Wednesday Warriors: Cyclops Mercenary

Today’s Wednesday Warriors is one I’ve wanted to do for a while now: a cyclops mercenary.

As usual, this character was inspired by the awesome illustration done by Printable Heroes, as well as the cyclops from Privateer Press’ miniatures game Hordes (which I used to be heavily into). In that setting, the cyclopes are a savage race of monstrous humanoids with a limited prescience ability. I think that’s really cool, and used it as inspiration for one of the character’s stunts.

This is also the first adventurer larger than medium size. I’ve explained the weight rules before (and they’re available for free on the Fate SRD site), so I won’t explain them in depth yet again, but I felt that the effect was worth a stunt slot. Medium-sized opponents are going to have to pair up against this adventurer to negate that weight bonus.

---

Cyclops Mercenary

High Concept: Precise Cyclops Mercenary
Motivation: I Must Always Honor My Contract
Aspect: Former Bloodstone Wastes Bandit
Aspect: Civilization Is For the Weak
Aspect: Behemoth Hide Armor and Buckler

Approaches:

• Careful: Good (+3)
• Clever: Average (+1)
• Flashy: Fair (+2)
• Forceful: Fair (+2)
• Quick: Average (+1)
• Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Giantkin: Because I tower over most other humanoids, I count as a large creature with weight 2.
• Limited Prescience: Because I can foresee my opponents’ next actions, if I spend an exchange doing nothing but defending myself, I get +2 whenever I Carefully defend myself against physical attacks until the end of the scene.
• Voice of Command: Because I am used to commanding troops, I get an extra free invoke whenever I Forcefully create an aspect for one of my allies representing my tactical orders or advice.

Weight: 2 (Large)
Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

---

The character illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Monday Monsters: Ogre

Unfortunately, I’m still under the weather from whatever bug my child brought home from daycare last week. (Which was the reason last Friday’s Cortex Prime content went out on Saturday afternoon.) So this week’s Monday Monster is going to be fairly straightforward. The ogre is a recent paper by Printable Heroes, and, like almost all of their minis, I felt compelled to stat it up for Fate Accelerated Edition.

Ogres seemed like they’d be a threat, a type of enemy introduced in the Fate Adversary Toolkit. Unlike hitters, such as the basilisk from a few weeks ago, threats can both dish out a lot of damage and absorb a lot of damage. They’re meant to grab and then hold the player characters’ attention. That being said though, they’re not all that challenging compared to many other monsters found in Dungeons & Dragons style fantasy games.

So I made the ogre an average threat, setting its lead approach at Good (+3), the same as the adventures found on this site. Apart from Flashy and Forceful, I really couldn’t justify putting any of its approaches above Mediocre; ogres are not know for being particularly careful, clever, quick, or sneaky. I usually try to follow the 1/2/2/1 or 1/2/3 spread for a monster’s approaches, but that just didn’t seem to fit here. So I went with what felt right rather than following the rules.

Which is basically what I always do anyway.

---

Hill Ogre

High Concept: Large Brutish Humanoid
Motivation: I Must Vent My Rage on Those Nearby
Aspect: Built Like a Brick Outhouse

Approaches:

• Flashy: Fair (+2)
• Forceful: Good (+3)
• Others: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Grim Trophies: Because I wear bits of those I’ve killed as jewelry, I get +2 to Flashily create advantages related to instilling fear in my opponents, such as Cowed, Daunted, or Intimidated.
• Heavy Hitter: Because I hit with the force of a freight train, I deal +2 stress on a tied or better Forceful attack. (I don’t also gain a boost on a tie this way.)

Weight: 2 (Large)
Role: Enemy: Average Threat
Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):

---

The monster illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Wednesday Warriors: Elf Monk

Today’s Wednesday Warriors was a bit of a challenge. See, I’m not exactly a fan of monks (or samurai or ninjas) in “standard” Dungeons & Dragons settings. Now, I realize there isn’t really a standard D&D setting, but given that most of the stuff I’ve experienced seems vaguely European, monks (and samurai and ninjas) always smacked of orientalism to me. Especially when the monk characters are illustrated so that they look asian. But monks are an established part of D&D-esque fantasy games, and, as usual, the illustration Printable Heroes did is awesome. So I figured why not?

