Danger: Grues

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Do stats for the Grue exist anywhere?

Also, what do people think of the idea... of a campaign set completely in the darkness?

[Dust]

I think there would be at least three minutes of sniggering whenever anyone cast Magic Missile.

[Signmaker]

Xyzzy, damnit, xyzzy! Why don't you work!



No clue.

[Optimystik]

There are Grues in Complete Arcane, but I doubt they are the one you mean. (Of Zorky fame)

[sonofzeal]

Yeah, they're in Complete Arcane. Yes, Complete Arcane has monsters. Who knew? =P


They're pretty sucky though, basically just small evil elementals. If it is pitch dark and you are likely to be eaten by a grue... homebrew is a friend.

[Optimystik]

Two things:

1) About the only thing CArc Grues have in common with the real thing are the "spawned in dark places" line of fluff. I wasn't aware the Elemental Plane of Fire HAD dark places, but whatever.

2) Why aren't they pseudonatural? They're definitely ugly enough.

[Pharaoh's Fist]

1) About the only thing CArc Grues have in common with the real thing are the "spawned in dark places" line of fluff. I wasn't aware the Elemental Plane of Fire HAD dark places, but whatever.

Obviously the firelight causes lots of shadows. In the fire.

[Optimystik]

Obviously the firelight causes lots of shadows. In the fire.

Or maybe it's the smoke? You know, from all the fuel not being burned and everything.

[tyckspoon]

Stats? STATS? Here's your stats!

It is dark: You experience a sense of impending demise. You have 1d4 rounds to make it not-dark. If you do not do so, you are eaten.
It is light: You see no Grue. No stats needed.

[BRC]

Stats? STATS? Here's your stats!

It is dark: You experience a sense of impending demise. You have 1d4 rounds to make it not-dark. If you do not do so, you are eaten.
It is light: You see no Grue. No stats needed.

What if you are one of the 5321 races that have Darkvision?

[Xenogears]

What if you are one of the 5321 races that have Darkvision?

Atleast you don't know what colour it is...
Blindsight too though.

[Animefunkmaster]

I had a few adventures in complete darkness, but vision became an issue. OOTS jokes aside, one players darkvision became everyone's nightlight. And splitting up who knows what was a difficult task.

[Xenogears]

Do stats for the Grue exist anywhere?

Also, what do people think of the idea... of a campaign set completely in the darkness?

So like Pitch Black? Can I roll up stats for Vin Diesel? Oh wait. Maybe you can get him to show up himself. I hear he plays DnD. I bet hed be into this.

[tyckspoon]

What if you are one of the 5321 races that have Darkvision?

You catch a glimpse of the beast 1 round before you are eaten. It's really ugly. How are you doing on that light source?

[Telonius]

What if you are one of the 5321 races that have Darkvision?

I'd call for a sanity check.

[jmbrown]

Grues have no stats. If they had stats they could be killed and you can't kill a grue. All you can do is pray that within 3 rounds you manage to find some light.

If you ask me, grue aren't creatures but the darkness personified. Despite how people might argue, light is actually the absence of darkness hence why darkness pervades around a ring of light. When darkness envelopes a living creature completely it literally consumes them.

[Flaming Nun]

Despite how people might argue, light is actually the absence of darkness ...

Or would they argrue?

[Swordgleam]

The 4e MM has something called a "Foulspawn Grue."

Little-known anthropological fact: "Grue" is the third color most cultures create a name for, and is green/blue. The first two are red and yellow (I think in that order).

[Thurbane]

Grues have been in D&D since 1E (MM2 from memory). I remember the nasty little buggers from playing ToEE.

[Lycan 01]

Hm. Grue... I've never quite understood what they are, or where they came from. But a friend of mine always tells me that if my DnD party pisses me off, I should have them mysteriously killed off by a grue.

Although... The idea of "You have 1d4 rounds to make light, or die" sounds kinda fun. I may have to use it in my upcoming campaign. And since they don't have stats, level makes no difference, which makes me feel less bad about having a lvl 2-3 party exposed to such vile abominations.


I have this mental image in my head from an old preview I saw for Pitch Black. Its when the guy blows fire, and the whole screen lights up, and all you see are thousands of claws and mandibles shrieking and recoiling from the glow of the flame. That image has stuck with me for many, many years... And now I finally have a chance to impliment such a scene into one of my games. Awesome.

[Xenogears]

I have this mental image in my head from an old preview I saw for Pitch Black. Its when the guy blows fire, and the whole screen lights up, and all you see are thousands of claws and mandibles shrieking and recoiling from the glow of the flame. That image has stuck with me for many, many years... And now I finally have a chance to impliment such a scene into one of my games. Awesome.

