Monstrous Monday: Black & White Cadejos -New Oe/BX/1E Monsters

Welcome to my Monstrous Monday entry! This week's Monster of the Week (for those visiting, I do this weekly year 'round, though normally on Tuesdays) is the Central/South American version of the hellhound, and comes in two varieties - black and white. It will be included among the other 160+ monsters in the upcoming Creature Compendium.

---

Cadejos are large, magical dogs with cloven hooves and glowing eyes. They are immune to normal weapons and silver or +1 or better magic weapons are required “to hit” against them.

---

BLACK CADEJO

The black cadejo appears as a massive, shaggy black dog with cloven (goat) hooves and burning red eyes. It is nocturnal and prowls the shadows of night alongside roads, waiting to ambush unsuspecting travelers and kill them. While the darkness and their coloration make them difficult to see, their glowing red eyes and their smell (a combination of urine and burning sulphur) reduces their ability to surprise (1-2 on 1d6.) Black cadejos are able to use the following abilities (per magic user spells) 3 times per day, each: charm person, charm animal, hallucinatory terrain (appears as fiery, hellish place,) and lightning bolt (2d6.) Additionally, black cadejos have a 50% chance to detect invisible persons within a range of 50’.

Oe/1E STATS FREQUENCY: Rare NO. APPEARING: 1-6 ARMOR CLASS: 5 MOVE: 12” HIT DICE: 5 % IN LAIR: 20% TREASURE TYPE: A NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below INTELLIGENCE: Low ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil SIZE: 4'-5' at shoulder PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

BX STATS ARMOR CLASS: 5 HIT DICE: 5** MOVE: 120’ ATTACKS: 1 bite or special DAMAGE: 1-6 or special NO. APPEARING: 1-6 SAVE AS: Fighter: 5 MORALE: 10 TREASURE TYPE: A ALIGNMENT: Chaotic

---

WHITE CADEJO

The white cadejo appears as a slightly quicker, smaller, white version of the black cadejo, but with blue glowing eyes. The white cadejo is nocturnal as well but, unlike its evil counterpart, watches vigilant over the roads often traveled at night to aid in protecting any passing travelers. White cadejos will attempt to go undetected, providing their protection from a distance. Unlike the putrid smell of black cadejos, white cadejos have a sweet, incense-like smell that lingers around them. White cadejos are able to use the following abilities 3 times per day, each: cure light wounds, protection from evil, bless (per cleric spells,) and lightning bolt (2d6, per magic user spell.) Additionally, they make all saving throws as a 4th-level cleric.

Oe/1E STATS FREQUENCY: Very rare NO. APPEARING: 1-4 ARMOR CLASS: 4 MOVE: 12” HIT DICE: 4 % IN LAIR: 35% TREASURE TYPE: C NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-6 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below INTELLIGENCE: Low ALIGNMENT: Lawful good SIZE: 4'-5' at shoulder PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

BX STATS ARMOR CLASS: 4 HIT DICE: 4** MOVE: 120’ ATTACKS: 1 bite or special DAMAGE: 1-6 or special NO. APPEARING: 1-4 SAVE AS: Cleric: 4 MORALE: 8 TREASURE TYPE: C ALIGNMENT: Lawful

---

d30 Feature of the Week: Weather Events + d30 Sandbox Companion Update

I can't believe I finally finished the freakin' d30 weather charts!!!
Yes, good people of Rhombictriacontahedronland, it's been tormenting me since the inception of the the d30 Sandbox Companion, but it's finally done. This week's d30 feature is the second of the two weather pages I finished this week. It presents a system for determining precipitation events based on the "class" of precipitation for the locale; the class determines both chance for precipitation, and type of precipitation that may occur. The accompanying page from the book (pictured below, but not part of today's download) is the "reference document" you really need for the most effective use of today's precipitation generator download (though the download is still quite usable without it). That reference doc gives mean temperatures (and daily temperature determination options), as well as type of precipitation (by class), for the various climate/terrain/season combinations.

Click here to download a free PDF of today's d30 Weather Events (Precipitation) Generator (pictured at the top of this post) from MediaFire.

---

So what does that leave to complete for the d30 Sandbox Companion?

Not much, but more than you'd think:
- Master Wilderness Mapping Key
- Temple/Shrine Generator
- Suggested Monster Lairs by Climate/Geography and General Level
- Shop Stocker
- Hireling Henchmen Recruitment

I think we'll be looking at a total of 52 pages, compared to 36 pages in the d30 DM Companion. That's 16 more pages of d30 goodness!

Mongolian Adventure Map

I'm making slow-but-steady progress for the Mongolian adventure design contest over at William's Great Khan's blog. This is the map that goes with yesterday's wandering monster tables.

