Blood and Treasure - All the Monsters from A to Z ... C!

Continuing the monster stats (D is going to be a bear, all those dang demons, devils, dinosaurs and dragons ...)

Giant Caecilia, Huge Vermin: HD 6; AC 14; ATK 1 bite (1d8 + swallow whole); MV 20 (Burrow 20); F7 R12 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 600; Special—Blindsight.

Camel, Large Animal: HD 3; AC 13; ATK 1 bite (1d4); MV 50; F11 R11 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 150; Special—None.

Carcass Scavenger, Large Magical Beast: HD 3; AC 13; ATK 8 stingers (poison II) and bite (1d6); MV 40 (Climb 40); F11 R12 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—Swallow paralyzed creature.

Cat, Tiny Animal: HD 0; AC 14; ATK 1 claws and bite (1); MV 30 (Climb 20); F16 R13 W19; AL Neutral (N); XP 25; Special—None.

Giant Catfish, Large Animal: HD 8; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (2d8) and 2 fins (1d4 + poison*); MV Swim 30; F11 R12 W18; AL Neutral (N); XP 800; Special—Poison.

Catoblepas, Large Magical Beast: HD 6; AC 12; ATK 1 bite (1d6); MV 30; F9 R10 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 1500; Special—Paralyzing gaze.

Giant Cave Locust, Small Vermin: HD 2; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (1d2) or slam (1d4) or spit (sickened 3d6 rd); MV 20 (Fly 60); F13 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—Shriek, leap (60’ horizontal, 30’ vertical).

CELESTIAL

Avoral, Large Outsider: HD 16; AC 24 [+2]; ATK 2 claws (2d6) or 2 wings (2d8); MV 40; F4 R5 W4; AL Lawful (NG); XP 4000; Special—Aura of fear 20’, lay on hands 20 hp, immune to electricity and petrification, magic resistance 15%; Spell—Continuous-tongues; At will—aid, blur (self), command, detect invisibility, detect magic, dimension door, dispel magic, gust of wind, hold person, light, magic circle against evil (self), magic missile; 3/day—lightning bolt.

Bralani, Medium Outsider: HD 6; AC 19 [+1]; ATK 1 +1 scimitar (1d8+4) or +1 longbow (1d6+1) or slam (1d6); MV 40 (Fly 100); F10 R9 W9; AL Lawful (CG); XP 1500; Special—Whirlwind form, wind blast (20’/3d6), immune to electricity and petrification, magic resistance 15%; Spell— Continuous—tongues; At will—blur, charm person, gust of wind, mirror image, wind wall; 2/day—lightning bolt, cure serious wounds.

Ghaele, Medium Outsider: HD 10; AC 22 [+2]; ATK 1 +2 greatsword (1d10+5) or 2 light rays (300’/4d6); MV 50 (Fly 150); F8 R7 W7; AL Lawful (CG); XP 2500; Special—Light form, slaying gaze, protective aura 20’, immune to electricity and petrification, magic resistance 25%; Spell—Continuous—tongues; At will—aid, change self, charm monster, color spray, comprehend languages, continual flame, cure light wounds, dancing lights, detect evil, detect invisibility, detect thoughts, dispel magic, hold monster, improved invisibility (self), spectral force, teleport without error (self plus 50 pounds); 1/day—chain lightning, prismatic spray, wall of force. Ghaeles in humanoid form can also cast spells as 14th-level clerics.

Leonal, Medium Outsider: HD 12; AC 23 [+1]; ATK 2 claws (1d8) and bite (1d8); MV 60; F7 R6 W6; AL Lawful (NG); XP 1200; Special—Magical aura, roar (60’cone/holy word), immune to electricity and petrification, magic resistance 30%; Spell—Continuous—speak with animals; At will—detect thoughts, fireball, hold monster, wall of force; 3/day—cure critical wounds, cure disease, neutralize poison; 1/day—heal.

Centaur, Large Monstrous Humanoid: HD 4; AC 14; ATK 2 hooves (1d6) and weapon (1d8); MV 50; F13 R10 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 200; Special—None.

Giant Centipede, Small Vermin: HD 0; AC 14; ATK 1 bite (1d3 + poison II); MV 30 (Climb 30); F14 R16 W16; AL Neutral (N); XP 50; Special—None.

Chaos Beast, Medium Aberration: HD 8; AC 16; ATK 2 claws (1d4 + corporeal instability); MV 20; F11 R11 W9; AL Chaotic (CN); XP 2000; Special—Instability, immune to transformations, magic resistance 20%.

Cheetah, Medium Animal: HD 3; AC 15; ATK 2 claws (1d2) and bite (1d6); MV 50; F12 R11 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—Trip.

Chimera, Large Magical Beast: HD 9; AC 19; ATK 2 bites (2d10), horns (1d6) and 2 claws (1d6); MV 30 (Fly 50); F8 R9 W12; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 900; Special—Breathe cone of fire (30’/3d6) 3/day.

Choker, Small Aberration: HD 3; AC 17; ATK 2 tentacles (1d4 + constrict); MV 40 (Climb 20); F15 R13 W13; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 300; Special—None.

Chuul, Large Aberration: HD 11; AC 20; ATK 2 pincers (2d6 + constrict); MV 30 (Swim 20); F9 R10 W8; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 1100; Special—Immune to poison.

Cockatrice, Small Magical Beast: HD 5; AC 14; ATK 1 bite (1d4 + petrification); MV 20 (Fly 60); F12 R11 W16; AL Neutral (N); XP 1250; Special—None.

Colossus, Huge Construct: HD 20; AC 20 [+1]; ATK 2 slams (3d6) or thrown object (3d6); MV 40; F3 R5 W8; AL Neutral (N); XP 5000; Special—Cause panic, sickening smell, stomp, immune to magic, negative energy affinity.

Couatl, Large Outsider: HD 9; AC 20; ATK 1 bite (1d4 + poison II) or coils (2d8 + constrict); MV 20 (Fly 60); F8 R8 W8; AL Lawful (LG); XP 2250; Special—Ethereal jaunt, telepathy (90’); Spells- At will—detect evil, detect thoughts, invisibility, plane shift. Couatls can also cast spells as a 9th level sorcerer.

