Splorudra

[Richard A. Hunt]

Monster Name: Splorudra
Description: A splorudra resembles a sleek scarlet frog with a sticky tongue and four rear legs, one set nested inside the other toward the body. Its two forearms are edged with sharp, serrated fins and each rear knee features a cankerous red knob or "splor." Its contrasting stark white eyes are blind from centuries of evolution in the deepest, darkest places in the world.
Powers and Abilities: A splorudra sets its long, slackened tongue well away from itself, baiting prey with bones, meat, treasure or available curiosities stuck to it. When its tongue detects the vibration of nearby prey, it drops any bait, whips its tongue back and wraps it around a splor, ripping it free for immediate hurling. The fluids in the splor become acidic midair, burning through most armor and making painful contact. The splor then drains fluids, doing the victim harm. The splorudra then literally jumps into the fight, slicing prey with its forearms between jumps. The creature's double hind legs make it exceptionally skilled at hit-and-run combinations, jumping with one leg pair, then another in quick succession. As it fights and takes damage, the splorudra retrieves engorged splors from its victims with its tongue, then eats them. A splor has healing properties, effective only to the splorudra, which eventually grow back. A splorudra is a brilliant combatant, continuing to jump, slice, throw and retrieve splors with its tongue, all as needed. Intelligent sequencing of movement and attacks provides it with masterful guerrilla tactics, which include unusual ranged attacks and an impromptu healing resource. They're clumsy swimmers though, preferring land attacks because they lose the use of their splors. Toxins ingested by victims and eaten through splors are also extremely harmful to it.

[Greg A. Vaughan]

This is a very original monster--a six-legged frog that shoots splor from its knees to eat into its opponents and then eats the splors. A lot of creativity in this. It seems like it may be a little too much crammed in one package with all of that and its ninja-like combat skills, however, if its a high-CR monster it just might work. I also like how with the marrow worm, it provides a simple solution to exploit a weakness. Unfortunately, in this case the simple solution is to eat poison, get hit by a splor, let the splor eat into you, and then let the splorudra dig out the splor and eat. Seems like kind of a "short-straw" tactic but still probably better than to let your whole party get minced by this guy.

[Sean K Reynolds]

Well, this monster certainly is weird!

It took me a couple reads to figure out that the tongue "ripping it free" refers to the splor, not to the tongue!

The idea that these knee-knobs suck fluid from the target even when disconnected from the creature is pretty gross and sure to freak out the players. It's cool that these splors heal it, too, though having to eat its own body parts is also gross. And I like that a poisoned victim can hurt it via the ingested splors, though the game mechanics for that may be complex.

It does seem pretty lethal in combat, though Spring Attack as a bonus feat probably takes care of that nicely.

[Clark Peterson]

Initial Impression: A ninja frog that hurls and eats its own acidic cysts? Wow. Did Boomer enter again this year?

Concept (name, overall design choices, design niche, playability/usability, challenge): B+
Go, go, ninja frog! Maybe a little too crazy, but this is a crazy frog! Great name. Great ideas with the splors. Very creative. PCs would remember a fight with this thing. Yowza!

Execution (quality of writing, hook, theme, organization, use of proper format, world neutral, quality of mandatory content—description, summary of powers): B+
A tiny big confusing. Could use an edit. And a bit more restraint on the over the top writing. But very good. The abilities are great and memorable.

Tilt (did it grab me, do I want to use one in an adventure?): A
Gimme the frog!

Overall: A-
Now that was fun.

Recommendation: I DO recommend this creature advance.

[F. Wesley Schneider]

In many ways its hard for monsters to do anything really new. Most of the best known beasties either riff off mythological creatures or things that real world creatures do. This monster, though, does something pretty unique and that I'm pretty sure folks are going to have a heard time saying "I've seen that before" about. Nicely done.

[Urizen]

This has to be Indo-Asian based. Drop this sucker in Vudura (sic?) as a random beastie encounter.

[Hexcaliber]

A good idea is one that generates more ideas.

Thank you Rick, this opens doors I never even knew existed.

