Monster - Animated Armored

Strange tales from the Shield Lands speak of wandering armored figures that kill anything in their path. These figures once defeated prove to bodiless suits of armor that quickly decay to a bloody rust, their weapons as well. An Enchanter-Mage in service to a local lord believes them to be autonmata or golems of some sort. 

Their path of destruction leads from the lands of the Horned Society. 3 so far have been encountered and there is a dread that there will be more to follow.

Unbeknowest to those outside the Horned Society is that members who have died are entombed in a great hall upright in their armor with their weapons near. The spirits of the dead are now dwellers in one of the Nine Hells but some link to their mortal shell remains. Several of the Hierarchs are using a dark ritual to animate these remains and are sending them forth against the Shield Landers, but they have no real control over these armored spirits who now find existence on the Oerth intolerable. 

The Hierarchs simply encase the armored bodies in a temporary sarcophagus and place it with the borders of the Shield Lands. At a safe distance they activate a ward which opens the sarcohagus pointing toward the Shield Lands while hoping for the best. So far the ritual allows for only one of the armored spirits to be animated at a time but plans are underway for a more powerful ceremony. 

Monster - Torach-Noth The Snake-Headed Beast

Torach-Noth The Snake-Headed Beast

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 1-100
Armor Class: 3
Move 14"
Hit Dice: 6
% in Lair: Nil
Treasure Type: Nil
No. of Attacks: 13 (Gaze/Stomp/Grasp x9/Claw x2)
Damage/Attack: Special/ 1d12 / 1d6 / 2d6
Special Attack: Gaze can focus on a single character and if a save against Paralyzation is not made the character will not be able to move. The Snake-Head must maintain eye contact with the character or the effect is immediately broken.
Special Defense: The Snake-Head is immune to all mind control/charm/sleep/paralyzation and such-like spells and effects.
Magic Resistance: 50%
Intelligence: Nil/Supra-Genius
Alignment: Nil/Chaotic Evil
Size: L (9ft tall)
Language: Cannot speak and individually it possess no language but the entity that controls it understands all languages.

Physical Description: The Snake-Head stands 9ft tall from its massively hooved feet to its neck-like head from which nine projections emerge. These projections have a slight similarity to snakes with a greenish reptilian pattern along their length. The creature's pear-shaped body is covered in a brownish feathery pelt that turns to a lengthy patch of hair along its short arms. Its arm are clawed and powerful, but appearing short when compared with its massive body (it easily weighs 500 pounds or more).

Combat: In combat it will attempt to use its gaze power to disable a foe but against multiple opponents it will put its head down and try to grasp them with its snake-like protuberances with a crushing grip and draw them to its powerful claws or through them down and stomp them with its massive hooves.


Ecology: The Snake-Head is not a living creature. It neither eats nor breaths. In human terms it is a kind of detritus which forms from the flesh and dreams of an Elemental Evil. It is born of this oerth in a sense but it exudes wrongness and while some at first would call it laughable it is really a thing of nightmare. Anyone encountering this creature will dream of it on and off for the rest of their lives. They will hear its sickly voice when the world is still, in the moment before they awake, in the dark hours of the night and when they do they are calling to this monster, whose parent flesh desires to eat the characters dreams and feed them back nightmares. Up to 100 can be encountered at one time. They move quickly on their Hooves and flow across the land as a herd with the singular motivation to kill anything in their path. At times the Elemental Evil awakes or turns its stray thought from the Snake-Heads and they wander, harmless and mindless, at other times the violent dreams of their creator take them across the land to seek or perform some unimaginable action. Rarely, very rarely, the Elemental Evil may place a splinter of its waking-self inside these beasts and drive them to unspeakable lengths for reasons beyond the conception of a mortal mind. 

Luckily these creatures are rarely seen above ground in the Flanaess. They have been spotted in Verbobonc around the environs and within the ruins of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Also in the giant-infested hills west of Geoff. It is rumored that they can be found amid the frigid Land of Black Ice and within the fetid swamps of Hepmonland. 

Beneath the Oerth it is said among the wise and powerful who know of such places that the Drow and Illithids encounter them and even the Kuo-Toa who have been drawn toward the seductive embrace of Elemental Evil.

Monster - Banek

NOTE: An old 1e monster from my Greyhawk campaign. I'm working on some 5e conversions but I'm still getting used to the system.

Banek

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 3-15
Armor Class: 5
Move 12"
Hit Dice: 4
% in Lair: 70%
Treasure Type: c
No. of Attacks: 3 (Bite/Claw/Claw)
Damage/Attack: 1d12/1d8/1d8
Special Attack: The bite of a Banek is poisoness. Any character bitten by this creature must save versus poison or receive an immediate 1d6 damage. This save must be made against ever successful bite attack.
Special Defense: nil
Magic Resistance: 10%
Intelligence: Average to High
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Size: M

Language: Their primary language is Drowic, but many are intelligent enough to speak several languages. Most will speak an underworld trade language or the common tongue in addition to Drowic.

