Seven Spooky Skeletons: Woodbones

Seven Spooky Skeletons is a short series running every night until Halloween, because I love Halloween, alliteration, and the word 'spooky'. Each night, d20 despot will be showcasing a different unique skeletal villain.

Tonight's spooky skeleton is Woodbones, an undead, bark-encrusted druid who summons skeletal animals and rides a bony bear infused with the spirit of an evil tree.

The following text is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

This halfling skeleton is partially fused with plates of ragged bark. It sits astride a skeletal bear bristling with woody vines.

Woodbones          CR 6

XP 2,400

Halfling skeletal champion druid 8

NE Small undead

Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., greensight; Perception +13

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +5 natural, +1 dodge)

hp 73 (10d8+28)

Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +14; +4 channel resistance, +4 vs. effects from fey and effects using plants

DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, undead traits

Defensive Abilities resist nature’s lure

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.

Melee +1 quarterstaff +8/+8/+3 (1d4+2) or 2 claws +9 (1d3+1)

Ranged +1 sling +11 (1d3+2) 50ft.

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8^th; concentration +12)

   constant – greensight

   1/day – tree shape

Spells Prepared (CL 0^th)

4^th – bloody claws, inflict serious wounds (DC 18), thorn body

3^rd – call lightning (DC 17), fungal infestation (DC 17), greater magic fang, inflict moderate wounds (DC 17)

2^nd – barkskin, fog cloud, frigid touch, wood shape

1^st – bristle, decompose corpse, liberating command, magic stone, shillelagh

orisons – create water, detect magic, light, resistance

STATISTICS

Str 12, Dex 16, Con --, Int 11, Wis 18, Cha 15

Base Atk +7; CMB +7; CMD 20

Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative^B, Mounted Combat, Natural Spell, Two-Weapon Fighting

Skills Acrobatics +5, Climb +3, Intimidate +7, Handle Animal +9, Heal +8, Knowledge (nature) +10, Perception +13, Ride +16, Stealth +16, Survival +11; Racial Modifiers +2 Acrobatics, +2 Climb, +2 Perception

Languages Common, Halfling, Druidic

SQ nature bond (skeletal animal companion), nature sense, skeletal wild shape, spontaneous casting, trackless step, undead wild empathy, woodland stride

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Bark Armor (Ex)

Woodbones’ bones are fused with the bark of the Tree of Death, granting him a +4 natural armor bonus on top of the existing natural armor bonus granted by the skeleton template.

Blessing of the Tree of Death (Ex)

The Tree of Death gave Woodbones many gifts. Woodbones gains greensight as a constant spell-like ability and tree shape as a spell-like ability useable once per day. It also adds any inflict wounds spells to its druid spell list.

Skeletal Animal Companion (Ex)

Woodbones’ animal companion gains the skeletal champion template. The companion retains all special qualities granted to an animal companion. In addition, planted within the heart of the skeletal animal is a sapling descended from the Tree of Death. This grants the skeletal animal companion a +4 bonus to grapple checks, a +4 bonus to Charisma, and the ability to cast entangle as a spell-like ability once per day with a caster level equal to Woodbones’.

Root, The Skeletal Bear

Bear skeleton animal companion

N Medium undead

Init +6; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +0

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+8 natural, +2 Dex)

hp 58 (9d8+18)

Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +5; +4 channel resistance, +4 vs enchantments

DR 0/-; Immune immunity, undead traits

Defensive Abilities devotion, evasion

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.

Melee bite +11 (1d6+5), 2 claws +11 (1d4+5)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8^th)

   1/day – entangle

STATISTICS

Str 21, Dex 15, Con --, Int --, Wis 10, Cha 14

Base Atk +6; CMB +11; CMD 23

Feats Improved Initiative^B

SQ link, share spells

Skeletal Wild Shape (Su)

Woodbones can assume the form of any skeletal animal of Tiny, Small, Medium, or Large size. This ability functions like the spell undead anatomy II except as noted here. The effect lasts for eight hours or until it changes back. Changing form is a standard action and doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. Woodbones’ skeletal animal forms retain its bark armor and +4 natural armor bonus. Woodbones can use this ability three times to day.

Skeletal Summons (Su)

Any creatures summoned when Woodbones casts summon nature’s ally or similar summoning spells are summoned with the skeleton or exoskeleton template, as appropriate. Summoned elementals are not affected by this change.

Undead Wild Empathy (Ex)

Woodbones can improve the attitude of an undead animal just as a living druid can with a living animal. Woodbones can use this ability to influence an undead magical beast with an Intelligence score or 2 or lower.

