Oboyoboyoboyoyoboyoyoyoy

[Heathansson]

I'm so geeked. The mostners come out soon's.

Aaaaaaaanerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerpnerp!!!

[Joseph Yerger]

I cast mass, Tasha's Overwhelming Joy. Will DC 22

Monsters are created, just wait and see what we shall see.

I for one am happy that the creating part is over, sad and anxious over the waiting...

[Jason Nelson]

Joseph Yerger wrote:

I cast mass, Tasha's Overwhelming Joy. Will DC 22

Monsters are created, just wait and see what we shall see.

I for one am happy that the creating part is over, sad and anxious over the waiting...

Yup. I'm happy with what I submitted, though of course I'm still having little nagging thoughts about tiny changes here or there that I coulda woulda shoulda made. Still and all, I think they're pretty cool beans, and I'm very interested to see what the rest of you came up with (and I wonder if any of them will wind up being similar to each other).

[Heathansson]

Man, my wife had our third kid right around October; I wasn't gonna try no contest. I couldn't think of a magic item; then I got a concept. The day after it closed.

Prolly for the best...

[Clinton Boomer]

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about my little monsters finally getting to see both the light of day & some sharp editorial commentary after spending the last few months locked away in my big, creepy echoing skull.

I raise a glass to the fine Superstar Judges and the wonderful Paizo people who have made - and WILL make - this contest so wonderful.

[Sharoth]

Heathansson wrote:

Man, my wife had our third kid right around October; I wasn't gonna try no contest. I couldn't think of a magic item; then I got a concept. The day after it closed.

Prolly for the best...

~WEG~ What Heathy? A Mystical flea collar of warding against ticks too?

(~grins~ How is the family doing, Heathy? How are you doing?)

[Rob McCreary]

I'm looking forward to seeing what my compatriots have come up with. I do NOT like having to wait until Thursday to see them posted! But apparently, our esteemed judges need sleep or something. Whatever. ;)

I'm glad to be done, especially since I had to do most of it in Poland with no internet access. And I'm (mostly) happy with my submission, though a press of Submit in lieu of Preview may have left some funky formatting at the end.
(%$#@*&%$^! BBCode tags with their little slashes!)

[Jason Nelson]

SargonX wrote:

I'm looking forward to seeing what my compatriots have come up with. I do NOT like having to wait until Thursday to see them posted! But apparently, our esteemed judges need sleep or something. Whatever. ;)

I'm glad to be done, especially since I had to do most of it in Poland with no internet access. And I'm (mostly) happy with my submission, though a press of Submit in lieu of Preview may have left some funky formatting at the end.
(%$#@*&%$^! BBCode tags with their little slashes!)

Ouch. I just managed to catch a section in preview where I accidentally bolded an entire paragraph (put [b] at the beginning and [/i] at the end... um oops).

It's the little adventures that make life worth living... :)

[Michael Raper]

This was the round (right after the Villains) I was looking forward to the most. Thematically linked monsters. The Thoom monsters in Monster Manual V, all the Goblin stuff in the first Pathfinder, yeah these are what I look for the most as a DM. Being able to use a monster is always great but having a theme I can work with makes it easier to add new monsters.

Being addicted to Templates as I am I'm REALLY hoping to see some in this round.

[Jason Nelson]

Sheyd wrote:

This was the round (right after the Villains) I was looking forward to the most. Thematically linked monsters. The Thoom monsters in Monster Manual V, all the Goblin stuff in the first Pathfinder, yeah these are what I look for the most as a DM. Being able to use a monster is always great but having a theme I can work with makes it easier to add new monsters.

Being addicted to Templates as I am I'm REALLY hoping to see some in this round.

This round I think has the most potential portability and immediate usefulness for people, other than maybe the magic item round. A country or a villain you could yoink, but to use it you'd have to kind of build your game up to or around it, unless you lucked into one that just happened to be a perfect fit (exhibit A being how you were able to drop Avinash into your campaign so quickly and easily).

Monsters and magic items, on the other hand, any DM can drop right in to what you're already in your campaign doing without having to do any real prep. Who knows what the themes will be (well, okay, I know what ONE of the themes will be), but with 24 new monsters, it's just about guaranteed that you will find something you could use in your game TODAY if you wanted.

