FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 2-8
ARMOR CLASS: 9
MOVE: 24”
HIT DICE: See below
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Nil
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Regeneration,
immune to gas
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: SemiALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: L
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes:
Nil
These are air-dwelling creatures of great
size. They extract hydrogen and helium
gas from sand and water which is picked
up on the shores of seas or lakes. They
are not found in regions devoid of large
bodies of water. The gas is contained
in
the body of the creature, which resembles
the envelope of a blimp or rigid airship. Several bones grow along the
ventral (bottom) surface inside the skin
enable the body to maintain shape when
the pelin is flying into the wind. The
head
of the pelin is near the front of the
body,
on the ventral surface.
Spread across the body surface, concentrated
in the central area and on either side, are small wings which can propel
the creature at up to 24”. The pelin,
however, prefers to drift with the wind rather
than fly.
Owing to problems of expansion and
contraction of the gas which supports
the pelin’s body, the creature is found
only in climes where temperatures do
not vary widely in the course of a day.
Using its keen eyesight to good advantage,
the pelin eats air microbes, sea
plankton, the leafy tops of tall trees,
and
if it is very hungry it may eat meat.
The
mouth contains fine strainers or screens
which enable the pelin to take sustenance
from seemingly “lifeless” air or
water. Some of the air sucked in is used
to maintain proper pressure inside the
creature. Ingested water is expelled when
the pelin exhales.
Pelins are peaceful creatures, but can
be fierce when defending themselves or
their young. They do have enemies, but
fortunately most dragons and dragonlike
creatures do not eat pelins; some
scholars speculate that the gas disturbs
the predator. Gas-breathing dragons,
especially the green, occasionally attack
pelins, even though the pelins are unaffected
by gas attacks of any sort.
When a pelin has sustained 50% damage,
it is unable to maintain altitude and
must drift down to ground level/sea level,
where it remains until it recovers. This
does not take long, for pelins regenerate
at the rate of one hit point per hour.
Despite the presence of hydrogen in
their bodies, pelins will not normally
catch fire because the skin is not combustible.
It is only when hydrogen (not
helium) and oxygen mix that burning
can take place. Consequently, if there
is
a large hole in a pelin (a small one is
immediately sealed by the skin, much as
a self-sealing gasoline tank would act)
and a flame is placed near the hole, the
hydrogen may catch fire. Some pelins,
however, especially larger ones, are entirely
filled with helium and do not burn
at all. The percentage of helium inside
a
pelin’s body increases with size and age.
Infants and young (see chart below) are
at least 40% helium, so that the chance
of
igniting hydrogen is never greater than
60%. The percentage of helium increases
to 60-80% in adults and old pelins, and
is
at least 80% (and usually 100%) for an
ancient pelin.
The age of a pelin is determined by a
roll of d10. Its hit dice are twice that
number; i.e., an infant will have either
2
or 4 hit dice, an adult will have 10 or
12,
and an ancient pelin will have 18 or 20
hit
dice. The pelin can carry 500 gp (50
pounds) for each year of age. The damage
from its attack (bite) varies with age.
| Die roll | Age (years) | Damage |
| 1-2 | infant (5-10) | 1-4 |
| 3-4 | young (15-20) | 1-6 |
| 5-6 | adult (25-30) | 1-8 |
| 7-8 | old (35-40) | 1-10 |
| 9-10 | ancient (45-50) | 1-12 |
Any time more than three pelins are
encountered as a group, at least one of
them will be a female. The maximum
number of females in a group will never
be greater than 50% of the population
of
the group. There is a 20% chance for
each young or adult female in a group
that she has given birth in the last five
years, and thus will be accompanied by
an infant who has not yet learned to support
itself. (Up to five years of age, a pelin
hitches a ride with its mother.) Such
young are only a few feet long, not noticeable
from a distance.
Infant pelins range from 30-80 feet in
length and 10-30 feet in diameter. Those
of young age are 100-150 feet long and
30-40 feet in diameter. Adult pelins are
roughly 200 feet long and 50 in diameter.
Ancient ones can reach 400 feet by 75.
Pelins have no treasure, but sometimes
(30%) a material can be found in
the intestinal tract of a non-infant which
will be worth 100-1,000 gp. It is used
in
perfume-making.
Pulsipher on pelins
Dear editor:
In a letter in DRAGON #54 (p. 4), Edwin
Hendricks complained that my monster, the
pelin (DRAGON #52) was useless: “What do
they do to help a campaign? Zilch.” This is
probably an example of the least useful attitude
to take toward a monster—that it should
be something one can plug into a room, without
regard for its nature, to chock the players
with one more mysterious killer opponent.
While there is nothing actually wrong with
this, DMs who go only this far are missing half
the fun, and so are their players. Even the
most peaceful or lawful good monster should
stimulate the DM’s imagination, if the monster
is well made.
To take the pelin as an example, the DM
could wonder what kinds of creatures live on,
or in symbiosis with, the pelin. Might there be
a race of cloud- or air-dwelling people who
travel about on pelins, or domesticate them
for some other use? Could an evil or neutral
group enslave pelins to use them in nefarious
schemes?
If unwary players have read that issue of
DRAGON Magazine, their characters will
merely yawn when they see approaching pelins,
or perhaps, if they’re evilly inclined, the
characters will take off on a pelin hunt. Imagine
their surprise when they encounter
people trying to protect their “cattle and
horses,” so to speak, or when they are attacked
by a group which has enslaved the
creatures.
Or, if players haven’t read DRAGON Magazine,
pelins could have considerable scare
value. A good DM could also evoke the players’
“sense of wonder” with this peaceful but
enormous monster. In another case, player
characters might meet, befriend, and cooperate
with pelins in some endeavor. Not every
monster needs to attack to play a role in the
game.
Or, to take another tack, if the pelins described
in the magazine article are peaceful,
might there be similar creatures, perhaps
rather smaller, which are predators? Think of
sperm whales and killer whales, for example. I
can even imagine a short adventure taking
place inside a pelin — who knows what might
live there? Maybe there are gas cells inside
mutant pelins, with air (and bones) between
them, just as in a German zeppelin.
Think about the possibilities behind a monster;
don’t look at it solely as an aggressive
killer. How could it be used to surprise players
by misdirection? How might it associate with
other creatures (including humanoids)? What
variations might exist? How could separate
adventures be created around the monster?
Ask yourself these questions and your game
will be more interesting as well as less
repetitive.
Lewis Pulsipher
Durham, N.C.
(Dragon #60)
Lew sent this to us as a manuscript, not as a
letter to the editor, intending for it to be used
as an appendix to his article, “Make
monsters,
not monstrosities,” in issue
#59 of DRAGON™
Magazine. Time and space limitations prevented
its publication with the article, but Lew
gave his permission for it to be used in “Out
on a Limb,” saying that the point deserved to
be made. And we couldn’t agree more. Anyone
interested in composing a good candidate for
inclusion in Dragon’s Bestiary could do worse
than to read — and reread — this “letter” and
last month’s article.
— KM
(Dragon #60)
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