Friday, November 16, 2012

Lashed Brute (monster for old school D&Dish games)

Making some stuff for the home game. Not Kalak-Nur specifically, although you never know. Sadly, I don't have a good image for it. Maybe I'll draw one in the next couple of days.

"Before their banishment (and return in East Trepan), the Elves waged their war to conquer and enslave what they called "Lesser Species." Led by the half-Elven General Cthon, their armies had soldiers, yes, but their real assets were the witches and magical beasts they controlled. It is one such beast we speak of today.
When there was a lull long enough on the battlefield, the Elven witches would lash together several corpses of their enemies and perform the rituals to animate and control them as horrible brutes of war..."
-excerpt from a history lecture of the scholar Krantz Alden

"When the corpses are still flatulent with death's gasses, you'll be thankful if it kills you."
-Jamlin, soldier

"What a slapdash affair. There are far more elegant uses for corpses. Effective, though."
-Ifans, necromancer

A Lashed Brute is an undead construction of 4-7 corpses that have been tied together in a roughly humanoid shape and animated as one being. Usually there is one corpse for the "torso" and one or two for each "arm" and "leg". Sometimes the witch's familiar will sit atop the horrible thing and serve as a head, directing the Brute while the witch attends to other matters. If this is not the case, the Brute will carry out simple orders from it's animator, such as "Go," "Stop," "Lift that," "Kill them," etc.
HD: 4-7 (choose or roll 1d4+3)
AC: 11 + 1d4 (or 9 - 1d4; random bits of armor left on corpses)
Attacks: 1
Damage: 2d4
Special: STR of 18. +3 to hit.
For each successful hit, the target Saves VS Breath Weapon (or whatever Reflex save is in your system); those succeeding are knocked back 10', those failing are knocked prone.
Undead Immunities: immune to Sleep, Charm, Hold Person/Monster, Cold, etc.
Vulnerabilities: For each successful hit on the Brute that deals more than 5 damage or is a critical hit, roll on the following table:
1-4: the Brute will attack at random the rest of the combat instead of being controlled. If rolled again, it's animator regains control
5-17: a corpse is cut loose from the construction; the Brute loses 1 HD, which is now a Zombie that attacks whoever last dealt the Brute damage
18-20: If the damage was done by a physical object, it is now stuck in the Brute's flesh, and must be wrenched free before it can be used again

EDIT: edited to make cool stuff more likely on the crit; changed the table from 1d100 to 1d20. 12:32 AM

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