TEXT: An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS
  ®
  STEVE JACKSON GAMES
  Stock #37-0322
  Version 1.0 – June 2011
  ®
  Written by PETER V. DELL’ORTO and SEAN PUNCH
  Illustrated by IGOR FIORENTINI, JOYCE MAUREIRA,
  ROD REIS, BOB STEVLIC, and JACOB WALKER
  TM
  
  INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . 3
  About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  About GURPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  1. THE MONSTERS . . . . . . 4
  Reading Monster Stats . . . . . . . . . . 4
  BRONZE SPIDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
  Spiders? Try Cockroaches! . . . . . . . 5
  Along Came a Spider. . . . . . . . . . . . 5
  BUGBEAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
  Lair of the Bugbear . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  CIUACLÁ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
  Killing Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  CORPSE GOLEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
  Not-Quite-Life Is Cheap . . . . . . . . . 8
  That’s Just Sickle! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  DEMON FROM
  BETWEEN THE STARS . . . . . . .9
  Harassers From
  Between the Stars. . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  Hello Darkness My Old Friend . . . . 9
  DEMON OF OLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
  Oldies but Baddies . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  Old Demon Chain Tricks . . . . . . . 10
  DINOMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
  Dinomeals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
  Dinomob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
  DRAUG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
  Re-Killing Draugr . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  The Draug Lord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  ELECTRIC JELLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
  An Electrifying Experience . . . . . . 13
  In Super 3D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  EYE OF DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
  Death From Above . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Beware the Flying Eye. . . . . . . . . . 14
  FLAME LORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
  Medium Heat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Flame Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  GIANT APE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
  Acting Like an Ape . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  King of the Apes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  GLADIATOR APE . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
  Battle Rage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  Cestus Is Bestest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  HORDE PYGMY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
  Nasty, Brutish, and Short . . . . . . . 18
  Island of the Pygmies . . . . . . . . . . 18
  HORRID SKULL . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
  It’s a Trap! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  Unholy Hand Grenade . . . . . . . . . 19
  ICE WYRM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
  Icing the Wyrm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  Lair of the Ice Wyrm . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  KARKADANN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
  Soothing the Savage Breast . . . . . 21
  Karkadann Pride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  LEAPING LEECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
  Harmless Nuisance. . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  . . . or Deadly Trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  LICH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
  A Note to Undead-Slayers . . . . . . . 23
  OBSIDIAN JAGUAR . . . . . . . . . . . .24
  Teclá . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  The Jaguar Comes
  in the Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  ROCK MITE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
  Lair of the Rock Mites. . . . . . . . . . 25
  I Am a Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
  SLORN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
  Riders on the Slorn . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  Lizard Breath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  SLUGBEAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
  Slughemoth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Squishing the Slug . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  SPHERE OF MADNESS . . . . . . . . .28
  Fear the Sphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  Spheres vs. Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  SWORD SPIRIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
  Live By the Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  Die By the Sword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  THROTTLER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
  Full Throttle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
  It’s Not Easy Being Green. . . . . . . 30
  TROLL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
  Killin’ Trolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  . . . and Trolls Killin’ . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  UNDEAD SLIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
  Endurance Event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  Cage Fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  VOID BRUTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
  Serving the Masters. . . . . . . . . . . . 33
  Berserk Void Brutes. . . . . . . . . . . . 33
  WATCHER AT
  THE EDGE OF TIME . . . . . . . .34
  Time Is on Their Side . . . . . . . . . . 34
  Hero-Killers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
  2. MONSTER TRAITS. . . . 35
  NEW MONSTER ADVANTAGES . . . .35
  Damage Reduction. . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  Independent Body Parts . . . . . . . 35
  MONSTER PREFIXES . . . . . . . . . .36
  Berserker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Chaos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Determined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  Distorted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  Elemental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  Theme Dungeons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  Ghostly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  Juggernaut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Possessed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Boss Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Psycho Killer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Ravenous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  MONSTER INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
  CONTENTS
  2
  CONTENTS
  Reviewers: Roger Burton West, Dan Howard, Jason “PK” Levine, Steven Marsh, and Elizabeth McCoy
  Special Thanks: Aaron “Leaping Leeches” Falken and Tom “Slugbeast” Pluck
  GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Dungeon Fantasy, Dungeon Fantasy Monsters, e23,
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  GURPS System Design T STEVE JACKSON
  GURPS Line Editor T SEAN PUNCH
  Managing Editor T PHILIP REED
  Page Design T PHIL REED and
  JUSTIN DE WITT
  Art Director T WILL SCHOONOVER
  Editorial Assistant T JASON “PK” LEVINE
  Production Artist & Indexer T NIKOLA VRTIS
  Prepress Checker T MONICA STEPHENS
  e23 Manager T STEVEN MARSH
  Marketing Director T PAUL CHAPMAN
  Director of Sales T ROSS JEPSON
  GURPS FAQ Maintainer T –––––––
  VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO
  
  INTRODUCTION
  3
  A “monster” is any fantastic or unnatural creature – either
  sapient, like a dragon, or nonsapient, like a flesh-eating slime –
  that lacks a civilization.
  – GURPS Basic Set
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is about killing monsters and
  taking their stuff. For that to work, you need monsters – lots of
  monsters! There are already many such critters lurking where
  you might not expect them:
  • Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons offers 19 creatures that
  exist to mangle, poison, and burn treasure-hunters.
  • Many nonhuman races in Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next
  Level are “civilized” on a technicality, becoming monsters
  when armed and placed in the heroes’ path. Corpse-eaters,
  ogres, reptilians, and trolls actually have Social Stigma
  (Monster). Then there’s orcs . . .
  • Encountered in a dungeon, the entities in Dungeon
  Fantasy 5: Allies would serve delvers for lunch before serving
  them as doting pets. The 13 druidic allies and 10 animal famil-
  iars would be savage beasts in most contexts. The nine fantastic
  familiars are lesser supernatural monsters, some of them
  evil. And divine servitors would be called demons, Elder Things,
  or undead if unbound – especially if they have the Horrific or
  Unholy lens, and/or embody such elements as Chaos, Darkness,
  Death, Deception, Disease, Evil, Fear, Fire, and War.
  • Dungeon Fantasy 6: 40 Artifacts offers two evil spirits
  that lurk in treasure instead of guarding it.
  • Everything in Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners – but
  especially the demons and undead – is as likely to be sum-
  moned to fight adventurers as to assist them.
  • Even Dungeon Fantasy 10: Taverns gets in on the act,
  presenting a wyrm and rats of unusual size (and hinting at
  stats for killer bunny rabbits).
  But you can never have too many monsters!
  The Dungeon Fantasy Monsters supplements – starting
  with this one – give the GM entirely new threats with which to
  challenge cocky heroes who are no longer afraid of as-Sharak,
  demonic clouds, and hellhounds (or whose players have read
  too many Dungeon Fantasy books!).
  ABOUT THE AUTHORS
  Peter V. Dell’Orto was born and raised in New Jersey. He
  started roleplaying in 1981, with Dungeons & Dragons, and has
  played GURPS since Man to Man. Active as a GURPS
  playtester, editor, and writer since 1996, he’s the
  author of numerous GURPS articles for
  Pyramid magazine and several e23 items
  (including GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 12:
  Ninja), and a coauthor of GURPS Martial
  Arts and GURPS Low-Tech. Peter loves to
  invent fantasy monsters, so these pages
  include a few choice beasties unleashed on his
  hapless players over the years. He’s also an
  enthusiastic martial artist, and has fought
  amateur MMA in the SHOOTO organization
  in Japan and in submission grappling in the
  U.S. He currently trains Kachin Bando and
  holds a shodan rank in Kendo. His other hob-
  bies include reading, strength training, paint-
  ing miniatures, and studying Japanese.
  Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch set out to
  become a particle physicist in 1985, ended up
  the GURPS Line Editor in 1995, and has engi-
  neered rules for almost every GURPS product
  since. He developed, edited, or wrote dozens
  of GURPS Third Edition projects between
  1995 and 2002. In 2004, he produced the
  GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition with David
  Pulver. Since then, he has created GURPS
  Powers (with Phil Masters), GURPS Martial
  Arts (with Peter Dell’Orto), and the GURPS
  Action, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, and
  GURPS Power-Ups series . . . and the list
  keeps growing. Sean has been a gamer since
  1979. His non-gaming interests include cin-
  ema, cooking, and wine. He lives in Montréal,
  Québec with his wife, Bonnie, and their two
  cats, Banshee and Zephyra.
  INTRODUCTION
  About GURPS
  Steve Jackson Games is committed to full support of GURPS players.
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  a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you write us! We can
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  Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.sjgames.com for
  errata, updates, Q&A, and much more. To discuss GURPS with our staff and
  your fellow gamers, visit our forums at forums.sjgames.com. The web
  page for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1 can be found at
  gurps.sjgames.com/dungeonfantasymonsters1.
  Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bibliographies, and
  we’re putting them online – with links to let you buy the resources that inter-
  est you! Go to each book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” link.
  Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but we do our best to fix
  our errors. Up-to-date errata pages for all GURPS releases, including this
  book, are available on our website – see above.
  Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the GURPS Basic
  Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin with B refer to that book,
  not this one.
  
  These monsters are presented without comment as to how
  appropriate they might be for a given adventure. The fair GM
  should ensure that delvers only have to battle monsters that
  they have a chance of defeating – but remember that combat
  isn’t the only option. A deadly monster might occupy Room #1
  of the heroes’ first dungeon if there’s a way to sneak past it,
  negotiate with it, or defeat it with a ploy.
  And while the scariest Things customarily hoard the biggest
  treasures, this is mainly because they can extort wealth from
  less-scary Things. A boss monster that resides far from villages
  and the lairs of lesser creatures would have few opportunities
  to plunder. Conversely, fodder monsters might dwell in a mine
  full of diamonds that they regard as worthless rocks. In cases
  like the latter, of course, there must be some reason why other
  delvers (or boss monsters!) haven’t confiscated the goodies yet:
  curses, numbers, rough terrain, traps . . . preferably several
  things at once.
  Thus, it’s up to the GM to decide how many of what mon-
  sters to use, and what loot they guard. These are just the stats!
  CHAPTER ONE
  THE MONSTERS
  THE MONSTERS
  4
  The creatures in Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1 use
  the stats format on p. 21 of Dungeons. Unlike those in
  Allies and Summoners, their character-point values
  aren’t shown. That’s because they aren’t intended as Allies
  or Alternate Forms, and sometimes have abilities that are
  annoying to replicate with advantages (although the GM
  is quite welcome to try, if he prefers doing math to run-
  ning adventures).
  ST, DX, IQ, HT, HP, Will, Per, FP, Speed, and Move: These
  basic attributes and secondary characteristics mean
  exactly what they do for heroes and every other creature in
  GURPS. Creatures with ST 0 aren’t tangible and can’t pick
  up objects, grab or be grabbed, etc., while those with IQ 0
  are vegetables that react reflexively and don’t use tactics.
  SM: This affects all rolls to hit the monster. Multiply the
  energy cost to cast Regular spells on it by (1 + SM). The
  stats already reflect other effects, such as increased Reach.
  Dodge and Parry: These defenses are prefigured from
  DX, Basic Speed, and combat skills, and already include
  bonuses for Combat Reflexes and Enhanced Defenses –
  don’t add these again.
  DR: This is total DR from natural and artificial sources.
  Only creatures noted as wearing armor have it. The GM is
  free to add more DR if, say, an evil wizard casts Armor
  spells on or rivets metal plates to his guardian monsters.
  Attacks: These are listed by attack name. For strikes
  and grapples, the number in parentheses is effective skill.
  For afflictions, curses, venoms, etc., it’s the resistance roll,
  which might be a simple attribute roll or a Quick Contest
  against the victim’s score. Damage scores are final, and
  already consider bonuses for the Brawling skill, the Claws
  or Striker advantage, etc.
  Traits: Advantages or disadvantages important in dun-
  geon fantasy. For brevity’s sake, DR and attacks aren’t listed
  a second time, and “color” traits don’t appear at all. If it
  matters that a monster speaks Elvish or suffers from Jeal-
  ousy, the GM can add this.
  Skills: Any skills possessed by all monsters of this type.
  Exceptional specimens might have different skill lists.
  Those with IQ 6+ are sapient and capable of learning
  almost any skill!
  Class: Animal (Giant if huge, Dire if mutant; all are
  affected by Animal Handling and Animal spells), Construct
  (entirely incorruptible), Demon (evil, and subject to the
  Banish spell), Divine Servitor (treat as demons, but not nec-
  essarily evil), Elder Thing (insane, and not vulnerable to
  Banish), Elemental (affected by Banish and Control Ele-
  mental), Faerie, Hybrid (as Animal, but requires a special
  subset of Animal spells), Mundane (has vital areas), Plant
  (affected by Plant spells), Slime (diffuse, and immune to
  most Animal and Plant spells), or Undead (can be turned
  with True Faith).
  Notes: Anything else of importance – including excep-
  tions to listed stats or these guidelines.
  Reading Monster Stats
  They saw there as well the
  strangest thing lying prone near
  their leader on the field: the flying
  fire-drake, fearsome and grisly
  fiend, all scorched with flames.
  – Beowulf
  
  These eight-legged jumping spiders are constructed from
  sacred bronze and animated with divine power. While intelli-
  gent, their minds are alien and coldly mechanical. Consensus
  among clerics is that they were forged to patrol and maintain
  the secret tunnels to a divine realm – some say the lair of a
  bizarre clockwork god. In combat, they cling to walls and ceil-
  ings, jumping great distances and attacking from weird angles
  (-2 to enemy defenses). Their stone-cutting “mandibles” are
  intended for working on dungeon walls but are equally good at
  slicing up foes. Other than outward appearance, they have lit-
  tle in common with genuine spiders; notably, they lack venom
  and don’t spin webs.
  ST: 15
  HP: 15
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 15
  Will: 9
  Move: 8
  IQ: 9
  Per: 12
  HT: 13
  FP: N/A
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 6
  Mandibles (15): 2d+1 cutting. Reach 1. Treat as a weapon
  (Striker), not as a body part.
  Traits: Cannot Learn; Clinging (Move 4); Dark Vision; Doesn’t
  Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; Duty (To
  ancient gods); Extra Legs (8 legs); Fanaticism (Maintaining
  holy places); Fragile (Unnatural); High Pain Threshold;
  Horizontal; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable;
  Injury Tolerance (Homogenous, No Blood, No Neck); No
  Fine Manipulators; Pressure Support 3; Striking ST 4 (ST
  19); Super Jump 1 (9-yard jump); Unfazeable; Unhealing
  (Total); Vacuum Support.
  Skills: Stealth-15.
  Class: Construct.
  Notes: Despite its resemblance to a beast, Animal spells won’t
  work. Animated by divine energies, not by magic. Unwilling
  to negotiate. Remains yield 300 lbs. of scrap, worth $1d¥30
  in town; see Scrap (Dungeons, p. 15).
  THE MONSTERS
  5
  Spiders?
  Try Cockroaches!
  Bronze spiders are tough opponents for beginners!
  Their DR 6 is as good as plate armor. As they’re Homoge-
  nous, impaling damage is halved (not doubled) after DR
  to find injury, making arrows, spears, etc. somewhat inef-
  fective. Prodds, slings, and other piercing weapons fare
  worse: injury is a mere 1/5 of penetrating damage. More-
  over, the spiders lack weaknesses to target for extra injury
  (no neck, skull, or vitals), have redundant legs (while a
  paltry 2 HP apiece to cripple, this simply reduces Move by
  1 per leg), and can’t be gassed, poisoned, etc. (Doesn’t
  Breathe and Immunity to Metabolic Hazards). Being
  machine-like, they might stop at 0 HP (15 points of
  injury), but roll vs. HT 13 to avoid that fate.
  Fortunately for delvers, Fragile (Unnatural) means the
  spiders fall apart at -15 HP. Of course, that takes 30 points
  of injury!
  Along Came a Spider
  With Clinging and Dark Vision, bronze spiders are
  built for attack from above in the dark. Roll a Quick
  Contest: their Stealth (15) vs. the delvers’ Vision. A PC
  not specifically watching out above has -2 (looking up
  gives -2 to notice danger underfoot, like pits); darkness
  modifiers also apply. If unmodified Hearing would be
  better, use that instead. Victory for the spiders gives
  their victims no defense against the first attack, not just
  -2 for attack from above.
  The initial leap from above is a pounce (p. B372): +4 to
  hit and an extra yard of reach. This lets a spider hit some-
  one up to 10 yards down a tunnel at effective skill 19. Given
  the typical dungeon corridor’s height, this delivers 2d
  crushing damage; the spider suffers (target’s HP)/10 dice of
  crushing damage, rounded to the nearest die. If the spider
  deals higher damage than its prey, the victim must roll vs.
  DX or fall down. He falls automatically if the spider did at
  least twice his damage! The spider must roll vs. DX 15
  regardless, with failure meaning it needs a turn to stand up.
  BRONZE SPIDER
  
  These are burly, hairy humanoids with fangs.
  They’re invariably found toting a large bag full of
  organs. Each bugbear prefers to collect – and eat – a
  different organ from its victims. Some like hearts,
  some like livers, and some like spleens or brains or
  even less typical choices. They keep these bits in their
  sack, mixed in with any treasure they’ve collected . . . a
  squishy, nasty mess.
  Bugbears aren’t brave, or even a terribly dangerous
  threat face-to-face, but they are clever, sneaky, and
  ruthless. They miss no opportunity to slip in and attack
  the unwary. Their favorite sport is to steal up on strag-
  gling delvers and garrote them or bash their heads in.
  Then they’ll quickly carve out their favorite organ with
  their claws and sneak away.
  In very rare cases, a bugbear will find a mate and
  they’ll work together for a time, garroting and eating
  delvers before mating and splitting up.
  ST: 14
  HP: 14
  Speed: 6.50
  DX: 14
  Will: 10
  Move: 6
  IQ: 10
  Per: 12
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 9
  Parry: 11
  DR: 0
  Bite (16): 1d cutting. Reach C.
  Claw (16): 1d cutting. Reach C.
  Garrote (18): Must first attack the neck (-5) at Reach
  C. Then roll a Quick Contest: the bugbear’s effective
  ST 17 vs. the better of the victim’s ST or HT. Dam-
  age equals the margin of victory; multiply damage
  that penetrates DR by ¥1.5 (for the neck) to find
  injury. See also p. B405.
  Knobbed Club (16): 2d+1 crushing. Reach 1.
  Traits: Chameleon 2; Cowardice (12);
  Dark Vision; Hard to Kill 2; Loner
  (12); Silence 2.
  Skills:
  Axe/Mace-16;
  Brawling-16;
  Garrote-18;
  Stealth-16
  (18
  vs.
  Hearing or Vision if moving, 20 if
  motionless); Tactics-12; Traps-12;
  Wrestling-16.
  Class: Mundane.
  Notes: Effective ST for grappling is 16
  due to Wrestling skill. Carries a
  cheap knobbed club ($8) and a rope
  garrote ($2). Preserved or dried,
  bugbear spleens are a useful ingredi-
  ent for various potions, worth $100
  each. They can also be consumed
  raw and fresh. Make a HT roll to
  keep it down: Success means +1d to
  Camouflage and Stealth skills for an
  hour; failure means you can’t eat it;
  and critical failure means vomiting
  for 2d seconds and then -1 to all
  attributes for 10 minutes.
  THE MONSTERS
  6
  Lair of the Bugbear
  Bugbears typically dwell in tunnels. A bugbear might dig these itself, or it
  may appropriate mining tunnels, natural fissures and cracks, or the lairs of
  long-dead tunneling creatures. Access is via a concealed trapdoor (-2 to spot), or
  two, or three . . . Bugbears don’t like unexpected company, so they endeavor to
  conceal the entrances to their dens and they always have an escape route.
  Inside the lair will be a number of lethal traps. Pits, hanging nooses above
  sudden drop-offs, and trip ropes near sharpened stakes are typical. Bugbears are
  far from fastidious; their tunnels are usually infested with rats or roaches or
  both, and littered with gnawed-on bones, feces, bits of fur and rusted junk from
  victims, and so on. Valuables are likewise scattered about; as the bugbear grows
  bored with the shiny bits of gold and silver, it leaves them strewn around its
  home like so much junk.
  Bugbears are rarely found above ground. If one does have a topside lair, the
  entrances will be concealed behind prickly or poisonous plants, preferably near
  dark and forbidding ruins or thick-canopied forests that keep everything in the
  dark. Since it’s difficult for outdoor-dwelling bugbears to sneak in daylight, they
  operate nocturnally.
  BUGBEAR
  