[Charles Evans 25]

Uhh, one thing which the entry doesn't make clear is the size of this terrifying 'ninja frog' (as one of the judges described it). Is this thing only half a foot long, or much, much, bigger? 'Sleek' just implies to me that it's got hardly an ounce of spare fat anywhere on it...
How does it know where creatures are? It's described as blind (which is good as inexperienced parties may waste a glitterdust on it) but for something which is so good at ranged attacks I assume it has some means of picking creatures up at a distance? The description does perhaps hint at some sort of tremorsense it uses in conjunction with its tongue... (And why does it pile things up on the end of the tongue, except maybe as a distraction to make creatures look at that, and not where it's hiding? And why don't they see the tngue? Does the tongue have natural camouflage?)
The creature does seem fairly novel...

With regard to encounters, I have concerns that it may only be useful for a narrow EL bracket of subterranean encounters, unless it's really easy to vary these things by HD & size.

My overall impression of this entry is of a highly innovational creature, but which might have limited application when it comes to using it... but definitely fun the first time your players run into one.
Thanks for posting this entry. I was curious what the creator of the needles of the ebon strand would come up with... :D

[cwslyclgh]

This creature was a almost but not quite creature for me, one that would have certainly gotten a vote had I had a couple more votes to give out, but didn't quite make the top 4. That said I am quite impressed with this monster, and that coupled with you entry in the magic item round makes me really hope that enough people choose this as one of their top four to see you move on to the future rounds. Good luck!

[Richard A. Hunt]

Thank you for your support and please vote for my monster! If you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them once voting for this round is closed. :)

[Wolfboy]

Not digging the name on this one.

Hmmm. Ninja frogs...

Fun and entertaining.

How big are they? Posion dart frog-sized? Bullfrog-sized? Gatehouse at the Temple of Elemental Evil-sized?

[Urizen]

For those unfamiliar with the etymology, Rudra is why I thought of Indo-Asian, or Hindu to be more precise.

[Mike Welham]

This is a fun monster. You're bringing a lot of "out there" ideas and making them work. This one is on my short list.

[Clark Peterson]

cwslyclgh wrote:

This creature was a almost but not quite creature for me, one that would have certainly gotten a vote had I had a couple more votes to give out, but didn't quite make the top 4.

That is why I was pushing for people to get 6 votes! It lets you throw a vote to a monster you like but isnt top 4 or 5.

[Mike Welham]

Clark Peterson wrote:

cwslyclgh wrote:

This creature was a almost but not quite creature for me, one that would have certainly gotten a vote had I had a couple more votes to give out, but didn't quite make the top 4.

That is why I was pushing for people to get 6 votes! It lets you throw a vote to a monster you like but isnt top 4 or 5.

I'm having that quandary myself. I've got a list of 5 right now, so I've got to leave something behind.

[Fern Herold]

Don't see too many hit-and-run designed monsters out there, so I appreciate that the splorudra uses this niche. The fighting style is fun, and it hurling its cysts at victims to suck their delicious juices and get picked back up is OTT in the best possible way. My one quibble is on the name--why are the drinky-cysts called splors? Is that the undercommon word for cyst/lump/waterskin? It's kind of weird for its name to be derived from a more commonly-applicable word that doesn't actually exist.

With the red murder frog thing, I got more of an Australian vibe than an Indian one. Puts me in mind of the ya-te-veo, which also has a ridiculous but awesome feeding strategy.

This gets on my short list. Good job!

[Richard A. Hunt]

Demiurge 1138 wrote:

This gets on my short list. Good job!

Thank you! I hope others will follow your excellent example and vote for this monster!

[Richard A. Hunt]

taig wrote:

This is a fun monster. You're bringing a lot of "out there" ideas and making them work. This one is on my short list.

Thanks! I realy hope others will follow your great example and vote for my creation!

[Dan Jones]

WOW!

I love Shot on the Run and Spring Attack. They're so much more fun than "the monster moves up and hits you. Now it just stands there and hits you some more." I also like how this thing has something to do between hit and run rounds (eating its splor AND HEALING from it!). It's not wasting its turn when it's hiding, it's actually getting tougher or recovering from damage. That's a really cool design feature that punishes the PCs if they don't keep the pressure up on this guy.

[Starglim]

How did the author respond to the challenge? Took the opportunity to write a very complicated description of a fairly odd mode of attack. I wouldn't expect something like this from a stat-block based round. The last couple of sentences are very choppy as they try to fit in more physical detail and answer anticipated problems.

