I've got a mate who has never played before that I am trying to get into DnD. I would like to do something a bit special and I thought a one on one session version of the "Thing" with a doppelganger messing with a group of level 1 NPCs and my friend's first character might be an option. He is a Dwarf Fighter set in the sword coast. I was thinking of doing it in the snow like the movie.
Any suggestions or ideas on how I could go about it? Where to set it, minor monsters maybe I could use. I feel I really need to split everyone apart quite a bit through the game to keep him guessing who is the creature so I need options there.
I'd take inspiration from the return to Candlekeep chapter in Baldur's Gate 1. Set in the Sword Coast too, just pretend a massive snow storm blows over it.
I've done something similar but taking inspiration from the Polymorph monster from Red Dwarf, details below:
Based on the creature from the BBC Sci-fi series Red Dwarf, it is worth watching the Red Dwarf Series 3 episode: Polymorph or the series 6 episode: Emohawk: Polymorph 2 to see the polymorph in action (if you're not familiar with it there are plenty of clips on online),
In Red Dwarf, the Polymorph is a Genetically Engineered Life Form (or GELF for short).
It is a creature that hunts and attacks all living creatures. It has the innate ability to shape shift into any form and can easily pass for mundane items such as items of clothing, children's toys or food but it can also replicate the forms, speech and mannerisms of any creature it has seen.
It uses this ability to elicit a strong emotional reaction in a creature and then attacks them and drain off that emotion. That creature is left alive but can no longer manifest the stolen emotion unless the Polymorph is destroyed.
For D&D 5E, the Polymorph is a Magically Enhanced Life Form or MELF (draw your own conclusions about which famous Wizard may be responsible).
The Polymorph was created by using an Illithid (Mindflayer) tadpole and magically blending it with a Gray Ooze and a Mimic to create a telepathically capable super weapon. It was to be sent into enemy territory where it would infiltrate and feed on the opposing soldiers emotions until they were little more than drooling husks.
Sadly this plan had one major flaw, the Polymorph is insane!. It cannot tell friend from foe and feeds on anything that it detects as sentient/capable of manifesting emotions and its innate shape shifting ability meant it was almost impossible to track down.
Polymorphs feed on emotion and are drawn to strong or powerful emotions.
They tend to attack individuals and try to confuse and split up groups of creatures to make it easier to pray on their chosen target.
The important bits:
Armor Class: 12
Hit Points 60 (8d10 +15)
Speed: Variable (see special abilities below).
STR: 12 (+1), DEX 16 (+3), CON 16 (+3), INT 10 (+0), WIS 10(+0), CHA 18(+4)
Senses: Blindsight 60ft (blind beyond this radius) ,
Passive Perception 10
Languages: All.
Challenge: 2 (450 XP)
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Change Form: The polymorph can use its action to change its form, this can be done at will and they can adopt any form they have previously encountered or any form they have seen by reading a creatures thoughts. They can adopt any size from tiny to large. If the form being impersonated has special abilities or attacks (such as a Dragons breath weapon) the polymorph does not gain this special abilities, they just adopt the physical form and gain any speed or methods of movement the form is capable of. If impersonating a creature capable of speech, such as a human, dwarf or elf, they often sound rather robotic when they speak.
False Appearance: In any form the Polymorph is indistinguishable from a normal version of whatever it is impersonating.
Telepathic: The Polymorph has the equivalent of a detect thoughts spell active at all times and this cannot be dispelled. They can read the surface thoughts of any creature they can see and their telepathy gives them the ability to read and understand all languages. Being immune to Divination Magic, such as with the Non-detection spell, renders a creature immune to this ability.
ACTIONS
Induce Emotion:
The Polymorph targets one creature it can see within 10ft and attempts to ellicit a strong emotion in that creature, this can be done with speech or by adopting a form that the target will have a strong emotional reaction to. The most common emotions provoked are Anger, Fear, Guilt, Compassion and Love.
The target of the attack must make a DC12 Charisma Saving Throw or experience an emotional reaction. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more the target is also stunned by the intense emotion for 1 round.
Creatures immune to the charmed conditioned are immune to this attack. Creatures immune to the Frightened condition are still susceptable they are just immune to experiencing Fear as an effect of the attack. Creatures immune tot he stunned condition are inmmune to the stun but still feel the emotion.
Once affected by this attack the target experiences that emotion above all others and acts accordingly. They continue to experience this emotion for 1 minute or until the Polymorph drains the emotion form them using its Siphon Emotion abiility noted below.
Siphon Emotion:
The Polymorph can use its Action to target someone experiencing a strong emotion and attempt to siphon that emotion out of them. The Polymorph extends a tendril with a lamprey tooth filled mouth on the end and attempts to latch it onto the targets forehead. It makes an attack roll with +5 attack bonus and 5ft range, if it hits it drains the emotion out of the target and heals the Polymorph 20 hit points, if it is already at full hit points it gains 20 temporary hit points. The target can no longer feel or express the emotion that has been siphoned off unless the Polymorph is killed.
