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Chimera Large Monstrosity, Chaotic Evil Hero Forge Mini Description (from 5th Edition Monster Manual - 2014) A chimera is a vile combination of goat, lion, and dragon, and features the heads of all three of those creatures. It likes to swoop down from the sky and engulf prey with its fiery breath before landing to attack. Chimeras were created after mortals summoned Demogorgon to the world. The Prince of Demons, unimpressed with the creatures that surrounded it, transformed them into horrific, multi-headed monstrosities. This act gave rise to the first chimeras. Gifted with demonic cruelty, a chimera serves as a grim reminder of what happens when demon princes find their way to the Material Plane. A typical specimen has the hindquarters of a large goat, the forequarters of a lion, and the leathery wings of a dragon, along with the heads of all three of those creatures. The monster likes to surprise its victims, swooping down from the sky and engulfing prey with its fiery breath before landing. Conflicted Creature. A chimera combines the worst aspects of its three parts. Its dragon head drives it to raid, plunder, and accumulate a great hoard. Its leonine nature compels it to hunt and kill powerful creatures that threaten its territory. Its goat head grants it a vicious, stubborn streak that compels it to fight to the death. These three aspects drive a chimera to stake out a territory that is as large as 10 miles wide. It preys on wild game, viewing more powerful creatures as rivals to be humiliated and defeated. Its greatest rivals are dragons, griffons, manticores, perytons, and wyverns. When it hunts, the chimera looks for easy ways to amuse itself. It enjoys the fear and suffering of weaker creatures. The monster often toys with its prey, breaking off an attack prematurely and leaving a creature wounded and terrified before returning to finish it off. Servant of Evil. Though chimeras are far from cunning, their draconic ego makes them susceptible to flattery and gifts. If offered food and treasure, a chimera might spare a traveler. A villain can lure a chimera into service by keeping it well fed and its treasure hoard well stocked. (from Planescape: Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995): Monster of Legend: (Parenthetical statistics refer to a legendary sphinx. See text for details.) Hydras, chimaeras, gorgons, medusae - any number of bashers have encountered these creatures in the Prime Material Plane, but there aren’t so many of ’em out on the Great Ring. In fact, there’s usually just one, and that’s the archetype for all monsters of that sort, the one they made up all the stories about. Creatures of this type’re known on the planes as monsters of legend; they’re found throughout the Great Wheel, in places where mighty heroes can try to best them. The hills and gorges of Olympus, the first layer of Arborea, are home to unique examples of each of the creatures above. Similar examples for almost all pantheons can be found in their own celestial or infernal realms. A monster of legend’s very similar to its terrestrial counterpart, but it’s usually got even more of what makes its lesser kin dangerous. It’s bigger, stronger, meaner, and tougher than any normal member of its species. In most cases, it has enhanced variations of the creature’s normal powers or special immunities; for example, a legendary hydra might grow two heads each time one’s cut off, or a legendary lion might be completely invulnerable to all slashing and piercing weapons, or the stare of a legendary basilisk might be able to petrify characters who aren’t even looking at it. Naturally, this makes a monster of legend a downright dangerous beast to tangle with unless a cutter knows what its special vulnerability is. Monsters of legend‘re never randomly encountered or just blundered into. Player characters run across one only when they’re seeking it out or it’s after them. A PC party might be ordered by a power to retrieve a legendary monster’s treasure, or they might need the creature’s blood or whatever as an ingredient for a magical mixture. Similarly, a berk‘s got to find a way to make a power angry to get one of these on his trail. COMBAT: Monsters of legend are tough. They’re unique creatures, gifted with special powers and attack modes. The DM should create each one individually and assign it appropriate numbers and abilities. The numbers in parentheses above reflect the stats of a legendary sphinx, guarding an oracle