3d6 Weird Monster Generator
Sometimes your players will wander off to some area you haven't really planned out. That's okay. Sometimes you'll need a monster or two to challenge them, but you won't have anything to hand. That's okay too. Grab three six-siders, roll them, line them up and follow the procedure below to come up with a random Weird monster on the fly.
Example roll: 2, 6, 3
The numbers facing up determine the basic shape and capabilities of your monster. Compare the numbers, left to right, against the following tables:
Head
1 – Deformed humanoid (can communicate in the common language)
2 – Fleshless skull (add Cause Fear to creature's abilities)
3 – Ravening animal (+1 Attack, 1d6 damage from bite)
4 – Fork-tongued reptile (+1 Attack, 1d4 damage + poison)
5 – Horned beast (+1 Attack, 1d6 damage + stun on a charge)
6 – Insectoid with chattering mandibles (+1 attack, spits venom or acid)
Body
1 – Metal plated (+4 Armor Class)
2 – Smooth carapace (+3 Armor Class)
3 – Rough scales (+2 Armor Class)
4 – Shaggy beast (+1 Armor Class)
5 – Slimy ooze (immune to two of the following: fire, cold, lightning, acid)
6 – Elemental tempest (roll 1d4—1: Molten and steaming [anyone within close combat distance takes 1d4 points of damage] 2: Emanates freezing cold [anyone within close combat distances takes -1 to all rolls] 3: Electric pulse [anyone hitting the monster with a metal weapon takes 1d6 points of damage] 4: acidic [anyone hitting the creature must make a saving throw or have their weapon destroyed by the contact]
Arms/Legs
1 – Humanoid with tool-using hands (+1 Attack, damage by weapon)
2 – Bestial with claws (+2 Attacks, 1d6 damage)
3 – Writhing tentacles (+1d4 attacks, 1d4 damage + save vs. constriction)
4 – Simian with powerful grasp (+1 Attack, 1d8 damage from slam, can grapple)
5 – Gnarled ending in club-like protrusions (+2 Attacks, 1d8 damage + save vs. stun)
6 – Withered limbs ending in long, reaching fingers (+1 Attack, 1d6 damage + save vs. disease)
So, with our example rolls of 2, 6, and 3 we've got a monster with a fleshless skull for a face, a molten body, and writhing tentacles for arms. Straight off the cover of Weird Tales! Better yet, for gaming purposes we've now got a monster with the following stats:
Armor Class: 12 (base 12, no bonuses on the Body chart)
# of Attacks: 4 (rolled a 4 on 1d4 for tentacles)
Damage: 1d4 + save vs. constriction
Special: Cause Fear (from the Fleshless Skull), anyone within close combat takes 1d4 points of damage (rolled a 1 on the body chart for a Molten body)
Now, you could stop here by deciding how many Hit Dice you want this beastie to have and recording it's Attack Bonus (Hit Dice value +1), but you can also use the roll you just made to assign more abilities to the creature. Look at the numbers facing each other on the sides of the dice and consult the following table to see what other Special Abilities the monster possesses:
Special Abilities
1-1 – Creature drains 1 level per hit
1-2 – Creature drains 1d4 points of (roll 1d6) 1: Cha 2: Con 3: Dex 4: Int 5: Str 6: Wis
1-3 – Blurred (all attacks against it face a -2 penalty)
1-4 – Death gaze
1-5 – Blinding gaze
1-6 – Creature can see in total darkness with no penalty
2-2 – Fear aura
2-3 – Immune to all magic
2-4 – Immune to fire
2-5 – Can use Charm Person three times per day
2-6 – +2 to Armor Class
3-1 – +1d4 Attacks
3-2 – Shapeshifter
3-3 – Can use Polymorph Other 1d4 times per day
3-4 – Poisonous touch
3-5 – Can use Invisibility 1d4 times per day
3-6 – Regenerates 1d4 Hit Points per round
4-4 – Reflects all spells cast on it back on the caster
4-5 – Unholy stench (all characters within close combat range suffer 1d4 damage per round)
5-5 – Paralyzing touch
5-6 – Breath weapon (3d6 damage in a 30' cone, save for half damage)
6-6 – Natural projectiles (can strike up to 30' away for 1d8 points of damage)
Our example roll has a 1-5 and a 2-5, giving us Blinding gaze and thrice-per-day Charm Person. Pick one of these abilities or take both for your monster—the call is yours.
