well, I also asked you to create a demon to serve as a template for the gargoyles. I read thru the Hordes of the Abyss and it looks like theres a demon who spends its juvenille years on the prime material plane and looks like a gargoyle, wasted your efforts a little bit .
I will immediately report any Phishers or Lonely Hearts Scam Artists.
Wasted effort? Nah, I made what I thought was a pretty cool demon, even though I missed the mark on what you asked for, but I still thought it was pretty cool. I resolve to read your request better for the coming year, lol
Due to age I no longer actively play so all my questions are idle curiosity. Any request for a weekly game should be prioritized over mine. Read your stuff fairly carefully and you do quite well. Do you ever pick up random plastic figures at the Dollar Store and generate stats. I'm told the rust monster was part of a plastic figure grab bag.
I will immediately report any Phishers or Lonely Hearts Scam Artists.
Do you ever pick up random plastic figures at the Dollar Store and generate stats. I'm told the rust monster was part of a plastic figure grab bag.
Nope, but anything with monsters really piqs my curiosity. Mostly I just browse Deviant Art and Creature of the Week for stat-worthy artwork. I'm also really into world mythology, so I find monsters that way. Many of the Greek/Roman monsters have been covered by Wizards of the Coast, and I was following a thread that was ding monsters from the Phillipines and that part of the world. Most of the monsters our of Norse and Celtic myth are already fey as well, along with giants. So I either make stuff up based on art, or just random ideas that pop into my head.
Tentacle Giant Huge Giant (Extraplanar) Hit Dice: 12d8+84 (138hp) Speed: 30ft Initiative: +2 Armor Class: 20 (-2 size, +2 Dex, +10 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 18 Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+26 Attack: Slam +16 melee (2d6+9) or Claw +14 melee (1d8+4), or Bite +14 melee (2d6+4) Full Attack: Slam +16 melee (2d6+9) and claw +14 melee (1d8+4), and bite +14 melee (2d6+4) Space/Reach: 15ft/15ft (25ft with slam) Special Attack: Breath Weapon, Constrict, Ichor Pool, Improved Grab, Vision of Madness Special Qualities: Alien Mindset, darkvision 60ft, immune to poison and polymorph, resist acid and electricity 10, DR 10/slashing Saves: Fort +15, Ref +6, Will +7 Abilities: Str 28, Dex 14, Con 25, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 8 Skills: Climb +15, Intimidate +10, Jump +10, Listen +6, Spot +8, Survival +7 Feats: Ability Focus (Breath Weapon), Awesome Blow, Improved Bullrush, Multiattack, Power Attack Environment: Any Land (The Far Plane) Organization: Solitary, Pair, Clan (5-12) CR: 9 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Usually Chaotic Evil Advancement: 13-24 HD (Huge), 25-40 HD (Gargantuan) LA:- A twenty foot tall fish-headed giant lumbers out of the Far Plane portal. Its one arm is a long tentacle that lashes the ground in agitation, the other is clawed, and grips the frame of the portal so hard it cracks.
A race of giants native to the maddening realm known as the Far Plane, these great creatures are juggernauts of madness and destruction. On the rare instance where they find their own way onto the Material Plane, or when a conjurer of some power manages to summon one, they leave a wide path of devastation and death in their wake. Those not killed, are driven mad by the very sight of these bizarre and alien creatures. Tentacle giants stand between 18 and 24 feet tall and weigh between 1 and 2 tons. Their head resembles that of a deep sea predatory fish, with overly large jaws and opaque dark blue eyes. A thin fin runs down the middle of their head extending halfway down their back. One arm is humanoid, with a powerful four fingered hand, studded with wicked claws. The other arm is a long, writhing, muscular tentacle that often drags along the ground behind the creature. The rest of the body is humanoid, with oily black skin stretched over a muscular frame. Smaller fins ridge the backs of the arms and legs. These giants dwell on floating bits of solid mass on the Far Plane, and have been toughened through thousands of years of surviving the harshness of that world. Originally, tentacle giants were cave giants that stumbled through a portal. Those that had the mental fortitude survived and were warped into the form they hold today. Now, they eke out a living herding pseudonatural creatures for food and fending off incursions from other Far Plane residents.
