Frankenstein's Monster [Archive] - Wizards Community

Frankenstein's Monster [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
kuhTHOOloo
12-23-04, 11:27 PM My friend and I somehow got into the discussion of how to stat out Frankenstein's monster, and are unsure how to do it.

I think it should be a flesh golem base creature that somehow has intelligence, while he thinks it should be some sort of undead.

It needs a decent intelligence, seeing as how it needs to be able to read and debate philosophy.

I'm away from my books right now, and can't show you all what I think it should be, but I will when I'm able..yeah. Just wanted to get this posted before I got sidetracked and forgot.
Ssussunriyh
12-23-04, 11:50 PM It depends which portrayal of Frankenstein's Monster you're aiming for: Boris Karloff's or Mary Shelley's?

The flesh golem originated in the Ravenloft campaign setting and, as you can probably guess, leaned toward the portrayal of the Frankenstein Monster as a dim-witted and barely-controllable brute. Since "golem" was the closest thing the 'Monster resembled in terms of game mechanics (this was AD&D 1E) it had to be retooled into a mindless automaton...
kuhTHOOloo
12-23-04, 11:55 PM would there be a way to give a flesh golem an int score? maybe magically putting in a brain? brain in a jar with a golem body perhaps?
Callahan
12-24-04, 12:36 AM Awaken Construct. 9lvl Cleric/Wiz/Sor spell. costs 5k XP and requires... get this, a human brain.
Savage Species.
kuhTHOOloo
12-24-04, 12:42 AM thanks. I shall go check that spell out
captainswift
12-25-04, 02:06 PM The flesh golem originated in the Ravenloft campaign setting and, as you can probably guess, leaned toward the portrayal of the Frankenstein Monster as a dim-witted and barely-controllable brute. Since "golem" was the closest thing the 'Monster resembled in terms of game mechanics (this was AD&D 1E) it had to be retooled into a mindless automaton...

Umm, no.
The Flesh Golem was in the very first Monster Manual, well before the Ravenloft campaign setting was even a twinkle in someone's eye.

But, yes, I feel the Frankenstein Monster was the idea behind it.
Godzilla
12-25-04, 05:48 PM Well, this is a good starting point for what I think it should be:
Strength: High
Dexterity: Low
Constitution: A medium score should fit well here, but you might want to thing about it.
Intelligence: Low
Wisdom: Medium to High, seeing as he can make his own decisions. Or would this be more fitting for Intelligence. Eh, which ever you think it should go in. I don't have the book with me, and I can't remember the difference.
Charisma: Low
So, it'd be strong, yet slow and not so smart.
Oh, and a Flesh Golem would be what it's like because that's pretty much what it is, I believe. Isn't a Golem something made to do what ever it's told? Even though he doesn't, but that's because of his criminal brain.
kuhTHOOloo
12-25-04, 06:22 PM The point of creating him was to prove that the reanimation of that which had died was possible.

Intelligence is going to be around the high end. He wasn't just some stupid brute, he was smart, able to read and debate his own existence.
Nuntius128
12-26-04, 12:47 PM It almost makes me think of the Reanimation spell from OA, except that through Reanimation, the deceased has only 1 HP.
kliate
12-26-04, 03:24 PM Dragon 327 (January 2005 - out nice & early :D ) actually has an article on Frankenstein.

Personally, I would suggest a flesh golem plus the "Rudimentary Intelligence" enhancement introduced in the article.
shadowflamedancer
12-26-04, 06:42 PM If your basing it off of Mary Shelly's roigonal book, then just take a normal human commoner, boost its physical and mental stats by 2 or 3 each. The monster is in fact, a human come back to life. There were no necromantic magicks involved in its making. Just science.
Nethryn
12-26-04, 07:42 PM The monster is in fact, a human come back to life. There were no necromantic magicks involved in its making. Just science.
That's all true, except that the monster was a combination of several bodies sewn together. It wasn’t just a single person’s corpse.
shadowflamedancer
12-26-04, 10:10 PM That's all true, except that the monster was a combination of several bodies sewn together. It wasn’t just a single person’s corpse.
But there was still no magic involved, just pure science. Any type of magic would imply a supernatural happening, and Dr. Frankenstien's whole point was to find out if humans could make life in this way, without divine or supernatural inervention. Although I must admit that I can definitly see the flesh golem point of view here, my objection to that is that a felsh golem, or any type of golem is a supernatural being created through use of magic.