ECOLOGY

Treasure NPC gear (+1 quarterstaff, +1 sling, 40 bullets, potion of inflict serious wounds (CL 5^th), other treasure)

This halfling skeleton’s bones are partially fused to tough sheets of thick bark, forming a crude sort of armor. Some of its bones are missing, replaced with perfectly crafted wooden doubles. In life, this creature was a halfling druid. It died at the foot of the legendary Tree of Death, the bark of which grew over its corpse, decomposed it, and infused it with dark powers. All other aspects of its past identity have been stripped away by the ages, leaving only the husk known as Woodbones, Servant of the Tree of Death. It rides a skeletal bear named Root, which bears the thrashing, evil sapling of the Tree of Death in its rib-cage. Together, they seek to bring a twisted balance to nature by hastening the death and decay of all living things.

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-your second spooky d20 despot 

Seven Spooky Skeletons: The Marquis

Happy Halloween, and welcome to Seven Spooky Skeletons! This is the first entry in an ongoing series running until Halloween. Each day, d20 Despot will feature a stat block for a villainous skeletal NPC. Each skeleton will have some sort of unique ability or characteristic that makes them more than just a collection of stats.

The first of the Seven Spooky Skeletons is the Marquis, a cold-blooded but dashing rogue whose empty eye sockets and lipless grin are hidden behind a crimson carnival mask.

The following text is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

This skeleton, wearing a red and gold carnival mask, a broad-brimmed feathered hat, and a dashing half-cape, flourishes his gleaming rapier

The Marquis            CR 5

XP 1,600

human skeletal champion rogue 7

CE Medium undead

Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +11

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+2 natural, +4 Dex, +2 deflection)

hp 76 (9d8+36)

Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +4; channel resistance +4

DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune cold, undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee +1 keen rapier +12/+7 (1d6+2/15-20) or 2 claws +10/+5 (1d4+1)

Ranged mwk dagger +11/+6 (1d4+1) 10ft.

Special Attacks Sneak Attack +4d6 plus 4 bleed

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7^th)

   2/day – alter self (human only), charm person (DC 15)

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 18, Con --, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 18

Base Atk +6/+1; CMB +7; CMD 21

Feats Combat Expertise, Dazzling Display, Improved Feint^B, Improved Initiative^B, Quick Draw, Step Up, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (rapier)^B

Skills Acrobatics +16, Appraise +5, Bluff +16, Climb +6, Diplomacy +16, Disable Device +8, Disguise +16, Escape Artist +8, Intimidate +14, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (nobility) +4, Perception +11, Sense Motive +7, Sleight of Hand +8, Stealth +12

Languages Common, Elvish

SQ convincing, rogue talents (bleeding attack, combat trick, weapon training)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Convincing (Ex)

The Marquis is preternaturally charming, even in the heat of battle. When he uses his charm person ability, the target does not gain the +5 bonus to their saves they would normally be entitled to even if the Marquis or his allies are threatening or attacking the target. In addition, when the Marquis attempts a Diplomacy skill check, the targets regard him as one step closer to friendly for the purposes of setting the DC of the check.

ECOLOGY

Treasure NPC gear (+1 keen rapier, 3x mwk daggers, ring of protection +2, potion of invisibility (CL 5^th), potion of inflict moderate wounds (CL 5^th), masterwork thieves’ tools, other treasure)

This skeleton covers his bony face with an ornate, long-nosed carnival mask – crimson, filigreed with gold. Over his left shoulder hangs a jaunty half-cape of fine workmanship, and upon his head sits a broad-brimmed bravo’s hat with a long white ostrich feather in the brim. In life, the Marquis was an inveterate playboy, dashing swordsman, and cunning serial killer. He casually slew hundreds of victims, often in the middle of their conversation, and all while maintaining a winning smile. His vast wealth, political power, and natural charm allowed him to get away with much, but it was ironically his dueling prowess that lead to his death. A gang of aspiring swashbucklers, tired of seeing the Marquis win every duel he fought and never grant mercy to the beaten party, set upon him in a back alley one night, stabbing him over forty times and leaving him to bleed out in the gutter. In death, he acts much the same as he did in life: charming, arrogant, and consumed with a need to kill.

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-your first spooky d20 despot

Monster Monday: Goo Bat Swarm

Today's Monster Monday is the goo bat, a blood-sucking ball of ooze with bat wings. Goo bats swarm their prey, glomming on to them to slow them down with a thick layer of slime which begins to siphon the blood from their body. They leave behind jellified corpses that burst open into new swarms of goo bats.

