Is an owlbear a chimera? What about a minotaur, or a manticore, or a sphinx? Is Frankenstein’s monster a chimera? Mary Shelley used the word “chimera” and “chimerical” to describe the creature on more than one occasion! A lot of mythological monsters were devised by mashing animals together or combining human and bestial traits to create something new. Think about what traits a chimera needs to have in order to be a chimera, and not just some wacky arcane abomination. Maybe these “typical” chimeras are the only ones that breed true, or some other justification, but in my opinion, chimeras should be made up of all sorts of wild and wooly combinations.Įveryone has a different idea of what a chimera should be like. I like the idea of chimeras being the creations of a demon lord, as if a godlike entity picked up three critters and randomly smashed them together, like a child playing with a tub full of LEGOs. The Monster Manual describes the lion-goat-dragon chimera as a “typical specimen” of a chimera. In D&D, the first chimeras were created by the demon lord Demogorgon when he first entered the Material Plane and was unimpressed with the balance of nature. Just make sure it’s the goat’s head that’s breathing fire! Creating a Chimera of Demogorgon The lack of flight hinders both the chimera’s offense and its defense, but its potent new attack ensures that the Hellenic Chimera is just as powerful as the D&D one. Hit: 2 (1d4) piercing damage and the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. When its fire breath is available, it can use the breath in place of its horns.įangs. One with its bite (lion’s head), one with its horns (goat’s head), one with its claws, and one with its fangs (serpent’s head). In exchange for the loss of its wings, give the chimera a fourth attack as a part of its Multiattack action: Changing its three heads to be that of a lion, a goat, and a serpent is a simple task all you need to do is remove the dragon head and the chimera’s draconic wings. Just like tweaking the draconic head of the D&D chimera, it’s a simple task to create a chimera based on the original monster of Hellenic legend. If the dragon head is black or blue, the area of the breath weapon is a 25-foot line. If the dragon head is green, red, or white, the area of the breath weapon is a 15-foot cone. If you want to give a chimera a different dragon head in fifth edition, there are two things you need to do: change the breath’s damage type, and possibly change its shape. Of note, in some previous editions of Dungeons and Dragons, the chimera could have the head of any sort of chromatic dragon, not just a red dragon. How can you create chimeras to suit your needs as a Dungeon Master? Creating a Rainbow of Draconic Chimeras In modern times, a chimera can refer to any monster amalgamated from different creatures, such as the human-animal hybrid chimeras of Fullmetal Alchemist, the winged, two-headed, two-tailed chimaeras of World of Warcraft, and so on. Homer’s earliest extant account of the Chimera described it in snake-tailed form, whereas Pseudo-Apollodorus’s Bibliotheca described the chimera as being part-dragon, instead. Even within the Hellenic world, however, the specific vision of the Chimera was inconsistent. It breathes fire from its dragon head, though in Greek myth, it was the goat head from which fire spewed. It has three heads, that of a lion, a goat, and a red dragon, and is lion-fronted, dragon-winged, and goat-backed. Like most D&D monsters lifted from Greek mythology, the chimera of D&D isn’t one-of-a-kind, but part of a species of similar monsters. Though the chimera found in the D&D Monster Manual is also three-headed, it is somewhat different from the chimera of myth. The Chimera, which Homer described in The Illiad as a creation of immortal make, with the front of a lion, the middle of a goat, and a tail made from a venomous snake ( translated by A.T. Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, translated by Sir James George Frazerįew creatures of Greek mythology are more famous than the dreaded Chimera, which was killed by the hero Bellerophon with the aid of the winged horse, Pegasus. And it devastated the country and harried the cattle for it was a single creature with the power of three beasts.” “Iobates ordered to kill the Chimera, believing that he would be destroyed by the beast, for it was more than a match for many, let alone one it had the fore part of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and its third head, the middle one, was that of a goat, through which it belched fire. Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverseĭescent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |