Animated Armour

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Bestiary Book Edition 1.01 100 new creatures to add to your LURPS experience. Sample file

Written by Lewis McMeekin Sample file

Albrecht Dürer - Knight, Death and the Devil 1513~ Contents Creatures That Already Exist In the LURPS Core and GameMaster Codex Books: ...... 2 Foreword ...... 3 Guidelines On Making LURPS Creatures ...... 3 Converting This Content For Fifth Edition...... 4 Playing As Monsters ...... 5 Assign Character Points ...... 5 HTP, MAN & SPE ...... 5 Skills ...... 5 Innate Traits ...... 5 Special Attacks ...... 5 Everything Else...... 5 Animated Armour ...... 6 Boggarts ...... 7 Clockwork Armies ...... 8 Crow Fiends ...... 9 Dinosaurs ...... 10 Dwarves...... 11 Erlkin ...... 13 Giant Ants ...... 14 Great Blue Hydra ...... 15 Running This Encounter ...... 15 Kobolds ...... 16 Ocean Encounters ...... 17 Kraken ...... 17 Plague Monsters ...... 18 Plant Monsters ...... 20 Martial Artists ...... 21 Minosians ...... 22 The Aeacus ...... 22 Serpentessians ...... 23 Spellcasters ...... 24 Archmage ...... 25 Strange Conjurations ...... 26 Titans ...... 27 The Truly Colossal Creatures ...... 28 Weird Wizardry ...... 29 Volcanic Creatures ...... 30 Advice For Boss Fights ...... 31 IndexSample ...... file...... 32

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1 Creatures That Already Exist In the LURPS Core and GameMaster Codex Books:

Alchemical Fire Thrower Team Hobgoblin Shaman Anakim Hobgoblin Thief Bandit Imp Banshee Kelpie Basilisk Knight, Rogue Bear Lich Black Ooze Mimic Bloated Corpse Minotaur Boar, Wild Mirror Ooze Cambion Octopus, Giant Dire Crab, Giant Dire Ogre Demonic Eye Stalk Peasant, Angry Digit Demon Pixies Djinn Rat Swarm Dragon, Adult Rat Swarm Dragon, Ancient Redcaps Dragon, Juvenile Revenant Dragon, Young Salamander, Royal Drude Shade Ent Skeleton Familiar Skeleton, Flaming Fire Elemental Spider, Giant Flesh Eating Fish Swarm Sprites Furie Stag Furious Fireball Stone Elemental Gargoyle Succubus / Incubus Ghost The Black Heads Ghoul Town Watch Gnomes Troll Golem Vampire Green Ooze Water Elemental Hag Werebeast Harpy Wight Heavy Harquebus Team Witch Hunter Heavy Repeating Rifle Team Wolf HobgoblinSample Wolf Mount file Hobgoblin Leader Wolf, Dire Hobgoblin Rider Zombie

2 Foreword Keep HTP within the size categories listed in the core book: Hit Point bloat plagues many games, and The creatures in this book are arranged by encounter since the game keeps damage and power in combat type to aid in play. This way you’ll be able to find a roughly level throughout the campaign, there is no selection of related (new!) creatures for your LURPS need to escalate a threat by adding more HTP on. Such games. It also demonstrates how to do variants of things rarely make a fight more fun anyway, and similar creatures, while keeping them unique and additional HTP should come from additional creatures interesting without reskinning an existing statblock or an ability which restores HTP, such as regeneration and wasting space. (which should be able to be countered to provide solid

gameplay and a reward when they discover the Guidelines On Making LURPS method).

