Your parties apl is 11, so you want a cr 13 creature? Pc gold is a lot.
Pc gold increases cr by 1, and the template would probably increase it by 2. That means your base would be a level 11 monk if you want it to be cr 13.
Party size of 6+ is only +1 APL, so they should just be 10 right now. They're actually fighting it for the first time this Sunday, which is probably going to push the rest of the party into level 9.
They're also used to fighting high-CR encounters in this campaign.
My comment on NPC levels and the treasure value was based off something Ashiel I think once posted, but you're right - it should be CR__ monster loot rather than PC loot. Still, it should be using it appropriately - Amulet of Natural Armor, Ring of Deflection, etc.
A level 12 pure Monk would get destroyed in a battle like this. I've seen some of the builds my powergamer has made up, and I've used 1-2 level higher NPCs in combat before, and they never last more than about 3 rounds.
I was thinking a few levels in Warpriest might give it the ability to heal itself with Swift actions, and for 2 levels in Warrior (equal to 1 level in a PC class) he'd get +2 BAB, +11HP +(2xCON), 1 point of Fort save and 2/3's points of Will and Ref.
NPC levels counting for half opens up large new windows for NPC building, as a CR6 Warrior could fight a level 9 PC "equally" with their 12 NPC levels. 3 base attacks, +12 BAB, 6 feats, 65 base HP, +2 stat points, 6 FORT 4 REF 4 WILL. It's not fully equal to level 9 Fighter, but it'd be pretty beefy. Take out 2 levels of Warrior and put in a level of Adept and whatever the NPC rogue option is, and you get +1d6 Sneak Attack Damage and some self-healing and buffing options while only sacrificing 4 base HP and 1 BAB.
You don't get the abilities with NPC classes (Armor Training, etc.) but it's the quickest way to stats and cheap multiclassing.
Okay, so, what got me into the whole mess was that I had a powergamer at my table decide to build a Sacred Fist Warpriest a year ago. This itself wasn't a problem, but since he was using an in-game "respec" item that allowed him to keep the same identity but make a new character, he tweaked his race into a Samsaran without dying first.
Since Samsaran's reincarnate every time they die, but he essentially "stole" a body/soul from a Samsaran, it was decided that he had inadvertently caused a Negative Energy -Soul creature to enter the world. Like matter and anti-matter, its sole goal was to obliterate itself.
Skipping over things here and there we finally got back to the game and made it to the point where I want to bring in the monster, but I'm not as strong at building power-PCs as he is. Factor in that he'll have 6-7 other PCs behind him, I'm hoping the community can help me with some ideas.
Party description:
Party is not quite all level 9, with
- an optimized Brawler (Powergamer's PC, massive AC)
- An Oracle caster ("Blind" Oracle's curse, yet plays ranged. Moderate power)
- An un-optimized Magus who rarely has his highest-level spells ready
- A third-party Divine/Arcane caster with limited spell levels but many slots,
- A new Inquisitor, played by a stereotypical Barbarian
- A cautious Fighter balanced between Melee and Defense, able to do archery
- 7th PC shows up with a Fighter occasionally, but pays little attention and just "runs up and hits."
- The GMPC Rogue/H.Opportunist (built for situational adaptation and theft/lying, not combat.)
Essentially we have a lot of melee with a powerful, hard-to-hit melee bruiser and a full-Oracle caster, but the rest of the party is more varied than optimized.
.
The monster I'm wanting to build should have at least 2* CR above the party's APL, and I was wanting to have it be a 2-H weapon-wielding Monk for story reasons. As it's an NPC, it can take NPC levels at a 2-to-1CR ratio.
- GP-build value matches a PC of its CR, or 11-12 at the moment. 12 would be more dangerous for the monster itself, but a level-appropriate Wight-style minion swarm would drop its appropriate CR by 1-2.
- The Monk levels should give it good saves and allow it to flurry with its weapon, which is decently beefy
- NPC levels would allow it to pump its BAB and HP to stand up to the party (PC levels just don't stand up to that kind of damage.)
- Gaining the ability to Channel Negative Energy would be interesting, but not required.
- Can't use pets - living animals refuse to come near it.
- Blink for a miss chance might work, or some form of poison to try and assassinate the Powergamer (whom it views as a Nemesis.)
The monster NPC has a few abilities and a neat weapon.
MONSTER NPC ABILITIES:
- 29-point buy (matches PCs)
- Undead immunities.
