hello everyone, I should be dming my first game soon and I'd like my party to fight some big mean beasties at low levels, monsters in the Huge size category, somewhat monster hunter style. is there anything out there that looks big and scary that isn't too much of a challenge mechanically?
Megafauna.
Archelon, kaprosuchus, and megatherium are each CR 5 huge guys. Should fit the kind of theme, too. Gigantic animals and such.
Sea turtle, land crocodile, and sloth.
thats awesome. thank you.
Templates are your friend.
Zombies and Skeletons of huge creatures are usually quite a bit easier to handle than the "original".
You can also apply the giant template to any large creature without making it much more dangerous.
Running into a Giant Dire Boar Skeleton would look terrifying but it's just a CR 3 encounter. Hits hard but goes down relatively fast, especially compared to the Con 17 + thoughness + ferocity original.
Templates are your friend.
Zombies and Skeletons of huge creatures are usually quite a bit easier to handle than the "original".
You can also apply the giant template to any large creature without making it much more dangerous.
Running into a Giant Dire Boar Skeleton would look terrifying but it's just a CR 3 encounter. Hits hard but goes down relatively fast, especially compared to the Con 17 + thoughness + ferocity original.
thanks, I'll definitely look into the giant and skeleton templates.
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thanks, I'll definitely look into the giant and skeleton templates.Templates are your friend.
Zombies and Skeletons of huge creatures are usually quite a bit easier to handle than the "original".
You can also apply the giant template to any large creature without making it much more dangerous.
Running into a Giant Dire Boar Skeleton would look terrifying but it's just a CR 3 encounter. Hits hard but goes down relatively fast, especially compared to the Con 17 + thoughness + ferocity original.
Later on in your game or when the players face a boss type creature you can apply the Giant Template more than one, each time applying all the bonuses/ penalties and increasing the size category by one step.
Later on in your game or when the players face a boss type creature you can apply the Giant Template more than one, each time applying all the bonuses/ penalties and increasing the size category by one step.thanks, I'll definitely look into the giant and skeleton templates.Templates are your friend.
Zombies and Skeletons of huge creatures are usually quite a bit easier to handle than the "original".
You can also apply the giant template to any large creature without making it much more dangerous.
Running into a Giant Dire Boar Skeleton would look terrifying but it's just a CR 3 encounter. Hits hard but goes down relatively fast, especially compared to the Con 17 + thoughness + ferocity original.
Yeah, I was just looking at that. you can get some really weird creatures out of it.
like a Huge raven. I've swapped weapon finesse for skill focus fly. does the rest of the stats seem right. and would you say this would make for a good CR 1 or CR 2 encounter?
HP 20
Str 22, Dex 7, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7
AC 11, Flat footed,11, Touch 6. (-2 Dex, -2 Size +5 NA)
Feats. Skill Focus Perception, Skill Focus Fly
Skills Perception +6, Fly +2
Offence
Bite +6, 4d4+6
Huge 7HD Lizard (27 STR)
Huge 7HD Parrot (26 STR)
Huge poisonous 7HD Platypus (26 STR)
Huge 7HD Raven (26 STR)
Huge 7HD Turtle (27 STR)
Huge {DINOSAUR!} 7HD Archaeopteryx (27 STR)
Huge 7HD Giant Botfly {EW} (26 STR)
Huge 7HD Cat (27 STR; scene from Dorkness Rising)
As may be obvious by now, I'm just going through the less than CR 1 bestiary and applying the template to tiny-sized creatures, making them huge-sized.
Making them a little more evil/problematic/monstrous/deserving of smiteousness/etc. is as "simple" as adding the fiendish, and creatures can be used even if they're originally diminutive with a "simple" giant template. Over-all, this makes CR 2-4 huge creatures that you can climb and and that are huge-sized and that are in need of smiting, and probably have weird-looking traits or elements.
Hope that helps!
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Huge 7HD Lizard (27 STR)
Huge 7HD Parrot (26 STR)
Huge poisonous 7HD Platypus (26 STR)
Huge 7HD Raven (26 STR)
Huge 7HD Turtle (27 STR)
Huge {DINOSAUR!} 7HD Archaeopteryx (27 STR)
Huge 7HD Giant Botfly {EW} (26 STR)
Huge 7HD Cat (27 STR; scene from Dorkness Rising)
As may be obvious by now, I'm just going through the less than CR 1 bestiary and applying the template to tiny-sized creatures, making them huge-sized.
Making them a little more evil/problematic/monstrous/deserving of smiteousness/etc. is as "simple" as adding the fiendish, and creatures can be used even if they're originally diminutive with a "simple" giant template. Over-all, this makes CR 2-4 huge creatures that you can climb and and that are huge-sized and that are in need of smiting, and probably have weird-looking traits or elements.
Hope that helps!
wow, thats a massive help. saves me from applying the normal template 4 times lol.
