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The lands around Arlinac Town have monsters that portray three types of evil or wrongness. Fell Animals, Gembacks, and Witches are warped versions of normal creatues whose unnatural strength and power makes them unpredictable and fearsome. Dragons, Puddles, and Attercops enjoy capturing and enslaving. Lionkin, Cyborgs, and Undead enjoy claiming and conquering lands and settlements.
It is simplest to read these rules about monsters before reading about the Powers. Try reading this page first, before following any of its links.
The fantasy setting of NAME contains many dangerous creatures that are not "monsters". Travelers who venture away from the main roads might encounter lions and tigers and bears and dinosaurs.
But being really monstrous requires more than being a big thing that sometimes eats people. The best monsters highlight the types of conflict understandable by and important to children. Fairy tales have demonstrated for centuries how children find comfort in stories where wicked deeds are punished, hurtful secrets are revealed, and wounded people recover and become strong.
Moreover, most children find dealing with only a few types of crime and violence to be sensible, sufficient, and preferable to the wide array of grown-up evils. Therefore NAME focuses on its three categories of monsters. If the GM and Player are both adults then stories might additionally feature monsters that highlight prejudice, lust, oppression, addiction, apathy, entitlement, and other vices that require some maturity to deal with.
Fell Animals are larger and stranger versions of normal animals. Little Humble creates them to help her demonstrate that excess and lack can both disrupt habits, tranquility, and security.
Most Fell Animals are not sociable and appear alone or in a small group. But Fell Animals can breed and some live in families or packs.
Different varieties of Fell Animals only live together when Little Humble assigns them to guard one of her Ruins.
A Fell Animal grows as it ages. It gains further exaggerations of its animal nature. Fell Animals progress through three developmental stages: Giant Animal, Shadow Animal, and Grim Animal.
A young Fell Animal is simply called a Giant Animal. It is much bigger and tougher than a normal animal of its kind, but not more intelligent. Giant Animals are not atypically aggressive or dangerous unless very hungry.
As examples of size, a Giant Rat is as large as a normal wolf, a Giant Wolf is as large as a normal pony, and a Giant Bear is as large as a normal elephant.
Giant Animals have no special abilities. Those that hunt for food often excel at Wrestle and Melee, from practice grabbing or knocking down prey before tearing with claws and teeth. Most are as habitually alert as normal animals and have high Perception, although those at the top of their local food chain may become fat, spoiled, and unperceptive.
As a Giant Animal grows it becomes a Shadow Animal, which is even bigger and tougher. Because of its huge size it is resistant to ensnaring unless the trap is especially designed to catch a huge target. Shadow Animals also radiate a visible aura (usually green or grey in color) and are resistant to therianthropy.
Furthermore, a Shadow Animal gains exaggerations of its innate animal abilities. Shadow Snakes are unnaturally able to detect heat and hypnotize. Shadow Crows have a shriek that causes pain and panic. Shadow Centipedes have nearly impervious chitin and can dig with incredible speed.
Similarly, a Shadow Animal has its personality exaggerated. A predatory animal becomes especially vicious. A Shadow version of a pet dog becomes dangerous in its desire for attention. All Shadow Animals gain a little intelligence: all are at least as clever as normal rats.
The oldest of Fell Animals are called Grim Animals. These are often even larger, but not always. Most are quite clever. All remain resistant to therianthropy.
The most noticeable physical change is an incredibly tough hide with rocky or bony protrusions and often additional horns that develop as their bones grow denser. Furthermore, the shadow aura is now slightly tangible and causes weakness in living creatures who are next to the Grim Animal.
The behavioral changes a Grim Animal develops as it finishes evolving are unpredictable. In some cases the result is friendlier than when it was a Shadow Animal, others are more aggressive. Some Grim Animals are quite predatory but not towards the intelligent races: one famous incident involved a Grim Blue Anole that ate all of a Bergtroll kingdom's chickens before it was finally killed.
Fantasy literature is full of fights between heroes and dangerous animals.
Many times the favorite fantasy animal of a GM or Player can be included in the setting as either a non-monstrous animal or a Fell Animal. Does the fantasy world contain rocs and unicorns as "normal" animals, or are these Shadow Eagles and Grim Horses?
Here in an example of using the Fell Animal concept to recreate a famous heraldic creature:
The fearsome Seps (reference) is a type of Grim Viper. It breathes dreadful fumes that cause nausea but no lasting damage. Its steaming venom quickly liquifies any creature it bites, allowing it to swallow whole even huge animals. The scales of a Seps are thick and prized by armorers. The venom is used by alchemists as an ingredient for the most potent of acids. A Seps is quite agile with its tail, and can pick up one opponent with it (usually to toss it or bash it against the ground) while biting another opponent. Thus, if it fighting more than one opponent it gets two attacks on those turns when it does attack.
Within the caves of Speleoth are strange and unpredictable monsters that combine the anatomy of two normal animals. These Gembacks also have an organic gem that slightly protrudes from their spine. Most Gembacks have only slightly more intelligence and size than their smarter and larger kind of animal; a few are especially clever or huge.
Speleoth delights most in creating new types of Gembacks that have never yet been encountered. Yet he also has some favorites, most of which feature a dinosaur body with some features from a mammal or arthropod. Large and aggressive favorites include an ankylosaurus whose armor is covered with huge porcupine quills, a stegosaurus whose white spinal stripe (including its plates) hints that it has a skunk's spray, and a triceratops with a scorpion's stinger on its tail. Smaller yet still dangerous are a compsognathus with large bat wings, a troodon that spins webbing, and a juravenator that drinks like a tick.