  This skeletal divine servitor is inhumanly strong and tough,
  and seems “feminine” despite lacking flesh. It wields what
  appears to be a stiffened serpent as a staff, a mere touch from
  which delivers venom capable of afflicting the best-armored
  man. If dropped or broken, this weapon becomes a thousand
  tiny worms that squirm back to their owner, reforming as a
  staff in one second! Out of combat, the serpent dwells coiled
  within the ciuaclá’s ribcage. Ciuaclán resemble animated skele-
  tons but aren’t undead (as clerics and holy warriors may dis-
  cover the hard way). They’re usually encountered in groups,
  guarding some death god’s temple.
  ST: 18
  HP: 18
  Speed: 7.50
  DX: 14
  Will: 12
  Move: 7
  IQ: 10
  Per: 12
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 14
  DR: 4
  Venom Staff (18): 3d+2 crushing + follow-up 1d+4 toxic. Toxic
  damage is Cosmic, and ignores all DR! Reach 1, 2.
  Traits: Cannot Float; Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink;
  Doesn’t Sleep; DR 8 (Limited, Cutting); Fragile (Unnatural);
  High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards;
  Immunity to Mind Control; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance
  (No Blood, No Brain, No Eyes, No Vitals, Unliving); No
  Sense of Smell/Taste; Skinny (-2 ST and HP vs. slams and
  knockback); Temperature Tolerance 10 (35°F to 210°F);
  Unfazeable; Vacuum Support.
  Skills: Fast-Draw (Serpent)-18; Staff-18.
  Class: Divine Servitor.
  Notes: Unwilling to negotiate with anyone who doesn’t make
  an Occultism roll at -5 to know what it is, followed by a suc-
  cessful Influence roll against Religious Ritual to appease it
  . . . in its obscure language. Abilities are divine, not magical.
  Serpent staffs won’t work for non-ciuaclán, but can be sold
  to alchemists in town for $1,000 apiece!
  THE MONSTERS
  7
  CIUACLÁ
  Killing Death
  Offensively, ciuaclán are dangerous. Their high Staff
  skill enables a Deceptive Attack for -3 to the heroes’
  active defenses – or alternatively, a Rapid Strike – at a
  respectable 12 or less. Any blow that lands might
  remove a PC from the fight. The 3d+2 crushing attack
  averages 12 or 13 damage, enough to defeat even DR
  6-7 plate armor and a DR 5 Armor spell. The 1d+4
  toxic damage means another 5-10 HP of injury regard-
  less of DR. If both halves of a Rapid Strike land, this
  can kill.
  Ciuaclán are also good defensive fighters. Their
  staffs let them keep rivals at a distance while granting
  Parry 14 – and ciuaclán will retreat to maintain their
  reach advantage. Engaged individually, they’ll retreat
  while parrying (for +1, or 15); if mobbed, they’ll parry
  the first attack at 14 and then retreat from the next one
  with a dodge (for +3, or 13). Attacking the staff to
  negate its reach, lethality, and defensive edge is logical
  but pointless; it will rematerialize in the ciuaclá’s
  hands a second later.
  Even if the delvers do hit, ciuaclán are hard to kill.
  They get DR 12 vs. cutting attacks – and because
  they’re Unliving, impaling attacks receive no bonus
  injury
  (wounding
  modifier
  ¥1),
  while
  piercing
  weapons such as slings inflict just 1/3 of penetrating
  damage as injury. On seeing “skeletons,” crushing
  weapons might come to mind . . . but ciuaclán have no
  vulnerability there. Blows to the apparent eyes, skull,
  and vitals do nothing special, either. Heroes deducing
  from this that they’re fighting freakish-but-living
  humanoids will discover the fruitlessness of poison
  and strangulation, too.
  The delvers will likely have little choice but to bat-
  ter the ciuaclán down to -HP (36 points of injury) –
  where Fragile (Unnatural) will dispel them – while
  avoiding deadly strikes. Thus, these creatures make
  poor fodder. A squad of them would be an excellent
  boss against even seasoned adventurers, though!
  
  Not everything that looks like a zombie is a zombie.
  Corpse golems are an excellent example. These con-
  structs are made of rotting bits of destroyed undead,
  stitched together and reanimated . . . again. The result
  is about as effective as any other golem, but fouler.
  Corpse golems are mostly fodder in the legions of Evil,
  where they’re sometimes favored over zombies
  because they’re not susceptible to the abilities of
  annoying clerics and holy warriors. A side benefit is
  that adventurers often waste precious time trying to
  use sacred powers on the things, which sure do look
  undead. The telltale clues are sickles in lieu of hands
  and the way their evil master cackles when they use
  this weaponry to cut a cleric’s high holy symbol in half.
  ST: 15
  HP: 18
  Speed: 6.00
  DX: 12
  Will: 8
  Move: 6
  IQ: 8
  Per: 8
  HT: 12
  FP: N/A
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 9
  Parry: 10 (¥2)
  DR: 0
  Hook (14): Sickles can “grapple” by hooking at Reach C, 1.
  This does 1d-1 cutting initially and for free every turn after
  that until victim escapes.
  Sickles (14): 2d+1 cutting or 2d+1 impaling. Reach 1. Swung
  to impale, a sickle may become stuck; see p. B405.
  Traits: Automaton; Bad Smell; Cannot Learn; Doesn’t
  Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; Fragile
  (Unnatural); High Pain Threshold; Immunity to Meta-
  bolic Hazards; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance (No
  Blood, Unliving); No Fine Manipulators; Reprogram-
  mable; Single-Minded; Unfazeable; Unhealing (Total).
  Skills: Axe/Mace-14; Stealth-12.
  Class: Construct.
  Notes: Roll Hidden Lore (Undead) or Thaumatology at -5 to
  realize that a corpse golem is a construct and not some
  zombie variant; see Recognition (Dungeons, p. 9). Has a
  sickle affixed to each wrist in place of a hand; these might
  be poisoned, magical, or both (see box below). Often clad
  in armor, with DR 2 tanned corpse-leather being typical.
  No golem will negotiate or reveal useful information.
  THE MONSTERS
  8
  CORPSE GOLEM
  Not-Quite-Life Is Cheap
  Despite looking scary, corpse golems are easy opponents for
  well-prepared delvers. If they could feel pain or surrender, they’d
  be “fodder” as described on p. 27 of Dungeons. Their main defen-
  sive traits are that they’re Unliving (no bonus injury from impaling
  attacks) and – like most unliving things – they don’t have to worry
  about poison, suffocation, lice, taxes, etc. Otherwise, they’re sim-
  ply fighters with decent ST and sharp weapons. The GM may wish
  to use lots . . . the legions of Evil get a discount for buying in bulk.
  The legions of Evil might arm some corpse golems better:
  Big: The sickle is as large (and costly) as a sword. Add
  +1 to cutting damage. Remove the impaling option.
  Fine: A keen sickle gets +1 to damage. Worth $400 – or
  $1,800, if big.
  Magical: Crackling, Flaming, Icy, Mighty, Penetrating,
  etc.; for effects and costs, see Adventurers, p. 30.
  Meteoric: Ignores magic! Worth $800 – or $9,000, if big.
  Poisoned: Monster drool (roll HT to avoid 2 points of
  injury), bladeblack (roll HT-5 to avoid 6d injury), or any-
  thing in between. See Adventurers, pp. 28-29.
  Delvers will doubtless sell or keep nice sickles. Sickles
  require the Axe/Mace skill, and have these stats:
  That’s Just Sickle!
  Weapon
  Damage
  Reach
  Parry
  Cost
  Weight
  ST
  Notes
  Big Sickle
  sw+1 cut
  1
  0U
  $450
  3
  10
  or
  thr-2 cut
  1
  0U
  –
  –
  10
  Hook. [1]
  Sickle
  sw cut
  1
  0
  $40
  2
  8
  or
  sw imp
  1
  0U
  –
  –
  8
  [2]
  or
  thr-2 cut
  1
  0U
  –
  –
  8
  Hook. [1]
  [1] Counts as a grapple. Inflicts thrust-2 cutting on hitting, and again every turn until victim breaks free.
  [2] May get stuck; see Picks (p. B405).
  
  Ancient tomes have no shorter name
  for the Demons from Between the Stars
  – that’s simply what they’ve always been
  called. Given that these entities are
  Elder Things rather than demons, the
  moniker is misleading as well as annoy-
  ingly wordy. The vaguely humanoid
  Demons appear to be made of pure
  darkness, although they are tangible and
  can’t walk through walls or use Shadow
  Form; when enraged, their eyes glow
  like stars. They’re about as intelligent as
  apes, savage, and engulfed in a field of
  chilling “night energy” that absorbs
  blows and sucks energy from the living.
  They’re most often found guarding lost
  Elder Thing sites, and nearly always
  attack from darkness.
  ST: 14
  HP: 21
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 15
  Will: 12
  Move: 7
  IQ: 6
  Per: 12
  HT: 13
  FP: 13
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 10
  DR: 4
  (unarmed)
  Life-Draining Touch (15): 1d+1
  toxic. This Cosmic attack ignores
  all DR and heals the Demon the
  same number of HP that it
  inflicts! Reach C.
  Traits: Berserk (12); Chameleon 5
  (Only in darkness); Dark Vision;
  Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Sleep;
  Fragile (Unnatural); High Pain
  Threshold; Immunity to Meta-
  bolic
  Hazards;
  Indomitable;
  Temperature Tolerance 10 (-30°F
  to 155°F); Unfazeable.
  Skills: Stealth-15 (in the dark,
  becomes 20 if moving or 25 if
  stationary).
  Class: Elder Thing.
  Notes: For the spellcasting leaders
  mentioned in ancient writings,
  raise IQ to 10+, add Power
  Investiture (Elder), and give
  them spells at IQ + Power
  Investiture level; see Hello Dark-
  ness My Old Friend (box). Unwill-
  ing to negotiate. Truly evil.
  THE MONSTERS
  9
  DEMON FROM
  BETWEEN THE STARS
  Harassers From
  Between the Stars
  Demons from Between the Stars must fight cunningly
  to threaten barbarians with many HP, wizards with big
  power items, and so on. They have fodder-level active
  defenses (Dodge and Parry 10), a mediocre DR 4, and
  only the standard immunities of extradimensional Things
  (poison, Sleep spells, suffocation, etc.). While their attack
  bypasses DR, it’s weak (1d+1). The GM should exploit
  their strengths:
  • They have 21 HP and can take 42 points of injury
  before Fragile (Unnatural) sends them home. However,
  every blow they land restores 1d+1 HP! They can last a long
  time if they hit and run . . .
  • They’re very good in darkness, where they can see
  (Dark Vision) and have an effective Stealth skill of 20 when
  moving. There, they can try Backstabbing (Dungeons,
  pp. 11-12) repeatedly against a victim who can’t ignore -5 or
  more in darkness penalties. Vanishing from sight requires a
  full Move maneuver and a Stealth roll at -5, for effective skill
  15 in the dark. The turn after, the Demon can strike from
  behind at the usual +4 for this trick, making a Rapid Strike
  with two life-draining touches at effective skill 13. Heroes
  can avoid this by keeping their backs to walls or each other,
  but that means they can’t retreat from or press the Demons,
  who will flee frontal combat unless Berserk kicks in.
  Hello Darkness
  My Old Friend
  Spellcasting Demon leaders can ensure that fights
  happen in the dark thanks to spells enabled by Power
  Investiture (Elder), which replace the cleric spells on p. 19
  of Adventurers.
  PI 1: Darkness, Death Vision, Debility, Detect Magic, Dull
  Vision, Fear, Frailty, Gloom, Sense Life, and Shade.
  PI 2: Blackout, Blur, Fog, Panic, Shape Darkness, Steal
  Energy, Strike Blind, and Terror.
  PI 3: Body of Shadow, Cold, Devitalize Air, Hide, Madness,
  Mystic Mist, See Invisible, and Steal Vitality.
  PI 4: Animate Shadow, Curse, Deathtouch, Dehydrate, Dis-
  pel Magic, Frostbite, Nightmare, and Pestilence.
  PI 5: Invisibility, Lure, Rotting Death, and Suspend Mana.
  PI 6: Drain Mana, Planar Summons (Demons from
  Between the Stars), and Permanent Madness.
  
  These demons date to time out of memory. The gods sup-
  posedly banished them from the mortal sphere, but they still
  lurk in places that escaped divine wrath, such as ruined
  primeval cities and ancient dungeons. They look like demons
  are “supposed” to look: muscular red brutes with horns, claws,
  barbed tails, and eyes like molten lava. Contrary to popular
  myth, however, they prefer hooked chains to tridents. The only
  sure way to defeat one is to run it through the heart – make a
  Hidden Lore (Demons) roll to locate this.
  ST: 20
  HP: 20
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 12
  Will: 16
  Move: 7
  IQ: 10
  Per: 10
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: +1
  Dodge: 11
  Parry: 12 (hand)/10 (chain)
  DR: 4
  Barbed Tail or Horns (16): 2d+3 impaling. Reach C, 1.
  Chain (16): 3d+4 crushing. Reach 1-4. Parried at -4,
  blocked at -2, and may entangle or disarm if par-
  ried. Treat as a kusari (p. B406).
  Foot Talons (14): 2d+1 cutting or impaling. Reach
  C, 1.
  Hand Talons (16): 2d cutting or impaling. Reach C, 1.
  Traits: Bloodlust (12); Callous; Combat Reflexes;
  Detect (Life); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink;
  Doesn’t Sleep; Dread (Holy objects; 5 yards); High
  Pain Threshold; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards;
  Indomitable; Infravision; Injury Tolerance (No
  Blood, No Brain, No Neck); Lifebane; Sadism (12);
  Temperature Tolerance 10 (40°F to 215°F); Unkill-
  able 1 (Dies only at -10¥HP; Achilles Heel, Blow to
  vitals).
  Skills: Brawling-16; Kusari-16; Wrestling-16.
  Class: Demon.
  Notes: Effective ST when grappling is 22, thanks to
  Wrestling; apply SM difference to attack rolls when
  grappling (+1 vs. SM 0 humans). Some use a chain
  of meteoric iron (Adventurers, p. 27), worth $1,400!
  Unwilling to negotiate. Truly evil.
  THE MONSTERS
  10
  DEMON OF OLD
  Oldies but Baddies
  Demons of Old lack strange powers – they’re tough physical
  opponents. With 20 HP and Unkillable, a party without Hidden
  Lore (Demons) may have to deliver 220 HP of injury to beat one
  down to -10¥HP and defeat it, all without the benefit of wound-
  ing multipliers for neck, skull, or (conventional) vitals. A demon
  at 0 HP or below might be dispelled (“fall unconscious”) sooner,
  but HT 12 makes this unlikely.
  These demons have many attacks capable of killing lightly
  armored heroes. And they do fight to kill – Bloodlust and Sadism
  aren’t just suggestions. If a PC goes down, every demon standing
  will give him an extra whack unless his allies intervene.
  Fortunately, while the demons are immune to mortal weak-
  nesses like poison and asphyxiation, they can be kept more than a
  chain’s length away by a boldly presented holy object. Of course,
  they’ll use All-Out Defense (Increased Dodge) to duck missiles at
  effective Dodge 13 until somebody comes to fight them.
  Old Demon
  Chain Tricks
  Combat options besides those on p. B406 include:
  Grapple: The demon grasps the chain by the ends – a Ready
  maneuver. After that, a chain grapple is an attack at -2; Reach is C-
  2. The grapple counts as two-handed, giving the demon +5 to ST
  against attempts to break free (p. B371). On later turns, the demon
  can choke (p. B370) at +2 to ST for the chain, attempt a takedown
  (p. B370), or reel in its quarry (roll as for a takedown, but victory
  hauls the victim a yard closer).
  Return Strike: At -5 to skill, the demon can strike the back of
  someone closer than the chain’s current Reach. Treat this as an
  attack from the side – giving -2 to defend on top of the defense
  penalties vs. a chain – and apply the DR on the victim’s back.
  Snap: To avoid ready times – one turn at Reach 2, two at
  Reach 3-4 – the demon can snap his chain end-first. Damage
  becomes thrust (2d-1 crushing).
  
  Dinomen (the plural of “dinoman”) resemble small, scaly
  humans with a short tail and a head like a miniature T. rex.
  They’re strong for their height, which rarely tops 5’. Both pred-
  ators and scavengers, they regard anything slain – especially
  their foes and their own dead – as food.
  Dinomen aren’t terribly smart, but they compensate with
  numbers, ferocious bravery, numbers, weapon use, and even
  more numbers. Every mob has at least one hero and one
  leader. The leader coordinates their attacks; the result gener-
  ally isn’t much better than a head-on charge, but they some-
  times surprise opponents with flashes of tactical ingenuity.
  Most dinomen fight with knobbed clubs or hatchets; leaders
  and heroes use shortswords claimed from previous victims.
  While dinomen prefer weapons, they’ll grapple and bite if dis-
  armed. Against a large foe, they may pile on for a takedown,
  then bite and worry with their teeth!
  ST: 11
  HP: 11
  Speed: 5.50
  DX: 12
  Will: 9
  Move: 5
  IQ: 7
  Per: 10
  HT: 10
  FP: 10
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 8
  Parry: 10
  DR: 1
  Bite (15): 1d cut. Reach C. Any hit counts as a grapple, even if
  it doesn’t penetrate DR. This allows the dinoman to worry –
  roll damage each turn as a free action!
  Hatchet (14): 1d+1 cutting. Reach 1.
  Knobbed Club (14): 1d+2 crushing. Reach 1.
  Traits: Bloodlust (12); Discriminatory Smell; Discrimina-
  tory Taste; Gluttony (9); Odious Racial Habit (Eats other
  sentients); Reduced Consumption 2 (Cast-Iron Stomach);
  Resistant to Disease (+3).
  Skills: Axe/Mace-14; Brawling-15; Stealth-12; Tracking-12;
  Wrestling-12.
  Class: Mundane.
  Notes: Dinomen teeth are filthy, with bits of previous victims’
  rotting flesh stuck in them; anyone bitten must roll vs. HT
  to avoid infection with the shakes (-2 to DX and DX-based
  skills until treated with Cure Disease). Dinoman heroes
  have ST 12, Combat Reflexes, Axe/Mace-15, and Short-
  sword-15, and wield a shortsword (1d+2 cutting). Leaders
  use the hero stats, but are also slightly smarter (IQ 8) and
  posses a modicum of tactical skill (Tactics-10). Dinomen
  will negotiate; generally, they want fresh (not preserved)
  food and newer weapons of the sorts they prefer.
  THE MONSTERS
  11
  DINOMAN
  Dinomeals
  With Gluttony and Cast-Iron Stomach, dinomen eat
  more food – not less – but it’s usually low-quality. They can
  subsist on tainted water, rotten vegetables, days-old mag-
  goty carrion, and worse. This reduces their food costs, not
  that they actually pay for food . . . Factoring in Resistant to
  Disease, they get +5 to HT rolls against disease from any-
  thing they consume (an effective HT 15 to resist).
  Dinomob
  Dinomen don’t come in piddling numbers – they come
  in dozens, scores, or even dozens of scores. This can be a
  problem for delvers and the GM.
  Delvers need good tactics. Front-line fighters can
  exploit narrow hallways and bottlenecks to avoid being
  mobbed, while adventurers with ranged weapons take
  shelter and pick off leaders, or hurl nageteppos and flam-
  ing oil. Spellcasters should consider area-effect magic
  (preferably spells resisted by Will). These tactics consume
  resources, though – time, ammunition, magical energy,
  and the occasional lost HP. Indeed, some boss monsters
  (p. 38) keep dinomen around specifically to bleed off pre-
  cious resources that might be used against them!
  One way for the GM to handle dinohordes is “And
  Stay Down!” (Dungeons, p. 27). Their tendency to devour
  their own fallen is also useful if the numbers prove too
  difficult – the delvers can flee while the dinocannibals
  eat. The dinomen will try to track down the adventurers
  later, which can make for a series of encounters instead
  of a single knock-down, drag-out fight with a horde of
  gibbering dinomenaces. However, it’s no fun to play the
  high-damage barbarian or zombie-raising necromancer
  if all the monsters run away or eat each other. Even when
  following the above advice, the GM should ensure that
  the barbarian gets leaders and heroes to fight, and that
  fleeing dinomen hastily abandon a few corpses to be
  turned into dinozombies.
  
