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

[Rappy]

Hound of Ill Omen
Essentially a walking bestow curse. The hound of ill omen is a CR 6 hazard sent down by the gods when one of their subjects acts naughty; like there aren't enough of those around...

Essentially; get a hound of ill omen sicked on you, have 1d10 attacks on you that are automatically critical hits. Wee.



Memory Moss
A quirky mossy mess, this CR 5 hazard eats away 24 hours' worth of memory. Eating it in turn grants you back your memories, or someone else's memories if the memory moss hadn't eaten your memories. These memories include memorized spells. Yeah, it's weird.



Olive Slime
The CR 4 olive slime lurks in wet, dark areas, waiting for unsuspecting adventurers to pass by. It can charm characters it attacks, and in addition drainsd 1d6 points of Constitution per day. Anyone that gets axed by this method becomes a slime zombie, which goes out to propagate the twisted life cycle all over again. Thankfully, olive slimes are rather easy to get rid of; they can be taken out by acid, cold, or fire damage, as well as by a remove disease spell.

[Thurbane]

Oh wow, I'd forgotten all about the Hound of Ill Omen! I didn't realize it was in ToH - I never think to look in the hazards section.

Along with the Aleax (updated in BoED), this was the ultimate "You have angered the gods (DM)!" monster...

[Rappy]

Oh wow, I'd forgotten all about the Hound of Ill Omen! I didn't realize it was in ToH - I never think to look in the hazards section.

It's always the hazardous ones...

[The Mentalist]

I may make a "Summon Hound of Ill Omen" spell. Could be handy.

[Thurbane]

I may make a "Summon Hound of Ill Omen" spell. Could be handy.

If you do, make sure to make it a Hexblade spell as well - it would fit right in with their list.

[The Mentalist]

If you do, make sure to make it a Hexblade spell as well - it would fit right in with their list.

Of course.

(Rappy, will we get another one of these threads or will I have to attempt to imitate?)

[Rappy]

Of course.

(Rappy, will we get another one of these threads or will I have to attempt to imitate?)

Hm? Not sure what you mean by that. If you mean for your spell, you can just post it in here.

If you mean me doing Let's Reads, yeah, there will be more by me. There's still an appendix and a backtrack to the demons and devils left in this one, though, so we aren't quite through.

[2xMachina]

[B][SIZE="5"]

Memory Moss
A quirky mossy mess, this CR 5 hazard eats away 24 hours' worth of memory. Eating it in turn grants you back your memories, or someone else's memories if the memory moss hadn't eaten your memories. These memories include memorized spells. Yeah, it's weird.

Do I see a evil wizard plan?

[Rappy]

Phantom
If the HoIO is a walking bestow curse, then the phantom is a walking floating fear gaze. This CR 3 hazard is more annoying than anything, as it can induce fear but cannot truly attack or harm the living. The best way to deal with it is to dismiss or banish the spirit away.



Piercer
Believe it or not, piercers deal piercing damage; 1d6 for a small one, 2d6 for a medium one, and 3d6 for a whopper. They are vaguely snail-like organisms with stalactite camouflage that allows them to hide unnoticed on cavern ceilings. If a creature walks under, the piercer releases suction, plummets downward, and impales the poor creature if it can't move away quickly enough.



Purple Moss
A moss that puts you to sleep then suffocates you. Eh.

[warmachine]

Gah! Piercers shouldn't exist. Other than their gravity drop, they have no attack and very slow movement. You can even shoot them right next to them and get away with no AoO because they have no attack whatsoever. If their initial attack doesn't kill its target, it's on the ground with no ability to hurt it's prey, too slow to run away and no other escape strategy. One failed attack and it's target will rip apart at its leisure. Even in numbers, they're too slow to avoid anything but a 100% fatality rate. So few piercers should make it to maturity, they should quickly become extinct.

Yes, yes, I know that in D&D, logic is regularly whipped by drama and gameplay but I notice these things and they bug me.

[Thurbane]

I've just re-read the Therianthrope template, and I'm really digging it - I'm considering having a Hyena Therian thrope as a BBEG in my game sometime...just can't decide what class levels to give it. RHD would hurt a caster, so I'm thinking some kind of melee class...

[pffh]

Hyena warblade or swordsage sounds kinda awesome.

[Binks]

Gah! Piercers shouldn't exist. Other than their gravity drop, they have no attack and very slow movement. You can even shoot them right next to them and get away with no AoO because they have no attack whatsoever. If their initial attack doesn't kill its target, it's on the ground with no ability to hurt it's prey, too slow to run away and no other escape strategy. One failed attack and it's target will rip apart at its leisure. Even in numbers, they're too slow to avoid anything but a 100% fatality rate. So few piercers should make it to maturity, they should quickly become extinct.

Yes, yes, I know that in D&D, logic is regularly whipped by drama and gameplay but I notice these things and they bug me.

Well if the average creature has low hp a piercer's first attack will almost always be a kill. Just because the creature isn't dangerous to intelligent creatures doesn't mean it can't exist. Sounds like a cool creature anyways :P. Like a little living trap.

[Thurbane]

Piercers were really iconic dungeon/cavern monsters in AD&D...so much so, that basically any room description that inloved stalactites would invariably mean the party skirting around them, or passing under them with a weary eye and shields raised.

I believe that Darkmantles basically fill the same niche in 3.X that Piercers used to...

[pffh]

Another idea for the hyena rogue or some other sneaky class, get hide in plain sight, focus on ranged sneak attack and terrify the party with the hyenas chuckle and unseen death.

[Thurbane]

Another idea for the hyena rogue or some other sneaky class, get hide in plain sight, focus on ranged sneak attack and terrify the party with the hyenas chuckle and unseen death.

I like it!