of forbidden knowledge. It’s intended as an example of how the DM might stat out a monster of legend. ARMOR CLASS: At least four places better than a terrestrial equivalent. Normally an androsphinx is AC -2, so this legendary sphinx is AC -6. The DM decides that’s pretty tough. MOVEMENT: The monster’s movement rate should be equal to its lesser counterpart’s unless there’s a good justification for a change. The androsphinx’s movement stays the same. HIT DICE: Monsters of legend have a flat hit point total that should be at least equal to the maximum possible hit points for a normal creature of that type. An androsphinx has 12 Hit Dice, so at a minimum theJegendary sphinx should have (12x8) 96 hit points. The DM assigns it 10 hit points per die for 12n total. : Divide the hit point total by 5 to come up with an approximate number of Hit Dice for the monster of legend. In the example above, the legendary sphinx is effectively a 20-Hit-Die monster. Its THACO and saving throws should be calculated from this total. Table 39 in the DMG lists the THACO for a 16 HD+ monster as 5. NUMBER OF AITACKS: Generally the same as a normal member of the species, although a creature such as a hydra or kraken might have more heads or tentacles than normal. In the example of the sphinx, the DM decides that it attacks with two claws, just like an androsphinx, but that it also gains a bite attack since some other varieties of sphinx do. DAMAGE/ATTACK: Double or triple the base damage of the monster’s attacks to reflect the superior size and power of a creature of legend. The androsphinx normally claws for 2d6 pofnts of damage, so the DM doubles it to 4d6 and assigns an arbitrary bite for another 2d10. SPECIAL ATTACKS: As per the base creature, but possibly enhanced or slightly modified. Androsphinxes have the ability to cast spells as a 6th-level priest, so the DM decides that the legendary sphinx can cast spells as a 9th-level priest and use some of the gynosphinx’s spell-like powers to boot. The second special ability of an androsphinx is its roar; the DM decides that the roar of a legendary sphinx has the effects of the third and most powerful roar of an androsphinx, but causes double normal damage and acts as a horn of blasting. SPECIAL DEFENSES: Any special defenses possessed by the normal monster’ll be present in the legendary variety, possibly in enhanced form. Even if the creature doesn’t normally have any special defenses, a legendary monster almost always has defenses of an unusual nature. Some examples: - THA Complete invulnerability to slashing and piercing weapons, like the Nemean Lion: Hercules slew the beast by strangling it since nothing could pierce its hide. - Blood so corrosive or poisonous that any edged weapon damaging the creature must survive an item saving throw versus acid or be destroyed: Blood splashed on a hero fighting the monster might force a saving throw versus poison to avoid death! Or, optionally, drops of blood spilled on the ground might turn into scorpions, snakes, or some other complication. - A coat of shining scales that reflects any magical attack onto its caster, or that blinds any hero who gazes on the creature. - Complete immunity to a category of attacks: A creature immune to attacks of earth suffers no damage from stone or metal weapons and is immune to elemental earth spells. - Invulnerability or complete regeneration while a certain condition persists: For example, a monster might constantly regenerate damage while it’s in contact with the earth, but if it’s lifted into the air it can be damaged normally. Another monster might be immune to physical damage while the sun is in the sky, and so on. The DM can be creative, but it’s only sporting to leave some weakness or vulnerability for a clever hero to exploit. The search for a means to deal with an apparently invulnerable monster could be quite a challenge for a group of PCs! The DM decides that his legendary sphinx possesses a visage so incredibly beautiful that a hero who sees its face must successfully save versus spell or be fascinated and helpless for 2 to 12 rounds. The defense against this special power is a veil of gauze or some other thin fabric worn over the eyes. MAGIC RESISTANCE: Usually legendary monsters are immune to all spells except those that exploit a certain weakness or vulnerability in the creature. A legendary medusa may be affected by gaze reflection, while a legendary hydra might be damaged only by a spell that could physically remove one of its heads — for