1d20 Tanar'ri

1. Holgoch, a Dretch. A philosophical creature, but a ravenous one. Keeps dismembering its debate partners. Will mock you if you mention that it is a Dretch - “A category so broad as to be useless, morsel." 
2. Chilperian, a Vrock. Deeply in trouble. Paranoid and gluttonous. Gorged itself on soul-larvae meant for the flesh-lined table of Orcus. Forced to flee Thanatos. Feels it can no longer keep running. Convinced it’s being hunted. 
3. Koltif, a Dretch. Once boss of a hideous maze-like district of Lemoriax, the Twisted City. Huge claws. Two heads, a sign of favour from Demogorgon - except, it was embarrassed in combat, by a mere mortal. Its second head is now dead and rotten, a fly-ridden weight on its neck. Wishes to reclaim its fame and station. 
4. Ukylhk, an Uridezu. A ratlike, hunched thing, covered in weeping welts. Its head resembles a rat’s skull, crowned with a fused rib cage, bloodied and covered in strips of meat. Fervent, vicious servant of Orcus. The fervent devotion displayed by this creature is extremely unsettling and repulsive to other Tanar’ri. It’s usually left alone to tend to its personal shrine to Orcus, unless needed for errands. 
5. Schugan, a Barlgura. This thuggish thing has four arms, and a tongue the length of a horse. Considers itself prince among barlguras, although this is certainly untrue. Has found itself tricked into the service of Graz’zt. Bitter. 
6. Yrelgor, a Babau with the face of a weeping child. Red-black, with barbed claws and a prominent hooked spines along its back. It breathes reeking clouds of blue smoke when angry. It wears a moth-eaten cloak of purple velvet. It is a member of Graz’zt’s court, occupying the closest position a Tanar’ri can manage to ‘castellan’. It’s a sycophant and a coward. 
7. Haspigor, a Vrock. Proud and gigantic among it’s Vrock cousins. Shimmering red feathers. Believes itself the spawn of Pazuzu, an Obyrith Lord, and true heir to the title ‘prince of demons’. Believes its aura of terror and venomed claws will allow it to stand up to Demogorgon. This is unlikely, to say the least. Its beak has a wicked hook. Battlecry is reminiscent of a pen full of pigs screaming in pain. 
8. Ja’acian, an Armanite. Adamant armour nailed with silver spikes to its upper body. Head has a long, distended jaw with maggoty gums and a whipping, spiked tongue. Hooves are all hooked and spiked with stolen green steel. Arrogant and violent, even for a Tanar’ri. 
9. Naloscag, a Maurezhi. Distended, eyeless ghoulish face. Wears a cloak stitched from flayed mortal faces and naught else. Travels with a gang of hideous ghouls, which lurk with it through tunnels and sewers in search of prey. 
10. Bovuulch, a Chasme. Works for various cults in the City of Doors, in exchange for copious amounts of raw meat. It shapes horrid little statues of itself out of the meat, in a pillared cave on the Plain of Infinite Portals. It calls this cave its Grand Temple. It wants to get itself a cult. 
11. Gerigan, a Barlgura. A giggling, feeble sadist, with long, bony limbs and bluish-white fur. Many half-formed, cataracted eyes have sprouted along the undersides of its arms and back. It considers itself a prophet. 
12. Ik-chit-kilchat, a centipede-like Adaru. Face of an elderly woman on a scuttling black centipede, with seventy red legs. Lets out stinking clouds of brownish vapour as it moves. Collects fingers and toes. Primarily Baatezu, but treasures the toes of celestials and mortals. It’s prize - the long toe-claw of an astral berbalang. 
