Supernatural Creatures

The call to adventure must, at times, be heeded, when the questing knight puts spur to horse and ventures beyond the limits of the known world. There, at the base of rocky cliffs washed by a stormtossed sea, or within the dark and primeval heartwoods of ancient forests, or from the craggy tops of mountains situated so high they touch the very clouds, roam wondrous and terrifying creatures. These are the fairies and fiends of nightmares and dreams.

Some are creatures possessed by spirits, while others are spirits made flesh. Most are the corrupted descendants of unnatural unions between spirits and animals. All are perilous.

Wounding Supernatural Creatures

Fairies, fiends, and spirits are not creatures of the natural world; they are not made of the same humors as men or animals. As such, they suffer extra harm from objects and materials to which they are particularly vulnerable. Specifically, this includes weapons forged from iron or blessed by a holy person. These weapons may do harm against supernatural creatures. All other weapons are still capable of knocking a creature down (roll damage to see if you exceeded the creature’s SIZ) but are otherwise incapable of causing harm.

A weapon forged from iron inflicts +1D6 damage. A blessed iron weapon inflicts +2D6 damage against supernatural creatures. These are exceedingly rare. A mundane substance blessed by a holy person (such as a vial of water or a sprig of holly) inflicts 1D6 damage against supernatural creatures, ignoring armor protection.

Fairy Grammarye and Fiendish Trickery

All fairies, fiends, and fairy- or fiend-sired creatures have a touch of magic about them. Whether or not they can use the magic in combat depends on their forms. Fairy and fiendish beasts usually do not wield magic in combat scenarios outside of the magical abilities unique to their fleshly forms. Fairy folk and fiends may use magic in combat, but the effects are usually limited to the duration of the scenario, and their efficacy is left up to the Gamemaster. Fairies are highly protective of their physical forms and will use any magic they possess to flee from harm if sorely pressed in combat.

Fairy Banes

All fairies and fiends are susceptible to damage from blessed or iron weapons (see Wounding Supernatural Creatures). Gamemasters are free to develop other weaknesses and susceptibilities if the supernatural creature is particularly tough, and especially if it fits well in the campaign story. For example, a Player-knight might just happen to have inherited the only sword that can kill Wyrnach the Giant, or Player-knights discover that a specific dragon’s hide can only be pierced on certain days of the year, or that a particular gryphon always flees from the color orange.

Fairy Beasts

These are the monsters and creatures of myth and legend, made flesh by magic or corrupted by it over many generations. Talking, unnaturally large, and bizarrely shaped animals and humanoid creatures are all fairy beasts, either possessed by spirits or sired by them. Most fairy beasts are solitary. Most are carnivorous and hunt both animals and humans for their flesh. Gamemasters are free to decide if such beasts are intelligent, have the power of speech, or possess motivations other than hunger.

Cockatrices

The cockatrice is a fairy animal created by the unnatural pairing between a rooster and a creeping animal. In this case, a serpent or toad incubates an egg laid by a rooster—an unusual but possible event given the presence of magic. The otherworldly combination hatches a serpent with a rooster’s head, whose stunted appendages soon grow into rooster legs and wings.

Like its basilisk cousin, a cockatrice’s blood, tissues, and organs are suffused with a potent magical, acidic poison that starts to dissolve any weapon that strikes it and creeps up to attack the wielder. A cockatrice can also spit its venom with supreme accuracy, so much so that it can lie on its back and spit into the air at birds, which, when slain, fall right into the beast’s mouth.