How does it stack up

• as an opponent? It's a ranged plus delayed-effect plus mobile-melee attacker, which is slightly novel for D&D. I'd really have to see what he had in mind for the stats of a splor's effects. It looks complicated to run.
  
• as something other than an opponent? Its "brilliance" seems to be confined to fighting tactics. Otherwise a simple predator.
  
• in relation to other monsters? At a guess, it's a magical beast, a diverse group and one I'm happy to see extended.
  
• in relation to the author's item? Knitting needles, followed by a frog that throws acidic warts at you is probably enough gonzo for the first few rounds, I feel.
  
• in itself? "Splor" seems like a use of invented language straight out of Jack Vance. However I'm not sure there is a compelling or effective monster there after all this skipping about, throwing cankerous blobs and slicing.
  

I see a lack of discipline here, more than anything, that worries me for later-round prospects. I can't really give it my vote.

[Nicolas Quimby]

Oh man.. I don't even know how to respond to this. I had to sit on this for a while and come back to it in order to even understand what the heck I was reading. There really is a freaky sort of genius here, combined with a rare underlying grasp of what makes a fun and interesting fight, but everything is just so random and bizarre.

When I design a monster (or class or whatever), I often start out with a handful of vaguely related bits and peices- a core mechanic, a desired in-game nitch, narrative or thematic elements- and then I sit down with them all and try to make them play nice together. Weaving ideas together, filing some down while polishing others, and generally trying to develop the project into something that makes sense as a whole. And it's like that step never even happened here.

It's crazy, and the crazy thing is that I can't tell if it's a good-crazy or a bad-crazy. I just don't know what to make of it.

If you do advance, then one thing is for sure- between this and your Needles of the Ebon Strand, you've definitely caught the voters' attention.

[Dance of Ruin]

Weird. Weird, but in an unconventional, well-executed way. The description could be cleaned up, but the powers are well thought-out.

I'm keeping this one in mind. Hmm....

[Jim Groves]

Congratulations! You invented a new tactic/attack!

I'm curious how the attacks / actions would play out, particularly with the splor retreival.

I can also imagine one yanking off a splor prematurely (as a standard action) before it did a lot of harm, and even poisoning it before tossing it back to the monster.

Interesting stuff here! Best of luck!

[caith]

Praise:
Totally freaky and cool. I'm torn on the name, as it is very original, but a mouthful. It seems balanced for a high level encounter, and I could see this as a random cave encounter or lair guardian. The sheer number of attacks will keep a party on their toes.

Concerns:
There is a whole lot going on here. The baiting aspect seems thrown in; if it can hurl these things mightily, why not simply lie in wait? I doubt the players will be confused by a giant tongue with loots on it, and will probably see this big frog thing before it sees the loot anyway. Also, just how big is this thing? I can imply at least a medium size category, but it's not clear. In addition, this splor thing is a little complicated. You have splors on the frog, then you throw them, and have to make a CMB check to get them out of the player to regenerate. It's a neat concept, but perhaps a little overwrought.

Overall:
This is a tough one. I really like the image of this creature, it is very very cool, but it really has a ton going on. Tongue attack, splor throw, slice multi-attacks, and rapid movement. It's original and cool, but is there too much going on? Also, it's blind, and there is no mention of scent based senses or some kind of blind sight.

[roguerouge]

A frog that throws its own carniverous knee cankers then eats them? Ick. That's good. Interesting combat tactics that takes advantage of its surroundings is also good. (Although I got a swamp feel, not an underground feel.) At the end of the day, however, this is just a wandering monster/lair creature. There's no plot to build from this creature. It's atmospheric.

Maybe a vote.

[Richard A. Hunt]

SmiloDan wrote:

WOW!

I love Shot on the Run and Spring Attack. They're so much more fun than "the monster moves up and hits you. Now it just stands there and hits you some more." I also like how this thing has something to do between hit and run rounds (eating its splor AND HEALING from it!). It's not wasting its turn when it's hiding, it's actually getting tougher or recovering from damage. That's a really cool design feature that punishes the PCs if they don't keep the pressure up on this guy.

Yay! Please vote for the Splorudra! :)

[Drakli]

Overall, I think the writing needs a lot of work. It's far from concise, and some of the sentences seem to repeat themselves. I think you might have overtaxed the world 'splor,' also. I'd suggest occasionally varying the word you use for them, dusting a few 'detached pustules' and 'caustic knobs' into the text here and there. Trust us to know the creature is still flinging splor as long as you keep bringing the name up now and then.