13. Augolich, a Hezrou. Replaced its teeth with huge shards of flint. A minion of the vicious godling Vaprak. Has an iron cage wired onto its back which contains a Hound Archon called Idalia. Augolich uses the Archon’s suffering to power grim magics. Its favourite sound is screaming, of any kind. 
14. Zagarzjec, a Nabassu. A leathery, dark green thing, with long, tapering limbs covered in hundreds of tiny tendrils. Massive, reflective white eyes, and translucent wings. Completely deaf and constantly howling. Hunts around the edges of the tiny mortal communities that struggle along in the Abyss, preying on the lonely and afraid. 
15. Gor-Gorith, a Molydeus. One of Orcus’ most vicious servants. Hunting Chilperian the Vrock. Its two heads, snake and wolf, viciously despise each other. Wears a cape of rotting baatezu limbs, harvested from the war-fields of Avernus. Wields a flail made from the spine of a storm giant, which crackles and smokes as the demon wields it. 
16. Xakokoohl, a Nalfeshnee. Missing its jaw. A second jawlike structure, a tongue covered in tiny, black teeth, has taken up the job. Constantly dribbles squirming ichor which transforms into flies and worms when it passes. Pulsing tumour on upper arm causes agonizing migraines in nearby mortals. Considers itself on the verge of ascension to Demon Lord. 
17. Draggonach, a Klurichir. Has viciously acidic spit. An Obyrith, Kholokaan, lives inside a cavity in Draggonach’s head. The creature is unaware of it’s passenger, feeling no pain, and believes the Obyrith’s whispered commands to be the workings of his own diseased mind. Wields two flaming axes. Kholokaan can poke out from a ragged hole on the back of Draggonach’s neck - a sinuous, slime covered worm, with five protuberant mandibles and a baleful green eye between them. 
18. Hurygorum, a Nalfeshnee, who suffered 20 years of embarrassing servitude, bound to an evil paladin by a powerful spell. Has returned to The Abyss to find it’s domains in disarray. Is mechanically executing its former lieutenants and myrmidons, where it can find them. Thick, oozing gut is home to a hive of creatures that resemble spider-legged lampreys, which it sics on it’s enemies. 
19. Golgk, a Goristro. A prodigious creature. Has a gigantic, front heavy head, wrapped in ratty black silk and stabbed with jewelled pins. Born in the flesh-pits of Baphomet’s laboratories, but exiled for being just too stupid. Has found its way to the court of Graz’zt, who keeps it around for muscle, even if he can barely stand the sight or smell of it. In his spare time, Golgk likes to pop quasits like grapes, and bully mortal residents of Zelatar, the City of Lies. 
20. T’thyghonaar, a Myrmixicus. A 40-foot long serpent, with a dragon skull head, four scything limbs and a lamprey mouth at the tip of its tail. Swims the brackish, monstrous oceans of the Abyss, not powerful enough to escape the whims of its creator, Dagon, but too strong to be commanded without some repercussion. Likes to hunt and eat surviving Obyriths, to spite its hated creator. Wields a giant scythe forged out of a thousand stolen green-steel blades. Regularly swims down the Styx to Hades, to hunt Yugoloths and destroy ships.

