So after spending an inordinate amount of time on the latest installment of “Victorians on Ice” trying to get a usable Remorhaz, I thought I would do an article collecting the prompts and results I’ve used for irritating-to-reproduce D&D monsters. Monsters straight from classical mythology are usually pretty easy. Centaur, Medusa.. the AI knows what you means from the term and you can fine tune it from there to get what you want. Yuan Ti? Remorhaz? It hasn’t got a clue. And for Troll, you’re in for a rough time if you use the term, because the AI is thinking “cute Norwegian fuzzies on the end of a pencil” and not “lanky green cross between an Ogre and a swamp witch”. Note that most of these still require a fair bit of “fishing” to get what you want. And you’ll have to do more tweaking and fishing if combining them with characters. But this give a starting point.
Yuan-Ti
You can get a surprising amount of mileage on Yuan-Ti by simply starting with variations of “snake with arms”. You’ll get a lot of weirdness with men with snakes for legs, snakes next to men, etc. But you also get plenty of usable material. For some reason I have better luck with “cobra” than “snake”, but I haven’t exhaustively tried various kinds of snakes. Adding “legless” sometimes helps, and sometimes makes things worse. You just have to experiment for your style and scenario.
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;large cobra with scaly arms,wearing greek armor,firing bow;in marble hall”
Troll
I favor the 1e D&D Troll appearance. So emaciated, tall, gangly, long claws with an ugly face.
“dark fantasy;very tall,gangly,emaciated green humanoid,hunched posture,muscular,large bestial head,triangular nose,sunken eyes,slimy matted hair,black claws,in a swamp;oil paint;drawing;d&d”
If using this in an image with characters, you’ll need a simpler descriptions. So simplifying can still give you something like this:
“dark fantasy;tall,emaciated green humanoid,hunched,triangular nose,slimy hair,black claws,in a swamp;oil paint;drawing;d&d”
Ankheg
Depending upon the D&D version you looks at, an Ankheg looks like a cross between a mantis and some sort of elongated beetle. While the results are inconsistent, and the AI seems to blank at the term “burrowing”, you can do pretty well with a surprisingly simple description.
“dark fantasy;oil painting;d&d;big elongated segmented mantis,burrowing out of ground in dirt field”
Frost Salamander
This is another one that can come down to a variation of “snake-man”, although with a more magical and elemental appearance. I started with “dragon head”, but that brings in wings and all kinds of other fluff. “Iguana head”, however, brings in a bit of a mane and non snake-like appearance without any hint of wings. And re-enforces the arms to boot.
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;full length portrait;(large icy snake with iguana head,holding spear,wearing breastplate,wispy blue aura);slithers through icy marble atrium”
Fire Salamander
Similar to frost salamander above, but with a different element.
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;full length portrait;(large fiery snake with iguana head,holding spear,wearing breastplate,flaming aura);slithering through volcanic cavern”
Kuo-Toan
I unfortunately didn’t figure this one out until *after* Keira and Kord were long passed the area.
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;squat scaly humanoid with fish head,large eyes;bone armor;underground cavern”
Sahuagin
Another one that took way too long to make work given the simplicity of the final description. To my sensibilities Sahuagin differ from Kuo-Toan in being taller, leaner, and meaner.
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;tall humanoid with Piranha head,webbed feet,long tail,holding trident;hawaiian armor;underground cavern”
Illithid
Another one that turned out surprisingly easier than I had anticipated:
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;tall thin purple humanoid with squid head,robes,and red cape;underground cavern”
Doppelganger
Another one I wish I’d figured out better before Keira and Kord completed BG1.
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;gray humanoid,long forearms,pointy ears,digitigrade legs;bald,featureless,stalking;in dusty library”
Umber-Hulk
This is another one that seems hard, but turns out that you can do a good job with a surprisingly simple description:
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;hulking humanoid with beetle head,exoskeleton,four compound eyes;underground cavern”
Remorhaz
So for Remorhaz I was tryin gto capture the following main elements:
- Centipede like body shape
- Mantis-like head on long neck
- Large compound eyes
- Insectoid legs with claws
- Large wing-like sails on back
- Rearing-up upper half
That’s a long list of eclectic elements. First thing I had to do to get it to work is switch from “centipede” to “sea-centipede” – both because sea-centipedes have longer legs and because the “sea” part makes it believe me better when I add fins.
“dark fantasy;oil painting;d&d;(gigantic blue sea-centipede,large fiery-red fins,mantis head,compound eyes,antenna,long neck,ant legs) rears up to attack;in ice cave”
Remorhaz Revisited
I needed Katarina de Winter fighting a Remorhaz Queen for IWD2, so I revisited the topic. I think this Remorhaz looks a lot more menacing. And yes, actDave, this one even breathes acid.
“(czech warrior woman,sword) desperately raises her shield to block acid as (gigantic blue centipede,large fiery-red sail fins) towers over her and spits streams of acid;(czech warrior woman,age 40,tall,loose shoulder-length brown hair,brown eyes,leather over armor,blue cloak);(gigantic blue centipede,large fiery-red sail fins,mantis head,compound eyes,antenna,long neck,ant legs.thick body);dark fantasy;oil painting;in large icy cavern;action scene;blurred motion”
Beholder
The big cheese. An iconic D&D monster that’s a pain in the tuckus to render properly. The AI actually has some idea what a “beholder” is, but it’ll coat the entire head in eyeballs. In fact just about anything I try to add “eyestalks” also adds eyes all over the place. So we cheat. I’ve tried tentacles ending in “lenses”, “gems”, “sockets”, “flashlights”, “cameras”. Nothing is terribly consistent. “Lens” or “Iris” at the tip has worked best for me.
“dark fantasy;oil paint;d&d;angry floating purple one-eyed head;large toothy mouth;smooth skin;ten evenly-spaced tentacles;each tentacle has an iris at the tip;in dusty hallway“
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