The Dancing Hut

During the boom days of 3e, I bought a lot of third party d20 products, many of which saw heavy use in my games. I haven’t bought nearly as many third party books for 5e, but a few months ago I did pick up the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga from the Dungeon Master’s Guild. We started this adventure back at the end of March and just wrapped up, having played for about a dozen weekly Roll20 sessions. While not a shot-for-shot recreation of Roger Moore’s classic AD&D treatment from Dragon magazine, the new Dancing Hut certainly captures the wild and wacky feel of the original.

This was a fun adventure and I was reminded again and again how satisfying a weekly game can be: the players quickly got into a groove and the sessions ran more smoothly with each subsequent session. Dave Coulson did a nice job of reworking the material from Roger Moore’s original into a new and entertaining 5e adventure.

In many ways the Dancing Hut is the ultimate funhouse dungeon, an interdimensional space that does not obey normal laws of geometry or logic. And Baba Yaga herself is an exceedingly powerful figure, nearly on par with a deity, and has spent millenia wandering throughout the multiverse and across several alternate realities. As such, her Hut is filled with all sorts of wonders and marvelous creatures.

My players quickly understood the terrible threat posed by Baba Yaga, and as such they took great care venturing through her Hut. They used their very best manners when interacting with the Hut’s often bizarre inhabitants, an approach that served them well as they navigated through the outer rooms.

Much of the fun in playing through this adventure is watching the players try to figure out the rules connecting different rooms. The non-linear layout can be disorienting and strange, but because the relationships between rooms are consistent, the experience isn’t quite as frustrating as might be expected.

Each of the outer rooms has some sort of interesting inhabitant and set piece. Although a few of the creatures are actively hostile to explorers, most are indifferent and some are even helpful—but all are fairly memorable. Coulson does a nice job of sketching out these personalities and providing brief roleplaying notes.

Coulson also suggests a handful of adventure hooks that can be used to provide motivation and direction to the PCs. While I would highly recommend that DMs use at least one of these hooks, I would give the players plenty of opportunity to explore the Hut before starting to tug at those hooks.

The Palace in the Forest, a site I created for the adventure. The image was generated using Dall-E.

I have only a few quibbles about the adventure. There are several stray references to monsters and items not in the core rules, but no indication which book they appear in. (This may be a restriction of publishing through the Dungeon Master’s Guild.) 

I would have liked to have had a little bit more direction as to what each inhabitant knows about other rooms in the Hut. And while Coulson provides great guidance for the initial encounter, there’s little direction for what might happen on repeat visits to the same room—something that can happen a lot given the non-linear structure of the Hut. A simple random table might help mix things up and create a sense of dynamism. For example, on 1d6: 1 - Inhabitant is gone, 2-3 - Inhabitat is still engaged in initial activity, 4 - Inhabitant is irritated by the return of the PCs, 5 - Inhabitant welcomes the returning PCs, 6 - Inhabitant is engaged in a discussion with 1d4 Chickenfoot Ogres.

But all-in-all, this is a solid and enjoyable adventure, well written and professionally laid out. The quality is easily on par with the top-level third party publishers from the d20 era. One of my players evidently enjoyed the Hut so much that his character, the Bold Salamander, elected to stay behind and serve Baba Yaga in her gladiator pits (!). While I never saw this turn coming, it made total sense for the Salamander and was a fitting end to the adventure.

Gray Render

This miniature, much like the Nightwalker, was one that I thought would be an easy paint in between more challenging projects. And once again, I was wrong.

The gray render debuted in the 3e Monster Manual (2000), one of a handful of monsters created specifically to showcase new game mechanics—and in the case of the render, the revised grapple rules. A really great D&D monster needs not just a neat mechanic or ability, it also needs a nice visual as well as a solid hook into the game setting. Alas, while the gray render helped round out the mid-range challenge ratings of 3e, it was otherwise just a blander and slighter weaker umber hulk.

The gray render was brought back to 5e in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018). It’s quite a bit tougher (Challenge 12) and has some new distinctive quirks, but what really makes the beast pop is its new look. Like the 5e nightwalker, the 5e gray render seems to be inspired by a Guillermo del Toro movie—namely, the first Hellboy (2004), and Wayne Barlowe’s design of the monster Sammael.

