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Ochimo – Spirit Warrior

From the adventure 1e AD&D Oriental Adventure module – OA3: Ochimo the Spirit Warrior 

These creatures are identical except for specific elemental affiliations and 1 special ability they each have. They serve Opawang the Dead Spirit King a unique rich (see the end of this article for details).


OCHIMO

Ochimo of Air is an air myrmidon with the following changes:

  • Alignment chaotic evil
  • Special Equipment the blades of excellent damage (see description).
  • Spirit Capture. When a creature that can see the ochimo’s eyes starts its turn within 30 feet of the ochimo, the ochimo can force it to make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw if the ochimo isn’t incapacitated and can see the creature. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is reduced to 0 hit points, unless it is immune to the frightened condition. Otherwise, a creature takes 16 (3d10) psychic damage on a failed save. A creature killed by this attack is absorbed by the ochimo (see individual description for details). Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against the bodak until the start of its next turn. If the creature looks at the ochimo in the meantime, it must immediately make the saving throw.

Ochimo of Earth is an earth myrmidon with the following changes:

  • Alignment chaotic evil
  • Special Equipment the Ebon Hunt (see description).
  • Spirit Capture. When a creature that can see the ochimo’s eyes starts its turn within 30 feet of the ochimo, the ochimo can force it to make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw if the ochimo isn’t incapacitated and can see the creature. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is reduced to 0 hit points, unless it is immune to the frightened condition. Otherwise, a creature takes 16 (3d10) psychic damage on a failed save. A creature killed by this attack is absorbed by the ochimo (see individual description for details). Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against the bodak until the start of its next turn. If the creature looks at the ochimo in the meantime, it must immediately make the saving throw.

Ochimo of Fire is an fire myrmidon with the following changes:

  • Alignment chaotic evil
  • Special Equipment a ring of spell storing (see description).
  • Spirit Capture. When a creature that can see the ochimo’s eyes starts its turn within 30 feet of the ochimo, the ochimo can force it to make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw if the ochimo isn’t incapacitated and can see the creature. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is reduced to 0 hit points, unless it is immune to the frightened condition. Otherwise, a creature takes 16 (3d10) psychic damage on a failed save. A creature killed by this attack is absorbed by the ochimo (see individual description for details). Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against the bodak until the start of its next turn. If the creature looks at the ochimo in the meantime, it must immediately make the saving throw.

Ochimo of Water is an water myrmidon with the following changes:

  • Alignment chaotic evil
  • Special Equipment the talisman of the restless dead (see description).
  • Spirit Capture. When a creature that can see the ochimo’s eyes starts its turn within 30 feet of the ochimo, the ochimo can force it to make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw if the ochimo isn’t incapacitated and can see the creature. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is reduced to 0 hit points, unless it is immune to the frightened condition. Otherwise, a creature takes 16 (3d10) psychic damage on a failed save. A creature killed by this attack is absorbed by the ochimo (see individual description for details). Unless surprised, a creature can avert its eyes to avoid the saving throw at the start of its turn. If the creature does so, it has disadvantage on attack rolls against the bodak until the start of its next turn. If the creature looks at the ochimo in the meantime, it must immediately make the saving throw.

DESCRIPTION

The Ochimo are the quasi-spirit creations of the Opawang, the Dead Spirit King, and act as his messengers, servants, and warriors. Each appears identi cal to his brethren — a masked samurai warrior in full regalia.

Each Ochimo has the power of spirit capture. It may suck the life force of a spirit or physical entity into its body. The spirit is saved for later use by the Opawang (who prolongs his life by consuming these spir- its). The range of this form of gaze attack is 30 feet. Any character who meets the gaze of an Ochimo must roll a successful saving throw  or have his spirit sucked into the Ochimo.

The visible effects of spirit capture de- pend upon the type of Ochimo encoun- tered:

  • The Earth Ochimo seems to convert its target into fine sand, which is then drained into the Ochimo’s eyes.
  • The Water Ochimo converts its target into a human-shaped vessel of water, which is then sucked through the eye- holes of the mask.
  • The Air Ochimo blows a blast of air from the mouth of its mask. This reduces the target to fine dust, which it inhales.
  • The Fire Ochimo fires beams of flame from the eyehole of its mask, converting the target to a fine ash that is blown away.

