Monster Lore

Discussing all things Ravenloft
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Porcelain Lady Lore
Van Richten’s Guide to the Walking Dead

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

DC Result
15 The hard, white, cracked skin and frozen, emotionless face of this woman mark her as a porcelain lady, also known as an alabaster bride. These undead horrors are reputed to rise from the graves of women who bathed in the blood of others to preserve their youth and beauty. This result reveals all undead traits. Porcelain ladies understand the languages they knew in life, but cannot do more than murmur or whimper.

20 If a living creature meets the eyeless gaze of an alabaster bride, the bride draws a fine spray of the creature’s blood into her empty, bloody eye sockets.

25 A porcelain lady sometimes breaks off her attack to stand in place and weep a torrent of bloody tears. These tears stream down her body to form a pool around her feet, eventually spreading 10 paces in every direction. Living creatures that touch these toxic tears have their minds filled with nightmarish, confusing imagery.

30 Once per day, a porcelain lady can create haunting, spectral music to play from an invisible source up to 40 paces away. This music can enthrall living creatures, luring them toward its source — even if that means walking into obvious danger.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Ravyanatha Lore
Van Richten’s Guide to the Walking Dead

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about ravyanathas. If a character recognizes a ravyanatha’s nature, a Knowledge (arcana) check can reveal more. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (religion)
DC Result

23 This four-faced, blue-tinted warrior is a ravyanatha, a powerful undead minion found in Rajian mythology. This result reveals all undead traits.

28 A ravyanatha smashes foes with its incredibly powerful fists. Its four faces can see in all directions at once, so it cannot be flanked. Animals balk at the presence of a ravyanatha. They grow noticeably uneasy within a mile of a ravyanatha and flee if they come within twenty paces of one. A ravyanatha’s body is unnaturally tough, but magic weapons can pierce its defenses.

33 Ravyanathas deal massive damage to inanimate objects or structures and can quickly reduce a barrier to rubble. If a ravyanatha strikes a foe with both fists, it tears the creature’s flesh. The presence of a ravyanatha is often accompanied by lightning storms, but the creature has no direct control over this phenomenon.

38 Ravyanathas possess the supernatural ability to destroy magical barriers placed before them. Twice a day, a ravyanatha can fly into a berserker rage while in combat, similar to a barbarian.

Knowledge (arcana)
DC Result

28 This result reveals the method for creating a ravynatha.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Vassalich Lore
Ravenloft Gazetteer II

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (religion) can learn more about a creature’s vassalich nature. Characters need to make a separate Knowledge check 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. The DCs are unusually high due to the rarity of these creatures.

Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (religion)
DC Result

25 This nearly skeletal mage could be easily mistaken for a lich, a spellcaster who used foul magic to defy death. However, its relative lack of magical prowess indicates that it is merely a vassalich — a lesser undead spellcaster willingly enslaved to a lich master. This result reveals all undead traits.

30 A vassalich sacrifices much of its spellcasting mastery to obtain eternal life, and can restore its power only through the patronage of its lich master. A vassalich’s body is tough enough to deflect minor blows, but magic bludgeoning weapons can pierce its supernatural defenses. A vassalich’s touch flows with negative energy, slowing living creatures with its unnatural chill.

35 A vassalich is surrounded by a necromantic aura that slightly dims nearby light sources. Living creatures exposed to this aura may be frightened by its unnatural energies. A vassalich is resistant to turning, and is immune to cold, electricity, and mind-influencing effects. A vassalich cannot be polymorphed unless it wants to be.

40 A vassalich stores its life force in a magic container called a phylactery. This item is usually a small, but extremely valuable gem. If a vassalich is destroyed, its life force is drawn back into its phylactery. After recuperating for a week or two, the spirit re-emerges to occupy a nearby corpse, restoring the vassalich at full strength. You cannot permanently destroy a vassalich without also destroying its phylactery. A vassalich’s phylactery is usually kept in the bony clutches of the creature’s master..

