Shoggoth Isn't Quite Right

[kevin_video]

Did anyone else notice that there's a few numbers off with the shoggoth?

1) Str 40 is a +20 modifier, yet all of his damage is +15. Why?
2) Engulf should be as per the slam, but it's 4d6 instead of 3d6.
3) Trample should be also as per the slam (3d6), but it's 4d8. So should all the 3d6 be 4d8, or should the 4d8 be 3d6?
4) The original shoggoth (Crucible of Chaos) had blindsight 200 ft. This is still an ooze, but it has tremorsense 60 ft. instead. Again, why?

[johnlocke90]

Well it is shoggoth. There is supposed to be something off with it.

[Rynjin]

Magic.

[Marthian]

1) str 40 is a +15 modifier, so possibly a typo

[Rynjin]

Wait, yeah, Marthian has a point.

Mods go up for every 2 points ABOVE 10.

So that's 30 points above 10 divided by 2 = 15.

[kevin_video]

Marthian wrote:

1) str 40 is a +15 modifier, so possibly a typo

Okay, that's fine then. The other three still stand though.

[Odraude]

Slam seems like a typo
Trample as well. It is entirely possibly that it is supposed to do more damage with those abilities.

The last one is easy. Crucible of Chaos is a 3.5 module and chances are, they changed him up a bit when they converted him.

[kevin_video]

Odraude wrote:

The last one is easy. Crucible of Chaos is a 3.5 module and chances are, they changed him up a bit when they converted him.

Guaranteed. The 3.5 one was CR 15, had +3 HD, was gargantuan size, two extra abilities that were save or die, and free engulfs when it trampled you.

[James Jacobs]

kevin_video wrote:

Did anyone else notice that there's a few numbers off with the shoggoth?

1) Str 40 is a +20 modifier, yet all of his damage is +15. Why?
2) Engulf should be as per the slam, but it's 4d6 instead of 3d6.
3) Trample should be also as per the slam (3d6), but it's 4d8. So should all the 3d6 be 4d8, or should the 4d8 be 3d6?
4) The original shoggoth (Crucible of Chaos) had blindsight 200 ft. This is still an ooze, but it has tremorsense 60 ft. instead. Again, why?

1) Str 40 is a +15 modifier, so the slam damage is correct.

2) Sometimes a monster's engulf damage is higher (or even lower) than standard for engulf. In this case, the shoggoth is a monster that's particularly devastating with its engulf attack, and as such gets to do more damage than normal.

3) Same with trample (see #2 above).

4) One of several changes we made to the monster in the conversion to Pathfinder. Blindsight 200 feet is really really good, and kind of arbitrarily far away. By removing that and instead giving it tremorsense, we account for the fact that the monster has all sorts of sensory organs as it needs without giving it a ridiculous level of blindsight.