Monster quest

Monster Quest

Creation
>First era: The world is completely barren and airless. The gods create an army of automaton golems (google ‘hammer golem’ + D&D’), which spend 1350 years carving out the topography of the world. Their magical engines exhale a substance which forms a breathable atmosphere. At the end, they voluntarily shut down. Some remain in hidden locations, others dissolve into their component materials, becoming the source for all forms of mineral wealth.

>Second era: The 5 green goddesses appear. They create all forms of plant life, as well as all forms of nature spirits (Treant, Slyph, Nereid, Dryad, etc). A single hair from one of them becomes the first pair of elves. A drop of sweat from one of them becomes the first pair of dwarves. A mote of dust from one of their eyes becomes the race of Gnomes. The 5 green goddesses then travel to the absolute center of the surface world and create a giant tree, known afterward as the Mana tree, from which positive elemental planar energy emits continuously, nurturing all life forms and preserving the ecology and climate of the world. Seeds from this tree are planted in secret locations by treants.

>Third era: The 3 blue gods travel to the as yet lifeless sea. One takes a position at the top of a tower which climbs from the deepest sea trench in the world to the cloud-cover, and operates a bellows, creating wind and currents. The second stirs the mud at the bottom of the sea with a giant spoon, forming all forms of sea life (except krakens). The third digs small holes in the sea floor with a magic spade until lava bubbles out. The meeting of lava and water creates the first pairs of sea elves and sea giants.

>Fourth Era: The god of time foresees a period in which dragons will appear in the realms. He consults with the other gods, and from their dreams and thoughts, Huma Dragonbane and Goldmoon appear fully formed and adult. Huma and Goldmoon produce the race of humans. The gods then sleep for 444 years continuously and an era of perfect peace, harmony, justice, and light occurs. The god of the underworld has a nightmare foreshadowing his own death, but keeps this to himself, later revealed to be a fatal mistake.

>Fifth Era: An embassy from the 9 most powerful mortal kingdoms invites the Gods to come and live among them. Some gods and goddesses accept. Others, perhaps wiser, decide that this is probably not a good idea, and rebuff the invitation, traveling to the most remote areas of the world and magically forming the encircling mountains. A drop of blood from one of the gods forms the first pair of Aasimar. The wisdom of this decision to remain aloof creates the other upper planar totally-good races, emitting from the gods heads as an Aurora of dazzling light, the bulk of which remains a permanent feature of the skies above the Encircling mountains. The aurora instantly forms new upper planar individuals any time an upper planar dies for any reason, and appears to be infinite in scope.

>Sixth era: Nicol bolas appears, bringing with him an armada of dragons. The 4 gods of war create the race of giants to protect themselves. The dragon wars result. Huma Dragonbane, an immortal primordial human, sacrifices himself in a suicidal attack on Nicol Bolas head on. Both combatants are destroyed. Goldmoon’s tears and huma’s blood mix to form the race of Titans, Nicol Bolas’s blood forms the race of Dragon men. Huma Dragonbane’s relics are revered by all good races, and kept in good repair in a secret temple. Enraged at the death of their leader, the dragons attempt magic, successfully transforming an entire kingdom into Orcs, Trolls, and Kobolds. Under their dragon leaders, the new evil races engage in a race war with all good races. This race war continues sporadically throughout history.

>Seventh Era:  The planeswalker Leshrac appears, drawn by the chaos and violence of the ongoing wars. The then very young Leshrac travels from battlefield to battlefield, experimenting with necromancy. As a result, the first undead races appear. In a monumental battle, the god of the underworld exiles leshrac, but contracts the psionic virus from Leshrac’s final counter-attack. Unable to control himself, the god of the underworld sinks down into the deepest levels of the underground to protect the rest of the world from himself. He drinks an herbal concoction, dying slowly over 150 years, the resulting slow death results in the formation of Baator, The abyss, Carceri, and Gehenna. Tainted by leshrac’s final attack, the deceased body crumbles into dust, and each grain becomes a race of demons or undead. The mask of nine horns, an artifact leshrac was carrying, is found by a rogue named Lim-dul. Lim-dul, a previously non-magical character, wears the mask as a drunken joke and instantly learns the secrets of defiler magic, warping his mind and changing his previously neutral evil alignment to chaotic evil.
Note: The mask of Nine horns is THE STRONGEST necromantic / defiler artifact in the known world. Someone who wears it for even a moment instantly becomes a 20th level defiler sorcerer and experiences an alignment shift to chaotic evil.

>Eighth era: Mage cults form, some guided by Lim-dul, others fighting against him. The 5 green goddesses create Duruweyd, the green man, an immortal demigod who is the source of all druidic magic. The 3 blue gods create the leviathans to protect the seas from being defiled. The 4 war gods forge the mace of might, the only weapon powerful enough to destroy the mask of nine horns. A king named Cuthbert, later known as St. Cuthbert the great, finds it and wields it in the defiler wars. Result: Lim-dul ultimately, totally defeated, but the mana tree is destroyed and several areas are defiled. The secretly planted offspring of the mana tree are imperfect, and only partially maintain the climate and ecology. Goldmoon sleeps with Duruweyd and conceives by him, producing Sturm Riverwind the reviver of the world. While the reviver of the world is still in utero, Goldmoon is ambushed by the forces of evil. The god of time intervenes and sends her to the era of ending, which has not yet happened. The god of time reveals that Sturm Riverwind will both revive the world and defeat evil forever.

>Ninth era: Preserver Druid cults, taught in secret by Duruweyd, seek to protect the badly battered forces of good by magically creating the forest of mirkwood, in which trees are made to grow such that it is a natural maze. Wise care by an order of treants results in a cold war between the Defiler cults, their allies the dragons and their slave races, and the core races, gods, and upper planar races as neither side can field an army at each others HQs due to the forest having been made into a gigantic maze by the treants. Styrix, an ancient crone and defiler witch, manages to create the first Roc at this time, by unintentionally discovering an entry to the underworld realms and making a satanic deal, the devil fusing several animals to create the Roc. The devils reward her for opening the very first way out to the upper world by making her the very first Night hag ever, though they don’t attempt to go through her tunnel until much later.