You can also use the same roll to determine what special vulnerabilities the monster has. Look at the numbers on the dice on the right and left ends of your roll that face outward and compare them against the following table:
Vulnerabilities
1 – Double damage from fire
2 – Double damage from holy items
3 – Cannot cross water
4 – Blinded by bright light
5 – Cannot leave the area in which it is encountered
6 – Bleeder (loses 1d4 Hit Points per round once it is injured)
This gives us a 2 and a 6 to play with; our monster is especially vulnerable to holy items and is a bleeder. Again, feel free to take one or both of those results as you please.
Adding it all together, our creature looks like this (let's assume it's a 4 Hit Dice monster):
Hit Dice: 4 (20 hp)
Armor Class: 12
Attack Bonus: +5
# of Attacks: 4
Damage: 1d4 + save vs. constriction
Special: Cause Fear, anyone within close combat range takes 1d4 points of heat damage, Blinding gaze, and Charm Person (three times per day)
Vulnerabilities: Double damage from holy items and loses 1d4 Hit Points per round once injured
Note: I stole this dice "gimmick" from Zak S's blog post here: http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/07/d6-cluster-table-home-that-villains.html
I have to say that's pretty excellent.
RPGPundit
Good table.
I was thinking it might be helpful for these kinds of charts to use relatively large d6's and mark the "edge numbers" on the top for quick reading.
Very very good - my copy of LoTFP Grindhouse Edition arrived last week and this could come in super handy if/when I get to play it - I'm considering running it in Allansia, the Fighting Fantasy setting, it seems like a good/weird fit.
What's more, I think its almost criminal that James Raggi didn't have something like this included in his LotFP rpg.
No need for the gimmicky stupid-dice-tricks, though. Just have people roll multiple times like the Grand Architect intended! Or what, is there a D6 shortage in your neck of the woods?
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;467638No need for the gimmicky stupid-dice-tricks, though. Just have people roll multiple times like the Grand Architect intended! Or what, is there a D6 shortage in your neck of the woods?
Hah! I'd just rather make one roll instead of three if I'm in the middle of a game, you know? I like a fast-paced table.
Quote from: RPGPundit;467638What's more, I think its almost criminal that James Raggi didn't have something like this included in his LotFP rpg.
That certainly would have been helpful. It might have helped push the full-book creature generator, too.
Quote from: RPGPundit;467638No need for the gimmicky stupid-dice-tricks, though. Just have people roll multiple times like the Grand Architect intended! Or what, is there a D6 shortage in your neck of the woods?
Quote from: misterguignol;467682Hah! I'd just rather make one roll instead of three if I'm in the middle of a game, you know? I like a fast-paced table.
Yeah, I find the compare-the-sides to be a slow, awkward process (which was the idea behind my mark-the-edges suggestion). It would seem pretty trivial to use the same chart by just rolling an extra d6 for each special, though.
Quote from: misterguignol;467682Hah! I'd just rather make one roll instead of three if I'm in the middle of a game, you know? I like a fast-paced table.
You can't drop 4d6 with a single roll? Because if you can, then you save no time whatsoever by your method, you actually lose some, because its counterintuitive to have to read sides of dice.
RPGPundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;467638What's more, I think its almost criminal that James Raggi didn't have something like this included in his LotFP rpg.
Alternatively, what about using the Summoning results?
Quote from: RPGPundit;467735You can't drop 4d6 with a single roll? Because if you can, then you save no time whatsoever by your method, you actually lose some, because its counterintuitive to have to read sides of dice.
RPGPundit
It cannot be that hard for a grown man to line up three dice and figure out which sides are facing each other! ;)
(But if you're determined to drop more dice instead, you'll need 6d6: 3 to determine basic body shape, 2 for special abilities, and 1 [at least] for a vulnerability.)
Very cool. It reminds me of the always cool (but very long) randomly roll up a demon pantheon from the WFRP Slaves to Darkness books.
Quote from: Cole;467784Alternatively, what about using the Summoning results?
Yeah, that's basically the default... I don't know, I think it would have been better to have had another generator like this one in the GM's book, and a list of premade monsters.
RPGPundit