Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Random Doodle: Posessed Carp

From Twitter


This originally led me to stat out a possessed carp for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, as a gag. Generally,  if I have a clear picture, I can create a monster for DCC or an OSR game pretty quickly, I have notebooks ful of 'em.


So I thought it would be fun to redo it as an OSR creature.

"Fish Underwater" by Dragan Lukovic
from Pixabay.
Possessed Carp


Armour Class: 10
Hit Dice: 1 -4* (S)
Move: Flying; 30' (10')
     Swimming: 90 (30')
Attack: 1 slap
Damage: 1d4 -2
No. Appearing: 2-8 (0)
Save As: N
Morale: 11
Treasure Type: Nil
Intelligence: 11
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: 25

Monster Type: Undead (Rare)

These fish are found in meditative Koi ponds in the ruined manors of wealthy families fallen to evil and corruption. They are haunted by the spirit of either their former master, or someone whose flesh they fed upon. All fish in a group may act independently,  but they are all possessed by the same ghost, what one senses, they all sense, and all speak in unison in the language the possessing spirit.

Every round, instead of acting, one carp may let out a wail in a human voice. All creatures within 30' of the carp that can hear it must save vs. Spells or become afraid, suffering a -2 on attack rolls and saving throws for 1 round.

While the fish themselves still live, they are corrupted and diseased. Anyone hot by their slap must save vs. Poison or spend the round unable to attack or cast spells for one round as they wretch.

Terrain: Ruins

I have so enjoyed this particular design, and the concept the prompt created that this will be the first of several  creatures and encounters I will design and then stitch into an adventure for download.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. By Brian C. Rideout. And is done under the Open Game License 1.0a.  Except the "Fish Underwater " image which is reproduced and shared under the Pixabay license.

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