Whoa, is that an original illustration? Well, it sure as heck ain't a professional illustration. I got a tablet, so I'm going to start drawing some of the monsters I stat up. The goal is that eventually every Monster Monday will have its own original illustration (and I'll gradually get better at drawing them).

Hey, Halloween is coming up! Starting this Wednesday, I will be posting a new skeleton stat block every day until Halloween. It's an event I'm calling: d20 Despot's Seven Spooky Skeletons.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Titanosaur, the Biggest Dinosaur Ever

Today's Monster Monday is the titanosaur, a mindbogglingly tremendous sauropod dinosaur. The titanosaurs were actually a group of many sauropod species, the largest of which were also the largest dinosaurs ever and the longest and heaviest land animals ever to walk the earth.

by ДиБгд, via Wikimedia

A life-restoration of the titanosaur ampelosaurus atacis, shown with spiky osteoderms along its spine

One of the cool things that makes titanosaurs stand out from your more well-known sauropods like brachiosaurus, diplodocus, or apatosaurus is that many titanosaurs had osteoderms - large bony plates embedded in their skin. These plates may have acted as additional armor for these already formidable beasts, and some (such as ampelosaurus, above) even had spikes. The ampelosaurus above shows a conservative distribution of osteoderms, but the diamentinasaurus illustrated below is depicted as rather more well-armored.

by T. Tischler, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, via Wikimedia

Life-restoration of diamentinasaurus matildae, showing one possible level of titanosaurid osteoderm distribution

What's in a name? Translating a real-world monster, whether mythological or real, into a fantasy world can be difficult, especially when they are saddled with a name that instantly ties them to our world. With many classic dinosaurs, this isn't so much of a problem. Household names like tyrannosaurus and velociraptor, while clearly grounded in our world's scientific Greco-Latin naming conventions, seem to fit in relatively easily to a fantasy world alongside dragons, chimerae, and basilisks. Equally interesting but more newly discovered animals often have names that stand out like a sore thumb, either because they are overly long and complicated or because they specifically reference a real-world name or place. Titanosaur names like argentinosaurus, aegyptosaurus, or isisaurus (named after the Indian Statistical Institute) do not lend themselves to a fantasy world's immersion.

The monster statted up below is an argentinosaurus, by many estimates the largest of the titanosaurs. I chose to call it, simply, titanosaur, a rather generic name which can cover many species (including the horse-sized magyarosaurus). Identifying this monster by its scientific clade is akin to naming the stat block for tyrannosaurus 'coelurosaur'. Still, I thought it was better than identifying it with the real-world nation of Argentina, or calling it 'titanosaurus', which, despite lending its name to the titanosaurids, is a much smaller titanosaur than argentinosaurus (13 tons compared to argentinosaurus' 70-100 tons) and is now usually considered to be a nomen dubium - a name or classification unsupported by current science.

Also, it is important to remember that paleoart is often minimalist, omitting many potential features of a dinosaur that are not preserved in the fossil record. More adventurous paleoartists like to go out on a limb with their reconstructions, giving them interesting features that, while not necessarily supported by the fossil record, are also not disproven by the fossil record and thus may rest within the realm of possibility (I call this the Air Bud approach to paleoart, i.e. "There's no rule saying dogs can't play basketball"). This type of paleoart emphasizes naturalism, showing prehistoric animals in all the variety of coloration, integument, and behavior as other animals we are more familiar with. This often breathes new life into depictions of prehistoric animals, and generates renewed public interest in paleoart. With that in mind, here is another titanosaur illustration that would certainly make an impression in a fantasy world.

by Danny Cicchetti, via Wikimedia

A be-striped, be-quilled, and be-dewlapped life-restoration of the titanosaur overosaurus paradasorum

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Phase Serpent, the Slithering Ethereal Hunter

The serpent stirred at the approaching footfalls - a telltale sign of incoming prey. It uncoiled its sleek body, muscles rippling under silvery blue scales, and dove into the floor, passing through the ancient flagstones and into the misty mirror universe of the Ethereal Plane. It slithered through curling wisps of vapor until it came to a place where it sensed the echoes of creatures on the material plane. Slowly, cautiously, it passed its head up through the floor behind the interlopers. There were four of them, two in gleaming metal armor, one in flowing robes, one in black padding. 