Knowledge (arcana)
DC Result

30 This result reveals the process for creating a vassalich.

35 This result reveals the process by which a vassalich can become a true lich.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Alven (Carrot Top, Fire Flit) Lore
The Shadow Rift, Denizens of Dread, Van Richten’s Guide to the Shadow Fey (as Arak, Alven)

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

DC Result
13 This brightly colored sprite goes by many names, including fire flits, carrot tops, and night sprites. These Seelie fey are master gardeners, but they are never seen by day. This result reveals all fey traits. Fire flits speak Sylvan.

18 These sprites call themselves the alven. They are a form of shadow fey: spirits that call the Shadow Rift their home. Like all shadow fey, they burn to ash in sunlight. The best way to impress alven is to compliment their gardens or offer a gift of seeds. An alven simply ignores most attacks, but weapons forged of cold iron can pierce its defenses.

23 Never offer cut flowers to an alven; it’s an inexcusable offense. When alven dance through the air, the mystic patterns they trace can enthrall — even blind and deafen — mortal onlookers. Alven never lose their way in the wilds; they ask the plants themselves the way. An alven is immune to electricity and slightly resistant to spells.

28 Alven are minor innate drudic spellcasters. They can see invisible creatures and take the form of butterflies or bumblebees. Stone weapons simply pass right through them.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Fetch Lore
Carnival

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) can learn more about a creature’s fetch nature. Characters need to make a separate Knowledge check to learn about the reflected creature. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result
15 This ghastly spirit is a fetch, a malevolent reflection that seeks to steal the life of the creature it mirrors. This result reveals all outsider traits and the incorporeal subtype.

20 A fetch attacks by projecting itself from a visible mirror. A fetch focuses on attacking the creature it reflects, and is invisible to all other foes. It possesses all the abilities of the creature it reflects, and its attacks drain that creature’s life energy. A fetch casts no reflection, and while it is active, neither does the creature it mirrors.

25 As a fetch drains its duplicate’s life energy, it gradually materializes until it becomes fully corporeal. A fetch is the reversed mirror-image of its real duplicate, both physically and spiritually. A fetch can use mirrors like magic portals to travel from one mirror to another.

30 Fetches are native to the little-known Plane of Mirrors. A fetch projecting itself from that plane must remain within sight of a mirror at all times. A fetch cannot see or hear any creature that does not normally cast a reflection.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Psilich Lore
Ravenloft Dungeon Master’s Guide

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (psionics) can learn more about a creature’s psilich nature. Characters need to make a separate Knowledge check 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.

Knowledge (psionics)
DC Result

23 This withered, nearly skeletal psion is a psionic horror known as a psilich, a master of the higher dimensions who used psychic power to defy death. This result reveals all undead traits and the psionic subtype.

28 A psilich is every bit as potent a psionic manifester as it was in life, and has centuries to hone their psionic talents. A psilich’s body is unusually tough, but psionic bludgeoning weapons can pierce its defenses. A psilich’s touch flows with necromantic energy. It also drains energy from psionic minds, bolstering the psilich’s own psionic reserves. This result also reveals the process for becoming a psilich.

33 A psilich is surrounded by a invisible aura of psionic disruption, usually experienced in the form of a cacophony of mental screams. Living creatures exposed to this aura may be terrified by its unnatural energies. A psilich is resistant to turning, and is immune to cold, electricity, and mind-influencing effects. A psilich cannot be polymorphed unless it wants to be.

38 A psilich stores its life force in a psionic container called a phylactery. This item is usually easily portable, and often takes the form of a smooth, elaborately decorated stone called a linga. If a psilich is destroyed, its life force is drawn back into its phylactery. After recuperating for a few days, the spirit re-emerges to occupy a nearby corpse, restoring the psilich at full strength. You cannot permanently destroy a psilich without also destroying its phylactery, so psiliches usually hide their phylacteries well.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Reaver Lore
Denizens of Dread

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

DC Result
14 This scaly humanoid fish is a reaver, a bloodthirsty sea creature that prefers to feed on prey that walks on land. This result reveals all monstrous humanoid traits and the aquatic subtype.

