Monsters! Monsters! Everybody loves 'em. Well, everybody except for adventurers that is. But everyone whose opinion matters. Supplement III has a whole lot of awesome new beasties that have stood the test of time and editions. But first, some changes to some old favourites.
TRITONS: The fish-men introduced in Supplement I now have a chance to gain psionic powers. So this means that whatever is awakening the minds of the PC races is getting these guys as well (and a number of other monster types as you will see below).
TITANS: Introduced in Supplement I, these uber-powerful giants are surely strong enough already, aren't they? Nah, they need 60% magic resistance now. How did they get it? It's a mystery, but I'm going to chalk it up to them regaining the favour of some god or another. In addition it's revealed that they can talk to any kind of giant, and they are very buddy-buddy with Storm Giants. They can now gain psionic powers, and as if that ain't enough they're completely immune to psionic directed against them. With all this extra power, the DM can now use them to Titan the screws on his players (har har).
LICHES: Continuing the trend of monsters that are already strong enough getting a major power-up, Liches also gain psionic potential.
COCKATRICES: Now that the Astral Plane and the Ethereal Plane have been concretely established, there's a need to elaborate on how certain monsters interact with them. First up is that wonderful chicken-monster the Cockatrice, which is said to extend into both of these planes. As such its beak (which turns anyone on the regular plane to stone) will instantly kill a creature touched in the Astral Plane. Anyone in the Ethereal Plane is turned into ethereal stone, and can only be seen by creatures able to see ethereal. There's something extra-rad about a monster that can turn you to stone that only exists in another dimension.
BASILISKS, GORGONS and MEDUSAE: For consistency's sake, all of the other monsters that can turn your ass to stone are given the same abilities as the Cockatrice above.
CATOBLEPAS: Add the Catoblepas to the above category as well. As if that monster's insta-death-no-save-gaze wasn't absurdly deadly enough...
INVISIBLE STALKERS: These beasties live in the Astral and the Ethereal Plane. When encountered in these places they can be dimly seen and thus more easily struck, which is a rare case in OD&D of a special exception making something LESS deadly.
GRAY OOZE: Now this is a good one. It's revealed here that Gray Oozes have a sim intelligence, and that occasionally one might have latent psionic potential. So if anyone uses a psionic power near one of these things, it will lash out with a psychic crush. This tickles me greatly, and reinforces oozes as something alien and unknowable.
YELLOW MOLD: Similarly, a large colony of Yellow Mold can form into a collective intelligence. If any creature approaches such an intelligent mold, it will deliberately attack with a cloud of spores, and if psionic powers are used near it, it will retaliate with the most powerful version of Id Insinuation. Normally you can't retaliate, unless there's a Cleric on hand with the ability to telepathically communicate with plants.
So that takes care of the monsters that have been introduced previously. Next time I'll tackle the various forms of Demons, and maybe the Demon Princes if I'm feeling extra-productive. (Unlikely.)
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