Saturday, December 15, 2012

Beast of the Week: Tupilaq

Inuit legends give us our Beast for this week.  I had been looking around for a Tolkien-inspired creature because I'm going to see The Hobbit tomorrow, but decided to stick with the winter/cold themed creatures for another week.  The Tupilaq was a magical construct created by Inuit shamans and sent after their enemies.  Sorta like the Invisible Stalker already in D&D, except crafted rather than summoned from another plane.

Tupilaq*
AC: 3 (17)
HD: 8*
Move: 120 (40) swim 90 (30)
Attacks: 1 bite
Damage: 2d8
No. Appearing: 1 (1)
Save As: F8
Morale: 12
Treasure Type: nil
Alignment: Neutral
XP: 1200

A tupilaq is a magical construct created by the shamanistic Clerics of tribes inhabiting the polar regions.  They have humanoid bodies with pointed heads, bulging eyes, and wide shark-like mouths, and smell of rotting flesh.  The rituals for creating one are known only to these tribesmen, and are not shared with outsiders.  The tupilaq is created from a variety of body parts, hair, skin and bones taken from sea and land animals native to the region, as well as the heart of a human or demi-human child.  A tupilac, once created, will serve its creator by hunting down one victim or group of related victims and killing them.  Tupilaqs can be defeated with spells and magic weapons.  A tupilaq can be turned against its creator by a dispel evil spell.  If the tupilaq fails a Save vs. Spells, its creator becomes its new target.

2 comments:

  1. I never paid much attention to the statistics of monsters in the old days, since I was always a player in those far off times. What do the asterisks mean after the name of the Tupilac and his number of hit dice?

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  2. asterisk after name means you need magic weapons to hit them. After the hit dice indicates a special ability.

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