First of all, I'm unsure if this belongs in Advice or Rules or somewhere else, so please move it if required.
Secondly, this is my first time using creature creation from the Bestiary, though I've played with the race creation from the ARG with mixed results.
And lastly, this intended for a story with many elements of Pathfinder, so I'm building resources as guides for how things work. Perhaps someday they'll see play in a homegame, and thus I want them somewhat balanced, but that is not their primary purpose.
Whew, now that that is all out of the way, I can get to the point.
I am designing a creature to serve as the primary threat for the story and I'd like some feedback on it and wether I've hit or missed my target CR. I understand CR can be an inexact measurement but it will have to do.
The creatures described in the spoiler below are intended to be the ancient ancestors to the current threat before being banished to the Shadow Plane for a thousand years. Their decendants return with the Shadow Creature template from B4 (possibly also with Amorphous and Blur similar to Shae from B3). These shadows are meant to be something the party must flee from until they've fully assembled their group and learned how to use their powers. Then they fight through the horde to defeat the boss and drive them back into the darkness. In campaign terms, this would be from levels 2-10.
TARGET CR: 3 (4/5 as shadows)
A man-sized bipedal saurian with arms that nearly reach the ground and a pair of spiked tails. A sharp horn juts from the back of it's triangular head and from each elbow. Two longer horns protrude from swivling joints on it's back, giving the appearance of vestigial wings.
LE Medium Dragon
INIT. +3 SENSES Darkvision 60ft., Low-light Vision; Perception +9
AURA Frightful Presence (30ft., DC 13)
DEFENSE
AC 14, Touch 13, Flat-footed 11 (+3 DEX, +1 Natural)
hp 30 (4d12+4)
Fort +5 Ref +7 Will +6
DR 5/Adamantine and Silver IMMUNE Paralysis, Sleep
WEAKNESSES Light Sensitivity
OFFENSE
SPEED 40ft.
MELEE 2 Claws +4 (1d4), 2 Tail Slaps +2 (1d6)
STATISTICS
STR 10 DEX 16 CON 12 INT 13 WIS 14 CHA 12
BASE ATK +4; CMB +4; CMD 17
FEATS Combat Reflexes, Multiattack
SKILLS Acrobatics +5, Climb +4, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (Geography) +6, Knowledge (Nature) +6, Perception +9, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +6, Stealth +10, Survival +9, Swim +4
LANGUAGES Common, Draconic
ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT Any land
ORGANIZATION Solitary, Pair, Pack (3-6), Warband (7-16)
TREASURE Standard
HP/AC/saves look fine for a CR 3 monster, but your attack and damage are way too low for a monster that lacks special abilities. You should either dramatically raise the attack and damage (to about double their current values) or add equivalently powerful special abilities.
I think you mean DR 5/ Adamantine or Silver. "And" means you need a weapon made out of two materials to bypass it.
I would give it a breathe weapon. Preferably a debuffing one.
Is this meant to be a minion or a boss? Also for what level PC's
Yeah, I thought the actual power output was on the low end but I wasn't sure about how powerful a Frightful Presence aura would be. Now that I think about it,as soon as the party reaches 5th level, they'll no longer be affected by it...
@Beopere: Not a mistake. While a +4 weapon could overcome it, the party will recieve weapons made from a special material I've called Orichalcum (Not sure if there is already a material called that in Pathfinder) which has the same properties as both Adamantine and Mithril.
@Dastis: Both actually. Early on they may be encountered in 1 or 2s, but eventually they'll be an invading army. Some rare ones have a couple class levels and even a Shadow Lord template or two. I do intend to have a Shadow Queen to be defeated as well as an Agent Smith-esque anomaly with unique abilities to survive the Queen's defeat and avoid being banished back to the Shadow Plane. This anomaly will be the final boss sometime after the first and second plots.
As for character levels, I mentioned it was ~2-10 for this first plot. Party make up as follows.
