OK! I have consulted all four volumes of the Tschai: Planet of Adventure, and here's an attempt at a phung write-up. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. My players have only fought a few monsters in AS&SH, so I'm relying mainly on AD&D knowledge here.

I am absolutely unable to draw. I'm linking to the pnume image from Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials since the phung and pnume are closely related. If anyone wanted to take a stab at drawing one, that would be awesome.



PHUNG
No. Encountered:                                              1
Alignment:                                                        N
Size:                                                                  L
Movement:                                                        60
Dexterity:                                                          17
Armour Class:                                                  0 (DR: 2)
Hit Dice:                                                           9+3
No. of Attacks:                                                  2
Damage:                                                           2d4+2 / 2d4+2 (or weapon +4)
Saving Throw:                                                  12
Morale:                                                             9
Experience Points:                                            1,450
Treasure Class:                                                 M, N, Q
 
Eight-foot-tall alien creatures of mad craft and bizarre caprice, the phung pursue their inscrutable errands in lonely places, attracted to ruins and caves. Their motivations are obscure, but their deadliness is obvious. Phung kill out of whim, entertainment, or simple reflex, but they kill, often playing pointless tricks on the unsuspecting before they attack. How they reproduce or whether in the depths of Underborea they gather in numbers is unknown and the subject of wild speculation among the learned and the mad, but all reports from the surface relate encounters with single phung. The savage Kimmerian steppe riders and Kimmeri-Kelts of the Fields of Vol claim they can smell the phung and know where one has lingered.
 
Phung are insectoid bipeds of incredible strength and agility. Their tough carapace is proof against most blows, and their uncanny speed allows them to dodge missiles. The brachial plates of their upper limbs seem to be a source of pride to the creatures, and they will burnish and file them. Phung wear broad hats and drape their shoulders with long cloaks, appearing like giant grasshoppers in ceremonial vestments. They wield all melee weapons as if grand masters, though they almost never carry any, seeming to prefer to take them from their prey as needed. They can attack savagely with their forelimbs, rending, smashing, and tearing their victims. More, the phung can leap madly as they fight, dancing among a group of combatants like. The best way to encounter a phung is when other enemies are nearby.
 
A phung will continue to live even when reduced to -10 hit points or below. Fire, acid, or complete destruction of the head is needed to kill one, though a dismembered phung will slowly desiccate and die over the course of several days. It is possible that a phung that is not dismembered will eventually regenerate if left for dead. Yet these bizarre creatures have been known to simply stop fighting and allow themselves to be cut down. Whether this fulfills some inner drive or completes another step in the plans of some nameless god is unknowable, but the wise do not rely on such an event.
 
Special:

• Receives +2 on all saving throws.
• +2 “to-hit,” +2 damage, 2/1 attack rate with all melee weapons.
• Can leap 20' from a standing start, counting this as part of their normal combat or charging movement, leaping up to 3 times per melee round or 6 times if charging; note that these leaps do not need to be in a straight line. If not charging, the phung can take its two attacks at any points in its leaps, though (as with aerial combat), its opponents have the opportunity to strike back. When charging, the phung delivers all attacks at the end of its charge, though it can strike at any opponents within a 10' radius.
• Surprize on a 4-in-6 chance against most opponents.

Last edited by Handy Haversack (3/12/2014 9:55 pm)

Druvas wrote:

Very nice, but good lord, I'd hate to go into melee with one.  Jumps 3 times/round?!  Here's hoping any encountered allow themselves to be cut down. ;-)

No kidding! I'm wondering if it's a little overpowered--but it really seems in line with the description in the Tschai books. One takes on an entire hunting party of green chasch, which are probably ogre or troll equivalents in toughness. Another takes out a party of dirdir armed with modern weapons. Whenever Reith and his companions see one, Traz immediately gives them all up for dead. Though he's a fatalist. At least, in AD&D terms, they would be very rare.
 

Had our first encounter with one of these, er, phoong, last week! It was . . . inconclusive. The party was able to damage it, but it was in one of those unmappable cave systems of narrow, branching tunnels, and the phoong was able to escape to fight another day. One thing they didn't have on Tschai: magic. Also, a death soldier with a hand axe mastery.

Chainsaw wrote:

Handy Haversack wrote:

One thing they didn't have on Tschai: magic. Also, a death soldier with a hand axe mastery.

Haha!

You need to try harder, Handy! It's an effort thing! ;)