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There has been some interest expressed in a dragon I pitted my Hook Mountain Massacre party against this week, so I figured I'd share what I have written/schemed up for her. Note that Mytarla is an EL 11 encounter; be very careful using her if your party is less than level 7 average or has few ways to handle a flying monster.
Mytarlacoraxithryl resides in the lower reaches of the Sanos Forest, between the towns of Nybor, Wartle, and Whistledown, although she fits in any forested area that's not heavily travelled. As arrogant as any dragon, and brash as young chromatic dragons tend to be, Mytarla views the forest as "hers" and stalks travelers that happen through her hunting ground, observing them for a minimum of 4 hours from a safe distance. If they appear to be adventurers or merchants, she'll hide in the canopy nearby and demand that the travelers pay a price for passage through "my forest" - either tribute, or the lives of some or all of their companions.
If the travelers ignore her, she will fly from her hiding spot and land directly in their path, letting her frightening presence disrupt mounts, pack animals, and wagon-pullers, forcing the travelers to deal with her.
She refuses to set a price for tribute that she'll accept for passage, responding to any inquiries with a haughty, "Pay me what you will. If you offer too little, I'll take the rest in lives." In truth, the amount she will settle for is based on how obviously wealthy her prey is. Higher level adventurers or wealthy-seeming merchants will need to pay up to 1000 gold per head in gold, goods, or items. A DC 25 diplomacy check to flatter Mytarla will reduce her target tribute amount by half.
If her prey refuses to pay tribute, or pays too little, Mytarla will attack. If they satisfy her target tribute amount, Mytarla will allow them to leave and not bother them again for as long as they remain in her hunting range - but if they come back through later on, she may demand tribute again. Clever PCs may be able to lure her onto the ground by pretending to pay tribute; otherwise, she will start the fight in the air.
CR 11
Mytarlacoraxithryl, young adult green dragon
LE Large Dragon (Air}
Init +0; Senses Darkvision 60', Blindsense 60'; Listen +22, Spot +22
________________DEFENSE_________________
AC 25, Touch 9, Flat-footed 25 (-1 size, +16 natural)
hp 183 (17d12+68)
Fort +14 Ref +10 Will +12
DR 5/magic; Immune Acid, sleep, paralysis; SR 19
________________OFFENSE_________________
Spd 40', fly 150' (poor), swim 40'
Melee bite +22 melee (2d6+6) and
2 claws +20 melee (1d6+3) and
2 wings +20 melee (1d6+3) and
tail slap +20 (1d8+9)
Space 10'; Reach 10'/15' with bite
Special Attacks breath weapon, frightful presence
Spells (caster level 3rd)
0th (6/day) - detect magic, read magic, arcane mark, prestidigitation, open/close
1st (6/day) - mage armor, shield, alarm
________________TACTICS_________________
Before Combat Mytarla won't pre-buff before she accosts travellers unless she thinks they have a real chance at killing her. Considering her arrogance, that's unlikely. If possible, she will hide herself in the canopy of the forest, about 40' above the ground.
During Combat On the first round, Mytarla will use Flyby Attack to fly directly over her prey, using her breath weapon essentially as a fireball (a 40' cone projected 40' onto a flat surface becomes a 20' radius burst) to catch as many opponents as she can, then fly out of range of any possible flying melee reprisal. Unless she her pride is insulted in dramatic fashion, Mytarla will continue to fight from the air; if the PCs manage to enrage her enough, however, she will use her Diving Charge feat to get up close and personal.
Morale If reduced to fewer than 1/3 hit points (60 or less), Mytarla will flee back to her lair, issuing dire threats about how "this isn't over!".
________________STATISTICS_______________
Str 23, Dex 10, Con 19, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 14
BAB +17; Grp +27
Feats Flyby Attack, Hover, Wingover, Multiattack, Diving Charge*, Winged Warrior*
* - from Races of the Wild
Skills Bluff +22, Hide +20, Intimidate +24, Knowledge: Nature +14, Listen +22, Move Silently +20, Spellcraft +11, Spot +22
Languages Common, Sylvan, Draconic
SQ water breathing
_____________SPECIAL_ABILITIES____________
Breath Weapon (Su): 40' cone of corrosive (acid) gas, Reflex 22 half.
Frightful Presence (Ex): 150' aura, Will 20 negates.
Water Breathing (Ex): Mytarla can breathe underwater indefinitely.
Mytarla's Lair
Unfortunately, I can't provide a map for her lair, because I made it up on the spot. I can describe it, though.
The entrance to Mytarla's lair lies in the acid-hollowed shell of a massive, ancient tree. A tunnel, large enough for a Huge-sized creature to fit comfortable, leads down into the forest soil. After a few blind turns, the tunnel dips completely underwater. After swimming several hundred feet through the stagnant water, explorers will come to a split in the path; the left path leads to an air pocket and Mytarla's treasure room, while the right path leads to a very long underwater passage that eventually empties out into her nest, which contains 1d4-1 (min 0) green wyrmlings.
If Mytarla retreated from the PCs, she will head straight for her treasure chamber - both to heal up and, hopefully, to lead the PCs away from her young. She fully expects to be chased and will drink all of the potions contained in her hoard as well as cast mage armor on herself.
