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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Oct 13, 2021 20:28:19 GMT -5
Bone Guardian
| Number
Appearing | Number
In Lair |
AC | Move
Rate |
HD | Lair
Nearby | Treasure
Type |
Alignment | | 2D4 | n/a | 7 | 7 | 4+2 | n/a | n/a | N |
BONE GUARDIANS are a stronger version of the skeletons brought forth by a magic-user or anti-cleric. Unless stated otherwise in this description, the information in the skeleton entry also applies to Bone Guardians. Any Cleric attempting to turn a Bone Guardian will do so by using the skeleton row of the table at a -2 penalty. Similar to skeletons, they can carry shields or wear armor, or both, which would improve their AC to 6 or 5, respectively. There is, however, a 25% chance a Bone Guardian will be using a magical version of these items granting a +1 bonus. Bone Guardians are usually added to a group of normal skeletons as an extra layer of protection or deterrence. Normal skeletons are attracted to a Bone Guardian much like an alpha wolf and will assist the Bone Guardian. When a Bone Guardian is reduced to less than half of their hit points, there is a 50% chance the Bone Guardian will restore 3D4 (3-12) hit points by magically attracting bones from a nearby skeleton or from a pile of loose bones.
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Post by Dartanian on Feb 26, 2022 23:07:35 GMT -5
Bone Guardian
| Number
Appearing | Number
In Lair |
AC | Move
Rate |
HD | Lair
Nearby | Treasure
Type |
Alignment | | 1-3 | n/a | 7 | 7 | 2+1 | n/a | n/a | N |
BONE GUARDIANS are a stronger version of the skeletons brought forth by a magic-user or anti-cleric; unless stated otherwise in this description, the information in the skeleton entry also applies to Bone Guardians. Similar to skeletons, they can carry shields or wear armor, or both, which would improve their AC to 6 or 5, respectively. Bone Guardians are usually added to a group of normal skeletons as an extra layer of protection or deterrence. I really like these and think you should increase the number appearing to 2d4. Have an exalt. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Feb 27, 2022 8:43:16 GMT -5
Thanks, Dartanian! I struggled on how m any to include and thought 6 - 8 might be "just right" for these guys. I like the suggestion of 2D4 so I think I will change it. |
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Post by hengest on Mar 4, 2022 16:58:06 GMT -5
I completely dig this monster.
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Mar 5, 2022 12:06:11 GMT -5
I completely dig this monster. Thanks, hengest! I was a little concerned that people would think it was "just a skeleton" but that's kind of the point. I wanted something that looked like a standard monster but was something a little bit more. |
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Post by hengest on Mar 5, 2022 13:49:09 GMT -5
I completely dig this monster. Thanks, hengest ! I was a little concerned that people would think it was "just a skeleton" but that's kind of the point. I wanted something that looked like a standard monster but was something a little bit more. Yeah, I never thought about upgrading skeletons, not once! But "bone guardian" is perfect. |
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Post by mao on Mar 6, 2022 7:07:18 GMT -5
Like the idea but I thnk a little bit more would set them apart(ability to command normal skeletons,regeneration, minor magicsl damage doer, etv.) Love the concept and name.
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Mar 6, 2022 14:05:17 GMT -5
Like the idea but I thnk a little bit more would set them apart(ability to command normal skeletons,regeneration, minor magicsl damage doer, etv.) Love the concept and name. Thanks! I dig the feedback. This is STILL a work in progress so I will definitely tweak them some more with some of your suggestions. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 18, 2022 9:38:47 GMT -5
Like the idea but I thnk a little bit more would set them apart(ability to command normal skeletons,regeneration, minor magicsl damage doer, etv.) Love the concept and name. Here's an idea we didn't discuss yet. How about something like this? Any cleric attempting to turn a Bone Guardian will use the Skeleton row of the table but suffer a -2 penalty to their roll. NOTE: I'm using Delving Deeper because I don't own OD&D. I picture the Cleric having specific "mini-rituals" connected to turning that are slightly different for each category of undead. That's why they would use the Skeleton entry but suffer a penalty; close, but not quite right. I still want to add something else in addition to this penalty. I like the idea of commanding normal skeletons or regeneration. Maybe the ability to re-animate skeletons that have been vanquished and now lay in a pile of bones? Still brainstorming but I think you're right. They still need something more. |
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Post by hengest on Apr 18, 2022 9:46:16 GMT -5
Maybe limited ability to command individual bones from vanquished skeletons or just random bones? They can't actually create undead but they can control bones as "extensions" of themselves, or perhaps beef themselves up with loose bones allow them to "heal" themselves up to a limit (perhaps a total limit of 100% of their original HP?). You have it almost defeated, then it uses its turn to suck replacement bones off the floor or out of a grave, "healing" itself before your eyes, and then it keeps coming (mechanically at or near full HP)?