But oh.... the ideas! This is classic Underdark/Darklands/Subterranean realms monster design. Alien but logical in its own way, it suggests evolutionary pressures so different, it makes the underground realms themselves feel more outre, for having spawned such a creature.

Any qualms I have about your writing are stifled by the excitement I find in trying to imagine an ambush on the party by one of these weird beasts, or even multiple of them!

If you can only tighten up your writing, I think you can go far in this contest with creativity like yours!

... a weird thought. Dark Underground realms are dark, right? That's why they often have blind creatures relying on other senses. But Aberrations and Magical Beasts have darkvision. Why bother to evolve away eyesight when your creature type sees just fine in the dark anyway?

Don't get me wrong, the idea of a sightless monster frog is cool. Sometimes the D20 system creates weird situations like that, so please don't think this is a complaint against you.

[Nicolas Quimby]

This thing is definitely growing on me. I'm still seeing issues, though; namely, why the heck does it 'fish' with its tongue if it doesn't actually catch anyone with it? Am I missing something there?

Also, this might just be me and my own in-game logic, but is hard to see how it can heal by eating the splors, a product of its own body. There are plenty of explanations possible (maybe there's some crazy alche-magical reaction going on which requires human blood as its missing ingredient; maybe they're actually positive energy batteries), but the power is so outlandish that it would have benefited from a little quasi-logic or handwaving to give it credence.

It's been said but bares repeating- you haven't just made a fun and crazy critter, you've also made something with a really great tactical nitch which would lead to fun and dynamic encounters. Those are two very different kinds of talent and I think you're displaying both.

[Jason Nelson]

SmiloDan wrote:

WOW!

I love Shot on the Run and Spring Attack. They're so much more fun than "the monster moves up and hits you. Now it just stands there and hits you some more." I also like how this thing has something to do between hit and run rounds (eating its splor AND HEALING from it!). It's not wasting its turn when it's hiding, it's actually getting tougher or recovering from damage. That's a really cool design feature that punishes the PCs if they don't keep the pressure up on this guy.

I agree. I avoided reading this one for a while just cuz I didn't like the name, but I actually really dig the monster.

The "spits a vampiric time bomb on you, then comes back and eats it" is a great visual and a great EWWW. I like the hit and run aspect of the monster, and the six-legged killer frog is actually pretty cool. You don't give us much monster background but you give us a lot of tactical information, and the flavor text we get is pretty good.

Overall: I like it; in fact, it might even go on my short list, which is longer than 4 now I think. I might have to go to magic item entries as a tiebreaker.

[David Roberts]

Add me to the list of people wondering why the thing 'fishes' with its tongue when it has a ranged attack.

Get rid of that and you've got a cool, blind, ninja frog (maybe Zatoichi Frog is better), with some fun and interesting tactics. I can imagine a cave full of a couple of these things making a great higher level underdark encounter (for some reason I just can't stop thinking of the ice toad illustration from against the giants).

[Richard A. Hunt]

Nicolas Quimby wrote:

If you do advance, then one thing is for sure- between this and your Needles of the Ebon Strand, you've definitely caught the voters' attention.

One thing I cannot deny is that I certainly do give folk something to talk about, that's darn for sure. :)

Here's an idea! This is a great time to remind friends who've not been on Paizo for a while to login and join in on the real excitement going on here. This is one democratic process were your vote CAN make a difference. Tell them to sign up on to Paizo and vote for the Sploruda!

[Richard A. Hunt]

Jason Nelson wrote:

I agree. I avoided reading this one for a while just cuz I didn't like the name, but I actually really dig the monster.

The "spits a vampiric time bomb on you, then comes back and eats it" is a great visual and a great EWWW. I like the hit and run aspect of the monster, and the six-legged killer frog is actually pretty cool. You don't give us much monster background but you give us a lot of tactical information, and the flavor text we get is pretty good.

Overall: I like it; in fact, it might even go on my short list, which is longer than 4 now I think. I might have to go to magic item entries as a tiebreaker.

