Sunday, November 25, 2018

Monster: Scrawler

Ecology

Small, inky, masked gremlins summoned by wizards. Range in size from an ant to a house cat. Neither demons, nor angels, nor elemental spirits. Common superstition believes they are a manifestation of pure magic, and that they can occur naturally when objects are placed in certain ways. 

Wizard summoned scrawlers have masks marked with mystic symbols that gradually fade. As they fade, they lose whatever imperative the wizard summoned them for, and turn instead to marking every available surface with magic symbols which, when decoded, can be read to understand the properties of whatever they are written on. This work continues in a meticulous spiral around where they lost the last bit of pigment on their mask. These symbols are often found anywhere that is or once was inhabited by a wizard. 

They can be set back to work by repainting the symbols on their masks. Knowledge of magic circles is required for this task (general magic when no distinction exists). They can also be set to some other task if the painter is skilled.

Summon Scrawler can be learned as a first level spell, which can produce up to three scrawlers which cannot attack or carry anything larger than a large marble, or one scrawler which cannot lift anything larger than a dictionary. The larger one stays under your control for up to a day (concentration applies), while the smaller runs off in about a minute. The smaller scrawls for up to a day before perishing, covering almost every surface in a house, while the larger scrawls for up to a week and can cover almost a block. They can be killed before their time is up.

Symbols drawn by a scrawler can be read using comprehend languages or identify, but once decoded can be read fluently within that area. Each scrawler's pattern is unique and different uses of identify must be used for different scrawled areas.

Stats as house cat for large ones




Sigil-Scrawler

Also known as Scrawler-Scrawlers, a Critical Sigilluminary, or "You Dense Conjurer!". Child-sized, with many arms, dripping ink. Has one or more splattered masks. Their origin is unclear, with theories varying from Scrawlers consuming one another to a Scrawler copying the ritual to make a scrawler. Whatever it is, these pests copy the ritual to make Scrawlers over every surface. Expect wizard towers filled with cat- or child-sized humanoids and forests with ink-stained trees and leaves. 

Some wizards believe these little buggers to be the secret to complete omniscience, much to the chagrin of everyone.

Appear when the spell above is miscast.

Stats as Goblins with two or three extra attacks. 


Friday, November 2, 2018

More Ghosts, and maybe Other Things

Happy All Souls Day!

Ghost Stats


Specter

I Swear to God, if my Players keep reading I'll Kill Them
A type of half-corporeal undead, possessing of a divine soul tenuously attached to an animal/instinctual soul by sheer spite.
HD: 3-5*
Intelligence: Animal and Cruel
Armor: As Chain**
Resistances: Weak to Radiant, resistant to mundane**
Attack: +3, 1d6+3+1d4 unseen on a save. 1d2 unseen gaze attack (max 4).
Number appearing: 1d4 exploding. Gather to increase their spite sympathetically. Large flocks can sometimes be found.
*Instantly dissapate if they let go of their spite. Difficult to do because they have the personality of a defensive mongoose.
**Armor turns to cloth and loses resistance if attacker has more than 5 unseen damage.

Pyre Ghost


Pyres do not commonly produce ghosts. It is well known that pyres usually burn away every soul except the divine, and exceptions usually wither without any connection to the physical or the divine. However, when a great many people are burned, these exceptions can form a gestalt being of unending flame. At different times, it will speak with different voices with varying levels of intelligence (think No-Face from spirited away).
HD: 5-7
Intelligence: 2 in 6 Animal, 2 in 6 Human, 2 in 6 Zombie. Roll each turn.
Armor: As chain
Resistances: Immune to Fire and Acid, Resistant to mundane*
Attacks: +3, 1d8 flame+1d4 unseen (claw attack). 1d6 flame/thunder+1d4 unseen (shriek attack). Unseen save or take 1d10 flame (AoE attack)
Number appearing: One. If two meet, they devour each other in a bestial display of ash and gore.
Special: takes 1d6 per 4 gallons of water, and 1d12 per vial of holy water.
*no resistance if  attacker has 5 or more unseen damage

Ghost


A collection of souls with no physical components. Roll a d6.

  1. Ghost has a personality, but no goals or memories. Acts a bit like its old self, but devoid of why it does. Makes inside jokes, has speech affectations, and experiences emotions with no knowledge of reasons.
  2. The Ghost has goals, mostly in the form of "escape the unseen world," but if the ghost had strong convictions in life, it keeps them in death.
  3. The Ghost has memories, but no goals or personality. Basically a free "speak with dead," spell.
  4. Ghost has Personality and Goals, but no memories. Classically interpreted as "help me remember how I died," but maybe the ghost just hates you or something.
  5. Ghost has Memories and Goals, but no personality. Often represents a poltergeist-like impersonal force.
  6. Ghost has Personality and Memories, but no Goals. A ghost of irrelevance and passiveness, but almost a full person. Just a really boring one.
HD: 1
Intelligence: Human.
Armor: Cloth.
Resistances: Resistant to radiant. Immune to mundane. Warded off by the smoke of certain plants.
Attack: Special.
Number appearing: 2d10 drop highest. When ghosts congregate in numbers higher than 5, they tend to only appear to onlookers as one very powerful ghost.
Special: Ghosts can perform spooky actions and influence the environment around them. Unseen damage dealt to player characters is based off the expression of the players (1d4 for confused/joking, 1d6 for concerned, if you can get them to fear then that's 1d12). They can also deal damage with an unseen gaze attack (1 every dungeon turn). If players are concerned by the unseen damage, increase the spooky action die by one size.
Killing all the ghosts while a player is unconcious/untethered from the visible will cause death to appear.

Fairies and Fae

Fairies are beings which dwell in the Unseen world. They do not possess souls, but they do have two soul-like halves: The Form and The Name. Human scholars who research fairies (of which there are Very Few) have discovered two things about the fae:
  1. They are Obtuse
  2. The Name and The Form each dwell either in the Seen or the Unseen world, much like our souls, except without any natural inclination towards either one.
A Fairy with it's Form in the Seen world is often called a Seelie fairy, and vice versa. The names of the Seelie are in the unseen world, and are thus inherently unpronounceable and/or unknowable. Meanwhile, Unseelie fairies have names in the Seen world. It is often held that to pronounce the name of an Unseelie fairy is to call it to oneself, where it will wreak it's unseen destruction.
Scholars are dumb, though.

The Unseen World

Little is known of the unseen world. Current hypothesis state both that the unseen world is inherently unknowable and that it is highly metamorphic. It may be possible that different people experience it differently. A few things are known though

Firstly, there is an underworld and an overworld. The underworld appears as a (near literal) mirror to the overworld, reflected vertically. Everyone who has experienced it and lived recalls a distinct and unsettling feeling of being upside-down over an abyss, but never falling down. Muldagha, the home of Holy Death, is generally held to be an entrance to this place. Consequently, there are a lot of souls down there. Whether everyone in the underworld is going to The Lower Sphere is a matter of fierce theological debate and Extreme Concern (at least among the New Aeon Cult).

Second, The Five Towers (which ghosts must ascend to reincarnate) are located in the Unseen world. This is simple reasoning: ghosts dwell in the unseen world. Ghosts traverse the Five Towers. Ergo, the Five Towers must be in the Unseen world. Plus, it's not like we can see any physical towers to heaven around the great sea.