I’m pretty happy with how the design of NPCs/Adversaries is going. I’ve been working on them for weeks now at this point, especially after changing the stats from 4 to 3. I think I have a pretty firm handle on the math and the design. Mostly I’ve been designing human adversaries and NPCs because that’s most of what people run into in Avalon but recently I’ve been digging into the more monstrous stuff. I really dig the flavor of these three particular monstrous NPCs / Adversaries. The narrative text is by Brett and the design is by me.
Aboleths
Taken from the scrolls of Gorman the Sage:
The aboleth is a revolting alien fishlike amphibian creature which inhabits subterranean lakes and rivers, and some have claimed to see bloated corpses of them floating far out to sea. The creature has a fleshy pink belly, and four pulsating blue-black sucker-like orifices line the bottom of its body and secrete gray slime that smells like rancid fat. A massive tail is used in the water, and it has multiple tentacles that it can use to drag itself along on land for short distances.
My bargeman companion on my last voyage to sea informed me that these creatures can speak telepathically, and sometimes degenerate cults of his fellows worship them as gods; sacrificing their own kin to them and somehow physically ‘merging’ with the creature. This makes me wonder if some of the stories I’ve heard of strange fish worshiping cults within Avalon are true. Whenever the bargemen find a cult of these aboleth worshipers they destroy it utterly.”
THE REAL STORY – The aboleth are outsiders from the Dark Realm that found their way into the world during the Soul War. They chose to remain in the shadows during the war, scheming. Once the war was over they began to execute their plans, which are now just coming to fruition. It is true that there are cults that surround the aboleth and worship them as gods; not just the bargemen, but a number of other species have fallen prey to the aboleths’ machinations. Magi who seek to form pacts with outsiders are sometimes drawn to these calculating and corrupting creatures as well.
Aboleth (Level 6)
Survivability 48
Armor 3 (Slimed Hide)
Harm See Grasping Tentacles
Attack 10
Mental 13
Physical 10
Predator Points 7
Tags. Dimensional Entity, Ancient Mind, Amphibious, Enslaver, Psionic
Abilities
Amphibious Defense. Can breathe both air and water. While fully submerged, increase the TN of attacks against the Aboleth by +2.
Psychic Presence. Creatures that begin their turn within Medium range gain the tag Uneasy.
Slime Secretion. A creature hit by an Aboleth’s Close attack must make a Resistance Roll vs Physical or gain the tag Slimed. Slimed creatures suffer disadvantage on physical actions until they wash the slime away and they’re slippery.
Writhing Defense. When reduced below half Survivability, the Aboleth may immediately move up to Medium range without triggering responses. If on land this movement is reduced to Short range.
Actions
Grasping Tentacles (Close). Target makes a Resistance Roll vs Attack. On a miss, they take 2d6 + 3 harm and gain the tag Grabbed. Grabbed targets are grabbed. If the target is Slimed, increase the TN of the attack by +2 since the slime is sticky to the Aboleth. It doesn’t make sense but dimensional entities are weird.
Enslave Mind (Medium, 2 PP). Target makes a Resistance Roll vs Mental. On a miss, they gain the tag Dominated until the end of the Aboleths next turn. The Aboleth may make them take their response in the moment and dictate either their movement or action on their next turn.
Psychic Surge (Short, 1 PP). All creatures within Short range make a Resistance Roll vs Mental or take 2d8 harm and gain the tag Disoriented.
Response
Ancient Reflex. When targeted by a Mental attack, force the attacker to reroll their highest die.
Weakness
Bright, sustained light reduces the TN of attacks against the Aboleth by 1. Extended time out of water causes it to lose 5 Survivability at the end of each round.
At 0 Survivability
The Aboleth thrashes violently, releasing a psychic pulse. All creatures within Medium range must make a Resistance Roll vs Mental or gain the tag Stunned. Its body then collapses into inert flesh but is still awake. It recovers 2d10 survivability each round. Once it recovers 24 survivability it can move again.
Stunned creatures can’t act until they overcome the Stunned condition. A Stunned creature can make a Resistance Roll vs Mental at the beginning of its turn, if successful the stunned creature can act normally.
Killing Them
An Aboleth is permanently destroyed if:
- It is reduced to 0 Survivability while fully out of water.
- A powerful banishment ritual severs its mind from the physical plane.
Optional Action
Screaming Faces. (Medium, 3 PP) This aboleth has had numerous creatures merge with it and those souls can cry out in agony which is disturbing to behold. Each creature within medium range makes a Psyche Resistance Roll vs Mental. On a miss they take the condition Traumatic Terror which can only be put on the mend by killing the Aboleth to release the souls and then finding someone to talk to about the experience and waiting two downtimes. This condition can only be taken once and if it is resisted the first time
This is optional because not all Aboleths have absorbed enough souls to make this action possible. This action makes the Aboleth far more dangerous than it normally would be.