WizKids added a new gray render miniature in Wave 14 of their licensed Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures, and if anything the figure is even better than the reference art. The sculpt is great, with finely textured hide much like an elephant or rhino. It ended up being tough to paint, and as with the nightwalker part of the problem seemed to be going so dark over a white primer. I also struggled to get just the right tone of gray, as I swung back and forth between inks and washes and being much too light or much too dark before finally landing at about the right level. In retrospect I wish I had tried putting some Army Painter Dark Tone ink right on the primer, with some drybrushing highlights on top of that.

My own struggles aside, this is a great figure that was well worth fighting with. But I’m not sure my players will agree—Mwah ha ha ha!

Darkness Visible: Nightwalker

In Dungeons and Dragons, a nightwalker is one of three forms of nightshade, evil extraplanar creatures inimical to all life. These monsters first appeared in Frank Mentzer’s Master Rules set (1985) for the Basic D&D system. As the Master set focused on characters from level 26 to 36, nightshades were intended to be suitably epic-level threats—and they mostly deliver on that premise. 

The nightwalker was a 20-foot tall, pitch-black humanoid with 21–26 HD and lots of special abilities, including its signature move: destroying a character’s magic items. I’ve known players who would rather have a character killed than lose their magical goodies. I think the nightshades were probably the most, and possibly only, memorable new monster to come out of the Master set.

The nightshades were converted to 2e AD&D in the Mystara Monster Compendium Appendix (1994) with their abilities mostly intact. From there these monsters were brought into 3e with the Monster Manual (2000) and placed into the System Reference Document. Paizo also included these monsters in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 2 (2010).

Nightshades were not included in the 5e core books, but the nightwalker did make Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes (2018) as a Challenge 20 undead. The 5e nightwalker lacks the signature ability to destroy magic items (boo) but does have several suitably nasty abilities, including the dread Aura of Annihilation: “Any creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the nightwalker must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or take 14 (4d6) necrotic damage and grant the nightwalker advantage on attack rolls against it until the start of the creature’s next turn. Undead are immune to this aura.”

One of the best things about the 5e nightwalker is the new visual look for an old monster. The 5e artwork clearly taps into the Pale Man from Guillermo del Toro’s haunting Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) but also recalls the xenomorph from the Alien movies. It’s really a perfect fit for a silent, extraplanar horror.

WizKids has a great miniature of this monster, part of their licensed Nolzur’s Marvelous Miniatures line. I snatched this up thinking it would be an easy paint that I could bang out in between other projects.

I was wrong. First, the miniature is partly translucent to capture the smoky wisps of negative energy floating off the monster—so with my skill level I really couldn’t use my airbrush on this model. Second, the Nolzur miniatures all come primed with a white primer. This is normally a feature, but it turns out painting a base coat of black on top of white primer is a nightmare—every time I thought I was done I would find another tiny speck of white peaking through. Eventually, though, I was able to start adding highlights of dark blue and gray to bring out the features on this great sculpt.

A Michael Mordor video was very helpful for approaching this model, and he had a particularly helpful technique for painting the translucent parts. Although this mini turned out to be much more work than I had anticipated, I was happy with the final results and hope to throw this beast at some unsuspecting players in the not-too-distant future.

One quibble I have always had about the nightshade: how are they undead? Undead are normally creatures that were once living but died and were subsequently transformed into some foul mockery of life. So what was the living antecedent for a nightwalker? The Mystera Compendium has maybe the best idea I’ve yet read: “Some sages suggest that when numerous undead beings are destroyed, the energies released on the Negative Energy Plane coalesce to form a nightshade.” In a sense, this makes nightshades “undead undead,” which is a good enough explanation for me.

RIP, Russ Nicholson

A few weeks ago we learned the sad news that Russ Nicholson had passed. Russ was a talented illustrator whose black and white work graced early issues of White Dwarf, the 1st edition Fiend Folio, and the Warlock of Firetop Mountain Fighting Fantasy gamebook, all of which were incredibly influential on me and many fellow gamers. In recent years Russ had maintained a blog, The Gallery: Art of Russ Nicholson where he posted some of his newer and older work.

