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<blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8804502" data-attributes="member: 6915329"><p>Here’s another wonderful article on undead by Tom Moldvay, this one on shadows. He points out that the AD&D shadow was invented for the game and wasn’t based on any particular legend. It was more about hey, you’re in a poorly-lit dungeon, there’s going to be shadows, so have them attack. He also mentioned that when shadows were introduced in <em>Greyhawk, </em>Supplement 1, they were specifically called out as <em>not</em> being undead, but that they became undead when Gygax wrote the Monster Manual. Honestly, I kind of wish that they had remained not-undead. That might have been really cool and have opened up the possibility of another monster category for 3x onwards, of Spirits or Animated Things or Never-Born.</p><p></p><p>Moldvay gives us a few undead in this article, none of which seem as insubstantial as shadows are. But they’re still pretty cool. The first monster is the <strong>skotos</strong> (Greek for darkness or shadow). It’s based on the shades of Hades in Greek legend—specifically, those who have escaped from Hades. They fill the same sort of niche as the Returned from Mythic Odessey of Theros, but of course the skotos are hungrier, and evil. As Moldvay says, “They can be of any […] evil alignment, for only evil creatures would voluntarily leave the afterlife to prey upon the living.” I guess that would depend on the quality of the afterlife, though. Hades was a very lifeless, colorless place, according to the myths. I’d hardly say someone was evil for wanting to escape it.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px"><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">Skotos</span></span></strong></p><p>Out of the Shadows, Dragon Magazine #162</p><p>Created by Tom Moldvay</p><p></p><p>In many worlds, the afterlife is a dreary place. The damned and blessed go to their just rewards, but for the majority of people who never made a true mark on the world, their afterlife is a gray place indeed. There, the dead wait, and wait, and wait until they are admitted into a better realm, are reborn, or until the world ends. But some manage to escape back into the world of the living.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Neither Living Nor Undead.</em></strong> Skotos are not undead per se; nor are they fiends. Rather, they are actually souls that have been tainted by centuries or millennia of bitterness and disappointment while waiting for a better afterlife. Skotos resemble wild humanoids with feral expressions that hold none of their original personalities, and all of color has been leeched from their bodies, leaving then entirely ash-gray—save for their eyes, which glow sickly yellow, green, or orange, but only when they smell blood.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Hungry for Blood. </em></strong>On those rare occasions when a door between the Waking World and the afterlife open, dozens of skotos escape at the same time. They form packs, descending en masse on any wounded creature they see, shredding it to pieces and lapping up every last drop of blood they can. Strangely, they <em>only </em>attack a wounded creature. Should they come across someone who is hale and hearty, they may follow that person, waiting for it to be injured so they can pounce. Because they care only for blood, their predations often attract the attention of ghouls and other scavengers that feed on the corpses they leave behind.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Unlocked Memories. </em></strong>A skotos that has consumed blood has their memories of life awakened, if only for a few minutes or hours, and for a brief time they feel alive again. Once sated, skotos wail and sing dirges to the sky, lamenting the loss of their life and their transformation to their current state and crying out to the gods they believe have abandoned them… until they once again grow hungry and forget who they were.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Undead Nature.</em></strong> A skotos doesn’t require air, sleep, or sustenance.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Legends and Lore</span></strong></p><p>With a Religion check, the characters can learn the following:</p><p></p><p><strong>DC 10.</strong> Skotos are dead souls that have escaped from the afterlife. They avoid temples, crypts, and other places were the dead are buried, lest they get dragged back to the underworld.</p><p></p><p><strong>DC 15.</strong> Skotos thirst for blood because blood allows them to remember their previous life. When they smell blood, they go into a berserk frenzy.</p><p></p><p><strong>DC 20.</strong> When a skotos’s body is killed, its soul returns to the afterlife it came from.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Skotos Encounters</span></strong></p><p><strong><em>Terrain:</em></strong> caverns, forests, grasslands, hills, mountains, ruins</p><p></p><p><strong>CR 1-2</strong> 3-4 skotos</p><p></p><p><strong>CR 3-4</strong> 1d4+4 skotos; 4 skotos and 1 ghoul</p><p><em><strong>Treasure:</strong></em> 3 agates (10 gp each), bronze mask (worth 50 gp),</p><p></p><p><strong>CR 5-10</strong> 2d8+8 skotos, 1d4+4 skotos with necromancer</p><p><em><strong>Treasure:</strong></em> copper bracelet (50 gp), obsidian earrings (50 gp), <em>feather token (boat)</em></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Signs</span></strong></p><p>1. Glowing eyes in the night.