Let’s Convert the Fiend Folio: Adherer and Aleax

The next two creatures in the Fiend Folio are the Adherer and the Aleax. While the adherer is a fairly straight-forward creature, the Aleax is not, and requires significant work to really make it fit in with Dungeon Crawl Classics!

While the Adherer is a kind of “gotcha!” monster (it looks like a mummy, but you can’t use your anti-mummy tactics against it without some potential harm), the Aleax is a divine servant sent to punish those who stray from their chosen path. It appears to have been an attempt to make the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons alignment system meaningful in actual play. For Dungeon Crawl Classics, with its vast conflict between Law and Chaos occurring in the background, and with its patrons as well as gods, a slightly different approach was needed.

I have seldom used an Aleax in actual play. When I did, back in the halcyon days of High School, I always felt more than a little guilty, which made me even less likely to use them in the future. Punishing someone for straying from their alignment always seemed a little problematic, unless the PC in question was a paladin or a cleric, and then the system had other ways to deal with that.

Adherer

Adherer: Init -2; Atk flailing fists +2 melee (1d3); AC 17; HD 4d8; MV 20’; Act 1d20; SP: Adhesion, half damage from weapons, involuntary shield, camouflage (+5), magic immunity, fire and magic missile vulnerability; SV Fort +5; Ref +2; Will +0; AL C.

This creature appears to be a mummy at first glance, with loose folds of dirty white skin appearing like bandages. This skin  constantly exudes a sour-smelling  glue-like substance with very powerful  adhesive properties; any  material except stone  will adhere to  It and only  fire, boiling  water  or  the creature's own  voluntary   secretions will break the adhesion, which lasts 1d3 turns after the creature is slain.

Weapons which hit an adherer stick to it (causing only half damage). Similarly, the creature adheres to any opponent it hits with its two­handed flailing fist attack. Its favorite tactic is to bind up an opponent in this fashion and use them as an involuntary shield. In this case, the adherer gains a +4 bonus to AC from the stuck opponent, and any attack that misses due to this bonus instead hits the unlucky stuck victim (unless their AC without Agility modifier is higher).

Boiling liquid (from a large bucket, or larger) causes 1d3 damage to the adherer and any involuntary shield it may have captured. This undoes any current adhesion, and prevents further adhesion for 1d3 rounds.

The creature’s natural resinous glue makes it vulnerable to fire; taking twice the normal damage from any fire-based attack. However, if the creature catches fire, so too does any victim it has trapped. It is immune to all 1^st level wizard spells, except magic missile, which likewise causes the creature double damage. If an adherer cannot use its adhesion due to boiling liquid (see above), it does not experience fire vulnerability for the same period of time.

Adherers often camouflage themselves by rolling in dirt, sticks, and leaves, and then artfully arranging larger pieces of debris to conceal their form (gaining a +5 bonus to conceal themselves).

Adherers never attack spiders, and may actually cooperate with them.

 

Aleax

Aleax: Init as victim; Atk as victim; AC as victim; HD as victim; MV as victim; Act as victim; SP As victim, only visible/tangible to victim, exponential regeneration, immune to mind-affecting spells, crit vulnerability, victim ascension, treasure loss, never kills victim; SV Fort as victim; Ref as victim; Will as victim; AL as victim.

The physical manifestation of vengeance generated by certain gods and patrons, an aleax is sent to punish and redeem those who stray from their alignment, who turn on the goals of their god or patron, who fail to sacrifice enough treasure, or who otherwise anger a supernatural being which considers them a thrall. An aleax is never met by chance, and is usually reserved for egregious offenses by powerful or important servants.

An aleax closely resembles its intended victim, but there are clear signs of the aleax’s progenitor. An aleax serving Bobugbubilz has a swampy odor and an amphibian cast to its features. One serving Justicia is female, and her face is a blend between that of goddess and victim. The aleax appears to be bathed in shimmering light: golden for Lawful gods or patrons, muted sepia tones for Neutral, and ever­changing purple and red hues for Chaos.

An aleax can only be detected by its intended victim, and only the victim’s attacks or spells affect it in any way. To observers, the victim appears to be in conflict with a totally invisible, totally intangible being. It would seem like the victim suffered a hallucination, were it not for the completely real wounds left by the aleax’s attacks. It appears, speaks a few words to indicate the nature of the offense committed by the intended victim, and then immediately attacks. Aleaxs cannot be bargained with, and ignore threats or banter.

An aleax regenerates exponentially. When first injured, it regenerates 1 hp/round. When injured again, this doubles to 2 hp/round. Each subsequent injury doubles the regeneration rate (4 hp/round, 8 hp/round. 16 hp/round, etc.) until the creature is killed.

Aleaxs are vulnerable to critical hits, so that the critical hit range against them is increased by +1, and the Crit Die is increased by +2d on the dice chain. If an Intended victim kills an aleax, that person is immediately taken into the presence of their patron or deity (in Heaven, Olympus, Hell, Valhalla, or wherever is appropriate) to serve their god or patron personally for a year and a day. On return, the character has a 95% chance of having gained en extra reward, such as a powerful magical Item, a class level, a unique ability, or greatly increased Luck, at the judge's discretion. The judge should consider the player’s wishes and the character’s goals when making this determination. While having ascended generally takes the intended victim from the game milieu for the full year and a day, if the remaining characters undertake a quest for the patron or deity in question, the victim may be “loaned back” to them for a brief period.

If the victim is instead reduced to 0 hp, all of the victims monetary wealth, even if cached or hidden elsewhere, disappears immediately. Land holdings, honorifics, and the like are immediately nullified as though they had never been. The victim’s magical items lose their magical properties – scrolls become blank, potions become inert, and so on. Only quest for penance can restore goods, chattels, or magical properties of items, to the extend that the judge deems appropriate.