Jason Nelson

[Jason Nelson]

Jeb Boyt wrote:

The ooze is just a great monster to throw at a party in a cold environment. It's like a Winter Tendroculus.

The fey are also intriguing. They could be used in some atmospheric ways.

The Herne-inspired entry didn't work for me. I've seen several different interpretations and ways to use Herne and the Wild Hunt. This one just seems like another monster. Although you have some great imagery with the hanged men in a forlorn, frozen forest.

Also, there was one problem with the ooze. Insects and cold don't usually go together.

I believe tomorrow after 12:00 noon is when I can address these and similar questions. Have to check the rules just to be sure.

Glad you liked 2 out of 3!

[varianor]

Winter theme? Check. It’s snowing outside. Good choice as I’ve always liked cold environments for both play and for inspiration.

The herne seem really interesting. You’ve taken a familiar theme (wild hunt), reworked it, and given them some very cool powers. It’s tough to make an interesting humanoid these days. (I note that you went up to CR 5 to do it.) These guys are worth stealing. I particularly like that they reproduce by curse. That’s a nice touch.

The koloiaq? The name’s a mouthful. (My brain keeps suggesting “cognac”.) Why do they have regeneration “-“ listed? That part didn’t seem right. Cackle fever probably should have been renamed Cabin Fever. Even if it is a bad pun. Eyes of the storm should explicitly state that it gives immunity to cold. I can infer this from the stat block, but still. Snowmantle is very cool This critter I like. They have excellent flavor text and behavior – like some sort of nasty Siberian will o’wisp or boggart. Points for the summon natures ally addition.

The tamurga I had a hard time seeing linked to the rest of the theme, until I realized that they’re the mucky part of winter. Then I had it. I liked them as an oozy, ugly, swarm-releasing beasty. This was my favorite of the three, and I actually liked all of them.

In fact, I think this is the first entry that I’ve read that really seemed to nail the them, get in three good monsters, all of which I can see myself using, and be enjoyable to read! You’re definitely getting one of my votes. I have to go back and reread a few entries tomorrow to decide on the rest. Well done.

[Steven Helt]

I am torn. This entry has elements of genius, but I also think the hernes seem like little 'Huntsmen'. The new angle (including the ripe corpses) is brilliant and makes for memorable encounters, but I feel drawn to more original concepts like the complexity golem (still hankering to have one crafted by an illumian artificer) or the bogha-kantaka.

A few comparisons to you and Boomer. You have both offered us literate entries with creatures drawn from real-world mythology. Well...Booms was named from real-wordmythology anyway. I like those choices, so long as they are not ripped from obvious or overused references.

While your writing is as evocative and more disiplined than Boomers, you both seem to think you get paid by the adjective. I look for you to both tone that down next round, though I might not be voting for either of you (hindered by the hernes [and I don't care for the oober-ooze much], and by the math errors in Boomer's entry).

Oh, yeah. The ooze. While the concept of a winter ooze fills a hole in the game, the CR 15 ooze might be a bit strong, with its many many abilities. It also has FH5 and many hp. It could be around longer than the party can stand it. Finally, its death is more tedious and less splendorous than the frost worm, which I think is the king of self-destruct.

The fey are awesome. Good job all around there.

I didn't catch any mechanical mistakes, which means you might still get a vote from me. But I have three more entries to read, have been sick and deprived of sleep. I mighthave to run through them and not check their math as much.

That bugs me because I made such a big deal of it before the entries. I've got to get a job working less than 60.

[Jason Nelson]

ancientsensei wrote:

I am torn. This entry has elements of genius, but I also think the hernes seem like little 'Huntsmen'. The new angle (including the ripe corpses) is brilliant and makes for memorable encounters, but I feel drawn to more original concepts like the complexity golem (still hankering to have one crafted by an illumian artificer) or the bogha-kantaka.

A few comparisons to you and Boomer. You have both offered us literate entries with creatures drawn from real-world mythology. Well...Booms was named from real-wordmythology anyway. I like those choices, so long as they are not ripped from obvious or overused references.

While your writing is as evocative and more disiplined than Boomers, you both seem to think you get paid by the adjective. I look for you to both tone that down next round, though I might not be voting for either of you (hindered by the hernes [and I don't care for the oober-ooze much], and by the math errors in Boomer's entry).

