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MONSTERS GALORE

This is a collection of recent new monsters from a variety of campaign settings. Hopefully, enterprising DMs can make them fit most any setting. Several were created for specific settings; the bonemouth and death head crab with Thagril in mind, Living Weather was designed with Maztica and Lopango campaigning ideas, and the Vampiric Weasel is another Forgotten Realms specialty. However I think all of these monsters can be made to work in any setting.

BONEMOUTH

Bonemouths are one of the creations of the thriving necromancer business on Thagril. Millions of sharks died when the seas receded, though as sharks lack a bony skeleton, this leaves only the jaws and teeth. Some talented wizard were able to create a horrible new undead creature of these maws; the bonemouth.

Serving as powerful allies, the bonemouths are basically flying, animated shark jaws that can whoosh through the air and viscously attack their opponents. Somehow able to see all victims with 80 feet, even if they are invisible, they never sleep and are never surprised. Flying at 18 (MC: B), they will seek to bite (obviously) any intruders if used as guards, or any other opponent if accompanying a wizard into battle.

The damge they do is horrific; 4-16 points of damage. Fighting to destruction, they are immune to sleep, charm, and hold spells. Cold and paralysis does not affect them, and take half damage from piercing or edged weapons. They suffer normal damage from fire and blunt weapons. Holy water has no effec on them, and they are turned as ghouls

DEATH HEAD CRAB

The Death Head Crab is yet another strange result of the world sea that once covered Thagril. Once a hermit crab - harmless soft-shelled crabs that use discarded mollusk shells as temporary homes till they outgrow - they are now a hazard in the seas and in areas near salt water. Found also far from the ocean, as long as there is some water about, the Death Head Crab has achieved its notoriety from the effects it receives from its "shell;" a skull.

With the lower jaw absent, the Death Head Crab uses the brain pan as the storage for its vulnerable areas, presenting to the world its stalked eyes, claws, and legs.

Normally, this strange arrangement might be a bit macabre, but otherwise harmless, as a skull is not intrinsically dangerous or evil. Thagril is not a normal place. Vast amounts of spirit energy was released when the oceans vanished, spirit energy derived from sea elves, whales, sharks, sea serpents, and many other aquatic life forms that perished suddenly, in the prime of their life.

Much of that energy is still about, found in the form of spirit whales, or perhaps animating salt drakes. The Death Head Crabs tap into this energy as well, much to the detriment of all concerned.

The crab is essentially a symbiotic lifeform, the crab living and the skull a lesser form of undead. Both benefit from the arrangement. The crab feeds on rather innocous stuff; lichen, sea weed, desert plants, leaves, insects, smaller crabs, fish, and carrion. In and of itself the crab is harmless, and actually a useful scavenger.

The skull portion is another matter. The skull is that of a sea elf invariably, and perhaps due to some influx of life force from the living crab, is undead. The skull portion seeks to destroy all developed life forms around the crab; mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. All those who gaze upon the skull portion of the Death Head Crab and are within 50 feet of it, must save versus petrifaction or undergo salt rot. A save negates this effect, and that person is immune from effect from that particular crab for that encounter. If he or she encounters the crab again in the future or a different crab, another saving throw must be made.

Salt rot is a parting gift of these twisted and otherwise unintelligent undead. The body is unable to process water from drinking or food sources, and requires more and more water in order to survive. By the end of the first day, 20% more water is needed to survive. On the second day, 30%, the third day, 40%, etc. By the fifth day, the person is pretty much going to die of thirst unless drinking constantly, and on day seven death occurs no matter what.

One of the great dangers of this salt rot is that a victim might not know they have been effected for a day or more. A presumably harmless encounter might several days down the road turn to disaster. Cure disease and remove curse will end salt rot.

This symbiosis is bizarre, the only known instance of undead and living working together. The crab gains a very safe home, and the undead sea elf spirit has a way of affecting the maximum number of victims, its hatred for surface dwellers continuing into the afterlife.

The stats above are for the skull. One can kill the crab but not the skull, and vice versa. As with all undead, it is immune to charm, sleep, and other mind affecting spells, and takes half damage from cold and electrical attacks as well as sharp or edged weapons. Blunt weapons and fire do full damage.

DRAKE, MILK

The milk drake is a rare species of dragon-like creatures that have learned to live in the world of man, not as a pest, but as an ally of sorts. Appearing as four limbed dragonet, the front two limbs forming leathery wings the rear two for standing and perching, the milk drake is cream colored on top and more whitish beneath. Its eyes are rather large, golden with huge black pupils.

Despite its white color, the milk drake does not get its name from its appearance. Milk drakes have learned to make large barns their homes, lairing in out of the way places on the farm, generally up in the rafters of such buildings. Superstitious peasants believe that the milk drake steals milk from cows and goats, coming down in the evening to suckle; to them this explains not only their coloration but their presence on farms.