Both Grognardia and Zenopus Archives posted excellent tributes to Russ and his work. He played a significant role in the evolution of Dungeons and Dragons: his illustrations of many iconic monsters in the Fiend Folio, such as the Grell, Githyanki, or Sons of Kyuss helped popularize those creatures and continue to influence their depictions in the game today. 

Personally, the Fiend Folio was my very first AD&D hardcover, even before the Monster Manual, and I spent untold hours poring over that book and drinking in his work. Russ had an uncanny ability to create evocative, detailed images that could make even the dumbest of monsters—and let’s face it, my beloved Fiend Folio has plenty of dumb monsters—seem cool.

The early issues of White Dwarf contain many great Russ illustrations that are probably unfamiliar to most American gamers, including several Fiend Factory installments that feature monsters cut from the Fiend Folio. (For my money, a few of these “director’s cut” monsters are actually stronger designs than several that actually got into the book.)

The striking cyclops illustration above appeared in White Dwarf 21 (Oct/Nov 1980) as part of the article "Fiend Factory: One Eye Canyon - Mini-Wilderness Scenario, 5th-7th Level," written by Albie Fiore—who contributed several monsters to the Fiend Folio, such as the berbalang and firenewt.

The look of this cyclops actually has a surprisingly long and interesting pedigree: some sleuths over on Dragonsoot traced this back to a couple of illustrations of “one-eyed orcs” in the UK version of Holmes Basic (1977) done by “Fangorn,” aka Chris Baker, who was also a veteran of the Fiend Folio. The illustrations then inspired a 1979 Citadel cyclops miniature from their Fiend Factory line.

It seems odd that D&D has never really had a cyclops design that has stuck, even though it is such a classic from Greek myth. It’s not for lack of trying: they are mentioned in the OD&D Monsters and Treasures book (1974) as "Super-strength Giants with poor depth perception” (21) and statted out in the OD&D Gods, Demi-gods, and Heros (1976) as having “all the powers of a Storm Giant, but they are much more intelligent” (17). (In fact, a cyclops even graces the frontispiece of GDH.)

In 1980 the Cook/Marsh Expert set and the AD&D Deities and Demigods both take very different swings: while the Expert set goes with a 13 HD giant, the DDG breaks them into lesser and greater cyclopes. Both 2e and 3e follow the DDG model in Legends and Lore (1986) and Deities and Demigods (1990). I think the problem with all of these is that they hew too closely to Greek mythology, making these monsters much too powerful and tying them too tightly to a specific milieu.

AD&D tried to address these problems by offering the “cyclopskin” in the Monster Manual II (1983), which also also appears in the 2e Monstrous Compendium Volume II. Neither version seems to have caught on, perhaps because of the lack of a strong hook: this 5 HD, 7-½ foot tall monster is basically just a tough, one-eyed brigand.

More recent iterations haven’t been done much more to distinguish themselves beyond being big and having one eye. The Pathfinder cyclops is a CR 5, 10 HD giant with an odd “Flash of Insight” special ability. The 5e cyclops is just a Huge, CR 6, 12 HD giant.

I keep coming back to the Fangorn/Russ/Fiore version as maybe offering the most distinctive take yet on the cyclops for D&D. I tried a few different conversions of their version, but none really worked: I kept ending up with just a really big, one-eyed giant. Then I realized I was making the same old mistake of trying to stick too closely to Greek myth.

Take another look at that Russ illustration: that doesn’t look like a half-divine son of Poseiden so much as a mutant from a sci-fi B movie. And with that in mind, it seemed to make more sense to recast the cyclops as an aberration than any sort of giant. This gives the cyclops more of its own niche within D&D, and is actually consistent with the D&D tradition of mining classical mythology for names and basic concepts but then veering into more generic science fantasy for specific implementation. For example, consider the D&D treatment of the hydra, gorgon, medusa, pegasus, or minotaur.

With that in mind, here’s my own take on a cyclops for 0e, 3.5e, and 5e, which leans heavily into the B movie inspiration. I would love to be able to get my mitts on some miniatures of these things. In fact, wouldn’t it be great for Otherworld Miniatures to do a whole set of Russ Nicholson-inspired figures?

The following text is Open Game Content.

