Higher Purpose makes an awesome monster ability!
Only two standard monsters offer examples: as-Sharak ("Punish invaders of protected place") and sword spirit ("Kill cheaters"). But in "Undead, Undead Everywhere" (
Pyramid #3/106, pp. 31-35), I propose mummies who inspire Higher Purpose in their undead slaves. And in "Monster Modding" (
Pyramid #3/108, pp. 4-10), I talk about Higher Purposes linked to attacking a racial enemy, carrying out the master's orders, defending tribal lands, fighting in sight of the great leader, etc. "Kill cheaters" is pretty specialized, but the rest are portable:
- Any monster could have a Higher Purpose linked to defending a locale. That locale might well be the dungeon. Relating Higher Purpose level to dungeon level is a really cool idea – though if the dungeon is deep, you might want this to progress on a 1:2, 1:3, or slower basis rather than 1:1. And yeah, totally call this Lower Purpose.
- Any monster could have a Higher Purpose when it comes to slaying a class of enemies. This can give monsters that aren't always found in the dungeon an edge. It also lends them a certain malevolence: "Punish invaders" is impersonal and easy to understand; it could even be a lily-white protective instinct. "Kill clerics" or "Slay dwarves" makes it personal, and kind of menacing.
- Any fodder or worthy monster could possess a Higher Purpose that concerns serving a boss. Some fodder might even have a Higher Purpose tied to obeying a worthy. It could be interesting to make level equal to the difference in relative monster status – i.e., fodder have Higher Purpose 2 when serving the boss, which works as only Higher Purpose 1 when serving the boss indirectly through worthy lieutenants, while smarter, less-fanatic worthies have Higher Purpose 1 when serving the boss. This kind of Higher Purpose is extra fun because the same monster stats produce a tougher monster in key battles without fudging: stray zombies in early encounters are easy; those serving the lich-lord's draugr captains are tougher, fighting at +1; and the ones around the lich itself are kind of scary, fighting at +2.
These could overlap. It would be really challenging if the normally pathetic Evil Dead were getting +3 for being on the deepest level, another +2 because they're protecting their master, and a further +1 vs. clerics and holy warriors just because those delvers are Good.
There's also Ninja Purpose (kudos to Peter V. Dell'Orto for this!), which becomes progressively more serious as you whittle down a team of ninja. Look up the size of the ninja squad in the "Linear Measurement" column of the
Size and Speed/Range Table (
Exploits, p. 98). Use the difference in modifier size to assess the bonus as the group loses members. For instance, if you start with 10 ninja (+4), the survivors fight at +1 when there are 7 ninja (+3), +2 when there are 5 ninja (+2), +3 when there are 3 ninja (+1), +4 when there are 2 ninja (0), and a whopping +6 when just one ninja remains (-2). This can be used for any monster that is traditionally used as fodder in hordes yet becomes a major threat when there's just one lurking in the night . . . even zombies
might work this way in certain circumstances.
In all cases, don't worry about point cost . . . these are monsters.