For those of you who love horror fiction and roleplaying, yet also don’t mind a bit of academic/philosophical speculation, let me introduce a wonderful resourse: Collapse volume IV. This is a special edition of an academic journal on philosophy, this time specialising in horror fiction. Those of you who have a particular weakness for Lovecraftian fiction (such as myself) may be interested in Graham Harman’s article, “On the Horror of Phenomenology: Lovecraft and Husserl”, which starts on page 333.

Continue reading The Philosophy of Horror

As some of you may have noticed, Monster of the Week has lapsed. In order to keep things fresh and interesting, I have decided to discontinue it for the moment, and focus on providing a greater variety of articles.

Some articles to look forward to in the next week or two:

Continue reading Upcoming articles; Monster of the Week Index

Wizards of the Coast have just put up 7 new made for iPhone wallpapers from their catalog of awesome pictures by their artists. They are a free download and look pretty damn awesome if you ask me. Images include:

Continue reading Awesome D&D wallpapers for your iPhone

Basilisks are, like many D&D creatures, a solid mythological creature. Check the Wikipedia entry, it’s quite good. What’s particularly interesting is, apparently, a Cockatrice is a variant of a Basilisk, with more bird than lizard. Anyway, the important thing is, in D&D, they’re all reptiles. They’ve got eight legs (one of a variety of mythological descriptions), and can kill with a gaze. Specifically, D&D Basilisks turn you to stone, a technique known to us gamers as petrification. Basically, think of a crocodile with 8 legs that can look at you and you die.

Continue reading Monster of the Week: Basilisks

Aboleths are large and intelligent marine creatures not to be confused with an Axolotl, another strange fishy creature also starting with ‘A’. However, rather than having legs, an Aboleth has psionic powers and another nasty stuff. They look something like this:

Continue reading Monster of the Week: Aboleth

Goblins are like the eternal minion. Fireball fodder. Unlike Zombies, they can think for themselves, so are perfect for enlisting in huge quantities for random armies. Ever since The Hobbit they’ve been associated with being standard foes, and are thus included as such in D&D. However, like any monster, there are a few things to consider: there is definitely a right way and… a way that is still right (hey, D&D is pretty free-form), but not necessasrily as good.

Continue reading Monster of the Week: Goblins

Wraiths are incorporeal undead, pretty standard in just about any fantasy setting. Their very nature makes them very difficult to injure at all. For a DM, they are a handy monster as both a random encounter, and forcing the players to problem-solve a tricky encounter.

Wraiths are restless undead which basically serve no purpose in a game except to kill or be killed. They don’t really have motivation beyond killing the living. That’s fine. They’re pretty well suited to the task.

Continue reading Monster of the Week: Wraiths

I was going to write an article about Cockatrices, having been killed by one in NetHack (a Rogue-like game, more on NetHack later this week). However, I found 4E D&D doesn’t have them… yet. It’s possible they’ll be in the MM2, which is released in May. *sigh* While I like the DM-friendliness of the 4E MM, I wish they’d put all the classic monsters in the first one. Well, I guess you can’t blame them for trying to make a bit more money. Wait… yes you can… huh.

Aaaanway, I will thus be covering a similar monster which, like Cockatrices, can turn people to stone. Yup, Medusas. The D&D folk managed to go back in time, kidnap the original mythological gorgon, and clone her so now we have lots of Medusas! Medusas for everyone! Yay!

Continue reading Monster of the Week: Medusa

Another classic creature born of human fear and storytelling, Vampires are a staple in a host of roleplaying games. They are inherently a strong opponent, and a puzzle, all at once. They are intelligent, and can serve in both combat and non-combat roles with ease. Oh, and they bite. Yeah.

Resistant to ordinary weapons, Vampires are only vulnerable to certain materials. Depending on the exact mythology, garlic, holy symbols, holy water, and silver weapons may help against them. Chopping off their heads often works, but there really is only one way of killing a Vampire properly: a wooden stake to its heart. Sometimes this has to remain there, otherwise the Vampire will reawaken, but this is less common in games where defeating a monster is expected to be kinda final. Actually, 4E specifically says you don’t have to stake them, but hey, 4E’s weird like that. Oh, and sunlight is bad.

Both usage and mechanics mirror a core concept: Vampires don’t exist in a vacuum. A Vampire is never just a Vampire, it is a noble, or a thief, or a merchant, or whatever. Do not waste a Vampire on a truly random encounter: give them a reason to exist. Vampires are smart, and they have goals. If there is a noble Vampire, what is his goal? Is it to conquer the kingdom? Gain it by subterfuge? Just live (as such) happily ever after?

