White apes are weird monsters. They have lost their color from living underground, but they are nocturnal herbivores. So, they remain sensitive to the cycle of night and day, and their preferred food doesn't grow in caves (except for magic ones!). They must live in caverns with access to the surface, and they come out at night to forage. This also means they face a problem of what to eat in the winter. There are several possible solutions, and your campaign could have different varieties of white ape who have settled on each of them.
- Live where it's warm. If there is no winter, there is no problem finding food in the winter.
- Eat roots. Some white apes may become expert in finding nutritious roots to eat, maybe even stocking up on them so they have easy access in the winter. Unlike leaves and fruits, roots stick around all winter.
- Hibernate. I don't think there are any apes who hibernate, but in a fantasy world, why not?
- Get domesticated. Neanderthals often keep white apes as pets. That makes their food the neanderthals' problem, and neanderthals are a lot smarter than white apes.
When white apes do leave their caves, it will be on a moonless night. They will range around their lair, looking for the plants they prefer to eat. They are protective of their lair, but they aren't hunters. They are generally not aggressive, unless they perceive that their lair is in danger.
Being 4 HD creatures, white apes are larger than man-sized but just a little smaller than ogres. I put them at 7' to 8' tall.
Encountering White Apes
It usually isn't necessary to make reaction rolls for white apes. Outside their lair, they will try to avoid other creatures, unless those other creatures are approaching their lair. In their lair, or if other creatures are approaching it, they will behave as their description indicates. First, they make warning noises. Those noises are warnings to intruders that they'd better leave, but they also put any other white apes in the lair on alert. Then, if the intruders don't leave, the apes start throwing rocks.
The apes' rocks deal 1d6 points of damage, but no range is specified. They are 4 HD creatures, though, so they are probably quite strong, and only a little smaller than ogres. So, giving their rocks ranges comparable to a sling is appropriate: 40' for short range, 80' for medium range, and 160' for long range. This also guarantees that any white ape encounters at the standard 2d6 x 10' encounter distance will be within range of the rocks they throw.
The apes don't just carry around rocks to throw. Their rocks are weapons of opportunity. It's up to the DM to decide how plentiful the rock supply is. Above ground, I'd generally assume an ape can throw 1-4 rocks before needing to move to where there are more. In natural caves, the supply might be, for all practical purposes, limitless.
White Apes in the Dungeon
Groups of 1-6 white apes wander on the 4th level of a dungeon. Smaller groups might appear as high as the first level (probably just a single ape) or as low as the 7th (maybe 3-18). Wandering apes are on their way to gather food, possibly lost, just wandering aimlessly or exploring. If they see light, however, they will immediately flee back to protect their lair. Unless the PCs are between the apes and their lair, the apes won't start a fight with them. If the PCs start a fight, and the apes aren't protecting their lair, the apes will defend themselves in melee but run from missile attacks.
Though white apes aren't intelligent, they are social, and so they will fight as a group. When one is attacked, all who can do so will gang up on the attacker. Given their size, that's probably not more than four apes against a human or elf, possibly as few as two against a dwarf or halfling.
Unless they are being kept as pets, the white apes' dungeon lair will be a natural cavern, typically on the 4th level but with easy access to the outside. Probably, this is a hidden dungeon entrance, which may or may not connect to other levels as well. If it does connect to other levels, you have a good explanation for any white apes wandering on levels other than where their lair is. The apes got lost somehow, and they're trying to find their way home.
A dungeon lair of white apes will include a troop of 2-8, and they don't usually have treasure. Of course, the DM is free to decide that they just happen to be lairing where something valuable is, but it would have to be a special treasure placed deliberately. In the daytime, all the apes will be asleep. At night, 1-6 of them at a time will be out wandering, while the rest stay home. White apes don't fortify their lairs or post sentries. Instead, they prefer locations that are naturally hard to find or get into, with easy access to water and a way out so they can forage. An ideal white ape lair has an entrance smaller creatures would have to climb to reach, likely with an elevated ledge from which the apes can throw rocks down on intruders.
Although they don't carry around rocks when they wander, it's reasonable to assume white apes have amassed a collection of rocks to throw when they are protecting their lair.
White Apes in the Wilderness
In the wilderness, white apes forage in groups of 2-8, and their lairs have 10-40 apes. They are only encountered outside their lair at night. Assume half the apes are at home when the others are foraging, and the entire group is asleep in the lair at night.
While a dungeon white ape lair is probably just a single cavern, a wilderness lair might be a more complicated cave with as many as five or more different chambers, each home to a group of 2-8 apes. Like a dungeon lair, the wilderness lair will have an entrance that's hard for other creatures to reach and a way for the apes to throw rocks down on intruders who come too close.
Fighting White Apes
White apes don't have sophisticated tactics. They run from fights, unless they are cornered or protecting their lair. They will throw rocks at enemies until the enemies are 45' away or closer. Then they will move into melee, attacking twice with their claws each round. Once white apes are in melee, others will fight the same enemy, but they don't necessarily focus their missile attacks. They don't choose their targets in any sophisticated way either. They just attack whatever enemy is closest or, in melee, whoever hit them most recently.
Morale Checks
White ape morale is 7, which is pretty average. But they have a strong survival instinct, and they don't have the sort of intelligence necessary for organized fighting. Any white ape who is loses a third of its starting hit points (on average, that's 6), will try to flee.
Otherwise, morale checks for white apes are as normal, but count any white ape who has fled as a death on the white apes' side. (That is, if there have been no deaths on either side, check for the apes after the first one flees). Increase the apes' morale by 2 if they are defending their lair.
White apes don't have language and can't surrender. All they can do is flee. Different DMs handle this differently, so here are some options:
- White apes who aren't in melee run away; this is handled just like evasion and pursuit at the beginning of an encounter.
- White apes in melee retreat if anyone else is also in melee against their melee opponent (or opponents). Otherwise, they make 20' fighting withdrawals, hoping the initiative eventually allows them to run away.
- If your game doesn't require monster retreats and fighting withdrawals to be declared before initiative is rolled, white apes always retreat the maximum distance possible after failing a morale check.
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