It should be said that I really like Tianxia: Blood, Silk, & Jade by Vigilance Press. Kung fu and wuxia action is awesome, and I’d love to run a game of Tianxia one day. The Fate Accelerated version of Tianxia was really helpful in coming up with ideas for today’s adventurer.

---

Elf Monk

High Concept: Agile Elf Monk
Motivation: I Must Share the Gift of Enlightenment
Aspect: A Stranger In A Strange Land
Aspect: Lightning Dragon Kung Fu
Aspect: Bodhi Tree Mala Bead Necklace

Approaches:

• Careful: Average (+1)
• Clever: Average (+1)
• Flashy: Fair (+2)
• Forceful: Mediocre (+0)
• Quick: Good (+3)
• Sneaky: Fair (+2)

Stunts:

• Flurry of Blows: Because my fists strike with the speed of lightning, whenever I succeed with style on a Quick attack, I may make another Quick attack against the same opponent or another opponent in my zone, instead of gaining a boost. (I only get one additional attack per exchange.)
• Hardcore Parkour: Because I can perform feats of alarming acrobatics while I move, I get +2 to Flashily overcome physical obstacles that can be jumped, flipped, or climbed over or to move extra zones.
• Stillness of Mind: Because I have spent years training to control my emotions, I get +2 to Carefully defend against attempts to create advantages affecting my mental state, such as Afraid, Charmed, or Enraged.

Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

---

The character illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Monday Monsters: Kobold Tribe

This week’s entry are (finally) kobolds. After saying I haven’t done many fillers enemies, I seem to be doing a fair number of them all of a sudden. Though, to be fair, kobolds did win the Twitter poll about which monsters I should do next that I ran way back before the recent hiatus. So here they finally are.

Unlike the gnolls from two weeks ago, I’m going to make these kobolds using (almost) the standard filler rules from the Fate Adversary Toolkit. That means no stunts. These monsters are meant to do a single thing: get taken out in droves so that the adventurers look like epic bad asses. Plus, if you use the weight rules from War of Ashes: Fate of Agaptus, these kobolds will go down even faster. At a weight of 1/2 (one half), a medium creature, aka your average adventurer, outweighs a single kobold 2:1 and will get to turn one of their dice to a [+] after rolling. So, like most filler enemies, kobolds should really group up to stand a chance against an adventuring party.

---

Kobold Warrior

High Concept: Small Reptilian Humanoid
Motivation: I Must Put the Tribe First

Approaches:

• Sneaky: Average (+1)
• Others: Mediocre (+0)

Weight: 1/2 (Small)
Role: Enemy: Average Filler
Stress: ▢
Note: Treat groups of kobolds as a single character. Add +1 to their Sneaky approach for every two kobolds in the group, up to a maximum of +4. Increase their weight by 1/2 per kobold, and arrange their stress boxes into a single track.

---

Alternatively, instead of grouping filler enemies together into a single character, you could treat a whole tribe of kobolds as a single character. I’d probably make that a threat enemy. Threats are meant to, hold the PCs’ attention, soak up damage, and act as meat shields. Perfect for a whole yipping tribe of diminutive reptile folk.

---

Kobold Tribe

High Concept: Small Reptilian Humanoids
Motivation: We Must Expand Our Territory
Aspect: Overwhelming Numbers

Approaches:

• Careful: Fair (+2)
• Clever: Fair (+2)
• Flashy: Average (+1)
• Forceful: Good (+3)
• Quick: Good (+3)
• Sneaky: Great (+4)

STUNTS:

• Absolutely Everywhere: Because we’re actually a whole tribe of countless small creatures, we can spend a fate point to attack everyone in our zone. (We make a single roll against everyone else in our zone.)
• Cunning Plans: Because we riddle our warren with hidden traps, whenever we Sneakily create an advantage representing one of those traps, such as Spiked Pit, Tripwire, or Poisonous Vermin, we get an extra free invoke on a success.

Weight: 4 (Huge)
Role: Enemy: Fair Threat
Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2):

---

The monster illustrations, including the awesome header image, are the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Wednesday Warriors: Minotaur Druid

Another species of hero I haven’t done yet for today’s Wednesday Warriors: a minotaur.