  Draugr (singular: draug) are the angry, half-
  rotted corpses of barbarian warriors who are
  very unhappy with their funeral arrangements,
  or perhaps simply protective of their tomb. As
  the unhallowed dead rarely make good neigh-
  bors and aren’t terribly social, they’re most fre-
  quently encountered alone. However, they
  occasionally come in groups of up to half a
  dozen, sometimes more, clustered on old bat-
  tlefields. And every now and then, the corpse of
  a barbarian delver gets back up to avenge his
  death . . . caring little about who it wreaks
  vengeance on.
  Draugr aren’t completely mindless; they can
  speak but don’t bother to. They don’t wander, if
  only because they can’t stray far from their
  place of burial (or lack thereof). They don’t
  “sleep,” either, although they do need to lie
  down senseless for eight hours a day in their
  tomb or place of death. They are fairly single-
  minded, and may even ignore delvers who don’t
  try to plunder their armor (mail and pot-helm),
  shield, weapons (axe and broadsword), or
  nearby valuables. Of course, if a draug has
  superior equipment – and if it was a (previ-
  ously) successful delver or warrior chief in life,
  this is likely – the loot can be very tempting.
  ST: 22
  HP: 27
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 13
  Will: 10
  Move: 7
  IQ: 10
  Per: 10
  HT: 15
  FP: N/A
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 11
  Parry: 12
  DR: 6 (4 vs. crushing)
  Axe (16): 4d+2 cutting. Reach 1.
  Broadsword (16): 4d+1 cutting or 2d+2 impaling.
  Reach 1.
  Punch (16): 2d+1 crushing. Reach C.
  Traits: Bad Smell; Bad Temper (12); Bloodlust
  (12); Combat Reflexes; Dark Vision; Depend-
  ency (Rest in own tomb 1/3 of the time; Daily);
  Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Fright-
  ens Animals; Hidebound; High Pain Threshold;
  Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable;
  Injury Tolerance (No Blood); Intolerance (Liv-
  ing); Single-Minded; Temperature Tolerance 10
  (-40°F to 165°F); Unhealing (Total); Vulnerabil-
  ity (Fire ¥2).
  Skills: Axe/Mace-16; Brawling-16; Broadsword-
  16; Shield-16; Wrestling-14.
  Class: Undead.
  Notes: Carries a medium shield (DB 2, Block 12),
  a broadsword, and an axe. Wears mail (fac-
  tored into the DR above) and a pot-helm (giv-
  ing the skull DR 8). Some are more heavily
  equipped! Unwilling to negotiate.
  THE MONSTERS
  12
  DRAUG
  Re-Killing Draugr
  Draugr are tough opponents, but in some ways they aren’t much
  tougher than living adversaries. While they don’t bleed and aren’t
  affected by pain, poison, or suffocation, they have vital areas and lack
  potent “undead traits” such as Injury Tolerance (Unliving) and Unkil-
  lable. On the other hand, their high HT (15) and inhuman HP (27)
  mean that defeating them tends to involve hacking them to bits – or
  burning them (double injury from fire!). If all else fails, they’ll even-
  tually drop at -135 HP.
  Draugr are single-minded and uncreative, but they’ll fight like the
  barbarian warriors they were before death. They are ill-tempered and
  will always put in an extra shot to finish a downed foe, but they aren’t
  berserkers. They generally use their weapons effectively, attacking
  with Attack maneuvers and defending with shield blocks, sometimes
  even retreating to get +1 on a block or a parry.
  The Draug Lord
  Not all draugr are equipped with ordinary mail, helm, shield,
  sword, and axe. Some – especially chieftains – are buried with much
  better gear. Armor tends to be of the same type but possibly enchanted.
  Weapons may be of superior quality (balanced, dwarven, fine, mete-
  oric, etc.) and/or magical. A draug lord and his draugr tomb-guardians
  are a great way for the GM to give out a choice weapon or shield. The
  delvers will have to fight for it . . . and a buried-but-lively barbarian lord
  will obviously be using that Sword of Wizard Whacking!
  
  This monstrous “jellyfish” – some 10’ across – moves
  by levitating, and functions equally well over land or in
  water. It zips toward foes, somehow sensing their brains
  (or so sages claim), and strikes with “tentacles” of pure
  electricity. It can simultaneously zap up to six targets,
  stunning and eventually frying them. Opponents who
  foolishly hit the jelly with bare hands or metal weapons
  are also jolted! The thing is nigh-impervious to lightning.
  Its single, physical feeding tentacle (a mouth on a stalk)
  can grapple and suck the life from one victim, thereby
  healing the creature; while doing so, the jelly is limited to
  only five lightning attacks.
  ST: 35
  HP: 35
  Speed: 5.50
  DX: 10
  Will: 12
  Move: 11 (Air)
  IQ: 5
  Per: 12
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: +3
  Dodge: 8
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 9
  Electrical Aura: 1d+2(5) burning, with no incendiary
  effect + roll vs. HT at -1 per 2 points of penetrating
  damage or stunned (roll vs. HT at same penalty
  every turn to recover). This harms anyone who
  touches or is touched by the jelly in close combat or
  via a metal weapon.
  Electric “Tentacles” (14): As electrical aura, above, but
  at Reach C-2 (¥6).
  Feeding Tentacle (14): 2d+1 cutting + follow-up 3
  HP/second leech if this pierces DR, healing jelly 1 HP
  per 3 HP drained. Reach C-2.
  Traits: 360° Vision; Amphibious; Detect (Nervous Sys-
  tems; Precise); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Sleep; DR 31
  (Limited, Electricity); Extra Attack 5; Flight (Low
  Ceiling, 10’); High Pain Threshold; Immunity to
  Metabolic Hazards; Injury Tolerance (Homogenous,
  No Blood, No Neck); Invertebrate; No Legs (Aerial);
  One Arm (Feeding Tube); Pressure Support 3; Sealed;
  Uncontrollable Appetite (12) (Mortal Life Force);
  Unfazeable; Wild Animal.
  Skills: Brawling-14; Wrestling-14.
  Class: Dire Animal.
  Notes: Wrestling gives effective ST 37 for grappling, ensuring
  that once it latches on its feeding tube, the victim won’t be
  escaping; apply SM difference to attack rolls when grap-
  pling (+3 vs. SM 0 humans). Make an Alchemy roll to col-
  lect the jelly’s remains before they liquefy, at -1 per minute
  after death; success gathers 1d paut potions per point
  of success.
  THE MONSTERS
  13
  ELECTRIC JELLY
  An Electrifying
  Experience
  While more force of nature than mastermind, the electric
  jelly is a boss monster. With DR 9 and 35 HP, it’s tough – and
  it’s Homogenous, so divide penetrating damage by 2 if impal-
  ing or by 5 if piercing. Moreover, it is immune to poison, lacks
  vital areas, is nigh-invulnerable to lightning spells (total DR 40
  vs. electricity), is costly to affect with Regular spells (SM +3
  quadruples energy costs), can sense thinking opponents
  regardless of stealth (Detect), and has no back to stab (360°
  Vision). Since slings, arrows, sneaky tactics, and many spells
  are ineffective, the PCs may have to close with it; it can handle
  up to six of them in a melee, dishing out 1d+2 burning damage
  to 1/5 DR from two yards distant. If they hit it with swords,
  they’ll get zapped again. And if they wound it, it will glom its
  feeding tentacle onto someone, chew through his armor, and
  heal itself at his expense.
  In Super 3D
  The electric jelly is deadly in any environment. It can hover
  10’ off the ground, putting ground-bound opponents at a
  height disadvantage. Subtract the victim’s height from 10’ to
  determine the jelly’s altitude advantage (p. B402). For normal
  humans, this is around 4’, giving the jelly +2 to defend and its
  foes -2 to defend.
  It’s even scarier in the water! It can survive any depth (Pres-
  sure Support), and suffers no movement or combat penalties
  (Amphibious). It can detect swimmers even in impenetrable
  murk. Unless the GM wants to kill the delvers, they should get
  hints about what they’re up against.
  
  Eyes of death are giant, floating, bloodshot eyeballs, just
  over 3’ across. They fly by some form of levitation, steady and
  whisper-silent. On encountering a living thing, they attempt to
  kill it with their deadly gaze; they particularly like to slay
  mages, who often have trouble dealing with the combination of
  a ranged attack and resistance to magic. They’ve been observed
  engaging in an inscrutable pattern of movement or dance, but
  to what end is unknown. They seem to have no other interests;
  notably, they neither hoard nor covet treasure. As they never
  negotiate or communicate, their motivations are likely to
  remain mysterious.
  What isn’t a mystery is that the eyes of death are bitter rivals
  of the spheres of madness (p. 28); the two attack each other on
  sight. Sages speculate that both hail from the same plane, but
  the truth is unknown and neither eyes nor spheres seem
  inclined to elucidate! It’s also known that reckless wizards
  sometimes summon eyes of death into this world. The conjurer
  rarely survives the summoning, as the eyes don’t discriminate
  between friend and foe – only living and not-living.
  ST: 5
  HP: 5
  Speed: 6.00
  DX: 13
  Will: 12
  Move: 6 (Air)
  IQ: 10
  Per: 12
  HT: 11
  FP: 11
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 12
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 0
  Death Gaze (Resisted by HT-5): 1d toxic. This damage is Cos-
  mic and ignores all DR! Range 20.
  Traits: Acute Vision 5; Combat Reflexes; Dark Vision (Color
  Vision); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t
  Sleep; Enhanced Dodge 2; Hyperspectral Vision; Immunity
  to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance (No
  Brain, No Neck, No Vitals); Magic Resistance 10; No Manip-
  ulators; See Invisible; Silence 5; Unfazeable; Vibration
  Sense (Air).
  Skills: Aerobatics-15; Flight-15; Stealth-14 (19 vs. Hearing if
  moving, 24 if motionless).
  Class: Elder Thing.
  Notes: The focusing lens of an eye of death can be sliced off
  carefully and reduced to a liquid useful for alchemical mix-
  tures. Make an Alchemy roll to collect the lens before it
  dries, at -1 per minute after death; success nets a lens worth
  $1d¥100. Unwilling to negotiate. Truly evil.
  THE MONSTERS
  14
  EYE OF DEATH
  Death From Above
  Eyes love to attack from above, even straight over-
  head, lurking in shadowy corners or pitch darkness and
  projecting their gaze down on victims below. Dark
  Vision, Hyperspectral Vision, and See Invisible let them
  see almost everything, while Vibration Sense allows
  them to line up a good angle of attack against foes they
  can’t see. Hovering silently in the dark, they’ll use their
  death rays to kill the opponents most dangerous to them
  – ranged attackers, like mages and missile weapon
  users – while remaining at or near maximum range.
  Beware the
  Flying Eye
  Eyes of death are fragile (DR 0, 5 HP), but they lack
  vital hit locations and are highly maneuverable. An eye
  can retreat upward for +4 (not just +3) to Dodge,
  and/or use Aerobatics for an Acrobatic Dodge (+2); see
  p. B398. The result is a Dodge of 14 with Aerobatics, 16
  with a retreat, or 18 with both! Acute Vision 5 (giving
  a Vision roll of 17) and numerous special senses make
  surprising an eye difficult, even with magical aid.
  Finally, the eye’s Magic Resistance 10 means that spells
  are even less likely to work than missile weapons.
  Meanwhile, the eye can mow down delvers steadily.
  Its death gaze cannot be dodged, blocked, or parried.
  The creature simply selects a target and stares at it
  until it dies, although the eye might change targets
  first (typically to attack a more dangerous foe).
  Against a party with neither good ranged-weapon
  capacity nor fast flight, an eye of death will live up to
  its name – in spades.
  
  Common fire elementals are intangible spirits that inter-
  act with the material world only by burning, but there are
  other varieties. These fiery monstrosities are quite solid
  (sages claim they’re made of “congealed fire”) and capable of
  roaming non-flaming places. While not physically imposing,
  they possess extensive flame powers, including a
  deadly blazing aura and the ability to hurl fireballs.
  The surest way to slay them is with cold; roll against
  Hidden Lore (Elementals) to learn this.
  ST: 13
  HP: 13
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 14
  Will: 16
  Move: 7
  IQ: 10
  Per: 10
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 12 (unarmed)
  DR: 4
  Fireball (18): 2d burning. Ranged attack (Acc 3,
  Range 10/100).
  Flaming Aura: 2d burning. This harms anyone who
  touches or is touched by the flame lord in close
  combat.
  Kick (16): 1d+1 crushing + flaming aura (above).
  Reach C, 1.
  Punch (18): 1d crushing + flaming aura (above).
  Reach C.
  Traits: Bad Temper (9); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat
  or
  Drink;
  Doesn’t
  Sleep;
  DR
  18
  (Limited,
  Heat/Fire); High Pain Threshold; Immunity to
  Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Infravision;
  Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Brain, No Neck,
  No Vitals); Pyromania (9); Sadism (9); Unkillable 1
  (Dies only at -10¥HP; Achilles Heel, Cold); Vulner-
  ability (Cold/Ice ¥2).
  Skills: Brawling-18; Innate Attack (Projectile)-18.
  Class: Elemental.
  Notes: Residue left at death is worth $6d¥10 to
  alchemists, who can distill it into the self-igniting
  element in alchemist’s fire, alchemist’s matches,
  and nageteppos.
  THE MONSTERS
  15
  FLAME LORD
  Medium Heat
  Flame lords are mid-level monsters; that is, “worthy” as
  defined on p. 27 of Dungeons. On one hand, they have all the cus-
  tomary extradimensional monster defenses – they don’t breathe,
  lack weak areas (neck, skull, or vitals), and are immune to poison.
  They have a special strength: total DR 22 vs. fire (a favorite attack
  of delvers). They’re Unkillable, too, meaning that in principle the
  heroes might have to deal 143 HP of injury to reduce them to
  -10¥HP. And they can do 2d burning damage at range, up close,
  and to combustible weapons used to hit them.
  On the other hand, their attributes and active defenses aren’t
  extraordinary. A spell known to many adventuring clerics, ele-
  mentalists, and wizards (Resist Fire) – and a common potion that
  emulates it – can render them offensively impotent. And it’s triv-
  ial to guess their fatal flaw (“Hmm, fiery guys. Try ice?”), where-
  upon judicious use of cold spells can end the threat.
  Everything depends on preparation, though! A slow-moving
  party that lacks significant ranged attacks and elemental magic
  will be incinerated from afar by endless fireballs. By contrast, a
  well-rounded group of elementalists will destroy any number of
  flame lords in short order.
  Flame Friends
  The GM may let spellcasters summon flame lords; use the tem-
  plate below. A 250-point elementalist could even purchase Ally
  (Flame Lord; Built on 150%; 12 or less; Conjured or Summonable,
  +100%; PM, -10%; Unwilling, -50%) [28] or (15 or less) [42].
  Flame Lord
  375 points
  Attribute Modifiers: ST+3 [30]; DX+4 [80]; HT+2 [20].
  Secondary
  Characteristic
  Modifiers:
  Will+6
  [30];
  Basic
  Speed+0.5 [10].
  Advantages: Burning Attack 2d [10]; Burning Attack 2d (Always
  On, -40%; Aura, +80%; Melee Attack, -30%) [11]; Damage
  Resistance 4 [20]; Damage Resistance 18 (Limited, Heat/Fire,
  -40%) [54]; Doesn’t Breathe [20]; Doesn’t Eat or Drink [10];
  Doesn’t Sleep [20]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Immunity to
  Metabolic Hazards [30]; Indomitable [15]; Infravision [10];
  Injury Tolerance (No Blood, No Brain, No Neck, No Vitals)
  [20]; Unkillable 1 (Achilles Heel, Cold, -50%) [25].
  Disadvantages: Bad Temper (9) [-15]; Pyromania (9) [-7]; Sadism
  (9) [-22]; Vulnerability (Cold/Ice ¥2) [-30].
  Racial Skills: Brawling (E) DX+4 [12]; Innate Attack (Projectile)
  (E) DX+4 [12].
  Features: Susceptible to elemental control magic.
  
  This is a gigantic ape. Towering to nearly 25’ and weighing
  more than 5 tons, giant apes look exactly like gargantuan
  gorillas. They’re usually found in the remotest jungles, and on
  the same lost islands and hidden plateaus as dinosaurs and
  enormous snakes. The occasional mad wizard might trans-
  port a giant ape to his secret underground lair to serve as a
  guard, however!
  Giant apes prefer to eat vegetables and fruit, but consider
  the occasional adventurer a welcome treat. They’re solitary,
  fiercely defending their territory against other giant apes.
  While they’ll tolerate a mate, the females are even more rarely
  seen than the males.
  ST: 43
  HP: 43
  Speed: 6.50
  DX: 12
  Will: 12
  Move: 6
  IQ: 6
  Per: 12
  HT: 14
  FP: 14
  SM: +4
  Dodge: 9
  Parry: 10 (unarmed)
  DR: 2
  Bite (14): 5d+3 crushing. Reach C.
  Punch (14): 5d+4 crushing. Reach C-3.
  Spike: Small victims (under 1,620 lbs. in weight) who fail to
  break free from a grapple may be hurled violently to the
  ground! The only defenses allowed are a dodge (to roll with
  it) or an unarmed parry (to twist aside). This does 5d+7
  crushing and counts as an All-Out Attack. Reach C.
  Squeeze: Small victims who fail to break free might instead be
  crushed bodily! Roll the ape’s effective ST 47 vs. the higher
  of the victim’s ST or HT; victory inflicts crushing damage
  equal to the margin. This counts as an Attack. Reach C.
  Stomp (12): 5d+5 crushing. Reach C.
  Traits: Arm ST 2; Bad Temper (9); Enhanced Move 1.5
  (Ground Speed 18); Ham-Fisted 1; Loner (9); Semi-Upright;
  Shyness (Mild); Wild Animal.
  Skills: Brawling-14; Climbing-14; Wrestling-14.
  Class: Giant Animal.
  Notes: Effective ST is 47 for grappling. Giant apes are intelli-
  gent enough that Animal spells won’t work – use Mind Con-
  trol magic. A bite on someone of SM +1 or smaller counts
  as a grapple; the ape may chew on the victim, inflicting bit-
  ing damage each turn as a free action.
  THE MONSTERS
  16
  GIANT APE
  Acting Like an Ape
  A battle with a giant ape should never be a monoto-
  nous series of attacks and defenses. Mix things up! The
  ape will use fists, feet, teeth, and grasping hands,
  punching or grabbing smaller opponents, wrestling
  and biting larger ones. Giant apes especially like to
  grapple tiny foes, squeeze them, and then spike them to
  the ground . . . or toss them off a handy cliff. The GM
  should supply the ape with suitable scenery to deco-
  rate with crushed heroes.
  King of the Apes
  Not all giant apes are mere 25’ monsters. Legends
  tell of terrifying silverbacks standing nearly 40’ tall,
  and almost unnaturally muscled. Such a boss ape may
  be a bull male, with a harem of “smaller” female giant
  apes living with him. Use the usual stats for the
  females, and those below for the king.
  ST: 65
  HP: 65
  Speed: 6.50
  DX: 12
  Will: 12
  Move: 6
  IQ: 6
  Per: 12
  HT: 14
  FP: 14
  SM: +5
  Dodge: 9
  Parry: 10 (unarmed)
  DR: 2
  Bite (14): 7d+7 crushing. Reach C.
  Punch (14): 7d+8 crushing. Reach C-5.
  Spike: As for regular giant apes, but the weight limit is
  3,590 lbs. and damage is 7d+11 crushing.
  Squeeze: As for regular giant apes, but the ape’s effec-
  tive is ST 69.
  Stomp (12): 7d+9 crushing. Reach C.
  Traits: As for regular giant apes, but with Enhanced
  Move 2 (Ground Speed 24).
  Skills and Class: As for regular giant apes.
  Notes: As for regular giant apes, but effective ST is 69
  for grappling, and a bite counts as a grapple on
  someone of SM +2 or smaller.
  
