Superstitions & Monsters

This post is something I've been working on to generate creatures that might haunt settlements in Egradus. Things of local legend that have been through so many permutations that their true forms have been lost and they now exist as persistent boogeymen ready to pounce from the periphery of civilisation.

Peasants are a superstitious lot. They hate and fear witches for hexing them, they hate and fear spirits for haunting them and they hate and fear their neighbours for their hateful and fearing ways. They wail as the frost kills their seedling crops and give offerings to their gods, even as they mutter that their gods are undeserving of such worship. Bad weather and hard times are the wrath of capricious beings made manifest; and there's some truth to all of the above. But belief empowers and fuels all things, not just the divine, and given enough time even imagined things can manifest in the material world.

Every town and village has their own legends - fables and parables to scare the children with, and sinister stories to frighten friends at the alehouse. Many of these stories have run for generations, with slight changes and alterations being woven into the fabric of the tale until, like Theseus' ship, the original subject of the story bears no resemblance to what is now told. In most cases this is harmless, but in some it can be a very, very bad thing indeed. For belief has the power to warp and change, and give life to things best left in storied pages or campfire whispers.

Credit, Bernardo Hasselmann

Below are several tables that you can use to roll up some creatures of folklore and legend when you need something that plagues a particular town or region. Not all will be evil or hostile - many legends feature wise and benevolent beings - but fearful people produce things to fear. With enough belief and outright worship you end up with a god, but lesser amounts built up over the years lead to these lingering presences on the periphery of reality.

Such is their hold in a town of village's memory that some of these beings are able to return centuries after being slain, though the ever changing nature of the tales that spawn them give rise to the question of whether they are truly the same being or some similar apparition conjured from the fevered imaginations of the fearful, warped and twisted by the changes forced upon them through wild stories and folk tales.

Start with the base states below and note down the relevant rolls that affect the creature's stats, powers, strengths and vulnerabilities.. The below assumes the use of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess ruleset.

Base Creature Stats

AC: 14; HD: 4; Attacks: 1 attack with +2 to hit, 1d6 damage; Move: 30', Save As: 4th level Fighter; Morale: 10.

It appeared...

1. During a terrible drought...
2. In the middle of a bitter and dark winter...
3. When plague and pestilence ravaged the land...
4. In the midst of a terrible war...
5. While we were in mourning for our lord...
6. When those fools returned from the ruins with that damned idol...
7. From the waters during the worst flood in memory...
8. As a terrible hurricane upturned the country...
9. With the lightning wrath of the heavens as they rained upon the land...
10. From a rent in the ground when the earthquake struck...
11. After the twin-tailed comet lit up the sky...
12. From the caves exposed after the mudslide had ended...
13. When the eclipse blotted out the sun...
14. As the moon loomed blood red in the night sky...
15. From the mists as they crept across the hills for days...
16. During the terrible wildfires years ago...
17. After the crops failed and the animals sickened...
18. After a bountiful autumn harvest...
19. In the wake of the king's wedding...
20. After [hated person] offended [powerful being]...

And at first it...

1. Stalked us through the woods, whispering with a hundred voices.
2. Sat in the square and watched us without blinking.
3. Branded every tenth house with its mark.
4. Screamed with the voices of the dead all through the night.
5. Hid out of sight while piping strange music.
6. Drove out the bandits who had so menaced us!
7. Capered madly around the village boundary with shrill giggles.
8. Stood over a different bed each night, absolutely silent.
9. Made flower garlands for the children.
10. Ate all of the cats and rats.
11. Erected standing stones in the fields and engraved them with weird runes.
12. Toppled trees and built a huge fire, upon which it cooked and ate a bear.
13. Seeded strange, humming crops around the village.
14. Conspired with the crows and wolves.
15. Dug deep into the ground.
16. Left grisly totems on the treeline.
17. Scattered silver coins from the temple roof.
18. Dove into the river and lurked under the bridge.
19. Spun itself a cocoon of glowing silk.
20. Left gifts on each doorstep.

But then it...

