Monsters and Creatures - Jim Zub & Stacy King & Andrew Wheeler

by Dungeons

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  Keep watch from the crow’s nest. Dragon turtles may attack day or night. Watch for unnatural patterns of light on the water—that may mean a dragon turtle is close at hand.

  Be ready to bribe them. Your party might decide that a shiny bauble is less valuable than safe passage through a dragon turtle’s domain.

  Find a crew who knows the dangers of the sea. Before you book passage, talk with the ship’s crew to ensure they’re prepared for the risks that might lie ahead.

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  Don’t waste your arrows. A dragon turtle’s thick shell is impenetrable to all but the mightiest of magics. If you must attack with non-magical weapons, aim for the softer underbelly.

  Don’t think that a life raft will save you. Abandoning ship won’t be enough to save you from a dragon turtle, not if they think you’ve brought treasure with you on your escape.

  MERROW

  There are tribes of gentle merfolk living beneath the waves, peaceful communities that love to swim and play. The merrow are not those merfolk.

  Legend says a tribe of merfolk fell under the curse of an ancient artifact that bound them to Demogorgon, a diabolical being also known as the Prince of Demons (see this page). Ensnared by Demogorgon’s madness, the merfolk’s king conducted a ritual that opened a gateway to the Abyss, Demogorgon’s dark dimension.

  As a result, the merfolk were corrupted with madness and distorted into monstrous new forms, with sharklike teeth and terrible claws. They emerged from the Abyss as a new race of vicious predators who would attack ships, drown and devour sailors, and hoard treasures. They delight in spreading chaos and fear, which serves to feed the power of their demon lord.

  LAIR If you ever find a string of corpses threaded together beneath the sea, beware; you are at the boundary of a merrow lair. This ghoulish display warns adventurers not to try their luck raiding the deep-sea caves of the merrow, which are often rich with plundered loot and sunken treasures.

  SIZE Merrow grow to a length of about twelve feet, which is about as long as two terrified humans placed end to end as they desperately try to escape a merrow’s grasp.

  TOOTH AND CLAW The bite of a merrow can do a lot of damage, but the slash of its claws is even more dangerous. Here’s the really bad news: a merrow will often attack with both teeth and claws at once.

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  Stay alert at the water’s edge. Merrow can surge out of the sea in a flash.

  Watch each other’s backs in a merrow fight. Their skill at stealth means all members of your party need to protect one another or risk being hit with an unexpected attack.

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  Don’t stray into unknown waters alone. You never know what dangers may lurk beneath, so be sure to bring backup.

  Don’t play with strange artifacts. If you don’t know what something does, don’t play with it—unless you want to wind up as cursed as the merrow.

  MOUNTAIN PEAKS & OPEN SKY

  In the skies above us, monsters make their homes at the top of mountains, soaring through the air or floating just out of reach. These flying creatures can assault their targets from above or swoop down and strike when least expected. The sky is their playground and they know how to use it to their advantage.

  A battle in flight can be more dangerous than almost any other. Not only can attacks come from any side at any time, but losing means falling from incredible heights to crash down upon the ground. The denizens who make the air their home can be vicious against those who wish to visit their domain. Are you ready to fly?

  GRIFFON

  A horse can be an adventurer’s best friend when it comes to covering large distances in a short time and carrying plenty of weapons, supplies, or treasures with you. However, your best friend has its own worst enemy, as you’ll discover if you ever ride your horse into griffon territory.

  Griffons have the head, wings, and claws of an eagle, and the body and strength of a lion, all of which make them powerful and terrifying hunters. Their favorite prey? Horses. Griffons live in prides, like lions, and each pride is fiercely protective of its territory. Moving with the speed of an eagle, they can swoop down on you in a flash—and after they strike with the force of a lion, you may be finished off before you know what hit you. Of course, they’re usually more interested in your horse than they are in you.

  LAIR Griffons live on craggy mountains, where they build giant nests among the cracks and crevices. If you ever get a close look at a griffon’s nest, you might notice that it’s not just made of sticks and grass; it may also be made of the bones of their prey. Oh, and if you’re that close to a griffon’s nest, you’re probably next on the menu.

  SIZE Though they have the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, griffons are a little bigger than lions and a lot bigger than eagles. Even the most powerful stallion might be no match for a griffon’s claws and beak.

  RIDING A GRIFFON A fully grown wild griffon will never let you ride it and will likely tear you to pieces if you try.

  However, if you find a griffon’s egg and raise a griffon from a hatchling, you might be able to train it to be your loyal steed, and a griffon will serve you extremely well in battle. If you don’t know how to train a griffon, it will probably tear you to pieces.

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  Ride in disguise. Buy some camouflage for your horse before entering griffon territory to avoid attacks.

  Jump off if a griffon grabs your horse. The beast will hold on to its prey and let you escape.

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  Don’t rush in at full gallop. You hear clattering hooves, but a griffon hears the ringing of a dinner bell.