A super Bone Guardian might guard a catacomb, having an even greater ability to replenish its strength as long as there are fresh bones around, in effect acting as the representative of all the dead there. But perhaps some kind of damage might be beyond regeneration (or not!)
Or perhaps a truly super Bone Guardian could summon YOUR bones to its aid! Ugh!
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 18, 2022 9:55:18 GMT -5
Maybe limited ability to command individual bones from vanquished skeletons or just random bones? They can't actually create undead but they can control bones as "extensions" of themselves, or perhaps beef themselves up with loose bones allow them to "heal" themselves up to a limit (perhaps a total limit of 100% of their original HP?). You have it almost defeated, then it uses its turn to suck replacement bones off the floor or out of a grave, "healing" itself before your eyes, and then it keeps coming (mechanically at or near full HP)? A super Bone Guardian might guard a catacomb, having an even greater ability to replenish its strength as long as there are fresh bones around, in effect acting as the representative of all the dead there. But perhaps some kind of damage might be beyond regeneration (or not!) Or perhaps a truly super Bone Guardian could summon YOUR bones to its aid! Ugh! YES! You nailed it! You're right. They can't create new undead but have some ability to control skeletons. I really like the idea of using bones to "heal" themselves. The super Bone Guardian in a catacomb is a great idea! I'm digging it!! |
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Post by hengest on Apr 18, 2022 10:06:38 GMT -5
Cool!
Or perhaps not absolute magical control of skeletons, but skeletons naturally follow a BG as the alpha dog in the skeleton pack.
This is a cool monster for sure! Horrifying but not excessively "gross" (just bones, after all).
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Apr 18, 2022 10:23:07 GMT -5
Cool! Or perhaps not absolute magical control of skeletons, but skeletons naturally follow a BG as the alpha dog in the skeleton pack. This is a cool monster for sure! Horrifying but not excessively "gross" (just bones, after all). I like that! Thanks! |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 13, 2022 9:59:22 GMT -5
DartanianhengestmaoThe Perilous DreamerIf you participated in previous discussion or even just liked one of the posts in this thread, I tagged you to give you a heads up that the Bone Guardian has been updated.
I updated the original post in this thread with the following: 1. Increased the HD. 2. Cleaned up the description a bit; will need just a touch more. 3. Added a Turn Undead penalty when used against Bone Guardian. 4. Added a 25% chance of a magic sword, shield, etc. 5. Added alpha dog remark. 6. Added regeneration mechanic. Have I gone off the rails? What was too much? What was not enough? Tell me your feedback, please.
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Post by hengest on May 13, 2022 13:29:32 GMT -5
BONE GUARDIANS are a stronger version of the skeletons brought forth by a magic-user or anti-cleric. Unless stated otherwise in this description, the information in the skeleton entry also applies to Bone Guardians. Any Cleric attempting to turn a Bone Guardian will do so by using the skeleton row of the table at a -2 penalty. Similar to skeletons, they can carry shields or wear armor, or both, which would improve their AC to 6 or 5, respectively. There is, however, a 25% chance a Bone Guardian will be using a magical version of these items granting a +1 bonus. Bone Guardians are usually added to a group of normal skeletons as an extra layer of protection or deterrence. Normal skeletons are attracted to a Bone Guardian much like an alpha wolf and will assist the Bone Guardian. When a Bone Guardian is reduced to less than half of their hit points, they will regenerate themselves by pulling bones from the floor or from the skeletons assisting them in combat. On a successful roll against the Turn Undead table as a 1 HD Cleric vs Skeleton the roll (7-12) will serve as the number of hit points the Bone Guardian regains. This is maybe my favorite of all undead monsters, ever. Nice writeup. I love the Bone Guardian. I'm sure I never saw anything like this before... Just one question: that last sentence...does it mean that when it pulls this regeneration trick, roll this and that's how many HP it regains? |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 13, 2022 13:32:30 GMT -5
Thanks, hengest! I appreciate that. Yes, it's supposed to mean the die roll on a successful result is the number of hit points regained. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on May 13, 2022 21:47:54 GMT -5
Dartanian hengest mao The Perilous Dreamer If you participated in previous discussion or even just liked one of the posts in this thread, I tagged you to give you a heads up that the Bone Guardian has been updated.
I updated the original post in this thread with the following: 1. Increased the HD. 2. Cleaned up the description a bit; will need just a touch more. 3. Added a Turn Undead penalty when used against Bone Guardian. 4. Added a 25% chance of a magic sword, shield, etc. 5. Added alpha dog remark. 6. Added regeneration mechanic. Have I gone off the rails? What was too much? What was not enough? Tell me your feedback, please. Not off the rails at all, I love this. The sentence Does it mean that the ref rolls a 2d6 for the Bone Guardian and on a roll of 7-12, it regains 7-12 HPs and on a roll of 1-6 it regains none? At 3d6+2 they have a minimum HPs of 5. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 14, 2022 2:56:02 GMT -5
Dartanian hengest mao The Perilous Dreamer If you participated in previous discussion or even just liked one of the posts in this thread, I tagged you to give you a heads up that the Bone Guardian has been updated.
I updated the original post in this thread with the following: 1. Increased the HD. 2. Cleaned up the description a bit; will need just a touch more. 3. Added a Turn Undead penalty when used against Bone Guardian. 4. Added a 25% chance of a magic sword, shield, etc. 5. Added alpha dog remark. 6. Added regeneration mechanic. Have I gone off the rails? What was too much? What was not enough? Tell me your feedback, please. The sentence Does it mean that the ref rolls a 2d6 for the Bone Guardian and on a roll of 7-12, it regains 7-12 HPs and on a roll of 1-6 it regains none? At 3d6+2 they have a minimum HPs of 5.[1] Cool! I'm glad to hear that it doesn't seem too much. [2] Yes, that's what it means. That's the one part of the description that I feel needs work. I was aiming for something that would give a minimum of several instead of the possibility of just one hit point upon healing. I was playing with the Turn Undead mechanic as part of the description but maybe I need to check out some of the healing spells or use a percentile roll that Arneson was fond of using. I figured that since it came with a drawback - there has to be bones present in the area - for the regeneration to work then it should at least heal several hit points of damage. Yours is the second question about that so please give me more feedback if you have it. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on May 14, 2022 21:54:22 GMT -5
Not off the rails at all, I love this.The sentence Does it mean that the ref rolls a 2d6 for the Bone Guardian and on a roll of 7-12, it regains 7-12 HPs and on a roll of 1-6 it regains none? At 3d6+2 they have a minimum HPs of 5. [1] Cool! I'm glad to hear that it doesn't seem too much. [2] Yes, that's what it means. That's the one part of the description that I feel needs work. I was aiming for something that would give a minimum of several instead of the possibility of just one hit point upon healing. I was playing with the Turn Undead mechanic as part of the description but maybe I need to check out some of the healing spells or use a percentile roll that Arneson was fond of using. I figured that since it came with a drawback - there has to be bones present in the area - for the regeneration to work then it should at least heal several hit points of damage. Yours is the second question about that so please give me more feedback if you have it. The main thing I see is if they roll and can regain 7-12 HPs, then the min HPs they have should be 12. As you wrote it the max is 20. So you could change the HD to 1d6+1d4+10 which would give a range of 12-20 HPs. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 15, 2022 2:17:33 GMT -5
[1] Cool! I'm glad to hear that it doesn't seem too much. [2] Yes, that's what it means. That's the one part of the description that I feel needs work. I was aiming for something that would give a minimum of several instead of the possibility of just one hit point upon healing. I was playing with the Turn Undead mechanic as part of the description but maybe I need to check out some of the healing spells or use a percentile roll that Arneson was fond of using. I figured that since it came with a drawback - there has to be bones present in the area - for the regeneration to work then it should at least heal several hit points of damage. Yours is the second question about that so please give me more feedback if you have it. The main thing I see is if they roll and can regain 7-12 HPs, then the min HPs they have should be 12. As you wrote it the max is 20. So you could change the HD to 1d6+1d4+10 which would give a range of 12-20 HPs. I missed that. I've made things so...awkward by doing it like that. I believe I will make one more change. How about changing the HD to 4 instead of 3+2 so hit points will now range from 4-24 and the DM rolls 2D6 to determine how many hit points are regained so the range will be 2-12. I think instead of using the Turn Undead table to check success then maybe a flat 50% chance of regaining hit points with a small list of modifiers that affect the roll. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on May 15, 2022 18:14:21 GMT -5