Cockatrices are, fortunately, solitary creatures.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
3	25	10	40

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Beak	10	2D6
Spit Venom	20 (+1)	Special

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	43
Knockdown	3
Major Wound	40
Unconscious	11

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	5
Armor Points	3
Glory Award	100
Valourous Mod.	-5

Skills: Avoidance 15
Beak: A cockatrice pecks for its full damage.
Spit: Once every other Combat Round, a cockatrice can spit its venom accurately up to 30 yards; since this is a ranged attack, the target does not normally get an opposed roll. They may attempt a Zigzag maneuver as normal; if holding a readied shield, remember to apply the Missile Attack Penalty. (The Gamemaster may rule that the shield is hit instead and ruined!). A struck target must make a CON roll vs. the venom’s Potency of 30. Characters wearing armor are protected against the first spit attack. If the target is wearing non-metal armor, it is ruined and loses all armor value. If the armor is metal, it protects against two such hits, permanently losing half its armor value on the first hit and the rest on the second.
Creeping Venom: Weapons that touch cockatrice hides are damaged by its venom. Wooden weapons, like clubs or staves, or the handles of hafted weapons, automatically dissolve and break. Sword blades become permanently weakened and afterward break on a fumble result. Weasels: The cockatrice cannot abide the smell of weasels, who are immune to their poison, and are their traditional enemies. They immediately attempt to flee in the presence of a weasel, rolling Avoidance to get away.
Rooster Crow: Cockatrices take 6D6 points of damage if they hear a rooster crowing and immediately retreat, rolling Avoidance to get away.

Dragon

The legendary dragons of Britain are the greatest of serpents. They are each unique; most are quite cunning, if not erudite. They often lie dormant for lengthy periods, waking if disturbed or when hungry. Once active, they love to wreak havoc upon humans and human settlements. They seize large animals with their claws and bear them to their lairs for consumption; thus, their lairs are often revealed by the huge piles of bones scattered about the entry.

The word “dragon” may be considered a generic term for any number of monstrous serpents. In a pinch, the unlearned would call creatures like wyrms and wyverns “dragons,” and any knight who defeats one gains the “dragonslayer” epithet (e.g., Sir Clydno the Dragonslayer).

Common Dragons

Such dragons are immense, four-legged, flying, horned, reptile- like creatures. No Arthurian book is complete without one, so below is detailed a “common” dragon, provided as an example to keep Player-knights from thinking they can safely combat these magnificent, terrible creatures.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
80	40	80	50

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Claws	17	16D6
Bite	15	Special
Tail Lash	15	8D6

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	130
Knockdown	80
Major Wound	50
Unconscious	33

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	25/85 (walk/fly)
Armor Points	25
Glory Award	1,000
Valourous Mod.	-20

Claws: A dragon on the ground may make two separate claw attacks per round, each using its Claws value. These may be directed at two adjacent opponents (including a horse and rider), or both at the same foe. A character attacked by both must defend separately against the two attacks as if they were attacked by two different opponents.
Bite: A dragon’s bite attack is treated as a Grapple (Hold) attack. A dragon that achieves a Hold while grappling in this way has swallowed any creature with a SIZ equal to half the dragon’s own or less. The hapless target is slain and devoured. (Generous Gamemasters may allow for the survival of character for a few rounds, giving their friends an opportunity to slay the beast and rescue the character. Treat swallowed characters as suffering from the effects of suffocation.)
Tail Lash: Due to its enormous size, the dragon may be attacked by double the normal number of opponents (up to six on foot or four mounted). Those opponents beyond the normal number are assumed to be attacking on the side and rear of the dragon, where they are safe from claw and bite attacks. However, they make themselves vulnerable to the dragon’s terrible whipping tail, which may engage multiple opponents in a single round without incurring any penalty for doing so.
Flying Attack: A dragon cannot hover, although it may fly past an opponent, making a single claw or bite attack as it passes with a +5 modifier. In this way it may travel up to its normal Movement Rate and still make a single attack as part of its action. A dragon attacking in this way imposes a –15 modifier to the attack roll of any foe it attacks that round.
Panther’s Belch: For reasons unknown to even the wisest of sages, common dragons are afraid of belching panthers. A common dragon, no matter how fearsome, becomes docile and falls into a deep slumber in the presence of a belching panther.

