Monkeying Around from the mind of Peter Schaefer
When traveling through the tropical jungles that often conceal ruins of lost civilizations and temples to serpent gods, it is not unusual for the local fauna to interfere with the heroes’ quest. This usually manifests as lizardmen, swamp goblins, jungle elves, or other sapient creatures obstructing the heroes’ path. But what about the monkeys?
Monkeys as Terrain
A troop of monkeys can follow interesting creatures (such as adventurers) for miles, hopping from tree to tree to keep pace with them. They are curious whether these strange creatures are a threat to their territory, new low-rung members of the troop, food, or whatever else. They imitate the heroes and try to examine them when the monkeys can get close. When the pursued characters enter battle with another threat, such as goblins or local dire beasts, the monkeys play along. When fighting in such an environment, the DM can use the following rules.
• Each round, a monkey throws a rock or stick at a random character: level + 3 vs. AC; 1d6 damage.
• When a character makes a thrown attack, a monkey throws a rock or stick at the character: level + 3 vs. AC; 1d6 damage.
• When a character rolls a 1 on a bow or crossbow attack, he or she is out of generic ammunition because monkeys have stolen the arrows or bolts. A ranged basic attack against the culprits (which remain within 5 squares of the character) with AC level + 14 causes them to drop the ammunition.
• When a character falls prone, monkeys jump on and grab the character. The character cannot stand while grabbed by the monkeys. Escape checks are made against Reflex level + 13 or Fortitude level + 11.
• When a character scores or suffers a critical hit, the monkeys dogpile the target of the crit. The target is knocked prone and takes 2d6 damage.
• When the battle is over, each character rolls a Perception or Thievery check, DC 14 + one-half level. Any character that succeeds has prevented the monkeys from stealing from them. Any character that fails loses one small item, such as a coinpurse, potion vial, or gem.
When the character’s combatants are beasts, the monkeys know better than to mess with them (except on crits). But if the enemies are other sapient creatures, the monkeys might treat the enemy just as they do the heroes, at the DM’s option.
This environment functions best in heroic tier. After that point, heroes shouldn’t need to monkey around with harmless critters.