Yay! Thanks for you comments. I hope you and others like you help to vote the Splorudra to the top in the name of all fun and mayhem. :)

[Chef's Slaad]

Richard A. Hunt wrote:

Monster Name: Splorudra

splor? is that even a word? I can't find anything on dictionary.com or meriam-webster.com

I like the visuals. This is certainly a unique creature. And it's a step away from the mind-controlling horrors we're seeing a lot of this year. I'm on the fence. Let's see what the rest has to offer.

[Azmahel]

Richard A. Hunt wrote:

Monster Name: Splorudra

I love the visuals. I would have prefered 4 forearms over 4 hind legs. But all the time my mind kept wandering off, creating my own (different) image of the Splorudra.

The intelligent tactics and fighting methods it employs give me a more intelligent, more humanoid image of the froggy, rather some weird animal that happens to be really smart and a tactical genius.
I absolutely dig it's powers and tactics, and think this would make not only some really memorable encounters and even short a short adventure path featuring these creatures the fact that it is basically a blind frog keep kicking me off. If this were a humanoid Kuo-toa like race, with 4 arms instead of 4 legs complete with monastic , far eastern society and an rather ascetic lifestyle, they would be a definite vote. This would be a perfect replacement for githzerai. As a planar race, living in low gravity environments, always honing their tactics and skills.

Without this for me the Splorudra is a lot of potential mostly wasted on a blind mutant frog.

Creativity/Innovation:
Vivid, new, different, all this is th Sploruda. It clearly does something that hasn't been done before. Not many monsters mostly rely on speed and tactics, and the Splorudra exells at this area, leaving all would be challengers in the dust.
This is just great.

Tilt:
Hey, you got me started thinking of a full ecology and society. I want to craft an adventure revolving around these guys. I love them, but my ideas don't really fit to the way you see them so i would basically need to recraft them, scavenging your ideas to realize my own.

I'm (strongly, still) considering this for a vote. It would have been a definite vote if you shared my vision, but others may disagree.
i would definitely would love to see them statted up, to rework them in my image. So I honestly hope you advance.

*puts up a sign*
Beware!
Here be great ideas!

[Richard A. Hunt]

Azmahel wrote:

I'm (strongly, still) considering this for a vote. It would have been a definite vote if you shared my vision, but others may disagree. i would definitely would love to see them statted up, to rework them in my image. So I honestly hope you advance.

*puts up a sign*
Beware!
Here be great ideas!

And I've got a million of the them! Vote for the Sploruda! :)

[Richard A. Hunt]

Chef's Slaad wrote:

splor? is that even a word? I can't find anything on dictionary.com or meriam-webster.com

I like the visuals. This is certainly a unique creature. And it's a step away from the mind-controlling horrors we're seeing a lot of this year. I'm on the fence. Let's see what the rest has to offer.

Your avatar wants you to vote for the Sploruda. :)

[Richard A. Hunt]

David Roberts wrote:

Add me to the list of people wondering why the thing 'fishes' with its tongue when it has a ranged attack.

Get rid of that and you've got a cool, blind, ninja frog (maybe Zatoichi Frog is better), with some fun and interesting tactics. I can imagine a cave full of a couple of these things making a great higher level underdark encounter (for some reason I just can't stop thinking of the ice toad illustration from against the giants).

Nice pic! Hey, and they're whispering to you... "vote for the Sploruda, vote for the Sploruda..." ;)

[Set]

Love the idea, but as a giant frog, I just can't make my brain accept it. I want to tweak it and make it into some other type of critter. Little halfling sized bug-people, divided into a caste of leaping slashers and 'grenadiers' or something. Anything but frogs!

That name just isn't working for me either.

Awesome tactics, 'though. I *love* the idea of the detachable feeding organ that injects the nasty and then drains blood and is retrieved! That's just awesome.

