Devils Den #18: Creature creation!
Topic author: Master
Subject: Devils Den #18: Creature creation!
Posted on: 18/09/2008 15:37:24
Message:
Heavily inspired by a brand new game I've just got, this time the devils den is about creating a brand new species!
The creature can be either fielded in a scenario, be made in to a warband (let me see those fishmen), or whatever you like.
Points are greatly awarded for originality.
The challenge ends the 26th of September (I think it's a friday).
So give it all you've got! Show me an entirely new species, the more weird, the better!
Get to work devils!
Reply author: Chad
Replied on: 19/09/2008 10:32:04
Message:
Chad's official entry:
(scenario)
Signor Carilli’s Magical Menagerie
Signor Carilli travelled the world for decades, seeking out and capturing the most strange and wonderful animals in existence. He then toured the Empire and Brettonia putting on incredible shows of trained monstrosities doing incredible things. While doing a show for the Emperor himself, a ****atrice escaped his, and his assistants’, control injuring the Emperor, and various members of the court and Emperor’s family. Now an outlaw, he fled to Mordheim looking for a place to hide; and maybe some of those twisted bits of Chaos could jump through hoops…
Terrain: each player takes it in turns to scatter on piece of terrain around the board, we suggest towers, ruins, houses and other similar Mordheim terrain.
Special rules: Signor Carilli, his beasts and assistants start in the middle of the board, where you should place some (gaudy) tents as their camp. They all move D3†inches in a random direction at the start of each players turn. After any enemy model comes within 8†of one they all stay still unless any enemy comes within 8â€, then they charge them. Stats for Carilli, his beasts and assistants are found below.
Objective: one of the traders around Mordheim will pay good money for every fabulous creature bought to him. You must capture the most beasts.
Deployment: each player starts in a randomly determined corner, and must deploy within 10†of their corner.
Ending the game: the game ends when one warband routs, or all the beasts are OOA and there are no not captured beast tokens on the table.
Capturing beasts: every time you put a beast OOA roll a D6, 1-3 dead 4-6 place a beast token where it fell, any warrior who comes into base contact with a beast token may pick it up. For every beast token in your possession at the end of the game you gain 4D6 GCs.
Signor Carrili
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 5 2 4 4 1 5 2 10
Weapons and armour: Steel Whip, Duelling Pistol, Chair (parry, concusion)
Special rules:
Reputation any warrior who puts Carrili OOA gains D3 experience.
Leader: any member of the NPC group (including beasts) may use his LD if within 6â€.
Assistant (there are 2 assistants)
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 8
Weapons and armour: War Dog (counts as beast, see above), Dagger
Special rules:
Old Faithful, never suffer from all alone as their dogs are their most faithful companions, if their dog is put OOA action they count as frenzied and immune to psychology (except frenzy). (So it’s a good idea to kill the assistant then the dog.)
Beasts:
****atrice (there is 1 ****atrice)
A fire-breathing ****erel with the tail of a snake
M WS BS S T W I A LD
5 6 – 4 3 1 3 2 5
Special rules:
Breathe fire: counts as being armed with a blunderbuss, will breathe fire as soon as an enemy comes within 6â€.
Manticore (there is 1 Manticore, thank Sigmar)
Body of a lion, face of a man, speed of a deer, voice of a trumpet, and three rows of teeth
M WS BS S T W I A LD
6 8 – 5 3 1 5 2 5
Special rules:
Extra Valuable: you get 6D6GCs for capturing the Manticore
Naga (there is 1 naga)
A many headed snake, few know that these are chaos champions trapped in snake form as a punishment…
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 3 – 2 2 1 4 4 5
Special rules:
Spit poison: counts as a 4†range S4 pistol, may be used in close combat using up one attack.
Performing dog (there are 3 performing dogs)
A dog, that can jump through hoops and walk on two legs, KILL IT, BOYS!
M WS BS S T W I A LD
6 3 – 3 3 1 5 1 5
Special rules:
Not that valuable: you only get 2D6 GCs for each performing dog captured.
Reply author: Ethlorien
Replied on: 19/09/2008 11:37:36
Message:
Ethlorien's Official Entry:
Wyrdicorn
Beasts and mounts are frequent around Mordheim, hired and trained as beasts of burden, creatures of battle, mounts for warriors... Yet as impressive as some of these creatures are, there are those who ask for more from these creatures, more then physically possible. And so, they turn to the precious Wyrdstone of the Cursed City - it's dark and twisting powers. While some warriors grind up the stone and feed it to their beasts, or perhaps weave it into their fur or barding, the easiest (and most impressive) manner is to simply drive a large shard of wyrdstone deep into the creature's skull. The stone of chaos will imediately corrupt the creature, its fell poison seeping into the animals brain, coursing through its flesh. These beasts, no matter their origins, are most commonly referred to as Wyrdicorns, for their impressive horns jutting from their foreheads, shedding a soft, eerie green glow.