Oh, yeah. The ooze. While the concept of a winter ooze fills a hole in the game, the CR 15 ooze might be a bit strong, with its many many abilities. It also has FH5 and many hp. It could be around longer than the party can stand it. Finally, its death is more tedious and less splendorous than the frost worm, which I think is the king of self-destruct.

The fey are awesome. Good job all around there.

I didn't catch any mechanical mistakes, which means you might still get a vote from me. But I have three more entries to read, have been sick and deprived of sleep. I mighthave to run through them and not check their math as much.

That bugs me because I made such a big deal of it before the entries. I've got to get a job working less than 60.

Glad you liked the fey and elements of the others. As for adjectival overload, I'm sure Booms and I will see what we can do in the future.

After the "missing hit point" blooper of last round I was certainly checking my math this time around so I hope that everything is on the up and square there.

Try to get some shuteye and vote tomorrow!

[Stormrunner]

Matthew Morris wrote:

I know someone compared to Ooze to Tundra, but the koloiaq remind me of small versions of Kolomaq. A whole lot in fact.

As much as I like the Herne, this just bothers me enough to not vote for this, sorry.

Well, the name "koloiaq" sounds vaguely familiar to me - and I'd never heard of Kolomaq before your post. So I suspect that both this entry and the comic-book villain were based on the same real-world legend? Not plagarism but parallel evolution.

(no luck Googling the name - and the Inuktitut Living Dictionary doesn't let you search for "sounds like" entries or partial entries (e.g. "kolo*"), so "koloiaq" and "kolomaq" are apparently sufficiently different from whatever the original was to prevent any matches. Sigh.)

[Douglas Smith 33]

I thought this was a No on my first read through. On second review, I like the Herne, the koliaq aren’t bad, even if they come from Thor’s casket of Ancient Winters by way of Pandora’s Box, but the tamurga.....
So the tundra is angry and full of insects. I’m not from the land of the ice and snow, but I am sensing there are few insect swarms there. And an ooze shooting insects? Not for me.
Two out of three. Good enough to get my vote as my #2.

[Ragwaine]

The writing was a little purple but rather that than poor writing. These seem like pretty standard D&D monsters. On the hernes are the horns part of the helmet or are there holes in the helmet? Too many masterwork items for my tastes and some of the abilities seem to mechanical to me. Like the exploding ooze earthquake. Don't like that it has spells. Liked the distraction aura reminds me of meenlocks.

[Jason Nelson]

For anyone waiting for some notes and commentary on my entry I'm afraid it'll have to wait until later. I unfortunately have been behind on work (gee, maybe from too much hanging around the RPG SS contest and boards) and have to catch up, plus a meeting tonight. I should be able to write something tonight though.

In the meanwhile, thanks for the votes and hope you enjoyed.

[Jason Nelson]

So, the each-round debrief on background. I think I had always wanted to do winter/cold monsters of some sort if I got to this round, just because I like them (probably not too surprisingly, of the recent (last few years) WotC books, the environment books like Frostburn have probably been my favorites).

In terms of theme, there was a hidden theme beyond just cold and winter, in that all of the monster backgrounds were tied into past mistakes or misdeeds of druids resulting in the unleashing of monsters on the world. I also had in mind not just cold but also things with a spooky, creepy, or disturbing angle, things that would ‘go bump in the night.’ Things you might see on a cold forest night on the threshold of a horror movie. Koloiaq would plague you with spooky noises, slowly prying at your sanity and alertness with their incessant torments. Then, when your guard was down you might just hear a REALLY scary noise with the blaring of a herne’s horns and howling of their wolves, or the menacing rumble of an approaching tamurga. I also intentionally structured the koloiaq as kind of a gateway monster that the DM could use to introduce other monsters to the PCs—piss it off and it will tell all of its friends to come and get you. I didn’t want to go overboard because I did want a loose coupling—I was not trying to create a tight relationship like Darkblight or Blood and Shame. These were going to be monsters that knew each other but weren’t quite family.

Another angle I wanted to play with was making use of underused low-level spells as abilities, so I specifically wrote in abilities that either used or addressed spells like gust of wind, deathwatch, ventriloquism, ghost sound, whispering wind, pass without trace, soften earth and stone, spike growth, fog cloud and the like. I thought it would be fun to build some creatures that had spells like these as a core part of their abilities.

As for my specific influences on monster choices, I am an old comic book fan from way back. Somebody caught my little reference to the Casket of Ancient Winters in mid-80’s Thor comics in the Koloiaq background. Bits and pieces show up other places.