Secondly, a Vampire should almost never get killed in regular combat. They are tough, and they can use Gaseous / Mist Form to escape almost anything. If players want to actually kill a Vampire, make them think. Hunt down the lair. Engage in a battle of wits. Nothing is as simple as just stabbing things with pointy sticks.

Does this not sound right? You wanted expendable Vampires, like the standard ones in Buffy, which go down in seconds? Ah, you must be looking for Vampire Spawn. They are minions: in 3.5, functionally; in 4E, actually. Vampire Spawn are what you normally get from a Vampire creating another, and they only exist to die. They are also a lot less dangerous.

Anyway, Vampires can be nasty out of combat: they are very smart, and can Dominate people. A clever Vampire will use this to get himself into a nice social position, with not too many peasants with torches and pitchforks. It’s good at dinner parties, too.

3.5 Edition

Vampire is a Template. Something I only realised after nearly wiping a party with a Vampiric Mouse is it can only be applied to Humanoids or Monstrous Humanoids. Oops. Sorry, guys.

Basically, make a base creature. Either pick one from the Monster Manual, or create a Humanoid one yourself. For tips on creating basic Humanoid monsters, you can refer to my post on Humans and other PC Race monsters.

Obviously, the increased stats help almost any class. Increased HD to d12s helps survivability a lot. Turning Undead means no Con score, which means a stack of immunities, including immunity to any Fort save unless the effect can target objects (so, immune to Finger of Death, but not Disintegrate). CR increases by 2.

Whilst Vampires have lots of neat abilities, their Slam Attack is where the real power is. 2 Negative Levels every round. Yeah. Hit a Wizard with that a couple of times, and he’s in trouble. Negative levels cause -5 HP, -1 to basically every roll, and you lose memorized spells; here, check the SRD link. Nasty stuff. Incidentally, it’s what makes Enervation such a great spell. Blood Drain is lame because it means working out the Grapple rules.

Vampire Spawn are naturally simpler: just read the monster entry. Similar idea: use the Negative Level attack. It’s only 1 Negative Level, but at CR 4 a pop, you can probably have a few Vampire Spawn.

Incidentally, the MM mentions Holy Wafers for keeping Vampires dead. These also make tasty snacks.

4th Edition

*sigh* Way to break consistancy. Apparently 4E Vampires aren’t actually vulnerable to most of the anti-Vampire stuff, including stakes.

While at first Vampires seem different to 3.5, they’re basically the same. Unlike 3.5, there’s an example Vampire, but they still operate through templates. Unlike 3.5, the template is in the wrong damn book! Honestly!

The Vampire Lord template is on page 182 of the DMG. Like the 3.5 version, you need to strap it to a base monster, although you could just use the sample Human Rogue. Choosing a base creature with good synergy with the Vampire’s powers is good; the sample Rogue is alright, but something that gives Combat Advantage for Blood Drain seems more sensical.

Remember that a Vampire is smart, and he knows what you as a DM knows. If the Vampire reduces a foe to 0 hp or less with Blood Drain, then they just aren’t getting up again in that encounter (see MM page 259: Creating Vampire Spawn). Heh. This is a perfect tool for DMing: the *best* encounter is one where nearly the whole party nearly dies. To ensure Blood Drain stays recharged, make the Vampire stand next to anyone taking damage. Some hired help pincushioning people may be handy here.

There is basically nothing to say about Vamprie Spawn. They’re Minions. Weak, pitiful. Meh.

Suffice to say, no matter which edition you’re playing, remember two constants: Vampires are smart, and Vampires don’t want to be destroyed. Make sure they escape when they can, or the world simply isn’t believable. Other than that, just make sure they play whatever role in society they have chosen for themselves, and things should just fall into place.

Remember to come back next week for another Monster of the Week!

By the way:

I am completely ignoring that silly Twilight series for all purposes, before someone leaves a comment. They’re not really Vampires, they just happen to be strong blood-sucking things.

Yay, Hellhounds! I’ve favoured them a little ever since DMing a solo game where the player used Handle Animal to tame one, and I let him keep it as his Animal Companion. Anyway, historically, Man has liked two things: dogs (“man’s best friend”), and fire. Well, how can you get better than DOGS… ON FIRE!!!???

