Hey everybody! Skeeter Green from SGP Productions here to
once again fill the giant space-bunny slippers of Jayson Gardner this week for
Monster Monday! They didn’t get sick of me as I took you all to the gutters
(literally), so this week I’m going to get weird and mental, so without further
preamble, I bring you the su-monster!!!
The su-monster made its first appearance in original
D&D, in Supplement III: Eldritch
Wizardry, by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume. Additional Special Thanks are
given to perennial personal heroes of mine Steve Marsh, Dr. Dennis Sustare, Jim
Ward, and my Icon, Tim Kask. Eldritch
Wizardry is probably my fondest memory of the original books, not just for
the nude on the cover (about as tame as you can get, too), but mostly because I
have always been a sucker for “new magic” books and weird stuff. And this book
is full of new rules, new magic, and new monsters that eventually would become
pillars of more modern systems. Demons? Mind flayers (not trying to step on IP
here, please don’t come for me Mr. Hasbro lawyer)? DEMOGORGON? Craziness! Plus,
our friend, and reason fo this article, the su-monster.
Initially, the su-monster was described as “a wasp-waisted, great chested
hound. Their heads appear much like gorillas'. All four feet are prehensile and
armed with long and extremely sharp nails as well.” (Gygax & Blume) It gives
alittle more information about familial makeup, and then gets into “Su-monsters
have a latent psionic ability which enables them to deliver some form of
psionic attack once (per day) if psionic activity is being used near (within 12"
of them) … Psionic defense is not necessary as the
Su-monster is not itself subject to psionic attack.” Now I have always liked
psionics, but this is a little overpowering for my taste. Somebody can hit me
with some cool new power, but I can’t use it back? WTF? Anyway, the su-monster
got a bit of a makeover in 1E.
In the Monster Manual (Gygax) The su makes another
appearance (as it will throughout several more iterations of the game) but has
changed its look dramatically (probably for copyright reasons; pesky lawyers!)
Now, they have lost their wasp-dog look, and seem like regular monkeys. They
kept their powerful mental powers, but psionics was a little better defined in
1E (depending on who you ask), and as one of the few psionicly endowed
creatures, they were in many campaigns that allowed supplemental psionic rules
(along with mind flayers, intellect devourers, and titans. A real mix.)
Psionics themselves eventually dropped out of favor, first
only appearing in 2nd edition in the Complete
Psionics Handbook, missing 3.X almost completely, makes a brief emergence
in 4th edition (I bet no one knows that), and then came back with a vengeance
in 5E in the Tomb of Annihilation,
deep in the jungles of Chult. In 5E, the creature’s psionic power is relegated
to a single attack but can injure and/or stun its target. Not bad for a 40+
year old monster!
Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’m sure Jayson really wants
his blog back!!! Come by and visit me on Twitter @SkeeterMFGreen, and the Goddammit,
Zach! Youtube series, courtesy of Uncle
Matt’s RPG Studio https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwQ6cSVDLklOoQ8VSMsxp5Q.
See ya in the dungeons!
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