Malc's Fiendish Bestiary

[knightkrawler]

I like that Swarm special rule of yours, including a swarm attacking the space it's in.
But that means you would have to put a hero mini on top of a swarm mini, doesn't it?
I like the idea even better than the swarm attacking a figure on an adjacent square, but how to do this?

Here's an idea of mine. You represent a swarm by a miniature covering one square, as you can find them in D&D minis and such...
But the swarm is actually considered bigger and attacks every enemy figure in the same room or corridor section (between two corners).
The square the actual swarm mini is in serves as a starting point for the next move.

Wanna see your take on this.

[Patroclus]

I like the “Large” type of monsters. You give an explanation of Ogres “can’t pass through them” ability.

“Undead” rule is 100% correct.

For “Gaze Attack” I prefer something like that, that I call “Mind Attack”… It’s a copy from Ogres Horde, where both use their Mind score for attack and defend, and if it’s more than two skulls the spell succeeds.

For “Poison” I use the reduction of Mind until the hero is “shocked” (from the poison card of the barbarian pack).

About “Grapple” is a nice and less lethal alternative of Yeti’s “Hug Attack”.

And all the other “skills” are very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I will put some of them in my collection.

[Malcadon]

I like that Swarm special rule of yours, including a swarm attacking the space it's in.
But that means you would have to put a hero mini on top of a swarm mini, doesn't it?
I like the idea even better than the swarm attacking a figure on an adjacent square, but how to do this?

Here's an idea of mine. You represent a swarm by a miniature covering one square, as you can find them in D&D minis and such...
But the swarm is actually considered bigger and attacks every enemy figure in the same room or corridor section (between two corners).
The square the actual swarm mini is in serves as a starting point for the next move.

Wanna see your take on this.

With bat swarms (a mass of normal-sized bats) they are a pair of moving 1x2 tiles made of black cardsheet (I have a huge stack of them, as I like to draw nighttime images). In a room or wide corridor, they form side-by-side, in a 2x2 square, while in narrow corridors and doorways, the form into a 1x4 square long line. They are like the specter and rolling boulder tiles in the Quest Packs, but block line-of-sight and make anyone inside effectively blind - more a hazard then an enemy.

With Giant Bats, Rats and Spiders, they are made-up of the figures from Warhammer Quest. At first, I just piled the figures into a single squares, but then I found it easier to use one figure per square with a micro-die to note their numbers (the same method I use to track Fighter groups in large-scale spaceship battle games). To keep them from overwhelming the Heroes, I caped such critters at 6 per square (e.g. the maximum of the die). If a Hero it attacked be such a swarm, the player picks-up the die and figure and places them on their character card. Being swarmed means being unable to cast spells or fire range weapons, and attacking another monster in melee means 1 less AD. And yes, a full swarm of Giant Rats have 6AD, 1DD and 6BP.

(initially, I was going to grant Giant Spiders a Coin Draw to account for their valuable venom by Alchemists, but I fund it easier to allow Heroes to milk them for anti-venom, as poison damage dose not recover normally)

I also like your idea. Much like the Firestorm spell attacking everyone (save for the caster) in a room, but to have a room or corridor covered in vermin. That would make for a great hazardous terrain feature.

[Malcadon]

I like the “Large” type of monsters. You give an explanation of Ogres “can’t pass through them” ability.

“Undead” rule is 100% correct.

For “Gaze Attack” I prefer something like that, that I call “Mind Attack”… It’s a copy from Ogres Horde, where both use their Mind score for attack and defend, and if it’s more than two skulls the spell succeeds.

For “Poison” I use the reduction of Mind until the hero is “shocked” (from the poison card of the barbarian pack).

About “Grapple” is a nice and less lethal alternative of Yeti’s “Hug Attack”.

And all the other “skills” are very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I will put some of them in my collection.

Without those rules (the Elf and Barbarian Packs) at hand, I had to make-up my own rules on the fly. I have to scrounge for those files, as I like the idea of Goblins being able to steal from Heroes like the Ice Gremlin.

