I require some assistance to figure out the tags of the Naga (a monster) from the core rules (p. 304). It has the following tags:
Solitary, Intelligent, Organized, Hoarder, Magical
Solitary (monster organization): It can live and fight without the
help of others. This tag gives a bonus to random treasure rolls.
Organized (monster): Groups of this monster will have formal
organization—if you kill one, others might seek revenge.
Solitary and Organized seem a bit at odds to me. Does Solitary simply designate a creature that is able to fight alone and be a strong opponent even by itself, whereas Organized points to it having some sort of family structure? (Please refrain from any “ask the players” replies, please.)
There’s also no mention about how Solitary gives a bonus to random treasure rolls in the rules, the Treasure table does not list Solitary as granting any bonuses. So do you let Solitary grant a bonus to random treasure rolls, and if so how? Do you perhaps go with the +1d4, such as with Ancient, and Lord, or roll twice as with Hoarder? Also note that the Naga is already a Hoarder, so that will be quite some treasure at b[2d10] with (possibly) another bonus on top.
Solitary means it usually appears by itself. Mechanically, the tag also sets the creature’s base stat line (HP, damage die, etc.), making it more of a threat than other types of monsters.
Organized doesn’t necessarily mean that it has it’s family structure right there, right now, just that it has one. If a group of Nagas got together, they would organize into some kind of hierarchy, rather than it being an anarchist free-for-all. If the Naga gets away, it more than likely has some kind of support network it can call on for help.
I don’t think the Solitary tag affects random treasure rolls, but I might be wrong.
Yeah, I’d go with +1d6 and roll twice (because of Hoarder).
As per the solitary / organised issue….
It doesn’t seem like a problem to me. Its just that Naga like their own company, but they feel part of a larger grou of like minded Snakey-Monster folks. So in their day-to-day mooching about the dungeon they chill on their own, but when it comes to making the big decisions or going to war or somesuch, well then they can get together have an intelligent chinwag and cause some real mischief.
Hmm, I’d think of it as a Grendel/Grendel’s mother-type situation. Nagas are solitary, but kill one and two weeks later it’s sibling will have somehow found out and arrived to terrorise the neighbourhood.
I wouldn’t add a bonus to treasure rolls for the sake of solitary. The solitary tag informs the creatures’ damage dice, which in turn is the main thing you roll for treasure already. More importantly, the intelligent, magical and hoarder tags on one creature imply (to me) that it hoards magical stuff. Killing a naga would be a great opportunity to forgo the usual treasure table and reward the players with a magic item – it would make more sense the naga would have it over a different solitary creature. (Disclaimer: I’m not a big fan of the treasure or wealth systems in DW, so would rarely use the treasure table anyway.)
I totally agree with Christopher Stone-Bush ‘s and Joe Banner ‘s sentiments.
A mind flayer would be both Solitary and Organized because they are almost always alone, but illithids have a highly complex society with a hierarchy. If you kill one mind flayer, there’s no telling how many other mind flayers were telepathically told about you in it’s dying thoughts.
It’s similar with nagas, if not identical.
Joe’s nailed it 🙂
I also like this description that elucidates organised :
Long-Term Schemes: No task can last forever, so a naga must plan for what to do after its stewardship ends. It spends much of its time scheming and plotting an ever more labyrinthine master plan. Nagas take a great interest in news of the world to adjust their plans. They send messengers and minions to carry information back and forth and to make deals with sages and rulers. Dark nagas enjoy such schemes more, and they readily approach drow matrons, mind flayers, and other masters of the Underdark to be allies in their plans. Such creatures would be foolish to ignore a naga’s request.
Organised could also mean its minions. Because in a room could be 1 solitary naga but also its group of snake cultists.
Yeah I’m currently making an adventure with Naga and seeing the description of them it sounds like they are a kind of Master Ruler/King that are alone because they are the last remnants of their race but they will use minions(I’m using snake cultists and salamanders) to do their dirty work hence Organised.
Ask the players! Sorry, couldn’t resist…
There are lots of creatures with both the solitary and organized tags. The Ravenous Hordes grouping is littered with them: gnoll alpha, ork berserker, orc shaman, orc warchief, fomorian queen, triton spy.
Think of the organization tags as “how does it typically hunt & fight,” not necessarily how does it live its life. Another way of thinking about that is: “in what numbers is it a threat?” A solitary creature is badass on its own; a hordeling not so much.
The “organized” tag then means that it’s a social creature, with allies, minions, servants, possibly superiors.
The specific meaning of the solitary + organized combo is always going to be creature-specific. For the naga, to me it means “boss creature,” an ancient god-thing sitting at the center of a network of minions, lies, and ancient oaths. But the triton spy isn’t a boss; he’s a bad-ass portent of ravenous horde a-comin’.
Thanks everyone. I still have a Naga God King and Queen going. I’m fine with two of them. The Danger is the Chosen One from Arcane Enemies, and I had a ton of fun generating all sorts of weird snake god worshiping cultists.
In the game’s Tag Reference (p. 396-399), the Solitary tag is listed as granting a Treasure Roll bonus, but not in the rules for generating random treasures. It would be cool to find out from the designers which is correct.
Summoning Adam Koebel 🙂
Nathan Roberts, you apparently rolled a 6- on your summoning, and the GM selected an off-screen Move with no immediate effect.
😉