Some info on evil denizens of the underdark

[Memnoch]

I don't type it all out. That's one of the joys of having an online version. But your perseverance is appreciated and will not be forgotten, mate!


Death Knight

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any
FREQUENCY: Very rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Nil
INTELLIGENCE: Genius (17-18)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 0
MOVEMENT: 12
HIT DICE: 9 (10-sided dice)
THAC0: 11
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 with +3 bonus
DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 75% (see below)
SIZE: M (6'-7' tall)
MORALE: Fanatic (17)
XP VALUE: 6,000


A death knight is the horrifying corruption of a paladin or lawful good warrior cursed by the gods to its terrible form as punishment for betraying the code of honor it held in life.
A death knight resembles a hulking knight, typically taller than 6 feet and weighing more than 300 pounds. Its face is a blackened skull covered with shards of shriveled, rotting flesh. It has two tiny, glowing orange-red pinpoints for eyes. Its armor is scorched black as if it had been in a fire. The demeanor of a death knight is so terrifying that even kender have been known to become frightened.
A death knight's deep, chilling voice seems to echo from the depths of a bottomless cavern. A death knight converses in the language it spoke in its former life, as well as up to six additional languages.

Combat: A death knight retains the fighting skills it had in its former life. Since it has little regard for its own safety and an intense hatred of most living creatures, it is an extremely dangerous opponent. Still, a death knight retains a semblance of the pride it held as a good warrior and fights honorably: It never ambushes opponents from behind, nor does it attack before an opponent has an opportunity to ready his weapon. Surrender is unknown to a death knight, and it will parley only if it senses its opponent has crucial information (such as the fate of a former family member).
A death knight has a strength of 100). It usually attacks with a sword; 80% of the time, this is a magical sword. When a magical sword is indicated, roll 1d6 and consult the following table:


Roll Death Knight's Sword
1 Long sword +2
2 Two-handed sword +3
3 Two-handed sword +4
4 Short sword of quickness
5 Short sword of dancing
6 Short sword of life stealing

A death knight wears the same armor it wore in its previous life, but regardless of the quality of the armor, it always has an AC of 0. Hit points for a death knight are determined by rolling 10-sided dice.
A death knight's magical abilities make it especially dangerous. It constantly generates fear in a 5-foot radius, and it can cast detect magic, detect invisibility, and wall of ice at will. Twice per day, it can cast dispel magic. Once per day, it can use either power word, blind, power word, kill, or power word, stun. It can also cast symbol of fear or symbol of pain once per day, as well as a 20-dice fireball once per day. All of its magical spells function at the 20th level of ability.
A death knight cannot be turned, but it can be dispelled by holy word spell. It has the power over undead of a 6th-level evil priest. Its magic resistance is 75%, and if an 11 or lower is rolled on the percentile roll, the spell is reflected back at the caster (the magic resistance is rerolled each time a spell is cast at a death knight).

Habitat/Society: Death knights are former good warriors who were judged by the gods to be guilty of unforgivable crimes, such as murder or treason. (For instance, Krynn's Lord Soth, the most famous of all death knights, murdered his wife so that he could continue an affair with an elfmaid.) Death knights are cursed to remain in their former domains, usually castles or other strongholds. They are further condemned to remember their crime in song on any night when the moon is full; few sounds are as terrifying as a death knight's chilling melody echoing through the moonlit countryside. Death knights are likely to attack any creature that interrupts their songs or trespasses in their domains.

Ecology: Death knights have no physiological functions. They are sometimes accompanied by skeleton warriors, liches, and other undead who serve as their aides.

[Kaleban]

Does anyone else think that the "standard values" for monsters in AD&D, such as the Death Knight example above are somewhat, well... dated?

I mean a mage can have a lower Thac0 in SoA than a Deathknight, and an AC of -9 or better! Watching a mage beat-up a DeathKnight would certainly be interesting, no?

[andrewas]

Kaleban, very few people PnP a character long enough to get to SoA type levels - and DMs that run such groups as do get that far will inevitably have learned to balance the monsters to the party, and will not be relying upon the exact values in the book.

BTW, what is a Kender?

[Morgeruat]

quote:

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Originally posted by andrewas:
Kaleban, very few people PnP a character long enough to get to SoA type levels - and DMs that run such groups as do get that far will inevitably have learned to balance the monsters to the party, and will not be relying upon the exact values in the book.

BTW, what is a Kender?