>Tenth era: A phyrexian planeswalker known simply as ‘the lady of pain’ arrives. She takes no part in the ongoing cold war. Obsessed by the idea of somehow repairing the Mask of the Nine horns, the dragons have kept its parts in their great stronghold, unaware that the parts, though shattered, still draw magic force into themselves, and have kept the shattered pieces since the eight era. The dwarves, previously neutral, surprise everyone in the cold war by suddenly siding with the alliance of preserving kingdoms, by now a formal organization. A secret operation by the dwarves plants a supply of dwarven powder in such a place that the detonation changes the dragon’s water source, an underground river, to move in a different direction. Result: Defilers, insane from thirst, construct the first flesh golems from the dead bodies of their compatriots, and wage an all out attack on the mirkwood region, the defilers actions resulting in the stronghold becoming ecologically void and dead, profuse numbers of undead haunting the area. The dragons each take one piece of the mask of nine horns and fly to other fortresses. It is a mixed victory. Thanks to bold and decisive action of a human prince wielding the Sword of Burning Iron, the Battle of twisted flesh ends with a good side victory, but the dwarves are driven from the deepest regions of their mines by devils, though the devils remain underground still.
Note: The sword of burning iron is a +2 to hit +1 to damage sword of holy fire.

>Eleventh era: With the forces of evil mostly dispersed to remote fortresses, the race wars of the monstrous races against the core races slow down, and some cease altogether. The dwarves, having deliberately caved in several areas of their mines, have acted to seal the world below off and prevent the devils from reaching the surface. In reward for this, their leaders are given a golden, silver, and platinum amulet and recognized by the still enduring gods as a sovereign body, allowed to live by their own laws in any good aligned kingdom that is part of the alliance. Foreseeing events in a distant era, the lady of pain hires the gnomes to build the city of sigil, and much of their history is spent there working first as paid labor, and later as slaves. Exposed to strange energies, some groups of gnomes mutate into Dabu. (google ‘Dabu + D&D’ or + planescape). Operating in the depth of secrecy, the dragons use defiler magic to create the race of drow, and later the race of duerogar, using them as slaves to dig a giant underground maze, the Underdark, connecting several of the dragon forts. A period of economic prosperity occurs in the alliance kingdoms, and they adopt a single currency by popular assent of a variety of crowned heads.

>12th era: By this time a small minority of the dragons have been defiled so badly that they are unable to reproduce. In compensation for this, they attempt to elongate their lives with magic as long as possible. Interested in what they see, two spelljamming races, The mind flayers and the beholders, arrive on the plane. At first they confine their visits to mercantile matters, selling a variety of rare goods to both sides. An aboleth savant stowaway onboard one of these vessels makes it to the plane’s sea and escapes death. The alliance forbids the two spelljamming races to return by royal edicts, gradually at first, but when aboleths are seen at sea and later found in wells, the alliance acts as a whole and forbids any more contact. Little was either side aware, preoccupied with their own matters, that both spelljamming races had already inserted a small population on their plane. A neutral scholar named Wu Xhong manages to glean enough information that his book, the ‘classic of foreign races’, is circulated in several great libraries, and for several eras is the only source of information on either Mind Flayers or Beholders.

Note: anyone who reads the Classic of Foreign races will know 1 special ability, 1 special defense, and the habitat of either Mind Flayers or beholders, as well as understand 3 magical items they often make.

>13th era: Duruweyd’s body begins to slow down, and visiting the previous location of the mana tree, he transforms himself into a Crystalline mass which gives off his immortal life force to help stabilize the network of mana trees. It isn’t enough, but it keeps them going for several more eras. Defilement has spread far enough by now that it is self-feeding, though it only grows a few inches every several years. Ivang Krognab, an eccentric gnome, discovers steam power. Using a ring of charming eloquence, Ivang manages to convince The lady of pain to switch from Phyrexian engines to steam power to build large sections of the city of Sigil. In return, she gets to torture him for nine days every year. Drow working in the underdark unintentionally disturb a beholder colony. Rather than attack however, the drow manage to convince the Beholders to send an envoy to the Dragons. The beholder is received by one of the mightiest of the dragons, Fafnir. They manage to find enough common ground that an alliance is possible. A dragon named Smaug the slave master becomes ruler of the Duerogar dwarves. In reward for several eras of continuous faith and honorable service, the goddess of grain sends her daughters to live among core race farmers, and the Grain Nymphs appear, secretly having a design to keep the core race lands fertile as long as possible.

>14th era: A meteor falls into the sea, provoking concern from the 3 blue gods when they are unable to find it, and discover that there are actually several areas they never went to. Aboleths, living in the truly deep portions of the sea, inhabit many of these areas. An undersea war results between the good underwater core races and the Aboleths and their slave races, the Aquatic type monstrous races. Uninvolved in the war and the threat of the dragons seemingly long past, the Alliance begins to stagnate. By this time a dragon hasn’t directly entered battle in several eras. The underwater war continues on, neither side able to inflict total defeat on the other. Styrix, by now ancient and senile, and a young wanderer named Vecna, discover the body of Nicol Bolas. Vecna sacrifices Styrix, with her consent, in a powerful spell to attempt to bring Nicol Bolas back to life. It works, but it only keeps him alive for a few hours. During this time the undead Nicol Bolas tells Vecna about a hidden cache of magical treasures and puts a geas on him to destroy the alliance.

>15th era: Fouled with the experimentation of the aboleth and the strange energies of the meteor, the ocean produces the 7 primordial krakens, who enslaved the aboleths as their chosen operators. Angered over mistreatment by Smaug, the duerogar secretly plant a supply of dwarven powder under a volcano called Mount Doom, and detonate it, artificially causing the volcano to erupt. The 4 weeks of night occur, and undead rampage through the alliance lands. The mind flayer Urach-Shak planned all this, and used powerful mind control of Duerogar leaders, who went on to become a slave race of the Mind Flayers. While searching for the treasures Nicol Bolas had told him of, Vecna is captured and brought before one of the dragons. Defeating the dragon in a game of riddles, Vecna is made a lieutenant, and quickly proves to be a savage, warlike and vicious officer. Holsung, an important military official of the alliance, forms a special group drawn from several alliance nations who’s job it is to hunt down and destroy all undead of all kinds, taking as its symbol the Mace of Might, the group known as the Royal brotherhood of knights of St. Cuthbert. A devil named Kurlatak becomes a fierce and vicious personal enemy of Holsung, the devil having snuck out of the underworld sometime during the 4 weeks of night.