With only six approaches and a single spread of numbers to plug in, I sometimes find it difficult to not replicate the stats of a previous adventurer. Let’s face it though, there are a finite number of combinations and I’m eventually going to start repeating stats. (If I was better at math I could tell you how many combinations there are. But I’m not.) That doesn’t matter all that much really, because a character’s aspects and stunts are really what makes them unique. Still, I’m trying not to use the same spread of approaches for different adventurers if I can help it.

Like cleric, druids in Dungeons & Dragons sometimes have access to healing magic. As I explained with the half elf cleric a while back, because of how stress and consequences work in Fate and Fate Accelerated Edition, healing magic has the potential to be very powerful. So, rather than give the minotaur druid healing abilities, I sidestepped the issue and made them an elementalist. I’ve already done a fire themed mage, and I had stone on the brain from writing up a basilisk for this week’s Monday Monsters post, so an earth themed druid seemed fun.

Burden of Stone and Hymns of the Earth are defensive stunts. The first rewards the druid for defending with their lead approach, similar to the dwarf runepriest, while the second allows them to control the flow of battle somewhat. I’m imagining the minotaur’s bellowing song causing pillars of rock to burst from the ground (Yes, yes. Like Ludo from Labyrinth) which provide cover for allies and makes it more difficult for opponents to get in close. Though I have no doubt creative players will find other uses for the stunt. Thunderhoof Charge was, well, I couldn’t make a minotaur character and not give them a stunt about hitting opponents with their horns.

The aspects for this character came together pretty quickly. The high concept is always [descriptor related to lead approach] [species] [class]. There’s the aspect representing important gear carried by the character, one about personality, and one about background. Ironbark Quarterstaff and Buckler and Ridiculously Bull-Headed practically wrote themselves, while Hurloon Tribe Stone-Caller came about when I changed the character’s class from stone-caller to druid. (Bonus points if you know where that Hurloon Tribe reference comes from.) The motivation aspect was harder. I feel that rangers, druids, wardens, and other nature worshipping characters should have motivations about protecting wild places, upholding the natural order, or, in this case, halting the spread of civilization. I like them to be worded so that they are slightly antagonistic, but won’t cause huge problems between players (problems between characters are fine, though).

---

Minotaur Druid

High Concept: Vigilant Minotaur Druid
Motivation: I Must Halt Civilization’s Advance
Aspect: Hurloon Tribe Stone-Caller
Aspect: Ridiculously Bull-Headed
Aspect: Ironbark Quarterstaff and Buckler

Approaches:

• Careful: Good (+3)
• Clever: Fair (+2)
• Flashy: Average (+1)
• Forceful: Fair (+2)
• Quick: Average (+1)
• Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Burden of Stone: Because my counterstrikes magically weigh down my opponents, whenever I Carefully defend against a physical melee attack and succeed with style, I can give the attacker a Weighed Down aspect with a free invoke instead of gaining a boost.
• Hymns of the Earth: Because I can raise spires of rock from the ground with my song, I get +2 to Cleverly create an advantage to create aspects related to rough, impassible or hazardous rocky terrain in my or an adjacent zone.
• Thunderhoof Charge: Because I hit with the strength of an avalanche after building up momentum, I get +2 to Forcefully attack with my horns as long as I move at least one zone before attacking.

Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

---

The character illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Monday Monsters: Basilisk

The basilisk is another awesome paper mini made by Printable Heroes, and I felt compelled to stat it up for Fate Accelerated Edition. (Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten that Kobolds won the poll I ran on Twitter back in October of 2017. You’ll be seeing them soon.) It’s a classic monster that has a really nasty ability: turning opponents to stone.

As the monster itself isn’t that dangerous in a fair fight, making it a Hitter seemed appropriate. Hitters are types of enemy introduced in the the Fate Adversary Toolkit. Unlike threats, hitters can dish out a lot of damage under the right circumstances, but they aren’t that durable. They’re easily dealt with, relatively speaking, once the players discover what their trick is. That works really well for the basilisk, as they’re slow and lazy, preferring to attack foes from ambush whenever possible. Their petrifying gaze is also easily avoidable (by averting your eyes or using a mirror), but can be deadly if the players/characters aren’t prepared for it.