Scots Monsters

The mythical creatures of Ireland and England are pretty famous. Leprechauns are almost cliché at this point (use Gancanagh instead, is my advice) and any depiction of giants that aren’t Norse are usually based on old English giant myths.

I really recommend Jack the Giant Killer, it’s very OSR.

The other British mythologies don’t get as much coverage, I don’t think. Welsh, Cornish, Manx and Orcadian monsters rarely feature in media (with the possible exception of the Orcadian Nuckelavee, which is a really good monster.)

However, the one I know most about that gets ignored is Scots mythology.  And let me tell you, Scots monsters are gameable.

 

Beithir  - The Scots Dragon. Its name variously means ‘thunderbolt’ or ‘serpent’. In fairness, this is cheating, because it’s already in D&D as the ‘Behir’ of the Monster Manual. The ‘giant snake-dragon’ angle is played up pretty well, but one story that’s missed out is the Beithir’s ability to mind-control anyone they wind around the neck of. The mythical Beithir can disguise itself as a tunic, or perhaps a necklace or torc. Perhaps the local laird is suddenly acting cruel and erratic after a man from the hills gifted him a new cloak? 

Another quality of the Beithir is reviving itself from death unless it’s decapitated and the head burned. They can’t breathe fire or fly, but they’re physically powerful and aquatic. Supposedly the last beithir was killed in Islay, in 1900, with cannons and spikes.

Ghillie Dubh (Gilly Du) – A solitary fairy found in a birch forest by Loch a Druing. A friendly, helpful male Dryad, basically, who lives a harmless life in a forest and helps lost travellers. A wholesome social encounter for your party. The ‘real’ Ghillie Dubh was supposedly driven away forever when the local laird sent a party to hunt and capture him.

Labh-allan (Lavellan) – A wee harmless looking water-rodent, usually found dwelling in deep pools or wells. Regarded as a kind of shrew or vole, but one that was ridiculously, hilariously poisonous, to the point of killing cattle at 100 paces. Supposedly found mostly in Caithness, right up in the north.

Kelpie – A shapeshifting aquatic horse-creature, well known for two primary powers: the ability to take a human form, and the ability to make their skin adhesive. The classic story I always heard was of a young fisher or similar seeing a wild horse on the edge of a loch, trying to ride it, becoming stuck, and getting dragged screaming to their doom. A Kelpie would likely have a hell of a hoard of stolen treasures down among the slimy wrack of the loch – steal or negotiate, either works.

Selkie – Shapeshifting seals who ‘step out’ of their skin and become humans. Orcadian myths suggest their seal forms were much bigger than ordinary seals. Anyone who holds a selkie’s seal skin can control them, but they’re long-lived magical shape-shifters. This is a GLOG class waiting to happen, and, in my opinion, the replacement for playable elves in a theoretical Scottish myth campaign.

Blue Men of the Minch – Merfolk native to the Minch, the cold, squally body of water between Scotland and the Hebridean islands (where we used to go for family holidays when I was a wain.) If they catch up to your ship, their leader calls out two lines of poetry and demands you complete the verse.

Blue Chief: Man of the black cap what do you say

As your proud ship cleaves the brine?

Skipper: My speedy ship takes the shortest way

And I'll follow you line by line

Blue Chief: My men are eager, my men are ready

To drag you below the waves

Skipper: My ship is speedy, my ship is steady

If it sank, it would wreck your caves.

If you don’t, or do so badly, they sink your ship. The idea of Blue Men trying this on the modern metal-hulled CalMac car ferries is humourous.  You have my express permission to update the above to a rap battle, if you want. 

One interpretation of the Blue Men is as dolphin-folk, in effect merfolk with delphinid qualities as opposed to fishlike. They’re also called ‘storm kelpies’ on occasion.

Wulver – Shetland isn’t part of Scotland proper; they have many of their own customs and creatures (such as the Up Helly Aa fire-festival). One such creature is the Wulver, a benevolent werewolf who catches and provides fish to poor families (likely an excuse for anonymous charity in the community.) Wulvers could do a good job of faking out your player’s expectations for lycanthropes, or replacing dwarves as your cheery hirsute folk.  

Bodach and Cailleach – Old Bastard and Hag, translated roughly. Basically, the bogeyman and a witch, but also a cranky old married couple. Bodach is a foul, rude, scowling old lout, who comes down the chimney to kidnap rude children. Cailleach is from the same mythological origin as the Annis and Gwyllion, which became the D&D Hag. Cailleach specifically became the Bheur Hag. 

Special mention to the Scots Gaelic term for owl, ‘Cailleach-oidhche’, literally meaning ‘Night Hag’, and the Bodach Glas, the Dark Grey Man, who supposedly foretells death. If I was using Bodach and Cailleach, I’d play up their nimbleness and owlish qualities respectively. Probably NPCs for the party to bargain with.

Sluagh (Slooa) – Probably of similar mythological origins to the Wild Hunt or Fairy Host of Germanic myth. A bunch of souls of the unforgiven dead, who fly along the sky in a crescent shape and pick people up, carrying them miles away, or to another island. Sometimes said to rescue people from dangerous crags, but that seems the exception rather than the rule.

