Blood Terrors appear to be immortal, and are often found as tomb guardians in the cyclopean barrows of the Tyrannis Gígās (the Tyrant Giants). Long mistaken for some sort of transformation of the Tyrannis’ skyldur (their human serfs or chattel), the true nature of the Blood Terrors was rediscovered when the long-forgotten Idol of the Beast was recovered among the island kingdoms of the south. What had once sealed the Beast’s connection to this world now became a conduit through which its will could be made manifest and around which new cults could arise in dim memory of a primitive and bestial past.

Blood Terrors are a pure extrusion of the Blood of the Beast. Their glistening bodies — with skin-less musculature defined by clotted coagulations — boil with a raw, powerful rage.

BLOOD TERRORS (CR 6): 60 hp (8d8+24), AC 19, claws +11/+11 (2d6+4), Save +9, Ability DC 16.
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills: Balance +9, Climb +11

Blood Spray (Ex): Works like a grease spell. Persists for 1 minute. Triggered as immediate action if injured. Does not affect other creatures of the Beast.

Blood Blight (Su): 1/day, exude a 20 ft.-radius mist of blood that acts like unholy blight (3d8 points of damage; sickened for 1d4 rounds). Will save halves damage and negates sickened. (Sickened is -2 to all action checks.)

Immune poison
Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10
Telepathy 100 ft.

This stat block is designed for use with Legends & Labyrinths. It can be used with 3rd Edition games without modification.

This material is covered under the Open Game License.

I’ve been watching After Life: The Science of Decay, which is a really fascinating BBS documentary. The link there will take you to a point in the middle of the video which showcases a couple of interesting real-life fungi which, with a little fantasy twist, could be made very interesting challenges for your PCs.

Confusion Spike (CR 4): Characters within an area infested by the airborne spores of the confusion spike must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) each minute or become infected. Once infected, the spores will grow rapidly within the character’s mind, creating alchemicals that control and disrupt the victim’s behavior. 2d6 rounds after exposure, the victim will become confused (as per a confusion spell). 2d6 rounds after that, they must make a second Fortitude save (DC 15): On a success, they have recovered from the infection. On a failure they die.

Characters who die while under the effects of the confusion spike (either due to the effects of the fungus or otherwise), rapidly exude the fruiting body of the fungus. 1d4 rounds after death, this takes the form of a long, narrow spike which bursts through the character’s skull and grows rapidly to a length equal to roughly three times the character’s body length over the course of 2d6 rounds.

4d6 minutes later, the top of the fruiting body will explode spreading spores in a radius equal to the length of the fruiting body. These spores create a new infection zone, which can linger in the air for years or even decades. (Although they dissipate more quickly in outdoor environments.)

Dwarfbane (CR 1): This magical fungus, reportedly a tainted byproduct from certain rituals used to enchant magical arms and armor, breaks down metallic items in a cycle of decay. It was named dwarfbane after a strain of the fungus infested the rich veins of Dharballa and completely destroyed the dwarven city’s mines. Efforts to contain the infestation failed and eventually — broken and impoverished — the entire city of Dharballa was abandoned. Today there are many dwarven cities that will still refuse entry to any dwarf of Dharballa out of fear they will bring banespore with them.

Metallic items that touch dwarfbane become infested. Magic items made of metal can avoid infestation with a successful Reflex save (DC 17).

Although a great threat to dwarven cities, dwarfbane poses little threat to adventurers as long as they are wary of the danger: 1d4 hours after exposure to dwarfbane spores, a successful Knowledge (nature) check (DC 15) or Spot check (DC 25) will allow the owner of an item to notice spots of the distinctive green patina formed by the fungus. After 4d6 hours, the item will suffer 1d6 points of damage per hour until destroyed.

Objects affected by dwarfbane are rendered into a green, mossy rust. (Which, of course, seethes with dwarfbane spores.)

Fungal Snare (CR 2): These large, strong fungal growths form large loops around subterranean corridors. When a creature passes through the loop, the fungus snaps shut in a vice-like grip. If the target fails a Reflex saving throw (DC 14),they are caught by the snare, suffer 1d6 points of damage, and become stuck and entangled. The snare has AC 16, 10 hp, and requires a Strength or Escape Artist check (DC 15) to escape. A fungal snare can be detected with a successful Search check (DC 15).