Although Gembacks are created inside Speleoth's dungeons, many leave and are encountered elsewhere. Some simply go hunting for food or a better lair, wandering because they were created in one of Speleoth's caves but are not cave creatures. Others travel because they are sent by Speleoth to serve as his eyes and ears to observe important events.
Each Gemback has a random power. The creature might be able to turn invisible, levitate slowly through the air, breathe fire, move twice as fast for a short time, communicate telepathically, spit acid, or do anything else. All Gemback powers affect the monster itself, giving it some supernatural ability. If the creature is killed, its gem may be removed and powdered to make an alchemy ingredient. This powder is important for any long-lasting alchemy recipe that bestows that same effect. (The herbal recipes normally used by Alchemists do not last as long.)
All Gemback gems are indistinguishable, and the monster's appearance has no reliable correspondence to its gem ability. Therefore a gem's use is only known by observing the creature using its ability. Alchemy shops sometimes sell unidentified Gemback powders greatly discounted, since attempting to use them is probably a waste of time and other ingredients. Purchasing gems or powder from a stranger is similarly risky, since the buyer has no guarantee that the seller really knows what he or she is selling.
Gembacks that leave their caves are a favored quarry of expert hunters. They are more unpredictable than Fell Animals. They are can be surprisingly dangerous (but not as dangerous as Dragons). These traits make them very appropriate to test the patience, fortitude, and skill of someone who takes pride in ability as a hunter.
Legends claim that blades coated with the mythical potion alkahest are extra damaging to Gembacks.
Gembacks: Rule Changes
Usually an alchemist's skill rating in Alchemy determines the number of days a potion or gas remains potent. If Gemback gems are used the potion or gas will last seven times as long. The skill rating now measures weeks, not days.
A Gemback hurt by a blade coated with alkahest suffers twice as many losses as otherwise.
Although dinosaurs sound like great monsters for a role-playing game, they usually are not. Fighting a tyrannosaurus in a forest sounds exciting, but usually that combat is simplistic. Dinosaurs lack intelligence and equipment, and have no reason to be encountered in locations with strategic options. A dragon would have more interesting abilities and an evil champion could use more interesting equipment—both would do massive damage, fight intelligently, and deliberately make use of a strategically interesting location. A normal tyrannosaurus is simply outclassed. So NAME provides an excuse for dinosaurs (and any other animals) to be more intelligent, interesting, and unpredictable.
Gembacks can potentially do almost anything that affects themselves. This is a contrast to Witches, who can potentially do almost anything to other creatures.
Note that Gemback gem powder does not degenerate over time. Unlike a finished potion it can be safely stored indefinitely without any loss of potency.
Alkahest is a mythical universal solvent. The "real" version would have far more uses than fighting one kind of monster.
Witches are creatures that look like a woman from one of the intelligent races. Witches can do fearsome magic. Many tales tell of Witches turning a person into a frog, turning vegetables into vehicles, or instantly creating a house made out of cupcakes.
Witches are created by Yarnspinner, who always gives them a mission. Because Witches know they are ephemeral beings who only exist to attempt a brief mission they have no sense of self-preservation. They always prefer a dramatic death to abandoning their purpose.
Most often a Witch's mission is to initiate a story. Examples from legends include a Witch who kidnaps an oppressed princess to introduce her to valiant suitors, a Witch who arrives in a town disguised as a traveling apothecary charlatan but whose lotions and balms have amazing effects, and a Witch who moves to a city and turns an abandoned building into an apparently innocent pet store that actually sells monsters each midnight.
A rare Witch will be assigned the story of disguising herself to join an adventuring party. The Witch will appear to be in need of help or useful as a potential ally. She will initially be genuinely helpful to whomever it meets. However, as time goes on she will become more and more demanding. As soon as any demand is not met, the Witch becomes hostile. She tries to take back any sources of aid she has lent to her former companions, fighting to reclaim them if resisted. Then the Witch flees and disappears forever.
Witches are neither benevolent nor malicious. They are never generous but will repay favors.
There are no bald Witches. All Witches can elongate and shrink their hair, and also use it as one or more dextrous, prehensile limbs. This can allow them to wield many weapons at once, manipuate many objects simultaneously, or otherwise take more than the usual number of actions. Even physically weak Witches can do feats of immense strength with their hair.
Most people believe a Witch can do anything with her magic. Yet three restrictions limit a Witch's magic. First, she may only use magic when it directly helps accomplish her mission's goals—this limitation almost always prevents a Witch from using her magic to ambush or attack people. Second, she must use a specific focus item (usually a wand, ring, cauldron, hat, or box) to perform magic. Third, her powers cannot affect herself, only other things or people. (Thus there are stories of witches flying through the air on household items, since they cannot grant themselves the ability to fly).
Witches appear to be young, middle-aged, or very old: a maiden, matron, or crone. This apparent age never changes. It corresponds to what type of magic they use.
A maiden casts enchantments that affect the mind. Songs describe maidens granting boldness and luck, forcing people to speak the truth, changing animals into intelligent and talkative companions, or helping couples fall in love.
A matron uses conjurations that create items or illusions. Stories tell of matrons summoning mythical mounts, creating fog banks, aiding heroes with mystic armor, blocking passages with walls of fire, or trapping foes in suddenly appearing pits.
A crone creates transmutations that affect objects and bodies. Tales descibe crones turning people in animals, granting objects flight, making people huge, shrinking objects to toy-sized, or cursing foes with muteness or blindness.
