Creating a monster

[Utgardloki]

I am working on the first creature I created for the Runequest rules, a creature inspired by an episode of The Life and Adventures of Juniper Lee. But I have not found detailed guidelines for creating Runequest creatures, especially ones with unique abilities like this one.

Rejuvenation Troll

Rejuvenation trolls resemble other trolls, to those not familiar with those races.  Anyone who has seen one will easily be able to identify them, however.  They tend to be pale blue, with darker splotches.

Rejuvenation trolls are most famous for their ability to steal the skills of their targets.  Those attacked by rejuvenation trolls actually get younger, as their years are stolen from them.  Unfortunately, anyone brought down to 0 years of age is killed.

Characteristics
STR	4d6 (14)
CON	5D6 (17)
DEX	3D6 (10)
SIZ	4D6 (14)
INT	3D12 (19)
POW	6D6 (21)
CHA	2D10 (11)

Rejuvenation Troll Hit Locations
D20	Hit Location	AP/HP	(Toughness)
1-2	Right Leg	4/7		+1
3-4	Left Leg	4/7		+1
5-7	Abdomen	4/8		+2
8-12	Chest		4/10		+4
13-15	Right Arm	4/6		+0
16-18	Left Arm	4/6		+0
19-20	Head		4/7		+1

Weapons/Attack Modes
Type	Skill	Damage
Claw	24%	1D2+1D4 + special*

* This damage is only temporary damage, and affected targets heal 1 point of this damage per minute.  But affected creatures also lose 1D12 years of age and 1D20 % of one or more randomly chosen skills, per successful attack.

Special Rules
Combat Actions: 2
Strike Rank: 14
Movement: 4m
Traits: Dark Sight, Multiattack, Rejuvenation Attack
Skills: Unarmed Attack 40%
Typical Armor: None

	Dark Sight.  Rejuvenation trolls may tread pitch black conditions as darkness.

	Multiattack.  Due to combat instincts, a rejuvenation troll may make two bare-claw attacks with each Combat Action.  In addition, any time a bare-claw attack hits, the rejuvenation troll may immediately attempt to grapple his target with an opposed Unarmed Attack skill roll, in addition to full damage and rejuvenation attack skill draining.

	Rejuvenation Attack.  If a rejuvenation troll hits, the target loses 1D12 years of age and 1D20% of a randomly-chosen skill.  If in a grapple, a rejuvenation troll may take a Combat Action to drain another 1D12 years and 1D20 skill %.
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Any comments or suggestions?

 

[homerjsinnott]

Doesn't it need lightning, a henchman and preff a castle?

 

[DirkD]

Dont't forget the related profession of "Beauty Salon Owner". A guy with a caged rejuvenation troll who gives rich old ladies back their youth. Should be profitable.

 

[homerjsinnott]

Dont't forget the related profession of "Beauty Salon Owner". A guy with a caged rejuvenation troll who gives rich old ladies back their youth. Should be profitable.

Or florist? Eh, Semour?

 

[soltakss]

I am working on the first creature I created for the Runequest rules, a creature inspired by an episode of The Life and Adventures of Juniper Lee. But I have not found detailed guidelines for creating Runequest creatures, especially ones with unique abilities like this one.

Any comments or suggestions?

As a general rule of thumb, when I create new monsters/createures I do the following:
1. Compare like with like when working out characteristics, weapons and skills
2. If it has non-humanoid hit locations, see if any of the existing creatures are similar in shape and use those (horses use the same locations as dogs and cats, for instance)
3. Don't be afraid of making up new abilities/powers
4. Try and keep them balanced so they are not too overpowering, unless they are supposed to be overpowering
5. Try and write up some kind of background as well, don't create a monster in isolation

So, the Rejuvenation Troll is as big and strong as a normal troll, but is much cleverer and magically powerful, more so than a Mistress Race Troll (if you are not in Glorantha that shouldn't matter).

You probably need some kind of background, unless you are using a specific setting that everyone in your group knows, in which case the background is implicit.

 

[simonh]

I'm not familiar with the source for this, and I'm most likely to run a game set in Glorantha, so my first take on this is how does the rejuvenation power fit into Glorantha?

It seem to me it would either belong to a supernatural creature of some kind (trolls actually fit that category, pretty much), or perhaps to use it as a potential heroquest power, perhaps gained from a god of youth.