To justify mental stat boosts, the moster was very bright, and he even taught himself(in a way) to speak. We could just say that a non magical creature given life in this way is fairly intelligent. On the contary, Dr. Frankenstien could have just coincidentily grabbed a smarter than normal brain.

However, I also recall the moster being a giant of a thing. It could just be stat-ed as a large creature, but that almost seems too big. Another option would be to use that rule for the goliaths in races of stone, that basically says "Although a medium sized creature, it is considered to be large in all ways except concerning extra reach in combat".
Callahan
12-27-04, 02:29 AM Actually it would be "science fiction" not "science". Modern science has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that you can not bring people back from the dead by stitching together dead parts and applying a strong current to the cadaver.

Mary Shelly's creature was an abomination if anything, but quite frankly the re-animated corpse collection of D&D works just as well for the purpose.
Cravensson
12-27-04, 03:08 PM I would say that in D&D terms, the easiest thing to do would be to make the Frankenstein monster into an Awakened Flesh Golem. If Victor Frankenstein had been in the D&D game, he would best be statted out as a mad wizard, rather than a scientist, because wizards are the scientists of D&D. He would have wanted to see if its brain had any of the personality of its former owner after he brought it back to life.

From what I remember of the book, the creature was actually very intelligent, but driven somewhat insane from the reanimation process and the fact that people shunned him. The average flesh golem is more like the creature from the Boris Karloff movie (which, admittedly, is what most people think of when you say "Frankenstein"). But an Awakened flesh golem would definitely have the possibility for this high degree of intelligence.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
kuhTHOOloo 12-23-04, 11:27 PM	My friend and I somehow got into the discussion of how to stat out Frankenstein's monster, and are unsure how to do it. I think it should be a flesh golem base creature that somehow has intelligence, while he thinks it should be some sort of undead. It needs a decent intelligence, seeing as how it needs to be able to read and debate philosophy. I'm away from my books right now, and can't show you all what I think it should be, but I will when I'm able..yeah. Just wanted to get this posted before I got sidetracked and forgot.
Ssussunriyh 12-23-04, 11:50 PM	It depends which portrayal of Frankenstein's Monster you're aiming for: Boris Karloff's or Mary Shelley's? The flesh golem originated in the Ravenloft campaign setting and, as you can probably guess, leaned toward the portrayal of the Frankenstein Monster as a dim-witted and barely-controllable brute. Since "golem" was the closest thing the 'Monster resembled in terms of game mechanics (this was AD&D 1E) it had to be retooled into a mindless automaton...
kuhTHOOloo 12-23-04, 11:55 PM	would there be a way to give a flesh golem an int score? maybe magically putting in a brain? brain in a jar with a golem body perhaps?
Callahan 12-24-04, 12:36 AM	Awaken Construct. 9lvl Cleric/Wiz/Sor spell. costs 5k XP and requires... get this, a human brain. Savage Species.
kuhTHOOloo 12-24-04, 12:42 AM	thanks. I shall go check that spell out
captainswift 12-25-04, 02:06 PM	The flesh golem originated in the Ravenloft campaign setting and, as you can probably guess, leaned toward the portrayal of the Frankenstein Monster as a dim-witted and barely-controllable brute. Since "golem" was the closest thing the 'Monster resembled in terms of game mechanics (this was AD&D 1E) it had to be retooled into a mindless automaton... Umm, no. The Flesh Golem was in the very first Monster Manual, well before the Ravenloft campaign setting was even a twinkle in someone's eye. But, yes, I feel the Frankenstein Monster was the idea behind it.