- Has Lifesense 60'
- d8 HD, unless superseded by base creature/class.
- Heals from Positive Energy, takes only 1/2 Negative Energy damage
- Soul resides in the weapon, not in the humanoid host. Body is immune to mind-effecting affects and fights until negative Con without being Dazed.
- Weapon is immune to magic that does not also target objects or is harmless.
- Can possess a new host body if the old one dies, but this isn't likely to work vs. the PCs directly as they'd suspect it.
- Is weak vs. Hallow, needing to pass a DC 25 Will save to enter/remain inside, and the body it possesses gets saving throws after 2d6 rounds.
- Has an aura that makes opponents Fatigued if they come within ?~feet. Save is Fortitude, and a save means you're immune for a day. Fatigue lasts for 1d6 +1 minutes after leaving the aura, and resets without a save if you re-enter the aura before the effect ends. Save DC matches the weapon's DC below
.Currently has no DR/good, but I'd say that option fits thematically.
WEAPON:
- Weapon applies the following effect each* time it hits.
.This should probably have a cap placed on it if it's being powerbuilt.
.Or if it only works once or twice per round per target, we could increase the damage to d4xeffect:
- Roll 1d4. If the target does not save, apply the following effect:
1 = 1 point of Strength damage, and the Soulless gains +1 CMB, attack, and damage.
2 = 1 point of Dexterity damage, and the Soulless gains +1 dodge AC and CMD.
3 = 1 point of Constitution damage, and the Soulless regains (1/2xtarget’s HD) HP and gains any excess as temp HP.
4 = 1 temporary negative level, and the Soulless gains all of the above bonuses.
- The bonuses received by the Soulless stack up to a total of +5 for each ability score and +(2x its HD) temporary hit points. The Soulless burns through the captured life force quickly, losing 2 from all of these values every hour.
- Crits turn the effect into Drain rather than Damage.
- Save DC = (10+Cha+1/2HD). This value is reduced by 2 in an area of Hallow, stacking with Hallow's bonus to saves.
.A 2-Handed weapon would give more damage to the build, but a Keen Scimitar gets more crits. I also haven't thought about what magic might be on the blade, but it should probably have an enhancement bonus appropriate for its level (so like a +3 ATK/DMG right now.)
MINIONS:
- If the Soulless NPC kills a soul-possessing creature with its weapon, it creates a spawn in 1d6 minutes. These spawn are under its control, but are far weaker and die quickly.
-They die soon after sunrise each day.
.Currently I'm planning on using a Cairn Wight or Wraith as the base idea for the spawn, essentially a vitality-draining zombie horde. Depending on the level of the party, I might boost the CR of the horde. The minions should probably stay about 3 CR below the PC's levels though.
.I also think there's a bloody weapon (unique or an artifact) that also creates bloody zombies on kill, I might have to look for that as well.
Hopefully I'd want a fight that they can win if they plan and figure out how to kill the thing, but the NPC would be able to wipe the floor with them if they fought it carelessly. This essentially came about as a "self-inflicted revenge" by/for the powergamer, so that would be the appropriate level of play required to kill it.
Not that anything could stand up to a fully-optimized party of 7 PCs.
Hey all. Listen, so my crew has a sailing ship in the middle of a sort of archipelago and even belongs to a major trading nation. This has added a little bit of a new wrinkle for me, because unlike in regular campaigns having downtime between quests now costs the party money in terms of crew wages and rations. My first thought was just awarding money in lieu of dealing shipping mechanics via a "the party made 1000gp trading last month" setup, but this seems to be not very dynamic or rewarding. What if the crew want to go raiding, or what if they suck at mercantilism/have a bad month?
So my second thought was to use the Profession system (check/2=gp earned/week) and sum the party's Profession: Sailor checks and multiply the result by 5 or 10 and use that method to generate the rewards they get trading.
Maybe add in a thing where each character can add in an Aid Another action on the group's check via Intimidate or Knowledge: Geography or Appraise, etc. to give them a feel for HOW they're making their money (running a tight ship, knowing who needs what goods, or cutting good deals.)
I have two questions for the community if you guys would help:
1) Is the x5 modifier about appropriate to represent the added value (and cost) of the crew's labor and ship's capital. Ideally, the players would be getting just a little bit more than a regular character would after subtracting the cost of the ship and the crew.