Without knowing anything about the source, I've no idea why a troll might have such a power, or what it means in it's original context. To me that at least as interesting and important as the power itself.

 

[Utgardloki]

I guess one disappointment I have with the MRQ rulebook compared to the D20 books is that D20 provides more guidance and detail.

The Rejuvenation Troll was the result of hastily typed notes while watching a cartoon. I looked at the Trollkin in the MRQ rulebook, but it is not designed for any specific setting. When I get a chance I think I'll try to develope and post to the Runequest Wiki an outline similar to what the original RQ rules had for developing cults. I have a good start with an outline for D20 monsters that I expanded from the racial writeups in the D&D Player's Handbook.

The cartoon is about a girl who can exist in both the normal world and the world of monsters. Thus, this monster would fit in very well with the concept of a heroplane. Inspired by another cartoon which showed a boat with the label "Dreamboat" printed on it, I had an idea for a thread about the Runequest dreamlands.

In the cartoon, the Rejuvenation Troll gained power by draining age from his opponents. The heroine had to stop him from draining all the powers of all the "elders" and becoming uber-powerful, while the elders who were responsible for protecting the human race became uber-non-powerful.

A creature like this could easily fit into the world of Runequest. One can imagine how a rejuvenation troll with shapeshifting powers could be used to keep pesky godlearners in line.

(BTW -- the only things I know about godlearners are what I read on this forum. Are they discussed in any of the new books? If not, will they be? If not, where can I find out more about them?)

 

[soltakss]

RQ3 had some guidelines, but not particularly detailed.

The God Learners should be very well covered in future supplements, since the Second Age was when they were up and running.

There is a good booklet on them called Middle Sea Empire available at https://secure.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=ISS3008 or http://www.Tradetalk.de

 

[Utgardloki]

When developing the hit location table, I started out with the humanoid hit location table, and adjusted a few of the numbers to represent different sized body parts. I also added a "toughness" column as an aid to determining hit points, especially for non-average creatures.

The idea behind the "toughness" column is that this represents the modifier to determine the hit points for that location, compared to a normal humanoid's arm for a creature of that SIZ and CON. So the Rejuvenation Troll has a +4 Toughness for it's chest, meaning that it's chest will have four more hit points than a humanoid's arm.

For some creatures, such as golems, a toughness column might have a multiplier. For example, a stone golem might have x4 toughness for its arms, and x4+12 toughness for its chest (multiply the "normal arm" hit points by 4 and then add 12).

For the rejuvenation troll, the "toughness" basically represents the size of each location, with additional toughness for the chest and head due to bone structure. But since most humanoids have similar bone structure to protect their chests and heads, I based the toughness values off the values for the standard humanoids.

 

[weasel_fierce]

Im not sure what kind of guidelines you are after. Only you know what your player characters are capable of, and what sort of adventure the critter will feature in.

The guidance of "if you have a fighter, a magic user etc of exactly level 4, with 3.8 magic items each, and this is the 3rd encounter on a tuesday" I dont find very handy

But then, Im one of those people that toss out points systems as quickly as possible when I play wargames

 

[Utgardloki]

I don't have any plans for the rejuvenation troll. When it comes to designing adventures, I usually just throw pieces together and then run through scenarios in my head to determine if the players have a chance.

Generally, I wanted to know if this monster was completely described enough. Could someone else run this monster in their game without having to ask a lot of questions?

The feedback from this thread seems to indicate that I have the crunchy part down for this unusual critter. What I'll be wanted to put on my to do list, is to come up with a kind of outline for developing monstrous societies, similar to that which exists in the D20 books. Say what you like about D20, but if you follow their guidelines you'll be forced to answer questions like: where do these monsters come from, what are their general goals and outlooks on life, how do they view the gods, how do they view other races, how do they view each other?

The MRQ book is a little disappointing in that each creature is just given a few paragraphs of general description (about enough to have a chance of picking this creature out of a lineup), and then a bunch of sparse stats.

If there is any confusion over the cruncy bits (e.g., how the age draining process works, etc), let me know.

 

[weasel_fierce]

well, nothing prevents you from asking those same questions for RQ

It depends on the setting too, I figure.

 

[soltakss]

Stats: Fine, more powerful than a Mistress Race Troll, but it is a very magical creature.

Powers: Fine, but I agree that I would cage it and make it attack me every few years and pimp it out to attack rich old people.

It's short on background, but would work as a stand-alone monster.