Battle-Bones for D&D

I continue to be excited about the new edition of D&D.  I got the Starter Set a few days ago.  I'll abstain from the gratuitous unboxing post since those are all over the Net right now.  As much as I am looking forward to the official Player's Handbook, I think the Monster Manual is what I am most looking forward to getting into my hands.  I love creating monsters and this edition seems to be pretty easy to stat up beasts, just enough crunch but not too much.  Continuing my theme from last time of Gonzo kinda of stuff, I present Battle-Bones!

Battle-Bones

Huge undead, Neutral

AC: 14

Hit Points: 60 (7d10+21)

Speed: 40'

STR16(+3)   DEX 12(+1)  CON 16(+3)  INT 6(-2)  WIS 7(-2)  CHA 5 (-3)

Senses: Darkvision 100'

Languages: Understands Common

Multiattack: Battle-Bones makes one claw attack and one bite attack

Melee Attack- Bite +3 to hit (reach 10'; one creature). Hit 8 (1d10 +3) piercing damage

Melee Attack-Claw: +3 to hit (reach 5'; one creature) Hit: 6 (1d6+3) Slashing damage

Immunities: Battle-Bones is immune to disease and poison.  It cannot be frightened or put to sleep.  Battle-Bones does not need to sleep, eat or breathe.

Damage Vulnerabilities: Bludgeoning

The beasts rib-cage has been magically altered to allow a rider to ride "comfortably". Battle-Bones can transport up to 12 medium-sized humanoids without suffering any encumbrance or movement penalties. .

The product of necromantic magic, Battle-Bones is the animated skeleton of a huge reptile from a forgotten age that has been turned into an unrelenting tireless combat transport, that needs neither, food, water or rest. 

 Use of a handy "Speak with Dead" spell perhaps?

Panthor; 80's Cartoon Villains for Mutant Future

Panthor
No. Enc. : Unique      Alignment : Chaotic     Mutant Panther
Movement : 210(70) (when bearing a rider he is 150'(50') )
Armor Class : 2
Hit Dice : 86 Hit Points
Attacks : 3 (2 claws, 1 bite)
Damage : (claws1d8+1/1d8+1, bite 2d8)
Save : L4
Morale : 10 (11 when in the presence of his master)
Hoard Class : None (his master keeps anything he has of value)

Mutations: Gigantism, Bizarre Appearance (Purple Fur), Increased Dexterity, Night Vision, Increased Sense (Smell), Accumulated Resistance (Radiation: 81),
(Extremely stealthy much like a natural tiger, in wooded surroundings without a rider, he surprises opponents with a roll result of 1-4 on 1d6.)

     Panthor is the mount/pet/guardian beast of a certain skeletal faced dark lord. He is completely and utterly loyal to his master. He will even allow his master to ride him into battle, something he will let no other mortal creature do. He tolerates his masters other minions, but they have learned the hard way to stay out of Panthor's way, especially if he is in a foul mood from not killing something small and helpless recently.

I thought about stating up Panthor as a NPC, but in the cartoon he seldom appeared and didn't really do much that I recall, so I worked him up as a critter.–B

                                                                                    

(Panthor is a conversion from the 80's cartoon He-Man. He-man is a registered trademark of Mattel, no copyright infringement is intended)

Leech (80's Cartoon Villains for Mutant Future; Part 4)

Continuing the 80's Cartoon Villain series I present a bad guy that really Sucks!!

