Today’s monsters are Snowmen & Snow Golems.  

On account of the surprisingly cold and snowy weather we’re having in the UK, here are snowmen.  

On one hand, the snowman can be a lovable character that watches over children and provides them with laughter and joy. On the other hand, a malevolent snow golem commanding an army of evil snowmen could be a little more sinister.

Today’s monster is the Gantu. 

The Gantu are a race of nomadic hunters that thrive in dense forests. They develop a wide variety of hunting skills, but every member of the hunting party can use a longbow, or the bowblades effectively. The bowblades are especially useful in slitting the throat of wounded but not dead prey as painlessly as possible.  
 
Gantu have large feet which they can use for powerful kicks. A Gantu monk can blend their powerful kicks with strong punches and tail swipes. When aiming their bows or running through dense undergrowth the Gantu use their tails for balance and stability.

Today’s monster is the Fetch.  

A race of fey with a dark history, living between worlds and feeding on terror itself, the Fetch are malevolent creatures that prey on the darkest fears of their victims. Assassins of the Queen of Air and Darkness the Fetch use mirrors to travel between planes, slipping into protected places to target powerful people with ease.  

1 year anniversary bonus content: Specific Spellesque Souvenirs.  

Today’s monster is the Lechugre.

This is a giant inspired by our own home game, where we encountered a fire giant and managed to trade it half a dozen cows to allow us to safe passage. The cows were conjured by the ranger’s (/u/_Wamker) conjure beasts, and we were gone before the fire giant and his hellhound pets realised the truth.

So here is the friendly, vegetarian giant who loves dairy. These large lovers of lactose can be problematic, as they’re not very civilized and can take what they want by force. For the more charismatic or cunning adventurer they can be reasoned with, and for the more creative DM they can have wants, needs and aspirations beyond their next pint of lumpy milk.

Maybe these creatures will just be used in passing, a local cook at a greasy spoon that makes the adventurers look twice. Perhaps a lechugre cooking school that specialises in spoilt milk recipes (very useful if your elf wizard needs to learn how to craft sour cream dip). Maybe the adventurers need to hammer out a deal between a farmer and a lechugre, rather than simply killing the lechurge for the farmer.  

If you’d like to give your adventurers a lesson in first impressions, have the lechurge stop them, and try to explain they can’t pass. The lechurge is trying to protect his local farm from bandits and has mistaken the adventurers for dastardly thieves. If the adventurers attack the lechurge, the townsfolk will soon come to it’s aid and try to settle the dispute non-violently. If the adventurers harm the lechurge, the local priest will heal it, even going so far as to revivify the giant they have come to see as a friend. This can be helpful for getting adventurers out of a murderhobo mindset. (or if you prefer, make them think twice, whilst you get an ambush of innocent looking monsters ready.... Probably because the whole town is a mimic.)  

Encounter somewhat inspired by Garg.  

Today’s monster is the Orc Deathsworn.  

These are high level, high impact Orc Barbarians. A few of these in an army makes for a more than formidable shock troop. Alternatively, one of these makes an excellent chieftain for a tribe of Bahgtru worshipping Orcs.  

Somewhat inspired by the sheer amount /u/corvasn talks about Orcs over on the Discord. These berserkers have instant shock value when you “defeat” them. Personally I suggest giving the adventurers a small chance at a warning, when the adventurers see the tribal tattoos and markings, a knowledge Religion check (advantage if you’re an Orc) allows you to recognise a Deathsworn, which reminds them that the Deathsworn are at their deadliest as they are about to die.  

The Deathsworn are best avoided whilst they are in the middle of their violent death throes, and whilst they cannot be knocked unconscious, they can be paralyzed or restrained, although resistant to such effects. The first time an adventurer witnesses a fury such as the Deathsworn’s final rage they may find themselves worried that the Orc is so angry it is immortal, but they should soon learn the Orc’s limitations, unless they become victim to its wrath.  

Today’s monster is the Owlconer.  