Creatures Give the creature 1 or 2 interesting traits: It can be The way creatures are created is fairly simple in the easy to make a hundred similar, but slightly different outline: creatures. How is one small venomous snake different from another small venomous snake? The difference in • No MAT/RAT/SAT score above 7. a lot of cases is too small to notice, or is purely • Keep HTP within the size categories listed in the cosmetic. Instead, give a creature a unique thing if it is core book. a variant. Skeletons can be set on fire for Flaming • Give the creature 1 or 2 interesting traits. Skeletons, or Exploding Skeletons. Suddenly a basic • NPCs don’t need to follow the rules of player concept gets far more milage. If you’re concerned characters. about balancing, remember you can have their abilities be tied from HTP, SPE and MAN at your pleasure, or But what does this actually mean? even be free. Just because the [Tags] don’t have the exact solution, you shouldn’t feel restricted by them. No MAT/RAT/SAT score above 7: The attack attributes are not to be considered flat bonuses and NPCs don’t need to follow the rules of player instead are designed to be relative to the creature itself. characters: They already don’t obey the point-build To a human, a spider at best has MAT 1, that deals structure of player characters, so don’t feel the need to only 1 damage to signify it could deal damage, but balance them in that manner. You can give them very rarely and not much. But to a fly, a spider is a entirely unique mechanics, spell schools, weapons and vastly more formidable opponent (the author will not so forth. The author almost entirely ignores the racial guess as to what their relative MAT and HTP scores bonuses they’re meant to possess for ease-of-use. Why are). does this creature do an additional 1d3 damage? Similarly, a giant may deal a lot of damage, but are Because it just does! typically slow and inaccurate and thus have a MAT lower than a professional swordsman, but deal much How Fast Should A Creature Move? higher damage due to their size more than anything. You’ll note that the vast majority of listed creatures in Thus, a human with MAT 3 may deal 2d6 damage, but LURPS do not list how far they can move. Each a giant with MAT 3 may deal 4d6, as it is larger but creature is assumed to move a Medium distance, equally skilled. unless fiction demands otherwise. For most cases, However, you may break this rule under certain LURPS only cares about 4 different speeds: Cannot circumstances, such as a creature having a MAT of 7, move at all, slower than you, equal speed or faster but also being very good at grappling and thus may than you. If something is faster than you, your only have an effective MAT of 9! due to their natural added hope is to fight or outsmart it. If it is of equal speed, bonus orSample magically granted trait. Such a creature then it becomes a case of endurancefile to see who might be a half-man half-spider who is an expert outlasts who. Everything else isn’t worth worrying swordsman for their skill of 7, with the spider’s quick about! reflexes to provide the additional 2. A creature that has an ‘unarmed’ attack (such as punching or biting) may attack twice with that attack because unarmed attacks are inherently dual wielding.

3 Converting This Content For Spells And Special Abilities Many creatures list special abilities that do not Fifth Edition correspond to ones in other games and it is not a fast The creatures listed in this book can quickly be or exact process to convert them. In these instances, converted into content for the Fifth Edition of the just let the creature use whatever spell you desire popular dungeon crawling RPG involving dragons without having it prepared in advance. Most creatures which are located in dungeons. don’t live beyond 4 rounds, so you’re unlikely to encounter unfairness in this regard. Just don’t use What Level Range Are These Creatures Best For? spells beyond 3rd level. Most of the content here is suitable for 1st to 6th level, since the hit point range matches both quite nicely, DC+1, DC-1 and any attack or save bonuses tend to be within the Convert these to Disadvantage and Advantage as expected ranges also. appropriate. If it is -2 or +2, it is still only 1 instance.

MAT/RAT/SAT Movement Speed These attributes do a lot of heavy lifting in the Most creatures move slightly faster than the player conversion, acting both as attack bonuses and ability characters, set the default movement speed to 40 feet. score bonuses for things like strength or dexterity. If a creature has the [Slow] trait, set it to 20, and [Fast] to 60. Attack Modifiers For most attack bonuses for melee and ranged attacks, Armour Class you simply need to take the MAT or RAT number and Most creatures have an AC equal to 10 + RAT +1. Thus, add 1. the lowest it can be is AC11. A creature with RAT 3 For example, a melee attack would be 1d20 + MAT + 1. has an AC of 14, before armour for example. A creature with a MAT of 4 would hit at +5. A creature If a creature is Small, add +2. If larger than medium, -1 with a RAT of 2 would hit at +3. for every size category beyond medium. Any trait that For the SAT however, you should double it instead. adds DC+1 to be hit, convert to +2 AC. This is because spellcasters generally have lower SAT Creatures generally have their [Thick Hide] or bonus scores than the other two. SAT should be used for spell armour listed. Add an additional +1 to AC for every 2 attacks, such as firebolt or ray of frost. Therefore, a points of damage reduction. creature with a SAT of 5 hits at +10. Thus, a [Fast] creature with a RAT 2, has an AC15 (10 + 2 + 3). Attributes & Saving Throws For the classic 6 spread, assign the attributes in the Different Dice Types following formula and add 10: For attacks, convert 1d3 to 1d4. 1d6 stays the same. 2d6 to 1d8, 3d6 to 1d12. • Strength: MAT

