Into the Caves of Chaos: Stats, first draft

I am preparing to run B2. This post is probably the start of a series of attempts to adapt it for my purposes. First, stats. Given that more people have signed up than I was expecting, I want to use the fastest combat system possible. So I am writing up Into the Odd/Mark of the Odd/Cairn-style stats for the Caves of Chaos. At this point it’s mainly missing the various prisoners. I welcome any criticism because while I could copy-paste some of these straight from Cairn, I honestly have no idea what I’m doing.

Kobold Lair

Kobold – 3 HP, 8 STR, (throwing) spear (d6)

Kobold Chief – 5 HP, 10 STR, battle axe (d8)

Pack of Giant Rats – 2 HP, 5 STR, bite (d4)

• Detachment Swarm: cannot be harmed by individual attacks, only vulnerable to blasts and detachment attacks. In turn, damage against individuals as blast.
• Critical Damage: The wound becomes infected and the wearer suffers from halved HP for a month.

Pit Trap: D6 STR damage. Blocks progress. Jumping over it requires STR save.

Orc Lair

Orc Warrior – 4HP, 10 STR, 10 DEX, 8 WIL, One throwing and one melee spear (d6)

Orc Leader – 6HP, 12 STR, 11 DEX, 11 WIL, 

• Orc Leader 1: Mace (D8), crude shield and mail (Armor 1)
• Orc Leader 2: Axe (2xD6 – one melee one thrown), plate (Armor 2)

Giant Centipede – 1 HP, 6 STR, 3 WIL, sting (d6)

• 2’ long centipedes that live in damp, underground places.
• Generally shy, but will attack if approached.
• Critical Damage: the venom renders the target deprived for up to 10 days (save STR once a day to recover).

Goblin Lair

Goblin – 4 HP, 8 STR, 12 DEX, 8 WIL, several spears each (d6; can be thrown)

Goblin Leader – 6 HP, 10 STR, 14 DEX, 12 WIL, bow and spear (d6 each), chain mail and shield (Armor 1)

Ogre – 6 HP, 16 STR, 8 DEX, 6 WIL, club (d10), bear hide (Armor 1)

Hobgoblin Lair

Hobgoblin – 5 HP, 12 STR, 8 DEX, Crossbows and swords (d8), Chain mail (Armor 2)

• Automatically succeed in Morale Saves if a commander is present.
• Trained to fight together, damage dealt is enhanced if an ally is also engaged with the same enemy.
• Note: Cairn stats these much stronger than here but in B2 they’re only a bit stronger than goblins

Hobgoblin Torturer – 6 HP, 14 STR, 7 DEX, Whip (d8)

• On critical: Damages Dex rather than Str

Hobgoblin Chief – 7 HP, 14 STR, 9 DEX, 12 WIL, Nasty sword (D10), Full plate (Armor 2)

Shunned Cave

Gray Ooze – 2 HP, 15 STR, 5 DEX, 3 WIL, devouring touch (d8)

• Giant, brainless blobs of black jelly driven only by their insatiable hunger.
• Moves along walls and across ceilings. Squeeze through holes and cracks with ease.
• Immune to mundane attacks, save fire. Normal attacks splits the Black Pudding, creating two Puddings that share HP and STR.
• Dissolve: On Critical Damage, armored targets lose 1 Armor point. STR loss to unarmored targets is permanent.
• Note: adapted from Cairn Black Pudding, which have more HP but less STR.

Owlbear – 9 HP, 16 STR, beak (d10) or claws (d8+d6)

• Huge, carnivorous bear-like creatures with the face of an owl. Found in dense forests.
• Excellent trackers, can detect even the slighest signs of prey.
• Highly territorial, attack anything that comes too close.
• Critical Damage: Maul the target, crushing armor and tearing a limb apart.

Bugbear Lair

Bugbear – 6 HP, 14 STR, 12 DEX, 11 WIL, mace (d8, bulky), fur hide (Armor 1)

• Note: Bugbears are less beefy in Cairn. But they have 3HD in B2 so I made them tougher.

Bugbear Chieftains – 6 HP, 16 STR, 13 DEX, 12 WIL, mace (d10), fur hide (Armor 1)

• Note: B2 says these are as tough as an Ogre so this is just an ogre again, but with more DEX and WIL.

Caves of the Minotaur

Stirge – 3 HP, 6 STR, 14 DEX, bite (d8)

• Large, nocturnal mammals that feed on the blood of their victims.
• Unaffected by darkness or blinding effects. Loud noises and holy rituals may frighten them.
• Critical Damage: Recovers full STR and HP if the target has blood.
• Cairn Vampire Bat

Fire Beetles – 2 HP, 4 STR, 12 DEX, 6 WIL, bite (d4)

• 3’ long beetles commonly found both deep underground and buried in thick brambles.
• Produces a orange slime through the abdomen that lasts for several days. The productive organ is very valuable alchemists.

Minotaur – 12 HP, 16 STR, 8 WIL, axe (d10) or horns (d6+d6), Chainmail (Armor 1)

• A large, muscular humanoid with the head of a bull. Generally lair in a maze or dungeon, making the whole place it’s territory.
• Notably strong, is able to easily break stone, which it uses to alter the enviromment and separate its foes to kill them one by one.
• If the minotaur suceeds in a Critical Damage save, it is driven into a bloodthirsty state, enhancing all its attacks and impairing all attacks against it. Only stops when killed or if it no longer sees any foe.

Gnoll Lair

Gnoll – 6 HP, 1 Armor, 12 STR, 8 WIL, spear (d8) or short bow (d6)

• Critical Damage: the gnoll enters in a rampage after tasting blood, making another attack immediately.

Gnoll Chieftain – 8 HP, 14 STR, 12 WIL, Pieces of plate mail (Armor 1)

Shrine of Evil Chaos

Skeleton – 4 HP, 7 STR, 11 DEX, rusty sword (d6), rusted armor (Armor 0)

• 3 armor vs pointy weapons. They’re skeletons.
• Note: I didn’t like how these are statted in Cairn

Zombie – 2 HP, 10 STR, 5 DEX, 3 WIL, rusty sword (d6)

• Note: I didn’t like how these are statted in Cairn

20 Skeletons and 20 Zombies – This is a d4 10 STR detachment.

Acolyte – 4 HP, 10 STR, 14 WIL, mace (d8), chain (Armor 1)

Adept – 6 HP, 12 STR, 14 WIL, mace (d8), plate mail (armor 2)

Evil Priest – 8 HP, 10 STR, 11 DEX, 14 WIL, Snake Staff (d6; on crit, target is impaired until it passes a Dec save while the Priest continues fighting with spells, grabs another weapon, or flees), plate mail (armor 2)

• Scrolls with Detect Magic, Hold Person and Silence
• Potion of Gaseous Form to escape.
• Spellbooks of Pain (d6 magical damage, bypassing armor) and Fear

Gelatinous Cube – 1 HP, 15 STR, 6 DEX, 3 WIL, devouring touch (d8), is a gelatinous cube (Armor 2)

• Large cubes of transparent jelly, dwell in dungeons absorbing items and living creatures.
• Difficult to be detected due to being transparent.
• Critical Damage: The target is engulfed into the cube and keeps being absorbed.
• Note: Cairn has these at 6 HP but I think this makes more sense. It doesn’t avoid damage so much as soak it up. I’ll also say it has Armor 0 vs pointy weapons.

Medusa – 10 HP, 8 STR, 12 DEX, 16 WIL, snake bites (d6+d4) or gaze (save)

• Magical creatures that look like women with snakes in place of hair.
• Clever and proud, but reasonable. Will let adventurers go free if they somehow please its ego.
• Gaze: Anyone who looks directly at the medusa’s face must save WIL or be turned to stone. Averting eyes from the face prevents this effect, but impairs any damage dealt.
• Targets turned into stone can be recovered by a willing kiss of the medusa, or by being bathed in its blood. The blood of a medusa is only enough to recover a single victim.

Acknowledgements

Besides for Cairn and Yochai Gal, I should credit the “1-page B2” demo at https://gnarledmonster.itch.io/beyond-the-borderlands-1 with initial descriptions and summaries.