Dec 282011
 

The Weeping Angels are an alien race developed for and featured in the current run of Doctor Who. The version presented here has been slightly altered in order to create a compelling 4th edition combatant.

“Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And don’t blink. Good Luck.” – The Doctor.

The Weeping Angels are one of the oldest races to have crossed from the far realm into our world. Even still little is known about how they live and operate, since few people realize they’ve encountered the creatures and live to tell the tale. To mortal eyes, the Weeping Angels appear as statues, unmoving and without breath. When none are watching the creatures come to life, stealing the energy from a living soul to sustain themselves.

Form of Angels

It is said that Weeping Angels can appear in many forms, but most tales tell of the form of an angel. One ancient scholar speculates that since the Weeping Angels appeared on the material plane as early as the Dawn War, the angelic servants of the gods were likely the first creatures they encountered. Owing much to the deities who forced the primordials into the elemental chaos, angels were some of the first beings to be immortalized in stone, and so what may at first have been simply a form to exist in our world, became a natural disguise. Some speculate that present gargoyles are descendants of the Weeping Angels, who slowly lost some of their aberrant nature, and became more like the native stone they mimicked.

Uncontrollable Defenses

The Weeping Angels ability to take statue form is both a defense and a weakness. The ability is an innate part of their being, and they cannot ignore it. Whenever another sentient creature views them, including another Weeping Angel, they must become inanimate. For this reason they often cover their eyes with their hands, so they do not accidentally lock vision with another of their kind. This gives them the appearance of crying while in statue form.

One tale tells of a particularly powerful person who wished to rid one temple of the beings. He purposefully bound his eyes, relying on his other sense to hunt the monsters. Without another being viewing them, the angels did not have their hard skin to protect themselves. Different tellings vary on whether his plan proved successful.

Life Leeches

The Weeping Angels feed off of energy and potential energy. They can take this energy directly from creatures who run off the elements, and can often be found in cities rich with constructs of steam-driven technology. When facing the living for energy, they cut the creatures connection to the plane, forcing them out of existence. Creatures of powerful will can fight this ability and sometimes manage to force themselves back onto the plane, but only have a short amount of time to do so.

Angels in Play

Should all the PCs be removed from play, they lose a direct link to the material plane and may not be able to make saves to return. They may instead appear in a different point in time, in the far realm, or some other area that is difficult to escape, as your campaign dictates.

The Weeping Angels may also be used against players of lower level, where a combat situation is less likely to succeed. In this case I recommend running the angels as a skill challenge. The Players making Endurance and Perception checks to keep their eyes unblinking on the angels, while they attempt to get to safety, or trick the angels into viewing each other.

Brian Liberge

Brian Liberge is a father of one, living in Boston, MA. Introduced to AD&D at an early age, he’s continued to update with the editions, and new games. He loves home-brewed ideas, is honest to a fault, and thinks that ideas and mechanics should absolutely be shared between systems. With a B.S. Degree in Theatre Arts, a job in Information Technology, and a love of strategy gaming, he tries to bring the best of each into his new creations for StufferShack. Check out his latest book the Midgard Bestiary for 4e, available now. Profile Page / Article Portfolio

  7 Responses to “Weeping Angels – Steal This Monster”

  1. […] on StufferShack, I have an article up that re-imagines the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who as Far Realm monstrosities for your 4e game. This was originally a request, that I […]

  2. Interesting creature. I like the idea of quantum locking. One thing occurs to me: if being in line of sight with any PC means the Angel stops taking actions on its turn (including using its impressive move speed), and it only has a melee attack, then couldn’t the party nullify it completely by just staying out of its melee range?

  3. You are correct to a point! Keeping the creature in your vision but out of range is a very effective way of dealing with the monster. However should you fail your save, and therefore blink or look away, the creature gets a standard action, which it can use to move or charge!

  4. Have you thought at all about the weeping angels’ ability to reproduce themselves through their images?

  5. I did give that some thought but it seemed difficult to do mechanically, and has heavy enough flavor that you could really design a whole creature around it. If I find inspiration I’ll write up a variant, but at the moment I think that ability might best be handled as a situational extended skill challenge. Picture Ami, keeping her eyes closed and counting down, as a series of Endurance, Insight and Perception checks, perhaps with Diplomacy, Intimidate and History checks from assisting party members.

  6. Yes, yes, YES. My favorite Doctor Who monster brought to 4th Edition? Amazing.

    Darn it, now I really do need to start DMing again. I’m feeling appropriately mean spirited. 😀

  7. […] Or perhaps you’re a Dr. Who fan and want to bring the Weeping Angels into your 4e campaign? Brian Liberge at Stuffer Shack has the 4e stats for these beasties already figured out for your GMin…. […]

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