From: jfmak1@vaxt.cc.monash.edu.au (Frostbrand) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: NADZAARIM: Alternative to LICHES Date: 16 Aug 95 12:01:28 +1000 In my previous campaign, I loosely based the story line around Joe Dever's "Sacrifice of Ruanon". And although my characters are around the 8th to 10th level mark, I did not want them to tackle heavy badasses, so in light of Lone Wolf, I've adapted a creature from that setting to AD&D and it turned out to be a great alternative to throwing a LICH at the party. NADZAARIM. AC: 2 to -3 HD: Variable Move: 12/18 Alignment: Lawful Evil Intelligence: 17 to 20 # App: Variable Attacks: Spell and Strength Drain Damage: 1d6+Strength Drain or Spells Special Att: See below, Spells. Special Def: Undead Immunities, see below. MR: 0 to 10% XP: Variable. Explanation: The powerful darklords who serve the Queen of Darkness are always with advisors. Often those darklords are powerful enough to be granted long lives by their foul Mistress. Often, they outlive their advisors. Of those advisors that serve the Mistress's champions, none are more loyal or capable than the dark brotherhood of mages. They are mostly specialist necromancers by school. Sometimes in performing their duties, or defending their masters, those necromancers are slain by foolish and barbaric heroes. As their souls travel for the Abyss, back to their beloved Mistress, their urge for servitude or revenge forces them to beg to their merciful Mistress to return them to the Realms. Most are "regrettably" refused (As they are too low level), but some, with greater potential, with their souls darker than any, are allowed back to redeem themselves. And they are the Nadzaarim. Appearances: Nadzaarim appear as dark twisting shadows, there is no figurative features about them at all, sometimes they fade in and out of vision. They however can communicate by a silibant, hollow voices or whispers. On rare occasions, usually upon meeting their slayers, a Nadzaarim can return to his former features for about 2 rounds to show his killers the true face of their doom. Combat: Nadzaarim are mostly necromancers, although other mages or specialist can be encountered. Only evil mages who are slain before lichdom or shadowmerged can be Nadzaarim. In physical combat, a Nadzaarim strikes with one blow that does 1d6 damage and drains one strength point from its opponents no saving throw. It strikes as a monster of its equivalent HD. Any creature struck and reduced to 0 strength dies. The strength draining allows the Nadzaarim to regain HP as a ring of vampiric regeneration. A Nadzaarim always maintain its former HP. The greatest weapon a Nadzaarim possess is his ability to cast spells as if he were alive; usually without using spell components. Ecology: As they are weeded out before they become Nadzaarims, the wizard level encountered are usually between 9th to 20th or more. Nadzaarims are most often found serving some evil lord in graces of the Dark Queen. Well that's it for now, if you have any questions, please don't hesistate to mail me. From: yglina@lynx.dac.neu.edu (Yan Glina) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: I need the best killer, a gift for my PC+s Date: 2 Jan 1996 18:08:11 GMT JR> On 29 Dec 1995, Nightmare wrote: > Could you imagine some kind of monster, a terrible one that never hesitate > to destroy any living thing?. A war machine, not necessary a huge one > just a perfect machine designed only to hunt and to kill without mercy. I made a monster once (on the fly) that actually made a player quit because it scared him (no lie). I eventually made up semi-stats for it, but I havent gotten around to actually adding HABIT/SOCIETY or ECOLOGY sections (dont really need to). This may not be what youre looking for, but it may help. One small thing though...this thing can easily defeat almost any group , and if used incorrectly could cause the players to crumple up their character sheets and throw them at the DM (trust me I know). Also, practice doing a slow cat-call whistle, and use it to drive the players insane =) Have fun (I hope this posts properly...). Mos'Tel'Van (Shadow Stalker) CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any FREQUENCY: Very Rare ORGANIZATION: Solitary or clan ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any DIET: Omnivore INTELLIGENCE: Genius (17-18) TREASURE: Q,U,V ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil --------------------------------------- NO.APPEARING: 1 (2-8) ARMOR CLASS: -4 (base) MOVEMENT: 20, Rush 40, Sw 30 HIT DICE: 10 THAC0: 3 (base) NO.ATTACKS: 3 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 4d4/4d4/8d6 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: 60% (base) SIZE: L (10') MORALE: Fearless (20) XP VALUE: Variable The Mos'Talvan or Shadow Stalker as they are more commonly known are creatures that exist on very few known worlds in the universe. They are hunters by nature, and in many cases, have been known to stalk