I might post up a build at some stage...

[Rappy]

I believe that Darkmantles basically fill the same niche in 3.X that Piercers used to...

Pretty much. And I don't really see the problem with piercers either. They are camouflaged predators even when "vulnerable" on the ground; a stalactite-shell on the ground doesn't look off, it just looks like stalagmite instead. Similarly, they deal enough damage to one-hit-kill things like rats and bats, which I imagine would be most of their dietary supplement. I can't imagine adventurers being a profitable source of nutrients, no matter what the prevalence of anthropophagy says.

[warmachine]

Well if the average creature has low hp a piercer's first attack will almost always be a kill. Just because the creature isn't dangerous to intelligent creatures doesn't mean it can't exist. Sounds like a cool creature anyways :P. Like a little living trap.

That the average creature might be killed by the initial strike ignores the occasional tough creature or average creature that luckily survived, which then destroys all the piercers on the ground. A predator, as a species, can survive the occasional setback, such as a cheetah losing its kill to hyenas, because it can escape or be too dangerous to counter attack. Piercers have no fallback strategy, even a partially successful one.

D&D makes Charles Darwin cry.

[Volthawk]

That the average creature might be killed by the initial strike ignores the occasional tough creature or average creature that luckily survived, which then destroys all the piercers on the ground. A predator, as a species, can survive the occasional setback, such as a cheetah losing its kill to hyenas, because it can escape or be too dangerous to counter attack. Piercers have no fallback strategy, even a partially successful one.

D&D makes Charles Darwin cry.

You do know piercers can move, right?

[Esser-Z]

And why would a predator attack them? They look like rocks!

[Eldan]

Also, D&D doesn't really have evolution, in that sense. It has magical experimentation and divine creation.

Heh. Now I want to start a sect of Athar Evolutionists who not only deny the divinity of the gods, but also their place in creation.

[warmachine]

*Slaps self* Yes, they look like fallen stalactites and most creatures are dumb enough to be fooled. Camouflage (and armour) is their fallback strategy. Baby Charles Darwin has stopped crying.

[Steveotep]

Piercers were the subject of the very first Ecology of the... series, which appeared in the British fanzine Dragonlords. They did a short series, of which I can only remember the catoblepas. When Gary Gygax saw them, he asked to have them for Dragon magazine. They became a popular and long-running series...

...apparently without anyone in the American colonies ever recognising them as British humour. Although the cartoon of a male catoblepas accidently molesting a stag was a big clue.

[Rappy]

Rot Grub
Feeding of of carrion, the CR 4 rot grubs enjoy burrowing into flesh and dealing 2d6 Constitution damage a round. If you can deal 2d6 points of slashing or fire damage to the afflicted flesh within a round or two of them entering the skin, you can avoid the disastrous assault, but a rot grub crew that has already spent three or more rounds digging into a living creature has to be purged with remove disease. Rather interestingly, rather than looking like grubs, the illustration of the rot grub brings to mind some sort of unassuming yet hellishly painful caterpillar, looking up at you before it starts rending your flesh apart on a beeline for internal organs.



Russet Mold
Another 2d6 Con-er (this time per minute rather than per round), russet molds create vegepygmies from the flesh of those they kill. Why? Perhaps they are immature vegepygmies themselves, or maybe they just do it for the kicks...who knows?



Spinal Tap Leech
Spinal leeches do exactly what it says on the tin; they are leeches, and they like spines. Spinal leeches deal 1d6 Dexterity damage a round, eventually paralyzing the victim until they get treatment to heal the damage. They are insta-killed by fire and salt, though, and you can pull them off "with no ill effects", so...yeah. They aren't exactly that intimidating in that context.

[The Tygre]

Ah, Rot Grubs. Just look at the little bugger;



Seriously, it's like Slimey from Sesame Street decided to stop taking everyone's crap.

[Rappy]

The ones in the ToH are certainly creepier. They have the quadruple-mouthparts and piercing claws of a killer.

[BobVosh]

Russet Mold
Another 2d6 Con-er (this time per minute rather than per round), russet molds create vegepygmies from the flesh of those they kill. Why? Perhaps they are immature vegepygmies themselves, or maybe they just do it for the kicks...who knows?

Quick! To the sages!

[Esser-Z]

I keep meaning to write up a campaign in which the PCs ARE some of said sages, travelling across the world to study bizarre creatures where'er they be.

[Thurbane]

I keep meaning to write up a campaign in which the PCs ARE some of said sages, travelling across the world to study bizarre creatures where'er they be.

Interesting concept...Archivist would be a nice class for this (synergise with their Dark Knowledge)...

I once ran a game (back in 2E) where the Wizard character's master gave him a magical recording orb, and a tome that could take dictation, and tasked his apprentice with documenting obscure creatures as he adventured, so he could add them to the Grand Bestiary he was working on.

[Rappy]

Heh, that would be an interesting idea. Maybe an Archivist, a Wizard, and a Horizon Walker decide to travel the world, catalog its wildlife, and have wacky hijinks on the way.
-------------------------

Symbiotic Jelly
Yet another "spell on legs/slithering movement/whatever" hazard, the symbiotic jelly uses charm monster to get creatures to do its dirty work of getting food for it. That's...pretty much it, really.



Throat Leech
A leech that drains 1d3 Constitution damage a round until it gets so fat that it starts to suffocate its target. Is weak to fire damage. Eh.



Twilight Mushroom
A CR 7 hazard that deals Constitution damage and causes disabling choking and coughing fits upon being messed with. It's not really particularly interesting.

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

And that's that. This was fun, but now it's done, and now I must run.

...Okay, no. There's still two (sort of) appendices left, as well as my promise of returning to the demons and devils. So this thread isn't over yet!