I've got a good start on the clan/tribe backgrounds, and a weekend road trip ahead of me, so I should have ample "passenger time" to get done most of what I want to get done before the deadline.

And if William extends the deadline, I might add some more to what I've got, or do a stand-alone item or two that supplements it.

Some More Mongolian Inspiration

The Mongolian adventure design contest over at William's Great Khan's blog is is still a bit slow going (scroll down to bottom of his post). I promise mine is in-progress, William! That's part of the reason I'm making this post today... to show progress.

FIRST THINGS FIRST
The image at left is just a bit of an "inspirational" image for all of you. It comes from a 6th-grade textbook from the 30s/40s titled Glimpses into the Long Ago by Edna McGuire (pictures by George M. Richards).

SECOND THINGS SECOND
I updated the Monster Index: Creatures of the Steppe. The hedgehog is now a giant hedgehog, the cinerous and giant vultures stats were flipped (now corrected), and I adjusted the surprise roll for the phase giant. The PDF attached to the link in the original post is fixed, or you can download the update from this link.

THIRD THINGS THIRD: Wandering Monster Tables
Since my design is turning out to be more of a setting than an adventure, I've put together some wilderness wandering monster tables to accompany the "Creatures of the Steppe" Monster Index. Please feel free to use or adapt (except illustration).

FINAL THINGS FINAL: A Big Thanks!
If you're having trouble deciding whether to get off your butt and get something together for William's contest, check out my 3rd place prizes (picture below) from his viking-themed one-page adventure design contest: a bumper-sticker magnet for his blog, a copy of Judges Guild's Druids of Doom (coincidentally, one of the JG products I didn't have but wanted), another envelope hand-illustrated by William's wife, and sticker of Tiamat from the old D&D cartoon!

Click here for an overview of the mongol contest prizes.

d30 Sandbox Companion: A Report from the Front

From my point of view, one of the most interesting things that occurs when I develop something like the d30 Sandbox Companion or the d30 DM Companion, is the way things evolve -- evolution which often happens unknown to even the closest followers. One of the other things that seems to happen is the ongoing exclusion/inclusion of certain materials. Finally, I seem to generate so much d30 content on an ongoing basis, that I sometimes forget I have something else that should have been included. This past weekend was a case of "all of the above."

It all started with a chart I did in November of last year (one of the charts that really kicked off the d30 thing for me, just weeks after launching this blog.) Sure, that chart had its issues, and it was out of place in the d30 DM Companion, but it was one of the things that led to the idea of a d30 Sandbox Companion. Ironically, I don't think I ever gave the chart serious consideration for inclusion in d30 Sandbox Companion. I even did a visual refresh of it as recently as this past August. I say "visual" refresh because I didn't really do much other than a type/layout update; the content stayed essentially the same... until this weekend, when I was making sure there was nothing completed that I thought should be included in the d30 Sandbox Companion.

So I pulled out this chart and gave it another look, especially with the insight of making GREAT progress on the weather charts. (Be on the lookout for this Friday's d30 Feature of the Week!!!) In looking at this chart again, that little light bulb over my head came on! First, I changed the determination of severity (formerly a 1d3) to a calculated set of impairments (thus the addition of the "Impairments" sub-table at bottom left). I also changed the numbering of the "hex-protractors" for the final die roll; before it was pretty much left-to-right. Now, the higher the die roll result, the more "off course" the party will actually be. I also added the ability to make adjustments to the off-course roll for any overriding skills/knowledge on the part of the PCs. What I ended up with is something that feels "complete," and much less like the space filler it could have been.

Here's some more irony for you... in the post from August as part of a "d30 Sandbox Week" theme, I had planned on a "Vegetation Generator" but didn't have time to complete it, so I did that "visual refresh" of the "Off-course" chart that I mentioned above. Now that this "Off-course Determination" chart works so well (IMHO), I'm scratching the inclusion of a "Vegetation Generator" (which was added to the list of inclusions as recently as last Friday's d30 Sandbox Companion update.)

Check out the complete evolution of the "Off-course Determination" chart below...

New Oe/BX/1E Monster: Phase Giant (Mongolian Monster)

As per last week's Monster of the Week post (the khiimori), I'm shifting this week's Monster of the Week post from Tuesday (its normal day) to Monday in preparation for next week's Monstrous Monday blog-hop hosted by Tim Brannan of The Other Side, and I'm theming this weeks content in support of the Mongol Adventure Design Contest at William Dowie's Ramblings of a Great Khan blog. Today's monster is based on a Mongolian creature named Хадны Мангаа ("rock monster"), a creature that "comes out of rocks" - like Kitty Pryde of the X-Men. The "short stats" for this one were on last week's Creatures of the Steppe download. (Plase note, the PDF lists the phase giant's surprise as "1-3"; the "1-5" on today's description is my preference, but the actual surprise range used is at the DM's discretion.), but the actual surprise range used is at the DM's discretion.)