A Witch can gain the ability to use the another type of Witch magic by taking the focus item from another Witch of a different age. Some evil Witches prey on other Witches, stealing their foci to gain multiple sources of extra magic.
A Witch's apparent age does not relate to how attractive or charismatic she seems. At any age she might be strong and beautiful or might look ugly and shriveled.
Many Witches live or travel alone. Other live in groups that most often have three members, one of each apparent age.
Witches can potentially do almost anything to other creatures and objects. This is a contrast to a Gemback, who can do almost any one thing that affects itself.
Prehensile hair is a trope linked to RPG witches by Pathfinder.
Dragons They look almost like big winged lizards but are warm-blooded and usually have wiry bunches of hair: bushy eyebrows; a long, wispy beard under the tip of the snout; bristly tufts hair beside the sharp plates that jut up in a row down their back. All Dragons can fly despite their large size. Dragons are always colorful, with brightly shining scales and splashes of lighter colors shining on their wings and chests. All have potent breath: most commonly fire, steam, frost, gas, or an intoxicating floral scent.
Esteem and respect among Dragons is based upon how many villages, towns, and cities a Dragon controls. Dragons do not actually care about ruling or governing the settlements they dominate. Instead they demand a tribute or token that proclaims the settlement's subservient attitude. Unintelligent Dragons are appeased with a monthly meal of plump livestock. Intelligent Dragons enjoy being creative about the type of tribute. Some demand a specific type of treasure. Others require poems or ballads extolling their frightining might. Some demand marriage to a daughter of the king or mayor. A few require the people they subject to go on quests for obscure relics or spell-scrolls. The bards sing stories of especially eccentric Dragons of history, such as Magno the Rotund (who hosted annual pie baking contests and ate the losers), Fang the Conjested (who demanded spicy meals weekly), Cardan the Creepy (who liked eating Undead each new moon night at midnight), and Poldore the Also Creepy (who required the king or mayor of each subjected settlement to marry a Witch).
Intelligent Dragons correspond with each other regularly, using hired messengers or magical communications. This network is called the Dragon Dominion. The Dominion never seeks vengeance for a slain Dragon. But live Dragons commonly ask each other for assistance. Woe upon the adventurer who nearly kills a Dragon but fails to finisht he job!
Many unintelligent Dragons are immune to therianthropy because they are actually Snags: users of therianthropy who have been in the form of a Dragon for so long that their own personality and habits haves faded away and been replaced by the Dragon's.
Dragons do not gain skill or size through age, practice, or experience. Their abilities instead come from hoarding treasure.
Dragons are initially slow and ponderous, only attacking half as fast as most creatures. They are no more intelligent or skilled than typical large predators.
However, as books and scrolls are accumulated, the Dragon gains intelligence and the ability to talk.
As armor is hoarded the Dragon becomes immune to therianthropy, sleep magic, and other hazards.
Monetary treasure grants them endurance. Every 50 coins worth of monetary wealth bestows one point in the skill or talent rating of Wrestle/Disarm (up to the normal maximums of eight in each rating).
Hoarded weapons help them attack. Every 50 coins worth of weapons bestows one point in the skill or talent rating of Melee/Press (up to the normal maximums of eight).
Enchanted artwork grants them a hypnotizing gaze and voice. Every 50 coins worth bestows one point in the skill or talent rating of either Intuition/Provoke or Bargain/Wonder (up to the normal maximums of eight).
Gems and jewelry increase their speed. Every 100 coins worth of gems and jewelry gives them more speed: first attacking as often as most creatures, then twice as often, then their maximum of three times as often.
Because their treasure causes them to grow, Dragons naturally desire a large hoard of treasure as much as they desire a reliable source of food. However, Dragons are not entirely selfish and will share some of their wealth with less advanced Dragons. Many young Dragons are given a small "starter hoard" by Maw Lute, who rules over all Dragons.
Contrary to many children's stories, Dragons do not simply push their treasure into a pile to sleep upon. Instead, they are careful to hide their treasure effectively and keep useful enchanted items accessible. The lair of an intelligent Dragon is a large and dangerous place.
Dragons, when awake, are intuitively aware of the contents of their hoarded treasure and the location of each item. However, an item stolen is no longer owned by the Dragon, who immediately loses the knowledge of its nature and location. Therefore an alert Dragon can notice much about what looters at its hoard are doing, but a sleeping Dragon is only able to realize upon waking that items are missing. (If the missing items were especially valued, the waking Dragon would quickly deduce which they are.)
A user of therianthropy in a Dragon's shape retains that same initial shape and size no matter how the Dragon's hoard subsequently changes.
Puddles are oozes, puddings, jellies, molds, and slimes. These are actually colonies of single-cell units which are each too small to be visible to the eye. Futhorc creates them. They are common both inside his Ruins and in the normal world. Small ones are harmless. Large ones can be very dangerous due to camouflage and a relentless grasp.
The five traditional ways to attack Puddles are by cutting, smashing, burning, freezing, or electrifying. For a particular Puddle two of these will be damaging, two do nothing, and one will cause the creature to split into smaller, unharmed pieces. Furthermore, each particular Puddle will have a dangerous "death throe": as it dies it might splatter, explode, or expel spores. Adventurers who attack a Puddle should try to kill it from a distance.
Puddles are completely resistant to therianthropy. Alternatively, some stories say that therianthropy works but a user of therianthropy to goes mad upon entering a body that lacks a brain.
Puddles develop through three stages: Lurkers, Mimics, and Masters.
