OD&D: Opium, Dunsany & Dreamlands Part II

PURPOSE: As a sorta follow-up to my reskinning of Lair of the Lamb, I was encouraged to try reskinning OD&D monsters for various genre settings. Here are Levels 1 & 2. Below is for Level 3.

These were a little bit more difficult because four of the ten entries are essentially fighters & fighter+1 level and wizards & wizards+1 level. Also, the animals were just unexciting ones, but "giant"-- boo. But see what you think of them.

OD&D UNDERWORLD LEVEL 3

1. (undead) Wights 3 HD, AC 14, level drain, those killed rise as wights

2. (giant) Heroes 4 HD, AC 14, multi-attack (or cleave)

3. (vermin) Giant Hogs 2+2 HD, AC 13, bite, charge

4. (vermin) Giant Ants 2 HD, AC 12, bite

5. (vermin) Ochre Jelly 5 HD, AC 12, punch, split when hit

6. (humanoid) Thaumaturgists 3 HD, AC 10, dagger, spells 4/2/1

7. (humanoid) Swashbucklers 5+1 HD, AC 16, multi-attack (or cleave)

8. (humanoid) Magicians 3+1 HD, AC 10, dagger, spells 4/2/2

9. (vermin) Giant snakes 4 HD, AC 15, bite poison/constriction

10. (vermin) Giant weasels 3 HD, AC 14, war dance, bite

THE TWILIGHT REALMS: North of Sleep, South of the Setting Sun, LEVEL 3

1. MONKS OF GRIAULE✤: Once a great wizard was about to deliver a death blow to an even greater dragon, but the wizard’s certainty faltered for one heartbeat of a hummingbird result in the dragon being paralyzed but not dead. A town and cult grew on that immense dragon’s back and the serpentine will infuse into the populous. Now the cult pilgrimages to remote places, sealed in secret places, and patiently waits, heartbeat slowed to that of their immobile lord. Any intelligent being who walks within the radius of the monk begins a battle of wills– a loss mean consumption of native will and supplanting of Griaule’s.

2. THE FORGETFUL HEARTS: Black shields bearing a winged hourglass and black humors bearing lost souls. Stare too long and you see their eyes are really silver coins one places on the eyes of the dead. Popular theory is they are heroes killed on a quest of great importance and then forded the river Lethe to avoid the final resting place. However, that swim gave them life but cost them their memories of purpose but not their prowess. They often loiter at entrances to difficult areas of dungeons or ruins. Arms for hire if paid in the largest found gems. They would kill for one last wish or to find the deck of cards that controls fate itself.

3. CIRE’S SWINE: These great-dane-sized creatures have human eyes, human teeth, human malice, and an all too-familiar laugh. Run on all fours, but can easily manipulate thing with their front hand-like feet. No one knows if these are smart swine, transformed humans, or god-cursed creatures, but it is known they really hate those who weld magic. Good thing they are easily tempted by food…or fresh bodies.

4. RANCID TREASURE: In the Twilight Realms that which is unobserved can change and lost treasure is no different. Covered in the prints of many hands and many ambitions, lost treasure can spoil. Electrium and platinum coins become as beetles, gems as crustaceans, and jewelry sprouts growths or elongate like coral. The pile becomes a reef of wealth and defends itself like a hive.

5. CLAY OF THE GODS: Not all was cleaned up after the gods molded creation. Some of the clay used in creation was lost or discarded or forgotten about. That mass is formless as chaos, but shot through with hunger and only knows destruction. Cloven with a sword, the clay merely splits into two, reforming, and resuming its activities. However, clerics have been known to exert their will as devotees of gods on the clay, giving it just a tiny spark of mortality, and there are even stories of said clay becoming a fully formed being under the watchful eye of a cleric (Clerics can turn CLAY OF THE as undead of 2 HD higher than its present state; with tutelage, the CLAY can become a hireling or classed PC (cleric or fighter) but never a level higher than the HD it was turned at).

6. DISCIPLES OF SPUN FATE: These are priests of the spiders of Leng who claim to read the  fate of all in the Dreamlands. If that is true or not is hard to tell in the lands beyond sleep. Equally hard to verify is the impact of their zealots who go unobserved in the daily happenings and often evoked to explain mysterious misfortune. These individuals often are looking to influence by any means those with potential (high CHA) into serving their eight-legged masters, but often the exact end is unclear. For those who cooperate, great fortune awaits but with a gnawing uncertainty, their is an element that is undiscussed. Spells: (1) Darkness, Hold Portal, Spider Climb, Sleep (2) Invisibility, Web (3) Rope Trick

7. FURIES FROM ZAIS: A legion of half-sisters sowing sorrow for a grievance unnamed. Thier love for each other is unbreakable despite roving far from the city walls of Zais. Each is connected to the others by dreams and portents that glide through the Dreamlands as birds and moths. They are honest sell-swords and sought for their martial prowess, but they will not betray or harm each other. They are said to worship the 13 true sphinxes of the Dreamlands.

8. THE DREAMING MAGE: A singular figure draped in voluminous red & gold robes the color of a setting sun. Eyes are always closed yet this simi-translucent mage reacts as if they see all. Those who have survived encounters with this apparition claim attempting conversation seems to lead to disastrous ends. The mage appears to be distracted, distant and infers the worst from any suggestion. Yet, those same survivors report friends being lured away by the mage's needs never returning. Spells: (1) Charm Person, Magic Missle, Light, Hold Portal (2) Mirror Image, Wizard Lock, (3) Lightning Bolt, Monster Summoning I

9. WYRMS: Not quite serpent and not quite eel, these beasts are born from fabrique eggs, lost crown jewels, or the heads of dead wizards. They are long with scales of white quartz-hues, 3 or more pairs of short leopard-like legs, and typically have a venomous bite, breath a foul cloud, vomit lightning, or petrify with an opalescent weeping 3rd eye.

10. TARTARIAN HOUNDS: Old fireplaces, chimneys, cooking areas, and funeral pyres are all birth places of these creatures– a mix of ash and shadow given hound-like form; if a hound had a triple jaw, front legs as a lion, and a body that disappears into a fluttering banner of smoke. They track by heat but combust on contact with fire.

✤: Idea completely take from the very excellent book The Dragon Griaule which is a collection of short stories about the the town on back of the paralyzed dragon. The writing is beautiful and the idea is of course fantastic!