Oilliphéist
St. Patrick's Day RPG Blog Carnival
Many stories in Ireland are passed down through an oral tradition. One of the more famous stories involves St. Patrick chasing all the snakes out of Ireland. Oilliphéist, being a monsterous snake heard the stories and was angered. He was determined to show the adventurous priest how dangerous snakes could be.
Hearing a horrible sound emerge from the banks above his watery lair, Oilliphéist leap from the water and swallowed the enebriated bard Ó Ruairc (O’Rourke) who had been drunkenly playing music. The bard, completely oblivious to his predicament, continued to play music poorly within the belly of the beast. Tired of the horrendous sounds emanating from his stomach, Oilliphéist spat O’Rourke back out onto the lake’s edge.
Angry at the popular priest and the horrible bard, Oilliphéist decided to quit Ireland and leave his watery lair behind. In a fury of frustration, the dragon-lizard smote the land on his way into the air with his tail. The damage done to the earth left a long furrow creating the River Shannon on his flight out of Ireland.
| Oilliphéist | Level 21 Solo Skirmisher | ||||||
| Gargantuan Natural Magical Beast (dragon) | XP 16,000 | ||||||
| Initiative +18 | Senses Perception +14; Darkvision | ||||||
| HP 1,010; Bloodied 505 | |||||||
| AC 37; Fortitude 36, Reflex 35, Will 33 | |||||||
| Resist Cold 25 | |||||||
| Saving Throws +3 | |||||||
| Speed 8, fly 8 (hover), overland flight 16, swim 6 | |||||||
| Action Points 2 | |||||||
| :bm: Tail Lash (Standard; at-will) | |||||||
| Reach 3; +26 vs Armor Class; 2d6+7 damage and target is stunned until end of Oilliphéist’s next turn. | |||||||
| :bm: Claw (Standard; at-will) | |||||||
| Reach 3; +27 vs Armor Class; 1d10+7 damage. | |||||||
| :bm: Bite (Standard; at-will) | |||||||
| Reach 3; +27 vs Armor Class; 2d8+7 damage plus the target is grabbed (until escape). Oilliphéist cannot make bite attacks while grabbing a creature, but it can use its claws and tails. | |||||||
| :m: Slicing Fury (Standard; at-will) | |||||||
| Oilliphéist makes a claw attack against one target and a tail lash attack against another target. | |||||||
| :m: Swallow (Standard; encounter) | |||||||
| Oilliphéist tries to swallow a bloodied Large or smaller creature it is grabbing; +24 vs Fortitude; the target is swallowed. The swallowed target is inside Oilliphéist and is dazed and restrained until it is no longer swallowed. The swallowed target has line of sight and line of effect only to Oilliphéist, and no creature has line of sight or line of effect to the swallowed target. The only attacks the swallowed target can make are basic attacks. At the start of each of Oilliphéist’s turns, the swallowed target takes 20 damage. When Oilliphéist dies, the target is no longer swallowed and can escape as a move action, appearing in Oilliphéist’s former space. | |||||||
| :m: Music Hater (Immediate Reaction; recharge when bloodied) | |||||||
| Oilliphéist hates music, when ever a bard or other character begins using a music instrument Oilliphéist can Shift upto its speed (8) and make a Bite attack against the source of the music. | |||||||
| :c: Ground Gouger (Standard; recharge 6) | |||||||
| Close Blast 6; +24 vs. Reflex; 4d12+7 and the target is knocked prone. The target is also stunned and takes 5 ongoing damage (save ends both) | |||||||
| :c: Frightful Presence (Standard; encounter) ♦ Fear | |||||||
| Close burst 5; targets enemies; +22 vs Will; the target is stunned until the end of Oilliphéist’s next turn. Aftereffect: The target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends). | |||||||
| Alignment Evil | Languages Common, Draconic, Elven | ||||||
| Skills Nature +17; Intimidate +20 | |||||||
|
|||||||
Oilliphéist by Apis Teicher
Oilliphéist Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC 25: Oilliphéist is a lake-dwelling, flying, dragon-like monster. It’s name means great fabulous beast or reptile in Elvish.
DC 30: Oilliphéist is able to swallow opponents whole and his tail is legendary having carved the course of the River Shannon when enraged.
DC 35: As O’Rourke discovered, Oilliphéist is not a fan of music, as such psychic attacks are quite effective at annoying the beast.
Image by Apis Teicher
Information on Oilliphéist from Dragonstouch.co.uk
Stat Block created with Monster Maker by Asmor
Awesome. It isn’t all the time I encounter a piece of myth I knew little or nothing about, and with this story you have done just that. I had only heard of this serpent once, and never the name, so this was a great treat for me.
Thanks Daniel, I went looking for legends from St. Patrick and his exploits but I didn’t want something simple like the snakes. I found this one on wikipedia but there was only a tiny amount of information. I’m glad someone had some more interesting story about it and that it fit in so well with my wife’s piece she did a number of years ago was awesome.
Oh, so that’s your wife’s artwork, nice! I was looking around her site last night, following the link from this image above. I’ll have to take a closer look now, then.
Thanks, I’ll pass along the kind words. Her Devart page is a little more up to date than her portfolio page (I guess I should update it at some point for her). She also did Bob the Benevolent Beholder mascot in the header of the site.
Apis’ Deviant Art – http://uneide.deviantart.com/
Hello
Im really impressed that you have taken a mythological creature and created workable stats for it to function in a game.
Im afraid i dont really know much about this blog but im guessing thats what this is.
Just saw that you had used DragonsTouch as a resource and i thought i would see what you did with the info. Im genuinly impressed with the artwork and stats.
Thanks for the reference
Lex aka Dariune
http://www.dragonstouch.co.uk
Thanks Lex. It is indeed stats for the Oillipheist in Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. DragonsTouch was a great resource I’ll be referring to it for inspiration in the future. Thanks for the comments on artwork, I’ll pass along the compliments to my wife