| Sections |
|
FT Home Features Interviews FR Projects FR Places FR Magic FR NPC's FR Fiction Top 10 Sites Odds & Ends Classifieds Feedback |
| The Staff |
|
Peter Oliva Chris Labonville Mike Vandergrift Mike Lejeune Chris Warter Mike Unknown Hargrid Tenslayer Staff Details |
| Volume 1, Number 2 | June/July 1999 |
| Feature - The Beast of Malar - Monsters |
MonstersMalar's Beast MenClimate/Terrain: Any\Carceri mostlyFrequency: Rare Organization: Solitary Activity Cycle: Any\usually nightactive Diet: Carnivorous Intelligence: Average to low Treasure: Nil Alignment: Chaotic evil No. Appearing: 5-20 Armor Class: 4 Movement: 6-10 Hit Dice: 4 THAC0: 15 No. Of Attacks: 3 Damage/Attack: 1D6 claw /1D6 claw/1D8 bite Special Attacks: Nil Special Defenses: Very tough natural skin Magic Resistance: 0% Size: M Morale: Fearless (19) XP Value: 800 These abominations are a direct result of an unholy union between Malar and select priests of his church. They were formally sane human beings. But now have been twisted to the Chaotic dark thoughts of their god. To look in to their minds would be to stare the heart of darkness in the face. Now they have only one sole function in life, the will of Malar. They perform that will to the letter. Their intelligence is still there and they can be ruthless and clever but Malar has perverted their thoughts so that they only use it to further his own goals. They tend to be around 6 to 7 feet in height, but this will vary based on their height before the transformation. The best thing to do is to add a foot to their previous height. They have an extremely low Charisma (3-5) and are revolting to look at for most humans. The Beast-men are covered in brown hair from head to toe. They could be confused for werewolves, except that they are much smaller and retain more of their human features. Underneath their fur they have a leathery type skin which is very tough and gives them natural armor. Their faces are human in structure but they have the look of a wild dog or a wolf about them. Their eyes are red in color, and tend to look like they're pushed into the head. They are much more numerous than their spirit counterparts and are used a lot more by the priesthood of Malar. However, the Beast Men are not widely known about, due to the fact that the priesthood tries to hide knowledge of their existence. The reasons for this are many. The one that stands out though, is people don't exactly welcome Malar's religion to their towns and Cities. If they were to find out that as well as being in their towns the Cult is also gallivanting around with evil beast creatures they would definitely not be happy. The only dress that is ever worn is a long robe that will cover them from head to toe to hide their true identity. Combat: The Beast-men normally attack in-groups of 5-20, as they are most fearsome like this. They do not have too many options open to them when it comes to attacking a person and have no special powers but they are viciously fierce. Their most common way to attack is with claws and teeth. They rake their target and bite at the same time if they can. They attack for 1D6 for each of their claws and their bite does 1D8 damage, as well as this it is worth noting that on a roll of a natural 20 for a bite they tear off a limb. Unless some sort of protection prevents this. Habitat/Society: Although they are created by Malar and protect his lair on Carceri, their preferred location is Faerun. There are more of them on Faerun than on Carceri because they are not exactly too powerful and wouldn't scare off a host of Baatezu or Tanar'ri. So they are deemed more effective on the Prime Material Plane. Another important thing is that they can not sexually reproduce because when they are converted by Malar they are all changed to a neuter form. The Beast-men are what their name implies, and anyone who is converted loses their sexuality. Ecology: Like their spirit friends, the Beast-men have only one main focus in their crumbled existence, that is the will of Malar. In this sense they are a lot like their fellow spirits but they do differ a lot on certain things. For example they are more prone to follow orders from high up priests in the Malarite order, and because of this they also aim to achieve their leaders goals. The reason for this is because of their low power compared to the Beaqst Spirits, and there are a lot more of them than there are Beast Spirits. Lesser Beast SpiritsClimate/Terrain: Any/Usually forest but mostly CarceriFrequency: Rare Organization: Solitary Activity Cycle: Any Diet: Nil Intelligence: Low Treasure: I Alignment: Chaotic evil No. Appearing: 1\ or packs of 5-10 Armor Class: 6 Movement: 12 Hit Dice: 3-5 THACo: 14 No. Of Attacks: 2 Damage/Attack: 2D4/2D4 Special Attacks: Bestial fury Special Defenses: Nil Magic Resistance: 10% Size: M Morale: Fearless (19) XP Value: 1,200-2,000 These spirits are a living (or dead) testament to all that symbolizes Malar's and Talos' primordial lust. They are the side of Malar that represents his portfolio best. The side that is the Beast. A pure primal lust for nature you could call it. They were created through their own will to serve Malar or Talos from beyond the grave. Having showed their primal nature's so much in life that the pure primordial side of their spirit defied death. Now they have little or no memory of their previous life and know only the savage power of Nature. Like nature they are merciless and destructive. Along with Malar, Talos also produces them, as he loves to see their will for destruction. The Beaqst Spirits are generally around 4 to 5ft in height and float about 3 feet off the ground. To look at one is to see the face of madness, nature uncontrolled. They are a black/green color and are partially transparent. As well as this they have a twisted distorted face around the region of the head, that constantly keeps shifting and changing mimicking the changes of the landscape and the weather. For example, their facial expressions change from smiles to angry looks, to looks of terror and to all the expressions that one could imagine. Beaqst Spirits have no verbal means of communication, and are usually sent telepathic commands by their masters. However, they cannot communicate telepathically themselves. Combat: Beaqst Spirits attack with their only two means available. These are their spirit claws, and their other less used special power, which is savage indeed. The attack with their claws is vicious but not life threatening in most cases. It does, however bring about a horrible feeling of coldness throughout the body if struck. This feels like ice going through the victims veins and gives them the shivers. These claws do 2D4 damage each and the spirit can attack with two of them. The special attack that it has can be very damaging to an opponent. But it likewise damages the Beast Spirit. It takes half the damage it gives out. What happens in the attack is the Beast focuses itself in to one point and literally thrusts its head at the target. In a way it turns itself in to a bullet and fires itself at the target. The damage from this attack is rolled on 8 sided dice. To determine how many dice to roll, take the spirit's hit dice and round up. So a 4HD spirit roles 4 dice. The damage is, for example, 16 to the target then the spirit in turn takes 8 damage. Another drawback of this attack is it takes a round to recover from it, if the spirit survives. This is due to it being disorientated. This is only used as a last ditch attempt to kill the opponent and is not used much. Habitat/Society: The Beaqst Spirits are, as stated earlier, not a normal occurrence and are not able to reproduce. The spirits are only concerned with the will of Malar/Talos. There are few in the Realms and most of them follow their God to his home plane of existence. Be it Carceri with Malar or Pandemonium with Talos. They are normally called into service by the priests, but only for important missions. Even then they are few. The reason for this is that there are not many of them around, as it takes a lot of force of will to turn into one of them, and a lot is given up to become one. Ecology: The Beaqst Spirits have no set goal or objective to reach in their existence. Their only mission is to act out nature's destructive side and to show the primordial side of human nature. There are two types of beast spirits. The difference between these two are the difference between Malar and Talos. Where as Malar's beast spirits tend to lean more towards expressing the Primordial nature of humans and beasts. Talos's Beaqst Spirits tend to represent the destructive side of nature. One thing that is definitely the same between the two is their will to destroy and this clearly stands out. |