>16th era: In an effort to boost morale, magic, and protection, a druid named Olorin Gandalfus becomes the leader of a unified church of the preservers, which becomes the state religion of the Alliance and several uninvolved kingdoms. Fafnir discovers that the armada of dragons had been infiltrated at some undisclosed point by an undead form of dragon, and enraged that this has happened, and that the subservient dragons who made the change told no one, he launches a second Dragons war, the forces of evil mostly tied up in fighting between two factions, further devastating the lands they control. What he tells absolutely no one is that this is all a ruse suggested to him by vecna, he actually still controls the undead dragons. Result: Interminable fighting. Devil mercenaries serve both sides. Emboldened by this, the 4 gods of war direct their followers to wage a war on the forces of evil. The war of the death dragons results, as the clever strategy suggested by vecna of pretending to be in disarray lures the alliance military into the dragon controlled regions. This results in a pincher attack that routs the alliance. The geas weighing heavily on him, Vecna experiments with the dead bodies in a variety of ways, discovering that a small dose of dragon’s blood applied in defiler rituals creates the hated abominations the vampires, and their even more dangerous brother-race, the Death knights. Desperate to be rid of his geas, Vecna concocts a highly poisonous potion which he believes will cure him of the unwanted command. It fails, but he rises from the dead because of the geas, becoming the worlds first Lich.

>17th era: Holsung is assassinated by a rival for his post, Lord breakspear. Breakspear begins to slowly change the orders rituals and behaviors, a small clique of defilers forming at the head of the up-till-then holy order. Making a deal with Kurlutak, Breakspear acts as part of a plan to try and assassinate the head of the gods. It nearly succeeds. The enraged head of the gods curses Breakspear and Kurlutak to share the same body, instantly creating a monstrous beast which flees the alliance kingdoms on wing, and later takes the name Burukulak. Another long cold war between the dragons and the alliance occurs, the race wars of old fired up and vicious as ever. King Henry the navigator, of the alliance, decides to take his chances and sends a secret navy carrying gnomish war machines to launch a sneak attack on the dragon lands. It fails to have any real effect, but a golden age of piracy results as alliance and dragon-aligned pirates fight each other and the monsters of the deep.

>18th era: The beholders release their monstrous battle plague, and 1 out of every 10 men in the effected areas dies. The dragons, though their own forces are also affected by it, attack the alliance out of spite and hatred in a land invasion. Vosgadottyr the transmuter, a female alchemist searching for a cure for the illness, ends up the impromptu leader of a major city defense, and using a force mostly composed of core race women, manages to hold off the monstrous races for 118 days. The united church of the preservers seeks her out afterward and asks her to become the leader of the Battle sisters, an all female group of warriors, rangers, and preserver mages. Burukulak seeks to open a way down to the underworld. It eventually works when he rediscovers one of the deepest natural caverns in the world, and manages to dig down to the underworld, opening a path into alliance lands from the underworld where previously there had only been a way up to the dragon lands. The dragons, many by now senile or driven insane by the mask fragments they have clung to for so long, end up overstretching their resources during the land invasion, known afterward as the 70 years war. Several dragons are killed in the defeat at dragon’s crown, and the remaining dragon leaders are unable to reproduce due to the mask of nine horns’ effect on them. Though several endure, the dragons cease to be a military threat and their empire collapses, becoming known as the wild lands, an area of little organization in which whomever is strongest rules, the seven lieutenants of the dragons becoming warlords over their regions. [the darklords of the ravenloft domains]

>19th era: The succession crises occurs when the alliance’s high king dies without issue. With few lawful options and exhausted by a long war, the alliance remains united by its religion, but dissolves itself peacefully, opting to elect high kings during periods of dire threat, after which the high kings are to step down. The lady of pain and one of the strongest of the alliance affiliated war gods become enamored of each other. They leave the plane. Sigil becomes a major economic power. Unable to operate the web of life as they should due to the absence of the god of the underworld and one of the major gods of warfare, the gods forge themselves to Duruweyd’s crystal, causing the formation to grow to be 80 stories tall and float above the tree line. By this time it is a futile gesture, and the defilement is only slowed down for eons, not reversed. Over time the preservers become less religious and more a group of magic users, and by the end of this era they are effectively a mage guild. Vecna gathers together the last remaining defilers in the world and attempts a mass ritual. It fails to have its intended effect of transforming all or even most of them into liches, instead combining their souls to become the moon of blood and darkness, Nuitari, visible only in the ancient dragon lands. Defiler cults go extinct, though the ritual did create several liches, who endure as an undead menace, under the leadership of Vecna.

>20th era: With no viable military threats in the world and the only other major power an economic city-state, the formerly alliance states begin to slowly decline, each gradually going its own way. In the end, the alliance is only a distant memory, kept alive by sages and scholars more than the general public. The distant gods, those who went to the encircling mountains and stayed there, foresee a long slow decline as the defilement slowly spreads, and the corrupting influence of Nuitari awakens an occasional defiler mage who usually dies before ever becoming a major threat. By this time many of the mana trees have become either dead trunks, or have taken their autumn colors, still preserving the world in their autumn colors, but a diminished influence. Due to the wars, the trees are no longer a well maintained network and some areas have descended into winter like conditions, or been blasted away to dead moonscape. It is a time of cooling and fading, but life endures. Core race kingdoms still rise and fall, alliances of old are still called upon from time to time in regional wars. In the remote corners of the world dragons and liches still plot. Evil is not defeated, nor is Good, but both have battered each other so hard that neither has the strength for a massive war, and the combination of relatively few surviving leaders on either side and the slowly dwindling resources of the world, its doubtful either side will ever have the strength again.

>21st era: The present.

Regions of the world
Alliance
>Forgotten Realms: Moonshae Isles, Chult, Sword coast north / south, Chondath, Smoking mountains
>Greyhawk: City of Krakenheim, City of Greyhawk, Stonefist hold
>Krynn: Dragon Isles, Northern and Southern Ergoth
>Kara-tur: Shou Lung
>Mystara: Gulf of Tangor, Oceansend, Pearl Islands
>Mines of Moria

Neither
>Mirkwood
>City of Sigil

Dragons and other evil forces
>Ravenloft: Blutespur, Tepest, Falkovnia, Paridon / Timor, Verbrek, Sea of Sorrows, Tovag
>Dark Sun: Sea of Silt, Gorge of Lava, Kano Swamp, Koschak mountains, Dragon’s Crown
>Underdark
>Mt doom
>Baator, Carceri, Gehenna, and the Abyss are physically reachable by digging downward far enough, note that they are geographically explorable locations that do not require any plane jumping to travel through them.