• Dexterity: RAT +1 Attack Ranges • Constitution: MAT -1 Immediate is 5 feet. Short is 50, Medium 100, Long is • Intelligence: SAT 150 and Very Far is 250. • Wisdom: SAT

• Charisma: SAT +1 Resist Checks As such, a creature with MAT 3 would have a Strength The LURPS 1d6 roll can be converted as: of 13 and would roll 1d20 + MAT to make a strength • 2+ DC5 saving throw. • 3+ DC10

Sample• 4+ DC15 file HTP to HP • 5+ DC20 Keep these numbers the same. • 6+ DC25

4 Playing As Monsters Innate Traits This section refers to any trait which is free and You may wish to play a game in which a player is ‘always on’, such as thick skin, hive minds, wings and taking on the role of an established monster (here powerful claw attacks. The simplest method is to make meaning any non-standard race that isn’t by default a their Character Point cost act like feats (2 character playable one following the usual format given to them, points each). Then, players simply need to buy them such as an elder dragon). The base rules as written are multiple times as needed to achieve the desired result not balanced to allow this, but you can certainly work – but! They should cost 3 points for the second around this. purchase, 4 for the third, and so on. So, for example Generally speaking, a monster has many things that it you would have [Feat: Flight, normal] for 2 CP, then can do without needing to pay a resource to do it. [Feat: Flight, hover] for an additional 3. Another Player characters typically cannot fly without the aid example would be Claws. Like any unarmed attack, of magic, but a simple crow has wings and may do so they’d deal 1d3 damage (which you can freely change whenever it pleases. A creature may spit acid, have to slashing damage), then [Feat: Claws] would make exceptionally tough skin, and so on. Furthermore, they them deal 1d6, then 2d6, then 3d6. may have innate powers which are unique or not It is up to the GameMaster whether a feat can be accessible to players that use SPE or MAN in upgraded in this manner. uncommon ways, such as delivering blasts of psychic energy or having some form of hive mind communication. So how do you factor these things in Special Attacks while maintaining game balance? This section refers to strange attacks that take up a resource, such as a dragon’s fire breath, a water Assigning Character Points elemental’s splash wave attack and similar. Most of the time, these should operate like narrow-use spells that Every character should have the same amount of use SPE instead of MAN. This balance is generally character points, whether they are playing a special acceptable as they are a form of special attack without monster character or not. the flexibility of a ‘true’ spell from a spell school. Each

unique attack should cost 2 character points to unlock. HTP, MAN & SPE These three attributes should cost and level the same Everything Else at +5 per character point each, and start with 2 When it comes to some other invoked special trait, it is character points in each for 10 in each attribute as you wise to give it a mana cost to balance it out. would a regular player character. Remembering that 1 mana is for the least effect and 15

for the most when costing it, of course. Skills Many other things are hard to quantify. A dragon may Monster characters purchase skills in the usual manner be a powerful foe, but it is a large creature that would that normal characters would do so. struggle to fit down a dungeon corridor or attend a fancy dinner function. A centaur may be of acceptable proportions for regular adventuring but climbing up or down a ladder may prove very difficult indeed. A pixie may not suffer either of the previous issues, but they’ll find it hard to acquire and carry any equipment. Very few options for regular character creation impose a penalty and races never give any negatives. The bonus for playing a non-standard playable creature Sampleshould be balanced not just fileby purchasable character flaws, but the flaws of their form as well. As such, it may be a good idea to consider just how a monstrous character can even interact with the world as you intend it, but do not refund character points for these additional flaws they have to take on.

