Monday, March 26, 2012

A Penny for the Old Guy and Stats for the Aye-Aye

You don't know this thing?  This is an aye-aye, a lemur native to Madagascar.  While not my favorite animal, I'm rather fond of them.  I mean, look at that face.

They're interesting creatures; they use a specialized middle finger to extract grubs and such from trees.

Also, they're supposed to be pretty friendly; they have no fear of humans.

Anyway, noisms wrote a post requesting statistics for such a creature, and I decided to participate, because aye-ayes are awesome.  Also, proving that synchronicity is rampant, Jedediah recently started a new series called "Strange Beasts" which gives descriptions of weird creatures rife for gaming.  So far, she's only done honeypot ants (another favorite of mine; the variety and diversity of ant species is truly staggering), but I'm sure that will grow pretty quickly.  Or it already has, because you're reading this post three years in the future.


Anyway, I decided to go with the legends surrounding the aye-aye to make a mythic aye-aye.  Stats are Weird Fantasy Role-Playing, but conversion should be pretty simple.  Enjoy!

Death Lemur (Mythic Aye-Aye)

No. Appearing: 1
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120′
Armor Class: 13 (as no armor + shield for you non-LotFP:WFRP people)
Hit Dice: 7
Attacks: 1 (finger-stab or pointing)
Damage: 1d4 (or death; see below)
Morale: 9 (if your system tracks morale)

Occasionally called the "aye-aye" by native tribesman, the Death Lemur is a strange, nocturnal creature.  Supposedly, the Death Lemur was empowered by the local death god as a psychopomp.  Seeing a Death Lemur is an ill omen, and a sure sign that a death will befall the village.  For this reason, the villagers have many minor rituals that are to ward against the presence of death, and whole tribes will engage in ritual hunts to purge the creatures from the nearby forest in the hopes of removing the taint of death from the area.

Death Lemurs are frequently solitary, and sapients always encounter them alone.  They are typically docile, only attacking those who attack them, although they do occasionally take lives according to inscrutable whims.  In combat, the Death Lemur points at victims with its long, thin middle finger; anyone subjected to this fate must save vs. magic or die instantly.  If forced into close combat, it will attempt to stab with its middle finger.  The creatures are surprisingly adept with their strange digits, able to punch through light armor or find gaps in more heavily-armored opponents.

1 comment:

  1. They're no sloths, but I do agree that aye-ayes are pretty awesome - they always look so tweaked out! I'm a fan of this treatment, as I always enjoy mythical/magical versions of familiar animals.


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