I'm gearing up for my Savage Tide campaign that runs every other Friday and plays this coming Friday 03/02/07. The party just killed some Savage Pirates and is going to enter the caves and meet Ripclaw very soon. The group is all at least 4th level.
I noticed that Ripclaw is only a medium sized creature, yet from the stats in the monster manual he should be a large creature. Is there some reason he is not, other than perhaps an accidental error? In the Scaling the Adventure for 4th-5th level PCs in says advance Ripclaw by 2-4 hit dice. I plan to increase him by 2 since the group is all 4th level and the adventure is really designed for 3rd level PCs.
Since he is going to have 6 HD with and advance he gets another feat, and improved natural attack just seems way too nasty for him. Can anyone shed some light on the reason why he appeared in the module as a medium creature with weaker stats but at the same CR? Also any idea on feats is cool too.
Thanks in advance. :-)
I noticed that Ripclaw is only a medium sized creature, yet from the stats in the monster manual he should be a large creature. Is there some reason he is not, other than perhaps an accidental error? In the Scaling the Adventure for 4th-5th level PCs in says advance Ripclaw by 2-4 hit dice. I plan to increase him by 2 since the group is all 4th level and the adventure is really designed for 3rd level PCs.
Since he is going to have 6 HD with and advance he gets another feat, and improved natural attack just seems way too nasty for him. Can anyone shed some light on the reason why he appeared in the module as a medium creature with weaker stats but at the same CR? Also any idea on feats is cool too.
Thanks in advance. :-)
A subject near and dear to my heart -- Ripclaw caused my first PC death in the campaign, last session. Before you advance him, read through the Obits thread and see how many he's scored.
First, a deinonychus is a Medium Animal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dinosaur.htm#deinonychus). (I don't have my MM handy, but perhaps this is something changed in the errata? d20srd.org keeps its content up-to-date with the errata.) So there aren't any problems there.
Second: I think he's likely to attack from surprise; a charge can be made in a surprise round (though only up to one full movement, not double full movement); with his Pounce option, Ripclaw can make a full attack on a charge. This is a Very Deadly combination.
In my game (PCs were 3rd level): Ripclaw charged from surprise. The flat-footed ranger dropped to 1 hp when Ripclaw hit with talons and claws (missed with the bite); next round, a critical with his talons dropped the fighter/rogue to -13 hp.
He hits like a ton of bricks, I tell you what. Not saying you shouldn't advance him, but make sure you do it carefully.
All that said, I was about to suggest Multiattack, but I think that might be even deadlier than Improved Natural Attack given his bite damage.
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The Monster Manual has been errataed (or however that word is spelled) so that the megaraptor is now Large and the deinonychus is Medium, so that these dinosaurs are more in line with how big they actually were in real life.
And since ripclaw started out as a deinonychus before he got all savage, he's medium. If you advance him to 6 HD, he becomes Large, which pretty much gives him larger damage dice anyway. Giving him Improved Natural Attack at that point gives him talons that do 3d6 damage. Pretty hard-core.
I'd give him Improved Toughness or maybe Alertness. Unless I was feeling cheeky, in which case I'd give him improved natural attack anyway...
But yeah. He's pretty tough as is. Take care on the advancement there.
He hits like a ton of bricks, I tell you what. Not saying you shouldn't advance him, but make sure you do it carefully.
All that said, I was about to suggest Multiattack, but I think that might be even deadlier than Improved Natural Attack given his bite damage.
I'll check over at d20srd as to any errata changes, but he's a large creature in the 3.5 Monster Manual. Also in the Savage Tide AP: The Bullywug Gambit the writer gave him improved initiative and multiattack instead of run and track.
Also in the Savage Tide AP: The Bullywug Gambit the writer gave him improved initiative and multiattack instead of run and track.
Ah, thanks (I don't have that here either).
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I think that a 4th level party is still going to be PLENTY scared of Ripclaw as is. Remember that the creatures CR adds to the DC of the Fort save required to resist the Savage Disease too...you might consider adding 1 Hit Die but no more.
And it's not like he's the only thing they have to face in those caves. The Cove will certainly not be a walk-through by a 4th level party, and again, Ripclaw AS IS is certainly capable of dropping a PC or two, even if they are Lvl 4. If he gets a surprise round, which is not unlikely, some lucky PC may never EVER know what hit them.
If you feel you need to upscale the Cove at all, just add a few more pirates, or give one or two of THEM an extra level. Dinoboy doesn't need your stinkin' charity. :)
Ah...