Cyclops

This hulking biped looms nearly eight feet tall, its powerful arms ending in clawed hands. Its face is dominated by a single, clear sea-green eye in the center of its forehead, a wide, gaping maw, and two upswept, pointed ears. Its lumpy, weathered hide is patched with straggly clumps of greenish-black hair.

Insatiable and Unpredictable. Cyclopes are impulsive and emotional, prone to almost childlike outbursts of fury. They have a dark hunger for both humanoid flesh and strong drink.

Raiders and Plunderers. Cyclopes form small bands and haunt wild lands and caverns, occasionally raiding humanoid settlements for food, treasure, and captives. Their ferocity and strength allow them to dominate bands of weaker evil humanoids.

Unnatural Horrors. A cyclops cannot reproduce naturally with another cyclops, and must instead rely upon humanoids, giants, or others to produce new cyclopes. Cyclopes can interbreed with an appalling number of creatures; any resulting offspring not born as cyclopes are eaten.

0e

Cyclops CL 7 (600 XP)

The cyclops can immobilize an opponent within 60 feet with a glance. The target must make a saving throw or become completely immobilized for 1d6 rounds. The effect ends if the target takes damage or is shaken roughly by an ally.

HD 6; AC 4 [15]; Atk 2 claws (1d4), bite (1d8); Move 12; Save 11; AL C; Special hypnotic glance.

3.5e

Cyclops CR 3

Usually CE Medium aberration

Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +3, Spot +3

Languages Common

Defense

AC 15, touch 10, flat-footed 15
(+5 natural)

hp 33 (6d8+6 HD)

Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +6

Offense

Spd 30 ft.

Melee 2 claws +6 (1d4+2), 1 bite +4 (1d8+1)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Special Attacks hypnotic glance

Statistics

Str 15, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 13

Base Atk +4; Grp +6

Feats Alertness, Iron Will, Multiattack

Skills Climb +5, Intimidate +3, Listen +3, Spot +3

Ecology

Environment any

Organization solitary, gang (2-9), or tribe (10-19 plus one 11 HD leader plus 20% noncombatants)

Treasure standard

Advancement 6–10 HD (Medium); 11–14 HD (Large); 15–18 HD (Huge)

Special Abilities

Hypnotic Glance (Su) As a standard action, a cyclops can fascinate a creature within 30 feet with a look. The target creature must succeed on a DC 14 Will save or be fascinated for 1d6 rounds. This is a mind-affecting effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

5e

Cyclops

Medium aberration, chaotic evil
Armor Class 14 (natural)
Hit Points 58 (9d8 + 18)
Speed 30 ft.
Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
17 (+3)	11 (+0)	15 (+2)	8 (-1)	9 (-1)	13 (+1)
Saving Throws Wisdom +1
Skills Perception +1
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Common
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Actions
Multiattack. The cyclops makes 3 attacks: two with its claws, one with its bite.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.
Hypnotic Glance. The cyclops targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or become charmed for 1d6 rounds. While charmed, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows an affected creature a new saving throw. The effect ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else uses an action to shake the creature out of its stupor.

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15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
    
    • Open Game License v 1.0a, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
    • System Reference Document, Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
    • System Reference Document 5.1, Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
    • RIP, Russ Nicholson, Copyright 2023, R. Dorman.

In addition to my backlog of Reaper Bones miniatures, I also have a sizable collection of figures from the Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos for Pathfinder Kickstarter. One of the more striking miniatures from that lot is the hunting horror, a Huge flying aberration.

I primed this figure with the gray Army Painter rattlecan primer, then broke out the airbrush to do a basecoat of Reaper Blood Red, following the illustration in the hardcover book. I used my Vallejo Umber Wash and then did some simple dry brushing for the highlights. It was a fairly simple paint, but the figure looks pretty decent. Although it already has a round 50mm base, I may still mount it on a 75mm Huge base more appropriate for its size.

The Pathfinder stats for this beast are pretty complicated, with numerous special abilities. I didn't try to simplify those too much for the 3.5e conversion presented below. For the 5e conversion, I dropped several ancillary abilities in keeping with Fifth Edition's design ethos, but this is still a pretty tough and complex monster design.