19 Reavers are brutal predators. They typically grapple their foes, continuing to bite and claw while raking the victim across the razor-sharp scales covering their bodies. Reaver skin should be touched only with great caution.

24 Although reavers often come ashore to hunt, they can only survive in air for little more than half a day before drowning.

29 Reavers can survive in both salt and fresh water. Lone reavers which are outcast from their kind often swim far inland, turning some lake or pond into its new hunting grounds
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Vistani Lore
Ravenloft Third Edition

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

DC Result
11 This aloof, colorfully dressed stranger is one of the Vistani, a mysterious, nomadic folk. This result reveals all humanoid traits and the human subtype.

16 The Vistani are infamous for their ability to cast the evil eye or terrible curses on anyone who cross them. They have no respect for the laws of any society but their own.

21 Vistani can navigate the Mists, and can lead others to any destination. Female Vistani possess the Sight, allowing them to see the future. The Vistani are usually willing to provide their services to non-Vistani, for a price. Vistani speak a patchwork language called patterna, but they often know other languages as well.

26 Although Vistani are always on the move, a semi-permanent camp can be found at the foot of the Tser Falls, in the shadow of Castle Ravenloft in Barovia. The Vistani sell an antidote for the poisonous fog that surrounds the Village of Barovia.

31 The Vistani must always stay on the move. If they abandon their nomadic ways, they destroy the strange magic that grants them their powers. Vistani are divided into several “tasques,” or nations. Members of each tasque specialize in different skills and talents.

36 The Vistani fear a legendary foe called the Dukkar. Any male Vistana with the Sight is fated to become a Dukkar unless quickly put to death.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Brag (Whitfolk) Lore
The Shadow Rift, Van Richten’s Guide to Shadow Fey (as Arak, Brag)

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

DC 15: This colorless, beardless dwarf is actually a fey creature commonly known as whitfolk. These fey are master builders and architects, but they are never seen by day. This result reveals all fey traits. Whitfolk speak Sylvan and a language of their own, which is indistinguishable from horse whinnies.

DC 20: Whitfolk call themselves the brag. They have no strong affiliation to either the Seelie or Unseelie, with a presence in both courts. Brag are a form of shadow fey: spirits that call the Shadow Rift their home. Like all shadow fey, they burn to ash in sunlight. The best way to impress a brag is with a demonstration of your architectural skills. A brag simply ignores most attacks, but weapons made of leather or forged of cold iron can pierce its defenses.

DC 25: Mortals who meet a brag’s unsettling gaze may fall asleep. A brag’s powerful kick can addle the mind of its recipient, leaving the creature under the delusion that it is a horse. A brag is immune to fire and resistant to spells.

DC 30: Brag have some talent as innate sorcerers. They can take the form of sturdy ponies. Wooden weapons simply pass right through a brag, but they find the sting of a whip especially painful.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Dhampir Lore
Denizens of Dread (incorporates some elements from the half-vampire in Libris Mortis)

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about a creature’s dhampir heritage. Characters need to make a separate Knowledge check 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. The DCs are unusually high due to the rarity of these creatures.

DC 19: This creature is a dhampir, also known as a half-vampire, the child of a living mother and a vampiric father. Although dhampirs inherit some traits from their undead sires, they are living creatures. This result reveals all monstrous humanoid traits and the vampire subtype.

DC 24: Like their vampire sires, dhampirs are physically and mentally powerful. In addition, they inherit their father’s ability—and need—to drain the blood of living creatures. Unlike a vampire, however, dhampirs are not necessarily evil, though many are, and they do cast reflections and shadows.

