30 Day OD&D Challenge - Sahuagin and Other Creatures -(Part Three)- Day Twenty-Two

Today's Topic is "Sahuagin and Other Creatures, Part Three" as we continue our celebration of International Original Dungeons and Dragons Month! Today we will look further into the Blackmoor Supplement for OD&D at some of the other monsters provided.

Here we see an array of creatures with Giant in front of their names:

Giant Octopus 

Giant Squid 

Giant Crocodile

Giant Toad

Giant Frog

Giant Leech

Giant Beaver

Giant Otter

Giant Wasp

Giant Beetle - five types

• Stag
• Rhinoceros
• Bombardier
• Fire
• Boring

Giant Shark

Giant Eel

There are some oddities here, for example Giant Crocodile show up in numbers of 12-60, but Giant Beetles only 1-12 or Giant Leeches 2-12. So I tend to tweak the various numbers quite a bit. One thing not mentioned here are Giant Ants and a number of other insects that I have always found to be great fun. In addition, almost any of the extinct mega-fauna do show up IMC from time to time. 

The giant squid is noted to be more vicious and more mobile than the giant octopus. The giant toads are "relatively harmless" but will defend themselves, not so harmless then. Where giant frogs are described as "man-eaters" and truly vicious.

The wasp and beetles give ideas that can be applied or tweaked for other giant insects. 

Then we get into Fire Lizards and Minotaur Lizards which sound like fun and the fire lizard looks like a dragon without wings. 

For dinosaur fans (I am one) we have:

Elasmosaurus

Mosasaurus

Plesiosaurus

I and other people I know use a longer list of dinosaurs both land and sea. These above are giant marine animals, the first sometimes grabs sailors off ships (keep your guard up) and the last is the sea serpent.

More sea creatures:

Whales

LAMPREY: Similar to very mobile leeches, they range from 1 hit point to 18 hit points. They drain blood very quickly (2-5 turns), at a rate of one level per hit point. Evolutionarily primitive, they are hard to kill.

Sea Horse

PORTUGESE MAN-OF-WAR: Possesses 10-60 deadly tentacles, up to 100' long. Body is about 10' across. Big advantages are protective coloration (tentacles indistinguishable from weeds), complete silence and lack of brain waves to detect. Tentacles can paralyze (save vs. same), but only sustain 1 point each, then are severed. Only destruction of the body sac will kill it.

PUNGI RAY: Often mistaken as a piece of low weed or sea grass on the bottom, the Pungi Ray is deadly. Each of the seemingly innocent green stalks is really an iron hard spike full of deadly nerve poison. Their protective coloration is excellent (treat as invisible outside 10'). There is a 50% chance that there will be 1-10 gems inside the carcass. Each square foot of a body that lands on a ray will suffer a separate poison attack. (Ex. — walking on one would be two attacks — one for each foot. Landing on one would be 20-30 attacks.) Treat the spines as poisoned daggers (if saving throw vs. poison is made, still suffer dagger damage.) If the ray is able to cover the victim, treat it like a Giant Leech.

MANTA RAY: This giant-as much as 75' across — is best known for its 15' mouth which is capable of devouring virtually any non giant species in a single gulp. It has a great stinger in its tail which is treated as a mace with a saving throw vs. paralyzation needed if it hits. Normally a solitary predator, it blends with the sea floor. Due to its lightning speed, the first rush is nearly impossible to dodge. Its indiscriminate feeding habits label it neutral. There is a 75% chance that the stomach will hold 2-20 gems.

Water Spider

Weed Eel

Eye of the Deep

IXITXACHITL: A race of Chaotic Clerical Philosophers...

Locathah

MORKOTH or MORLOCK: The shrouded wraith of the deep

Masher

There are a number of others listed as well and these are a rich source of ideas for an ocean going campaign. I have had parties that sailed about for years of game time and it was a blast, they were almost sad when they reached their destination.

Tomorrow we will start our look at the monsters of the Eldritch Wizardry Supplement.