  Not every mad wizard or strange civilization is satisfied
  with mere flesh-eating apes (Dungeons, p. 23). These flesh-
  eaters have been bred as vicious combatants. While sometimes
  set to guard treasure or a temple, they’re just as often exploited
  as pit fighters, gladiators, and shock troops. To improve their
  ability to maul intruders – and each other – they’ve been
  equipped with a pair of spiked, shoulder-length metal gloves;
  had their teeth sharpened; and had a metal skullcap attached
  to their head, both as armor and for head butts! Gladiator apes
  aren’t tame; handlers turn them loose on victims and stand
  back. They’ve lost the ability to brachiate, but they can still
  climb after foes . . .
  ST: 17
  HP: 17
  Speed: 6.00
  DX: 12
  Will: 12
  Move: 6
  IQ: 6
  Per: 10
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: +1
  Dodge: 9
  Parry: 12
  DR: 1
  Bite (18): 2d cutting. Reach C.
  Cestus Punch (18): 2d+2 crushing.
  Reach C, 1.
  Head Butt (18): 2d-1 crushing. Reach C.
  Traits: Arm ST 2; Berserk (9) (Battle
  Rage); Bloodlust (9); Discriminatory
  Smell; Ham-Fisted 1; Night Vision 5;
  Striking ST 3; Wild Animal.
  Skills:
  Brawling-18;
  Climbing-14;
  Stealth-12; Wrestling-16.
  Class: Dire Animal.
  Notes: Effective arm ST is 21 for grap-
  pling and 22 for striking. A Berserk
  ape invariably chooses All-Out Attack
  (Strong): +2 to damage. Cestuses give
  the arms an extra DR 4 (total DR 5) –
  and special “mage killer” apes might
  have meteoric cestuses! The ape’s
  headgear gives the skull an extra DR
  4 (total DR 7), and is worth $40 if
  sold as scrap.
  THE MONSTERS
  17
  GLADIATOR APE
  Battle Rage
  Gladiator apes have Berserk (Battle Rage); see p. B124. They go berserk the
  instant combat begins – don’t wait for one to get injured before having it All-
  Out Attack! However, going berserk doesn’t mean they lose their sense of when
  best to punch (with a cestus), grapple, head butt, or bite. They’ll deftly shift
  between these four modes, and from target to target, attacking ferociously the
  whole time. Against most foes, they’ll punch first, trying to batter their victim
  into submission. If that doesn’t seem to be working, they’ll change approaches
  and grapple, and then follow up with head butts or bites – whichever seems
  like it would be more effective.
  A berserk gladiator ape makes HT rolls to avoid unconsciousness or death
  at +4. To stop one, delvers may have to hack it to death (down to -85 HP) or
  thoroughly cripple it (9 HP to cripple each limb, and an ape with two crippled
  legs can still drag itself after opponents at Move 2). With no active defenses and
  only DR 1, though, gladiator apes are easy to chop up.
  Cestus Is Bestest
  A cestus is a spiked leather covering for the hand and possibly the arm.
  Defensively, it provides DR 4 to the body parts inside. This does protect when
  a parry with an unarmed combat skill fails (p. B377) or when striking some-
  thing hard (p. B379).
  Offensively, it’s used to punch with DX, Boxing, Brawling, or Karate. It gives
  +1 to damage, cumulative with any skill bonus. Treat it as a weapon if parried
  – opponents don’t get the free shot at the arm noted on p. B376.
  The downside is that it gives Bad Grip 1 while worn: -2 to other tasks with
  that hand/arm, including weapon use.
  Delvers may want to sell a cestus – or use one! Use the stats below. Cost and
  weight are per cestus. When applying modifiers (e.g., meteoric), a cestus counts
  as metal.
  Weapon
  Damage
  Reach
  Parry
  Cost
  Weight
  ST
  Cestus, Arm-Length
  thr cr
  C
  0
  $100
  4
  –
  Cestus, Hand-Length
  thr cr
  C
  0
  $50
  1
  –
  
  Horde pygmies are humanoids that stand a scant 3’ tall,
  with tiny heads, misshapen features, bugged-out eyes, and
  swollen bellies. They sharpen their teeth to points – the bet-
  ter to eat you with! They have no real culture, although there
  are unconfirmed rumors of horde pygmy shamans who use
  necromancy to reanimate slain pygmies and victims as zom-
  bies. Pygmy life consists mainly of killing things, gathering
  treasure from those they slay (see Island of the Pygmies,
  below), and cooking people to eat. In short (they hear that a
  lot), horde pygmies are sneaky, cowardly, underhanded, low-
  down, dirty, bushwhacking little cannibals.
  ST: 5
  HP: 3
  Speed: 6.00
  DX: 11
  Will: 8
  Move: 6
  IQ: 8
  Per: 8
  HT: 11
  FP: 11
  SM: -1
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 8 (unarmed)
  DR: 0
  Blowpipe (18): 1d-3 small piercing + follow-up 1 point
  toxic. Acc 1, Range 20, RoF 1, Shots 1(2), Bulk -6.
  Traits: Chameleon 2; Compulsive Behavior (9) (Killing);
  Cowardice (15); Enhanced Dodge 1; Intolerance (Every-
  one); Silence 2.
  Skills: Blowpipe-18; Climbing-14; Stealth-16 (18 vs. Hearing
  or Vision if moving, 20 if motionless); Traps-12.
  Class: Mundane.
  Notes: Horde pygmies are too stupid and cowardly to nego-
  tiate usefully – if you try, they’ll agree to anything and
  then flee at the first opportunity to shoot more darts at
  you. Pygmy shamans, if they exist, sport IQ 10+ and Magery
  2 (or possibly Deathliness 2), and know spells such as Death
  Vision, Zombie, and . . . well, not much else.
  THE MONSTERS
  18
  HORDE PYGMY
  Nasty, Brutish,
  and Short
  Horde pygmies are fodder, but they can be annoying
  fodder. They never stand and fight unless cornered – and
  when cornered, they typically just cower helplessly and
  try to flee. They’re masters of the hit-and-run raid, how-
  ever, and while not terribly smart, possess a low cunning.
  Although they’re individually weak and their attacks do
  little damage, they plan on eventually getting through and
  bagging a big ’un for dinner. They also set traps, such as
  snares, pitfalls, deadfalls, and tripwires. A favorite tactic
  is to blow darts at opponents and then flee, luring their
  pursuers into prepared traps surrounded by additional
  pygmy ambushers!
  Island of
  the Pygmies
  Every horde pygmy carries a small carved idol of the
  pygmy god: a black stone head. Rumors place the original,
  gargantuan head on a jungle-covered, trap-ridden, native-
  infested island of evil “somewhere in the far south.” It’s
  said to stand on a well-guarded plateau filled with booty
  looted by the pygmies. What exactly the head wants isn’t
  clear – the pygmies seem convinced that it desires human
  sacrifices and treasure, so that’s what it gets. How horde
  pygmies get into dungeons, and how they transport loot
  back to the island, are matters of much conjecture.
  The dark truth of the matter is that the black stone head
  is a sapient, magic-using godling – evil, of course. It uses its
  powers to find far-off dungeons, haunted forests, and dank
  caverns, and then creates gates between its jungle island and
  those locales. The horde pygmies travel back and forth,
  going about their cannibal ways and gathering loot for the
  head. Adventurers who find one of these gates can travel
  through it to raid the island. The island is stocked with treas-
  ure, but it’s also populated by swarms of pygmies, along
  with other hideous denizens such as trigers (Dungeons,
  p. 26), leaping leeches (p. 22), slugbeasts (p. 27), vampires
  (p. B262), and giant apes (p. 16). Pygmy hordes and their
  traps may be the least of the adventurers’ problems!
  Especially when they learn that the gates open only about
  once a month, and are sometimes one-way . . .
  
  This is an undead skull, more artifact than monster, left
  behind by a wizard who has long since departed the mortal
  coil. It can’t do much but sit around, waiting to be smashed
  . . . oh, and emit slow, painful psionic death. While easily
  “killed” by a smart blow, it’s often hidden from sight and must
  be located even as it kills everybody nearby. In some cases, it’s
  also guarded by more mobile undead that still identify it as
  their master, and which must be dealt with before the search
  can begin!
  ST: 0
  HP: 5
  Speed: N/A
  DX: N/A
  Will: 0
  Move: 0
  IQ: 0
  Per: 0
  HT: 12
  FP: N/A
  SM: -5
  Dodge: N/A
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 2
  Psionic Scream: All living things within 16 yards suffer 1
  point of toxic damage per second. This Cosmic attack
  ignores all DR except DR vs. psi attacks (The Next Level,
  p. 40).
  Traits: Cannot Float; Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink;
  Doesn’t Sleep; Fragile (Brittle); High Pain Threshold;
  Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Injury Tolerance (No
  Blood, No Brain, No Eyes, No Neck, No Vitals, Unliving);
  No Manipulators; Pressure Support 3; Sealed; Unhealing
  (Total); Vacuum Support.
  Class: Undead.
  Notes: Nonsentient – can’t communicate or negotiate. Rumors
  persist of intelligent lich-skulls with DX 10+; IQ, Will, and
  Per 12+; dozens, even hundreds of FP; Magery 3+; and
  many spells that enable it to levitate, turn invisible, etc.
  Either way, it’s truly evil.
  THE MONSTERS
  19
  HORRID SKULL
  It’s a Trap!
  A horrid skull is a trap posing as a monster. Parked
  out in the open as though it were a combat encounter,
  it’s almost pointless. No self-respecting dungeon
  explorer would absorb wave after wave of withering
  psychic injury and not either back off (the skull can’t
  follow, and its range is just 16 yards) or conclude that
  the obvious, rather creepy skull sitting right there is
  the cause, and toss a rock at it.
  Hidden away like a trap, however, it’s deadly. A
  casting of Sense Danger or Sense Foes – or Sense
  Spirit, if the caster suspects necromancy – will find it,
  and See Secrets might reveal its hiding place, but
  spellcasting takes time. Then add a few seconds to
  run over to the skull’s hiding place . . . a couple more
  seconds to batter that open, or 10 seconds to cast
  Lockmaster, or up to a minute to pick a lock . . . and
  finally an attack to break the thing. Without magic,
  finding the skull could take several minutes! At 1
  HP/second, this can kill. The GM should use a longer
  damage interval against beginning PCs, perhaps 10
  seconds or more.
  An in-between option is leaving the skull in plain
  sight, guarded by fodder that worship it like a creepy
  idol. This is still challenging! It’s difficult to fight
  through a zombie horde (previous victims?) while
  constantly losing HP. However, a brave hero could
  leave his back open and charge the thing, a skilled
  scout might be able to shatter it from afar with a
  blunt arrow, and wizards have many options.
  Unholy Hand
  Grenade
  Delvers who deduce what the horrid skull is might
  be tempted to use it as a weapon, levitating it into the
  lair of other monsters, even sending a brave (or
  psionically shielded) party member in to fetch it and
  hurl it at their foes. That’s fine! Just remember that
  this cuts both ways. Nothing stops a devious lich
  from doing exactly the same thing – or perhaps
  attaching the skull to the end of his staff as a deter-
  rent against living meddlers.
  
  This blind, limbless, 35’ “worm” is covered in slick, icy
  scales. It hunts by body warmth, attacking by biting with a
  ferocious maw filled with crystalline teeth or by exhaling a par-
  alyzing jet of frost motes – all while simultaneously lashing out
  with the sting at its nether end, injecting chilling venom. The
  wyrm is itself near-impervious to cold, and has no particular
  vulnerability to flame. It lacks eyes, and its brain and vital
  organs are distributed through its body such that it has no true
  weak points. However, it’s a “natural” creature, and once freed
  from suspended animation in its ice egg, it must eat and
  breathe like any beast.
  ST: 42
  HP: 42
  Speed: 6.00
  DX: 12
  Will: 12
  Move: 6
  IQ: 5
  Per: 12
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: +5
  Dodge: 9
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 4
  Bite (12): 4d+1 cutting. Reach C-5.
  Frost Breath (15): 5-yard-wide ¥ 20-yard-long cone
  of frost does 3d-1 crushing without blunt trauma
  or knockback + roll vs. HT at -1 per 2 points of
  penetrating damage or frozen (paralyzed) for (20
  - HT) minutes, minimum 1 minute. Five-second
  recharge between shots.
  Sting (12): 4d+2 large piercing + follow-up 1d
  fatigue (cold; see p. B430). Reach C-5.
  Traits: Acute Detect 4 (Sense roll 16); Blindness;
  Detect (Heat; Precise); DR 42 (Ablative); DR 13
  (Limited, Cold/Ice); Enhanced Move 1 (Ground
  Speed 12); Extra Attack 1; High Pain Threshold;
  Injury Tolerance (No Brain, No Eyes, No Neck,
  No Vitals); Regeneration (Slow, 1 HP/12 hours);
  Regrowth; Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+3);
  Slippery 5; Temperature Tolerance 10 (-135°F to
  40°F); Terrain Adaptation (Ice); Uncontrollable
  Appetite (12) (Mortal Flesh); Unfazeable; Univer-
  sal Digestion; Vermiform; Wild Animal.
  Skills: Innate Attack (Breath)-15.
  Class: Dire Animal.
  Notes: Ablative DR 42 must be chipped off before
  creature can be injured; its other DR 4 (17 vs.
  cold/ice) is permanent. Bite counts as grapple on
  opponents of SM +2 or smaller! Ice-generating
  organs are worth $7,500 to alchemists, who use
  them in fire resistance and liquid ice potions.
  Teeth can be turned into 1d very fine large
  knives; roll vs. Armoury (Melee Weapons) once
  per knife.
  THE MONSTERS
  20
  ICE WYRM
  Icing the Wyrm
  The ice wyrm makes a challenging-but-fair boss-monster
  encounter for parties with few special abilities. It is huge (Regular
  spells have ¥6 cost for SM +5), tough (DR 4, 42 points of ablative
  DR to chip off, and then 42 HP), and devoid of vital spots – but it is
  also easy to hit (+5 for SM), lacks decent active defenses, and has no
  blanket immunities. Even weak fighters could eventually hack it to
  bits. It’s also alive, so it can be poisoned (although it gets +3 to HT),
  gassed, etc. And its physical attacks, while impressive, are clumsy.
  Only ice wizards are out of luck (DR 17 vs. cold).
  However, its breath is deadly. The cone is broad enough to engulf
  an entire party in formation out near its maximum range (60’), and
  doesn’t suffer from dissipation; everybody risks 3d-1 crushing dam-
  age and fight-stopping paralysis. The heroes should spread out, or
  close to where the breath can strike only one of them at a time. Cun-
  ning delvers will exploit the five-second downtime between blasts.
  Lair of the Ice Wyrm
  To make the ice wyrm challenging for high-powered dragon-slay-
  ers, stage the encounter someplace icy. The wyrm will be unhindered
  (Terrain Adaptation) while its foes slide around: +1 movement
  point/hex, -2 to hit, and -1 to defend on natural ice – or see the Ice
  Slick spell (Magic, p. 186). Cold can cause problems before the bat-
  tle. At -135°F, the wyrm is comfortable but heroes in “Arctic” gear
  must roll at HT-8 every 30 minutes or lose 1 FP; see Cold (p. B430).
  
  A
  karkadann
  resembles
  a
  lion
  crossed with a horse . . . and sporting a
  long, sharp horn on the center of its
  head. It’s almost the size of a horse, too.
  It has a handsome mottled coat of gold
  and white and tan.
  Karkadann are aggressive and terri-
  torial. They prefer to engage their foes
  directly, charging into close combat
  with their horn and then staying there to
  bite and claw. A karkadann can use its
  horn to parry as well as to gore, and is
  quite capable of “fencing” with armed
  opponents!
  (Actual
  fencing
  –
  with
  improved multiple parries and retreats,
  as described on p. B208 – would require
  a karkadann elevated to IQ 6+, doubt-
  less by a crazy druid or wizard, and then
  taught the Rapier skill.)
  ST: 20
  HP: 20
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 13
  Will: 11
  Move: 14
  IQ: 4
  Per: 12
  HT: 11
  FP: 11
  SM: +1
  Dodge: 11
  Parry: 12
  DR: 1
  Claws (16): 2d cutting. Reach C, 1.
  Horn (16): 2d+3 impaling. Reach C, 1.
  The initial slam with the horn inflicts
  the same damage at Move 1-7, but 2d+4
  impaling at Move 8-12, and 3d+6 impal-
  ing at Move 13-14!
  Teeth (16): 2d cutting. Reach C. A success-
  ful bite counts as a grapple, even if no
  damage penetrates DR.
  Traits: Bad Temper (12); Combat Reflexes;
  DR 2 (Partial, Skull); Night Vision 5;
  Quadruped; Temperature Tolerance 1
  (30°F to 95°F); Wild Animal.
  Skills: Brawling-16; Connoisseur (Music)-
  12; Running-13.
  Class: Animal.
  Notes: Total skull DR is 5. Animal spells
  affect
  karkadann
  normally.
  Intact
  karkadann hides can fetch up to
  $800. Their horns, useful for making
  poison antidotes, are worth $2,500 to
  alchemists. A horn can also be carved
  into an ornate (+1 reactions), fine-qual-
  ity large knife. Roll vs. Armory (Melee
  Weapons);
  failure
  ruins
  the
  horn
  as a knife and reduces its value to
  alchemists to $250. Young karkadann
  can’t be tamed but are trendy exotic
  pets, worth $1,000 each.
  THE MONSTERS
  21
  KARKADANN
  Soothing the Savage Breast
  Karkadann love music – while they aren’t intelligent enough to be negoti-
  ated with, they can be placated by song. Bards may use the rules under
  Trickery (Dungeons, p. 10), but there’s a risk. Roll a Quick Contest between the
  bard’s Musical Influence skill and the karkadann’s Connoisseur (Music) skill.
  If the bard wins, the karkadann will leave the bard and his companions alone.
  If he loses, the karkadann doesn’t like the music and will attack, trying espe-
  cially to eat the bard. On a tie, however, the karkadann decides that the bard’s
  music is just right, and will fix on keeping the bard as a pet! Negotiations on
  that subject may begin normally . . .
  Karkadann Pride
  Karkadann may be encountered either singly or in a group. A lone
  karkadann is always an adolescent male – stats are as listed. If encountered in
  a group, this will be a pride of karkadann: a bull male, his harem of 5-10
  (1d+4) females, plus an additional 5-10 young. Bull males have ST 22 – and
  thus inflict more damage (horn: 2d+4, or 3d+6 at Move 12-14; claws and teeth:
  2d+1) – along with Bad Temper (9) and Laziness (9). Females use the same
  stats as adolescent males. Young karkadann won’t fight. The strongest male
  will drive off any young male old enough to challenge for control of his pride.
  A male karkadann isn’t exactly protective of his pride. He’ll use the females
  much as a boss deploys minions: to set up his attacks, flank opponents, and
  charge dangerous foes. The bull will fight, but he’ll exploit his harem to max-
  imize his chances of surviving the fray.
  
