At Our Table: Scar Spawn

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The player made map, where they have started keeping track of where they have spotted Scar Spawn.

I hope to use these "At Our Table" posts to cover how we handle certain rules or house rules at our table, this one is about a house rule/hack we are using with our West Marches game: Strotherhine. 

I came up with this concept when first reading the rules for scars in Cairn but wanted until we had a couple games under our belts before pitching it to my table. The way it works is that whenever a player gets a scar it creates a “Scar Spawn” monster, which my players describe as an “elite” or “shiny” version of the original monster. 

Once this happens rumors about this monster start circulating back in town and eventually a bounty gets put on the monster, this normally pays both gold and favor, from a specific faction. The bounty for the monster is based on the HP loss that caused the scar, currently I am doing 50xHP loss to determine that bounty. The monster also gets a title/name which makes it feel more like a legendary beast or rival. 


Mechanically, I take the monster that caused the scar and adjust it in the following ways:

  • +one armor

  • Weapon damage increases one level (d6 becomes d8 for example)

  • +2 to one stat 

  • Get special critical damage effect based on the scar, for example:

    • A 2HP Scar grants the following critical damage effect: Rattling Blow: the target is knocked unconscious

    • A 5HP Scar grants the foe following critical damage effect: Diseased: the target contracts a horrible disease


I don’t worry about if the original monster that caused the scar survived the fight or fled, which creates some mystery as to how these super beasts are coming into existence but it has been a fun mechanic for my table and it really raises the tension at the table when one of the players recognizes a monster that gave them a scar and everyone realizes they are dealing with a scar spawn. In the future I hope to add some mechanic that also alters/changes characters further for defeating these monsters but I am still working on that idea. 


Examples of two of our currently active “Scar Spawn:”

Ector, The Hammer

Created when Feodor took a 2 HP Scar from an Skelton

5 HP, 1 Armor, 12 STR 13 DEX, warhammer (1d10)


If a skeleton is killed and its bones are not scattered, it reforms.

Critical Damage: Rattling Blow: the target is knocked unconscious


Vermes, The Plague Hound (size of horse)

Created when Feodor took a 5 HP Scar from an Equus Hound

5 HP, 2 Armor, 14 STR, 12 DEX, bite (1d10)


Hairless, dun-coloured dogs with a head like a horse skull

Critical Damage: Diseased: the target contracts a horrible disease

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