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Post by geneweigel on May 29, 2017 16:56:37 GMT -5
Has any ever liked this monster? I was just thinking about this and how sketchy it seems. The equivalent of treants who are chaotic good are the chaotic evil ogres (Middle Earth trolls) and various humanoids. This seemed to be conceived as a blunt book end to the treant by someone who wasn't paying attention to the trove of readily available information.
What is with the name? The surname Of the person who came up with this for the MONSTER CARDS is "Price" which is anglicized Welsh "ap Rhys" so digging along those lines I got from Welsh "gwlyb dur" translating as liquid/wet hard/steel. Which could roughly mean moving stone.
Its nice for a one shot encounter but is as solid as treant?
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foster1941
Warlock
Duke of California, Earl of Los Angeles, Knight Bachelor
Posts: 475
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Post by foster1941 on May 30, 2017 11:43:05 GMT -5
All of the new monsters introduced in the Monster Cards were pretty weak. I assume that project manager Harold Johnson announced "okay, we need three new monsters per pack - get to it!" so the design department spent an hour brainstorming ideas and then spent the next hour writing up the results. The thri-kreen were a direct rip-off from The Arduin Grimoire (where they're called phraints); everything else is bland filler, equivalent to the lower-end stuff in Fiend Folio or Dragon's Bestiary.
EDIT: Putting this here so I can find it in the future - who created each of the new monsters, per the article in Dragon #61:
Grippli - Brian Pitzer Mihstu - David Cook Zorbo - Allen Hammack
Galeb Duhr - Mike Price Land Urchin - Brian Pitzer & V.J. Koffler Thri-Kreen - Paul Reiche III
Sea Wolf - Lawrence Schick Tunnel Worm - David Sutherland Wemic - David Sutherland
Hybsil - David Sutherland Korred - Harold Johnson Oblivax (Memory Moss) - Lawrence Schick
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Post by GRWelsh on May 30, 2017 12:08:14 GMT -5
I've never used the galeb duhr because I could never get past the inherently silly image of a big head on two stumpy legs. But, I do think there is always potential with the concept of living rock for a monster... stone spirit tied to a region, god of the mountain, or rock animated by earth elemental, etc. I always like the concept of something appearing as something else, and the players only realize it when the eyes and mouth open... "Hey, that's not a stalagmite!"
Hey, remember the Rock Biter from THE NEVERENDING STORY?
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Post by geneweigel on May 30, 2017 12:37:30 GMT -5
All of the new monsters introduced in the Monster Cards were pretty weak. I assume that project manager Harold Johnson announced "okay, we need three new monsters per pack - get to it!" so the design department spent an hour brainstorming ideas and then spent the next hour writing up the results. The thri-kreen were a direct rip-off from The Arduin Grimoire (where they're called phraints); everything else is bland filler, equivalent to the lower-end stuff in Fiend Folio or Dragon's Bestiary. EDIT: Putting this here so I can find it in the future - who created each of the new monsters, per the article in Dragon #61: Grippli - Brian Pitzer Mihstu - David Cook Zorbo - Allen Hammack Galeb Duhr - Mike Price Land Urchin - Brian Pitzer & V.J. Koffler Thri-Kreen - Paul Reiche III Sea Wolf - Lawrence Schick Tunnel Worm - David Sutherland Wemic - David Sutherland Hybsil - David Sutherland Korred - Harold Johnson Oblivax (Memory Moss) - Lawrence Schick Hybsil and Korred for the win. I've grown on those over the years but the rest seemed like they were ornamental. Hammack seems like an alright guy but if he's the Zorbo guy... I did think thri-kreen were "phraint" when I looked at the Arduin material so that is absolute. What is that? A genuine need to see his character in D&D or just zero lack of imagination when the presure was on?
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Post by geneweigel on May 30, 2017 12:38:24 GMT -5
I've never used the galeb duhr because I could never get past the inherently silly image of a big head on two stumpy legs. But, I do think there is always potential with the concept of living rock for a monster... stone spirit tied to a region, god of the mountain, or rock animated by earth elemental, etc. I always like the concept of something appearing as something else, and the players only realize it when the eyes and mouth open... "Hey, that's not a stalagmite!" Hey, remember the Rock Biter from THE NEVERENDING STORY? I think you've hi it on the head. Its appealing as a quaint anomaly but it wears thin after a third encounter.
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Post by geneweigel on May 30, 2017 12:46:53 GMT -5
I can't recall where I played these besides TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL but I do remember an encounter from a printed adventure. DUNGEON MAGAZINE?
We burned through so many of those DUNGEON adventures what a waste of time looking back.
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Post by geneweigel on May 30, 2017 13:03:27 GMT -5
I just looked in the original novel THE NEVERENDING STORY and the Rock-Biter from the movie is a race called Rock Chewers and from the initial encounter where its sitting at a campfire propped up on its elbows I'd wager this is a likely source. They are a race who show up at the end by the hundreds so its plausible.
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Post by geneweigel on May 30, 2017 13:23:24 GMT -5
The pech was left out of the Elemental node in T1-4 and I just noticed.
What the heck? I was thinking they were there for some reason. Bumped out by the galeb duhr?
I always wanted to do a write up of true Scotch dwarves being half-pech.
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