My only real complaint about this monster is that, at Challenge Rating 16, this is an upper echelon monster and it's hard to imagine encountering more than 2 or 3 at once—but I have a lot of these figures as part of the Kickstarter.

The following text is Open Game Content.

Hunting Horror

Flowing down directly from the sky, like black lightning, this wormlike creature appears before you, reeking of ancient rot. From between its armored plates seeps a grotesque mucus falling constantly like an unholy rain. Its many eyes stare at you with vile hatred.

Hunting horrors are very large, and their serpentine bodies act like tentacles to grip victims while their mouths grow impossibly wide to swallow foes whole. An individual hunting horror usually has a wingspan of 20+ feet, and an even longer body length. It weighs from 3000–6000 pounds, and could never fly if it was restricted to normal laws of physics.

Slimy Horror. Their flesh secretes a mucus so rapidly that it constantly drips off as if the hunting horror were falling apart. After sloughing off, the thick piles of mucus begin to harden, becoming like mud. It is possible to slowly plod through it, but not swim in it like water. The mucus begins to pile up during a fight, eventually covering the horror’s prey and holding them in place so they cannot escape when the horror swallows them whole.

Playing with their Food. Hunting horrors speak to their prey mentally. They send fantastically horrible images to the minds of those they are going to swallow.

Part of a Terrible Whole. Hunting horrors are all a branch of the same immense organism that spans great reaches of space. They are each the nerves and nerve endings of this being. This is how they can appear instantly and avoid sunlight. The creature as a whole is practically a Great Old One in terms of power.

3.5e

Hunting Horror CR 16

Always CE Huge aberration

Init +11; Senses scent, see in darkness; Listen +29, Spot +29

Languages Aklo; telepathy 300 ft.

Aura mucus (10 ft.)

Defense

AC 31, touch 15, flat-footed 24 (+7 Dex, +16 natural, –2 size)

hp 237 (19d8+152 HD); DR 10/—; fast healing 10

Fort +14, Ref +15, Will +19

Defensive Abilities amorphous; Immune cold, electricity, mind-affecting effects; SR 27

Weaknesses daylight powerlessness

Offense

Speed 40 ft., fly 80 ft. (perfect)

Melee bite +26 (6d8+14), tail slap +24 (4d6+7)

Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. (30 ft. with tail slap)

Special Attacks constrict 4d6+14, improved grab, swallow whole, telepathic assault

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th)

At will—greater teleport (self only), plane shift (self only)

Statistics

Str 38, Dex 25, Con 27, Int 19, Wis 26, Cha 24

Base Atk +14; Grp +36

Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack, Snatch

Skills Knowledge (geography) +25, Knowledge (planes) +25, Listen +29, Move Silently +28, Spot +29, Survival +29 (+31 on other planes)

SQ shared consciousness

Ecology

Environment any

Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3–5)

Treasure none

Advancement 20–38 HD (Huge), 39–57 HD (Gargantuan)

Special Abilities

Amorphous (Ex) A hunting horror is not subject to critical hits. It cannot be flanked.

Constrict (Ex) A hunting horror deals an automatic 4d6+14 damage with a successful grapple check.

Daylight Powerlessness (Ex) A hunting horror is utterly powerless in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) and flees from it.

Improved Grab (Ex) To use this ability, a hunting horror must hit an opponent of any size with a bite or tail slap attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict or swallow the opponent.

Mucus (Su) A hunting horror’s “flesh” constantly weeps thick foul mucus, seemingly melting off its serpentine frame as swiftly as it rebuilds and restores its shape. When a hunting horror lands on a surface, the mucus swiftly spreads out in a ten-foot radius around the creature and hardens into a thick mud-like consistency. This area is treated as difficult terrain by all save hunting horrors. Each round a creature other than a hunting horror begins its turn within this area, it must make a successful DC 27 Reflex save or become entangled for as long as it remains within the area. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Shared Consciousness (Ex) All hunting horrors are branches of the same immense organism that has spread throughout several dimensions across the reaches of space, and anything one hunting horror experiences is experienced by all. When multiple hunting horrors are encountered, none of them are considered flat-footed unless all of them are.