Neutral ground
>Ysgard, Celestia, Elyssia, Beastlands, and Arborea inhabit the slopes and valleys of the highest mountains in the world, the Encircling Mountains, an unbroken chain which travels all the way around the world in a ring. These realms don’t require plane jumping to travel through either.

Special flags to use on regions, to be placed at the DM’s discretion.

Defiled – Undead are geometrically more common, as are demons. These regions get bigger slowly in the very long time scale, so there are no more than 1d4 to 1d6 of them in a world. Areas reduced to mineral salt dunes, ash dunes, dust dunes, and petrified, vitrified, half-melted, or scorched ecology are typical.
Glaciated – Covered by ice most/all of the year. Core races are tough and resourceful.
Haunted – undead are very common.
Sinister – demons are very common. Core races may be an evil variant.
Primal – Several types of monsters are giant instead of normal sized, core races are tough, resourceful, and always fight it out.
Malarial – Insects carry a disease.
Smoking – vapors escape from the ground continuously in places, its mostly night or dusk usually because of this.
Tar grounds – Crude oil oozes from the ground and impacts travel and ecology.
Blessed – A holy battle-site, evil targets all suffer a -1 on any check.
Fruitful – The area can support twice as many core race as usual.
Aquifer – Site of one or more underground lakes
Hallowed – undead cannot enter, demons move at half speed and attack at half power, core races are always tough and resilient.
Protected – Site of a surviving greater or lesser god’s temple, core races are always tenacious and don’t make morale checks
Illusive – For 3 random 1 hour periods of daylight the land is under the spell phantasmic landscape, and the same for 4 random 1 hour periods of night, this being an on-going effect that is permanent and native to the land.
Tribal – Most monstrous races or core races use neolithic tools and weapons.

Other stuff to put in regions
Cult temple – a population of defiler cultists or standard cultists inhabits a temple in the area
Cave – a minimally deep cave
Deeper cave – a moderately deep cave
Deepest cave – a very deep cave, digging further down from these its possible to reach the underworld region
Stronghold – an underground fort
Mineshaft – a mine. derp.
Ruin – Boosts the population of monsters in an area.
Villar – An ancient size class G to C automaton of a Crab, a Elephant, a Turtle, or a Scorpion, it has a fortress, city, or castle on its back and may or may not be fully mobile. Villar detect topography through their feet, and will turn back at the edge of swamp, chasm, or ocean.
Maze – the area is a natural maze.

The monstrous humanoids and PC races in general.

Orc – effectively a race of Uruk-hai, start as level 3 warrior
Troll – Size Class L neanderthal reptilians, fast regen (N)
Kobold – 1 level of envenomation initially, start as level 2 ranger
Ogre – Can throw its stone weapons as hard as a catapult (N)
Giant – may dual wield 2 two handed weapons & wield throwing boulder as a ranged
Lamia – unchanged, glare inflicts charm and is twice daily
Gorgon – unchanged, glare ability twice daily
Devil – immortals who reform unless killed by a holy weapon
Naga – unchanged, females initially have seduction as a skill
Beholder – may equip rings on its eyestalks, using spells through an eye gradually ‘teaches’ the eye that spell permanently, default spell is Magic missile or Mage hand initially
Dragon-man – Breath weapon as initially selected dragon type
Lion-man – Natural war-cry, start with skills as level 3 warrior
Wolf-man – start with skills as level 3 ranger (N)
Bear-man – Berserk rage 1 time a day, size class L
Lycanthrope – Unchanged
Mind-flayer – Initial psionics at level 2
Minotaur – Size class L, may charge and gore targets
Aquatic – suited to live either amphibious or fully underwater lives
Unseelie – corrupted forms of nature spirits

>N means neolithic culture, they don’t use metal societally, though they are perfectly capable of equipping it if they find it

Common weapons for N group creatures include; Crushing stone, stabbing stone, throwing boulder, stone war-hammer, stone axe, stone tip spear, stone tip arrow, stone tip dart, bashing stone

Undead characters

Note: Brown, Russet, Yellow, Gray, Deep, and Death molds can form on the bodies of the wight, lich, revenant, death knight, ghoul, flesh golem and ghast without harming them in any way. For 1d6 times a battle, any melee hit on a mold-carrier releases a cloud, afterward the mold is spent and must be given time to regenerate, but will eventually do so automatically.

Wight – start with level 3 warrior skills, life force draining
Wraith – sneak as semi-visible smoke, life force draining
Specter – sneak as invisible stench, life force draining
Lich – cross class, 6 levels at players discretion, must be magic focus classes
Vampire – unchanged, presence corrodes and withers holy things
Revenant – leap as if flight 3 times a night, revive unless completely burned (C)
Flesh golem – Size class L, 90% resist vs. blunt impact, blood regeneration
Death knight – Reversed cleric abilities, cross class, 4 levels at players discretion, one class must be cleric, presence corrupts and erodes holy things
Ghoul – Digest any organic material, plant or animal, gangrene and numbness on crits (C)
Ghast – Digest any organic material, plant or animal, freeze a target solid on crits (C)
Shadow – Drain faith* from targets at touch, presence corrodes and withers holy things

>(C) means that the undead has claws and rolls for damage as a weapon attack controlled by their strength, (example) 13 points = mace, 15 points = sword, 17 points = war-hammer (example)
>* – Clerics who suffer from faith drained to zero must roll a morale check, failure resulting in temporary loss of one or more levels of spells. A holy symbol corroded and withered by a Shadow loses all potency and must be melted down, acting as a draw to all undead class creatures after corrosion until such action is taken, Vampires and Death Knights following this same rule.

Note: If a death knight, lich, or specter lingers at a sight of great death for long enough (GM’s discretion), they may roll 1d100 to determine if a Sacrol forms. None of the parents types exert any control over the newly formed monster, though it won’t attack them. A sacrol is a small flying cloud of skulls which emit putrid mist from all orifices. It attacks as both a wraith and a specter, inflicting both types of life essence drain at once and attacks by swarming and biting.

The fated slayer dynamic.

