They are more likely to have legal battles than fights with angels. Demons are lawless selfish beings who lie as a matter of course and they only pretend to make pacts and contracts till they have the upper hand. Daemons are more into corruption and sadism. They visit Xor mostly to see what demons are up to.
Demodands - are another evil race kin to demons mostly interested in execution and torment rather than persecuting mortals or quibbling over souls.
Derro and morlocks are just evil dwarves in my game but up to no good with strange machines
I accidently put Alu demons and cambion in part one under monster manual mostly because they fit under demons
Dinosaurs - more because you cant have too many also Phororhacos a 7+HD flightles bird
Dragonfly, giant - also good for mounts
Dustdigger - monster are starfish like traps cept on Xor dontt hide under sand, more they disguise selves as floor
Executioners Hood - a good bio trap beast
Fly, giant - good mounts for goblins also produce maggots which goblins farm
Froghemoth - fit in very well
Giant in MM2 especially formarians
Gibbering Mouther - fit in very well
Jelly, Mustard - part of Xorian
Kraken - handy for wet areas and caves
Land Lampreys - because you can never have enough lampreys
Mantis, giant
Modrons - mostly visit Xor to fight demons and Slaad
Mongrel Men - thrive especially when reproductive magic is common
Myconid - fungi men are so much fun
Ophidians - more remnants of snake men exploring Xor long ago
Pedipalps - more arachnid fun
Phcomid - more biological trap
Quasi Elemental Lightning - these hang about in neural clusters
Scorpions - more sizes
Slime, Olive and Slime creatures -
Snakes - more = better
Solifugid - more arachnids
Stegocentipede - more centipedes the better
Tasloi - just tribal goblins who ride wasps
Thri-kreen - one of those awesome monsters
Vulture, giant - thrive on Xor but only snack on terrain if desperate
Tunnel Worn - vicious invasive predators
Yeth Hounds - creepy cool scary
Yuan Ti - remnants of hybrid serpent men civilization
Zygom - can grow in diseased or weakened Xor flesh
BX - AC9 and Cyclopedia versions
A few variations of monsters have always puzzled me in dnd. Bees, ants for a start. Yetis are white apes with ice powers. Devil swine make my top ten monsters and kinda a afterthought in 2nd ed. I like how the BX creature catalogue AC9 lists monsters in sections like animals, magic, humanoids, etc. Has a good undead section too. Some of these in a 2nd ed Mystara monster folio too.Drakes are interesting. Some monsters have slightly silly abstract names while i prefer descriptive names like winged ape to Tabi.
Oyster Giant - also good for clams because every pool might have tentacles or clams. Aquatic and land versions
Snake Rock Rattler
Gargoyle, Iron
Golem - Amber, Bone, Bronze, Rock, Silver all fun - never got why these not in adnd - bone and amber main type in Xor and as mentioned before Flesh
Juggernaut -usually animated siege machines of stone and wood but on Xor stone is meat and wood is bone instead
Bhut - fabulous undead-lycanthrope horrors
Crone of Chaos - sort of a witch or lesser hag brought in by demons to corrupt Xor
Gatormen - pretty horrible beastman type with 7HD - similar elephant beastman too - i just use my Abhuman class but id not considered these beastmen before. 4HD turtlemen too. Evil wizard
Giant Amoeba - 10-15 HD gelatinous blobs
Jellyfish, giant - I have aquatic and floating varieties
Leviathan Worms - 60-70 HD freaking awesome and the AC9 book makes them look a bit like giant dicks, also Red Worms 2HD, Slime Worms 10HD
Aranea - sentient evil spiders
Brain Collectors - tentacled brain eaters who steal abilities of consumed brains visit Xor from another dimension
Decapus - horrible pube covered ten tentacled land octopuses
Tabi - Horrible hairy winged chaos ape men brought by demons to Xor, locals find hair repulsive
Beetles - Tiger bugs not in Adnd, im tempted to make them beserkers
Devil Fish - BX name for Ixlthlatlwatsits chaos manta rays....a bit simpler
Dinosaur Stat System in cyclopedia is a lot simpler with generic types instread of as many species as Adnd has
Gargantua - titan carrion crawlrs, gargoyles and trolls are pretty awesome (sadly I dont have a Oriental Adventures anymore which has mega apes, lizards and bugs with 50 odd HD)
Gargoyle description actually says they are made by wizards and other details not in MM
Golem - Obsidian and mud here too
Gremlins are interesting and I like their luck powers otherwise goblin like, I pefer to make them 6 inches tall and sneak into adventurers stuff to sabotage them. Adnd Jermalaine are hella more creepy but I would make them a sub type.
Insect Swarm in basic rules is pretty good
Leech Giant - handy
Lizards - include some extra types not in Adnd
Giant Locusts - come to graze hair on Xor
Lycanthropes - a very good selection including devil swine sent by hell to cause trouble
Manscorpion
Mujina - blank faced creatures use illusions to make faces
Robber Fly - giant stinging flies
Salamander - fire and frost types and my prefered version of this monster being lizard like
Living Statues - I would add meat and bone statues possibly keratin
Toads - A good selection of toad types
NEXT
making basic encounter tables for terrain and dungeons
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I've got a ridiculosly long list of Xor-folk encounters that needs typinng and editing. Should I post it?
ReplyDeletefor sure! im offering a appendix section for other contributers
DeleteI have to admit, I've always preferred the basic D&D monster offerings over the AD&D monster offerings, they just seemed more exciting. Though I do have to agree, some of the names are pretty weak.
ReplyDelete