Let’s Convert the Fiend Folio: Norker and Nycadaemon

As I write this, I am wearing an eye patch over my right eye so that I can focus on the page. Call it an experiment in therapeutic pharmacology, something that had a chance of increasing my sense of balance but just didn’t pan out. Now I am waiting to see how long it will take for the unwanted side effects to go away. I am hoping not more than a day or two. I am really hoping missing a second dose in the morning will be enough.

Anyway, the Fiend Folio has only six monsters starting with the letter N. These are the last two.

Next post in this series will do all of the monsters starting with O, but as there are only two in the Fiend Folio, that isn’t as huge as it sounds. We really are more than halfway through!

 

 

 

 

Norker

Norker: Init +2; Atk Club +2 melee (1d4+2) or bite +3 melee (1d3); AC 17; HD 1d10+2; MV 25’; Act 1d20; SP infravision 60’, free bite attack if club hits; SV Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +1; AL C.

Distant cousins of the hobgoblins (see page 417 of the core rulebook), norkers have developed 3-inch fangs, with which they can deliver a nasty bite as a free action if their club attack hits. The norker also has a very tough skin, forming a type of exoskeleton, accounting for its high Armor Class.

By all accounts, norkers are more primitive than their hobgoblin cousins – in terms of arms and armor, biology, and tactics. Clubs are the height of norker technology, but if they have the means to get hold of better weapons, these become prized possessions and family heirlooms. Norkers still get a free bite attack if their weapon attack hits, no matter what that weapon is.

 

 

Nycadaemon

Daemons are Neutral spirits, equivalent in some ways to the demons of Chaos and the angels of Law. There are many types of daemons, but regardless of type, all share the following traits: Immunity to non-magical weapons; immunity to mind-affecting spells and effects; immunity to any spell or effect that would forcibly change the daemon’s shape, form, or substance (including petrifaction); and the ability to speak and understand all languages.

Nycadaemon: Init +5; Atk Claws +8 melee (2d6+8) or by weapon +12 melee (by weapon +8) or spell; AC 24; HD 12d12; MV 30’ or fly 90’; Act 1d20; SP Daemon traits, exceptional Strength (+8 bonus), immunity to weapons of less than +2 value, magic resistance, spellcasting, personal name, telepathy; SV Fort +14, Ref +10, Will +15; AL N.

Perhaps the most powerful of the daemons, the nycadaemons roam the nether planes at will, avoided by all lesser creatures (even many demons), for they are totally wicked and domineering, caring not who or what they enslave or exploit, but always acting with genius-level intelligence to maximizing their own  power and security. They will co-operate with other evil beings whenever mutual actions are likely to prove beneficial to themselves, betraying them only when it offers an even greater advantage. If they can successfully blame one of their rivals for the evil they do, so much the better.

Nycadaemons can communicate telepathically to any target within 500’, as well as possessing the ability to understand and speak all languages. They are enormously strong (+8 Strength bonus). If they have a weapon, it is 50% likely to be magical (as created by the judge). They may also use shields, which increase their AC as normal, and are 25% likely to have at least a +1d3 enchantment (as per judge).

Nycadaemons can cast the following spells with a +12 bonus to their spell checks: Detect invisible, detect magic, enlarge, gust of wind, invisibility, mirror image, phantasm, planar step, read magic, and scare. Conversely, they are incredibly resistant to magic created by others. In this case, there is a 110% minus 10% per spell level that a spell cast at a nycadaemon simply fails, or that an existing spell collapses when a nycadaemon interacts with it. This means that nycadaemons are completely immune to 1st level spells, and even 5th level spells fail 60% of the time.

Nycadaemons have a personal names, which the keep secret as a a being that knows a nycadaemon’s person name can use it when casting spells to bypass the daemon’s magic resistance and natural immunities (such as to mind-affecting spells). Such audacity is almost certainly the death warrant of the caster, as a nycademon will not stop plotting the audacious one’s demise until it or the offender is dead. Nycadaemons are well versed in such plots, having millennia of practice.