Each monstrous character has 1 fated slayer somewhere in the world, which can be anyone of any race, whether it be core or otherwise. They are used as a part of the plot, and are never a random encounter. They are designed such that the monster they are appointed to slay has no chance against them, however, and this is vital to understand; this rule does not apply to other party monsters or NPCs under their targets command. In other words, monsters whom the fated slayer is NOT attuned to, and NPCs that the fated slayer is NOT attuned to, treat the fated slayer as a completely normal encounter, and may defeat/drive away/kill the fated slayer under completely normal combat rules. Fated slayers may occur in parties, but usually do not occur as every member of said party, said Fated Slayers picking one and only one target within the player’s party to be the fated slayer towards. To put it short and simple, “Somewhere out there there is a character you just don’t have a chance against, never have, never will, and you’d be wise to carefully pick fights because of this.”

Neolithic gear information

Sedimentary – weakest type, can form from certain composts
Igneous – strong but brittle, requires lava to form
Metamorphic – brittle but sharp, requires magma to form
Special – magical / other

Special division of rock weapons

Bedrock – very strong, never degrades, though can be destroyed directly by impact
Adamatite – bits of raw adamantine ore in the stone
Diamondite – bits of raw jewels in the stone
Basalt – Sharper than metal weapons, any tip or cutting edge is vorpal
Obsidian – necromantic / abyssic energy condenser, small chance of discharge when mined

Note: Bedrock requires a digging tool called a diamond slab to be able to cut it free. A slab is a known stone-age tool that resembles a large shovel-head and is manually 2-handedly operated. All neolithic cultures would know and understand the use of slabs, the slab being a common variety of tool in their homestead.

2nd note: Obsidian has a catch-all effect on it so it can imitate and cause a variety of effects, such as the undead’s cold touch effect, level draining, life force draining, inflict burning wounds, rotting wounds, diseased wounds, etc, but can also draw effects from the various abilities infernal beings have and should have effects chosen for it on a case by case basis, though it should never have more than 3, and should only extremely rarely have 3.

Wound Types
Burning – fire type
Acid – dissolving type
Gassed – inflicts coughing, vomiting, and internal bleeding, can inflict other things
Frostbit – cold shock and gangrene
Solidified – fatal, body flash-frozen
Feverish – inflicts a form of meningitis
Poisonous – venomous
Welling – wells blood in arterial spray
Frothing – wells blood and other fluids in a slow steady stream
Bleeding – produces blood normally
Pustulated – hideous boils blisters and open sores instantly appear on the injury
Vaporized – body part is gone, possible instant fatality
Petrified – turned to stone
Disorienting – confused
Charmed – You no longer want to fight. Infliction of this on an opposite gender target creates sexual tension.
Hallucinated – You see illusions as if under the spell ‘phantasmagora’.
Crushed – fatal, only size class L or above may inflict, this refers to a vertical attack
Bashed – fatal, only size class L or above may inflict, this refers to a non-vertical attack
Drained – fatal, body loses its life energy and becomes white dust and black tar

Descriptions

Orc – Unchanged, all orcs are effectively Uruk-hai for purposes of determining the particulars of appearance, though not all of them use the white hand markings. All orks worship the dragons.

Troll
As tall as an adult bull elephant, ranging from dark olive to lime in skin tone, bulging forehead, scraggly hair all over the body with thick, scarred muscles everywhere and patches of dull, rust-colored scales everywhere, the troll roars suddenly, insane with hostility at those who have dared its cave, and taking a rough cut stone, viciously slams the fighter on the shieldward side, shattering the human’s arm, cracking ribs, and bursting the shield into shreds of shattered wood, hurling the fighter sideways against a wall so hard blood spews out of his mouth and he crumples into a busted open pile, the bard getting crushed from the head down, head shattering, neck breaking, ribs a busted open hole, organs flowing out, the mage desperately casting a teleport without error spell to escape as the bodies are ripped apart by the troll’s grinding, pointed insect like teeth like raw jerky, bones crushing to pieces and organs spewing fluids, blood gushing in every direction. Approximately 1 in 1000 naturally born trolls is a spirit troll. This incredibly rare sub-type is rendered briefly invisible by its blood circulation process, appearing and vanishing in a predictable cycle on a turn by turn basis. Spirit trolls are regarded as elite by normal trolls and if one is present its usually a leader. Trolls worship dragons.

Dynamics used: Troll inflicts a crushing attack on the bard and a bashing attack on the warrior.

Notes: A trolls fast regeneration imitates the marvel comic book power ‘healing factor’. As a result, trolls are very, very difficult to kill without inflicting massive damage all at once. If a trolls body part is cut completely off, it will burrow into the ground at speed 8 and remain there for one standard week, emerging as a fully adult, fully independent troll of the same sex as its parent.

Wraith
Tracking the possessed man to a livestock barn, the torch wielding mob burst in, trapping the child killer at the back of the barn and advancing slowly. The child killer’s veins start to turn dark as the eyes slowly turn red, at first the mob thinking a spell is going on, suddenly throw a hand-scythe, which penetrates the chest of its target, ripping it open like paper as black smoke looms out of the wound, seizuring and frothing at the mouth as the eyes fill with so much blood that they burst, the body corroding and melting down as a shrill keening sound can be heard, instantly recognizable to everyone as the melting body bursts suddenly, a cloud of black smokey dust left behind, swirling around itself like an inverted tornado as it forms a vague approximation of the human form, eye sockets, nose socket, and open mouth blazing forth red light, the terror light. The creature howls a mad howl of sheer hatred for all things that live, flying towards the crowd as it rips their souls apart with its melee attacks, inflicting rotting wounds, feverish wounds, gangrenous wounds, and gushing wounds, the red terror light causing so much fear in its target that the warrior shudders uncontrollably as vein after vein bursts inside him, screaming in pain as his flesh sears away into liquid, this starting when the wraith shrieks again, the combination of the terror light and the shriek causing it, the undead creature’s invisible body welling and spewing bloody filthiness from its wounds, the filth instantly transforming into buzzing carrion insects as it touches the ground.

Dynamic: the keening and its after-effects are a form of draining.

Notes: Items which have a weight of 0 and produce no encumbrance may be wielded and equipped by a wraith. This generally means; rings, robes, amulets, crowns, circlets, and bracelets. Items equipped by a wraith degrade at an accelerated rate.

Kobold
Small, vicious creatures with rat like features, beady green eyes, hard dun hued scales and bristles of orange hair resembling a porcupine’s tines, but only a few in each seemingly random spot, poking out of hood here, shirt there, and pants the spines poking out of a busted open patch, each little abomination’s tines poking out at different random spots, the pack of small child sized creatures draw daggers caked in blood and poison, the scabbards having been filled with these things so that the array of small knives can wallow in it, the nimble, tailed creatures, resembling dwarves when in motion but only ever having bristly mustaches rather than beards, they swarm the boar from every direction, biting clawing and stabbing, and the animal manages to kill a few, but there are so many, and some wield torches, burning and deliberately torturing the animal as their heartless, carnal brutality continues, before one whirls on you, shrills a high yipping call, and the swarm at you in a crowd, the still seizing body of the stabbed-from-every-direction pig spews blood and guts as the hoard of vicious little monsters turns its attention to you and races to the attack. Kobolds worship dragons.