Fachans

The fachan is a strange-looking conglomeration of human body parts: A single leg supports a torso with a single arm and hand protruding from the center of the creature’s chest, and a single eye protrudes from the center of its forehead. In actuality, the fachan is two-dimensional, and therefore all but invisible when viewed from the front or back.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
15	15	25	30

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Warflail	18	8D6

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	45
Knockdown	15
Major Wound	30
Unconscious	11

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	25
Armor Points	20
Glory Award	150
Valourous Mod.	-10

Skills: Avoidance 20
Two-Dimensional: The fachan cannot be attacked from the front or back. During combat, the fachan always maneuvers to keep a single foe directly to its front so the foe cannot attack, but the fachan can still attack them. Multiple foes may still flank the fachan, attacking it normally. To see a fachan when facing its front or back, the viewer must first successfully roll an opposed Awareness check against the fachan’s Avoidance of 20.

Redcap

Redcaps are ugly, man-sized fairies who wear caps dyed red with the blood of their victims.

They haunt ruins and watch towers, whose foundations were anointed with the blood of sacrificial victims (both human and animal). They do not range far from their lairs, and it is said they maintain their form from the souls of the creatures sacrificed there.

The oldest of their kind (and some say the father of the race) is Old Red Cap. Wise women say he is so powerful that none may defeat him in combat, and that only some sort of exorcism performed on his lair can destroy him completely.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
12	12	35	40

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Halberd	20	8D6
Claws	20 (+1)	4D6/4D6

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	52
Knockdown	12
Major Wound	40
Unconscious	13

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	29
Armor Points	10
Glory Award	100
Valourous Mod.	-5

Halberd: Redcaps typically wield halberds made from gnarled oak and blood-stained obsidian.
Claws: An unarmed redcap may make two claw attacks per round; they may be directed at adjacent opponents, or both at the same foe. A character attacked by both must defend separately against the two attacks, as if they were attacked by two different opponents.

Unicorns

The unicorn, also called a monocerous (“one horn”), is a pure white, horse-like, goat-like fairy, about the size of a rouncy, cloven-hooved, with a long, straight, spiraled horn extending from its forehead. They are beautiful creatures, wonderous to behold, and evoke a strange, sad longing for something pure and noble, forever lost to man.

Unicorns are normally quiet, shy, and gentle creatures, though if provoked they become dangerous and ferocious. They are natural enemies of elephants, which they will attack on sight, though always flee from human hunters, who covet their magic horns.

Unicorns and Christians

Interestingly, unicorns are the only fairies that Christian theologians deem worthy of salvation. They are viewed as a symbol of Jesus, for their spiral horns signity the intertwined unity of Jesus and God. Their shy, gentle nature represents His humility; their fierce wildness, His power to break the gates of Hell. A successful Religion (Christian) roll upon witnessing its grace and healing power grants a check to Merciful. A critical success also grants a check to Modest.

Unicorn horns have marvelous curative properties. Once per encounter, unicorns can use their horns to restore any wounded creature to its full Hit Points, no matter the type of damage suffered. A unicorn can heal itself, but not during a fight or while fleeing.

Unicorn horns keep some of their magic, even if separated from the unicorn’s head. Unfortunately, the only way to get a unicorn horn is from a dead unicorn. Here are some common uses of unicorn horns:

• A detached horn detects and neutralizes any poison by simply touching the poisoned drink, food, or wound. This effect is continuous and never fades while the horn is intact.

• A horn ground down into a powder and mixed with wine (1D3 doses) acts as a powerful aphrodisiac, imposing a –10/+10 modifier to the imbiber’s Chaste/ Lustful Traits for a day and night.

• Within the base of the horn is a luminous little gem called a carbuncle, that when worn as a jewel, grants +5 to APP for making the skin of the face appear smooth and lustrous. Once the gem is removed, the unicorn horn is rendered completely inert.

Gourmands have always touted the succulence of unicorn flesh. Unicorn steaks are a rare delicacy to most palates, adding +50 Glory for hosting a feast where such meat is served. Their heads are priceless trophies for noble hunters, so long as the horn is intact and attached.