Goblins have been known to specifically foster and grow fungal snares as lair wards. The goblins will carry small bags containing cuttings from the fungal snares, the presence of which prevents the fungal snares from snapping shut.

Fungal Web Droppers: Fungal webs grow on tall stalks to the ceiling of a cavern or into the lower foliage of a forest’s canopy. Once they have reached this height, their fruiting body spreads a wide, web-like indusium. When creatures pass beneath the indusium, the fungi drop their webs.

The table lists the size of the web and the maximum size of the creature that can be trapped by the web. Creatures beneath the web are affected as per a web spell, except using the DCs listed on the table. The web is also coated with a contact poison, afflicting anyone caught in the web or trying to tear it apart with their bare hands.

The tall stalks of fungal web droppers are usually easily noticed, although a Knowledge (nature) check (DC 18) is required to recognize the danger. Some fungal web droppers have stalks which camouflage themselves as stone columns or tree trunks, requiring a Spot check (DC 20) to notice. A Spot check (DC 30 – 2 per size category) will suffice to notice the overhanging webs.

Fungal Snare Webs: Fungal snare webs are similar fungal web droppers, except their webs remain attached to the fruiting body of the fungi and will attempt to draw those caught in the web up into the air. Characters who fail their initial Reflex throws are drawn a random distance into the air. Increase the Escape Artist and Break DCs by +5.

The ocular tyrant is a bulbous ball of floating flesh dominated by a large, central eye which protrudes from its circular bulk. Five smaller eyes extend on thickly-veined eyestalks in a penumbral crown above it, while a dangling array of five psychic tendrils hang in a thick mass below it.

DESIGN NOTES

The first goal of the ocular tyrant is to provide an OGL alternative to a well-known beastie that remains unavailable because it was declared product identity. Their progenitor is fairly self-evident, and the ocular tyrants are happy to become part of that proud family which includes luminaries like the gazers from Ultima. (Or, at least, as happy as these cynical, narcissistic creatures can ever be.) The main innovation here are the psychic tendrils, which initially occurred to me as a lark and are now growing on me quite a bit.

The second goal was to tweak the power list of the progenitor to improve it. Whether you use the original creature or the ocular tyrant, I hope you’ll give some thought to swapping in the power list below. Let me explain why.

Original List of Eyes: charm monster, charm person, disintegrate, fear, finger of death, flesh to stone, inflict moderate wounds, sleep, slow, telekinesis

This list presents three problems.

First, duplicate powers. Does it really need both charm person and charm monster? Similarly, although disintegrate was revised in 3.5 to resolve a little differently, both it and finger of death are basically slightly different ways of saying “save or die”. Speaking of which…

Second, two of its powers are type 4 save-or-die effects (save or you’re dead); four are type 3 (save or you’re out of the encounter); and one is a type 2. I don’t necessarily think all save-or-die effects need to be nerfed out of existence, but the massive lethality of seven save-or-you’re-gone abilities being unleashed every round has certainly made me hesitant about using these guys over the years.

The other problem is that these save-or-die abilities make the ocular tyrant too dangerous. The only way to make the creature at all workable is to nerf its hit points so that the PCs can take it out quickly. But the result turns it into a super-swingy paper tiger: PCs who get the drop on it will often wipe it out before it can even take a shot. PCs who don’t are likely to be completely devastated. There’s no way to have any kind of substantial confrontation with the monster the way that it’s currently designed.

Third, because sleep has been nerfed so many times over the years it’s now effectively useless to the creature: It’s a CR 13 creature, but sleep isn’t effective against any creature with more than 4 HD.

Some of this stuff just has to go.

The Culling: charm monster, —, disintegrate, fear, —, flesh to stone, inflict moderate wounds, greater sleep, slow, telekinesis

This list eliminates the duplicates and bumps sleep up into being an effect that will actually be meaningful in CR-appropriate encounters (see below).

The next thing I’m going to do is take the two severe save-or-die effects (disintegrate, flesh to stone) and modify them: I don’t want to eliminate these effects from the tyrant’s arsenal, but I will soften them up a bit so that I can use ’em with heartless glee as a DM.

