BX Monsters A to Z: Cyclops

 Straight out of the Expert Rules by way of Greek mythology, today's monster is the mighty cyclops. 

I shall call him Blinky. Or maybe Winky.

The cyclops is described as a rare type of giant, but apparently is sufficiently different enough from "true' giants to merit a separate listing in the monster section. Its optical oddity is certainly unlike all other giants, and it also isn't classified according to preferred terrain/elemental affinity as the others are. 

It is, however, pretty closely aligned with the stats for other giants, with a slightly inferior Armor Class (5, compared to most other giants' 4) and 13 Hit Dice, which puts it roughly on par with the cloud giant. Both are listed as being about 20 feet in height, so a rare mark for consistency in monster stats to Cook and Marsh. It's a bit more ponderous in its movement than other giants, at 90'(30') to their 120'(40'); let's chalk that up to its poor depth perception. It can still keep pace with armored fighters, while magic-users and thieves may be able to skitter away to safety. Cyclops morale is a hearty score of 9, so they're not likely to give up on their own.

A cyclops attacks with a -2 penalty to hit, due to its monocular depth perception. Its damage of 3-30 points, typically wielding an enormous club, is also in line with its gigantic peers. It can throw rocks to a distance of 200 feet for 3-18 points of damage, also at -2 to hit. That really isn't enough of a hindrance to greatly impair its combat effectiveness, and it seems odd that it isn't much worse at missile combat -- does it throw those rocks like bowling balls, so hitting the right range is less important?

The text is conflicted about the plural of cyclops. Is it simply "cyclops", the same as the singular, or is it "cyclopes"? "Cyclopses" doesn't appear at all, but seems perfectly reasonable too. I kind of like "cyclopes" so I'm going with that for now.

Anyway... some cyclopes are capable of casting a curse spell, but it's only one in twenty (5%) and they can only do it once a week. You could literally play B/X D&D for years and never encounter a curse-casting cyclops, unless the DM deliberately places one. (I can't recall ever using even a normal cyclops in a game, which is a frankly unfortunate choice on my part.)

Cyclopes are described as solitary, though sometimes a small group will lair together in a large cave. (The implication being that, solitary or not, they prefer caves for dwellings.) The wilderness Number Appearing is 1-4, so apparently "sometimes" is 75% of the time. They're known to be quite stupid and easily tricked, which could provide for some fun role-playing opportunities. 

When not squishing adventurers with huge clubs, they spend their time raising sheep and grapes, which makes them quite industrious, not to mention oddly pastoral, for giant clumsy half-witted bad-tempered Chaotic humanoids, a clade usually more inclined to raiding, thieving, and slavery. It's frankly hard to imagine how they would manage, given their impediments, to tend and harvest normal-sized grape vines and grapes, but do as you will there. You must admit, though, the idea of giant-sized grape vines with grapes the size of grapefruits would be pretty awesome. 

Given all these interesting tendencies, a cyclops would make a wonderful guardian for a grove of magical fruit trees or a flock/herd of enchanted livestock. Such a scenario could provide opportunities for trickery or riddle games to compel the monster to give up a prized golden fleece or mystic apple, even (or especially) for parties too low-level to have a realistic chance to best a cyclops in combat. For those especially daring, the cyclops/cyclopes will have Treasure Type E plus 5,000 gp, an impressive take for even higher-level characters. 

If I were to rewrite the cyclops to my own standards, I'd probably only change two things. One would be to make the penalty for thrown rocks -4, and the other is to increase the odds of curse-casting to 25%, so there's at least a respectable possibility that any given cyclops might give adventurers the Evil Eye.