30 Day OD&D Challenge - Sahuagin and Other Creatures -(Part Two)- Day Twenty-One

Today's Topic is "Sahuagin and Other Creatures, Part Two" as we continue our celebration of International Original Dungeons and Dragons Month! Today we will delve further into the Blackmoor Supplement for OD&D looking at Aquatic Elves and Mermen.

The Blackmoor Supplement presents Aquatic Elves this way:

AQUATIC ELVES: Also called sea elves, they are akin to mermen as land elves are to men. Found almost exclusively among heavy weed beds in quiet sheltered waters, they are great friends of the dolphins. They fashion great caverns in lagoon bottoms and reefs, where they establish shops that fashion fishing and seaweed harvesting equipment from indigenous materials (bone, weed, wood and sinew). These they trade with land elves for metal goods (they are unable to forge underwater) as well as rare metals found in the sea. For every 60 sea elves, there is a 50% chance that they are accompanied by 3-6 friendly dolphins. They are humanoid in appearance, with gill slits on the throat. Seaweed affords little or no hindrance to their movement. They are invisible in weeds or on reefs. They are mortal enemies of sharks and sahuagin, and will attack either if they outnumber them. They are friends to dolphins and land elves, and neutral to all others, except for fishermen, whom they dislike due to the number of sea elves snared in nets and killed mistakenly as sahuagin by ignorant humans

Aquatic elves are mortal enemies of sharks and sahuagin we find out here and a couple of things to keep in mind at movement of 12/18 for the elves vs 18/30 for the sahuagin running away is not much of an option for them.  The only thing the elves have going for them is that they live in shallow what water near coastlines, while the sahuagin have to keep below 100' except at night or in storms, so the elves are at a big disadvantage. 

What I did was add spell use with both mages and clerics reaching up to 8th level and fighters up to 7th level. I did the numbers of higher levels similar to how I previously did for the reptile* men. I also gave them telepathy in common with their allies the dolphins, with a 25 mile range so that other clans in the areas could be summoned to help fight off a sahuagin raid. 

The other change I made is that aquatic elves can wear elven chain mail (mithril) and swim unhindered by it with mithril being of neutral buoyancy. Some of those rare metals they trade to the land elves includes mithril. 

They get a single attack of 1-10 or by weapon type. 

Their allies the dolphins are also at a disadvantage versus the giant sharks that ally with the sahuagin. Dolphins move at 15/21 vs a move of 24 for giant sharks. Hit Dice of 2+2 vs 4-9 for sharks. So I increased the pod size for dolphins from 2-20 to 6-24. Their own telepathy has a range of 50 miles along with detect magic with the same range and they are magic resistant equal to dwarves. I gave them a common telepathy with their allies the aquatic elves. The dolphins can be fitted with a harness that allows them to attack with spears attached to the harness.

The Blackmoor Supplement presents Mermen this way:

MERMEN: More intelligent than lizardmen, these aquatic creatures use weapons as men do. They hunt fish, their primary food source. They maintain regular underwater communities where schools of fish are kept penned with nets for food. Giant seahorses are used extensively for transportation. In many ways, the civilization of the mermen rivals that of humans. When out of the water, they will take one die damage per turn during daylight, and one die per four turns during darkness, as well as quadruple damage from fire weapons. Spells and special suits are usually used when out of the water (to retain their moisture) but further limit their movement and combat abilities, as if affected by a slow spell. The first two turns out of the water, they will not sustain damage, and on the third turn will seek to return to it if not protected, or suffocate from the lack thereof (hence the damage). When attacking surface vessels, they may grapple from up to 1" distant. For every ten mermen on a grapple, the ship's speed is reduced 1". If the grapple is cut while they are holding on. the mermen are forced back 1". and unable to move or grapple on the next turn.) One merman out of ten carries a grapple. When surfacing to grapple or board, mermen are subject to normal missile fire with "soft" cover. When they board a ship, they start at a level lower than the ship. Seahorses may be harnessed to the grapples, with the strength of three mermen. Mermen are armed with slings and crossbows as missile weapons, and can surface and fire from seahorseback. They are generally neutral.