  Don’t steal their eggs! The idea of a raised-from-birth griffon mount sounds great now, but it won’t be as much fun when mamma griffon comes after her baby.

  Don’t mistake a griffon’s cry for an eagle’s. The griffon’s cry is much deeper and louder—and getting it wrong could be deadly!

  PEGASUS

  The wild and wondrous pegasus is a rare sight for any adventurer to behold. While ordinary horses are an everyday encounter for many, you could live a hundred years and never see a single one of these winged wonders, both because pegasi are so uncommon and because they prefer to keep their distance from others.

  According to legend, pegasi originate from another plane of reality, a realm of stunning beauty protected by elflike beings. The rulers of this realm ride the flying beasts as their steeds. Sometimes pegasi travel through into the ordinary world, perhaps to come to the aid of those who truly need their help.

  Pegasi retain the wild nature and otherworldly majesty of their home realm. All pegasi are white as snow, but their wings and their coloration are not the only things that mark them apart from ordinary horses. They’re also much smarter, which is why they keep their distance from the dangerous worlds of men and monsters.

  LAIR Pegasi spend most of their time in the air, their wings never tiring. They typically only set down on the ground to eat or drink. When they do so, it’s often in remote locations where there’s no one else around.

  SIZE Pegasi come in the same variety of sizes as regular horses, but with one big difference—wings. Pegasus wings can extend to a span of about twenty feet, which is about the width of a townhouse!

  RIDING A PEGASUS Pegasi are as intelligent as many humanoid races, which means they can’t be broken and tamed like ordinary horses. The only way you’ll get to ride a pegasus is if they let you, which means building a bond of trust first. Pegasi have a strong sense of right and wrong, and they’ll only trust you if they sense that you’re a good person.

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  Approach slowly and with respect. These clever creatures are quick to flee from those they do not trust.

  Treat pegasi as your equals. They’re as smart as any human and will not tolerate being treate
d as simple beasts of the field.

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  Don’t try to tame a pegasus. They will resist.

  Don’t try to sneak up on them. They will fly away in a hurry.

  Don’t feed them too many sugar cubes. Sugar is bad for their teeth—and for yours!

  DRAGONS

  In worlds of fantasy and adventure, stories are told about the most famous of magical creatures—dragons! Sometimes called wyrms, these are dangerous winged reptiles who covet treasure and slay any who cross their paths. They are spoken of in whispers by common townsfolk, and legends are told of those who battled them and lived. A young dragon can terrify a village, while an ancient wyrm can lay waste to an entire army.

  Evil dragons are chromatic—white, green, black, blue, and red. Each has different abilities and breath weapons, and uses a different environment as a lair. If you seek a reputation as a slayer of dragons, understanding these differences might save your life.

  The size and power of a dragon depends on its age, which also determines its danger level. Wyrmlings are baby dragons, younger than 5 years, who are as tall as a human and quite vulnerable. Young dragons are 6 to 100 years old and between eight and sixteen feet tall. An adult dragon is 101 to 800 years old and between sixteen and thirty-two feet tall. Ancient dragons are older than 800 years. These gargantuan terrors are more than thirty-two feet tall, and some can reach forty feet or larger.

  All adult dragons can beat their wings so powerfully that they create gusts of wind to knock over targets. They also have powerful jaws that can rend flesh and bone, as well as incredibly sharp claws that are able to pierce non-magical armor with ease. Larger dragons can swing their tails like massive prehensile clubs, battering foes to the ground. And older dragons generate a supernatural fear that can terrify their opponents just by being near them.

  WHITE DRAGON

  White dragons might be the smallest, least intelligent, and most primitive of the evil chromatic dragon types, but don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re easy to defeat. Driven by hunger and greed, they are viciously cruel reptiles who live in cold climates.

  These pale dragons may not have the same level of tactics and cunning as their more intelligent cousins, but their animalistic nature makes them skilled hunters. Once they decide on a target, white dragons stay incredibly focused on their prey, letting nothing get in the way of the kill.

  LAIR White dragons live in icy caves and deep subterranean chambers far from the light of the sun. They love vertical heights in their caverns and will sometimes fly up and latch on to the ceiling like huge bats. Older white dragons naturally give off magic that lowers the temperature around them, leeching heat from the surrounding area.

  White dragons eat only frozen food. They use their devastating ice-breath attack to flash-freeze victims, then store their prey inside their icy lairs to serve as snacks when they’re hungry.

  SPECIAL POWERS

  COLD BREATH

  These cold-hearted dragons can exhale a terrifying icy blast that can tear a target apart with chunks of ice or freeze them solid.

  ICE WALK

  White dragons can walk across ice and snow without slipping or getting stuck.

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  Stay warm. White dragons will try to slow you down by chilling you to the bone or freezing you solid. Make sure to dress warmly when hunting these frosty foes.

  Watch your step! With ice and snow everywhere in a white dragon’s lair, it’s easy to slip and lose your footing.