Swallow Whole (Ex) A hunting horror can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to two sizes smaller by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature takes 4d6 points of bludgeoning damage and 4d6points of acid damage per round. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 23 points of damage (AC 18). A hunting horror’s body constantly reforms and repairs itself. The hole created when a creature cuts its way out of a hunting horror instantly seals as soon as the escaping creature exits.

A Huge hunting horror can hold 2 Medium, 8 Small, 32 Tiny, or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents.

Telepathic Assault (Su) As it attacks, a hunting horror bombards its prey’s consciousness with its mind, sending grisly and horrific images into the victim’s thoughts in an attempt to undermine the potential meal’s defenses and to flavor the flesh with the tang of fear and despair.

Whenever a hunting horror attacks a creature, regardless of whether the attack successfully hits or not, that creature must make a successful DC 26 Will save or be staggered for 1 round by despair and horror at the images projected by the hunting horror. An already staggered creature that fails this saving throw is also stunned for 1 round. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

5e

Hunting Horror

Huge aberration, chaotic evil
Armor Class 18 (natural)
Hit Points 195 (17d12 + 85)
Speed 40 ft., fly 80 ft.
Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
23 (+6)	20 (+5)	21 (+5)	19 (+4)	20 (+5)	19 (+4)
Saving Throws Str +11, Con +10, Wis +10, Cha +9
Skills Perception +10
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities cold, lightning, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, poisoned
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 20
Languages Aklo, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)
Magic Resistance. The hunting horror has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Mucus. The ground in a 10-foot radius around the hunting horror is difficult terrain. Each creature that starts its turn in that area must succeed on a DC 10 Strength saving throw or have its speed reduced to 0 until the start of its next turn.
Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, the hunting horror has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
Actions
Multiattack. The hunting horror makes two attacks: one with its bite and one to constrict.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (4d6 + 6) piercing damage plus plus 20 (4d6 + 6) psychic damage.
Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one Large or smaller creature. Hit: 20 (4d6 + 6) bludgeoning damage plus 20 (4d6 + 6) slashing damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 19) if the hunting horror isn’t already constricting a creature, and the target is restrained until this grapple ends.
Swallow. The hunting horror makes one bite attack against a Medium or smaller target it is grappling. If the attack hits, the target is also swallowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, the target is blinded and restrained, it has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the hunting horror, and it takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the hunting horror’s turns. A hunting horror can have only one creature swallowed at a time. If the hunting horror takes 30 damage or more on a single turn from the swallowed creature, the hunting horror must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate the creature, which falls prone in a space within 10 feet of the hunting horror. If the hunting horror dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 15 feet of movement, exiting prone.
Teleport. The hunting horror magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.

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    • Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, © 2009, Paizo Inc.; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
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    • Skreyn’s Register: The Bonds of Magic, © 2002, Sean K Reynolds. The Book of Experimental Might, © 2008, Monte J. Cook; All rights reserved.
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    • Tome of Horrors III, © 2005, Necromancer Games, Inc; Author: Scott Greene, with Casey Christofferson, Erica Balsley, Kevin Baase, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Ian S. Johnston, Patrick Lawinger, Nathan Paul, Clark Peterson, Greg Ragland, Robert Schwalb and Bill Webb. Tome of Horrors, © 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors: Scott Greene, with Clark Peterson, Erica Balsley, Kevin Baase, Casey Christofferson, Lance Hawvermale, Travis Hawvermale, Patrick Lawinger, and Bill Webb; Based on original content from TSR.
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    • Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos, © 2017, Petersen Games; Authors: Sandy Petersen, Arthur Petersen, Ian Starcher.
    • Hunting Horror, Copyright 2023, R. Dorman.

Mashaaf, Great Old One

Although I am still very much a beginner with the airbrush, the tool has worked wonders in breaking up my miniature logjam. I had one big model left over from Reaper Miniatures Bones II: The Return Of Mr Bones! that had been haunting my painting queue since 2015: Mashaaf, the Great Old One. This is a massive, multipart figure sculpted by Kevin Williams. I had prepped it years ago for painting but failed my morale check every time I sat down to start work.

