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

[Eldan]

Hmm. I used a home-made Poltergeist once in a level 1 introductory adventure. It could animate small objects. The plot was that the characters (who didn't know each other yet) and a few groups of NPCs were snowed in on a pass. Then the ghost started murdering people by pushing them down stairs, setting rooms on fire, strangling them with ropes...
In the end, everyone got quite a little paranoid. The dwarves and the elves were ready to kill each other. Even the players. (especially since two of the players did have hidden agendas and sent me secret actions via pieces of paper.)

So it can really be more than a nuisance, I guess.

[Rappy]

Hmm. I used a home-made Poltergeist once in a level 1 introductory adventure. It could animate small objects. The plot was that the characters (who didn't know each other yet) and a few groups of NPCs were snowed in on a pass. Then the ghost started murdering people by pushing them down stairs, setting rooms on fire, strangling them with ropes...
In the end, everyone got quite a little paranoid. The dwarves and the elves were ready to kill each other. Even the players. (especially since two of the players did have hidden agendas and sent me secret actions via pieces of paper.)

So it can really be more than a nuisance, I guess.

True, I didn't think of it in those terms. I think my eyes being stuffed with painted puddings broke my brain.

[Eldan]

Yeah. Those are stupid. They sound like they could all be handled in a sidebar.
"Regional variants" or something.

[SITB]

Regarding the Mercury/Magma/Crystal Oozes, maybe they fill elemental niches? I mean if you go to the Quasi-Para-Elemental plane of Crystal/Magama/Wahtever they would probably fit right in.

[Eldan]

Sure. But from Rappy's discussion, they don't seem all that different from each other, meaning they really wouldn't all need separate entries.

I mean, imagine if you opened a PHB and got a page for every variant of elf. Not culture and fluff for different elves, no, just the full statistics for level one high elf, grey elf, wood elf, half-elf, sun elf, moon elf, star elf, fire elf and water elf.

[Rappy]

To me, the puddings (and the oozes, for that matter) probably should have been variant lists like elven subspecies, as Eldan said. Then again, it was their choice, not mine.

I certainly wouldn't have picked up the Anguillian* before, say, the oliphant. But sadly, they didn't, and the anguillian eventually made it into Stormwrack, thus blocking it from the Open Game world. But I digress...

*For those unfamiliar with it or its history before 3rd Edition, the anguillians are deep-sea lamprey-people that originated in Monstrous Arcana: the Sea Devils, a book focusing on the sahuagin and their relations. The Sea Devils was one of three books under the Monstrous Arcana title, the other two being the mind flayer-focused Illithiad and the beholder-focused I, Tyrant.

[BobVosh]

To me, the puddings (and the oozes, for that matter) probably should have been variant lists like elven subspecies, as Eldan said. Then again, it was their choice, not mine.

This is still because they have as much flavor (despite being a pudding) as a rock.

[Rappy]

Hey now, at least rocks gave us the galeb duhr.

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

Pyrolisk
This fearsome fowl is a conflagrational colubrid-cockerel combination...or, to put it more simply, it's a variant cockatrice whose gaze can set you on fire. This cockatrice variant trades off one hit die (making it slightly weaker as far as physical combat goes) for 2 extra points of Intelligence and some pyrotechnical capabilities, and its petrification for conflagration, so while it does have the added interest factor and rudimentary intelligence, it is another creature that would probably have done better as a variant text entry.

Worthy of note is that the original pyrolisk was stated to be the "mortal enemy of the phoenix" (presumably this isn't mentioned due to there being no phoenix stats in the Tome of Horrors) and had a save-or-die conflagration power, while in this case it's merely save-or-take-4d8-fire damage. The Tome of Horrors, skipping out a chance on a save-or-die? What madness is this?!



Quasi-Elemental, Lightning
These CR 3, 6, and 9 (for Small, Medium-size, and Large ones respectively) Elementals are, as their name suggest, forged of lightning and come from the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning. Swift and agile, the lightning quasis are shocking to the touch and can form globes of electricity that hover around their body like zappy little sentinels. Strangely enough, these elementals are weak to water-based attacks.



Quickling
These Chaotic Evil fey are the hybrids of a brownie and an elf. See? This is what you get when you don't listen to the people preaching the evils of elves.

They are invisible when standing still, blurred when moving, proficient in poison, and cast those standard "tricksy fey" SLAs we all know and "love", milking all of their Challenge Rating of 3 for what it's worth. There's also...wait...hold up...

Because of their rapid metabolism, quicklings reach adulthood by the age of 2, middle age at 5, old age at 12, and venerable at age 15.

