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Old 09-30-2012, 10:27 AM   Top  -  End  -  #83
The LOBster
Dwarf in the Playground
 
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Default Re: Best D&D original monsters out there?

When it comes to Warforged outside of Eberron, I try and justify them to DMs by saying "They're an ancient race created by a long-dead empire, and now have their own monastic societies." For some reason, having WF being meditative old guys just works for me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yora View Post
But the D&D monster is almost taken straight from a mythical sorcerer from Russia. Koschei the Deathless has been portrayed in images as an incredibly old man who looks almost like a walking skeleton, and he is some kind of sorcerer, and also immortal because he has a phylactery exactly as the D&D monster.

Koschei was also described in Frazer's The Golden Bough, which is still one of the ultimate introductory works on mythology. And I think Gygax even included it in some "Further Reading" lists in the back of some of his D&D books.
Koschei was also the inspiration for the Demon Lord Kostechtk... Kostiktok... Koosalagoopagoop... The Demon Lord who's a Frost Giant with a bigass club.

Last edited by The LOBster : 09-30-2012 at 10:28 AM.
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