The Black Boars of Carnax
by James MishlerHere are a few nasties to throw at your unsuspecting adventurers. I plan on posting a new creature 2 or 3 times a week; each time I post such I will include both the creature species and a unique individual of that species. The first creatures that I will post are the Black Boars of Carnax; these creatures are found on the plateau and in the valleys of the lands of Carnax, northeast of the Confederated Kingdom of Robrenn. They are a thoroughly vile lot; when a pack becomes united under a powerful leader they often dominate a local tribe of orcs (the orcs of the region consider them to be sacred beasts, so they consider it an honor to work "with" the pack),working with them to raid and pillage the human lands with no mercy. In these cases the most elite warriors of the orc tribe will have the honor of riding the boar into battle.
The boars are social creatures, of a sort. The most powerful male boar rules the pack, though the eldest and most powerful sow has a voice as to where the pack hunts. The females are part of the "Alpha" male's harem, with the other males being kept in line by threats; if a male doesn't like the alpha's rule, he can either challenge and attempt to defeat the leader, or he can leave the pack. A pack consists of 1d6 males, 2d6 females and 2d6 young. While the boars are omnivorous, they prefer fresh meat. A pack will have a lair where they shelter for the night; they also keep their treasure there (being intelligent, they realize the value of treasure; it often saves them the bother of going hunting, as their food will usually come to their front door)... There is a 30% chance that 1-3 CE Wereboars will be found associated with the pack. Also, there is a 10% chance that a tribe of orcs will be associated with the pack; if so, there will usually be 10-30 orcs in and around the lair as well (the pack will not live with the tribe; they will raid together, but maintain seperate residences). The boars worship Tanar'ri; there is a 5% chance that the eldest female will have the spellcasting powers of a 5th level priest (requiring neither material nor somatic components). The boars can speak orcish, and the most intelligent of them can speak a smattering of common (almost all can understand common).
The Folk of Robrenn have several legends concerning the black boars, the majority dealing with "_The_ Carnax Boar", known as Daman Emrys. Daman Emrys is the King of the Black Boars; it is believed that he is immortal, as there are several legends which state that he has been killed (and even once, eaten), yet he is aways invariably sighted once again. Daman Emrys, though called the "King" of the black boars, apparently cares little for his "people", as on the few occasions that he has organized them, he has done little more than lead them to slaughter (causing much chaos and destruction in Robrenn as well). Daman Emrys seems to exist only to cause chaos and destruction at any opportunity; while he appreciates mass destruction, he enjoys causing personal suffering just as much, and often thinks up long and convoluted plots just to cause one person grief. There is a 50% chance that he is encountered with 1-3 CE wereboars; he tends not to associate with orcs.
Statistics for the Black Boars and their "King", Daman Emrys, follow. The stats for Daman Emrys are in brackets.
The Black Boars of Carnax [Daman Emrys]
Clim/Terr: Land of Carnax [plus Kingdom of Robrenn]
Freq : Uncommon [Unique]
Org : Pack [Nomadic, Solitary (generally)]
Active : Night
Diet : Omnivore
INT : Low to Very [Genius]
Treasure: C [R,S,V]
Align : Chaotic Evil
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# App : 5D6 [1]
AC : 5 [2]
MV : 15
HD : 6+6 [92 HP (approx. 12+ HD)]
THAC0 : 15 [9]
# ATT : 1 [2 or 1]
D/A : 4-16 [5-30/5-30 or by Weapon +7]
SA : Paralyze, Disease
SD : Hit only by Silver or Magical weapons [hit only by +2 or better magical weapons, Regeneration]
MR : Nil [15%]
Size : M (4' at shoulder) [L (8' at shoulder in boar form; 8' tall in human form)]
Morale: Steady (11-12) [Champion (15-16)]
XPV : 1400 [12,000]
The Black Boars of Carnax appear as large, shaggy black boars, with highly intelligent eyes and razor sharp tusks. They speak a strange dialect of orcish, and most understand common, though not all speak it.
Combat: When presented with intelligent opposition, the boars are capable of providing a united front; the alpha male will bellow out orders in stunted orcish; most of these orders will be followed, at least until blood is shed. Once blood is shed, the boars lose all sense of cohesive attack and revel in combat. Many parties unaware of the nature of the Black Boars will chase after a lone boar, thinking to catch dinner, only to find that they are the ones who have been caught...
