Spit & Polish: Old Monsters Return

I like monsters. A lot. When I have a few minutes to spare, I like to tinker with critters from old editions. I might mine them for ideas or to adapt them for use in  the current rules. In fact, I have a couple of hundred conversions buried in folders on my desktop, just waiting for a chance to come out and play. So, today, I thought I’d share one of my critters so it can live and hunt and kill in your games.

The anaxim come from the 3rd edition Epic Level Handbook, by Andy Collins and Bruce Cordell. I remember when I got the book out of the mailbox, shocked by the cool stuff hidden in those pages. DCs for walking on clouds, swimming up waterfalls, rules to take the game into the dizzying heights of impossibility, and so much more. Beyond the options for players, there were awesome monsters supported by even more awesome art, and just looking through their crazy stat-blocks sparked all sorts of ideas. One of the ones that caught my eye was the anaxim, illustrated by the incomparable Wayne Reynolds. All those blades, spikes, and saws screamed awesome. Bruce brought versions of them back in Dragon #375 as high heroic low paragon tier monsters. My adaptation, attached below, places them at the epic tier as foot soldiers so you can use several at the same time. Enjoy!

Anaxim Battleguard