Master Pett’s Your Whispering Homunculus presents only the finest in British gaming. Indeed, you are not likely to find a more comprehensive assortment of miscellany anywhere.
(So much more than just another bloke in a dress.)
Twelve NPC Moods
Occasionally, it’s interesting to spice up some checks with the odd unusual modifier due to peculiar circumstances. The way an NPC feels is one option for you to consider using occasionally. The number in brackets indicated is the optional modifier to attempts made to use a Diplomacy check on that NPC. You might also consider that moods are a changeable thing to have, which might be changed by appealing to an NPC’s interest in music, giving a simple gift, or perhaps by even things such as weather.
1. Furious (–2)
2. Unhappy (–1)
3. Grumpy (–1)
4. Annoyed (–1)
5. Tired (–1)
6. Bored
7. Lethargic
8. Indifferent
9. Energetic (+1)
10. Cheerful (+1)
11. Happy (+1)
12. Joyful (+2)
A Dozen Monster Scars and Blemishes
The number in brackets represents a suggested reduction (or in one case increase) in the percentage of the creature’s hit points because of its injury.
1. Massive head scar, signs of attack by bladed weapons, and multiple arrow wounds (–30%)
2. One limb severed (–25% and modify attacks accordingly)
3. One limb withered or broken (–25% and modify attacks accordingly)
4. One limb clearly previously broken and badly healed (–20%, reduce move by 10 ft. if leg and any natural attacks by –2 as appropriate)
5. Serious head injury that seems to have healed ([–5%] when entering combat. make a Will save [DC 10] or be confused for a round; make a further saving throw the round after to end the confusion effect. Once the save is made, no further save need be made for 24 hours)
6. Major cut, which despite scar tissues still exposes bone (–10%)
7. Blinded in one eye (–5% and adjust Perception by –2)
8. Slight burns (–5%)
9. Missing 1d3 digits
10. Ugly blemish, possibly the remains of disease such as mummy rot or filth fever
11. Shows signs of severe poisoning (discoloration, wheezing when inhaling)
12. Lots of scars from battles (+10%)
Inside a Dozen Pit Traps
1. Richly decorated with bas-reliefs of figures making good their escape from a pit trap only to be torn to pieces when they emerge at the top by biting mouths on tentacled limbs
2. Is painted blue
3. Has frescoes of cackling gargoyles pointing at the base
4. Is wreathed in images of conflagration and fire
5. Is signed by the creator Fabian Quart
6. Is liberally scattered with cat remains
7. Features smiling demonic faces
8. Has a warning written in common; do not imbibe the yellow liquid
9. Triggers a magic mouth spell that laughs unsettlingly
10. Has a second, deeper pit trap at its base
11. Is so full of bodies that the corpses cushion the fall (halving the damage) but burst in a cloud of filth fever
12. Has a set of iron rungs nailed into the wall to allow escape
Twelve Doors
1. A carved wooden door with a large grinning maw in the centre
2. Has countless long nails sticking through
3. Is covered in meaningless fake magic runes
4. Has been put in upside down
5. Hinges at the top, not the side
6. Has a cover of beaten bronze with seven circles in it, each with a picture of a kobold in the middle
7. Has a dead mummy nailed to it
8. Has a brass knocker depicting a griffon eating an ochre jelly
9. Has a mosaic of a howling man stuck to it
10. Is made of balsa wood (Hardness 0, 2 hit points, break DC 4)
11. Is very badly scorched
12. Has a dozen full metal helms nailed to it
A Dozen Obscure Rooms
1. Gelatinery: Room for the raising and care of young gelatinous cubes
2. Spawning Ponds: Room for the breeding of dire toads or giant frogs
3. Slugery: Chamber used to encourage the retention and growth of giant slugs
4. Slime Vats: Large deep vats for the production of green slime and others
5. Oozery: Usually well-sealed chamber created to breed oozes and jellies
6. Smellery: Goblin chamber used to collect revolting smells within
7. Mould Larder: Often shelved or otherwise subdivided room within which dangerous molds are fed and nurtured
8. Incubating Vats: Room incorporating ovens, heating areas, and other incubation enhancing devices; room to incubate monster young; or room filled with broody and otherwise very dangerous female monsters sitting on eggs
9. Perch: High and often narrow shelf, not always natural, used as a perch for harpies, gargoyles, and other winged, intelligent creatures
10. Communicatory: Chamber for the direct communication with god(s)
11. Nursery Punishment Pit: Open pit within a goblin nursery area, often with occupying wolverines and so on, used to encourage strength and competition amongst goblin infants
12. Sanctum: Either a chamber used by master torturers to relax away from the screams of their victims or an inner chamber within a mastermind/main villain’s chambers where he can relax without the usual accoutrements of skulls, flayed flesh, boiling victims, and so on
The Dozen Obscure Rooms is the best!
It seems that the monster wounds would make the fight too easy. Perhaps since it is wounded, it would be enraged, and have a suitable level increase to make up for it.
Marvellous. Thanks Richard for doing the heavy lifting for us once again. I particularly like the monster scars as it gives you a chance to threaten lower level PCs with something they wouldn’t normally expect to face while giving them a fighting chance of surviving the encounter. Winning a fight they don’t expect to win is always a source of enjoyment for my players. Of course the creature that caused those injuries could be close at hand still chewing on that severed limb.
It could also be fun to apply the monster wounds consistently to one creature type as a distinctive trait. Maybe all Hill Giants are battle scarred in some way.
Both good points, I think the % also gives an indication of the reduction of the CR, so an ogre with masasive head injuries becomes a CR2 creature for example. Adding a level to a grizzled old ogre or having it enraged gives you that option if you want a flat CR encounter Andrew as you rightly say and it’s a good idea.
As Jackdaw points out this also gives you a chance to unleash a higher CR creature upon your players if you wish to.
Again the point about the tougher creature being about is also true, there’s an article in the dusty YWH archive about springing higher CR creatures on parties and some suggested rules which could combine with this quick list. I must get those things organised properly:)
And thank you James:)
Rich
Another great plethora of tables, the best yet. I like the idea of unleashing higher CR monsters on players than they think they can handle. My mind goes right to an idea for a monster that has been around a town, terrorizing the citizen. Other adventurers have tried and failed, now you have the young, naive green horns trying their luck. Really looking forward to seeing the next list. Keep up the good work.
What I love about the doors tables is the questions they provoke. Getting into the players head and making them wonder why, what did that to the door (Are those helmets trophies?) what is on the other side (Are those nails from boards nailed in on the other side?) (What do the 7 kobolds mean? Is this important or not?)
Then the rooms just beg to be the center of an entire dungeon crawl. They have to stop the swamp goblin tribe that has been breeding giant toads and riding them into combat, they have to find out where all the oozes are coming from that have been appearing around the city. (What are the implications of the Smellery? hehehehe)
This is my favorite d12 love blog I’ve seen from the Homonculus so far. Many of the results made me laugh out loud, example:
“5. Is signed by the creator Fabian Quart”
Brilliant.
I used this today! I used the Dozen Obscure Rooms. My player’s elven wizard found a portal left behind by the last wizard who stayed in his room, and I rolled to see where it would lead.