FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 2-5
ARMOR CLASS: 5
MOVE: 3"
HIT DICE: 5 + 1
% IN LAIR: 75%
TREASURE TYPE: See below
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 (see below)
DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Oil; flamethrower; surprises on 1-5
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Camouflage
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Semi-
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: S (3' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
    Attack/Defense Modes: Nil
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: V/425 + 6/hp

    A millikan looks like a tree stump, about
3' hgih, with numerous gnarled roots. In
the center of the cylindrical body, sticking
out horizontal to the ground, is a funnel-like
projection (the flamethrower). A ring of tiny
eyes circles the trunk above the projection.
From the top of the "stump" the millikan
may extend an appendage resembling a thin
periscope, which is its oil sprayer. The
millikan is a drab an blotchy greenish-brown
or grey in color, and has a thick,
barklike skin.

    With its sprayer and flame projector
retracted, the millikan is unlikely to be
noted as anything more than a stump. A
druid might (10% chance) find its form
peculiar, but would not likely realize that it
was something more than a new species of
tree. For this reason, millikans nearly always
gain surprise when they attack.

    Internally, the millikan's body is much
like a giant organic electric circuit. One of
its organs is capable of generating a chemical
potential (like a battery) which can be
turned on and off voluntarily. One of the
major circuits is responsible for the spark
that ignites the flamethrower. Another one
charges up the capacitor (when in battle),
which takes up a good portoin of the millikan's
cylindrical body. Charged oil droplets
are released into the capacitor's electric field
where they are accelerated to high velocity.
These oil drops then enter the periscopelike
sprayer and are directed out of the top at a
target.

    The millikan is a semi-intelligent
carnivore. Its preferred habitat is a swampy
forest or a cold, damp, subterranean lair,
and it is not always hostile to intruders; in
fact, it is liable to ignore anyone who is not
threatening it if it is not hungry (50%
chance). A good deal of the millikan's internal
structure is composed of metallic substances.
For this reason it hungers for
metals (particularly silver and copper), as
well as animal flesh needed to provide it
with food and fuel for its methane projector
and oil sprayer (the oil is synthesized internally
from animal fat). It is capable of dissolving
metals at its roots and transporting
those nutrients to needed areas of its body.
Millikans are uninterested in gold (they
cannot dissolve it) and gems (they are
inedible), and these objects can be found in large
quantities in their lair.

    The millikan has a unique form of offense.
Its first and major offensive weapon
is the retractable, funnel-like snout in the
center of its body, from which it shoots a
gout of flame (powered by methane) once
per round, in a cone 10' long with a 10'
base. This causes 1-8 hit points of damage, or
half that amount if the target saves vs.
breath weapon.

    The second weapon complements the
first. The creature has an extendable tube
that it projects out the top of its body, with
which it can spray two 30' x 10' areas with
oil each round (at 30' range). Any creatures
in the area must save vs. breath weapon or
contact the spray. A save vs. wands is then
called for to see if the victim is blinded for
1-6 rounds by the oil. In any event, the oil
will cover the target, dripping off in an
hour. During this time, however, the millikan
will attempt to project its flame weapon
at the oil-covered being. This burning oil
will do another 2-16 points of damage the
first round and 2-8 the second (save for half
damage as above). The millikan feeds on a
body it has burned by settling on it and
absorbing nutrients through its rootlike
legs.

    Because of the millikan's appetite for
certain valuable metals, the treasure types
found with it will not conform exactly to
any found on the charts. There will never
be any copper, silver, or electrum found in
its lair (unless the party carrying that treasure
was slain very recently), nor will any
jewelry or magic items composed of these
metals survive its appetite. Iron will be
devoured if the millikan falls upon hard
times. It cannot dissolve gold or platinum,
and gems and other non-conductors are
useless to it.

    The following treasure types will appear
in and around its lair: Type Z for gold,
platinum, and magic, and Type Q (x5) for
gems. If the DM is generous, a few pieces
of gold and platinum jewelry may also
appear.

    It is not possible to take the valuable
metals out of a slain millikan's body, since
the metals are turned into internal "wiring"
with the diameter of human nerve cells. A
lengthy (and messy) smelting process could
be used, but would result in only a few
pounds of metal reclaimed per millikan.

    The battery organ of the millikan is valued
in the making of potions (symbolic of
the flow of power) and is occasionally used
as a material component for certain electrical
spells.

    (Author's note: The millikan is created
with apologies to R. A. Millikan and his
famous oil-drop expermiment of 1909. Millikan,
using a capacitor and tiny charged
drops of oil, devised an ingenious method to
determine the unit of electric charge.)
 

    by Mark Nuiver