I made the basilisk a fair hitter, setting its lead approach at Great (+4), one step above the lead approaches of the adventurers on this site as I intend for them to be used together. I made Forceful its best approach, as the basilisk’s gaze attack is sort of “force of will” effect, and Quick its worst approach, reinforcing that it’s rather slow. To highlight its ambush attacks, I reused a stunt from the Juvenile Black Dragon and just gave it a different name. Cunning Ambush Predator deals two additional stress on a successful Sneaky attack if the basilisk has an “concealing” aspect attached to it. That encourages the GM to have the monster set up an attack first by creating an an aspect like Hidden, then really laying the hurt on a character.

Coming up with the petrification effect was a bit harder, but still fun. In Dungeons & Dragons (and similar games), a player whose character has been affected by the gaze attack has to fail a number of dice rolls before they’re completely turned into stone. That seemed like a perfect place to use a countdown, again from the Fate Adversary Toolkit. The Stone Curse countdown starts when the basilisk successfully sticks a Slowly Petrifying aspect onto a creature. I felt being partially petrified should have an effect on a character, which of course means it needed to be an aspect. That allows it to be invoked and compelled, giving mechanical weight (ha!) to a character slowly turning into a statue.

---

Stone-Eyed Basilisk

High Concept: Medium Magical Lizard
Motivation: I Must Add To My Den’s Statuary
Aspect: Extremely Robust Digestive System
Aspect: Incredibly Slow Metabolism

Approaches:

• Careful: Good (+3)
• Clever: Fair (+2)
• Flashy: Fair (+2)
• Forceful: Great (+4)
• Quick: Average (+1)
• Sneaky: Good (+3)

Stunts:

• Cunning Ambush Predator: Because I attack from ambush, I deal +2 stress on a tied or better Sneaky attack while benefiting from an aspect related to concealment, such as Buried, Disguised, or Hidden. (I won’t get a boost on a tied attack this way.)
• Paralyzing Gaze: Because I can turn creatures to stone by locking eyes with them, I can attempt to Forcefully create a Slowly Petrifying aspect on an opponent at any distance, as long as we can both see each other. In addition to creating the aspect, a success begins the Stone Curse countdown for that character (see below).

Weight: 1 (Medium)
Role: Enemy: Fair Hitter
Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):

The Stone Curse

Obstacle: Countdown
Opposition: Great (+4)
Countdown: ▢ ▢ ▢
Trigger: An exchange elapses.
Trigger: Someone tries to remove the curse, by overcoming the Slowly Petrifying aspect, but fails by 2 or more shifts.
Outcome: The Slowly Petrifying aspect becomes Totally Petrified, as the character turns into a statue.

---

The monster illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Wednesday Warriors: Dragonkin Fighter

Wednesday Warriors are back! And with a species of hero I haven’t done yet: dragonkin. (I’m not sure if Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro have trademarked the other name for humanoid dragons found in Dungeons & Dragons, so I’m erring on the side of caution.)

I’ve mentioned this before, but I like to spread out the three stunts these characters have between the four Fate actions (Attack, Defend, Create an Advantage, and Overcome an Obstacle) wherever possible. Sometimes that is rather difficult, especially with the more “straightforward” character types such as fighters.

As this character is a humanoid dragon, and a red dragon at that, I knew one of the stunts had to be about a breath weapon. Fiery Breath is the same stunt as Burning Hands from the the very first Fate Accelerated Edition fantasy adventurer I made, the Human Battlemage. I feel like that’s cheating a little bit, but setting things on fire seemed really appropriate here. Fire tends to do that after all. Immobilize was inspired by one of the fighter’s class features from 13th Age by Pelgrane Press, which is another system that I like. Protecting your allies by keeping opponents locked in combat with you is an active way to handle a defensive ability. It also interacts well with the Tenacity stunt (though I fully admit I only saw that interaction after I’d finished writing the character up), as that allows the fighter to ignore a complication for a scene, making them more durable.

The aspects for this character draw heavily from the typical red dragon personality: vain and greedy, with a eye for bargaining. It pushes the fighter in a more evil, or at least mercenary and self-serving, direction in my opinion. Heroes don’t necessarily have to be good after all.

