Allergic to Death: Part 1

In most sci-fi and fantasy games, it is not uncommon that a specific critter or race will have some sort of ‘weakness.’ These usually run the gamut from a weakness to cold for fire-based critters, a weakness to flame for cold-based creatures, and a general weakness to being stabbed, shot, or lasered repeatedly for most living organisms.

However, I find that these weaknesses tend to be rather mundane. The aforementioned weakness to cold for fire-based critters has been done to death. If it has flames, tends to use fire/heat, is red in color or dress, lives in Phoenix, or watches CNN, it’s most likely weak to cold.

It’s rather predictable.

So, in the interest of both creating more interesting races and critters and confusing the hell out of the players in my DnD game, I created a list of new and unusual weaknesses that could be exploited . . . er, used, in a gaming environment.

Lactose Intolerant
Rather self-explanatory. The adventuring party just needs to get the critter to eat some sort of giant sundae or drink a milk-shake. Mordenkainen’s Marvelous Milkshake would be most useful when dealing with these critters.

Poor Speller
Only really apropos for intelligent, literate monsters. This particular weakness can be exploited by simply asking them how to spell ‘surreptitious’ at an opportune moment and then sneaking up and stabbing them when they’re consulting a dictionary.

Bad Back
The creatures with this affliction habitually lift with their backs, not their legs. They can easily be defeated by dropping a large, solid-gold anvil near them and then running away. They attempt to pick up the anvil, throw their back out, and then are easy pickings. Beware, though, leader-types may be wearing a +3 Weight Belt of Disc Alignment.

Later:Part 2