Both a surprise attack troop as well as reconnaissance, the skirmishers are the information gatherers of the tribe, and the cause of many a failed surprise assault by an invading force. If the skirmisher has done it’s job well, you won’t even know it was there.
I wanted to create a bullywug which was able to gather information on the party, particularly if they decide to camp in a bullywug’s swamp. They’re pretty well hidden so any information the party reveals while resting would be taken back to the tribe.
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We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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Dolgrims are an unfortunate mess of a creature. Stitched together by aberrant masters they usually serve as cannon fodder or foot soldiers in a larger aberrations army. Whilst goblins aren’t exactly strangers to being perceived as useless or expendable, now they’ve got to go through the painful process of being shoved into each other first.
Goblins have enough doubt and self loathing on their own, so when two become one the misery is compounded further. Truly a Dolgrim hates being left to its own devices and relishes a chance to prove itself useful, finally die or at the very least inflict pain on something other than itself.
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We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
The Booze Ooze is a fantastic way to turn your adventurers well deserved downtime into an ambush. Having an adventurer tap into a keg and roll initiative whilst you describe the golden amber ooze pour out and attack them is a tried and true method of making your adventurers paranoid of everything. My preferred method for tricking adventurers who now believe (rightly so) that everything is actually a mimic.
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We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
The Flamescale devotees specialise in harnessing their inner dragon and unleashing it in short bursts of training and flame. These disciplined kobolds are the best of the best, but are not above the traps and tricks of their brethren.
In a Kobold colony a Flamescale will usually hold a position of authority over a militia or a general leadership role. Dragons will often choose a Flamescale as the colony’s representative because whilst kobolds are beneath it, at least it can talk to the one’s that are proven worthwhile.
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We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Ever wonder what it would be like to have a half-plant, half-undead monster? No? Well, we’ve made this anyway. The Cadaver Fly-Trap is a mostly decomposed body, with a Venus Fly-Trap growing out of it. They exist harmoniously, aiding each other with mobility, and nutrition. Where the plant grows out of the corpses body is anyone’s guess, it could replace an arm, replace the head, or just grow straight out of the chest.
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We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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The Bullywug Queen is a twisted, corrupted Bullywug. Her connection to the abyss and the dark powers she gains from it are second only to her abilities of manipulation and control.
I'd mentioned the queen briefly when I did the Mud King. I wanted a contrast to his almost comical vain nature, a real glimpse into the dark and twisted side of the bullywugs, a sense of the primordial forces from which they were created that just feel out of place in this world of gods.
I'll be continuing this idea in the final (and definitely weirdest) Bullywug I've got planned, before moving onto something else.
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Preface: /u/EmpireofAzad is busy so i’ve had to write a placeholder post!
The Frog Dragon is a creation of Bullywug origin, the result of perverse rituals conducted on the egg of a green Dragon. A Bullywug Queen is often the binding force that keeps a Frog Dragon in check, and with the death of the Queen comes the primal ferocity of the dragon.
While not as intelligent or capable as a True Dragon, the Frog Dragon is a fearsome foe and bestows great renown and power to the tribe it allies with.
Edit: This is my last bullywug, I'll be moving onto some other stuff for a while but I hope the group I've put together have enough interesting features that they get people thinking about adding some frogs into their campaigns!
It’s punday Monday, and today’s monster is a pretty little petal. The Dandy Lion is exactly that, a Dandy Lion. It is a plant creature, similar in size to a real lion, and created by gnomish druids, who just can’t help but tinker.
Not aimed at being strong in offence, this lion has some defensive uses of its dandelion heritage, and the ability to heal damage by attuning itself to nature.
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The new Tortle race is one of my personal favourites, so an Oogway inspired old and wise Tortle monk made perfect sense for a useful NPC, potential ally or interesting conflict character.
The Elder Tortle may be protecting it’s village or villagers, or perhaps it is just a battle hardened adventurer. Perhaps the Elder Tortle has been left to guard something of magical importance, akin to the knight guarding the holy grail, which has resulted in its extended life.
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Shield Golems are constructed from masterwork shields, usually formed around metals and stones from fortifications. These items carry defensive properties over into the golem, which becomes far greater than the sum of its parts.