Giant Crab, Medium Animal: HD 3; AC 16; ATK 2 pincers (1d6 + constrict); MV 20 (Swim 10); F12 R12 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 150; Special—None.

Crabman, Medium Monstrous Humanoid: HD 2; AC 15; ATK 2 pincers (1d4); MV 20 (Swim 20); F15 R12 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—None.

Crabnipede, Medium Magical Beast: HD 4; AC 15; ATK 4 pincers (1d4 + constrict) and bite (1d6 + poison II); MV 20 (Swim 60); F11 R11 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 400; Special—Immune to mind effects, resistance to cold.

Crawling Claw, Tiny Construct: HD 1; AC 15; ATK 1 claw (1d3 + constrict); MV 20; F18 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—Double damage vs. prone opponents.

Crocodile, Medium Animal: HD 3; AC 19; ATK 1 bite (1d8 + constrict) or tail (2d6); MV 20 (Swim 30); F12 R12 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—None.

Giant Crocodile, Large Animal: HD 7; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (2d8 + constrict) or tail (3d6); MV 20 (Swim 30); F9 R10 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 700; Special—None.

Crysmal, Small Earth Elemental: HD 6; AC 20; ATK 1 sting (1d3); MV 30 (Burrow 20); F11 R12 W13; AL Neutral (N); XP 600; Special—Immune to fire and cold, resistance to electricity and piercing and slashing weapons.

Crystaline, Medium Earth Elemental: HD 3; AC 16; ATK 1 longsword (1d8); MV 30; F12 R14 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—Blind foes, exploding body, immune to electricity.

Cyclopean, Medium Monstrous Humanoid: HD 2; AC 15 (chain); ATK 1 weapon (1d10); MV 30; F15 R12 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—Peer into future 1/day.

Cyclops, Huge Giant: HD 13; AC 15; ATK 1 slam (3d10) or boulder (3d6); MV 30; F4 R9 W9; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 1300; Special—Poor depth perception.

Times, Not Planes (A Notion for Campaign Cosmos Building)

This morning, I spent a few moments reading THIS POST. Go on. Click it. Don't be afraid.

This is the multiverse. It's a straight line and the Prime Material is Now. Have fun!

It's a nice little exploration into time, and it got me thinking.

In the traditional D&D cosmos, we have a Material Plane (both Prime and Alternate, of course), Elemental Planes, Astral Planes, etc. While reading the above linked post, the bit about the hell hole Earth used to be - asteroids, volcanoes, magma and such - got me thinking about the Elemental Plane of Fire. I guess really it sounds more like the Para-Elemental (or is it Quasi-Elemental? Dang you Gygax!) Plane of Magma. Either way, it made me think about a system whereby there are no alternate planes, just alternate times.

Plane shifting is actually time shifting, and everyone who is anyone throughout the history of the cosmos wants to get in on the here and now (i.e. the current campaign you're running) because it's super bitchin' and has stuff like assassins, manticores, coffee, magic swords and polymorph self.

So those fire (and magma, and lava and whatever) elementals do not come from the Plane of Fire, they come from many millions of years ago, representing the dominant life forms on Planet X (or whatever you choose to call the place where fighters slay dragons and thieves remove traps in your campaign) when it was just a ball of hot rock beset by asteroids and volcanoes. Water elementals and their ilk come from a more recent past, when the planet was covered by oceans and the only annoying material lifeforms they had to contend with were microbes (ah, the good old days).  When a magic-user conjures them, he is plucking them from their own time and dropping them against their will into the here and now.

Metron or Planetar?

With this system, you replace the idea of demons/devils/angels/demodands/daemons (need I go on) with weird alien creatures from the distant past and distant future. Entities of Pure Chaos (i.e. the slaad) hail from that rainbow period before the Big Bang. The entities of Pure Law dwell at the end of the universe, when heat is gone and there is no change or movement. What dwells in the periods between is up to you. Maybe demons come from the period just after the Big Bang. Maybe solars/planetars/devas are the enlightened future of humanity, their powers derived from genetic manipulation and nanobots rather than magic as magic-users understand it. Just dress them up like the super-advanced aliens from Star Trek and go to town ("Ah, you primitive humans are so violent. To show our enlightened superiority to you, we will pit you against each other in a fight to the death rather than sit down and explain things to you because we're so amazingly advanced." Never made sense to me. The whole "humans are ultra-violent and deadly" thing seems a little off as well, when you consider our species has gone from a population of 2 to 7,000,000,000 ...). Heck, just gating in a mecha to fight an air elemental (that hails from the time of the gas cloud that precedes the creation of the Solar System, of course) could make the whole concept worth while.

It could make for an interesting variation for your campaign. If you keep the secret of the universe from your players (and they don't read this post) it might be enjoyable for them to slowly piece it all together and, if they become high enough level, to try to bend the system to their advantage. It also gives entities from the recent future/past a reason to be messing with their recent past/future, as they seek to bend the system to their own advantage, with the hapless PC's caught in the middle.

Something to consider.

Dungeons That Aren't Dungeons

Today, while buzzing through the internet, grabbing a quick bite, I happened across this image.

Ever since I discovered Cyrano, I've had a soft spot in my heart for the flashing blade period in all its permutations. The first thought that popped into my head when I saw this was, "You don't see too many guys like that in dungeons." If this wasn't a site about RPGs, that statement would be pretty weird, but everyone here knows what I mean. For just a moment, I started my brain on the path to rectifying that situation by making such swordsmen more amenable to dungeoneering. Then I took a u-turn.

Why not alter the set to suit the actors? Why not break down "dungeon delving" into what lies beneath it - wandering through a "landscape", meeting challenges and overcoming them (one hopes) and walking away with some manner of reward. In the traditional dungeon, the landscape is the dungeon, the challenges are monsters and traps and the reward is gold and experience. How could we change the particulars for our swordsmen without completely altering the set-up? And how could we do it for other genres?

Side Note: I recently decided it would be fun to build simple, rules lite RPG's based entirely on the output of an artist whose work is primarily in the public domain. I think that idea and the one below dovetail nicely.

For our swordsmen, the landscape is a great palace. The one in The Adventures of Don Juan starring Errol Flynn comes to mind, since it appeared to have a bit of foot traffic. The challenges might be other swordsmen and guards, of course, but they might also be courtly challenges to one's reputation. The reward would be power and position (from which flows gold, of course) and maybe romance.