That's just...kind of stupid. We're injecting an attempt at logic into the game for fey, of all things? The faeries? The charmed folk? The creatures you'd most likely expect to have slow aging besides the dragons and outsiders? Really?

[Sliver]

Could you add this in the first post?

Al-Mi'raj; Amphisbaena; Angel, Monadic Deva; Angel, Movanic Deva

Animal Lord; Ant Lion; Apparition

Archer Bush; Ascemoid; Astral Shark; Atomie; Aurumvorax; Axe Beak; Babbler; Banderlog

Baric; Barrow Wight; Basidirond; Basilisk, Greater; Doombat & Mobat; Beetles: Giant Boring, Giant Death Watch, Giant Rhinoceros & Giant Slicer

Belabra; Bhuta; Blindheim; Blood Hawk; Bloody Bones; Boalisk

Bog Beast; Bog Mummy; Boggart; Bone Cobbler; Bonesnapper; Bonesucker

Brownie; Buckawn; Bunyip; Carbuncle; Carrion Moth; Caryatid Column

Catewaul; Cave Cricket; Cave Fisher; Cave Moray; Cerberus; Chrystone; Clam, Giant

Clockworks: Brain Gear, Drone, Overseer, Parasite, Scout, Swarm, Titan, Warrior

Clubnek; Cobra Flower; Coffer Corpse; Cooshee; Crab, Monstrous; Crabman; Crayfish, Monstrous

Crystalline Horror; Crypt Thing; Daemons: Cacodaemon, Charon, Charonodaemon, Darghodaemon, Hydrodaemon, the Oinodaemon & Piscodaemon

Dakon; Dark Creeper & Dark Stalker; Darnoc; Death Dog; Death Worm; Decapus;

Demiurge; Demonands: Shaggy, Slime & Tarry

Diger; Dire Corby; Disenchanter; Dracolisk

Dragons: Cloud, Faerie & Mist; Dragon Horse

Dragonfish; Dragonfly, Giant; Dragonnel; Drake (Fire, Ice and Salt)

Draug; Drelb; Dust Digger; Eblis; Eel, Giant Moray; Elementals: Psionic & Time; Elemental Dragon; Executioner's Hood

Eye Killer; Eye of the Deep; False Spider; Fen Witch; Fire Lizard; Fire Nymph

Fire Snake; Firefiend; Flail Snail; Flind; Floating Eye; Flumph

Fly, Giant; Fogwarden; Forester's Bane; Forlarren; Frog, Monstrous; Froghemoth

Frost Man; Gambado; Gargoyle

Ghoul-Stirge; Giants: Sand & Wood; Gloomwing

Golems: Blood, Ice, Stone Guardian, Tallow & Wood; Corbel

Gorgimera; Gorgon, Trie; Gorrila-Bear; Grippli; Groaning Spirit (Banshee)

Gryph; Guardian Daemon; Hungman Tree; Haunt; Hellmoth; Hippocampus

Hoar Fox; Huecuva; Inphidian, Common; Iron Cobra; Jack-o'-Lantern

Jaculi; Jellyfish, Monstrous; Jupiter Bloodsucker; Kamadan; Kampfult; Kech

Kelp Devil; Kelpie; Khargra

Killmoulis; Korred

Land Lamprey; Lava Child

Leech, Giant; Leprechaun; Livestone; Lurker Above

Magnesium Spirit; Mandragora; Mantari

Marble Snake; Medusa, Greater

Mongrelman

Moon Dog; Muckdweller; Mudman; Mummy of the Deep

Mustard Jelly; Necrophidius

Nereid; Nilbog

Obsidian Minotaur; Ogre, Half-; Ogrillion

Oliphant; Oozes: Crystal, Magma, Mercury & Undead

Ooze, Vampiric; Orog

Pech; Phantom Stalker; Phycomid

Poltergeist; Protector; Puddings: Brown, Dun & White

Pyrolisk; Quesi-Elemental, Lightning; Quickling

Wow, that took a while.

[Rappy]

Can and have, Sliver. That's a lifesaver, and I'm kind of disappointed I didn't think of it earlier and save you some time.

[Rappy]

Quickwood
These CR 8 monsters of the Plant type are living oaks with the ever-so-popular finicky taste for flesh; in this case, it's humans and elves that it savors for. In spite of its name, quickwoods are rather slow....although I guess you could say even moving at 10 feet a round is still fast for a tree. With grasping roots that act like tentacles, a fear aura, and the ability to "see" through other oak trees in its grove, the quickwood is already a fearsome enemy without its strange ability to essentially sweat its way to having temporary immunity to fire damage. No, that's not a joke.



