What Went Wrong in the Stygian Garden: Reaction Rolls
It started with the spider.
They encountered it in the manor courtyard, and the reaction roll was hostile. Surely an antagonistic giant spider would try to chew your face off?
Apparently that made it stupid, too. My bad. The spider leapt and tried to bite, but was deflected. The counterattack bloodied it. It failed the subsequent morale check and fled.
(The module gave giant spiders a Morale of 12. That seemed much too high; I used an 8, per OSE.)
Overall, it was an anti-climactic first encounter.
The pattern continued with the animated statuary. All of the constructs have a Morale of 12 -- implacable lithic Terminators seeking the destruction of player characters.
That was, in hindsight, an over-narrow view. Why should they care about fleshy bipeds? So, I extended the bestiary with interests for each creature.
Presented below is the (modified from the original module) chart I used. A PDF version is also available.
| Encounter | Interests | AC | MV | HD | HP | Atk | ML |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archer Cherub | shoot anything that moves, look down on the world | 18 | 120’ flying | 2 | 12 | Stone Arrows: (range 20/40/80) 1d8 damage and cherub suffers 1 damage each time it fires an arrow, regenerates at a rate of 1HP/day | 12 |
| Buzzard Dandy | look good, embarrass rivals, eat well, survive | 12 | 120’ flying | 2 | 6 | Bite: 1d4 damage | 2 |
| Cave Bat | catch food, go unseen, survive | 13 | 240’ flying | 1 | 2 | Bite: 1d4 damage | 4 |
| Giant Spider | trap prey, survive | 14 | 90’ | 3 | 12 | Bite: 1d4 damage and save v. poison or take 1d8 damage the following round | 8 |
| Grandfather Toad | wallow moistly, catch food, survive | 12 | 60’ | 4 | 18 | Tongue Lash: 1d3 damage and save v. paralyze or be swallowed whole and take 1d6 damage/round | 10 |
| Green Slime | NA | NA | NA | 3 | 10 | Contact: 2d6 damage every round until removed, immune to all damage except fire/acid/magic | NA |
| Grotesque Spouter | climb buildings, dissolve organics | 18 | 60’ | 5 | 30 | Acid Spout: (range 10/20/30) 2d10 damage and save v. breath weapon for half damage only usable every d4 rounds | 12 |
| Ivy Viper | suffocate the warm-blooded, lay eggs, survive | 12 | 120’ | 1 | 2 | Bite: save v. poison or die in 1d4 minutes | 4 |
| Marble Knight | hit anything that moves, keep walking | 19 | 120’ | 6 | 36 | Granite Sword: 1d10 damage | 12 |
| Poisonous Toad | catch food, survive | 14 | 30' | 2 | 4 | Contact: save v. poison or take 1d6 damage the following round | 4 |
| Rat Swarm | eat, breed, spread filth | 12 | 120' | 2 | 10 | Bites: 1d4 and save v. poison or contract disease, only takes 50% from piercing attacks and only takes 1 point from slashing attacks | 8 |
| Russet Mold | NA | NA | NA | 5 | 22 | Spores: save v. poison or contract infection causing 1d4 damage/day, immune to all damage except fire/acid/magic | NA |
| Saffron | escape the cage | 22 | 240’ flying | 1 | 3 | Bite: 1d2 damage | 12 |
| Stranglecreeper | digest animals, grow larger, survive | 12 | 15’ | 3 | 12 | Strangle: 1d6 damage | 12 |
| Wild Man | avoid people, live in comfort | 12 | 120’ | 2 | 6 | Fist: 1d2 damage | 7 |