Imagine something like this:

"You enter the double doors and find a large, well-appointed chamber. There are expensive hangings on the walls - tapestries and paintings - and Oriental rugs on the floor. One wall is taken up with a large map of world, indicating the possessions of various empires and kingdoms. There are couches, chairs and other furniture. The room currently contains two courtiers, fops by the look of them, sitting on the couch sipping brandy. They give you a look of disdain as you enter, one of them focusing on the cuff of your shirt, which you tore while wrestling with the lady in waiting in the other chamber."

Not terribly different from a dungeon-style room containing two orcs and a bag of gold, except in this case the "monsters" are two fops and the reward is their esteem rather than a bag of gold. Of course, we would need to "monetize" that esteem, replacing gold with influence and tying that influence to different spheres. The four-fold church-state-peasants-merchants concept could work well (i.e. hearts-spades-clubs-diamonds). The fops, therefore, might be carrying 10 sp (spade points - influence with the nobility, their kith and kin) and 16 dp (diamond points - influence with merchants, their creditors) that can be obtained by trying to break down their resolve and earn their esteem through compliments and one's knowledge of proper grooming.

How would all this work? Well, I don't know for sure. Combat in RPGs tends to be pretty abstract, so I suppose a game like this would need a similar system for personal interactions. Still, the concept could be fleshed out and made to work, and would make for a very different sort of game, but still familiar enough for old hands at D&D to understand.

Blood and Treasure - All the Monsters from A to Z ... B!

Continuing all those handy dandy Blood and Treasure monster stat blocks ... enjoy the B monsters (as in "starts with", not "second rate").

Baboon, Medium Animal: HD 1; AC 13; ATK 2 bite (1d6); MV 40 (Climb 30); F13 R13 W18; AL Neutral (N); XP 50; Special—None.

Badger, Small Animal: HD 1; AC 15; ATK 2 claws (1d3) and bite (1d4); MV 30 (Burrow 5); F14 R13 W18; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—Rage.

Giant Badger, Medium Animal: HD 3; AC 16; ATK 2 claws (1d4) and bite (1d6); MV 30 (Burrow 10); F12 R12 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—Rage.

Bafana, Medium Monstrous Humanoid: HD 1; AC 16; ATK 1 spear (1d8) or dagger (1d4 + poison II); MV 40 (Climb 20); F15 R13 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—Summon swarm (5% per bafana).

BARGHEST

Barghest, Medium Outsider: HD 6; AC 18 [+1]; ATK 2 claws (1d4) and bite (1d6); MV 30; F10 R10 W9; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 1500; Special—Devour corpse.

Greater Barghest, Large Outsider: HD 9; AC 19 [+1]; ATK 2 claws (1d6) and bite (1d8) or weapon (1d10); MV 40; F9 R9 W8; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 2250; Special—Devour corpse, change shape.


Giant Barracuda, Large Animal: HD 5; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (2d6); MV Swim 60; F10 R10 W16; AL Neutral (N); XP 250; Special—Surprised (1 in 8), surprise (3 in 6), +1 initiative.

Basilisk, Medium Magical Beast: HD 6; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (1d8); MV 20; F10 R10 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 1500; Special—Surprise (2 in 6, deserts), petrifying gaze.

Giant Bass, Large Animal: HD 2; AC 13; ATK 1 bite (1d6 + swallow whole); MV Swim 40; F11 R12 W18; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—None.

Giant Bat, Small Animal: HD 4; AC 20; ATK 1 bite (1d8); MV 20 (Fly 40); F12 R11 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 400; Special—Echolocation, vulnerable to sonic damage.

Bat Monster, Large Monstrous Humanoid: HD 8; AC 13; ATK 2 claws (1d6) and bite (2d8); MV 10 (Fly 50); F10 R9 W10; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 800; Special—Echolocation, vulnerable to sonic damage, deafening shriek.

BEAR

Black Bear, Medium Animal: HD 3; AC 13; ATK 2 claws (1d4 + constrict) and bite (1d6); MV 40; F12 R12 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—None.

Brown Bear, Large Animal: HD 6; AC 15; ATK 2 claws (1d8 + constrict) and bite (2d6); MV 40; F9 R10 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 600; Special—None.

Cave Bear, Large Animal: HD 12; AC 17; ATK 2 claws (2d6 + constrict) and bite (2d8); MV 40; F6 R7 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 1200; Special—None.

Polar Bear, Large Animal: HD 8; AC 15; ATK 2 claws (1d10 + constrict) and bite (2d6); MV 40; F8 R9 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 800; Special—None.


Giant Bee, Medium Vermin: HD 3; AC 14; ATK 1 sting (1d4 + poison III); MV 20 (Fly 80); F12 R13 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—None.

BEETLE

Giant Bombardier Beetle, Medium Vermin: HD 2; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (1d4) and acid spray (10’ cone/1d6); MV 30; F12 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 200; Special—None.

Giant Fire Beetle, Small Vermin: HD 1; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (2d4); MV 30; F14 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 50; Special—None.

Giant Rhinoceros Beetle, Huge Vermin: HD 12; AC 18; ATK 1 bite (2d8) and gore (2d6) or trample (3d6); MV 20; F4 R9 W9; AL Neutral (N); XP 1200; Special—None.

Giant Stag Beetle, Giant Stag Beetle: HD 7; AC 19; ATK 1 bite (4d6); MV 20 (Fly 10); F9 R12 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 700; Special—None.

Giant Tiger Beetle, Medium Vermin: HD 3; AC 17; ATK 1 bite (2d6); MV 60; F12 R13 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 150; Special—None.


Beetlor, Large Monstrous Humanoid: HD 8; AC 18; ATK 2 claws (2d6) and bite (1d10); MV 20 (Burrow 10); F10 R9 W9; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 800; Special—Sickening gaze.

Behir, Huge Magical Beast: HD 9; AC 19; ATK 1 bite (2d4 + swallow whole) or coils (constrict); MV 40 (Climb 15); F6 R9 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 900; Special—Spit lightning (20’/7d6, once every 10 rd), immune to electricity and trip attacks.