example, flame blade or disintegrate. Since the sphinx is a creature of the desert, the DM rules that it can be damaged only by spells capable of harming or affecting stone or sand — stone shape, passwall, transmute rock to mud, and the like. He decides that the sphinx suffers 1d6 points of damage per level of the caster when struck by such a spell. Otherwise magic is useless against the creature. SIZE: As per the normal variety of monster, but slightly larger. An androsphinx is size L (8' tall), so the DM decides that a legendary sphinx is size H (12' tall). MORALE: Monsters of legend are generally fearless (20). Otherwise, they wouldn't be legendary. XP VALUE: Generally, about 5 to 10 times the value for the base monster is probably appropriate, depending on how difficult it is to figure out the monster's vulnerability. In the case of the sphinx, the DM multiplies the XP value of an androsphinx by 5 to arrive at a value of 35,000 XP. Habitat/Society: Monsters of legend are closely associated with various pantheons and powers. As often as not, a legendary monster was created by a power to serve some specific purpose. A legendary serpent might be responsible for guarding a magical garden, or a legendary gorgon might have been ordered to destroy a particular realm and then left there to haunt the ruins after its task was accomplished. Consequently, slaying a monster of legend can be a chancy affair. Even if the heroes are successful, it's possible that the act might attract the attention of the power that placed the beast where it was. Hades'd be profoundly irritated if a band of mortal heroes came along and managed to slay Cerberus, and he'd be likely to look for ways to punish them. ‘Course, slaying a monster of legend can win a character great renown, fame, and fortune as well. That's the stuff that stories are made of. Ecology : As larger-than-life figures, legendary monsters typically exist outside of the local ecology or alter it utterly. A fire-breathing monster might reduce an entire realm to charred ruins and blowing ash, or a monster with poisonous blood might render a stream permanently poisonous just by passing over it. The effects are always spectacular and long-lasting. Alternate Versions Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Size Hero Forge: 6 ft. (XXL) Lore: Large (5'W x 10'L) Suggested: Large to Gargantuan Other Monikers Monster of Legend Appearance Abilities - Lion claw attacks, head bites - Ram head attacks with horns - Dragon head breathes fire - Flight The chimera has the hindquarters of a large, black goat and the forequarters of a huge, tawny lion. Its body has brownish-black wings like those of a dragon. The monster has three heads, those of a goat, a lion, and a fierce dragon. The goat head is pitch black, with glowing amber eyes and long ochre horns. The lion head is framed by a brown mane and has green eyes. The dragon head is covered with orange scales and has black eyes. Home Plane Arborea, Prime Material Plane Stat Block 5th Edition: - Angry Golem Games - DnDBeyond 3.5 Edition: - d20srd.org 2nd Edition: - mojobob's website Sources - Forgotten Realms Wiki - DnDBeyond - Monster Manual (2014) - 3rd Edition Monster Manual II (2002) - Monstrous Manual (1993) - Planescape: Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995) - mojobob's website

Cranium Rat Tiny Beast, Lawful Evil Hero Forge Mini Description (from Volo's Guide to Monsters - 2016): Mind flayers create cranium rats by bombarding normal rats with psionic energy. Evil Collectives. Cranium rats are no smarter than ordinary rats and behave as such. However, if enough cranium rats come together to form a swarm, they merge their minds into a single intelligence with the accumulated memories of all the swarm’s constituents. The rats become smarter as a result, and they retain their heightened intelligence for as long as the swarm persists. The swarm also awakens latent psionic abilities implanted within each cranium rat by its mind flayer creators, bestowing upon the swarm psionic powers similar to spells. A rat separated from the swarm becomes an ordinary cranium rat with an Intelligence of 15. It loses 1 point of Intelligence each day that it remains separated from the swarm. Its Intelligence can’t drop below 4 and becomes 15 again if it rejoins the swarm or another one. Telepathic Vermin. A single, low-intelligence cranium rat uses its natural telepathy to communicate hunger, fear, and other base emotions. A swarm of cranium rats communicating telepathically “speaks” as one creature, often referring to itself using the collective pronouns “we” and “us.” Spies for an Elder Brain. Mind flayer colonies use cranium rats as spies. The rats invade surface communities and act as eyes and ears for the elder brain , transmitting their thoughts when they swarm and are within range of the elder brain’s telepathy. Cranium rats occasionally spread beyond the elder brain’s range of influence. Whatever these rats do is of no concern to the elder brain, and the illithids can always make more if they so desire. (from Planescape: Morte's Planar Parade - 2023): The cranium rats squeakers of Sigil have no connection to the mind flayers that created their progenitors. Rather, these magical rodents cooperate with the residents of the City of Doors, whether by simply living together or by pursuing greater ambitions. When squeakers collect in large numbers, their swarms merge into a single intelligence with enhanced psionic abilities and the accumulated memories of its constituents. (from Planescape Monstrous Supplement - 1994) The following passage is taken from the dreams of Bilfar the Diviner, who believed that secrets fled their sleeping masters every night: “A small, crawling form itched into the back of my brain, and I dreamed of its words. My dreams had caught the secrets of one called vishkar, and it said: “Fear me. Fear my coming. What others know of me is a mask that hides my true might. They think I am vermin, those rats whose brains pulsate with bilious light. They do not know I see through the thousand eyes of my body. My body lives among them, and they do not see me. “Upon waking I had the image of the cranium rat, commonly seen in the dark corners of pestilent villages, locked into my mind. But my dream was this creature, and yet it was not. Perhaps I will dream it again.” Indeed he did dream it again, but Bilfar never lived to publish his stolen secrets. A month after he penned these words, he was dead. Perhaps his dresms caught another, darker secret, for his servant found him one morning, bled dry from a hundred tiny wounds. Combat: While dangerous and unpleasant, the cranium rat is not an aggressive creature. Like most vermin, it avoids open attacks in favor of flight or ambushes. Indeed, in the latter action the cranium rat shows a cunning skill. Cranium rats usually move in packs of ten or more. They hide in garbage or the crack of a wall until a victim ventures close and then swarm out and strike, but even then they won’t fight for long. If the victim cannot be slain or crippled in a just a few rounds, they break off and scatter in all directions, making pursuit almost impossible. Still, these actions are no different than those of most other vermin, and they are not what make the cranium rat truly dangerous. It is the slight mental prowess of these creatures that makes them truly menacing. Individually, these creatures are little more than clever vermin, but cranium rats are seldom encountered singly. They’re many creatures and one creature all at once, as they possess a type of group mind. A cranium rat is automatically in telepathic contact with every other such creature within 10 feet, which allows them to share not just thoughts, but also brain capacity — every five rats in contact generate 1 point of Intelligence. Thus, one to four rats have no more than animal intelligence (1 point). Add another rat and the group becomes semi-intelligent (2 points). Fifty rats in a single area have the intelligence of an average person (10), while 100 rats in close quarters would be frightening (20 Intelligence)! Theoretically there is no upper limit to the group mind, but no packs have been found with an Intelligence higher than 20 or so. Perhaps with overpopulation comes metaphysical insight, such that these creatures ascend to a higher level of existence. Or perhaps overpopulation brings about a sudden decrease in their numbers. With increasing Intelligence comes increasing powers, as shown on the table below. Entries in color apply to that level and higher. Spells can be used daily. For example, a pack with an Intelligence of 7 can use pne lst-level wizard spell each day. Intelligence: Ability: 1-6 Standard 7 1 spell level of wizard spells 8 2 spell levels of wizard spells 9 Mind blast , 1/3 rounds 10 3 spell levels of wizard spells 11 4 spell levels of wizard spells 12 Mind blast , 1/2 rounds 13 5 spell levels of wizard spells 14 6 spell levels of wizard spells 15 Mind blast , every round 16 Immune to gases 17 Immune to