Monster - Ogre Variants

Ogres get a bad rap.  Largest of the "normal" humanoids (not counting giants as "normal") they seem to get pushed off to the side, used either as a thuggish minion of the "big boss" monster in dungeons swarming with their smaller cousins or as more manageable minions in adventures featuring giants.  It's as though we don't know what to do with these in-between creatures.

When I was young and foolish, I had ideas.  Boss monster indeed, I thought.  What if - what if! - ogres were more than just the half-witted and overgrown orcs they're usually taken as?  They spend a great deal of time alone or in small groups - what do they do?  Where do they come from?  Who created them and why?

I didn't answer any of these questions, but I did concoct my own twisted B/X version of the Temple of Elemental Evil, from memory of a much-enjoyed game with friends and with liberal mixing from the mass-media dreck I had been consuming obsessively at the time.  That's a long and not very relevant story save to say: rather than rather gates into the elemental planes (which didn't make much sense to us in that era of D&D) I took inspiration from module B4 - The Lost City, and (without offering any spoilers for those who have never played this excellent adventure) decided that the nodes of evil were Chaos temples - and at the heart of each were creatures that had achieved unprecedented convergence with their dark, unspeakable gods.

Et voila, some new ogres were born, ever so slightly more horrible than the original:

	Grinder	Gulper	Whistler
AC	5	5	5
HD	4+1	4+1	4+1*
Move	90’(30’)	90’(30’)	90’(30’)
Attacks	2 claws(+bite)	1 weapon	1 weapon
Damage	1-6/1-6 (1-8)	By weapon+2	By weapon+2
No. Appearing	1-4 (1-4)	1-4(1-4)	1-4(1-4)
Save As	Fighter: 4	Fighter: 4	Fighter:4
Morale	10	10	10
Treasure Type	(Sx10)	(Sx10)	(Sx10)
Alignment	Chaotic	Chaotic	Chaotic
XP Value	175	175	225

	Stitcher	Blister	Rotter
AC	5	5*	5**
HD	4+1	4+1	4+1
Move	90’(30’)	90’(30’)	90’(30’)
Attacks	See below	1 weapon	2 claws
Damage	See below	By weapon+2	1-6+2/1-6+2
No. Appearing	1-4(1-4)	1-4(1-4)	1-4(1-4)
Save As	Fighter: 4	Fighter: 4	Fighter: 4
Morale	10	10	10
Treasure Type	(Sx10)	(Sx10)	(Sx10)
Alignment	Chaotic	Chaotic	Chaotic
XP Value	175+25/arm	175	225

When ogre variants are encountered, the number appearing represents the number of these mutants who might be found among otherwise normal-seeming ogres, where they serve as a (hopefully interesting, if unpleasant) surprise for cynical and world-weary adventurers.

Grinder: At first glance, these creatures appear to be fairly ordinary ogres, however those who look more closely may note that they bear no weapons – and in fact their long, wiry arms end in similarly long, hooked fingers that probably couldn’t grasp a weapon with any skill. No surprise, then, when they discover the creature’s real mode of attack.  Each round a Grinder will attack a target with its hooked claws, doing 1-6hp damage with each hit.  Should both claws hit, the beast will gather its victim into a deadly embrace, at which time its true weapon will be revealed: a wide maw filled with chisel-like teeth that have been filed down to points.  The Grinder will automatically deal 1-8hp damage to an embraced victim, and will continue to hug (dealing no damage) and “grind” (dealing 1-8) until the victim is dead or has escaped.  Note that, due to the “hook, hug, bite” mode of attack, the ogre’s traditional +2 to damage is not applied.  “Hugged” victims may attempt to escape each round: 1d6-2 is rolled for the character, with STR bonus applied, and the character escapes on a result of 6.