Puddles: Rule Changes
Puddles who succeed in Wrestle will not relax their grip. In subsequent turns they automatically succeed in using Wrestle against that same target, causing a minimum of of one loss as they secrete acid and thrash about. This automatic success does not count as the Puddle's action for that turn (although a Puddle fighting a single opponent will probably not do anything else.) Those whom the Puddle has grabbed gain a 2-point situational advantage to hit the Puddle.
A Puddle that splits suffers a 1-point situational disadvantage the following turn due to the shock to its system.
Lurkers are unintelligent, semi-transparent, and puddle-like. They are usually encountered when resting motionless. They attack by grabbing prey with a pseudopod.
Lurkers can slowly undulate across the ground or creep along a wall or roof. In bright light they are easy to see, but in poor light they are difficult to notice unless moving: outdoors they may be covered by vegetation they have not yet digested, and underground they can be mistaken for dampness.
Lurkers have three size categories. The smallest Lurkers (Compost size) can only dissolve cellulose (plant material) and are not dangerous; these are often purposefully put in compost piles. Slightly larger colonies (Outhouse size) gain the ability to also dissolve proteins, but can still be safely kept in a metal container or at the bottom of a rock-walled pit. When an colony has grown to about three feet in diameter (Dangerous size) it gains the ability to also dissolve fats, making it a threat to animals. Rumors say the biggest Lurkers can even dissolve rock. A lurker colony advances in size about annually: the single-cell units need to age before being able to effectively network in larger numbers.
Dangerous Lurkers can detect heat and track warm-blooded creatures by their footprints.
Dangerous Lurkers can also detect magical energy. They feel pleasure when they surround magic things, and seek out magical items, fearlessly attacking the people carrying the items. Some Lurkers contain magical items they have collected and now carry around inside them.
Here are four sample types Lurkers:
A Lurker or Elementalist that has completely surrounded and dissolved an animal becomes a Mimic. Its intelligence, if lower, rises to that of the animal. It can change its shape to look just like that kind of animal. With a little practice it also learns to move and fight as the animal did, and can change its coloration to match the animal's. Mimics eventually acquire such a strong resemblance to the animal that only people with a high Perception skill rating notice the creature is a Mimic before touching or hitting it.
A Mimic that choses to mimic an animal retains the texture and abilities of a Pudding. It feels rubbery or sticky. It remains resistant to therianthropy. The same types of attacks will be damaging, ineffective, and cause it to split. It still has the dangerous "death throe". It can still create pseudopods if it prefers to grab instead of fighting like an animal. It can still become transparent and move along walls. It still detects heat and magic.
Most Mimics have consumed several animals, and can quickly change form to any of these options.
A Mimic is able to stretch its body incredibly, which enables it to impersonate even very large animals—which deflate like popped balloons if defeated. However, a Mimic can only compact its body slightly, so Mimics cannot impersonate any animal smaller than a large dog. (Nearly all Lurkers have consumed countless flies and ants as they digested plant matter while traveling about, but they cannot adopt such tiny forms.)
When Futhorc creates a dungeon at one of his Ruins, he often includes Mimics as monsters inhabiting the dungeon. The Sagacious debate whether Futhorc is obligated to create Lurkers beside animal corpses or whether Futhorc can create fully functional Mimics with a faked history of having consumed certain animals.
A Lurker or Mimic that completely immerses itself for hours in one of the four elemental materials (earth, air, fire, water) becomes an Elementalist. It gains two special abilities.
First, it can change its own body into that element. This can change which types of attacks are damaging or ineffective. It also removes all the Puddle's special abilities: no more pseudopods, becoming transparent, moving along walls, dangerous "death throe", detecting heat and magic, or any other ability the Puddle can use as a Lurker.
Second, when stationary it can concentrate to coalesce a nearby amount of that element into a humanoid-shaped puppet that it mentally controls. This creation is called an Elemental. Only one Elemental can be created at a time. It has the same skills as the Elementalist who controls it.
An Elementalist can later attune itself to additional elements. But it must pick one element at a time for its body's material and puppet Elemental.
Even the first published version of D&D had several creatures on the "clean up crew": black pudding, gray ooze, green slime, ochre jelly, and yellow mold. That is out of 5 out of 51 monsters—about ten percent of the original RPG's opponents were puddle creatures!
When Lamia became a Power she pondered what type of monster to oversee. What creature would help her punish the unrepentant? How could it exemplify her desire that people use violence minimally and only when situations lack other options?
She eventually created the Attercops. An Attercop looks like a huge spider but has features of a person's face. Attercops are intelligent, live in groups, and use clever teamwork. They delight in capturing people alive. They perefer to avoid any fight that is not an ambush they win quickly.
(Because of their faces Attercops are never mistaken from Fell Animal spiders, a very different monster created by Little Humble.)
Attercops are more socialbe than selfish. They enjoy sharing their space with other monsters: Fell Animals when the Attercops claim part of a forest, Gembacks when they move into a cave, and Puddles when they inhabit ruins. A few even live in a mansion made by Gnash, whose Undead do not consider Attercops to be a valid type of food. Attercops can also be encountered in Lamia's Grayscale Adventures, where they are usually the only type of monster.
Attercops have one deeply rooted desire: to collect prestigious captives. They preserve a captive by wrapping it in a cocoon of webbing after injecting it with a venom that causes paralysis and a state of suspended animation. The rules about which captives count as prestigious are difficult for any non-Attercop to understand. Attercops treat their valuable captives similar to how some members of the intelligent races treat valuable wines: the collection is a source of esteem and conversation, very seldom consumed. "A fine specimen of Giant Boar, captured in 411 when those hunts were at their most popular." "A Bergtroll king and his entire immediate family—each caught at thirty years of age. Marvelous!" "Ah, yes, 423 was indeed a grand year for Ripclaw Kobalts."
