Monster: Illithocyte

Monster: Illithocyte

The illithocyte is an ooze-like aberration that springs up from evolved illithid tadpoles. What causes them to not become larval flayers or neothelids is unclear.

Monster: Oortling

Monster: Oortling

The oortlings were quite a sophisticated race that built ice palaces on comets in space. In the old times, they were found by the illithids and turned into fodder thanks to their oversized, delicious brains. Now, the "free" oortlings are pathetic, degenerate creatures that hides from everyone on the comets, and the captive ones are just cattle for the mind flayers. Not very suitable as combatants and as PCs (they tend to have many cowardice-related mental disadvantages).

Monster: Brainstealer Dragon

Monster: Brainstealer Dragon

The brainstealer dragons combine the powerful body of a dragon and the powerful mind of an illithid. They cannot be controlled even by the elder brains, so they typically act independently from the mind flayer colonies. They lack breath weapon and spell-like abilities, their wings are too weak to serve as weapons, but they possess an array of psionic abilities.

Monsters: Illithidae

Monsters: Illithidae

From left to right: kigrid, embrac, saltor

The illithidae are to the mind flayers are what the animals are to the humans. They came to this world along with the illithids and tend to live close to the illithid colonies.

Monster: Elder Brain

Monster: Elder Brain

The elder brain is a telepathic powerhouse that rules a particular mind flayer colony (unless it is ruled by a paragon mind flayer or a brainstealer dragon). They have almost all the telepathic powers from GURPS Psionic Powers. This post assumes that psi and anti-psi powers can be taken together.

Monster: Brain Golem

Monster: Brain Golem

The brain golem is a peculiar construct budded from the mind flayer elder brain. Despite being a mindless automaton, it can use some psionic abilities.

Monster: Tzakandi (Half-Illithid Lizardfolk)

Monster: Tzakandi (Half-Illithid Lizardfolk)

Fiend Folio presents the half-illithid template that can be applied to non-human humanoids. Technically, that's just the abilities of a normal mind flayer slapped onto another creature. In GURPS terms, it makes no sense making it a separate lens - just apply the mind flayer racial template to another racial template. The book uses the lizardfolk as an example, but there are several different kinds of ceremorphs in other supplements.

Monster: Cranium Rat Swarm

Monster: Cranium Rat Swarm

Cranium rats are rats with exposed brains and a hive mind, used as spies by the illithids. They grow smarter and more psionically powerful near other such swarms. These were tricky to build.

Monster: Mind Flayer Vampire

Monster: Mind Flayer Vampire

The mind flayer vampire is a special kind of undead that is unlike the normal vampires. It is feral and requires both fresh blood and brains to survive.

Monster: Ulitharid

Monster: Ulitharid

Ulitharids are bigger, stronger, smarter, and more ill-tempered illithids. Thankfully, they are quite rare too. Also, they have two additional long tentacles.

Monster: Alhoon (Illithilich)

Monster: Alhoon (Illithilich)

The alhoon, also known as the illithilich, is a vile combination of a mind flayer and a lich. A threat both in terms of magic and psionics. Reviled by the normal mind flayers. I don't think there's a point in making it a lens if it can only be applied to a single type of creature.

Lens/Monster: Paragon Creature/Paragon Mind Flayer

Lens/Monster: Paragon Creature/Paragon Mind Flayer

Let's get back to some monster conversions. I've been asked to do some mind flayer-related monster, so let's start with the simple one. "Paragon creature" is a simple number bloat template from Epic Level Handbook. In the book, they list the paragon mind flayer as an example, said to either lead mind flayer cities or be hunted by the others for its valuable, but dangerous brain. This creates an interesting dynamic with the elder brains.

Monsters in Karilan, Part V (T - Z)

Monsters in Karilan, Part V (T - Z)

Well, actually it's T-Y. That's the final batch, I finally forced myself to finish this endeavor. Now, after my vacation is done, I can finally start writing new content.

Monsters in Karilan, Part IV (O - S)

Monsters in Karilan, Part IV (O - S)

And another batch of setting-specific info blurbs.

Monsters in Karilan, Part III (H - N)

Monsters in Karilan, Part III (H - N)

Another batch of setting-specific blurbs. Not that many left, probably two more posts.

Monsters in Karilan, Part II (E - G)

Monsters in Karilan, Part II (E - G)

Unfortunately, when I typed up several pages of this on the phone, the document got deleted for some reason, so everything was lost. Now, I am slowly recreating it from memory.

Ruminations on play-by-post GURPS

Ruminations on play-by-post GURPS

This is a topic I wanted to talk about for a while already, but haven't gotten a chance to. Most of the post, probably, won't be GURPS-specific, but applicable to other systems. I just want to share my experience and, hopefully, help to dismiss some prejudices.

Monsters in Karilan, Part I (A - D)

Monsters in Karilan, Part I (A - D)

I have always liked the “[monster name] in Eberron” and “[monster name] in Faerun” snippets from the Monster Manual III-V. All settings are different, and even when they use the same content, the context might be different. For example, even such staple monsters as drow differ significantly between the established D&D settings. Here I am going to describe the role of particular monsters in my campaign setting, their place in the world. This series of posts will cover the monsters that I've already posted on the blog. Those that are not mentioned either do not exist, or have no difference between the standard flavour and the setting-specific one, or have nothing to be said about. The monster posts that will be written in the future will have a short "[monster name] in Karilan" blurb.