2) How do you guys think the size of the ship (and thus cargo capacity) would factor into the profit they should get each week? While I'm interested in hearing suggestions for RAW Pathfinder or Skulls&Shackles settings, my group just started using Frog God Games "Fire as she bears!" method for building ships and et cetera.
...or should I just skip the whole thing and say "You each personally get the results of an appropriate check as if it were a Profession:____ check, except you get a +2 bonus for owning a ship." -?
First things first: If your homebrew monster is too powerful for its CR, then you've given it the wrong CR.
My intent was not to make "super-powered monsters," but monsters that are very effective at the time they are supposed to be faced. Dragons and Ghasts are both brutally efficient at their levels when played correctly, like having a Black Dragon use it's at-will Darkness ability on pebbles and dominate the battlefield with them. I followed the monster creation chart at [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/monster-creation] fairly closely.
A GM has enough power to kill their players at any moment, they don't need to bring in cheatery monsters to do it.
Irthos wrote:
The ghastly sentinel is more swingy than anything else. ... Actually, a standard ghast is actually better at this than the sentinel, since it has the stench ability to lower saves and an extra hand free to claw (thus another chance to paralyze).
Ghasts are always swingy, but having these things hunt in pairs makes it much more likely that they'll hit and be able to pull off that coup de grace. Add in the extreme crit damage from a scythe, and you don't have a likely-dead PC - you have an all-dead one.
M. Max:
"And with all dead, well, there's only one thing you can do. ...Go through the pockets and look for loose change."
Irthos wrote:
The only real advantage the sentinel has is the ability to stay still, which it... apparently keeps doing if discovered? I don't see the point of that...
Also, keep in mind that CR goes up by 2 every time the monster count doubles. Four CR 4 monsters is a CR 8 encounter, which is supposed to be a challenge for a 7th-level party.
Its Freeze ability was taken from the gargoyle as far as the mechanics go (with the ability to stay frozen under duress added by me.) It's intended to be more of a fluff piece than something usable in combat. I also wouldn't give full experience for killing one of these that didn't fight back, just as I would not give experience to a level 10 PC for killing a helpless, cowering goblin or an unarmed townsfolk.
my campaign:
And as humorous as it was, my group never thought to ask about the scarecrows near town after first seeing them in the wilderness, and the BBEG would've had them over a barrel had they not made the check to realize the town's ex-Royal Guard marshal had killed the doppleganger sent to take his place. (He sent the fake's head back instead.)
-
I took away the Stench ability in an attempt to make them less lethal, since the addition of group tactics meant a paralyzed PC would be dead in a round or less. The save DC for their touch is already at what it should be for a monster of this level, so I didn't feel I was taking too much away. You might have a point that it makes them weaker than ghasts alone would be, once you count in that 1 less paralyzing attack each round.
As for the CR, we both have it wrong. For 2-4 monsters, the CR goes up by 1 with each addition. For 5-8, it goes up by 1 per 2, and for 9-16 it goes up by 1 per 4. I had thought it went up by doubles each time, or 1-2-4-8-16 at each CR. Four CR 4 Sentinels would likely be unable to kill more than 1 or 2 level 7 PCs unless they got really lucky.
Irthos wrote:
Thessalmonsters are supposed to have at least 5 HD and be Large-sized, so you're already going outside the expected parameters and shouldn't be surprised that it's not performing as expected.
I know. I said that I cheated the template and modified the whole thing in my original post, AND tried to reference that the cross was not supposed to be possible in the monster description.
Irthos wrote:
increased bite damage (for one head)
Mostly for physical appearance, and to make it so that the central head was at least something more imposing than the tiny cloud of rat heads surrounding it. The hydra-heads don't have the acidic bite they were supposed to by-template either, because that would have broken DPR.
Irthos wrote:
teleportation (why?)
Why do elves have better vision and hearing than humans? Teleporting was added to make it a unique monster. Given how much picking and choosing I did, there's no way I could say this is just a monster and a template.
Irthos wrote:
and more than doubled land speed.
I took the 40' landspeed from the Thessalmonster template. I'd be okay with dropping the rat to 30', and would actually prefer it because then you could have some chase scenes.
Irthos wrote:
As far as being a threat, the clones only have 4 hp max - they're going to get maybe one attack before they die from someone looking at them funny, to say nothing of the many, many spells that will obliterate them en masse. After one standard encounter, the thessalrat is going to have two daily clones left, or one if it used its teleportation. (Again, why?)