Tamurga: Yes, Tundra from Alpha Flight #1 was the original inspiration for building the tamurga. I don’t know why—he could just be a big earth elemental and achieve the same basic visual, but I liked the idea of a walking piece of tundra as a monster. I had thought of making the tamurga a literal ‘tundra spirit,’ an incorporeal fey that could make big tundra monsters with animate object (16th level caster can create Gargantuan animated objects), but I wanted to get further away from the comic version (where he’s basically an evil demigod/super-spirit that possesses a person and then manifests in the world). So I started thinking instead about a tundra trapped between freezing and thawing… a big sludgy ooze, frozen on the outside but warm and liquid on the inside (like a deep-fried fish eyeball) and went with ooze.

But what’s up with the bugs? Well, while I had the frozen/thawed concept in my head I never put it on paper. I did think about it and was going to make the swarms that the tamurga made have the cold subtype (a simple enough add really, and it would’ve answered the question). Not sure why I didn’t do that. Probably just trying to hold down complexity on an already complex monster.

Bug breath weapon? Cool, but how does it work? Yeah, it coulda been better. Probably shoulda just been something like:

Disgorge swarm (Su): 60-ft. line or 30-ft. cone, once per minute for 6d6 damage plus DC 26 Fortitude save or nauseated (distracted) for 1 round. Creatures in the area are engulfed in swarming vermin for 1d4 rounds, suffering 3d6 damage per round and becoming nauseated (DC 18 Fortitude save each round to negate nausea for that round). The saving throw is Constitution-based.

This also simplifies the creature's death throes, because instead of throwing out a bunch of swarms, you can just stipulate a massive upswell of vermin affects a large area (I dunno, 40' radius maybe) as the breath weapon.

Why a CR 15 ooze? That seems like a little much. I think that was really the point. I wanted to create a tough monster that wasn’t a dragon, outsider, undead, or something with class levels or a template. Sometimes at high levels the challenges can seem repetitive, like you’ve ‘graduated’ past a bunch of the usual monster types and only a few are cut out for high-level play. It thought I’d just change it up a little. I also have used a mechanic like the Inescapable Grasp ability for a few high-level monsters in my campaign; it just always bothered me that one 4th level spell just automatically nerfed any grappling by anybody ever, whether it was a paraplegic kobold child who just wants a hug or the tarrasque trying to tickle its tonsils with your feet as it swallows you whole. At high-level, the dang PCs ALWAYS have freedom of movement going, and I think it’s good to mess with their sense of security, at least every once in a while…

Herne: This was actually the last of the three I created, but I may have spent the most time going back and forth on exactly what his abilities would be. I knew I wanted to create a mid-level CR creature that could be threatening and scary individually but could also be encountered in groups or packs. I actually was going to do a version of the wendigo, but in the end even though I don’t really care for the fey template version in the MM2 (or is it the Fiend Folio, don’t recall), I figured it was still there and I didn’t want to just repeat an extant monster, however new my version might be. Sure, it’s a “real-world monster” and fair game for adaptation by anybody, but still.

I did like the idea of a “real-world monster,” though, and in thinking about different options I thought about Herne the Hunter. Sure, the Wild Hunt has been done back to 1st Ed. Deities & Demigods, but I wanted to go a little different way—not dealing with the hunt itself but maybe the cursed offspring… a race of hunters with the flavor of Herne but that you could use on a smaller scale. Like Wolf said, it was also an idea to take a singular historical/legendary figure and turn it into a general-use monster (like Pegasus, Medusa, the Chimera, etc.). At first the Herne name was just a placeholder until I came up with something better, but I decided I liked the way it sounded. Simple and yet a little dark.

The exact mechanics of the herne kept changing. I thought about making them fey for a while (at first all 3 were going to be a type of fey, but I’m not really that gaga over fey as a type and decided to break it up). I definitely liked the idea of them being mounted (and what is cooler than winter wolves? Literally!), and made sure that they had an ability to let them ride big things in the forest without trouble so that would work for them, not against them. I did want them to have “l33t ski11z” of tracking, but I probably should have made their super-tracking allow them to track people using special abilities to avoid leaving a trail with a penalty, instead of auto-negating, but I think it works okay.

I’m glad people enjoyed the idea of the hanging ritual for conversion into herne-dom. I think I had a visual in my head, besides the frozen bodies hanged from the leafless winter trees, of weird Blair Witch-style fetishes and icons hanging in the trees around them, marking the place and warning off others not to interfere with the herne’s prize.

