New monster ideas

[Derakon]

Teleport-to and paralyzing melee attacks are a bad combination, since they broadly mean "You must have free action before you enter depths where this monster can appear." Remember that detection is not reliable for all classes at the depths at which free action becomes important; thus, simply avoiding the creature is not necessarily feasible.

Another approach that could be taken with the Watcher is to give it melee attacks with a high chance to stun, like mystics. Though, since those require hitting with lots of dice (e.g. grand master mystics have 20d2 and 20d1 attacks), that would probably mean pushing the monster deeper into the dungeon where the character is more likely to have enough hitpoints to survive a few rounds of melee.

'x' is underutilized presumably because there's a shortage of creature types that begin with that character.

[fyonn]

We can't do grapple per se, so some/all of the attacks would be touch to paralyze.

no, but teleport-to would make sense. ie a tentacle pulling you in.

[RogerN]

There are no monsters which use the symbol 'x'. Is that by design? Granted, it's difficult to come up with monsters that start with x... Also, only three monsters use the symbol 'X': Umber hulk, Xorn, Xaren.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

Here's a unique J, or possibly M...and it's definitely Tolkien.

The Watcher in the Water. The one that lurked in the big pool before the gates of Moria, that grabbed Frodo's ankle.

It was, IIRC, pretty much a giant squid-y thing, tons of arms and all that. So one could sorta think of it as a hydra, at least in style: high AC, large number of melee attacks, fairly good hit points. We can't do grapple per se, so some/all of the attacks would be touch to paralyze. Put it somewhere where FA is plausible, but not semi-automatic...so maybe DL 20 as a starting depth? I suppose one could buff it up, make its attack damage high enough even without the threat of the paralysis, and move it down, but it seems like there's not that many interesting shallow-ish uniques with unusual attacks.

A more thematically appropriate 'h'...rather than the D&D drow, these would be Firstborn or Secondborn, elves or men (altho admittedly 'p' is rather heavily used as was noted), who fell under the sway of Morgoth, Sauron, or one of the other major figures. These generations are the equivalent of Golden Age heroes, so they're...really buff. Obviously, we've got Eol and Madglin as uniques in this category, but we don't necessarily have good DL60 non-uniques. Some Bolt attacks, along with good melee. Probably no summoning, OR it can summon more of its type only. Oh, and Smart...I definitely want these to have Smart.

[Pete Mack]

A unique J Midgard Serpent? Like this?

[fyonn]

I imagined the unicorn as being more focused. Spells 1 in 3, options are summon angels, heal-self, and teleport-to.

hmm.. perhaps more thematic and correct would be: Spells 1 in 3, options are summon angels, heal-self, and teleport-away. maybe not even the heal-self... that way, you only get glimpses of it before it disappears, leaving just an angry angel in it's wake. would probably be a bugger to kill as it never hands around.

I like the idea of a unique jelly, moves slowly or very slowly but resists everything, shoots acid and posion a lot, eats through walls, summons other jellies (effectively spawning off bits of itself) and has an absolute mass of hitpoints, potentially even more than morgoth. probably one to try and avoid as killing it would be a long slog...

I also wonder about an unique zombie (do we dare do frankenstein or is that too hokey?) or a unique hound, perhaps the alpha hound of zephyr hounds, a sooped-up aether hound who can summon any of the Z's and appears with escorts. can make up for pulling the frequency of hounds in general.

should every letter have a unique to represent it? categories currently without uniques are:

Bats
- dunno
Centipedes
- some giant armoured centipede seems reasonable
Golems
- there must be some named golems in elgend
Icky Things
- dunno
Insects
- Queen Bee? summons bee's. obviously we'd need bees too. perhaps the queen is slow and not very powerful, but she keep's summoning fast and angry bee's. drops potions (is this do-able?)
Jellies
- as above
Killer Beetles
- any legendary beetles? (no points for ringo starr...)
Mimic's
- disguised as a greater vault!
Molds
- not sure a unique mold would be interesting...
Mushrooms
- or a unique mushroom...
Rodents
- must be some famous rat..
Snakes
- *must* be some big snakes in legend. poison/paralysis bite
Worms
- dunno
Xorns/Xarens
- dunno
Yetis
- bigfoot?
Zephyr Hounds
- as above
Zombies
- as above


dave

[ekolis]

*wisely refrains from making suggestions, having played a lot of Dragon Quest 9 lately*

[Derakon]

Isn't the unicorn just the knight templar?

I hadn't realized that knight templars could summon angels. Clearly they don't do it enough (spells 1 in 4, 6 different spells, so only 1 in 24 actions for a merely fast monster summons any angels). I imagined the unicorn as being more focused. Spells 1 in 3, options are summon angels, heal-self, and teleport-to.

[Whelk]

A massive slime mold (j) that oozes around, bent on avenging its devoured lesser brethren by itself devouring their devourers.

[Nick]

A unique J could also work. I don't see any consistency problems with him being at the bottom of the see. When have you ever heard of a bunch of heffalumps (mumaks) in a cave?

Yes!

The Heffalump ('q')
A great enormous thing, like--like nothing. A huge big--well, like a--I don't know--like an enormous big nothing. Like a jar.

[fizzix]

Jormungandr is a "serpent", and is not evil. Also, he's on the bottom of the sea (or something like that).

If you want a unique worm you have to go to Frank Herbert (ugh.)
Maybe Shai-Hulud, even though it's not actually unique (from Dune Wikipedia page.)

A unique J could also work. I don't see any consistency problems with him being at the bottom of the see. When have you ever heard of a bunch of heffalumps (mumaks) in a cave?

[Pete Mack]

Edit:
Or you can stand on the shoulders of giants:

http://angband.oook.cz/monsters.php?q=&t=&s=w&v=&u=on

[Pete Mack]

Isn't the unicorn just the knight templar?

I would really like to see a unique w. I'm thinking Jormungandr

Jormungandr is a "serpent", and is not evil. Also, he's on the bottom of the sea (or something like that).

If you want a unique worm you have to go to Frank Herbert (ugh.)
Maybe Shai-Hulud, even though it's not actually unique (from Dune Wikipedia page.)

[fizzix]

Isn't the unicorn just the knight templar?

I would really like to see a unique w. I'm thinking Jormungandr

[Atarlost]

They're giant metal snake-like battering ram/siege towers big enough that an orc can stand upright inside of them. They smash through the walls of Gondolin, a city as noted for the strength of its fortifications in the first age as Minas Tirith is in the third age. That to me says they bore through rock, are absurdly tough, and hit for massive damage, possibly with a shatter effect. The orcs are incidental to the danger and serve primarily to prevent hack and back.