The Armies of Light & Allies

ven in the DragonLands, in the shadow of Shaitan himself, there are those who fight the Good Fight. You know of the TwiceBorn, and the humble Lightraiders, as brave warriors who are ready to fight for the OLMN. But you will also encounter other members of the Armies of Light in your travels. Fighting for the OverLord, you will find the Celestial Guardians, the Woodlings, and the Talking Animals (or "TA's".) 
 

Celestial Guardians

hese brave creatures may occasionally show up to save the party's bacon. Usually, PC's in an obviously hopeless situation should offer Battle Prayer, and a Guardian may be the AM's chosen vehicle of rescue. In an absolutely worst case scenario, beam 'em in without worrying about it...after the PC's have exhausted all options.

There are two types of Guardians featured in the Dragonraid LightRaider Handbook and some adventures: the unicorn and the pegasus. As no definitive stats were written by Wulf as to what they can and cannot do, here they are! 
 

Unicorn (Angels) 
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No. Appearing: 1-3
Size: 8" at the shoulder
Attacks: d10 + d10 + 2d10
Battle Ability: 25
Vitality: 64 
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nicorns are the most common of the OverLord's Guardians, and will occasionally appear to LightRaiders who are in need of help. They most often appear to ward wayward behavior, and clarify words from the Sacred Scrolls. They stand 6' high at the shoulder, and their pure white coats are things of great beauty. They cannot be killed, but if damaged beyond 0 PV they disappear with an effervescent fizz as they return to the OverLord's Glade. They may reform a physical body in three terrestrial days. The three unicorns most seen by the current Academy class have been Guilo, Chimon, and Boethos.

The unicorns physically fight doing a kick/kick/horn routine shown above. If given a 10' run, the horn becomes a 4d10 stab with a +2 bonus to hit. They may also do WordRune combat by helping Raiders with "that one Rune" they seem to have overlooked. They can teleport up to 10 Raiders up to 50 miles in any direction. 

They can go ethereal at will, but will never do so in sight; thus, they are gone when all look away. At will, they may disguise themselves as any humanoid form, but will not take the likeness of dark creature, or speak ill of the OverLord. This illusionary form cannot be detected by normal humanoids (although a HS check at DL10 will knock the LightRaiders from their feet and leave them with a PEace bonus of +3 for d10 hours. They will see a classical "angel.") Dragons, or very powerful evil minions (BA above 20) will see through the disguise immediately. Unicorns speak all know languages. Spells cast at a Unicorn will hit a SF of 14; if the defense roll is greater than 50 points higher than the SF percentage, the spell reflects back on the caster. Weapons will affect them, but lose all magical bonuses. 

DragonFire has 1/2 effect if it beats the SF of 14. Acid has full effect. No other attack form will damage the unicorn. All Primes, Abilities and Armor are at 14. Unicorns also have BWS at 16, MC of 20, RME and CA always, TL at 16 (if disguised and 14 if not), WM of 20, and EE at 20. 

The following abilities function unlimited times per day:

Detect Lie as BT of 14
Detect Illusion as HS of 14
Detect Magic as SE of 14
Detect Traps as KN of 14
Sense Evil as SE of 14
(through 120' of rock!)
Unicorns know all WordRunes, and may cast one per round. Some Runes may have special effects when invoked by a unicorn. See the following:
NIGHT LIGHT: May extend from a 3 to 30' diameter.
TRUE LIGHT: Will do 10d10 on undead.
RENEWER: Heals 14 PV per application, 7 times a day.
DESTROY DARKNESS: Destroys magic in 40' radius. Roll SS at 14, items save per strength, spells per level, rod/staff/wand at 6, Curses at DL 8.
SAFELY HIDDEN: Range is self to 10' circle, but visible to Dragons.
REMOVE FEAR: As written, but a 5' radius.
LIVING WATER: A specialty of Unicorns...see the New WordRunes.
 
Pegasus (Arch-angels) 
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No. Appearing: 1-3
Size: 10" at the shoulder
Battle Ability: 45
Vitality: 100
Attacks: 2 kicks (d10+10) + bite (4d10) 
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Pegasai generally conform to the stats for unicorns, but are the "Delta Force" of the OverLord's Guard. They appear only rarely, and only on direct bidding of the OverLord. The Captain of the Hosts is named Tal. Pegasai are larger than unicorns and stand 8' at the shoulder. They fight with a kick/kick/bite routine, and they bite with +5 on their BA. Spells cast at a pegasus will hit a SF of 14; if the roll is greater than 50 points higher than the SF percentage, the spell reflects back on the caster. Weapons will harm them, but lose all magical bonuses. DragonFire has 1/4 damage on pegasai if it beats the SF rating of 20. Acid has full effect. No other attack form will touch them. Like the unicorn, a Pegasus cannot be killed, but 100 PV points of damage will return them to the OverLord's Glade. They can teleport up to 20 Raiders up to 100 miles in any direction.

All Primes, Abilities and Armor are at 20. They RME and CA always. 