The main thing I see is if they roll and can regain 7-12 HPs, then the min HPs they have should be 12. As you wrote it the max is 20. So you could change the HD to 1d6+1d4+10 which would give a range of 12-20 HPs. I missed that. I've made things so...awkward by doing it like that. I believe I will make one more change. How about changing the HD to 4 instead of 3+2 so hit points will now range from 4-24 and the DM rolls 2D6 to determine how many hit points are regained so the range will be 2-12. I think instead of using the Turn Undead table to check success then maybe a flat 50% chance of regaining hit points with a small list of modifiers that affect the roll. HD equals 4D6+2 is a range of 6-26.  I like the change. I think you are trying to use 6 sided dice, which is cool. I think instead of rolling 2d6 for hit points regained I would use 3d4 for a 3-12 range, but that is just me. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 15, 2022 18:27:57 GMT -5
I missed that. I've made things so...awkward by doing it like that. I believe I will make one more change. How about changing the HD to 4 instead of 3+2 so hit points will now range from 4-24 and the DM rolls 2D6 to determine how many hit points are regained so the range will be 2-12. I think instead of using the Turn Undead table to check success then maybe a flat 50% chance of regaining hit points with a small list of modifiers that affect the roll. .  I like the change. I think you are trying to use 6 sided dice, which is cool. I think instead of rolling 2d6 for hit points regained I would use 3d4 for a 3-12 range, but that is just me. I was actually going to drop the +2 but do you think it should stay, The Perilous Dreamer? Actually, I like the use of 3d4. It beefs up the lower number while not being excessive. I will be editing the original post sometime soon... |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on May 15, 2022 22:46:42 GMT -5
HD equals 4D6+2 is a range of 6-26. I like the change. I think you are trying to use 6 sided dice, which is cool. I think instead of rolling 2d6 for hit points regained I would use 3d4 for a 3-12 range, but that is just me. I was actually going to drop the +2 but do you think it should stay, The Perilous Dreamer ? Actually, I like the use of 3d4. It beefs up the lower number while not being excessive. I will be editing the original post sometime soon... I like 3d4 with or without the +2. |
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Post by mao on May 16, 2022 3:41:42 GMT -5
I can see that this would be fun to play w a little, prob can hook a bunch of version.(HmmmIs isw that a thread? The Semi-Retired Gamer |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 16, 2022 8:15:38 GMT -5
I can see that this would be fun to play w a little, prob can hook a bunch of version.(HmmmIs isw that a thread? The Semi-Retired Gamer Sounds like a cool thread, mao! |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 16, 2022 17:59:49 GMT -5
This may not be the final version, but I think it's getting close...For anyone interested, the original post has been edited to reflect the following changes: HD is now 4+2. I changed the regeneration mechanic to read as follows, "When a Bone Guardian is reduced to less than half of their hit points, there is a 50% chance the Bone Guardian will restore 3D4 (3-12) hit points by magically attracting bones from a nearby skeleton or from a pile of loose bones." Not in the post, but just for information purposes, I envision the ![]() Bone Guardian to resemble the Skeletons from the Arduin line of fantasy miniatures. Attachments:
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Post by hengest on May 16, 2022 18:07:49 GMT -5
I like it.
Maybe this is too much detail, but...do you think it's possible for the BG to destroy a skeleton by reducing its HP to zero when using it for regeneration?
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 16, 2022 18:22:39 GMT -5
I like it. Maybe this is too much detail, but...do you think it's possible for the BG to destroy a skeleton by reducing its HP to zero when using it for regeneration? Cool! I was actually thinking about that. I believe I'm leaning towards the Bone Guardian being able to do just that. By the Delving Deeper entry, the number appearing for skeletons is 3-30. That would make the Bone Guardian a challenging opponent by slowly whittling away the skeleton forces to fuel their own hit points. |
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Post by hengest on May 16, 2022 18:41:32 GMT -5
I like it. Maybe this is too much detail, but...do you think it's possible for the BG to destroy a skeleton by reducing its HP to zero when using it for regeneration? Cool! I was actually thinking about that. I believe I'm leaning towards the Bone Guardian being able to do just that. By the Delving Deeper entry, the number appearing for skeletons is 3-30. That would make the Bone Guardian a challenging opponent by slowly whittling away the skeleton forces to fuel their own hit points. What a horrible (but awesome) thought! I completely dig it. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on May 16, 2022 18:42:57 GMT -5
Cool! I was actually thinking about that. I believe I'm leaning towards the Bone Guardian being able to do just that. By the Delving Deeper entry, the number appearing for skeletons is 3-30. That would make the Bone Guardian a challenging opponent by slowly whittling away the skeleton forces to fuel their own hit points. What a horrible (but awesome) thought! I completely dig it. Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!! |
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