Thursday 24 October 2019

More Monsters From Greek Myth


The extended issue of D.A.M.N. #1 contains an article I wrote called It’s All Greek to Me! Here are a few more creatures to go with that article. See also this post for some unique centaurs. DCC nymphs can be found here.

Hippocampus:  Init +1; Atk bite +5 melee (1d5+1); AC 14; HD 4d8; MV 60’ or swim 100’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +2; AL N.

Hippocampi are oceanic horses with fish-like tails and fins instead of hooves.


Icthyocentaur:   Init +0; Atk trident +3 melee (1d8+1) or other weapon; AC 14; HD 2d8; MV 50’ or swim 70’; Act 2d20; SV Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +1; AL Varies.

Ichthyocentaurs are aquatic cousins of normal centaurs, a combination of hippocampi and water-breathing humanoid.

Mermaid: Init +5; Atk none; AC 15; HD 3d6; MV 10’ or swim 60’; Act 1d20; SP charming voice (1/day, Will DC 14 resists, lasts 1d4 days), kiss confers water breathing for 1d3 hours; SV Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +3; AL N.

Merman: Init +3; Atk spear or trident +4 melee (1d8+1); AC 15; HD 3d6; MV 10’ or swim 60’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2; AL N.

Lernaean hydra: Init +4; Atk bite +6 melee (1d10+4); AC 16; HD 1d10 (10 hp) per head; MV 20’, swim 40’; Act 1d20 per head; SP 2d8+4 heads, crit on 19-20, regeneration of heads at 2x rate, heal 1 hp/round per remaining head, miasmic vapours, death throes; SV Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +5; AL C.

The great hydra which guards the Underworld entrance beneath Lake Lerna is neither a common hydra nor a Prime, but something wholly unique. The Lernaean Hydra starts with 2d8+4 heads, and each head has a full 10 hp.  Each round, up to 1d7 heads spend their Action Die spouting a powerful cloud of miasmic vapour. All within a 30’ radius must succeed in a Fort save (DC 10 + number of heads breathing) or suffer a -1d penalty on the dice chain to all Action Dice the next round.

When the Lernaean hydra is slain, a great thunder shakes the heaven (Reflex DC 10 to remain standing), and a powerful voice proclaims that whoever struck the final blow is a child of Xanxes. This character immediately gains a +1 bonus to all Strength-related checks. Each time the character gains a level thereafter, he or she gains a Scion Roll as does a demi-god, regardless of the character’s actual class. If the character is already a demi-god, the character instead carries the blood of two gods, and rolls a Scion Roll for each. it is possible for the character to roll two Scion Rolls for Xanxes as a result of this event.

(Xanxes is a scion of the progeny of Zeus, in a future age where the Greek Gods have returned...or, more accurately, their grandchildren.)

7 comments:

  1. Tasty sir; tasty. Just so happens I'm starting a group of folks that are new to DCC, and I've decided to go with a bronze era worldscape to start them in. This stuff is golden. I will have to check out the D.A.M.N.magazine as well.
    MARS

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  2. Alas, it appears both links (above) route the interwebbster to the Centaur info page. Your Nymphs are awaiting wandering adventurers here - http://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2014/06/nymphs.html

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  3. Hey Mr. Crowking, off topic question. How do you handle languages in DCC RPG? There's an obvious disconnect in how DCC encourages "unique monsters" and yet the Languages section has tables for a slew of classic monster languages (gnoll, troll, goblin, etc.). Right now, my campaign is in such a small locale, there has been no need for languages but I'm going to have to implement something soon. I may just associate gnoll with "hill monsters", goblin with "cave monsters", bugbears with "militant monsters", etc.

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    1. One thing I do is assume that most characters can learn up to their Intelligence in languages, so that learning something new is possible. Appendix L in CE 5: Silent Nightfall has full rules for this.

      https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/121800/CE-5--Silent-Nightfall

      Otherwise, there is nothing wrong (and a lot right) with creating unique regional occupation and languages tables. This also allows you to tweak what PC races are available by location.

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