Monster Lore

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Demonwracked Creature (Rejected) Lore
Circle of Darkness

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) can learn more about rejected. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
14 This oozing, misshapen wretch is a rejected, a kind of demonwracked creature. This result reveals all monstrous humanoid traits and the evil subtype.
21 A rejected is a mortal permanently transformed into the image of a lesser demon. In this case, however, the process seems to have failed, and this monster resembles no known fiend. This result reveals all demonwracked traits.
24 The stingers on a rejected’s tail deliver a paralytic poison.
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Demonwracked Creature (Shapeless) Lore
Circle of Darkness

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) can learn more about shapeless. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
15 This malformed humanoid with malleable flesh is a shapeless, a kind of demonwracked creature This result reveals all monstrous humanoid traits and the evil subtype.
20 A shapeless is a mortal permanently transformed into the image of a lesser demon called a rutterkin. This result reveals all demonwracked traits.
25 A shapeless can wield weapons or slash at foes with its claws. A shapeless secretes a fear-inducing contact poison through its skin, which affects any creature that touches the shapeless or is struck by its claws.
30 A shapeless can use telekinesis three times per day as a spell-like ability.
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Ermordenung Lore
Denizens of Dread

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (local) can learn more about ermordenung. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
18 This pale, statuesque individual is an ermordenung, a courier and confidante to Ivana Boristi hand-picked for his or her tact, cold beauty, and utter loyalty. This result reveals all humanoid traits.
23 Ermordenung are master poisoners, capable of delivering lethal contact poisons with just a touch. Due to their extensive exposure to poisons, they are highly resistant to being poisoned themselves.
28 Ermordenung are actually lethally poisonous to the touch. They cannot suppress this ability. They are immune to all poisons save the touch of another ermordenung. All ermordenung have pale skin and pitch-black hair.
33 Ermordenung have been permanently transformed from normal folk by Ivana Boristi, who alone holds the power of their creation. All ermordenung serve as her minions.
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Fenhound Lore
Denizens of Dread

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Ravenloft) can learn more about fenhounds. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
15 This softly glowing mastiff is a fenhound, a creature that only appears on nights of the full moon. This result reveals all outsider traits.
20 Fenhounds relentlessly track their prey across the swamps they call home. A fenhound can always follow its quarry’s trail. Fenhounds attack with their fearsome bite, usually dragging victims to the ground in the process.
25 A fenhound’s shimmering aura is concentrated moonlight. It protects the fenhound from physical harm and helps it resist most magic. A fenhound cannot be harmed by light-based magic or divine magic dedicated to the sun, moon, or revenge. However, magic weapons can still pierce a fenhound’s supernatural defenses.
30 A fenhound can strike fear in the hearts of its foes simply by baying at the moon. If a fenhound’s moonlight aura is suppressed (perhaps in an antimagic shell), it loses most of its supernatural defenses.
35 Despite its fearsome demeanor, a fenhound is a force of good. Fenhounds appear only when someone commits an evil deed within their moors, and relentlessly hunt the villain. If a fenhound is slain, two more take its place on the following full moon. The only way to permanently escape a fenhound hunt is to fully atone for one’s crimes.
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Akikage Lore
Denizens of Darkness

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about akikage. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
17 This misty figure is an akikage, also known as a shadow assassin. This result reveals all undead traits and the incorporeal subtype. Akikage never speak.
22 An akikage is the spirit of an assassin that died during an unsuccessful attempt at killing a specific target. Akikage are obsessed with completing their final mission, and attack with their chilling touch. Akikage may appear to be armed, but this is just part of the spirit’s manifestation.
27 An akikage is usually invisible, turning visible only after it attacks. An akikage retains some of the killing arts it had mastered in life, including the ability to make sneak attacks.
32 Normal animals panic in the presence of an akikage, even when it is invisible. If an akikage appears and begins to draw shadowy vapors toward itself, it is gathering its ki in order to make a deadly strike. Unless the akikage is interrupted, the spirit’s next attack will burn with an unearthly cold that may even freeze its victim’s heart into a solid block of ice.
37 Several varieties of akikage exist, including the more versatile greater akikage (a type of ghost) and the ansasshia, an akikage tasked to serve a specific, living master.
42 This result reveals the methods for binding an akikage into one’s service as an ansasshia.
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Impersonator Lore
Denizens of Dread

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (dungeoneering) can learn more about impersonators. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
15 This amorphous mass is an impersonator, a bizarre form of ooze that possesses a rudiementary intelligence. This result reveals all ooze traits and the shapechanger subtype.
20 Impersonators attack by flowing around unsuspecting creatures. An impersonator secretes a toxin that paralyzes on contact, leaving the victim helpless.
25 Impersonators feed on blood, which they siphon from their helpless victims. An impersonator’s paralytic toxin also has anesthetic properties, so a sleeping creature may have no idea that it is being fed upon, sensing only a deepening chill.
30 An impersonator can mimic the form and memories of any Small or Medium creature from which it has recently fed.
35 While borrowing a creature’s identity, an impersonator is not consciously aware of its true nature, making its masquerade even more effective. However, its transformation is merely skin deep, so it has no internal structures and retains all the advantages of its ooze traits.
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Maddening Flea Lore
Adam's Wrath, RLMC III (as Fleas of Madness)

