Though games such as the Tales of the Valiant roleplaying game or D&D typically live in the genre of high fantasy, this is not hard-coded into the game.
When you design combat for a Wild West fantasy adventure, an easy trap to fall into is only using humanoid enemies, since they’re typically the types of creatures who would sling guns. The Monster Vault has a whole section of stat blocks just for Humanoid NPCs. You can send ’em out by the dozen!
However, any enemy or creature type can be fit within the Wild West genre if you remember the foundational elements that make the genre compelling. Monsters with strong personalities or motivations are much better to use than bland Humanoids. Let’s back up that claim with some examples.
Belly up to the bar and read all the Ye Olde West articles in the archive!
Monsters as People
When deciding which monsters to use, remember that you can flavor any stat block to look or act differently than the underlying monster. Some monsters lend themselves to that more easily than others, but stat blocks can look like anything. Tell me that a hellhound is a tall stranger with a brimstone-smelling scattergun, and I won’t know the difference at the table. However, we’re not just putting a cowboy hat on a dragon and calling it a day. The monsters you use need to feel authentic and natural within the genre.
The easiest way to fit a monster into the Wild West is to make clear a personal motivation or conflict for them, just like typical western characters should have. Undead, for example, can make excellent western villains, especially the intelligent ones! Take a look at the wight: an undead humanoid bound by unfinished business and a supernatural drive to pursue it. Give that revenant a name, personality, and history, and you have a terrific western villain. They could even lead an undead posse to terrorize the frontier in pursuit of their unfinished business!
Monsters as Folktales
More aberrant and strange monsters can also be excellent western villains, even if it’s not obvious at first glance. The wickerbeast is a great example. This otherworldly creature made of wicker and mirrors is a fey being that lives in remote regions, subsisting on the souls of others.
While not immediately western, it’s easy to recontextualize its abilities and desires. This Fey creature’s ability to capture souls and use its mirror to charm can become a haunted reflection of a character’s personality and motivations. A monster like this allows you to accentuate a western hero’s strong personality while also dabbling in the strange, alien tales that frontier ghost stories are made of.
Monsters as Forces of Nature
More one-dimensional monsters without distinct personalities can also be turned into western monsters. Creatures such as air, earth, fire, and water elementals, can be used to great effect in a Wild West setting if they are used as forces of nature rather than arcane summons. The wild frontier is just as much a character as PCs and NPCs are, and these types of monsters can express that. Consider them extensions of the frontier instead of independent creatures. Air elementals can cause regular sandstorms, water elementals could be walking oases, earth elementals could be the cause of massive bluffs and dunes, and fire elementals could be firestorms from dried plants and intense heat.
Monster Traits
For quick mechanical ways to push existing monster stat blocks in a Wild West direction, give a creature one or some of the following traits.
Deadeye. When making a ranged attack, the creature can ignore half and three-quarters cover.
Frontier Resilience. The creature is resistant to exhaustion and the poisoned condition.
Grit. The creature can use either STR or CON (its choice) in place of CHA when making Persuasion and Intimidation checks or CHA saves.
Hit ‘n’ Run. While the creature is mounted, if it hits a creature with an attack roll, the creature and its mount don’t provoke attacks of opportunity from the target until the end of the turn.
Quickdraw. The creature has advantage on all ranged attacks it makes during the first round of combat. If it hits with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an additional 1d4 piercing damage.
Example Monster: Undead Outlaw
Gun in hand and hate burning in its eyes, an outlaw from beyond the grave stands on the ridge, ready to exact revenge.
Unfinished Business. Undead outlaws defy the very laws of nature, returning to pursue some unfinished business with grim determination. Be it revenge, justice, or some other desire, woe to anyone who stands in its way.
Relentless Gunslingers. Thanks to their undead nature, these outlaws have no need for rest and reprieve. Their entire existence is spent in pursuit of their unfinished business.
Intelligent and Driven. Undead outlaws temper their unrelenting determination with the sapience and intelligence of a living humanoid. Any habits or beliefs they had in life are practiced and exaggerated. Some undead outlaws may even use negotiation and investigation as tactics to achieve their goals.
UNDEAD OUTLAWÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â CR 8
Medium Undead
Armor Class 16 (studded leather)
Hit Points 120
Speed 30 ft.
Perception 12Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Stealth 14
Resistant fire | Frontier Resilience
Immune necrotic | charmed, frightened
Senses darkvision 120 ft., keensense 10 ft.
Languages Common and Undercommon
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| +4 | +4 | +3 | +1 | +2 | +4 |
Deadeye. When making a ranged attack, the undead outlaw can ignore half and three-quarters cover.
Frontier Resilience. The undead outlaw is resistant to exhaustion and the poisoned condition.
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The undead outlaw makes two Revolver attacks and one Buckshot attack. It can replace one of its attacks with Fan the Hammer if it has it.
Revolver. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 60/120, one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage.
Buckshot. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (3d4 + 5) piercing damage.
Fan the Hammer (Recharge 5–6). The undead outlaw unleashes a rapid barrage of bullets. Each creature in a 60-foot cone must make a DC 15 DEX save. A creature takes 12 (3d8) piercing damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one. If the undead outlaw rolls a 20 on an attack roll, Fan the Hammer automatically recharges.
BONUS ACTIONS
Shoot From the Hip. If at least two of the undead outlaw’s attacks this turn were Revolver attacks, it may use its bonus action to make a third Revolver attack at disadvantage.