Gulper: There is something obviously “wrong” with this ogre on first sight – while the limbs are as muscular and corded with tendons as an ordinary ogre, the head of this beast is huge, with a wide mouth that stretches almost to divide the head in half, and blends smoothly into the shoulders and bulbous torso.  The body itself seems to ripple with excess flesh and odd, warty growths.  It seems like an obese monstrosity of an ogre, and rightly so.  While the Gulper is quite capable of fighting just as an ordinary ogre would, its favourite tactic is less savory – within that enormous maw is a long, muscular, sticky tongue.  When possible, the Gulper will fight from behind a screen of his ordinary cousins or smaller allies such as orcs or goblins  – occasionally snapping out its tongue up to 15’ to strike especially the smaller and weaker of its foes.  If hit by the tongue, the target is immediately dragged back through the battle lines to find themselves face to face with the Gulper - targets larger than a dwarf may make a save vs wands at -2 (STR bonus applies to this save instead of WIS) to resist.     On a hit roll of 20, even larger targets get no save, and dwarf-size or smaller targets find themselves drawn into the maw and swallowed whole – where they will take 1-6hp damage every round until cut from the creature’s belly.  Gulpers seem to find halflings and magic-users particularly tasty.

Whistler: Most adventurers have probably been at risk of a Whistler attack without knowing it – for they are often the source of a mysterious whistling sound in the deepest and darkest of caverns. In addition to infravision, Whistlers have the uncanny ability to function even completely blind – whether vision is obscured by magical darkness, invisibility, smoke/fog, or any other effect – with their bat-like power of echolocation.  As a result, their favourite tactic is to surprise victims in the dark, where they have a significant advantage.  This would perhaps not be nearly as effective a tactic were it not for a supernatural ability they have developed from long years in deep communion with the powers of Chaos: each Whistler is able to create magical darkness as the spell once per day.  As Whistlers are intelligent creatures, they will often coordinate their attacks with both other Whistlers and more ordinary cousins, using darkness to surprise opponents and cloak their attacks or to help their friends escape when overpowered.  Whistlers will also work together to cover larger areas with darkness, or to re-establish their advantage should their darkness be dispelled.

Stitcher: Stitcher lairs are terrible places, filled with the remains of dismembered bodies and twisted biological experiments – for this is the Stitcher’s special power: the ability to take parts of the bodies of others and graft them to their own – or others’ – bodies.  The main body of a Stitcher appears to be that of an ordinary ogre, and as such the Stitcher will usually bear some kind of weapon which it will wield in combat dealing normal weapon damage with a +2 bonus due to strength.  However, the hideous grafting power the Stitcher gains from his devotion to unnatural Chaos gods means that each Stitcher will have an additional 1-6 limbs (or other appendages) taken from victims.  These appendages provide additional attacks in addition to their grotesque appearance.  Naturally, any appendage is possible – but for convenience sake, for a sample of limbs, roll on the table below:

Roll	Appendage	Damage
1	Weapon-wielding humanoid arm	As weapon+2
2	Tentacle	Constrict 1-8/round
3	Giant scorpion tail	1-4+poison (save or die)
4	Giant crab pincer	2-12
5	Whole pit viper	1-4+poison (save or die)
6	Manticore tail (can shoot 4 spikes per round, 24 total)	1-6 each
7	Ghoul arm	1-3+paralysis
8	Weapon-wielding humanoid arm	As weapon+2

The dimmer Stitchers are likely to take the limbs of any especially powerful foe and add it to their bodies immediately , but Stitchers can swop/replace limbs given 1-4 days for the necessary “surgery” and often maintain stocks of alternative limbs in their lairs. 

Rumour has it that certain especially powerful Stitchers carefully curate their own collections and the collections of their fellows for best effect, including “utility” limbs as well as “fighting” limbs.  At least one such has managed to graft a pair of wings in addition to the usual 1-6 “fighting” limbs.  If a magic-user or cleric such as a tribal shaman is available, it may be possible for a Stitcher to work with him to develop arcane artificial limbs with entirely new abilities.

