More flumphs than you can shake a flindbar at: Let's Read the Tome of Horrors!

[Thurbane]

In a homebrew game I was running a while back, the level 10 party had an enounter with a group of 2 or 3 Ghoul Dire Wolves, and due to a series of unlucky saves vs. paralysis, and trip attempts, almost resulted in a TPK (in the end, only one character - the Knight - died).

This lead my group to decry ToH as "unbalanced!" and they asked I never use monsters from it again!

[The Dark Fiddler]

Wolf-in-Sheep's-Clothing
Oh yes, here it is, the creature everyone loves to mock. Yes, it looks like a tree with a rabbit on top. Yes, that may be funny to some. No, I don't find the monster useless in the slightest. To me, it just reminds me of creatures in the real world such as the alligator snapping turtle. Lures are a classic predator maneuver, and I see no reason why a forest predator shouldn't look like a log and have a lure resembling a common prey animal. It's just good ambush predator tactics! Stats wise, wolves-in-sheep's-clothing are imposing CR 8 aberrations, with strong jaws, constricting tendrils, and 360 degree vision. So, I say that before you laugh away the WiSC as a junk monster, give it a chance. You just might find you like it.

I have to say, this actually sounds like a pretty cool monster! Totally considering the book just for that... or statting it up myself based on what you said.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I have to say, this actually sounds like a pretty cool monster! Totally considering the book just for that... or statting it up myself based on what you said.

Best part of it, the WiSC is availabla as an avatar here, just look at the default ones.

[Rappy]

Yellow Musk Creeper
The yellow musk creeper is probably the most frightening CR 2 plant you'll ever meet. In spite of its low challenge rating,it has a forebidding arsenal at its disposal. It has charming pollen spores, can rake tendrils into your head to deal Intelligence damage, can puppeteer corpses of those it has killed via Intelligence drain as plant "zombies", and cannot truly be killed unless you dig up the plant and hack its roots up while you're at it. This creature lends itself heavily to horror or atmospheric games where you can use its frightening aspects to your advantage to scare your players. In that way, it's worth more than its CR would suggest.



Yeti
CR 4 Monstrous Humanoids with the Cold subtype, the Yetis of the Tome of Horrors are heavily "monstrosized", with supernatural abilities and...yep, it has to be quoted for completeness sake...

They are particularly fond of human and elf flesh.

It's a wonder elves aren't extinct with all the things that feel they're the other white meat. Anyway, the ToH Yeti has prodigious strength and a bear-hug attack wherein it squeezes an opponent in its arms to deal damage, as well as having a frightful presence. Suffice to say, it's probably not the best idea to fight a Yeti without having an idea on how to extricate it from its cavern lair.



Zombie, Brine
It's a zombie, only not a template, and bloated! Brine zombies can swim, sure, but otherwise, they aren't really that interesting. It'd be easier to just take the zombie template to a seafaring creature than use a single-stat zombie-with-a-cutlass, really.

-------------------------

And that's that, folks. I hope you enjoyed the ride. I kno-

*Cue Phoenix-Wright style "Hold It!"*

...Oh, right, right. We aren't done yet, folks, as we have the appendices and the demons and devils-not-quite-appendices-but-doing-them-as-appendices-for-this-LR-anyway to go through. So next time, the start of the Template Appendix!

[Rappy]

Alright, folks, it's template time! We're starting into the templates appendix now, and while it's nowhere near as long as the main text, it's certainly one of the most entertaining of the appendices. Indeed, as I've stated before, I love templates, so obviously it appeals to me. Anyway, since this chapter is rather brief, there'll only be two entries per post, but the posts will most likely be more frequent...or something. I haven't thought this through yet.

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Abomination
In spite of its name, this template has less to do with mindflayers than it does with minotaurs. This template is a quick-fix template for combining humanoids with animals or vermin, vermin and animals together, or two different animals together (or two vermin, true). Similar concepts exist in places such as Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary, and in greater flexibility, at that, but it's good for what it does. There is one odd note, though... The roll for the intelligence of a creature created with the Abomination template is 1d4+2. This means that any abomination has a minimum Intelligence score of 3, which is certainly an odd note. The two examples of the template are the owlephant and the tigrilla, both of which seem rather self-explanatory by their names.



