So I've been placed in the glorious situation of having my Evil party stumble into the ruins of an Alchemist's laboratory in their quest to recover an evil artifact for a dark god. Fun, right? Why yes! It's even more fun when you think of all the fun I can have in an evil laboratory.
I've decided that the laboratory will have been abandoned for many years thanks to one of the creations taking over. Originally designed to prolong the life of a dying human girl, her father could have never predicted what would happen when he fused his daughter's brain into his breakthrough invention, the Gradual Life and Death Override System. The combination of alchemical fluids and physical trauma warped the girl's brain into that of a whimsical, yet cold and efficient practicer of alchemical Science. She's been waiting an awfully long time for someone to wander down into these ruins; she needs new, living test subjects, after all!
I'd like to present the braniac and boss behind this encounter to the Homebrew board for suggestions and critiques. Foremost, I'm looking for the following things: comments on mechanics and balance, an estimated CR (she's based off of the CR 9 Alchemical Golem from the Bestiary 2, coupled with 6 levels of Alchemist, a dramatic boost to Intelligence, and the Giant Template.) Here's the link, below:
Depends. Is this evil artifact cake?
In all seriousness, love the idea.
Depends. Is this evil artifact cake?
In all seriousness, love the idea.
Of course not. The cake is a lie.
I am totally stealing this for my quest this week. Writer's block is officially unblocked. Thank you, sir. You got my brains working.
My group is level 16, so I will be bumping this up quite a bit (I would personally rate this a CR 12). I will be bumping up the AC and HP and totally changing the saves. I just don't like a huge, immobile, intelligent golem having those saves. I'm also thinking the arms themselves should have their own stats (and really high Reflexes). My group would definitely be targeting the arms up to and including grabbing an arm and riding them while hacking away. I'm also thinking that there will be some sort of environmental element that they will constantly have to deactivate and which Glados will constantly try to reactivate (like an electrified floor around her body or something).
I am totally stealing this for my quest this week. Writer's block is officially unblocked. Thank you, sir. You got my brains working.
My group is level 16, so I will be bumping this up quite a bit (I would personally rate this a CR 12). I will be bumping up the AC and HP and totally changing the saves. I just don't like a huge, immobile, intelligent golem having those saves. I'm also thinking the arms themselves should have their own stats (and really high Reflexes). My group would definitely be targeting the arms up to and including grabbing an arm and riding them while hacking away. I'm also thinking that there will be some sort of environmental element that they will constantly have to deactivate and which Glados will constantly try to reactivate (like an electrified floor around her body or something).
Whatever you do, its important to remember that the limbs aren't separate beings; they're as much a part of GLaDOS as her immovable core processing unit.
I also want to point out that I forgot to update GLaDOS's Base Attack bonus, CMB, and CMD. Their values should be BAB +20, CMB +29, and CMD 43.
I made the following edits to GLaDOS:
Immovable: GLaDOS’s body is unmovable, and as such it does not benefit from her Dexterity score (as shown above). GLaDOS cannot use Dexterity-based skills, does not gain a Dex bonus to AC, and so forth. Having no Dexterity score does not place any penalties on GLaDOS. GLaDOS’s Dexterity score (as listed) applies only to her limbs (see below). In addition, GLaDOS automatically fails any Reflex saves she is required to make. This does not apply to her limbs (see below).
NOTE: Several of GLaDOS's abilities have been updated to reflect this change.
Immovable: GLaDOS’s body is unmovable, and as such it does not benefit from her Dexterity score (as shown above). GLaDOS cannot use Dexterity-based skills, does not gain a Dex bonus to AC, and so forth. Having no Dexterity score does not place any penalties on GLaDOS. GLaDOS’s Dexterity score (as listed) applies only to her limbs; see below.
GLaDOS’s central processing unit cannot make melee attacks or initiate combat maneuvers. Any combat maneuvers made against GLaDOS must be checked against her CMD normally, though the following combat maneuvers automatically fail: feint, reposition, or trip.
Limbs (Ex): GLaDOS possesses four “limbs” that she uses to interact with the world. Although they are separate from the central processing unit, GLaDOS’s limbs have their own statistics and can be targeted separately. The limbs have all the traits and statistics of GLaDOS, except as follows: AC 18, 13 hp, Ref +11, Dex 16. The limbs can make Reflex saves, but they automatically fail any Will saves they are required to make. The limbs can be repositioned and feinted, but they are immune to trip attempts.
In addition, the limbs have a movement speed of 10ft., except they can only move within GLaDOS’s reach. GLaDOS’s limbs are Large creatures and have a space and reach of 10ft. The limbs can make slam attacks (as detailed above), but they cannot use extracts, throw bombs, or use mutagens.
When a limb is destroyed, subtract its total hit points from GLaDOS’s current hit points. This damage is not affected by GLaDOS’s damage reduction.
The last thing I want to do is include a poison similar to the one from the game to the monster to make use of the poison abilities GLaDOS possesses. But I'll save that for the morning :).
Major overhaul. Seperate GLaDOS and her limbs into separate creature entries. GLaDOS herself no longer has a Str or Dex entry and she is completely immune to CMD on the account of being completely rooted to the room she is placed in. There's a lot more; check the file for details.
Major overhaul. Seperate GLaDOS and her limbs into separate creature entries. GLaDOS herself no longer has a Str or Dex entry and she is completely immune to CMD on the account of being completely rooted to the room she is placed in. There's a lot more; check the file for details.
Nice! I love this idea. I'm working up a "mad scientist" laboratory in which the party gets stuck Lots of golems, traps, and weird critters. Maybe Glados will lead them through by some means and then refuse to let them leave because she wants "someone to play with". Very inspired by Portal and your description.
All you need are swarms of repair golems.
Repair golem swarms have no poison, but they can attack metal, crystal, and stone, bypassing hardness. They can use the hit points of thoes materials to repair the dungeon and the swarm. If they have extra, they can create another swarm. Construct monsters and Glados are considered part of the dungeon. It's 300 tiny metal beetles. It has 5 dice but only damages materials. The swarm can be distracted by tossing materials away, such as the shield you took from a slain Orc. A heat metal spell will drive them off of armor.
You could also use this,
22. The Cake
Is a lie. First, it's actually a flan with frosting. Second, the sugar is a sugar like drug that causes delusions. 10 minutes per bite. Everything they spot and search is wrong. They misidentify monsters. They should start meta gaming badly, calling PCs by their player names. Seeing things in the room the gamers are playing in. Everyone who does not eat the cake should start telling them to shut up or something.
Hook: They will start claiming that the Cleaves actually exist in the world they come from and the only way to get out is to cross the great rift. The rift is just part of the space maze that is the Cleaves. Their constant being wrong is like a reverse augury.
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Leave no pun behind.