Players may infuse the beasts of their warband with wyrdstone, enhancing them in strange and unpredictable ways. To do so, a warband must drive a large shard of wyrdstone into the head of a creature. Such is it's size, this shard must be the equivalent of three pieces of wyrdstone, as found in exploration.
Any non-undead creature with the 'animal' special ability may be infused with wyrdstone in this manner. Furthermore, any mount may also be infused by these shards of wyrdstone (for a detailed list, see the EiF campaign setting). An animal may be infused in this manner only once.
A creature that has been infused with a shard of wyrdstone then rolls on the following table, to determine the effect this has caused.
In the event a roll results in an ability the animal normally has, then simply re-roll the result.
d66 - Wyrdicorn Benefits
11-13 - The animal gains +1M.
14-15 - The animal gains +1WS.
16-21 - The animal gains +1S.
22-23 - The animal gains +1T.
24-25 - The animal gains +1W.
26-31 - The animal gains +1A.
32-33 - The animal gains +1I.
34-35 - The animal gains +1Ld.
36-41 - The animal gains +1AS.
42-43 - The animal gains a unmodifiable 6+ save.
44-45 - The animal gains Frenzy.
46-51 - The animal causes Fear.
52-53 - The animal gains immunity to all magic.
54-55 - The animal is immune to psychology.
56-61 - The animal gains a breath attack which can be used once per game, and works exactly like a blunderbuss in all respects.
62-63 - The animal grows in size, is treated as a cavalry base creature, and can be used as a mount.
64 - Flaming hide: at the start of each close combat phase, any warrior adjacent to the animal (except for the rider, if any), takes a single S1 flamming attack.
65 - Choose any 1 of the above benefits.
66 - Choose any 2 of the above benefits.
Death: In the event the creature is put OOA and is slain, the wyrdstone shard grows dim and cold - all magic has been sucked dry from the magical rock, rendering it useless. The shard cannot be torn out of the beast without killing it (thus rendering the shard useless as already stated).
EDIT: Hmm, thinking this over a little - did I disqualify myself from this challenge? Wyrdicorn is the name of the creature, but being an altered form of the existing creatures is it a 'new' creature?
Ethlorien
Reply author: MyLittlePwny
Replied on: 22/09/2008 13:10:36
Message:
Same question as already asked, does this count for mounts? If so, what happens when they roll the mount thingy?
And riding giant rats? Doesn't get much cooler..
Reply author: Ethlorien
Replied on: 22/09/2008 13:30:51
Message:
I've got a line there, just before the table, that states: 'In the event a roll results in an ability the animal normally has, then simply re-roll the result.' So for a Cold One, say, you would not count the Fear result, or the Increase in Size result as it already does both.
Oh, I'm going to add a clause in there that these rules are also available to the creatures found in the Riding rules of the Empire in Flames rulebook. Thanks (I assumed they all had the animal specual rule).
Ethlorien
Reply author: StyrofoamKing
Replied on: 25/09/2008 12:25:23
Message:
*sigh* This will have to be a rush job, but here's my entree:
FUNJI WARBAND
Sometimes a simple forest mage, living alone in nature by himself, will seek to become one with the cycle of life all around him. In current times, these mages are sometimes graduates of the college of Jade or Amber, but the roots of this magic are far older than that, dating back to ancient druids and medicine men. But the cycle of life includes death and decay as well, and an untrained mage can so step into the wrong path, and tap into the wrong powers. They can communicate with the fungi and mushrooms, and feel the powers of rot and decay calling to them. Very soon, fungi grow and swell under their command, taking bipedal form and obeying their every command. This new power comes at a price, as the druid's gut swells and grows, while his skin bares the boils of Nurgle. Bands of these mutated plants strip forests and villages bare, dissolving every living thing in their path. They are called the Funji, and they are are not to be stopped.
SPECIAL RULES
Druid Controlled: The Funji are controlled and operated by a Druid, and without them, they quickly fall apart. Should the Druid die, they must replace him as soon as possible. Their first game without a Druid, they fight as normal. Any game after their first, they are unable to Run, until they purchase another Druid.