The Virgin Ploy

Hunters know that unicorns are put at ease in the presence of a virginal maiden and use this to their advantage. The maiden must be (or appear to be) alone and act in a non-threatening manner, though she need not be docile: She may be sad, upset, noisy, etc.

Make an opposed roll of the unicorn’s Suspicious versus the maiden’s Chaste. If the maiden is crying or injured, the unicorn suffers a –10 modifier to its Suspicious. (Particularly Cruel unicorn hunters have been known to purposely traumatize an unwilling maiden for the sole purpose of luring a unicorn to her aid, at which point the curs launch their ambush!)

If the maiden wins the contest, the unicorn approaches and lays its head upon her lap, completely docile. If the maiden needs healing, the unicorn does this first. If the result is a partial success for the maiden, the unicorn does not approach, but neither does it flee. The contest may be repeated after a short interval. A failure or fumble results in the unicorn galloping away.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
30	40	25	25

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Horn	20	9D6
Trample	20	6D6

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	55
Knockdown	30
Major Wound	25
Unconscious	14

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	25
Armor Points	15
Glory Award	250
Valourous Mod.	0

Traits: Suspicious 20
Passions: Hate (Elephants) 15
Skills: Avoidance 20 (+5)
Horn: The unicorn may charge with its horn lowered. As with a normal Mounted Charge, the unicorn needs at least six yards of distance to get up to a speed sufficient to inflict its Charge Damage.
Trample: The monocerous may use this attack only against a foe knocked down or prone on the ground.
Fairy Magic: Once per encounter, a unicorn may use grammarye to become invisible or to create something useful to help it escape, such as a ring of fire surrounding a hunting party, or a briar patch, or a fallen tree. During a hunting scenario, add +10 to its natural Avoidance. Whatever glamour the unicorn weaves to escape fades within an hour.
Elephants: Unicorns hate elephants and will attack one on sight, striking with their horn into the heart of the beast from below and slaying it.

Dwarfs

Dwarfs are a race of small brown creatures inhabiting Britain, living underground in mounds ruled by their own kings, such as Gleodalen and Bilis. Different legends call them pechs (often confused with Picts), dwarfs, knockers, coblynau, feens, and trows. They have wide, slit mouths and short pug noses, and are usually bald. They are seen wearing both rags and rich clothing, often human-made, and may be either clean or dirty. They may be found swarming through the forest, feasting at table, or engaged in wrestling matches and other feats of strength, for they are extremely powerful for their size. A swarm of them are trouble for knights, while as servants, they provide color or incentive to provoke knights. A minority of these fellows are smart enough to serve as squires, grooms, or other helpers for humans. They are usually quite surly. Some of them are unusually intelligent and sophisticated, even becoming knights. As such, they ride upon chargers with short stirrups or occasionally fairy horses.

They do not use any weapons except for the few exceptional ones. Instead, they use any of the Brawling Combat Actions that they can.

Despite those good dwarfs in human employ, most of the race who appear in stories are petty, spiteful, cruel, and traitorous. It is as if they were hired because they had those traits. (Maybe it is just that they always act that way if they are forced to live among humans!)

When encountered on their own terms, these diminutive creatures swarm their foes, striking mercilessly. When their numbers are reduced to half the original, they flee.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
10	20	25	17

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Grapple	18	Special
Punch	18	6

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	27
Knockdown	10
Major Wound	17
Unconscious	7

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	20
Armor Points	2
Glory Award	20
Valourous Mod.	+10

Skills: Avoidance 10
Fairy Magic: Once per encounter, a dwarf may use grammarye to become invisible and to vanish and reappear at will.

Elves

Elves are the most human-like fairies and have created forms that simultaneously perfect and mock that of men. They are the same size as humans, though more fit, and always astonishingly beautiful—sometimes to a disturbing degree.