Glaistig – A kind of vampire, a beautiful woman with the legs of a goat. Regarded as a patron of cattle drivers, possessed of an enthralling voice. Recognisable similarities to Scandinavian huldra and Greek sirens alike.

Benandonner – When I was 11, I went on a trip to Ireland to visit the town some ancestors had lived in. The town itself was boring, but the trip was great. The highlight was the visit to the Giant’s Causeway, where I heard about the Scottish Giant Benandonner, who was tricked and made a fool of by Fionn MacCumhaill of Irish myth (Finn MacCool). As you might expect, I preferred Benandonner. 

Described as a giant among giants, ridiculously tall and incredibly gullible. To give it a D&D link, the Causeway was called ‘The Stepping Stones of the Fomorians’, apparently, so there you have how I’d interpret Benandonner. A really fucking big, dense Fomorian, with a fiery red beard thick as a tangle of ropes and a sword fifty paces long.  

Brunaidh (Brownie) – Also called Grugachs, which Gygax has tricked the world into thinking means ‘Elf’. They’re basically your standard house-spirit, like the Bwbach or the Hob. They help around the house dressed in rags, when the humans are asleep, in exchange for cream or porridge. They leave if you give them clothing (Rowling got it from here) or if you try and baptise them. They definitely come across as uptight wee pricks in the myths, since half the stories are about all the specific ways you can piss them off.

Trow – Another Shetlander creature, shy, small, nocturnal and ugly creatures, usually unseen but blamed for missing items and small thefts. It was terrible luck to see a trow, but a good omen to hear one speaking. Another Scots creature that became a weird elf thanks to Gygax – I think replacing D&D Drow with Shetland Trows would be very interesting. Turns out the primary inhabitants of the Underdark are 2 and a half feet tall and look absolutely boufin.

Redcaps – Have found their way into D&D just fine. Originate from the blood-soaked wilds of the Scottish borders region, and often associated with the ‘reivers’ and ‘moss-troopers’, semi-nomadic brigands with allegiance to neither nation. The cap soaked in blood thing is translated pretty much right from the myths.

Nessie – You might have heard of Nessie. Probably the most famous Scottish monster, a water-creature (usually depicted as a plesiosaur these days) that cropped up as a cryptid in 1933. Would be hard to make work in a game, since she’s so commercialised, but I’m planning to have her in that Esoteric Enterprises game set in Glasgow I’ll never run. Another running gag I use is paranormally knowledgeable characters being regretful for some kind of undescribed incident involving Nessie. ‘Poor Nessie.’

 

Funnily enough: Nae Elves.

Or at least not D&D Elves. The Fair Folk are the villains in most Celtic myths. Do not fuck with the Good Gentlemen of the Hills. You can’t just play one and go running around. They’re careless, hungry, pagan godlings. Terry Pratchett’s Elves are the best example, I think. The ‘Fuath’, which I think map best to Scottish elves, are basically Deep Ones, aquatic creatures that interbreed with humans. 

King James VI regarded elves as a possible policy problem for Scotland, and most ballads (Tam Lin, the Elf-Knight, and The Queen of Elfland’s Nourice, for example) have the elves as sociopathic kidnappers. They’re a random encounter, and a bad one, not something a PC can be.

As you may notice, a hell of a lot of these creatures are associated with streams and water, and if not that, then bad weather. Which should probably say a lot about Scotland’s primary qualities.

Skitterjaws

 It is widely accepted that geometric patterns in ink, scar or star can control the flow of magic. This is why the constellations are called the Maker's Spellbook. 

For those who know this, a question is often asked: is the mind of the mage required, or does magic flow down any channel, heedless, irrgating the world with chaos?

The answers to these questions may be found in the shell of the Skitterjaw. Endemic to a single region of the frozen Republic of Wurmgar, these titan centipedes can be found stalking a wetland known as the Dead Fens.

