Mewlip

AUTHOR: Scott Metz (Scottomir)

ISSUE: 8:38

Note: Since many players have voiced concern about the 4-7 attribute range in the standard rules, the statistics above in many cases list only attribute modifiers (rather than presenting scores below 8 aligned with either the standard rules or the common revision). If an attribute score is actually needed, the Narrator can choose whichever number below 8 he prefers that fits with the given modifier. Vitality, since it determines Health, is assigned a score and, if 8 or above, a modifier; for scores below 8, the Narrator can choose whichever modifier he prefers.

Description

From the Elder Days to the late Third Age, undead abominations beyond reckoning were unleashed by Morgoth and Sauron, by whose dark power wicked souls were somehow bound to Middle-earth even after death. Some of these corrupt spirits polluted corpses of the fallen and became the walking dead. Such is the fate of the mewlip, a cannibalistic ghoul that feeds upon the flesh and blood of the living. Their bodies are desiccated and stained by death, though their nails and teeth are long and sharp. Little of the intellect possessed in life remains in them, but they are cunning creatures capable of stalking and ambushing unwary victims.

Unique Special Abilities

Ferocity: A mewlip gains a +3 bonus to all Armed Combat, Unarmed Combat, and Willpower tests while trying to kill prey that it has stalked.

Horrid Bite: If a mewlip holds a victim in a grab, as a full-round action it can start to devour the victim alive! The bite automatically hits and inflicts 2d6 damage plus Strength bonus. Furthermore, its foul bite causes disease unless the victim succeeds on a Stamina test at TN 15. If the test is failed, for the next 1d6+3 days there is a +5 TN penalty on all Healing test made to help the victim and he suffers from the effects of the Slow Recovery flaw (the effect is doubled if he already possesses that flaw).

Natural Weapon: Claws: A mewlip attacks with the daggerlike nails of its claws, inflicting 1d6+2 damage, plus its Strength bonus.

Undead Stamina: Mewlips need never eat or drink, take half damage from physical attacks, heal all injuries at five times the normal rate, do not have Weariness levels, and need never make Stamina tests to resist weariness, and cannot be affected by poison or disease.

Habitat

Mewlips are found near burial grounds, forsaken battlefields, fetid swamps, and other foul and accursed places. They lurk in the shadows of the sites they haunt, awaiting hapless living victims.