Sorcery: Sound Spells V

Sorcery: Sound Spells V

GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells is out! The coauthor who helped yours truly in writing it also has a great blog, I suggest checking it out (it's mostly about OSR though). The supplement is my first foray into writing, and I want to thank not only my coauthor, but also my gaming group, my readers and supporters, the editors, and other SJGames staff members that I was dealing with. I hope that I will get a chance to write another similar small supplement in the future. Of course, all the spells that are printed in the supplement have been changed and polished. The old versions were purged from the blog. Let's commemorate this with a batch of new sound spells! Hearing Protection should be useful when fighting banshees and sound sorcerers. Muffle is a boon for thieves. Noise Amplification is a bane of thieves. Sonic Scream is a signature move of one of the most forgettable Mortal Kombat characters.

Psionics: Additional Anti-Psi Abilities

Psionics: Additional Anti-Psi Abilities

I don't think that this power's scope is broad, but I still managed to squeeze in a couple of new abilities.

Monster: Giant Praying Mantis

Monster: Giant Praying Mantis

At last, we have the last monster from the Monster Manual for D&D 3.5 converted to GURPS. I can't believe that I actually had the patience to do this. Of course, many of the previous conversions have flaws and mistakes, but I fix them when I find them. What to do next? I have some ideas. Either the rest of the magic items from the Dungeon Master's Guide, or extra monsters that were requested (mind flayer-related ones), or a post that describes the role the monsters play in my homebrew setting, or maybe I will finally try to write up some occupational templates.

Monsters: Giant Beetles

Monsters: Giant Beetles

Now, the three giant beetles - the giant bombardier beetle, the giant fire beetle, and the stag beetle. Nothing extraordinary, but the fire beetles are very useful to adventurers for their glands that can be removed to provide illumination equivalent to a torch for 1d days.

Monsters: Giant Ants

Monsters: Giant Ants

We're still missing some vermin from the Monster Manual. This post details the giant ants.

Monsters: Yuan-Ti

Monsters: Yuan-Ti

The yuan-ti are psionic snakelike humanoids of various degrees of snakiness. The following post details only the yuan-ti from the Monster Manual, but there are several extra varieties in other supplements.

Monster: Yrthak

Monster: Yrthak

I've always liked the yrthaks. They are flying, blind reptiles that navigate via sonar and can launch explosive sonic rays. A good alternative to the wyvern.

Monster: Yeth Hound

Monster: Yeth Hound

Yeth hounds are one of those monsters that most never even heard about. I've never seen them mentioned anywhere or brought up in any conversation online.

Monster: Xorn

Monster: Xorn

Xorns are creatures from the Elemental Plane of Earth that subsist on precious metals and minerals. They can smell these substances. A very interesting body morphology.

Monster: Xill

Monster: Xill

Xills are four-armed humanoid outsiders that lurk on the Ethereal Plane and attack unwary prey on the other planes.

Monsters: Wraiths

Monsters: Wraiths

D&D wraiths are very different from GURPS Magic wraiths. These ones are just undead spirits that are only slightly different from the spectres. Dread wraiths, on the other hand, have an interesting lifesense ability.

Monsters: Zombies

Monsters: Zombies

Here we have the sample zombies from the Monster Manual made by applying the zombie lens to the appropriate templates.

Monster: Winter Wolf

Monster: Winter Wolf

Winter wolves are slightly more interesting, powerful, and intelligent than the worgs.

Monster: Worg

Monster: Worg

I've always overlooked the worgs. I thought that they are just sentient dire wolves. Now that I've looked at the statblock closer I found out that they are just sentient almost-dire wolves. The only interesting thing about them is that they have their own language.

Monster: Will-o'-wisp

Monster: Will-o'-wisp

Will-o'-wisps are cruel beings that feed on terror and death. I am happy to finally get a chance to use the new communication traits from GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races.

Monster: Wight

Monster: Wight

Wights are simple, but malevolent undead creatures that hate the living and can drain the lifeforce of their victims.

Monster: Vargouille

Monster: Vargouille

The vargouille is a low-tier extraplanar monster that probably will only be a challenge if summoned in large groups. However, their ability to trigger Fright Checks and turn creatures into vargouilles might be inconvenient.

Lens/Monsters: Vampires

Lens/Monsters: Vampires

Oh boy, I was dreading this one. Vampires from the Monster Manual are quite different from the ones from the Basic Set or GURPS Horror. They have a wide variety of abilities and weaknesses that require a great deal of preparation from the adventurers to slay them properly. Still, the lens that I made is slightly different from the template described in the Monster Manual. This post features the vampire lens, two sample vampire NPCs from the Monster Manual, and the weaker vampire spawn.