     Darkness engulfed the paralyzed trio…TwoAxe still couldn't believe what had happened, this was no way for a warrior such as he to go down, defeated by …by a Stench! By a skunk beast??! What madness! Stripped of his axes, his father's beloved axes and helpless lying on the damp ground…he could feel the swamp bugs crawling all over him, the mosquitoes gorging themselves on his blood. He couldn't turn his head to see Markus or Hofud, but he knew they were nearby…suffering the same fate as he. Hofud struggled to move, the stinking beast had taken his energy mace! He still wore his flak jacket but it would do him no good to go weaponless in the swamp at night. Weapons!, Demon Dogs! He couldn't even move much less wield a weapon! 
     He fought his paralysis, sensing he could almost move…almost…his jaw…yes he could tense his jaw a bit..that was a start….Markus lay flat on his back…staring at the heavy dark tree canopy above…a beetle or something had crawled up his nose….he could feel it digging around in his nostril but could do nothing about it…still immobilized from the wretched skunk beasts gas attack.
     Sinister red eyes watched the skunk man depart…lurking just at water level in the muck and mud..it waited…three heat signatures now registered nearby…warm tasty and full of life! It would feed well tonite! It moved cautiously, but quickly toward the heat, the warmth! the blood! They lay helpless on the ground before it…ahh yes time to feed!!!!
     Markus looked up in sheer terror! Above him was one of the most horrifying beasts he had ever seen, a hulking green creature towered above him…with suckers for hands…and in the palms of those hands a hungry lapping tongue….and that mouth ooh by the ancients that horrible sucking mouth!! TwoAxe! Where was TwoAxe..Could his hero save him from this horror! Markus tried to scream…but lay paralyzed…and died..died a cold..painful...death…a tear ran down the side of his face.
     Hofud fought off panic…from where he lay he could see everything that was happening to poor Markus…but the horror spread, not only was the Leech Beast feeding on Markus' blood, Hofud could feel the creature draining his life energy as well…the fiend was some sort of monstrous vampire feeding off blood and drawing away his very life energy without even having to touch him! Hofud struggled…he could blink! Yes his will was strong he could move a finger…fight it..fight it…Hofud would not go down so easily!
     TwoAxe knew something horrible was happening…something was near.. something foul and far more sinister than the skunk man. He could feel his life energy draining away…his axes gone…he was helpless…powerless…he would not die in battle as his father had…he had brought shame to his ancestors…he would die here in the cold mud.
     With Markus dead and drained of life the Leech turned, still hungry for more…it knew it couldn't hold all of the life energy of these humans, but it wanted it all the same…it leaped upon another warrior…seeking to slake its ravenous hunger…then from the side an attack…one of the humans leaped upon Leech pummeling, kicking biting…
     Hofud fought the beast with everything he had…the damned beasts green hide was like rubber…his blows seemed to not affect it at all. TwoAxe felt so weak..Drained of blood and his very life force…he was dimly aware of Hofud fighting the thing…TwoAxe struggled to rise...he must aid his comrade…Markus lay nearby..Dead…and drained of life..poor poor Markus…his only failure was in putting his faith in TwoAxe.  His weapons gone TwoAxe hefted a large rock..a piece of rubble from a forgotten time…a bit of steel metal stuck out of it…using every bit of strength within him…TwoAxe drove the steel rod into the Leech's back…the beast seemed not to notice…not to care…Hofud continued to fight it but he was weakening, more and more every minute. TwoAxe knew he had hurt the beast, but it was drawing on their life force to supplement its own…TwoAxe continued hammering away at the monster…Hofud now lay lifeless below it…The Leech now aware of TwoAxe seemed to just now realize it was even hurt….it rose up and knocked the warrior on his back…locked in mortal combat…TwoAxe threw everything he had into it…it bled from dozens of cuts..Hofud had fought bravely…TwoAxe fought as well…..as everything grew dim…TwoAxe knew he had honoured his ancestors…he would die as a warrior…then darkness overcame him…The beast fed for a time. Drawing the remaining life from TwoAxe…it had been hurt…hurt badly, though it felt no pain. Then finally sated it withdrew…back into the swampy bog from which it had came.

                                                                        

                                                                            

                             Leech

Str: 16 Dex: 16 Mutant Animal: Leech

Con: 17 Int: 7 Alignment: Chaotic

Will: 14 Cha: 6 AC: 4 Hit Points: 89

Blood Sucking: 1d6 hit points per rd.

Mutations: Density Alteration, Natural Armor (Rubbery Skin AC: 6), Thermal Vision, Pain Insensitivity (defect), Vampiric Field.

Weapons & Gear: Sometimes Leech uses a heavy crossbow to bring down foes from a distance so it can get close enough to feed.

                                                 Leech's "Hand"

(Leech is a conversion from the 80's cartoon He-Man. He-man is a registered trademark of Mattel, no copyright infringement is intended)                                                        

Stinkor (80's Cartoon Villains for Mutant Future; Part 3)

 Well seeing as how my Mutant Future Cartoon villain series seems to be popular not to mention I'm having a blast with it, I've done another one.  Notice I've now dropped the "Lame" part, after Eli & Mik felt I was incorrectly categorizing some of their beloved 80's villians as lame.  So how about one that just Stinks!??

TwoAxe, led the small but rugged band of human raiders deeper into the ruins. It was dangerous to be this close to the swamplands, especially so close to dark, but Markus knew to trust TwoAxe. Ever since the dual axe wielding warrior had saved him from the Spidergoats, he'd learned to never doubt the warrior's strength and wisdom, he owed him his life. Hofud the Grim looked about buttoned up his flak jacket and gripped his energy mace a bit tighter; it was the ruins that concerned him the most, the Bones of Lilith a dark ruin of the ancients was said to be the lair of all manner of foul mutant beasts. Still they trod on. Markus swatted at the growing cloud of gnats and bugs that only got worse as dusk approached. They'd need to make camp soon and start a fire.

