Accessory - Dragon Magazine #111.pdf - Index of

Microscopic monsters
When they get bigger, they get a lot tougher
by Kent Colbath
After several years of serving as a Dungeon Master, you may
notice a certain sameness creeping into the routine parts of your
adventures. As the characters advance toward whatever new twisted
beast you’ve created to guard the latest fabulous treasure, they
generally blunder through the standard assortment of orcs, giant
rats, and zombies. Granted that for higher-level characters these
may be replaced by ogres, wolves, and ghouls (or even telephone
sanitizers, middle-level managers, and IRS agents if the DM is
really sadistic), the effect is much the same. Where is a DM to turn
for information on new lower-level creatures to inhabit his fantasy
landscape?
One productive source of new monsters may be literally found
underfoot. Single-celled plants and animals have a variety of bizarre
properties which are ideally suited to the AD&D® game. Many of
these creatures also have the virtue of living in water, a habitat
which is particularly neglected in the available monster collections.
There are two ways to bring these monsters into play. The first is
to shrink the characters to a very small size by magical means. Note
that the characters must shrink to a fraction of an inch before a
single-celled creature becomes much of a threat. This requires a
shrinking spell of exceptional power.
The second, and I think more interesting, way to bring the monsters
into play is by enlarging them (this is assumed in the descriptions
given below). A high-powered enlarge spell cast on murky
pond water would do the trick. More systematic enlargement of the
cells might be undertaken by a powerful magic-user, human or
otherwise, who would use the cells for some purpose.
PROTISTON
One creation I’ve developed that may serve to introduce giant
single-celled beasts to a campaign is Protiston, who may or may not
exist at the option of the DM. Protiston is giant slime mold, a type
of creature (described below) which alternates between being a
swarm of individual amoebae and a colony that looks like a large,
distorted mushroom. Each individual amoebal cell carries a certain
amount of information, so Protiston functions much like a very slow
computer.
Protiston (as it was named by the mage who discovered it) began
as a simple collection of single-celled creatures in a large body of
water, such as a sea or an ocean. At some some point in the distant
past, Protiston became so large and complex that it acquired intelligence,
and slowly thereafter gained magical skills. Being of such an
alien intelligence, Protiston has no understanding at all of “normal”
human thought, and regards everything around it as either a food
source or “hostile environment” to be overcome and destroyed. No
one knows for sure, but the chaotic evil alignment detected from
Protiston may stem from either Protiston’s innate disregard for all
other forms of life, or from some form of association with the demon
prince Juiblex (which might explain how Protiston gained spellcasting
abilities). Little else is known of this being’s origins or intent,
save that it wishes to “eat” the entire world or shape it to benefit
itself. Few beings are even aware that this creature exists — and few
who have found it have lived to tell about it later.
As presently constituted, Protiston inhabits the interior of a large
coral atoll (or a calm, shoreline cavern, if placed in an inland sea by
the DM). Numerous support colonies of amoebae may be found
around it. Although a single thought in Protiston’s “mind” may
take anywhere from a few seconds to a few weeks to complete, Protiston
is highly intelligent and has gained the powers of a 12th-level
magic-user, being able to cast spells like push, shield, continual
darkness/light, ray of enfeeblement, stinking cloud (above water),
hold person, protection from normal missiles, slow, hallucinatory
terrain, plant growth, cloudkill (above water), hold monster, telekinesis,
transmute rock to mud, and control weather. Other spells may
be possible, but no spell will be used that involves fire or that considers
other beings to be intelligent (such as charm spells). Select
Protiston’s spells as if it were the only intelligent being around, and
everything it might encounter was a mindless food source or part of
the environment.
In addition to spell-casting abilities, Protiston is somehow able to
magically or biologically increase the size of single-celled creatures,
using these creatures as guards and helpers. Note that among these
creatures, only Protiston is evil. The others are all neutral and unintelligent,
and work to Protiston’s advantage only according to circumstances.
There are many more ways to bring these creatures into play, and
literally thousands of variations on the creatures described below.
They are clearly not suitable for all adventures. You should find,
however, that confronting your veteran characters with giant dinoflagellates,
or amoebae that swarm together into a huge, gelatinous
“slug,” will quickly bring the characters to attention and prod them
into resuming their quest with renewed vigor.
DINOFLAGELLATES
The dinoflagellates are a very peculiar group of one-celled organisms
which are generally classified with the plants. Most of them
are capable of engulfing food particles, however, and some have
completely lost their brown pigment and survive only by scavenging
or predation.
Among the things which unite the group, one of the most striking
is the presence of two thin whiplike organs, or flagella. One rings the
central body of the organism like a belt, and is equipped with numerous
tiny hairs which beat constantly. The other is long and slender,
extending far beyond the organism’s posterior, and beats in a
wavelike motion. The combined action of the flagella causes the cell
to spin on its axis while moving rapidly through the water.
In many members of the group, reproduction is triggered by an
environmental change (generally a decrease in nutrients, light intensity,
or temperature). The swimming cells pair off, fuse, and form
spiny, thick-walled cysts that settle to the bottom of whatever body of
water they inhabit. After an appropriate period of dormancy (generally
a few months, but as much as a few years), environmental
changes of the opposite sort will trigger the release of the cysts’
contents, which then grow flagella, begin dividing, and start the life
cycle anew. A clever (and powerful) magic-user could exploit this life
cycle by artificially inducing cyst formation (using a cold- or
darkness-causing spell, for example). In the cyst stage, the cells can
be removed from the water and transported for considerable distances.
Three of the four types of dinoflagellates listed here form
cysts (Peridinium, Ceratium, and Gonyaulax).
Another interesting property of some dinoflagellates is bioluminescence.
They give off light which is concentrated into a brilliant flash,
used to startle potential predators (and, in this context, unwary
adventurers). One cell is capable of producing a flash every 5-10
melee rounds. Peridinium, Gonyaulax, and Noctiluca all are capable
of producing such flashes, with those produced by Noctiluca
being particularly potent.
D RAGON 27