Therianthropy works on Attercops, but as with normal spiders it is seldom used. Movement is so different from that of mammals that few Therions have the experience to walk well as a spider, let alone weave a web or navigate its threads.
There are two types of Attercops: Banded and Banding.
A Banded Attercop has colorful stripes on its legs. However, these may be difficult to see if the different colors are close in hue, especially in dim lighting.
Banded Attercops are natural experts in one skill. Their skill rating in this skill is always equal to the number of legs they have. Initially this number is eight. But attacking the Banded Attercop and cutting off its legs immediately reduces that particular skill rating.
Adventurers who hunt Banded Attercops (usually to rescue captives, sometimes for sport) have developed nicknames for the most commonly encountered varieties. "Leapers" are natural experts in Acrobatics/Climb who pounce from trees, biting once to inject their paralyzing venom before retreating to the treetops. "Trap Door Attercops" excel in Melee/Press and charge suddenly from hidden, underground burrows to bite with huge fangs and the terrible claw on each foreleg. "Bombers" are dangerous because of their skill in Shoot/Throw and their ability to excrete explosive blobs as well as spin webbing. "Goliaths" are the largest Attercops and prefer to toss foes around with Wrestle/Disarm. "Wolf Attercops" have dark coloration and excel at Stealth/Track. "Phasers" excel in Exit/Escape by becoming mostly incorporeal: a state in which they are immune to combat and can pass through spider webs but not walls.
Lamia always creates Banding Attercops in groups of eight siblings. Each Banding Attercop has one skill in which it is a natural expert: initially its skill rating is eight. But the skill rating for this skill decreases to remain equal to the number of siblings still alive. Therefore attacking the group and slaying some of the Banding Attercops immediately weakens theremaining group members.
Nearly always each sibling in the group is naturally expert in a different skill.
Bands of Banding Attercops have carefully planned strategies for dealing with intruders into their lairs, infiltrating a settlement to take captives, and other events. Their teamwork is impeccable. However, their plans often rely on the varied natural expertise of the members of their band. If key group members are defeated the group's strategies quickly unravel.
Banding Attercops are amazingly patient, especially compared to Banded Attercops. A "Wolf Attercop" who lives in a remote forest might use its expertise in Sneak/Track to track a traveler who passed through the area a week ago. In contrast, a Banding Attercop expert in Sneak/Track would serve as its group's scout; it might terrorize a village for months as a monster barely seen out of the corner of the eye until paranoid villagers become demoralized and easy prey when all eight siblings finally attack.
Few Attercops have non-zero talent ratings. But some Banding Attercops are old enough to have developed impressive talents. One story describes a Banding Attercop naturally expert in Intuition/Provoke that strode brazenly into a village tavern and begain telling wonderful stories of lost treasures to be found in the nearby forest—many villagers went out searching, only to be captured by the seven other Banding Attercops waiting for fast-talked fools who believed unrealistic promises of easy quests.
Some stories describe Banding Attercops with natural expertise in a Technology skill. But none of these stories has ever been reliably proven true. Attercops certainly could use the Technology skills. They have sufficient intelligence, normal language use, and most can manipulate small objects with the tiny claws on their limbs. But no one has ever seen an Attercop use any Technology skill at all.
The word attercop is an Old English word for Spider, famously used by Tolkien in The Hobbit. It means "poisonous head" although the word has many interesting double meanings.
The exact size of Attercops is purposefully vague. The GM could have them as small as large dogs or as large as elephants!
The Lionkin are fierce game animals created by Old Man River as challenges for hunters. They have the torso of a lion, usually combined with body parts of other animals. They are strange, dangerous, and slightly clever. Lionkin are never able to breed.
All Lionkin are especially deadly whenever they are dropping down upon prey (for example, at the end a leap or when pouncing from a tree) because they can attack with all four claws and their bite. Usually those five attacks are sufficient to kill an opponent. Therefore the people that hunt Lionkin know to stay above the beast, or at least dodge when it pounces. Hunters will attack from high in a tree, or use alchemy or enchantment to improve their dodging. A few types of Lionkin have wings and can fly: these are the most dangerous.
Old Man River creates each Lionkin far from any settlements purely as a challenge for hunters. Most Lionkin are created to be normal inhabitants of open grassland or sparse forest. A few are created with fanfare as the quarry of a Wild Hunt.
Lionkin desire to conquer special isolated locations: buttes, signal towers, remote shrines, etc. If they find such a location they move there. When claiming such a site they do not disturb the local wildlife, but will attack any intelligent creature that approaches.
The best hunters boast by mounting the heads of the Lionkin they have killed on a prominent wall of their homes. The trophies made from the especially deadly Lionkin earn the most esteem.
Evil people sometimes cause havok by finding a way to lead a Lionkin to a village or town.
Old Man River shows great creativity in creating Lionkin. Here are some of the most famous Lionkin, whose stories are now legends. Any might be created again—or something apparently similar but with surprisingly different abilities and habits!
An Alphyn has a lion's body with a wolf's head. Its long tongue can pick up scent, like a snake's tongue, aiding its nose to make it the finest of trackers. It tail is knotted. Many Alphyns have been created as the quarries for Wild Hunts. They often double back to where they have previously ran, hoping to find the trail of hunters and then sneak up on their pursuers from behind.
So far there has only been one three-headed Chimera. From the front it looked like a lion with enormous bat wings. Somewhat hidden by the wings was a goat's head on its back. Instead of a lion's tail it had a viper's body and head. The viper's head could breathe out a blast of fire; the goat's head could exhale a cloud of darkness; the roar of the lion's head could summon a storm. It loved wandering and killed many explorers. Eventually it found a rocky butte with a deep cave at the base. This site it claimed as a home. Five years later a group of a dozen adventurers came to its doorsep and was able to kill it.
A Crio has a lion's body with a ram's head. Several have been quarries for Wild Hunts. Crios appear in rocky hills and mountains. Their hide has a grey coloration that helps them hide when motionless on top of a boulder. When a foe proves too nimble to grab with a leap from above, the Crio switches tactics to furious charges which it can aim with pinpoint precision.
A Griffin has a lion's body and eagle's head and wings. Its favorite meal is venison; when created near woods that contain deer it causes no problems. However, it usually cannot find deer easily and decides to hunt domesticated livestock instead. This brings it near to people, who it will attack if hungry or agitated. Many more Grifins are created in the wild than as quarries for a Wild Hunts. A few unreliabe stories tell of Griffins being tamed and used as flying mounts.
A Hieraco has a lion's body with a hawk's head. Its paws are especially claw-like, making it the best tree climber among the Lionkin. It loves riddles, but loves eating more. Telling it riddles can postpone its attacking, but only for a few minutes. Hieracos created in a forest seek out the forest's tallest tree to claim as a lair. Hieracos created in a flat grassand sometimes settle for claiming the signpost at a crossroads or an abandoned gallows.
A Leucrocotta has a lion's body and tail but with a stag's hindquarters and rear legs and a badger's head. It is the swiftest of all beasts that run on four legs. It is also the smartest of Lionkin and can lure prey by imitating the voices of intelligent beings. It is never happy in the wild. Instead, it lurks near settlements to learn people's voices and names. Then it lures dogs away from the settlement by mimicing their masters' voices. After devouring all the dogs, it begins to lure people away. It hides in trees or tall grass near the settlement and pretends to be a victim's parent, child, or friend calling their name.
A Manticore has a lion's body with a startlingly humanoid head, but with too many teeth. Its tail ends in a ball with eight spikes. The Manticore can cause these spikes to shoot out in a single volley. Manticores are often created to be quarries of Wild Hunts, but never alone—always two or three at a time. Manticores prefer to scent and track wounded animals rather than fight healthy prey, allowing clever hunters to lure the monsters into a trap baited with a wounded animal.
Manticore: Rule Changes
A Manticore has a very low Shoot skill rating. However, when it shoots multiple spikes as a single action these spikes count as a group of attackers that gains the normal group bonous for combined skill use.
All the example Lionkin are based upon traditional monsters: alphyn, chimera, griffin and more griffin, leucrocotta, manticore, sphinx (crio- and hieraco-).
Notice that for most of these creatures "traditional" does not mean the legends agree well about what the monster looks like or how it behaves. A GM need not hesitate to be creative! Both ancient and modern authors adapt these classic heraldic beasts in many ways, especially by adding or removing wings, venom, a stinging tail, bird-like claws, dangerous breath, etc.
Frosty Kostkey creates all sorts of wicked and cold-related servants and soldiers. The most feared are his Cyborgs. There extra-intelligent cold-loving animals whose bodies have been enhanced with a piece of Frosty Kostkey's eternally functional steam-powered or clockwork machinery. In rare cases people become similarly altered, when Frosty Kostkey rewards his most devout followers.
Cyborgs are created in the zones of Winter around Frosty Kostkey's temples and Ice Strongholds. However, they can travel far from their original location to conquer or feed. Some go alone. Most are organized into a well-trained squadron or even a complete army. All have the goal of completely demolishing the nearest vilalge, town, or city. When that first target has been razed to rubble will the army's leaders create a new Ice Stronghold strategically located to attack another settlement.
Frosty Kostkey changes his larger Winter animals into living seige equipment. Those who have fought his armies have seen groups of sturdy caribou with antlers changed into ballistas, hissing ice drakes whose tails now work like onagers, huge polar bears with mantlets mounted on their backs, and trumpeting moose with small mangonels on each hip.
Smaller land animals are given machines that augment claw and tooth. Stories tell of winter wolves that breathe freezing mist, carnivorous deer with shocking antlers, cunning ermines with metalic claws, aggressive porcupines with arbalast-like shooting, silent lynxes with ice ray eyes, wily foxes barking sonic blasts, and waddling penguins dropping explosive bombs.
Flying animals support the land animals with with ranged machines. Auks, murre, terns, gyrfalcons, golden eagles, snow geese, snow owls, jaegers, loons, kittiwakes, flyways, and ravens are implanted with machines that drop caltrops or nets, guns that fire darts or bolts, or launchers the shoot barbed ropes or bolas.
Most stories of wolves or bears that prey upon people happen during the hungry winter months, making it natural to categorize "Winter" as a category of evil similar to Undead or Dragons.
Cyborgs have the interesting advantage in wielding equipment that is difficult for victorious PCs to loot.
The Undead are corpses infused with an evil energy that allows them to behave as if alive. The curse of necromobility can affect any dead creature but only in deceased intelligent humanoids can the curse fully develop. Undead can appear in a group of any size. The lesser Undead are nearly mindless and thus usually found near the source of their necromobility.
The circumstances that cause the curse of necromobility are widely varied but all lead back to Gnash. Established causes of a creature or person becoming an Undead include being sacrificed on one of Gnash's altars, being killed with a Necrotic weapon, dying near a famous meteor in the Ognost Plains said to be from Gnash's star, or dying while praying to Gnash with an especially intense desire for vengeance or destruction.