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I'll post the full stats in about an hour, but basically without reading Dragonlance novels, a kender is similar to a halfling, but more childlike, completely innocent and they're all "borrowers" not thieves, because they don't realise they're stealing most of the time, stuff either "falls into their pockets" or they're "keeping it safe for so and so, since he should know better than to leave it laying around in a locked and trapped safe where anyone can find it"

[LennonCook]

quote:

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Originally posted by Morgeruat:


I'll post the full stats in about an hour,

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Your "an hour" amazes me Morgerat. You say an hour, uv been a few days!!
Do u know what an hour means [img]graemlins/question.gif[/img]
(BTW- im [img]graemlins/kidding.gif[/img] )

[LennonCook]

[img]graemlins/question.gif[/img] Im up at 7:00 in the morning, and I WANT MONSTERS!!!, i have nothing better to do all holidays than stuff on the net and BG2... unless i can be provided with a link to somewhere where i can download a montrous manual for myself?? that owuld be far more helpful than having to wait for someone who is obviously very busy to copy and paste some info, that we might not even want... problem with requests is that its impossible for anyone to get around to all of them...
SO please, a link?? [img]graemlins/question.gif[/img]

[Ares]

Hey Memnoch...Maybe you should put this as a Sticky...that way EVERYONE can have their requests about monsters [img]smile.gif[/img]

Its amazing...this topic has almost 100 replys...and probly a few hundred hits as well

[Lucifer Lord of demons]

BUMP
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[DrakenKorin]

Frankly, the one thing I wouldn't want to face in BGII would be a deathwyrm.

They make the shadow dragon look like a child's toy.

[DrakenKorin]

Mm. A random undead beast, for posterity.

Gravewalker

CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Unholy sites and graveyards
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Night
DIET: Human and demi-human blood
INTELLIGENCE: Genius (17-18)
TREASURE: S, Tx3, V, Z
ALIGNMENT: Any Evil
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: -2
MOVEMENT: 12
HIT DICE: 17-20
THAC0: 17-18 HD : 3
19-20 HD : 1
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-20/2-20
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Priest spells, Chill voice
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M (7’ Tall)
MORALE: Fanatic (17-18)
XP VALUE: 17 HD : 18,000
18 HD: 19,000
19 HD: 20,000
20 HD: 21,000

Gravewalkers are the undead spirits of evil high priests who have served their gods exceptionally well; after death, these priests have been granted the "privilege" of returning to the prime plane to continue their unholy work. These undead creatures retain their abilities (including spells) of their previous existence, except where noted above (i.e. genius intelligence, AC, etc..) A gravewalker's memories and emotions also remain intact, so an enemy in life will still be an enemy in its undead state.
Only the most worthy servants will be chosen for transformation into a gravewalker, and only if the priest has obtained at least 17th level at the time of death.
A gravewalker appears as the typical "grim reaper" - a skeletal body about seven feet tall, shrouded in black robes; the eyes of a gravewalker glow a sickly green, and their voice is slow and deep, and chilling to hear.
A gravewalker is the enemy of everything good, and their goal is the torment and eradication of good whenever they encounter it.

Combat: Upon transformation, a gravewalker is bestowed with a (possibly magic) scythe for a weapon. A gravewalker has the following chances of obtaining a magical weapon:

HIT DICE +1 +2 +3
17 20% 10% 5%
18 25% 15% 10%
19 30% 20% 15%
20 35% 25% 20%

This scythe is jet black and delivers 2-20 points of damage per hit (plus any magical bonus); a gravewalker is able to make two attacks per round with this weapon. A gravewalker is considered proficient in this weapon regardless of any proficiencies in its previous existence.
In addition to its scythe, the gravewalker also retains its full compliment of priest spells, plus any additional spells its god wishes to grant it. These spells are gained and cast as per a priest of the level corresponding to the gravewalker's hit dice.
The gravewalker's final weapon is its chilling voice; anyone who listens to a gravewalker speak for more than one round must make a saving throw versus spells; those who fail are struck with a feeling of hopelessness (as per the ** emotion ** spell) and immediately suffer the effects of a ** chill touch ** spell. Anyone who succeeds in making the saving throw is not affected for the current round; a new saving throw must be made each round. A gravewalker's speech is affected by magic such as a ** silence ** spell.
Although they possess great intelligence, theirs is an unnatural intellect; therefore, like most undead, gravewalkers are unaffected by sleep and charm spells. In combat, only weapons with a +2 or better enchantment may harm a gravewalker.

Habitat/Society: A gravewalker normally inhabits unholy sites and graveyards, as they seem to obtain sustinence from these places. However, as they also need a supply of human or demi-human blood to continue their existence, gravewalkers will often venture into towns and cities in search of victims; they will do so only at night. Unlike the vampire, a gravewalker lacks fangs; therefore, the victim is usually torn assunder to allow the gravewalker access to the blood. Because of this, a gravewalker's blood drain is not considered a special attack mode, since this is not done until after the victim is killed by other means.
An individual killed and drained of blood by a gravewalker may not be raised or resurrected until the body is brought to a holy site to receive a ** remove curse ** spell from a good-aligned priest; this priest's level must be at least equal to the gravewalker's hit dice. Even if a victim is successfully returned to life, he will be haunted by nightmares of his attacker for the rest of his life; more often than not, insanity is the result. The only way to remove this condition is to track down and kill the offending gravewalker (the victim's nightmares will often give clues to the whereabouts and identity of the gravewalker in question; for instance, the nightmares are more intense and occur more often, the closer the victim is to the gravewalker.) The afore mentioned curse and nightmares only occur if the victim is actually drained of blood; they do not occur if the gravewalker simply kills the victim, but fails to drain its blood.

Ecology: The arch-enemies of a gravewalker are, naturally, paladins and priests of the gods (forces) of good; they will often seek out and destroy these agents of good.