Brain Gorgers
Called The Enemy by the Liché and Realm Spawn by the Church of Odin, these creatures are said to be things that Erlig and his followers brought into the world from the Dark Realm to aid them during the Soul War. Then, during a key battle (historians disagree as to which battle it was), the Gorgers turned on their allies in support of their own agenda.
Slave masters able to control the minds of anyone they come in contact with, these horrible octopoid-visaged beings are said to literally devour the brains of their foes. It is said that certain warlocks and wizards who reach into the Dark Realm risk the Spawn’s attention. And, once the Spawn is interested in you, there is only one way for them to slake their hunger for knowledge.
THE REAL STORY – Brain gorgers are servants created by Erlig, an elder being from the Dark Realm, that were sent into this world through a madness-induced summoning ritual by the dwarven warlock Travo k Oathbreaker. This ritual allowed a temporary portal for the bra in gorgers to pass through into the caverns and tunnels of the dwarven kingdom of Thorbrindor below Avalon. This act spelled doom for the dwarves, and almost utterly eliminated them from the world.
The goal of the brain gorgers is to find a way to open a permanent portal to the Dark Realm. This would allow their patron to bring it’s eternal darkness to the world; enslaving everyone to the brain gorgers as they are so bound to their foul god. Their hunger for this knowledge drives them to devour the minds of nearly every being they encounter.
Brain Gorger (Level 7)
Survivability 56
Armor 2 (Aberrant Flesh)
Harm 3d10+3 (Psychic Rend, Close)
Attack 11
Mental 14
Physical 11
Predator Points 8
Tags. Brain Gorger, Servant of Erlig, Mind Devourer, Psychic Predator, Reality Thinner, Hover
Abilities
Mind Scent. The Gorger can sense intelligent creatures within Medium range and knows which among them carries the strongest memories or trauma.
Psychic Resistance. Takes half harm from purely physical ranged attacks unless they are touching sanctified ground. See Weakness
Devour Intellect. When a creature fails a Resistance Roll against the Brain Gorger and the difficulty die is 3 or less, they gain the tag Hollowed until the end of the scene. While Hollowed, all Mental Resistance Rolls TN are at +2.
Actions
Psychic Rend (Close). Target makes a Psyche Resistance Roll vs Mental. On a miss, they take 3d10+3 harm. If the target is Hollowed, increase harm to 4d10+5 for this attack.
Cranial Lance (Medium, 2 PP). Target makes a Resistance Roll vs Mental. On a miss, they take 2d10 harm and are Staggered until the end of their next turn. Staggered creatures can only take a single action, move, or quick action on their turn. They can not make responses.
Memory Feast (1 PP). Target within Close range makes a Resistance Roll vs Mental. On a miss, they permanently lose a minor memory and the Gorger heals 2d10 Survivability.
Tear the Veil (2 PP). The Gorger thins reality in Short range. All creatures in the area make a Psyche Resistance Roll vs Mental. On a miss, take 2d10 harm and gain the tags Shaken and Disoriented.
Quick Action
Otherworldly Quickness (1 PP). The Brain Gorger can take another action or make another move.
Responses
Foretaste of Madness. When targeted by a Mental Action, force the creature to reroll their highest die.
Spasm of Hunger. The first time in a scene when the Brain Gorger is reduced below half Survivability, the Gorger may immediately make a Psychic Rend against a Hollowed target.
At 0 Survivability
The first time a Brain Gorger is reduced to 0 Survivability they become Ethereal until the end of their next turn, regain half their survivability and use the action Tear the Veil without spending any Predator Points. Ethereal means the Brain Gorger can’t be targeted by physical actions, can move through physical objects, and magical effects are only half as effective as the Gorger is partially in this reality and partially outside of it.
Weaknesses
Sanctified Ground. The magics of the Old Ways of this world are athema to the Brain Gorgers. While a Brain Gorger touches the earth of a graveyard of the Liche’ where the burial rights have been performed many times they become Vulnerable. Being Vulnerable causes a Brain Gorger to take an extra 2d6 harm when taking harm and they lose their physical resistance.
Killing a Brain Gorger
Brain Gorgers can only be killed by being reduced to 0 survivability and then shoving at least a handful of sanctified ground into their body. Some say burying the Brain Gorger in Sanctified Ground also works.
Dragons
No one is clear on what the dragons look or act like, but most scholars agree that they are mostly black, red, golden brown, or green in color. All have wings, mouthfuls of sword-like teeth and are as intelligent as the greatest mage.