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (dungeoneering) can learn more about maddening fleas. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
10 This barely perceptible insect is a maddening flea, an otherwise normal parasite that spreads a supernatural disease with its bite. This result reveals all vermin traits.
15 A victim that succumbs to the infection spread by a maddening flea begins to feel giddy within moments. Mere moments after that, the victim succumbs to a euphoric fit, either laughing or dancing uncontrollably. Remove disease can cure the maddening infection.
20 Victims who succumb to euphoria also suffer longer-lasting symptoms of the disease, which take the form of strange delusions and encroaching madness. Left unchecked, the delirium can reduce an individual to the state of a lost one.
25 Like normal fleas, maddening fleas usually lay their eggs in the fall, then die out come winter. Sometimes, however, they may be carried inside warm structures, which they can infest throughout the colder months. Maddening fleas are so small that they simply crawl under armor, ignoring its protection.
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Crypt Cat Lore
Denizens of Dread

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about crypt cats. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
12 This desiccated feline is a crypt cat, an animal ritualistically prepared to serve as a guardian in the afterlife. This result reveals all deathless traits.
17 A crypt cat attacks much like a living cat would, by biting and scratching with its claws. Wounds dealt by a crypt cat tend to fester, preventing them from healing properly. Only heal, remove disease, or similar magic can cure the infection.
22 A crypt cat is nearly skeletal. Because of this, it is immune to cold, and slashing and piercing weapons tend to skitter off its bones. Bludgeoning weapons are fully effective, however.
27 Crypt cats invariably serve a greater master, which is usually a more powerful ancient dead not unlike themselves.
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Here's an update of an obscure creature:

Soul Kraken Lore
Neither Man Nor Beast

Characters with bardic knowledge or ranks in Knowledge (arcana) can learn more about soul krakens. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
19 This massive squid-like creature is a soul kraken, a distant relative of the true kraken easily distinguished by the skulls and rotting heads skewered onto the end of its tentacles. This result reveals all magical beast traits and the aquatic subtype.
24 Soul krakens often attack during sudden storms. They can reach onboard a ship to snatch up sailors with their long tentacles, pulling them down into the water to drown or be devoured. Soul krakens devour both the flesh and the spirits of their victims. They sink ships to use as their lairs.
29 If a soul kraken gets its clutches on a helpless sailor, it can rip the hapless victim’s head off with one violent motion. A soul kraken may retreat if its foes manage to sever several of its tentacles. A retreating soul kraken can propel itself through the water at high speeds and mask its escape with a cloud of black ink.
34 Soul krakens are highly intelligent and can see, hear, and even speak through the rotting heads mounted on the tips of their tentacles. Beware a soul kraken with skulls on the end of its tentacles — the beast will want fresher replacements.
39 It’s no coincidence that soul krakens attack during storms. They can control the winds and waves, often driving ships onto rocky shoals just before launching a sudden attack.

(Fun fact: In 2E, the soul kraken turns out to be one of many, many Ravenloft monsters -- such as pyre elementals and evil treants -- that are mechanically identical to the common MM versions, once you actually compare stats. My 3E update is a CR 9 Huge magical beast, based on the MM kraken, with a few new abilities.)
Last edited by Mangrum on Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:06 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Furies Lore
Denizens of Dread

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Ravenloft) can learn more about the Furies. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
23 These hideous, batwinged bird women are the Furies, a trio of fiendish harpies who exist to snuff out the flickers of redemption in a heart turned black by sin. This result reveals all outsider traits and the evil, lawful, native and Mists subtypes.
28 When the Furies detect a black-hearted villain’s desire to redeem himself, they appear to him three times to lead him astray. If a villain resists all three visits, the Furies will never appear to him again. They can take the form of old women, and each one carries a magic scourge. A Fury’s breath carries the nauseating stench of rotten flesh, which she can use as a breath weapon.
33 On their first visit, the Fures simply try to talk the villain back onto the path of damnation, turning him against his allies. The Furies have potent supernatural defenses, but good-aligned weapons remain particularly effective against them. The three Furies always appear to together and coordinate their attacks. A Fury’s scourge lashes a foe’s spirit as much as his flesh.
38 On their second visit, the Furies resort to threats, listing the villain’s crimes and declaring that his soul will never be cleansed. Of the three sisters, Alecto the Implacable is a powerful divine spellcaster. Megarea the Disputatious wields mighty sorcerous powers, and Tisiphone the Avenger is a fearsome warrior. The Furies are immune to paralysis, polymorph, and mind-influencing effects. The attacks of creatures whose souls are utterly untouched by sin are just as effective against Furies as blessed weapons.
43 On their final visit, the Furies reveal their true forms and attempt to destroy (and devour) the villain. If a single Fury is destroyed, she boils away as black smoke, but will eventually return. A mortal slain by the Furies can never be restored to life; all attempts automatically result in undeath at best. Although they are not undead, so foul are the Furies that concentrated positive energy burns them.
48 To permanently destroy the Furies, all three must be slain on the same day, and the killing blows must be delivered by foes whose spirits are completely pure. A Fury cannot bring herself to permanently harm any good-hearted creature.
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Bakhna Rakhna Lore
Denizens of Dread

