Beginning of a forest crawl idea
After running Tomb of the Serpent King for my group and messing up the characterization of Xiximander, I decided it'd be fun to have a monster that is friendly, but deadly.
Since I love spiders, I'm planning on writing up something similar to the Mirkwood portion of The Hobbit. I think a great NPC/enemy is a giant spider who isn't interested in attacking the PCs because he's just had a massive meal, so instead he just chats.
He could even potentially offer gear from other adventurers who he killed. not sure.
So, let's start a write-up, just for the hell of it.
Grumblewitz, Deposed Prince-Consort
Grumblewitz is a massive spider the size of a horse. He lives in the center of a web that spans several trees.
AC 5 HD 6 (28 hp) Att 1 x bite (2d6+poison),
THAC0 17, MV 60’ (20’) / 120’(40’) in webs
SV (F5), ML 8, AL Chaotic, XP 100, NA 1
, TT Unique
Non-combat:
Grumblewitz is the deposed consort of the Brood Queen, and if spoken to will happily make legitimately helpful suggestions. He comes across as sleepy, but otherwise reasonably polite despite his threatening hissing/buzzing 'accent'. Grumblewitz is fond of riddles, but finds puns mildly irksome.
When Grumblewitz is first encountered, he is resting after a recent large feeding. His interests are:
Grumblewitz will only take defensive action if he, his webs, or any hanging bodies (his food source), are threatened. If his webs or food is threatened he will first go through steps 1-3. If he is threatened directly, he attacks immediately.
Offense:
Even though he is not hungry at present, he cannot resist an easy meal--after all, he never knows when his next meal will be. If the PCs are separated, in a small group, or one of them gets too close, he will immediately bite.
Combat:
Combat routine: Grumblewitz prefers to attack lone prey. If the prey is not alone, he will attempt to bite any unbitten, then any unaffected prey. Once any threats are neutralized, he will wrap the prey in webbing. This counts as being 'caught in a web'. Wrapping a goblin takes 1 round, an elf or a human takes 2 rounds.
• Cling: Can walk on walls and ceilings.
• Venom: Causes paralysis in 1 turn (save vs poison). Paralysis lasts 2d6 rounds.
• Webs: Creatures caught in webs become entangled and unable to move. Breaking
free depends on Strength: 2d4 turns for strength in the normal human range; 4 rounds for strength above 18; 2 rounds for creatures with giant strength. The webs can be destroyed by fire in two rounds. All creatures in a flaming web suffer 1d6 points of damage.
Treasure Type: Random starting equipment for an adventuring party of similar make-up as the PCs. Also their dried out skeletal remains. This can be found if the party slays Grumblewtiz, or if they can convince him to go and get them for him.
Since I love spiders, I'm planning on writing up something similar to the Mirkwood portion of The Hobbit. I think a great NPC/enemy is a giant spider who isn't interested in attacking the PCs because he's just had a massive meal, so instead he just chats.
He could even potentially offer gear from other adventurers who he killed. not sure.
So, let's start a write-up, just for the hell of it.
Grumblewitz, Deposed Prince-Consort
Grumblewitz is a massive spider the size of a horse. He lives in the center of a web that spans several trees.
AC 5 HD 6 (28 hp) Att 1 x bite (2d6+poison),
THAC0 17, MV 60’ (20’) / 120’(40’) in webs
SV (F5), ML 8, AL Chaotic, XP 100, NA 1
, TT Unique
Non-combat:
Grumblewitz is the deposed consort of the Brood Queen, and if spoken to will happily make legitimately helpful suggestions. He comes across as sleepy, but otherwise reasonably polite despite his threatening hissing/buzzing 'accent'. Grumblewitz is fond of riddles, but finds puns mildly irksome.
When Grumblewitz is first encountered, he is resting after a recent large feeding. His interests are:
- Sleeping off his recent, massive feeding
- Preventing anyone from damaging his webs
- Contributing to the downfall of the Brood Queen.
- Making an easy kill for later feeding
Defense:
Grumblewitz will only take defensive action if he, his webs, or any hanging bodies (his food source), are threatened. If his webs or food is threatened he will first go through steps 1-3. If he is threatened directly, he attacks immediately.
- Stridulating (making a hissing noise by rubbing together the bristles on his legs)
- Making a threat display (lifting up his front legs, and spreading his fangs, which drip with venom)
- Shouting 'HEY!! YOU! STOP THAT!' in the common tongue
- Attacking, attempting a bite attempt on the closest offender
Offense:
Even though he is not hungry at present, he cannot resist an easy meal--after all, he never knows when his next meal will be. If the PCs are separated, in a small group, or one of them gets too close, he will immediately bite.
Combat:
Combat routine: Grumblewitz prefers to attack lone prey. If the prey is not alone, he will attempt to bite any unbitten, then any unaffected prey. Once any threats are neutralized, he will wrap the prey in webbing. This counts as being 'caught in a web'. Wrapping a goblin takes 1 round, an elf or a human takes 2 rounds.
• Cling: Can walk on walls and ceilings.
• Venom: Causes paralysis in 1 turn (save vs poison). Paralysis lasts 2d6 rounds.
• Webs: Creatures caught in webs become entangled and unable to move. Breaking
free depends on Strength: 2d4 turns for strength in the normal human range; 4 rounds for strength above 18; 2 rounds for creatures with giant strength. The webs can be destroyed by fire in two rounds. All creatures in a flaming web suffer 1d6 points of damage.
Treasure Type: Random starting equipment for an adventuring party of similar make-up as the PCs. Also their dried out skeletal remains. This can be found if the party slays Grumblewtiz, or if they can convince him to go and get them for him.
Nice, very storybook-esque.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it.
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