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Making Monsters: Leap Day Edition
Thanks to everyone for your response to my earlier post on the Jersey Devil. Before too long, it will be getting and update and expansion as I work toward the ideal format for a system-agnostic monster description. Soon I hope to make the official #secretprojects announcement and you’ll see what my plans are, and how you can help.
Here’s another monster – and today being Leap Day, I’ve gone for the Water Leaper from Welsh folklore. I’ve changed the format a little, and as always I would love to know how it could be improved. Let me know in the comments section.
The Water Leaper
Water leapers, known as llamhigyn y dwr (pronounced roughly “thlamheegin uh duwr”) in their native Wales, look something like large toads with wings (sometimes bat-like, and sometimes like those of a flying fish) instead of front legs and a long, sinuous tail instead of back legs. Their broad mouths are full of very sharp teeth. Their bodies are 2-3 feet long, with tails twice as long again.
They will attack almost anything, and regularly destroy the nets and lines of local fishermen. They also attack swimmers and livestock drinking at the water’s edge.
Water leapers have been known to try to knock fishermen out of their boats by deliberately leaping at them. They can emit a piercing shriek which can startle an unwary fisherman or animal, making their attack easier. In the water, up to 12 of the creatures can attack a human-sized victim at the same time.
Their pack attacks show a rudimentary organization. For instance, they may spread out and attack a target from all sides at once. One creature may stand a little way off and shriek just as the others are swimming or leaping to the attack.
Water leapers can live on lake fish, but their appetites are so voracious that they quickly deplete the fish stocks in any lake they inhabit. They seem to prefer the meat of sheep, cattle, and humans. They have no natural enemies apart from enraged fishermen and deadlier water monsters such as lake worms and water horses.
Painting by Brian Froud. Used without permission: no challenge to copyright intended.
RANGE
Real World: Wales: swamps and ponds. Lone or pack (3d4).
Fantasy World: Temperate marshes and ponds. Lone or pack (3d4).
TYPE: Animal
SIZE: Small (3ft/1m long)
MOVEMENT
Swim: 25 feet (7.5m) per round
Glide: 30 feet (9m) per round. Must spend at least 2 consecutive rounds swimming before being able to fly.
Crawl: 5 feet (1.5m) per round.
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: Animal, small (e.g. cat, fox, or small to medium dog)
Dexterity/Agility: Animal, small (e.g. cat, fox, or small to medium dog)
Constitution: Animal, small (e.g. cat, fox, or small to medium dog)
Intelligence: Animal, small (e.g. cat, fox, or small to medium dog)
Willpower: Animal, small (e.g. cat, fox, or small to medium dog)
Hit Points/Health: Animal, small (e.g. cat, fox, or small to medium dog)
ATACKS
Bite: Animal, small (e.g. cat, fox, or small to medium dog)
Buffet: Only usable when gliding. Ignores armour. Knockdown, based on creature’s Strength, resisted by victim’s Dexterity/Agility. No damage, but the second and subsequent hits in a round cause a cumulative penalty to the victim’s Dexterity/Agility as the victim fights to keep their balance. Used to knock victims out of boats and into the water.
Shriek: Startle, based on creature’s Willpower, resisted by victim’s Willpower. Range/Area of Effect 30 yard/meter radius centered on creature’s position. Startled characters act last in the next turn and suffer a mild (e.g. 10%) penalty to all actions. Critical success on the creature’s part, or critical failure on the victim’s part, causes a Fear result in addition.
WEAKNESSES
No special weaknesses.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Stinger (Optional): Some reports of water leapers give them a barb or stinger at the end of their tail. This gives the water leaper one additional attack per round, causing damage as a dagger. In the case of a stinger, the attack also causes mild poison damage, like the venom of a small, mildly venomous snake.
Links
Graeme Davis 