If you were a band of nigh-epic swashbucklers, sailing the seas of the plane of shadow, what would be the scariest base monster race to encounter as a War Hulk on a ship made of ice, crewed by dark gnolls and dark ghouls?
There are 8 PCs, around 17th level, a good mix of tanks and blasters and skill monkeys.
The War Hulk is a PrC in the Miniatures Handbook which is just an uber-tank. It doesn't advance its BAB--instead it just gets +2 to Strength every level. It also must be Large or bigger.
I'm kind of leaning towards a minotaur barbarian re-imagined as a horned hyena-headed monstrosity.
I kind of designed a new monster: the battlebred gnoll. It's large, strong, quick, tough, and none too bright. I gave it fast healing 10, DR 10/silver, and quills (wielders of non-reach weapons take 1d6 + Str bonus damage. Also, the quills can be shot off (quillblast!) for 1d6 per HD, Reflex half (Con based), but this negates the quills ability for a couple rounds, as well as half the beasty's natural AC, until the quills grow back.
In my campaign, gnolls are cursed lycanthropes that cannot shapechange anymore. They're stuck in the hybrid form, and lost many of their immunities (DR silver being one).
If you were a band of nigh-epic swashbucklers, sailing the seas of the plane of shadow, what would be the scariest base monster race to encounter as a War Hulk on a ship made of ice, crewed by dark gnolls and dark ghouls?
There are 8 PCs, around 17th level, a good mix of tanks and blasters and skill monkeys.
The War Hulk is a PrC in the Miniatures Handbook which is just an uber-tank. It doesn't advance its BAB--instead it just gets +2 to Strength every level. It also must be Large or bigger.
I'm kind of leaning towards a minotaur barbarian re-imagined as a horned hyena-headed monstrosity.
Anything that could melt that ship out from underneath them would be a major worry I'd bet :P
Anything with a fiery breath weapon would do, but esp if it can fly or swim away. My personal favourites would be a dragon or 12 headed fiendish pyrohydra. I'm not familiar with the War Hulk PrC and unsure how it would work with either of those, but the combination of destroying the ship while dishing out damage to multiple PC's should make your players pause a bit.
PS - just thought of a half dragon fiendish 12headed pyrohydra (CR 16 before the War Hulk PrC). 2 types of breath weapons, 12 bites & 2 claw attacks with reach, flight & swim abilities. Sounds deadly. Enjoy ;)
The War Hulk is on the ship of ice. The PCs are on a ship of wood.
Breakable, burnable, warpable wood.
}:->
Spined Gnoll
The spined gnoll is a bigger, stronger, quicker, tougher, meaner, and dumber version of the common gnoll. They have protective spines that act as a defense mechanism.
Spined Gnoll
Large Monstrous Humanoid
HD: 6d8+30 (57 hp)
Init: +4
Speed: 50 feet
AC: 23 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +5 natural, +5 armor from quills), touch 13, flatfooted: 19
BAB/Grapple: +6/+17
Attack: spiked chain melee +12 (2d6+10), or bite melee +12 (1d8+7 and trip), or quill dart ranged +9 (1d6+7 and quill)
Full Attack: spiked chain melee +12/+7 (2d6+10) and bite melee +7 (1d8+3)
or quill dart +9/+4 (1d6+7 and quill)
Space/Reach: 10/10 (20 with spiked chain)
Special Attacks: Quill, Quill Burst, Quill Dart, Trip.
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet, Double Jeopardy, DR 10/silver, Fast Healing 5, Quill Armor.
Saves: Fort +7, Reflex +9, Will +7
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 19, Con 20, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 13.
Skills: Climb +10, Jump +25
Feats: Cleave, Exotic Weapon Proficiency spiked chain [B], Improved Sunder, Improved Trip [B], Power Attack
Enviroment: Warm plains
Organization: Solitary, Pair, Pack (3-12), Tribe (1-4, plus 1-4 flinds and 6-36 gnolls)
CR: 6
Treasure: standard, plus spiked chain
Alignment: usually Chaotic Evil
Advancement: by class. Favored Class: Barbarian
Level Adjustment: +10
Spined Gnolls speak Gnoll.
Double Jeopardy (Ex). The spined gnoll is treated as both a humanoid (gnoll) and monstrous humanoid for any special abilities, such as a ranger's Favored Enemy. The bonuses from multiple favored enemies overlap and do not stack.
Quill (Ex). Any living creature injured by the spined gnoll's quill dart, quill burst, or quill armor special quality may get one or more quills stuck in their flesh. Each such quill causes a cumulative -1 penalty on attack rolls, damage rolls, and skill checks. Removing a quill requires either a cure spell or a DC 20 Heal check; failure removes the quill but also causes an additional 1d6 points of damage.
Quill Armor (Ex). The spined gnoll gains an armor bonus equal to his Constitution bonus, if any, from the spiny quills that cover him. Any creature that attacks the spined gnoll with a natural weapon, unarmed strike, or non-reach weapon takes 1d6+7 points of damage from the quills and has one quill stuck into them.
Quill Burst (Ex). As a swift action, the spined gnoll can shoot all of his quills at once. Everything within a 30 foot radius takes 6d6 points of piercing damage; a DC 18 Reflex Save may be made for half damage; they also get 1d6 quills stuck in them. The Save DC is Consitution based. The spined gnoll also loses his armor bonus to AC from his quills for 5 rounds, while they grow back.