A number of the effects were inspired by a major rule revision I made for Dragon Strike - especially the Gaze Attack. An since in was easier to incorporate new rules into that, then in HQ, I used what I did for DS as a base for much of this.

I never liked the idea of "poison" being used to attack Mind Points. After all, its about attacking the body form the inside and not the mind, so I made it something that was harder to heal. The only thing I can think of that would eat away at their minds are syphilis and the Twilight saga, and the Heroes can do that on their own time.

[Daedalus]

I remember much of this in the Dragon Strike form. The conversion looks very solid, but I feel there are some minor niggles:

I wonder if a swarm should be able to split attacks. I'd note your cap of 6 per square in the description.

The Elf seems a little fast to me with a move of 9. EQP Elven Archers also have 2 Defend dice and only move of 6. That seems slow to me as well, but I would go with a 7 move, seeing how your version is equipped.

I understand 4 Defend dice for the Ogre, but I'd retain 5 attack dice--think huge battle axe. Me likes a scary Ogre.

[knightkrawler]

I wonder if a swarm should be able to split attacks. I'd note your cap of 6 per square in the description.

I`d say 6 combat dice divided into attacks against EVERY hero or companion present. Morcar can not decide here and the heroes can yet again be better off by staying together.

[Malcadon]

I remember much of this in the Dragon Strike form. The conversion looks very solid, but I feel there are some minor niggles:

I wonder if a swarm should be able to split attacks. I'd note your cap of 6 per square in the description.

The Elf seems a little fast to me with a move of 9. EQP Elven Archers also have 2 Defend dice and only move of 6. That seems slow to me as well, but I would go with a 7 move, seeing how your version is equipped.

I understand 4 Defend dice for the Ogre, but I'd retain 5 attack dice--think huge battle axe. Me likes a scary Ogre.

A splinting attack dice with swarm creatures would not work, as they can only attack a figure within their own square - they do not even have a basic melee reach.

I made the Elves fast as a means to keep them fleet-footed, and to make them a little faster that a Noncombatant Person (who are the default for human capability).

And for the Ogre, they are not as big as the AtOH set, nor the Ogre Champion from Battle Masters (which I use an a Giant for this and DS), but they are the smaller Ogres from Dark World, as well as some plastic Cavemen figures. I did not want them to be as powerful as Giants and Minotaurs (who uses massive weapons at 5 AD with one hand), but are strong enough to use a normal two-handed weapon (like a Battle Axe) with one hand. They can still use a massive weapon, but they need both arms. I seen to have forget to add something on the lines of "Battle Axe and Tower Shield or Massive Axe or Club" in the notes.

[torilen]

Suomen kieli on yksi maailman kauneimmista kielistä!

This is Finnish?

Hmm...is he talking about a mailman here?

[TMU]

Suomen kieli on yksi maailman kauneimmista kielistä!

This is Finnish?

Hmm...is he talking about a mailman here?

Yes, it's Finnish, let's continue in better thread

[Malcadon]

UPDATE:

I just added random lists of armaments for most of the humanoid monsters. Basically, when you encounter a group of monsters, the EWP (Evil Wizard Player) rolls a Combat Die (or two) to see how they are armed. The EWP can note what monsters are armed with what in any given scenario, to give the players more challenge and strategy. The vary use of variable weapons would make the game much more difficult then the old default attack mode (basic melee attack with no range or diagonal attack options), while is also helps spice up the game. The array of weapon options are uniformed enough, that I might just reduce it to a simple code that would require their own index cards or cheat sheet. That would also save a lot of space on the Monster Cards.

Once I get the energy to do so, I would put the stats into those Monster Cards Templates I have been working on. That would not just make them look better, but it would help visually partition the stats better. Do to the site's inability to resize the images to a desirable width, and the amount of monsters on the tread, I would not likely add any images, unless they are URL links.

I hope you guys enjoy this little update?