The Dead Fens are part of the watershed of the River Vok, which skirts along the Grave Ridge, where the bones of gods are said to lie, and continues to distant Xarrac to the east. These fens are known for their blood-red algal blooms, and the huge spires of 'godbone', carried from the Grave Ridge by storms, landslides and ancient glaciation. 

The Skitterjaws themselves are apex predators, 20ft. long, with poisonous, greatsword sized mandibles. They hunt the giant toads and catoblepas of the Fens as their primary food, but will gladly eat folk, little morsels though they are. 

This is not what terrifies folk. What does terrify folk, keeping children and soldiers alike awake at night in nearby Tzorovik, is the Skitterjaws' use of powerful, primitive necromancy. 

In short, it reanimates its victims. A skitterjaw's horde of shambling, rotten zombies is never far behind it, mostly swamp fauna, but always with a few unfortunate folk shambling alongside.

The skitterjaws' use of the undead is threefold - first, they serve as excellent defense, either guarding the skitterjaw's feeding grounds or accompanying the creature itself. Second, they provide temperature control and defense for the beast by clinging to it, forming an 'armour' of corpses. Third, the mobile, sturdy undead provide perfect repositories for the fist-sized, glistening eggs of the Skitterjaw. 

Rival Skitterjaws have been observed using their hordes to resolve conflicts, with the winner reanimating the usable parts of the loser's legion, and the loser fleeing unharmed into the bogs. 

Stats for these horrible boys:

        Glog

Skitterjaw

Level 7 Def plate Jaws 2d6 (Save or take +1d6)

Move fast Climb spider Str 8 Int 3 Dis hungry

Zombies - A given Skitterjaw is surrounded by a horde of 3d6 shambling undead. Roughly a third will have large, translucent eggs protruding from their torsos, containing juvenile skitterlings. The Skitterjaw is violently protective of undead containing eggs, and uncaring for those that do not. The Skitterjaw can take one turn to raise any nearby corpse as a zombie. 

Thick Chitin - Any damage dealt by a slashing weapon is reduced to 1. On the other hand, smashing or bludgeoning weapons like hammers deal an extra 3 damage per attack, as the Chitin cracks and splits. 

Undead Armour - The Skitterjaw can command any number of zombies to cling to it, reducing incoming damage by one point for each two zombies. It knows to split its undead between armour and attackers. 

Phobia - Skitterjaws dislike leaving the comforting fogs of the Dead Fens, and hate direct sunlight or large fires. 

         D&D 5e

Skitterjaw

Huge Beast

------------------------------------

AC – 17

HP – 82

SPEED – 30ft., Climb 20ft. 

-----------------------------------

STR – 18 (+4) 

DEX – 12 (+1) 

CON – 18 (+4) 

INT – 5 (-3) 

WIS – 14 (+2)

CHA – 6 (-2) 

------------------------------------

SAVING THROWS –

RESISTANCES – Slashing, Cold, Poison

VULNERABILITIES - Bludgeoning 

CONDITION IMMUNITIES – Stunned, Poisoned, Charmed 

SENSES – no special senses. Passive Perception 12

LANGUAGES – none

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TRAITS

Spider Climb 

Sunlight Sensitivity 

Undead Servitors - The Skitterjaw is accompanied by 3d6 zombies, roughly a third of which contain its eggs. 

------------------------------------

ACTIONS

Bite - reach, 5ft, +8 to Hit, 3d6 Piercing Damage, Con. Save or take 2d6 Poison Damage and become Poisoned, Save at end of turns. 

Undead Armour - As a bonus action, the Skitterjaw can command any number of zombies to cling onto it. It gains 5 Temporary HP per zombie employed in this manner, to a maximum of 80. While it has these temporary hit points, it is Vulnerable to fire and radiant damage, as the zombies are easily burnt. This vulnerability does not carry over into it's actual HP. 

Raise Undead - As an action, the Skitterjaw can turn a corpse within 60ft. into a zombie. 