Beast of Chaos
This CR +2 template actually bothers me some. The idea of an anarchic creature is rather common, but this template can only be applied to creatures of the Animal type. This severely limits its usage, obviously. I will grant that it at least provides some interesting changes to the animal. First off, it becomes a Magical Beast, which in and of itself is a boost. In addition, it gains frightful presence, spell resistance, and immunity to confusion, fear, hold animal, hold monster, slow, and haste effects, and the kicker: light-induced rage. Oh yes, finally a foil to the light-toting "conquers the darkness" Wizards! The example usage of the template is a lion.

[Rappy]

Bleeding Horror
Bleeding horrors are undead that are, rather than decayed or incorporeal, mostly as they were in life, except for the gaping, constantly bleeding axe cuts littering their body...of course, if the bleeding horror was a Fighter in life, that may not be that far off from a spitting image. Created from a unique artifact, the Axe of Blood (how apt), bleeding horrors gain a pretty hardy package of powers, including both Strength and HP draining powers, the good old create spawn and turn resistance staples, damage reduction and spell resistance, and the ability to cast the spell bloodstorm, netting them a Challenge Rating increase of +3. But wait...where is the bloodstorm spell, you might ask. Well, that's a very good question. It is in the book Relics and Rituals, so if you don't have that title as well, good luck using the bleeding horror template! The sample creature is a bleeding horror minotaur.



Dire Animal
As the name implies, this template creates a dire animal. An animal gains, in addition to an increase in size (up to Small if they are Tiny or smaller, or by one size category if they are Small or larger) and some stat bonuses, good Will saves, and extra natural armor. While it's not exactly the most impressive template, it is a very valuable one if you want a centralized rule set for dire animals. Challenge Rating increase varies depending on the animal you're altering, of course. The examples for the template are dire animal versions of bison, goats, hippos, porcupines, rams, and sloths.

[BobVosh]

I like the sound of the beast of chaos, although I would like if it had random abilities so it would be more chaotic.

[Rappy]

Foo Creature
Here we have yet another Animal type-only template...wow, two in a row and three in total so far...that produces Good-aligned guardian beasts. A Foo Creature becomes an extraplanar Magical Beast, gaining +4 natural armor, 6 extra hit dice, smiting and foo creature-summoning powers, planar travel, invisibility at will, an aura that hinders Evil-aligned creatures, spell resistance, and bonuses to all ability scores; most of these are +2 bonuses, with the exception of Strength and Charisma (which are +4) and Intelligence (which states it is +4 [minimum 10]...which...considering Animals have Int 1 or 2, would always be 10, wouldn't it? Huh). Also worthy of note is that a creature of Small size or smaller automatically increases to Medium-size. All in all, this is a pretty good template that nets a whopping +5 increase to Challenge Rating and is a good alternative to the Celestial Creature template. The sample use of the template is an application to the dog to create the Okinawan shisa, or foo dog.



Skeleton Warrior
Yes, we skipped all the way from F to S; I told you the appendices were rather short. Anyway, Skeleton Warrior is a creature that some of you may remember from the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon as an undead warrior that can be controlled by a golden circlet that has their soul entrapped in it. Rather oddly, while the fluff states that Skeleton Warriors are Fighters of at least 8th level, there is no such class or level restriction to the template's application; indeed, it says it can be applied to any creature of the Humanoid type, so...yeah. Anyway, this is a CR +2 template that grants, amongst other things, damage reduction, minor bonuses to Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma, a +4 natural armor bonus, an aura of fear, an unnerving sense of direction to find its circlet, and a complete immunity to turning. Yes, no matter how hard you try, the Skeleton Warrior cannot be turned. The example use of the template is a 12th-level human Fighter (well, I presume it's a Fighter, since the book doesn't actually state what the class of the character was before the template was applied).

[BobVosh]

What is foo from, mythologically speaking? Or is it just a weird brain child? Odd template.

[Rappy]

What is foo from, mythologically speaking? Or is it just a weird brain child? Odd template.

The foo creature concept originally comes from the guardian lions of China, although the term "foo" is also sometimes used to refer to the shisa dogs, a similar guardian animal figure, from Okinawa.

[Esser-Z]

I pity da foo[user has been sacked for this post]

[BobVosh]

After reading the wiki on this, I think they should have gotten statue at will, self only. Beyond that, kinda weird template to do for any animal.

