The Other Side blog

Monday, November 13, 2023

Monstrous Mondays: D&DGII Doppelsauger

Trying to wrap-up my entries for my Deities & Demigods II: The Black Forest Mythos this week. Here is a monster I have always wanted to include somewhere. A particularly horrific little monster.

Doppelsauger

The Doppelsauger, or "double sucker," was a creature I ran into very early in my vampire research. Back when I was known more as "the vampire guy" than "the witch guy." It appealed to me then because the name is so evocative and descriptive of what it was; a creature that sucks twice. The first time when nursing milk from its mother and then again with blood.

DOPPELSAUGER
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 7
MOVE: 6"
HIT DICE: 4+8 (26 hp)
% IN LAIR: 60%
TREASURE TYPE: None
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 bite
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d4 + Blood (Con) Drain
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Vampire traits
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
SIZE: S (under 2')
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

The Doppelsauger, or "twice sucker" is the vampire revenant of a child that had been weaned, but had gone back to the breast later on. It would have died sometime after this point. Some claim that the death of the child needs to be intentional, such as leaving it out to die of exposure or via disease. In either case, the undead creature returns to feed on the blood of its mother and other close family members.

The doppelsauger needs to find a way into the home of its victims. This must be their former home, and their victims can only be family members. It won't feed on non-family members.

Like the common vampire, this creature can charm its victims. The charm is similar to the spell of the same name and the vampire ability. Family members save at a penalty of -2 and its own mother at a penalty of -4. The doppelsauger can turn into mist like a common vampire and can summon 2d10 rats. It takes damage from sunlight, holy items, and holy water, as do other vampires. It can't enter another home, but its home is always open to it. It said that it must enter via the same way it left their home. If this entryway is blocked, the doppelsauger cannot enter. Garlic flowers, wolvesbane, and holy items will keep it at bay. They are turned as Shadows (Type 4).

Their attacks are weak, causing only 1d4 hp per attack, but its greatest attack is its ability to drain 1 point of Constitution via blood loss. The doppelsauger prefers to feed off of their mothers first, then other family members. One of the ways to know a family is being attacked by a doppelsauger is if they all start showing signs of anemia and losing weight.

To stop (or prevent) a doppelsauger a board with a semi-circle cut-out must be fitted over the neck of the creature and hammered into its coffin. One can also be stopped via a stake in the heart and then removing their head with a sharpened shovel.

Links

The Gods

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 13

Entering encounter area 13 the party sees what appears to be a giant dwarf.

This "dwarf" is 16 ft. tall, and is in truth a powerful Earth Elemental.

This Elemental was summoned by the dwarven geomancers, but corrupted by the magics of the Vampire Queen.

Sunday, November 12, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 12

Encounter area 12 also has a swirling portal, this one from above. When the party comes near a giant abomination drops from the portal; a Giant Astral Spider.

This nightmare is accompanied by a normal Astral Spider.

Astral Spider, Giant

Monstrosity (Demonic)

Frequency: Very Rare

Number Appearing: 1 (1)

Alignment: Chaotic (Chaotic Evil)

Movement: Special

Armor Class: 4 [15]

Hit Dice: 13d8+13* (72)

Attacks: 1 bite, web

Damage: 3d8+6, 2 points Widom per day

Special: Immune to physical attacks, affected only by magic

Size: Huge

Save: Fighter 13

Morale: 12

Treasure Hoard Class: None

These creatures are like their smaller cousins in they have no physical form but can still attack creatures on the Prime Material.

Saturday, November 11, 2023

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 11

Encounter Area 11 also features a monster who has just arrived from a swirling portal.

This monster is a Type II Demon, also known as a Hezrou. It is a large frog-like demon. The portal was not like a summoning gate, so no magic circle and the demon is free to move around as it needs.

Friday, November 10, 2023

Friday Sci-Fi interlude

I interrupt this non-stop talk of Gods and Monsters to look towards some sci-fi ideas I have been playing around with.

The FASA Star Trek Facebook Group has been a huge source of ideas lately.

Poster Greg Price had some uniform ideas that would be perfect for my Trek games set between the TOS movie area and the Next Generation. This would cover my Star Trek: Mercy (2295) and Star Trek: BlackStar (2352).

They work rather great to be honest.

Kevin McCaig in the same group, also shared his HeroForge Klingons. They look like tweaks to the Klingon design floating around the HeroForge groups a bit back. They look great.

Mercy

Speaking of Star Trek: Mercy. I just learned, or re-learned, that there was a short-lived TV series called "Mercy Point." IT was on the UPN back in 1998 to 1999. I am sure I saw it advertised, but never watched it. My wife and I were expecting our first born at that time and we were a little distracted by all the work we needed to do before he was born.

But anyway the show takes place on a hospital space station ("Mercy Point"), it was a medical drama in space, in the future. Or pretty much everything I am thinking of doing with my own ST: Mercy. It even takes place in 2249, so a few years before my games.

I'd like to watch it, but it doesn't seem to be streaming anywhere I could find.