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (local) can learn more about bakhna rakhna. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
11 This ugly, ashen humanoid is a bakhna rakhna, a breed of albino goblin. They also also known as ghost people. This result reveals all humanoid traits and the goblinoid subtype. Bakhna rakhna speak Goblin, though some may also learn Sylvan or a local language.
16 Like most other goblinoids, bakhna rakhna are nomadic scavengers that like to raid isolated farmsteads for food and supplies. They are cowardly creatures, and prefer to avoid combat. Bakhna rakhna are highly sensitive to light, and usually hide themselves in dark spaces during the hours of daylight.
21 If the civilized humanoids they raid resist the baknha rakhna’s thievery, these creatures quickly turn vindictive. A bakhna rakhna’s blood contains a paralytic toxin, which the ghost people use to coat their weapons.
26 A bakhna rakhna can phase door several times a day, and use this ability to slip past others’ defenses. Bakhna rakhna flee from serious resistance, but always return to collect their fallen.
Last edited by Mangrum on Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Goblin Beast Lore
Ravenloft Gazetteer V

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana) can learn more about goblin beasts. Characters may need to make separate Knowledge checks to learn about the base creature. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
14 This creature was been permanently warped by unnatural forces, transforming it into a goblin beast. This result reveals all magical beast traits.
19 Goblin beasts are to the beasts of the wild as calibans are to human kind. Their birth heralds the presence of supernatural evil, such as a witch. Goblyn beasts are stronger, smarter, and decidedly more malevolent than their natural kin. Fortunately, they are visibly warped as well.
24 Goblins have an unnatural affinity for goblin beasts, often using them as mounts or guardians. These fell creatures are often found together.
Last edited by Mangrum on Thu Nov 30, 2006 4:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Odem Lore
Denizens of Darkness

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about odems. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
15 This spirit is an odem, a ghostly force that craves nothing but senseless chaos and slaughter. This result reveals all undead traits and the incorporeal subtype.
20 Odems are naturally invisible. If somehow perceived, they appear only as faint tendrils of mist. An odem can sap the willpower of a living creature with its touch.
25 Odems can possess living creatures, taking total control of the victim’s body like a puppet master. An odem in a living body ignores the pain its host feels, making the possessed creature immune to most nonlethal attacks.
30 Animals panic in the presence of an odem, regardless of its form. An odem is completely unharmed by damage dealt to a possessed host, but killing the host expels the odem. The host’s mind remains aware of its surroundings, but has no control over its own body. An odem cannot be turned while possessing a living host.
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Will-o’-Dawn Lore
Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium III

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana) can learn more about will-o-dawns. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs. The DC is unusually high due to the rarity of these creatures and their similarity to more common will-o’-wisps.

DC Result
21 This floating, glowing orb resembles a creature called a will-o’-wisp, but is actually a close cousin called a will-o’-dawn. This result reveals all aberration traits and the air subtype.
24 Will-o’-dawns appear only at daybreak. They can fly with remarkable agility. They are completely immune to most spells or spell-like effects.. Unlike other will-o’-wisps, will-o’-dawns are benevolent creatures that try to help lost wanders find their way back to safety. If it must defend itself, a will-o’-dawn uses its color spray and hypnotic pattern spell-like abilities to confuse its foes.
29 When startled or frightened, a will-o’-dawn can extinguish its glow, effectively turning it invisible. Although immune to most spells or spell-like effects, they are highly vulnerable to magical darkness.
34 Other varieties of will-o’-wisp exist. Although their abilities are similar, these creatures — such as the will-o’-deep and will-o’- sea — have adapted to specialized environments.
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Arayashka Lore
Denizens of Dread

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about arayashka. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
15 This icy, vaporous form is a snow wraith, also known as an arayashka. This result reveals all undead traits and the cold and incorporeal subtypes.
20 Snow wraiths appear only during intense blizzards like those in which they died. An arayashka’s unearthly senses are unhindered by snowfall, even in complete whiteout conditions.
25 A snow wraith can slowly drain the heat from a nearby source, such as a campfire or a living creature. These spirits often try to extinguish warming flames or freeze victims to death while remaining hidden by the blizzard’s snows a few paces away.
30 A snow wraith’s touch is bitterly cold, causing victims to grow numb and weak. Victims slain by an arayashka’s touch rises as new snow wraiths the next time snow falls on their grave. Victims who survive a snow wraith’s touch can recover more quickly than normal by resting in sweltering heat, such as a sweat lodge.
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