![Greyhawk Monstrous Compendium Evaluation [D to G] – Horrorgameanalysis](https://i0.wp.com/horrorgameanalysis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/greyhawkcompendium_d-g.png?w=1200&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Greyhawk Monstrous Compendium Evaluation [D to G] – Horrorgameanalysis")
There’s loads of good, basic information on dragons to begin us off, however you’ll be able to learn that for your self right here. Let’s bounce straight into the precise monsters as they’re offered.
Dragon, Cloud
★★☆☆☆
The Cloud Dragon is a little bit of an attention-grabbing one. It has a fifty-fifty likelihood of both desirous to struggle or simply turning right into a cloud and operating away. I like the mustache it appears to have, which provides to their snooty, condescending vibe. Apparently “[t]hey haven’t any respect in any respect for creatures that can’t fly with out help from spells or units”, so I suppose they only collectively banded collectively and agreed that anybody with out wings type of sucks.
Cloud Dragons have the “cloud” theming and nothing else actually going for them. They will flip into mist which provides them -3 AC (a superb factor on this model of D&D) and a magical resistance bonus. They’re additionally 75% indistinguishable from a daily cloud. Very like the Quickling from the final publish being 90% invisible whereas shifting, I’m uncertain how one distinguishes 25% of a cloud as a dragon. Is it similar to an opacity slider?
I’m type of torn relating to the sheer number of dragons that Dungeons and Dragons has determined to make over time. I get it, it’s within the title – however at a sure level, the repetition of monster varieties type of blurs collectively. I get that they had been simply making blueprints for dragons, and attempting to combine issues up for the gamers so dragons really feel recent and new – however loads of the dragons simply find yourself not having a distinguishable character in contrast to one another. You will notice this very shortly, and it’s why I rated the Cloud Dragon a mere two stars. It simply doesn’t do something significantly effectively that might make me need to use it forward of different dragons. Possibly I simply have to set extra adventures within the clouds?
Dragon, Greyhawk
★★★★☆
A particular Greyhawk dragon, the Greyhawk Dragon is an honest-to-goodness city dragon, that loves the corporate of humanoids. It hangs round crowded cities and acts as a thinker, a debater, a scholar, a mage, or a tutorial. That is supremely superior at first, however then you definitely notice they’re becoming humanoids to do that. That is much more formulaic and fewer superior. I used to be imagining attending courses with a dragon professor that smashes their head in via the window for each class.
Greyhawk Dragons can’t be poisoned and are resistant to loads of magic spells. Greyhawk Dragons have a breath assault that manifests as a dice of toxic fuel, which might be one of many weirdest dragon breaths I’ve ever examine, wherever. For some motive coating your self in lard or grease deflects Greyhawk Dragon fuel breath? Is {that a} factor? Does grease repel fuel? I don’t know.
The truth that Greyhawk Dragons favor human type to their very own is each type of attention-grabbing and likewise deflates the aim of them being a dragon for me. I do like the concept of 1 or two NPCs in a metropolis being benign, secret dragons – however I’m nonetheless hooked up to the concept of a college metropolis that simply has dragon students attending it. Additionally they love snitching on individuals in keeping with the e book, whereas if they’re in nature “they like a swifter type of justice”. Hmm.
I believe for the sheer weirdness of the concept, this must be a 4 out of 5 creature. However they may have been much more daring.
Dragon, Mist
★★★☆☆
A mist dragon! Wow! It’s a superb factor there isn’t one other water vapour dragon, in any other case who is aware of what I’d do?!?!
Mist Dragons are kinda similar to Cloud Dragons however decrease to the bottom. …No, that’s not honest. Mist Dragons are clearly impressed by jap dragons, and have a extra “philosophical” angle to life fairly than the Cloud Dragon, which is usually a jerk. There’s a 15% likelihood Mist Dragons can speak to anybody they like as a result of typically they’re simply born with data of each language. Which is actually a expertise.
Mist Dragons are inclined to keep away from fight, preferring to flip into Mist and simply run away and even watch what’s happening from a secure distance. In the event that they do assault, Mist Dragons can breathe scalding vapour (so steam?) which may deal some nasty harm. My favorite element is that Mist Dragon breathe can linger on the battlefield, reworking right into a harmful fog that obscures the imaginative and prescient of everybody trapped inside it. This feels prefer it might create an precise dynamic fight state of affairs, the place characters are continuously attempting to flee the fog the dragon is creating, shifting across the battlefield and making it an encounter value remembering. They love dwelling close to waterfalls, since they primarily subsist by a mixture of sunbathing and common waterbathing, being sustained by the misty spray that happens when water splashes off of a floor. It is a cool visible – wandering via an historic forest to see a dragon languidly mendacity beside a stunning brook, basking within the solar and the water.
