Monstrous Compendium: Kara-Tur Appendix
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Monstrous Compendium Kara-Tur Appendix TSR, Inc. TSR Ltd. POB 756 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton Lake Geneva Cambridge CB1 3LB WI 53147 USA United Kingdom TSR, Inc. PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION Designer: Rick Swan Design Review: Jon Pickens Editor: Andria Hayday Art Coordinator: Peggy Cooper Cover Art: Jeff Easley Interior Art: Thomas Baxa Typesetting: Angelika Lokotz Distributed to the book trade by Random House, Inc. and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd. This work is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork presented herein is prohibited without the express written consent of TSR, Inc. © Copyright 1990 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. 0-88038-851-X 2116XXX1501 How To Use This Book Welcome to the Kara-Tur Appendix to the Monstrous Compen- 11-12 Very intelligent dium series. This volume describes the wondrous Oriental crea- 13-14 Highly intelligent tures native to the eastern region of the Forgotten Realms. As in 15-16 Exceptionally intelligent previous volumes, all entries appear in alphabetical order. They’re 17-18 Genius printed on looseleaf sheets, which you can place in the master 19-20 Supra-genius binder and organize for your convenience. You may wish to re- 21 + Godlike intelligence move or group the sheets for easy reference during an adventure. All monsters included here are typical for their type. Likewise, TREASURE— the monster’s valued possessions. Letters refer to the encounter tables are guidelines for general play. Variations of the treasure tables in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and should be your own design are encouraged; DMs should note that varia- used as general guides, not absolutes. The DM is advised to use tions are most effective when they depart from the expected. restraint when determining sizeable treasure; apply common DMs who are unfamiliar with the world of Kara-Tur will find a sense when determining treasure for smaller groups of monsters wealth of information in the Oriental Adventures book and the or caches in unusual locations. (For instance, underground trea- Kara-Tur campaign set, including spells, weapons, magical items, sure should be relatively small.) If treasure is assigned randomly, and character classes unique to the eastern realms. Two concepts roll for each indicated type. If all rolls fail, no treasure is present. merit special mention: Large treasures are noted by parenthetical multiples, such as M x Spirits. In Kara-Tur, the spirit world closely touches the world 2. If individual treasure is indicated, the DM decides which, if of men, and spirits may share several traits with humans. Many any, of the individuals are carrying it. spirits have physical bodies, for example, which are vulnerable to attacks that also harm the bodies of men. Some spirits eat food ALIGNMENT— the general behavior of an average monster. Ex- for nourishment and collect treasure. They also may mingle ceptions, though uncommon, may be encountered. freely in human societies. Celestial Bureaucracy. The Celestial Beauracracy is a govern- NO. APPEARING— the average number of monsters in a wilder- ment of spirits that oversees and supervises the spirit world and ness encounter. The DM can alter this as necessary. This should the world of animals. A powerful being called the Celestial Em- not be used for dungeon encounters. peror heads the Bureaucracy, and many greater spirits serve him in the Celestial Court. Many important positions in the Celestial ARMOR CLASS— a rating of the monster’s protection (abbrevi- Bureaucracy are held by Oriental dragons, including the chaing ated “AC”). This may be the result of manufactured armor (worn lung, the li lung, the lung wang, and the t’ien lung. (These and by humans and demihumans), natural armor due to physical other Oriental dragons are detailed in the FORGOTTEN structure or magical properties, or the difficulty in hitting due to a REALMS™ Appendix to the Monstrous Compendium series.) Of- creature’s speed, reflexes, or other abilities. Humans and demihu- ficers of the Celestial Bureaucracy function much as the bureau- mans who wear armor have an unarmored rating in parentheses. crats in the world of men; some are honorable and skilled, while AC listings do not include any special bonuses noted in the de- others are corrupt, incompetent, or both. scription. Each major entry in this Monstrous Compendium includes the following information: MOVEMENT— the monster’s relative speed. Higher speeds may be possible for short periods. Human and demihuman movement CLIMATE/TERRAIN— the area in which the monster is usually rates often are