WOTC Online: D&D Fight Club

Okay, so remember that Arena map that I posted last month from the Map-a-Week archive? Well, there was something attached to that map: The D&D Fight Club. I wrote about it at the end of November. Now, we get some of the participants. And by 'some', I mean seven of them.

Most of them are dated in the online archive as 'January 1st, 2000', which obviously isn't correct since the 3rd edition rules weren't out at that time. The only one dated for December is the first one: Kum'hokh, the bugbear wereboar sorcerer/priest of Hruggek. Yeah, that's the sort of thing they're creating with this ruleset. There are three versions of this guy: a CR 4 2nd-level sorcerer, a CR 9 Sor2/Clr3/Wereboar, and a CR 12 Sor2/Clr6/Wereboar. He's also got a weasel familiar as well as his own private horde of dwarf-fighting goblins. Even though this is supposed to be about this Fight Club, we still get a way to incorporate this guy into a normal campaign. If 'normal' includes multiclassed bugbears with lycanthropy, that is.

Next, we have Collissine, the Centaur Ranged Fire Specialist. And we get not three, but six versions of this character. Three of them are 'futuristic' writeups to be used in the Greyhawk 2000 setting from Dragon 277. The other three are for 'normal' fantasy campaigns. I'll skip the futuristic ones because I'm not interested in that setting. Collissine is a neutral evil(!) centaur with three different challenge levels: a CR 4 1st-level fighter, a CR 8 Ftr4/Sor1, and a CR 13 Ftr8/Sor2. She uses a mighty composite longbow for additional damage, and while she's listed as a 'fire specialist', there's no particularly fire-related magic items in her collection. Still, she can coat the arrows in oil and light them on fire if she wants, I suppose. Raised to dislike and even hate humans, she's not a long-term villain for a campaign; she's a violent fighter who doesn't have any real long-term plans, so if the party can take her down, she'll be a one-and-done.

Then we have Ryershil, the Tiefling Shadowdancer. He's lawful evil, so we've had all three evil alignments represented already. Our three versions are a CR 4 3rd-level monk, a CR 9 Mnk7/ Shadowdancer 1, and a CR 14 Mnk7/Shadowdancer 6. So, we're getting a prestige class character here. I thought of shadowdancers as a rogue thing, but monks can certainly do it, I guess. He's got a fair number of magic items to go along with his special abilities, but he's not overwhelmingly powerful as far as I can tell. This guy can be a long-term foil for a party; maybe they're guarding one of his targets, or someone really pissed at the party has hired him to take them out.

Now they're just getting ridiculous. Meet Kalaboah, the Half-Fiend/Half-Ogre Blackguard. Gee, I wonder what his alignment will be? Just kidding; it's chaotic evil, obviously. So the chaotics are ahead two to one to one so far in the evil sweepstakes. Our three versions of Kalaboah are a CR 5 1st-level rogue, a CR 10 Rog1/Ftr4/Blackguard 1, and a CR 14 Rog1/Ftr4/Blackguard 6. The last one gets a fiendish dire rat servant to help out, and can also have other minions. He's viewed as a leader-type villain, maybe at the head of an army. Even against giants that are much taller than him, he'll be intimidating enough that they will fall in line.

Want more? How about Ginlimj, the Goblin Vampire? Imagine the most annoying little goblin around, then turn him into a chaotic evil vampire. Yeah, fun. Our three versions are a CR 4 2nd-level rogue, a CR 7 Rog4/Clr1, and a CR 12 Rog5/Clr5. Again, all with vampire abilities. He can be used as a mystery monster with rumors of a vampire trapped in some old ruins. Or, he might be in the sewers of a large city like Greyhawk or Waterdeep. Lots of possibilities for this annoying little rat.

Still not done; next we have Sileeshen, the Lizardman Fighter/Druid. We have a CR 4 Ftr1/Drd1, a CR 9 Ftr2/Drd5, and a CR 13 Ftr3/Drd8. There's not much to this guy; he sticks to his swamp, and you really don't want to get on his bad side. He's neutral evil, so getting on his bad side won't be difficult, but if he is encountered in his swamp, he'll use the terrain to full advantage against any opposition. Think of him as a scaly Viet Cong jungle fighter and you won't be too far off. And we're up to 3 chaotics, 2 neutrals, and 1 lawful evil enemy.

Last but definitely not least, we have Murrnn, the Half-dragon (black)/Half-Minotaur Sorcerer. What is with these half-breeds? Does no monster in 3rd edition keep it in their loincloth? Anyway, Murrnn is a scaly, horned, and winged 7½-foot-tall minotaur who was driven out of her home. She's our fourth chaotic evil critter, too. Her versions are a CR 6 unclassed half-dragon/half-minotaur, a CR 8 Sor2, and a CR 11 Sor5. She can fly, gore with her horns (including a spectacular diving gore on ground targets), breathe acid, and cast spells. And she has a 29 Str to bash you with that greataxe she's sporting. As a foe, she'd be a useful lackey to a more cerebral villain; she's happy to take orders as long as she gets to hit people and break things. If she is on her own, she'll stay well away from civilization, maybe in a maze she found in the wilderness. Minotaurs like that kind of thing even if they are descended from a black dragon.

So, that's our Fight Club starting list. There are some very weird creatures in here, and I have the feeling this series is going to really stretch what people always thought was possible or impossible within the D&D rules. Now, it's looking like anarchy. Which could be a good thing, for some people. Me, I still prefer my fantasy a little bit vanilla. But, to each his own.