Finally, I need to replace the two abilities I removed entirely.

The Replacements: confusion, force missile

Confusion feels like a good replacement for charm person: It’s got a similar role in combat (turning friends on friends), but does it in a unique way that doesn’t duplicate charm monster.

Force missile is an original spell I developed a couple years back. It’s similar to magic missile, but it’s going to give the ocular tyrant the ability to shove people around the battlefield. I think it’ll complement telekinesis and really let this guy throw his weight around.

THE NEW SPELLS

These are the new spells I’m using.

SLEEP, GREATER
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Bard 3, Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: Standard Action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area: Several living creatures within a 15-foot-radius burst
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

As sleep, except that you roll 4d6 to see how many Hit Dice of creatures are affected.

FORCE MISSILE
Evocation [Force]
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Targets: Up to 5 creatures, no two of which can be more than 15 ft. apart
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes

Force missile is similar to magic missile, but each missile inflicts 1d6+1 points of force damage. In addition, a target struck by a force missile must make a Fortitude save or be forced back 5 feet per 3 caster levels. (So a creature struck by a 6th-level caster would be forced back 10 feet.) Forced movement is in a straight line directly away from the caster.

THE OCULAR TYRANT

OCULAR TYRANT (CR 12+1*): 152 hp (16d8+80), AC 23, ranged touch +21 (eyestalks), Save +15, Ability DC 21, Size Large

Str 10, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 14

All-Around Vision immune to flanking

Darkvision 60 ft.

Fly 20 ft. (perfect)

Antimagic Eye (Su): The ocular tyrant’s main eye emits a continual 160-ft. cone in which magic items, spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities (including the tyrant’s eyestalks and psychic tendrils) have no effect. Spells or effects brought within the area are suppressed, but not dispelled. Summoned creatures and incorporeal undead wink out of existence within the area, but reappear in the same spot when the tyrant’s gaze moves away. (Time spent within the area counts against the suppressed spell’s or summoned creature’s duration.) The ocular tyrant can redirect the gaze of its main eye as an immediate action.

Eyestalks (Sp): As a full action, the ocular tyrant can fire any number or combination of its eyestalks and psychic tendrils. The tyrant’s eyestalks require successful ranged touch attacks (unless otherwise noted below). The maximum range is 160 ft. The effective caster level is 11^th.

Disintegrating Ray: A thin, green ray which inflicts 2d6 points of Constitution damage (or 5d6 hit points on a successful Fortitude save). If this damage kills the target, it is entirely disintegrated. When used against an object, the ray simply distintegrates up to one 10-foot cube of nonliving matter. The ray even affects objects constructed entirely of force energy.

Flesh to Stone: A dull gray ray which inflicts 2d6 points of Dexterity damage (Fortitude save negates). If this damage reduces the target’s Dexterity to 0, the target, along with all its carried gear, is turned into a mindless, inert statue.

Inflict Moderate Wounds: A black ray coruscated with silver, inflicting 2d8+11 points of damage.

Force Missiles: The eye emits five missiles of force energy, which can be directed independently at multiple targets. Each missile unerringly strikes its target and inflicts 1d6+1 points of force damage.  In addition, a target struck by one or more force missiles must make a Fortitude save or be forced back 15 ft. directly away from the ocular tyrant. (This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.)

Slow: An orange-red ray which drastically slows the target (Will save negates). The victim moves at half speed, can only take a single standard action each turn, and suffers a -1 penalty to attack rolls, AC, and Reflex saves.

Psychic Tendrils (Sp): The ocular tyrant can fire any number or combination of its eyestalks and psychic tendrils as a full action. Each psychic eyestalk affects a single target (unless otherwise noted below). The maximum range is 160 ft. The effective caster level is 11^th.

Charm Monster: The target considers the ocular tyrant to be its trusted friend and ally. The charm effect lasts for 11 days. (Will save negates; +5 bonus on the saving throw if the ocular tyrant is currently attacking the target or its allies.)

Confusion: The target becomes confused for 11 rounds (Will save negates).

Fear: The target must make a Will save or become panicked for 11 rounds. On a successful save, they are shaken for 1 round.