Mermen get three attacks, 1 bite and 2 hands (claws) for 1/8 and 1-4 each.  I gave mermen Mages and Clerics of up to 6th level each and Fighters up to 6th level. I did the numbers of higher levels similar to how I previously did for the reptile men.

There is a standard Sea Horse that the aquatic elves use, but here it is noted that they use Giant Sea Horses. The standard Sea Horse get 1 butt of 1-6 HPs. Now over in this post  I noted that before I had the Blackmoor Supplement and only the Greyhawk Supplement I said this about a Giant Seahorses, in regard to Tritons: They ride Giant Sea Horses of 5 HD, AC 6 and they bite for 1d4. 

So what I did is alter this just a bit, I changed the bite to 1d6 and they use the butt on the initial charge and thereafter they bite. They move at 18 inches instead of 12 inches with the AC being one step better that the standard seahorse.

Tomorrow I will take a look at some of the other monsters in the Blackmoor Supplement.

* Yes I am aware that reptile is a broad category that includes lizards, for my game I separated them with reptiles being water breathing and lizards being air breathing.

30 Day OD&D Challenge - Sahuagin and Other Creatures -(Part One)- Day Twenty

Today's Topic is "Sahuagin and Other Creatures, Part One" as we continue our celebration of International Original Dungeons and Dragons Month! Today we begin delving into the Blackmoor Supplement for OD&D starting just with Sahuagin for today.

Here is the writeup as presented for Sahuagin since it is extensive I will only post parts of it and summarize some of the rest; however, you can download a copy of Blackmoor on the Blackmoor Campaign page of Dave Arneson archived here and you can read the full write up directly:

THE SAHUAGIN (Devil-Men of (The Deep):

A constant threat to man, beast and fish are the voracious SAHUAGIN whose only friends seem to be the equally voracious and predatory Giant Sharks. Although of an intelligence equal to the elves in many respects, the Sahuagin have taken and perverted virtually every aspect of civilization to support their sadistic cannibalistic culture.

There is a bit of history of the past and how the Sahuagin came to be and that they were created to be "the most evil of the evil." 

Much about the Sahuagin is probably myth but even if half of what is said about them is true then they are, indeed, a terrible threat.

This is followed by a full physical description. Their average swimming speed is 18" with a max of 30" once an hour. Also it details that they have hundreds of razor sharp teeth. Their attacks include their bite, the tail can deal club damage times two and the powerful pincers provide crushing damage. Beyond that they can rip and tear with the hind feet if the victim is held with the pincers.

Their disadvantages are that their eyes generally keep them 100' or more below the surface, although at night or during storms they will reach the surface. Their ears are easily damaged by loud noises at close range and they cannot pick out the sound of swimming creatures (of any kind). 10-60 will be found in a single group with a 30% chance they will be in a lair with Class "F" and "A" treasure. The lair will be completely water filled since these creatures cannot breath air or fresh water at all.

When found in a lair there is a 10% chance that it is actually an underwater community of 100-1,000 creatures. There is then a further 20% chance that this community consists of 1,000-10,000 individuals. The under water capital city has nearly 100,000 of these creatures residing within its watery limits. These cities will have great fighters and magic users as well as underwater horrors that live and fight for the Sahuagin. The ratio of these is as follows:

This followed by a long section detailing what is found in the communities and we find out they will have members equal to a 10th level fighter and magic-users up to 12th level. They will also have a large number of sharks that will fight for them.

They are armed with trident and net, with deadly poison on the trident and hundreds of small hooks in the fabric of the net. They bring victims to the nearest habitation usually to eat or to pen and use for entertainment.

They have a King and nine Princes, these positions of leadership are always subject to challenge from any other Sahuagin. The losers and any sickly or unfit are eaten. Females are visually no different from males and fight alongside of them. About 1% are born with 4 arms. Leaders will often have 4 arms and since they never stop growing leaders are usually the older ones. They are hatched from eggs and the birth rate significantly exceeds the death rate.

So you can see from the specs that they are very dangerous and they are a growing menace due to a high net yearly growth in population. The way I use them, they are such a powerful foe that even Tritons will seek alliances when Sahuagin come to call.

Tomorrow we will look at Aquatic Elves and Mermen.