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MONSTERS GALORE

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DRAKE, PINE

Pine drakes are another species of the dragon family that has adapted to live among humans. It is theorized that once they are were much like other drakes, living among woodlands and hunting down prey, perhaps one day evolving into something comparable to the metallic and chromatic dragons, or maybe just filling an ecological niche.

Pine drakes at some point became aware of the human penchant for considering animals "cute," particularly if they are attractive, small, and seemingly "innocent" and inoffensive. Pine drakes play up their physical features to humans. Already attractive drakes, they are very small, generally less than a foot wingspan. They are a bright green on the back side and a bright yellow across the underside of their throats and bellies. Males have black colored heads, while females a soft green. Both genders have glittering liquid gold eyes.

In addition to a striking appearance and playful antics, the pine drakes have another innate secret weapon to win the hearts of humans. They can twice a day, at 6th level of ability, cast their own version of Charm Person Or Animal. Unless a successful saving throw is made versus spells, the victim will think the pine drakes the cutest thing he or she had ever seen, and wish to make sure they are fed, protected, and won't mind they accompanying him or her. The victim will go to great lengths to protect them from harm, and to make sure they are well fed. Attempts by other, non charmed individuals to disuade the victim will be unsuccessful for the duration of the spell (which is 8 to 10 days).

Upon the end of the duration of charm, the victim gets to make another save with a +1 bonus. If that is unsuccessful, the next day another can be made at a +2 bonus. This continues until the victim makes the save. At that point the victim is free to decide what to do with the drakes, though generally they will still be not inclined to harm them.

What a group of pine drake have successfully charmed a person do varies. Some simply encourage them to leave the area. Others need defenders for a time, to keep out orcs or bandits or what have you. Others, generally on an individual basis will seek to accompany them, hopefully to live the life of a pampered pet.

Pine drakes are not sentient, but are very bright for animals and can be taught tricks. They have no other know spell ability.

In combat they can claw, claw, bite if needed, but do no possess a breath weapon or any magical defensive measures.

LIVING WEATHER

Climate/Terrain:	Maztica and Lopango	Hit Dice:	20
Frequency:	Varies (uncommon-very rare)	THAC0:	5
Organization:	Solitary	No. of Attacks:	1 (see below)
Activity Cycle:	Any	Damage/Attack:	10d6 (see below)
Diet:	Unknown	Special Attacks:	See below
Intelligence:	High to Genius (13-18)	Special Defenses:	Immune to weapons
Treasure:	None	Magic Resistance:	50%
Alignment:	Varies (see below)	Size:	G (undetermined dimensions)
No. Appearing:	1 (but see below)	Morale:	Fearless (19-20)
Armor Class:	-5	XP Value:	20,000
Movement:	FL 48 (A)

Possibly related to the mortai of the Beastlands (in the Outer Planes), sometimes weather systems in the True World are actually alive, in a manner not seen in Faerun or Zakhara (though both Mulhorand and the deserts of the Land of Fate have sentient sandstorms).

Apparently either the forces of nature are more powerful or the laws of nature are somehow different, but some weather types manifest themselves as sentient beings. However, calling weather a being is somewhat of a hard concept, as generally living weather are vast creatures made of air and waterborne moisture and water vapor. They may appear as swirls of mist wreathing a mountaintop, or great clouds spanning the horizon, covering miles from side to side and towering thousands of feet into the air. Likely as not, one will often mistake living weather for normal weather.

If they choose to do so, living weather can speak, using the booming voices of wind and thunder - when they bother to speak at all. Living weather always know the languages of the regions they exist in, both human and any other sentient race (such as giant macaw, desert dwarf, or calibara). Whether or not living weather interacts with an average mortal varies by type.

If living weather is driven to combat, all types can attack once per round with a lightning bolt, 10 feet in diameter and miles long if need be. Any being in the path of the bolt suffers 10d6 points of damage (save versus spells for half damage is applicable). Those creatures struck while standing on the ground must save versus spell or are stunned for 2-20 rounds. There are no limits to how much living weather can fire lightning bolts over the course of a battle.

It is difficult to attack living weather; they are immune to all physical weaponry, even magical. Only spells can harm them, and then they must get past the 50% magic resistance. Owing to the great speed and maneuverability of living weather, it can avoid combat rather easily. If need be, it can rise to heights of 20,000 feet or more, easily outside the range of most if not all spells. Dragon breath does harm living weather however.

Though virtually unknown to mortals, all living weather have a secret core - a place where all of their power is collected into one spot. This is a glowing sphere, a mere 10 feet across. It is here that living weather is vulnerable to enchanted weapons (though at a -5 armor class). Finding such a sphere is often difficult, owing to the size of the living weather and its active efforts to attack such an individual seeking it.