Combat: Tentacle giants are powerhouses. They enjoy grabbing up opponents with their tentacle and crushing them in a powerful grip, then ripping the body apart. Against multiple foes, they use their ichor stomp to contour the terrain to their advantage, while using their breath weapon to impair ranged and spellcasting foes. Like all creatures from the Far Plane, the mental workings of a tentacle giant are not to be known by mortals, and trying to contact their mind leads only to madness.
Alien Mindset (Ex): The mind of a tentacle giant is as alien to Material Plane denizens as the machinations of devil politics. Any creature (other than aberrations) that attempts to read the thoughts of a tentacle giant or otherwise study its mind, must make a DC 16 Will save or be affected as though by the feeblemind spell for the next minute. The save DC is Intelligence based.
Breath Weapon (Ex): Once every 1d4 rounds, a tentacle giant can vomit up a cone of vile black ichor and wriggling tentacles. This attack takes the form of a 15ft cone and deals 4d6 bludgeoning damage from the tentacles. A DC 25 Reflex save halves this damage. This who fail the save must then succeed on a Fortitude save at the same DC or be blinded by the ichor and held immobile by the tentacles. An immobilized creature cannot move from the square it is in, cannot cast spells with a somatic component, or attack. It loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. An immobilized character can escape the tentacles with a DC 23 Strength check of Escape Artist check as a full round action. They can remove the blinded condition with the application of a gallon of clean water or spells that remove blindness. The save DC's are Constitution-based and include a +2 bonus from the giants Ability Focus feat. The check DC's are also Constitution-based.
Constrict (Ex): A tentacle giant deals 2d6+9 points of damage per round it maintains a grapple.
Ichor Pool (Su): As a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, a tentacle giant can stomp the ground and create a 10ft radius slick of black ichor. The slick lasts for 1 minute and is a half inch thick. Anyone moving through the slick takes 2d4 points of untyped damage, and anyone who remains in the slick takes this damage every round on the giants turn. The damage cannot be negated by damage reduction, but protection from evil can. Tentacle giants are immune to this and enjoy grabbing a foe and standing in their slick, crushing the life out of them while the slick slowly saps their energy.
Vision of Madness (Su): Tentacle giants are a horrible and alien being from a world of madness. Anyone approaching the giant for the first time, who closes to within 30ft, must make a DC 15 Will save or driven permanently insane as per the insanity spell. Thus who succeed on their saves are immune to that particular tentacle giants vision of madness for 24hrs.
Harlugon (Cluster Demon) Large Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar, Tanar'ri) Hit Dice: 8d8+40 (76hp) Speed: 30ft, 30ft climb Initiative: +2 Armor Class: 20 (-1 size, +2 Dex, +8 natural +1 shield), touch 11, flat-footed 18 Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+20 Attack: MW Armblade +14 melee (1d8+10/19-20 x2) Full Attack: MW Armblades +14/+14/+9 (1d8+10/19-20 x2) Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft Special Attack: Head Cluster, Sever Light Special Qualities: all around vision, darkvision 60ft, DR 5/ cold iron or good, immunities, resist acid, cold, fire 10, summon, telepathy 100ft Saves: Fort +10, Ref +8, Will +8 Abilities: Str 27, Dex 15, Con 20, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 9 Skills: Climb +25, Intimidate +10, Jump +15, Knowledge (nature) +7, Knowledge (the planes) +7, Listen +12, Search +10, Spot +12, Survival +11 (+13 on other planes and above ground environments), Tumble +10 Feats: Power Attack, Two Weapon Defense, Two Weapon Fighting Environment: Any Forest, Hills or Mountains (The Infinite Layers of the Abyss) Organization: Solitary, Pair, or Troop (3-6) CR: 7 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil Advancement: 9-15 HD (Large), 16-30 HD (Huge) LA:-
A screaming, simian like demon erupts from the leafy canopy overhead. It has a multitude of small heads between its shoulders, but as you watch, they all pop off and go bouncing and rolling off in different directions.