Koloiaq: This creature kind of played off of the wendigo concept as well, and originally was going to be more out-and-out CE (and could have worked fine that way), but I drifted the concept more into the realm of what is scary about a wendigo, something out of the corner of your eye, something that haunts your dreams and your thoughts, something that creeps into your mind and won’t quite let go. But to tease the concept a little and have it be a monster that is more about the threat, the imagination, and the possibility of danger than an immediate threat to life and limb. I had been toying with a completely different good-aligned winter creature (a sort of intelligent ‘spirit bear’ magical beast) and decided I wanted to make one of my creatures at least slightly amenable to friendly interactions (yeah, you could talk with the other two, but they are not really intended as conversationalists).

Visually, I did think of the snow-beast in Alpha Flight #6, and I liked the idea of a nature spirit with a totem mask for a face (and I liked the flow of the ‘great beast’ names from AF like Taranaq, Kolomaq, Tolomaq, Ranaq… Tundra… okay, so that one not so much fun, but anyway I went for something with a similar sound just by experimenting with different letters and came up with Koloiaq. It was going to have two I’s in it (Koloiiaq) but I thought that looked a little too loopy). Still, I wasn’t looking for a big hulking brute monster. In fact, I wanted something tiny, almost no body at all. I was thinking also about the No-Face Ghosts in Spirited Away with a mask for a face, but where you don’t even see the body some of the time. Something you could hear but not see.

I also liked the concept of something whose threat was really vested in its ability to gather allies rather than fight you straight up. Sure it’s hard to pin down, but not that hard to whack if you can get in a lucky shot. It can fight a little, but combine a little band of koloiaq with a more badass winter monster or three come to see what the ruckus is all about, and suddenly those ‘annoying’ koloiaq become a real pain in the butt. It was fun coming up with a low CR creature and thinking of different applications of low-level spell-like abilities it might have and how they would fit its concept. I think it could be a fun monster to run.

(By the way, I thought the hook of making the creature’s mask-face potential treasure and connected to their overall grumpiness was a fun little nugget. I’m glad some folks liked that.)

So, that’s kind of a stream of consciousness ramble about the 3 creatures. It’s late, I’m punchy, and I’m prolly goin’ to be forthwith. I may try to answer a some of the specific questions tomorrow if I get a chance. Thanks all for reading and for voting and I hope to bring a fun encounter for round 5.

[Jason Nelson]

Ragwaine wrote:

The writing was a little purple but rather that than poor writing. These seem like pretty standard D&D monsters. On the hernes are the horns part of the helmet or are there holes in the helmet? Too many masterwork items for my tastes and some of the abilities seem to mechanical to me. Like the exploding ooze earthquake. Don't like that it has spells. Liked the distraction aura reminds me of meenlocks.

Horns on the head. Holes in the helmet.

[Jason Nelson]

varianor wrote:

Winter theme? Check. It’s snowing outside. Good choice as I’ve always liked cold environments for both play and for inspiration.

The herne seem really interesting. You’ve taken a familiar theme (wild hunt), reworked it, and given them some very cool powers. It’s tough to make an interesting humanoid these days. (I note that you went up to CR 5 to do it.) These guys are worth stealing. I particularly like that they reproduce by curse. That’s a nice touch.

The koloiaq? The name’s a mouthful. (My brain keeps suggesting “cognac”.) Why do they have regeneration “-“ listed? That part didn’t seem right. Cackle fever probably should have been renamed Cabin Fever. Even if it is a bad pun. Eyes of the storm should explicitly state that it gives immunity to cold. I can infer this from the stat block, but still. Snowmantle is very cool This critter I like. They have excellent flavor text and behavior – like some sort of nasty Siberian will o’wisp or boggart. Points for the summon natures ally addition.

The tamurga I had a hard time seeing linked to the rest of the theme, until I realized that they’re the mucky part of winter. Then I had it. I liked them as an oozy, ugly, swarm-releasing beasty. This was my favorite of the three, and I actually liked all of them.

In fact, I think this is the first entry that I’ve read that really seemed to nail the them, get in three good monsters, all of which I can see myself using, and be enjoyable to read! You’re definitely getting one of my votes. I have to go back and reread a few entries tomorrow to decide on the rest. Well done.

Thanks for the vote.

The "regeneration -" was listed because it was part of the required stat block but it didn't have regeneration, so I wasn't sure if I should delete it or just denote that he had no regen.

