The Vilkonnar are bizarre, humanoid
creatures who dwell in caverns and dungeons.
True Vilkonnar are Neutral Evil in
alignment and are usually found in temperate
or colder climes. In these areas they may
also be encountered outside in hills, forests,
etc., during the hours of darkness only, as
they dislike daylight or very bright light of any
sort. They will fight at -1 to hit in the
presence of a Continual Light spell or comparable
illumination. Vilkonnar have 60’
infravision.
The Vilkonnar have broad hands with
three spatulate fingers on each. Their palms
and fingers are covered with tiny, sucker-like
discs and, in combat, they strike with each
hand, trying to hit with these discs. Each hit
by a hand drains 1-6 h.p. from the adversary,
and these points are immediately absorbed
by the Vilkonnar and added to the monster’s
hit point total; in effect, h.p. are sucked from
the victim into the Vilkonnar. Also, in any
round where the Vilkonnar hits with both
hands, it has attached itself to its victim and
will automatically drain 2-12 h.p. per round
into itself without having to roll dice to hit.
(This assumes, of course, that both hands are
attached to the same victim.) The monster
will continue draining hit points in this fashon
until the victim is dead, the Vilkonnar is
satiated, or the monster is killed or forcibly
removed from its victim.
The Vilkonnar will use the hit points it
drains to replace any h.p. it has itself lost in
combat: using an opponent’s own strength
against him, so to speak. In addition, these
creatures are able to store within themselves
excess energy above their normal h.p. total
for limited periods of time, up to a maximum
of twice their normal h.p. total. (A Vilkonnar
with 20 h.p. normally could raise itself to a
total of 40 h.p. by draining them from its
victims.) This is called “supercharging,” and
a Vilkonnar who achieves its maximum possible
total is said to be “fully supercharged.”
Note that no h.p. in excess of a “full charge”
can be drained from a victim. (In the above
example, a Vilkonnar with 37 h.p. that
scored a hit could drain only 3 hit points from
its victim even if the die roll called for 4 or
more, since 40 would be its maximum. The
victim of the attack would only lose the 3
points that the monster could absorb.)
Supercharged Vilkonnar are highly dangerous,
as any hits they take will be deducted
from their excess or extra h.p. before they
can be reduced below their normal h.p. total.
Also, any supercharged Vilkonnar becomes
more powerful as a fighter, and will get +1 to
hit on each attack, although damage remains
the same.
A Vilkonnar that becomes fully supercharged
is more deadly still; it will enter a
state of berserk ecstasy that causes it to attack
as an 8 HD monster. Any hit made by a fully
supercharged Vilkonnar will enable the
monster to release some of its excess energy
into the body of its opponent as an energy
blast, half the excess energy being released
by each hand that strikes successfully (Thus,
all the excess energy would be released if
both attacks are successful.). The victim of
this attack will suffer the appropriate damage
in h.p. lost. (Using the example again, the
Vilkonnar with 20 h.p. normally and 40 h.p.
supercharged would cause 10 hits damage
with each hand if it hit an opponent while
supercharged.) After the attack, the monster
will no longer be supercharged and will again
begin draining energy from adversaries. No
hit points are drained from the victim of an
energy blast; victims take only the damage
from the blast. Energy blast attacks may only
be made by a Vilkonnar that is supercharged
when it is its turn to attack; if it is hit and loses
h.p. at the beginning of a round, it must
absorb energy again before he can attempt a
blast.
A Vilkonnar can retain a full charge for
only 3 melee rounds. If it does not score a hit
within that time to release its excess energy,
the energy automatically dissipates at the
end of the third round, reducing the monster
to its normal h.p. total. This dissipation is in
the nature of an implosion, and the shock to
the creature’s system is such that the
Vilkonnar will be stunned for 1-3 rounds
afterward. Vilkonnar that survive a combat
and finish with excess h.p. but are not fully
supercharged will begin losing the excess
h.p. at a rate of 1 per round until the normal
total is reached. They cannot maintain themselves
at a higher than normal h.p. total unless
they are in combat or have helpless victims
to use as an energy source.
Although they cannot maintain the state
for long, Vilkonnar relish the sensation of
being supercharged, and being fully supercharged
is, to them, the ultimate state of
rapture. They constantly seek the victims
necessary to the achievement of this ecstasy,
and they will attack any party that they feel
they have a reasonable chance of defect
They have no great desire for treasure per se,
but they can use it to purchase slaves or
captives from other creatures to use as energy
sources. As a result, Vilkonnar will keep
on hand whatever treasure they obtain.
They will also hire their services out to other
creatures or even men of evil alignment in
return for a supply of victims, and so can be
found as guards or servants of other monsters
or men on occasion. If encountered in
their lair, there is a 20% chance that Vilkonnar
will have 1-3 captives to be drained of
their life energy. These monsters are able
to drain energy from any creature, but
they seem to prefer humans and other
humanoids
The Kailiff
The Kailiff is a cousin of the Vilkonnar,
differing from it slightly. It is generally found
in hot, arid regions and is not averse to light;
it does not suffer a penalty for fighting in
daylight or the equivalent. Kailiffs also differ
from true Vilkonnar in that Kailiffs are strict
Neutrals in alignment. They travel in small
bands and will generally bargain or negotiate
with any party they encounter unless they
are confident of being able to decimate the
party with almost no risk to themselves. They
will serve for hire any who care to hire them.
but they are concerned solely with their own
best interests and will turn on their employers
as soon as it benefits them to do so, which
tends to make them rather treacherous and
untrustworthy as followers or companions.
Unlike true Vilkonnar, Kailiffs are also cannibalistic
and different bands will prey on each
other if an opportunity presents itself In all
other respects, Kailiffs are identical to
Vilkonnar.
Description
Vilkonnar have muddy-brown hides and
a thatch of moss-like, greenish hair on top of
their heads. They are otherwise hairless and
almost never wear any sort of clothing or
ornamentation. Their eyes are yellow. set
deep within large, concave sockets, and their
ears are merely slits in the sides of the head.
Their mouths are fanged but small. and they
never use their fangs for fighting. Feet, like
the hands, are broad with three spatulate
toes.
Kailiffs are identical in form, but their
hide is tan in color and their eyes are green or
greenish-yellow. The Vilkonnar and Kailiff
share a common language, and they are
75% likely to also speak Common Tongue.
| Dragon magazine | MM | - | - | 1st Edition AD&D |