REACTION:
Misleading Escape:
The Polymorph can use its Reaction to rapidly shift into other forms in order to try and flee. It can move upto 30ft in any direction by adopting relevant forms. For every 5ft of movement it changes to a new form.
Some examples of how losing an emotion can effect play:
The Polymorph strikes during a battle, it was previously masquerading as a barrel and had gone unnoticed when a Barbarian in a rage comes storming past, the Polymorph uses its attack to siphon of the Barbarians anger, thus ending its rage as it is no longer angry and until the Polymorph is killed the Barbarian would not be able to enter a rage.
A Noble is stalked by the polymorph in the form of a beautiful suitor and just as the noble is at their peek of Love the Polymorph strikes and siphons off the nobles love, leaving them unfeeling and uncaring, the nobles family are pushed aside, the commoners under the nobles protection go without and the noble becomes ruthless.
A Cleric who tends to the ill and infirm has their Compassion siphoned off, they become callous as they no longer have a desire to ease the suffering of the sick and needy.
A Fighter who is under the effects of a fear spell has their fear siphoned off , on the bonus side they are now immune to the frightened condition, on the bad side they no longer have much self preservation as they are sure they can overcome everything in their way.
All things considered, it went ok. It was very hard to maintain an air of suspense and mystery about these strange events as the Polymorph from Red Dwarf is rather comical as it changes shape into a variety of objects, creatures and even fruit and the players in my group are all well aware Red Dwarf.
Becasue it was a little side quest little snippets of information came out over time. I had the creature feeding in a large town and as the PC's came and went they started to get hints that the town was becoming more lawless (on a basic level, acts of violence increased because people who had their guilt or compassion taken by the creature didn't care what they did to other people or what the consequences of their actions were). Eventually the PC's got invovled in a bar fight and were arrested and then the watch captain asked them to investigate as they had had prior dealings, the captain also revealed an uptake in behavioural changes in the locals.
The PC's did some investigations and interrorgations, had a close encounter where the creature sneaked into the tavern rooms they were staying in and tried to harvest some emotions from them whilst they slept and they plotted out a few places that seemed to have more cases of violence than others and eventually staked out a location and chased the creature into the sewers for a final battle.
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I've got a mate who has never played before that I am trying to get into DnD. I would like to do something a bit special and I thought a one on one session version of the "Thing" with a doppelganger messing with a group of level 1 NPCs and my friend's first character might be an option. He is a Dwarf Fighter set in the sword coast. I was thinking of doing it in the snow like the movie.
Any suggestions or ideas on how I could go about it? Where to set it, minor monsters maybe I could use. I feel I really need to split everyone apart quite a bit through the game to keep him guessing who is the creature so I need options there.
Thanks for your creative input.
I'd take inspiration from the return to Candlekeep chapter in Baldur's Gate 1. Set in the Sword Coast too, just pretend a massive snow storm blows over it.
I'll look into it.
Thanks champ
I've done something similar but taking inspiration from the Polymorph monster from Red Dwarf, details below:
Based on the creature from the BBC Sci-fi series Red Dwarf, it is worth watching the Red Dwarf Series 3 episode: Polymorph or the series 6 episode: Emohawk: Polymorph 2 to see the polymorph in action (if you're not familiar with it there are plenty of clips on online),
In Red Dwarf, the Polymorph is a Genetically Engineered Life Form (or GELF for short).
It is a creature that hunts and attacks all living creatures. It has the innate ability to shape shift into any form and can easily pass for mundane items such as items of clothing, children's toys or food but it can also replicate the forms, speech and mannerisms of any creature it has seen.
It uses this ability to elicit a strong emotional reaction in a creature and then attacks them and drain off that emotion. That creature is left alive but can no longer manifest the stolen emotion unless the Polymorph is destroyed.
For D&D 5E, the Polymorph is a Magically Enhanced Life Form or MELF (draw your own conclusions about which famous Wizard may be responsible).
The Polymorph was created by using an Illithid (Mindflayer) tadpole and magically blending it with a Gray Ooze and a Mimic to create a telepathically capable super weapon. It was to be sent into enemy territory where it would infiltrate and feed on the opposing soldiers emotions until they were little more than drooling husks.
Sadly this plan had one major flaw, the Polymorph is insane!. It cannot tell friend from foe and feeds on anything that it detects as sentient/capable of manifesting emotions and its innate shape shifting ability meant it was almost impossible to track down.
Polymorphs feed on emotion and are drawn to strong or powerful emotions.
They tend to attack individuals and try to confuse and split up groups of creatures to make it easier to pray on their chosen target.
The important bits:
Armor Class: 12
Hit Points 60 (8d10 +15)
Speed: Variable (see special abilities below).