Eyes of the storm does not make the koloiaq immune to cold. It has the cold subtype (all of these creatures do), which makes them immune to cold and vulnerable (+50% dmg) to fire.

I didn't rename cackle fever just because it's a standard PHB/DMG/SRD disease in the book and I wasn't inventing anything new; just giving it a different name.

[Jason Nelson]

Core wrote:

Would I use this in a game - Yes.

Is it well written - Adequate.

Does the theme hold up - Yes.

3/3

Comments - The round 1 entry left a bad taste in my mouth and honestly I would have DQed it if I were running the show. It was pretty much a 200 word Crucible of Blackflame, which I would be very surprised if you had not run across before considering your background. Even the name is similar. But this is not about your round 1 entry so...

The work here is clearly well done so I am glad you made it through. This entry will probably share the top with The Darkblight, as these are honestly the only two that fulfill all of the criteria of the contest. Good luck in the future rounds, I am sure you will make it through.

I do remember it from the D&D Companion rules I think. Elves, halflings, and dwarves each had a sort of community magic item, and the crucible was the halfling item.

I based the Phial of Ebon Flame off of a spell I wrote back in about 1989 or so called Alpha's Flames of Falroth (it's still floating around the net I think in one or more netbooks of spells, the name Falroth being borrowed from Dr. Strange comics). The Phial's name, of course, riffed on the 1st Ed. artifact the Crystal of Ebon Flame.

My Companion set has been in my attic for years, but I find it quite likely that back in the late 80s when I wrote that spell, I had the Crucible of Blackflame in mind. Conceptually speaking, the idea probably filtered from D&D crucible to 1st Ed spell and then from translated 3rd Ed spell back into a potion.

[Jason Nelson]

CastleMike wrote:

Very creative entry. I liked the first sentence clean and simple writing which nailed the winter concept in a way that almost everyone should be able to envision. The subsequent paragraph was way off target IMO particularly in a D20 fantasy campaign normally without electric heating and insulation. Not everyone will agree.

IMO this entry would be quite a bit better without the contradictory paragraph describing winter. It isn't how I visualize winter and it really hurts the entry taken as a whole. I prefer fluff to contradictory conflicting off base imagery. Simply swapping and reversing the descriptors summer for winter and hot for cold it isn't how I'd describe summer and how freezing cold it gets.

The Herne are a great concept, extremely well written and easy to visualize due to your evocative description of them. I visualize "A Game of Thrones" for a Frostburn type setting with the long winter approaching. The winter fey are pretty good but I dislike the ooze and strongly dislike the winter text paragraph so I'm currently sitting on the fence regarding having one of my three votes. Good luck in round 4.

I honestly didn't quite follow your critique in the first two paragraphs and would love it if you could maybe restate it another way. I'm interested in your thoughts but something about it wasn't clicking for me.

I only know a little about A Game of Thrones but have heard it's good, and yes it does seem like a perfect monster for the 'long winter' that forms the backdrop of the book. Glad you liked the monster descriptions.

[Jason Nelson]

Clouds Without Water wrote:

The thematic link is a bit weak for my tastes. But...

I love the Herne. About as well done as this kind of creature can be, and I can see a solid night of adventuring with these fellows as the advesaries.

The other two are ok, but let me bring special attention to the tactics sections- I think you may have used these better than anyone. You could run any of these creatures well based on what you have here, and I think that's a big plus.

You hit a real highpoint with the Herne, I think. Nicely evocative.

After shortchanging the tactics section in the villain round for fear the stat block was too long, I decided to just write the tactics block I wanted to write and not worry about it, and I'm glad you found it helpful.

[gbonehead]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

Why a CR 15 ooze? That seems like a little much. I think that was really the point. I wanted to create a tough monster that wasn’t a dragon, outsider, undead, or something with class levels or a template. Sometimes at high levels the challenges can seem repetitive, like you’ve ‘graduated’ past a bunch of the usual monster types and only a few are cut out for high-level play. It thought I’d just change it up a little. I also have used a mechanic like the Inescapable Grasp ability for a few high-level monsters in my campaign; it just always bothered me that one 4th level spell just automatically nerfed any grappling by anybody ever, whether it was a paraplegic kobold child who just wants a hug or the tarrasque trying to tickle its tonsils with your feet as it swallows you whole. At high-level, the dang PCs ALWAYS have freedom of movement going, and I think it’s good to mess with their sense of security, at least every once in a while…

Yeah!