Greater Sleep: This psychic tendril causes 4d6 HD of creatures to fall unconscious for 11 minutes (Will negates). It can affect multiple creatures within range, with those closest to the ocular tyrant succumbing to the effect first. Wounding a sleeping creature awakens them, but normal noise does not. Allies can use a standard action to slap a victim awake.

Telekinesis: Using this tendril, the ocular tyrant can apply a sustained force (moving objects weighing 275 pounds or less up to 20 feet per round; creatures can negate the effect on an object it possesses with a Will save), perform a combat maneuver (bull rush, disarm, grapple, or trip without provoking attacks of opportunity, using a +14 bonus for any required action checks), or make a violent thrust. During a violent thrust, the tyrant can hurl up to 11 objects or creatures (all within 10 feet of each other and weighing no more than a total of 275 pounds) towards any target within 10 feet of the objects. The tyrant makes an attack roll for each object, dealing 1 point of damage per 25 pounds (for less dangerous objects) or 1d6 points of damage per 25 pounds (for hard, dense objects). Hurled creatures and creatures holding hurled objects get a Will save to negate the effect.

* CR adjustment due to multiple attacks each round.

FINAL NOTES

The stat block here is designed for Legends & Labyrinths, but can be used in 3.5 without modification. (That’s the whole point of L&L, after all.) Alternatively you can just grab the eyestalks and psychic tendrils and slap ’em onto the stat block in the MM.

This material is covered under the Open Game License.

Ripped from the pages of my Ptolus campaign, this beasty was created by chaos cultists using an artifact known as the Idol of Ravvan. He was an early test of the monster creation system from Legends & Labyrinths and was specifically designed to take advantage of the Gemini figure from McFarlane’s Warriors of the Zodiac toy line (pictured below).

GEMINI BEAST (CR 8+2*): 256 hp (HD 11d8+40), AC 20, claws +14/+14 (2d8+2d6+4), Save +11, Ability DC 18, Size Gargantuan, Speed 60 ft., Reach 20 ft.

Str 30, Dex 11, Con 18, Int 6, Wis 5, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +24, Intimidate +14, Listen +11, Spot +11
Blindsense 60 ft.

SPECIAL: The Gemini Beast is actually two creatures joined together (each possessing the stat block above). Like a mounted combatant, they take their actions simultaneously. If either moves (as a move action, full action, or 5-ft. step) they are both considered to have taken that action.

If one of the Gemini Beasts is slain, that half of the creature simply becomes inert and dead. The other half can continue taking actions normally, although it suffers a -30 ft. penalty to its speed (due to hauling the dead carcass of its twin behind it).

* Potentate.

During the Search for Varla the players quickly realized that they were dealing with a foe who could reanimate the dead, so they made a point of incinerating the corpses they left behind.

(Fun fact: In OD&D, a fire ball spell has a duration of 1 turn. The only possible explanation is that the spell creates a raging inferno that lasts for 10 minutes.)

I decided, however, that the powerful necromantic energies surrounding Atarin’s Delve were capable of raising even these insignificant remains. This prompted the on-the-fly creation of ash wraiths — animate clouds of corpse ash.

They particularly appeal to me because they provide an incorporeal form of undead that can be used in a fashion similar to skeletons and zombies. (In other words, minor undead that aren’t mind-searingly terrifying in their level-draining devastation.)

As with the lycanthropic ghouls from yesterday, the ash wraiths use a combination of AD&D stat block and OD&D verbiage.

Frequency: Rare
No. Encountered: 3d10
Move: 12″
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 1+1
Attacks: 1d6
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: +1 or better weapon to hit
Magic Resistance: Not subject to fire-based attacks
% in Lair: 40%
Treasure Type: Nil
Intelligence: Low
Alignment: Neutral

Ash wraiths are born from the burnt remains of corpses. They are most often found haunting ruined crematoriums or lingering near the horrors of execution pyres, but there are also tales of woods being haunted by ash wraith animals for years or even decades after the devastation of forest fires.

Ash wraiths cannot properly be said to have any corporeal body, which makes them totally impervious to all normal weaponry (although they can be struck by all magical weapons). Their touch, however, retains the passionate heat of their deaths and is scalding to mortal flesh.