DESCRIPTION A phase giant is similar in most regards to a stone giant, save for the ability to phase. This gives the phase giant the ability to shift out of phase with its surroundings, bringing itself back into phase when it is ready to attack. Any weapon held by a phase giant when shifting will go out of phase as well. This allows phase giants to hide easily “inside” the rocky structures of the steppe environments where they live, and allows them to surprise on a 1-5 (on 1d6) when attacking. Additionally, like stone giants, phase giants are able to hurl rocks up to a 300’ distance for 3-30 points of damage. When out of phase, a phase giant is impervious to all forms of attack. However, a phase door spell will cause the creature to remain in phase for 6 melee rounds. Oil of etherealness or armor of etherealness will put a user into the same phase as the giant, allowing them to make attacks as per normal (while in the same phase as the giant).

Oe/1E STATS FREQUENCY: Rare NO. APPEARING: 1-6 ARMOR CLASS: 4 MOVE: 12” HIT DICE: 9+4 % IN LAIR: 30% TREASURE TYPE: D NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2-8 SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below INTELLIGENCE: Average ALIGNMENT: Neutral SIZE: L (12’ tall) PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil BX STATS ARMOR CLASS: 4 HIT DICE: 9+4 MOVE: 120’ ATTACKS: 1 weapon DAMAGE: 3-18 or by weapon NO. APPEARING: 1-6 SAVE AS: Fighter: 9 MORALE: 9 TREASURE TYPE: D ALIGNMENT: Neutral

d30 Feature of the Week: Terrain Features + d30 Sandbox Companion Update

First off, a warning: The image at the top of this post is a preview of what will appear in the d30 Sandbox Companion, but the image to the left is a preview of this week's d30 feature download. I put A LOT of time into developing the full page that will appear in the Companion, and I think it would be unfair to those folks who'll actually shell out the dough for a print or PDF copy of the final book. Especially because this is a page I could see people using... a lot. So today, instead of getting a working version of the full page (which is my norm), I'm afriad you'll only be getting a "sampling" (thus the alternative visual format) that includes terrain features and phenomena for hills, swamp, and coastal terrains. Yes, the mountain and forest tables have been excluded from this download on purpose. Sorry. I hope you'll understand, especially since holding back like this is a rarity for me.

Click here to download a free PDF of this
d30 Natural Features & Phenomena Sample from MediaFire.

Now for that update I promised you...

Since the last major update, the Natural Features & Phenomena page is done (obviously), as well as the City Guards, City Watch, Border Patrols page. The NPC background section is also completed and includes the following pages:
- NPC Motivations, Persona, Drivers, Aptitudes, Habits, and Burdens
- NPC Family History, Personal Inspiration, and Talents/Skills
- NPC Physical Traits, Personality, and Quirks

The Weather Generator is well underway; I've finally admitted to myself "it's just going to take 2 pages to do right." I was hoping for 1, but... no such luck.

The Temple Generator page is blank, but I know what I'm doing there; I'm just trying to get the Weather Generator done first since I know it will take a lot more of my attention to complete.

The Shop Stocker is about half-done, but it's probably going to be one of the last pages I finish (especially since it's sort of a no-brainer).

The two Hireling/Henchmen Recruitment pages are in-progress. My thoughts are together on these, but the focus required for finishing them has had me procrastinating on them for months. Really... MONTHS!

Finally, I'm adding a couple of new pages...

First, is a Vegetation Generator. I started this a while back, but felt like it was a bit of filler. With the Natural Features & Phenomena having shaped up the way it did, it now seems more like an expansion of that. (Plus, I have to keep the number of pages to a multiple of 4, so the room for this one "availed" itself.)

My favorite new addition (should I get it to work) is a new page titled Suggested Monster Lairs by Climate/Geography and General Level. This isn't a d30 chart/table per se, but rather a general reference sheet similar to the bottom of the Ruins Generator; it suggests types of monsters and lairs by terrain and party level. This may require a second page (which could possibly supersede the inclusion of the Vegetation Generator).

Oh, I almost forgot...
I still have to finish the Master Wilderness Mapping Key, like the Master Dungeon Mapping Key.

I feel like I'm SO close, but that there's still so much left to do.

And now... so you don't have to scroll back up...

Click here to download a free PDF of today's
d30 Natural Features & Phenomena Sample from MediaFire.