  These horrid pests infest stagnant or still water.
  The size of a human pinky, leaping leeches are aptly
  named: they jump out of the water and glom onto
  their victims’ unprotected skin. Individually, they’re
  no threat, but they’re always found in hordes. The
  only sure way to kill an infestation of leaping leeches
  is to drain the water and dry the muddy bottoms
  where they hide.
  ST: 0
  HP: 1
  Speed: 6.50
  DX: 16
  Will: 10
  Move: 1
  IQ: 1
  Per: 10
  HT: 10
  FP: 10
  SM: -9
  Dodge: 9
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 0
  Leaping (16): Up to 4 yards! Against an armored vic-
  tim, this targets the face (at -5) or eyes (at -9).
  Leeches can cluster on body parts; only one can fit
  on a human-sized eye, but there’s no practical
  limit to how many can cling to limbs, extremities,
  or the head. The leap does no damage, but . . .
  Leeching: This attack cannot penetrate any DR,
  even that with the Tough Skin modifier. One sec-
  ond after hitting bare flesh, though, the leech
  begins to suck blood. It inflicts 1 HP per second
  for 1d-2 seconds (minimum 1). Then it’s gorged
  and drops off.
  Traits: Amphibious; Doesn’t Breathe (Gills); Vermi-
  form; Wild Animal.
  Skills: Jumping-16; Swim-
  ming-18.
  Class: Animal.
  Notes: A leech that steals 2
  HP or more has +1 to
  SM – and if such a dis-
  tended leech is killed, it
  bursts, showering every-
  thing nearby with gore.
  Anyone
  (except
  other
  leeches!) within one yard
  must roll vs. HT to avoid
  being blinded for 1d-3
  seconds (minimum 1). A
  safer option is to pick it
  off, but leeches are slimy
  and difficult to remove.
  Grabbing a leech in one
  second requires a DX
  roll, at -9 for SM; carefully
  doing so takes two sec-
  onds but requires no roll.
  Then roll vs. ST at -3 to
  pull it off; this inflicts 1
  HP of injury. Even 1 point
  of flame damage will
  make the leech let go.
  THE MONSTERS
  22
  LEAPING LEECH
  Harmless Nuisance . . .
  Leaping leeches are a nuisance monster. They lack treasure hoards (unless you count gear
  from incidental corpses), don’t wander, and can’t inflict much damage on prepared delvers.
  Their main value – to the GM anyway – is that they act to discourage adventurers from hang-
  ing around swamps and dillydallying near waterways. They also provide surprise value,
  because even the smallest body of still water is big enough to hold a couple of leeches, while
  larger monsters would be out of the question. Because leeches can leap up to four yards, even
  a tiny infested puddle in the middle of a sizeable room can threaten a leech attack.
  . . . or Deadly Trap
  However, leaping leeches can be deadly. They come in large numbers, so an unprepared
  delver can find himself swarmed and drained dry in seconds. The GM should be aware that
  while they seem relatively harmless, large numbers may inflict a surprising amount of
  injury in a short time period. Each leech can steal up to 4 HP, while pulling one off early
  also inflicts harm. And incautious delvers might set themselves or others ablaze trying to
  clear a large cluster of leeches off a victim in one fell swoop.
  Clever monsters living near leaping leeches might exploit them as weapons. Defensively,
  leaping leech-infested water makes for a great “moat” to protect a lair. Offensively, some
  creatures may lure victims near the leeches, hoping the wrigglers will weaken, even slay the
  intruder. This doesn’t work so well for things that like to eat their victims, but for undead,
  demons, or anything that’s effectively immune to the draining effect (like trolls, p. 31), the
  leeches are purely useful.
  
  A lich is an undead archmage whose alchem-
  ically preserved skeleton is animated by necro-
  mancy. Megalomania is the usual motivation for
  choosing this career – liches are generally melo-
  dramatic Evil Overlords. Between this and their
  appearance, they simply can’t be well-integrated
  members of society. Delvers interested in con-
  firming any of this should be aware that their
  opponent is a wizard who neither sleeps nor
  ages; who has a hundred new skeletons he can
  possess if defeated in a location with mana; and
  who has had centuries to perfect diabolical
  spells, conjure legions of mindless undead, and
  build a lair where he enjoys a truly unfair home-
  ground advantage. You have been warned!
  ST: 10
  HP: 10
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 12
  Will: 18
  Move: 7
  IQ: 16
  Per: 16
  HT: 14
  FP: N/A
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 11
  DR: 2
  Staff (12): 1d+2 crushing or 1d crushing – usually with a
  horrid spell, like 6d worth of Deathtouch. Reach 1, 2.
  Traits: Cannot Float; Dark Vision; Dependency (Mana;
  Constantly); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink;
  Doesn’t Sleep; Energy Reserve 30 (Gives 30 FP for work-
  ing magic only); Fragile (Brittle); High Pain Threshold;
  Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Injury Tolerance (No
  Blood, No Brain, No Eyes, No Vitals, Unliving); Magery
  6; No Sense of Smell/Taste; Skinny (-2 ST and HP vs.
  slams and knockback); Unfazeable; Unhealing (Partial;
  Heals only when Unkillable is triggered); Unkillable 3
  (Can only truly be killed in no-mana areas); Vacuum
  Support; Vulnerability (Crushing ¥2).
  Skills: Dozens of IQ/Hard spells at 20+ and IQ/Very Hard
  spells at 19+; Staff-12; many IQ-based skills at 16+,
  notably Alchemy, Hidden Lore, Occultism, Research,
  Speed-Reading, Thaumatology, Traps, and/or Writing.
  Class: Undead.
  Notes: Spells and their levels vary, but favorites are at -2
  to energy cost and half casting time – or better – due
  to skill 20+. Energy Reserve can be any size; 30 points
  is the minimum, and most liches wield significant
  power items. Some liches possess Power Investiture 6
  (Unholy) and evil clerical spells (The Next Level,
  p. 24) instead of wizardly abilities; a few enjoy both!
  Still others have obscene levels of Deathliness and
  Necromantic abilities (Summoners, p. 15). Liches
  often negotiate – or accept surrenders, using Lesser
  Geas and Great Geas spells to bind victims to per-
  form unspeakable services. Truly evil.
  THE MONSTERS
  23
  LICH
  A Note to Undead-Slayers
  A lich is just a fancy, magic-using skeleton, right?
  Yes and no.
  A lich has the usual suite of undead advantages: It can’t be poisoned,
  starved out, strangled, or stabbed in its sleep; it lacks brains, a heart, and
  other vital bits; and it’s Unliving, so impaling attacks aren’t ideal (wound-
  ing modifier ¥1). It also has some classic weaknesses. Crushing attacks
  enjoy a ¥2 wounding modifier, and Fragile (Brittle) means that mere
  crippling injury removes limbs. Without mana, it loses 1 HP/minute and
  can be truly killed.
  But then there are its spells, its zombie horde, and hacking your way
  through that horde while the lich casts those spells. Can you circumvent
  the brain-eaters before the lich casts some horrible spell on you? Can
  you even see the lich back there to shoot it from afar? Between the zom-
  bies and that lich favorite, Force Dome, probably not – and you know it
  has Reverse Missiles up, just in case.
  Suppose you do get right next to the lich. There’s mana here – no lich
  comes within miles of places without it – so now you must find a way to
  short-circuit its Unkillable advantage. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself
  doing 110 points of injury to bring it to -10¥HP, only to turn it into a
  ghost bent on coming back to kill you.
  
  This likeness of a great jungle cat is carved from
  dark volcanic glass and animated by something
  akin to druidic magic. It’s indistinguishable from
  mundane statuary . . . until it pounces (six yards
  from a standing start!), after which it fights like a
  living jaguar. Razor-sharp obsidian claws and a
  hard, glassy hide – neither prone to breakage –
  make it a dangerous foe. It’s said that priests of the
  lost civilization of Teclá created obsidian jaguars
  to guard their holy places. Delvers plundering
  ruined temple complexes in the jungle should bear
  this in mind!
  ST: 19
  HP: 19
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 16
  Will: 11
  Move: 10
  IQ: 4
  Per: 15
  HT: 12
  FP: N/A
  SM: +1
  Dodge: 11
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 5
  Bite (18): 2d+1 cutting. Reach C.
  Front Claw (18): 2d+1 cutting. Reach C, 1.
  Hind Claw (16): 2d+2 cutting. Reach C, 1.
  Traits: Combat Reflexes; Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat
  or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; Duty (To priests, ancient
  gods, or something); Fanaticism (Guarding holy
  places); Fragile (Brittle); High Pain Threshold;
  Immunity to Metabolic Hazards; Indomitable; Injury Toler-
  ance (Homogenous, No Blood); Night Vision 5; Pressure Sup-
  port 3; Quadruped; Sealed; Striking ST 2 (ST 21); Unfazeable;
  Unhealing (Total); Vacuum Support.
  Skills: Brawling-18; Jumping-16; Stealth-16.
  Class: Construct.
  Notes: Despite its resemblance to a beast, Animal spells won’t
  work. Animated by divine energies, not by magic. Unwilling
  to negotiate. Once destroyed, the choicest hunks of its shat-
  tered remains are worth $1d¥200 to craftsmen in town, and
  weigh 3 lbs. per $200 of value.
  THE MONSTERS
  24
  OBSIDIAN JAGUAR
  Teclá
  The GM might set an adventure in the jaguars’ homeland
  of Teclá. The terrain is jungle – ideal for outdoor encounters.
  This conceals vine-covered stone temples, some maintained
  by evil clerics (The Next Level, p. 23). Druidic magic is
  potent here; even deep inside temples, there’s no despoilment
  penalty. Other suitable monsters are the ciuaclá (p. 7),
  Demon from Between the Stars (p. 9), giant ape (p. 16),
  horde pygmy (p. 18), and leaping leech (p. 22). Likely treas-
  ures are plants with remarkable properties, and strange
  stone fetishes bearing divine or druidic “enchantments.”
  The Jaguar
  Comes in the Night
  Obsidian jaguars are certainly worthy opponents in a
  standup fight. They’re stone, which gives them DR 5 and 19
  HP, grants Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, weakens
  impaling and piercing attacks (wounding modifiers
  become ¥1/2 and ¥1/5, respectively), and means that called
  shots to the skull or vitals do nothing special. They also
  have respectable combat stats.
  Where they shine, however, is in night ambush. They
  ignore -5 in darkness penalties and are crafty. Roll a Quick
  Contest: their Stealth (16) vs. the delvers’ Perception. Those
  relying on Vision must deal with darkness penalties, while
  the jungle affords the cats +3 for “many hiding places.” If
  the jaguar wins, it makes a surprise attack (no defense pos-
  sible); otherwise, roll vs. its Per 15, with success meaning
  it spots its prey’s reaction and slinks off for now.
  An obsidian jaguar always opens with a pounce
  (p. B372). A running start lets it cover 11 yards; with the
  extra yard of reach for pouncing, effective range is 12 yards.
  The +4 to skill for pouncing lets it hit its favored target, the
  neck, at 17 or less. With the Brawling bonus, slam damage
  is 2d+2 crushing; remember the ¥1.5 wounding modifier for
  the neck. The jaguar takes (target’s HP)/10 dice of crushing
  damage, rounded to the nearest die. If it rolls higher damage
  than its prey, the victim must roll vs. DX or be knocked
  down. He falls automatically if the cat did twice his damage
  or more! Regardless, the jaguar must roll vs. DX 16 to avoid
  falling and requiring a turn to stand up.
  
  Rock mites are a mineral-eating species that resemble
  headless stone pygmies. A rock mite’s torso is lumpy and
  egg-shaped. Its legs are stumpy, ending in flat, slate-like
  “feet,” while its arms terminate in “hands” of rock with
  four “fingers” radiating from the center. It uses its hands
  to convey chunks of rock to a “mouth” near the top front
  of its torso. This jagged maw is filled with a magma-like
  substance that melts down the mite’s mineral-rich meals.
  It isn’t clear whether rock mites are animate stone or
  something else entirely. They aren’t intelligent, and Mind
  Control and Animal spells have no effect on them, yet
  they obviously act in harmony with one another. Not
  only do they eat, they sleep, crouching down in such a
  way that they appear to be little more than a rock pile.
  They clearly dislike being bothered, too; if a mite is
  approached too closely or molested in any way (e.g., a
  delver mistaking a sleeping mite for a rock and sitting on
  it!), it will attack. And rock mites are never alone. Other
  mites nearby will swarm the offender, grappling him and
  then biting repeatedly until they’ve slain him and con-
  sumed any gems or other stones he’s carrying.
  ST: 12
  HP: 12
  Speed: 5.00
  DX: 10
  Will: 12
  Move: 4
  IQ: 0
  Per: 9
  HT: 13
  FP: 13
  SM: -1
  Dodge: 8
  Parry: 8 (unarmed)
  DR: 5
  Bite (10): 1d-1 cutting + follow-up 2d burning.
  Reach C. Any bite counts as a grapple, and
  inflicts 2d burning every turn thereafter! Treat
  as a weapon (Striker), not as a body part.
  Traits: Bad Temper (12); Doesn’t Breathe; DR 25
  (Limited, Heat/Fire); Fragile (Brittle); Immu-
  nity to Metabolic Hazards; Immunity to Mind
  Control; Injury Tolerance (Homogenous, No
  Blood, No Head); Lifting ST 6; Mute; Pressure
  Support 3; Regeneration (Slow, 1 HP/12 hours;
  Only in contact with stone); Sealed; Single-
  Minded; Stubbornness; Vacuum Support;
  Weakness (Shape Stone or Earth to Air inflicts
  3d/casting).
  Skills: Wrestling-10.
  Class: Mundane?
  Notes: Unaffected by Animal or Mind Control
  spells. Nonsentient – can’t communicate or
  negotiate. Lifting ST gives effective ST 18 for
  grappling. Rumors claim that rock mites are
  merely the “drone workers” of a larger rock-
  man civilization, whose metal-filled lairs are
  guarded by a warrior caste with huge jaws
  and a crushing grip.
  THE MONSTERS
  25
  ROCK MITE
  Lair of the Rock Mites
  Rock mites don’t breathe and are resistant to extreme heat
  (total DR 30 vs. Heat/Fire), great pressure, and hard vacuum.
  Thus, they could show up almost anywhere. The first thing to
  leap to a GM’s mind might be a cave, but mites also dwell
  underwater, atop high mountains where the atmosphere is
  thin, in airless voids and weird alien dimensions . . . Wherever
  there’s rock, there’s rock mites.
  One interesting lair is a mine. Metal miners tend to like
  rock mites, as they’ll slowly tunnel out an area, leaving behind
  easily gathered metallic waste to refine. Gem miners despise
  them – a gemstone is just another meal to a mite! While mites
  can’t be trained, they’re occasionally confined for long enough
  to be exploited. Intelligent monsters may keep them on a
  “smelting farm,” penning them, feeding them rock, and col-
  lecting excreted metals to sell, trade, or hoard. Keeping them
  corralled is tricky, though; they’ll eat stone barriers and even-
  tually melt or break metal ones, and mere wood is too flimsy
  to contain them for long.
  I Am a Rock
  Rock mites are rocks. This gives extreme resistance to harsh
  environments (see above) and makes them Homogenous
  (impaling damage has a mere ¥1/2 wounding modifier),
  immune to poison, and brittle (crippling injury to a body part
  breaks it off). Despite appearances, they aren’t elementals!
  
  Slorn are eight-legged, fire-breathing lizards. They
  dwell in rocky badlands – and deep underground, near
  geothermal heat sources that keep them toasty. They
  aren’t cold-blooded; they just like warmth. This includes
  hot meals . . . slorn love to roast their victims’ meat
  before eating!
  While slorn are a bit slow, they’re physically powerful
  and almost tireless. Because of this, some tribes of reptil-
  ians (The Next Level, p. 15) tame them for use as mounts.
  Slorn are also notoriously hard to finish off; supposedly
  “dead” slorn have been known to get back up and resume
  the fight. They dislike giving up pursuit of anything that
  provokes them – or that tasted good.
  ST: 25
  HP: 25
  Speed: 5.00
  DX: 11
  Will: 10
  Move: 5
  IQ: 3
  Per: 10
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: +2
  Dodge: 8
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 2
  Bite (13): 2d+3 cutting + follow-up 1d burning. Reach C.
  Flame Breath (13): 2d+2 burning (Jet, Range 3).
  Traits: DR 15 (Limited, Heat/Fire); Extra Legs (8 legs); Fit;
  Hard to Kill 2; Horizontal; No Fine Manipulators;
  Recovery; Regeneration (Slow, 1 HP/12 hours); Regrowth;
  Temperature Tolerance 10 (75°F to 250°F); Single-Minded;
  Stubbornness; Wild Animal.
  Skills: Brawling-13; Innate Attack (Breath)-13.
  Class: Dire Animal.
  Notes: Too stupid to negotiate. Slorn eggs are valued by those
  who train mounts (slorn that aren’t fresh-hatched are too
  stubborn to train); each intact egg is worth $500 to suitable
  traders or trainers.
  THE MONSTERS
  26
  SLORN
  Riders on the Slorn
  Slorn can be raised from hatchlings to become slow-
  but-tough war mounts. A typical slorn has ST 25 and a
  Basic Lift of 125 lbs, allowing it to bear 375 lbs. as Medium
  encumbrance (Move 3) or 750 lbs. as Heavy encumbrance
  (Move 2). If the slorn bites on its turn, its rider suffers the
  standard -2 to attack (see Attacks by Mounts, p. B297). Fire-
  breath attacks aren’t as disruptive – the penalty is only -1.
  A customized slorn saddle isn’t cheap: at least $300, if
  available at all. Finding one typically means seeking out a
  tribe of slorn-riding reptilians who are willing to trade with
  warm-bloods. This can be an adventure in itself! On the
  bright side, if they sell slorn saddles, they probably teach
  Riding (Slorn) and sell slorn eggs to would-be riders, too.
  Lizard Breath
  It’s easy to create variant slorn that suit different envi-
  ronments – or different dungeon themes (see Theme
  Dungeons, p. 37). For example:
  Acid Slorn: Breathe a quickly dissipating acidic mist.
  Damage type for bite follow-up and breath becomes
  corrosion. Additional DR has Limited, Acid. Acid slorn
  inhabit fetid, subtropical swamps and jungles.
  Cold Slorn: Breathe a hoary blast of cold air. Damage
  type for bite follow-up and breath becomes burning with
  no incendiary effect, and victims must roll vs. HT at -1 per
  2 points of penetrating damage or be briefly paralyzed
  (roll vs. HT at the same penalty every turn to recover).
  Extra DR has Limited, Cold/Ice. Temperature Tolerance
  range becomes -75°F to 100°F. Found on glaciers or
  snowy wastes.
  Ice Slorn: Breathe a sheet of icy daggers! Damage type
  for breath becomes impaling. Bite follow-up, bonus DR,
  Temperature Tolerance range, and habitat are all as for
  cold slorn.
  Poison Slorn: Breathe a poisonous mist. Damage type
  for bite follow-up and breath becomes toxic. Additional DR
  has Limited, Toxic. Lurk in swamps and jungles, and deep
  underground.
  Shock Slorn: Breathe an electrical bolt. Damage type for
  bite follow-up and breath becomes burning with no incen-
  diary effect, and victims must roll vs. HT at -1 per 2 points
  of penetrating damage or be stunned (roll vs. HT at the
  same penalty every turn to recover). Specialized DR has
  Limited, Electricity. Found everywhere!
  
  While this slimy monstrosity resembles a giant slug,
  it’s far more deadly. Capable of oozing its way along
  ceilings and walls – and through openings as narrow as
  6” across – it’s a voracious carnivore, the bane of dun-
  geon denizens and delvers alike. It constantly trails a
  path of sticky slime behind it (a persistent Binding),
  sliming up an area and then returning to check the
  gunk. It devours any organic matter it finds stuck there
  – living, dead, or undead. Slugbeasts are always hungry!
  The slugbeast can extend two pseudopods with
  which to lash foes. Those struck are slimed, and likely
  to end up glued to the beast’s sticky, corrosive skin.
  Once a victim is stuck, the slugbeast wraps a pseudo-
  pod around him and crushes him to death. The cap-
  tive is also slowly dissolved by the digestive ooze
  secreted from the slugbeast’s underside, and eventu-
  ally reduced to a puddle of nutrients that the monster
  slowly absorbs.
  ST: 16
  HP: 16
  Speed: 5.00
  DX: 10
  Will: 10
  Move: 5
  IQ: 2
  Per: 10
  HT: 10
  FP: 10
  SM: +2
  Dodge: 8
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 0
  Digestive Slime: 1 point/second corrosion to anything
  touching the slugbeast, or that it touches or grapples.
  This is a free action.
  Pseudopod Blow (12): 1d+1 crushing + follow-up 1
  point corrosion + linked Binding 15 (effectively a ST
  15 grapple, regardless of whether attack penetrates
  DR). Reach C, 1.
  Pseudopod Crush: Victims who fail to break free from
  the Binding are crushed on later turns. Roll the beast’s effec-
  tive ST 18 vs. the higher of the victim’s ST or HT; victory
  inflicts crushing damage equal to the margin. This, too, is a
  free action. Reach C.
  Traits: Binding 15 (Melee Attack; One-Shot; Sticky; Unbreak-
  able); Clinging (Move 2); Double-Jointed; DR 20 (Limited,
  Crushing); Gluttony (9); Infravision; Injury Tolerance
  (Homogenous, No Head, No Neck); Invertebrate; No Fine
  Manipulators;
  No
  Legs
  (Slithers);
  Weakness
  (Salt;
  1d/second); Wild Animal.
  Skills: Brawling-12; Stealth-14; Wrestling-12.
  Class: Dire Animal.
  Notes: Effective ST 18 when grappling, due to Wrestling.
  Affected normally by Animal spells. Too stupid to negotiate.
  Slugbeast slime can be distilled into an acid of value to
  alchemists; a successful Alchemy roll and 5 minutes’ work
  yields slime worth $15 per point of success.
  THE MONSTERS
  27
  SLUGBEAST
  Slughemoth
  Slugbeasts also come in slughemoth size. A slughemoth is
  twice as big as a regular slugbeast, with SM +4, ST 32 (34 for
  crushing), HP 32, and pseudopods that inflict 3d+3 crushing at
  Reach C-3. Other stats (including Binding level and corrosion
  damage) are unchanged.
  Squishing the Slug
  Slugbeasts are only worthy head-on opponents for beginning
  adventurers. Poor active defenses make hitting them straightfor-
  ward (granted, this is a mixed blessing for low-ST heroes; see
  below), while low HP and lack of general DR mean they’re easy
  to slaughter. The slugbeast also shares its smaller kin’s widely
  known weakness to salt; a successful Naturalist or Survival
  (Swampland) roll at +3 will reveal this, although it takes a
  human-sized handful – no mere pinch – to trigger its Weakness.
  Yet slugbeasts can challenge the unprepared. A slugbeast’s
  flexible body is largely immune to crushing damage (DR 20). It’s
  also Homogenous, giving impaling attacks a ¥1/2 wounding mul-
  tiplier and piercing ones ¥1/5, which makes bows and slings inef-
  fective. Cutting attacks are the best option, but heroes using
  expensive swords should be aware that the beast’s Binding and
  digestive slime kick in automatically when it’s struck. A weapon
  will stick until the warrior wins a Quick Contest of ST against ST
  15 to pull it free (each attempt takes a turn), and suffers 1
  point/second of corrosion damage in the interim!
  
