New Monster - Woman In White (Crying Woman)

clavis123 · Post by **clavis123** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:48 pm

Here's an undead who might be familiar to Mexican or Central American players...

WOMAN IN WHITE

NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1

SIZE: M

HD: 7 (d10)

MOVE: 30'

AC: 15

ATTACKS: 1 Grapple

SPECIAL: Drain Constitution, Curse of Sorrow, Grapple and Drown, Incorporeal Form, Darkvision 60', Daylight Powerlessness

SAVES: M

INT: Average

ALIGNMENT: Neutral Evil

TYPE: Undead (Unique)

TREASURE:

XP: 720+7

A Woman In White (also called a Crying Woman) is a restless phantom condemned to haunt a lake, river, well, or other body of water. They are the spirits of women who killed a loved one in a waterway, or were themselves killed in one. Because they are unable to ever put things right, they are filled with a mixture of endless sorrow and unquenchable rage. At first glance a Woman In White appears as an attractive, pale figure dressed in a thin white gown. Sometimes she will wear a gauzy veil, other times her face will be bare. Either way, A Woman In White appears to be constantly sobbing, and will often be pathetically calling out for her loved ones (especially if she killed them). Closer inspection often reveals that her tears are streaming from empty eye sockets.

Combat: A Woman In White will seek to grab hold of those she encounters, inflicting Constitution Damage and the Curse of Sorrow upon them. She will then try to drown her victim in any nearby water. A Woman in White is Incorporeal if she is not attacking, but must manifest a corporeal form to grab victims.

A Woman In White is powerless and invisible during the day.

Constitution Drain: The touch of a Woman In White is icy cold, and inflicts 1d4 point of Constitution damage. This can be negated by any spell that confers immunity to cold. Upon the destruction of the Woman In White, any Constitution damage inflicted by her is restored at the rate of 1 point per day.

Curse of Sorrow: Anyone grabbed by a Woman In White must save versus Wisdom or be overcome with profound sorrow. Those who fail their save are unable to attack or defend themselves in any way, sobbing uncontrollably and resigning themselves to their fate.

Grapple and Drown: If a Woman in White successfully grapples, she will drag her victim to the nearest water and hold their face under it in order to drown them. This causes the victim to lose 1/4 of their hit points per round. Those not inflicted with the Curse of Sorrow are entitled to a Constitution save to avoid being damaged that round, and may also seek to break the grapple (as per the Grappling rules in the C&C Player's Handbook).

Incorporeal Form: At will, a Woman In White can become Incorporeal. She must become corporeal, however, to attack and hold a victim. When Incorporeal, a Woman In White can only be struck by silver or magical weapons.

ssfsx17 · Post by **ssfsx17** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:29 pm

I like her very much, and will definitely look for opportunities to use her.

Any chance of continuing your medieval monsters series? I enjoy pretty much all of your monsters.

clavis123 · Post by **clavis123** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:04 pm

ssfsx17 wrote:
I like her very much, and will definitely look for opportunities to use her.

Thank you!

ssfsx17 wrote:
Any chance of continuing your medieval monsters series? I enjoy pretty much all of your monsters.

I have plans to do just that. I had to stop the monster making for a while and write adventures and information for my actual campaign. I have a chance now to finish off the medieval monsters, as well as more modern folklore critters.

If anybody's interested the entire series so far is available on my campaign wiki, at the following address:
http://vaozum.wikispaces.com/Monsters+of+Vaozum

Have fun!

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 8:21 pm

That's nice. I can see a whole adventure based on one of these. Very Ravenloft as well.
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Lurker · Post by **Lurker** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:56 am

Good stuff!

JG I agree something like this could be a great hinge pin for a whole adventure!
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Turanil · Post by **Turanil** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:15 am

Would it be possible to include some of the monsters (in fact mainly those for which I can find a picture; such as the melusine) in the Creatures Features netbook?
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clavis123 · Post by **clavis123** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 12:43 pm

Turanil wrote:
Would it be possible to include some of the monsters (in fact mainly those for which I can find a picture; such as the melusine) in the Creatures Features netbook?

Yes. You have my permission to use any of the monsters on my Wiki., except the Chud. You also have permission to use my version of the Woman In White, and well as the Leather Golem and Hungry Bed I've also posted on the board recently.

I'd like to tell you to use the Chud as well, but since they're partly inspired by an 80s horror movie (and current copyright laws in America are truly Kafkaesque) I'm not sure if I can. The term "Chud" is pretty common urban slang, however.