It was an interesting process. Two of my creature concepts I was going to use from the get-go. While I hemmed and hawed over mechanics and flavor text, it was just massaging to get it where I wanted. The third 'slot' I wasn't so sure about and devised and discarded a couple of concepts before hitting one that I liked and that fit. Anyway, two more days til we get to see everybody's stuff.

By the way, I never made it past MM3. I think I just hit a saturation point with monster books. What are Thoom monsters all about? What makes them cool, other than that their name is a comic book explosion/big smash sound effect? :)

[rjjr]

Joseph Yerger wrote:

I cast mass, Tasha's Overwhelming Joy. Will DC 22[/QUOTE

I failed my save.

I fail most of my Will saves, come to think of it...

[Curaigh]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

Sheyd wrote:

This was the round (right after the Villains) I was looking forward to the most. Thematically linked monsters. The Thoom monsters in Monster Manual V, all the Goblin stuff in the first Pathfinder, yeah these are what I look for the most as a DM. Being able to use a monster is always great but having a theme I can work with makes it easier to add new monsters.

Being addicted to Templates as I am I'm REALLY hoping to see some in this round.

This round I think has the most potential portability and immediate usefulness for people, other than maybe the magic item round. A country or a villain you could yoink, but to use it you'd have to kind of build your game up to or around it, unless you lucked into one that just happened to be a perfect fit (exhibit A being how you were able to drop Avinash into your campaign so quickly and easily).

Monsters and magic items, on the other hand, any DM can drop right in to what you're already in your campaign doing without having to do any real prep. W...

Agreed. Can you see my tail twitching in anticipation? This has been the longest wait, I am even more anxious then back when I was still in the contest (number 759 or something :)

[Steven Helt]

Thoon is a Far Realms mind-flayer entity - maybe a god. Cults of Thoon include mind flayers and their experiments, including a badass hand-to-hand mind flayer.

MM 4 and 5 have some amazing highlights, but it is clear that they were less mainstream in ideas and more geared to the unusual. Some entries are mainstream ideas given a twist or theme to add to a campaign: Gnoll characters organized into hunting parties, templates for the great dragon game of Xorvintaal, and ogres getting the previously mention treatment for gnolls.

But...mmmmmm....love me that death giant. Me love him long time.

[Clinton Boomer]

ancientsensei wrote:

MM 4 and 5 have some amazing highlights, but it is clear that they were less mainstream in ideas and more geared to the unusual. Some entries are mainstream ideas given a twist or theme to add to a campaign: Gnoll characters organized into hunting parties, templates for the great dragon game of Xorvintaal, and ogres getting the previously mention treatment for gnolls.

But...mmmmmm....love me that death giant. Me love him long time.

Well said - I used a Death Giant as a world-spanning, city-crushing juggernaut of evil for a 3.X SpellJammer game, and he was worth every penny.

The only things I could have done without in the later MM books were the Spawn of Tiamat, mostly because I don't use a lot of dragons in my games - but they were apparently a huge success in my friend's "Red Hand of Doom" game, so they did get USED, which is point of a monster.

I'm gleefully anticipating a whole lot of rock-star awesome that can be ported into my game here in about 24 hours.

[Clinton Boomer]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

It was an interesting process. Two of my creature concepts I was going to use from the get-go. While I hemmed and hawed over mechanics and flavor text, it was just massaging to get it where I wanted. The third 'slot' I wasn't so sure about and devised and discarded a couple of concepts before hitting one that I liked and that fit. Anyway, two more days til we get to see everybody's stuff.

The clock is ticking down, and far too slowly for my taste. I want!

And, by the way, you're right: Filling the three "slots" with the best of all possible monsters was definitely the hardest part for me. Sure, I had a metric crap-ton of ideas, but once I decided on my theme, fitting only the best and the brightest into the scheme - and then making them all as awesome on paper as they were in my head - was the tricky part.

Goodbye, super-awesome lich-style template that can only be added to shape-changers.
Goodbye, ensuing undead Tiefling/Were-Dire-Tiger sorcerer.
A thousand times, goodbye.

*whispered*

You taught me so much.