cold 18 10% magic resistance 19 40% magic resistance 20 70% magic resistance The group mind also confers several defensive advantages upon the creatures. First, when calculating damage from area-affecting spells, treat the Hit Dice of the communal creature as a pool. For example, casting an 8-HD firesball at a horde of 30 rats destroys just eight of them if the saving throw is failed. If the save is successful, only four (half damage) rats are destroyed. In other words, ignore the individual hit points of the rats for area effects. Second, the rats save as if they are a creature of as many Hit Dice as their Intelligence. In the example above, 30 rats have a 6 Intelligence, so the horde saves as a 6-HD creature. The communal nature of their Intelligence is also the cranium rats’ weakness. When members of a pack are killed or scattered, the Intelligence of the pack immediately drops, and the pack loses any special powers attributable to the communal mind. The communal mind, however, is highly resistant to mental attacks. A pack with an Intelligence of 5 or higher is immune to sleep spells (by virtue of its effective Hit Dice). The pack acts quickly to break its telepathic link with rats that have fallen under another creature’s control. Consequently, spells such as suggestion and charm monster affect but a single rat (although the rat gains the benefit of the pack’s saving throw). Habitat/Society: So continues Bilfar’s notes: “The vishkar’s secrets flee it at night, arriving piecemeal for my studies. Where they come from I cannot tell — there are too many images of too many places — but in all of these them is a common thread. It is a pulsing green vein that is the cord to a master who steals secrets from others. I am forced to guess that the vishkar is an agent of Ilsensine, the great god-brain of the illithids. Vishkar is the eyes and ears of its lord, gathering in all it sees and hears to please that ravenous power. A thousand eyes gather a thousand scenes all at once. “Curious, I inquired with travelers and caravan masters about the extent of the cranium rat. I myself have seen them in Sigil, and I am told they are not uncommon in the Lower Planes. “I have seen myself in my own dreams, asking and re-asking these questions. There are also dreams of packs searching me out. Are these the dreams of my mind, or secrets I have captured? Even my philosophies fail me here, but I think precautions are necessary.” Ecology: Cranium rats subsist on a diet only slightly more carnivorous than the normal rat. The extent and purpose of their powers are held closely secret, less Ilsensine’s instruments be exposed. Those who discover the true purpose of the cranium rats are under sentence of swift and terrible death. Alternate Versions Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Size Hero Forge: -- Lore: Tiny (medium swarm) Suggested: Tiny Other Monikers Brain vermin Appearance Abilities - Human-level intellect - Hypnotic song casts suggestion, charms aquatic monsters and/or summons more balaena, - Ramming head and stunning tail slap attacks - Acute hearing underwater makes surprise almost imposcreasible - Resistant to bludgeoning attacks - Telepathy allows communication with all creatures, knowledge of alignment and detection of lies (50%) Cranium rats typically resemble ordinary black- or gray-furred city rats, except their exposed brains appear visible at the tops of their skulls. Both this brain and the rats' eyes are known to glow an eerie light when the rat is using psionics. Home Plane Outer Planes, Sigil Stat Block 5th Edition: - 5eTools: Cranium Rat Squeaker , Cranium Rat Squeaker Swarm - DndBeyond: Cranium Rat Squeaker , Cranium Rat Squeaker Swarm - Planescape: Morte's Planar Parade (2023) 2nd Edition: - Mojobob's Website Sources - Forgotten Realms Wiki - Planescape: Morte's Planar Parade (2023) - Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (2022) - Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016) - DndBeyond: Cranium Rat Squeaker , Cranium Rat Squeaker Swarm - Planescape Campaign Monstrous Supplement (1994) - Mojobob's Website

