I love the bonespitter... a lot! I've used it on two different occasions in Eberron as something that creeps out of the Mournland's Grey Mist, the first being easily bypassed (elemental land cart), the second time just last night which struck fear into the hearts of the players as I described it and as they discovered its abilities.
I had several problems with it as a CR 3 creature though, and most of these problems seem to be centered around assumptions about the party made on behalf of the designer.
1. I don't understand why it has a slam attack at all. The bonespitting attack is ranged, doesn't provoke an opportunity attack, has a higher attack modifier and does more damage. Why would a bonespitter ever choose to use a slam attack?
2. It's DR 5/magic is awful for a second level party. Couple that with its relatively high AC and 50% miss chance and the encounter takes forever! The assumption is that at least one person has a magic weapon, which isn't necessarily the case at lower levels.
3. The creature also has the ability to impose a shakened condition upon the PCs which reduces their effective attack modifier, making it more difficult to hit that relatively high AC.
4. Even if the party chose to employ spells to attack it, the ability to dispel magic as (effectively) an immediate action hinders that approach.
5. It seems that there is also an assumption of a cleric being in the party to turn undead, but even that assumption is met with resistance, +4 turning resistance to be exact. That's pretty significant. Sure heal spells might help against undead, but with the ability to dispel magic, that approach is also diminished.
Overall, there seem to be far too many abilities that oppose most, if not all, forms of attack, and the damage it can dish out is pretty significant for a party of 2nd-level adventurers. A CR 3 encounter should be fairly challenging, but not as deadly as this creature seems to be.
Am I wrong with this assessment?
