| RJ Dalton 89 |
The Warden of the North is something I'll be setting up next session, but they won't actually fight it then because they're just passing through and they'll placate it with scrimshaw talismans. It's an advanced Ijiraq with some variations I'm putting on it and it guards the entrance to the mountains where a path to Leng can be found. The warden's goals are as much about keeping people out as it is keeping the monsters in. It can be placated if you're just passing through, but it won't allow anyone near the pass into the mountains.
Based on the monster creation rules, the simple numerical stats would place this as a CR 13 creature, but it's got some unusual unique abilities I've given it that I think make it a bit tougher, specifically the traumatic variant of its control winds spell, and its skin thief ability. But it also has a significant weakness in the inuksugaq. I'm not sure if one balances out the other, or if one tips the scale.
What do others think?
The Warden of the North (Advanced Variant Ijiraq) CR ???
XP ????
CN large fey (shapechanger)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +27
DEFENSE
AC 28, touch 12, flat-footed 25 (+2 Dex, +1 dodge, +16 natural -1 size)
hp 189 (20d6+120)
Fort +12, Ref +16, Will +16
Weakness The Inuksugaq
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +17 (3d4+5), bite +17 (3d6+5), gore +17 (3d6+5)
Ranged javelin +12 (1d8+3)
Special Attacks disorienting gaze
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th; concentration +27)
At will—dimension door, fly, hallucinatory terrain (DC 21)
3/day—baleful polymorph (DC 22), traumatic control winds (DC 23), cure critical wounds (DC 21), ice storm (DC 22), quickened sleet storm, summon nature’s ally V (Summon 1d4+1 megaloceros with +4 to str and con)
STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 19, Cha 24
Base Atk +10; CMB +17; CMD 26
Feats Acrobatic Steps, Augment Summoning, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Gruesome Shapechanger, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Spell Focus (conjuration), Traumatic Spell-Like Ability (control winds), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (sleet storm)
Skills Bluff +21, Escape Artist +24, Handle Animal +18, Intimidate +20, Knowledge (arcana) +16, Knowledge (nature) +19, Perception +27, Stealth +21, Survival +16
SQ Skin Changer, Skin Thief, hide in plain sight
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Disorienting Gaze (Su)
The warden of the north can level an icy stare at a creature within 30 feet. That creature takes a –20 penalty on Perceptionchecks and Survival checks for 24 hours (Fortitude DC 27 negates). The save DC is Charisma-based. The warden can use this ability while in any shape.
Hide in Plain Sight (Su)
The warden of the north can use the Stealth skill even while being observed. As long as it’s standing in terrain covered in ice or snow, the warden can hide itself from view in the open without actually hiding behind anything. The warden can’t use this ability while flying, and the ability has no effect when the warden isn’t in icy terrain.
Skin Changer (Su)
The warden of the north is not a normal shape changer, but a skin changer. It can transform into any creature it wishes, but it must do so by wearing the skin of that creature. This functions as a polymorph spell, but only allowing forms for which it has skins. The Warden’s favored form is that of the caribou (elk) and will always have a skin for that form. Generally, it will have two or three other skins for animals that live near its home (arctic hare, arctic fox, snow weasel, lemming, musk ox, or other arctic animals), and at least one human skin.
Skin Thief (Su)
When the warden of the north uses its baleful polymorph ability, it steals that person’s skin by swapping it with that of another, leaving its victim trapped in another form and allowing it to change into that person. This spell can only be reversed if the victim’s original skin is recovered. Using this ability requires a full-round action.
When it uses this ability, it can no longer change into the shape of the skin it switched out for its victim unless it has another skin of that type.
Gruesome Shapechanger (Su)
When the warden of the north changes form, it tears off the skin it’s wearing, leaving behind the former shape’s skin and a pile of blood and viscera. Moving through that space requires an acrobatics check of 5 + the original DC (7-10 on snow and ice).
Additionally, witnessing the transformation must make a DC 24 fort save or be sickened for 1 minute (10 rounds).
Traumatic Control Winds (Sp)
When the warden of the north uses its control winds power, any character who feels the winds must make a DC 23 will save or suffer the effects of the nightmare spell. For each failed will save, the character must make another will save (DC decreases by 2 each time) or suffer another nightmare the next night until they make a successful save.
The Inuksugaq
According to local legends, the warden of the north once played its tricks on a powerful medicine man, keeping him lost in its domain for over three months. Annoyed, the medicine man came back next summer and built a stone cairn in the middle of its territory and embedded a cold iron needle into it. This monument (called the inuksugaq) is enchanted with special medicine. If anyone touches the nail in the inuksugaq, all of the powers the warden has used on them are immediately undone and the warden becomes unable to use its disorienting gaze on them for 1d4+1 days, giving them enough time to get out of its territory. The warden cannot use its hallucinatory terrain within 1 mile of the inuksugaq, and if it stands within 100 feet of it, all of its spell-like abilities become non-functional.
| Dasrak |
One thing to note is that you're using the low attack and damage stats for a CR 13 creature, so it is expected that it's going to have some extremely nasty abilities. Overall things looks about right for CR 13.