DC 29: A dhampir can climb vertical surfaces as easily as a spider and can dominate the weak-minded simply by looking into their eyes. Exposure to daylight does not harm a dhampir, but it does temporarily rob it of its supernatural powers. A dhampir is physically resilient and their wounds heal quickly, but weapons that are either magic or silver can pierce its defenses.

DC 34: A dhampir is resistant to cold, electricity, and energy drain. It can bend bats, rats, and wolves to its will. When a dhampir dies, regardless of the cause of death, it is doomed to rise again as a vampire several days after burial unless its body is destroyed as one would destroy a vampire.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Forlorn Serpent Lore
Castle Forlorn, Ravenloft Gazetteer I (as Lake Serpent, Undead)

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about the forlorn serpent Agatha. In Forlorn, a Knowledge (local) check can reveal the same information, but in this case the DC increases by 5. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC 23: The Lake of Red Tears is reputed to be home to a massive, decaying lake serpent. This result reveals all undead traits and the aquatic subtype.

DC 28: Denizens of Forlorn have named this creature Agatha, or “Aggie” for short. The forlorn serpent is seldom seen, but is known to feed on living creatures. Despite its bulk, the serpent is capable of surprising bursts of speed. It can lunge from the water like the crack of a whip, snatching up prey nearly 10 paces away and dragging them into the lake’s depths to drown.

DC 33: The attack of the forlorn serpent is terrifying to behold. The serpent’s rotting flesh simply ignores most weapon strikes, but hacking at it with slashing weapons has proven effective in the past.

DC 38: Agatha can spew a line of toxic fumes over long distances every few moments. In the absence of high winds, the deadly fumes hang in the air for several seconds before dissipating.
User avatar
Mangrum
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 811
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:29 am

Post by Mangrum »

Goblyn Lore
Denizens of Dread, Dragon Magazine #339

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

DC 12: This misshapen, leering creature is a goblyn, a humanoid transformed by dark magic into a foul minion of a more powerful master. Goblyns are not actually related to goblinoids in any way, but they share enough similarities that they are often confused for each other. This result reveals all humanoid traits and the goblinoid subtype.

DC 17: Goblyns are fearsome, frantic combatants. They may startle unprepared foes with a sudden flash of their teeth. Goblyns are most notorious for their habit of biting off chunks of flesh from the face and throat of their victims, a trait goblyns call “feasting.” Goblyn feasting leaves horrific scarring on its survivors.

DC 22: Goblyns never sleep and are immune to fatigue and sleep effects. They do not feel pain. A goblyn is telepathically linked to its master, and through that master, to all other goblyns the master controls.
User avatar
Gonzoron of the FoS
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 7555
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:02 pm
Gender: Male
Location: New Jersey
Contact:

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Hey John, were you done with this, or were there more? Love them...
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
User avatar
cure
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 1684
Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2005 12:34 pm

Re: Monster Lore

Post by cure »

Bump.

(Until this thread is fully digested for the Wikipedia, it cannot be allowed to slip off and die. Nothing on this forum, apparently, is for ever, it eventually reaches the end and vanishes into nothingness.)
The cure for what ails you
User avatar
Gonzoron of the FoS
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
Posts: 7555
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:02 pm
Gender: Male
Location: New Jersey
Contact:

Re: Monster Lore

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

cure wrote:Bump.

(Until this thread is fully digested for the Wikipedia, it cannot be allowed to slip off and die. Nothing on this forum, apparently, is for ever, it eventually reaches the end and vanishes into nothingness.)
not true... things only vanish when they get purged manually, and I will never purge, so it will never happen. Rest assured, all forum posts will live forever.

Well... I guess nothing is really forever. But neither Mistipedia nor the forum will survive the heat death of the universe.

But for some definitions of the word "forever," all forum posts will live forever.
"We're realistic heroes. We're not here to save the world, just nudge the world into a better place."
Post Reply