A few ideas for Mesoamerican themed D&D monsters and how to use them. I’m including stats for my house game so Grant can use them. If you want to convert these to standard OSR-type games, you can use the CB value as the creature’s hit dice, and AC here is on an ascending scale from 0 (no armor) to 7 (plate armor with helm). DM (damage), MV (movement per combat round) and MO (morale) can all stay as they are. Everything on this list can see in the dark.
Warrior Statue
This abstracted statue of a fierce warrior will come to life and attack as soon as a specific condition, determined at the time of its creation, is met. Some ancient sorcerer-kings have been known to create entire armies of these eternal guardians to stand watch in front of their tombs. Their eyes are usually made of either polished obsidian or other valuable stones.
gnome-sized- HP:6 | CB:1 | DM:d6 | AC:7 | MV:10’ | MO:12
human-sized- HP:10 | CB:3 | DM:d10 | AC:7 | MV:20’ | MO:12
ogre-sized- HP:14 | CB:4 | DM:d12 | AC:7 | MV:30’ | MO:12
Avatar Statue
Normally, the deities don’t care much about mortal affairs as long as they get their sacrifices. In times of desperation, a deity may temporarily channel a small portion of its power into a statue or carving depicting that deity, bringing the monolith to life. Or at least that’s what the high priests say happens. Maybe it's just them enchanting the statues themselves like the guardian statues.
In addition to the combat abilities of a warrior statue, each avatar statue has the ability to cast the spells within that deity’s domains.
Obviously if you're only going to have one avatar statue in your whole campaign it has to be a statue of Coatlicue or you suck.
Tezactelotl
Gorilla-sized jaguar-like creatures every bit as intelligent as humans, but lacking the hands required to build and use tools. They prefer to eat humans/humanoids whenever possible, out of spite rather than because of a flavor preference. They also like to play with their food. Tezactelotls speak Nahuatl in a creepy whisper like Edward Norton as Batman (EDIT: fuck you Edward Norton and Christian Bale are basically the same person), as well as their own language composed of deep growls and other cat noises.
Tezactelotli prefer to dwell in ruined human settlements, or in cave systems that are similar in their complexity. They are also more social than their less intelligent cousins, living in prides with 3d12 members.
HP:12 | CB:4 (adv to stealth & perception) | DM:d10 claws | AC:2 | MV:80’ | MO:8
Spell-like Abilities (1/day): phantasm, charm person, fear, aid of earth.
Mizquixolotl
Giant, moving trees from an alternate reality in which all intelligent animal life was exterminated long ago. Right now, they’re only studying humanoid cultures, but they’ve got a big xenophobic streak and it wouldn’t take them much to go full-on genocidal again.
Mizquixolotli have a rich culture that is unknown to most humans, in which music, sculpture, horticulture and magic are all facets of the same mathematical discipline. They control the growth of trees and smaller foliage in at least seven dimensions, causing branches to apparently grow into each other or suddenly appear out of nowhere when viewed from a certain angle. The aesthetic quality of these works is determined both by their visual form and the surprisingly complex tones and beats made by wind passing through their leaves and branches.
Both the unearthly music and the hyperdimensional forms of the trees contribute to bizarre magical effects. These include multisensory illusions, imperceptible teleport traps, gateways to other realities, time dilation bubbles, and all kinds of crazy shit.
HP:24 | CB:6 | DM:d10 | AC:4 | MV:30’ | MO:10
Lemisch
A mostly aquatic canine the size of a pony, with a serpent like tail twice as long as its body. It lairs in freshwater caves, and lies in wait near the surface for prey. These predators are only found alone or in breeding pairs.
HP:14 | CB:3 | DM:2 claws (d6) or tail slap (d8) | AC:3 | MV:30’ land 60’ water | MO:7
If a tail slap hits, the lemisch grabs on and begins to constrict next round, 1d8 per round, check to escape each round.
Hueke-Hueke
Possibly a sub-species of stingray that somehow evolved amphibious qualities, as well as powerful claws at the end of its fins. Hueke-hueke don’t move quickly on land, but are patient enough to act as effective ambush predators. A hueke-hueke at rest resembles a 10’-15’ wide patch of stretched leather. They have been reported to attack from both above and below, inside and outside. If possible, they will lie in wait near water to allow for a clean getaway, in case on becomes necessary. Groups of more than one hueke-hueke are extremely rare.
HP:8 | CB:5 | DM:claws (d6) or tail stinger (d6+poison) | MV:10’ land 40’ water | MO:7
Okay that's all the ones I've got fleshed out (as much as they're gonna be anyway) at the moment. The tree and jaguar monsters are basically weird treants and reskinned worgs respectively, but the hueke-hueke and the lemisch are from legends. More to come.
Okay that's all the ones I've got fleshed out (as much as they're gonna be anyway) at the moment. The tree and jaguar monsters are basically weird treants and reskinned worgs respectively, but the hueke-hueke and the lemisch are from legends. More to come.
