“Didn’t I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce.” ~ Yukon Cornelius (Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer, 1964)

And we wonder why children are afraid of the dark and strange things in their closet. Like so many of those all-time great children’s stories, somehow, somewhere, there has to be a scary monster in it.

And Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer is certainly no exception, having a big nasty abominable snowman creature, stalking the North Pole, looking to scarf down elves and reindeer like cheetos. Big ferocious snow-beasts have been around in legends for an awfully long time, and they show up in all kinds of popular media. From Rudolph to Star Wars, big white-furred carnivores make for nasty critters for a hero to have to overcome – even if it means being shoved inside a taun-taun after you win the fight. Even the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft, has tons of yetis running around their virtual world, providing hours of slaughter for millions of players worldwide.

But the characteristics of snow-beasts can be applied to more than just yetis. And Blackdirge Publishing has a template to help Dungeon Masters create a wide variety of new elite ice-bound monsters, in Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Abominable.

Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Abominable

• Designer: Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel
• Illustrations: Jesse Mohn
• Publisher: Blackdirge Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Media: PDF (5 pages)
• Price: $0.99

Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Abominable is a template supplement for D&D 4E which allows Dungeon Masters to create elite cold-dwelling monsters from any beast, humanoid, or magical beast. The product is usable with any campaign setting, and is completely compatible with D&D 4E rules. The supplement includes the template for creating elite monsters, and two sample creatures to give examples to how the template can enhance a monster to create a new challenge.

The production quality of Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Abominable is excellent, with the layout design and statistic blocks in easily readable formats familiar to D&D 4E gamers. The artwork by Jesse Mohn is nicely presented and enhances the quality of the product.

The Author explains that “abominable” creatures have adapted to icy climates and have even developed abilities tied to the cold weather:

Abominable creatures have evolved to live in the harsh and unrelenting climate of the frozen wastes. They are generally larger than their temperate-dwelling cousins and have a heavy coat of snow-white fur that allows them to blend into ice and snow. In addition, abominable creatures have developed anumber of potent abilities tied to their frigid environments.

Most abominable creatures are solitary and elusive, preferring to avoid civilized areas and eke out their livings from the uninhabited wilderness. However, those with evil alignments often raid humanoid settlements for food and treasure, terrorizing the inhabitants and spawning numerous legends regarding “abominable snow men”.

The template in Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Abominable is designed to create an Elite Soldier or Brute from a basic Beast, Humanoid, or Magical Beast. Like all templates which make a monster elite, creatures gain a bonus to saving throws, increased hit points, and an Action Point. In addition, the creatures gain an aura, a close blast attack, and additional cold damage from melee attacks. These powers certainly are in line with a Soldier or Brute role, Dungeon Masters should use caution applying this template to certain creatures. Basic monsters of a Skirmisher, Soldier, or Brute type would make reasonable candidates, but applying this template to an Artillery or Controller creature could result in an overpowered monster.

The example creatures provided with Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Abominable are a worg and a minotaur, which have been upgraded into a Blizzard Worg and a Frosthorn Minotaur.

BLIZZARD WORG

Blizzard worgs are native to the coldest regions of the Abyss, but can occasionally be found in the world in the most frigid environments. These massive predators have a nasty and evil disposition, and enjoy draining the warmth from their prey, often devouring the rigid, frost-numbed victims while still alive.

FROSTHORN MINOTAUR

Frosthorn minotaurs are found only in arctic or sub-arctic areas. They are larger, and stronger than standard minotaurs, although they possess the same nasty disposition as their temperate-dwelling kin. Frosthorn minotaurs usually lair in ice caves or occasionally build crude huts from ice-blocks.

Both monsters are well-balanced and demonstrate how the template can be used with great effect to create new challenges for adventurers. Although given the Lore of the Blizzard Worg, I would have expected it to also have some demonic abilities, it is still a solid Heroic Tier threat. And the Frosthorn Minotaur could make a very interesting monster, or even an inspiring Character background, now that Minotaurs have joined the ranks of Player Races.

Overall Grade: A

Here is another great example of a PDF product that Dungeon Masters should really consider having on their virtual shelves. Templates such as we have in Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Abominable are one of those DM Tools that makes D&D 4E games more interesting, by providing new threats and more monster variety without making too much work for the Dungeon Master. And the price at under a dollar is something almost anyone can afford, regardless of their budget. It’s a lot of content for very little cash, and that’s what we need to see more of in the GSL marketplace.

So until next blog… I wish you Happy Gaming!

Editor’s Note: This Author received a complimentary copy of the product in PDF format from which the review was written.

Grade Card

• Presentation: A-
• - Design: A
• - Illustrations: B+
• Content: A-
• - Crunch: A
• - Fluff: B+
• Value: A+