FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 6"/18"
HIT DICE: 2
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 ~ 16
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-3
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Bite causes sleep
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Saves at level of its creator
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: See below
ALIGNMENT: See below
SIZE: S (1 1/2')
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: III | 81 + 2

This creature is created and animated through a special process by a magic-user and an alchemist (described hereafter).

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The homonculous travels on its hind legs or by flying.
Its bite causes 1-3 points of damage, and forces the victim to save versus magic or fall into a comatose sleep which lasts for 5-30 minutes.
The creature makes all of its saving throws at the same level as its creator.
Although the homonculous cannot speak, it knows what the magic-user knows, and the latter is able to see and hear through the creature's eyes and ears.
There is a telepathic link between
the magic-user and his creature, and the homonculous can be controlled
up to 48" away from its master. It will never willingly pass from this
maximum range. If the homonculous is killed the magic-user immediately
suffers 2-20 points of damage.

When a homonculous is desired the magic-user must hire an alchemist,
and the latter will require from 1-4 weeks to create fluids for forming the
creature. This will cost 1 pint of the magic-user's blood and 500-2,000 gold
pieces. The magic-user must then cast a mending spell, a mirror image,
and a wizard eye upon the fluid to form the homonculous.

Description: When the homonculous is finished it will be man-like in form,
about 18' tall, have a greenish, reptilian skin, leathery wings, and a bat-
like mouth with teeth passing on a venom which causes sleep unless the
party bitten saves vs. magic.

Homonculous creation
by Ed Greenwood

Being A Recipe, Most Complete And
Correct, Prepared By The Willing And
Allied Hands Of The Grand Alchemist
Of Neverwinter, Askrim "the Bold," And
The Wizard Dauntus, Seneschal of
Silverymoon: The Making Of A Homonculous.

Firstly, an acidic base of water into
which is crushed a thousand thousand
ants, and out of which is strained the
insect remains, is prepared in a black
iron cauldron.

Secondly, the following herbs must
be crushed and powdered together in a
separate vessel: an acorn, and a whole
plant or large leaf each of balmony,
birthwort, fennel, and ginseng.

Thirdly, a brass brazier must be lit,
stoked with charcoal, and over the flames
must be cast a handful of rose petals,
incense, and a pinch of fine sand.
The cauldron of acid must now be
placed on the brazier and heated.
Straightaway, ere it comes to the boil,
the powdered herbs must be stirred
into it (mind that a dipper or ladle of
wood and not metal is used), and the
following ingredients must also be
introduced into it, in the order given:
the whole skin of any reptile (size is
unimportant, so long as the skin is
whole), a human eye, the brain of a
mind flayer, the wings of a bat, and the
mouthparts or whole head of a vampiric
bat. These may be agitated and
stirred as necessary--they must be
wholly dissolved ere the mixture comes
to a boil.

As the mixture begins to bubble in
earnest, the magic-user shall let fresh
blood from his own body into a vessel
by means of an incision, and one pint
exactly must be added to the pot.
The alchemist then must tend the
mixture constantly, allowing the brazier
to burn out and the mixture slowly
cool. When the side of the cauldron is
no warmer than the room, the mixture
may be covered (tightly, with stretched
and tarred hide sealed with wax, to
keep the air out) and left undisturbed
for 1-4 weeks. When it is adjudged
ready (by the smell of the seal, which
should be sharply spicy) by the alchemist,
the mixture shall be uncovered
and put once more over a brazier with
charcoal and incense.

As it heats, the
magick-user must cast a mending spell
upon the fluid, then a mirror image,
and then a wizard eye. He must then
remain within the presence of the cauldron,
or at least within the future radius
of control of the creature (48"), as
the mixture is heated to a boil. The
alchemist shall then stoke the fires hotter,
and when much of the fluid is
boiled away, the completed homonculous
will be revealed in the cauldron.
When it has cooled (the vapors from the
cauldron passing away), the magic-user
must touch it. It will then be animate,
and will survive (barring physical
attack or misfortune) until the death of
the magic-user, whereupon it will dissolve
into boiling vapor and pass into
nothingness. If it should die first and
the magic-user survive its death, he
must guard and hide its corpse well, for
whatever is done to the carcass shall
happen also to the spell caster--the
remains should not be burned save the
caster has magics to protect against
fire. Remember too, that it can see in
the darkness where one cannot, and
can guard while one sleeps, waking one
at the approach of any creature.
- Briel's Book of Shadows +