胎魔の鼓動
Chimera Toad
こどくがえる
An unusual hybrid of multiple organisms that can be encountered in ASCII's 1996 Wizardry Side Story IV: Throb of the Demon's Heart (ウィザードリィ・外伝IV・胎魔の鼓動, or Uiza-dorii Gaiden IV: Taima no Kodou) Nintendo Super Famicom roleplaying video game (RPG). While the optional, in-game English translation given for the creature's Japanese name, こどくがえる (Kodokugaeru), is "Chimera Toad", in my opinion, that should be read as something like "Lonely/Solitary Frog" instead, as こどく (kodoku) means "isolation/loneliness/solitude" and かえる (kaeru) is frog (the "k" becomes a "g" in a compound word like that). Further, "chimera" is Greek in origin and is usually written phonetically as キメラ (kimera) in katakana characters and the Japanese word for toad is がま (gama), thus, if Chimera Toad was what the developers were truly after, then I feel that the monster should have been titled キメラがま (Kimeragama). All that said, I'm not even remotely fluent in Japanese, so it could be that there are linguistic rules/puns in play that I simply don't understand.
For reasons known only to their horrified psychiatrists, unethical mages with too much time on their hands have a tendency to take up the loathsome hobby of fusing together different organisms to create strange chimerae. Most of these abominations die moments after being joined, but, with enough determination, a steady supply of unfortunate test subjects, and more than a little luck, the heartless spellcaster may eventually stumble upon a combination of creatures that not only survives the process but remains viable enough to breed true. An unlikely amalgamation of amphibian, reptile, and insect, the Chimera Toad is one such specimen.
A Chimera Toad can lash opponents with its sticky tongue (1D3 damage, and the organ is long enough to strike player characters located at the rear of the party, where physical attacks can't normally reach). Fortunately, for any Fairy player characters you may have, the creature will only hit, and not attempt to devour, tiny winged demihumans with said tongue. More worrisome are its serrated, praying-mantis-like arms, which can inflict painful lacerations (1D4 damage). Curiously, the creature favors standing erect, balancing uncertainly upon the tip of its muscular tail, when it lashes out with those chitinous appendages.
Chimera Toads may look intimidating, but, in comparison to many other Wizardry monsters, they aren't particularly dangerous (after all, they're only Level 2 creatures). When pitted against a party of adventurers, unless said heroes/heroines are novices and/or completely inept at their professions, a Chimera Toad isn't likely to survive the encounter, because it only has 4-8 (2D3+2) hit points and a rather poor Armor Class of 12 (for comparison, a normal, unarmored human adult has an AC of 10. Note that, in classic Dungeons & Dragons rules, which Wizardry is based upon, the larger your AC number is, the easier you are to hit.) A Chimera Toad's unimpressive AC can largely be attributed to the difficulty it has in coordinating the movements of a form that nature never intended to exist (you'd likely have troubles too, should you ever have the misfortune of waking up with sections of your body replaced with parts from other organisms). If things look desperate, a Chimera Toad can attempt to summon another of its kind to aid it in battle, by producing panic pheromones (this action has a 30% chance of success, and, while there is no limit to the number of times that reinforcements can be solicited in this manner, no single group of creatures can ever exceed nine members total).
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Japanese: こどくがえる (Kodokugaeru) |
Wriggling Object Japanese: うごめくぶったい (Ugomeku Buttai) |
Insect Japanese: こんちゅう (Konchuu) |
Chimera Toad (There are four possible upper/lower body color combinations) 
Wriggling Object |
2 |
300 |
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4-8 (2D3+2) Average: 6 |
12 |
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1-3 (1D3) Average: 2 |
B: Sickle arms slash. 1-4 (1D4) damage. Average: 2.5 S: Not applicable. |
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Materials:
Newsprint, tissue paper, brown paper from a grocery bag, wire twist ties, white glue, and acrylic paint.
Dimensions*:
4.3 cm (1.7") x 8.0 cm (3.2") [widest point x highest point]
* The listed measurements can vary, depending on how the joints are positioned.
Articulation:
Eight points: Coxae, femora, tibiae, and tarsi.
I had intended to make this figure an immobile sculpture, but, I reasoned that the long, thin insect arms would probably break off easily without some kind of rigid internal support (just the pressure of paint brush strokes would probably do it), so, I ran bendable wire through them, which, as I constructed the limbs from individual segments, has the added benefit of making them poseable.
Time:
Four days: February 18, 19, 20, and 22 (2015).
Below are several mid-construction photos of my Chimera Toad figure:
"Rare animal, odd beast."
"There is an old-fashioned pot in the corner of the room."
Just stop, turn around, and walk away, you really don't need to know what's inside that thing, okay?
"Something is rustling inside the pot."
Sure, let's inspect the shaking vessel that's obviously got something alive in it. What could possibly go wrong?
"Oops! The lid opened. Something came out!"
Who didn't see that coming a mile away?
3 Chimera Toads (3)
2 Chimera Toads (2)
2 Chimera Lizards (2)
Like most of the monsters in Wizardry Side Story IV: Throb of the Demon's Heart, several variations of the Chimera Toad can be encountered (four total in its case). However, unlike most digital RPGs, these alterations do not represent different monster species, they're all the same organism. For the Chimera Toad, it's nothing more than a matter of swapping some of the colors (age/gender variations perhaps?), but, for other opponents, these changes can be much more substantial [for example, if you fought two battles, back-to-back, against male Jounin (ninja clan masters), the first ones might be unarmed Dwarves, while the second group could be Mooks (a race of sasquatch-like beings) wielding a pair of sai]. These random variations add an additional element of realism to the battles in the sense that your foes appear to be more individualized, rather than exact duplicates of one another.
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Any and all copyrighted imagery, terminology, etc., depicted on this page belongs to its respective holders/owners, namely Sir-Tech Software/ASCII.
The repeating background graphic is the in-game logo design from Wizardry Gaiden IV: Throb of the Demon's Heart.
The midi music playing is the battle theme from Wizardry Gaiden IV: Throb of the Demon's Heart.