Doctor Who: The Lost Children of Time

The 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who is less than two weeks away now. I am quite excited.

Completely unrelated to that my wife and I just COVID binge-watched Bodies on Netflix. It was a fun little time travel show that reminded us both a little of Dark.

I won't spoil the ending for you, but suffice to say there is a character at the end who is someplace she should not be, time-wise. This reminded me again of Dark where there two characters disappear due the paradox falling in on itself.

This got me thinking about a Doctor Who adventure. Something I am calling, The Lost Children of Time. In it these various people find themselves together despite the fact that they should not even exist at all. I figure I'll find a few others, maybe even grab one of the characters from Manifest! (my wife and I like to mock that show, but we watched every damn episode.)

Might make for a silly-fun Convention game with the right people.

Back to Gods and Monsters here in a bit.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 11, Room 10

Encounter area 10 features two classic monsters. A glowing portal can be seen nearby.

Two huge Manticores roam these halls. They have maximum hit points and they always hit for maximum damage.

A few of these monsters in this level are inspired by this old ad.

Thursday, November 9, 2023

D&DGII The Black Forest Mythos: Kriegskönig, The God of War

Getting down to the last few gods here before I can call this project done. I ended up with a lot more entries than expected. This is good for the first run I think. Even ended up with more feedback online.

Now I just need to come up with a name for this collection. "Myth, Monsters, & Magic" has a nice ring to it, but is that too close to "Man, Myth, & Magic?" I mean there is nothing wrong with "Deities & Demigods II" but I was going to put them on DriveThruRPG (for free) to get better distribution.

Anyway, let's talk about a guy whose sphere of control is on a lot of our minds right now. Kriegskönig, the War King, The God of War.

Kriegskönig

The Kriegskönig, aka the War King, is the god of war for these peoples. I am taking some liberties here with both Ares/Mars and Tyr/Tiwas. I am going to lean in more on the Tyr side of the this and make this guy more Lawful Neutral than Ares' Chaotic Evil. Mostly because Ares was always my least favorite god in Greek Myth and I felt that by the time he became Mars, he had "matured" more. I think this has more to do with the different approaches the Greek and Romans had to war.

Similarly, Tyr is more of a Justice god and he had more prominence in the Pagan Germanic tribes' worship. After all he gets a weekday named for him (Tuesday) along side Odin (Wednesday), Thor (Thursday), and Frigg (Friday).

So my Kriegskönig should also be important, but his demeanor is different since I decided that when these two groups of different Pagans met up they did not go to battle with each other but instead blend into a community. This might not be very historically realistic, but it serves my game purposes well. Besides I have gods of hunting, and for berserkers, and one more of wild nature and violence coming up.

Kriegskönig then is the God of War, but war as a last resort. He battles not because he lusts for it, but because he is very, very good at it. He was the leader of the armies of the Gods that fought Die Hüne. He is the one who fights the hordes of demons to keep Érde (Earth) safe.

KRIEGSKÖNIG (God of War)

Intermediate God

ARMOR CLASS: -4
MOVE: 24"
HIT POINTS: 300
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d10+4 x3
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Enspire Battle Frenzy
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +3 or better to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 75%

SIZE: M (6' 8")
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral
WORSHIPER'S ALIGN: All, Fighters, Warriors, those that seek justice
SYMBOL: Hawk
PLANE: Himmel

CLERIC/DRUID: Nil
FIGHTER: 20th level Fighter
MAGIC-USER/ILLUSIONIST: Nil
THIEF/ASSASSIN: Nil
MONK/BARD: 20th level Bard
WITCH/WARLOCK: Nil
PSIONIC ABILITY: II
S: 20 I: 17 W: 18 D: 18 C: 20 CH: 18

Kriegskönig is the War King, the God of War. He does not seek to start wars but he is there when he is needed. He appears as a very tall imposing warrior. His face is scarred from his many battles.

In battle, he wields a great sword that he can use thrice per round. He has bonuses to hit and to damage due to his high strength. Though he is not a mindless brute in battle. Kriegskönig is well know for his battle strategies and can use 10 warriors to do the work of a 100 if needed. He can inspire a battle frenzy or battle trance where anyone under his command is a more effective fighter. This grants anyone in combat on the same side he is fighting an extra attack per round. Warriors in his armies or fighting by his side can never be frightened.

The Kriegskönig is not just the god of War. He is called on for matters of justice and legal disputes, so in this aspect, he is also the God of Judges. It is said that when souls go to their reward in the Afterlife it is Kriegskönig who decides where they go and what they will do in eternity.

Animal: Hawk
Rainment: (Head) warhelm or bare (Body) armor
Color(s): Black, red
Holy Days: Tuesdays
Sacrifices: War is sacrifice, so fallen enemies
Place of Worship: Battlefields, both present and former

Kriegskönig is not a demanding God except in times of war. Then he expects his worshipers, especially his warriors, to be brave. Clerics of this god tend to be dual-classed fighters or paladins.

Links

The Gods