Harlugons, called cluster demons because of the cluster of heads that continuously spawn, fall off and spawn again, are ape like demons of madness and war. They live in small troops in the forested regions of the Abyss, and a fair number can be found in the Guttering Grove. They often hire themselves out as mercenaries to other demon lords, and many can be found in skirmishes with angels and other beings of the higher planes. Harlugons stand at 12ft tall and weigh around 1200lbs. They have a muscular, ape-like body with chiseled muscles and smooth grey skin. They have short, bowed legs that end in hand-like feet, which allows them to move quickly and easily through trees, even allowing them to fight upside down. Their long arms end with simian hands. They wear little armor, only simple metal shin guards, a heavy leather belt, and metal bladed bracers on their forearms. The strangest feature is their head, or heads as it more often is. From a sore between their shoulders, up to a dozen heads can bubble up from the flesh, screaming and squabbling, only to fall off a moment later. They remain “alive” for a few moments, rolling about and biting madly at anything that moves, until they rot away into a black grease stain on the floor. Their is little to describe the head, it is merely a round orb with two holes on each side that serve as ears, a pair of large eyes, and a fang filled mouth. They have no nose or ability to smell. The eyes and mouth of these heads glows with a faint but eerie pale green light, providing illumination as a candle. The arm blades of a harlugon are masterwork weapons. They consist of a line of three curved blades, all about the size of a regular short sword, fitted to a metal bracers. The blades glow with the same pale green light as the fiends heads. Affixed to a harlugon, these weapons possess the ability to cut through light, creating a wall of darkness. Harlugon speak Abyssal and Common in a cacophony of screeching voices.
Combat: Harlugons leap at the chance for battle, often literally flinging themselves out of the trees to land on a foe or amidst a group of them. They slash about madly with their arm blades, all the while seeding the area with their fallen heads, sowing confusion and disgust among foes. Their numerous heads means they are difficult to get the drop on and the ever regenerating nature of the heads makes them immune to vorpal weapons.
All Around Vision (Ex): As long as the harlugon has at least two heads on its shoulders or on the ground, it gains immunity to flanking and sneak attacks. Should all of the harlugons heads be destroyed in a single round, it is blinded until its next turn, losing these immunities.
Head Cluster (Ex): Harlugons are constantly jettisoning their heads and regrowing new ones. At the start of combat roll 1d12. This is the starting number of heads the creature has. At the end of its turn, all of the heads fall off and can move and attack independently. At the start of the harlugons next turn, all the heads from the previous round die, and it grows 1d12 new heads. This process repeats every round until the creature is slain. The stats for the individual heads are given below: Harlugon Head: Tiny outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar, Tanar'ri); HD 2d8; hp 9; Init (goes at the end of the Harlugons turn); Spd 20ft; AC 18, touch 16, flat-footed 14; BA +2; Grp -5; Atk +5 melee (1d4+1, bite); SA -; SQ darkvision 60ft, tanar'ri traits; AL CE; SV Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +4; Str 12, Dex 19, Con 10, Int -, Wis 12, Cha 7. No Skills or Feats.
Immunities (Ex): Harlugons are immune to electricity and poison, as are all tanar'ri. These demons are also immune to vorpal attacks, and to most attacks affecting the brain or mind. Any mind-affecting effect affecting the harlugon lasts for only one round; once its heads fall off and rot, the new heads that are grown are no longer affected. They are also immune to abilities targeting the sense of smell; harlugons have no nose, and so are not affected by strong odors or gas attacks.
Sever Light (Su): The wicked arm blades of a harlugon possess the ability to cut light. As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the harlugon can make a slashing motion and create a wall of darkness that cuts off light. This ability works as the spell wall of gloom with a caster level equal to the harlugons Hit Dice. For the creature above, it could create a wall of 8 continuous 10ft by 10ft squares. The walls point of origin is always adjacent to the harlugon when it was created and the wall is 1 inch thick. Creatures can easily move through the wall, it simply blocks vision and obscures line of sight.
Skills: Harlugons receive a +8 racial bonus to Climb checks. They may take 10 on their Climb checks even when rushed or threatened. They also receive a cumulative +1 bonus to Search and Spot checks based on the number of heads they have in any given round.