Belker, Large Air Elemental: HD 7; AC 20; ATK 2 wings (1d6), 2 claws (1d3) and bite (1d4); MV 30 (Fly 50); F11 R9 W13; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 700; Special—Smoke form, engulf.

BLACK PUDDING

Black Pudding, Huge Ooze: HD 10; AC 3; ATK 1 slam (2d6 + 2d6 acid + engulf); MV 20 (Climb 20); F7 R10 W10; AL Neutral (N); XP 1000; Special—Acid, split, immune to mind effects, weapon resistance.

Brown Pudding, Huge Ooze: HD 11; AC 3; ATK 1 slam (2d6 + 2d6 acid + engulf); MV 20 (Climb 20); F7 R10 W10; AL Neutral (N); XP 1100; Special—Acid, split, immune to mind effects, weapon resistance.

Dun Pudding, Huge Ooze: HD 8; AC 3; ATK 1 slam (2d6 + 2d6 acid + engulf); MV 20 (Climb 20); F8 R11 W11; AL Neutral (N); XP 1000; Special—Acid, split, immune to mind effects, weapon resistance.

White Pudding, Huge Ooze: HD 9; AC 3; ATK 1 slam (2d6 + 2d6 acid + engulf); MV 20 (Climb 20); F8 R11 W11; AL Neutral (N); XP 1000; Special—Acid, split, immune to mind effects, weapon resistance.


Blink Dog, Small Magical Beast: HD 4; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (1d6); MV 40; F12 R11 W14; AL Lawful (LG); XP 400; Special—Blink.

Boar, Medium Animal: HD 3; AC 16; ATK 1 gore (1d8); MV 40; F12 R12 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—Ferocity.

Giant Boar, Large Animal: HD 7; AC 15; ATK 1 gore (1d10); MV 40; F9 R10 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 700; Special—Ferocity.

Bodak, Medium Undead: HD 9; AC 19 [+1]; ATK 1 slam (1d8); MV 20; F11 R11 W10; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 2250; Special—Flee from sunlight, death gaze, spawn, immune to electricity.

Bounder, Large Monstrous Humanoid: HD 6; AC 16; ATK 4 claws (1d4), mandibles (1d6 + poison II); MV 40; F11 R10 W10; AL Neutral (N); XP 600; Special—Leap, deflect missiles (4/rd).

Brain Mole, Tiny Magical Beast: HD 1; AC 14; ATK 1 bite (1d3); MV 15 (Burrow 15); F16 R14 W18; AL Neutral (N); XP 250; Special—Mind leech; Spells—3/day-mind thrust, repulsion.

Brownie, Tiny Fey: HD 0; AC 17; ATK 1 dagger (1d3); MV 20; F19 R13 W12; AL Lawful (LG); XP 50; Special—Surprise (3 in 6), magic resistance 25%; Spells—1/day—confusion, continual flame, dancing lights, dimension door, magic circle against evil, mirror image, ventriloquism.

Bugbear, Medium Humanoid: HD 3; AC 14 (leather and buckler); ATK 1 weapon (1d10); MV 30; F12 R14 W14; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 150; Special—Surprise (3 in 6).

Bulette, Huge Magical Beast: HD 9; AC 20; ATK 2 claws (2d6) and bite (2d10); MV 40 (Burrow 10); F6 R9 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 900; Special—Sense movement, surprise (4 in 6).

Precision Swiss Dungeoneering

Image by Joshua Sherurcij

I honestly don’t know. I go on a walk. A funny idea pops into my head, which I quickly dismiss. Then a couple more thoughts pop in to flesh out the original idea, and the next thing you know I’m writing up a Blood & Treasure class called the Switzer. On the other hand, one of the founders of the hobby was of Swiss origin, so maybe this class is way overdue!

The Switzer

Switzers are folks from mountainous regions who live up to several flimsy stereotypes (and outright fabrications!) and delve in dungeons. Hey, the inspiration behind this idea is pretty sparse, just do me a favor and roll with it.

Switzers advance in level as rangers.

A life in the mountains has given the 1st level Switzer (regular) a knack at noting unusual stonework and slopes as a dwarf (or count these abilities as skills if the Switzer is a dwarf). Switzers also have an innate money sense. They can calculate a number of coins and the value of gemstones with 80% accuracy. When buying goods, they can make an Intelligence check to either find a bargain (10% discount) or to find superior merchandise (pay a 50% premium, gain a +1 bonus to checks or attacks when using the item).

Switzers must remain true neutral for their entire careers, but they have mercenary hearts and can commit Lawful, Chaotic, Good or Evil acts at the cost of 10 gp per Switzer level. A Switzer who strays from neutrality becomes a normal fighter with the fighting ability of a cleric until he or she receives an atonement spell.

The mountain homes of Switzers are lousy with mad wizards and scientists, so 3rd level Switzers (mountaineer) thus gain particular skill at combating one of their most common and hideous creations, the flesh golem. Against a flesh golem, a Switzer gains a +1 bonus to hit and scores double damage on a successful hit. At 7th level (hellebardier), the Switzer's innate familiarity with clockworks gives him a similar advantage against iron golems, antikytheres, automatons (i.e. mechanical men) and other clockwork creatures.

A 4th level Switzer (gardist) becomes a master of the pole arm and pike, gaining a +1 bonus to hit and damage with them. When fighting in formation, the Switzer also gains a +1 bonus per 5 fellow warriors (similarly armed) in the formation to Armor Class, up to a +4 bonus.

A 5th level Switzer (Alpinist) can undertake a quest, guided by a divine vision, to find and gain the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal St. Bernard to serve him. If the Switzer’s dog dies, he must wait until gaining another level of Switzer to undertake the quest again.

The St. Bernard has the following stats:

St. Bernard, Medium Magical Beast: HD 2+2; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (1d6); MV 40; F12 R12 W16; AL N (LN); XP 200; Special—Resistance to cold, cask of wine (produces enough restorative brandy to restore a total of 2 hp per Switzer level per day), low intelligence.

A 6th level Switzer (yodeler) can cast a small collection of spells by yodeling. The spells are drawn from the following list. The Switzer can cast as many spells as the paladin (see B&T Player’s Guide).