---

Dragonkin Fighter

High Concept: Decisive Dragonkin Fighter
Motivation: I Must Spread the Glory of My Name
Aspect: Avarice is a Virtue
Aspect: Surprisingly Shrewd Negotiator
Aspect: Ornate Heavy Plate Armor and Shield

Approaches:

• Careful: Average (+1)
• Clever: Average (+1)
• Flashy: Fair (+2)
• Forceful: Good (+3)
• Quick: Fair (+2)
• Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Fiery Breath: Because I can breath forth a cone of fire, whenever I Flashily
  attack with my breath weapon and succeed with style, I can give my opponent or a nearby object an On Fire aspect with a free invoke instead of gaining a boost.
• Immobilize: Because I know how to keep my opponents in place, I get +2  to oppose another character attempting to move out of my zone.
• Tenacity: Because I have immense strength of will, I may choose to ignore a mild or moderate consequence for the duration of a scene. It can’t be compelled against me or invoked by my enemies. At the end of the scene it comes back worse; a mild consequence becomes moderate, and a moderate consequence becomes severe.

Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

---

The character illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Monday Monsters: Gnoll Pack

After something like a 6-month hiatus, Monday Monster posts are back. I won’t bore people with what caused the break as that’s not what this blog is about. You might know what’s up if you follow me on social media (especially Twitter and Google Plus), but I’m going to try and start posting again. I missed creating these Fate Accelerated fantasy monsters and heroes.

Things are going to be slightly different going forward though. I really enjoyed creating the letter and A4-sized PDFs of the monsters and heroes, and I prefer having physical notes at the table when running games. They were the longest part of the process however, and the time commitment to produce them was part of what caused me to go on hiatus; I unfortunately just don’t have that much free time anymore. So, as much as I liked them and as useful as I think they were, I’m going to stop making the PDFs for the time being. From here on out, the monster and hero entries are going to be online only. Maybe I’ll collect them into a multi-page PDF bundle, zine, or booklet in the future, as I really do like making printed material. But that’s for the future. Onto the monsters!

This week’s entry are gnolls. I’ve not done that many low-level monsters you can fill a scene with, and wanted to do more of those. So I statted up these gnolls warriors and hyenas as Fillers from the the Fate Adversary Toolkit. They only have a few aspects, a few skills, and a fairly small number of stress boxes. Normally Fillers don’t have stunts as they’re meant to be bone simple for the GM to run. But as I’m using the standard six Fate Accelerated approaches for all of these monsters, as opposed to flavorfully named skills like Teeth & Claws, I gave each of them a single stunt to help make them distinct.

---

Gnoll Archer

High Concept: Medium Canine Humanoid
Motivation: I Must Loot the Dead

Approaches:

• Quick: Fair (+2)
• Others: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Mobile Archery:
  Because I am armed with a bow, I can attack opponents in adjacent zones. Whenever I succeed with style on a Quick attack, I may forego the boost to move into an adjacent zone.

Weight: 1 (Medium)
Role: Enemy: Fair Filler
Stress: ▢ ▢

---

Gnoll Warrior

High Concept: Medium Canine Humanoid
Motivation: I Must Take a Trophy From Each Kill

Approaches:

• Quick: Fair (+2)
• Others: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Set For Charge:
  Because I am armed with a spear, I increase the active opposition of anyone attempting to move into my zone by +2.

Weight: 1 (Medium)
Role: Enemy: Fair Filler
Stress: ▢ ▢

---

Hyena

High Concept: Medium Canine Animal
Motivation: I Must Protect the Pack at Any Cost

Approaches:

• Quick: Fair (+1)
• Others: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Vicious Jaws: Because I can crack bone with my bite, I get +2 to Forcefully attack prone or restrained opponents, represented by aspects such as Prone or Tied Up.