Elf knights are tall, lithe, and coldly handsome. They may be found guarding fairy courts, or roaming fairy roads seeking opponents to joust, or else hunting beasts and malevolent fairies. They wear elaborately enameled, impossibly shiny armor and wield cunningly and cruelly crafted blades that are ever sharp. Elf knights often have a particular ability, their “fairy gift,” which they employ for protection or spectacle. Only the greatest of human knights could defeat an elf knight in hand-to-hand or mounted combat.

Elf ladies and courtiers are like their human counterparts, but far more lovely, lively, and eloquent. They are sinuous and sensuous, with chilling and mischievous faces. They dress lavishly in perfectly tailored clothing made from unimaginably costly fabrics. Everything about them is desirous and inviting. Human knights and ladies who are seduced by elves are doomed to interesting fates, as are the offspring of such unnatural unions.

Humans may encounter elves at their own courts, which mimic those of humans’, but always strangely so, and with ever-changing decor and rules of courtesy. Here an elfin king and queen sit on regal thrones and dispense justice to diverse petitioners and courtiers. The court is entertained by all manner of bizarre and wondrous creatures— including some willing human servants—who, on gilded instruments, play music of such wondrous quality that each refrain sends the listener’s mind reeling to eternity and back. After the business of the day is done and the entertainers have dazzled the court, a feast is held of such opulence and sumptuousness that it humbles the richest king in Christendom and the most discerning gourmand of Rome. Some humans who attend an elfin court have no wish to leave and willingly offer their services; others are tricked into choosing to stay. Of those who do remain, few are seen again.

Elfin courts regularly leave their palaces to hunt and frolic in gentle pastures, sacred groves, stone circles, or great rings of red-capped mushrooms. There, they feast on fresh game, drink wine and mead offered at shrines by the common folk, and dance under the moon and stars well into the night. These celebrations are dangerous for humans, who have difficulty resisting the exquisite music and frivolous merry-making, and who find it impossible to stop dancing once they have started. The festivities end at sunrise and the fairies vanish back to their secret homes. Participating humans may go with them, fall asleep for days (or years...), or even drop dead on the spot from exhaustion.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
16	20	20	20

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Spear	20	6D6
Sword	20	6D6

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	36
Knockdown	16
Major Wound	20
Unconscious	9

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	25
Armor Points	Var.
Glory Award	250
Valourous Mod.	-5

Traits: Valorous 16
Passions: At least one at 16, decided by Gamemaster
Skills: Awareness 20, Courtesy 16, Horsemanship 20, Hunting 16
Armor: Forged from shining star metal, and always of a type that is one Period ahead of the current one. For example, in the Uther, Anarchy, and Boy King Periods, a human knight wears a mail hauberk and a nasal helm. An elfin knight in these periods would wear reinforced mail and a great helm, which were not available to humans until the Conquest Period. Thus:

• Boy King: Reinforced Mail, Great Helm; Star Metal Armor 18 + Heater Shield
• Conquest: Partial Plate, Bascinet Helm; Star Metal Armor 20 + Heater Shield
• Romance: Full Plate, Arnet Helm; Star Metal Armor 25 + Heater Shield
• Tournament, Grail Quest, Twilight: Gothic Plate, Close Helm; Star Metal Armor 30 + Heater Shield
  

Fairy Magic: Once per encounter, an elfin knight may use grammarye to become invisible, or to create something useful or valuable, or to change their form or someone else’s, or to change the appearance of their current surroundings, or to heal themselves or others. Whether or not the grammarye effect does real damage (or heals it) is up to the Gamemaster to decide. Otherwise, whatever glamour the knight weaves eventually fades within an hour. See “Glamour” on p. 165 for suggested mechanics.
Fairy Gift: Each elfin knight has a special “gift,” a power that can be determined randomly, or, preferably, by the Gamemaster’s imagination. Some examples are provided below:

Elfin Gift Table

1D6	Fairy Gift
1	DEX Bonus, or directed bonuses to Dodging, Brawling, or similar.
2	STR Bonus, or directed bonuses to Damage, Healing Rate, breaking Holds, etc.
3	CON Bonus, or directed bonuses to Healing Rate, Major Wound, Total Hit Points, Unconscious, or for resisting disease, poison, and holding one’s breath.
4	APP Bonus, or directed bonuses to Courtesy, Flirting, Intrigue, and Orate.
5	Other Skill or Combat Skill Bonus
6	Bonus Damage or Damage Resistance: Extra damage or protection from negative effects, such as from Fire, Cold, Poison, Suffocating (or Drowning), and Disease.