The tusks of a black boar are coated with a paralytic fluid; the first time in a combat that a character takes damage from any one boar he must roll vs. poison or be paralyzed for 1-6 turns; if he saves, he is immune to any further effect from that specific boars poison for 48 hours (this has no effect on exposure to the poison of another boar). A character who survives an attack by a black boar, and has taken more than 50% her hit points in damage (from any combination of boars), must make a saving throw vs. death magic, or that she will become a wereboar with the next full moon; if Cure Disease is cast on her before the night preceeding the full moon, the lycanthropy will be removed; otherwise, the lycanthropy can only be removed with a Remove Curse cast according to the monster manual will succeed in removing the disease. For every month spent as a wereboar (beginning with the first change, and on every change thereafter), the character moves one step closer in alignment to Chaotic Evil. Ffirst he will move from Lawful to Neutral to Chaotic, then from Good to Neutral to Evil; a Lawful Good character will become Chaotic Evil in only 4 months (LG to NG to CG to CN to CE). This affects the character in both human and animal form, so it may be some time before the characters friends realize why he's become so surly of late. This alignment change can be stopped only by removing the lycanthropy; after it is removed, the character may return to his old alignment. Once the character has become CE, she will seek out the Black Boars to serve them; they might accept the wereboars service, or the wereboar may serve them once... as dinner.
Ecology: The Black Boars are enemies of all that is good and wholesome; they also have no respect for the balance of nature, so they are also the avowed enemies of the Druids of Robrenn. They provide nothing to the ecology.
Daman Emrys "_The_ Carnax Boar"
Daman Emrys most commonly appears as a huge black boar with red rimmed eyes and huge tusks; he is also capable of taking on human form, in which case he appears as an 8' tall hairy bearded barbaric type of fellow. In either form he regenerates 1 hp/round, beginning the round after he is damaged; he will regenerate *any* damage, *except* when the damage is done by a "Holy" weapon of Breig
When he is damaged by a "Holy" weapon of Breig, he will attempt to either destroy the opponent who holds such a weapon, or, if the odds are against him, he will flee, using other methods to destroy his opponent (remember at all times that Daman Emrys, while Chaotic and Very Evil, is also a Genius; Chaotic Evil does *not* mean Chaotic Stupid). Being immortal, he will have generations to wreak havoc on the descendants of such an enemy. In human form, he is more than capable of using weapons; he is proficient in any weapon he might have, and is a Master in the use of the Battle Axe. He will stash his treasure in a hidden place when he takes boar form (he has several such stashes throughout the region, the listed treasure types being only that which he has available at the moment). His favorite weapon, _Barkgnasher_, a +3 Druidslaying Battle Axe, was lost over 3 generations ago in a battle against one of the Robrenn Defenders (who died making good her escape with the weapon). he constantly searches for the axe; it's current whereabouts are unknown, as it disappeared shortly after the Defender who took it from him died.
Combat: Daman Emrys is capable of goring twice with his tusks while in boar form; the paralysis effect is the same for his attacks as for other black boars, except that the character must save *each* time he is damaged with the tusks (twice in one round equals two saves that round)! If a surviving character takes more than 50% hp's in damage from his tusks, she must save vs. Death Magic at -3 or be affected by lycanthropy as per the black boars, above. However, the first time the character changes into wereboar form, she will become Chaotic Evil, no matter what her current alignment, and will seek out Daman Emrys to become his servant. If he considers the lycanthrope worthy, he will assign it to some minor task; more tasks will be assigned if the character continues to be successful. Eventually, the character will be assigned an area of Robrenn to torment (of course, the character will have become an NPC under the control of the DM by the time of the first change). In human form, Daman Emrys is unable to cause lycanthropy or paralysis in any manner, even if he chose to bite a character. He will attack once a round with any weapon except the Battle Axe, with which he has 3 attacks every 2 rounds. With any weapon but a Battle Axe, he has +3 to hit and +7 to damage; with a Battle Axe, he is +6 to hit and +10 to damage. He will use any magical weapons or other items he has to the best of his ability (he may use any item that a warrior may use). Note that if he has a cursed item, he will do the best he can to convince any innocent character he might come across to take it off his hands (he is not affected by any cursed items or scrolls, though he will be affected by geas, the reverse of Remove Curse, etc.), representing it as some strange (yet powerful) item he found in a tomb, or some other such story (he plays "dumb" very well). More than a few promising warriors have fallen due to such machinations.
Habitat/Society: He has little to do with his "people", unless he wants to stir up a whole lot of chaos (see pt 1). He is sometimes found with several of his wereboar followers, generally only when he has some plot that is about to come to fruition. Other than that, his only interaction with society is his attempt to bring it down. He can be found anywhere in the Robrenn/Carnax region, and he sometimes ranges further afield, though never further west than Renardy, nor further north or east than Hule.
Ecology: Daman Emrys can be understood to be chaos incarnate when it comes to ecological balance; he has no respect at all for the balance of nature, and over 100's of years he has made it his goal, and his "peoples" goal, to destroy the Druids of the Carnuilh. Note that as such the rangers of Robrenn may take the Black Boars of Carnax as their "Enemy", and the bonuses that apply against the Black Boars also apply against Daman Emrys.