[Jason Nelson]

thatboomerkid wrote:

ancientsensei wrote:

MM 4 and 5 have some amazing highlights, but it is clear that they were less mainstream in ideas and more geared to the unusual. Some entries are mainstream ideas given a twist or theme to add to a campaign: Gnoll characters organized into hunting parties, templates for the great dragon game of Xorvintaal, and ogres getting the previously mention treatment for gnolls.

But...mmmmmm....love me that death giant. Me love him long time.

Well said - I used a Death Giant as a world-spanning, city-crushing juggernaut of evil for a 3.X SpellJammer game, and he was worth every penny.

The only things I could have done without in the later MM books were the Spawn of Tiamat, mostly because I don't use a lot of dragons in my games - but they were apparently a huge success in my friend's "Red Hand of Doom" game, so they did get USED, which is point of a monster.

I'm gleefully anticipating a whole lot of rock-star awesome that can be ported into my game here in about 24 hours.

While understandably reluctant to shell out much coin on 3rd Ed books at the moment, I may have to check out this 'death giant' of which you speak. Between you and ancientsensei sounds like two big thumbs up for him. Which of the two books is he in, IV or V?

I remember looking through IV in the bookstore once and giving it a meh, especially with those dragon-spawn actually. They just really didn't grab me though I'm happy some folks dig 'em. I don't think I've ever even seen V, though I could look for it next time I go to my FLGS.

Actually, it's more of a comic store and where I get my monthly comics fix even though I've been trying to break the habit, but they have a fair amount of game stuff too. I think I just enjoy stopping in and talking to my own personal "Comic Book Guy" too much to just quit cold turkey or go to direct subscription. CBGs are an important part of the nerd economy, society, and community, and they need our support!

[Dan Jones]

The Death Giant and (my personal favorite) the Eldritch Giant are in MM3. I've probably used or been inspired by 70% of that book. Some of it was repetetive, but lots of good stuff.

I had to make a WEAKER version of the Eldritch Giant, but they still played the same against my level 10 dudes and dudettes. I just LOVE Quicken Spell-like Ability. Nothing giving a piece of armored meat some extra actions in a round....especially movement, dispelling, or ranged magical attack actions!

They were holed up in a dungeon with a theme of "weird arcane tattooed freaks." I had an advanced Arcane Ooze (it only spit the bones of 1 PC out), a pair of "juvenile" Eldritch Giants in a long nichelicious, trap-filled corridor, and a pack of acid-spewing Rune Hounds (fireballs kicked their blind-butts!). All from MM3.

[Jason Nelson]

thatboomerkid wrote:

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

It was an interesting process. Two of my creature concepts I was going to use from the get-go. While I hemmed and hawed over mechanics and flavor text, it was just massaging to get it where I wanted. The third 'slot' I wasn't so sure about and devised and discarded a couple of concepts before hitting one that I liked and that fit. Anyway, two more days til we get to see everybody's stuff.

The clock is ticking down, and far too slowly for my taste. I want!

And, by the way, you're right: Filling the three "slots" with the best of all possible monsters was definitely the hardest part for me. Sure, I had a metric crap-ton of ideas, but once I decided on my theme, fitting only the best and the brightest into the scheme - and then making them all as awesome on paper as they were in my head - was the tricky part.

Goodbye, super-awesome lich-style template that can only be added to shape-changers.
Goodbye, ensuing undead Tiefling/Were-Dire-Tiger sorcerer.
A thousand times, goodbye.

*whispered*

You taught me so much.

See, if those JUDGES weren't so busy trying to breathe, eat, sleep, and throw down Purplesaurus Rex Jello shooters with their solid gold shot glasses, we'd have our initial results back already. 24 extra hours to wait? sigh Well 21-1/2 left now.

I had some ideas that were fun, and nice, and playable, and useful. But they didn't quite say superstar to me, which made me think they might not to someone else either. I thought about real world inspirations plus whole cloth concepts. High CR, low CR, medium CR, good monsters, evil monsters, lawful, chaotic, neutral... so many ways to go.

But you only get 3, and you gotta roll with the 3 that you're feelin', and I feel pretty good about mine. I guess starting tomorrow will tell the tale of whether the judges and the Paizonians at large agree.

High-five to all my Final 8 peeps and best of luck to everybody.

BTW Booms, would you say it "TIFE-ling" or "TEEF-ling"? Just thought I'd ask... :)

[Michael Raper]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

-Snip-(exhibit A being how you were able to drop Avinash into your campaign so quickly and easily) -Snip-

A quick update of Avinash against the Mecklenberg Heroes, They've been dealing with other events right now (Fiendish Centipedes in the mines and a rune-carved cave giant (fancy name for an ogre with three infused levels of sorcerer) but next session they'll run into Avinash again with his new and improved Cohort, A Mountebank (from the dragon magazine compendium) Chameleon (From Races of Destiny)! They're in for a really nasty time of it. :)

AncientSensai laid out what the Thoon monsters were from Monster Manual V. I really liked MMV primarly because it laid out what would be associated class levels for the various monsters listed with 'advance as character class'. That was a nice addition.

With 24 monsters going on public display tomorrow it's like getting a mini-monster manual free! Yup I can't wait!

[Jason Nelson]

Sheyd wrote:

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

-Snip-(exhibit A being how you were able to drop Avinash into your campaign so quickly and easily) -Snip-

A quick update of Avinash against the Mecklenberg Heroes, They've been dealing with other events right now (Fiendish Centipedes in the mines and a rune-carved cave giant (fancy name for an ogre with three infused levels of sorcerer) but next session they'll run into Avinash again with his new and improved Cohort, A Mountebank (from the dragon magazine compendium) Chameleon (From Races of Destiny)! They're in for a really nasty time of it. :)

AncientSensai laid out what the Thoon monsters were from Monster Manual V. I really liked MMV primarly because it laid out what would be associated class levels for the various monsters listed with 'advance as character class'. That was a nice addition.

With 24 monsters going on public display tomorrow it's like getting a mini-monster manual free! Yup I can't wait!

Thanks for the ongoing updates. I have no idea what a Mountebank Chameleon is, but if they're in for a really nasty time of it, then it sounds all good to me! I look forward to hearing about the first "WTF? Didn't we kill you already?" :)

It is a nice touch, specifying which classes are associated for each monster. Less guesswork that way. MMV sounds like it was a pretty decent book.

[Set]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

I thought about real world inspirations plus whole cloth concepts. High CR, low CR, medium CR, good monsters, evil monsters, lawful, chaotic, neutral... so many ways to go.

That was the first thing that came into my head, is someone gonna go for a 'classic' from mythology, such as the Wild Hunt? If so, *where* are they gonna go with it?

The basic concept, some dude and some beasties that chase you through the woods at night, has been around forever, and you can yank it one way and have Herne or Cernunnos, and yank it the other way and have Michael Myers or Jason.

An urban 'wild' hunt throught the streets of the city at the hands of a Goblin Ranger / Rogue leading a bunch of Dire Rats?

A higher CR urban hunt involving a Vampire, leading a howling pack of 'hounds' that consist of blood-enthralled wolf-masked young nobles who worship him (or her) as a dark god of the hunt, chasing down the 'lessers' of the Poor Quarter for their master's supper?

A jungle based wild hunt consisting of fiend-touched Gnolls and their equally corrupted hyenas, all serving a half (or fully) demonic 'hunter?'

A twisted Alienist who leads a pack of pseudonatural 'hounds' (of Tindalos) through the twisted woods, who augments the terror with a unique spell that warps his prey and makes them unable to scream, their mouths having sealed shut?

A cult of the God of Slaughter, quiet citizens during the day, but who have filed their teeth and wait for the nights of the blood moon, when they strip off their clothing and run like beasts, chasing down and consuming more 'civilized' folk?

An all-Goblinoid cult where the Goblins, Hobgoblins and Bugbears have somehow devolved and move on all fours, rending their prey with animalistic abandon?

An underdark 'hunt' with Drow and Spiders of Unusual Size?

A 'ghostly' hunt, where huntsman, horse and hounds are all ghosts, and return night after night, even if slain?

One concept, one basic mythic archetype, able to be twisted in a dozen ways, depending on the needs of the storyline.