1. Fell upon us like a savage, starving beast!
2. Started a great conflagration in the town!
3. Turned the river to blood and drowned folk in it!
4. Stole the children away into the woods!
5. Demanded we serve it as lord of the land!
6. Stole the alderman's strongbox and fled with his daughter!
7. Unleashed a swarm of insects upon the fields!
8. Hunted down those who went into the woods, one by one!
9. Bewitched the town for days wand toyed with us like puppets!
10. Laid a thick mist on the town and brought our nightmares to life!
11. Devoured all of the food and drink that we had!
12. Forced us to debase ourselves before it and bring it sacrifices!
13. Pulled folk into the earth at random and entombed them!
14. Began tearing down houses!
15. Spread sickness through the village!
16. Ground the miller's family into bread and forced us to eat it!
17. Burned a host of people in a great fire!
18. Tied people up and hung them from trees!
19. Set kin against kin and friend against friend, revelling in the chaos it wrought!
20. Demanded every 10 of us draw lots, those who lost were eaten!

Credit, Eugene Korolev

It was...

1. Tiny... - HD-2; AC+4.
2. The size of a child...- HD-1; AC+2.
3. The size of a man... - N/A.
4. Huge... - HD+2.

And it had the shape of a(n)...

1. Man!
2. Farm beast! 1d4: 1. Ox, 2. Sheep, 3. Horse, 4. Pig.
3. Lion!
4. Bird of prey!
5. Deer!
6. Eel!
7. Octopus!
8. Insect! 1d4: 1. Ant, 2. Beetle, 3. Wasp, 4. Moth.
9. Crab!
10. Wolf!
11. Songbird!
12. Serpent!
13. Crocodile!
14. Spider!
15. Bear!
16. Goat!
17. Fish!
18. Fox!
19. Boar!
20. Rat!

It walked on...

1. 1d6 stalk legs ending in great talons... (Can attack from 10' away)
2. Countless rippling millipede legs...
3. A slimy snail's foot... (Can move up walls and on ceilings)
4. A slithering serpentine belly... (Move 40')
5. Two powerful, backwards jointed legs with wolf feet... (Can leap 40')
6. 1d8 skittering spider legs... (Can move up walls and on ceilings)
7. A veil of shadows that glided over the ground... (Fly 30')
8. Two stout legs, like a man...
9. 1d10 chitinous legs with many joints... (Move 40')
10. 1d6 whiplike legs that lashed out with hooked feet... (Gain 10' ranged attack with +2 to hit for 1d6 damage)
11. A mass of pseudopods... (Move 20')
12. 1d6 skeletal bird legs...
13. 1d4 rotting horse legs...
14. Nothing... it simply floated along... (Fly 30')
15. 1d8 scrabbling rodent legs... (Can tunnel 20' per round as a movement action)
16. 1d12 pillars of  scorching flame... (Adjacent enemies must Save vs Breath or take 1d6 damage with a 1 in 6 chance to set on fire)
17. 1d4 scaled, reptilian legs...
18. 1d6 legs of jointed, grinding stone... (Move 10')
19. A sphere of shimmering metal that rolled and bounced beneath it... (Move 30' in a random direction)
20. Four sculpted legs of living metal... (AC+2)

And for arms it had...