The Shield Golem is a sort of mini puzzle monster, sure it can be overcome with brute force eventually, but it’s actually far smarter to use attacks and spells that deal small amounts of damage multiple times. Three magic missiles will deal three damage to the Shield Golem, whereas Chromatic Orb for example will only deal one damage, despite normally being a higher damage spell. A monk will usually do more damage with a flurry of blows than with a big heavy two handed weapon.
To give your players this hint, describe each hit to the Shield Golem as “rattling” a shield, causing gaps in the golem before the shield returns to position. Whilst the actual damage is always mostly absorbed by the individual shields, and they are left mostly unscathed. Try to impart to your players that the hits are all having about the same effect despite their damage.
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This treant is older and stronger than an average treant. They don’t believe in the animation of other trees, instead acknowledging their own great majesty and purity as guardians of the forest. They instead use their great strength to throw nearly anything in defence of their forest. Truly, almost anything is a weapon in their hands.
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This golem powered by celestial energy is built different than your average golem. Using magnetism to wreck havoc as well as to repair itself, in the right environment this can be a considerable foe.
Now that I’ve finished with bullywugs, I thought I’d do some one off ideas before starting on another theme. This one was inspired by IndirectLemon’s Shield Golem earlier this week, but I wanted to do something which would allow the less armoured characters an advantage.
Making this I found myself imagining a few scenarios where the scrap metal golem could be fun, a treasure horde in a land with iron currency, an armoury full of basic equipment with no apparent guard or even discovering the remains of some iron golems, gorgons or other metallic creatures which have been slain.
Since it’s our 150th day, I’m throwing in a bonus Radiant Elemental which you’d find bound within a Scrap Metal Golem.
It’s pun-day Monday funday! Accidentally, two of these pun-monsters turned out to be thematically similar, so i decided to roll them together.
The shield bug is similar to (read as: based on) the shield bug / stink bug of reality. It comes in many colours and shapes, can squirt horrible-smelling liquid at its enemies, and has a carapace that can be treated to become a nicely unique shield.
The helmet crab is slightly more menacing than the shield bug. With a metal-corroding effect taken directly from the rust monster, but mechanically less threatening, this crustacean secretes acid on its claws, and eats more like a fly than a crab. It’s shell is also valued by druids as a non-manufactured type of head armour. They don’t hunt the crabs though, they wait for them to die naturally!
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These deceased doggies are a strange tradition that caught on due to its effectiveness at curtailing the creation of undead. When people want their loved ones to remain at rest and not fodder in some necromancer’s army they bury them somewhere with a guardian. These perished pups provide hallowed ground wherever they walk and protect their charges from being raised as undead.
The ritual to create a graveyard guardian empowers the cadaverous canine’s soul, and grants it understanding of its task. Local residents often leave the spirit offerings and those who spend a large amount of time around the dead will be able to see the guardian if it wants to be seen. Grave diggers, priests, clerics and groundskeepers are often spotted throwing a stick for seemingly no reason, or petting the air.
In your adventures a grave guardian could be a creature that your adventurers need to befriend to watch over an ally’s corpse, or perhaps the adventurers need the mortified mutt’s permission to enter a mausoleum in search for a powerful trinket. The grave guardian could reach out and request the adventurers aid in removing some undead that have somehow been summoned into its domain (What’s that boy? There’s a zombie in the well?). A powerful necromancer may have corrupted a grave guardian before raising the town’s loved ones as undead. Perhaps then the adventurers must fight off a horde of zombies in the town, making their way to the graveyard to confront the guardian, either cleansing it or destroying it. (Although you should definitely allow the adventurers to destroy it in a way that allows its spirit to depart to the afterlife, it has earned a rest after all.)
These guardians are good spirits, and tend not to kill if they can help it. Preferring to drag the unconscious bodies of would-be graverobbers, adventurers and ne’er-do-wells to the gates of the graveyard for the town guard to sort out.
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The Dust Wight is formed when large areas of earth become corrupted with necromantic energy. This can be from necromantic rituals, which often cause large scale desecration of the local surroundings causing the dust and stone to coalesce into this sentient form of entropy. Alternatively when an earth elemental is destroyed with necromancy and the energy seeps into the dust and stones and reanimates the creature as a Dust Wight.
