Monday, May 19, 2014

New Monster: Luminals

“What was the name of this place?” Nimble asked as the later afternoon sun hovered just above the tree line. Just ahead of the companions the thatched roofs of the hamlet came into view.

“Uhh.. Declan's Crossing, wasn’t it?” Rathgar scratched at the stubble on his chin.

“No, that’s where we stopped last night.” Feris said. “This one is… Innspa?”

Nimble shrugged. “Does it really matter? We’ll stop, eat, rest, and move on in the morning.”

“When you put it that way...not really.” Feris agreed.

“Looks like a lot of activity in town.” Nimble pointed down the slight slope into the hamlet.

“Trivia night at the tavern?” Feris suggested hopefully.

Rathgar sighed heavily. “Let’s go find out what their problem is.”




The tavern master saw them coming down the hill, and stood waiting with the young groom. “Take their horses and get them stabled boy.” he said with a push. To the companions he said “Welcome to Pine Edge. Please come inside, the sun will be down in a few minutes.”

“And why is that important.” Rathgar asked, removing his pack from the horse.

“The moonlight-monsters will be out tonight.”

“Of course they will...” he sighed.

“Please, do come inside.” the tavern keeper held open the door.

Rathgar, shouldering his pack, stepped into the tavern. “You can tell us about these moon-monsters while we eat.” He paused just inside the doorway, nearly causing Nimble to walk into him. “What’s for dinner?”



Luminal
Armor Class: 0
Hit Dice: 3**-8**
Move: 150’ (50’)
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1d6 to 2d4 + special
No. Appearing: (0) 1d4
Save As: F7
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: see below
Intelligence: 3
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: 3HD 65, 4HD 175, 5HD 425, 6HD 725, 7HD 1250, 8HD 1850

Monster Type: Construct (Very Rare)
Luminals are a form of living statue or golem made of light. They have no standard form, appearing however their creator desires. The only consistent element is that their form is made of lines of light, as if sketched.

In combat, Luminals are extremely fast, receiving a +1 bonus to their initiative. Non-metal magical items only cause their magical bonus in damage. Normal metal weapons cause only 1 point of damage per hit, metal magical weapons cause full damage. As a construct it is also immune to sleep, charm, and hold spells, however Darkness causes it 2d8 points of damage (save for half) while Light spells heal it for a like amount.

When Luminals strike in combat they both blind and paralyse their targets (save vs spells to avoid) The paralysis lasts a single round, while the blindness lasts 1d4 turns. When destroyed, a gem worth at least 200 gp per hit die will clatter to the ground.



Image source: Light Paintings by Darren Pearson

2 comments:

  1. Do mirrors or prisms have any effect on them? Not a turning/warding effect, bit more like... Using a mirrored shield (or shield-sized mirror) to defend against them decreases their damage as they're deflected. And contact with a prism disperses them into a swarm of tiny, proportionally weaker instances of themselves (possibly in different shades).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hadn't thought about it before, but at first blush, I'd say yes!

      Delete

Comment Moderation is in place. Email notifications are spotty... might be a bit before this gets published. Sorry.