[Ernest Mueller]

I DEMAND MONSTERS NOW!!!!

[Jason Nelson]

Set wrote:

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

I thought about real world inspirations plus whole cloth concepts. High CR, low CR, medium CR, good monsters, evil monsters, lawful, chaotic, neutral... so many ways to go.

That was the first thing that came into my head, is someone gonna go for a 'classic' from mythology, such as the Wild Hunt? If so, *where* are they gonna go with it?

The basic concept, some dude and some beasties that chase you through the woods at night, has been around forever, and you can yank it one way and have Herne or Cernunnos, and yank it the other way and have Michael Myers or Jason.

An urban 'wild' hunt throught the streets of the city at the hands of a Goblin Ranger / Rogue leading a bunch of Dire Rats?

A higher CR urban hunt involving a Vampire, leading a howling pack of 'hounds' that consist of blood-enthralled wolf-masked young nobles who worship him (or her) as a dark god of the hunt, chasing down the 'lessers' of the Poor Quarter for their master's supper?

A jungle based wild hunt consisting of fiend-touched Gnolls and their equally corrupted hyenas, all serving a half (or fully) demonic 'hunter?'

A twisted Alienist who leads a pack of pseudonatural 'hounds' (of Tindalos) through the twisted woods, who augments the terror with a unique spell that warps his prey and makes them unable to scream, their mouths having sealed shut?

A cult of the God of Slaughter, quiet citizens during the day, but who have filed their teeth and wait for the nights of the blood moon, when they strip off their clothing and run like beasts, chasing down and consuming more 'civilized' folk?

An all-Goblinoid cult where the Goblins, Hobgoblins and Bugbears have somehow devolved and move on all fours, rending their prey with animalistic abandon?

An underdark 'hunt' with Drow and Spiders of Unusual Size?

A 'ghostly' hunt, where huntsman, horse and hounds are all ghosts, and return night after night, even if slain?

One concept, one basic mythic archetype, able to be twisted in a dozen...

That's very cool, the permutations possible in the concept. Some of these would have made good villains for last round, or maybe good encounters for next round.

Will someone do a creature like this... something Wild Hunt-ish (or another mythic classic)? I suppose we shall see tomorrow.

[Erik Mona]

ancientsensei wrote:

But...mmmmmm....love me that death giant. Me love him long time.

Didn't you have a dozen of these at your Iron DM table?

[Dan Jones]

An underdark 'hunt' with Drow and Spiders of Unusual Size?

Wesley: SOUS? Spiders Of Unusual Size? I don't believe they exist.

**Wesley is attacked by SOUS**

I'm personally hoping for some Dark Aquatic type beasties.

I'm throwing the Charts of the Shadowed Voyage or whatever into my campaign, but you need to make a DC 20 Profession sailor or navigator check to do so successfully. A DC 30 check is required to be successful AND safe. Any between 20 and 29 has a 5% chance per point less than 30 of having a random encounter on the Shadow Sea....

[Steven Helt]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

BTW Booms, would you say it...

I always thought one option sounded dumb, and the other one sounded silly. So I went with TEF ling early, and it pretty much stuck with me.

[Clinton Boomer]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

BTW Booms, would you say it...

Well, I've been saying "TIE-Fling" since, oh . . . about 1994, I think. Considering that I got my driver's license in late 1996, first kissed a girl in 1997, learned to drink coffee in 1998 and graduated high-school in 1999, that's a long time ago for me.

The very idea that it could be pronounced "TEEF-ling", "TEF-Ling", "Te-FLING" or "Mac-Gillicuddy" really throws me for a loop - it would have been like finding out that Aragorn was a member of the "Ran-GER" character class.

[Steven Helt]

Erik Mona wrote:

ancientsensei wrote:

But...mmmmmm....love me that death giant. Me love him long time.

Didn't you have a dozen of these at your Iron DM table?

A DOZEN! No..that's crazy. But if you want to run a dozen of those guys, I want to party with you, man!

I had just one. I think his name was Shagguire? He assaulted the gates in front of the Holy City of Shadrach Nar, whooping the half-orc paladin, who knew it was only him who stood between the giant and the failing wall.