I positively assume they’re higher than the Cloud Dragon, and I’d in all probability be inclined to make use of a Mist Dragon in some unspecified time in the future, even when simply as a passing sight that gamers can see within the deep forests. However they’re nonetheless simply extra dragons in a setting filled with them.
Dragon, Shadow
★★★☆☆
The concept is accompanied by a fairly cool illustration, the Shadow Dragon breathes literal darkness onto its foes. It’s a primordial chaotic evil being, which I’m a sucker for. They’re “sly and devious” and never vulnerable to taking dangers, and are additionally extremely smart – all nice qualities for a marketing campaign villain, creatures who I’m at all times looking out for. And, I imply: “a shadow dragon’s scales and physique are translucent, in order that when seen from a distance it seems to be a mass of shadows” – how cool is that??
The principle motive I don’t like these creatures as a lot as I ought to is how the principles write their breath. Their breath truly takes away both ranges or complete hit cube, with the time it happens relying on how outdated the Shadow Dragon is. That is, suffice it to say, fairly tough. I can think about a meat-grinder dungeon (or simply an evil Dungeon Grasp) utilizing one among these to decimate a complete get together. Not going to do you a lot good if in case you have half the hitpoints and entry to none of your spells when it comes time to struggle a vastly tough dragon.
Except for this, I actually just like the Shadow Dragon stylistically and I believe it gives one thing a bit completely different than the opposite dragons on this compendium. I additionally just like the element that “[s]hadow dragons hate each vibrant gentle and whole darkness, preferring variegated lighting with patches of diffuse gentle and deep, inky shadows” – given they’re shadow dragons, this is smart. However, I’m a sucker for historic evil creatures, so possibly I’m simply biased.
Dragonfly, Large
★☆☆☆☆
That is only a large bug (greater than a human), with none of the flavour that made even the Loss of life Beetle stand out to me. It simply… flies round actually quick and is a giant model of a small insect. I can’t say I’d ever use this, because it’s strikingly generic and never what I like to incorporate in my fantasy tales. Think about animal, however large! The primary one-star entry on this e book to this point.
Dragonnel
★★★★☆
Weirdly I actually like this creature. The dragonnel is a mixture of dragon and pterodactyl, however executed in such a manner that it feels fairly cool. Dragonnels aren’t truly dragons or a dragon subspecies, which is a big aid given all of the dragons we’ve had. 4% of dragonnels can converse “evil dragon” which is the type of meaningless enjoyable stat that I want extra trendy tabletop books would come with. Why 4%? How did they arrive to that conclusion? Was rigorous scientific testing executed? What if 96% of dragonnels are simply shy? These are the questions {that a} good monster guide entry raises.
Additionally like that dragonnels are utilized by the evil people of the Pomarj, which is a area dominated by Orcs. Sort of cool to check people because the authentic underdogs in a area dominated by an Orcish superpower. Even cooler to think about them flying round dragon-pterodactyl issues. It’s the type of details about the setting that’s simply firing up my creativity. I can think about gamers combating as human freedom fighters towards an oppressive Orc regime, utilizing dragonnel mounts to ferry themselves to insurgent outposts right here and there. That’s what a superb monster does – its design combines with storytelling alternatives to generate one thing superior in your individual head.
Elf, Grugach
★★☆☆☆
When a monster entry begins with how related they’re to different creatures – on this occasion the “sylvan or wooden elves” – it doesn’t fill me with hope. I do benefit from the terrible illustration of the elves brawling, and the indicator that the Grugach elf is the fella on the left. Preliminary impressions aren’t robust. The principle issues that the compendium would have us use to distinguish them from different elves are a) they’re the strongest elves round, and b) they’re extremely reclusive. They hand around in the depths of forests, and lay traps for individuals who come too near their beloved nature – even pleasant folks like druids. After they’re trapped, they rob the pleasant ones and dump them, unconscious, many kilometers away. If the individual the elves captured is evil, they kill them.