It was awful nice of those near mindless killer animals to wait for him to see how doomed he was before killing him...

[Lycan 01]

Really? I always assumed that was Riddick. I haven't seen the whole movie, actually. Only the first third or so...


Hm. So, if I were to impliment Grues, how would this sound?

The players enter a long hallway. About halfway down the hall, all the torches go out, and it becomes pitch black. I tell them to make a roll (Arcana? Nature? Dungeoneering? ) and inform them that they have 1d4 rounds to create a light source, lest the Grue strip the flesh from their bones.

Then, every time somebody tries to create light, they roll a check. These are doomed to fail, of course, until the last possible moment. Turning on a glowrod? Roll... Oh, that's too bad. You hit it too hard, and it shattered. Casting a fireball? Roll to attack... The fire dies in your hand, leaving nothing but quickly fading cinders. Finally, on the last turn, whoever goes last succeeds. The light flares up, and countless talons, claws, mandibles, and tendrils shriek and recoil back into the darkness.

A few rounds later, the light goes out, and the process begins anew.

[ocdscale]

The 4e MM has something called a "Foulspawn Grue."

Little-known anthropological fact: "Grue" is the third color most cultures create a name for, and is green/blue. The first two are red and yellow (I think in that order).

I don't have my copy of The Language Instinct (which talked a little about this linguistic phenomenon) but I'm pretty sure I recall that it was closer to,
If a culture had words for only:
Two colors, they were almost always Black and White
Three color, usually Red was added
Four colors, add Blue (probably some form of "Grue" as you say, in that "green" things would get rolled into it if they lacked a specific word for green)
Five colors, add Yellow or Green
Six colors, add Yellow or Green

As for stats, I agree that Grues are more of a plot entity than a physical entity. As far as I know, the Zork Grue hasn't been stated yet.

[Swordgleam]

I don't have my copy of The Language Instinct (which talked a little about this linguistic phenomenon) but I'm pretty sure I recall that it was closer to,
If a culture had words for only:
Two colors, they were almost always Black and White

You could be right. I took anthropology a few years ago, so the research might have changed since then, or maybe my book just wasn't very good. Either way, I sold it back, so I can't look it up again.

According to wiki, both our versions are sort of right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_C..._and_Evolution

It's light-warm colors / dark-cool colors, then red, yellow, grue and so on.

[Xenogears]

Really? I always assumed that was Riddick. I haven't seen the whole movie, actually. Only the first third or so...

I could be thinking of a different part of the movie where a different character gets a light source up just to get killed...

I know someone in the movie does that. Come to think of it I think it was some kinda glowing rod...

[Kylarra]

Then, every time somebody tries to create light, they roll a check. These are doomed to fail, of course, until the last possible moment. Turning on a glowrod? Roll... Oh, that's too bad. You hit it too hard, and it shattered. Casting a fireball? Roll to attack... The fire dies in your hand, leaving nothing but quickly fading cinders. Finally, on the last turn, whoever goes last succeeds. The light flares up, and countless talons, claws, mandibles, and tendrils shriek and recoil back into the darkness.

A few rounds later, the light goes out, and the process begins anew.

Other than that part it sounds "fun".

If it is predetermined by you, then why bother rolling?

[Lycan 01]

After the first encounter, the rolls will actually be succeed-able. I just want the first contact to be stressful and freak them out. I'll be consulting notes and doing math, of course, to make them think the rolls are just difficult and not impossible.

But, I suppose I should give them a chance, although I feel the whole "last minute success" thing would be more dramatic.


Edit: To see how they react. I want them to think its possible, but they're just rolling badly. Now, if somebody rolls a 20, I won't have much choice in the matter, will I?

[Deth Muncher]

After the first encounter, the rolls will actually be succeed-able. I just want the first contact to be stressful and freak them out. I'll be consulting notes and doing math, of course, to make them think the rolls are just difficult and not impossible.

But, I suppose I should give them a chance, although I feel the whole "last minute success" thing would be more dramatic.

You could always have stuff going on to hurt their chances too, y'know.

"The corridor is quite gusty, your torch goes out."

"When did you last check fuel for your lamp?"

"In your fumbling, you open your Decanter of Endless Water and douse your tindertwig."

Stuff like that.

[The Grue]

I swear I saw a grue entry in one of the 3.5 Monster Manuals or something.

Also, obligatory post.

[Eldariel]

Little-known anthropological fact: "Grue" is the third color most cultures create a name for, and is green/blue. The first two are red and yellow (I think in that order).

Amusingly, I don't think Finnish even contains one. If it does, I've never heard it. I mean, there's "sinivihreä", but that's a combination of "sininen" ("blue") and "vihreä" ("green") [not a proper compound, but close enough]. So eh, yeah.