I like to view the Owlconer as a tragic villain. Corrupted by the fey that they sought a connection with into a mockery of their former selves; endlessly tormented by sharing a mind with their past familiar or companion.  

The Owlconer may be a warlock of the archfey with a familiar that failed their patron. They may be a ranger and faithful hound that tracked a missing victim kidnapped by fey just a little too far into the feywild.  

Whatever their origin, their purpose is now clear, to serve the unseelie court and protect it's borders from meddling adventurers… or to track down thieves and enemies of the court.  

Maybe your adventurers could offer an Owlconer atonement, or at least a release from torment.

Today’s monster is the Beenabber. 

These sparrow-like plants make an excellent random encounter for a group of adventurers. Not threatening enough to make them too scared, yet still potentially deadly for a group just starting out if they get unlucky with their saving throws. Hunting a beenabber can be a task in and of itself, should one of your adventurers need some sedative poison, or a little extra silk for their almost magic cloak. Personally I find the beenabber an excellent source of tension for a weakened party, having them roll initiative against an enemy they haven’t seen, suddenly some darting green and pink, and one of them must make a constitution saving throw… and falls asleep, and that’s when they spot it… a small green hummingbird darting away. Alternatively you could always have an entire colony of Beenabbers all mingled in with real flowers, these little guys aren’t very challenging on their own, but ask your adventurers to make three or four saving throws a round each, and they might just well be humbled.  

Should your adventurers encounter the beenabber, the beenabber will likely bite one of them and try to flee. beenabbers do not seek out confrontation, and will simply find another bed of flowers to nestle into. beenabbers can wait for hours, mouth agape, simply waiting for their food to deliver itself. These little birds are quite the pet for nobles, who enjoy it greatly when other folk are startled and surprised by their flowers taking to the skies for small flights.    

Your adventurers might get a shock when they try to pick a flower, and it bites them for their trouble, this is one flower bed you don’t want to take a nap in.  

Today’s monster is the Fuzzy Buzzy.  

If it helps you can pretend these have some ancient, difficult to pronounce sylvan name that translates roughly to honeybee-cat, but to us, they’re the fuzzy buzzy. Sworn enemies of the Beenabber due to the occassional mistaken identity issue.  

The fuzzy buzzy is the perfect familiar for anyone who wants a really cute flying cat, which is basically everyone isn’t it? Except for those who prefer a teacup pigasus or a Corgeagle... or one of those Scarlet Macriffons… I like cute flying things.  

The fuzzy buzzy can fly to a downed creature (a wounded teammate! Someone you are sworn to protect! Or even you!) and smear their face with delicious fairy honey, making them sticky and alive. Sure, an imp could use a potion and then turn into a rat… but this is a bumble bee kitten and you can turn honey into mead, or honeycomb or have honey on toast, can an imp make you honey on toast without it being the most suspicious thing in the world? Exactly, get you fuzzy buzzy that can.  

Today’s monster is the Sarcophagolem.

Happy Punday everyone, today’s pun is a behemoth challenge rating 18, radiant powered golem. This thing will use the angel inside to murder death kill your players. If they are quick, perhaps they can hold it down and pull the celestial out… but it’s probably easier to destroy the golem first, and save the cheerleader celestial after.  

It is hard to damage, hits like a angel-powered truck and magic resistant. If your players need to save a celestial friend, they should probably do a bucket load of research first. A fighter might be able to action surge the celestial to safety, but generally, the golem is very quick to close it’s core if people get too close. Although a Radiant Storm is just the incentive to get people to leave it well alone.  

These venerable dreadnoughts make for a fine addition to a fiendish army, serving as an armoured unit amidst the devilish forces. High level spellcasters need to stay outside its 60 foot range, although they can still become caught in its fire storm, which it tortures the captured celestial to cast.

Today’s monster is the Ursigel.   

These mountain goat, bear, eagles are native to mountainous regions where they are worshipped as sacred animals by local goliath tribes. Similar to griffons or perytons, these ursigels are sometimes hunted for their horns or feathers but hunters face a furious wrath from local tribes.  