   Like flowing water, it lunged, piercing the robed one with its long fangs, then dropped back through the floor and into the ether. The one bearing its venom glowed, visible to the serpent even across dimensions. It followed the warm glow of the venom as the material creatures continued through its lair. When it judged the time to be right, it found a passage through the ether to the ceiling of the room the prey were in. It struck boldly now, hissing and rearing. At it attacked, it blinked back and forth between ether and material. One of the prey swung a cruel sword at the serpent, but the blade passed through curling mist as the creature popped back to the Ethereal Plane for a split second.

   Taking advantage of its distraction, the black padded prey cut deep into the serpent with twin short blades. The serpent recoiled into the ceiling. The black one was a greater threat when part of the group. It needed to be isolated. The serpent sprang out of the ceiling, barreling into the black figure, sinking its fangs deep into its shoulder and pushing it into the floor and through it, dragging it into the shrouding ethereal mists that lay just beyond the edge of the material world. The black padded figure was startled. The serpent tasted its fear on the air. It tried to strike back at the serpent, but the silvery beast simply coiled around it, biting it again and again.

   Suddenly, there was a burst of flame searing the serpent's hide. The serpent turned to find the robed prey blinking erratically in and out of the Ethereal Plane. It was terrified even as it blasted the serpent with another gout of flame. The hunter reared back and struck, but it bit down on nothing as the robed one blinked away. As the serpent hissed in frustration, the robed one reappeared and unleashed a crackling bolt of deadening energy which struck the serpent square in the snout. It felt heavy. It tried to pursue the robed one back to the Material Plane, but it couldn't make a passage there. The ethereal connections to the solid world were closed to the serpent by some magical force. It could only watch angrily as the three remaining prey, still lit up with the serpent's venom, passed deeper into its lair.

   It watched, and it waited.

Today's Monster Monday is the phase serpent, a silvery hunter from the ethereal plane. Armed with an array of dimension-defying abilities that let it strike from anywhere, this slithering terror is the perfect ambush predator to stalk the halls of any dungeon.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Platybelodon, the Shovel-Tusked Elephant

Today's Monster Monday is platybelodon, the weirdest elephant ever. This prehistoric elephant-like creature is distinguished by its four tusks, the lower two forming a shovel-like growth jutting out below the trunk.

Platybelodon sculpture by Sean Cooper & Martin Garratt, photo by RobinGoodfellow_(m) via Flickr

Platybelodon and related amebelodonts were gomphotheres - elephant-like creatures that roamed the earth 12 million years ago up until the end of the last ice age. While most gomphotheres had four tusks, amebelodonts had these specialized shovel-like plates. It was once thought that they used them to literally shovel up their food, but according to recent reconstructions of their life and diet, these creatures used their shovel-tusks to scrape tree bark and even as a saw to cut down small saplings and shrubs while their flexible trunk held them in place.

It also has one of the most terrifying skeletons of any herbivore:

via Wikimedia

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.

Monster Monday: Giant Camel and Two-Humped Camel

Today's Monster Monday is a twofer: both the two-humped camel and the giant camel, two sure-footed pack-animals specialized at living in harsh conditions.

Tang-Dynasty model of a Sogdian riding a camel, via Wikimedia
Modern camels aren't as big as that tiny rider makes this one look, but the scale is about right for someone riding a
prehistoric giant camel like titanotylopus. Also, the rider looks like a lawn gnome, which amuses me.

The two-humped camel is more commonly known as the Bactrian camel, but Bactria is a real place on Earth, so that name is probably not suitable for most fantasy campaign settings. The one-humped dromedary or Arabian camel has already been statted up, but I felt the need to stat up their hardier, stronger, and more wide-ranging two-humped cousins as well. Two-humped camels have higher Strength and Constitution scores, making them ideal for hauling heavier loads in harsher environments than dromedaries, and also making them more formidable in a fight - both of which are characteristics that adventurers in camel-country might want to look for in their mounts and pack animals.

Bactrian camels resting in Jiayu Pass, by Emcc83, via Wikimedia

Prehistoric North America was home to many species of camel, including the gigantic megacamelus, titanotylopus, and gigantocamelus (those last two are considered by some paleontologists to be the same). These giant camels could be roughly 12 feet high and weighed over 5,000 pounds, making them about twice the size of the largest modern camels. In your campaign, giant camels might be employed by wealthy merchants to ship large quantities of goods across the desert, or they might be ridden by desert giant warriors. They could even be used as fighting platforms similar to war-elephants; imagine a giant camel draped in scale barding armor, with two archers firing from its back and two pikemen fighting from armored baskets hanging on either side of the beast.

(Don't forget to check out the encounter ideas and adventure hooks for these camels below the stat blocks!)

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2017 Jonah Bomgaars.