I love Ripclaw...so nasty. The art work for him is so tasty too! Thanks James! You choose awesome scenes for the art orders.
Pounce is a character ender.
If I could Pounce in real life, I would all time. It's just good sense. ;-)
funny, my party had more problems with the savage monkeys than they did with ripclaw. hmm.... gonna have to go back and check to see if i played him wrong.
still, you gotta love those savage monkeys.
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That is unusual terrain monkey....sure there are 4 savage monkeys and only 1 ripclaw...but ripclaw should be able to surprise the PC's, definintely AT LEAST one of them, and the Pounce ability means that when he does charge he gets all his attacks (5 total I think; 1 bite, 2 forearms, 2 talons), all against the surprised PC's flat-footed AC. And he's diseased, with a higher save DC than the 1HD monkeys.
Yeah, Ripclaw is a bad mother (Hush your mouth)!
Ripclaw scared my group enough that they avoided him altogether. The spellthief checked out the room hidden and I believe on the ceiling (Slippers of Spiderclimb). Once he saw Ripclaw he directed the group to avoid the room. For the most part they entered the caves from the front saw Ripclaw and then went back out and swam through the underwater tunnel. I'm guessing this smart thinking kept someone from dying.
Ripclaw scared my group enough that they avoided him altogether. The spellthief checked out the room hidden and I believe on the ceiling (Slippers of Spiderclimb). Once he saw Ripclaw he directed the group to avoid the room. For the most part they entered the caves from the front saw Ripclaw and then went back out and swam through the underwater tunnel. I'm guessing this smart thinking kept someone from dying.
Good move. That's one of the main reasons I put the underwater tunnel option in...for those PCs who don't want to fight through every area and lose a few party members along the way...
I know, I know! What fun is that!? ;-)
Ripclaw scared my group enough that they avoided him altogether. The spellthief checked out the room hidden and I believe on the ceiling (Slippers of Spiderclimb). Once he saw Ripclaw he directed the group to avoid the room. For the most part they entered the caves from the front saw Ripclaw and then went back out and swam through the underwater tunnel. I'm guessing this smart thinking kept someone from dying.Good move. That's one of the main reasons I put the underwater tunnel option in...for those PCs who don't want to fight through every area and lose a few party members along the way...
I know, I know! What fun is that!? ;-)
Well two of them are aquatic so it made it easier. Although pulling the minotaur through gave them a little trouble. ;)
If you feel you need to upscale the Cove at all, just add a few more pirates, or give one or two of THEM an extra level. Dinoboy doesn't need your stinkin' charity. :)
Well I was just looking at what the author suggested for running the campaign for 4-5 level parties of 4. I've got 5 PCs that are 4th level. It's a pretty big change for him to be increased by 2 HD though, he gets large and his STR gets really gross and so does his damage and some increased CON. The real kicker as to why I probably won't increase him more than a single HD (keeping him small) is that nobody in the party has a magical weapon yet. I don't think they could stand up long enough with his DR to avoid the massive damage he would dish out as a large creature. If the group was all 5th level or I had 6 PCs in the party I would increase him.
Another thing to keep in mind when you start increasing hit die and con is the DC of the save against disease. If it gets too high you'll have many party members coming down with the savage disease. If that's what you want that's fine, but otherwise don't raise that hit die or con too high.
funny, my party had more problems with the savage monkeys than they did with ripclaw. hmm.... gonna have to go back and check to see if i played him wrong.
Naw, that can happen; a bunch of low rolls on the pouce for ripclaw and a retaliatory critical can easily deep-six the threat he poses. You might want to let them know that luck carried them through, though--there are MUCH worse things than Ripclaw (comparatively) later in the AP (bile monster, anyone?).
It's a pretty big change for him to be increased by 2 HD though, he gets large and his STR gets really gross and so does his damage and some increased CON.
Does he really? Per the SRD, advancement to 5-8 HD keeps him Medium.
Opps, nice catch. The bad news is I already ran him at large, the good news is that nobody died. The wizard used the wand of ray of enfeblement from earlier in the adventure path to really weaken him several times, and some close wounds by the cleric keep people alive. I'm using the variant Action Point system from UA so some spells were recalled and good used of magic weapon spells got through the DR. I did not have him do follow up attacks on anyone that fell into negative HP, since his INT is 1 he would assume they are dead and move to the next closest moving target. It worked out pretty good overall it set the stage for the players fearing the horrors caused by the Shadow Pearl real nice in setting the epic storyline flavor I wanted early on in the campaign