Level One: Cause fear, charm person, daze, hideous laughter, message, open/close, sleep

Level Two: Animal trance, daze monster, enthrall, hold person, rage, shatter, sound burst

Level Three: Charm monster, confusion, crushing despair, good hope, speak with animals

Level Four: Dominate person, hold monster, repel vermin, shout

An 8th level Switzer (Reisläufer) gains the ability to manufacture magical cheeses. The cheeses must be created from the milk of a magical beast (one with the proper equipment, of course), and can be infused with a spell effect that duplicates one of the monster’s special abilities or one spell up to 4th level that the monster can cast. Making the cheese takes as long as brewing an equivalent potion, and requires a proper kitchen.

A 10th level Switzer (Burgrave) can choose to establish a stronghold in the wilderness and gain followers (see High Level Play below). The lands controlled by the burgrave are called a canton. A Switzer who commands a canton attracts 1d6 men-at-arms per level, 1d6 first level Switzers who wish to train under them and one 3rd level Switzer to serve as a leutnant. These Switzers should be generated as characters under control of the player.

Edited 9/19 - Made a correction in the text and added an ability

Blood and Treasure - All the Monsters from A to Z

I'm now working on the final stages of the Damnable Sea hex crawl that will show up in NOD 21 (along with some other fun stuff as well, of course). The final stage for me is always adding in stat blocks for the monsters and NPCs. While I'm writing, I find stopping to mess with stats annoying, so I usually write these things in a few stages:

1. I use an excel document with tons of virtual look-ups to populate the hex crawl with very simple indicators. This tells me where the strongholds, cities, monster encounters, etc. are going to be.

2. I transfer these ideas into a word document, adjusting the locations a bit to make sure I have a pretty good spread over the hex crawl - I don't want things too clustered.

3. I go through all of these locations and thumbnail them in, sometimes using random generators (some of my own design) to help the process along.

4. I flesh out all of the entries, making them appear as they will in the finished product.

5. I make a second pass to edit the writing and add all of the monster and NPC stats.

6. Another round of editing, and add images and formatting.

So, since I'm working on my third or fourth B&T hex crawl (and expect to do many more in the future), I've finally decided that I need to stop re-inventing the wheel and just make a catalog of monster stat blocks. I've already created an excel document to help generate NPC stat blocks, since they're more variable - now it's the monster's turn.

Since I'm creating this catalog anyways, and since it might be useful to all you folks out there in television land, I'm going to start posting the stat blocks on this blog, beginning with the "A" monsters. Enjoy!

A

Aasimar, Medium Humanoid: HD 1; AC 16 (chain and buckler); ATK 1 weapon (1d8); MV 30; F13 R15 W15; AL Lawful (LG); XP 100; Special—Resistance to electricity; Spells—1/day-Daylight.

Aboleth, Huge Abberation: HD 8; AC 16; ATK 4 tentacles (1d8 + slime); MV 10 (Swim 60); F8 R10 W8; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 2000; Special—Dominate person (3/day), slime, muscus cloud; Spells--At will—hypnotic pattern, illusory wall, mirage arcana, persistent illusion, programmed illusion, project image, veil.

Achaierai, Large Outsider: HD 6; AC 19; ATK 2 claws (2d6) and bite (4d6); MV 50; F9 R9 W10; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 600; Special—Toxic cloud, magic resistance 15%.

Aerial Servant, Medium Air Elemental: HD 16; AC 19 [+1]; ATK 2 slams (2d8 + constrict); MV 60 (Fly 60); F7 R4 W8; AL Neutral (N); XP 4000; Special—Natural invisibility, wind blast (2/day).

Allip, Medium Undead: HD 4; AC 15 [silver]; ATK 1 strike (1d4 wisdom drain); MV Fly 30; F14 R14 W11; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 1000; Special—Hypnotic muttering, tortured mind, incorporeal.

Almesith, Medium Magical Beast: HD 7; AC 12; ATK 3 claws (1d8); MV 30; F10 R10 W11; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 700; Special—Anti-magic field.

AMAZON

Blue Amazon, Medium Humanoid: HD 1+1; AC 19 (plate and shield); ATK 1 spear (1d8); MV 30; F15 R13 W15; AL Lawful (LG); XP 100; Special—Magic resistance 10%, immune to surprise.

Green Amazon, Medium Humanoid: HD 1+1; AC 17 (chain and shield); ATK 2 longbow (1d8) or 1 spear (1d8); MV 30; F15 R13 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—Track and survive.

Red Amazon, Medium Humanoid: HD 1+1; AC 17 (chain and shield); ATK 2 longsword (1d8); MV 30; F15 R13 W15; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 100; Special—Immune to fear.


Amphisbaena, Medium Dragon: HD 8; AC 17; ATK 2 bites (1d6 + poison II) and 2 claws (1d6); MV 30; F9 R9 W9; AL Neutral (N); XP 2000; Special—Surprised (1 in 8), spit lightning (3/day, 4d6 + personality switch), immune to electricity and sleep.

Anaxim, Large Construct: HD 16; AC 23 [+2]; ATK 2 blades (2d6 + rend), 2 slams (2d6) or lightning bolt (60’/8d6) or sonic blast (60’/8d6 + deafness); MV 30 (Fly 120); F6 R6 W7; AL Neutral (LN); XP 4000; Special—Telepathy (1000’), immune to mind-affecting effects (charms, illusions, fear), ability damage and drain, poison, sleep, disease, paralysis, polymorph, petrification, all form-altering effects and all death effects, regenerate, magic resistance 50%, resistance to cold and fire; Spells—Continuous—nondetection, true seeing; At will—dispel magic, displacement, ethereal jaunt, improved invisibility. Four times per day, an anaxim can summon an iron golem.

ANGEL

Astral Deva, Medium Outsider: HD 12; AC 24 [+1]; ATK 1 +2 heavy mace (1d8+7 + stun 1d6 rd) or slam (1d10); MV 50 (Fly 100); F7 R6 W4; AL Lawful; XP 3000; Special— Immune to acid, cold and paralysis, aura of protection, resistance to electricity and fire, magic resistance 30%; Spells--Continuous—tongues; At will—aid, continual flame, cure disease, detect evil, detect lie, dispel evil, dispel magic, holy aura, holy smite, holy word, invisibility (self), plane shift, polymorph self, remove curse, remove fear; 7/day—cure light wounds, detect invisibility; 1/day—blade barrier, heal.