Physical Description: The Banek have the body of a lion and the head of a female Drow. Their fur and their facial skin is a dusky grey and the hair on their head is shockingly white. Their mouths are filled with the sharp pointed teeth of a cat.

Combat: Though they have intelligence the Banek act more like beasts in combat. They will throw themselves on an opponent and go for its throat, though they will bite any flesh within reach. Their front paws are equipped with sharp claws and as they bite they will also rend. While these monsters travel in packs they normally attack as individuals and it is rare for a mansized creature to be set upon by more than one. Often these beasts will sit and watch as one of their kindred fights and will only attack if the first Banek withdraws or is incapacitated or killed.

Ecology: The Banek is the product of foul sorcery and the melding of Drow with various cat species (primarily panthers). These offspring of that melding are highly valued and kept as guardians and pets by only the most powerful or wealthy Drow. Their successful birth rate is very low despite an active breeding program in several Drow enclaves, most notably the Kokeiluyhteiskuntzasium of  Erelhei-Cinlu which originated the process.

Many Banek's have escaped over the years and can be found beyond Drow cities, vaults, outposts or enclaves. hey do not breed in a normal fashion since all are female, but they do take various feline or feline-like males as mates. They have the ability to Charm male feline creatures and they can be found lairing with lions, displacer beasts or even manticores.  They reproduce by cell division and a pack of Baneks will all look exactly alike. This process happens once every year or so and a pack of Baneks can double in size suddenly. There is a constant struggle for dominance among them and commonly the fight for leadership will be to the death.

Baneks are named beings but have a pack mentality and are not solitary creatures. Escaped Banek that are unable to reproduce and find themselves alone will make their way back to Drow society even if it means punishment and their virtual enslavement.

Monster/NPC - The Green Woman

Monster/NPC - The Green Woman

In the Gnarley Forest east of the Town of Nulb can be found a dryad grove, now deserted, the beautiful and dangerous tree-maidens having been slain or captured. This grove is now haunted by a creature much like them but far more elusive and dangerous.

She is called the Green Woman by those who have seen her. There is no fear in her but she is approached only by those with no intent of harm within their hearts. Quick as the strike of lightning, strong as the roots of trees, the Green Woman is immune to magic. She can summon trees and plants to aid her. Her flesh is as tough as ironwood and her hands clawed with razor-edged thorns.

The Green Woman is an elemental of nature and has been summoned from that plane by the death-cry of the dryads. Deep within the grove hidden by paths that are both on the Oerthly plane and the Plane of Nature is the portal that allows the Green Woman and her sisters entranced to Oerth. They are here to exact vengeance on those who have slain the dryads. Elves are seen as potential allies and they hold no animosity to rangers and druids, but creatures such as orcs and goblins they kill on sight.

Monster - Aerial Servant

Monster - Aerial Servant

Aerial servants can be found across Oerth, since, as summoned creatures they will appear wherever a caster has sufficient knowledge and power  to bring them forth. Their home is the Elemental Plane of Air but it is said they were commonplace in Suel households at the height the Imperium. The Sea of Dust is said to be haunted by wild and dangerously insane Aerial Servants though those who live on the fringe of that ancient and accursed land call them Dust Devils.

They can be found in any large city especially in temples and colleges of wizardry. They are also commonly encountered in the dwellings of hermit mages and small forgotten ruins where they have never been dismissed back to their own plane of existence.

NPC Monster - Gar Hill-Giant Mutation Giant-Killer

After the fall of the giants, when they were at last driven from Geoff, a great scouring of the hills occurred and many a Hill Giant Clan and steading fell. The monsters were forced further ito the mountains to escape and their ancestral homes were abandoned. The bones of human, demi-human and giant litter the heights and valleys and little mercy was shown to any.

The mage Talberth had seen many a friend and companion lost during the years of the invasion and after and he had  hatred for giants that stripped his humanity from his soul. When he discovered a hidden creche of Hill Giant young he would have had no second thought to exterminating the mewling babes but a darker idea came upon him. He would raise these young, experiment upon them till he created a creature who would be the bane of giants. Gar and his kind were the result.

Much bigger and stronger than a normal hill giant Gar is what Talberth calls a Giant-Killer. They are semi-intelligent magical creations but have manged to breed true. Unfortunately while they do have an unreasoning instinctual hatred of all other giants they have no regard for humans, demi-humans, animals or monstrous creatures either, all are food for their anger and the gnawing hunger that their size and heightened metabolism demand. They are clawed and fanged and tend to disdain weapons. They can craft simple fur clothing and scavenge better gear from giants and humanoids. They are wary creatures, hunt at night and prefer to ambush rather than confront directly though they will fight like rats if cornered.

