CREATURES FROM LITERATURE

DASKDRAUDIGS

Val	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
50	STR	40	19-	Lift 25.6 tons; 10d6 HTH Damage [5]
14	DEX	8	12-
30	CON	20	15-
10	INT	0	11-	PER Roll 11-
10	EGO	0	11-
30	PRE	20	15-	PRE Attack:  6d6

5	OCV	10	
5	DCV	10	
3	OMCV	0	
3	DMCV	0	
3	SPD	10		Phases:  4, 8, 12

25	PD	8		Total:  25 PD (15 rPD)
25	ED	8		Total:  25 ED (15 rED)
12	REC	8
60	END	8
25	BODY	15
65	STUN	23		Total Characteristics Cost:  188

Movement:	Running:	24m/48m 
		Leaping:	0m/0m
		Swimming:	0m/0m

Cost    Powers & Skills
10	"Coils As Heavy And Hard As Stone":  +20 STR; Only To Grab/Crush (-1), END 2
7	"Terrifies And Confuses":  +15 PRE; Only To Intimidate (-1)
24	Can Shatter Trees With Its Coils:  HA +4d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-¼)
30	Bite:  HKA 2d6 (5d6+1 w/STR), END 3
60	Aura Of Revulsion:  Mental Blast 6d6 (Human class of minds), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½), Trigger 
	(if detected with taig-sense;Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets 
	automatically, immediately after it activates; +1); No Conscious Control (exact dice of effect 
	depends on the sensitivity of person being attacked; -1), No Range (-½)
40	"Tree Tall":  Knockback Resistance -40m
36	"Rock-Hard Scales":  Resistant Protection (15 PD/15 ED); Perceivable (-¼)
-2	Body Akin To Stone:  Leaping -4m
12	"Tree Tall":  Running +12m (24m total), END 1
-2	Body Akin To Stone:  Swimming -4m
8	"Can Renew Itself":  Regeneration (1 BODY per Hour)
12	"Seems As Rock Until Roused":  Shape Shift  (Sight and Touch Groups), Imitation, Costs END Only 
	To Change Shape (+¼); Extra Time (1 Minute, -1 ½), END 2

	Skills
16	+2 with HTH Combat

6	Concealment 14-; Self Only (-½)
9	Disguise 14-
	
Total Powers & Skill Cost:  267
Total Cost:  454

175+	Matching Complications
15	Distinctive Features:  Aura Of Evil And Revulsion (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes 
	Major Reaction; Detectable By Uncommonly-Used Senses)
15	Physical Complication:  Near-Human Intelligence (Frequently; Slightly Impairing)
20	Physical Complication:  Very Limited Manipulation (Frequently; Greatly Impairing)
20	Physical Complication:  Gigantic, up to 16 times human size (roughly 32m long) (Frequently; 
	Greatly Impairing)
15	Psychological Complication:  Being Of Evil And Malice (Common; Strong)
279	Experience Points

Total Complications Points:  454

Ecology: Daskdraudigs, also known as rockterrors or rockserpents, are creatures of the taig (forest). They tend to lie still amid the trees, disguised as a rocky ledge or outcropping, although some will take the form of ruined buildings or lengths of wall. Ambush predators, they will usually retain their stone-like form until their prey (which is just about any warm-blooded being) comes within range, at which point the daskdraudigs will rouse itself, shedding its rocky guise, and move in for the kill.

Personality/Motivation: Described as “an evil thing,” daskdraudigs seem to be aberrations to the natural order of things. As cold-hearted as the stone from which they are made, daskdraudigs have an aura of evil and revulsion about them, and seem to serve little purpose other than as a destroyer trees and devourer of warm-blooded creatures.

Powers/Tactics: A daskdraudigs body is covered in thick scales of stone, and is virtually immune to normal weapons. Ordinary weapons, such as arrows and swords, will usually bounce off of the creature’s scales, becoming blunted in the process, if they don’t break outright (this can be assumed to be an effect of the Real Weapon Limitation, or you can give the daskdraudigs a Dispel Damage Shield). Its stone-like form is such that an immobile daskdraudigs is virtually indistinguishable from natural outcroppings of rock or man-made structures. Those with some form of taig-sense (defined as any number of Detects of Danger Sense dealing with the health of the land or the status of the local forest or realm) can detect the presence of a hidden daskdraudigs due to its evil aura, but this has its hazards. A daskdraudigs aura will often fill a person’s mind with hate, disgust, and revulsion, although the exact effect depends on how sensative the person is to begin with (figure 1d6 at 8-, 2d6 at 11-. and +1d6 for each +2 to the die roll).

As heavy and massive as solid rock, daskdraudigs can easily crush a living creature in their coils, and are capable of shattering trees and snapping them off at the base simply by moving. The dwarves, or dasksinyi, craft daskin arrows, which will penetrate a daskdraudigs’ scales with ease. These arrows “set” the stone of the daskdraudigs’ body, fixing it in place. Care must be taken when hunting daskdraudigs in this manner, as it takes several daskin arrows to full “fix” a daskdraudigs, and the creature will keep its coils moving in an effort to overwhelm its hunter. In addition, a partially fixed daskdraudigs can rebuild its body, given time, and regain mobility.

Appearance: A daskdraudigs looks somewhat like a serpent, “being long with a writhing body and coils.” Covered in thick scales of stone, it apparently as long as a tree is tall, and is as heavy and hard as stone.

The daskdraudigs listed here is roughly 32 meters (or 100’) long. If the daskdraudigs are truly as along as trees are tall, then they can easily get two to three times that long.

Designer's Notes: The daskdraudigs appears in Oath of Gold, the third novel in The Deed of Paksenarrion, by Elizabeth Moon. It only appears for two pages, and is described on two more (if that), so a lot of what I have here is based on conjecture. The character sheet started out as a Giant Snake from the 5E HERO System Bestiary, I then added modifications based on the Body of Stone power from The Ultimate Brick. I presume the daskdraudigs to be an animal, albeit an evil one, with a strong degree of cunning. If you wish to make it more dragon-like (and actively malevolent), remove the “Near-Human Intelligence” Complication and raise its INT, EGO, and mental Combat Values.

I’m not sure how to model “fixing” the daskdraudigs in place with daskin arrows. At best guess this is simply a special effect for doing BODY damage. Each point of BODY done by a dwarf-forged arrow locks a certain number of meters of daskdraudigs in place, locking the full length of the daskdraudigs kills it.

(Daskdraudigs created by Elizabeth Moon, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)

Daskdraudigs' Hero Designer File


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