Bestiary
This section will document some of the nastier creatures encountered during your travels as a tribute to your courage and valor. Here you will also find some general information, tips, and tricks to combating various enemies common in this foreboding world.
Previous Monsters of the Month
February:
Hobgoblin:
Hobgoblins are a fierce humanoid race that wages a perpetual war with the other humanoid races.
They are intelligent, organized, and aggressive. The typical hobgoblin is a burly humanoid standing
6½' tall. Their hairy hides range from dark reddish-brown to dark gray. Their faces show dark red or
red-orange skin. Large males have blue or red noses. Hobgoblin eyes are either yellowish or dark brown
while their teeth are yellow. Their garments tend to be brightly colored, often bold, blood red. Any
leather is always tinted black. Hobgoblin weaponry is kept polished and repaired. Hobgoblins have their
own language and often speak with orcs, goblins, and carnivorous apes. Roughly, 20% of them can speak
the common tongue of man.
January:
Otyugh:
Otyughs (Aw-tee-ug), also known as the gulguthra, are terrifying
creatures that lurk in heaps of dung and decay, waiting for something to
disturb it. They feed on dung and wastes from other dungeon creatures (gulguthra
means ''dung eaters'') but also enjoy an occasional snack of fresh meat.
Otyughs have huge, bloated bodies covered with a rock-like skin that is
brownish gray in color, which is in turn covered with dung. They stand
on three thick legs that give them slow ground movement but enable them
to pivot quickly. They have three eyes on a leaf-like stalk that moves
quickly from side to side, enabling them to scan a large area. The eye
stalk is also a receiver/transmitter for their telepathic abilities.
Otyughs have a huge mouth with very sharp teeth in the center of their
mass. They also have two tentacles with leaf-like ridges that they use
to smash and grapple their opponents. The tentacles are covered with
rough thorn-like projections.
December:
Ghost:
Ghosts are the spirits of humans who were either so greatly evil in life or
whose deaths were so unusually emotional they have been cursed with the gift
of undead status. Thus, they roam about at night or in places of darkness.
These spirits hate goodness and life, hungering to draw the living essences
from the living. In many cases, a ghost can be overcome by those who
might be no match for it in combat simply by setting right whatever
events led to the attainment of the ghost's undead status. For example,
a young woman who was betrayed and murdered by someone who pretended to
love her might be freed from her curse if the cad were humiliated and
ruined. In many cases, however, a ghost's revenge will be far more
demanding, often ending in the death of the offender.
November:
Sea Zombie:
Sea zombies (also known as drowned ones) are the animated corpses of humans
who died at sea. Although similar to land-dwelling zombies, they are
free-willed and are rumored to be animated by the will of the god Nerull the
Reaper or another similar evil deity.
They look like human corpses that have been underwater for some time;
bloated and discolored flesh dripping with foul water, empty eye-sockets,
tongue frequently protruding from between blackened lips. Their visage and
the stench of decay surrounding them are so disgusting that anyone coming
within 20 feet of one may become poisoned. On land, drowned ones move
slowly, with a clumsy, shambling gait. In water, however, they can swim with
frightening speed.
October:
Inquisitor:
An inquisitor might easily be mistaken for a zombie or other undead
creature. Often, nearly half its flesh has rotted away, exposing tendons
and yellowing bone. Many inquisitors wear black hoods; those who don't
display foul-smelling mucous dripping from their eyes and mouths. The
inquisitor wears tattered pants and shoes, but no shirt or gloves. Its
hands are charred from years of using red-hot implements of torture, and
thick, yellow nails poke menacingly from its fingers. One is seldom
encountered without its whip in hand.
September:
Wererat:
These short, wiry, disgusting lycanthropes thrive in the sewers and back
alleys of large cities. The are not renowned for their strength but do
possess formidable cunning. Like all lycanthropes, they have
susceptibility to certain weapons, but this can vary from individual to
individual, for example, one might be more heavily damaged by a silvered
weapon than another. It is also rumored that they can transfer
their lycanthropy through their weapons as well as their claws and bite.
August:
Bog Mummy:
The bog mummy is a nasty undead villain found in any swampy region. When
victims fall to the swamps, their corpses are preserved through the
natural action of bogs or swamps until they are somehow animated through
evil magic. They then rise from their watery tombs to lay claim to
victims of their own.
Undead
Various undead roam the Ravenloft countryside such as vampires, wights, wraiths, ghosts, and zombies. Each of these unliving abominations have their own dangers like paralysis and energy draining. A cautious adventurer should have an arsenal of weapons and potions to combat these fiends, but none more important than the employ of a good cleric.
Lycanthropes
Lycanthropy is a curse that inflicts many inhabitants of the realm of shadows. Those afflicted can shape shift from man to beast and even somewhere in between. This shift is often related to the lunar cycle though true lycanthropes can often change at will. They are often impervious to standard weapons and only those with special metal or magical arms can damage them. The most insidious weapon they possess is the ability to confer this curse on those that seek to destroy them.
Golems
Ravenloft is replete with maniacal wizards bent on controlling the very properties of life itself. These twisted mages create beastly constructs to do their bidding. These brutes are often immune to magic and can absorb a tremendous amount of punishment before succumbing. Constructs are also single minded in their desire to please their masters and hence are impervious to anything that affects their mind or will.