Finery: The elfin knight rides a Fairy Horse. The knight also wears fine jewelry and clothing worth at least £25, which evaporates at next sunrise if separated from the knight.

Devil’s Dandy Dogs

Also called the Cwn Annwn (“Hounds of Hell”), these are dogs that have been woefully possessed and corrupted by fiends. Their job is to fetch the souls of fallen Christians and take them to their eternal torment. The mournful howling of the dandy pack decreases in volume as they draw nearer, so that when nearby they oddly sound like yelping beagle puppies. Sometimes the voice of a bloodhound, deep and mournful, sounds among the pack, to signal a mortal’s doom.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
18	25	20	15

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Devilish Bite	20	6D6
Trickery	20	2+1D6

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	33
Knockdown	18
Major Wound	15
Unconscious	8

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	30
Armor Points	13
Glory Award	250
Valourous Mod.	-15

Devilish Bite: Normal armor never counts against a Dandy Dog’s bite attacks, but instead the target’s Spiritual Trait acts as armor equal to its value. Thus, a Player-knight with Spiritual 17 effectively has 17-point armor against the Dandy Dog’s bite.
Fire Tongue: The Dandy Dog’s tongue appears to be made of unholy, green flame. Whenever a Dandy Dog scores a successful attack with its bite, make an immediate follow-up attack with its Trickery Skill. Players may protect themselves against the trickery by rolling against their Devotion Passion; failure or fumble indicates they take trickery damage.
Fiendish Banes: Iron does +1D6 points of damage; additional weaknesses or vulnerabilities may be assigned by Gamemasters.

Giants

Giants are oversized humanoids from the ancient days. This race ruled the world long ago before heroes drove them into waste places. They are bigger than men but slow of wit and of body. Their foul habits are more like those of bears than people, and many delight in eating the flesh of humans. They wear crude hides and make nothing requiring any degree of skill or refinement.

Giants come in two varieties: True giants and ogres (including wildfolk). All are remnants of the old guardians of the earth, now reduced to mere ragged vestiges, rapidly diminishing in number. They were once counted among the fairy folk but are now more akin to mortal beings of the flesh. For example, most can no longer work magic; they must mate like animals to create new forms for themselves, and iron no longer singes their flesh. Nevertheless, they are still considered magical creatures, for they cannot exist in a world free of all enchantment.

True Giants

Most giants are not much bigger than large men. A few giants, however, are monsters of legendary proportions and are best avoided by all right-thinking knights. Giants are exceedingly lustful and unchivalrous and have been known to mate and deal with humans. The Saxons interbreed with them and even recruit them into their armies. The Roman Emperor employs them as part of his bodyguard.

In combat, true giants use only simple clubs (which range from mere branches to logs to whole uprooted trees) or their natural abilities (grappling and brawling). Their thick skin is rough and hard.

Small Giants

Small giants are usually not smart, and though slow they can do a lot of damage with a single blow. They are not much bigger than a large Saxon, but they are much stronger and hardier than any man.

SIZ	DEX	STR	CON
30	8	30	25

Attacks

Attack	Value	Damage
Club	13	5D6+10
Grapple	18	Special

Health

Statistic	Value
Hit Points	55
Knockdown	30
Major Wound	25
Unconscious	14

Other

Statistic	Value
Movement	34
Armor Points	15
Glory Award	100
Valourous Mod.	-5

Skills: Avoidance 0 (+5 to track with Hunting)
Reach: Thanks to their long arms, small giants do not suffer a height disadvantage when fighting mounted knights.