1. 1d20 pale arms that writhed from its back like serpents. (Target must Save vs Paralysis on a successful attack or be grabbed)
2. A huge crustacean claw for one arm, and a slender human arm for the other. (Rends metal armour, two hits will cause it to break)
3. A hooked bone claw on one side, and a host of writhing tentacles on the other. (1d8 damage)
4. 1d4 mantis-like bladed limbs. (2 attacks)
5. 1d6 hirsute trunks ending in three, thick fingers. (1d8 damage)
6. Three skeletal limbs ending in fingers with four joints.
7. 1d4 tentacles that erupted from its torso.
8. A pair of delicate human arms with finely manicured nails. (1d2 damage).
9. 1d10 barbed and hooked limbs that ended in grasping claws. (Target must Save vs Paralysis on a successful attack or be grabbed)
10. Three mighty arms covered in hard, glittering scales. (AC+2)
11. A misshapen arm, swollen with muscle, on one side and a withered, blackened arm on the other.
12. 1d6 serpents with tiny fingers instead of teeth.
13. 1d100 filthy, wet pseudopods that roiled into and out of each other like a sea of maggots. (Target must Save vs Poison on a successful hit or be infected with a random disease)
14. 1d8 deer legs ending in spasmodically grasping talons. (2 attacks)
15. 1d4 scaled, reptilian limbs streaked with bright colours.
16. Two great bat wings that ended in claws. (Fly 60')
17. Four iridescent feathered limbs that ended in scything blades. (4 attacks)
18. 1d6 furred limbs whose fingers had viciously sharp claws. (Successful attacks cause target to bleed, taking 1 damage per round until treated)
19. 1d10 many jointed limbs ending in wailing human and animal heads. (1d4 damage but target must Save vs Breath weapon on a hit or be stunned for 1 round by the yammering screams)
20. Five muscular arms each ending in two hands. Instead of fingers each hand has 5 hooves. (5 attacks, 1d4 damage)

Atop its shoulders sat...

1. A stone obelisk with a glistening red eye...
2. Two human heads, constantly arguing and biting at each other...
3. A four-eyed goat's head with erratically sprouting horns...
4. A Swan-like neck with a snapping reptilian maw...
5. A veiled face that was impossible to see...
6. A churning mass of flesh that sprouted eyes, mouths and ears at random. The nose remained constant...
7. A writing mass of slime in the shape of a head...
8. An armoured helm, pitted with rust...
9. The head of a spider with eight human eyes...
10. A human face with no features except two oversized, drooping ears...
11. A blazing white light, as bright as the sun...
12. The face of my mother...
13. A wolf's head with milky white eyes...
14. A hairy insectoid head with a long, needle proboscis and glittering compound eyes...
15. The head of a brutish humanoid daubed in chalky paint with jagged, sharp teeth...
16. A glistening cephalopod head with a pair of yellow eyes, wreathed in tentacles...
17. A single, beautiful glyph that shimmered and danced...
18. An ever changing, ever shifting face whose flesh danced and squirmed...
19. An enormous, fanged maw with two tiny eyes where the jaws met...
20. A burnished bronze mask with six eye- and two mouth-slits...

And its body...

1. Was rotten and spoiled, like a ripened fruit.
2. Was covered in bright colours and patterns.
3. Was covered in moss and lichen.
4. Was infested with maggots and carrion insects.
5. Dripped with slime and ooze.
6. Was covered in thick, matted fur.
7. Was covered in gleaming scales.
8. Glowed with an inner light.
9. Gleamed with a metallic sheen.
10. Was coated with sweet smelling unguents.
11. Was cracked and marbled, like polished stone.
12. Oozed blood and pus from its pores.
13. Was desiccated and shrivelled.
14. Was swollen and distended.
15. Was covered in bright feathers.
16. Was charred and ashen.
17. Was wreathed in vines and branches.
18. Sprouted mushrooms and fungi of lurid colours.
19. Spewed filth and corruption from every orifice.
20. Was frostbitten and covered in ice crystals.

We couldn't stop it because...