There has been no reliable source claiming to have seen a dragon in well over 100 years, and even those records of old encounters are mostly grand stories of past glories. Nearly everyone in Avalon believes the best way to see a dragon is either through a tale by the Storytellers guild, or to visit the Brass Dragon Inn near the eastern gate to the city where you can see a number of dragon pictures, carvings, statues, and even drink some Dragon’s Breath, a spiced whiskey served to every newcomer.
A recently formed thieves guild called The Green Dragons claims that their leader is an actual dragon, known as The Master, who lives deep beneath the city. This has, of course, not yet been confirmed.
THE REAL STORY – The being known as The Master of the Green Dragons is a dragon. It does live deep beneath Avalon in a series of rooms and chambers that it crawled into amid the devastation that came during the brain gorgers’ appearance in those caverns. The dragon slept for many years after its reign of terror in Thorbrindor was completed, and it has just recently awakened. A scheming and cunning creature, the dragon is regaining strength while it plans its next steps. Before it goes too far and unveils its existence, the dragon is using the Green Dragon guild as its information collectors; there is so much to learn since it last stalked the world. Brain gorgers, aboleths, this new city of men, and more it must learn before it makes a move. Besides, it is rather nice to be worshiped as a god by the guild so why hurry?
Dragon (Level 10)
Survivability 100
Armor 5 (Ancient Scales)
Harm 5d10+2 (Rending Bite, Close)
Attack 16
Mental 15
Physical 17
Predator Points 16
Tags. Dragon, Ancient, Winged Terror, Apex Predator, Hoard Keeper
Abilities
Winged Colossus. Creatures in Close range are considered one size smaller. The Dragon may move over creatures without penalty or having responses used against them from movement.
Terrifying Presence. Creatures that begin their turn within Medium range must make a Resistance Roll vs Mental or gain the tag Frightened until the end of the scene or they do something to overcome it. If it’s resisted they still gain the tag Unsettled. Frightened creatures either choose to run on their turn or fight. If they fight they reroll any 5’s or 6’s they roll when they roll a die for the first time. If they successfully land a blow on the dragon that harms it they become Unsettled instead of Frightened.
Scales Like Iron. Any attack that deal less than 15 harm after armor reduction deals half harm.
Actions
Sweeping Claw (Close, 1 PP). All creatures in Close range make a Resistance Roll vs Attack. On a miss they take 3d10+5 harm and are Bleeding. A Bleeding creature takes 1d4 harm at the beginning of their turn until they do something to stop the bleeding.
Devastating Breath (Medium, 3 PP). Choose a direction. Everything in that direction up to medium away is blasted with fire. Creatures make a Resistance Roll vs Physical. On a miss they take 5d10+2 harm. On a hit, they take half. The area gains the tag Burning for the rest of the scene or until something changes it.
Skyfall Dive (2 PP). The Dragon flies up to Medium range and crashes down. All creatures within Close range of the landing point make a Resistance Roll vs Physical or take 4d10 harm and are Prone and Dazed. Dazed creatures can only take an action or a move and can not make responses.
Responses
Legendary Reflex. When targeted by an attack, spend 1 PP to force the attacker to reroll their highest die.
Tail Counter. When struck by a Close attack, the Dragon may immediately make a Tail Strike against the attacker. Make a Resistance Roll vs Attack. On a miss the target take 3d10 harm and gets pushed medium distance away. If the target hits anything they take damage at the GMs discretion and as the fiction would dictate.
Weakness
A Dragon’s hoard anchors its pride and power. If a significant portion of its hoard is destroyed or stolen during the encounter, reduce all of its TNs by 1 for the remainder of the scene.
Note: A dragons horde is whatever the GM decides it is. It could be treasure but it could also be the network of spies they’ve cultivated or the menagerie of creatures they’ve collected.
At 0 Survivability
The first time a Dragon is reduced to 0 survivability it makes a free Skyfall Dive action but it’s more devastating as the area in medium range is suffused with molten rock and fire gaining the Burning World tag. The Dragon is dying but not yet dead. Burning World causes anything flammable in the area to start On Fire, including creatures. A creature ending their turn inside an area of Burning World takes 1d12 harm from fire. Any creature who leaves the area of Burning World and is still On Fire takes the 1d12 damage until they’re no longer on fire.
Killing a Dragon
A Dragon is permanently slain if:
- It is reduced to 0 Survivability and its heart is pierced or destroyed.
- It is reduced to 0 Survivability within a powerful binding circle.
- Its body is burned, dismembered, or its head removed before it can recover.
If none of these occur, the Dragon may cling to life for 1d4 rounds, possibly attempting one final action. It can spend predator points to regain survivability when at 0 survivability.