However it comes about, the Dust Wight becomes an enemy of life. Seeking to erode and destroy all it comes into contact with. Whilst similar to the Sandstorm Elemental in appearance, the Dust Wight is driven by hatred and malice. The Dust Wight takes particular offense to worked stone and metal things, seeking to destroy them with it’s crumbling touch, returning them to dust once more.
Should your adventurers encounter a Dust Wight, it will attempt to overwhelm them with necrotic damage, and encase them in dust and stone. If your adventurers try to use *Mold Earth* on their allies who are being encased, I’d grant them advantage on the save. Otherwise *Stone Shape* and *Move Earth* remove the effect entirely.
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The Wrackspawn are unfortunate souls. Good souls that have somehow been trapped in the Abyss, tortured beyond recognition with every scrap of sanity destroyed. If a good soul is trapped in a gem, or a Thinuan weapon, or some other soul eating demon or artifact there is a strong chance it will be brought to the Abyss and tortured for the sheer cruelty of it. Other times otherwise good people will turn to dark pacts and demonic magic in times of desperation. Either way, their fate is usually torture until they embody pain in the form of a Wrackspawn.
These fodder are kept by demons when they foray into dangerous territories; like a pack of rabid dogs on leashes the demon will use them to wreak havoc or give themselves an opportunity to escape.
For example, a Barlgura with a Wrackspawn leashed by dark iron chains in each hand is a *Hard* encounter for four level eight adventurers. (Total XP: 3,200, Adjusted XP: 6,400).
If the Barlgura is looking for something in a long abandoned temple, it may be distracted whilst the Wrackspawn look for things to hurt, smashing insects or termites if they can find any, maybe describe a small animal corpse nearby as they are indiscriminate. Either the adventurers attack, or they try to stealth and observe. If they observe, either they are sensed by the demons and the Wrackspawn attack with bloodlust, and the Barlgura attempts to return to the Abyss via a portal elsewhere (if cornered it will fight). If the adventurers attack, the Barlgura finds the item(s) and attempts to flee, leaving the Wrackspawn to cover its escape, fighting if cornered.
This encounter gives some decision making to your adventurers, if they observe and remain unseen, the Barlgura takes what it wanted and returns to the Abyss with the wrackspawn. Eagle-eyed adventurers may be able to identify what it is the demon was after. If your adventurers attack, they may be able to capture the Barlgura but the Wrackspawn attack until either they or the adventurers are dead.
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Happy Friday! The armoured battle griffons came about as a request from our DM. He said “I want some griffons, but i want them to have a bit more AC and HP, and I need 8 names”. So naturally, i gave them all that, and then some!
In *our* campaign, Kazak Kharak is a Dwarven City, where Dwarves and Orcs reluctantly co-habitate. There is a temple of Moradin AND a temple of Gruumsh (and they’re mostly friendlier than expected).
The Armoured Battle Griffons are used by elite members of the city guard (one of which is a maverick with nothing left to lose, another is only 2 days from retirement). They patrol the airs over the city and provide rapid response to crimes against the city, or crimes against the tenuous compact that exists between the dwarves and orcs.
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Bugbear Thugs (or Thugbears as I like to call them) are the berserkers of a goblinoid army. Carving a hole into an enemy's defensive line to allow their allies to take advantage of the opening. A Thugbear opening is a fantastic opportunity for goblins to pour into the enemy's formation and disrupt the unit.
This Bugbearian excels at ambushing unsuspecting adventurers using it’s natural stealth, and then pressing the advantage. Woe betide the adventurer that runs afoul of a Thugbear surprise attack, they will likely need their allies to defend them whilst they rummage around for a healing potion.
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Today’s monster is the Bullywug Skirmisher.
Both a surprise attack troop as well as reconnaissance, the skirmishers are the information gatherers of the tribe, and the cause of many a failed surprise assault by an invading force. If the skirmisher has done it’s job well, you won’t even know it was there.
I wanted to create a bullywug which was able to gather information on the party, particularly if they decide to camp in a bullywug’s swamp. They’re pretty well hidden so any information the party reveals while resting would be taken back to the tribe.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Dolgrim.
