07-29-2019, 05:05 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Psychedelic Monster
Since the Dungeon Fantasy line does not really want real world religions and cultures I am now thinking of going the other direction and embracing the gonzo style that is DF. So I am thinking of psychedelic monsters that defy logic and three space. Where Elder Things are dark and creepy and Lovecraftian I am thinking about monsters that coruscate colors and light to cause confusion and insanity. They are extra dimensional and defy comprehension as they constantly morph and shapeshift into other forms. An example might be a naga with a beautiful human headed face but the snake part has shiny metallic scales with patterns which are constantly changing along with the colors of the scales. This causes the PCs viewing the snake body to be hypnotized. The snake body part has a stinger at the end and the snake tail moves completely wrong for the DF world and thus the snake stinger can attack the PCs from behind due to the extradimensional nature. Finally the eyes of the beautiful snake headed woman can drain Will points in it locks gazes with the PCs. The bite is also poisonous too.
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07-30-2019, 07:33 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
Interesting. The hypnotic attack should be based on Will so that she can focus her gaze on the targets that she wants to hypnotize the most. With her tail, does it still have an effective reach? Like she could attack from any angle on PCs with one hex (or two or three...)
Last edited by Dalin; 07-30-2019 at 03:28 PM. |
07-30-2019, 10:38 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
I like the idea of her extra-dimensional tail strike, perhaps there's a ready where the players can see the tail tip dissolve into the air so they have a chance to change facing to defend. Maybe rather than a maximum range it has a minimum and is treated like a ranged attack so that PCs have to remain close to the creatures centermass.
Perhaps the bite causes the Hallucinating condition and her cultists cut themselves with blades dipped in the venom to enter a transcendental state that brings them closer to the madness. |
07-31-2019, 11:14 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New York City
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
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Thank you. |
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07-31-2019, 12:54 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
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07-31-2019, 01:09 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
Another demon can materialize and become visible to one PC in the group. To the rest of the group the demon is insubstantial and invisible. It would follow the group of PCs and try to terrorize the PC that can see it and try to make the rest of the party feel the PC is insane. The demon can be detected by the other PCs by Detect Invisible and Sense Spirit but it would be at a penalty of -10. Any attack that affects insubstantial would also be at -10. Once the demon kills the PC then the demon finds a new victim. The demon with this ability is usually a night hag that rides the victim at night until they die while the rest of the PCs only see their friend screaming in terror at night maybe thinking it is just a bad dream.
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07-31-2019, 02:48 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
Another psychedelic demon might be one with multifaceted eyes like an insect. If it gazes at a PC then the PC must make a dodge roll or have the PCs vision also become multifaceted. Unfortunately the PC just sees a bunch of images and must guess which one is the correct one when attacking. This is done by the Dungeon Master rolling three dice 6 secretly and recording each die roll. For example he rolls 6, 2, 3. Then the PC that is afflicted gets to pick three numbers from 1 to 6 and then the Dungeon Master subtracts them from his dice roll. For example the 6, 2, 3 die roll above is compared to the PCs selection of say 3, 4, 1. So 6 - 3=3, 2 - 4= 2, and 3 - 1=2 which is 3+2+2=7 so the PC would be at -7 for any visual task. The PC can select new numbers to try to use a different image to attack and over time he could figure out which image on his multifaceted vision is the correct one but once he figures it out then his eyes are permanently transformed into insectoid multifaceted eyes and gains the unnatural feature disadvantage.
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07-31-2019, 03:54 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
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The challenge with this one is how to pull it off effectively at the gaming table. In my experience, things like this tend to work better in fiction than in RPGs. If I were a player and another player said that he had a demon jumping on him, I would presume that something was going on (rather than thinking he was having a bad dream). Then I would attempt to do something about it. Hmm. But I guess if it's played out as something of a curse, it might work. Assuming the party doesn't have magic to deal with it, they are in a race to get somewhere to handle the situation before the afflicted PC dies. That could be interesting. |
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07-31-2019, 06:22 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Psychedelic Monster
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