Monster Mayhem
(May)

This month, Todd Lockwood and Jonathan Tweet collaborated on our choice of monsters. Jonathan explains their choice:

"The ethereal marauder picks its fights. It can stalk adventurers ethereally, ‘phase in’ from the Ethereal to attack when a character seems vulnerable, and then slip away if it gets too badly hurt. One reason I like the ethereal marauder is that it's a low-level monster, with only 3 Hit Dice. In earlier versions of D&D, most of the low-level monsters were boring. Monsters didn't get cool special abilities unless they were tougher. But why shouldn't low-level characters have fun, too? Now even low-level monsters have funky powers."

Even though the ethereal marauder is new to D&D, it was inspired in part by an old favorite of Dungeon Masters everywhere. Todd tells the story of the ethereal marauder’s creation:

"He was originally drawn as a replacement for the First Edition ‘piercer,’ and got a lot of folks excited. We were calling him the ‘dropper,’ as a work-in-progress name. I thought that was the end of that. Then, over time, the Piercer replacement became something else, and the drawing no longer worked. I put him in a drawer and tried to forget him. Meanwhile, there was an ethereal marauder critter described that got a new drawing, too. I never really liked it, but it fit the description of what the monster did, and -- though sorta dopey looking -- it would have been nasty. As things turned out, the monster was scaled down in size, and the MO that fit the drawing was no longer viable. A new drawing was needed. I brought out the old dropper, made some minor modifications, and he worked perfectly. He's creepy and tough looking. I like him..."

Ethereal Marauder

Medium-Size Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 3d10 (16 hp)
Initiative: +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
Speed: 40 ft.
AC: 14 (+1 Dex, +3 natural)
Attacks: Bite +5
Damage: Bite 1d6+3
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Ethereal Jaunt
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 12, Con 11, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Listen +5, Move Silently +7, Spot +7
Feats: Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative

Ethereal marauders are aggressive predators that can move quickly from the Ethereal Plane to attack opponents on the Material Plane.

The creatures live and hunt on the Ethereal. Their ecology and habits are obscure at best -- few have observed them in their natural habitat for any length of time, and their appearances on the Material are limited to those occasions when they are attacking prey. They are assumed, however, to have no society or culture in the traditional sense, being motivated solely by the need for sustenance and survival.

The marauder’s appearance is odd, to say the least. It resembles a bipedal lizard or dinosaur with a sinuous tail. The thick skin has a mottled, rough, and uneven texture, with coloration ranging from bright blue to deep violet. Its most disturbing feature is the lack of a head. Instead it has a gaping maw surrounded by three powerful mandibles; gleaming, jet-black teeth line the inner mouth. Three small eyes ring the maw, interspersed with the mandibles.