  This Elder Thing, like many, is something that mortals
  can describe but not usefully understand. By appearances,
  it’s a putrid brown-green sphere just under 3’ in diameter,
  ringed with eyes above the equator. An armored, crab-like
  arm projects from either side, ending in vicious pincers.
  Four suckered tentacles ring a horrid squid-like beak
  below, and four more tentacles and another beak adorn
  the top. The sphere moves via creepy, gliding levitation,
  dropping from above to engulf its victim’s head, crush the
  skull, and eat the tasty brains inside.
  ST: 17
  HP: 17
  Speed: 7.00
  DX: 14
  Will: 10
  Move: 14 (Air)
  IQ: 10
  Per: 10
  HT: 14
  FP: 14
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 11
  DR: 6
  Crab Pincers (16): 1d+4 cutting. Any hit counts as a
  grapple, regardless of whether it penetrates DR.
  Reach C, 1. Treat as a weapon (Striker), not as a
  body part.
  Octopus Tentacles: Victims who fail to break free from
  a pincer grapple are handed off to four tentacles the
  following turn. These crush the grappled body part
  (typically the head). Roll the sphere’s effective ST 23
  vs. the higher of the victim’s ST or HT; victory inflicts
  crushing damage equal to the margin. A free action
  on a grappled victim! Reach C.
  Squid Beak (16): 1d+2 large
  piercing. Can only bite a
  grappled victim, but a hit
  lets the sphere worry, rolling
  beak damage every turn as
  a free action. Reach C.
  Traits: 360° Vision; Amphib-
  ious;
  Doesn’t
  Breathe;
  Doesn’t Sleep; Extra Attack
  1; Extra-Flexible (Tentacles);
  Fragile (Unnatural); High
  Pain Threshold; Immunity
  to
  Metabolic
  Hazards;
  Injury Tolerance (No Brain,
  No Neck, No Vitals); Magic
  Resistance 10; No Legs (Aer-
  ial); Unfazeable; Vibration
  Sense (Air).
  Skills: Aerobatics-14; Brawl-
  ing-16; Flight-14; Stealth-
  14; Wrestling-16.
  Class: Elder Thing.
  Notes: Effective ST 19 when
  grappling
  with
  pincers,
  thanks to Wrestling, rising
  to ST 23 when employing
  four tentacles; use ST 23 for
  crushing heads. Unwilling
  to negotiate. Truly evil.
  THE MONSTERS
  28
  SPHERE OF MADNESS
  Fear the Sphere
  Resembling as they do a flying seafood buffet, spheres of madness might seem silly.
  Laughing would be unwise, however.
  A sphere can attack twice, trying for two pincer hits, which need not pierce DR to
  grapple; this is an attack from above (-2 to defend). Unless the sphere is killed or its din-
  ner breaks free from effective ST 19, it will bring tentacles into play next turn; this uses
  up just one attack, so the Thing can start biting with its beak simultaneously, against
  which the victim has -2 to Parry and -1 to Dodge, can’t retreat, and is restricted to close-
  combat defenses. The tentacle grapple has effective ST 23. On later turns, the sphere can
  use its head-crushing attack as a free action – ditto its beak, if that hit – while taking pin-
  cer swipes at nearby threats.
  Defensively, a sphere enjoys DR 6, Magic Resistance 10, no vulnerable spots (neck,
  skull, or vitals), and Immunity to Metabolic Hazards. When not grappling, it can retreat
  upward for +4 (not just +3) to Dodge, and/or use Aerobatics for an Acrobatic Dodge (+2);
  see p. B398. Thanks to 360° Vision and Vibration Sense (Air), it’s hard to surprise and
  impossible to flank a sphere.
  Spheres vs. Eyes
  Spheres of madness and eyes of death (p. 14) are at war. Spheres are more physically
  imposing, but eyes can wither them from afar. Battles are lopsided – an eye swarm
  emerges from cover at 20 yards and annihilates the spheres in seconds, or the spheres
  zoom into a cluster of eyes and snip them apart two at a time. Neither creature negoti-
  ates with mortals. Attempts to play one against the other see eyes and spheres closing
  from either side, wiping out the annoyance, and then resuming their scrap.
  
  A sword spirit was originally an elven, half-elven, or
  human swashbuckler who grew obsessed with but one
  activity and a single weapon – dueling and some kind of
  sword, respectively. Eventually, his mania led him to
  cheat to win a duel. For this he was cursed by an
  unknown god to wander the world and punish other dis-
  honorable duelists, fighting constantly yet never improv-
  ing his skills. Despite the name, a sword spirit isn’t
  undead, but a mundane being made faerie. It resembles
  a member of its former race, with vacant, staring eyes
  and a cold, disturbing voice – a solitary creature, inter-
  ested only in dueling and fruitless practice.
  A sword spirit might be encountered randomly as it
  travels the world, but it’s usually seeking a specific
  swordsman famous for his skill . . . or for cheating. It’s
  compelled to duel any swordsman it finds, whether mor-
  tal or another sword spirit. On meeting such an adver-
  sary, the spirit will challenge him to a one-on-one
  swordfight to the death. If this opponent cheats – e.g., by
  receiving helpful spells from allies – or if a group attacks
  the spirit, it will become even more effective. Part of the
  curse’s irony is that the spirit now despises cheaters!
  ST: 13
  HP: 13
  Speed: 8.00
  DX: 16
  Will: 14
  Move: 8
  IQ: 11
  Per: 11
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 12
  Parry: 17
  DR: 2
  Fine Thrusting Broadsword (23): 2d+7
  cutting or 1d+6 impaling. Reach 1.
  Traits: Ambidexterity; Cannot Learn; Com-
  bat Reflexes; Compulsive Behavior (6)
  (Duel swordsmen to the death); Disturb-
  ing Voice; Enhanced Parry 2 (Broad-
  sword); Higher Purpose 2 (Kill Cheaters);
  Striking ST 2; Unkillable 1 (Achilles’ Heel,
  Sword Blow); Weapon Bond (Its broad-
  sword); Weapon Master (Broadsword).
  Skills: Acrobatics-18; Brawling-18; Broad-
  sword-22; Jumping-18.
  Class: Faerie.
  Notes: This spirit is a broadsword master,
  but similar spirits exist for every variety
  of sword. Some spirits have higher skill.
  Most wear armor; this one has leather
  armor (DR 2), but superior and/or magi-
  cal armor is possible. Every sword spirit
  possesses an exceptional, sometimes
  magical blade; thus, a sword spirit is use-
  ful when the GM feels like giving out a
  nifty magical sword but wants the future
  owner to bleed for it! Sword spirits can
  negotiate, but are only interested in duel-
  ing master swordsmen.
  THE MONSTERS
  29
  SWORD SPIRIT
  Live By the Sword
  A sword spirit is a master of its chosen blade. Don’t forget
  the benefits of Weapon Master! The stats already incorporate
  the relevant damage bonus (and the bonuses for Striking ST
  and a fine-quality blade), but in addition:
  • Multiple parries have a cumulative -2 (not -4) – or just -1
  if the spirit uses a fencing weapon (p. B208).
  • Rapid Strikes are at -3 (not -6).
  Weapon Bond gives +1 to skill. Against opponents who
  cheat or team up on the spirit, Higher Purpose kicks in, giving
  +2 on all dice rolls! The curse uses a broad definition of “cheat-
  ing” – any external advantage that the spirit doesn’t share
  counts. Except in a one-on-one duel with no allies, no spells,
  and only the gear each fighter had at the moment of the chal-
  lenge, this bonus will apply.
  Die By the Sword
  A sword spirit embodies the old saying – it lives by the
  sword and dies by the sword. No other injury will keep it down
  forever. So what counts as a “sword blow”? Any attack with a
  metal weapon covered by Fencing Weapons or Swords on
  pp. B208-209. This need not be its sword (although that’s won-
  derfully poetic); any sword will do. Of course, the whimsical
  GM could alter the curse so that it does specify the spirit’s own
  blade, making the sword spirit a much tougher foe!
  
  THROTTLER
  These immortal spirits were punished eons ago by
  a goddess who confined them to hulking material bod-
  ies that resemble green ogres. Nobody remembers
  why. They enjoy few spirit gifts (see Summoners) yet
  suffer most spirit weaknesses – like susceptibility to
  sorcerous summoning, repulsion, and binding. Their
  sole remarkable ability is that of transforming into
  one specific human form . . . a trick used to approach
  travelers in order to strangle them as sacrifices to
  their goddess. Like as-Sharak (Dungeons, p. 21),
  some throttlers believe that this can reverse their
  curse. Many simply find humans tasty.
  ST: 20
  HP: 20
  Speed: 5.50
  DX: 10
  Will: 10
  Move: 6
  IQ: 10
  Per: 12
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: +1
  Dodge: 8
  Parry: 12 (unarmed)
  DR: 2
  Kick (16): 2d+1 crushing. Reach C, 1.
  Neck Grapple (18): Followed by strangling; see
  p. B370.
  Punch (18): 2d crushing. Reach C, 1.
  Traits: Alternate Form (Human); Bloodlust (9);
  Divine Curse (Affected by anything that would
  normally only affect spirits, despite being
  entirely physical beings); High Pain Threshold;
  Night Vision 9; Obsession (9) (Throttling peo-
  ple); Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+3); Tem-
  perature Tolerance 10 (-25°F to 150°F).
  Skills: Brawling-18; Stealth-14; Tracking-14;
  Wrestling-18.
  Class: Mundane (but note Divine Curse!).
  Notes: Bind Spirit, Command Spirit, Pentagram,
  Repel Spirits, Sense Spirit, and Turn Spirit affect
  throttlers as written; Entrap Spirit renders them
  insubstantial to be sealed in a container; and
  Banish teleports them to the ruins of their god-
  dess’ temple! Effective ST 22 when grappling,
  thanks to Wrestling; apply SM difference to
  attack rolls when grappling (+1 vs. SM 0
  humans). Most pose as “innocent victims,” but
  some stomp around being ogres, with armor,
  weapons, and combat skills to match. Green.
  THE MONSTERS
  30
  Full Throttle
  Using armed throttlers as ogre stand-ins is wasteful. They’re
  brawny enough, but ogres charge lower rates – just ask any Evil Over-
  lord. And having throttlers attempt to strangle armed adventurers in
  combat is outright suicidal.
  Guile works better, but a throttler is unlikely to succeed at posing as
  a lost child in order to strangle his rescuers in their sleep. That’s beyond
  his acting skills, and he couldn’t restrain his urges for hours regardless.
  A gang of sneaky throttlers is another matter. Flesh-bound throt-
  tlers are living, breathing, reproducing mortals, cursed to reincarnate
  as the spawn of their living brethren, instantly transforming the
  young into full-strength specimens. Thus, Granny and Pappy Throt-
  tle, Buck Throttle and his wife Daisy, Cousin Cletus Throttle, young
  Joe-Bob and Shane Throttle, and little Emma-Sue Throttle all use
  identical monster stats in their unchanged forms. And the family that
  slays together stays together.
  Some throttler families have mixtures of human forms that let them
  pose as human families. Others all resemble skinny itinerants, fat mer-
  chants, etc. They might pay adventurers to protect their camp or cara-
  van, beg for alms, or come running at delvers – armed-and-armored
  associates pursuing them in ogre form – screaming for rescue from the
  monsters. Once the heroes are surrounded, or bravely positioned
  between “ogres” and “innocents,” things get ugly.
  It’s Not Easy Being Green
  If it’s possible to play an ogre, then the GM may allow throttler PCs.
  Throttler
  150 points
  Attribute Modifiers: ST+10 (Size, -10%) [90]; HT+2 [20].
  Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Per+2 [10]; Basic Move+1 [5];
  SM +1.
  Advantages: Alternate Form (Human) [15]; Damage Resistance 2
  (Tough Skin, -40%) [6]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Night Vision 9
  [9]; Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+3) [10]; Strangler* 2 [10];
  Temperature Tolerance 10 [10].
  Disadvantages: Bloodlust (9) [-15]; Divine Curse (Affected by any-
  thing that would normally only affect spirits) [-15]; Obsession (9)
  (Throttling) [-15].
  * Strangler: You’re fated to stalk and throttle travelers. This Talent
  aids Brawling, Stealth, Tracking, and Wrestling. Reaction bonus:
  none! 5 points/level.
  
  The troll shambled closer. He was perhaps eight feet tall,
  perhaps more. His forward stoop, with arms dangling past
  thick claw-footed legs to the ground, made it hard to tell. The
  hairless green skin moved upon his body. His head was a gash
  of a mouth, a yard-long nose, and two eyes which were black
  pools, without pupil or white, eyes which drank the feeble
  torchlight and never gave back a gleam.
  – Poul Anderson, Three Hearts and Three Lions
  Trolls are lean, green killing machines. Singly or in packs
  of a dozen or more, they may turn up almost anywhere: for-
  est, swamp, jungle, or skulking in ruins or sewers. They are
  carnivorous and love children, but can digest anything
  organic. Nothing eats them, though; troll flesh is altogether
  unwholesome. Because only fire or powerful acid can kill
  trolls, they fear nothing – including such attacks. Many a troll
  sports scars from acid or fire wielded by some now-dead foe!
  Tavern tales portray trolls as stupid, but they’re clever, cun-
  ning hunters. They’re also curious, investigating anything
  interesting that comes along. Their origins are a mystery.
  They seem to be sexless; there are only a few, possibly spuri-
  ous reports of old trolls; and troll children are unknown.
  Trolls have no culture but occasionally live in large commu-
  nities, dominated by the strongest. All hoard treasure, which
  is mixed up with the remains of previous victims.
  ST: 20
  HP: 20
  Speed: 6.25
  DX: 13
  Will: 10
  Move: 6
  IQ: 10
  Per: 10
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: +1
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 11 (unarmed)
  DR: 0
  Bite (15): 2d cutting. Reach C.
  Claws (15): 2d+1 cutting (¥2). Reach C-2.
  Traits: Acute Taste and Smell 3; Ambidexterity; Bloodlust
  (9); Combat Reflexes; Curious (9); Dark Vision; Extra
  Attack 2; Gluttony (9); High Pain Threshold; Immunity
  to Disease; Independent Body Parts (Detachable
  Head); Injury Tolerance (No Brain, No Vitals); Long
  Arms (+2 SM); Overconfidence (9); Recovery; Regener-
  ation (Very Fast, 1 HP/second; Not vs. burning or cor-
  rosion); Regrowth; Unfazeable; Universal Digestion;
  Unkillable 3 (Achilles’ Heel, Burning or Corrosion).
  Skills: Brawling-15; Stealth-14; Wrestling-15.
  Class: Mundane.
  Notes: Per 13 for smelling hidden foes. Effective ST 22
  when grappling, owing to Wrestling. Bite counts as a
  grapple on creatures of SM 0 or less. Bigger trolls
  exist – simply raise ST! Troll chieftains have Tactics at
  10+. There are legends (though no first-hand reports)
  of giant, two-headed, and even vampire trolls. Can
  occasionally be bribed.
  THE MONSTERS
  31
  TROLL
  Killin’ Trolls . . .
  A troll’s powerful Regeneration (1 HP/second) makes it
  challenging to kill. The only thing this can’t heal is wounds
  from burning or corrosion damage (although such
  injuries respond normally to rest, medical treatment, and
  healing spells). Trolls also have Independent Body Parts
  (pp. 35-36), making dismemberment and even decapita-
  tion temporary inconveniences. These advantages in com-
  bination with Regrowth and Unkillable mean that if a troll
  is hacked to bits and the pieces scattered, the fragments
  will work incessantly to reassemble. Pulverized trolls coa-
  lesce into limbs, torso, and head; larger bits reattach
  themselves. If sizeable chunks are kept apart for long (2d
  hours), each grows a mouth and starts to eat, growing into
  a full troll in 1d days.
  All this is common knowledge among delvers, who learn
  it young from old men in taverns and experienced adven-
  turers (and from playing That Other Game).
  . . . and Trolls Killin’
  Trolls are also expert killers. With Extra Attack 2, a troll
  can claw twice and bite once each turn. While normally
  concentrating on one opponent, it can attack as many as
  three, need be. Its bite counts as a grapple on smaller foes,
  so it’ll latch on to keep its victim in close. A troll battling a
  single adversary can deliver over 6d cutting per turn, all
  told. Lightly armored delvers beware!
  Trolls like to use their Stealth-14 to sneak up and launch
  surprise attacks from behind. Typical “fighters in front,
  casters in back” parties could find themselves in real trou-
  ble against this tactic.
  
  This isn’t a dead slime reanimated by a deranged necro-
  mancer . . . it’s the congealed residue of deliquesced zom-
  bies (in simplified Barbarian: a zombie horde that has
  rotted even more than usual). Physically, it’s a circular pud-
  dle of stink five yards across. Enough zombie rot in one
  place seems to develop a hive mind – like some insects – but
  because it requires neither food nor shelter, it sticks to
  doing what it does best: being a monster. The gunk might
  have an eyeball or a femur floating in it, but it lacks limbs
  and mouths; therefore, it strikes by bloating up with corpse
  gas, shoving its victims, and then deflating, leaving behind
  a horrid stench.
  ST: 45
  HP: 45
  Speed: 5.00
  DX: 8
  Will: 8
  Move: 1
  IQ: 1
  Per: 8
  HT: 12
  FP: N/A
  SM: +4
  Dodge: 8
  Parry: N/A
  DR: 0
  Pfff: Billows out, automatically hitting anyone within three
  yards. The only defense allowed is diving for cover
  (p. B377); this must succeed and move the defender out
  of range. On a hit, roll 10d and divide by victim’s ST-2 for
  knockback in yards. See Knockback (p. B378) for effects,
  like being knocked down and hurled into walls. Anyone
  backed up against a hard surface is instead trash-com-
  pacted for 5d-1 crushing.
  Ssss (Resisted by HT): Smell-based emanation
  within three yards. Subjects who don’t resist are
  nauseated (-2 to attribute and skill rolls, -1 to
  active defenses, and possible vomiting; see
  p. B428) for minutes equal to margin of failure.
  Traits: Amphibious; Bad Smell; Detect (Life); Doesn’t
  Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink; Doesn’t Sleep; Frag-
  ile (Unnatural); High Pain Threshold; Immunity
  (Most forms of control); Immunity to Metabolic
  Hazards; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance (Diffuse);
  Invertebrate; No Manipulators; Temperature Tol-
  erance 10 (-115°F to 60°F); Unfazeable; Unhealing
  (Partial).
  Class: Slime/Undead.
  Notes: Unaffected by Animal, Necromantic, or Plant
  spells that don’t specifically target slimes, but is
  injured by Turn Zombie. Heals by absorbing
  corpses; restores HP equal the corpse’s HP in life,
  taking a day per 4 HP healed. Bigger slimes
  sometimes form: seven-yard one has SM +5,
  ST/HP 75, 17d shove (or 8d+1 crushing), Reach
  5; 10-yard one has SM +6, ST/HP 100, 22d shove
  (or 11d-1 crushing), Reach 7. Not truly evil –
  more of a thaumatological accident. Far too stu-
  pid to negotiate!
  THE MONSTERS
  32
  UNDEAD SLIME
  Endurance Event
  Fighting undead slime can take a while. It’s Diffuse, so it suf-
  fers only 2 HP of injury from most attacks and just 1 HP from
  impaling or piercing ones. Since the thing has 45 HP, delivering
  the 90 points of injury required to reduce it to -HP – where
  Fragile (Unnatural) kicks in – requires lots of hits. Damaging
  Area spells and explosive Missile spells do their usual damage.
  Little else works, least of all anything that involves getting the
  slime to eat or breathe something nasty, as it’s utterly immune
  to such dangers.
  Cage Fight
  If nothing prevents the heroes from falling back and peppering
  the slime with, say, 45 boulders or 90 arrows, then that’s what
  they’ll do. It’s easy to hit (+4 for SM), unlikely to duck (Dodge 8),
  and only dangerous within three yards. It certainly can’t chase
  anyone effectively (Move 1).
  To make undead slime a threat, put it in a spot where the
  delvers can’t do this; e.g., lurking at the bottom of a pit, beneath
  the waters of a cistern accessible only by ladder (it’s Amphibious!),
  or in a room suddenly sealed by portcullises. In a 12-yard-wide
  circular chamber, a five-yard-wide slime sitting in the middle,
  blasting unpleasantness three yards to all sides, can keep the PCs
  on the defensive. In a smaller compartment, it will crush those
  who can’t fly! There’s usually a secret escape route, of course.
  