Muse Medium Outsider (Native) Hit Dice: 5d8+5 (30hp) Speed: 30ft Initiative: +3 Armor Class: 18 (+3 Dex, +5 def), touch 18, flat-footed 15 Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+5 Attack: Unarmed strike +5 melee (1d6) Full Attack: Unarmed strike +5 melee (1d6) Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft Special Attack: Spells Special Qualities: divine health, evasion, inspiration, lay on hands, polymorph, tongues Saves: Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +7 Abilities: Str 10, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 20 Skills: Appraise +6, Concentration +9, Diplomacy +13, Gather Information +12, Heal +10, Intimidate +13, Knowledge (any one) +10, Listen +8, Perform (any one) +16, Sense Motive +7, Spot +10 Feats: Skill Focus (Perform), Toughness Environment: Any land Organization: Solitary or Pair bond (Muse plus their mortal charge) CR: 3 Treasure: Half standard Alignment: Usually Neutral or Neutral Good Advancement:- LA:-
A beautiful human woman winks at your suggestively from across the bar, and suddenly you feel like you can whoop every guy in the place at fisticuffs.
Muses are descended from heavenly beings sent to protect mortals; guardian angels if you wish. Over time, they lost much of their connection to the plan they originally called home, and became native outsiders. A muse's mission in life is to bond with a particular individual, and to bring out the best in them. They are attracted to musicians, poets, mathematicians, philosophers, inventors, actors, astronomers, and to a lesser degree, warriors who value wit over muscle. Muses will often become the best friend or lover of their charge, and just by being near them, will inspire them to great ideas, works of art, and feats of daring. The muse remains in the background, serving as an adviser, coach, diplomat, care-giver, inspiration, and friend. A muses natural form is that of an androgynous beautiful human. They wear loose fitting togas or robes, and often carry an object that represents their sphere of influence, such as a lyre for musicians or a sextant for astronomy. When bound to a mortal, they take on whatever guise they think the mortal will find the most appealing, be it male or female, young or old. Not all get romantically involved with their charge, some become fast friends or take on a mentor/pupil relationship. Since a muse will never die of natural causes, they often leave their charge once they have completed their mission, which is usually elevating a mediocre person with some talent to fame or renown. These relationships always end amicably, but the mortal will most likely never see the muse again. Muses are impartial to the politics and way of the world; their only focus is their charge. That being said, they are against evil, and will never bind themselves to a cruel or malicious person. They are often neutral in most matters, but are willing to help others achieve their goals. They only bind themselves to humanoids and sometimes to good or neutral monstrous humanoids. Thanks to their tongues ability, they can speak to any intelligent creature that has a language.
Combat: Muses are not fighters. They prefer to remain on the fringes of combat, either helping their charge defend themselves or flee, or gaining the aid of others to help in the fight. Their primary goal is to keep their charge alive and healthy, and they will die to protect them if that is what it takes. Muses have a number of abilities that helps keep them out of harms way, so that they can take care of their mortal. If they can, they would rather talk their way out of a bad situation. They carry very little of value on them; normally just clothing and mundane jewelery. They care little for possessions, but keep helpful items such as healing wands on them to use when necessary.
Divine Health (Ex): Muses are immune to all mundane and supernatural diseases.
Evasion (Ex): As the ability of a 2nd level rogue.
Inspiration (Su): The muses signature power, the ability to inspire others. Most of the time this ability is used to aid in the pursuit of some Craft, Perform, or Profession, but in times of need, it can be used to give a normal person the fighting spirit of a warrior. This power has two effects as listed below: Inspire Courage (Su): Once per day, a muse may inspire courage in her charge. Her charge must be within 30ft and able to see the muse. The muse need not speak, sing or do anything to draw attention to herself; just being near her charge is enough. As long as the mortal is within 30ft, he or she gains a +2 morale bonus against charm and fear effects and a +2 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls. The muse can extend this ability to encompass others, but must make a Conentration check (DC 15) each round to maintain it. Inspire Competence (Su): Always active. As long as the muse can be seen and is within 30ft of her charge, the mortal gains a +5 competence bonus to one of the following skill checks; Craft, Knowledge, Perform, or Profession. The muse need not speak, sing or do anything else, her presence is enough to inspire. This ability effects only the mortal the muse is bound to.
