Weeping Angels – Steal This Monster

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.