Weight: 1 (Medium)
Role: Enemy: Average Filler
Stress: ▢

---

The monster illustrations are the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Wednesday Warriors: Tiefling Crusader

I talked last week about the difficulty in emulating the healing abilities of clerics and paladins from Dungeons & Dragon style fantasy games in Fate. This week’s character was made long before the half elf cleric, and instead of dealing the issue, I just sidestepped it. Which is why, despite being a paladin, the tiefling crusader has no healing abilities. Instead, the character is more like a holy knight, rather like the avenger class from Dungeons & Dragons 4e, with their divine power being channeled into offensive stunts.

One of the character’s aspects, My Horns And My Heritage Mean Nothing, came about due to my confusion regarding tieflings in D&D. Every D&D book I’ve read that includes tieflings as a playable race says they are mistrusted and feared because of their infernal heritage. Yet tieflings get a bonus to their Charisma. That has never made sense to me. If Charisma is the stat which matters for social interaction skills like Bluff, Diplomacy,  and Persuade, won’t people be less likely to be swayed by someone from a group that is described as being “universally mistrusted and reviled”? I’ve never been able to square that in my mind. So the My Horns And My Heritage Mean Nothing aspect is the character telling themselves their infernal ancestry doesn’t matter for the profession they’ve chosen. Their other aspects are fairly straightforward. One that forces them to seek out evil; one about the divine power they’ve been called to serve; and one about their consecrated armor, their most notable piece of equipment.

The crusader’s stunts were fairly easy to come up with as well. Once I knew I was focusing on the offensive powers, a “smite” type stunt seemed obvious. Doing extra damage against supernatural opponents is a classic paladin ability, and in Fate the foe’s type would be determined by an appropriate aspect. (It’s worth pointing out that a player technically can create an advantage to attach an aspect like Infernal or Undead onto an opponent, allowing the crusader to use their Holy Smite stunt on something they normally shouldn’t. This is a case of “follow the fiction” though, meaning the player needs a very good reasons as to why their character can do something like this. A necromancer or some kind of transmuting-based magician might be able to do it with a spell, but generally speaking, characters shouldn’t be able to turn some hapless villager into a demon with a snap of their fingers.)

The stunt Face Me Cur! came right out of the Fate Core book, and was too appropriate not to use. I imagine the crusader getting in opponent’s faces, drawing their attention away from other characters as a way to protect them. A stunt making it harder for an opponent to affect the mental state of the crusader seemed like a good choice, and was a nice defensive stunt to balance the other two.

---

Tiefling Crusader

High Concept: Domineering Tiefling Crusader
Motivation: I Must Cleanse The World of Corruption
Aspect: My Horns And My Heritage Mean Nothing
Aspect: Bahamut’s Most Fanatical Zealot
Aspect: Consecrated Heavy Plate Armor and Shield

Approaches:

• Careful: Fair (+2)
• Clever: Average (+1)
• Flashy: Average (+1)
• Forceful: Good (+3)
• Quick: Fair (+2)
• Sneaky: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Face Me, Cur!: Because I know how to provoke my foes, after I issue a challenge by Flashily creating an advantage on my opponent, I may use a free invoke to become the target of that character’s next relevant action, drawing their attention away from another target.
• Holy Smite: Because I can channel divine energy through my weapon, I get +2 to Forcefully attack a supernatural opponent, represented by an aspect such as Corrupted, Demonic, Infernal, or Undead.
• Unshakable Faith: Because I can recite the Liturgies of Faith, whenever an opponent attempts to create an advantage affecting my mental state, such as Afraid, Confused, or Charmed, I get +2 to Carefully oppose their action.

Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

---

You can download the Domineering Tiefling Crusader as an A4-sized PDF or a letter-sized PDF.

The character illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.

Monday Monsters: Fire Giants & Hellhounds

The fire giants and hellhounds made by Printable Heroes are some of my favorite paper minis. Despite running a poll on Twitter to see what monster I should do next (Kobolds won by the way) I felt compelled to do these giant monsters first. They’re just so awesome and imposing.

Both the greatsword wielding fire giant soldier and the twin tower shield carrying fire giant juggernaut are definitely threats. One of the enemy types detailed in the Fate Adversary Toolkit, threats are opposing characters that the characters have to focus their attention on. Unlike hitters, threats can absorb a lot of damage and hang around longer than their glass cannon counterparts. Threats have big stress tracks, multiple consequence slots, and stunts that emphasize their durability.