The airbrush, though, helped steel my resolve. I was also bolstered by a nice Build and Paint video by Michael Mordor. His YouTube channel has greatly helped me approach some of the larger and more complex models on my workbench. Michael has very mellow, encouraging demeanor, sort of like the Bob Ross of monster modeling. Michael makes you feel like no figure is too tough to tackle as long as you have a plan of attack. Although I am trying to learn how to use my new airbrush, I appreciate that Mordor seems to primarily use brushes on his models, so his videos would be a great resource for any beginner modeler.

I primed this model with Army Painter gray spray primer and then assembled most of the model. Overall, the old Bones material pieces fit together well enough, though I needed quite a bit of Green Stuff on the weird mouth wings. I then airbrushed Mashaaf with a basecoat of Army Painter Greenskin, followed by a wash of Army Painter Quickshade Strong Tone. This was my first time using Army Painter washes, and I have to say I really liked the overall effect. The product seemed to have better coverage and smoother effect than my Reaper or Vallejo washes, which seem to be a little more gritty. I also followed Mordor's general advice on highlighting with greens and yellow: I was skeptical about using a bright yellow highlight on such a dark base, but it worked really well.

Once the paints were dry, I varnished the model with Testor Dullcote, and used Vallejo gloss varnish on the mouth. I then mounted the figure on a Litko 152mm round model presentation base, suitable for a Colossal sized monster. Mashaaf is a very heavy model to hold in the hand, and combined with the Litko base, which is also heavy, feels like a real brick of plastic. In retrospect I might have done with a less substantial base like the Reaper 160mm Base Boss.

Overall, I was happy with how the model turned out, though I would have liked to have gotten a more dramatic glowing eye effect. (The Dullcote always seems to knock the glow down and I haven't figured out how to compensate.) This a great sculpt with a twisting, dynamic form: it really looks like Mashaaf has just burst out of the earth and is about to wreak havoc on some poor adventurers.

Mashaaf looks like some sort of Lovecraftian horror: though it's too small to be a Dhole, it might work as one of the Chthonians, a monster from Brian Lumley's 1975 novel The Burrowers Beneath. I swear there was a 3e monster that looked very much like Mashaaf, right down to the little scythe arms, but I can't put my hands on the illustration I'm thinking of. Third edition had many nasty, giant verminous monsters, including the Avolakia, Neothelid, Psurlon, and Ulgurstasta, and while Mashaaf could stand in for any of them, none of these quite fit the bill. (I think the model could probably fit on a Gargantuan, 125mm base.) There might be a closer match somewhere in the Age of Worms adventure path—I even think I got this figure specifically to use in that campaign, though it obviously never panned out.

Trolls of the Great Dungeon

Sir Will Garnfellow runs into the loathsome inhabitants of the Troll Warrens.

“Thin and rubbery, loathsome Trolls are able to regenerate…" —D&D Book II, Monster and Treasures (1974).

Trolls are one of my favorite D&D monsters, going all the way back to my first encounter with the Dungeon! board game. D&D trolls are terrifying creatures with three attacks, no fear of death, and their signature regeneration ability. Although I already have plenty of decent-looking pre-painted plastic miniatures of trolls, the trolls from the Reaper Bones 5: Escape from Pizza Dungeon Kickerstarter looked so good I couldn’t resist dropping them into my painting queue. Three of these trolls appeared in the Bones 5 core set, while a fourth was part of the Dungeon Dwellers expansion pack.

All four models appear to have been sculpted by Jason Wiebe, who did a very similar troll is part of the Trolls expansion pack for the earlier Reaper Bones 4: Mr. Bones EPIC Adventure Kickstarer. I painted all five of these models by first spraying them with Army Painter gray primer, then using the airbrush to base coat them with Army Painter Air Greenskin, which is a pretty bold shade of green. The paint goes on with a slight gloss and it made the models look like plastic toys. Fortunately, a Vallejo umber wash and some drybrushing helped reduce the plasticky look. I used brushes to get the smaller details and then hit all five models with Testor's Dullcote varnish.

Moor Troll (44121) by Jason Wiebe, from the Reaper Bones 4 Trolls expansion pack.