Oh, you know, they’re also pretty good monsters, too.

Apart from being amusing pets, Hellhounds fit in nicely into a few roles. Basically, usage relies on the two factors that makeup their existance: being a dog, and being ON FIRE. Oh, and being from Hell helps too.

As a dog, a Hellhound (or many) make good companions for villains. Rather than having a traditional sidekick, they have a pet. They can also be used as uber guard dogs, which I have done before. Nothing like a dog ON FIRE to mix things up a little, and remind players that the world has such creatures, and is used to them.

As to the ON FIRE and Hell aspects, they fit in nicely with any situation that demands fiery creatures, or creatures from Hell. I recently ran an encounter involving a whole host of fire creatures summoned into a fire temple: Hellhounds were involved.

The neat thing about Hellhounds is you can use them believably either in packs (like wolves), or in an encounter with other creatures. It all depends what you’re trying to do.

For general random-encounter purposes, you’ll just want a pack of Hellhounds. If the terrain is appropriate (volcanic, Elemental Plane of Fire, Nine Hells, etc) it obviously makes more sense, but they can always have been summoned for some reason. Like wolves, Hellhounds are smart enough to use rudementary tactics against the party.

For companion purposes, it helps if the master is something that actually makes sense to have a Hellhound. Some sort of Demon obviously fits, but also any fire creature (Salamanders, say), or even something like a Cleric of an evil Fire god could do it. Maybe a familiar of an evil Wizard? Casters are obviously better than non-casters, because they have the ways to get a Hellhound and make it not eat them.

And then there’s the guard dog Hellhound. Just remember not to put it on a wooden floor, or near anything flammable. However, I believe it makes perfect sense for rich nobles to use Hellhounds as guard dogs: they are strong, aggressive, and smart. They’re certainly better than any real dog, assuming you can tame them. According to to 3.5 MM, Hellhounds have Int 6 and can understand the Infernal language, so negotiating may be more important than taming. Hmm. Next time someone in the party plays a Fighter or something with Int < 6, try to convince the DM to let you tame their character as a pet.

3.5 Edition

There’s two Hellhounds in the MM: a Hellhound, and a “Nessian Warhound”. Note that if you use the Nessian Warhound, it technically has +2 Chain Shirt barding. I let the Druid strap it onto his Wolf Animal Companion, but your milage may vary. If you don’t want it magical, subtract 2 AC, and if you don’t want it at all, subtract another 4 AC (total -6).

So what have these Hellpuppies got? Well, they’ve got very good damage for their level, and they have decent saves on all three types. They can also move fairly fast, and have VERY good bonuses for Hide and Move Silently. They can also track by scent. They also happen to have a Breath Weapon, but it has a low DC, so is only really useful against low level parties.

Assuming they have enough room to move around, you’re going to want the Hellhounds to sneak around and flank their prey. Then, they can rush in and gang up on a single target. Only use the Breath Weapon if you’ll catch at least 2 non-Rogues in it.

If the Hellhounds don’t have enough room to maneuver, then there’s not much you can do. They have low AC and HP (Nessian Warhound a bit better, for its level, due to much more Con), and can’t hold out in melee for long. Use the Breath Weapon if you can catch 2+ non-Rogues, but otherwise just try to use the Hellhound’s good damage to take down casters.

A note on the Nessian Warhound: like many advanced monster, the Feat choice is a bit lousy. Try swapping Alertness for Improved Natural Attack, for an extra +1d6 damage on its bite. For more cheese (particularly against cheesy parties), Hellhounds qualify for the Metabreath Feats in the Draconomicon, just like the Hydra from last week.

4th Edition

Firstly, before you ask: it’s under Hound. Two types of Hellhound, plus two other random Hounds.

Tactics are pretty similar to the 3.5 version, although they have more hitpoints, but can’t sneak.  They injure everyone who stands next to them, so exploit this: make sure the Hellhounds stand near the casters, if possible.

Using Fiery Breath, and, for the bigger Firebred Hellhounds, Fiery Burst, is basically reliant on how many people it can hit with the Area of Effect. The damage is similar to just attacking normally (bit better for Firebred), but hitting 2+ people really amplifies it. The Fiery Breath recharges on 4+ (50%), so spam it if there’s viable targets.

Other than that, there’s not much more to say. Hellhounds fit the same role in either edition, and there’s plenty of ways to use them. Have fun, and come back next week for another Monster of the Week.