The following "abilities" function unlimited times per day:

Detect Lie as BT of 20
Detect Illusion as HS of 20
Detect Magic as SE of 20
Detect Traps as KN of 20
Sense Evil as SE of 20 (through 240' of rock!)
Pegasai know all WordRunes, and may cast two per round. Some Runes may have special effects when invoked by a Unicorn. See the following:
NIGHT LIGHT: May extend from a 4 to 40' diameter.
TRUE LIGHT: Will do 20d10 on undead.
RENEWER: Heals 20 PV per application, unlimited times per day.
DESTROY DARKNESS: Destroys magic in 50' radius. Roll at 20, items save per strength, spells per level, rod/staff/wand at 6, Curses at DL 8.
SAFELY HIDDEN: Range is self to 20' circle, but visible to Dragons.
REMOVE FEAR: As written, but will work on all in a 30' radius. ("Fear not!")
LIVING WATER: A specialty of unicorns...see New WordRunes. 
Additionally, note that both of these creatures are VERY humble, and if given flowery praise or shown honor, the Guardian will remind Raiders that it is only a servant of the great OverLord, and it is He who deserves the praise. 
 

Woodlings

ven in the wicked DragonLands, there are some forces of Good; the other "good news" is that there are races who will aid and support LightRaiders in their quest for the OverLord's will. These good folk often hide themselves away in pockets of safety, often deep in the ancient woods, and using special abilities (ever seen BWS 20?) they remain safe until they are needed. Woodlings praise the OverLord of Many Names as the Great Forester, and will aid the party with great support (especially if it includes an elf.) Gentle folk you can count on include brownies and sprites, as well as air, wood and water nymphs. If you are-hard pressed by the Dark One, these fair creatures will always come to your aid. As more date is reported in, your Humble Librarian will add it to the roster.
 

Treelithil
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No. Appearing: 1-2
Size: 10' - 40'
Battle Ability: 13
Vitality: 53
Enchantment: TreeSpeech
Strength Attacked: BA
Strength Damaged: N/A
Passed by: voice
Physical Attacks: 1-to-4(d10) swing
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reelithil look like short, stocky trees of the deepest green, and because they age so slowly, even a small treelithil may be as old as 100 years or more. They are found in any suitably deep, dense forest, and nearby elves, brownies, wood nymphs and other Woodlings will know by heart the location of these ancient creatures. They are deep thinkers, these Green Folk, and often have far more wisdom than you would credit to a creature that never moves more than 1" from where they were born. They love the Overlord greatly, and if passersby begin speaking favorably about the High One, they will wake up and join the conversation. If so roused, they will open what look like knotholes and reveal huge tired brown eyes, and speak slowly and deeply. Often, a quiet conversation between LightRaiders in the deep forest may be joined by the Treelithil, and new understanding of the OLMN may be the result.

Upon first encounter with any lone or set of treelithil, roll a d10. This is each creature's age and size. (1-2 is a young 10' sapling, 3-5 is a larger 20' new-growth, 6-9 is a mature 30' tree, and 10 is a venerable 40' old-growth elder.) The d10 roll is also the creature's TreeSpeech rating, which it will use as protection against attack. 

Treelithil hate the Dragons greatly, as might be expected of a creature so vulnerable to the cursed hot breath of that vile Dragons' brood. If attacked or if encountering passing dark creatures known to be on the Dragons' business, they will begin slowly shaking their branches and producing a strange sylvan whisper, like a dozen voices at once. This TreeSpeech is a charm attack at the DL rolled above, figuring against the dark creature's BA rating. If the dark creature fails, it will become confused and march about the Treelithil's feet acting out the day's journey, stopping to camp at night, and beginning a long circular march the next day. The treelithil will weaken and tire the dark creature with this charm until the evil monster represents no threat, and then let the creature wander off into the forest. Orcs and goblins of all types will be charmed and left to march themselves to death. Abominations have no true brain and cannot be charmed. This charming(!) ability is only used on dark creatures or dangerous OnceBorn. TwiceBorn will never be charmed, and the wise old Treelithil view the playful charming done by brownies and tree nymphs as youthful foolishness.

If threatened with fire or destruction, and if their charm has failed, treelithil will resort to physical attack, swinging a huge branch-like arm once per round for one d10 for each 10' it is tall.

Treelithil are known for the ability to recall word-for-word any conversation ever said within 100' of their trunk, dating back to their first budding, which may be hundreds of years. This information is said to be kept encoded in the creatures annular rings of bark, deep inside itself, in "core memory." Assign the data request a DL, and roll using the trelithil's d10 "age rating" as figured above. The information recalled by the creature is very specific, a conversation, in fact, so be fairly tough in assinging a DL to any Raider's data search request. Some known treelithil are Baltsum, Cedarz af Sinai, and Kudzu.

Stats for these creatures are recorded herein. Also be ever on the watch for Talking Animals, both giant and normal-sized, who may bring you the OverLord's own counsel! 
 

Talking Animals

reated at the OverLord's own will, the Talking Animals roam and hide in the DragonLands, often passing themselves off as their unintelligent cousins if the mission requires it. They are usually indistinguishable from normal animals, but in the Liberated Lands, those who walk two-legged often chose to wear clothes like the OnceBorn. They may show up out of the blue to bring the OverLord's word to a RaidTeam, or even to fight the dark ones if it means that they can bring aid to those who need it. (There are even rumors of giant talking animals, but none have ever been documented.) 

Normal animals? They are food, but are not to be cruelly or needlessly killed.

That is all that is known at this time concerning the Armies of Light. 

Onward, for the OverLord!


 

 
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