Monster Madness looks at forgotten monsters from the early days of gaming, when creativity ran rampant, game balance was an afterthought, and critters with little rhyme or reason plagued dungeons for the sole purpose of brutally murdering adventurers. Before Harry Potter, before Quidditch, before the Golden Snitch, there was the Bomb Monster, from the pages of The Dungeoneer Compendium by Jim Ward.
Granted, the Golden Snitch is smaller and considerably more benign. But the Bomb Monster looks a lot like it: a sphere with wings. Except in the Bomb Monster's case, it's roughly the size of a bowling ball. Since Bomb Monsters suffer from a pathological need to "touch or be touched by any living thing" (don't we all?), one might reasonably be concerned about the impact of a twelve pound bowling ball to one's head.
If this thing's flying at your head, you have bigger problems. As you might have deduced from its subtle name, the Bomb Monster is a bomb. A radioactive bomb. And thus, it explodes, as bombs are wont to do, inflicting10d8 damage in a five-foot radius.
That's not the weird part. Okay, that is weird, but what happens next is weirder.
After the Bomb Monster has exploded, it then REFORMS in two rounds. And you thought Gas Spores were bad!
Then, in ways only God and game masters can deduce, the thing eats the exploded remains of whatever it blew up. How does it eat? Does it even have a mouth? Where does the food go?
Fortunately, there's hope. While the Bomb Monster is reforming, adventurers can hack up the remaining pieces, ensuring it won't reform.
This is another one of those monsters where you have to ask yourself: does this one note screw-job really need to come back to life? This has to be the only old school D&D monster that has "1" next to "No. Appearing." Why not just make a bunch?
Here's a better idea: Why not just make a Nuclear Bomb Monster and roll all the dice you have in your possession for damage, then give all new characters rolled up for the next session a Constitution of 3 because they now live in a world beset by a nuclear holocaust!
| Bomb Monster (CR 7, HD 5d8) N Tiny Aberration Init +7 Spd Fly, Poor 50 Senses All-Around Vision (Ex); Low-light Vision (Ex); Darkvision (Ex): 60 ft. | Listen +2, Spot +10 AC 16 (FF 13, Touch 15) hp 22 (Disabled 0/Dying -10/Injury 10) Saves: Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +1 Regeneration (Ex): 5, Atk +8 base melee, +8 base ranged; Grapple -2; Face 10'x10'; +8 Melee (Slam 1d6+4/crit 20/x2); SA: Death Throes (Ex) , Poison Spray (Ex) SQ: No Discernable Anatomy (Ex), Abilities STR 16, DEX 16, CON 10, INT 2, WIS 10, CHA 1 Feats: Alertness, Improved Initiative. Skills: Hide + 11, Listen + 2, Search + 4, Spot + 10. Death Throes (Ex): A Bomb Monster can explode at will in a powerful radioactive burst. This blast affects all creatures in a 5-foot radius, dealing them 10d8 points of fire damage and exposing them to radiation. A DC 10 Reflex save halves the damage. The save DC is Constitution-based. The Bomb Monster receives this damage without a saving throw. Radioactive (Ex): A creature struck by the exploding Bomb Monster must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 15) or suffer from radiation poisoning (1d6-2 Con initial damage, incubation period of 4d6 hours, 1d6-2 Con secondary damage). All-Around Vision (Ex): A Bomb Monster can see in all directions at once. Because of this, it gains a +4 racial bonus on Search and Spot checks, and it cannot be flanked. No Discernable Anatomy (Ex): A Bomb Monster is immune to critical hits. Regeneration (Ex): A Bomb Monster regenerates even after it dies from an explosion, regrowing portions of its body as soon as it reaches -10 hit points. When it reaches 0 hit points, the Bomb Monster can explode once more. |
Comments
Does anyone else recognize what the little ball is? or at least what it looks like? Anyone here a Harry Potter fan?
Hi Sammi,
That would be the Golden Snitch. I referenced it in the second paragraph. :)
How is 10d8 damage a CR 3 creature? That's a lot of freaking damage. This is more a CR 7 or 8 monster
Hi Razz,
It's an oversight on my part. I updated the CR.
Thanks for pointing that out!
DOING
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