All living weather can cast the following spells; aerial servant, air walk (cast on another creature), call lightning (given to another, once a day), conjure air elemental (three times a day), control weather (3 times per day), control winds, dust devil, fog cloud, gust of wind, ice storm, rainbow, rainbow pattern, whispering wind, wind walk, and wind wall.

There are a number of sub-types of living weather, though owing as they are creatures of air and climate, ultimately they may all be the same type of creature. They appear to vary mainly in frequency, alignment, habitat, and overall personality.

Cumulonimbus - In essence a living thunderstorm, is most commonly found over the jungles of Lopango and Maztica (where they are uncommon) but can be found in the central plains of Maztica and the eastern woodlands (where they are rare), and over the deserts of Anasazia (where they are very rare).

Chaotic Neutral in alignment, cumulonimbus appear to live merely to bring rain, hail, sleet, snow, and lightning to the ground below them. Among the largest of the living weather beings -sometimes 30,000 feet in height - cumulonimbus living weather almost seems to think that mortal "groundlings" are beneath contempt, unworthy of notice.

Cumulonimbus living weather is in fact so detached from life among the sentient races that it might be virtually indistinguishable from normal weather (aside from its long life) were in not for two factors. First, any being casting a call lightning spell within 50 miles of a cumulonimbus living weather is 50% likely to attract its attention, with each bolt brought on by the spell adding a 10% chance to the living weather arriving to the location. This form of a living weather is very capricious, and will arrive in the location and survey what it believes to be the caster's attentions and the general situation at hand. The living weather may decide to rain down considerably in the area (living weather btw can maintain its cohesion within normal storm systems in a yet unknown manner; in fact normal weather may conceal one or more beings of living weather). Alternatively, it might decide that it does not like the abuse of the air, and not only stop the storm in the local vicinity, but end the call lightning spell as well.

Second, some tribes in scattered areas of Maztica and Lopango possess the ability to summon cumulonimbus living weather, perhaps through a form of call lightning. Little is known about this, but it believed that the tribe summoners have only partial control over what they have summoned.

While generally cumulonimbus living weather is generally only a local hazard, once or twice a year a number of them gather into a squall line. Not unlike the nonsentient squall lines - continuous lines of thunderstorms that are located along or ahead of a cold front - sometimes many dozens or on rare occasions hundreds of these beings will journey across the land. Followed by cooler air, the squall line may be a mere 20 miles in length to sometimes over 1,000 miles. Moving fairly rapidly, the squall line brings intense rain and wind to a region, sometimes causing intense devastation. It is not known why these squall lines form; perhaps to breed, or to join forces and cause greater devastation.

Cumulus - Uncommon in most of Maztica and Lopango (though is very rare in the arid deserts of both continents), cumulus are basically living examples of the puffy white clouds commonly seen on spring and summer days. Unlike the cumulonimbus living weather, cumulus living weather does not interact at all with those on the ground, apparently content to drift across the sky, sometimes in lazy "schools" that may stretch for hundreds of miles.

By some accounts cumulus living weather is virtually mindless. According to some of the tribal shamans in the great central plains of Maztica, the cumulus schools or "herds" mimic the vast herds of bison, and are somehow prey to some predator just as the bison feed the wolf and man.

Fliers who meet cumulus living weather on its own terms, high in the sky, find a different picture. Cumulus living weather is Neutral with Good tendencies, and is light-hearted curious being, at peace with the world, unlike the eternally angry cumulonimbus living weather. They delight in talking to those who can meet them in the air, never seemingly to lose the sense of wonder and surprise when a mortal talks to one. The living weather will gladly converse with the mortals, sharing thoughts, ideas, and quite possibly providing useful information as well. However cumulus living weather is profoundly pacifist, and will not engage in combat on the behalf of those beings. While defending themselves, the most cumulus living weather will do to aid a mortal is to provide useful information.

Owing to the diffuse and mutable nature of weather, there may be other examples of living weather. It is possible that are living tornadoes, though it is unlikely; living weather is a permanent phenomenon, and a living tornado would have to be a tornado that never stopped. It is thought that there is a variety of living weather beings unique to deserts and to mountain ranges, but this has not been determined yet.

MRISSI

The Mrissi are taken from the Star Wars books, though I think they make a fine AD&D race.

The Mrissi are a small, delicately boned race descended from avians. They have lost the power of flight long ago, and instead posses long, fine-boned arms with two fingers and a thumb at the end. They have a fine covering of grayish, fur-like feathers, with brightly colored feathers where a human's head of hair would be. They have no beaks, but more mammalian mouths, and have large, liquid eyes. In height they are about four feet or so.

