This is the draft Monsters section of Sweet Valley Hell. It’s in raw text form for now. Check it out!
MONSTERS AND YOU
There are tons of monsters in the Valley thanks to the Hellhole. This section goes over how they work, a little of their history, and then tells you what happens if one of your players gets the Hellhole treatment? Oh. My. God. Yes, it’s true, sometimes the monsters you see are like, the monsters you know, or something.
How the skill blocks work:
Name of Monster
Description
What they do: This is what the monster’s primary goal or action is.
How they do it: Their method of killing or whatever.
How to kill them: Pretty self-explanatory – how the player characters can kill the monster.
Powers: Any special abilities the monsters have.
Hit Points: How many hits it takes to kill or socially dominate the baddie. These are often variable – the number here is an average, and can change with the specific NPC monster.
skills: What die type they have in each skill, Fight and Sosh.
Dead-walkers
Ugh, gag me with a spoon. Not really, tho – you won’t need to, because these guys are grody to the max and totes unchill on top of that. Dead-walkers are literally dead people? They are the spirits of the idiots who got sent to Hell for doing like, bad stuff, and they kind of find a body of some variety when they crawl out of the Hellhole. Usually they’ll just grab like, a dead guy or something from a cemetery? But sometimes they get fresh meat, push the Granny outta Granny and go grocery shopping for more than just prune juice, and start murdering as soon as their body starts rotting because it doesn’t have a clean soul in it anymore.
What they do: Eat people. Ew.
How they do it: Biting, and like, tearing off limbs.
How to kill them: Headshots, and not the modeling kind. Oh, burning them works, too. Or a woodchipper.
Powers: None.
Hit Points: 5 Body, 0 Mind.
Skills: A regular dead-walker comes in at Fight: d6, Sosh: null. These aren’t the brightest bulbs in the closet. Tougher ones have a Fight of d8 or d10. If it’s like, a serial killer guy’s soul in a dead-walker body? They sometimes have a Sosh up to d8, but never higher. Groups of dead-walkers happen sometimes – see the Mob rules later on.
Vamps
“See ya later, suckers!” Yeah, the vamps are tired of hearing that joke, too. They’re sometimes super old, they spread like the plague, and they really, really like blood. Vamps are your garden variety vampire, with the same needs as any old creep: blood. Humans or animals, it doesn’t really matter, but most of the jerks always want to have like, live human blood or whatever, while the practically vegan vamps stick to critters – and they totally recycle, too. They have retractable pointy teeth, can turn into bats, and they can get a tan.
What they do: Suck blood and sometimes making new vamps.
How they do it: Tricking or capturing their victims, then getting their slurp on.
How to kill them: Stake to the heart, decapitation, or cremation.
Powers:
Entrance – If a Vamp has a Sosh encounter with a player character and they win and have more successes than half of the player’s available Mind hit points, they can Entrance the player and give them one Sosh-based command. Example: Laurel (vamp) Entrances Hilary, a player character, and has her tell another character, Todd that his girlfriend Allie is totally cheating on him, and it stirs up conflict in the group.
Fly – Vamps can fly, but only when they change into a bat. This makes them much sneaker, and obvs much more, uh, flighty, but they can’t use their Sosh skill at all when they do it.
Regeneration – Unless the players stake the vamp’s heart, cut off their head, or burn them to ashes (after reducing them to zero Body hit points), vamps regenerate all of their hit points after a fight is over, even if they’re reduced to zero. Basically, don’t leave their bodies laying around.
Immortality – Vamps never die, and never age past the point they’re turned, unless they’re killed in the three ways listed above.
Super-senses – Vamps all have advanced senses, so they all can hear better, see better, smell better, and pretty much anything else. Kinda icky, but really useful.
Turning – Vamps can turn a human into a vamp, too, and it just takes one bite and a quick stab to the heart. No, seriously, like, they bite a person? And then they stab them in the heart! That person then dies and wakes up as a vamp, pointy teeth and all.
Hit Points: 5 for standard vamps, 8 for tough guys, and 10 for serious baddies in Body and Mind each.
Skills: Standard vamps run Fight: d8, Sosh: d6. Some of the smoother cats will go Fight: d8, Sosh: d8. Queens like Laurel would be hitting Fight: d10, Sosh: d10.
Demons
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned… except it kinda does. Mostly in the like, hundreds of demons that hang around in the Hellhole, some of which have managed to climb out and be like, human looking and stuff. Demons don’t possess people initially, they make their own bodies from the ether. This means they’re typically pretty hot, and not just in the Hell way? They can possess people, though, and often do, but it’s really taxing. They have a wide range of agendas, and some could even be allies to the player characters? Some want power, some want love, some just want to watch the world burn. Like, literally, they want to make Hell take over the Earth.
What they do: Possess people, manipulate people, and pursue agendas.
How they do it: Using their demonic powers and their charming personalities.
How to kill them: Capture their soul and toss it back into the Hellhole. Capturing a demon’s soul requires an incantation (any priest should know it), a vessel (a jar, bottle, locket, etc.), and the demon’s Mind hit points to be at 0.