  These humanoids are former humans
  bred into slave-creatures of the mindwarpers
  (Dungeons, p. 25). Their name derives from
  legends claiming that mindwarpers dwell in an
  airless realm between dimensions. Void brutes
  clearly don’t – but the name stuck.
  A void brute is heavily muscled, with a dis-
  proportionately bulky upper body atop a wasp-
  thin waist and stumpy legs; a large, shark-like
  mouth brimming with sharp teeth; and wide-
  set eyes that lack pupils, showing only plain
  white orbs. It’s completely without a neck, its
  eyes, mouth, and nose slits sitting high on its
  chest. It wears a leather harness and little else,
  and carries an outsized club with which to
  pound foes. Given the chance, a brute will grab
  an opponent, hold him at arm’s length, and
  bludgeon him to death with its club, resorting
  to grappling and biting if disarmed.
  ST: 17
  HP: 17
  Speed: 7.50
  DX: 13
  Will: 10
  Move: 7
  IQ: 8
  Per: 10
  HT: 13
  FP: 13
  SM: +1
  Dodge: 10
  Parry: 10
  DR: 2
  Bite (16): 1d+2 cutting. Reach C.
  Humongous Knobbed Club (15): 4d+2
  crushing. Reach 1.
  Punch (16): 2d+1 crushing. Reach C, 1.
  Traits: Arm ST 5; Berserk (12); Hide-
  bound; High Pain Threshold; Injury
  Tolerance (No Head, No Neck); Mute;
  No Peripheral Vision; Resistant to
  Metabolic Hazards (+3); Slave Mental-
  ity; Stubbornness; Unfazeable; Very
  Fit; Very Rapid Healing.
  Skills: Axe/Mace-15; Brawling-16; Wrest-
  ling-15.
  Class: Mundane.
  Notes: DR is tough skin, which doesn’t
  protect against contact agents. Effec-
  tive ST 24 when grappling, thanks to
  Arm ST and Wrestling. Effective HT 15
  for most purposes, due to Very Fit,
  increasing to effective HT 18 against
  metabolic hazards. Psionically enslaved
  (not to mention Mute) and unable to
  negotiate. In some cases, a mindwarper
  with a wider-than-usual range of psi
  abilities (The Next Level, pp. 40-41)
  might be in direct control of the brute,
  or at least borrowing its eyes. This can
  be all kinds of bad.
  THE MONSTERS
  33
  VOID BRUTE
  Serving the Masters
  Void brutes are slavishly loyal servants to the mindwarpers, who use
  them as shock troops, heavy laborers, and bodyguards. They’re most
  often encountered either alongside their hideous master or in a small
  group dispatched on some dangerous (but fairly simple) mission, like
  guarding a location, killing everything they find, or retrieving a lost
  object. Void brutes are just smart enough to function in their intended
  role, but have little or no imagination. If sufficiently confused or
  annoyed, they’ll get angry. Enraged brutes will attempt to destroy every-
  thing around them (though never mindwarpers or other void brutes)
  until they calm down . . . usually much later.
  Berserk Void Brutes
  Void brutes already enjoy an effective HT 15 to avoid unconsciousness
  or death, thanks to their base HT 13 and Very Fit. When Berserk (p. B124)
  kicks in, the +4 for that disadvantage amplifies this to an effective HT 19.
  Combined with Injury Tolerance that removes two high-value targets (the
  skull and the neck), this makes them extremely hard to kill.
  Killing a void brute typically requires taking it to -5¥HP. This amounts
  to 102 points of injury. For this reason, the GM should avoid stacking on
  additional DR – the brutes already take a terrific amount of injury to
  defeat! Going for the limbs can avoid this, but crippling a void brute’s leg
  or arm requires a single blow that rolls a basic damage of at least 8 if cut-
  ting or 11 if any other damage type. Even then, crippled brutes will crawl
  or hop over to the nearest foe and try to finish the job . . . players can
  insert their own Monty Python jokes here.
  
  Watchers look like tall, slender, four-armed elves sans hair,
  pupils (they have milky orbs for eyes), or a mouth; with mere
  slits for nostrils and ears; and with smooth, bone-colored
  flesh. Sages claim that this appearance is a persistent illusion,
  and that watchers are actually pulsating light globules with
  four glowing pseudopods for attacking foes and interacting
  with the world. At any rate, watchers move far faster than
  most mortals, teleport, and control the pace of any encounter.
  As for what they watch or want, nobody knows – but they’re
  found only in places where mages tried and failed to unlock
  Gate magic, which is a clue, at least.
  ST: 12
  HP: 12
  Speed: 10.00
  DX: 18
  Will: 12
  Move: 10 (Teleportation)
  IQ: 10
  Per: 18
  HT: 12
  FP: 12
  SM: 0
  Dodge: 14
  Parry: 13 (¥4)
  DR: 0
  Hook-Shaped Shortswords (18): 1d+2 cutting (¥4).
  Reach 1.
  Traits: Absolute Direction; Absolute Timing; Altered
  Time Rate 1; Damage Reduction 2; Detect (Gate
  Magic); Doesn’t Breathe; Doesn’t Eat or Drink;
  Doesn’t Sleep; Enhanced Time Sense; Extra Arms
  2; Extra Attack 3; Indomitable; Injury Tolerance
  (No Blood, No Vitals); Magic Resistance 6; Mute;
  Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+8); Unfazeable; Warp
  (Accessibility, Can’t teleport through people or obstacles;
  Blink; Cosmic, No die roll required; Range Limit, 10 yards;
  Reliable 8).
  Skills: Body Sense-18; Shortsword-18.
  Class: Elder Thing.
  Notes: See Time Is on Their Side (below) for important notes
  on abilities. Shortswords are unremarkable, aside from
  being so curved as to be useless for thrusting. Unwilling to
  negotiate.
  THE MONSTERS
  34
  WATCHER AT THE EDGE OF TIME
  Time Is on
  Their Side
  Enhanced Time Sense guarantees that a watcher always
  acts first against delvers who lack that advantage – and
  Basic Speed 10.00 means that it usually gets the jump on
  rivals who do enjoy that trait. Altered Time Rate 1 enables
  it to take two maneuvers per turn. Because Extra Attack 3
  lets a watcher attack four times, two Attack maneuvers
  translate into eight blows; with skill 18, Deceptive Attack is
  likely. Against mobile opponents, Warp – actually extra-fast
  movement through space, blocked by people, walls, etc. –
  permits the watcher to cover 10 yards, even fly at Move 10,
  without making success rolls. With a Move maneuver fol-
  lowed by an Attack, it could travel 10 yards, make four
  swings, and then step back.
  A watcher is equally overpowering on the defensive.
  Blink and Reliable let it use Warp once per turn to evade
  any one attack at 18 or less. This counts as a dodge, and is
  in addition to unlimited mundane dodges at 14 and, if
  needed, four parries at 13 (crossing paired swords to parry
  with both at once gives two parries at 15 instead). Assum-
  ing that someone lands a hit, calculate injury normally and
  then halve it (Damage Reduction 2). Heroes who favor
  alternatives to swordplay should note that the watcher has
  Magic Resistance 6, +8 to HT when it comes to poison and
  the like, and no vitals. It can also use Warp once or twice
  on its turn to flee 10 or 20 yards from restraints, Area
  spells, etc. that don’t wholly encase it in matter.
  Hero-Killers
  Watchers aren’t meant to be fair. A lone watcher could
  almost be a boss in its own right, although it lacks the
  damage to threaten well-armored adventurers, even if it
  uses its first maneuver for All-Out Attack (Strong) and the
  second for something that allows active defenses. Multi-
  ple, better-armed watchers could flank a party at will and
  destroy it in detail. Only do this to delvers who have it
  coming; e.g., if they find and badly abuse some form of
  gate or teleportation.
  
  There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are
  dreamt of in your philosophy.
  – Shakespeare the Bard
  Birds can fly and fish can swim, but on this planet where do
  I fit in?
  – Shakespears Sister
  Freaky traits make the monster, but “freaky” is by contrast
  to “mundane”; exotic and supernatural advantages and disad-
  vantages straight out of the Basic Set usually cover it. Before
  springing a creature on the PCs, the GM should review its
  “Traits” list and bone up on any rules with which he’s unfamil-
  iar. Monster write-ups try to do as much of the math as possi-
  ble, highlight vital synergies, and warn of important
  exceptions, but they can’t anticipate every contingency (or
  adventuring party), and it’s no fun to pause the hacking and
  slashing in order to dig in books for some obscure detail.
  If a monster isn’t dangerous enough, the GM should beef it
  up! Most monster entries suggest power-ups under “Notes” or
  in nearby boxes. The advice is usually simple, like “raise ST,”
  but sometimes involves changes to several stats or almost all of
  them; e.g., King of the Apes (p. 16).
  If the players know too much about a monster, the GM
  should change it up. Some creatures come with ready-made
  alternatives, such as Lizard Breath (p. 26) for the slorn. The
  GM can also transplant abilities from other Dungeon
  Fantasy fiends; see Monster Index (pp. 39-40) for a list.
  Delvers who’ve encountered bronze spiders (p. 5) won’t be
  expecting a slorn breath weapon!
  The GM can even steal abilities intended for heroes;
  Adventurers, The Next Level, and Power-Ups are especially
  useful sources. Many monsters come with advice along these
  lines: all liches (p. 23) are spellcasters, some Demons from
  Between the Stars (p. 9) are clerics, and the occasional horde
  pygmy (p. 18) is a necromancer. However, there’s no reason not
  to give a troll chieftain (p. 31) barbarian abilities, make a dino-
  man leader (p. 11) into a trained knight, grant a draug lord
  (p. 12) unholy warrior powers, or introduce a sword spirit
  (p. 29) or an unusually smart karkadann (p. 21) who has
  swashbuckler power-ups. A void brute (p. 33) with psi abilities
  might be reaching – but then again, mindwarpers are worthy of
  their name.
  But not all monster abilities and power-ups are so straight-
  forward . . .
  MONSTER TRAITS
  35
  CHAPTER TWO
  MONSTER
  TRAITS
  Two advantages seen in Chapter 1 aren’t in the Basic Set.
  They’re described here in sufficient detail that the GM can use
  them in play, grant them to his own fiends, or even stick them
  on Allies or Alternate Forms intended for delvers. Damage
  Reduction, found on the watcher at the edge of time (p. 34), is
  one of the fastest ways to make any monster tougher.
  Independent Body Parts, possessed by the troll (p. 31), suits
  other regenerating creatures – and zombies! Both are techni-
  cally subtypes of Injury Tolerance (pp. B60-61).
  Damage Reduction
  50 points for a divisor of 2,
  75 points for 3, or 100 points for 4
  The monster divides the injury it suffers by 2, 3, or 4 (round
  up) after subtracting DR from damage and applying any
  wounding modifiers. Record this as “Damage Reduction 2,”
  “Damage Reduction 3,” or “Damage Reduction 4,” respectively.
  This trait reduces all injury, but the Limited modifier (see
  Limited Defenses, p. B46) can restrict its benefits to damage
  types directly related to the creature’s powers.
  Independent Body Parts
  35 points
  The monster’s limbs and extremities continue to fight after
  being severed. In effect, they’re separate entities! When the
  creature is struck there, don’t apply injury to its HP. Instead,
  apply it to the body part’s HP score: the owner’s HP/3 for an
  extremity or HP/2 for a limb (round up).
  Attacks injure body parts normally with one exception: a
  cutting attack that would cripple a limb or an extremity costs
  the monster the use of that part (see p. B421) but inflicts no
  injury on the creature or the body part. Instead, it severs that
  part, which falls to the ground and fights as its owner’s ally!
  An extremity separates from its limb, while a limb separates
  from the torso.
  NEW MONSTER ADVANTAGES
  
  Body parts have the monster’s HT. Size Modifier is the
  owner’s, adjusted by the part’s hit location modifier; thus, a dis-
  embodied arm or leg has a SM of -2 relative to the creature,
  while a hand or a foot is at -4. For instance, the arm or leg of a
  SM +1 troll has SM -1, while its hand or foot has SM -3. Other
  abilities are as follows:
  Arms: An arm has its owner’s DX, a Move of the monster’s
  ST/4, and a Dodge of DX/2 + 3. It has full ST for striking or
  strangling, but only ST/2 for grappling or dragging things. If it
  has a hand, it can punch or grapple (but only the feet or legs of
  a standing foe), or wield a one-handed weapon at -2 damage. If
  it lacks a hand, it can club for punching damage.
  Leg: A leg with a foot has DX equal to its owner’s DX-2.
  Move is the monster’s Move-3, while Dodge is DX/2 + 3. It can
  leap up and kick foes for full damage. Treat a leg without a foot
  as an arm without a hand, but at -2 DX.
  Hand: A severed hand has its owner’s DX, Move equal to
  DX/2, and a Dodge of DX/2 + 3. Its only effective attack is to
  crawl up someone’s body (treat this as a grapple) and strangle
  – see p. B370. The hand has the monster’s full ST for this pur-
  pose only.
  Foot: A foot has DX equal to its owner’s DX-2, Move 1, and
  Dodge 4. Its only useful combat ability is to trip those who try
  to pass it. A fighter who tries to run through its hex must evade
  (see p. B368), and falls down if the foot wins.
  Round fractions up for Move and ST calculations, but down
  for Dodge. Where combat skills would matter, apply the mon-
  ster’s relative skill level to the body part’s DX.
  A severed body part suffers injury normally from every
  attack except the one that severed it. At 0 or fewer HP, it’s
  crippled and can’t act. Make the usual HT roll to learn whether
  this is permanent (see p. B422).
  The monster may reattach its body parts by holding them in
  place for a minute. It can reattach crippled parts if the injury
  is temporary or lasting, but they remain crippled until healed.
  Permanently crippled body parts are destroyed.
  If the monster dies, any severed parts live on and continue
  to attack its enemies!
  Special Enhancements
  Detachable Head: The monster’s head uses these rules, too. A
  cutting attack to the neck that inflicts full HP or more decapi-
  tates the creature without injury. The head has its owner’s DX
  and HT, HP/2, and Move and Dodge 0. It has a relative SM of
  -5 (e.g., SM -4 for a SM +1 troll). It can bite at full ST in close
  combat. If the head is the creature’s seat of consciousness, the
  body fights as its ally. If it isn’t (for instance, if the monster has
  No Brain), the head fights as the body’s ally. +15%.
  Instant Reattachment: Body parts need only be held in place
  for a second to reattach them. Creatures with the Very Fast or
  Extreme level of Regeneration (like the troll) don’t need this
  enhancement! +50%.
  Special Limitations
  No Reattachment: The monster’s severed body parts are ani-
  mated but can’t be reattached. This can’t be combined with
  Instant Reattachment. -60%.
  Reattachment Only: The monster’s body parts are inert
  when severed. Severing them causes the owner no injury, and
  reattachment is possible, but they can’t act independently. This
  can’t be combined with No Reattachment. -50%.
  MONSTER TRAITS
  36
  Not every monster is an out-of-the-box giant ape, or undead
  slime, or lich. The GM might have a job opening for a distorted
  giant ape, a chaos undead slime, or a psycho killer lich. Such
  added labels – called monster prefixes – serve to modify a crea-
  ture’s capabilities (and make it sound scarier!).
  A monster can have several prefixes. If a prefix adds a trait
  that the creature already has – natively or from an earlier prefix
  – then ignore it if it’s all-or-nothing. But if it’s possible to amplify
  it, do so: Add the levels of traits that have them. Worsen self-con-
  trol numbers for disadvantages by one step per occurrence
  (from 15 to 12 to 9 to 6). Several prefixes describe other cases.
  Berserker
  A berserker flings itself into battle with reckless fury. It may
  start the battle in a berserk rage, or it might hold back until
  injured and then fly into a killing frenzy.
  Statistics: Add Berserk (12) (Battle Rage) – and if the crea-
  ture already has Berserk, add Battle Rage, if absent, in addition
  to lowering self-control number. Add +3 or 30% to HP (round
  down), whichever is higher.
  Chaos
  Chaos creatures have been warped by contact with pure
  chaos: the random, unformed stuff of the universe. They’re
  twitchingly fast, terrifying opponents, but also incredibly ran-
  dom in their actions . . . and in how their bodies react to the
  stress of mortal injury. This prefix can occur alone but often
  appears alongside distorted (p. 37).
  Statistics: Add +1 to Speed, plus Combat Reflexes, Fragile
  (Unnatural), High Pain Threshold, and Impulsiveness (9).
  When slain, roll 1d:
  MONSTER PREFIXES
  You broke into my house, stole my property, murdered my servants, and
  my PETS! And that is what grieves me the most! You killed my snake.
  – Thulsa Doom, in Conan the Barbarian
  