The clones only have 4hp max, and after the second duplication most will only have 1 hp. But there's now 8 of them, and they're either in the middle of the party or preparing out of sight where they can't be one-shot. Without having less HP, these things would likely have gone outside of their CR window (as their damage already is, slightly, iirc.) They also have fast healing 2 to get their HP up again after splitting.
Also, read it a bit closer - the Thessalrat recovers its copies every 8 hours, not each day. If it tracks the PCs through rat tunnels or whatever, it can ambush them 2-3 times per day. This thing is not dangerous by itself to any decently-leveled PC, but it's dangerous in that it drains away their daily resources. Numbers alone are also more dangerous than a whole, and any spellcaster surrounded by these things is likely to be hit enough that they lose their spells. Given the amount of bites per round they give out, it's almost a guaranteed that they'll contract the Doppelrat's Degenerative Cloning disease. The DC is weak, but if half the party is afflicted someone will fail their save. And since you don't start healing damage done by disease until the day after you cure it, a stalking Thessalrat can re-infect and keep them permanently STR and CON damaged.
Also, no kill = no XP by RAW, so the PCs will likely hate this thing for that and can't farm the clones for XP.
The primary targets of a Thessalrat are also not the PCs - this thing is an army killer, a town killer, able to wipe out those the PCs serve or love in days (as most NPCs are only level 1 without any PC classes.) If they get hit, they heal. Any soldiers are dead, while sergeants and above can defend themselves but can't kill them. If you actually want to threaten the PCs with it, throw it at them below 5th level before they get fireball. I'd have made them CR 3 instead of CR 5, but there's too many duplicates for that to work.
Irthos wrote:
The only thing this critter has going for it is the ability to run away....
Correct. It's supposed to take cleverness to get of them.
.
I'd really prefer not to add a "Note to GMs" on these critters, so I guess I'll need to re-write the descriptions to give a clearer view of what they do.
tl/dr;:
- obligatory defense of monsters
- Should I give the Sentinels their Stench ability again?
- Thessalrats are new monsters designed for PCs below level 5, not a monster + a template.
Everyone loves a good monster. GMs love an evil one. Dragons, Ghasts, there are all sorts of monsters out there dangerous enough to give a group of PCs pause. Share a monster that's far more dangerous than its challenge rating would suggest, or link to your favorite published ones.
To start off, I'll share two of my favorite creations: assassin ghasts and an unkillable super-rat.
.
The Ghastly Sentinel was created to spook my players with monsters that were watching, always watching wherever they went and didn't care if a few of them died. Despite figuring out they were ghouls posing as scarecrows, their refusal to move while being watched if they were attacked or set on fire in addition to their constant appearances and disappearances set my players on edge. When it finally came time in the story to set up the possible (and very likely) TPK and subsequent resurrections, their sudden visible action and out-of-sight PC kills led to a monster they still reference a year later. As an additional note, don't apply an Advanced template to an Advanced creature. It's an exponential power increase, not a linear one. Here's the rebuilt version
Ghastly Sentinel:
GHASTLY SENTINEL CR 4
XP 1,200
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CE Medium undead
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +10
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DEFENSE
AC 1, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 28 (3d8+15)
Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +7
Defensive Abilities: channel resistance +4, Undead traits
-
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +6 (1d6+3 plus disease and paralysis) and 2 claws +6 (1d6+3 plus paralysis), or Scythe +6 (2d4+3 20/x4 P or S)
Special Attacks: paralysis (1d4+1 rounds, DC 15, affects elves normally)
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TACTICS
Before Combat: Ghastly sentinels will stalk a group of targets waiting for an opportune moment. Foggy weather, a lone PC,
and they stealth as close as possible before silently attacking.
During Combat: Ghastly sentinels prioritize lone targets whenever possible, preferring to make as many quiet kills as possible
before they are discovered. They then move across the battlefield in pairs or triplets and choose their targets intelligently.
They flank whenever possible and make natural attacks until a target is immobilized, at which point one of the ghastly sentinels
provides cover while the others perform coup de graces.
-
STATISTICS
Str 17, Dex 18, Con —, Int 19, Wis 18, Cha 21
BAB +2; CMB +6; CMD 20
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +7, Bluff + 8 Climb +9, Escape Artist +7, Perception +10, Profession (Spy) +10,
Stealth +10 (12 while motionless), Swim +6 Racial Modifiers Stealth +2 while motionless.
