July 19, 2023 odnd monster

Men

1HD, AC as Armour, Damage as Weapon, Morale 7.

1d100 appearing, rolling again and combining results if 90+ is rolled.

Bandits

From the cities burnt, from villages parched, caravans left to dessicate in the heat of the wilderness. Many will wear stones of prayer to their city-gods, now lying in rubble at the feet of the victors.

For every 10 Bandits, a 2HD leader is present, wearing medium armour. If 30+ are present, a 4HD leader in heavy armour is present.

Bandits originating in Urttum ride rangy Landsquids and wear masks of pilfered silk. If more than 30 are present, they fight from a Portage Squid. All have javelins, lances and axes of flint which are at -1 to hit against any armour.

Bandits originating in Shurupak may re-roll failed saves against magic, wearing fragments of their shattered divinity still. It has been generations. For every 10 present, one is a Magic User, with level equal to the number of Magic Users. They use slings and bronze axes.

Barbarians

Those who dwell in tents or beneath the sky or in caves bear the label. They do not speak the tongues of brick and field, and so the label slides from them like blood from a blade. Some know enough to make demands, to sell the people of one city to another. Their warriors are resplendent, draped in the goods of civilisation, a demon heavy with art and weapons, deliberately ignorant of how such items might be made. They live with their animals nearly always.

Or so it is said in the cities.

Soldiers of the cities must test Morale when first encountering Barbarians in combat.

Barbarians from the Urkysh Mountains have bows of horn, with which they add +1 to hit. They also carry long knives of bronze. They add +1 to morale, and have no leaders.

Barbarians from the deep Burnt Lands ride their own, cannibalistic breed of Landsquid. Rumours abound of the interior having huge wild specimens which the barbarians worship. They wield lances of bone set with bronze tips. For every 15 present, a 3HD Tamer-of-Squids is present, accompanied by a pack of 2d6 Landsquid.

Barbarians from the Sea wear horned helms with bright plumes, wielding their bronze axes carefully. Their favourite technique is to hook the ankle with the beak of the axe, tripping the careless whilst another hacks the prone man to death. Each group of 30 is led by a 3HD Captain, with their ship nearby. If 4+ ships are present, they are led by a 6HD Sea People King, wearing looted heavy armour.

Barbarians upon the Razor Coast coat themselves in the black blood of the earth. They set this alight, the flames leaving them unscathed as long as they do not retreat in battle. They wield two-handed swords, made of a single curved piece of wood set with shark teeth on the inner edge. For every 20 present, a 4HD Burnt-Hide is present, held with knotted rope until their battle-frenzy takes them.

Barbarians from the Lycaneum Penisula dwell in huge complexes of clay marked by labyrinthine tunnels and filled with smoke. They wield spears and wide hide shields.

Barbarians from the Chewed Hills ride Giant Locusts. They are lead by Matriarchs, who have a blood-relation to all members of the band. They use lances and bows of bone and swords made from chitin.

Landsquid

2HD, AC as Leather, Damage 1d6, 1d6-2 if debeaked and without war-beak, Morale 2d6.

Across the known world ranges the Landsquid, faithful companion of man. Their undulating gait, powered by their nine tentacles, has moved poets and brought tears to the eyes of warlords. Stories abound of the taming of the first Landsquid, but the truth is lost to history.

In most cultures, the beak is removed in infancy, reducing injuries and making them entirely dependent upon their owners for food - usually a paste of crickets and tubers. Used in battle, the men of the cities fit them with war-beaks of bronze, with which they snap at enemies pinned beneath their bulk.

An injured Landsquid can grow back missing limbs, although they are usually killed and eaten instead.

Portage Squid

9HD, AC as Unarmoured, Damage 2d6, 1d6 if debeaked, Morale 5, 12 if lobotomised.

Swollen with gasses, Portage Squid are harnessed and weighed down with baskets and sacks - the largest able to support howdahs. Wild Portage Squid are smaller, floating higher, their beaks unclipped and able to snip a donkey in half.

Squid-Handlers from the cities know how where to pierce the rubbery flesh to deaden the mind, how to trim the beak that the beast may not eat unaided and how to direct their charges with tall, hooked poles. Some rare few still know how to break a Squid and ride upon the back, controlling it with ropes, the brain unpierced. This art was mostly lost with the destruction of Urttum.

Giant Locust

3HD, AC as Chain, Damage 1d6-1, Morale equal to number present.

The Chewed Hills host this localised plague of skipping nightmares, the night everfilled with their songs of hunger. Those ridden by the barbarians swirl with fantastic designs, each a carrier of some fragment of their history - only the swarm as a whole might form a cohesive tale of shifting game-pieces, heroes dying and reborn as the mounts leap and skip.


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