Wight
It was only after the grave robbers managed to force the stone lid of the sarcophagus off that they realized their mistake, for with that removed, a sudden change in weight somewhere inside the sarcophagus had caused the doors out to slam shut, trapping them inside the burial mound. The warrior was the first to see it, the at first slow moving partially skeleton partially not creature not hard to spot, since it was wearing its funerary armor and carrying with it a ritual sword. The warrior hurried back to tell them as the soulless creature slowly began to reconstitute the powders inside itself, organs swelling and hardening, muscles reforming in a surge of pain, the creature’s deep, echoing bass voice a horrifying sound as it let forth its pain as a sound, spewing a cloud of ancient dust from its throat in the process, eyes forming in its sockets, the rogue desperately attempting to do something, anything, to the monster before it regained its full strength, only to have the dagger deftly blocked, swished away into a corner, and be grabbed by the throat in a grip so strong it was breaking her neck audibly but excruciatingly slowly, screaming and gargling as she struggled to get out of the monster’s grip, her eyes rotted from their sockets as her flesh darkened, wrinkled, twisted, and mummified, the impact of the Wight dropping her on the ground breaking the newly dead bodies spinal chord. The warrior was next, he got a hard hit in with his mace, but it did no good, the creature’s store of life energy healed it immediately. All they found the next day was three mummified bodies and an empty sarcophagus, the bodies ripped apart and stomped upon until they weren’t even remotely identifiable.

Dynamic used: The three victims are subject to draining fatality.

Notes: Only the wights unarmed attacks drain life energy.

Ogre – Only minor tweaks; head doesn’t hang low, somewhat more intelligent, dominant arm grows to be significantly larger than passive arm. Throw ranged as if a small medium or large catapult or ballista if thrown by dominant arm. Some know defiler magic.

Specter
At first the druids thought that they faint luminosity slowly moving along the deep woods path was simply a wandering will of the wisp. They couldn’t have been more wrong, and should have known better, but it was a late night and they had been riding hard all day. They didn’t think much of a distant light. By the time they realized they were in trouble, it was to late. glowing faintly, with white hair, white eyes, and a face twisted in the rictus of death, the specter’s mere presence caused a cold wind to blow suddenly and put the fire out, wakening both the sleepers, only to find the mysterious creature there a moment before gone, a cloud of stench resembling that of a bursted open corpse pervading the area and the fire out. Appearing for a few moments each time, the Specter wrenched away life force in a powerfully executed series of appearances, sadistic clawing melee attacks, and disappearances, eventually leaving the two druids so feeble, disabled, and scarred, that the blind, mostly deaf, barely mobile travelers froze to death in the cold of the night. They had striven mightily, as it would be seen days later when they were found, but they had failed to hit their unknown attacker even once. With anything.

Dynamic used: The specter inflicts a different type of draining, but its still considered draining.

Notes: Specters may equip items that produce 0 encumbrance and have a weight of 0, such as rings, robes, amulets, crowns, etc.

Giant – consult 2nd edition monstrous manual for appearance art. All types are available, but all types have both dual wielding 2-handed weapons and being able to use throwing boulders. Hill giants, ettins, jungle giants and fomor giants are neolithic. Some giant races are good aligned.

Lich – minor changes; aura glows visibly and changes colors depending on mood, eyes emit black-light when using magic, may disguise itself as a living member of its own race if an illusionist, otherwise, may take on the shape and physique of anyone they killed (though not memories, skills, or intelligence). Only a person killed by an unarmed melee blow can be imitated. Lich dust is an impossibly-rare alchemical commodity. When a lich’s soul is completely full of magical knowledge, it becomes a demlich, gaining unaided flight and becoming wraith like, though it does not drain life essence. A lich may replace an eye, fingertip, or tooth with a priceless jewel. When this is done, the jewel becomes a repository for a single magical spell of a level at or below 6th. A lich or demilich who has replaced all its teeth with jewels may gnash its teeth once a month to suddenly cast several spells at once, though this wears down the jewels. Note: eye-jewels function at gaze range, fingertip jewels function at pointed-finger range and direction and emit a beam rather than a traditional spell casting. A direct damage spell used as an eye-socket jewel results in the spell being cast as an invisible gaze beam, the spells effect still happening as normal, but only happening to the target -after- the impact, and not visible beforehand unless see invisible, detect invisible, or other such spells are in play.

Notes: Unlike normal mages, liches bodies are not engines of magic, they are sucking voids which drain magic from everything around them. A lich must defile to use magic and all liches are considered the defiler type. All liches are subservient to Vecna, who has the power to strike them with instant death, real death, if they anger him. This power’s range is world wide.

Lamia – minor changes; beautiful woman above, goat or deer below (common), serpent below (noble), or dragon-like below (elite). They charm through gazes and their unarmed melee attacks inflict illusions, requiring no casting of any kind. Lamia may equip standard core race equipment on their upper and lower halves, if such armors and weapons are available, and are a tool using species.

Vampire – resembles a living member of its race until it feeds, immediately growing fangs like a wolf, wings like a bat, vicious claws, huge bat ears, and sprouting hair all over its lower body, the monstrous form flight capable. Transforming back and forth takes a few moments. All vampires have Potence, Obfuscate, Auspex, and if they successfully feed on enough other vampires, gain either Domination or Vicissitude, though never both. A vampires blood penetrating any core race target’s bodily systems results in either a gradual transformation into a vampire, or, in the case of clerics of any type, a painful immediate death followed by rising again as a Death Knight. Vampires exert no magical control over death knights, though vampiric offspring must make a self control check for any attempt to harm their parent vampire for the first 3 months, after which they lose this penalty. Vampire ashes are an incredibly rare alchemical commodity.