Languages Common, Dwarven, Elven, Goblin, Orc
SQ Freeze, Spy
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Disease (Su)
Ghoul Fever: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 15; onset 1 day; frequency 1 day; effect 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex damage;
cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based.
A humanoid who dies of ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight. A humanoid who becomes a ghoul in this way retains
none of the abilities it possessed in life. It is not under the control of any other ghouls, but it hungers for the flesh of the
living and behaves like a normal ghoul in all respects. A humanoid of 4 Hit Dice or more rises as a ghast.
-
Freeze (Ex)
A ghastly sentinel can hold itself so still it appears to be a scarecrow. A ghastly sentinel that uses freeze can take 20
on its Stealth check to hide in plain sight as a scarecrow.
A ghastly sentinel can remain motionless even when it is attacked or takes damage
by making a DC 20 Stealth check, but it cannot take 20 on this check.
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Paralysis (Su)
Creatures damaged by a ghast's natural attacks must make a successful DC 15 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds.
Paralyzed creatures cannot move, speak, or take any physical actions. The creature is rooted to the spot, frozen and helpless.
Unlike ghouls, A ghast's paralysis even affects elves.
Unlike hold person and similar effects, a paralysis effect does not allow a new save each round. A winged creature flying in the air
at the time that it is paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A swimmer can't swim and may drown.
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Scout (Ex)
A ghastly sentinel is well-versed in military organization and strategy, and treats profession (Spy) as a class skill. Additionally,
ghastly sentinels leave no tracks while in non-urban or underground environments as if it had the ranger’s Pass Without Trace ability.
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Ecology
Environment: Any non-urban exterior
Organization: Pair, Trio, or Reaping (6-8)
Treasure: minor
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Ghastly sentinels were first created by a necromancer hundreds of years ago as a means to control the villages he ruled. They would
report to him on anything that went on near a village, and when someone did something that displeased him the necromancer took
great pleasure in ordering his nightmarish creatures to paralyze the villager and his family in their sleep before eating them
alive. When the necromancer was slain for his evil ways, his creations escaped and found their way into other armies of undead
where they put their talents at espionage to good use by spying on armies and assassinating lone officers.
Ghastly sentinels never hunt alone. They prefer to hunt in pairs or trios so that when one ghastly sentinel paralyzes a creature
the other can perform a coup de grâce to instantly kill it. If unable to hunt with another of its kind, a ghastly sentinel will
ally itself with another creature whenever it hunts, usually something that can distract an enemy or protect the ghastly sentinel
until it can get in close and paralyze its prey. Like all ghasts, a ghastly sentinel prefers still-living food.
The last target of their hunts is thus the unluckiest.
Ghastly sentinels utilize flanking whenever possible and are unafraid of death in combat. While under orders to gather information
and pretending to be scarecrows, a ghastly sentinel is willing to die rather than reveal itself if necessary.
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Variants (+1 CR)
------------------------
Some ghastly sentinels were designed for brutal assassinations over espionage.
They gain the stench ability as a way to reduce an enemy's resistance and accuracy.
Stench (Ex)
Ghast's exude an overwhelming stink of death and corruption in a 10-foot radius. Those within the stench must succeed at a DC 15
Fortitude save, or be sickened for 1d6+4 minutes. If a creature is within range of multiple ghastly sentinel Stench auras, the DC
for this save is increased by 2 for each additional Stench affect it is subject to.
A ghastly sentinel can suppress this ability for 1 round as a standard action, but the lingering
foulness clings to its disguise and gives it a -5 penalty on its Stealth checks to appear as a scarecrow.
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Trollbodied
Some ghastly sentinels were created from long-limbed trolls and are
often used with heavily-armored allies to guard narrow passageways.
These ghastly sentinels gain a reach of 10’ with their claw
and weapon attacks and gain fast healing 3/fire or acid.
coup de grace:
Coup de grace takes a full-round action, provokes an attack of opportunity, and deals an automatic critical hit to a helpless target.
If the target survives the attack, they must make a Fortitude save equal to 10+damage dealt or else die instantly.
The DC for a scythe-wielding Ghastly Sentinel's coup de grace is 10+44.
Like it says on the Ghast page, these creatures are more powerful than their CR would suggest. 4 of these things (a CR 6 encounter) might threaten a party wipe against a group of five level 7 PCs.