[Thurbane]

Can Foo creatures take class levels? I think it would be great to have Foo Fighters in my game...

...sorry...

[2xMachina]

Int 10, so yes.

[Rappy]

After reading the wiki on this, I think they should have gotten statue at will, self only. Beyond that, kinda weird template to do for any animal.

It's an odd template, sure, but it's a neat one as well.

Can Foo creatures take class levels? I think it would be great to have Foo Fighters in my game...

...sorry...

*Tosses tomatoes*

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Slime Zombie
Created by the olive slime (which we'll meet later), slime zombies are oozing piles of plant mush that live only to gather food for their slimy creators. This is a varying CR template (CR 1 to 10 depending on the amount of hit dice the creature has) that changes the creature to the Plant type, grants damage reduction, electricity immunity, and other increases to defenses, telepathy with other slime zombies from the same "mother-slime" (which aids with pack hunting from the always Int 2 slime zombies), and both the ability to spread olive slime through its slam attack and turn into olive slime upon "death". Oddly enough, the natural enemy of olive slime is apparently green slime, as slime zombies take extra damage from green slimes and cannon mature into a pile of olive slime if destroyed in such a manner. The sample creathre js a...something. It's Medium-size, has 3 hit die, and could be a human Warrior or something, but I honestly don't know since the ToH doesn't tell you what the templates are applied to. This is usually not a problem when they are self-explanatory, but it is rather irksome in cases such as this.



Spectral Troll
A CR +2 template applicable only to trolls that gives trolls the special abilities and undeadness of a spectre. Again, I reiterate what I stated earlier with the shadow rat and shadow wolf; some undead really need to be templates, although this case is a bit limited. The sample creature is, shock-horror, a standard troll with the template applied! I bet you're utterly surprised.

[Doompuppy]

Can Foo creatures take class levels? I think it would be great to have Foo Fighters in my game...

...sorry...

I guess I can blame my programming background, but my first reaction wasn't so much a foo fighter as a foobard.

[Rappy]

Therianthrope
This template is sort of a werecreature in reverse; indeed, creatures with the template are called "[animal name]-weres". As you would expect, this is yet another applicable-only-to-Animal-types template, although this one is very modular and thus very interesting. All creatures with this template are granted the Magical Beast type, the ability to shapeshift into a human or beast-humanoid hybrid form in addition to their normal form, and damage reduction bypassed by cold iron. In addition, depending on the amount of hit dice they have, a therianthrope gains one special attack and a certain Challenge Rating increase:

• Creatures of 3-5 hit dice are CR +1, and can choose to have the ability to spread disease, charm creatures, induce confusion, produce a slowness-inducing call, have a venomous attack, or use a gaze attack to induce either sleep or nausea.
• Creatures of 6-10 hit dice are CR +2 and can choose to gain the ability to blind a creature with its strike, induce fear, beguile/compulse a creature, go into a frenzied rage, summon animals of its original breed, or use a gaze that deals either Strength or Dexterity damage.
• Creatures of 11 or more hit dice are CR +3 and choose between the ability to induce despair, deal damage to one mental ability score, improved summoning (as in more HD worth of creatures of their type), or a gaze that can either petrify or deal pure untyped damage.

The sample uses of the template are two creatures from older edition books that have been converted - the jackalwere from the 1st Edition Monster Manual and the wolfwere from that same edition's Monster Manual II - as well as the original asswere (yes, a donkey therianthrope, deal with it), foxwere, lionwere, and owlwere. This is a very, very useful template, and while it's a bit complex, I believe it's definitely worth it.



Thessalmonster
Now here's an odd template. This template works only on Magical Beasts, rather than only on Animals, and produces a creature that has reptilian features and a "mane" of 8 serpents around its head. They are the results of crossing a magical beast with a "thessalhydra", a strange hydra-like creature with a central gaping maw surrounded by writhing serpent necks and heads. The template changes a creature's type to Aberration, increases the creature's size by one category (or to Large, if the creature was Medium-size or smaller), grants it serpentine heads that can spit acid, and provides fast healing. The sample uses of the template are the thessalhydra itself (a hydra with the thessalmonster template applied, obviously), as well as thessalmonster versions of the gorgon and basilisk.

