25 Years Ago...

Alright, it finally arrived! Yes, my long-delayed mail package was delivered directly by FedEx this morning. So I now have the Monster Manual , an extra (complete) package of character sheets, Dragon #276, and Polyhedron #144. Unfortunately, they didn't have Into the Dragon's Lair , so I'll have to work with a PDF of that until I can find a copy. Still, it's good to finally get my stuff. I've already ordered the November package, and hopefully it won't take as long to get here. Anyway, we move on to the 'P' monsters, starting with the Pegasus. A classic Greek mythology staple and a 1974 original, the pegasus is a Large Magical Beast with 4 HD and a CR of 3. They're always chaotic good, and they can advance to 8 HD. That's about all to them, though, so-- Wait, what? Spell-like abilities? For a pegasus? Since when? Oh, okay...pegasi can use detect good  and detect evil  at will in a 60' radius. That was unexpected. And they can be trained as mo...

Our Map-a-Week this week is  The Old Tower . This is a simple location that can be placed anywhere, so I'm going to put it on the 'Journey' map at location 7. The interesting thing about this map is that while there are twelve locations, I'm having a hard time finding some of them. I see 5 and 3, and I just spotted 2, but 1 and 4 are well disguised. Ah, there they are. I had to zoom in on the map to find them. 1 is just below the door on the downward side of 6; 2 is the opposite door. 3 is the little copse just below the tower, and 4 is in the northwest corner. 5 is the northeast. 6 through 12 are the tower locations. Alright, let's stock this puppy. 1. Southern door. This strong wooden door is locked at all times (DC 25 to open). The key is long lost. 2. Northern door. This strong wooden door has swollen into its frame (DC 23 to open). It isn't locked. However, the door is covered by an assassin vine (30 hp) that has grown over the side of the building. 3. Cops...

Let's continue with the 'M' monsters, shall we? Next up is the Merfolk, aka merman in earlier editions including the original 1974 boxed set. Speaking of which, I just saw that  Noble Knight Games  has a 1st printing of that box available on their website for a mere $22K. It's not in mint condition, either. Still, it would be one hell of a collector's item, wouldn't it? Alright, so the merfolk are Medium-sized Aquatic Humanoids with 1 HD and a CR of 1/2. They use tridents in battle and live in bands of up to 60 or so members. They advance by character class, and their favored class is...bard. Well, that's a new one. Their spellcasters are generally adepts, and like the locathah, they worship Eadro and their clerics can choose from the Animal, Protection, and Water domains. Otherwise, there's not much to say about them. The Mimic first appeared in the original Monster Manual . Large Aberrations with 7 HD and a CR of 4, they can look like anything they wan...

There are no 'J' monsters in this edition yet, so we jump straight to everyone's favorite cannon fodder: Kobolds. Small Reptilian humanoids, they have 1/2 HD and a CR of 1/6, which means it takes several of them to threaten even a single 1st-level character. Originally they were just halfling-sized, dog-headed humanoids, but now they are reptilian with ties to dragons that, from what I have seen and read, become far more explicit later on. There isn't a lot to say about them; even their entry is pretty short. They advance by character class, and their favored class is sorcerer, which is a bit surprising. Their deity is Kurtulmak, and their clerics can choose from the Evil, Law, Luck, and Trickery domains. Next is a much larger beast, the Kraken. This is a Gargantuan Aquatic Magical Beast with 20 HD and a CR of 12. They have triple the normal treasure, if you can manage to kill one and finds its underwater lair. Like their little cousins, squids and octopi, they can shoo...

We are done with the 'G' section, and we're halfway through the book now. They really front-load the monster names, don't they? Anyway, we move on to the 'H' section, and possibly further tonight, depending on how many monsters there are in this letter. We start with the Hags, of which there are three, all Monstrous Humanoids. First is the Sea Hag (Large and Aquatic, 3 HD, CR 4). These are the weakest of the three, and are found anywhere aquatic. They are so ugly that just looking at them causes 2d8 points of temporary Strength damage (Fort save to avoid, DC 11). And they have the Evil Eye, which means that if you fail a Fortitude save at DC 11, there is a 25% chance you literally die of fright; even if you make that roll, you're in a state of whimpering catatonia for three days. And all of that works underwater, too. And don't forget their spell resistance of 14. The Annis Hag (Large, 7 HD, CR 6) has a nasty pair of claws, and a massive 25 Str to boost ...

Okay, let's get through the 'G' section, and hopefully further than that as well. Next up we have the Giant Eagle, which is a long-time denizen of this game in all editions. This time around it's a Large Magical Beast with 4 HD and a CR of 3. They are usually neutral good in alignment and quite intelligent (for a bird), so if you ask them nicely they might be able to fly you over the mountains to the doorstep of Mount Doom. They can advance to 12 HD and Gargantuan size, which puts them close to a Roc in size. But we might get to that later on; I don't remember if Rocs are in this book. Giant eagles can be trained as mounts; the younger they are, the better the chance of success. Next we have the Giant Owl. I guess those Dire animals don't completely replace the giant animals after all. Anyway, the giant owl has been around since Eldritch Wizardry , I believe, all the way back to 1976. Again, this is a Large Magical Beast with 4 HD and a CR of 3. And they're ...

This time around, I'm going to get through the 'F' monsters and as many of the 'G's as I can. The first one on our list is the Formians. These are another refugee monster group from Planescape (they are Outsiders), and there are five varieties of them listed here: Workers (Small, 1 HD, CR 1/2), Warriors (Medium, 4 HD, CR 3), Taskmasters (Medium, 6 HD, CR 7), Myrmarchs (Large, 12 HD, CR 10), and the Queen (Large, 20 HD, CR 18). So...the queen is tougher than a pit fiend? She doesn't even have any attacks! All formians are immune to poison, petrification, and cold, and they all have 20 resistance to fire, electricity, and sonic attacks. The workers also have the ability to fix things...and people. That's handy. Warriors have a poison sting; taskmasters can use dominate person , and always have at least one dominated  creature accompanying them. The myrmarchs are the elites, and have the same poison sting as the warriors while also having several spell-like abi...