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Another monster I haven't used yet but am planning on throwing against a group of 7th-level PCs is the humble CR 5 Thessalrat. I'm expecting it to be a dangerous nuisance for the entire dungeon run. At it's heart, the Thessalrat is a hybrid of a Doppelrat (able to create a swarm of copies from a single creature) and the Thessalmonster template (an acid-mouthed hydra addition that, by RAW, can only be applied to CR 5 monsters.) I tweaked the result and the base ability of the setup, nerfing numbers and damage while boosting quality and subterfuge, and the result is an Abberant creature that spawns 7-8 copies of itself to attack the party while a copy of itself runs away to attack again later... with 7-8 new copies.
I dubbed it an army killer. Each rat clone is only CR2.
Thessalrat:
THESSALRAT CR 5
XP 1,600
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CE Tiny Abberant
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +4
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DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size)
hp 16 (3d8+3)
Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +3 (+1 per two living clones)
Defensive Abilities Phase Jump, Divided Self
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OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft., climb 15 ft., swim 15 ft.
Melee 8 serpentine bites +3 (1 damage), bite +5 (1d6-3 plus 1d6 acid)
Special Attacks Disease (DC 11)
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TACTICS
During Combat: A thessalrat attempts to appear as a regular rat until it desires to feed, at which point it begins to spawn clones of
itself until it reaches 8 clones. Once these clones are created, a random clone will attempt to flee while the others stay and
fight. If the fleeing thessalrat is pursued, it uses Phase Jump to attempt to lose its pursuer and will use its last remaining
clone as a decoy if it ever becomes hidden. If the fleeing thessalrat is killed, 2 other thessalrats break from the action and attempt
to flee. If those are slain, all remaining rats scatter and flee in all directions.
If the escaping thessalrat is not pursued and escapes safely, it will either spawn a ninth thessalrat in combat or use Phase Jump
to attack an opportune target. A thessalrat never uses its tenth clone except as a means to escape.
In combat, 2-6 thessalrats swarm a nearby target, prioritizing the prone and injured. They dislike attacking unless
there is or will be at least one other thessalrat within 10’ of the target.
Morale: A Thessalrat flees only if the fleeing copy was killed or captured,
and in such a case flees when there are 4 or fewer copies remaining.
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STATISTICS
Str 2, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 4
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 8
Feats Combat Reflexes*, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Maw)
Skills Acrobatics +2 (+6 jump), Climb +10, Disguise +12 (normal rat only), Stealth +19,
Swim +10, Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +4 Stealth, uses Dex for Climb and Swim.
Languages None
SQ Arcane Mitosis, Hydra Traits, Maw
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
Arcane Mitosis (Su)
A thessalrat can create clones of itself at the beginning of its turn as a free action, but no more than 4 total per round.
Each duplicate appears in the same square as any other rat and can take a move or standard action the round it appears. A clone is
created with 1/4 of the cloning rat's current hp (minimum 1). A thessalrat may not create more than 10 clones of itself
within an 8-hour period.
Each thessalrat clone is a full share of the whole, and so there is no “original” thessalrat – if a single thessalrat survives
an encounter, the creature is not destroyed. 10 minutes after the thessalrat first started to clone itself, all but one of
the clones dies and turns to ash. It is the thessalrat’s choice which clone survives.
Any effect that would block a supernatural ability prevents new clones from appearing, but does not destroy any current copies.
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Disease
Degenerate cloning—injury; save Fort DC 11; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Str damage, 1d3 Con damage and the victim
becomes shaken for 1 hour (Will DC 11); cure 2 consecutive saves.
A creature suffering from degenerate cloning sloughs off an identical-but-decaying body of itself each morning along with a little
of their own vitality. A clone created this way dissolves into a soupy mess within 2d6 hours and cannot be preserved by any means
short of stopping time.
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Divided Self (Ex)
All Thessalrat clones share a divided hive mind. They are thus aware of each other at all times and can share senses equally. Thus,
a deafened thessalrat would takes only half the listed penalty as long as there is a non-deafened clone nearby, and can pinpoint an
enemy’s square even if blinded. A thessalrat also gains a +1 to its will saving throw for every 2 clones currently alive.
There is no distance limit to this effect.
If a thessalrat has clones located on more than one dimension at the start of its turn,
all clones in the dimension with the lesser amount of clones die instantly.