I now have a largish number of green trolls, but one of the nice things about 5e is that it makes it easier to throw larger numbers of monsters at PCs, which was a common peril in earlier editions. In 3e, in contrast, the maximum number of monsters of one type that could be reasonably used in an encounter was twelve or so. More monsters would be hard to run and would indicate that the power disparity between the PCs and monsters was so great that additional numbers wouldn’t result in a very challenging encounter. By flattening the power curve and simplifying monster design, 5e makes it much easier to throw large hordes of opponents against PCs, much like in earlier editions. (And coincidentally justifying the acquisition of yet more miniatures!)

For example, the “Stinking Caverns” encounter area from AD&D Module G3, Hall of the Fire Giant King (1978), consists of three interconnected caves. These areas have 13, 16, and 27 trolls each; the latter total includes a chieftain and his two lieutenants. Such a large encounter would be difficult to run in 1e, but would induce a Sanity check in 3e.

Reaper Bones 5 Loathsome Troll A (1104).

Reaper Bones 5 Loathsome Troll B (1105).

Reaper Bones 5 Loathsome Troll C (1106).

Reaper Bones 5 Dungeon Dwellers Expansion Troll (315).

All five trolls models are really nice sculpts in a variety of poses and were fun to paint. The two trolls with equipment have many fun small details. One has a witch’s cauldron for a helmet, a repurposed grate for a chestplate, and giant turtle shell as a shield. The other uses human-sized barrels for arm bracers, ropes for a belt, and a smaller turtle shell for a codpiece.

Although the appearance of many monsters have evolved greatly over the years, the troll has remained remarkably similar to the Dave Sutherland illustrations from the 1e Monster Manual (1977), which in turn recalls the vivid description in Poul Anderson’s 1961 fantasy novel Three Hearts and Three Lions:

The troll shambled closer. He was perhaps eight feet tall, perhaps more. His forward stoop, with arms dangling past thick claw-footed legs to the ground, made it hard to tell. The hairless green skin moved upon his body. His head was a gash of a mouth, a yard-long nose, and two eyes which were black pools, without pupil or white, eyes which drank the torchlight and never gave back a gleam

Although I like the thought of trolls, like sharks, having black eyes, like doll’s eyes, I found the miniatures weren’t really working without a little white dot in the eye sockets. It’s always amazing to me how much difference that one little touch can make.

Trolls in the Great Dungeon

Trolls have plagued the lands of the North for centuries. Scattered groups of trolls followed the dwarves and giants into the North from their origins in the Far Reaches. Once established they dispersed across the deep forests, bogs, and high mountains of the North, inevitably finding their way to the Great Dungeon.

The Trolls of the Warrens are a chaotic evil faction, a clan of loathsome, hateful giants, led by a great troll chieftainess. The Trolls are aligned with several different factions, including the Aintry Clan, the Plundering Giants, the Rapacious Gnolls, and the Ravenous Troglodytes. Their enemies include the Berserkers and Long Death Hobgoblins. Holdings include the Troll Warrens, their main lair on the 6th Level; the cave of their chieftainess on the 7th Level; and another outpost of the 7th Level.

The Trolls of the Warrens include a number of giant trolls, which appear to be the foul cross of a standard troll and a hill giant. These monsters appear much like green-skinned, pot-bellied hill giants with enormous black eyes.

The following text is Open Game Content.

Giant Troll

Giant Trolls, like their smaller cousins, have no fear of death: they launch themselves into combat without hesitation, flailing wildly at the closest opponent. Even when confronted with fire, they try to get around the flames and attack. Giant trolls usually fight to the death.

Giant Troll

Huge giant, chaotic evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 138 (10d12 + 50)
Speed 40 ft.
Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
20 (+5)	11 (+0)	20 (+5)	6 (-2)	9 (-1)	7 (-2)
Skills Perception +3
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Giant
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)
Keen Smell. The giant troll has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Regeneration. The giant troll regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn. If the giant troll takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the giant troll’s next turn. The giant troll dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.
Actions
Multiattack. The giant troll makes three attacks: one with its bite and two with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 5) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d6 + 5) slashing damage.
Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage.

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.

1. Definitions: (a) “Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b) “Derivative Material” means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d) “Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts, creatures, characters, stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f ) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
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5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
    
    • Open Game License v 1.0a, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
    • System Reference Document, Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
    • System Reference Document 5.1, Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
    • Trolls of the Great Dungeon, Copyright 2023, R. Dorman.