For the fire giant juggernaut, that was relatively easy. The monster wields two giant tower shields like a bulldozer, so its stunts are all about pushing opponents around, being really hard to damage, and providing cover for allies. Characters are going to want to focus on the juggernaut and take it down quickly, because other enemies in the same zone are going to survive longer and become more of a nuisance.

Known for dragging chained captives back to their flaming fortresses, the fire giant soldier has a stunt that increases the opposition by +2 whenever someone tries to break free of their manacles. The monster still has to get the restraints onto a character with a create an advantage action, applying an appropriate aspect on the victim. I considered a stunt that increased the monster’s defense roll while it had a chained captive (representing the giant pushing the victim in the way of potential attackers), but decided against it. The fire giant juggernaut already had a stunt that increased its defense, and I didn’t want them to be too similar.

The giants are also huge with a weight of 4. Against a single character, a giant outweighs a hero by 4 to 1, allowing it to change two of its dice to [+] after rolling. Even when facing two characters at once, a giant weighs more than double the opposition. That’s a big advantage.

The hellhounds are just fair filler enemies. They’re meant to be grouped up in packs that the characters can wade through to feel awesome, but unlike the human bandits from last week, I did give the hellhounds a once per conflict stunt.

---

Fire Giant Soldier

High Concept: Huge Fire-Resistant Jötunn
Motivation: I Must Bring Captives to Muspelheim
Aspect: Ruthless Militaristic Brute
Aspect: Searing Heavy Plate Armor

Approaches:

• Careful: Fair (+2)
• Clever: Good (+3)
• Flashy: Good (+3)
• Forceful: Great (+4)
• Quick: Fair (+2)
• Sneaky: Average (+2)

Stunts:

• Ensnaring Chains: Because the neck irons chained to my belt are made from fire giant-forged steel, whenever a character tries to break free of these manacles, such as when overcoming a Chained, Manacled, or Trapped aspect, the opposition increases by +2.
• Giant Greatsword: Because I swing my huge blade in great sweeping arcs, before making a Forceful attack with my sword, I may reduce my roll by two shifts to attack everyone in my zone. (I make a single roll against everyone else in my zone.)

Weight: 4 (Huge)
Role: Enemy: Fair Threat
Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2):

---

Fire Giant Juggernaut

High Concept: Huge Fire-Resistant Jötunn
Motivation: I Must Block the Path to Muspelheim
Aspect: Ruthless Militaristic Brute
Aspect: Searing Heavy Plate Armor and Shields

Approaches:

• Careful: Good (+3)
• Clever: Good (+3)
• Flashy: Fair (+2)
• Forceful: Great (+4)
• Quick: Fair (+2)
• Sneaky: Average (+2)

Stunts:

• Living Bulldozer: Because I strike with tremendous force, when I succeed with a Forceful attack with my tower shields, I may push the defender into an adjacent zone. I may then follow the defender or stay in my zone.
• Unassailable: Because I present no opening for my opponents’ weapons, I gain a boost when I Carefully defend against a melee attack with my tower shields. If I succeed with style, I may spend a Fate point to attach an On Fire! aspect with two free invokes on my attacker.
• Wall of Steel: Because my flaming tower shields grant protection to those
  nearby, any allies in my zone suffer one less stress from physical attacks.

Weight: 4 (Huge)
Role: Enemy: Fair Threat
Stress: ▢ ▢ ▢
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Mild (2):

---

Hellhound

High Concept: Medium Infernal Canine

Approaches:

• Quick: Fair (+2)
• Others: Mediocre (+0)

Stunts:

• Flame Breath: Because I can exhale a cone of fire, I can Flashily attack opponents up to a zone away and can never become Unarmed. The first time in a scene I attack this way, I add +2 to the attack.

Weight: 1 (Medium)
Role: Enemy: Fair Filler
Stress: ▢ ▢

---

You can download the Fire Giants & Hellhounds as an A4-sized PDF or a letter-sized PDF.

The monster illustration is the free paper mini made by Printable Heroes. The free versions are backless, but if you support the Patreon at just $1 a month you get minis with backs. For $2 a month you get access to “reskins”, and for $3 a month you get multiple color options. That’s a fantastic deal.