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Hydra Traits (Ex)
Though a thessalmonster cannot be killed by severing all of its serpentine heads, doing so prevents them from attacking and
can assist in slaying its body. Any attack that is not an attempt to sever a head affects the body, including area attacks or
attacks that cause piercing or bludgeoning damage. To sever a head, an opponent must make a sunder attempt with a
slashing weapon targeting a head.
A head is considered a separate weapon with hardness 0 and hit points equal to the thessalmonster’s HD. To sever a head, an
opponent must inflict enough damage to reduce the head’s hit points to 0 or less. Severing a head deals damage to the
thessalmonster’s body equal to the thessalmonsters’s current HD. A thessalmonster can’t attack with a severed head,
but takes no other penalties.
A thessalmonster’s severed head regrows in 1d4 weeks.
A thessalmonster’s Combat Reflexes allow it to opportunity attack with each of its serpentine heads.
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Maw (Ex)
A Thessalrat’s main mouth opens far wider and further back than it should,
allowing it to deal bite damage as if it were a Large creature.
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Phase Jump (Sp)
Instead of creating a clone, a Thessalrat can teleport 100’ as a standard action in a fashion similar to Dimension Door.
Doing so counts as the Thessalrat creating a single clone. A single clone can do this no more than once per day.
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Ecology
Environment Any temperate
Organization Solitary, Pair, or Plague (6-12)
Treasure none
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The Thessalrat is a creature born out of arcane military experimentation, successfully crossing a Doppelrat with a
Thessalhydra despite expectations. The resulting monster was so deadly once unleashed in the now-forgotten war that both sides
called a temporary truce in order to exterminate the pest before it had a chance to reproduce and decimate the entire continent.
While the creation of more Thessalrats is now considered a war crime against humanity, some of the less-scrupulous mages
occasionally create a sterile version as a deceptive trap to guard valuable items.
A regular Thessalrat in its passive form appears almost identical to a regular rat, save being a bit heavier around the shoulders
and being bit on the larger size. Once roused to action, however, a Thessalrat abandons this disguise and the fur on its
shoulders parts to reveal a swarm of smaller rat heads on darting necks. The central head splits open all the way back to
the chest while acid drips off its fangs.
Thessalrats are unusually cunning and cruel when it comes to stalking their prey, but relatively unintelligent otherwise.
Not content only killing enough prey to feed it for a single meal, a Thessalrat enjoys causing mass panic among a population
of intelligent creatures by slaughtering as many of them as it can in a single attack and feeds off the remains the next day.
Its ability to select which clone lives at the end of the division means that it can attack with reckless abandon without
fear of its own death, and is able to harry an adventuring group or army for days on end until eventually the entire group
succumbs to attrition. The Thessalrat uses its disguise as a regular rat to hide amongst the regular vermin found everywhere,
and its small size allows it to crawl through the narrowest cracks and rat warrens. It is alert and cautious for traps while
unduplicated, and will remain just outside a town or army camp during any attempted rat eradication.
A Thessalrat never jeopardizes its existence by having all of its clones in danger at the same time, and will always attempt
to split at least one off from a fight and hide it somewhere without exception.
The Thessalrat has two weaknesses, minor though they are – Normal rats refuse to go within 15 feet of a Thessalrat providing a
hint for the perceptive, and the 10-minute time limit on the duration of its clones can be exploited to kill the creature while
it is weak if someone is able to track every single copy during an attack.
- Weak by themselves, but lethal via attrition and numbers. Player groups APL 3 and above should have very little trouble resisting and killing individual thessalrats, but to actually kill the entire creature is likely to be difficult until beyond 5th or 7th level.
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First time posting these monsters online, so tell me what you think and share your own!
Does anybody actually have a good source work for handling Pathfinder or 3.5 "ships in space" action? I'm actually running a homebrew setting right now where flying ships don't operate under gravity/atmosphere. If I can work out all the bugs, I'm going to sell it. Was Spelljammer (hereafter referred to as It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named or IWMNBN) a 3.5 setting or just for AD&D or 2.0?
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To stay on topic, you could treat the Capsize effect as if the Oma had rammed the ship instead of capsizing it. Given that space ships require a hole-less hull a little more than the merchant marines do it wouldn't be out of consideration that a massive object running into you would deal significant damage even on a glancing blow. And as the ship spins, spirals, or yaws end-over-end (or a combination of all three!) the motive thrust for the ship is going to start cancelling itself out or propel you in an entirely new direction. Throw some redshirts, lensflares, sparking wooden instruments and falling mainbraces, and you might have a short sub-encounter where the PCs need to run around the ship to shut down the core or repair an engine line before the reactor goes critical. The sub-encounter would replace the danger of a capsized ship sinking, and if the ramming maneuver tore open the hull you could also have some "men overboard."