Monster - Stone Scarab

Stone Scarabs are a magical creation of Baklunish wizards. They are similar in construction to Stone Golems but are generally much smaller and have many more enchantments and abilities. The smallest are no more than 3 inches long and are most ofte n the eyes of the wizard allowing him to see and sense (according to the strength of enchantment) all that is around the scarab. They are easily destroyed in that they have obly a single hit poinnt but still  require the kind of spells or enchanted weapons that would damage a Stone Golem or larger Scarab. Some smaller Scarabs contain poison and can pass on a single dose that causes damage or unconsciousness or some such effect.

The largest Stone Scarabs have been reported to be the size of wagons possessing great powers and strength while the most common are about three feet long and low to the ground like a dog and enchanted to fight or protect.

Monster - Skeletal Man

A necromancer animates a skeleton from a rotting corpse. The magical power which creates an animated skeleton will strip the flesh from the bones as it knits them together in unseen tendons and muscle, Here is an example of a body in the process of animation. A gruesome spectacle.

Monster - Hinchcliffe's Band - Ram-Man

The wizard Hunchcliffe is a proud alumni of the Grey College and an experimentor in mutations. The Ram-Man were his most successful experiments. These 3hd monsters are as intelligent as most peasants but more tractable. They disdain armor (mainly because Hinchcliffe hasn't bought them any and favor shields. Their flesh is tough and resiliant giving them a natural AC6 with shield it is AC5. Thery have a 50% resistance to magic and are immune to charm and mind control, Hinchcliffe has armed them with axes, morningstars and spears (which they throw fairly well). The are voracious eaters. So far they have all proven sterile and are only produced in the flesh-vats beneath the hidden hill Hinchcliffe calls home.

Repost - Lone Wolf - Monster - Giak

Giaks are the most common foes in the Lone Wolf setting. They are bred in spawning pits by the Dark Lords. There are several breeds of the original Giaks but they are much smaller and weaker than the later breed of Mountain Giak.

For game purposes the lesser breeds of Giaks are monsters and use the monster combat tables based on HD while the Mountain Giaks are an NPC character race and use the fighter combat table for the experience level they have achieved.

Mountain Giaks are larger, stronger and much more disciplined than their smaller kin. They are militaristic and have an organized society based on a command hierarchy with ranked positions of authority. All Giak's are short and squat, while Mountain Giaks are larger than lesser Giaks they are all grey-skinned and yellow fanged.

When any Mountain Giak is mixed with lesser Giaks they are immediately in command no matter what level of experience they are at even a lowly 1st level Mountain Giak 'cadet'.

Each level of experience is a named rank among the Mountain Giak's

0 = Recruit
1= Cadet
2 = Private
3 = Lesser Corporal
4 = Corporal
5 = Lesser Sergeant
6 = Under Sergeant
7 = Sergeant
8 = Over Sergeant
9 = Lesser Captain
10 = Captain
11 = Over Captain
12= Lesser General
13+ General

Mountain Giak's organize themselves into regiments although there is no particular number within these regiments and there are commonly between 500 and 5,000 within each. The larger regiments tend to have higher level Generals but sometime attrition or large combat losses cam leave a group with high level leaders but fewer members. New recruits from breeding pits tend to go to the largest regiments first so it can be difficult for a particularly mangled regiment to get back to large numbers once they have taken heavy losses.

Mountain Giak's use the 1e PHB Fighter abilities and do not possess characters of the ranger or paladon sub-classes.

Lesser Giaks are 1HD Monsters with a natural AC of 8 but otherwise have the AC of the armor they are wearing. They have the normal attacks per round with the weapon they are equipped with or a 1d6 bite attack. Their movement rate is 9" and their intelligence is Low-Average.

Monster - Pig Beast

Somewhere between Elredd and Highport a ship is said to have run aground and from its holds has come some terrible melding of pig and orc. Rumored to be the inhabitants of some Eastern volcanic island they are now carving out a domain in the Flanaess. Large and strong as ogres, immune to normal steel, and more intelligent than orcs, these Pig Beasts only number is the dozens, for now, but who can tell how quickly they will breed or if more will apear along the coast of the Woolly Bay.

A Thief in the Tome of Horrors - Aberrant

A Thief in the Tome of Horrors
(Or Converting this Monster of a Book to 1eAD&D)


Aberrant

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 2-12
Armor Class: 4
Move: 12"
Hit Dice: 8
% in Lair: 50
Treasure Type: C
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 2d8
Special Attacks: 1 (Thrown Object 1d10 dmg) Range 20/40/60 (To Hit +0/-1/-3)
Special Defenses: None
Magic Resistance: None
Intelligence: Low
Language: Debased Suel
Life Expectancy: 30 years (maturity age 12-14)
Size: 14 feet Tall - Extended Reach - These giant size creatures have an extended reach making it likely they can strike first against normal and small sized opponents.

