RIGHTEOUS CLAY
by Howard Granok
FREQUENCY: Very rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVE: 6?
HIT DICE: 1-12 (see below)
% IN LAIR: Nil
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Soul gouge, surprise
on 1-5
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Rarely surprised,
resistances to blunt weapons and various
magical attacks, camouflage
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: S (2? diameter)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Immune to
psionic attack
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: III to VIII/65
+ 1/hp to 5400 + 16/hp
The righteous clay is a rather curious sort
of horror which wanders about under-
ground caverns looking for souls upon
which to feed. It is basically a large, gray
lump of intelligent clay; due to its amor-
phous nature and remarkable camouflage
ability, it can blend in with its surroundings
so as to surprise opponents on
a roll of 1-4,
A righteous clay is only surprised on a 1.
Righteous clays wait patiently on walls,
ceilings, floors, etc., for would-be victims,
having superb climbing ability. When a
victim approaches within 10? of the clay,
the blobby horror will attack the unfortu-
nate creature with a soul gouge in an at-
tempt to steal the victim?s soul. Note that
even elves and half-orcs, creatures that do
not possess a soul per se, can be attacked by
the clay?s soul gouge and lose their spirits.
For every soul that the clay steals it gains 1
HD, permanently. A clay is assumed to
have stolen 0-3 (1d4-1) souls already, so it
may have 1-4 HD. The victim gets a saving
throw vs. death magic in order to repel the
soul gouge and, if successful, will fall un-
conscious for 1-6 turns. A save vs. the soul
gouge will instill a permanent immunity to
this particular attack, so that following
attacks by any righteous clay will be useless
against that victim. Failure to save indicates
the soul or spirit of the creature has been
stolen, in which case the victim?s body is
reduced to a mindless state (0 intelligence,
wisdom, and charisma). The victim will
swallow food placed in his mouth, breathe
normally, and have involuntary reflexes, but
that is all. The victim will not understand
language but can be physically moved from
place to place with a gentle tug in the de-
sired direction.
A soul gouge can be blocked by a mind
blank, mind bar, helm of telpathy, tower of
iron will, or intellect fortress. Although
possessing no psionic ability itself, the right-
eous clay?s attack will drain twice as many
defense points from a psionic defender as a
psionic blast used by a psionic of maximum
ability. If a psionic makes his saving throw,
he will not fall unconscious due to his own
mental discipline.
Once a clay is slain, its stolen souls can
be regained by casting one of the following
spells on the mindless victims: reincarna-
tion, remove curse (cast by a cleric of at
least 10th level), restoration, resurrection,
or wish. If the soul isn?t returned to its
owner?s body before the clay rots away
(about two weeks), no hope of soul restora-
tion is possible. Elves and half-orcs can
have their spirits restored by these methods
as well.
Righteous clays are immune to blunt
weapons due to their shock-absorbing
bodies. Edged weapons do only half damage
to them, and they are immune to poison,
paralysis, hold magic, and death magic.
Cold slows them to half speed, and fire and
electricity do reduced damage on a 1 hp/
HD basis. A righteous clay always saves as
a 1 HD monster. Righteous clays can stick
quite well to most surfaces, and can be
peeled away from them at a chance equal to
6% per point of strength used against them.
Righteous clays are so named because of
their extreme arrogance and self-
centeredness. They can understand com-
mon and can converse by vibrating their
bodies rapidly, thus operating in the manner
of a stereo speaker. They can reproduce a
variety of sounds, and some can mimic with
perfection. A clay will split to form two
separate organisms once it reaches 12 HD;
each new clay will have 1 HD, and all souls
previously stolen will be beyond recovery.