Godzilla 12-25-04, 05:48 PM	Well, this is a good starting point for what I think it should be: Strength: High Dexterity: Low Constitution: A medium score should fit well here, but you might want to thing about it. Intelligence: Low Wisdom: Medium to High, seeing as he can make his own decisions. Or would this be more fitting for Intelligence. Eh, which ever you think it should go in. I don't have the book with me, and I can't remember the difference. Charisma: Low So, it'd be strong, yet slow and not so smart. Oh, and a Flesh Golem would be what it's like because that's pretty much what it is, I believe. Isn't a Golem something made to do what ever it's told? Even though he doesn't, but that's because of his criminal brain.
kuhTHOOloo 12-25-04, 06:22 PM	The point of creating him was to prove that the reanimation of that which had died was possible. Intelligence is going to be around the high end. He wasn't just some stupid brute, he was smart, able to read and debate his own existence.
Nuntius128 12-26-04, 12:47 PM	It almost makes me think of the Reanimation spell from OA, except that through Reanimation, the deceased has only 1 HP.
kliate 12-26-04, 03:24 PM	Dragon 327 (January 2005 - out nice & early :D ) actually has an article on Frankenstein. Personally, I would suggest a flesh golem plus the "Rudimentary Intelligence" enhancement introduced in the article.
shadowflamedancer 12-26-04, 06:42 PM	If your basing it off of Mary Shelly's roigonal book, then just take a normal human commoner, boost its physical and mental stats by 2 or 3 each. The monster is in fact, a human come back to life. There were no necromantic magicks involved in its making. Just science.
Nethryn 12-26-04, 07:42 PM	The monster is in fact, a human come back to life. There were no necromantic magicks involved in its making. Just science. That's all true, except that the monster was a combination of several bodies sewn together. It wasn’t just a single person’s corpse.
shadowflamedancer 12-26-04, 10:10 PM	That's all true, except that the monster was a combination of several bodies sewn together. It wasn’t just a single person’s corpse. But there was still no magic involved, just pure science. Any type of magic would imply a supernatural happening, and Dr. Frankenstien's whole point was to find out if humans could make life in this way, without divine or supernatural inervention. Although I must admit that I can definitly see the flesh golem point of view here, my objection to that is that a felsh golem, or any type of golem is a supernatural being created through use of magic. To justify mental stat boosts, the moster was very bright, and he even taught himself(in a way) to speak. We could just say that a non magical creature given life in this way is fairly intelligent. On the contary, Dr. Frankenstien could have just coincidentily grabbed a smarter than normal brain. However, I also recall the moster being a giant of a thing. It could just be stat-ed as a large creature, but that almost seems too big. Another option would be to use that rule for the goliaths in races of stone, that basically says "Although a medium sized creature, it is considered to be large in all ways except concerning extra reach in combat".
Callahan 12-27-04, 02:29 AM	Actually it would be "science fiction" not "science". Modern science has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that you can not bring people back from the dead by stitching together dead parts and applying a strong current to the cadaver. Mary Shelly's creature was an abomination if anything, but quite frankly the re-animated corpse collection of D&D works just as well for the purpose.
Cravensson 12-27-04, 03:08 PM	I would say that in D&D terms, the easiest thing to do would be to make the Frankenstein monster into an Awakened Flesh Golem. If Victor Frankenstein had been in the D&D game, he would best be statted out as a mad wizard, rather than a scientist, because wizards are the scientists of D&D. He would have wanted to see if its brain had any of the personality of its former owner after he brought it back to life. From what I remember of the book, the creature was actually very intelligent, but driven somewhat insane from the reanimation process and the fact that people shunned him. The average flesh golem is more like the creature from the Boris Karloff movie (which, admittedly, is what most people think of when you say "Frankenstein"). But an Awakened flesh golem would definitely have the possibility for this high degree of intelligence.