For those who’re getting somewhat deja vu, you’re not the one one. The Grugach Elves really feel at first related in idea to the Beastman, simply with completely different flavouring – they’re elves, they usually dwell within the woods as an alternative of within the jungle. They like platinum, apparently. Their extremism technically makes them extra attention-grabbing – not like the Beastman, they’re Chaotic Impartial fairly than Impartial. It’s nonetheless a small distinction, although. You may make them into extremist elves, type of like a number of the elves seen in The Witcher books, I suppose.
I dunno, I suppose I’d use them, however their area of interest is technically already crammed. I’d have simply made a band of extra excessive sylvan or wooden elves fairly than concoct an entire new model of an elf. However that’s simply me.
Elf, Valley
★★★☆☆
Then we come to the valley elf. The valley elf isn’t actually a definite type of elf in a single sense. Each valley elf comes from one valley, known as the “Valley of the Mage”. They had been created as slaves or servants fairly than being a naturally occurring species. Valley Elves do appear like common elves – precisely the type of factor you’d anticipate. Tall, eerily lovely, like a superb bow and arrow. Their hair modifications color throughout the seasons, which is one other element that I believe is simply type of cool, however can be nearly solely ineffective. It may very well be type of cool to have a marketing campaign the place a valley elf character is attempting to go undetected, however that sells them out, they usually must confront their accuser or their attacker or one thing.
Valley Elves are fast to provoke fight and mainly simply keep as a military for the mysterious Mage that made them. They belong to the Mage and serve him, in addition to the First Protector, a Drow commander, who they are going to at all times attempt to take newcomers to the valley to. I suppose the First Protector decides whether or not or not the prisoners get to dwell. This hostile atmosphere would make for a superb set of adventures, the place gamers must infiltrate this manufactured civilization and steal one thing from the Valley of the Mage. Different elves hate Valley Elves as a result of they’ve bought out to the Mage, however the e book isn’t clear on why or how this association occurred. I’m fairly positive they had been made by the Mage, however the e book doesn’t do an ideal job of explaining it. Nonetheless, they really feel a bit extra attention-grabbing to me than the Grugach Elf, however nonetheless aren’t so attention-grabbing I’d drop every part and put them in a marketing campaign proper now.
Large-kin, Voadkyn
★★★☆☆
The Voadkyn are a number of the smallest giants round. They’re nonetheless fairly large: “[s]tanding 9½ toes tall, wooden giants weigh round 700 kilos”, however have the proportions of people. They’re fairly skinny, and are “utterly devoid of facial and physique hair, together with eyebrows”. So that they’re these huge, hairless humanoids that transfer via the forests of Greyhawk, prowling round. They will additionally transfer silently in forests, making it their pure territory. Voadkyn don’t wish to struggle both (there’s been a couple of of these to this point on this monster guide, creatures that don’t favor which is sweet). Apparently additionally they “haven’t any lairs, selecting to dwell underneath the celebrities or with the wooden elves [who they are friends with] for a time. Wooden giants encountered within the forest are principally male (90%). Feminine wooden giants normally stay at a makeshift camp or with the wooden elves at their lair”. I do like these societal particulars – they might help characterize a species to be used in campaigns in ways in which spark the creativeness, and even simply fill in blanks a participant would possibly provide you with. Possibly there are voadkyn who detest the ladies staying at residence? Possibly there’s a societal battle in there to discover?
I do actually like this paragraph about their behaviour: “People who’ve had contact with wooden giants describe them as pleasant sufficient, however flighty and frivolous, and by no means in an ideal hurry to do something apart from eat and drink massive quantities of wine. Treants (with whom they sometimes converse) take into account them irrational, silly, and sometimes obnoxious, however pleasant firm”. It appears like they’d make enjoyable characters. I additionally love this element that’s included for seemingly no motive: “[t]he jaw of the voadkyn is massive due to the over- sized grinding enamel in it”. What a marvelously ineffective element – I suppose they’re all vegetarians, which truly does make loads of sense.
I don’t know, I type of like them. I don’t usually use giants in my campaigns as a result of my settings are inclined to have them as extinct civilizations or simply distant from the goings-on of the remainder of the world, but when I did have a setting like this, I’d in all probability use them.
No 5 star monsters this time round, however possibly I’ll discover some subsequent time? Let me know in case you agreed – or disagreed – with something I wrote (or any of my extremely goal scores)! See you subsequent time, for some extra giants and deliciously bizarre monsters!