An Undead is merely a corpse animated by a curse. It retains no memories, skills, habits, or spiritual connection from its prior life.
All Undead, no matter where or when they became Undead, thrive by overpowering and preying on living people. Those that eat living people hunt them like game animals or secretly shepherd them like livestock. The most advanced Undead no longer eat the living but instead dominate a settlement by infiltrating it and secretly gaining control over its inhabitants.
Many Undead are especially vulnerable to something related to the source of their necromobility. For example, an Undead created at one of Gnash's altars might be vulnerable to a weapon made from the stones of that altar, to the cloth worn by the Ogre who did the sacrificing, or to proximity to the ruined altar. An ambitious noble who prayed to Gnash to become an Undead as he was killed by a rival might be vulnerable to the dagger the killer used, or seeing the coat of arms of the rival noble family, or hearing the voices of his children whose safety was foremost in his mind as he died.
The Mansions of Gnash have many Undead inhabitants that never leave the Mansion. The Sagacious believe these Undead are created directly by Gnash and are not cursed animals and people who were once alive. These Undead have no apparent source of necromobility and thus no special vulnerability.
All Undead have glowing white eyes. Undead do not age. Whatever evil animates them prevents natural decay. However, the lesser Undead do not heal so these are often badly wounded or even skeletal.
Undead animals cannot be affected by therianthropy. An Undead who was once a member of the intelligent races can still be the target of semblancy.
An Undead feeds to satisfy specific needs. As it feeds it changes drastically, progressing from an initial stage in which it is a mindless creature through developments of metabolism, strength, special abilities, and intelligence. Among animals and most other creatures the stages of necromobility are Zombie, Ghoul, and Vampire. Only among former members of the intelligent races the final stages happen: Lich and Horror. Undead of a more advanced stage can mentally control any lesser Undead they see.
A newly created Undead is a Zombie. Zombies are not intelligent. The power that animates them is primitive and works sloppily: they move slowly and jerkily, are almost mute (able only to groan and wheeze). Zombies are vulnerable to cold, fire, and light. They are easily frozen, unusually flammable, and shun sunlight. Hacking a Zombie into small pieces makes it no longer a threat, effectively destroying it since it does not heal.
The only desire a Zombie has is to eat the brain of living or recently killed intelligent creature. If it does this it becomes a Ghoul. Zombies are supernaturally aware of nearby living intelligent brains. A Zombie that is not following the orders of a more advanced Undead will be idle unless it notices a brain to pursue. Zombies cannot sense brains through solid barriers such as walls or glass-paned windows.
Zombies are unable to use any tool requiring more coordination than a club or thrown rock, and even with these they are not very accurate. Even though they are individually not skilled at combat they can still be dangerous when in groups. They have no sense of self-preservation and attack relentlessly without tactics or defensive actions. Because Zombies neglect teamwork and move at slightly different speeds a clever adventurer can lead the group so it pursues single-file, then turn to fight the Zombies one at a time.
Zombies: Rule Changes
Zombies almost always move only one map square each turn. If they do nothing but lurch then every other turn they get to move three map squares.
Zombies and skeletons are classic fantasy monsters. Note that in NAME a skeleton can be either a Zombie or a Zombie who recently became a Ghoul and whose limited healing has not yet had time to regenerate a body on its bones.
After eating an intelligent creature's brain, the Zombie becomes a Ghoul. Ghouls seek to eat more flesh from intelligent creatures. But Ghouls do not mind long-dead flesh, and often travel to graveyards to satisfy their craving. Ghouls remain vulnerable to fire and light, but are no longer especially vulnerable to cold. A slain Ghoul that is not burned becomes dry and brittle over the next few days and eventually crumbles.
Ghouls stay in groups if possible, aware of their slow and weak state. They are no longer mindless, but their intelligence is blunted by being very slow to make any decision. Ghouls gain coordination as they feed, until they only occasionally betray the jerky and staggered movements to which they were once limited. They also begin to regain a metabolism, and can slowly heal.
Ghouls lose all their hair. Many carry disease. Ghouls sweat and have saliva: their sweat is poisonous and accumulates under their fingernails, their saliva causes temporary paralysis. Ghouls dwell in groups and are smart enough to use teamwork. When fighting, wounded Ghouls retreat to allow others to take their place.
Ghouls who were animals are dangerous opponents who fight with tooth and claw. Ghouls who were people try to arm themselves with a large rock and a club or other one-handed weapon: the rocks are thrown first, if possible from an ambush; then the Ghouls scratch and bite unarmored prey, or strike at armored prey with their weapons.
Ghouls who were animals often grow extra legs. The most famous examples are the Basilisk and Lindworm.
The Basilisk (thankfully there has only been one) was a Ghoul Shadow Adder. As a Shadow Animal, its hypnotizing gaze was enhanced to become deadly and its venom became so prolific that it drooled from its mouth. As a Ghoul it grew several sets of legs. It was given the name "Little King" because of a crown-shaped white spot on the top of its head. For a dozen years adventurers tried to kill it but failed. Then a roaming Grim Weasel killed it in the darkness of its underground burrow.
Lindworms are perhaps the most common animal Ghoul. When a large constrictor snake becomes a Ghoul it grows one pair of legs. These legs look absurd and are nearly useless because of its long, heavy body. However, large constrictor snakes are normally very dangerous, and a version whose bite paralyzes is truly fearsome.
Ghouls: Rule Changes
The first time a creature is clawed by a Ghoul it suffers one extra loss from the poisonous sweat.
Each time a creature is bitten by a Ghoul it loses its next turn because of the paralyzing saliva.