Powers:
Regeneration – Unless the players capture their soul (after reducing them to zero Mind hit points), demons regenerate all of their hit points after a fight is over, even if they’re reduced to zero. Basically, don’t leave their bodies laying around.
Immortality – Demons never die, and can appear in a body of any age. They can only be stopped if their souls are captured, and even then, they might someday rise again from the Hellhole.
Possession – if a demon reduces someone’s Mind hit points to zero, they can possess their body. While in possession of the body, they can do like, basic stuff? But they can’t perform anything huge like, killing other people or whatever. Simple tasks, man.
Mind over Body – A demon can never be knocked out until their Mind hit points reach 0. Even if they’re completely physically disabled, they can still talk and stuff.
Hit Points: Body hit points can range from as little as 3 to as high as 10. Mind hit points never go below 5 and can go as high as 12. Demons are like, totally rad.
Skills: No demon will have a Sosh of less than d6. Like, ever. The sky’s the limit, too, with that. Fight skills for demons range between d4 and d10.
Were-beasts
Have you ever heard of like, a menagerie? It’s kind of like a bunch of animals, and that’s what there are roaming the streets of the Valley. Well, kinda. were-beasts, or shapeshifters if you want to be fancy, include run of the mill werewolves to stealthy werecougars, but just about any kind of creature works. There are two types of were-beasts: ones who were animals first, called like, therians, and ones who were humans first, called anthros. were-beasts are the result of a magical infection, kind of like, chicken pox or something? It’s totally bichen for the humans who get infected. For the animals, though, it’s more like punishment. The infection is spread by bites and exchange of bodily fluids – basically anything hotter than a kiss will spread it, so cover up.
What they do: Honestly? They just wanna be left alone. But sometimes they eat people, or maim them.
How they do it: Gnashing teeth, grody claws, and crazy serious strength.
How to kill them: Silver bullets do okay – heart and brain only, and cutting off heads only works if you, like separate the pieces? They might still get chatty, though. The hardest, but most effective method, is (like so many things) to just light it up.
Powers:
Regeneration – Unless they are torched to ashes, decapitated, or shot in the head or heart by a silver bullet (and reduced to 0 Body hit points) were-beasts regenerate all of their hit points after a fight is over, even if they’re reduced to zero. In the case of were-beasts, they will even regrow limbs and reattach heads if there’s nothing keeping them apart.
Strong Body, Strong Mind – All of the were-beasts are like, super smart or strong. The Principal decides, based on the type of animal, whether the were-beast gets a bonus d6 to add to their dice pool for Sosh or for Fight. For example, a werewolf might get a bonus d6 to their Fight, while a wereraven (no joke!) might get a bonus d6 to their Sosh.
Super-senses – Were-beasts all have advanced senses, so they all can hear better, see better, smell better, and pretty much anything else. Kinda icky, but really useful.
Transformation – Any were-beast can appear as a human, a specific animal, and a hybrid form. Most newer were-beasts experience involuntary transformations, particularly around the turning of the moon, either new moon or full moon. Extreme emotion can also result in transformation.
Hit Points: Were-beasts are pretty much the heavy-hitters of the supernatural world, and they have the hit points to show it. Every were-beast, no matter how small, starts with at least 6 Body hit points. They can have up to 12. Mind hit points have the same range for anthros, but therians are typically an average of 2 Mind hit points lower than average, so they’d run from 4 Mind hit points to 10.
Skills: Were-beasts have different specialties, so like, they do different stuff? And like, depending on what kind of animal they are, they’ll have different skills? So the Principal can be super creative here. To toss examples out a werewolf would be like, Fight: d10, Sosh d6. A wereraven would be like, Fight d6, Sosh d8. Keep in mind that therians are often more vicious and less sociable.
Archons
So like, you know when you think of beings of light and energy and people call them angels? Yeah, well, angels exist, but those beings? Not angels. Archons are these totally cool beings that kind of transcend reality, and like, they’re basically untouchable. They come from beneath Hell and above Heaven and they’ve always been here, just as elements of the universe. They are super rare, but when they do show up, they bring either a lot of good or a hell of a lot of bad. The only way to beat them if they’re gunning for you is to basically convince them the world is worth saving. Good luck with that.
What they do: Grant grace or destruction.
How they do it: Self-sacrifice.
How to kill them: You can’t.
Powers:
Apocalypse – They either temporarily boost the Mind hit points of everyone in the surrounding 30 miles by 2, or they temporarily lower their Body hit points by 3. This effect lasts for one session (if it happens at the end of one session, it would be effective for the whole of the next session). There is no roll, they just do it.
Hit Points: Body is irrelevant. Mind is between 5 and 10.
Skills: Yeah, dude, you can’t even imagine going toe-to-toe with these guys, so let’s just pretend that their Fight is like, infinity. Sosh, though, ranges from d6 to d10.