Mytarla's hoard is contained in an 80' wide/tall hemispherical chamber. About half of the rear of the chamber is covered in coins and other treasure; the watery passage ends about 15' into the room, allowing Mytarla's darkvision and blindsense to locate intruders as they enter. She will attempt to intimidate the PCs into leaving, but if that fails will open the battle with her breath weapon again. Her treasure chamber is large enough for her to employ aerial tactics again, if that proved successful in the first encounter, although she will probably rely more on Hovering than Flyby Attacks and Wingovers.
If the PCs defeat Mytarla, her hoard contains:
17 platinum
406 gold
27,912 silver
151,537 copper
2 emeralds worth 700 gold each
a mother-of-pearl statue of a naga spellcaster worth 1,200 gold
a set of six gold and silver bells with jeweled handles worth 1,000 gold
a ceremonial electrum dagger with an emerald in its pommel worth 900 gold
a wall hanging of a forest in black ink worth 300 gold
a jade cameo pendant worth 300 gold
an embroidered silk and velvet mantle studded with sunstones worth 4,000 gold
a Shard of the Sun**
a ring of counterspells
a vest of escape
5 potions of cure serious wounds
** - Magic Item Compendium relic of Pelor; I converted it to Sarenrae for Pathfinder.
Consider this yoinked!
Wasn't Mytarlacoraxithryl taken off the market because it had too many side effects? ;-)
Just kidding! Well done.
If anyone does end up using Mytarla, be sure to let me know how she fares against your PCs! >:)
If anyone does end up using Mytarla, be sure to let me know how she fares against your PCs! >:)
Unfortunately, she's way out of range for any of our games. My pathfinder game is 2nd level (we're halfway through burnt offerings), our crazy all goes, way beyond sanity gestalt monster evil game is, well, something ECL 24 (but LA is cut in half, and, since it is Gestalt, the actual ECL is anybody's guess. It's just for fun, anyway), and our gestalt (only standard races) game has hit level 14 now, I think.
Ehh, Mytarla's 76 years old. She can wait another few months for your Burnt Offerings crew to come her way ;)
Ehh, Mytarla's 76 years old. She can wait another few months for your Burnt Offerings crew to come her way ;)
I hope so. Right now, we're having problems getting to play the game. She might be a great wyrm before we get through Rise of the Runelords. I'll have to abduct my players and force them to play through the backlog!
Thank you for offering!
I'm going to work her into a wilderness encounter on the way to hook mountain area for # 3....we're just starting # 2 next weekend, though, so will be a few months...
thanks!!!
I'm going to update her some with a background and some info from the Dragons of Golarion article in PF#4 this weekend.
I'm going to update her some with a background and some info from the Dragons of Golarion article in PF#4 this weekend.
It's this article that I'm thinking of when I ask:
Do dragons as young as she have that frightful presence you referenced?
I'm going to update her some with a background and some info from the Dragons of Golarion article in PF#4 this weekend.It's this article that I'm thinking of when I ask:
Do dragons as young as she have that frightful presence you referenced?
Yes. Per the Monster Manual, all dragons aged young adult or older have Frightful Presence. Mytarla is a young adult green; thus, she has frightful presence. The dragons of Golarion article doesn't change anything mechanically about dragons, so that's still valid.
Anyway, onto the promised background info:
Mytarla belongs to the black-mothered Tixok bloodline, which helps to explain why she's a little less scholarly and a lot more "you will provide treasure or you will provide treasure and food". Her nesting chamber (which should be made very hard for PCs to get to without using water breathing or somehow burrowing past the watery passage) also contains her books and scrolls. Most of the volumes there are dry treatises on seemingly random topics, but there are seven ivory-capped scrolls containing discussions on draconic numerology - which Mytarla had only recently started to research herself - which would be worth 100g each to a humanoid scholar, and potentially much more to a dragon numerologist who didn't have a copy of these particular writings.
Mytarla's young, if any, can be found reading through her library whenever they aren't eating or sleeping. A few days after she's slain, the bravest wyrmling will venture down the long watery passage and eventually find what remains of his mother's corpse and hoard. If it has any siblings, it will immediately abscond with the choicest loot it can carry and attempt to find a relatively safe location to start on its own; if it's an only child, it will do its best to fend for itself in Mytarla's lair. This could end poorly for it if the PCs let it be known that Mytarla was slain.
I really like this. Could you enlighten me on what diving charge and winged warrior does? I don't have Races of the Wild with me at the moment.
I really like this. Could you enlighten me on what diving charge and winged warrior does? I don't have Races of the Wild with me at the moment.
Diving Charge adds +3d6 to any diving charge attack (as long as Mytarla moves at least 30 feet horizontally and 10 feet vertically).
Winged Warrior is a tactical feat. It lets her create a larger cloud of debris when hovering (20 feet radius instead of 10); gives her +4 bonuses on Balance, Jump, and Climb checks when moving more than her base land speed on the ground; and once per opponent per combat, she can use a move action to feint as part of her standard action attack.
Thanks, and btw, is Races of the Wild worth getting?
Races of the Wild has some nice stuff in it, but I'd only recommend it if your campaigns deal with a lot of wilderness areas. I wish it had a larger section on Centaurs, personally.
I remembered a flavor detail that I forgot to mention here before:
Every single one of the coins and treasures in Mytarla's horde, and all of her scrolls and books, are arcane marked with her personal sigil. If something manages to steal from her horde without killing her, she will hunt down the thief and make an example of him - proving the theft by virtue of the arcane mark, if necessary.
Many thanks indeed for sharing!