Mrissi are accomplished scholars and researchers, and in an AD&D setting would make ideal sages, savants, alchemists, and wizards. Mrissi communities will center around large, sprawling campuses, where those with a gift for research and magic will be able to perform feats of abstract reasoning and share what they have learned with others. The Mrissi are a open race, and gladly take other species under their tutelage; in peaceful times, many species humans, elves, and others may be found reading and taking classes in Mrissi communities.

Although the Mrissi have the more traditional apprentice system found in traditional Medieval and Renaissacne human societies, they tend to favor a more communal approach. As a result, any individual Mrissi that is encountered is likely to have been taught by many teachers, and his or her progress well known by many. Owing to this high level of training, Mrissi adventurers effectively begin at 2nd level of advancement in their classes. Also, owing to their broad education, this highly literate race has a great many adventurers who are multi-classed.

Mrissi tend to live in quiet areas of the world, peaceful areas away from the conflicts of nations. This does not mean that they shirk from their duty, as many Mrissi have fought long and hard to oppose evil where it may lie. Still, their ideal existence is one of friends, family, study, and just plain quiet contemplation.

Mrissi communities tend to not be centralized cities as with most races, but instead a mixture of farmland and city, with no real limits as to where one city begins and another ends. Most cities, if can they be said to have a center, focus on the campuses, which receive the care and attention that cathedrals and castles do in human societies. As a result, more outlying universities often have high walls and some fortifications, for they are the natural center the race retreats to in times of crisis, and owing to the knowledge contained within their chief concern when it comes to securing things.

A typical Mrissi civilization will be in warm temperate or tropical lands, preferably near seacoasts. Mrissi buildings, when not built for defensive purposes, are generally made with preferably white stone and a lot of glass (they excel at glass making). Massive Mrissi trees dot their communities, huge plants with gigantically thick trunks that stand out like huge green columns. These trees, called "greenstalks," are easy to climb, and their summits often house ramshackle communes of artists, musicians, and poets.

A favorite food of the mrissi is the wuorl, tiny, tree dwelling amphibians that live in huge colonies on the shady areas of greenstalks. They are often eaten live. Their diet also includes some fish and a great deal of fruits and vegetables.

In a mrissi community, one will generally find about 1 wizard per 50 inhabitants, generally between levels 1-4, with a 25% chance to be between levels 6-10. The most common classes found among the mrissi are wizards, specialty wizards, sages, and alchemists, in that order. Generally only a small cadre of warriors are maintained in any community, a few souls who have volunteered to learn the martial arts in return for free schooling for life. Such warriors tend to favor missile weapons, as they are generally too small and light-boned to do well in melee with most creatures.

WEASEL, VAMPIRIC

I created the vampirc weasel as a relatively small level monster for the Whamite Isles, a small island group located in the Sea of Fallen Stars (Inner Sea) of the Forgotten Realms, just to the south of the infamous Pirate Isles. The PCs in the campaign set up a small kingdom there, and this was one of many hazards they had to contend with.

Vampiric weasels are one of the unique features of Whamite Islands wildlife, not found anywhere else on Toril. In appearance resemble their mainland cousins, though are more of a sandy color with black streaking to match the forest floor of the areas they are often found on. When the colonists first arrived they were found over all of the islands in at least small groups, but after the islands were settled they were exterminated island by island till today they are only found on the three largest islands, Krocas, Moreska, and Anaria.

Vampiric weasels can act much as their normal cousins, hunting small birds, rodents, lizards, snakes, crabs, and insects for food. Slim and lithe, they excel at going after their prey in burrows and in tight crevices.

There are important differences though with vampiric and mundane weasels. The sharp observer will notice two needle like fangs that extrude from the mouth, even when it is closed. Vampiric weasels are thanks to them able to occasionally tackle larger prey items. In addition to giving them a much more dangerous bite (1-4 rather than 1), it allows them go attack and wound larger animals. When large animals enter an area with these vermin, the vampiric weasels are known to give chittering calls to their fellow weasels. Normally solitary in their pursuits, small groups will form to go after this new animal, with one or more weasels following the prey until a group of at least 5 or 6 weasels is present.

When a largest enough groups is present, the weasels will attack. If the animal is small enough, say a dog or cat, they will simply fight until the animal is killed. In the case of most prey - horses, cows, and humans - they will make a few quick strikes and open up large wounds, then hide in the brush, shadowing the victim. Hoping the victim will die from blood loss and shock, they continue to tail it through the island, making more attacks as necessary.

Vampiric weasels, as do most island animals, have no natural fear of man. Hated animals, children are often warned to keep clear of wild mammals on the island. In a reverse of most areas on Toril, the snake is thought of as a friend, not the weasel. The only natural enemy of the vampiric weasel is the Whamite Constrictor, a dwarf species.

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