Switch scenes to a combat overhead between the war-priest PC whose church battled from the killing grounds and from the city wall. Astride his celestial griffon mount, the cleric heads for the blackguard who leads the opposing army, hoping to cut off the head of the serpent.

The serpent is the blackguard's mount: Aglilaryx-Li (adult blue dragon). They fight over the battle at high speed until the blackguard smites the mount and the war-priest has to jump (!) to the dragon's back, fighting the blackguard now on the dragon's back while his army loses the skirmish below.

Back on the ground, the death giant is closing in for my first PC kill, when his eyes go wide and he leaps out of the way. Puzzled, the half orc turns to see the body of the lifeless griffon hurtling towards him, and is crushed between the griffon and the very gate he was trying to protect.

Back up top, the cleric fights valiantly, and is gaining advantage against the blackguard, when he is seized in the dragon's mouth (critical hit: Banzai!) and killed in the air.

And that's just the very beginning of the game, I then killed the other four PCs, revealed to them that the powers of Hell had conspired against them for a purpose, and had them earn their way out of the Underworld with a series of errands, culminating in them giving a false copy of the Pact Primeval to someone who deals information to Asmodeus' future rivals.

Then they were returned back to their lives with the knowledge necessary to prevent their deaths.

Damn. Who wants to play some DnD? That really got my juices flowing. And I had to put that together in an hour! With no freakin voice!

Bringin lots of water next year. A dozen full bottles of water wil look nice next to a dozen empty mountain dew cans.

Baby steps.

[Clinton Boomer]

ancientsensei wrote:

Damn. Who wants to play some DnD? That really got my juices flowing.

*Boomer raises his hand*

"Sir, I would play D&D with you - for you seem to be made of the Awesome, and it is Awesome that I most deeply crave. Count me among those loyal to you, ready ever to march at your side."

*pause*

"Also, I have brought Dew of the Mountains, to be shared amongst those who require thirst-quenching."

[Steven Helt]

Sheyd wrote:

With 24 monsters going on public display tomorrow it's like getting a mini-monster manual free! Yup I can't wait!

May not be free for long. A little (meaning a lot) editing, enough money for Reynolds to buy a new boat, and a price tag of $20 would make this the easiest monster manual ever. Monsters of Golarion by A Bunch of People. Coming in April.

[Clinton Boomer]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

While understandably reluctant to shell out much coin on 3rd Ed books at the moment, I may have to check out this 'death giant' of which you speak. Between you and ancientsensei sounds like two big thumbs up for him. Which of the two books is he in, IV or V?

The brutal, cataclysmic hideousness that is Death Giant appears on page 54 & 55 of MM3, the book that was almost called "Monsters of Eberron" until WotC realized that my odds of picking the thing up increased by 56.8% if they switched out the title.

And I'm glad that they did, because the book is wicked-sweet.

As for Death Giant: imagine a CR 16, Str. 34 beater with four Huge Greataxe attacks a round, over 200 hp & all of the other crazy things that make giants so scary: rock-throwing, rock-catching, and a base land speed of 50.

Now tack on a suite of god-like, rock-star stuff greater dispel magic 3/day at caster level 16th, gaining hp from positive AND negative energy, a Cha. score of 25, and the wild ability to, and I quote, "Steal Soul: any living creature with ten or fewer hit points withing 15 feet of a death giant must succeed on a DC 30 Fortitude save each round or die instantly. This is a death effect. The save DC is Charisma-based."

Note: there are three more paragraphs of stuff that Steal Soul does, including activate ANOTHER super-power.

These things are death-on-wheels in every awesome way, is all I'm saying.

I used a Death Giant sorcerer (using alter self to shrink down to Large size and wearing a very large cowl to make himself seem almost Medium while he was hobbling) as one of the big bad guys for a campaign, and it was 100% rock-star cool when he walked through a hamlet towards the PCs and townspeople started dropping over dead, their souls yanked right out of their bodies.

Scary.