Monsters: Unicorns

Monsters: Unicorns

Unicorns are sentient, good-natured horned horses with some innate protection against evil. The celestial charger variant is a unicorn with the celestial creature lens applied to it. In the Monster Manual it also has cleric levels, but clerical magic in my setting is not very compatible with the unicorns, because they must be able to manipulate their patron deity's holy symbol.

Monster: Troglodyte

Monster: Troglodyte

Troglodytes are underground-dwelling reptilian humanoids that can exude a nauseating musk. The racial template is cheap enough to be fitting for player characters. I've always been fond of the troglodytes.

Monster: Triton

Monster: Triton

Tritons are semi-aquatic beings that migrated to the Material Plane from the Elemental Plane of Water. Why are they able to breathe air and walk on land (although clumsily) if these abilities are not requires on the Elemental Plane of Water?

Monster: Treant

Monster: Treant

Treants are animated trees that can animate other trees. Not much else to say.

Monster: Tojanida

Monster: Tojanida

Tojanidas are weird turtle-crab-squid hybrids from the Elemental Plane of Water who like talking about food.

Monster: Titan

Monster: Titan

Titans are chaotic outsiders of great size, strength, and intelligence. Their array of spell-like abilities is quite diverse.

Monster: Tendriculos

Monster: Tendriculos

The tendriculos is a carnivorous slitering plant monster that swallows prey and paralyzes it with its corrosive digestive juices. That's a strange one.

Monster: Tarrasque

Monster: Tarrasque

The big T itself. Interestingly enough, it doesn't really have any complex abilities that were difficult to convert - just a lot of big numbers. I decided to give it the ability to jump high and fling spikes (like in Pathfinder) to make it dangerous to flying foes as well. Finally, I found a write-up of the "swallow whole" ability that satisfied me. I will have to update the previously posted monsters with this ability.

Monster: Stirge

Monster: Stirge

Stirges are basically giant mosquitoes. Those pose danger only in large numbers. Again, the description in the Monster Manual states that they have eight pincers, but I only see four on the picture. Letter "S" is done! There isn't much left in the book.

Monsters: Sprites

Monsters: Sprites

Sprite (grigs, pixies, and nixies) are reclusive fey creatures of various small sizes. Not very effective in physical combat, obviously, but they possess some interesting magical abilities. Magical arrows used by the pixies are presented as treasure entries instead of being innate abilities. Projectiles are way too expensive for single use items, I think.

Monster: Spider Eater

Monster: Spider Eater

Spider eaters are large insectile beasts that can paralyze their victim for weeks and implant the eggs into them. Creepy. Why are they called spider eaters?

Monster: Hieracosphinx

Monster: Hieracosphinx

Hieracosphinxes are the most bestial and savage of the sphinxes. They are also the most agile and stupid.

Monster: Gynosphinx

Monster: Gynosphinx

The gynosphinxes are the female counterparts of the androsphinxes. They generally avoid combat and detest criosphinxes and hieracosphinxes.

Monster: Criosphinx

Monster: Criosphinx

I failed to find an appropriate image, so have a card

Criosphinxes are much less intelligent than androsphinxes, and lack magical abilities. However, they can ram their foes.

Monster: Androsphinx

Monster: Androsphinx

Androsphinxes are noble beings that rarely engage in combat. Their decent nature makes them likely allies, not adversaries for the typical adventurer. Their description does not mention any riddles.

Monster: Spectre

Monster: Spectre

The spectre is a type of a hateful incorporeal undead. They possess some thematic disadvantages that many other undead creatures lack, even when they seem appropriate, so I'm happy to finally use them.

Monster: Death Slaad

Monster: Death Slaad

It's not a phase, mom!

When a gray slaad lives for a long time, it can go back into isolation and perform a mysterious ritual that imbues it with evil power. Death slaads are martial and magical death machines that are usually clad in magic armor and wield magic weapons (note that the sample stat block assumes and unarmed and unarmored slaad). They look exactly like gray slaads. What I find strange is that the next stage in the slaad's lifecycle loses this evil taint.

Monster: Gray Slaad

Monster: Gray Slaad

A green slaad that survives for some time can retreat into isolation and transform into a gray slaad with even more spell-like abilities. Interestingly, they have an innate ability to enchant items.

Monster: Green Slaad

Monster: Green Slaad

The green slaad is a result of an arcane spellcaster dying to a red slaad's implanted egg or a blue slaad's fever. They are more focused on their spell-like abilities. Their description and the illustration in the Monster Manual for D&D 3.5 seem to disagree on how the creature should look, but the illustration from the Monster Manual for D&D 5e seems much closer to the description.

Monster: Blue Slaad

Monster: Blue Slaad

The blue slaad is bigger than the red one, has very long talons, and can spead slaad fever to produce more red or green slaadi.

Monster: Red Slaad

Monster: Red Slaad

Slaads are chaotic-aligned outsiders that resemble humanoid toads. They have a peculiar way of reproduction and metamorphosis.

Monsters: Skeletons

Monsters: Skeletons

Here we have the sample skeletons from the Monster Manual for D&D 3.5. This is why I converted the troll before the rest of the monsters in the "S" section. The advanced megaraptor skeleton was based on the allosaurus from GURPS Lands out of Time.