In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. Milk drakes are nocturnal predators, basically mousers. They feed on rats, mice, as well as the odd snake, lizard, bat, or large insect. They do take small birds on occasion, but are not really adapted to do so; most of their prey dwells on the ground. Hunting in the evening hours and late at night, they use their especially keen night vision to find their prey. Even starlight is enough for them to find their way around in the dark, able to dart and weave among pillars and horses in the barn without a sound.

Milk drakes catch their prey largely through grabbing them with their claws (for 1-2/1-2 points of damage) and delivering a swift bite to silence it. Though their mouths are small, their teeth are numerous and very sharp; a bite inflicts 1-4 points of damage.

For defensive purposes, twice a day a milk drake can offer a breath weapon, range 10 feet and area of effect pretty much one person. As milk drakes swallow their prey hole, they build up a lot of waste material, largely bones, feathers, and fur. If pressed by a hawk, owl, or a human, they can cough up this material on to a person. This vomit is incredibly smelly; while doing only 1-2 points of damage, the recipient must save versus breath weapon or become nauseous for 1-4 rounds, unable to do anything but retch.

Owing to the often poor reception dragon-kind get among humans and their ilk, milk dragons have one other unique adaptation. If they lie completely still for 5 minutes, they start to fade into invisibility. It is not know if this is strictly magical, or a combination of magic and careful adjustment of the drake's scales to reflect light in a special way. As long as the drake lies motionless, only those able to detect invisible objects may find them. This ability serves them well when they are hunted or when they rest during the day.

Milk drakes are harmless to humans, and if offered adequate supplies of rats and vermin can be quite happy in most places with the owners none the wiser. On rare occasions they have been tamed, with the enterprising farmer offering small cuts of meat in likely mousing grounds. They are actually fairly easy to tame, and make decent pets.

Milk drakes generally live in small family units, consisting of a mated pair (they mate for life) and one to two (very rarely three) sub-adult offspring. They offspring stay two years, in their second year helping the next generation of hatchlings feed and to protect them. Upon their reaching a year old, the original group of offspring head out for a new area to call home.

DRAKE, OASIS

The oasis drake is most commonly found in the deserts of Zakhara, the Land of Fate (the setting for Al-Qadim), though could easily fit into a desert of most any campaign setting.

Another of the widespread family of drakes, proving that dragons and their smaller cousins can adopt to most any environment or habitat, the oasis drake as its name might suggest calls desert oasis its home. Dwelling in nests they weave out of plant fibers high among the fronds of palm trees, they make them more defensive with spines, thorns, and prickly leaves of many desert plants. Dwelling in loose colonies, generally in an average oasis one could find about five to ten families. In the larger and less disturbed oases, as many as three hundred families have been seen, though this is rare.

The noisy, sometime quarrelsome oasis drake spends most of the hotter hours of the day resting, preferring to hunt for insects on the wing and landing on the ground to go after scorpions and lizards in the morning and afternoon. Not very large animals, it sometimes take two or even three drakes to bring down their larger prey items. They are almost comical to watch, for instance when they go after scorpions, four or five may dance around the dangerous creature, lunging at it and chattering at it, but moving away with exaggerated fear when it moves to strike. They also have been known to hunt on brightly lit nights, but generally only when there is a full moon.

As oasis drake have a communal system of sorts, they share their catches. As a result, few oasis drakes every go hungry, and all hatchlings get enough to eat. Many drakes are able to spend time away from hunting duties, preening themselves or others, caring for the offspring, or in play. A favorite oasis drake activity is to see how low they can skim over water and not enter. Another is to carry some sort of nut or small rock into the air and play keep away. Several Midani proverbs indicate the playful nature of oasis drakes, generally in a disapproving nature (especially among Moralist cities).

What sets oasis drakes among many other small dragons is that they are fairly intelligence (Average, 8-10). Possessing their own rich language, they can pick up at least on other language, though are better able to understand than speak it. Individual oasis drakes become fond of certain phrases in Midani or any other language, and are apt to repeat endlessly like some catch phrase.

Wise men and women have befriended oasis drakes in the past, and convince entire colonies to their bidding. In return for not being harassed, the occasional bowl of honey, and the odd shiny bauble, they can be convinced to carry messages, scout, or serve as sentries. Some desert tribes have had colonies of oasis drakes working with them for years to help them keep abreast of rival tribe activities, as well as keep an eye on the herds and out for danger. Bandits have been known to use drakes to spy out rich caravan to plunder, and lawgivers have used them to hunt down these same individuals.

In appearance an oasis drake is a sky blue in coloration underneath, shading to a darker blue above. They have glittering azure eyes that appear to almost glow. Their snouts are streaked with red, and in full mating form the males can appear quite striking, with the red growing in size and intensity.

Oasis drakes possess no breath weapon, and have a claw/claw/bite routine. Like many drakes, they do not have the ability to cast spells.

Monsters Galore page 2