Planetar, Large Outsider: HD 14; AC 25 [+2]; ATK 1 +2 greatsword (2d6+8) or slam (2d8); MV 30 (Fly 90); F6 R6 W3; AL Lawful; XP 3500; Special— Immune to acid, cold and paralysis, aura of protection, resistance to electricity and fire, magic resistance 35%, regenerate (unholy); Spells--Continuous—detect evil, detect lie, detect snares and pits, detect invisibility, tongues, true seeing; At will—continual flame, cure disease, dispel magic, holy smite, invisibility (self), remove curse, remove fear, restoration, speak with dead; 3/day—blade barrier, flame strike, polymorph (self), power word stun, raise dead, waves of fatigue; 1/day—earthquake.

Solar, Large Outsider: HD 22; AC 26 [+3]; ATK 1 +3 dancing greatsword (2d6+10) or +1 longbow (100’/1d8+1) or slam (2d10); MV 50 (Fly 150); F3 R3 W3; AL Lawful; XP 5500; Special— Immune to acid, cold and petrification, resistance to electricity and fire, aura of protection, magic resistance 75%, regenerate; Spells-- Continuous—detect evil, detect lie, detect snares and pits, detect invisibility, tongues, true seeing; At will—aid, animate objects, commune, continual flame, cure disease, dimensional anchor, dispel magic, holy smite, imprisonment, invisibility (self), polymorph (self), power word stun, remove curse, remove fear, resist energy, restoration, summon monster VII, speak with dead, waves of fatigue; 3/day—blade barrier, earthquake, heal, permanency, resurrection; 1/day—power word blind, power word kill, power word stun, prismatic spray, wish (others).


ANIMATED OBJECT

Animated Object-Small, Small Construct: HD 1; AC 14; ATK 1 slam (1d4); MV 30; F16 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 50; Special—None.

Animated Object-Medium, Medium Construct: HD 2; AC 14; ATK 1 slam (1d6); MV 30; F14 R14 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—None.

Animated Object-Large, Large Construct: HD 4; AC 14; ATK 1 slam (1d8); MV 20; F11 R12 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 200; Special—None.

Animated Object-Huge, Huge Construct: HD 12; AC 12; ATK 1 slam (2d6); MV 10; F3 R5 W9; AL Neutral (N); XP 600; Special—None.


Ankheg, Large Magical Beast: HD 3; AC 18; ATK 1 bite (2d8 + 1d4 acid); MV 30 (Burrow 20); F11 R12 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—Tremorsense, spit acid (Once per 6 hours, 30’/4d4).

ANT

Giant Worker Ant, Medium Vermin: HD 2; AC 17; ATK 1 bite (1d6); MV 50 (Climb 20); F11 R13 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—None.

Giant Soldier Ant, Medium Vermin: HD 2; AC 17; ATK 1 bite (1d6); MV 50 (Climb 20); F11 R13 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—None.

Giant Worker Ant, Medium Vermin: HD 2; AC 17; ATK 1 bite (1d6); MV 50 (Climb 20); F11 R13 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—None.


ANTIKYTHERE

Bronze Antikythere, Small Construct: HD 2; AC 17; ATK 1 bite (1d6) or chakram (1d4); MV 30 (Burrow 15); F16 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 200; Special—Earthquake, immune to electricity, magic resistance 10%, paralyzed by dispel magic, vulnerable to sonic energy.

Silver Antikythere, Small Construct: HD 4; AC 16; ATK 1 bite (1d6) or chakram (1d4) or acid arrow; MV 30 (Burrow 15); F15 R14 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 400; Special—Earthquake, immune to acid and electricity, magic resistance 20%, paralyzed by dispel magic, vulnerable to sonic energy.

Gold Antikythere, Small Construct: HD 6; AC 15; ATK 1 bite (1d6) or chakram (1d4); MV 30 (Burrow 15); F13 R12 W13; AL Neutral (N); XP 600; Special—Earthquake, immune to fire and electricity, magic resistance 30%, paralyzed by dispel magic, vulnerable to sonic energy.


APE

Carnivorous Ape, Large Animal: HD 4; AC 14; ATK 2 claws (1d6) and bite (1d6); MV 30 (Climb 30); F10 R11 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 400; Special—None.

Giant Ape, Huge Animal: HD 8; AC 15; ATK 2 claws (1d8 + rend) and bite (1d8); MV 30 (Climb 15); F6 R9 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 800; Special—None.


Aranea, Medium Magical Beast: HD 3; AC 13; ATK 1 bite (1d6 + poison) or web; MV 50 (Climb 20); F12 R11 W13; AL Neutral (N); XP 300; Special—Change shape.

Archer Tree, Large Plant: HD 7; AC 13; ATK 1d4 needles (100’/1d6 + poison II); MV 5; F9 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 700; Special—None.

Arrowhawk, Medium Magical Beast: HD 7; AC 20; ATK 1 lightning bolt (50’/2d8) or bite (1d8); MV 10 (Fly 60); F10 R9 W12; AL Neutral (N); XP 700; Special—Immune to electricity and poison.

ARCHON

Hound Archon, Medium Outsider: HD 6; AC 19 [+1]; ATK 1 bite (1d8) or +1 greatsword (1d10+4) and bite; MV 40; F10 R10 W10, +4 vs. poison; AL Lawful (LG); XP 1500; Special—Tongues, righteous aura, smite evil 1/day, immune to electricity and petrification, magic resistance 15%; Spells--Continuous—magic circle against evil, tongues; At will—aid, continual flame, detect evil, message, teleport.

Lantern Archon, Small Outsider: HD 1; AC 15 [+1]; ATK 2 light rays (30’/1d6); MV Fly 60; F14 R12 W14, +4 vs. poison; AL Lawful (LG); XP 250; Special—Tongues, righteous aura, immune to electricity and petrification; Spells--Continuous—magic circle against evil, tongues; At will— aid, detect evil, continual flame.

Trumpet Archon, Medium Outsider: HD 12; AC 23 [+1]; ATK 1 +2 greatsword (1d10+6); MV 40 (Fly 90); F7 R7 W6, +4 vs. poison; AL Lawful (LG); XP 3000; Special—Tongues, righteous aura, immune to electricity and petrification, magic resistance 30%; Spells--Continuous—magic circle against evil, tongues; At will—detect evil, continual flame, message.