Ghouls that were animals that have gained extra legs often have non-zero Talent rating in Acrobatics.
Ghouls are another classic fantasy monster.
A basilisk is not traditionally an Undead creature. This change adds an ironic twist to the King of Serpents, and is no odder than imagining a cockrel hatching a snake's egg. Note that the choice of "adder" is arbitrary: no snakes actually hynotize their prey.
Neither is the lindworm traditionally an Undead creature. But this monster has such varied descriptions that the change is comparatively minor!
A Ghoul that has become satiated with flesh becomes a Vampire. Now it wants to drink blood from living intelligent creatures. Vampires have developed a fully functional metabolism. They heal normally and have regrown a little of their hair. They no longer have poisonous sweat or paralyzing saliva, but develop a strangely disorienting breath: those they breathe upon become dizzy and sleepy, usually succumbing to a brief, hallucinogenic stupor. Vampires remain vulnerable to light, but are no longer especially vulnerable to cold or fire. Instead they radiate a slight aura of cold. Since they are now "alive" because of their metabolism instead of the source of their necromobility they can be more easily destroyed with weapons (even arrows, whose perforations do very little to Zombies or Ghouls). A slain Vampire quickly turns to powder in only a few moments.
Vampires have regained the coordination and agility they had before death, and may even be extra quick and dextrous. Vampires develop a keen ability to track living prey, and have an excellent sense of smell. Vampires who were animals gain heightened intelligence. Vampires who were people can masquerade as a normal person by wearing thick clothes to hide the aura of cold and by avoiding social situations that would reveal their disorienting breath.
Vampires may travel in groups, but often prefer to travel alone or in pairs to better rely on stealth. All Vampires are cunning and predatory, and often plan ambushes. Vampires who were people often set traps since even a shoddy trap can distract someone long enough to facilitate an ambush. Vampires try to flee combat if they loose their initial advantage.
Vampires who were animals often grow wings. The Wyvern is an unfortunately common example (actually a Vampire Grim constrictor snake, the evolution of a Lindworm). A few unreliable stories claim Wyverns who live near pools or lakes will so favor eating hairy animals (goats and sheep, not cows or fish) that a person who removes his or her clothing is no longer appetizing to the Wyvern.
Vampires are another classic fantasy monster.
The wyvern is also not traditionally an Undead creature.
A Vampire who was once a member of the intelligent races can become a Lich by drinking enough fresh blood from intelligent prey. Liches look like a healthier and stronger version of their appearance before they died. They have finished regaining their hair and have lost the Vampire's disorienting breath.
Vigorous in ambitions as well as metabolism, Liches have lost their old lives but developed new hopes and dreams. Most try to blend into society to rule or accomplish other objectives. Liches are no longer especially vulnerable to fire, cold, or light. They radiate cold and light, yet can lessen this affect (and the glow in their eyes) to an almost non-existent amount to allow themselves to better pass unnoticed among the intelligent races.
Some Liches hate their Undead existence, but most view necromobility as a slowly-realized benefit they enjoy and celebrate in twisted ways. If a Lich has a weakness it is in its cruelty: most Liches that are discovered are identified because there are needlessly and inexplicably sadistic and cruel. Killing a Lich is difficult because they heal quickly from most wounds, poisons, disease, and any other damage. The only sure way to kill them is beheading, which causes their eyes to briefly flare brightly with light.
Liches are keenly intelligent and strong-willed. Since they do not age they can invest their years becoming expert in many skills and talents. Many regain the use of their racial ability, and use it in creative ways. A few stories tell of a Lich able to mentally command animals (most often rats but in one story beetles) but these accounts, although frightening and memorable, are unreliable.
Horrors are shadowy, incorporeal beings who possess people. They used to be Liches: some speak of their past time as a Lich; some demonstrate the ability to control all other types of Undead. But no one knows what causes a Lich to become a Horror.
When unattached to a person a Horror looks like a twisted and malignant shadow, vaguely humanoid but with the wrong number and size of limbs. But Horrors are rarely seen unattached, for they prefer to cling to and possess people. They can only cling to a person in sunlight, when the person's shadow is visible. The Horror merges with the person's own shadow, almost disappearing but giving the person's shadow a telltale wrongness visible with careful examination. Thereafter, any time the victim is in darkness the Horror can control the person like a puppet, usually causing madly sadistic acts of corruption or intrigue.
The Horror can leave its victim at any time. The victim is unharmed, although probably troubled by the Horror's prior behavior. (However, some Horrors prefer to cause their victims to commit suicide before leaving.)
The Horror is not affect if its victim is injured or killed. The only way to injure a Horror is to attack it with a necrotic weapon, which works when it is an unattached shadow creature and also when it is merged with a victim's shadow.
The suffering and ruthlessness caused by Horrors extends far beyond what is directly caused by the few Horrors that actually exist. Gnash clearly delights in creating a fiend whose mere existence causes indirect evil and ruthlessness: many madmen use the concept of a Horror to justify their actions. For example, a serial killer might be a madman who has falsely convinced himself that the motivation for his crimes is possession by a Horror. As another example, an influential civic leader might be framed for a crime in a way that causes people to falsely suspect he or she is possessed by a Horror.
Some Horrors hide themselves for years, attaching themselves to a victim and controlling the person with such a light touch that their host is unaware of the Horror (instead making excuses for a few instances of uncharacteristic behavior and a nights of apparent sleepwalking). These Horrors slowly make plans to rule a large region with patiently developed plans that combine years of intrigue with a secretly amassed army of dormant but ready Undead.