     As night approached ever closer, yellow eyes watched the group intently, thinking to itself…."humans this deep in the wilds!, exploring the ruins, the master has claimed these ruins as his own! The master must be told, the master must be warned! but first…." the furred mutant stealthily made its way through the ruins, circling around he uncannily knew the direction he was going in relation to the intruders. Finding the perfect spot, the black and white furred mutant lay in wait until the time was right.
     TwoAxe didn't like this, didn't like it at all. His band wasn't equipped to deal with the denizens of the swamp at night; the elder had given him a bag a glow cubes, so what? So that they could see clearly whatever mutant beast was going to devour them? Markus was blindly following him as always, should have left the fool to the spidergoats, but his sister would have never forgiven him. Hofud was a good man; he knew what dangers they faced. Snapping himself to alertness, TwoAxe knew something was wrong, they weren't alone!
   Without warning out of the near darkness a black and white furred humanoid attacked, not with tooth and claw, not with blade nor bullet, but with something TwoAxe was totally unprepared for…
A horrific stench filled the air, apparently it emanating from this beast! A skunk! A large mutant skunk in the shape of a man!! TwoAxe tried to charge the beast, raising his axes in challenge, but the smell was too much…overpowering…no…no..not this way…TwoAxe dropped one axe, then the other…soon he was lying on the ground immobilized watching the events happen around him. Hofud wasted no time launching his attack, he saw TwoAxe fall, some beast had ambushed him from out of the shadowy ruins and attacked! Hofud saw no weapon, the beast had used some attack on the mind no doubt, Hofud had fought such mindwitches before he had a strong will, he'd survive…energizing his mace Hofud charged! Then ran smack into a wall of….STENCH! Hofud gagged, staggered, he was overwhelmed…not a mind attack but an attack on his very senses, his sense of smell. Hofud dropped his energy mace, it fell to the soft muddy ground now useless to him. The valiant warrior tried to fight off the smell…tried to attack the skunk beast, but soon he too was lying on the ground beside TwoAxe…Which left only Markus…in shock Markus saw his hero fall, TwoAxe was on the ground!!! How could this be?! Perhaps had Markus been a different man he would have fled, and survived, but Markus wasn't a coward, call him many things but he was no coward, and he owed TwoAxe his life! Markus, not wasting time to load his crossbow, drew his sword and charged…screaming his war cry he launched an attack on the yellow eyed mutant beast that had downed his comrades, his hero! Markus brought down his sword on the skunk man, but at the last possible second the foul smelling beast raised its own shield, a strong shield made from the metals of the ancients. The blow, came up short glancing off the shield…then Markus was hit by the smell…a wall of stench engulfed him…his eyes watered….he gagged…struggling to hold his sword he swung again…but he was too weak from the smell…he dropped and joined his fallen comrades on the ground.
     Stinkor looked over his handiwork…pleased with himself; he began looting their bodies, searching through their gear…a bag of strange cubes? Odd….a mace of the ancients and other items! The dark one would be pleased, no doubt most of the items would wind up in the buzzard's workshop, but it mattered not, the buzzard man had made the very breather he now wore, as his stench power had grown over the years Stinkor found even himself affected by it unless he wore the special mask and harness. Stinkor pondered for a moment, should he finish off the humans? They weren't dead, merely immobilized for a time by his stench attack. Looking about he realized he was not alone, something stirred in the nearby swamp…no he'd leave the humans…they'd be encountering true terror and agonizing death soon enough…Stinkor quickly stalked off into the ruins to find the Dark One.