Rat, Brain
These clever psychic rats use their mind as their weapon of choice. They are somewhat hardier than standard rats, having a full 1 HD and being of the Magical Beast type, and can manifest several psionic powers that involve either detecting or hindering the enemy. Its spellcaster variant, though, gets burning detect thoughts, burning hands, and daze, meaning that a magic brain rat can give you fiery pain. Sadly, what a rat with an Intelligence of 14 seems to think about consists of "foodfoodKILL!!" Call back when you use all that Int score to make a culture, little guys.



Rat, Ethereal
The CR 2 ethereal rat is a dire rat-sized rodent with a propensity for attacking from the Ethereal Plane in ambush hunts. Strangely enough, they also have a unique poison; it deals Strength damage, but instead of being a crippling blow, when you get to Strength 0...you turn ethereal until your Strength is healed back up. Huh.



Rat, Shadow
Undead incorporeal Strength-draining rats. These almost seem like something from a template, rather than a full-fledged monster, to be honest.

[BobVosh]

[B][SIZE="5"]Rat, Brain
Smart psychic rats.

That is all you are going to give us? That sounds like it can be amazing.

[Rappy]

That is all you are going to give us? That sounds like it can be amazing.

Sorry about that, I was kind of in a biting sarcastic mood when I first wrote it. There's some actual information (not a whole lot, but information) on the three rats now.

[2xMachina]

Huh, smarter than the average human, and yet... FOOD!!!KILLL!!!

The ethereal rat poison can make a good way to become ethereal. But you still get like -5 str mod right?

[Sliver]

It's a good way of eliminating someone without killing them nor with having any chance to raise early suspicion. If you just want someone to not attend a meeting or something, it's great. Edit: Unless I'm totally forgetting how ethereal works...

[Eldan]

They sound very Similar to Planescape's Cranium Rats in any case. Which were amazingly cool.

One rat alone is harmless. Small groups get spells or psychic powers. An entire swarm becomes an almost epic entity of enormous intelligence.

And they serve Illsensine as spies in Sigil.

[Rappy]

They sound very Similar to Planescape's Cranium Rats in any case. Which were amazingly cool.

One rat alone is harmless. Small groups get spells or psychic powers. An entire swarm becomes an almost epic entity of enormous intelligence.

And they serve Illsensine as spies in Sigil.

Brain rats, and indeed all three rats, are Tome of Horrors originals. I wouldn't put it past them to have gotten the idea for the brain rat from the cranium rat, though.

They are overall weaker than even a small cranium rat swarm, though, as the Fiend Folio gives them as having a Challenge Rating of 2.

[BobVosh]

Sorry about that, I was kind of in a biting sarcastic mood when I first wrote it. There's some actual information (not a whole lot, but information) on the three rats now.

Much obliged, although disappointed in what it is. The cranium rats sound much more like what I want.

[Rappy]

Rock Reptile
Another Magical Beast that doesn't really seem to deserve that type, the rock reptile is merely a big CR 4 chameleon. Its only special attack is an ambush strike that grants it a +4 bonus to attack rolls made on a first-strike attack from the rocks it so easily blends into.



Sandling
These large snakes formed of sand are natives of the Plane of Earth. It bites and is slowed by water, and our good friends the sages suggest that they reproduce by binary fission. Beyond that, there's...not really much worth note. They are certainly interesting flavor for planar ecology, but a snake is a snake, even when it's elemental sand.

...Yes, I realize that last sentence made no sense. Forgive me, I have a virus and my head's not clear.



Sandman
The Plane of Earth's equivalent of the phantom stalker or aerial servant, the sandmen are..well...men made out of sand that are summoned by spellcasters to do their bidding. Interestingly, sandmen are rather nonplussed about combat, preferring to either use their sleep-inducing aura or their sleep-inducing punches. Yes, sleep inducing punches. They also have a permanent protection from arrows ability, granting them a good dose of damage reduction. All in all they are pretty nasty for a CR 3 monster, even if they don't quite kill you...well, usually. They make a particular exception for a certain humanoid race:

Sandmen have an immense dislike for humans (reasons unknown) and attack them on sight - human spellcasters take heed when employing their services!

[Rappy]

Scarecrow
Well, I guess since I used my "One Free Goosebumps Reference" card already, I'll have to actually go into some detail on this one. These creatures are, as is to be expected, animated scarecrow-type golems that are vulnerable to fire damage and are mainly for lower-level games due to their Challenge Rating of 4. Their special abilities are confounding...literally. The appearing of the walking scarecrow or its punches require a Will save or fascinate the target to the point that they can take no actions other than to defend themselves. I guess that makes sense when you think about it; I mean, you'd probably need a reality check after your face was smashed by a scarecrow.



