MONSTERS AND HORRORS

Monsters are creatures that are not native to the world. Wolves and bears are natural creatures; dragons, demons, and horrors are not. Whether any particular breed of monster is native or alien depends on The Master's campaign world.

A player may play an unusual race or creature with The Master's approval. This character is an outsider who travelled to the campaign world from another realm. Its worldview should be alien to that of humans. It will have no tribe or homeland. It will be virtually unique. While it is possible that some others of his race also travelled to this world and set up a colony somewhere, such places would need to be well hidden or fortified to protect themselves from mankind.

Example: a player wants his character to be creature known as a "dwelf." He should construct the character as he would any other. The player may argue that dwelves should get a bonus to Strength or Archer or something, but this is unnecessary - if dwelves are supposed to be stronger or faster or smarter than human beings, the player just needs to put more of his points into the appropriate traits. If the player thinks that dwelves should fly and throw lightning bolts and regenerate wounds, The Master can feel free to tell the player to go to hell. If he wishes to allow it, he can make the ability a Gift and require an amount of points that seems fitting - with the promise to revise it upward if the power gives more of an advantage than initially thought.

Monster Creation

When creating monsters, The Master should not feel restrained by the character creation rules. Monsters and horrors are often far larger and more powerful than the heroes, and there is no reason why otherworldly creatures cannot have powers unavailable to the players.

Below are some pointers for creating interesting monsters.

Size

Normal player characters are considered to be human, or at least vaguely so. The size and density of monsters is measured relative to this standard, with humans being of Size and Density 0.

Monsters, on the other hand, are often different. This makes the monsters frightening to the players, which is a good thing.

A creature twice as tall as a human would have roughly eight times the mass, assuming similar density. This is important to note for the sake of grappling or weak floors.

Great Strength does not necessarily make one any less vulnerable to harm - an elephant is very strong, but can still be chopped into small pieces if hit with an axe enough times. Constitution should be limited unless the creature is made of sterner stuff than most.

By the same token, one does not want a giant monster to be easily killed. In order to make creatures tough without making them invulnerable, The Master can allow them to take larger amounts of stuns and wounds before falling.

Some creatures may have proportions that make their strength different for different purposes. A long-limbed creature might have greater strength for striking than for lifting. A creature could have a powerful grip, but a weak punch.

Armor

Some creatures are tough, but not strong. If The Master wishes to create a monster that can take damage better than it can dish it out, he can make armor a natural part of its anatomy by giving the critter different Constitution traits for withstanding damage, healing wounds, and resisting poisons.

Extra Limbs

There is no reason why extraplanar horrors need to be limited to two arms, two legs, and one head. There is nothing wrong with making your players fight an otherworldly octopus monster with eight heads and sixty-four tentacles. How this translates into game terms (such as improved Initiative or hundreds of attacks per round) is up to The Master.

Extra Senses

Monsters need not be limited to normal human sight, sound, smell, touch, or taste. A monsters may see infrared light, "see" via ultrasonic waves like a bat, or even have some sort of supernatural spatial awareness.

Flight

Monsters need not be earthbound like the heroes. A monster could have great wings that allow it to fly, or it could levitate via unknown forces.

Immortality

The rate at which monsters age is also up to The Master. He could even rule that certain creatures are virtually immortal.

Regeneration

Monsters and horrors may have rates of recovery far superior to the natural healing of a human. A monster could recover wounds and shocks once per round instead of once per day, perhaps even without rest. This makes monsters harder to kill, which makes them more frightening to the players. This is a good thing.

Sorcery

There is no reason why monsters need to be limited to the same sorcery as humans. While some monsters may indeed have Mahasu or Nekelmu powers, some might also have special abilities such as shapeshifting, invisibility, or mind control. Some monsters may even be immune to physical or supernatural attacks (but not both, unless The Master wants a monster to be indestructable).

For that matter, there are supernatural arts appropriate for human antagonists that are not listed in the chapter on sorcery. This is because these abilities are not available to player characters. It may seem unfair that NPCs can have magical abilities that players cannot, but certain activities are simply not well-suited for adventurers. Skills such as alchemy and necromancy are classic fantasy fare, but are usually the province of strange cults or hermetic mages working feverishly in isolation for weeks and months at a time. This fact makes them better suited for plot devices than for player character traits.

It is fine for The Master to make use of golems, undead, potions, and the like, but players should not know where they come from. In a way, this puts some mystery back into the supernatural.

Example: The Master wishes for his players to be attacked by a horde of undead terrors. These creatures are immune to reason or passion and obey orders without question.

He decides on two types: ghosts and skeletons. Ghosts are immune to physical attacks, and attack the players with Nekelmu sorcery. Skeletons are immune to sorcery, and attack the players with rusted swords and armor. Both ghosts and skeletons can be driven away or destroyed by Seheru sorcery, which affects undead much like Mahasu does the living. Of course, the players don't know this.

Alien Intellect

Humans are not the only creatures who can use sorcery to travel between worlds. Some monsters may come to this world of their own ability. One that does is the most frightening of opponents - it is alien, wields supernatural powers, and has its own reasons for being here.