Monsters: Linnorms

Monsters: Linnorms

Linnorms are winged wyrms thought to be the ancestors of dragons. I like them a lot, but I've never used them or seen them used in any game, unfortunately.

Monsters: O-Monsters

Monsters: O-Monsters

This post details conversions of all Monster Manual II monsters with names that start with the letter O. And yes, wortling counts.

Monsters: Psurlons

Monsters: Psurlons

Psurlons are desert-dwelling psionics wormfolk. As far as I know, they appeared first in the Dark Sun setting, but later were published for D&D 3.0 in the Monster Manual II and then updated to D&D 3.5 in Lords of Madness.

Monsters: S-Monsters

Monsters: S-Monsters

Another big batch of monsters from the Monster Manual II.

Monsters: M-Monsters

Monsters: M-Monsters

There's a lot of monsters in the Monster Manual II that start with the letter M. The first one is marrash, which is a gnoll-like outsider that spreads deadly diseases. Fiendish Codex II classifies them as devils. Meenlocks are very similar to those ghoul monsters from GURPS Creatures of the Night Volume 1. Megalodon is a big shark. Megapede is a big centipede. Minotaur of legend is something of a paragon minotaur with increased stats and additional abilities. Moonbeast is a lovecraftian tentacle beast. Mooncalf is a winged octopus from space. Morkoths are strange octopus-fish-crab hybrids with hypnotic powers and magic immunity. Mudmaws are crocodiles with two green tentacles (again, it seems that the writers and artists at WotC sometimes could not communicate well).

Monster: Kopru

Monster: Kopru

Koprus are pretty neat aquatic monsters. Nothing super interesting, but not boring either.

Monsters: J-Monsters

Monsters: J-Monsters

The letter J of the Monster Manual II doesn't really have much interesting. Jermlaines are tiny ugly fey with an affinity for rats. Juggernaut is a stone steamroller with an extremely random array of spell-like abilities (I trimmed it a bit). Julajimus sounds like a fairy tale monster that eats children.

Permanent Summoning

Permanent Summoning

This is going to be a very short post. I remember thinking a lot about summoning spells created with the Ally advantage, mostly about how to make them stick around after the duration is over. In fiction, some summoners summon otherworldly beings temporarily, but some summon them to become permanent residents of the summoner's world. How else would you flood the world with demons then? When I was writing up the Fetch spell, I just treated it as a feature - the spell works normally for the duration, but when it runs out you do not lose the summoned creature, but lose control over it. I thought that the chance of it attacking the caster on a bad reaction roll should balance out the benefits. However, by complete accident, I stumbled upon the Allies section in GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys, and apparently it covers this situation! I rewrote Fetch quite clunkily, but now I also suggest the following ability to be able to have any summon stick around.

Summoning Points [2/level]

You have summoning points equal to this trait’s level, which can be used to have conjured beings become permanent, independent residents of the summoner's world as if they were unspent character points, using Changing the World (GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys, pp. 13-15). Summoning points return at a rate of 1 point per week of game time.

Statistics: Impulse Points (Triply Aspected, Changing the World, Allies. -60%; Game Time, +0%) [2/level].

Monster: Hordling

Monster: Hordling

Hordlings (sometimes also spelled as hordelings) are a type of fiends that I thought did not make it into the third edition of D&D. But I was wrong, for they were hidden in the Dungeon Magazine #124. Each hordling is unique, so it really isn't possible to write up a proper racial template for them. Thus, I made a racial template with all the common traits and converted all the tables with random traits that you can expand as you wish.

Monsters: Ixitxachitl

Monsters: Ixitxachitl

Now that's quite a tongue-twister. I was always fond of these monsters, but I never understood how they manage to keep so many slaves without physical prowess or innate magical abilities. I guess they rely on class levels.

Monster: Immoth

Monster: Immoth

Immoths are ice elemental creatures with a thirst for knowledge. They believe that words hold power over the universe. Their innate ability to trace magical ice runes is very cool too.

Monster: Hook Horror

Monster: Hook Horror

Hook horrors are cool. Upright beetles with huge hooks for arms - what's not to like? Also, I remember this monster popping up in the Drizzt novels.

Grafting: Half-Golems

Grafting: Half-Golems

As I have reached the letter H of the Monster Manual II, I have to tackle half-golems. Since they are so varied, it makes no sense to represent them as racial templates or lenses. In the past, I wrote up a a post on grafting, mentioning the so-called golemics - mechanical (usually) replacement limbs for fantasy games.