Maleable: Funji always fight unarmed, may not use weapons, and do not suffer penalty for being weaponless. They also have no Maximum stats, but shift and grow as they advancement dice are made (The max of all stats is 10.)
Hired Sword: The Funji are unwelcome company. They may not hire any Hired Sword that would not work for a Carnival of Chaos warband.
The Warband starts with 500gc. The maximum warband size is 15.
A warband has 1 Druid. Starts with 20exp.
You may have 0-2 Bull Fungi. Starts with 10exp.
You may have 0-2 Deathcaps. Starts with 0 exp.
You may have any number of Saprolings.
You may have up to 5 Cloisters
You may have 1 Spore Shooter
SKILLS
Druid: Combat, Shooting, Academic, Speed, Special
Bulls: Combat, Strength, Special
Deathcaps: Combat, Speed, Special
HEROES
1 Druid - 60gc
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 4 4 3 3 1 3 1 8
Weapons & Equipment: May use any weapons or equipment from the Cult of the Possessed Warband equipment list. He may not use spells and wear armor at the same time.
Human: The druid is NOT a Funji, and uses the same rules as normal humans.
Wizard: Starts off with one spell from the Nurgle Rituals (CoC warband.) May learn more as usual.
0-2 Bull Funji - 70gc
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 4 3 4 2 3 3 3 7
Weapons/Equipment: None
0-2 Deathcaps- 30gc
M WS BS S T W I A LD
5 2 2 3 1 2 3 2 6
Weapons/Equipment: None
Special Rules: Poison. All hand to hand attacks from Deathcap count as treated with Black Lotus.
HENCHMEN
0+ Saprolings -15gc
M WS BS S T W I A LD
5 2 2 3 1 2 2 1 4
Weapons/Equipment: None
Special Rules: Half-wit. Saprolings can experience at half rate.
0-5 Cloisters -45gc
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 3 3 2 3 2 2 2 7
Weapons/Equipment: None
Special Rules:
Shell- Cloisters have a natural protection, and thus have a 5+ Armor Save, as if they are wearing Heavy Armor.
0-1 Spore Shooter 85gc
M WS BS S T W I A LD
3 2 3 2 2 2 2 1 6
Weapons/Equipment: None
Special Rules:
Spore Shoot- Every other turn, you may have the Spore Shooter attempt to fire at any enemy model within 30" (follows all the rules for shooting, including hiding, cover, over half range, etc.) If the enemy model is hit, he suffers a S3 hit. If he is hit, place a 3" Diameter template over the hit model; all non-Funji models with more than half their base under the template are also hit by a S3 hit. The Spore Shooter may attempt to shoot at models in combat, if the enemy model is fighting a Funji. Randomize the shot as normal; if you hit the friendly Funji model, he is not hurt, but the shot has no effect or template this turn. The Spore shot affects models who are immune to poison, but not to Nurgle demons or warriors with the Mark of Nurgle.
SPECIAL SKILLS -
Mutate Form- The Funji may purchase one mutation from the Possessed Warband list. Funji only.
Decayed Form- The Hero may purchase any one mutation from the Carnival of Chaos warband. Only the Druid may take the 'Mark of Nurgle' mutation.
Spit Acid- The hero may shoot an 8" missile each turn, which does not suffer penalty for firing over half range. If hit, the target suffers a S3 hit. This may not be used if the hero is in combat. Funji only. A TLGT Spore shooter may not use this skill in the same turn as shooting spores. Funji only.
Plant Spores- Any time this hero kills any enemy model, you may gain a free Saproling, that forms his own henchmen group, with no starting experience. Funji only.
Reply author: zephyr40k
Replied on: 26/09/2008 15:49:40
Message:
Here's my idea:
Giant Centipede
The ruins of Mordheim are filled with scavengers, both sentient and otherwise. Occasionally, some of the carrion-crawlers will mistakenly consume a few grains of Wyrdstone as they rummage through the rubble. This often kills the creature instantly, but sometimes it mutates, growing to the size of a large dog.
M..WS..BS..S...T...W...A...I...Ld...Sv
4....4....-....3...3...2....2...4...6....6+
Weapons: The Giant centipede is armed with its jaws (base strength). Also, it has a mild poison; treat as Black Lotus.
Climber: Giant Centipedes can easily cling to any surface. They can move up walls at their full movement rate, and automatically pass any Initiative test they need to make involving climbing. They cannot jump, however.
As a wild creature, referees can introduce these into a scenario if they see fit:
“A nest of giant centipedes is disturbed by mercenaries searching the ruins. They attack to defend their home."