Blister: It is obvious at first glance that the Fetid has something wrong with him – head, face, arms and shoulders, chest, all are covered with a mass of growths that appear to be bubbles or blisters, mottled in various colours.  In fact, this is an infection of subterranean fungus that spreads under the heavy skin of the ogre, creating the hideous bubbling surface.  In combat, whenever the Blister is hit some of these growths burst, releasing a cloud of spores or drugged vapor.  All those in melee with the beast must save vs poison or suffer one of the following effects:

Roll	Emission	Effect
1	Spores	Grow blisters and boils in 1-6 days. -1 DEX&CHA/week
2	Choke	Overcome by coughing and sneezing for 1-6 rounds – no action possible
3	Stupor	Drugged stupor for 1-6 rounds – character’s action is always last in round despite initiative, no spellcasting, attacks at -2
4	Fear	Overcome by terror, run in random direction 1-6 rounds
5	Hallucinate	Companions appear hostile 1-6 rounds – attack closest
6	Blinding	Blinded for 1-6 rounds or until eyes are washed with wine or similar. Attacks at -4

Note that in the case of a character being infected with spores, the blisters will begin to appear in a patch of exposed skin 1-6 days later, and from that point will continue to spread until cured – eventually covering the victim’s upper body completely.  Sadly, a non-ogre body is simply incapable of properly supporting the growths and the victim will begin to suffer excruciating pain from the swollen flesh, in addition to gaining a hideous appearance as the infection spreads week to week.  These boils and blisters will emit spores when disturbed by violent impacts (eg when being driven into the wilderness by a mob of terrified villagers) but unless the infected character has a habit of eating humanoid flesh (as ogres do) the only effect of the spores will be to spread the infection to others.  When DEX reaches zero, the character will die, and if untended the body will quickly dissolve into a mound of fungal fruiting bodies that bubbles and stinks at it continues the fermentation of any organic matter that accumulates, but is otherwise inoffensive.

Rotter: As with Blisters, it will immediately be clear that there is something terribly wrong with a Rotter when it appears – if nothing else, the sickly-sweet stench of rotting flesh that fills any space containing a Rotter will be a sign of something amiss.  Once again, the powerful metabolism of the ogre comes into play – a Rotter cultivates an advanced state of decay in its hands and forearms, especially prizing a variety of cave-grub that feasts on the flesh of corpses.  The Rotter uses this rot to good effect in combat.  First, the hideous stench of rot is such that all characters entering melee with the Rotter must save vs poison or be nauseated – nauseated characters suffer -2 to attack rolls.  In addition, the Rotter will not use weapons, preferring to pummel opponents with its grub-infested, rotting fists.  Those struck must save vs poison or be infected by rot and grubs – infected wounds fester, and the blight will spread to any other wounds the character takes – this prevents all natural healing and magical healing has only half the normal effect.  Even if all damage is healed (i.e. the character is returned to full hp) the grubs and rot will merely be encysted within the characters flesh, unnoticed until the next time he or she is wounded, at which time they will burst forth with a putrid reek with similar effects.  This lasts until magically cured.

Legendary Weapons Old and New

A blade is a blade is a blade, yes?

No.

Some weapons are indeed forged in factory fashion, intended for the armories of keeps or to put teeth into a rag-tag force of conscripted farmers.

Some weapons are “off the rack” as it were, work-a-day tools in the kit of professional soldiers.

But some weapons…

Some weapons are great.

Some weapons were forged in circumstances mysterious or arcane. 

Some are artworks, the life’s work of a great master of the forge.

Some weapons were forged amid blood and fury – more birthed than made.

Yes, some weapons are great.

These legendary blades are storied – at times their names are remembered long after those of the warriors who wielded them.  It seems as though it was the weapon itself that wrought great deeds, as though the weapon was the hero – or the villain – that shook the world.

And sometimes it was.

Such weapons may be lost, but they will be found again: and when they are found, there will once again be great deeds to be sung.

###

[Inspired and informed by the article "A New Approach to Magic Weapons" by Michael Williamson, published as the Treasure Chest column in White Dwarf issue #73 (Jan 1986).]