1. It had mighty sorcerous powers! (Creature has the powers of an equivalent level Magic-User)
2. It could shatter stone with its blows! (Attacks do +4 damage)
3. It was covered in plates of bone and chitin! (Armour as Plate, or +2 if already equivalent)
4. It shimmered into nothingness! (Special: Creature can go invisible for HD minutes per day as a free action)
5. It just. Wouldn't. Die! (+4 HD)
6. Its gaze turned you to stone! (Special: Creature can focus on a visible target as a full action. Target must Save vs Paralysis or be petrified)
7. It breathed noxious vapours that choked the life from us! (Special: Gain a breath weapon attack with a 50' cone range. All targets in the area of effect must Save vs Poison or die)
8. It wreathed itself in flames when we approached! (Special: Creature can surround itself with magical flames for HD minutes per day as a free action)
9. It commanded wild beasts to attack us! (Special: Creature can charm animals HD times per day as a free action)
10. Its gaze pinned you in place! (Special: Creature can cast Hold Person HD times per day as a free action)
11. It was just too fast for us! (Special: Creature is permanently under the effects of Haste)
12. It sang to our kin and turned them against us! (Special: Creature can cast Charm Person HD times per day as a free action)
13. It leapt from shadow to shadow before cutting us down! (Special: Creature treats all shadows it can see as adjacent for movement purposes)
14. Every blow we struck was healed within moments! (Special: Creature regenerates 1d6hp per round)
15. It blinded us with a burning light! (Special: Creature can strobe pulses of light HD times per day as a full action. All sighted creatures within 100' must Save vs Breath or be blinded for 1d6 rounds)
16. It wielded a terrible sword with a razor edge! (Gain 1 sword attack for 1d12+2 damage)
17. It sprouted vicious barbs and quills whenever we got close! (Anyone who deals damage to the creature in melee suffers 1d6 damage)
18. It spat burning acid at us! (Gain 1 ranged acid attack for 1d6+2 damage, acid will continue to burn for 3 rounds unless washed off dealing 3, then 2, then 1 damage per round)
19. It divided and multiplied with chaotic abandon! (Special: Creature can divide itself into 2 smaller copies at will, each with 50% of the creature's original HD rounded down. Each copy can also divide, provided that the remaining copies have at least 1 HD)
20. Our blows passed straight through it! (Creature is ethereal and can only be damaged by magic & magic weapons)

Credit, John Torres

But we were saved by...

1. A bold knight in shining plate on a mighty warhorse...
2. A cunning rogue who struck from the shadows...
3. A master of the arcane who wielded mighty magicks...
4. A servant of the divine who bore the wrath of a god...
5. A savage barbarian warrior of immense strength...
6. A heathen witch, cloaked in darkness...
7. A loyal and noble servant of the king himself...
8. One of our own, touched by prophecy...
9. A savage druid who drove a hard bargain with us...
10. A band of brave adventurers, many who fell in the process...
11. A hardened band of mercenaries who demanded payment in gold...
12. A white-haired warrior wearing a wolf's head amulet...
13. A sorceress from foreign lands...
14. A gang of tricksters and thieves...
15. A brave priest, armed with holy water and a symbol of the divine...
16. A single, staggeringly drunk man...
17. A troupe of masked elves who spoke in rhymes...
18. A pack of squabbling goblins...
19. A hooded ranger who roamed the woods...
20. A divine angel, who glowed with sacred light...

When they...

1. Lashed the beast with burning brands! (Creature is vulnerable to and takes double damage from fire)
2. Doused the creature with holy water! (Creature takes 1d12 damage when splashed with a vial of holy water)
3. Hurled a silver-tipped spear clean through it! (Creature's AC is reduced to 12 against silver weapons)
4. Beat it with a mighty cudgel! (Creature takes double damage from crushing weapons)
5. Choked it with rowan smoke! (Creature must Save vs Breath every round when exposed to the smoke of burning rowan or do nothing but cough and splutter)
6. Showed the beast its own terrible reflection! (Creature must Save vs Paralysis when exposed to its own image or it will flee in terror)
7. Bound it with sorcery and banished it from here! (Creature's Save vs Magic is rolled with disadvantage)
8. Chopped its head clean off! (PC's may declare they are attempting to behead the creature. A natural 20 is needed to succeed. If successful the creature is beheaded and killed instantly, otherwise the attack has no effect)
9. Impaled it on a lance from a charging horse! (Creature takes triple damage when hit by a charge from a mounted opponent)
10. Warded it off with patterns drawn in salt! (Creature will not willingly cross lines of salt and takes 1d8 damage if forced to)
11. Tied it up with a magic rope and threw it in the river! (Creature cannot break enchanted or blessed ropes and chains)
12. Blasted it with magic and sorcery! (Creature takes double damage from magic)
13. Played a soothing melody and lulled it to sleep! (Creature must Save vs Magic Device every round that a musical instrument is played in a soothing way or they fall asleep)
14. Shot it full of arrows! (Creature has AC-2 vs ranged attacks)
15. Scared it off with a terrifying war cry! (Creature's morale is halved)
16. Fed it meat laced with a virulent poison! (Creature's Save vs Poison is rolled with disadvantage)
17. Ducked and weaved around it as they struck, their movements a blur! (Creature takes a -2 penalty on melee attacks)
18. Got the creature steaming drunk and dragged it out of town! (Creature must Save vs Poison or will compulsive drink any available alcohol until it passes out)
19. Tackled the creature down and dragged it out of town! (Creature applies no modifiers to grappling/wrestling checks)
20. Sliced it with 1,000 cuts! (Creature takes double damage from slashing weapons)

