Advanced Monsters

[p_Clapham]

I've been playing around with monster stats, part of my Wheel of Time project, and it got me thinking. Monsters as they appear in the base book are average specimens, but what about exceptional ones? Mini bosses, or warlords.

I think the easiest way to represent this is to give one of these "advanced" monsters/ creatures a profession, and increased attributes related to that profession. A goblin sorcerer for example would use the base goblin stats, and also have a +4 to it's POW and INT. Then maybe toss in 50 or so skill points to round out the monster.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

In past editions (Gloranthan RQ) intelligent creatures always had jobs or professions, it was how they made their livings in their societies. There were tables of occupations.

 

[p_Clapham]

Would applying a cultural background be overkill?

 

[soltakss]

Not at all. If you want properly statted advanced creatures then they should have backgrounds and professions.

 

[Prime_Evil]

The tradition inherited from Runequest has always been that "monsters are people too" - indeed, one of the things that distinguished the system from D&D back in the early days was that humans and the 'monster' races used the same character generation rules.Runequest also had some of the best treatments of nonhuman cultures at that time - products such as Trollpack set the standard for later RPGs. So it's fine to stick with this tradition and generate nonhuman characters using the same rules as human PCs - complete with a cultural background and profession. For example, you could have a centaur nomad who trained as a hunter and another that studied as a priestess or shaman. However, keep in mind that the stats in Monsters of Legend are for 'typical' members of each species. Also keep in mind that you might need to tweak certain cultural backgrounds and professions to address the differences bewtween them and their human equivalents. But you don't need to modify the character creation system at all.

 

[p_Clapham]

That is one of the things I like about Runequest/ Legend. My main preference for the system is how anyone can do pretty much anything. Want a spell slinging swordsman? Go with either the Sorcerer profession and buy some martial skills, or start with the Soldier profession and spend twenty skill points to purchase Manipulation and a Grimore.

I'm not a fan of the random character generation and progression. I give my players 100 points to spend on their attributes, and skill advances always give them a increase. There were a couple of Call of Cthulhu games I played in where I consistently couldn't make my rolls to increase my skills.