Welcome to the King of the Monsters Contest finals: the wendigo is finalist 9 of 10. These submissions are left almost entirely as they were received with the exception that all submissions have had minor alterations for proper spelling (not grammar), formatting, and the addition of an image. Let the fight commence!
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A far more horrific beast stalks the moors, forests, and hills of the land than vile goblinoids and mischievous fey. Those creatures have limits. Not so the cannibalistic wendigo. This monstrous spirit is glutton incarnate; it is nature’s reflection of mankind itself in all of its wanton need and avarice. The wendigo stands gaunt and tall, an emaciated and pale ghost of a man. A low moan of hunger issues forth from its gaping mouth full of gnarled and jagged teeth. This is the sound of nature’s vengeance, the sound of man’s rumbling appetite echoing back…
Wendigo Lore
Nature DC 19: Wendigo are natural spirits that embody unyielding hunger. They seek only to possess corporeal bodies so they may eat and quell their appetite. This is a fruitless endeavor. The wendigo’s appetite cannot be sated.
Nature DC 24: These insubstantial spirits most often arise in areas of environmental tension, such as deep mines, widely harvested forests, plague-ridden cities, and battlefields. The prevailing theory amongst sages and conjecturers is that the wendigo is a primal response to mankind’s encroachment upon pristine natural settings. In short, wendigo are nature’s retaliation against the pillaging of its resources.
Wendigo (Level 16 Solo Lurker)
Medium natural magical beast (XP 7,000)
Initiative +15; Senses Perception +17; darkvision
Gnawing Hunger aura 3; (only when wendigo is bloodied); creatures who start their turn in the aura take 5 damage and grant the wendigo combat advantage.
HP 399; Bloodied 199 (see Devour Spirit)
AC 30; Fortitude 28; Reflex 27; Will 29
Immune disease; poison (only when not possessing a body); Resist insubstantial
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6 , fly 6, phasing (fly and phasing only when not possessing a body)
Action Points 2
[M] Cannibal’s Touch (standard; at-will) â—Š Psychic
Usable only when not possessing a body; +19 vs Reflex; 2d8 + 7 psychic damage.
Secondary Attack—+19 vs Will; as a free action the target makes a melee basic attack at the nearest non-insubstantial creature.
[M] Ravenous Grasp (standard; at-will)
Requires a possessed body; +19 vs Reflex; 2d8 + 7 damage and the target is grabbed (escape ends).
[m] Voracious Bite (minor; at-will)
Target must be grabbed; +19 vs Fortitude; 3d8 + 7 damage and ongoing 10 damage (save ends).
[m] Devour Spirit (standard; at-will)
The wendigo possesses a body. If this body is unconscious or dead, no attack roll is needed. A wendigo can possess an aware creature only if it is bloodied; it does so with the following attack:
+19 vs Will; the target is possessed (save ends).
While possessing a body, the wendigo has the following traits:
- It loses insubstantial, flying, phasing, and cannibal’s touch;
- It gains temporary HP equal to its target’s bloodied value. When these temporary hp are expended the wendigo is ejected into an adjacent square and dazed until the end of its next turn. The possessed body falls to the ground with -1 hp;
- If the target makes its saving throw, the wendigo is ejected into an adjacent square and dazed until the end of its next turn;
- Any attempts to heal the possessed target does not allow it to regain hp or make extra saving throws; however, any hp that would be regained does damage to the wendigo;
- The wendigo may end its possession as a minor action. It materializes in an adjacent square of its choice.
Alignment Chaotic Evil  Languages —
Skills Nature +17
Str 13 (+9)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Dex 17 (+11)Â Â Â Â Â Â Wis 19 (+12)
Con 19 (+12)Â Â Â Â Â Â Int 7 (+6)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Cha 23 (+14)
Tactics
A wendigo’s insatiable hunger makes the beast wildly aggressive in combat. Possessing a body with devour spirit is a wendigo’s chief priority. It will often keep is action points in check, so that it may spring this attack the moment an opponent is bloodied. When in possession of a body, the wendigo has even fewer qualms about wading into battle. Nearly all of the damage it takes during that period instead harms its host. Possessing a body allows the wendigo to use ravenous grasp followed by voracious bite in an effort to stem its hunger; accordingly it will use these powers as often as possible.
The wendigo knows only hunger. It does not retreat nor does it parley. It only devours.
Well, I hope everyone likes this entry; it has been an honor to be selected amongst the top ten.
This wendigo is based off the Native American myth of a cannibalistic spirit. I think building it this way, as opposed to the Marvel comic’s savage beast, allows for it fit a horror theme much better.
Hope you enjoy.
Very cool Matthew. I’ll admit that I’m at a disadvantage as to the mechanics, since I’ve never checked out 4.0, but I really like that you took the Wendigo back to it’s Native American roots.
Good work!
I don’t know the system, but the write up is nice! I always dig monsters that come from our folklore.
I really like the concept. Certainly much cooler than the Marvel Comics version (it was hard to get that out of my head though) I thought the Environmental aspect was a bit over stressed. I really liked “The wendigo knows only hunger. It does not retreat nor does it parley. It only devours”
Boy howdy, when I saw this monster my Xyphoid Process started to quiver. Many of the most memorable combat encounters include creatures that players have some notion of in their out-of-game lives. I’ve slain hundreds of weirdos and whatnots, but you remember the Dragons, the Hydras, the creatures that have a firm grounding in cross-cultural mythology.
I think my Wendigo would have groupies with it that want nothing more than to be bloodied or die in combat so they can be possessed. Big ‘Dub hangs out in the shadows ’till he can swoop in. It would be a fun way to introduce the monster; an ordinary encounter turns strange when one of those gnolls rises from the dead and starts rolling Ravenous Grasps.
@ Xyphoid — Yeah, that is how I see it, anything to play with the PCs’ minds is always worth it.
I’m not a fan of 4e, but its very cool!
It’s long out of print, but if anyone wants to see my 3.0 version, it’s in Creature Collection III from Sword & Sorcery (WW), page 198.
For a solo monster, this one needs more options to do in combat. It can’t use Devouring Spirit until a target is bloodied. Nor the other two powers. So it’s going to spend half the fight just using the one attack.
Further, it’s a lurker. So it’s going to be incredibly hard to just stand around, slugging it out until someone gets bloodied.
Also, Cannibal Touch is a bit tedious. You make one attack to hit, another attack to get the target to make an attack, THEN the target makes an attack with that basic melee.
That’s three attack rolls. That’s 1) not likely to occur, three hits in a row. 2) Three attack rolls for one action, which is very tedious on its round, taking slow.
@ Rechan – You miss the fact that it can control an corpse, thus giving it all options right from the beginning of the fight . . .
This is a great write-up, and I look forward to being able to use it to mess with my players. A couple minor suggestions:
Voracious Bite should probably be “minor 1/round”.
You might want to be more specific with the “no healing” rule. Perhaps something like “While possessed, the target cannot regain hit points in any way, nor can he be granted any additional saving throws.”
Otherwise, great monster.
This is some really great stuff Matt. I like the concept of a creature created by Mother Nature to spit humanity’s greed back at them.
Nicely done!