Credit, EA Howell

Examples

The Vermin Spider of Tanat

Rolls - D20: 1,12,13,14,15,4,17,7,15,20,2; D4: 2

It appeared during a terrible drought and at first it toppled trees and built a huge fire, upon which it cooked and ate a bear. But then it pulled folk into the earth at random and entombed them! It was the size of a child and it had the shape of a spider! It walked on six scrabbling rodent legs and for arms it had two mantis-like blades. Atop its shoulder sat a single beautiful, glyph that shimmered and danced and its body was covered in gleaming scales. We couldn't stop it because it blinded us with a burning light! But we were saved by a divine angel, who glowed with sacred light, when they doused the creature with holy water!

Creature stats: 

AC: 16; HD: 3; Attacks: 2 attacks with +2 to hit, 1d6 damage; Move: 30', Save As: 4th level Fighter; Morale: 10.

Special:

Creature can tunnel 20' per round as a movement action.

Creature can strobe pulses of light HD times per day as a full action. All sighted creatures within 100' must Save vs Breath or be blinded for 1d6 rounds.

Creature takes 1d12 damage when splashed with a vial of holy water.

---

The Vile Wyrm of Karabas

Rolls - D20: 18,13,16,13,7,17,1,19,7,4,3; D4: 4

It appeared after a bountiful autumn harvest and at first it seeded strange, humming crops around the village. But then it ground the miller's family into bread and forced us to eat it! It was huge and it had the shape of a crocodile! It walked on a veil of shadows that glided over the ground and for arms it had four iridescent feathered limbs that ended in scything blades. Atop its shoulders sat a stone obelisk with a glistening red eye and its body spewed filth and corruption from every orifice. We couldn't stop it because it breathed noxious vapours that choked the life from us! But we were saved by a servant of the divine who bore the wrath of a god when they hurled a silver-tipped spear clean through it!

Creature stats: 

AC: 14; HD: 6; Attacks: 4 attacks with +2 to hit, 1d6 damage; Move: Fly 30', Save As: 4th level Fighter; Morale: 10.

Special:

Gain a breath weapon attack with a 50' cone range. All targets in the area of effect must Save vs Poison or die.

Creature's AC is reduced to 12 against silver weapons.

---

The Gorgon Goat of Almasy

Rolls - D20: 7,4,9,16,12,16,12,15,6,6,4; D4: 4

It appeared from the waters during the worst flood in memory and at first it screamed with the voices of the dead all throughout the night. But then it bewitched the town for days and toyed with us like puppets. It was huge and it had the shape of a goat. It walked on three skeletal bird legs and for arms it had two great bat wings that ended in claws. Atop its shoulders sat the face of my mother and its body was covered in bright feathers. We couldn't stop it because its gaze turned you to stone! But we were saved by a heathen witch, cloaked in darkness, when they beat it with a mighty cudgel!

Creature stats: 

AC: 14; HD: 6; Attacks: 1 attack with +2 to hit, 1d6 damage; Move: Fly 60', Save As: 4th level Fighter; Morale: 10.

Special:

Creature can focus on a visible target as a full action. Target must Save vs Paralysis or be petrified.

Creature takes double damage from crushing weapons.