a group of lost travellers for days, even weeks, at a time, slowly picking the party off one by one, all the while never showing themselves for more than a brief instant (the instant of attack). Its body is roughly 10 feet from head to tail. The skin is a rubbery black substance that seems to absorb all light. It stands on two powerful hind legs, has two equally powerful arms with fully dexterous hands, and a short thick tail for balance. Its head is the most prominent feature because it is large in proportion to the rest of the body. The head is very squarish and semi-flat in the front (much like a tarrasque's), with four curved horns (two on the top of its head, two on the base of its jaw). COMBAT They can become invisible at will (this invisibility cannot be detected by magical or psionic means), can also use the following abilities at will: ESP, Blink (in a specific direction), Ventriloquism, and Dancing Lights, the following abilities twice per day: Phantasmal Killer, Dispel Magic, Passwall, Advanced Illusion, and Polymorph Self, and the following abilities once per day: True Seeing, Vacancy, and Dimension Door. All spells are considered cast by a 14th level caster. The special attack is an extremely effective (and usually deadly). It consists of becoming visible, attacking with a claw/claw/bite routine, becoming invisible again, and finally blinking to another location and running off, all in the course of 1 round. The special defense is to become invisible, make an illusion in one direction, and either blink then polymorph into something useful, or dimension door off to someplace safe. Using such hit-and-fade tactics, they attempt to strike fear into their prey, and take them when their guard is down. The only warning that a party will recieve is an odd chirping sound that the creature makes. It sounds like a slow cat-call whistle, which is repeated over and over to intimidate their prey. This whistling can be heard even in the most horrible conditions (it is not actually a real sound, it is a psionic trick that makes the sound appear to come from all directions at the same time). Shadow Stalker's can only be surprised on a roll of 00 on a d100. They use a d10 for hit points. They can see all invisible creatures or objects, can break wizard locks, and have Infravision 90'. They are immune to all charm spells. Their bite will, on a roll of 19-20 either (decided by DM) swallow the victim whole (depending on the age/size) or act as a Sword of Sharpness. They move silently at 99% under almost any conditions. When a Shadow Stalker becomes visible for more than one round (most likely as a distraction for a rear attack), all those viewing must save vs paralyzation or be frozen in fear for 1d4 rounds (Note: anything with less than 4 hit dice gets no saving throw). Shadow Stalker's can be pack hunters, and can communicate with each other through a form of telepathy. Only one Stalker will attack in a given round, this is because of a simple code of honor they seem to follow when dealing with their prey (and it hides their true numbers). They never stalk for hunger, but just for the pure sport of it. They must become visible to attack, but can remain invisible while using their magic powers. The Stalker is immune to all Electrical, Fire, and Acid damage, and must be brought to -15 hit points to be slain. They are just as likely to stalk a party of good members as they are to stalk a party of evil members. Stalkers do have a few weaknesses. The first weakness is a physical one. If any of the four horns around its head is removed (-4 penalty to hit), the stalker will become disoriented for 1d4 rounds, during which time it will remain visible (but thrashing about). It suffers a -2 to hit in melee, and cannot use his inate abilities (but he could still claw/claw/bite). If all four horns are removed, the stalker will lose all of its spell-like abilities (including invisibility), but even without them he is still be a cunning foe. The second weakness is its ego. Sometimes the stalker(s) will allow their prey to get powerful enough to be a challenge, and will even stick around longer than normal to fight (very rarely though). Other weaknesses depend on the individual stalker, as most of them have very well defined personalities, and they love to toy with the parties minds "Oh look...a wounded deer...lets hel". 1 2 3 4 5 6 A Newborn Young Juvenile Young Adult Adult Old B 4d10 8d10 10d10 12d10 14d10 16d10 C 0-1 2-8 9-15 16-24 25-50 51-80 D 6/d6 8/d8 10/d10 20/d20 00/d100 Never E S (3') M (6') L (10') L (12') H (15') H (20') F 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 G 1d4 2d4 4d4 6d4 8d4 10d4 H 2d6 4d6 8d6 12d6 10d10 15d10 I 5 4 3 2 1 -1 J 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% K Nil Q,V Q,U,V Q,U,V Q,U,V,I Q,U,V,I L 14,000 19,000 21,000 22,000 23,000 25,000 Key: A Description B Hit dice C Age (years) D Surprised E Size F Armor Class G Claw H Bite I THAC0 J Magic Resistance K Treasure L XP value