A Witcher’s Journal: The Monster Pit

Hey, everybody! Cody here!

As I started looking through the huge list of monsters Lisa and I put together during development of the The Witcher TRPG, I figured we should have some of the really frightening stuff for those players who have honed their monster hunting skills. Eventually, you learn how to fight werewolves and griffins and hordes of drowners and they stop being challenging. Luckily, there are a few monsters in the Witcher world that are so tremendously dangerous they aren’t likely to lose their edge anytime soon!

Like the Frightener and the Manticore, two of the more dangerous creatures we’ll be introducing in A Witcher’s Journal, our upcoming bestiary.

The Frightener is a huge, mantis-like insectoid, created by a mage called Dagobert Sulla! They say that after creating this monstrosity, Dagobert exclaimed “What have I done!?” and immediately destroyed it. Unfortunately, the instructions to create a Frightener were not lost with the first’s death! In the Witcher TRPG, the Frightener poses a tremendous threat. On top of being able to camouflage itself when amongst rocks and crevasses, the Frightener is equipped with scything claws that it can swing with crushing force and a thick exoskeleton which not only gives it a high Stopping Power but also renders it immune to bleeding wounds, continual fire damage, and freezing while giving it resistance against piercing and slashing attacks. And this is only the beginning! The Frightener is equipped with a tremendous number of defensive capabilities, making it difficult to damage and highly resilient. Luckily, it has very sensitive hearing, allowing it to be staggered by loud noises! Also, the monster’s sorcery-driven origin makes it sensitive to steel so a silver weapon is not required to fight this beast!

The Manticore poses a different threat but is just as dangerous! This, large, winged, lion-esque creature doesn’t have much armor but it’s high HP and Reflex make up for that. What makes the Manticore really dangerous is an arsenal of offensive capabilities! Not only is the Manticore capable of diving down on a target from high in the sky to deliver extra charging damage, they can also lash out at enemies with their powerful fangs, their claws (which have a high chance to leave bleeding wounds), their wings (which have a chance to knock their target prone), or the poisonous stinger on their tail! I’m actually working on a special poisoned condition for the Manticore based on its stinger, which carries a rare type of poison normally only found in the sap of the Bohun Upas tree. The condition will likely wind up doing more damage per turn and have a much higher Endurance DC to end the effect. It may even have some special effects! Of course, there’s a reward at the end of the deadly toxic tunnel. Once you kill the Manticore you’ll be able to loot some of this deadly poison to coat your weapons!

We’re hoping to ensure threats for even the most diehard monster slayer in A Witcher’s Journal! And with that, I head back to work! Have a great day and keep your swords sharp!