25 point buy
3 traits a Drawback
Bonus Feat @ 5th and every 5 levels after
Orichalcum provides the same benefits as Adamantine & Mithral
Kineticists of Porphyra 1, 2, 3 are allowed alongside Paizo books
Female Human Divine Conduit(Photokineticist)/10 Sansetsukon
Male Human Unchained Monk/3, Elemental Scion & Kinetic Duelist(Chaokineticist)/7 Shang Gou
Female Human Magician(Bard)/3, Elemental Scion & Overwhelming Soul(Hydrokineticist)/7 Snake Sword
Male Human Titan Mauler(Unchained Barbarian)/3, Elemental Scion(Geokineticist)/7 Greataxe
Female Human Knife Master(Unchained Rogue)/3, Elemental Scion(Aerokineticist)/6 {Dies} Daggers & Chakram
Male Human Swashbuckler/3, Pyrokineticist/7 <Primary Protagonist> Katzbalger & Glaive-Guisarme
Male Human Chameleon & Scout(Unchained Rogue)/4, Daring Champion(Cavalier)/7 {Started +1 level} 9-Ring Broadsword
Male Human Holy Tactician(Paladin)/8 {Started +3 levels, Dies} Shortsword & Small Longspear
Female Human Velvet Blade & Spiritslayer(Slayer)/9 {Started +4 levels, Joins when party is @4th, Dies 1 level later} Ring Blade
Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I'll tweak it some and post it tonight after I get home from work for further critique. Any other suggestions in the meantime are welcome.
A man-sized bipedal saurian with arms that nearly reach the ground and a pair of spiked tails. A sharp horn juts from the back of it's triangular head and from each elbow. Two longer horns protrude from swiveling joints on it's back, giving the appearance of vestigial wings.
LE Medium Dragon
INIT. +3 SENSES Darkvision 60ft., Low-light Vision; Perception +9
AURA Frightful Presence (30ft., DC 14)
DEFENSE
AC 14, Touch 13, Flat-footed 11 (+3 DEX, +1 Natural)
hp 30 (4d12+4)
Fort +5 Ref +7 Will +6
DR 5/Adamantine and Silver IMMUNE Paralysis, Sleep
WEAKNESSES Light Sensitivity
OFFENSE
SPEED 40ft.
MELEE 2 Claws +7 (1d4+3), 2 Tail Slaps +5 (1d6+1)
SPECIAL ATTACKS Pounce, Rend (2 Claws, 1d4+4)
STATISTICS
STR 16 DEX 16 CON 12 INT 13 WIS 15 CHA 14
BASE ATK +4; CMB +7; CMD 20
FEATS Combat Reflexes, Multiattack
SKILLS Acrobatics +5, Climb +7, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (Geography) +6, Knowledge (Nature) +6, Perception +9, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +6, Stealth +10, Survival +9, Swim +7
LANGUAGES Common, Draconic
ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT Any land
ORGANIZATION Solitary, Pair, Pack (3-6), Warband (7-16)
TREASURE Standard
Changes include +6 STR, +1 WIS, +2 CHA and all relative adjustments those cause. Also added Pounce and Rend for Special Attacks.
A man-sized, vaguely saurian creature with a pair of long tails. It's unnaturally thin upper arms suddenly expand into massive clubs with three razor sharp blades for claws. It's body flickers wavers as though made from a fire's shadow. The deep black pits that are it's eyes would unnerve anyone, but it's most unsettling feature is the massive eye centered on it's forehead, constantly looking around.
LE Medium Outsider (Augmented Dragon)
INIT. +3 SENSES Darkvision 60ft., Low-light Vision; Perception +9
AURA Frightful Presence (30ft., DC 14)
DEFENSE
AC 14, Touch 13, Flat-footed 11 (+3 DEX, +1 Natural)
hp 30 (4d12+4)
Fort +5 Ref +7 Will +6
DEFENSIVE ABILITIES Amorphous, Shadow Blend; DR 5/Adamantine and Silver; IMMUNE Paralysis, Sleep; RESIST Cold 5, Electricity 5; SR 9
WEAKNESSES Light Sensitivity
OFFENSE
SPEED 40ft.
MELEE 2 Claws +7 (1d4+3), 2 Tail Slaps +5 (1d6+1)
SPECIAL ATTACKS Pounce, Rend (2 Claws, 1d4+4)
STATISTICS
STR 16 DEX 16 CON 12 INT 13 WIS 15 CHA 14
BASE ATK +4; CMB +7; CMD 20
FEATS Combat Reflexes, Multiattack
SKILLS Acrobatics +5, Climb +7, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (Geography) +6, Knowledge (Nature) +6, Perception +9, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +6, Stealth +10, Survival +9, Swim +7
LANGUAGES Common, Draconic, Nommoc
ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT Any land (Shadow Plane)
ORGANIZATION Solitary, Pair, Pack (3-6), Warband (7-16)
TREASURE Standard
Shadow Template + Amorphous and new language