Dolgrims are an unfortunate mess of a creature. Stitched together by aberrant masters they usually serve as cannon fodder or foot soldiers in a larger aberrations army. Whilst goblins aren’t exactly strangers to being perceived as useless or expendable, now they’ve got to go through the painful process of being shoved into each other first.
Goblins have enough doubt and self loathing on their own, so when two become one the misery is compounded further. Truly a Dolgrim hates being left to its own devices and relishes a chance to prove itself useful, finally die or at the very least inflict pain on something other than itself.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Booze Ooze.
The Booze Ooze is a fantastic way to turn your adventurers well deserved downtime into an ambush. Having an adventurer tap into a keg and roll initiative whilst you describe the golden amber ooze pour out and attack them is a tried and true method of making your adventurers paranoid of everything. My preferred method for tricking adventurers who now believe (rightly so) that everything is actually a mimic.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Kobold Flamescale.
The Flamescale devotees specialise in harnessing their inner dragon and unleashing it in short bursts of training and flame. These disciplined kobolds are the best of the best, but are not above the traps and tricks of their brethren.
In a Kobold colony a Flamescale will usually hold a position of authority over a militia or a general leadership role. Dragons will often choose a Flamescale as the colony’s representative because whilst kobolds are beneath it, at least it can talk to the one’s that are proven worthwhile.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Cadaver Fly-Trap.
Ever wonder what it would be like to have a half-plant, half-undead monster? No? Well, we’ve made this anyway. The Cadaver Fly-Trap is a mostly decomposed body, with a Venus Fly-Trap growing out of it. They exist harmoniously, aiding each other with mobility, and nutrition. Where the plant grows out of the corpses body is anyone’s guess, it could replace an arm, replace the head, or just grow straight out of the chest.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Bullywug Queen.
The Bullywug Queen is a twisted, corrupted Bullywug. Her connection to the abyss and the dark powers she gains from it are second only to her abilities of manipulation and control.
I'd mentioned the queen briefly when I did the Mud King. I wanted a contrast to his almost comical vain nature, a real glimpse into the dark and twisted side of the bullywugs, a sense of the primordial forces from which they were created that just feel out of place in this world of gods.
I'll be continuing this idea in the final (and definitely weirdest) Bullywug I've got planned, before moving onto something else.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Frog Dragon.
Preface: /u/EmpireofAzad is busy so i’ve had to write a placeholder post!
The Frog Dragon is a creation of Bullywug origin, the result of perverse rituals conducted on the egg of a green Dragon. A Bullywug Queen is often the binding force that keeps a Frog Dragon in check, and with the death of the Queen comes the primal ferocity of the dragon.
While not as intelligent or capable as a True Dragon, the Frog Dragon is a fearsome foe and bestows great renown and power to the tribe it allies with.
Edit: This is my last bullywug, I'll be moving onto some other stuff for a while but I hope the group I've put together have enough interesting features that they get people thinking about adding some frogs into their campaigns!
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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Today’s monster is the Dandy Lion.
It’s punday Monday, and today’s monster is a pretty little petal. The Dandy Lion is exactly that, a Dandy Lion. It is a plant creature, similar in size to a real lion, and created by gnomish druids, who just can’t help but tinker.
Not aimed at being strong in offence, this lion has some defensive uses of its dandelion heritage, and the ability to heal damage by attuning itself to nature.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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Today’s monster is the Tortle Elder.
The new Tortle race is one of my personal favourites, so an Oogway inspired old and wise Tortle monk made perfect sense for a useful NPC, potential ally or interesting conflict character.
The Elder Tortle may be protecting it’s village or villagers, or perhaps it is just a battle hardened adventurer. Perhaps the Elder Tortle has been left to guard something of magical importance, akin to the knight guarding the holy grail, which has resulted in its extended life.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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Nice Terry Pratchett quote. From The Color of Magic, I believe.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Today’s monster is the Shield Golem.
Shield Golems are constructed from masterwork shields, usually formed around metals and stones from fortifications. These items carry defensive properties over into the golem, which becomes far greater than the sum of its parts.
The Shield Golem is a sort of mini puzzle monster, sure it can be overcome with brute force eventually, but it’s actually far smarter to use attacks and spells that deal small amounts of damage multiple times. Three magic missiles will deal three damage to the Shield Golem, whereas Chromatic Orb for example will only deal one damage, despite normally being a higher damage spell. A monk will usually do more damage with a flurry of blows than with a big heavy two handed weapon.