5 Animated Armour Name: Armoured Tinkerer Description: A hiss of steam, the clunk of heavy feet. Behold the steam powered armour of a master Name: Animated Armour (Regular) engineer! Granting a regular man incredible strength, Description: Sorcerers turn these decorative suits into endurance and combat potential. The outside plates defensive sentries. Fearless and unrelenting, the have been masterfully crafted into a facsimile of a clanking suits of armour can be quite a challenge to splendid humanoid form. overcome if the party lack armour penetration. Tags: [Humanoid] [Construct] [Medium] [Strong] Tags: [Humanoid] [Medium] [Construct] HTP 30 SPE 10 MAN 10 [Unintelligent] [Extra Attack +1] MAT 4 RAT 4 SAT 0 HTP 25 SPE 0 MAN 0 Steam Powered Punch: Melee, Hit:1, Light, MAT 5 RAT 0 SAT 0 Damage:1d6 crushing. Gauntlet Punch: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d3+1 Heavy Sword: Melee, Hit:3, Medium, Damage 3d6 crushing. slashing (3d6+3 if two handed, but cannot fire the arm Morningstar: Melee, Hit:3, Medium, Damage 2d6 cannon next round), cannot be disarmed. crushing. Arm Cannon: Ranged, Hit:3, Medium, Long Range, Shield: DC+1 against melee and ranged attacks. Damage:2d6 crushing. Made Of Armour: Every 5 HTP this creature loses Steam Powered: Regains +5 SPE each round. reduces the amount of armour coverage it has by 2. Vent Steam: May expend all current SPE, damaging Ornamental Armour: 10/DC5/P of low-quality steel everyone immediately around the Armoured Tinkerer plates (cannot be forged into better armour if looted). for that amount of magical fire damage. Loud: The animated armour has no chance of sneaking Powered Armour: 5/DC3/P + 5/DC3/S about!

Name: Animated Armour (Ogre Sized) Description: No doubt pulled from a real ogre and subsequently ensorcelled with magic, this lumbering pile of thick plates festooned with spikes shakes the floor as it passes by. Tags: [Humanoid] [Large] [Construct] [Unintelligent] [Slow] [Strong] [Spiny 2d3] HTP 35 SPE 0 MAN 0 MAT 5 RAT 0 SAT 0 Gauntlet Punch: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d6+1 crushing. Ogre Mace: Melee, Hit:3, Medium, Damage 3d6 crushing (armour piercing).

Made Of Armour: Every 7 HTP this creature loses reduces the amount of armour coverage it has by 2. Name: Animated Armour (Dragon Sized) Crude Armour: 10/DC4/P of thick but low-quality steel Description: As rare as it is to see a dragon, let alone plates fitted for an ogre. one in battle, it is exceptionally rare to behold their Loud: The animated armour has no chance of sneaking splendid armour, capable of fighting even when the about! owner is unconscious or dead. Ancient suits full of Grapple: The armour gains +1 MAT for grappling bones still rest in forgotten lairs to this day… purposes. If it grapples a foe, the victim suffers 2d3 Tags: [Dragon] [Giant] [Construct] [Intelligent] [Thick piercing damage from the spikey armour and the Hide 8] [Flying: Normal] [Can Speak: Dracoglib] armour may make a Gauntlet Punch attack for free. HTP 80 SPE 30 MAN 0

MAT 6 RAT 0 SAT 0 SampleMailed Claw: Melee, Hit:1, fileLight, Damage:1d6+1 crushing. Tail Whip: Melee, Hit:4, Heavy, Damage 3d6+3 slashing. Made Of Armour: Every 10 HTP this creature loses reduces the amount of Thick Hide by 1.

