Friday 6 April 2018

Monster Manual Reskins: Stirges






































So stirges are a favorite of mine. One day I will rewrite the monsters i need but each will include tables of mutations and variations which should avoid loads of similar monsters from needing entries. Mutant Epoch RPG set the standard here all games should have. Also you could use multiple versions combined. So strix owl lycanthrope phantom vampire stirges are a thing. With a d12 for variations I can colour code them for planet psychon too.

Stirge variants are major changes in capabilities that could be combined
Reskins are other creatures you could replace with a stirge without much change

Note BX and AdnD ones are different

AC 12 HD d8+1 Att d4 Mov 3"/18"
Special will latch on and suck d4 blood per round until drained a total of 12 HP before fleeing
Can glide and ambush first round for +3 hit 4 and can sense body heat and smell to attack
Stirges come from the underworld to feed on man. They often live in flocks of 3d4
Feathers and wings are used in potions and spells by witches who often keep them as pets

d12 Stirge Variants
1 Razor Stirge, wounds keep bleeding d3 extra round after stirge detaches unless treated
2 Lesser Stirge HD d4 Att d3 drain only 1 hp/round till reach 6 then flee, often have larger numbers
3 Giant Stirge HD 2d8 d6 bite and blood drain often prey on larger creatures
4  Swarm Stirge are finch size and act as a insect swarm typically 1"/HD across 2 dam to all in area per round unarmoured 4 if unarmoured
5 Plague Stirge, after battle victim saves to avoid disease if wounded
6 Were Stirge, turn into hags from a pact with a witch goddess, require +1 magic or silver to hit. As hags they might have spells as a d4 Lv wizard or druid or cleric
7 Phantom Stirge are immaterial smoky phantoms that require +1 magic or silver to hit and can squeeze through any crack or gap to get inside
8 Vampire Stirge, AC15 HD 4 undead drain level per person per day and blood, stirges require +1 to hit, can be turned and repulsed by holy water and symbols, more solitary
9 Screaming Stirge, cry makes all in a 3" area panic and freeze for a round if fail a save. Victims only need one save per round vs any amount of screaming stirges
10 Spirit Stirge, if killed slayer makes a save or haunted by a poltergeist for a d4 weeks
11 Constrictor Stirge, has a snake tail and a extra grappling attack, several together might hold a victim imobile for them to feed. Each will try to pin several limbs. They have creepy glowing eyes. There is a sub breed that can fire a magic missile once per day
12 Strix or Stirge Owls are evil birds who will also eat flesh and will together carry away a body to eat the digestive tract and will snatch babies. Often distract victims with screams while others move in for a ambush. They can be mistaken for owls and are intelligent but don't speak. Can lactate a foul smelling milk to mark victims or babies they intend to eat that causes blemishes but them mostly do this to sleeping victims they cant get to at the moment. They can smell this odour long distances to track the victim and it keeps rival stirge bird families away

d12 Stirge Reskins

1 Giant Mosquito,  might carry disease and parasites and are atracted to water and smell of dank laundry, common in wetlands
2 Giant fleas also with a Move of 12" and leap of 3" instead of fly, eggs hatch when creatures exhale near them
3 Flying Lampreys with bat wings, disgusting ropey slime, live in water
4 Vampire Bats some carry disease, menace cattle, live in caves, nocturnal
5 Blood Ravens fiendish scarlet birds that tear people apart and drink blood, prefer day
6 Fang Lizards with camouflage and gliding membranes and a single fang
7 Winged snakes with bat wings, hiss angily and suck blood
8 Winged Stingworm is a luminous worm with bat wings and stinging tails
9 Giant Sting Fly injects grub in wound, lose a HP/day till removed by surgeon or host dies or 30 days pass when it bursts free with d4 extra damage

10 Winged Leach with bat wings, revolting blood red worm, might carry disease
11 Blood Imps are cowardly, hungry, angry flying imps, not very bright 

12 Void Whisps are smoky spherical spirits that drain blood from the living

d12 Stirge Rumours and Superstitions1 If you boil dead stirges and drink the broth stirges will find your blood repulsive

2 If you render stirges down they make excelland glue for wood or books
3 If a stirge says your name you will die within a day
4 If fed and housed stirges can make good guards for your treasure house
5 Kobolds hate stirges and will avoid them, a stuffed one might scare them away
6 Stirge young are fed blood from their patents who stab themselves to feed babies
7 Stirges are atracted to sounds of infants voices and crying

8 Goblins like to put a dead stirge in their beer for flavour
9 Witches often keep pet stirges and many of these go wild
10 Stirges membranes are good for drum skins and are good for leather
11 There are fossils of giant stirges as big as a cow that must have fed off kaiju
12 The gates and roads of the underworld often have gaggles of stirges

Stirge Trees

I also have a type of chaos tree with stirge hives that house a colony and birth a new stirge per round to replace lost colony members AC 14 HD 4 up to 12 max at a time. A few of these in a dungeon are big fun. The tree is like a gnarled olive tree with large wasp nest like structures the stirges live in. Every full moon half the stirges leave to find a new colony. When you set them alight the trees scream. When you cut them they scream and bleed stinking ichor that makes any stirge want to attack you for 24 hours or till you wash it off with ichor.

Summon Stirge
3rd Level Spell
Hour long ritual to attract one normal stirge per level. Takes them ten minutes to arrive possibly from the underworld through a prepared cauldron or chalk circle. Once they arrived they can be tamed by entreating them with blood or a victim. If the caster fails to get a positive reaction roll they will turn hostile. Some witches take the alpha stirge as a follower which allows more control. The stirges can be led with food to a suitable roost where they will stay if food is available. Stirges are friendly to the caster as long as they are given food and will attack anyone attacking their friend and come when called within a mile.

Stirge Powder
Made from dried stirge powder or dried Strix milk sprinkling this on someone makes it more likely to attract stirges. Some poison a dog with slow venom then cover in the powder to eradicate a stirge nest.

Stirge Eggs
Mostly illegal some like to eat them some like to hatch to keep a colony of the beasts which could be tames or used as a familiar. An egg might sell for 20gp each and you might find one per two stirges in a nest. When rotten eggs can cause a stinking cloud over 1" area for one round which most animals loathe and ruins clothes. Washing in vinegar can remove the odour.

I will do more like this.

Replace surfin bird lyrics with word "stirge" to annoy your players then dance when they kill a character

1 comment:

  1. DMing advice you don't hear often!
    "Replace surfin bird lyrics with word "stirge" to annoy your players then dance when they kill a character"

    ReplyDelete

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