Tuesday, February 14, 2012

New Oe/BX/1E Monster: Hsigo (Flying Monkey)


This creature from Chinese legend supposedly inspired L. Frank Baum's flying monkeys in his Oz books.

Hsigo

Oe/1E STATS
FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO. APPEARING: 10-100
ARMOR CLASS: 7
MOVE: 12”/24”
HIT DICE: 1
% IN LAIR: 20%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-2 or by weapon
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Nil
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: S (4’ tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

BX STATS
ARMOR CLASS: 7
HIT DICE: 1
MOVE: 120’/240’
ATTACKS: 1 weapon
DAMAGE: 1-2 or by weapon
NO. APPEARING: 10-100
SAVE AS: Fighter: 1
MORALE: 10
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral


Hsigos are winged monkeys with human faces and dog-like tails. While sometimes found in the wild in forested areas, they are usually bred to act as servants for those that own them (most often high-level magic users.)

The weapons normally carried by hsigos are:
small sword - 40%
club - 30%
morning star - 20%
spear - 10%

For every 10 hsigos appearing as part of their owner’s army, there will be an additional leader with 2 hit dice (attacks and saves as 2 HD monster), carrying a +1 sword. For every hsigo army numbering 50 or greater, there will be a hsigo general with 3 hit dice (attacks and saves as a 3 HD monster), carrying a +1 sword and wearing a magic helmet (-1 bonus to AC.)

2 comments:

  1. Dave: I've always loved the flying monkey of Oz, and felt like they'd make great creatures in the game. I never knew about their appearance in Chinese folklore. Thanks for stating these up! Now, if there were only some nice little plastic miniatures...

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks for bringing one of my favorite creatures to 1e!

    ReplyDelete