6 Boggarts Name: Undead Boggart Champion Description: Boggarts bury their dead with full Boggarts are hunched humanoid creatures. Their skin weapons and armour as they had in life and protect is pale, baggy and leathery and their limbs are long their graves with powerful necromancy. and double jointed. They have long, drooping noses, Tags: [Humanoid] [Medium] [Undead] [Nightvision] gaping mouths and teeth like tombstones. They live [Weakness: Fire] [Weakness: Crushing] [Immunity: exclusively underground in often primitive societies in Piercing] [Resistance: Slashing] natural caves. They cannot stand bright light and are HTP 30 SPE 0 MAN 0 blind above ground. Boggarts may be primitive, but MAT 5 RAT 0 SAT 0 they understand most weapons. If they get a hold of a Punch: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d6 crushing. new weapon, they won’t hesitate to use it. However, Artifact Halberd: Melee, Hit:4, Heavy, Damage 3d6 they are scared of blackpowder weapons and cannot slashing or piercing. Made of bone with slate blade. use them. Giant Bug Chitin Armour: [6/5/Slashing] They are a very common enemy of dwarves, who Necromantic Pulse: Roll 1d6. On a 5+, the attack likewise live underground. reduces the targets total HTP by 1d6. This recovers

when they have a long (8 hour) rest. Name: Common Boggart

Description: A foul creature from below the surface. Name: Boggart Charioteer Tags: [Humanoid] [Medium] [Nightvision] [Keen Description: The boggart charioteer consists of two Senses: Taste] [Intelligent] [Can Speak: Own language Common Boggarts riders and one Giant Millipede only] [Weakness: Fire] [Weakness: Sunlight] pulling a strange segmented chariot. HTP 15 SPE 15 MAN 10 Hard Cover: The riders gain 2/6 cover while on the MAT 3 RAT 3 SAT 0 chariot. If the chariot is struck by a crushing weapon Punch: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d6 crushing. Club: Melee, Hit:3, Medium, Damage 2d6+2 crushing. and it deals a critical hit, the chariot breaks and cannot Bone Shortbow: Ranged, Hit:3, Medium, Damage 2d6- move, removing all benefits from being mounted. 1 Piercing, Medium Range. Charioteers: Whilst they are mounted, the boggarts Blackpowder Fear: If the boggart is shot at by a double the damage they deal, and can move a Long blackpowder weapon (like a pistol, musket or distance each round. Any ranged weapons they carry grenade) they roll 1d6. On a 3+, they run away in fear. increase their maximum range by +1 increment. Sunlight Weakness: If a boggart is exposed to bright light, they are immediately blinded until 1 minute Name: Giant Millipede after they leave the light. They may also be forced to Tags: [Beast] [Large] make a Blackpowder Fear check. HTP 20 SPE 0 MAN 0 MAT 0 RAT 0 SAT 0 Name: Boggart Shaman Placid: The millipede does not attack. Tags: [Humanoid] [Medium] [Intelligent] [Spellcaster: Healing & Abjuration / Motion & Levitation] [Can The main danger of boggarts is their understanding of Speak: Own language only] the caverns they live in. They should never attack in HTP 15 SPE 15 MAN 15 fewer numbers than the party, as they know their own MAT 3 RAT 1 SAT 4 limitations. Instead, they use high shelves of rock to Punch: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d6 crushing. pepper the party with arrows, followed up by a charge Staff: Melee, Hit:3, Medium, Damage 2d6+2 crushing. from a chariot or two if they have the ability to field Spellcaster: Heal – Cast at level 2, mana cost 3, short one. They flee to regroup if their initial attack force range. Heals an entity for 2d6 HTP. drops too low. Cowardice isn’t a concept to boggarts, Spellcaster: Arrow Aid – Cast at level 1, mana cost 1, only underhanded tactics. medium range. Grants an entity DC-1 to hit with ranged weapons.

Blackpowder Fear: If the boggart is shot at by a blackpowder weapon (like a pistol, musket or Sample file grenade) they roll 1d6. On a 3+, they run away in fear. Sunlight Weakness: If a boggart is exposed to bright light, they are immediately blinded until 1 minute after they leave the light. They may also be forced to make a Blackpowder Fear check.