[Jodi Lane]

Richard A. Hunt wrote:

Monster Name: Splorudra

Description: A splorudra resembles a sleek scarlet frog with a sticky tongue and four rear legs, one set nested inside the other toward the body. Its two forearms are edged with sharp, serrated fins and each rear knee features a cankerous red knob or "splor." Its contrasting stark white eyes are blind from centuries of evolution in the deepest, darkest places in the world.
Powers and Abilities: A splorudra sets its long, slackened tongue well away from itself, baiting prey with bones, meat, treasure or available curiosities stuck to it. When its tongue detects the vibration of nearby prey, it drops any bait, whips its tongue back and wraps it around a splor, ripping it free for immediate hurling. The fluids in the splor become acidic midair, burning through most armor and making painful contact. The splor then drains fluids, doing the victim harm. The splorudra then literally jumps into the fight, slicing prey with its forearms between jumps. The creature's double hind legs make it exceptionally skilled at hit-and-run combinations, jumping with one leg pair, then another in quick succession. As it fights and takes damage, the splorudra retrieves engorged splors from its victims with its tongue, then eats them. A splor has healing properties, effective only to the splorudra, which eventually grow back. A splorudra is a brilliant combatant, continuing to jump, slice, throw and retrieve splors with its tongue, all as needed. Intelligent sequencing of movement and attacks provides it with masterful guerrilla tactics, which include unusual ranged attacks and an impromptu healing resource. They're clumsy swimmers though, preferring land attacks because they lose the use of their splors. Toxins ingested by victims and eaten through splors are also extremely harmful to it.

I'm wondering, did you draw this creature before you wrote about it? I would have had to! It's complexity is through the roof. I like the "baiting" that it does-pretty neat...It would be something adventurers look out for because any sneak advantage would help defeat this hardcore monster!

[Dennis Baker]

I like the visuals of this creature, he's a really cool sounding frog monster. I do find it a little odd that a blind creature is using a ranged attack like their tongue but I can overlook that. My only other fairly minor concern with running this is running the launch/ retrieve mechanism as a GM.

"Splorch!" This would be fun.

[Deidre Tiriel]

I read a bit of the entries now, and this is the first one that made me go, "definately have to vote for this one!"

AWESOME job! I can completely see my GM putting this up against the Second Darkness party in the Darklands.

Good luck and work hard on the coming rounds!

oh, and the strange name got me to say it many times, getting all the "r"s, so good job with that! Able to be pronounced from sight, but has to be practiced. Memorable

[Richard A. Hunt]

Set wrote:

Awesome tactics, 'though. I *love* the idea of the detachable feeding organ that injects the nasty and then drains blood and is retrieved! That's just awesome.

Thank you! The Splorudra is counting on your vote. :)

[Richard A. Hunt]

Jodi Lane wrote:

I'm wondering, did you draw this creature before you wrote about it? I would have had to! It's complexity is through the roof. I like the "baiting" that it does-pretty neat...It would be something adventurers look out for because any sneak advantage would help defeat this hardcore monster!

I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of drawings, that is until the round is over of course. :)

Jump in the right direction and vote for the Splorudra! :)

[Richard A. Hunt]

Deidre Tiriel wrote:

I read a bit of the entries now, and this is the first one that made me go, "definately have to vote for this one!"

AWESOME job! I can completely see my GM putting this up against the Second Darkness party in the Darklands.

Thanks very, very much for your vote!

[Joel Flank]

As I started reading, I was expecting a frog version of the cave fisher, and in some ways, was glad that this didn't turn out to be that, since the cave fisher is really all you need for monsters with a sticky tongue lure/trap. That being said, the lure aspect definately seems out of place. Even more so when the description of the stuck on bits of stuff seem to often be a visual lure, which for a blind monster is a bit of a stretch of imagination. I also think the fact that it's blind is a hinderance to the monster, since as people have pointed out, it uses ranged attacks, as well as jumping through the air. Without also mentioning some sort of blindsight or tremorsense, that's a problem. I'm left to simply assume that is must have some pretty good alternative senses, or it simply fails to do all of the other cool things it's described doing.

All of that being said, the core of the monster is very cool. I like that it's a mobile foe that has a ranged attack, but is also a melee threat. In some ways it reminds me of a cave manticore, since there aren't too many monsters that actually have ranged attacks unless they use weapons or spells. The fact that it's ranged attacks do more than simply damage is great, and the self-healing mechanism is also a rarity for monsters, and could potentially let a fight with a Splorudra last more than the traditional 3 rounds. The big concern I have with it's combat tactics is that they really take a lot of rounds to set up. Surprize round - throw a splor, Round 1 - spring attack, round 2 - retrieve a splor and heal, round 3+ repeat. If the splor heals a LOT of damage, then I can see this working, but if it's about 10 hp, I see this beast using it's attack routine only once before being killed. Maybe it can jump more than 60 feet and be out of range of darkvision?