determined by armor type (unarmored rates ap- found. Unusual variations of the monster may appear elsewhere. pear in parentheses). Movement modes are abbreviated as fol- Climates include arctic, subarctic, temperate, tropical, and sub- lows: Fl = flying, Sw = swimming, Br = burrowing, Wb = tropical. Typical terrain includes plain, forest, hill, and moun- moving in a web. Flying monsters also have a Maneuverability tain. Class from A to E. FREQUENCY— the likelihood of encountering the creature in its HIT DICE— determines the number of hit points of damage the typical climate/ terrain. Very rare is a 4% chance, rare is 11%, un- monster can withstand before dying. Unless stated otherwise, Hit common is 20%, and common is 65%. These percentages can Dice are 8-sided. To determine hit points, roll the indicated num- vary in special areas, as determined by the DM. ber of Hit Dice and total the result, adding any indicated modi- fiers. (For instance, if a monster has 5 +3 HD, roll five 8- sided ORGANIZATION— the general social structure the monster dice and add 3 to the total.) adapts. “Solitary” includes small family groups. THAC0 —the attack roll the monster needs to hit Armor Class 0. ACTIVE CYCLE— the time of day when the monster is most ac- This is always a function of Hit Dice, except that humans and de- tive. Exceptions are fairly common. Those most active at night mihumans always use player character THAC0s regardless of may be active at any time in subterranean settings. whether they are PCs or “monsters.” THAC0s do not include any special bonuses noted in the monster descriptions. DIET— what the monster eats. Carnivores eat meat, herbivores eat plants, and omnivores eat both. Scavengers eat mostly car- NUMBER OF ATTACKS— how many times a monster can attack rion. in a single melee round, excluding special attacks. This number can be modified by circumstance, such as the loss of a limb, or by INTELLIGENCE— the monster’s mental capacity, roughly com- spells such as slow or haste. parable to the following Intelligence ability scores: DAMAGE PER ATTACK— the amount of damage caused by a 0 Non-intelligent or not ratable given attack, expressed as a spread of hit points (given as die roll 1 Animal intelligence combinations). Modifications are explained in the text. 2-4 Semi-intelligent 5-7 Low intelligence SPECIAL ATTACKS— unusual attack modes. These are ex- 8-10 Average (human) intelligence plained in the text. How To Use This Book SPECIAL DEFENSES— unusual defense modes. These, too, are 15-16 Champion explained in the text. 17-18 Fanatic 19-20 Fearless MAGIC RESISTANCE— the percentage chance that magic cast upon the creature will fail to affect it. If the magic penetrates the XP VALUE— the number of experience points awarded for defeat- resistance, the monster is still entitled to a normal saving throw. ing the monster. This can be modified according to specific situa- tions and for overall campaign balance. SIZE— the monster’s physical dimension. Abbreviations used are: “T” = tiny (2’ tall or less), “S” = small (2’-4’), “M” = man- COMBAT— how the monster fights, including special abilities, sized (4-7’), “L” = large (7-12’), “H” = huge (12-25’), “G” = gar- arms and armor, and tactics. gantuan (25’ +). HABITAT/SOCIETY— the monster’s general behavior, culture, MORALE: The likelihood of the monster to persevere in the face social structure, attitudes, and goals. of adversity or armed opposition. This can be adjusted according to circumstance. Ratings are as follows: ECOLOGY— how the monster fits into the campaign world, in- cluding the monster’s useful products and by-products. 2-4 Unreliable 5-7 Unsteady VARIATIONS. Close variations of a monster (for instance, 8-10 Average kappa-ti and vampiric kappa) follow the description of the main 11-12 Steady monster. The index below serves as a guide for locating these var- 13-14 Elite iations. Guide to Minor Listings in the Kara-Tur Appendix This index is designed to help you find monsters whose names do not ap- —significant variations, such as ‘bamboo spirit folk,” which is de- pear in large type at the top of a page. It includes: scribed under “spirit folk” in the S section. —monster variations that do not receive their own page. For example, a djim is a variant form of the memedi. As shown below, you’ll find “Name” refers to a creature without an alphabetical headline—the crea- “djim” under “memedi” among the Ms. ture you want to find. “Entry” tells you which major alphabetical entry —alternate names for a creature with its own entry. For instance, describes the monster you’re looking for. A name in italics is an alternate “earthquake beetle” is another name for the jishin mushi, which ap- name rather than a specialized form of the common monster. pears in the J section.