STR: 12 (+1), DEX 16 (+3), CON 16 (+3), INT 10 (+0), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 18 (+4)
Skills: Deception +6, Intimidation +6, Persuasion +6, Performance +6, Stealth +5
Damage Resistances: Acid, Cold
Damage Vulnerability: Fire
Condition Immunities: Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Exhaustion, Frightened, Prone
Senses: Blindsight 60ft (blind beyond this radius) ,
Passive Perception 10
Languages: All.
Challenge: 2 (450 XP)
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Change Form: The polymorph can use its action to change its form, this can be done at will and they can adopt any form they have previously encountered or any form they have seen by reading a creatures thoughts. They can adopt any size from tiny to large. If the form being impersonated has special abilities or attacks (such as a Dragons breath weapon) the polymorph does not gain this special abilities, they just adopt the physical form and gain any speed or methods of movement the form is capable of. If impersonating a creature capable of speech, such as a human, dwarf or elf, they often sound rather robotic when they speak.
False Appearance: In any form the Polymorph is indistinguishable from a normal version of whatever it is impersonating.
Telepathic: The Polymorph has the equivalent of a detect thoughts spell active at all times and this cannot be dispelled. They can read the surface thoughts of any creature they can see and their telepathy gives them the ability to read and understand all languages. Being immune to Divination Magic, such as with the Non-detection spell, renders a creature immune to this ability.
ACTIONS
Induce Emotion:
The Polymorph targets one creature it can see within 10ft and attempts to ellicit a strong emotion in that creature, this can be done with speech or by adopting a form that the target will have a strong emotional reaction to. The most common emotions provoked are Anger, Fear, Guilt, Compassion and Love.
The target of the attack must make a DC12 Charisma Saving Throw or experience an emotional reaction. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more the target is also stunned by the intense emotion for 1 round.
Creatures immune to the charmed conditioned are immune to this attack. Creatures immune to the Frightened condition are still susceptable they are just immune to experiencing Fear as an effect of the attack. Creatures immune tot he stunned condition are inmmune to the stun but still feel the emotion.
Once affected by this attack the target experiences that emotion above all others and acts accordingly. They continue to experience this emotion for 1 minute or until the Polymorph drains the emotion form them using its Siphon Emotion abiility noted below.
Siphon Emotion:
The Polymorph can use its Action to target someone experiencing a strong emotion and attempt to siphon that emotion out of them. The Polymorph extends a tendril with a lamprey tooth filled mouth on the end and attempts to latch it onto the targets forehead. It makes an attack roll with +5 attack bonus and 5ft range, if it hits it drains the emotion out of the target and heals the Polymorph 20 hit points, if it is already at full hit points it gains 20 temporary hit points. The target can no longer feel or express the emotion that has been siphoned off unless the Polymorph is killed.
REACTION:
Misleading Escape:
The Polymorph can use its Reaction to rapidly shift into other forms in order to try and flee. It can move upto 30ft in any direction by adopting relevant forms. For every 5ft of movement it changes to a new form.
*********************************************************************
Some examples of how losing an emotion can effect play:
The Polymorph strikes during a battle, it was previously masquerading as a barrel and had gone unnoticed when a Barbarian in a rage comes storming past, the Polymorph uses its attack to siphon of the Barbarians anger, thus ending its rage as it is no longer angry and until the Polymorph is killed the Barbarian would not be able to enter a rage.
A Noble is stalked by the polymorph in the form of a beautiful suitor and just as the noble is at their peek of Love the Polymorph strikes and siphons off the nobles love, leaving them unfeeling and uncaring, the nobles family are pushed aside, the commoners under the nobles protection go without and the noble becomes ruthless.
A Cleric who tends to the ill and infirm has their Compassion siphoned off, they become callous as they no longer have a desire to ease the suffering of the sick and needy.
A Fighter who is under the effects of a fear spell has their fear siphoned off , on the bonus side they are now immune to the frightened condition, on the bad side they no longer have much self preservation as they are sure they can overcome everything in their way.
Very nice. How did the game go?
All things considered, it went ok. It was very hard to maintain an air of suspense and mystery about these strange events as the Polymorph from Red Dwarf is rather comical as it changes shape into a variety of objects, creatures and even fruit and the players in my group are all well aware Red Dwarf.
Becasue it was a little side quest little snippets of information came out over time. I had the creature feeding in a large town and as the PC's came and went they started to get hints that the town was becoming more lawless (on a basic level, acts of violence increased because people who had their guilt or compassion taken by the creature didn't care what they did to other people or what the consequences of their actions were). Eventually the PC's got invovled in a bar fight and were arrested and then the watch captain asked them to investigate as they had had prior dealings, the captain also revealed an uptake in behavioural changes in the locals.
The PC's did some investigations and interrorgations, had a close encounter where the creature sneaked into the tavern rooms they were staying in and tried to harvest some emotions from them whilst they slept and they plotted out a few places that seemed to have more cases of violence than others and eventually staked out a location and chased the creature into the sewers for a final battle.