The nature of these creatures I shall call "Spawnlings" (but you can make up your own name) are the product of a single, massive creature most people would called the Great Unholy Mother. This creature is so massive, can fill out a large underground complex. Deep within it, it is constantly spewing eyes, mouths, strange appendages, and young Spawnlings from its aberrant form. People can walk right into it, and at first it would look like a cave or complex being overtaken by some kind of growing, organic substance. This is much like in the movie Aliens. The deeper you go, the more you are surrounded my this stuff. This is the Great Unholy Mother itself, and anyone foolish enough to enter is doomed! Anyone caught by the GUM would ether be eaten by the young Spawnlings, or the GUM itself! Young Spawnlings start off small and weak (they look like Tyranid spore mines form Warhammer 40,000). They are often prayed upon by older, stronger Spawnlings. As they get older and larger, they leave the hive to find better pray. As they grow, they change to better combat their enviroment, and all the hostel things within it. Spawnlings new to the greater world are savage and simpleminded. As they pray upon people and adsorb their minds, they become smarter. Older independent Spawnlings may even overpower and enslave people to become a much feared king or god. But they are not truly independent. They are still mentally tied with the Great Unholy Mother, and anything or anyone who is making any progress with harming it, would cause the GUM to recall all its young for self-defense. They are territorial with each other, and they try to avoid contact with another, if only to stay out of each others mindlink.
I highly recommend using the tables found in Mutant Hoards (Appendix 4: Characters by Type, page 141) form The Metamorphica with the following steps.
Basic stats:
No. Enc.: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 30'-120' (10'-40') (with feet; 1d4x30')
Flight: 30'-120' (10'-40') (Psionic Flight; 1d4x30')
Armor Class: 0 (body), 2 (big eye) 7 (eyestock)
Hit Dice: 11-16 (10+1d6; Body hp = total, big eye hp = 10+rollx2, each eyestock hp = 4+roll)
Attacks: 1 or more (bite or eyestocks or blood siphon)
Damage: 2d6 (1d6 with blood siphon, plus 1hp per round)
Save: L11-16
Morale: 9-12 (8+1d4)
Hoard Class: IX, XIX, XX
At the core of a Spawnling is a round mass, be it a round, oblong or ovoid sphere. Roll for head shape, skin color, skin appearance and color pattern. They have a 40% chance of having any feature from the following lists:
Roll d10 for each:
- A tail on 1-6 (roll for tail length and arm resemblance).
- Head adornment on a 1-5.
- strange limb on a 1-5.
- Arms on a 1-4 (roll for arm quantity, arm resemblance, hand appearance and hand matching).
- Wings on a 1-3 (roll for wing quantity, wing resemblance).
- Legs on a 1-2 (roll for foot appearance, gait leg appearance and leg quantity).
Before rolling mouth, you have to see haw it eats. They feed by draining the blood of a victim through tentacles that end in mosquito-like proboscis. They can be on the outside of their body, in which case, they do not need a mouth (e.g. a Death Kiss type). Or they keep the siphons in inside of their mouths, so they can slowly consume a held victim over time. Roll on the mouth type and mouth location tables:
Roll d8 for mouth type:
1-2 External siphons only -- do not roll mouth appearance and mouth size. It has 3-18 [3d6] proboscis around its body, with one able to consume the brain like a Brain Lasher (Mind Flayer).
3-5 Toothy mouth -- roll for mouth appearance and mouth size. It has 2-7 [1d6+1] proboscis within it's mouth, with one able to consume the brain like a Brain Lasher (Mind Flayer). Swallows target on a natural roll of 20.
6-7 Tentacled mouth -- as Toothy mouth, but it can grab to victim to pull him in. It must "hit" to grab the target, then it must "hit" to swallow on the following turn.
8 Polyp mouth -- as Toothy mouth, but can it can suck in a victim inside itself with an extending polyp, where he is held in breathable, liquid-covered cavity. Can swallow target outright, if hit.
Roll d4 for mouth location:
1 On the belly
2-3 In front of body
4 On top of body
They have 3-18 [3d6] eyestalks, with an additional 1-6 [1d6] eyes nested around it's body (if any eyestalks are severed, these eye will pop out the next day). If you rolled external siphons only, then the eyestalks would be siphons instead, and it has a 35% chance of having 5-10 [1d6+4] nested eyes, with 0-5 [1d6-1] of them being eyestalks. Small eyes and eyestalks do not need to be clustered in one area of the body, and you don't need to roll to see what each eye looks like -- they all look weird and different to each other.
Roll for number of primary eye(s), and roll for eye appearance and eye color for each.
Roll d6 for number of primary eye(s):
1 None -- it has no large eye.
2-3 One -- it has one eye facing forward.
4 Two -- it as an eye at the opposite sides of its body (65% of being front and back; 20% to be at the sides; or 15% to be at the top and bottom)
5 Three -- as above, but with a 55% of one eye facing forwards/on the right/above (respectfully), with the other at odd angels.
6 Four -- They are spaced evenly around it's body (65% of being front, back and sides; 20% to be at the front, back, top and bottom; or 15% to be at the top bottom and sides)
All powers from the primary eye are limited to a 90 degree arc, and to anyone they can "see". As a result, Force Screen, Killing Ray and Vampiric Field are also limited to this arc. Eyestocks on the other hand can only direct their power to a single target they can see.
Roll d10 primary eye power (for each primary eye):
1 Ancestral Form
2 Control Light Waves
3 Density Alteration (others)
4 Disintegration (one per day, with no ill effect)
5 Force Screen (only within sight)
6 Killing Ray (as Killing Sphere, but with a 30' long cone)
7 Mind Reflection
8 Possession
9 Vampiric Field ([30+WIL]foot long cone)
10 Energy Nullifier (range 90'; stops powered devices; treat as Killing Sphere with androids and robots)
Roll d12 eyestock power (for for each, or use one of each and then roll after the 12th eyestock):
1 Energy Ray (by sight)
2 Optic Emissions
3 Neural Telekinesis
4 Neural Telepathy
5 Mental Phantasm
6 Temperature Control
7 Parasitic Control (by proboscis)
8 External blood siphon
9 Mind Trust
10 Stun Ray (as Stun Pistol, but with a range of 90')
11 Sleep Ray (as Stun Pistol, but target is treated as paralyzed, and it as a range of 60')
12 Radiation Ray (as Radiation Rifle, but with 60')
Basic mutations: Accumulated Resistance, Body Adjustment, Know Direction, Metaconcert, Natural Armor (heavy), Reflective Epidermis, Psionic Flight, Night Vision, Thermal Vision, Ultraviolet Vision.
MLs are free to choose and alter the stats and mutations as they deem fit.
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Yeah, this is a little more complicated then the usual prefab monster. Since this is MF, monsters in general should be treated like temples for further alterations (that is why there are so many animals in the book). I also know that is creatures is a little more powerful then it's D&D counterpart. But since this is not your normal stock monster -- more of a power boss monster -- then it would be best used for special occasion, or for an enemy not meant to be killed outright. I also have no doubt that is document is full of spelling and grammar errors. Well, that is not something I can really help.
So besides those issues, what do you guys think?