Demarax Medium Monstrosity, Unaligned Hero Forge Mini Description (from Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix. II - 1995): There are some mighty strange creatures on the Great Road, and the demarax is one of the strangest. It looks like a jewelled lizard or gem-covered crocodile , with tiny crystals of a hundred different colors embedded in its dark hide. (The older it gets, the more obvious and profuse the gems become.) Its face is blunt and small-mouthed, and three jellow eyes are spaced evenly across its forehad. The demarax’s movements are slow and deliberate, and it’ often the butt of jokes about slow speed; the folk of Automata refer to a lazy basher as a “demarax walking uphill”. The truly unusual thing about the demarax is its diet — it eats spell crystals, the magical manifestations of summoning and contact other plane spells cast by wizard on prime-material worlds. A body could stick his hand in a demarax’s mouth and it wouldn’t bite him; spell crystals are the only things it eats. This means that a demarax doesn’t pose a threat to the typical traveler on the planes, but if that traveler’s got a trapped spell crystal, or one appears in the traveler’s vicinity, the demarax’ll single-mindedly try to get at its favorite food, no matter who or what gets in the way. Combat: Demarax’re highly magic resistant; in fact, they may be about the most magic-resistant creatures around. When one touches a spell crytal, it almost always fizzles. The demarax feeds on the spell’s remains. Its gem-studded hide is renewed by the process of devouring a spell crystal; the rock-hard crystals provide the demarx with an exceptional natural Armor Class. The demarax’s magic resistance extends to all other kinds of magic cast at it, so it’s a rare event when a spell actually affects one. The demarax is a generally inoffensive creature, and doesn’t go out of its way to start a fight unless it’s provoked or it senses a spell crystal on someone’s person. The demarax can sense a crystal up to 200 yards away; it also has the unusual ability to deceive a crystal into believing that the demarax itself is the intended recipient of the spell. The crystal instantly diverts itself from its course and streaks to the demarax, who happily devours it. On rare occasions, when the creature fails its magic resistance roll, it can be summoned in place of whatever the casting wizard really wanted. The demarax is too stupid to do much of anything except stare at its new surroundings and slowly starve to death for lack of food. If a demarax is provoked or attacked, it defends itself by lashing out with its powerful tail. The gems lining its tail are heavier and sharper than elsewhere on its body, and the demarax can deliver a serious blow. The creature can also fire magic missiles from its eyes, delivering a volley of three magic missiles up to three times a day. The demarax doesn’t like to do this, since this rapidly depletes the spell energy that sustains it, and makes it hungry again in a hurry. As a last-ditch defense, the demarax can release a whirling storm of partially-absorbed spell crystasl that scythe and spin around it to a range of 20 feet. Any creature in that area must make a successful saving throw versus paralyzation or be struck by a crystal, which inflicts one of the random effects below: d6 Roll: Effect: 1-2 Target confused for 1d4 rounds by a barrage of questions 3-4 Target blinded for 2d4 rounds by images of another world 5 Spell energy causes target to blink for 2d4 rounds 6 Target transported to Prime Material Plane by a remnant of a summoning spell Creating the crystal storm exhausts the demarax’s energy; if it does not feed on a crystal, it starves to death within 1d6 hours. Naturally, the demarax uses this ability only when its life’s in immediate and dire peril. Habitat/Society: Demaraxas travel alone or in small groups, roaming the Great Road in an endless search for the spell crystals they feed on. They’re barely intelligent enough to speak a few crude phrases of the common trade jargon of the planes, but a body shouldn’t expect lively repartee from a demarax. Their typical dialogue goes something along these lines: “S-s-seen crys-s-stals-s? Need crys-stals. Hun-gry. Hun-gry now.” Interestingly enough, the demarax possesses a perfect memory and a complete inability to lie. It may be dumb as astump, but it can repeat any conversation it’s ever had word for word, even if it has no idea what the other party may’ve been talking about. The demarax isn’t bright enough to understand the concepts of past, present, or future, so a cutter hoping to get some information from a demarax had better be ready to ask some stump-dumb questions, or he’ll find the demarax abandoning the conversation and resuming its search for food. One last thing about the demarax: Its hide is worth a lot to any cutter in need of some jink. The typical demarax is covered with the equivalent of 50 to 