Mother of All (spoilers)

[lin_fusan]

My group has finally hit the Sargasso. They went through their first fight with those Vine Horrors.

For DMs who have already run this part of the adventure, how did you do the following:

Vine Horrors can "summon" one Assassin Vine-like creature out of the seaweed. Mechanically, can they 1) "summon" more than one, 2) can the creature attack right away, and 3) can the Vine Horror act independently or must it concentrate on the creature?

My group is one-level higher than should be for this adventure. I jumped up the Vine Horrors, but are you supposed to also adjust the "summoned" creature?

Thanks for any mechanical help here. My 3.5-fu isn't as strong as it should be.

[stingraylonnie]

lin_fusan wrote:

My group is one-level higher than should be for this adventure. I jumped up the Vine Horrors, but are you supposed to also adjust the "summoned" creature?

You do not add to the CR after a summoned creature comes into the picture. The CR for the vine horror is supposed to take into account they can summon the assassin vine.
1) Just like all creatures who can summon, it does not say they can summon at-will, so I only allow one summoning.
2)As far as when can they act, I have always just added them into the initiative right after the creature who summoned it, (starting the following round). I tried to roll initiative and put it in place, but if you have characters who hold and act later in the round, it throws off the index cards I use, since the character who rolled a 12 has held and decided to act after the monster with the 8 initiative.
3) Just as when your cleric and/or magic-users summon monster, they do not need to concentrate for the monster to act.

[lin_fusan]

I understand that the CR of the base creature (the Vine Horror) takes into account its ability to animate an Assassin Vine. What I meant was if I increase the CR of the base creature, does the Assassin Vine also change?

Take it another way: If I keep the CR of the base creature the same, but it animates an advanced Assassin Vine (say double its HD), how much do I increase the CR of the base creature?

And weirdly enough, the Vine Horror's description DOES say it can animate an Assassin Vine at will, hence my question.

[Wyatt Schlaufman]

lin_fusan wrote:

My group has finally hit the Sargasso. They went through their first fight with those Vine Horrors.

For DMs who have already run this part of the adventure, how did you do the following:

Vine Horrors can "summon" one Assassin Vine-like creature out of the seaweed. Mechanically, can they 1) "summon" more than one, 2) can the creature attack right away, and 3) can the Vine Horror act independently or must it concentrate on the creature?

My group is one-level higher than should be for this adventure. I jumped up the Vine Horrors, but are you supposed to also adjust the "summoned" creature?

Thanks for any mechanical help here. My 3.5-fu isn't as strong as it should be.

Vine horrors can only create 1 vine at any one time, but if the vine is destroyed it can animate another the next round. The vine can attack the same round it is created. If the vine horror is advanced in hit dice, it does not increase the abilities of the controlled vine.

Also, the vine horror does not need to concentrate to control the vine, which means it can attack and have the vine attack in the same round, though not the round it is created.

That's about it. Have fun running them! I thought they were a blast.