Goliath barbarians sometimes worship the ursigel as a totem animal (bear/eagle). These barbarians experience a special kinship with the ursigel, and a spiritual version appears to pass information on to them. Travellers that rescue an ursigel from harm will be granted safe passage through the mountains and the ursigel will show the the safe paths.  

Today’s monster is the Desert Adder.  

These specialised ambush predators live in the warm sands of large deserts. Capable of consuming whole camels, even capable adventurers can be overwhelmed with the sheer size of this venomous serpent.  

The desert adder isn’t particularly territorial, and simply enjoys roaming the desert looking for food. It consumes desert animals and travellers alike, finding a nice warm spot to relax and digest when it finds particularly large prey. Adventurers that are aware of this behaviour can placate the beast with a large animal (or if they’re not nice people, an unwanted prisoner).  

Desert Adders make surprisingly good mounts for desert tribes, although hard to tame and unable to burrow with most riders. A fun tale might include a halfling druid with a desert adder friend that has constructed a small cover to allow the snake to burrow without displacing the saddle. Alternatively, the desert adder is an excellent beast to polymorph into in the desert, as the speed a wizard would be able to travel at through the sand is impressive, and the form is very capable of defending itself.  

As the snake is diurnal your adventurers will need to decide when it’s safe to travel, at night whilst the adders are asleep but when something nocturnal (and maybe worse) is active and the bitter cold bites at them, or during the day with the adders, the blistering heat and the dreaded thirst.  

Today’s monster is the Jinmenju.  

Found in barren areas, the Jinmenju is a nasty surprise awaiting an adventurer who thinks they have been lucky to find a tree so heavy with fruit.

I wrote this mostly because I wanted to use the cool miniature from the Rising Sun board game sometime, however it turned into something with a ton of adventure hooks. It could be used as a surprise for characters making survival checks to forage for food, it could be a quest item for it’s fruit or to find a missing NPC, it can be used as a defensive trap in a fortification or even as part of a haunted forest with a few of our other trees thrown in too. Even an encounter with it can mean a new hook, as a party seeks to find a way to recover the soul of a lost party member.

Today’s monster is the Goblin Fanatic.   

We’re obviously fans of two things, warhammer and mayhem. As such the goblin fanatic is a clear favourite of ours, ploughing through neat and orderly regiment lines with their reckless abandon. It’s always a fun a tense moment when the fanatic is inches away from where you want it to be and it comes down to a roll of the die to see if it’s going to get itself entangled in a unit of horsemen, or if it's going to brutally murder its own commander.  

These fanatics aren’t as insane as they could be, but they’re still rather wild and reckless. I’d implore you to remember that they would have trouble gaining momentum in tight spaces, and if two collide, they will probably become entangled as they lose speed. In the right circumstances your adventurers will fear these destructive forces, as they knock adventurers to the floor and bounce heavy spiked iron balls off them. In other situations the adventurers will wonder what the challenge was as one throws themself off a bridge and the other gets entangled in its own chains and restrains itself.

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Today’s monster is the Goblin Fanatic.   

We’re obviously fans of two things, warhammer and mayhem. As such the goblin fanatic is a clear favourite of ours, ploughing through neat and orderly regiment lines with their reckless abandon. It’s always a fun a tense moment when the fanatic is inches away from where you want it to be and it comes down to a roll of the die to see if it’s going to get itself entangled in a unit of horsemen, or if it's going to brutally murder its own commander.  

These fanatics aren’t as insane as they could be, but they’re still rather wild and reckless. I’d implore you to remember that they would have trouble gaining momentum in tight spaces, and if two collide, they will probably become entangled as they lose speed. In the right circumstances your adventurers will fear these destructive forces, as they knock adventurers to the floor and bounce heavy spiked iron balls off them. In other situations the adventurers will wonder what the challenge was as one throws themself off a bridge and the other gets entangled in its own chains and restrains itself.