Assassin Vine, Large Plant: HD 4; AC 15; ATK 1 slam (1d8 + constrict); MV 5; F10 R17 W14; AL Neutral (N); XP 400; Special—Surprise (4 in 6).

Athach, Huge Giant: HD 14; AC 19; ATK 3 clubs (3d8) and bite (2d8 + poison) or 3 rocks (60’/2d6); MV 50; F3 R7 W9; AL Chaotic (CE); XP 3500; Special—Poison (paralyzes for 1d6 rd).

Automaton, Medium Construct: HD 1+1; AC 16; ATK 1 heavy mace (1d6+3) or fists (1d2+2); MV 30; F15 R15 W15; AL Neutral (N); XP 100; Special—Immune to disease and poison, resistance to electricity.

Axebeak, Large Animal: HD 3; AC 14; ATK 2 talons (1d6) and bite (2d6); MV 50; F11 R11 W17; AL Neutral (N); XP 150; Special—None.

Azer, Medium Outsider (Fire): HD 2; AC 21 (scale and shield); ATK 1 heavy mace (1d6 + 1 fire) or spear (1d8 + 1 fire) or fists (1d4 + 1 fire); MV 30; F12 R12 W12; AL Neutral (LN); XP 200; Special—Immune to fire, magic resistance 5%, vulnerable to cold.

Storm Demon [New Monster]

Here's a monster I cooked up for the new Hex Crawl Chronicle (coming soon!)

Since it's for a HCC, it's in the good old fashioned Swords & Wizardry format.

STORM DEMON

Storm demons resemble large, blue-black crickets with glossy carapaces. They have six limbs, the bottom two serving as legs and providing them with an impressive jump. A storm demon’s jump carries them up to 50 feet, and they can jump and attack, gaining a +1 bonus to hit and damage when they do so. The demon’s other four limbs are used for combat, the upper limbs for attacking with hook-like appendages, the middle two generating lightning bolts (see below) or attacking with weapons, for the middle limbs end in something like humanoid hands.

Storm demons can generate lightning bolts by rubbing their middle hands together. They must rub their hands for at least one round, and then can release the lightning in the next round. The lightning bolt has a 100-ft range and does a number of dice of damage equal to the number of rounds the demon spends generating it.

When flying, a storm demon’s wings disrupt the atmosphere, summoning fierce lightning storms in a mile radius.

A storm demon has a 10% chance to gate another storm demon to its assistance.

Storm Demon: HD 8; AC 0 [19]; Atk 2 hooks (1d8), 2 weapons (1d6) and mandibles (1d6); Move 12 (Fly 24); Save 8; AL C; CL/XP 11/1700; Special: Magic resistance (45%), agitate atmosphere, lightning bolts, immune to electricity.

Numerology + Hydra = Mystic Hydra

Imagine taking a normal hydra (i.e. normal hydra stats), but then adding a magical powers based on the number of heads possessed by the hydra.

For this iteration of the classic monster, I developed powers for nine heads. Additional heads beyond nine look like the first set of heads, in order, and usually bolster the powers of that head.

The mystic hydra heads appear roughly humanoid, but they have broad, toothy mouths that are very inhuman and quite unsettling (I'm picturing the famous old illustration of the manticore - just Google it). The first nine heads are as follows:

Head 1: The head of a red-faced man with a giant mustache. Grants the monster +1 to initiative; heads 10, 19, etc. look the same and add one more point to initiative.

Head 2: The head of a chubby, freckle-faced female druid. Grants the monster protection from good and protection from evil; heads 11, 20, etc. look the same and increase the range of the protection by 10-ft. each

Head 3: The head of a dashing, mustachioed man. Grants the monster charm person three times per day; heads 12, 21, etc. look the same and increase the potency of the spell to charm monster, then suggestion, then command.

Head 4: The head of a turbaned sage with a pronounced overbite. Blood spilled from the monster with four heads turns into a single cobra. Blood is spilled when the monster is struck by a cutting weapon that does at least half its potential max. damage against the monster (i.e. 3-4 points for a dagger, 4-6 points for a short sword, etc.). Heads 13, 22, etc. look the same, and increase the number of cobras created from spilled blood.

 

Head 5: The head of a hawk-nosed woman with leering eyes. Grants the monster the power of haste; heads 14, 23, etc. look the same and increase the monster's base land speed by 5 feet.

Head 6: The head of a matronly woman with long braids. Grants the monster the ability to cast crushing despair one time per day; heads 15, 24, etc. increase the uses of crushing despair by one per day  (or to put it another way, each such head can cast the spell once).

Head 7: The head of an anti-bishop wearing a black mitre. Grants the monster the blink ability, per the blink dog. Heads 16, 25, etc. gain the ability to cast one 1st level cleric spell each.

Head 8: The head of a man with a blue, barbed beard. Grants the monster the ability to spit a 2 dice lightning bolt from this head. Heads 17, 26, etc. look the same and can also spit lightning bolts.

Head 9: The head of a beautiful and terrible elven queen. Victims of this head's bite might be polymorphed (Fortitude save; use the reincarnation table to see what they turn into; lasts for 1d4 days). Heads 18, 27, etc. look the same and have the same power.

Anti-Classes

F Schoonover ... Nothing to do with the post, just awesome

Those who have delved into the OBBs will recall that the early game had not only clerics, but also anti-clerics. The anti-clerics were, of course, just chaotic clerics who cast the reverse of some of the traditional cleric spells.

Today I started wondering … what about other anti-classes. The cleric's opposite is based on an opposing alignment. The anti-classes buzzing around in my head, though, are focused on opposing the overall class functions of the other classes to act as an in-game counter to the PC's.