Quill Dart (Ex). As long as the spined gnoll has any quills, he can shoot one quill per attack he is allowed in a round. The range increment is 30 feet, and he has 5 range increments.
Trip (Ex). The spined gnoll may make a free trip attempt against any opponent he hits with his bite attack. He may not be tripped in return if he fails the initial trip attempt.
Make it a Half Dragon Barbarian and
give it hurling charge feat (this is from experience in a game with one)
Give it the Complete Champion Pounce
Give it the barbarian level sub from cityscape web enhancment that makes charging better instead of DR
Make it a Half Dragon Barbarian and
give it hurling charge feat (this is from experience in a game with one)
Give it the Complete Champion Pounce
Give it the barbarian level sub from cityscape web enhancment that makes charging better instead of DR
Where is hurling charge from? Sounds like a bad end after a night of drunken excess!
The War Hulk is on the ship of ice. The PCs are on a ship of wood.
Breakable, burnable, warpable wood.
}:->
D'oh! Totally misread that. In that case possibly a Hill Giant Dire Wereboar or Ettin, either with barbarian levels or Ranger with favoured enemy (any PC race).
And on a the sneaky side I'd have druid hang at the back to attack the ship directly via Warp Wood or something similar. Even if defeated it would affect the ship's performance and could precipitate a race for a safe harbour before the ship sinks.
Where is hurling charge from? Sounds like a bad end after a night of drunken excess!Make it a Half Dragon Barbarian and
give it hurling charge feat (this is from experience in a game with one)
Give it the Complete Champion Pounce
Give it the barbarian level sub from cityscape web enhancment that makes charging better instead of DR
Hurling Charge
[General, Fighter](Mini p27)
Base Attack Bonus +6
Quick Draw
When making a Charge, you may make an attack with a Thrown Weapon during your charge, then draw a Melee Weapon for your attack at the end of your Charge.
We had a PC in our group who would just destroy anything we were up against he was a fighter war hulk but Barb should work good too
here is that thing from Cityscape
Streetfighter
The ability to take a blow is valuable, but on the violent and crowded streets of the city, the winner of a brawl or
a duel is often the one who can hit hardest and fastest.
Class: Barbarian.
Level: 7th.
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain damage reduction at 7th level, or any of the
improvements to damage reduction at higher levels.
Benefit: The barbarian gains the ability to swiftly bring the fight to his foe and to hit him hard.
At 7th level, the critical threat range of any charge attack he makes, or any attack he makes against a flat-footed foe, increases by 1. (Thus, a greataxe would threaten a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.) Thisability stacks with the Improved Critical feat or the keen weapon enhancement.
At 10th level, the barbarian can make a single turn, up to 90 degrees, during a charge.
At 13th level, the barbarian can charge through squares occupied by his allies or by noncombatants.
At 16th level, the barbarian can move up to four times his speed when making a charge attack, rather than double.
At 19th level, the barbarian acquires a "cleaving charge." If he drops an opponent on a charge attack, and he has at least 10 feet of movement remaining, he can immediately make a new charge attack against a second foe. If he drops that foe and still has movement remaining, he can charge a third, and so on until he either fails to drop a foe, or runs out of movement. All the other standard rules for a charge attack still apply, including the fact that he must have at least 10 feet of distance to make the charge.
Even if he somehow gains the ability to make multiple attacks on a charge (such as with the lion's charge spell from the Spell Compendium), he must drop the foe on the first attack to use this ability. Similarly, he cannot use this ability and Cleave or Great Cleave in the same round.
A weretyranosaurus troll war hulk might not work for this encounter...but it sounds like the kind of encounter I'd like to run!
That street figher barbarian sounds like a lot of fun! So does hurling charge!
That street figher barbarian sounds like a lot of fun! So does hurling charge!
I think for ship to ship combat this guy would be great with these two parts
as the ships meet throws a big ass weapon charges and crushes multiple PCs on the pounce and his Crit range for all his attacks would be one higherMake him like a 7 Barb 10 Warhulk Half White Dragon (iceboat) Half Super Gnoll and turn him to Slaughter and should have a great combat
How about a half-War Troll, half-gnoll, half-ghoul? I call it a super-war-hulk-war-thoul.
(War Troll is from MM III and it has some nasty abilities keyed off of Str.)
.
War Troll is from MM III and it has some nasty abilities keyed off of Str.
The War Troll would be a great War Hulk
That street figher barbarian sounds like a lot of fun! So does hurling charge!I think for ship to ship combat this guy would be great with these two parts
as the ships meet throws a big ass weapon charges and crushes multiple PCs on the pounce and his Crit range for all his attacks would be one higherMake him like a 7 Barb 10 Warhulk Half White Dragon (iceboat) Half Super Gnoll and turn him to Slaughter and should have a great combat
This takes place on the Shadow Sea, which is on the Plane of Shadow, so instead of half-dragon, I've been giving denizens the Dark creature template from Tome of Magic....but don't worry, it gives Cold Resistance 10, plus some other neat things, like +10 speed (great for charging!), bonuses to Hide & Move Silently, and Hide in Plain Sight (great for charging out of an ambush!). And adding THAT template adds +0 to +1 to the CR, so I'm not just giving away XP! :-P
I was saying Half Dragon for the extra Strength so he would have like a 40 or 50 Strength
The one I designed has a 50 strength when raging. It's quite nice. Easy math. (+20)