I commented on this above, but I think some of my epic monsters are going to start having inescapable grasp.

Although it seems a little unfair to automatically nerf Freedeom of Movement, so I'm considering a house ruling (I really really don't like house rulings, but this desperately needs one).

What I'm thinking is that Freedom of Movement no longer causes an 'auto success' on grapple checks; instead it gives an untyped bonus to grapple checks of something like 20 + CL/2. At low level, plus twenty-something to your grapple check might as well be an auto success, and at epic levels it is no longer unsurmountable.

Anyways, good call with that one.

[Set]

gbonehead wrote:

Although it seems a little unfair to automatically nerf Freedeom of Movement, so I'm considering a house ruling (I really really don't like house rulings, but this desperately needs one).

What I'm thinking is that Freedom of Movement no longer causes an 'auto success' on grapple checks; instead it gives an untyped bonus to grapple checks of something like 20 + CL/2. At low level, plus twenty-something to your grapple check might as well be an auto success, and at epic levels it is no longer unsurmountable.

Almost all of the 'all or nothing' spells should use this sort of mechanic.

[Jason Nelson]

gbonehead wrote:

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

Why a CR 15 ooze? That seems like a little much. I think that was really the point. I wanted to create a tough monster that wasn’t a dragon, outsider, undead, or something with class levels or a template. Sometimes at high levels the challenges can seem repetitive, like you’ve ‘graduated’ past a bunch of the usual monster types and only a few are cut out for high-level play. It thought I’d just change it up a little. I also have used a mechanic like the Inescapable Grasp ability for a few high-level monsters in my campaign; it just always bothered me that one 4th level spell just automatically nerfed any grappling by anybody ever, whether it was a paraplegic kobold child who just wants a hug or the tarrasque trying to tickle its tonsils with your feet as it swallows you whole. At high-level, the dang PCs ALWAYS have freedom of movement going, and I think it’s good to mess with their sense of security, at least every once in a while…

Yeah!

I commented on this above, but I think some of my epic monsters are going to start having inescapable grasp.

Although it seems a little unfair to automatically nerf Freedeom of Movement, so I'm considering a house ruling (I really really don't like house rulings, but this desperately needs one).

What I'm thinking is that Freedom of Movement no longer causes an 'auto success' on grapple checks; instead it gives an untyped bonus to grapple checks of something like 20 + CL/2. At low level, plus twenty-something to your grapple check might as well be an auto success, and at epic levels it is no longer unsurmountable.

Anyways, good call with that one.

Here's a sample rule that may make it even easier, really. Change the effect of freedom of movement. It can still make you immune to slow and paralysis effects and let you move in water, etc. without a problem. As it applies to grappling:

"This spell grants a bonus equal to twice caster level (maximum +30 at 15th level) to grapple checks made to avoid or escape a grapple."

Or...

"This spell provides a bonus equal to twice caster level (maximum +30 at 15th level) to Escape Artist checks, including those used to escape a grapple, and enables a creature to make one Escape Artist check per round as a free action."

Either way, you give a stipulated defensive bonus that also scales with caster level, giving you a real reason to cast the spell yourself instead of just buying a wand.

By the way, I would suggest using a similar concept with death ward, which I dislike similarly because it is a long-lasting 4th level spell that auto-nerfs an entire range of monster effects and spells, from cantrips to energy drain and power word kill. Either it should absorb a certain number of energy drain/death/negative energy effects (compare to limits with spells like spell turning or protection from energy) or it should just give blanket SR/save bonus. The mechanics for this are fuzzier because some negative energy effects don't normally give saves and may not give SR (undead touch attacks in particular), but I would rather that death ward did not just give complete immunity to everything in that whole family of spells. That seems way too good for a 4th level spell. Perhaps:

"This spell grants a special form of spell resistance at 12+ caster level vs. all death effects, negative energy attacks, and energy drains. Abilities of these types that are not normally subject to SR, including supernatural abilities and spells which normally bypass SR, can still be resisted with a death ward, requiring a level check (or caster level check for a spell or spell-like ability) by the attacker to overcome this spell's protection."

If you don't like that mechanic, you could model resist energy or protection from energy and simply have the spell absorb negative energy hit point damage, assigning an effective hit point value to death effects and energy drains.

Anyway, just some ideas...