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hello everyone, I should be dming my first game soon and I'd like my party to fight some big mean beasties at low levels, monsters in the Huge size category, somewhat monster hunter style. is there anything out there that looks big and scary that isn't too much of a challenge mechanically?
Just remember that if your'e talking first to third level parties, Huge creatures can be one shot kills if they crit.
hello everyone, I should be dming my first game soon and I'd like my party to fight some big mean beasties at low levels, monsters in the Huge size category, somewhat monster hunter style. is there anything out there that looks big and scary that isn't too much of a challenge mechanically?Just remember that if your'e talking first to third level parties, Huge creatures can be one shot kills if they crit.
This is true!
(If you go with Fiendish, you might just want to have their Smite ability to have just gone off on a tough would-be hero to prove both how dangerous it is, and to increase the survive-ability of the PCs in question.)
EDIT: Damage expressions from the examples I gave:
Huge 7HD Lizard (27 STR): 1d6+8
Huge 7HD Parrot (26 STR): 1d4+8
Huge poisonous 7HD Platypus (26 STR): 1d4+8 plus poison
Huge 7HD Raven (26 STR): 1d4+8
Huge 7HD Turtle (27 STR): 1d4+8
Huge {DINOSAUR!} 7HD Archaeopteryx (27 STR): 1d6+8
Huge 7HD Giant Botfly {EW} (26 STR): 1d3+8 plus infestation {shudder}
Huge 7HD Cat (27 STR; scene from Dorkness Rising): 2 claw 1d3+8, 1 bite 1d4+8
As may be obvious by now, I'm just going through the less than CR 1 bestiary and applying the template to tiny-sized creatures, making them huge-sized.
Making them a little more evil/problematic/monstrous/deserving of smiteousness/etc. is as "simple" as adding the fiendish, and creatures can be used even if they're originally diminutive with a "simple" giant template. Over-all, this makes CR 2-4 huge creatures that you can climb and and that are huge-sized and that are in need of smiting, and probably have weird-looking traits or elements.
Hope that helps!
So be wary of that cat - three +8 damages in a round is going to be brutal for anything of low level. You might want to have it "play" with its food, by using combat maneuvers or something.
EDIT 2: Just to be clear, the normal damage for huge creatures would likely be higher (I've not looked, but I'm guessing). I'm explicitly using the gigantean template's stuff, however. One other important thing you might want to do with that template is give the PCs a reason to take advantage of the fact that they can climb the thing. As-is, there's no actual reason to do so. But put in, say, a weak spot (maybe where they can use touch AC or flat-footed or avoid attacks or something).
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There's always a giant template Hydra for a CR5 gargantuan :D
If you want to be a little creative. There are templates like the mutant template in bestiary 5.
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Later on in your game or when the players face a boss type creature you can apply the Giant Template more than one, each time applying all the bonuses/ penalties and increasing the size category by one step.thanks, I'll definitely look into the giant and skeleton templates.Templates are your friend.
Zombies and Skeletons of huge creatures are usually quite a bit easier to handle than the "original".
You can also apply the giant template to any large creature without making it much more dangerous.
Running into a Giant Dire Boar Skeleton would look terrifying but it's just a CR 3 encounter. Hits hard but goes down relatively fast, especially compared to the Con 17 + thoughness + ferocity original.
Yeah, I was just looking at that. you can get some really weird creatures out of it.
like a Huge raven. I've swapped weapon finesse for skill focus fly. does the rest of the stats seem right. and would you say this would make for a good CR 1 or CR 2 encounter?
HP 20
Str 22, Dex 7, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7AC 11, Flat footed,11, Touch 6. (-2 Dex, -2 Size +5 NA)
Feats. Skill Focus Perception, Skill Focus Fly
Skills Perception +6, Fly +2Offence
Bite +6, 4d4+6
Its damage would be +9, not +6 (it only has one natural attack so it gets str x1.5 instead of just x1). Also I would not put that up against any level 1s. Its minimum damage alone would drop any but the most the most hardy lvl 1 pcs in a single hit (13 minimum damage)--with a good chance of outright killing some in a single blow. It has an average of 19 damage per bite which will kill any d6 classes (from full to below negative Con).
I really don't think it was intended for you to apply the same template more than once.
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hello everyone, I should be dming my first game soon and I'd like my party to fight some big mean beasties at low levels, monsters in the Huge size category, somewhat monster hunter style. is there anything out there that looks big and scary that isn't too much of a challenge mechanically?Just remember that if your'e talking first to third level parties, Huge creatures can be one shot kills if they crit.
True, but so can mooks with a greataxe or earthbreaker. A puny 14 STR Earthbreaker crit averages at 30 damage.
All I'm saying, is a cat with the gigantean template plus the giant template, and you really can just about reenact that scene from Dorkness Rising...