In all cases, the Ochimo has captured the spirit of the target. The Ochimo retains the spirit until it returns to Opawangchicheng, where it turns the spirit over to the Opawang. If the Ochimo is slain, all captive spirits are returned to their original forms unharmed.

An Ochimo may hold no more than 10 CR/Levels of spirits. It may not absorb more than this without returning to its master. (An Ochimo that has absorbed 5 CR of creatures may not absorb the spirit of a 6th-level character without first dispensing of the levels within it. It may, however, absorb the spirit of a 5th-level character.)

The Ochimo have been ensorcelled by the Opawang to attack until they have captured at least 8 CR of spirits. Until that time the Ochimo fight without fear. While the Ochimo prefer to capture spirits, they slay those they cannot capture.

The four Ochimo are identical in appearance, save for the magical items they carry and a colored disk on each mask’s forehead. The color of the disk identifies the elemental type of the Ochimo. The Earth Ochimo has a purple disc, the Fire Ochimo red, the Water Ochimo green, and the Air Ochimo blue. The elemental type of Ochimo affects its vulnerabilities and the visible effects of its spirit capture.

The tie between the Ochimo and the Opawang is very strong. The first 15 points of damage each day to an Ochimo inflicts no damage (weapons and magical damage have no visible effects). This damage is passed on to the Opawang, who heals at sunrise. (If all four Ochimo suffer damage in a single day, the Opa- wang takes 60 points of damage, which is healed at the next sunrise). If an Ochimo is slain, any spirits captured by the Ochimo and not yet presented to the Opawang are restored to their original state. The armour of the ghostly samurai falls to the ground with its weapons. The spirit of the Ochimo can be seen briefly as a black tiger-shaped form as it flees this plane.

The Earth Ochimo possesses the ebon hunt, a set of six magical figurines that, once cast on the ground, become a jet-black stallion (war horse) and five black leopards (as panther but with a movement speed of 60 ft), all of maximum hit points. If slain, the figures become broken and non-magical. If the bearer is slain, the creatures return to their original magical state. The ebon hunt maybe cast once per night.

The Fire Ochimo wears a ring of spell storing. This particular ring hold’s eight levels of spells at any one time. It is currently filled with one 7th level magic missile spell placed there by the Opawang and a blight spell.

The Water Ochimo wears a talisman of the restless dead. This device looks like a small birds-foot charm on a leather thong. It forces spirits to animate the bones of any long-dead humans and humanoids that are available (these are similar to western skeletons, and may be turned, though they are also affected by spells that deal with spirits). Up to 20 such skeletons may be animated in a single day.

The Air Ochimo wields the blades of excellent damage. These blades are a katana and wakizashi that are +2 to on attack rolls, are unbreakable, and always inflict maximum damage. These blades were used by the Black Leopard Priest’s best warrior in the battle against the Shou Lung, but their ori- gin predates that time. They radiate a strong sense of evil, and those of good alignment feel a need to destroy the blades and their wielder.

These items are found among the armor of the Ochimo if these creatures are slain. The armor of an Ochimo are masterwork o-yoro (plate) granting an AC of 20. Their katana and wakizashi are always unbreakable. These weapons are also nonaligned, save for those carried by the Air Ochimo.

OPAWANG – The Dead Spirit King

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Jim Holloway (c) TSR

The Opawang is neither dead nor a spirit. He is a 2,000-year-old man with great magical power. The Opawang was once the Black Leopard Priest and led his cult’s followers against the expansion of the Shou Lung empire. The empire crushed his army and burned his temples, but the Black Leopard Priest escaped to Akari Island with a large number of his fol- lowers. There they built his city in the cen- ter of this rich land.

The Opawang appears to be a normal man of middle years with a waxy, almost translucent complexion. Muscles and bones can be seen beneath the skin in bright light, and the Opawang’s eyes glow with an an unearthly radiance when he is angry (similar to the wu jen firey eyes spell—and with the same effect).

Opawang is a unique lich that is both an 18th level wu-jen and shukenja. He has absolute mastery over the ochimo.


Banner Art: “Spirit Warrior” by Jeff Easley (c) TSR

Posted in 5e, Dungeons & Dragons, Monstrous Compendium, Oriental Adventures

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