7 Clockwork Armies Name: Clockwork Legionary Description: A stand-in for an infantryman which It is one thing to shape clay into the form of a man, but resembles a classical soldier of ancient times, with a quite another to forge the heart, rivet the skin and cut plumed open-face helmet, a large round shield, spear, each gear in the brain. Such is the cunning of goblins a breastplate moulded to look like a muscled chest and when they have enough funding. The truly wealthy a tasset. Under this steel armour is a body like that of a may invest in a clockwork bodyguard, for they never tin solider, also made of steel. The limbs are shaped to tire, never waver from their duty and possess a certain appear as if silver painted flesh, though the joints are quality of intellect over a golem. obvious and utilitarian. While mechanical in body, they are animated by a Tags: [Humanoid] [Medium] [Construct] [Trained] hundred complex spells that turn every gear and [Immunity: Mind Control] [Slow] sprocket. Their brains are entirely tubes and valves, HTP 30 SPE 10 MAN 0 and thus are not truly sentient (or so their creators MAT 5 RAT 4 SAT 0 claim) but they are capable of limited abstract thinking Punch: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d6 crushing. and as such can be given simple orders without the Extendo-Spear: Melee, Hit:2, Light, Damage 1d6+2 worry of literal interpretation that a clay or stone one piercing. May be thrown for 3d6+6 damage. Has two has. spears upon itself, which are telescopically collapsed

inside the arm for storage. Name: Unit 76 – Assassin Variant Collapsible Shield: Grants DC+1 against melee and Description: It is a hunch humanoid thing, ranged attacks. May be concealed by collapsing it constructed with a black iron chassis and wears a cloak down. made of many steel feathers which it can pluck off and Robust Construction: Roll 1d6 for every single throw. Its bird-like head has antlers and the arms and incoming attack. On a 5+, it negates all damage from legs have talons. While it can speak in a flat, but that specific attack. passable voice, it only does so to ensure a kill. It never surrenders and focuses on the one specific target above Name: Spider-Walker all others. Description: Easily the most complex unit mass Tags: [Humanoid] [Medium] [Construct] [Intelligent] produced for the mechanical armies, but even then, the [Can Speak] [Swift] [Agile] [Opportunistic] [Trained] total number made is small. With eight clicking legs [Immunity: Mind Control] and a simple turret mounted on a flat circular top, the HTP 30 SPE 30 MAN 0 spider-walker makes an excellent command platform. MAT 6 RAT 4 SAT 0 Tags: [Beast] [Large] [Construct] [Immunity: Mind Claw: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d6 slashing. Control] [Climber] Scything Swipe: Melee, Hit:3, Damage: 1d6 slashing HTP 40 SPE 15 MAN 0 up to 3 adjacent targets. MAT 2 RAT 5 SAT 0 Fling Feather: Ranged, Hit:3, Damage: 2d6 piercing, Leg Stab: Melee, Hit:1, Light, Damage:1d6 piercing. Long range. Swivel Turret: Ranged, Hit:4, Long Range, Heavy, Robust Construction: Roll 1d6 for every single Damage 3d6 crushing. If someone is manning this incoming attack. On a 5+, it negates all damage from turret, the spider-walker may make both Leg Stab and that specific attack. this attack on the same turn. Manning the turret grants Steel Feather Cloak: Counts as 6/DC4/S armour. the user up to 5 skill ranks to operate it. Stealth: If it needs to make a stealth-related skill check, Command Platform: If someone is commanding from it uses its RAT score to do so. this creature, all clockwork creatures gain +1 to their MAT and SAT. The platform provides no cover. Name: Bomb-Bot Robust Construction: Roll 1d6 for every single Description: A bomb with legs, wind her up and let incoming attack. On a 5+, it negates all damage from her go for maximum chaos. Someone else must prime that specific attack. it before it can actually detonate however. Tags: [Construct] [Tiny] [Agile] [Unintelligent] HTP Sample3 SPE 0 MAN 0 file MAT 0 RAT 0 SAT 0 Ka-Boom!: Once the bot reaches melee range with someone, it detonates itself for 5d6 fire damage. Single Target Minded: The bot can only identify one creature once released. If that creature dies before it arrives, it still attempts to detonate against it. 8