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[D&D 4e] Monster Builder Creations / RPG Bestiary
SkyCaptain
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Registered User regular
New Site!
http://rpg-bestiary.wikidot.com
If anyone else is interested in creating monsters for the wiki and adding to the Bestiary, just create an account at wikidot.com and apply for membership to the Bestiary. Thanks!
http://rpg-bestiary.wikidot.com
If anyone else is interested in creating monsters for the wiki and adding to the Bestiary, just create an account at wikidot.com and apply for membership to the Bestiary. Thanks!
SkyCaptain on
The RPG Bestiary - Dangerous foes and legendary monsters for D&D 4th Edition
Posts
This is my revised Elite Controller version Catoblepas, as inspired by Pliny the Elder more than Saint Anthony. It's my first Elite (DDI's Monster Creator doesn't do group roles), so it'll surely need more tweaking. I was mainly going for a 'save or petrify/pass out' monster in between the levels of Basilisk and Cockatrice, but as a major encounter feature that could alter the fight substantially with a surprise elimination of a PC from the rest of the encounter.
Catoblepas
Level 8 Elite Controller
Large Natural Beast XP 700
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +11
HP 172; Bloodied 86
AC 22; Fortitude 22, Reflex 17, Will 19
Saving Throws: +2
Speed 4
Action Point: 1
Gore (standard; at-will)
The catoblepas shifts its massive weight and shoves a gnarled horn into the nearest threat.
+12 vs AC; 1d10 + 5 damage and the target is pushed 1 square.
Stamp (standard; at-will)
The massive beast kicks and stomps relentlessly.
+12 vs AC; 1d8 + 5 damage and the target is knocked prone.
Trample (move, at-will)
The catoblepas takes flight and plows through its assailant.
The catoblepas can move through one Medium or smaller creature’s space and make a stamp attack as a minor action against that creature. The catoblepas must end its move in an unoccupied space.
Hideous Gaze (standard; encounter) * Gaze
With a great strain the creature raises its massive head; those who face it faint dead away at the sheer ugliness.
Ranged 10; +12 vs Will; the target is knocked unconscious until the end of the encounter. Miss: the target is dazed until the end of the encounter.
Lash Out In Pain (immediate reaction, when first bloodied; encounter)
Now frantic, the beast bucks and stamps with wild aggression.
+12 vs AC; 2d10 + 5 damage and the target is pushed 2 squares
Alignment: Unaligned Languages: none
Str 20 (+9) Dex 10 (+4) Wis 14 (+6)
Con 14 (+6) Int 2 (0) Cha 8 (+3)
DC 20 Nature:
The foul Catoblepas is a strange and rare animal, a resident of untamed savannas and wetlands. Generally it is an inactive and non-aggressive beast, but can be provoked to great violence. It is said it can kill with only a single stare.
DC 25 Nature:
The sheer size and weight of the Catoblepas' head prevents the beast, except in rare shows of effort, from raising it high enough to meet anyone's gaze. This is fortunate, as the Catoblepas is so ugly that anyone who stares straight into its face will lose consciousness from the shock, and the civilized world would be doomed were they not so uncommon and sluggish.
Although those also have a first failed save and second failed save function, giving the PC one more round to try to break free. I originally gave it a first save/second save when I was still deciding what statuses it could inflict, so I might add that mechanic back on again. I'm not sure I want it doing more than one Gaze per encounter, but I'll consider a recharge as an alternative.
Hideous Gaze - Ranged 10; +12 vs Will; Target suffers 1d6+5 psychic damage and is dazed (save ends). If the target fails their first save, they become unconscious (save ends, -4 to save).
Also keep in mind, that I'll be creating ways for characters to have limited flight very early on in the Heaven's Gate campaign setting.
Not the final draft, BTW.
Dragging leap should grab characters, and I would suggest some sort of thrash attack useable against grabbed creatures (or perhaps it can repeat the 3d10+8 damage on grabbed creatures).
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
This one's a conversion of a creature from an old 3.5E Dragon article.
The flesheater shark has a clumsy land speed, but the others don't have a landspeed at all. I figured it would be a good idea to give an aquatic creature that leaps out over the land a way to move in-case it somehow becomes beached.
As far as I can tell there is no acid subtype for monsters, though it is supposed to be an acid elemental that just happens to look like a shark. I thought about making it immune to acid damage, but there are several monsters that you would think would be immune to a certain energy type that merely have a high resistance to it.
I find the idea of a shark made of acid exploding out of the caustic sea, grabbing a PC, and diving back in with the PC in tow to be incredibly awesome. I know it makes the monster very situational, but water is for normal sharks. Besides, villains could have vats of acid in their lairs that contain trained acid sharks.
The Dragging Leap power is the part of the monster that I'm primarily thinking about. Really the power is an excuse to blindside a PC and knock him into a cauldron of acid. I could just have a trap that does the same thing, but having a shark made of acid do it is so much more awesome.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Petrification is usually against fort and will, is rare in heroic tier and mechanically is 3 saving throws. Effectively it's the equivalent of a save or die effect. What's worse is it also targets will, making it very likely to succeed against certain characters.
So it's really not fairly equivalent to petrification, it's significantly more powerful.
Clumsy doesn't describe general movements, it describes flying specifically. Speed 1 is sufficient, because a landspeed with "clumsy" doesn't mean anything mechanically. It can't fly on land.
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Yeah, I decided on ditching the miss result and at least changing the hit into multiple save attempts. But I hadn't felt the need to do so once this thread dropped out of sight.
Do any monster abilities currently use the Reliable feature, or do they just stick with recharge?
The equivalent for monsters is an ability to recharge a missed attack. Effectively this is the same mechanic.
http://rpg-bestiary.wikidot.com/monster:frostwolf-elementalist
http://rpg-bestiary.wikidot.com/monster:frostwolf-stalker
http://rpg-bestiary.wikidot.com/monster:frostwolf-marauder
http://rpg-bestiary.wikidot.com/monster:stone-giant-earthshaker