100 (1d6+4�10) gems worth 10 gp each. There’re only a small fraction of the crystals studding the demarax’s hide, but the rest are too small to be of any value. Ecology: As noted above, the demarax feeds on spell crystals. Somehow, the creature’s metabolism converts the magical energy contained in these crystals into the energy needed to sustain life. The demarax’s unusual body processes result in an incredible life span; a body can talk to a demarax who recalls conversations thousands of years old. Since the demarax’s body works on different systems than most living creatures do, it’s basically inedible. Nothing can digest the crystalline hide or flesh, so it’s without natural predators. Unfortunately, there are any number of bloods who’ll take a demarax for its hide. It is said by the Guvners that the demaraxes were created by the Powers of Law to reduce the chaos caused by the uncontrollable appearance of spell crystals. By devouring all crystals they come across, the demaraxes prevent a lot of chaotic things from happening. Alternate Versions Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Size Hero Forge: 11' (6') (XL) Lore: Medium (6' body) Suggested: Medium to Huge Other Monikers None Appearance Abilities - Eats spell crystals - Almost total magic immunity as spells are absorbed by crystals - High armor class - Shoots magic missiles from eyes - Tail attack covered in razor-sharp crystals - AOE crystal whirlwind attack that inflicts random magical effect - Summoning spell crystals sometimes summons demarax by accident It looks like a jewelled lizard or gem-covered crocodile, with tiny crystals of a hundred different colors embedded in its dark hide. (The older it gets, the more obvious and profuse the gems become.) Its face is blunt and small-mouthed, and three jellow eyes are spaced evenly across its forehad. Home Plane Outlands of any Lawful plane Stat Block 2nd Edition: - Mojobob's Website Sources - Planescape: Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995) - Mojobob's Website

Dhour Large Ooze, Neutral Evil Hero Forge Mini Description (from Planescape: Monstrous Compendium Appendix II - 1995): The dhours are a voracious race of dimensional hunters that haunt the Astral and Ethereal Planes. They’re large, amorphous, amoebalike creatures of translucent protoplasm. Strange organs and bizarre pulses of light shift and move in their bodies, and a large, three-lobed brain is suspended in the center of its mass. A dhour can flatten its body out to a foot-thick pancake 10 feet across, or form a single cone-shaped heap about 6 feet tall; this is their most common form for travel and combat. Dhours’re bound to the Astral and Ethereal Planes by the structure of their bodies; the only way they can leave is by using openings others have made. A dhour searches constantly for a recently used conduit or color pool, and then strikes out to capture and devour whatever made the disturbance. A dhour can maintain itself away from the Astral or Ethereal only by using its psionic powers: when it runs out of PSPs, it must return to its native planes. Generally, dhours take note of both physically present and astrally projecting travelers. They’re fond of lurking near color pools to waylay creatures nearing their astral destinations. Dhours can sense creatures passing through conduits in the Astral; a cutter might be instantaneously whisked through the Silver Void in the blink of an eye, only to be visited weeks later by a dhour that caught sight of him as he passed. In the Ethereal, dhours watch over curtains of vaporous color in much the same way as they guard color pools in the Astral. The chant is the dhours’re new to the planes. The Godsmen report that dhours’ve shown up on the Astral only within the last decade or so. A few bloods have managed to communicate with a dhour by means of telepathy or similar psionic powers. They say that the dhours’ minds are alien and unreadable, but that the creatures were able to make their thoughts known to them. The dhours display a keen sense of curiosity about the other planes and show some willingness to exchange information — but only when they’re not hungry. Combat: A dhour tries to attack its prey on the Astral or Ethereal Plane, but if it can’t catch up to its intended victim, it follows the poor sod wherever he goes. Once a dhour’s sighted a victim, it can use its psionic powers to enter any plane and attack its victim again and again. The only defense against this is to kill the dhour or stay in planar layers that