Gorgon – Minor changes only; serpents for hair (common type) two kinds of serpents for hair, snake like lower body (noble), three kinds of serpents for hair, scale half-plate armor equivalent (elite), gaze turns a target into stone, forcing a save v. petrify. Gorgon serpents are a priceless alchemical commodity. All gorgons have either bow and arrow (common), throwing spear (noble) or sword & shield (elite) weapon skills, both wielding and repairing/crafting and are known to both poison and enchant weapons. Approximately 1 in 50 gorgons will start life as a male, called a Harem master. After 300 to 700 breedings, the male sheds its genitals and becomes a female, functioning afterward as a normal female of appropriate class. Female gorgons are viciously protective of harem masters, and are willing to go to insane, extreme lengths to protect him or get revenge on his killer.

Revenant
They had done what they had to do. It was what the boss said had to be done. He was going to go to the city guards with it, and that would ruin everyone’s fun and profit. It had to be done. He kept telling himself that as he tried desperately to pour himself drink after drink. He had seen someone, a stranger, he thought, in the graveyard that night. It had unnerved him. He couldn’t shake the idea that he was being watched, by something, somewhere. He would go to the gambling dens, he always made the best money there. He couldn’t think. The house was so compact. It felt like it was getting smaller. Little did the drunken, vainglorious fool realize that this was because a dark shape was outside watching him in total stillness and silence, its fiendish undead eyes burning with silent rage at him, glaring hard into him like two spearpoints. He felt like he was being followed and in truth he was, his silent companion never far from him. He rounded bends and turned back upon his trail on several occasions, but when he accidentally confused himself and went into a dead end alley, it was all over for him. Bulging, glassy white eyes, purplish skin the color of a bruise, wounds gurgling and welling blood and corruption in steady slow streams, rictus bound body sweating pus, the revenant closed on him fast, but not so fast he didn’t get a chance to spin and draw his weapon. That was his fatal mistake. The revenant’s body grew rapidly more and more horrific and decayed until it was an unrecognizable mass of wormy foulness only humanoid in the sense that it had two arms, two legs, and a vague rampart like lump that might have been a head, the change rapid and starting as soon as the man’s eyes found it. With one vicious swipe of the dagger the revenant pulled from its gaping wound, his throat was cut, but his torture wasn’t over yet, for the Revenant forced him to lock eyes with it, hallucinations of its ever-more-horrendous form filling every inch of the man’s vision as his life force drained away to nothing and his body corrupted into black tar and white dust. For the revenant, it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. Revenge was a sweet dish, but it was one that inspired in the revenant a craving, violently addictive NEED for more. The revenant leaped, sailing miles in moments, as the city guards rushed to see what the disturbance had been. They never found a killer and in truth they didn’t look to hard. The guy was a dickhead anyway.

Dynamic: Draining
Notes: A revenants initial killer is almost never it’s fated slayer, having only a 0.5% chance of being such. Also, after killing its initial killer, a revenant must make a self-control check. Failure results in existence as a revenant continuing indefinitely. Success results in the character’s soul going to an afterlife. This self control check is made difficult by the fact that its effectively to see whether the revenant became addicted to killing or not. A revenant who has already succumbed to this will automatically fail and remain a revenant.

Flesh golem – The flesh golem is significantly different from the ‘frankenstein’ envisioning of a flesh golem. It is humanoid, head, two arms, two legs, but it lacks bones entirely, every part of its body made of flesh that was ground, shredded, and shaped into a roughly humanoid shape, spiderwebbed through and through by a network of purloined veins. 90% resistant to blunt impacts due to its nature, it isn’t a blobish sort of a thing either. The magical process that creates it makes the flesh swell and harden till its hard as a rock. Able to wield weapons, understand commands, and imbued with a devious, vicious intelligence, its most terrifying ability is its blood regeneration, the veins throughout its body fully mobile and fully independent of the main body, able to seek and parasitize any wound they can reach, and at later stages, growing painful thorns which it will use to seek to inflict injuries on which to feast, the act of doing so healing it at visible-to-the-eye speeds usually.

Devils – This race is a composite of Batezu, Tana’ri, Yugoloth, and others of the infernal planes. They will reform indefinitely and repeatedly unless killed by a holy weapon or spell. (note: casting bless on a weapon is enough to make it ‘holy’ for this purpose). They will reform in either the nearest evil temple, the nearest defiled land, or the underworld, whichever is closer to their geographic location. All Devils may use Gate to summon lower ranked devils. Though the various castes don’t always get along, there is no blood war, so the three types aren’t embroiled in a long term race war.

Death knight – effectively an undead paladin, they resemble an undead member of their race, often carrying corroded, corrupted unholy symbols, and corroded, corrupted unholy weapons. The unholy symbol is a draw to all undead, allowing a death knight to have an aura of leadership during all encounters with undead, and the unholy weapon collects and amplifies evil magic, allowing it to hold charges and cast spells as a wand or staff, even though its usually to warped to be useful as a weapon, and will break if used as a weapon very much / whatsoever. The weapon will refill itself of charges over time, charging when held by the death knight or when in presence of harmful magic use (whether it be curses, necromancy, or even something as basic as melf’s minute missile). The spells the weapon casts will change over time, depending upon how its used, and a default initial should be chosen by a player, the spell of a level no higher than 4. Revised: The death knights presence corrodes and corrupts holy things.

Naga – only minor changes; all naga are either constrictors, vipers, or asps, vipers and asps being poisonous through fingernails, lips, tail tip, and teeth. Female naga gain seduction as a skill initially, while males gain 1 snake familiar a year every year until they have 20. If snakes are in situ and a male naga loses a snake familiar, the spirit of the familiar transfers to another present snake, that snake immediately becoming an obedient familiar.

Ghoul – only minor changes, all ghouls have acrobatics as a skill, gain both hand and foot talons, are perpetually surrounded by an odor that functions as the spell stinking cloud, and gain a tongue approximately as long as one of their arms and prehensile, and fangs which ooze diseased filthiness. Agile killers, Ghouls can climb anything their talons can penetrate, commonly using this to climb up sheer walls, hide on ceilings, and hide under bridges. Ghoul pus is a common alchemical commodity.

Beholder – The Eye Tyrant supplemental has good appearance art, as does the Monstrous manual 2nd edition. Beholders may equip rings, piercings, and bags, their eyes learning the spells the rings that are placed upon said eyestalks teach. I.E. A ring of frostbolt equipped on eyestalk number 4 would gradually teach eyestalk number 4 frostbolt.  The hive mother and elder orb sub-types are now natural progressions which beholders go through, though in either case it requires the beholder to consume a jelly like psychotropic substance at an appointed culturally appropriate ritual time, thus, beholder communities typically have a small number of well ensconced elder orbs and always have between 1 and 3 hive mothers. Beholders are adverse to undead, so death tyrant beholders are incredibly rare. Due to the differing process which creates them, Elder Orbs do not lose their sight or ray projection in their peripheral eyes unless by injury or etc, though their eyes instead cast spells from the Arcane sphere, replacing all peripheral eyes’ spells with arcane equivalents or a randomly determined arcane offensive/defensive spell if no such equivalent exists.

