Paragon Pugwampis

[Lord Pel]

I keep threatening my players to bring out one of these so I thought I would stat him up for the fun/exercise of it.

Paragon Pugwampi CR 14
Always NE Tiny fey
Init +13; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +13 (+9 listen)
Aura unluck (20-ft. radius)

DEFENSE
AC 40, touch 40, flat-footed 31(+9 dex, +2 size, +5 natural armour, +12 inherent, +12 luck)
hp 25 (1d6+19)
Fort +17, Ref +21, Will +19
DR 10/epic; SR 32
Fast Healing 20; Fire 10; Cold 10

OFFENSE
Spd 90 ft.
Melee dagger +28 (1d2+24)
Ranged shortbow +28 (1d3+20/×3)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16)
At will—prestidigitation, speak with animals
1/day—shatter (DC 17)
3/day—Greater Dispel Magic, Haste, See Invisibility

STATISTICS
Str 18, Dex 28, Con 25, Int 25, Wis 29, Cha 21
Base Atk +0; CMB: 4
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff +14, Craft (trapmaking) +11, Disable Device +13, Hide +26, Ride +9, Perception +13
Languages Gnoll, Terran
Gear dagger, shortbow with 20 arrows

[Akumamajin]

You forgot the most important part, the unluck aura ;D

That aside, the little bugger looks quite tough with DR 10, 20 Fast Healing and a 32 SR and hart to hit, too ... if it wasn't for the 25 HP, that at CR 14 (Level 10) should be whittled down in a moments notice by anything that somehow hits it. He looks like an egg in armor: once you penetrate that, its a goner. Of course, if there is absolutely no one who can penetrate the 32SR or AC 40 (unlikely) it could lead to a very frustrating experience, but most likely the little bugger will die a horrible death, because the instand he shows up he will be a fire magnet +5.

What I would like to see where some nice special ability, something akin to an enhanced unluck aura like "roll two dice and take the low one -2" or a "steal your luck and buff the other pugwampis" ability, that works like a savable inspire courage that debuffs everyone who doesn't save and buffs the pugs in the area by one point per failed PC.

A few more bard spell-like abilities would be nice, too. Maybe the best thing would be to lower his CR and stat him out with some actual class levels to buff his HP and give him some spells. I think bard or witch would work quite good, especially the sandman with his spellstealing ability.

But I don't want to pick your pugwampi paragon appart, just over some (hopefully) constructive criticism. In what context did you create the creature? Out of a whim? Did you use the Bestiaries monster creation rules as a guideline? Do you plan to use him in a certain scenario? Solo or with many pugs as sidekick? Maybe even not as the antagonist but sort of a neutral tornado that could be thrown the enemies way if the PCs are clever?

[Lord Pel]

Akumamajin wrote:

You forgot the most important part, the unluck aura ;D

Nope. It there in the header section. I just did not add the full text to the Special Abilities section because I am assuming that people who are reading this *KNOW* what the pugwampi does :-)

Akumamajin wrote:

...He looks like an egg in armor...

I will not disagree there. But then, the original creation is meant to be more of an annoying menace than and actual direct threat (for anyone over level 3 at least).

Akumamajin wrote:

In what context did you create the creature? Out of a whim?...

Mainly just as an exercise in 'What if'. I took the 3.5 statblock and simply added the Paragon Template from the d20srd. Nothing more. I am not sure that I would want to actually use him in an actual encounter. I am fairly confident that my players would not want to meet one...heck, they don't even want to meet any of the original CR 1/2 pugwampis and my players are level 13!

I agree with your points about wanting to see more abilities. With that in mind, notice that the stat block says that pugwampi's favourite class is the druid. So what if we add a few level of druid, give him some spells and a hyena animal companion/mount. Any other animal companion would suffer the effects of the unluck aura.

[Akumamajin]

Yeah, you are right, its right there, I just missed it, my bad :>

Hmm a druid ... not a bard, but certainly enough funny little spells, that turn our PCs walk in the park into a nightmare. Spells that should work really good are the ones, that inhibit their movement and/or force skill checks every round. Web would do wonders to annoy them to no ends, as would entangle, an already subherb spell ... and moving through a pugwampi debuffed spike growth field would be the utter pain, hydraulic pushing them for extra fun.

Spells like burning disarm should be fun, too, especially when you describe how the dropped weapon bounces around and lands in the most inconvenient places, like unter a heavy cabinet or a crack in the floor.

Oh, and don't forget, that the pugwampi druid could all this while being an unsuspecting bird or rat or something, a real wolf in sheeps cloth.

[DJEternalDarkness]

Oh my gods I am SO GOING TO USE THIS once my party is out of the Runeforge. They HATED pugwampis when they ran into them on a boat of gnolls, this will be worse.

[Lord Pel]

One of the things that I love about this version is that with haste, the bugger is moving around at 180' as a single move action!

I can envision the little demon running around drawing attacks of opportunity from all the players! And all it needs to take him out is a single critical hit from range. Simple, yes?

[Rakshaka]

I don't think there's ever gonna be a monster in all the APs that's as hated as the Pugwampi. Besides yelling "What is wrong with you??" for making this thing, I must also secretly shake your hand for statting it out. Good job! If I ever want my players to physically beat me up, I'll be sure to drop this thing into the game. Now, if it had some way to dispel or surpress any 'luck' abilities that might counter its aura, it will be all set.. Oh wait.. it's got Greater Dispel 3/day. I can feel the punches coming already...

[Lord Pel]

One of the things that I did forget to calculate is the CMD:

CMD 33 (10 +0 BAB +4 STR +9 Dex -2 size +12 Luck)

Oh, and the CMB is wrong. It should be a 2(0 BAB +4 Str -2 size). I forgot the size modifier *blush*

So with a CMD of 33, this is the biggest whole in this things defense. Get a grapple or a trip in concert with the other characters using the 'Aid another' action to stack +2 on a single character's attack roll.

This means that to beat this thing, the party really needs to work together. And *THAT* I can groove on.