Sunday, February 1, 2009

Grognard's Grimoire: Redcap (Chaos Goblin)

Redcap (Chaos Goblin)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 1d6 Hit Points
Attacks: 1 Bite (1d6)
Saving Throw: 17
Special: Vicious Healing, -1 To Hit in Sunlight
Move: 9
Challenge Level: 1/15 XP

Redcaps (or chaos goblins) are goblins driven mad by the insidious effects of raw Chaos, reducing them to a bestial state. Utterly devoid of empathy with any living creature, including ordinary goblins, redcaps delight in inflicting pain. Indeed, redcaps derive a strange form of sustenance from doing so. Any successful attack a redcap achieves heals it for an amount equal to the amount of damage it deals to its target. Worse yet, a redcap can double its total hit points in this manner. Thus, a undamaged redcap with 5 hit points who manages to deal 3 points of damage on its attack will now have 8 hit points and, assuming it continues to remain undamaged, can be "healed" for another 2 hit points before reaching its maximum potential hit points.

Though thoroughly insane, redcaps work well with others of their kind, forming predatory packs that attack any creature they can find. Redcaps often take gruesome souvenirs of their victims, such as fingers, ears, and eyeballs, which they use to adorn themselves. Many also use the blood of their prey to dye their tattered clothing, including their hats, the practice of which gave these foul aberrations their common name.

5 comments:

  1. I like this version of the redcap as a chaos goblin a lot. Very nice.

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  2. Silly Redcaps! The secret to a bright and glossy murderhat is Alizarin Crimson; not blood (that always dries brown and crusty). ;-)

    http://www.webcomicsnation.com/memberimages/redcappage9.gif

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  3. Taking this one per our email discussion! :) Let me know if I shouldn't, for any reason.
    Matt

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  4. I like this one a lot! Sufficiently nasty enough that a large group will give a strong party some reason for pause...

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  5. interesting. you've made a few references on this blog to the "serpent eating its tail," in criticism of d&d that references nothing but slightly older versions of d&d. so I appreciate such efforts to do the opposite and draw inspirations from such elements of folklore that had stood the test of time. and your personal twist doesn't make it any less compelling.

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