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  Don’t tell them your name. White dragons are the most vengeful of all chromatic dragons. They never forget a face and can carry a grudge for as long as they live. If you tick off a white dragon, it’ll come after you looking for revenge!

  Don’t underestimate them. They may be less intelligent than other chromatic dragons, but they’re still incredibly dangerous!

  GREEN DRAGON

  Green dragons are the most cunning and treacherous of all the evil chromatic dragons. They’re nasty tempered and aggressive, eager to take territory and show off their power. They have long necks and legs, so they easily step over underbrush in forests and poke their heads up through the trees while keeping all four feet on the ground.

  Intelligent and cruel, green dragons enjoy hunting and proving their superiority. If a target is weak, they’ll happily torment their prey, holding off on the final kill until they’ve had their fun. Green dragons will eat any creature they kill, but their absolute favorite meal is elves, fresh and choking on poison from the dragon’s toxic-breath attack.

  LAIR Green dragons lurk in old forests and, over time, their presence will bring a disgusting-smelling fog to the area. They look for caves to turn into lairs, and some even dig out their own and then cover the entrance with thick vegetation.

  SPECIAL POWERS

  POISON BREATH

  These stinky dragons can exhale a grotesque cloud of green gas that makes creatures ill and causes them to choke as they gasp for air.

  AMPHIBIOUS

  Green dragons can breathe underwater, and some of them hunt by springing up from hiding places beneath the surface of lakes or large ponds.

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  Use your nose. Look out for smelly fog when traveling in a forest. It’s a clear sign that a green dragon may be lurking nearby.

  Watch out from all directions. Green dragons can attack from the air above the tree line or by quickly slipping through the forest to strike. They’re built to use the trees to their advantage.

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  Don’t get poisoned. As soon as you see a green dragon start to inhale, cover your face with a cloak or other material and try to get out of the way of its poison breath. The choking, stinging fog will obscure your sight and leave you open to attack!

  Don’t underestimate them! If a green dragon thinks it’s going to lose a fight, it will quickly surrender and may even act helpful, but it’s just looking for an opportunity to regain its advantage and destroy the heroes that brought it low.

  GREEN DRAGON

  Krydle pressed himself against the moss-covered tree and tried to stay still. If he moved, Goreedus the dragon would know he was there.

  Goreedus craned his long, scaled neck around the twisted branches, looking through the marshy forest for any sign of disturbance. The dragon’s piercing emerald eyes could see insects flitting in the stagnant air and tadpoles swimming perfect little circles in the water, but nothing else. No sign of the cloaked thief it detected mere moments ago.

  “Human…I know you are hiding…hoping I will leave you to carry on your pitiful life.”

  Krydle disagreed with the “pitiful” descriptor, but the rest was accurate.

  “In a few moments, I will breathe a cloud of poison that will make you choke and vomit, revealing your location. Then I will grab you with a clawed hand and rend you limb from limb.”

  That sounded quite unpleasant. Krydle’s nose furrowed.

  “If you step forth now and show yourself, I will ask you three questions and then grant you mercy. If you stay hidden, there is only death.”

  Krydle had seconds to decide: Reveal himself and hope for the best, or quietly take a deep breath and try not to ingest in any of the toxic fumes about to fill the air all around him?

  What should Krydle do? If he steps forward, does the dragon instantly attack or does it give him a chance to negotiate? What could Krydle even say to keep a dragon from eating him? On the other hand, if Krydle holds his breath, what happens when the dragon’s poison cloud lasts longer than he can manage without air? It’s up to you!

  BLACK DRAGON

  Black dragons are the most sadistic of all the evil chromatic dragons. They enjoy destruction, and revel in turning vibrant places into rotting holes of decay.

  Black dragons hate weakness and gleefull
y slay their most vulnerable enemies first, ensuring a quick and brutal victory. They cannot stand to be defeated or dominated, and would rather die than call someone else their “master.”

  LAIR You can find black dragons in rotting swamps or crumbling ruins, places that perfectly reflect their own destructive desires. Carrion eaters and insects tend to gather where black dragons live, cleaning the bones of the dragons’ many rotting victims.

  Over time, the land near a black dragon’s lair will grow thick with twisted plants and reeking mud. Any sources of water near the dragon’s lair will become corrupted and undrinkable, stained by the wyrm’s foul presence.

  SPECIAL POWERS

  ACID BREATH

  These dragons can exhale a spray of burning acid, scorching anyone unlucky enough to be hit by it.

  AMPHIBIOUS

  Black dragons can breathe underwater, and some hunt by lying in wait beneath fetid and murky waters in large swamps.

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  Watch for ruins! Black dragons use ruins and swamps as their homes, so pay attention when exploring ancient places or marshlands.

  Protect your group. Black dragons will focus on adventurers who aren’t wearing armor, looking to exploit weakness. Make sure healers and magic-users are well protected, and keep armored combatants up front.

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  Don’t get burned! Protect exposed flesh from nasty acid burns. Wear a heavy cloak and be prepared to cover yourself if the creature unleashes its powerful breath attack.