Lay on Hands (Su): As the paladin ability of the same name, the muse can heal up to 25 points of damage, to either herself or her charge, per day.
Polymorph (Su): Muses have the supernatural ability to alter their appearance as though using a polymorph spell. They may take on the form of any Medium humanoid or monstrous humanoid, gaining only extraordinary special attacks of the new form. They retain their own ability scores. For this reason they rarely take on the forms of physically imposing races, such as lizardfolk, as they do not like lying to cover up their lack of strength.
Spells: Muses cast spells as a 7th level bard. The save DC's are Charisma-based. 6442 Typical Bard Spells Known (3/5/3/1 per day; save DC 15 + spell level): 0- dancing lights, ghost sound, mending, message, songbird, summon instrument; 1st- charm person (DC 16), cure light wounds, inspirational boost, swift invisibility; 2nd- blur, cure moderate wounds, invisibility, speak to allies; 3rd- haste, g'elsewhere chant.
Tongues (Su): All muses can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell (caster level 5th). This ability is always active.
Just wanted to share a small fact with my requester(s) and viewers. Between the original New Monster Request Thread and this one, with all the monsters I have contributed and created, I have a Word document that is 462 pages long. Without actualy going through and counting each individual monster and template, I think I average 1 monster/template per 1 to 1 1/2 pages, so I have probably made somewhere between 350 and 400 creatures since I started doing this. Afact I am rather proud of. Of the few that i have used in my games, my friends/players absolutly love the Nombs, as do I.
Wow and Bravo!
I always loved your nombs too and feel very priviledged that I had the chance to bend your ear on them. I have them all on word document too even though I haven't had the chance to use them as I haven't actually played in a while.
I'm less active on this site as I'm mostly on the giant in the playground site trying to explain how the rules work with monster design. There's a lot to teach there. :-)
So I haven't had the chance to come back and see what's new (or at least new to me). It's a lot of stuff. A LOT OF STUFF. Wow. I could never be that fast. It's impressive.
And in going back through this thread I've noticed that when you treat a creature's secondary weapons as a single primary attack, you give it +5 to hit and increase the Str damage to full. Is that a house rule that you use? It's not a big deal but I've been teaching monster design lately so I have to explain that secondary attacks are always secondary, even when used as primary attacks (which is why there is the multiattack feat to reduce the penalty to -2 and improved multiattack negates the penalty).
And in going back through this thread I've noticed that when you treat a creature's secondary weapons as a single primary attack, you give it +5 to hit and increase the Str damage to full. Is that a house rule that you use? It's not a big deal but I've been teaching monster design lately so I have to explain that secondary attacks are always secondary, even when used as primary attacks (which is why there is the multiattack feat to reduce the penalty to -2 and improved multiattack negates the penalty).
Thanks for the kind words Debby, and long time no see. I see your point here, and I have no idea what I have been thinking. Maybe something along the lines of depending on how they are going to go about their attack, I made their different natural weapons choices as a primary attack. Such as if they move and want to bite at close range, or move and want to stay at range so they use a tentacle lets say. I thought the penalty to attack and damage only occured during a full attack action. My mistake, but an easy one to correct.
Aaannnddd I spoke too soon again. I got everythig fixed (I hope), but it was no easy feat. My thread, which i have loved and cared for since its birth, decided to lock me out about 5 times, giving me messages such as a more or less blank page and "No posts", and also condensing and expanding the number of posts per page, and I'm also pretty sure half of my links don't link to what they are supposed to. At least it wasn't working for me.
And good lord do I feel foolish. Going back to make those corrections, I really don't know what the heck I was thinking. Call it new thread jitters I guess, cuz I had some serious statistical issues going on. Hopefully I got them all though, and I shall henceforth not do the thing Debby pointed out I was doing, as it is improper and confusing. Oy, apologies.