[Michael Raper]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

Thanks for the ongoing updates. I have no idea what a Mountebank Chameleon is, but if they're in for a really nasty time of it, then it sounds all good to me! I look forward to hearing about the first "WTF? Didn't we kill you already?" :)

Sorry for the confusion, Mountebank is a base class which gains its powers from a pact it makes with a powerful evil outsider (usually a demon or devil). I thought it fitting for Avinash's cohort. the Chameleon is a prestige class that is basically a jack of all trades.. They can assume the aptitude of some of the core classes, (combat focus, stealth focus, etc...) Makes for a great NPC who needs to have a bit of everything to survive a party.

[Jason Nelson]

Sheyd wrote:

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

Thanks for the ongoing updates. I have no idea what a Mountebank Chameleon is, but if they're in for a really nasty time of it, then it sounds all good to me! I look forward to hearing about the first "WTF? Didn't we kill you already?" :)

Sorry for the confusion, Mountebank is a base class which gains its powers from a pact it makes with a powerful evil outsider (usually a demon or devil). I thought it fitting for Avinash's cohort. the Chameleon is a prestige class that is basically a jack of all trades.. They can assume the aptitude of some of the core classes, (combat focus, stealth focus, etc...) Makes for a great NPC who needs to have a bit of everything to survive a party.

Indeed. Sounds like a perfect fit!

[Jason Nelson]

thatboomerkid wrote:

The brutal, cataclysmic hideousness that is Death Giant appears on page 54 & 55 of MM3, the book that was almost called "Monsters of Eberron" until WotC realized that my odds of picking the thing up increased by 56.8% if they switched out the title.

And I'm glad that they did, because the book is wicked-sweet.

As for Death Giant: imagine a CR 16, Str. 34 beater with four Huge Greataxe attacks a round, over 200 hp & all of the other crazy things that make giants so scary: rock-throwing, rock-catching, and a base land speed of 50.

Now tack on a suite of god-like, rock-star stuff greater dispel magic 3/day at caster level 16th, gaining hp from positive AND negative energy, a Cha. score of 25, and the wild ability to, and I quote, "Steal Soul: any living creature with ten or fewer hit points withing 15 feet of a death giant must succeed on a DC 30 Fortitude save each round or die instantly. This is a death effect. The save DC is Charisma-based."

Note: there are three more paragraphs of stuff that Steal Soul does, including activate ANOTHER super-power.

These things are death-on-wheels in every awesome way, is all I'm saying.

I used a Death Giant sorcerer (using alter self to shrink down to Large size and wearing a very large cowl to make himself seem almost Medium while he was hobbling) as one of the big bad guys for a campaign, and it was 100% rock-star cool when he walked through a hamlet towards the PCs and townspeople started dropping over dead, their souls yanked right out of their bodies.

Scary.

That is pretty frickin' sweet. I do have MM3 and like a lot of the monsters in it. I really liked the vasuthant, chraal, shadesteel golem, and shrieking terror. And whether the monster is any good or not, just the name slaughterstone eviscerator gets a big thumbs up from me. And yeah, death giants do rock the house. I like the guardian souls ability--nothing too fancy really, but it's just a great visual and a neat concept.

I made great use of the Voidmind template in my last campaign, which was rather a horrific collision of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Illithiad, Gates of Firestorm Peak, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, and A Paladin in Hell... with Tharizdun recast as the fallen leader of an entire Lovecraftian pantheon, and when he was reawakened the rest of the pantheon and their minions came back to try to take him down permanently. Mind flayers creating legions of voidmind slaves, kaorti binding armies of thralls, demon-spawn and tainted elementals...

My gosh, it was beautiful...

The entire direction of the campaign turned with a single card from a Tarot of Many Things (Dragon 78 or so I think) that brought back from apparent death one party member's greatest enemy (turned out to be Madreus the alienist from GoFP, which reopened a whole Far Realmsian part of the campaign that the party thought they had 'won' and turned horribly wrong), and the final climax of the campaign hinged on a single die roll.

And, somewhat to my surprise, a happy ending. Good times...