Worthy of note is the background on this template: thessalmonsters are actually a Grayhawk creation, produced by the mighty lich Thessalar; you may also know him as the creator of the owlbear, rust monster, and mimic, amongst other things. Of course, as he wasn't licensed out, Thessalar's hand in this mess isn't mentioned. Also, strangely enough, while there were thessal- versions of the cockatrice, gorgon, and chimera in the old editions, there was no "thessalisk", so it's rather odd they chose to have a basilisk over converting the thessaltrice. If there's any demand, since the template is OGC and all, I could convert the thessalmera and thessaltrice for this thread.

[The Tygre]

put me down for a thessalmera and a thessaltrice!

[BobVosh]

put me down for a thessalmera and a thessaltrice!

Hear, hear

[Thurbane]

Worthy of note is the background on this template: thessalmonsters are actually a Grayhawk creation, produced by the mighty lich Thessalar; you may also know him as the creator of the owlbear, rust monster, and mimic, amongst other things. Of course, as he wasn't licensed out, Thessalar's hand in this mess isn't mentioned.

Interesting - I consider myself a fairly hardcore Greyhawk fan, and I was previously unaware of this tidbit.

http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Thessalar

If there's any demand, since the template is OGC and all, I could convert the thessalmera and thessaltrice for this thread.

That would be great, if you get the chance!

[Rappy]

Actually, it appears I've already been beaten to the thessalmera and thessaltrice...by the original design process of the ToH, no less. I wonder why they didn't make it into the finished product, then.

Anyway, we have reached the last two templates, so after this post we'll be heading into the Hazards appendix!

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Zombie, Juju
Now here's an odd template. Juju zombies are specifically created when a creature dies from enervation or energy drain spells...hm. It's essentially a beefier zombie template that can only be added to humanoids or monstrous humanoids, that grants damage reduction, turn resistance, electricity and cold immunity, and oddest of all, an immunity to the magic missile spell. Juju zombies always have an Intelligence score of 4, so while they are more intelligent than standard mook zombies, they still aren't the brightest bulbs in the box. The sample use of the template is...a human Fighter 3, I guess. It has 3 HD, wears armor, and wields a longsword, but that's all I know since, once again, they don't tell you what these templates are applied to.



Zombie, Yellow Musk
Like the slime zombie that was not under "zombie, slime" for some reason, yellow musk zombies are Plants rather than Undead in type and are, as the name suggests, the creations of the yellow musk creeper. Even odder, this template can only be applied to creatures of the Humanoid, Monstrous Humanoid, or Aberration type that has an Intelligence score of 1; surely animals and vermin would be easier to kill than Aberrations, right? Yellow musk zombies aren't really that special; besides a mindlink to their creator, their own special quality is the fact that they are a ticking time bomb. After two months (if adventurers don't kill them by then), a yellow musk zombie goes away and offs itself, allowing a new yellow musk creeper to be seeded into the earth. The sample creature is a 2 HD human of some sort.

[Eldan]

Don't energy drain spells already turn people into wights, canonically?

[Rappy]

Don't energy drain spells already turn people into wights, canonically?

Wights can turn other beings into wights with energy drain, but I'm guessing they don't have a monopoly on that ability. In any case, though, the wights have seniority; they apparently appeared ever since the very first White Box set, while the juju zombie is from the 1st Edition Monster Manual II.

[2xMachina]

Therianthrope
This template is sort of a werecreature in reverse; indeed, creatures with the template are called "[animal name]-weres". As you would expect, this is yet another applicable-only-to-Animal-types template, although this one is very modular and thus very interesting. All creatures with this template are granted the Magical Beast type, the ability to shapeshift into a human or beast-humanoid hybrid form in addition to their normal form, and damage reduction bypassed by cold iron. In addition, depending on the amount of hit dice they have, a therianthrope gains one special attack and a certain Challenge Rating increase:

• Creatures of 3-5 hit dice are CR +1, and can choose to have the ability to spread disease, charm creatures, induce confusion, produce a slowness-inducing call, have a venomous attack, or use a gaze attack to induce either sleep or nausea.
• Creatures of 6-10 hit dice are CR +2 and can choose to gain the ability to blind a creature with its strike, induce fear, beguile/compulse a creature, go into a frenzied rage, summon animals of its original breed, or use a gaze that deals either Strength or Dexterity damage.
• Creatures of 11 or more hit dice are CR +3 and choose between the ability to induce despair, deal damage to one mental ability score, improved summoning (as in more HD worth of creatures of their type), or a gaze that can either petrify or deal pure untyped damage.