  1 – The creature proves to have Fragile (Explosive), too, and
  explodes immediately.
  2-5 – The creature dissolves into a murky pool of liquid
  chaos that dissipates after 1d minutes. Treat contact with this
  as a 1d attack. Roll 1d for damage type: 1-2 is burning, 3-4 is
  toxic, and 5-6 is corrosive.
  6 – The creature has Unkillable 2. It dissolves into a murky
  pool, as on 2-5, before reforming and springing back to life. If
  slain a second (or third . . .) time, reroll on this table and apply
  the new effect one instead of the old one.
  Determined
  Some creatures are simply hard to put down and keep down.
  While neither berserkers (p. 36) nor unstoppable, uncanny
  psycho killers (p. 38), they share a similar refusal to quit. They
  also hit a bit harder, in their relentless determination to win.
  This prefix is especially common on monster leaders and
  champions.
  Statistics: Add +2 or 20% to HP (round down), whichever is
  higher; Hard to Subdue 1; and Striking ST 2.*
  * Two levels of Striking ST generally give +1 to damage with
  thrusting attacks (including nearly all natural and
  unarmed attacks) and +2 with swinging attacks. The
  GM may recalculate damage in detail or just wing it
  and add +1 or +2!
  Distorted
  A distorted monster has been warped in some way
  – most often by exposure to Elder Things, but occa-
  sionally as a result of living in an alchemical toxic
  waste dump or being subjected to a mad wizard’s
  experiments.
  Statistics: This depends in part on the creature’s
  supernatural weaknesses. If it has an exploitable flaw
  – especially Dread, Fragile, Magic Susceptibility, Noc-
  turnal, Revulsion, Susceptible, Vulnerability, or
  Weakness – then replace this with an uncanny but
  hard-to-exploit feature like Disturbing Voice, Fright-
  ens Animals, Lifebane, Noisy, Supernatural Features,
  or Weirdness Magnet. If it has several weaknesses,
  swap at least one, perhaps rolling dice for each. If it
  lacks suitable weaknesses, it simply acquires a single
  uncanny trait. Regardless, it gains a total of 1d body
  parts chosen from among Extra Arms, Extra Heads,
  Extra Legs, and/or Extra Mouths (note that Extra
  Arms or Extra Legs change No Manipulators to No
  Fine Manipulators); the GM chooses or rolls ran-
  domly. Finally, the monster’s class changes to Elder
  Thing, meaning that it’s unaffected by control spells,
  Banish, True Faith, etc. Elder Things retain their class
  and gain 2d extra body parts.
  Elemental
  Certain creatures have acquired “elemental” powers.
  Statistics: Damage type changes for all of the monster’s
  attacks. Simply replace the usual type (burning, crushing, cut-
  ting, etc.) with the new one. Damage amount doesn’t change
  unless the unmodified monster already inflicts the selected ele-
  mental damage type; in that case, damage is +1 per die, mini-
  mum +1. There are six main types:
  Acid Elemental: Type becomes corrosion.
  Cold Elemental: Type becomes burning with no incendiary
  effect. Victims must roll vs. HT at -1 per 2 points of penetrating
  damage or be paralyzed (roll vs. HT at same penalty every turn
  to recover). This is “freezer burn,” not flame, so cold resistance
  works but fire resistance is useless.
  Electricity Elemental: Type becomes burning with no incen-
  diary effect. Victims must roll vs. HT at -1 per 2 points of pene-
  trating damage or be stunned (roll vs. HT at same penalty every
  turn to recover). This is lightning, not flame, so electrical
  resistance works but fire resistance is useless.
  Energy Drain Elemental: Type becomes fatigue.
  Fire Elemental: Type becomes burning (the usual sort that
  starts fires).
  Poison Elemental: Type becomes toxic.
  As well, if the baseline creature has DR, the elemental ver-
  sion gains that much extra DR against its element only. If it has
  DR 0, it gains DR 1 against its element.
  Ghostly
  This is a spirit-form variant of the creature – usually one
  that was slain and is back for vengeance! Ghostly monsters
  know that revenge is a dish best served indiscriminately;
  they’re intolerant of everything.
  MONSTER TRAITS
  37
  Theme Dungeons
  Players of computer RPGs will be familiar with the concept of
  “theme areas.” The Jungle Vastness is always populated by ana-
  condas, dire apes, horde pygmies, and trigers. The Crevice of Hell
  always contains as-Sharak, Demons of Old, and peshkali. And so
  on. But the monsters aren’t all “plain vanilla” versions – they come
  in different (often color-coded) variations, differentiated largely
  by prefixes.
  The GM can use the same idea in Dungeon Fantasy. Pick
  three to five thematically linked monsters (e.g., demons, or jun-
  gle-dwellers, or midgets with SM -1) and three to five recurring
  variations – created using one or more prefixes – that apply to all
  of them. For instance, a dungeon might contain three kinds of
  monsters with five variations apiece, for 15 distinct monster
  types, plus any bosses or special individuals (see Boss Monsters,
  p. 38). Don’t worry if the prefixes don’t suit, or stack sensibly on,
  every monster. This is dungeon fantasy, after all, so the occasional
  berserker horrid skull or acid elemental flame lord won’t be too
  out of place.
  To be extra-faithful to the theme-dungeon concept, match
  traps, treasures, etc. to the theme as well. For instance, a jungle-
  themed dungeon that features five sorts of dart-shooting horde
  pygmies and makes liberal use of the elemental poison prefix
  should have plenty of traps that involve darts and/or poison, and
  weapons found there ought to have an excellent chance of being
  made from poisonwood (Treasure Tables, p. 33).
  
  Statistics: Add Doesn’t Breathe, Doesn’t Eat or Drink,
  Doesn’t Sleep, Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, Insubstantial-
  ity (Affect Substantial; Usually On), Intolerance (All living
  beings), and Temperature Tolerance 10. Add the Undead mon-
  ster class on top of the original class.
  Juggernaut
  A juggernaut is a slow-but-unstoppable force, especially
  resistant to damage and capable of absorbing what gets
  through. It’s a juggernaut relative to its kind – juggernaut ver-
  sions of especially small, weak, or frail monsters are still fairly
  small, weak, and frail!
  Statistics: Add +2 or 20% to ST; +5 or 50% to HP; and +1 or
  50% to DR. In all cases, round fractions down but use whichever
  bonus is higher.
  Possessed
  A possessed monster has its mind taken over by a hostile
  demonic spirit. The Banish spell can affect the possessing spirit
  but not the original creature; a successful casting removes this
  prefix. If the underlying creature already belongs to the Demon
  class, then two successful Banish spells are needed to send it
  home: the first dispels the possessing spirit, removing this pre-
  fix, and the second gets rid of the original creature.
  Statistics: Add +3 to Will or set Will to 15, whichever is higher.
  Also add Bloodlust (12), Callous, Dread (Holy Objects; 5 yards),
  Hard to Kill 2, Hard to Subdue 2, High Pain Threshold,
  Indomitable, Lifebane, Sadism (12), and the note “Unwilling to
  negotiate. Truly evil.” The monster’s class becomes Demon (a
  successful Banish spell means it reverts to its underlying class).
  Psycho Killer
  Psychos aren’t stronger or harder to knock down – indeed,
  they might at first seem to be plodding and ineffectual.
  However, they have a habit of not staying down, appearing
  behind delvers who look away from their “corpse.”
  Statistics: Add -1 to Move (minimum Move is 1), 1d-1 levels
  of Extra Life (minimum one), and +5 to Stealth (a monster with-
  out Stealth gains it at DX). If the creature has an Extra Life left
  when killed, then regardless of how thoroughly the delvers
  destroy it, its remains vanish as soon as they’re left unobserved.
  Disintegration, incineration, etc. make this easier, not harder!
  The thing then expends one Extra Life and
  reappears someplace its killers wouldn’t expect:
  behind the next door, in the “cleared” dungeon
  behind them, hanging under their wagon out-
  side, lurking behind the waterfall where they
  stop to clean up on their way to town . . . This
  “teleportation” isn’t physical movement but a
  special effect of Extra Life.
  Ravenous
  A ravenous monster is a fanged, vicious
  version of the baseline creature. While most
  common among biting animals, anything can
  be ravenous – a ravenous lich or golem can be
  very surprising and effective.
  Statistics: A monster that has no bite
  attack, or a crushing bite, acquires Sharp
  Teeth (thrust-1 cutting). One with a cutting or
  large piercing bite gains Fangs, making the
  bite impaling. In all cases, add Striking ST
  (One Attack Only, Bite) equal to 50% of total
  ST and Striking ST, rounded up.
  Undead
  A creepy zombie version of whatever it was
  originally, generally rotting and stinky, with bits
  of grue falling off as it staggers around buzzing
  with flies. It isn’t terribly fast, but it is strong.
  Statistics: Add +2 or 20% to ST and +5 or
  50% to HP; in both cases, round fractions down
  but use whichever bonus is higher. Also add -1
  to Speed, plus Bad Smell, Doesn’t Breathe,
  Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, High Pain
  Threshold, Immunity to Metabolic Hazards,
  Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Unliving), No
  Sense of Smell/Taste, and Temperature Toler-
  ance 10. Add the Undead monster class on top
  of the original class.
  MONSTER TRAITS
  38
  Boss Monsters
  The term “boss monster” comes from video games, and refers to the big,
  bad monster at the end of a level. Tabletop dungeon crawls sometimes fea-
  ture bosses, too. A few features distinguish a boss from lesser creatures:
  • It has a proper name, not just a descriptive title. Delvers face “Skull-
  crusher” or “Rattlebones,” not “the boss ogre” or “the boss lich.” This
  need not reflect specific powers – if the name makes the boss seem cooler,
  that’s good enough!
  • It’s an exceptional or special example of the baseline monster; e.g., an
  alpha male dire wolf (Dungeons, p. 22) or a horde pygmy shaman.
  • It often has multiple prefixes or custom additions, making it a more
  powerful version of the basic monster. You don’t become the Crushroom
  King or Princess of the Peshkali by being weak!
  There are three broad varieties of boss:
  Underboss: This is a stronger individual monster who leads a group of
  other monsters. It’s usually subordinate to a level boss – or at least
  weaker. It needs a name, and should either have at least one monster pre-
  fix or be an otherwise exceptional example of that monster type.
  Level Boss: This is the biggest, baddest monster on that particular level
  or in that section of the dungeon. Typically, it’s a larger, stronger, nastier
  version of the most common monster (e.g., the strongest troll) or an
  unrelated creature that rules or controls the level’s inhabitants (e.g., a
  wizard who commands all of the level’s zombies). Defeating a level boss
  should be both tough and rewarding (if only in satisfaction). To create a
  level boss, start with an exceptional member of that monster type and
  then add at least one monster prefix.
  Big Boss: This monster either leads and rules everything in the dun-
  geon, or is simply the baddest monster in the whole place! Examples
  include the lich in the deeps of his personally stocked dungeon, the
  largest giant ape on the whole island, and the demonic ruler of an entire
  hellish subdimension. The big boss should be an exceptional individual,
  customized with additional powers and/or equipment, and possess two,
  three, or more prefixes.
  
  With rare exceptions, monsters are
  not listed in this index. Instead, they
  have their own index (see below).
  Advantages, new, 35-36.
  Animals, dire, 13, 17, 20, 26, 27; giant, 16;
  mundane, 21, 22.
  Arms, independent, 36.
  Berserker monster prefix, 36.
  Breath attacks, variants, 26.
  Cestus, 17.
  Chain weapons, tricks, 10.
  Chaos monster prefix, 36-37.
  Constructs, 5, 8, 24.
  Damage Reduction advantage, 35.
  Demons, monsters classed as, 10.
  Detachable Hand enhancement, 36.
  Determined monster prefix, 37.
  Dinomobs, 11.
  Dire animals, 13, 17, 20, 26, 27.
  Distorted monster prefix, 37.
  Divine servitors, 7.
  Dungeons, theme, 37.
  Elder Things, 9, 14, 28, 34.
  Elemental, monster prefix, 37; monsters, 15.
  Enhancements, new, 36.
  Faeries, monsters classed as, 29.
  Feet, independent, 36.
  Flame lord template, 15.
  Ghostly monster prefix, 37-38.
  GURPS, 4; Basic Set, 35; Dungeon Fantasy,
  3, 35, 37, 39; Dungeon Fantasy 1:
  Adventurers, 8-10, 35; Dungeon Fantasy
  2: Dungeons, 3-5, 8, 9, 11, 15, 17, 18, 21,
  30, 25, 38-40; Dungeon Fantasy 3: The
  Next Level, 3, 19, 23, 24, 26, 33, 35, 40;
  Dungeon Fantasy 5: Allies, 3, 4, 39, 40;
  Dungeon Fantasy 6: 40 Artifacts, 3, 40;
  Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables,
  37; Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners, 3,
  4, 23, 30, 39, 40; Dungeon Fantasy 10:
  Taverns, 3, 40; Dungeon Fantasy 11:
  Power-Ups, 35.
  Hands, independent, 36.
  Independent Body Parts advantage,
  35-36.
  Instant Reattachment enhancement, 36.
  Juggernaut monster prefix, 38.
  Lairs, 4, 6, 18, 20, 25.
  Legs, independent, 36.
  Limitations, new, 36.
  Mindwarpers, minions of, 33.
  Monsters, altering standard, 35; boss, 38;
  classes, 4; prefixes, 36-38; suggested boss,
  7, 13, 16, 20, 23, 34; suggested fodder, 8,
  11, 17, 18, 22; see also specific classes.
  Mundane, monsters classed as, 6, 11, 18,
  25, 30, 31, 33; animals, 21, 22; giant
  animals, 16.
  No Reattachment limitation, 36.
  Possessed monster prefix, 38.
  Psycho Killer monster prefix, 38.
  Ravenous monster prefix, 38.
  Reattachment Only limitation, 36.
  Sickles, 8.
  Slimes, monsters classed as, 32.
  Slorn riders, 26.
  Slughemoth, 27.
  Spell list, Demons From Between the Stars, 9.
  Teclá, 24.
  Templates, flame lord, 15; throttler, 30.
  Theme dungeons, 37.
  Throttler template, 30.
  Traps, monster as, 19, 22.
  Treasure, tips, 4, 37; monster-specific, 6, 12,
  18, 31.
  Undead, monster prefix, 38; monsters classed
  as, 12, 19, 23, 32.
  For quick reference, here’s a combined listing of all the
  monsters in this work and in Dungeon Fantasy 1-12.
  Monster: The monster’s name, with base type placed before
  any qualifier; e.g., the acid spider and giant spider appear as
  “spider, acid” and “spider, giant” so that all the spiders nest in
  one place.
  Reference: The Dungeon Fantasy publication where the
  monster
  appears,
  along
  with
  the
  page
  number;
  e.g.,
  “Dungeons, p. 21” for that acid spider.
  Class: The type of monster; see Reading Monster Stats
  (p. 4). Dungeon Fantasy 5: Allies adds a new class, Servitor
  of Good (the opposite of Demon), generalized here as Divine
  Servitor. And Dungeon Fantasy 9: Summoners introduces
  the Spirit class.
  Monster
  Reference
  Class
  Anaconda
  Allies, p. 6
  Animal
  Angelic Emissary
  Summoners, p. 35
  Divine Servitor
  Ape, Flesh-Eating
  Dungeons, p. 23
  Dire Animal
  Ape, Giant
  p. 16
  Giant Animal
  Ape, Gladiator
  p. 17
  Dire Animal
  as-Sharak
  Dungeons, p. 21
  Demon
  Bat
  Allies, p. 21
  Animal
  Bat, Foul (Batchala)
  Dungeons, p. 23
  Dire Animal
  Bear
  Allies, p. 6
  Animal
  Boar
  Allies, p. 6
  Animal
  Bugbear
  p. 6
  Mundane
  Cat
  Allies, p. 22
  Animal
  Cat, Great
  Allies, p. 7
  Animal
  INDEX
  39
  INDEX
  MONSTER INDEX
  They got grubby little fingers, and dirty little minds.
  They’re gonna get you every time.
  – Randy Newman, Short People
  
  Monster
  Reference
  Class
  Chimp
  Allies, p. 22
  Animal
  Ciuaclá
  p. 7
  Divine Servitor
  Cloud, Demonic
  40 Artifacts, p. 22
  Demon
  Coleopteran
  The Next Level, p. 5
  Mundane
  Corpse-Eater
  The Next Level, p. 5
  Mundane
  Crushroom
  Dungeons, p. 22
  Plant
  Demon, Petty
  Summoners, p. 32
  Demon
  Demon, Standard
  Summoners, p. 34
  Demon
  Demon From
  p. 9
  Elder Thing
  Between the Stars
  Demon of Old
  p. 10
  Demon
  Devilkin
  Summoners, p. 33
  Demon
  Dinoman
  p. 11
  Mundane
  Dog
  Allies, p. 22
  Animal
  Doomchild
  Dungeons, p. 22
  Demon
  Dragon, Shoulder
  Allies, p. 27
  Faerie
  Dragon-Blooded
  The Next Level, p. 15
  Mundane
  Draug
  p. 12
  Undead
  Eagle, Giant
  Allies, p. 7
  Giant Animal
  Elemental, Air
  Summoners, p. 27
  Elemental
  Elemental, Earth
  Summoners, p. 27
  Elemental
  Elemental, Fire
  Summoners, p. 28
  Elemental
  Elemental, Metal
  Summoners, p. 29
  Elemental
  Elemental,
  Summoners, p. 30
  Elemental
  Void/Sound/Ether
  Elemental, Water
  Summoners, p. 30
  Elemental
  Elemental, Wood
  Summoners, p. 31
  Elemental
  Eye of Death
  p. 14
  Elder Thing
  Flame Lord
  p. 15
  Elemental
  Gargoyle
  The Next Level, p. 9
  Mundane
  Ghost, Lesser
  Summoners, p. 22
  Spirit
  Ghost, Major
  Summoners, p. 22
  Spirit
  Goblin
  The Next Level, p. 10
  Mundane
  Golem, Corpse
  p. 8
  Construct
  Golem, Stone
  Dungeons, p. 26
  Construct
  Golem-Armor
  Dungeons, p. 24
  Construct
  Swordsman
  Gorilla
  Allies, p. 7
  Animal
  Guardian,
  Summoners, p. 23
  Spirit
  Household
  Half-Ogre
  The Next Level, p. 15
  Mundane
  Half-Orc
  The Next Level, p. 10
  Mundane
  Hawk
  Allies, p. 23
  Animal
  Hellhound
  Allies, p. 26
  Demon
  Hobgoblin
  The Next Level, p. 11
  Mundane
  Hound
  Allies, p. 8
  Animal
  Imp
  Allies, p. 26
  Demon
  Jaguar, Obsidian
  p. 24
  Construct
  Jelly, Electric
  p. 13
  Dire Animal
  Kangaroo
  Allies, p. 9
  Animal
  Karkadann
  p. 21
  Animal
  Kraken
  Allies, p. 10
  Animal
  Monster
  Reference
  Class
  Leech, Leaping
  p. 22
  Animal
  Lich
  p. 23
  Undead
  Lizard Man
  The Next Level, p. 15
  Mundane
  Macaw
  Allies, p. 23
  Animal
  Mindwarper
  Dungeons, p. 25
  Elder Thing
  Minotaur
  The Next Level, p. 14
  Mundane
  Mite, Rock
  p. 25
  Mundane (?)
  Ogre
  The Next Level, p. 14
  Mundane
  Orc
  The Next Level, p. 11
  Mundane
  Owl
  Allies, p. 23
  Animal
  Peshkali
  Dungeons, p. 25
  Demon
  Pygmy, Horde
  p. 18
  Mundane
  Rabbit
  Allies, p. 24
  Animal
  Rat
  Allies, p. 24
  Animal
  Rat, Giant
  Dungeons, p. 24
  Giant Animal
  Rat, Giant Maned
  Taverns, p. 31
  Dire Animal
  Salamander
  Allies, p. 27
  Elemental
  Servitor, Divine
  Allies, p. 12
  Divine Servitor
  or Demon
  Shark
  Allies, p. 10
  Animal
  Siege Beast
  Dungeons, p. 25
  Mundane
  Skeleton, Servitor
  Summoners, p. 26
  Undead
  Skull, Flaming
  Dungeons, p. 23
  Undead
  Skull, Horrid
  p. 19
  Undead
  Slime, Erupting
  Dungeons, p. 23
  Slime
  Slime, Undead
  p. 32
  Slime/Undead
  Slorn
  p. 26
  Dire Animal
  Slugbeast
  p. 27
  Dire Animal
  Snake, Frost
  Dungeons, p. 24
  Dire Animal
  Sphere of Madness
  p. 28
  Elder Thing
  Spider, Acid
  Dungeons, p. 21
  Dire Animal
  Spider, Bronze
  p. 5
  Construct
  Spider, Giant
  Allies, p. 25
  Giant Animal
  Spirit, Ash
  40 Artifacts, p. 22
  Undead
  Spirit,
  Summoners, p. 21
  Animal, Giant
  Embodied Animal
  Animal, or
  Spirit
  Spirit, Sword
  p. 29
  Faerie
  Spirit of Place
  Summoners, p. 24
  Spirit
  Stallion
  Allies, p. 11
  Animal
  Swarm, Insect
  Allies, p. 9
  Animal
  Sylph
  Allies, p. 28
  Elemental
  Talus
  Allies, p. 28
  Elemental
  Throttler
  p. 30
  Mundane
  Toxifier
  Dungeons, p. 26
  Demon
  Triger
  Dungeons, p. 26
  Dire Animal
  Troll
  The Next Level,
  Mundane
  p. 16; p. 31
  Undine
  Allies, p. 29
  Elemental
  Viper
  Allies, p. 25
  Animal
  Void Brute
  p. 33
  Mundane
  Watcher at
  p. 34
  Elder Thing
  the Edge of Time
  Weasel, Ice
  Allies, p. 26
  Dire Animal
  Wolf, Dire
  Dungeons, p. 22
  Giant Animal
  Wolverine
  Allies, p. 11
  Animal
  Wyrm, Academy
  Taverns, p. 17
  Dire Animal
  Wyrm, Ice
  p. 20
  Dire Animal
  Zombie, Horde
  Dungeons, p. 24
  Undead
  Zombie, Servitor
  Summoners, p. 26
  Undead
  INDEX
  40
  BREAKIN’ STUFF!
  – Strong Mad
  
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Collections/Bestiaries/Bestiary 5/GURPS - Dungeon fantasy monsters 1.pdf