Monsters: Golems

Monsters: Golems

Monster Manual II has three new golems - dragonflesh golem (aka drolem), brass golem, and stained glass golem. Interestingly enough, I have encountered the latter in a GURPS game, but as a player, not as a GM. That was a great fight. The brass golem is supposed to have a 1/day ability to cast maze and follow the victim into it, but this ability would be incredibly difficult to stat up in a way that would make sense in GURPS, so I will not even bother.

Monsters: G-Monsters

Monsters: G-Monsters

Let's put all the remaining non-golem monsters from the Monster Manual II that start with the letter G into this post.

Monster: Frost Salamander

Monster: Frost Salamander

The frost salamander is unrelated to the salamanders from the Elemental Plane of Fire. This is just a reptilian arctic monster with some cold-related abilities. Nothing special, but I like it.

Monster: Forest Sloth

Monster: Forest Sloth

A quite vanilla monster with a taste for halfling flesh.

Monster: Flesh Jelly

Monster: Flesh Jelly

The flesh jelly is probably one of the most disgusting monsters in Monster Manual II, if not in the entire bestiary.

Monsters: Fihyrs

Monsters: Fihyrs

Fihyrs are manifested fears. The lesser ones die almost instantly when exposed to sunlight, while the greater ones are merely afraid of sunlight. They also are bigger and smarter.

Monster: Fiendwurm

Monster: Fiendwurm

What a cool monster! One of my favorites from the Monster Manual II. An earthworm enlarged and enraged by fiendish magic, eternally in pain due to a portal to Abyss embedded in its stomach. Can both transport others to Abyss be swallowing them and spit out demons (and, very likely, devour them later).

Monster: Nethersight Mastiff

Monster: Nethersight Mastiff

I had always overlooked this monster, thinking it to be a variant of the shadow mastiff. Apparently, it is very different, and the idea of a hound that pulls ghosts into the material world with its teeth is appealing to me.

Monsters: Neogi

Monsters: Neogi

Ah, neogi - one of my favorites! These alien aberrations' mindset dictates that everyone is either a slave or a master. Thus, the entire neogi society is a multi-tiered chain of masters and slaves. Their lore is very interesting, so I'd recommend reading Lords of Madness and an article about them in Dragon Magazine #214.

Monster: Needlefolk

Monster: Needlefolk

Needlefolk are a species of plant humanoids that can throw needles at others. Also, they hate elves and can sense their presence. Why? Nobody knows.

Monster: Leechwalker

Monster: Leechwalker

The leechwalker is a bloated humanoid covered in bloodsucking leeches. Not much else to say here.

Monsters: Yugoloths

Monsters: Yugoloths

Yugoloths (also known as daemons), unfortunately, aren't as popular as the other fiends, such as demonsand devils (still more popular than the demodands though). I think their lore is very interesting, and that there's a lot of potential in them. So, let's convert all the yugoloths from the Monster Manual II.

Monsters: More Giants

Monsters: More Giants

Generally speaking, giants are boring. Typically, they are just big humans, sometimes without anyabilities at all. Monster Manual II has six new giants. Forest giants are lanky humans without anything of note. Ocean giants are my favorites of the bunch, at least they have their limited shapeshifting capacity. Mountain giants are hill giants, but even bigger (I removed their ability to summon giants, because I think it's stupid). Sun giants are yet another breed of desert giants. Fomorians are deformed giants. And firbolgs are fey giants with an extremely random assortment of spell-like abilities. WotC must've been spinning a color wheel or playing darts.

Monsters: More Undead

Monsters: More Undead

This post covers the remaining undead creatures from Monster Manual II. Famine spirits are food-obsessed ghouls. Gravecrawlers are undead worms that feed on the dead and their memories. Jahi are incorporeal creatures that dominate others and force them into hedonism. Ragewinds are whirlwind spirits that wield multiple weapons at once. And spawns of Kyuss are zombies that propagate via worms.

Monster: Ethereal Slayer

Monster: Ethereal Slayer

Ethereal slayers are extraplanar predators with long fangs and claws. They look much scarier than they actually are.

Monster: Ethereal Doppelganger

Monster: Ethereal Doppelganger

Ethereal doppelgangers are an offshoot of the doppelganger race that lives on the Ethereal Plane. Theyare weaker physically, but much tougher and resistant to magic. Where the normal doppelganger can only read surface thoughts, these ones can probe much deeper, which helps them assume the personalities of others and then wipe their memories.