Monstrome v4 is complete. New in this version:
- Barlutra (Giant Otters)
- Smirches (pure evil shaped like a bird)
- Wolves, Etc.
- "Mundane" Animals
- Door Monster
- Loctus
- . . . plus cooking and alchemy rules, for all previous monsters.
Thank you Josh, Johnathan, Anti-Time, Abraham, Sinusoidal, Er Doombog, R. James, and Anon for pointing out the errors on v3!
Anyway, here's the only fully-new monster in this thing:
Door Monster
It looks like a door. It has a big red eyeball on the top, and a fanged mouth on the bottom. Its skin is thick and wrinkled, like an elephant with a skin disease. It is watching you very carefully.
Lvl 3 Def chain Bite 1d6+2
Mov immobile Str high Dis hunger (or guardian)
Retract - Door monsters are able to retract into the ceiling, where they get +4 Def and can only be attacked by creatures directly below them. (They vanish a few feet up into their vertical burrow–it’s difficult to reach them from the side.)
Slam Down - Can slam down suddenly, attacking with a +4 bonus due to surprise (unless the person below is specifically watching the door monster for movement).
Tongue Grab - Make a ranged attack roll with a 20’ range, as the door monster attempts to envelope you in its tongue, which is like a thorny, stretchy tentacle. On a hit, they deal 1d6+2 damage and the target must make a Hard Str check. If they fail, they are immediately pulled adjacent to the door. If the door wishes, it can release its prey or continue to hold them. If it attempts to bite a held creature on subsequent turns, it always hits.
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| I couldn't find any pictures of cool door monsters. This is Moby Dick by Gerard DuBois. |
Common Knowledge
Door monsters are not common knowledge. Most people believe that they are born spontaneously in the Underworld, from doors that have suffered too much abuse.
Tactics
Door monsters will usually try to stay closed. They will bite you, and use their Tongue Grab if you remain out of reach. If hurt, they will retreat into the ceiling. If badly injured, they may just try to hide, or they may decide to fight back by Slamming Down on someone as the party passes beneath it, and then attacking the (now divided) party. Please note that a Door Monster has an eyeball and a mouth on both sides, and both sides can fight independently.
Most of them are happy to open for you once you feed them. However, door monsters that have been hired to serve as guardians are more likely to do their best to stay closed.
Encounters
- A long hallway ends in a door monster. The door licks its lips and growls when it spots you.
- The door monster is part of another encounter. As soon as someone is wounded, the door monster makes a “nyum nyum” noise and attempts to eat them. It departs into the ceiling once satiated.
- The door monster is part of another encounter. It closes its eye, pretending (poorly) to be a regular door until combat breaks out. If anyone is foolish to have turned their back, it will attack them with surprise.
- The door monster is a guardian for a faction. It won’t let you past unless you know the password.
- The door monster won’t let you pass, but if you make it laugh or sneeze, its mouth will open wide enough and you can jump through.
- This door monster monster is friendly. However, it doesn’t want to let you pass, because there’s a lot of scary stuff on the other side.
- This door monster won’t let you pass until you answer its riddle.
- There’s two door monsters, and they won’t let you pass until you answer their riddle. “One of us leads to a trap, and the other leads to a treasure. One of us always tells the truth, and the other only ever lies. You may only ask us one question!” Then after you get the correct answer (“What would the other door say if I asked them which door leads to the treasure?”) both of the doors will give the same answer, and then immediately start arguing (“Wait, I thought you were going to lie.”) If the party encourages their argument, it will end with the doors either asking you to adjudicate between them, or asking you to kill the other door.
- Happy to let you in to the dungeon, but will not let you leave.
- Final boss: just a hexagonal room with door monsters on every wall.
Psychology
They’re as smart as humans, maybe. But few people bother to teach them anything, so lots of them don’t speak.
They like chocolate. They don’t get bored.
Biology
All of the tasty organ meat is only accessible if you kill the thing and then rip it out of the ceiling. This requires a good bit of force and probably a couple of strong arms on a crowbar. The parts that compose the door itself are leathery and bitter.
Reproduction accomplished through spermatophores that look like keys.
Alchemy & Gastrology
Discussion
Door monsters are a good introduction to the weird logic of the Mythic Underworld. However, they can feel disruptive unless your players accept the logic of the Mythic Underworld: it’s a hostile place that follows its own logic. Doors close behind you and get stuck, while opening easily for monsters. If they can accept that, they can accept door monsters.
Blocking the party from leaving the dungeon is always a fun one, since many groups assume that leaving the dungeon will be straightforward.
Door monsters aren’t too fearsome, since they’re immobile. The party can just douse it in oil and set it alight, then let it burn to death around the corner. They can be dangerous, but they aren’t really meant to be a lethal threat. I would use them more as indicators that “this is the Mythic Underworld and it doesn’t need to make sense anymore”. If you want them to potentially kill someone, you’ve got to use them as part of another encounter.
Variants
Wall of Flesh - Level 8, give it four random attacks: bites, claws, tail whaps, wing buffets, etc. Maybe give it a reach attack with a skinless, giraffe head or something.
Portal Door - Is also a portal, and will open into different areas of the dungeon depending on which password you give it.
Angry Portal Door - Can open portals into locations that it uses offensively. It might open up to reveal that it is a portal under the ocean, blasting you with freezing sea water. Or it might open up to bathe the whole room in the fires of hell. Et cetera.
Leave it to you to create a useful and appealing mimic-thing. I hate mimics, and I like this.
ReplyDeleteAdditional door scenario: The door that declares "One of us always lies..." is lying:
ReplyDelete1. Both doors lead to traps *and* treasure.
2. Both doors are liars (75% of the time).
3. You can ask as many questions as you'd like.
The players are unlikely to figure out #3 on their own, so the doors will answer any question they hear, whether or not it's addressed to them. They will answer the same question multiple times, usually lying and sometimes telling the truth.
The doors know which traps (and treasures) lie beyond them, and know how to disarm each trap.
For simplicity's sake, either the doors prefer novel lies (i.e. if Door A leads to a rockfall trap and it initially lies, saying that it leads to a pit trap, then the next lie will be something else) or, once the players figure out the trick, you can just roll forward by 10 minutes or whatever and give them the deets.
That's fun!
Delete