Legendary Weapons Old and New

Part 1 : Determine the point value of the weapon

(random or choose):

Forging

Legendary Smith (1d10)

History

Age: 1 per 20 years (10d100)

Deeds:

+1-5 for each major event in which the weapon played a notable part (1d5/20 years)

+10 for any great events in which the weapon was a major player (10% chance per 100 years)

Wielders:

            + 1 per 3 levels of wielder if weapon was favoured for the major part of career (1d10/100 years)

Special

Add for dramatic circumstances of forging (1d10)

Magic weapons add +10 per +1 or special power (flaming, slaying, etc)

Sum the above to get weapon point value total.

Alignment

Legendary weapons are very focused and thus have only 4 primal alignments.  Select based on history or roll 1d4:

1. Good

2. Evil

3. Law

4. Chaos

Legendary weapons are not aligned in the magical sense, so can be wielded by anyone – but more powerful weapons may well detect as their alignment where appropriate.

Purpose

Legendary weapons are infused with a sense of purpose.  Roll or select according to what is appropriate for the weapon’s history:

Roll	Good	Law	Chaos	Evil
1	Defend the weak	Defend the law	Defend freedom	Defend oppression
2	Destroy a force for evil	Destroy a criminal society	Destroy an institution	Destroy a force for good
3	Fight cruelty	Maintain stability	Foment anarchy	Create fear/hardship
4	Kill all evil beings	Kill all criminals	Kill all officials	Kill all good beings

(Most entries will need to be detailed according to the setting: for example, destroy a force for evil might be interpreted to mean the weapon’s purpose is to destroy the followers and temple of a particular evil god. Destroy an institution might mean the weapon’s purpose is to kill all members of a particular aristocratic lineage, or it might mean the weapon is working against the institution of slavery)

Name

All legendary weapons have names.  In some cases the name will be inscribed on the weapon itself or on a special case, but in others the name may be unknown in which case the services of a sage or diviner may be required.  Detect magic will identify the weapon as very special, but not reveal the name or properties.  Spells such as Speak With Dead (to ask the former owner) or spells that access knowledge from the outer planes may reveal the name, or knowledge as to where it may be found.  Information found by a sage may be fragmentary, or may only point to where the name may be learned (i.e. triggering a quest to learn more about the weapon and unlock its power).  Intelligent weapons may be able to communicate their names to their wielders, but may or may not be inclined to.

Part 2 : Using the weapon

Weapons infused with the power of their history and great deeds have names and can be called upon to aid the wielder in times of trouble.  The wielder calls out the name of the sword and rolls to attack as normal.  Only a single attack is possible.  If the attack results in a hit vs target AC, but the target requires special weapons to hit, subtract points from the weapon as follows:

1pt silver

2pt magic weapons

2pt/+1 for targets that require specific bonus to hit

Roll damage as usual, then subtract points from the weapon at 1pt per additional hp damage required to kill the target until the weapon’s current point value reaches zero.

The sum of the points spent is the % chance the weapon will break (-5% per magical plus or special power, e.g. flaming, vorpal)

Recharging

The weapon will regain points up to its maximum as determined in part 1 at a rate of 1pt per 2hp damage dealt in the service of its purpose – random fights do not regenerate the weapon’s points, but if the wielder is working toward a goal that matches the weapon’s purpose hp dealt in fights directly related to that goal will do so.

Empowering

If the wielder consistently favours the weapon while pursuing goals that are in line with the weapon’s purpose, when a major goal is achieved (i.e. plot impact is high, challenge was high) the weapon may gain 1-5 points.  The weapon also gains 1pt for every 3 levels the wielder gains while using it as a favoured weapon.  These points add to the weapon’s max total.

Part 3 : Special features

As legendary weapons gain in power, they may evolve and develop additional powers.  For each 10pt of power, roll 3d6 once on the following table:

3        Special power: 3d6 lightning

4        Special power: either flaming (1-3) or frost (4-6)

5-6     Special power: defending (any magical bonus can be assigned to AC instead)

7-13   Add magical +1

14-15 Speaks (if no INT score, will communicate only animal urges in favour of purpose, calculate Ego to

                        determine wielder’s ability to resist)

16      Special power: Intelligent: add 1d4 INT

17      Special power: Persuasive: add 1d4 CHA

18      Special power: Extra Ego: add 1d4 to Ego score