The sample uses of the template are two creatures from older edition books that have been converted - the jackalwere from the 1st Edition Monster Manual and the wolfwere from that same edition's Monster Manual II - as well as the original asswere (yes, a donkey therianthrope, deal with it), foxwere, lionwere, and owlwere. This is a very, very useful template, and while it's a bit complex, I believe it's definitely worth it.

Different HD, totally different abilities?

[Rappy]

Different HD, totally different abilities?

Yep. The only universal special qualities of note for the therianthropes are the shapeshifting and damage reduction; the other special attack a therianthrope gets is picked from a list based on how much HD they have. And since I didn't note it, the abilities chosen for each of the sample therianthropes are:

• Asswere: Confusion bray
• Foxwere: Charming gaze
• Jackalwere: Sleep gaze
• Lionwere: Weakness (Strength draining) gaze
• Owlwere: Disease
• Wolfwere: Song of lethargy (slow induction)

[Zen Master]

Maybe human and elven flesh is extra-magical, and magic tastes nice?

It's one of those instances where evolution has done a species a dubious favor.

Human:

Over countless millenia, humans have evolved particularly tasty flesh. The way in which this has contributed to the survival of the species is round-about to say the least.

By drawing monsters far and wide with their tasty flesh, humans have had to develop a certain warrior caste, also known as adventurers. Adventurers respond to the constant influx of hungry monsters, gaining over the course of months or years great ability - and so protect the race.

Of course, for the average dirt farmer, the fact that his tasty flesh helps the survival of the species makes little consolation as his fleshy bits are consumed wholesale.

[Eldan]

Morbo: EVOLUTION DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

There is no survival of the species in evolution. Evolution does not care about that.

No, humans were built by point buy, like most game races. Their abilities "produces more adventurers", "mutates in planar environment to produce adapted Planetouched", "can create half-humans with everything", "reproduces faster" and "creates high-level wizards with years instead of centuries of training" mean they had to get a certain amount of drawbacks. "Tasty flesh" was a good one.

[Rappy]

Whether or not humans are the Other White Meat in monster's minds is fascinating, but I think it's time to start on the hazards appendix.

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Bookworm
Wow, right off the bat we have a corny name-based hazard. Bookworms are a CR 1/10 hazard; not exactly very imposing, certainly. They're pretty much the nega-rust monster. They can't hurt characters, and they don't eat metal...but they do eat wood and paper, dealing 3 points of damage per round. This means that they are pretty harmless to most characters (hence their abysmal Challenge Rating), but can really mess up a Wizard's day if they aren't removed by cold or fire damage (presumably cold, as I can imagine fire would make the situation worse).



Ear Seeker
Right after the Wizard-wilter, we have a hazard to rough up a Rogue in the CR 5 ear seeker. Found in old rotting wood - you know, the type Rogues sometimes stick their ears up to for Spot checks - ear seekers....well....seek ears, obviously. And once they're in, they lay eggs, and several hours later, you're suddenly being dealt 2d6 Constitution damage a round when they hatch out. A remove disease spell can nix the infectious parasites before they even start.



Gas Spore
These beholder-mimics are more or less beholder-shaped balloons, floating around rather aimlessly. Of course, since they're CR 4, you can probably guess that these hazards are indeed hazardous. Touching one gets you injected with poison, while hurting it...whoo. Even 1 point of damage makes the gas spore pull a kamikaze attack, exploding and dealing 6d6 damage to anyone in a 30-foot radius. Hm.

[2xMachina]

Gas Spore
These beholder-mimics are more or less beholder-shaped balloons, floating around rather aimlessly. Of course, since they're CR 4, you can probably guess that these hazards are indeed hazardous. Touching one gets you injected with poison, while hurting it...whoo. Even 1 point of damage makes the gas spore pull a kamikaze attack, exploding and dealing 6d6 damage to anyone in a 30-foot radius. Hm.

Chain explosions!

Double numbers = +2 CR right?

So, CR 10 has 8 x6d6 damage?

[Rappy]

I can actually imagining someone having a sick trick like that before a fight with a real beholder (perhaps a Beholder Mage, even).