Finally, I would have liked a mention of this monster's social life - is a solo-predator, does it form groups? Is it intelligent enough other than tactics to form alliances?

Despite these issues, it's very creative and I do like the monster a lot, and so far, this is my 2nd vote.

[Eric Morton]

My thoughts on the splorudra...

The Name: It's a nonsense name, but it builds upon another nonsense name (splor) in such a way that it creates a sense of internal logic. Nicely done.

The Description: This certainly one weird-looking monster, but there's nothing wrong with that. After all, this is a game where froghemoths, slurks, and mobogos are running around. So a mutant frog monster fits right in. Of course, something this weird is going to need some interesting powers to make it more than just weird for the sake of weird.

The Powers: And the splorudra delivers. This monster has everything a monster needs to make for an interesting combat encounter. Its hitting and running and jumping and slashing and impaling and digesting, yet all in a manner that is consistent with its main shtick. The only thing that was slightly out of place was the whole lure thing, which you'd need to justify, perhaps by giving the splorudra tremorsense centered on its tongue (as opposed to its body).

Funny enough, this is not the only monster this round that does the whole "delayed digestion" thing, yet this one is more creative about it. Instead of just passively melting you with acid after chewing on your for a bit, we've got a monster that's tagging people with splors that characters can interact with even as the splors slurp up their comrades' flesh. The description of the powers even takes into consideration the possibility that character will attempt to poison the splorudra. Nicely done.

The Buzz: The phrase 'ninja frog' has been thrown around a few times. One poster on another thread even hinted that the occurrence of the phrase suggests that the splorudra isn't an entirely original monster concept. Which, of course, is ridiculous. Even if the sporudra were nothing more than a frog with ninja powers (which is clearly isn't), that would still make it one of the most original monsters to come along in years. And for the record, I'm willing to let a few jokes at the table slide when I'm running an encounter with a mutant frog monster. It's a freaking mutant frog monster. A certain level of absurdity is expected.

The Vote: This is one of eight monsters that I will be considering when it comes time for me to vote.

[varianor]

Richard A. Hunt wrote:

Splorudra

cut for space

This is the twenty-first monster that I am looking at. I do not read the comments below the entry before posting my opinion. An apology if this is duplicative of someone else’s entry, in part or whole.

It’s a frog. A monster, four-legged frog with weird lesions. It has white eyes like other creatures that evolve in caves. (Is this the first example of a D&D monster that actually evolves similarly (in one aspect at least) to a real world critter?) Okay. It's a killer frog.

Powers:
*long paragraph involving an amazingly long tongue and the frog ripping its own kneecap off to hurl it (mm-kay)
*the splor or kneecap burns through armor (ah! PCs begin screaming)
*splor drains fluids (are people water balloons?)
*it slashes as it jumps (okay, cool)
*double legs make it skilled at jumping (do I detect a hint of Spring Attack?)
*masterful guerrilla tactics (this is Powers, right?)
*clumsy swimmers (due to the extra pair of legs?)
*toxins are harmful to people (sure, like a poisonous tree frog)

Summary: This creature has some serious oddity to it. I think, however it’s not in a preferred way. Essentially this is an enormous poison frog that rips its kneecap off and hurls it at someone. Then, when they reel in shock (and the player blinks multiple times), it poisons them. I gotta say, I just can’t see it. Definitely some creativity and outside-the-box thinking here though. I am impressed with one aspect – cohesiveness. It does seem like the writer has a good idea of what the creature does and wrote the monster up with that vision in mind.

[Charles Evans 25]

Varianor:
Re: Poison
Umm, I think it's a case of if a splor hits someone who has been poisoned, the frog gets poisoned when it retrieves and eats that splor.
(Which now that I think of it does raise interesting questions about if you can use Splorudra frog splors to extract poisons from victims as part of healing checks to treat poison?)

[varianor]

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

Varianor:

Re: Poison
Umm, I think it's a case of if a splor hits someone who has been poisoned, the frog gets poisoned when it retrieves and eats that splor.
(Which now that I think of it does raise interesting questions about if you can use Splorudra frog splors to extract poisons from victims as part of healing checks to treat poison?)

Yeah, you're right Charles, I should have reread that. Thanks. Actually, that brings me to one of my common questions from this year: how is that a power?