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Minion of the Devourer

by Jim Bobb

In my AD&D campaign Acererak the Devourer defeated the brave heroes that delved into the Tomb of Horrors and used the soul energy he had been collecting to empower himself and propel himself into the ranks of the Immortals. His chosen servants of the planes are his servitor Minions, the souls of high level followers transformed into frightening creatures that can better serve their dark master's plans.

Minion of the Devourer


Climate/Terrain: Any
Frequency: Very Rare
Organisation: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Nil
Intelligence: 14-19 (High to Supra-)
Treasure: V
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
No. Appearing: 1
Armour Class: 0
Movement: 12
Hit Dice: 12
THAC0: 9
No. of Attacks: 3
Damage/Attack: 3d4+5/1d6+5/2d4+7
Special Attacks: Disease, Spells, Tail Wrap
Special Defences: See below
Magic Resistance: 25%
Size: Man-sized (5-6' tall)
Morale: Fearless (20)
XP Value: 17,000

Minions of the Devourer are 6' tall human-shaped creatures with beautiful, emotionless elven or human faces. The resemblance to living creatures ends there however; their bodies are covered in wrinkled, rotting skin and bony plates. Yellowed bone-spikes project from the bone plates, giving them a fearsome appearance. Their eyes are two small points of sickly green and they possess a bony tail almost 10' long that ends in a wickedly spiked pincher the length of a short sword. Although they possess the form of a humanoid, being bipedal with two legs and 2 hands, their left hand possesses a projection of 3 bony daggers outward from the wrist.

Combat: Minions of the Devourer are savage and without mercy. They are all exceptionally strong, with a strength score of 18/91, receiving a +2 bonus to hit and +5 to damage. The wicked strikes of a Minion's dagger-claws inflict 3d4+5 points of damage and their deadly pincher-tail may be used to either stab or snap on an opponent for 1d6+5 points. Opponents of size M or smaller that are hit with the snap attack will entangled the next round unless they break free, requiring a successful open doors roll. If the target is entangled, he may attempt to break free with a bend bars/lift gates check once per round. The tail may attack opponents in any direction, but attacks out of the Minion's area of sight are at -2. If attacked specifically, the tail has an AC of 2 and can sustain 20 hit points of damage before being severed.

In addition to these attacks, Minions are usually armed with a conventional melee weapon with which it can attack with. These are usually a jagged-edged bone long sword (wt 4, size M, sf 3, dmg 2d4/2d6) and are +2 enchanted weapons.

The bare handed touch of a Minion can be dangerous. If hit, the target must save versus poison with a -2 penalty or contract a deadly rotting disease. The character won't show any signs of being afflicted with any disease, but after 1d10 days the character will begin losing 1 point of constitution and charisma per day thereafter. If either score reaches 0, the character moulders and falls into a pile of rotted flesh. Before the onset period ends, a cure disease by any level caster will end it. After the disease takes hold, only a remove curse and cure disease spells, cast in that order by at least a 12th level caster, will halt the process. Lost scores will return at the rate of 1 point per day of bed rest, but the character will have lost 1 point permanently from each score. Magical healing will not speed up the process or restore lost points.

Minions are immune to all forms of cold and normal fire, sleep, charm and hold spells and effects. They cannot be affected by any form of mind or emotion control and are immune death magic attack forms and spells. Minions take half damage from magical fire, slashing or piercing weapons and regenerate 3 hit points per round. Only weapons of +2 or greater enchantment can harm them. Against attacks that affect bone specifically, they save at -2 and suffer double damage, where applicable.

Minions cast spells as 12th level priests, with access to the all, chaos, healing (reversed only) and necromancy spheres. They may be turned as specials, but can never be controlled or destroyed.

Once per day a Minion can plane shift at will.

Habitat/Society: Minions of the Devourer are planar creatures from the negative material plane. When they are encountered on any other plane, they are performing a specific task in the service of their deity. Being undead, they have no social needs and contribute nothing to the places they visit. If two or more encounter each other, they may join forces for a short time to ensure the success of another Minion's mission before returning to their own tasks.

Ecology: Minions of the Devourer are the transformed souls of creatures the Devourer has hold on that were at least 12th level in their class before they died. The process involves bathing the soul in an energy bath of focused negative energy and several arcane rituals of binding and animation. Each minion knows its place and obeys their dark deity without question; they know their place as servants of the Devourer are the highest the faithful of the deity has. They have no natural place in the world and give nothing back to the areas they visit, leaving a wake of death and destruction wherever they go.