Ghosts
They clang, they howl, they shake chains. Spooky! Ghosts are, in general, pretty chill. They’re just spirits who spirited out of Hell and didn’t grab a body on the way. They’re undead, not deadly, and basically like your second cousin Lenny who won’t stop leaving his gym shoes in the hallway – kind of a pain the ass, but like, mostly harmless. If they do cause trouble, like, by causing car accidents, disrupting the peace, that kind of thing, they can be exorcised. Call your local priest!
What they do: Cause a nuisance.
How they do it: Haunting.
How to kill them: It’s more like, you know, banishment? But yeah, exorcism. Good ol’ fashioned Latin prayers.
Powers:
Dead – They aren’t alive, they don’t have a body, they kind of wisp around and are generally immaterial. Oh, and they can’t be killed. Again.
Washington’s Curse – If you think they might have useful info, just ask them – ghosts cannot tell a lie.
Hit Points: Null and null again. To get rid a ghost, seriously, just pray in Latin.
Skills: None.
Cherubim
The holy host has no clue if there is a god, but they def want to be righteous, dude. The cherubim are one of the types of angels, and the only ones you’re likely to meet. The archangels don’t make visits to Earth, so the cherubim do the dirty work. The dirty work being Hellhole crowd control. Almost every cherubim is on the side of the good, or at least the mostly-good. One or two might have delusions of grandeur, though, so like, look out? Oh, also? When you see one, you’ll know it – cherubim have a body like Bessie the cow and faces like Janus, with a couple of sets of wings to go ‘round.
What they do: Defend the righteous.
How they do it: Angelic grace.
How to kill them: Silver cross made into a sword. In the heart. Ouch.
Powers:
Regeneration – Unless the players stab them in the heart with a fancy sword (after reducing them to zero Body hit points), cherubim regenerate all of their hit points after a fight is over, even if they’re reduced to zero. Basically, don’t leave their bodies laying around.
Mind over Body – Cherubim can never be knocked out until their Mind hit points reach 0. Even if they’re completely physically disabled, they can still talk and stuff.
Immortality – Cherubim never die, and only appear as their totally rad winged form. They can only be stopped if they’re killed, and even then, they are only sent to Heaven again, and might come back someday.
Hit Points: Body hit points can range from as little as 3 to as high as 10. Mind hit points never go below 5 and can go as high as 12.
Skills: Cherubim rarely have Fight skills of less than d6, and can go up and up from there. Sosh skills for cherubim, however, are like humans – d4 and up.
Void
Void are the depths of Hell, the darkest of nights, the deepest of seas. Epic, yeah? They’re super creepy little guys – typically the size of children or teens but not kids at all. They are literally Hell beasts who have crawled up to devour souls. They have these wicked big mouths with sharp, pointy, needle-like teeth. Too many teeth. Ugh. They’re not super sociable, and mostly speak in the tongues of Hell, but they’re quick and stealthy.
What they do: Devour souls.
How they do it: Bite, suck, slurp. Soul be gone.
How to kill them: They die like mortals, so you can mow ‘em down.
Powers:
Devour – they literally eat your soul. If they get a bite on you, they’ll suck Mind hit points out of you by the minute, getting an extra bonus d6 to add to their Fight that always counts as a success so long as they get at least one success in their roll, including that die.
Stealth – They’re creepy, they’re crawly, and they blend into the shadows like… uh, like a shadow.
Speed – Void are totally fast. It takes one additional success to get the first hit in on them in a fight.
Hit Points: They average around 5 Body and Mind hit points, just like humans.
Skills: Void have no higher than Sosh: d8, and average around Fight: d6.
Mob Rules
When monsters get together in groups of 3 or more, they’re called a mob. So, like, when this happens? Treat the monsters as one unit, where the stats are equal to the most powerful monster, but raise their die type for their stats by two ranks. As an example, if you have six dead-walkers, and the like, strongest of the deadwalkers is at Fight: d6, the mob as a whole would be at Fight: d10. Their hit points will still be equal to the highest hit points.
It’s important to keep in mind that major NPCs should not be part of mobs and should have their hit points and rolls monitored individually. Basically, like, if they are important enough to have a name? Like, they aren’t totally mob mooks.
PLAYERS AS MONSTERS
It would be like, totally uncool if they players couldn’t be like, monstrous. Here’s the way that works.
Players get the powers of all of the monsters applied to their character, so they can transform, possess, all that. If the monster has higher hit points and/or skill rank dice than them, they gain one hit point in each hit point set that is higher and/or one skill rank die in each skill that is higher. If it is the opposite, where the hit points or skill rank dice are lower, then the player character would lower their hit points and/or skill rank dice by one. For example, if a vampire bites a player character, and the vampire’s hit points are Mind: 6, Body: 7, and their skill ranks are Fight: d8, Sosh: d10, while the player character’s hit points are Mind: 5, Body: 5, and skill ranks are Fight: d6, Sosh: d6, then you would adjust the player’s stats to be Mind: 6, Body: 6, and Fight: d8, Sosh: d8.
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