</p><p>2. A bloodless corpse that has been torn to pieces.</p><p>3. The scent of ash, dust, and old blood in the air.</p><p>4. A wailing lament in the distance.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Behavior</span></strong></p><p>1. Chasing down an injured animal or traveler.</p><p>2. Engaging in a poorly-performed religious ritual.</p><p>3. Following some travelers from afar, waiting for one of them to get injured.</p><p>4. Drinking the blood of a just-slain creature.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)"><span style="font-size: 26px">Skotos</span></span></strong></p><p><strong>Medium undead (fiend)</strong></p><p>Challenge 1/2 (XP)</p><p><strong>AC</strong> 14 (natural armor)</p><p><strong>HP</strong> 22 (5d8; bloodied 11)</p><p><strong>Speed</strong> 30 ft.</p><p></p><p><strong>STR</strong> 16 (+3) <strong>DEX</strong> 17 (+3) <strong>CON</strong> 10 (+0)</p><p><strong>INT</strong> 9 (-1) <strong>WIS</strong> 10 (+0) <strong>CHA</strong> 7 (-2)</p><p></p><p><strong>Proficiency</strong> +2</p><p><strong>Maneuver DC</strong> 13</p><p><strong>Skills</strong> Stealth +5</p><p><strong>Damage Immunities</strong> cold, necrotic, poison</p><p><strong>Condition Immunities</strong> charmed, paralyzed, unconscious</p><p><strong>Senses</strong> darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10</p><p><strong>Languages</strong> The languages it knew in life.</p><p><strong><em>Blood Frenzy.</em></strong> The skotos gains a d4 expertise die on melee attack rolls against bloodied creatures.</p><p><strong><em>Keen Smell.</em></strong> The skotos has advantage on Perception checks that rely on smell.</p><p><strong><em>Pack Tactics.</em></strong> The skotos has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the skotos’ allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated.</p><p><strong><em>Turn Resistance.</em></strong> The skotos has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Actions</u></strong></p><p><strong><em>Bite. </em></strong><em>Melee Weapon Attack:</em> +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. <em>Hit: </em>6 (1d6+3) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage, and the target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage dealt, and the skotos regains hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. If the target is reduced to 0 hit points by this attack, it dies.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Bonus Actions</u></strong></p><p><strong><em>Shadow Stealth.</em></strong> The skotos takes the Hide action.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Reactions</u></strong></p><p><strong><em>Blood Rush.</em></strong> If the skotos reduces a creature to 0 hit points with its bite, it may move up to its Speed and make a bite attack on another creature.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Combat</span></strong></p><p>Skotos attack viciously and fight to the death. When slain, its soul returns to the afterlife from which they escaped.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Faolyn, post: 8804502, member: 6915329"] Here’s another wonderful article on undead by Tom Moldvay, this one on shadows. He points out that the AD&D shadow was invented for the game and wasn’t based on any particular legend. It was more about hey, you’re in a poorly-lit dungeon, there’s going to be shadows, so have them attack. He also mentioned that when shadows were introduced in [I]Greyhawk, [/I]Supplement 1, they were specifically called out as [I]not[/I] being undead, but that they became undead when Gygax wrote the Monster Manual. Honestly, I kind of wish that they had remained not-undead. That might have been really cool and have opened up the possibility of another monster category for 3x onwards, of Spirits or Animated Things or Never-Born. Moldvay gives us a few undead in this article, none of which seem as insubstantial as shadows are. But they’re still pretty cool. The first monster is the [B]skotos[/B] (Greek for darkness or shadow). It’s based on the shades of Hades in Greek legend—specifically, those who have escaped from Hades. They fill the same sort of niche as the Returned from Mythic Odessey of Theros, but of course the skotos are hungrier, and evil. As Moldvay says, “They can be of any […] evil alignment, for only evil creatures would voluntarily leave the afterlife to prey upon the living.” I guess that would depend on the quality of the afterlife, though. Hades was a very lifeless, colorless place, according to the myths. I’d hardly say someone was evil for wanting to escape it. [B][SIZE=6][COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)]Skotos[/COLOR][/SIZE][/B] Out of the Shadows, Dragon Magazine #162 Created by Tom Moldvay In many worlds, the afterlife is a dreary place. The damned and blessed go to their just rewards, but for the majority of people who never made a true mark on the world, their afterlife is a gray place indeed. There, the dead wait, and wait, and wait until they are admitted into a better realm, are reborn, or until the world ends. But some manage to escape back into the world of the living. [B][I]Neither Living Nor Undead.