Encounters in the Iron City of Dis

Dis is the capital of the Layer of the Same Name in Baator, which is better known as the Nine Hells. It's become entangled across various settings, but the concept is the same: a very big, very horrible city in the depths of Hell. 

I always feel like Dis has ended up as being just 'the part of Baator you can visit', which, i feel, defeats the point. No part of Baator should be the 'part you can visit.' 

Dis has a great setup for paranoia and sort of 'social surveillance horror'. Have Imps watch the party wherever they go. Street corners are plastered with posters calling for the invasion of their home plane. Shady merchants greet them by name, and exact age, in shops they've never been to. Baatezu list (notorious) sins they've committed as a form of greeting. 

So, here's 1d8 Encounters to spring on your players as they stalk the streets of the Iron City:

1.     One of Dispater's Courier Imps, flying along as if in a hurry. If the Imp fails to deliver its message, the Infernal war machine will suffer a setback: perhaps pointless (odds on a d6) or perhaps crippling (evens on a d6). If you choose to interrupt the Imp on its way, you will strike a blow for goodness in the multiverse - but get yourself in trouble at the same time.

2.     An Osyluth (Bone Devil). It's swooping low over the rooftops, looking for fools to pressgang into the Blood War. This particular Osyluth has a shameful addiction: it likes to help people. Every so often, for the perverse thrill of it. The Osyluth might attempt to exercise its 'vice' with the party, but if they bring attention to this bizarre hobby it will become aggressive. 

3.     First, a single hot, orange droplet. A Hamatula (Barbed Devil) looks up to the sky and grumbles. Tieflings run for cover, and all the tormented souls begin to moan in horror, in a unified chorus that can be heard all across this district of Dis. Above, the grey-black clouds glow with a baleful orange light. 1d6 Rounds later, it begins to rain molten iron. 

Any character who's in the open takes 4d6 Fire Damage a round. Combine this with fights or other encounters to really give a sense that Dis is inimical to mortal life.  

4.     The party wander through Dis' shifting streets onto the Street of Small Gods, which contains myriad temples to hundreds of evil godlings. The clergy here are protected somewhat from the predations of the Baatezu. 

 Here, the party might find a religiously motivated street-brawl. (have two Gods with opposing portfolios, perhaps Violence and Subterfuge. Make the Gods and the Clergy like, comically, laughably evil.) 

 They might find Clergy willing to work against the Baatezu, in order to subvert the hated Asmodeus and ensure their own particular godling's ascension.

 They just might find a secret temple to a god of good, and its beleaguered cleric. But are they truly uncorrupt..? 

5.     A group of Soul-Shells (Baatorian Petitioners, sent here for acts the Gods judged as sinful) are undergoing the painful process of being converted into Lemures, larval proto-Baatezu. While these people were probably the worst of tyrants, assassins and serial decievers in life, do they deserve this horrible fate? Which is the lesser of two evils? Besides, if the party rescue them without enraging the authorities, they might make good hirelings. 

6.     A bridge over a canal of molten iron, occupied by a small group of off-duty Baatezu. There's five of them, each from a different kind of Baatezu, and they're demanding exorbitant 'official tolls' from travellers. Their secret trap is that the bridge can be opened, dunking everyone on it into the molten iron. The baatezu, immune to the effects of heat, will be unharmed, but unless the people they're harassing are fleet of foot, they may find themselves incinerated. 

    The bridge's trap can be detected with a Perception Check of medium difficulty, or simply described to a player with a high Passive Perception. 

7.     Two Cornugons (Horned Devils), powerful foes that are not to be trifled with, escorting a Paladin of a good deity to some grim fate: presumably possession, torture, or, if the Devils are feeling merciful, execution. Will your players let this good soul walk to their doom, to avoid trouble with the authorities? 

8.     Hand two of your players a note saying 'You hear a whisper in your mind: One of your companions is not who they seem'. Make sure they don't tell anyone, unless it's in character. If your players enjoy RP, this will breed immediate suspicion and paranoia. Of course, nothing is wrong, everyone is themselves. It's just a routine psychic broadcast.