-The rammed ship takes damage. If the ramming ship travels through or into more than a single square of the rammed ship on your tactical map, or does not have a ram attachment, both ships take damage instead. Not an issue for the Oma since he's not actually moving into or through the rammed ship.
(Vehicles): Ramming damage without a specially designed ram deals (1d8)^(each size category greater than large.) Large =1d8, Huge 2d8, Huge+1=4d8, etc.
(Advanced Naval Combat): Beating the targets CMD by greater than 5 or greater than 10 doubles or quadruples the damage dealt and received.
-Both ships reduce their speeds to 0. Depending on how you'd normally deal with the Capsize special attack you can say the Oma stops dead or keeps going. Regardless of if you have the PCs ship stop dead or skew off randomly, they're no longer under their own control.
Anyone else using the ultimate campaign rules or downtime in the wrath of the righteous adventure path?
Yo.
Though in a homebrew and not the WotR adventure path.
As I understand it from reading over the rules again, that 25-unit spending limit is applied to the total of Goods, Labor, and Influence, but it's not explicitly stated anywhere. I've collected a few points from the document to support my position, which I'll post below in the spoiler. Note that Magic is exempted from the 25-unit amount, as wizards would never stoop to performing Labor or creating mundane Capital.
supporting arguments:
Primary is that Magic is specifically not in the list for how many points of L/I/C you can spend each day. If each was its own amount, then why exempt magic from the other three?
Spending Limits represent the limit of how much Goods, Influence, and Labor you can utilize in settlement each day. Even if you have a lot of Goods and Labor at your disposal from favors and such, a tiny settlement might have only a few hands to spare to turn that capital into finished projects.
If the number of free hands is limited, then it would make an odd sort of sense that all three funnel into the same pool. For example, while the mayor might be willing to cash in some of your Influence with her and spare a few hours of her secretary's time for your project, he's already swamped with paperwork from the merchants that you bought Goods from and can't get to it until tomorrow.
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As for whether the PC can commission the work and leave or if they have to stay and work on it themselves, the news for your PC is unfortunate: according to the Phases list of a downtime day, the rules explicitly state that a player constructing a building does so during Phase 2 of the day. This would imply that they have to be there to oversee the work and make sure the privy doesn't wind up inside the kitchen or alchemy lab.
Of course, just because the rules SAY they have to be there doesn't mean that you have to hold them to it. In my own personal campaign they commissioned the work and then left while the grateful villagers worked on it whenever they had time, but I would also see no problem with adding an extra cost each day that an overseer works on the building instead of them. Perhaps an extra point of Influence or Labor each day would be fair.
Daily Downtime phases:
A downtime session takes place over the following four phases, which make up 1 downtime day.
Phase 1—Upkeep: Pay costs associated with maintaining completed buildings and organizations.
Phase 2—Activity: Perform downtime activities, such as constructing a building, recruiting an organization, or retraining.
Phase 3—Income: Determine how much capital your buildings, organizations, and other activities generate, and sell off assets you no longer want.
Phase 4—Event: Check whether any unusual events occur. Some are beneficial, such as Famous Visitor or Good Fortune. Others are detrimental, such as Fire or Sickness.
Activity phase during downtime:
Also, under the Activity Phase section, it says
Quote:
Step 2—Continue Ongoing Downtime Activity: Your first priority is continuing a downtime activity that requires more than 1 day. Depending on the specific requirements of that activity, interrupting it might ruin any progress you've made. Some activities might require only a small bit of your attention and still allow you to perform other downtime activities in this phase.
Leaving town while making something via the downtime system is assumed to prevent further progress on whatever you're making. No exception is put forward for buildings, so they should be put on hold just like the wizard's magic wand in the example. This would actually be one of the places where leaving might ruin some of your progress, as the building falls apart during rain or high winds or some of the wood and goods are ruined or your goods are sold out from under you by unsavory shopkeepers.
While such things might be fun for the GM, don't bring them out too much or else they might stop being fun for the players. Perhaps have a mini-questline where they track down their sold furniture or strong-arm the thieving shopkeep into giving them twice what they paid for at no cost instead.