Screaming Devilkin
In spite of their name and Lawful Evil status, these strange creatures are not actually related to devils; indeed, they look more like some horrific bat-goblin crossbreed than anything else. They are, however, truly screamers. A screaming devilkin's scream is a supernatural howling that dazes any creature unfortunate enough to be hearing it.

[BobVosh]

I am sadden to see how far in the alphabet we are, but glad to remember the apendixes.

Also you should be happy the sandmen only hate humans, not "enjoys the taste of human flesh"

[Rappy]

I am sadden to see how far in the alphabet we are, but glad to remember the apendixes.

I'm not.

The end of the Tome of Horrors won't be the end of my Let's Reads, or even LRs of the Tome of Horrors series...it's more the end of the beginning. After the appendices, it won't be too long before you'll see "Let's Read the Tome of Horrors II: The Inphidians Bite Back", or whatever title I choose for it in the end.

It's like a Pandora's box I've opened. Before I can do Let's Reads of any other books, I feel obligated to run through the other two Tome of Horrors volumes.

[BobVosh]

I'm not.

The end of the Tome of Horrors won't be the end of my Let's Reads, or even LRs of the Tome of Horrors series...it's more the end of the beginning. After the appendices, it won't be too long before you'll see "Let's Read the Tome of Horrors II: The Inphidians Bite Back", or whatever title I choose for it in the end.

It's like a Pandora's box I've opened. Before I can do Let's Reads of any other books, I feel obligated to run through the other two Tome of Horrors volumes.

Ah, I knew that was your original intention but you mentions a few pages back that you won't have enough time to keep posting as much as you were. I guess I assumed that would be the end of your LRs after this book.

[Rappy]

Ah, I knew that was your original intention but you mentions a few pages back that you won't have enough time to keep posting as much as you were. I guess I assumed that would be the end of your LRs after this book.

Nah, things have settled down a bit. I am still busy, but not as busy now, and hopefully I can knock out a few more big obstacles before we even hit the second appendix.

[Thurbane]

Nah, things have settled down a bit. I am still busy, but not as busy now, and hopefully I can knock out a few more big obstacles before we even hit the second appendix.

Just wanted to thank you again for your good work Rappy - I'm always excited to see a new update in this thread. It's been a lot of fun.

[Rappy]

Thanks for that, Thurbane, I needed it. I've been in a depression more often than not lately, so I had a lull in my writing again.

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

Scythe Tree
Okay, take a tree. Now make it savor dryad and elven flesh for no real reason beyond having yet another anthropophage in the book. Then, give it a stupid-looking grin, and on top of that....scythes for branch-tips! That, in essence, is the scythe tree, an odd monster that seems to be created as the anti-treant. Strange.



Shadow, Lesser
So, you have a party so pathetic they can't even defeat a CR 3 shadow. What do you do? Well, you strip it of its spawn creation ability, dim down its other abilities, lower its overall strength to a CR 1/2, and viola, you have the lesser shadow in a nutshell.



Shedu
With the bodies of winged bulls or horses and the faces of Sumerian men with braided beards even a dwarf would envy, the shedu represent another creature of that niche I like to call "pallin' with the Paladin". Indeed, it is even stated in the fluff that it hangs out with the lammasu and ki-rin, giving this whole air of a monstrous church group. Anyway...there are two types of shedu: tthe CR 7 standard shedu and the CR 10 greater shedu. Both can telepathically communicate with creatures within a 100-foot radius, use their ethereal jaunt to hop across to the Ethereal Plane, and have spell-like abilities of the typical Good Monster-designated variety. The greater shedu, however, also nets true spellcasting as a 10th-level Cleric and a continuous magic circle against evil flowing out from its body for a 10-foot radius. All in all, while not a horrible monster, the shedu is somewhat limited to the roles of helper, tomb guardian/protector of sealed evil, or an antagonist against an all-Evil player group. It is nice to see more Mesopotamian creatures get some love, though.

[The Glyphstone]

Shadow, Lesser
So, you have a party so pathetic they can't even defeat a CR 3 shadow. What do you do? Well, you strip it of its spawn creation ability, dim down its other abilities, lower its overall strength to a CR 1/2, and viola, you have the lesser shadow in a nutshell.

.

Is it still incorporeal? If yes.....why, why, why?

[Volthawk]

Is it still incorporeal? If yes.....why, why, why?

Yes it is. I know, stupid.

[2xMachina]

Ah, what fun! To kill an incorporeal at lvl 1, with no magic items...

[Volthawk]

Ah, what fun! To kill an incorporeal at lvl 1, with no magic items...

Well, I suppose the party's casters may be able to do something about it. Still, it has 6hp as well. And shadow blend.