To give your players this hint, describe each hit to the Shield Golem as “rattling” a shield, causing gaps in the golem before the shield returns to position. Whilst the actual damage is always mostly absorbed by the individual shields, and they are left mostly unscathed. Try to impart to your players that the hits are all having about the same effect despite their damage.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Treant Hurler.
This treant is older and stronger than an average treant. They don’t believe in the animation of other trees, instead acknowledging their own great majesty and purity as guardians of the forest. They instead use their great strength to throw nearly anything in defence of their forest. Truly, almost anything is a weapon in their hands.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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Today’s monster is the Scrap Metal Golem.
Scrap Metal Golem pdf for mobile users.
This golem powered by celestial energy is built different than your average golem. Using magnetism to wreck havoc as well as to repair itself, in the right environment this can be a considerable foe.
Now that I’ve finished with bullywugs, I thought I’d do some one off ideas before starting on another theme. This one was inspired by IndirectLemon’s Shield Golem earlier this week, but I wanted to do something which would allow the less armoured characters an advantage.
Making this I found myself imagining a few scenarios where the scrap metal golem could be fun, a treasure horde in a land with iron currency, an armoury full of basic equipment with no apparent guard or even discovering the remains of some iron golems, gorgons or other metallic creatures which have been slain.
Since it’s our 150th day, I’m throwing in a bonus Radiant Elemental which you’d find bound within a Scrap Metal Golem.
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You forgot to label its slam attack. It's currently called "melee attack".
(Note that the conjugation (I think that's the right word) it's is written with an apostrophe, but the possessive its is not.)
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Today’s monsters are the Shield Bug & Helmet Crab.
It’s pun-day Monday funday! Accidentally, two of these pun-monsters turned out to be thematically similar, so i decided to roll them together.
The shield bug is similar to (read as: based on) the shield bug / stink bug of reality. It comes in many colours and shapes, can squirt horrible-smelling liquid at its enemies, and has a carapace that can be treated to become a nicely unique shield.
The helmet crab is slightly more menacing than the shield bug. With a metal-corroding effect taken directly from the rust monster, but mechanically less threatening, this crustacean secretes acid on its claws, and eats more like a fly than a crab. It’s shell is also valued by druids as a non-manufactured type of head armour. They don’t hunt the crabs though, they wait for them to die naturally!
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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Today’s monster is the Graveyard Guardian.
These deceased doggies are a strange tradition that caught on due to its effectiveness at curtailing the creation of undead. When people want their loved ones to remain at rest and not fodder in some necromancer’s army they bury them somewhere with a guardian. These perished pups provide hallowed ground wherever they walk and protect their charges from being raised as undead.
The ritual to create a graveyard guardian empowers the cadaverous canine’s soul, and grants it understanding of its task. Local residents often leave the spirit offerings and those who spend a large amount of time around the dead will be able to see the guardian if it wants to be seen. Grave diggers, priests, clerics and groundskeepers are often spotted throwing a stick for seemingly no reason, or petting the air.
In your adventures a grave guardian could be a creature that your adventurers need to befriend to watch over an ally’s corpse, or perhaps the adventurers need the mortified mutt’s permission to enter a mausoleum in search for a powerful trinket. The grave guardian could reach out and request the adventurers aid in removing some undead that have somehow been summoned into its domain (What’s that boy? There’s a zombie in the well?). A powerful necromancer may have corrupted a grave guardian before raising the town’s loved ones as undead. Perhaps then the adventurers must fight off a horde of zombies in the town, making their way to the graveyard to confront the guardian, either cleansing it or destroying it. (Although you should definitely allow the adventurers to destroy it in a way that allows its spirit to depart to the afterlife, it has earned a rest after all.)
These guardians are good spirits, and tend not to kill if they can help it. Preferring to drag the unconscious bodies of would-be graverobbers, adventurers and ne’er-do-wells to the gates of the graveyard for the town guard to sort out.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
Be sure to head over to /r/1d6Adventurers, where you can find our monsters and other bonus content!
Today’s monster is the Dust Wight.