Designate one ruined building as the Centipede’s nest. The first time a model comes within 6†of any part of the structure, the centipedes awaken. D3 centipedes burrow up from underground. To place them, start from the model’s location and roll a scatter die and 2d6. If the scatter die comes up with “hit,†place the centipede in base contact with the model. It counts as charging this turn. Otherwise, place the model where indicated by the arrow and the 2d6 (in inches).
Each turn, the centipedes will move directly towards the closest non-centipede model, charging if in range. Every turn models are within 6†of the centipede’s building, D3-1 (minimum zero) new centipedes will emerge.
As a “tame†creature:
Skaven, possessed, chaos, and undead warbands can attempt to purchase “trained†giant centipedes on the market. These are handled similarly to war dogs (count as equipment but are treated as a WB member, et cetera).
“Tame†Giant Centipede: Rare 9. Cost: 20 + 2d6 GC
"Tame" giant centipedes are set up at the beginning of the game in btb contact with the owning hero model. They move with the hero until they are released. When released, they burrow into the ground. Remove them from the table. They must remain underground for one full turn. After that time, the player can have them surface and attempt to attack an enemy WB member. Choose one enemy WB member and conduct an attack with the centipede in the manner described above.
Note that after the centipede surfaces, it is treated as a wild creature, as above. Meaning, it could potentially attack members of the owning warband. Also, it is a one-use item; that is, after the scenario, the centipede is lost, whether it was used or not.
Reply author: StyrofoamKing
Replied on: 26/09/2008 18:09:39
Message:
OOoooh. Personally, I think a Centipede would be a great addition to the 'Border Town Burning' campaign. Japan & China love using the Centipede in myths and legends.
Also, I'd add a rule that evil warbands that take one out of action, roll 1D6: on a 6, they have successfully captured the centipede.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Suck my powder monkey!"
-Recent swear by Sartosa Campaign players
Reply author: Johan Willhelm
Replied on: 27/09/2008 04:56:51
Message:
It's a cracking challenge but my mind is boggled! Hmmm inspired by a series of well known films:
Johan Willhem's Official Entry: The Brust Kumpel
The foetid air of Mordheim conjures creatures the likes of which should not tread the mortal plane. Hideous fusions of that which is most depraved.
In scenarios where you have to search for wyrdstone or treasure chest you may use the optional The Brust Kumpel rules. When you roll a one for a search immediately take an initative test. If this is failed The Brust Kumpel has launched itself from its concealed place and wrapped around the face of the warrior.
At the beinning of the next turn take a toughness test if this is passed no further action is needed, if failed your warrior has been implanted with The Brust Kumpel. The warrior is immediately taken out of action and The Brust Kumpel has emerged! It immediately skitters into the darkness.
Whichever side routs do not go to post game sequence immediately. You must now play The Brust Kumpel Scenario (I kinda like the name I've given it) The opposing player controls The Brust Kumpel
The Brust Kumpel
M 6, WS , BS 0, S 5, T 4, W 3, I 5, A 3, Ld 10
Immune to psychology
Acid Blood
Set up The Brust Kumpel where the fallen warrior fell.
The defending player needs to get off the board as quick as possible. There is no volountary routing.
If you get 50% of your remaining warband off you gain +1 exp for all models with an additional +1 exp for the leader.
Killing The Brust Kumpel grants +3 exp
You may also sell to exhibit The Brust Kumpel corpse. That gives you 3 shards of wyrdstone
Reply author: Master
Replied on: 27/09/2008 15:36:58
Message:
Ok, so to the award ceremony:
This time, the contest was decided on 4 categories, given scores of 1-5. The categories were: "Fun-factor" "Originality" "Convertability" & "Balance".
The scores were added up and averaged, balance counting double.
The fight was hard, and I had to make two tie-breakers, all entries were great!
And now, the third place finisher was:
Styrofoams Funji: I like mushrooms, and this one is a great warband idea, it is too far off to make it into athel loren (I think), but it is a great idea to make them low toughness and give them no max stats, great entry.
Second Place:
Johan Wilhelms Brust Kumpel: Great entry, I really like aliens, and this one catches the feel quite well, it scored great on the balance because it made the winning warband need to fight the creature to get the wyrdstones so they would not get too much ahead of the other warbands. It did however bug me that it had only M6 as I'd given it M8, and it had no ws, it was made in haste, but it was still a great idea.
And the winner is Ethloriens Wyrdicon:
Wonderful idea! Personally I find it a little expensive to use three wyrdstones, but it is a great way to augment a bear or something similar, and make your own creature! Great Great entry!