can’t be reached from the Astral. Once a dhour’s set on a victim, it’ll keep trying to catch and devour him until it succeeds. The dhour attacks physically by lashing at its victim with a powertful pseudopod, delivering 4d4 points of damage with a blow. If it manages to grab hold of its prey by rolling a natural 19 or 20, it can throw itself over the poor sod and engulf him. The victim gets a saving throw versus paralyzation to pull free, but if he fails the dhour surrounds him. Engulfed victims immediately begin to suffocate (death follows the number of rounds equal to one-third the character’s Constitution score), and suffer 2d6+6 points of acid damage each round. While the dhour engulfs its victim it can lash out at any other nearby creatures with its pseudopods, but can’t move. Dhours are immune to Type B weapons and suffer only half damage from Type S weapons due to their amorphous structure. Successful attacks on dhours that’ve engulfed victims (or are in the process of doing so) cause the same damage to the victims as to the monsters. The dhour prefer to avoid mental combat unless it’s necessary to reach its chosen victim. It must use the science of probability travel to leave the Astral Plane, and therefore its ability to remain on any other plane is limited. The dhour uses its telepathic abilities to locate its prey and then set an ambush for the poor sod. Note that a dhour can often gain surprise by using invisibility or chameleon power in its attack. Dhours are considered monsters for purposes of using contact against them, but they don’t suffer this penalty against their one chosen victims. Habitat/Society: Dhours prefer to hunt alone, and are only rarely encountered in groups. The creatures aren’t territorial, but instead mark their chosen victims to warn off other dhours. The mark affects the victim’s psychic aura. It can be detected by the psionic power of aura sight, and removed using psychic surgery. No dhour’ll attacj a character who’s been marked by another dhour until the one that first sighted that prey is dead. From time to time, dhoursstup hunting ang gather in small bands or circles. There’s a 25% chance that any encounter with the dhours actually takes place during this nonaggressive cycle. Such circles comprise 2 to 8 dhours. The dhour circle seems to be the sole social activity of the monsters; they drift aimlessly through the Astral, all but ignoring the Void around them, communicating telepathically. The only time a dhour’ll converse with a cutter is when it’s travelling to or from a circle meeting. Although a dhour circle ignores anything except a direct attack, it’s still dangerous to be around — if the dhours notice any creatuers observing their circle, they’re likely to mark the intruders and seek the sods out later. Ecology: Dhours aren’t native to any known universe and likely came to the planes from some distant, alien, prime-material world. Their predatory habits and single-minded pursuit of prey are of great concern to any astral or ethereal traveler. No one knows the dark of why the dhours do qhat they do; some bashers’ve speculated that dhours devour more than the mere flesh of their victims. It’s rumored that priests can’t raise sods that’ve been eaten by a dhour, but this hasn’t been proven yet. Dhours appear to reproduce by amoebalike division, after gathering in their circles. A dividing dhour actually splits its hit point total in halves, and each new individual grows to full size and strength within 6 months. Alternate Versions Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Button Size Hero Forge: 5'6" (10')(XL) Lore: Large (8 ft.) Suggested: Large to Huge Other Monikers None Appearance Abilities - Psionics, including plane shift - Pseodopod attack - Engulf attack suffocates and causes acid damage - Engulfed creatures suffer any damage inflicted on Dhour - Immune to bludgeoning, resistant to slashing - Telepathy They’re large, amorphous, amoebalike creatures of translucent protoplasm. Strange organs and bizarre pulses of light shift and move in their bodies, and a large, three-lobed brain is suspended in the center of its mass. A dhour can flatten its body out to a foot-thick pancake 10 feet across, or form a single cone-shaped heap about 6 feet tall; this is their most common form for travel and combat. Home Plane Astral Plane, Ethereal Plane Stat Block 2nd Edition: - Mojobob's Website Sources - Forgotten Realms Wiki - Planescape: Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995) - Mojobob's Website