Customizing Monsters

The monsters in this book describe the basic creature, whether that be a mountain troll or a black orc, and are usually used as-is. However, you may wish to customize the monsters further. There are some simple tools to do this:

• Paragons (+4d6). Paragon creatures are usually (though not always) single, unique examples and may represent the progenitor of a species. These creatures are truly epic.

• Champions (+2d6). The goblin tribe may have a goblin king, or the champion fire dragon might be the most powerful of the species. While you can always use a different monster for such elite opponents, you can also turn a regular foe into a champions. Champions are  powerful opponents and represent some of the greatest of their type.

• Greater creatures (+1d6). In other cases, the faceless soldiers may be led by an experienced commander. Greater creatures are elite or leader versions of regular creatures.

• Lesser creatures (-2d6). If you simply need a weaker, or younger version of a creature, use this template. This can represent a young dragon or a knight’s squire.

• Minions (+0d6). Sometimes the heroes need to plough through legions of bad guys, mowing down their foes with heroic ease. Whether they be goblins, ninjas, or other disposable henchmen, some foes’ role in the story is simply to let the protagonist show off. These are the minions.

• Careers (+1d6). These simple templates, which are analogous to PC careers,  grant a creature a few special abilities.

Any monster can use an of these template types. You can have a greater black orc (+1d6), a paragon t-rex (+4d6), a goblin minion, or a fire dragon enchanter (+1d6). You can even combine them, for a paragon hill giant berserker (+5d6). A creature can be simply referred to in this format in published material, succinctly providing the GM with all the information need. For example, you might see an encounter described thusly:

On the throne is Grimstab, a greater goblin shaman. He is surrounded by six minion goblin archers, while hiding in the shadows to one side is Jerlstaff, a goblin assassin.

Paragon (+4d6)

This creature is usually unique; a paragon fire dragon might be the progenitor of dragonkind. When designated as a paragon, the following changes are made:

1. Paragon creatures have triple HEALTH and double SOAK.

2. Paragon creatures add +4d6 to their Maximum Dice Pool.

3. Paragon creatures use their Maximum Dice Pool for all checks, including attacks.

4. Paragon creatures do double damage on all attacks.

5. Paragons gain one extra action per round.

Champion (+2d6)

This might be a leader or champion. Or maybe it’s just a paragon of its species. A champion doesn’t have to have underlings; but they often do. A champion has the same stat block as a regular creature of its type. Any creature can be designated as a champion, as follows:

1. Champions have double HEALTH and +4 SOAK (to a maximum of double SOAK).

2. Champions add +2d6 to their Maximum Dice Pool.

3. Champions get +2d6 to all attribute checks, including attacks.

4. Champions deal an extra 2d6 damage on a successful single-target attack, or an extra 1d6 damage on a successful area attack.

5. Once per round, when a champion has an adjacent minion, it can make that minion take the damage from an attack which should normally have hit the champion. The minion is immediately killed.

Greater (+1d6)

This might be a larger version of a creature, or a more experienced example. A greater creature has the same stat block as a regular creature of its type. Any creature can be designated as “greater”, as follows:

1. Greater creatures have 150% HEALTH and +2 SOAK.

2. Greater creatures add +1d6 to their Maximum Dice Pool.

3. Greater creatures get +1d6 to all attribute checks, including attacks.

4. Greater creatures deal an extra 1d6 damage on a successful single-target attack.

Lesser (-2d6)

The dragon guards its youngling against the adventurers. One of the hill giants is weaker than the others, and his companions bully him mercilessly. These are younger or weaker versions of monsters, but they’re not cannon-fodder like minions. Any creature can be designated as “lesser”, as follows:

1. Lesser creatures have half HEALTH.

2. Lesser creatures have -2d6 to their Maximum Dice Pool, but cannot be reduced below 3d6.

3. Lesser creatures get -2d6 to all attribute checks, including attacks.

4. Lesser creatures do half damage on all attacks.

5. Lesser creatures are one size category smaller than the regular creature, although this does not otherwise affect its statistics.

Minion (+0d6)

Minions may be faceless minions, or the horde that surrounds the evil mastermind. A minion has the same stat block as a regular creature of its type, whether that be a bandit, a guard, a goblin, or an orc. Any creature can be designated a minion, as follows:

1. A minion is automatically killed with a single hit which exceeds its SOAK.

2. When two or more minions are adjacent to a more powerful foe, each minion automatically deals 1 point of non-SOAKable damage (although this does not circumvent immunities) to the target at the beginning of its turn. In this way, mobs of minions can slowly bring down a more powerful foe while being easily dispatched one at a time.

3. When a greater creature is killed, minions tend to break and flee. If a minion witnesses the death of an allied greater creature, it will stop fighting. It will flee if possible, and surrender if not. If there is still a greater creature remaining (i.e. there were multiple greater creatures to begin with), half of the minions will break, while the other half continues to fight. Determine which minions flee and which minions fight randomly.

As the PCs increase in grade, so does the pool of available minions. To appropriately powerful PCs, even trolls, vampire spawn, and velociraptors might eventually qualify as minions, at the GM’s discretion.

Zinhorn the Champion Tyrannosaur Druid

This is an example of a champion tyrannosaur druid. It uses the tyrannosaur as the base monster with the champion template and the druid suggestions from the monster creation guidelines.

Zinhorn

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