Note: Beholders are allies of the dragons and have been for many eras. If a beholder encounters a dragon, its customary for it to be a non-hostile encounter and this would be expected from both sides unless circumstances impel it otherwise.

Ghast – only minor changes, all ghasts have acrobatics as a skill, gain both hand and foot talons, and are perpetually surrounded by an odor that functions as the spell poison cloud, gain a tongue which wells venomous saliva, and gain fangs which ooze diseased saliva. Agile, brutal, and cunning killers, Ghasts use their acrobatics to steal children, pets/familiars, and belongings, terrorizing their victims over hours, days, or weeks pitilessly and devouring anything that smells like food, whether it be a child or a loaf of bread. Ghast venom is an uncommon alchemical commodity.

Dragon man, wolf man, bear man, lion man – in the case of wolf, bear, and lion man they resemble lycanthropes, but are always in a state of both animal and human, and in the case of Dragon man, they resemble a humanoid dragon, having both a breath weapon and wings. A dragon man’s breath weapon is determined by the player initially, picking one breath weapon from any dragon of any alignment, which never changes afterwards. Dragon man males usually have destructive ‘western’ breath weapons, dragon females usually have less destructive ‘eastern’ breath weapons.

Lycanthrope – Only minor changes; if a lycanthrope dies in its human state from a non-silver non-holy wound or element, they will undergo a final lycanthromorphic change, experiencing one time fast regeneration, after which they never assume their human shape again.

Note: Lycanthropes who are exposed to the moon of Nuitari for to long take on strange hues and ritual tattoos appear on their bodies magically, remaining there ever afterward.

Mind flayer – Mind flayer’s heads resemble a cuttlefish (common), an octopus (noble) or a squid (elite). Other than that their appearance and abilities unchanged, though they have melee-capable tentacles (common), stinging tentacles (noble), or venomous tentacles (elite). Mind Flayer ichor is an expensive alchemical commodity. Lethal psychics, Mind Flayers are currently the only group in the world which uses Psychic abilities, and there are only 5 of them. Mind Blast, Mind Wall, Psychoteleport, Psychometabolize, and Psychomanipulate. Blast is an attack, wall is a defense, psychoteleport moves to the astral plane, psychometabolize heals its user, and psychomanipulate performs the same effect as telekinesis, and is fine enough to be used to manually pick a lock without a tool. Any core race person who imbibes between 3 and 5 potions of mind flayer ichor will slowly become psychic.

Notes: Mind flayers maintain a death grip on the Duerogar, who are their slaves. Any Mind flayer character will have 1d3 duerogar slaves at minimum.

Shadow – An invisible creature that casts a shadow, it is human-sized and resembles a thoroughly deformed humanoid creature, its true appearance said to be horror itself (using see invisible on it requires an immediate save vs instant death). Shadow’s unarmed melee hits damage the faith and psychology of their target, doing no actual damage of any kind, rendering a victim demoralized and suicidally depressed. A shadow has an actual body, and may equip articles from rogue, mage and warrior type classes. If a shadow suffers a bleeding wound, the blood (which is visible after leaving the body) corrodes into a black tar like substance which emits reddish lighter-than-air smoke in the process of corroding, becoming venomous afterward. Shadow’s blood is a priceless alchemical commodity. Revised: A shadow wielding a weapon inflicts actual physical damage, only unarmed attacks drain faith.

Aquatic – Unchanged, Sahagin, Anguillian, Kuo-toa, Kna, Crab-men and a variety of other fish/crustacean monstrous humanoids fall into this category. They are always at least level 2 in rogue or warrior. All monstrous humanoids of the aquatic type worship 7 primordial Krakens, whom they regard as gods and whom rule extremely large areas of the sea, opposed actively by a variety of creatures, notably whales, leviathans, dargonesti sea elves, tritons, sea giants, mermaids and generic sea elves. Only 3 of the primordial krakens are powerful enough to grant their followers spells, drawing from the Water, Evil, and Trickery spheres, each kraken choosing one and only one of these spheres. Aquatic beings are usually built for underwater existence and are suited to their environments, having appropriate special defenses.

Notes: The pecking order of the undersea world is effectively; 7 primordial krakens, aboleths, everybody else. Encountering an aboleth would be like encountering a cardinal. Attacking it, even if it attacks you, is an incredibly mind burstingly stupid idea.

Minotaur – unchanged, may trample and gore a target, 1 in every 1000 deaths will become an Ekimmu, functioning as that creature would normally function, though an undead minotaur rather than a transformed undead human. Minotaurs of station maintain harems regardless of their cultural roots, and don’t practice cultures that disallow this. Minotaurs must make a very hard self-control check if they see a sylph, mermaid, nereid, dryad, hamadryad, grain nymph, or nymph, filled with insatiable sexual desire if they fail. Curiously, this does not apply to corrupted unseelie spirits. Due to size differences, the various female spirits will typically flee and resist any sexual advance from a minotaur. To put it simply, a minotaur males dick is to big, and would harm them, possibly fatally, by breaking their pelvis.

Unseelie – Only minor changes. Nature spirits who survived their land’s defilement, Unseelie resemble their old selves greatly, taking the forms of creatures of great beauty, grace, eloquence, and sensuality. They may cast any of the following spells at will; mirage, charm person, charm beast, speak with animal, speak with dead, gaseous form, poison pollen cloud, Draining touch, and Petrifying touch, and gate: undead. Do not let their beauty fool you. Their kiss is deadly, functioning as both a draining touch and a petrifying touch at the same time. If under the light of Nuitari, defiler cult tattoos appear on their bodies. These deadly divas are very rare. So rare you could go through multiple whole quests without ever seeing one. They have no direct special attack other than spells, and if they enter lands where uncorrupted nature spirits live, they suffer under a ‘cause antipathy vs. self’ spell effect for the duration with respect to animal and plant life. Some sages believe them to be a form of sexual vampire, feasting on the life force contained in a man’s semen, citing some similarities to certain kinds of devils. This remains unknown.