[Lich-Loved]

Jason Nelson wrote:

I also have used a mechanic like the Inescapable Grasp ability for a few high-level monsters in my campaign; it just always bothered me that one 4th level spell just automatically nerfed any grappling by anybody ever, whether it was a paraplegic kobold child who just wants a hug or the tarrasque trying to tickle its tonsils with your feet as it swallows you whole. At high-level, the dang PCs ALWAYS have freedom of movement going, and I think it’s good to mess with their sense of security, at least every once in a while…

This point is actually a very strong one and is something I will absolutely be looking to see addressed in the upcoming round. Too often, designers conceive mid to high level challenges that are readily turned into non-encounters by the judicious use of magic. This becomes especially prevalent in material designed for character levels 9+, where designers can forget the many resources characters of this level can bring to bear on an issue.

Some of the problem areas I see in published material for CR9+ encounters include:

• Chasms, cliffs and the like are easily traversed by fly spells/potions (everyone in my 11th level group carries at least one fly and one invisibility potion unless they can readily access the spells), dimension door or teleport. These features make the room interesting, but they will likely be bypassed or ignored if they are intended to provide a barrier to resolution of the encounter.
  
• Spellcaster BBEGs are subjected to silence spells cast onto arcane eyes, invisible familiars, arrows, thrown rocks, friendly barbarians, animal companions and nearby room features
  
• Freedom of Movement is a common spell. Monsters that rely on grappling or swallowing whole are far less fearsome.
  
• Resilient Sphere can block doorways as effectively as a wall of force or entrap BBEG casters or fighter-types.
  
• Unless the encounter occurs behind closed doors, the party may well have prior knowledge of the room layout, number and location of foes present and the like through the use of clairvoyance, arcane eye (a huge favorite in my group, especially the extended version with darkvision and see invisibility running) or other divinations. Thus encounters that rely on surprise or hidden location of enemies in an area become far less challenging.
  
• Locked or puzzle doors that can be bypassed with passwall, gaseuos form or dimension door
  

A good designer will plan his encounters such that the encounter assumes the party has access to at least some of these resources and techniques and have thought through the encounter to make sure it is not readily foiled by a flick of the wizard's wrist.

[Edited for clarity.]

[gbonehead]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

Here's a sample rule that may make it even easier, really. Change the effect of freedom of movement. It can still make you immune to slow and paralysis effects and let you move in water, etc. without a problem. As it applies to grappling:

"This spell grants a bonus equal to twice caster level (maximum +30 at 15th level) to grapple checks made to avoid or escape a grapple."

Or...

"This spell provides a bonus equal to twice caster level (maximum +30 at 15th level) to Escape Artist checks, including those used to escape a grapple, and enables a creature to make one Escape Artist check per round as a free action."

Either way, you give a stipulated defensive bonus that also scales with caster level, giving you a real reason to cast the spell yourself instead of just buying a wand.

Right .. that's what I was saying - grant a +20 + CL/2 bonus. I was not going to cap it, but I guess that would be in line with existing usage. I probably will not do so, however.

I'm in negotiations with my group right now. One of the players is a DM who absolutely detests grappling. Of course, if you omit grappling, the special attacks of half the monsters out there are useless. So I guess it will be too bad for him. I'm tired of having to completely ignore the abilities of almost all creatures I put out there. I already have to deal with that retarded feat Close-Quarters Fighting from Complete Adventurer. Argh. I'd apologize if any of you reading this are responsible for it, but it would be completely insincere.

We call it the "make combat take forever" feat. As the kraken tries to grapple the character, EVERY SINGLE TENTACLE ATTACK is met with a counterattack before the attack that precedes the grapple attempt, until the character runs out of Attacks of Opportunity. As if having ten attack/damage/grapple rolls wasn't enough, now it's up to ten attack/damage/counterattack/damage/grapple rolls. And since the fighter has devastating strike, there's often some Fort saves in there for good measure.

Yes, I know. I'm the DM. Disallow the feat. Shhh, you.

[Matthew Morris]

Thank you for the elaborations, and congrats on making it through.

I feel proud of myself at spotting the great beasts reference, I'm bad for missing these cues. Also good to see a fellow Alphan :-)

(I'm putting together an Alpha Flight clix set. I was so happy to see the Madison Jefferies Box)

[David Edelman]

I like the theme and the herne is a great conceptual monster. I also LOVE oozes and think that other than the cube, they dont get enough playtime. powerful entry. not much I can say to this one but good luck.