Today’s monster is the Swearwolf.  

Happy punday Monday. Today’s monster inspired by What We Do In The Shadows, and presents a slightly more swear-y alternative to ordinary werewolf lycanthropy.  

NSFW, with hairy hands and an endless tirade of curses coming forth from their mouths, a swearwolf will often be a social pariah, though in a more sympathetic and understanding / progressive community they can be a valued and perfectly capable member of the community.

Today’s monster is the Goblin Flesh-Herder.

These nervous necromancers are survivors through and through. They use the corpses of defeated friends and foes alike to protect themselves, and if none are available they use their living comrades instead. A flesh-herder always has an escape plan, be it using the distraction of exploding corpses to duck into a tiny tunnel or dimension door to a secret chamber with enough money to start again… the flesh-herder will live, even if his tribe and creations don’t.  

Flesh-herders are used by more powerful necromancers to maintain their forces, hence the name. When left to their own devices however they recruit whichever goblins are nearby and establish their rule through undead force, goblins that do not accept a flesh-herder as boss usually become an undead servant.  

Flesh-herders enjoy using their buff spells to create difficult to deal with undead, such as a flying zombie, or an enlarged skeleton. They also use their necromantic specialisation to enfeeble or sicken their foes. They typically save a couple spell slots for escape though, and through a mixture of dimension door, reducing their size, invisibility or flying away, they tend to live to see another day.  

Today’s monster is the Liake.

These physically powerful predators carve out their territory in the harsh desert and survive by preying on venomous snakes, careless carrion-eaters and unprepared travellers. Able to persevere through the toughest of the deserts extreme temperatures. Their five eyes ensure their vision is never impeded by the shifting sands.  

Should your adventurers encounter one of these desert cats they should attempt to avoid its territory, if it is too late or the liake is hungry, combat is inevitable. If the adventurers attempt to feed the beast, it may accept meat or corpses and allow them to pass if they have not transgressed for too long on its property.  

Alternatively if the adventurers discover a badly wounded liake and nurse it back to health (perhaps it has a basilisk fang in it’s paw), the liake is smart enough to remember the debt, and perhaps protect the adventurers in the future.    

Today’s monsters are the Akhitar Orcs and the Akhlut. 

Today’s monsters have a symbiotic relationship, the cold but peaceful orc tribes of the frozen tundra; the Akhitar and their revered guardians the Akhlut. Some internet chatter that ended up in my game was that Gruumsh was a little like Zeus, a lack of control when it comes to war and women. Creating monstrosities and demigods as he took on form in the material realm, and then vanishing to leave the world to deal with it.  

Garthel is some of that chatter, a demigod of snow and ice (and potentially the first akhitar orc), the akhitar tribe of orc-kind are based heavily on the inuit people. The idea of an orc subrace or people that inhabit the frozen lands, ice-fishing and hunting in such adverse conditions appealed to me. The Akhitar orcs are less aggressive, some say the cold has chilled the burning rage of an orcish heart, others say you have to learn to work together to thrive in such adverse conditions. Either way, these orcs have mostly put aside anger and learned how to survive and connect with nature (even if their nature is constantly trying to freeze them to death.)  

The Akhitar would routinely send their best warriors to fight with killer whales and ritually sacrifice these prize corpses to Garthel, who was impressed by such feats rewarded the Akhitar with the Akhlut. These wolf-like orcas would protect the akhitar’s land, and fight alongside them if needed. If a wayward orc were to attack or try to capture an akhlut it would be killed, but the akhlut would never harbour ill-will to orc-kind. Sometimes tribes of Akhitar have been united by a chieftain beastmaster that has fully earned the trust of an akhlut, and these chieftains have been seen riding an akhlut into battle, but it is far from common.  

Hopefully if your adventurers wander to a frozen north, they’ll be pleasantly surprised by an orcish tribe who are more than just, strangely peaceful ice-fishers.

 Creatures resistant to cold damage do not suffer any negative effects from extreme cold.

 The Akhlut link doesn't work.