[/I][/B] Skotos are not undead per se; nor are they fiends. Rather, they are actually souls that have been tainted by centuries or millennia of bitterness and disappointment while waiting for a better afterlife. Skotos resemble wild humanoids with feral expressions that hold none of their original personalities, and all of color has been leeched from their bodies, leaving then entirely ash-gray—save for their eyes, which glow sickly yellow, green, or orange, but only when they smell blood. [B][I]Hungry for Blood. [/I][/B]On those rare occasions when a door between the Waking World and the afterlife open, dozens of skotos escape at the same time. They form packs, descending en masse on any wounded creature they see, shredding it to pieces and lapping up every last drop of blood they can. Strangely, they [I]only [/I]attack a wounded creature. Should they come across someone who is hale and hearty, they may follow that person, waiting for it to be injured so they can pounce. Because they care only for blood, their predations often attract the attention of ghouls and other scavengers that feed on the corpses they leave behind. [B][I]Unlocked Memories. [/I][/B]A skotos that has consumed blood has their memories of life awakened, if only for a few minutes or hours, and for a brief time they feel alive again. Once sated, skotos wail and sing dirges to the sky, lamenting the loss of their life and their transformation to their current state and crying out to the gods they believe have abandoned them… until they once again grow hungry and forget who they were. [B][I]Undead Nature.[/I][/B] A skotos doesn’t require air, sleep, or sustenance. [B][SIZE=5]Legends and Lore[/SIZE][/B] With a Religion check, the characters can learn the following: [B]DC 10.[/B] Skotos are dead souls that have escaped from the afterlife. They avoid temples, crypts, and other places were the dead are buried, lest they get dragged back to the underworld. [B]DC 15.[/B] Skotos thirst for blood because blood allows them to remember their previous life. When they smell blood, they go into a berserk frenzy. [B]DC 20.[/B] When a skotos’s body is killed, its soul returns to the afterlife it came from. [B][SIZE=5]Skotos Encounters[/SIZE] [I]Terrain:[/I][/B] caverns, forests, grasslands, hills, mountains, ruins [B]CR 1-2[/B] 3-4 skotos [B]CR 3-4[/B] 1d4+4 skotos; 4 skotos and 1 ghoul [I][B]Treasure:[/B][/I] 3 agates (10 gp each), bronze mask (worth 50 gp), [B]CR 5-10[/B] 2d8+8 skotos, 1d4+4 skotos with necromancer [I][B]Treasure:[/B][/I] copper bracelet (50 gp), obsidian earrings (50 gp), [I]feather token (boat)[/I] [B][SIZE=5]Signs[/SIZE][/B] 1. Glowing eyes in the night. 2. A bloodless corpse that has been torn to pieces. 3. The scent of ash, dust, and old blood in the air. 4. A wailing lament in the distance. [B][SIZE=5]Behavior[/SIZE][/B] 1. Chasing down an injured animal or traveler. 2. Engaging in a poorly-performed religious ritual. 3. Following some travelers from afar, waiting for one of them to get injured. 4. Drinking the blood of a just-slain creature. [B][COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)][SIZE=7]Skotos[/SIZE][/COLOR] Medium undead (fiend)[/B] Challenge 1/2 (XP) [B]AC[/B] 14 (natural armor) [B]HP[/B] 22 (5d8; bloodied 11) [B]Speed[/B] 30 ft. [B]STR[/B] 16 (+3) [B]DEX[/B] 17 (+3) [B]CON[/B] 10 (+0) [B]INT[/B] 9 (-1) [B]WIS[/B] 10 (+0) [B]CHA[/B] 7 (-2) [B]Proficiency[/B] +2 [B]Maneuver DC[/B] 13 [B]Skills[/B] Stealth +5 [B]Damage Immunities[/B] cold, necrotic, poison [B]Condition Immunities[/B] charmed, paralyzed, unconscious [B]Senses[/B] darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10 [B]Languages[/B] The languages it knew in life. [B][I]Blood Frenzy.[/I][/B] The skotos gains a d4 expertise die on melee attack rolls against bloodied creatures. [B][I]Keen Smell.[/I][/B] The skotos has advantage on Perception checks that rely on smell. [B][I]Pack Tactics.[/I][/B] The skotos has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the skotos’ allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn’t incapacitated. [B][I]Turn Resistance.[/I][/B] The skotos has advantage on saving throws against any effect that turns undead. [B][U]Actions[/U] [I]Bite. [/I][/B][I]Melee Weapon Attack:[/I] +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. [I]Hit: [/I]6 (1d6+3) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage, and the target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage dealt, and the skotos regains hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. If the target is reduced to 0 hit points by this attack, it dies. [B][U]Bonus Actions[/U] [I]Shadow Stealth.[/I][/B] The skotos takes the Hide action. [B][U]Reactions[/U] [I]Blood Rush.[/I][/B] If the skotos reduces a creature to 0 hit points with its bite, it may move up to its Speed and make a bite attack on another creature. [B][SIZE=5]Combat[/SIZE][/B] Skotos attack viciously and fight to the death. When slain, its soul returns to the afterlife from which they escaped. [/QUOTE]
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