Anti-Fighters (Harrier): A fighter fights, so an anti-fighter … doesn’t fight? Not much room for a class there. One possibility would be a character that calms tensions and ends fights, but that has more of a magical feel to it, and, frankly, removing combat from the game doesn't improve the game experience.  To keep our anti-fighter non-magical and to make it fun and interesting, we could instead make the anti-fighter a specialist at countering the tactics and abilities of traditional fighters. When they engage a fighter in combat they slowly improve against that fighter in particular, increasing their AC against them and perhaps forcing the fighter to pass some sort of test or saving through to disengage with them without suffering a free back attack, as many rules allow against combatants that turn and run from a fight. The point of the anti-fighter is to tie up fighters and keep them from doing damage, making them especially potent when accompanied by a large body of 0-level or 1 HD monsters.

Anti-Magic-User (Witch Hunter): This one seems simple. Anti-magic-users cancel out the magical abilities of magic-users. I’m thinking you would use something like the turn undead chart for counter-spelling. In fact, maybe you could extend the concept. Where a cleric destroys or takes control of lesser undead, the anti-magic-user could turn the spell back on the spell caster or block the spell caster from preparing/memorizing the same spell again for a number of days equal to the anti-magic-user's level. The anti-magic-user should probably have improved saves vs. magic and maybe be able to sniff magic out. Another cool ability would be the ability to drain scrolls, perhaps using that energy to heighten their own magical defenses. Since these dudes wouldn’t have much in the way of fun, active (rather than re-active) abilities, we could ramp up their combat abilities a bit, allowing them to attack as thieves and use the same armor and weapons as thieves.

Anti-Thief (Thief-Taker): The first thing that springs to mind is the classic thief-taker. Where the thing has a set of skills that makes them good at stealing, the anti-thief would have a different set of skills meant to counter them – hide/set traps (find/remove traps), penetrate shadows (hide in shadows), hear footfalls (move silently), silent signals (hear noises), note pilfering (pick pockets) and, well, I can’t think of anything to counter climb walls (nor do I think I need to). I suppose they would also be able to save vs. backstabs, or perhaps their heightened ability to hear the thief creeping up behind them would render back-stabs unlikely. Since their abilities are also focused on defense, one might heighten their combat abilities, perhaps allowing them to attack as a fighter rather than thief, though restricting them to the same equipment as thieves.

So, what do you think? Probably not great as player characters, but they could be interesting as NPCs designed to frustrate the players and force them to switch up their tactics.

I'm picturing a scene where a party busts into an ogre mage's throne room and finds the ogre mage accompanied by a smattering of goblins (let me at 'em, thinks the party fighters) and four human beings, an anti-cleric, harrier, witch hunter and thief-taker. The party thief attempts to slink into the shadows, but the thief-taker's eyes follow him unerringly, shouting out his position for the benefit of his comrades in the room. One of the party fighters engages the gibbering goblins, but the other finds himself countered by the harrier, who matches him stroke for stroke. The party magic-user raises his hands to cast magic missile, but finds the spell not only fizzle, but the very knowledge that such a spell exists stricken from his mind! The anti-cleric does his best to match the cleric spell for spell as well.

Kinda like this, only more D&D ... image found HERE

Thinking About Aquatic Dragons

No, not one of these. Although ...

Over the years, there have been many versions of aquatic dragons published on-line and, if memory serves, in the venerable Dragon. As I've been writing a very aquatic hexcrawl lately, I've been looking at all the tools available, including aquatic versions of surface monsters, such as the aquatic ogres, aquatic trolls and aquatic hobgoblins. Naturally, it seemed a good time to work on a few more, so in the Damnable Sea you'll also meet aquatic kobolds (telchines) and some aquatic orcs. I've also been thinking about how aquatic versions of the chromatic dragons might work. Here are a few notions:

First and foremost, we're going to replace their legs with sea turtle-like flippers. The fins are clawed, so they can keep their claw attacks, but they also gain a swim speed. Question - swim speed equal to land speed, or faster. With their flippers, their land speed should now be about half what it used to be. Do they keep their wings? Not sure.

Obviously, the beasts can breath in water, but it might be worth making them amphibious. Depends, I suppose, on whether you want them following adventures out of the sea. Personally, I'd remove their ability to breath air entirely - leave the surface to the traditional dragons and the water to the aquatic dragons. Besides, trying to outrun an enraged aquatic dragon to the surface could make for a neat challenge in a game.

Since they spend their time underwater, you might want to replace a dragon's chance of speech with a chance for telepathy.

As for the different breeds:

Black - Black dragons are already semi-aquatic, so it might make sense to leave them alone. If I were going to do a purely aquatic version, I might make them bottom dwellers who mostly lurk in the very deep, dark oceans, where their scale color gives them good camouflage. Since many deep sea fish are rather weird-looking, that might be fun to carry over to the aquatic black dragons - a glowing form of bait, maybe one that detects as magical to draw in greedy adventurers. As for their acid breath, I'd maybe make it an acidic slime that coats their body or a cloud of acid they belch from their mouths.

Blue - The lightning-breathing blue dragons seem to mesh nicely with the idea of electric eels. I'd replace the lightning breath with a shocking ability, and make it extend to some radius - maybe 10 feet, maybe more, maybe tied to the dragon's size. I think giving them an eel-like face and body would also be cool. Maybe they make their lairs among the coral reefs.

Green - Imagine aquatic green dragons lurking among the kelp beds. Since they're known for being poisonous, what if they have poisonous spines like a puffer fish or maybe they're based on sting rays, with similar body shapes and stream-lined heads.

Red - Red dragons are all about fire, which makes their presence in the water tough to deal with. They could make the water super-heated and boiling, though, so that might work. I might give them a more mottled appearance - maybe more purple than red. Perhaps they dwell around submarine volcanoes, and thus are immune to poison and fire, and perhaps they have a weird appearance like those deep sea aquatic black dragons. Better yet, let's give them hammer heads because, well, because it would look cool. In fact, basing red dragons on sharks would be a pretty good idea, given their similar outlooks on life. If they don't dwell around volcanoes, I'd put their lairs in sunken treasure ships.

White - The first thing that pops into my head when thinking about aquatic white dragons is them dwelling in nomadic pods in the cold, arctic seas. In fact, an orca theme might work well with aquatic dragons, with maybe some white seal fur and walrus tusks. White dragons aren't known for being terribly smart, so we can make these fellows more dumb predator than mastermind. Rather than a frost breath, they could breath a cloud of chemicals that flash freezes the water and everything in it.

I'd love to hear your ideas about "aquatizing" the chromatic dragons in the comments.