Physical Appearance:
See Tome of Horrors Complete (S&W version) - Addition Description - Hair Brown or Black, Eye Color Same, Skin Color light brown to pale but normally grey or streaked with dirt.

Ecology:
Aberrants are a form of giant mutation developed after the great Suel/Bakluni war and the Rain of Colorless Fire. While often confused with Giants they are actually descended from human stock. In all respects such as what they can eat and how they breed and give birth they retain human characteristics.

Aberrant tribes will normally consist of 2-12 adult males, 3-18 adult females and 12-64 children. The men hunt and gather while the females do most of the work around the tribal dwelling. Adult females are consistent with the stats for adult males though with only 6HD on average and 1d10 damage from their attacks. Aberrant females will ferociously protect their young.

Females conceive about once per year and the infant mortality rate is about 50%. The leading cause of death for female Aberrants is childbirth.

Aberrants are extremely primitive. They build little though they do make use of cloth or hide for shelters and crude structures from the wrecks of wagons or buildings. These are extremely flimsy lean-to type structures that can be stripped down and taken with them in a few moments (mainly the cloth and rope or vines). Since most weapons and items they come across are not their size they mainly use crude clubs and stones for throwing. Occasional a human-sized sword may be found among them as a knife, but used more as a tool than a weapon.

World of Greyhawk Location:

Aberrants can be found along the hills and lower mountains circling the Sea of Dust as well as the Dry Steppes along the Sulhaut Mountains and the southern Crystalmists. They have been seen at the crux of the Jotens and the Crytsalmists at the birth of the Davish River, though not in great numbers and along the southern Jotens, the Crytsalmists and the Hellfurnaces in the Yeomanry. Sightings of Aberrants have been made in the Tors and along the arm of the Hellfurnaces as far as Hokar and as far south as the strip of land west of Jekla Bay and even where the Amedio Jungle runs against the Hellfurnaces in the far south.


Cyst Fist's Pass (Near the Hornwood - Geoff)

The trepidations of the Giants and their invasion of Sterich and Geoff shifted many a tribe and monster from their normal hunting grounds. Perhaps non-more so than Furgristle and his tribe of Aberrants forced north through the high mountains and down to the hills surrounding the embattled land of Geoff. Frost giants from the Jotens and tribes of Ogre's pushed these deformed and primitive creatures from their caves and now this small band raids through the forest of the Hornwood in preparation for the winter to come.

(See Tome of Horrors complete S&W version for the adventure hook)


Alfric watched the shaft fly true as it brought down the last of the deformed monsters. The two humans with him had feathered the giant creature with a half-dozen arrows already before it fell.

"Four..." said Oswin, a middle-aged man clad in mottled green and brown. He stood a foot taller than Alfric and pulled a longbow as big as the elf.

"The others appear to be out hunting," Alfric replied as he moved forward, another arrow nocked and ready.

The smell of roasting horseflesh was strong. Stronger even than the stink of unwashed bodies, the pile of refuse that stained the hillside and the rot of badly cured hides and decaying meat.

"Where has that little bastard gotten to?" asked Kellen, the third of their party. He was about the height of Aelfric but wide with broad shoulders and back. He'd slung his bow and drawn a long chopping sword, some type of falchion with a single-edge.

"I'm up here," cried a hushed voice high with panic. "Get me down!"

As the trio crested the hill they could see a large fire-pit and the carcase of a horse blackening on a spit above it. Nearby a tree stripped of most of its branches still held a single arm reaching out toward the fire and a crude wooden cage dangling about a dozen feet from the ground. Inside a peculiar little bird hopped about. Clad in the skin of an owl-bear a bruised and beaten halfling danced about pulling at the stout wooden bars.

"Hugh!" cried Aelfric. "How you managed to survive when the rest of those merchants ended up being eaten..."

"Those stupid giants. It was that owlbear hide," Hugh called back. "They think I'm some sort of birdman... I don't know, but they think it's funny. They'll be roasting me soon enough. Get me out of here!"

"What we need is a ladder," said Kellen.

Oswin looked from Aelfric to his blocky nephew. "You'll do," he said. "Get up on his shoulder Ael and see about cutting down our little bird."

"Make it quick! Make it quick!" Hugh chirruped. "There are a dozen more of those monsters around."

"Cut your squawking," grumbled Kellen, but up above him Aelfric went to work with haste on the vines that bound the cage together.