[Dan Jones]

I ran a Death Giant against my PCs in a fey, goblin, and troll-heavy wannabe fairy-tale with a vengence campaign. The ruins of a city of the dead had cut off the PC's home town for a generation, and they were the first ones to explore the big wide world in a while. They had a habit of taking on critters 6 levels higher than they should have, mostly because they were super duper lucky. At 2nd level, they took on a CR 8 Cave Troll and won, but only because the paladin smited with a monkey-gripped Large lance, the goliath ranger had giants as her favored enemy, and both critted on a lance charge, with the support of a fighter-archer with alchemical flame arrows. That poor beasty took something like 6d6+24 + 6d6+15 + 3d8+9+1d3 fire in one round, plus a couple other solid arrow hits during the rounds of closure.

I guess there's a reason Cave Trolls live in caves and not under bridges....

[Russ Taylor]

Definitely not issue 78, which I know well. It was my first issue as a sub, it was the psionics issue, also Citadel By the Sea, a really good low level adventure. #77 is your issue, so you were darned close. I know that one because of the great fireball cover, and my favorite Dragon game ever. I just posted about in another thread - King of the Tabletop!

I spent a fair amount of my youth rereading my stack of Dragons again and again.

[Steven Helt]

Sheyd wrote:

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

the Chameleon is a prestige class that is basically a jack of all trades.. They can assume the aptitude of some of the core classes, (combat focus, stealth focus, etc...) Makes for a great NPC who needs to have a bit of everything to survive a party.

NPC, hell! They make a great rogue grave-touched ghoul. Party wizard. party cleric. Party ass-beating, paralyzing, mask-of-a-thousand-face, leadership-having-so-your-party-isn't-even-sure-you're-playing-your-own-cha racter-half-the-time (takes deep breath) smiting, sneak attacking sumb!$#&.

At least, that's what I heard.

[Ernest Mueller]

LESS TALK MORE MONSTERS!!!

[Set]

Jason Nelson 20 wrote:

That's very cool, the permutations possible in the concept. Some of these would have made good villains for last round, or maybe good encounters for next round.

Will someone do a creature like this... something Wild Hunt-ish (or another mythic classic)? I suppose we shall see tomorrow.

Can't wait. So many classical approaches that could be tweaked, if one wanted to go that way, although the Wild Hunt jumped out at me since the 'default' was three different types of creature (a hunter, his steed and his 'hounds').

Still, the old Siren / Dryad / temptress who lures you in and may or may not turn you into food for her inhuman 'children' (tasty treats for sharks, fertilizer for plants, whatever) could be another multiple-monsters-in-one sort of mythic standby.

Or, yanno, there could be this big creepy Far Realmsian critter that lays these eggs, and these little spiders come out of the eggs and lay yet more eggs deep inside of people, which then hatch out of their abdomens as yet more big creepy Far Realmsian critters... Nah, too derivative. :)

[Jason Nelson]

Russ Taylor wrote:

Definitely not issue 78, which I know well. It was my first issue as a sub, it was the psionics issue, also Citadel By the Sea, a really good low level adventure. #77 is your issue, so you were darned close. I know that one because of the great fireball cover, and my favorite Dragon game ever. I just posted about in another thread - King of the Tabletop!

I spent a fair amount of my youth rereading my stack of Dragons again and again.

Likewise. My favorite Dragon game also came from the first issue I bought (51), "Search for the Emperor's Treasure," though "Planet Busters" was also a favorite. Tom Wham rules! Still have all my little chits organized in a shoebox upstairs, along with some slot cars and some other relics of my well-spent youth.

Don't tell anybody, but I didn't actually have the Tarot issue; somebody I knew photocopied the article for me. gasp! Lots of 50s and 60s, 80s and 90s, but only a few issues from the 70s (maybe 71, 74, 75, and 79 I think--why do I even remember that?).

I still have my Top Secret (1st ed, pre-SI) but my brother ended up with my Gamma World stuff. Lame!

[gbonehead]

Right on!

I make pretty heavy use of MM2 and MM3 in my game. Of course, every freakin' creature is advanced and templated these days, but there's still some cool stuff in there.

MM5 is a litte more spotty but has grown on me. One of the biggest nasties in my campaign (one the PCs are unwilling to tackle yet) is a ruin chanter with lots of levels of bard and seeker of the song. Check out Hymn of Spelldeath. Eeeek.

"Who needs lots of ranks in Concentration? Even a 9th level spell is only a DC 24 to cast defensively. What? DC 50?"

*ZOTT*