The Dust Wight is formed when large areas of earth become corrupted with necromantic energy. This can be from necromantic rituals, which often cause large scale desecration of the local surroundings causing the dust and stone to coalesce into this sentient form of entropy. Alternatively when an earth elemental is destroyed with necromancy and the energy seeps into the dust and stones and reanimates the creature as a Dust Wight.
However it comes about, the Dust Wight becomes an enemy of life. Seeking to erode and destroy all it comes into contact with. Whilst similar to the Sandstorm Elemental in appearance, the Dust Wight is driven by hatred and malice. The Dust Wight takes particular offense to worked stone and metal things, seeking to destroy them with it’s crumbling touch, returning them to dust once more.
Should your adventurers encounter a Dust Wight, it will attempt to overwhelm them with necrotic damage, and encase them in dust and stone. If your adventurers try to use *Mold Earth* on their allies who are being encased, I’d grant them advantage on the save. Otherwise *Stone Shape* and *Move Earth* remove the effect entirely.
We are 1d6Adventurers! We create a Monster-a-Day, posted every weekday around 8pm UTC.
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Today’s monster is the Wrackspawn.
The Wrackspawn are unfortunate souls. Good souls that have somehow been trapped in the Abyss, tortured beyond recognition with every scrap of sanity destroyed. If a good soul is trapped in a gem, or a Thinuan weapon, or some other soul eating demon or artifact there is a strong chance it will be brought to the Abyss and tortured for the sheer cruelty of it. Other times otherwise good people will turn to dark pacts and demonic magic in times of desperation. Either way, their fate is usually torture until they embody pain in the form of a Wrackspawn.
These fodder are kept by demons when they foray into dangerous territories; like a pack of rabid dogs on leashes the demon will use them to wreak havoc or give themselves an opportunity to escape.
For example, a Barlgura with a Wrackspawn leashed by dark iron chains in each hand is a *Hard* encounter for four level eight adventurers. (Total XP: 3,200, Adjusted XP: 6,400).
If the Barlgura is looking for something in a long abandoned temple, it may be distracted whilst the Wrackspawn look for things to hurt, smashing insects or termites if they can find any, maybe describe a small animal corpse nearby as they are indiscriminate. Either the adventurers attack, or they try to stealth and observe. If they observe, either they are sensed by the demons and the Wrackspawn attack with bloodlust, and the Barlgura attempts to return to the Abyss via a portal elsewhere (if cornered it will fight). If the adventurers attack, the Barlgura finds the item(s) and attempts to flee, leaving the Wrackspawn to cover its escape, fighting if cornered.
This encounter gives some decision making to your adventurers, if they observe and remain unseen, the Barlgura takes what it wanted and returns to the Abyss with the wrackspawn. Eagle-eyed adventurers may be able to identify what it is the demon was after. If your adventurers attack, they may be able to capture the Barlgura but the Wrackspawn attack until either they or the adventurers are dead.
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Today’s monsters are the Armoured Battle Griffons.
Happy Friday! The armoured battle griffons came about as a request from our DM. He said “I want some griffons, but i want them to have a bit more AC and HP, and I need 8 names”. So naturally, i gave them all that, and then some!
In *our* campaign, Kazak Kharak is a Dwarven City, where Dwarves and Orcs reluctantly co-habitate. There is a temple of Moradin AND a temple of Gruumsh (and they’re mostly friendlier than expected).
The Armoured Battle Griffons are used by elite members of the city guard (one of which is a maverick with nothing left to lose, another is only 2 days from retirement). They patrol the airs over the city and provide rapid response to crimes against the city, or crimes against the tenuous compact that exists between the dwarves and orcs.
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Today’s monster is the Bugbear Thug.
Bugbear Thugs (or Thugbears as I like to call them) are the berserkers of a goblinoid army. Carving a hole into an enemy's defensive line to allow their allies to take advantage of the opening. A Thugbear opening is a fantastic opportunity for goblins to pour into the enemy's formation and disrupt the unit.
This Bugbearian excels at ambushing unsuspecting adventurers using it’s natural stealth, and then pressing the advantage. Woe betide the adventurer that runs afoul of a Thugbear surprise attack, they will likely need their allies to defend them whilst they rummage around for a healing potion.
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