Stinkor

Stinkor


Str: 13 Mutant Animal : Skunk

Con: 14 Alignment : Chaotic

Will: 11 AC: 4 Hit Points : 57

Dex: 15 Claw attack : 1d4 (prefers to use his stench attack)

Int: 10

Cha: 9

Mutations : Nightvision, Toxic Weapon (Paralyzing Stench Attack: Paralysis 2d6 rounds/successful save means movement is half for 1d6 rds. 30' range,), Know Direction. Weapons & Equipment : Duralloy Shield, Gas mask/Respirator/Containment Harness (Harness gives AC : 6) Without his harness Stinkor is  impaired by his Stench attack (AC penalty of 1 and -2 to his attack rolls)

(Stinkor is a conversion from the 80's cartoon He-Man. He-man is a registered trademark of Mattel, no copyright infringement is intended)
                                                                                

Faker (Lame 80's Cartoon Villains for Mutant Future; Part 1)

     Over on the Savage Afterworld Blog, I found a recent post for Mutant Future; the title of the entry Faker, led me to immediately think it would be a cool write-up about a certain evil, blue-skinned clone of a certain muscle-bound Master of the Universe (sorry I'm a child of the 80's I can't help it)! Well, that’s not what the write-up was about, mind you the mutant beastie Sniderman worked up was quite cool, a mutant mimic-type creature that I’ll definitely be using in my Mutant Future Campaigns, but it wasn’t the old He-Man villain from yesteryear. This got me to thinking (dangerous I know) why not see if I could work up my own Mutant Future version of FAKER. So without further ado I present FAKER.

     The cowled figure made its way deeper into the dark recesses of the ancient vault, its gnarled hand gripping an ancient staff of power. Muttering to itself in an evil voice…”The humans must be stopped…too many times have my minions failed me against the humans, I need a better servant, a stronger slave that serves my will and mine alone...This time I will succeed! This time I will create the tool to destroy them all!”…turning down ever darker corridors, scuttling things fled the menacing ones presence, they’d wait for easier prey, and this one was too powerful. The cowled one went deeper into the forgotten compound, machines flared to life, lights sputtered and flickered in a feeble attempt to light the vast room, not that the dark one seemed to care. “So many failures” the dark one looked about at the discarded husks of misshapen humanoid forms that were cast about the vast room…the figure continued purposefully towards a large machine that slowly pulsed to life. “Now this ancient relic holds only enough energy for one last attempt…I must succeed!” The creature’s staff flared to life, bolts of dark energy flared from the ancient staff of power; arcs of power engulfed the machine. Tubes connected to the machine squirmed with a life of their own; they connecting to a dark coffin-like tube which now glowed with the same dark energy as the staff. “Yes…Yes it is working…the Carrinspawn was right, his expertise has proven to be useful after all...This time I will achieve my goal!”Off in the chambers far above, the sounds of a large feline could be heard roaring upon hearing the voice of its master. Minutes or perhaps hours passed and then the machine began a loud hum…the energy faded and with a sinister hiss the tube opened…an eerie mist emerged…strange smells filled the room, but the cowled one cared not, it looked intently at the coffin-like device. Slowly a figure could be made out inside, as the mists receded it stirred, slowly at first then it arose shakily but stronger with each movement it strode into the flickering light of the room before the dark one. It was a large massively muscled humanoid if not for its blue-tinted skin and reddish hair it could pass for a perfect human specimen. Apparently put off by the humanoid’s not quite human appearance the robed one muttered a dark curse under his breath..”so close…so close to success and yet you are tainted, clearly not a pure human in appearance…nonetheless you may still prove useful to me..”Then loudly he spoke with a voice of power and authority,”You will serve me, you are mine..My tool to destroy the humans! You are the Faker!”…with a voice free of any emotion it spoke,”Yes master I will destroy the humans and serve you” and deep in the back of its mind a quiet inner voice added “for now”….

FAKER
Str: 20         Dex: 16                                      Android (Synthetic)
Con: 16       Int: 8                                          Alignment: Chaotic
Will: 9         Cha: 9                                        AC: 2 Hit Points: 50
Immune to poison (including paralytic poisons), +3 to all saves vs. heat and cold based attacks. Affected by radiation as if it is 1 class level lower than its rating (minimum of class 1)
Mutations: Increased Physical Attribute: Increased Strength (+3d6 damage to melee attacks), Increased Dexterity (Dex adjusted by -2), Combat Empathy (+1 to hit, +3 damage)

Weapons & Equipment: Studded Leather Armor, furred boots, two-handed sword (+5 to hit, 1d10 +7+3d6 Damage) (or if you really want to ramp things up a notch give him a Vibro-Sword!). Faker may have other basic gear as needed.

Please note, I've worked Faker up as a 1st level character (he's pretty tough even for a level one dude), fresh out of the "coccoon" so to speak.  If you need to buff him up it shouldn't be too hard to do so, just give him a few level benefits and better weapons.  You could also say his master enhanced him a bit by giving him some more hit points if need be.  Good Gaming! - B

(Faker is a conversion from the 80's cartoon He-Man. He-man is a registered trademark of Mattel, no copyright infringement is intended)