If it helps with the art, the Bloody Visage is a take on the American "Bloody Mary" legend.

The "Woman In White" is La Llorna, somewhat harmonized with similar North American female ghosts who haunt lakes.

The "Goatsucker" is the Chupacabra

The "Pine Devil" is the Jersey Devil.

The "Deathworm" is the Mongolian Deathworm.

The Monkeyman is a cryptid seen in modern India.

The Swamp Ape is a combination of the Florida Skunk Ape and the Big Muddy Monster of Illonois.

I plan to continue the medieval and modern folklore series on these boards, but I don't think I'll get them all out in time for you to include them in the Creature Feature.

Turanil · Post by **Turanil** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:04 pm

Thanks. However, I don't think I will include all of them, especially none of those which first letter is A, B, C, or D (because I won't redo the layout work done so far). But the few of them that will make it in, will be great additions. By the way, what name should I include for the authors credit section? "clavis123"?
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clavis123 · Post by **clavis123** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:15 pm

Turanil wrote:
Thanks. However, I don't think I will include all of them, especially none of those which first letter is A, B, C, or D (because I won't redo the layout work done so far). But the few of them that will make it in, will be great additions. By the way, what name should I include for the authors credit section? "clavis123"?

My real name is Daniel Hanley.

Now you all know my secret identity!

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 1:38 pm

The creature is similar to Ahuizotl in some ways, but entirely different in theme and reason. An ahuizotl might appear in M&T II.

That's a problem with myth -- several cultures share the same stories, modified only slightly.

clavis123 · Post by **clavis123** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 2:05 pm

serleran wrote:
The creature is similar to Ahuizotl in some ways, but entirely different in theme and reason. An ahuizotl might appear in M&T II.

That's a problem with myth -- several cultures share the same stories, modified only slightly.

I think it's entirely possible that the Mexican La Llorna ghost stories (that the Woman In White is based on) incorporate the idea of a water-dwelling monster from the earlier Aztec Ahuizotl stories. Same geographical area, after all, and basically the same people. Somebody hears a story about a jilted woman who drowns her kids, and also remembers that you're not supposed to go near the water because something in it will try to drown you, and the thoughts get fused together and give birth to a new and enduring legend.

P.S. Here's a vote for including the Ahuizotl in M&TII. I've got a Mexican-inspired region in my campaign that I would certainly use it in!

anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:19 pm

You may not believe this, but my current one-on-one C&C game (which I run for my wife) features this very creature. And, lo, here are her stats!

In my scenario, my wife's PC is helping a nobleman track down a magic statuette which, if placed in a cave, will keep The Crying Woman away from a town in the mountains. The nobleman's family stole it from the villagers to spite them after the villagers kicked his family out for being jerks, and he wants to make good.

Presently, the statuette has been stolen by a man named Balor The Skullhewer (ripped off entirely from the D&D cartoon's Warduke) and may be (in the possession of a ne'er-do-well in The Troll Tunnels, the (literal) criminal underground of Trollmont, and...well, I digress.

Anyway, this is awesome. I grew up in occasional fear of La Llorona, so I'm down with this. Ay, mis hijos...!

clavis123 · Post by **clavis123** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 2:58 pm

Dr Rotwang! wrote:
You may not believe this, but my current one-on-one C&C game (which I run for my wife) features this very creature. And, lo, here are her stats!

In my scenario, my wife's PC is helping a nobleman track down a magic statuette which, if placed in a cave, will keep The Crying Woman away from a town in the mountains. The nobleman's family stole it from the villagers to spite them after the villagers kicked his family out for being jerks, and he wants to make good.

Presently, the statuette has been stolen by a man named Balor The Skullhewer (ripped off entirely from the D&D cartoon's Warduke) and may be (in the possession of a ne'er-do-well in The Troll Tunnels, the (literal) criminal underground of Trollmont, and...well, I digress.

Anyway, this is awesome. I grew up in occasional fear of La Llorona, so I'm down with this. Ay, mis hijos...!

Thanks. I thought La LLorna was such an scary, living legend that she deserved a game write up. I didn't just call the monster La Llorna, however, beacuse I wanted non-hispanics to also see the similarities with the ghosts that haunt the various "Prom Lakes" of the United States. Also "La Llorna" is among the hardest constructions of the Spanish language for native English speakers to say correctly!

What I'd love to see are some more non-european monsters statted up in ways that respect the original folklore.