Hello, would love some feedback on this construct I created for a campaign I'm brainstorming. I used the pathfinder monster creation page, clockwork dragon, clockwork goliath, and purple worm as references. The monster in question is a colossal mechanical worm. I tried to give it diverse abilities as it is a kind of siege engine but also to make the battle interesting. Constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks guys.
Abiteth, Worm Siege Engine CR 20
N Colossal construct (clockwork)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 40, touch 8, flat-footed 34 (+4 Dex, +2 dodge, +32 natural, -8 size)
hp 281 (31d10+111)
Fort +10, Ref +16, Wis +10
DR 15/adamantine; Immune construct traits
Weaknesses vulnerable to electricity
OFFENSE
Speed 70ft., burrow 70ft.
Melee bite +43 (4d6+20 plus grab) or slam (2d8+20)
Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft.
Special Attacks breath weapon (120-ft. line, DC 25, 20d8 electricity, usable every 1d6+4 rounds), grind (3d6+30 slashing), push (slam, 15 ft.), self-destruction, swallow whole (3d10 bludgeoning, AC 26, 25 hp), trample (2d8+30, DC 45)
STATISTICS
Str 50, Dex 18, Con —, Int —, Wis 11, Cha 1
Base Atk +31; CMB +59; CMD 79 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Improved InitiativeB, Lightning ReflexesB, ToughnessB
Skills Intimidate +25, Perception +2
SQ difficult to create, efficient winding, large slam, repair clockwork, small mouth, swift reactions, tough alloys
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Burrow (Ex)
Abiteth is capable of burrowing through solid rock, but not metal
Grind (Ex)
Abiteth’s serrated body makes it all the deadlier. When it makes a successful grapple check, it deals an additional 3d6+30 slashing damage. This includes, but not limited to, its grab ability.
Large Slam (Ex)
Due to its large, wormlike body, Abiteth’s slam affects a 10 ft. radius area.
Repair Self (Ex)
Abiteth can repair itself and other clockwork constructs. As a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, Abiteth can repair damage done to itself or an adjacent clockwork creature, restoring 2d10 hit points.
Small Mouth (Ex)
Abiteth is only capable of swallowing huge or smaller creatures.
Self-Destruction (Ex)
When Abiteth’s hit points are reduced to 10% its total (25 hp) or less but still above 0, it self-destructs on its next turn, bursting in an explosion of metal scraps and steam that deals 13d6 points of slashing damage plus 13d6 points of fire damage to all creatures within a 20-foot-radius burst. A successful DC 25 Reflex save halves the damage. The save is Constitution-based.
I'm assuming the party would meet it underground where flying out of its reach isn't possible and that they'd be at least 14th level, maybe more, and that they don't include a specialised lightning-based blaster. If those aren't true its threat level changes.
Its short list of SQs don't match the detailed list. Swift reactions and tough alloys being on the first only, grind & self-destruction being on the second only are the likely important differences.
Grind doesn't add to the swallowed damage so by far the safest place to be near Abiteth is inside it. You might want to make grind add to that damage.
Providing your PCs don't get to unload multiple full attacks or optimised blasts on it too early it's likely to be a decent fight.
I'm assuming the party would meet it underground where flying out of its reach isn't possible and that they'd be at least 14th level, maybe more, and that they don't include a specialised lightning-based blaster. If those aren't true its threat level changes.
Its short list of SQs don't match the detailed list. Swift reactions and tough alloys being on the first only, grind & self-destruction being on the second only are the likely important differences.
Grind doesn't add to the swallowed damage so by far the safest place to be near Abiteth is inside it. You might want to make grind add to that damage.
Providing your PCs don't get to unload multiple full attacks or optimised blasts on it too early it's likely to be a decent fight.
So are you saying it doesn't have enough for the CR 20 I'm aiming for? Also for the SQ's I was going for the d20psfrd where it assumes you know the more simple abilities/traits of the creature and explains the rest. For example on the clockwork dragon page it has self-destruction under special attacks and has it under the detailed list, I can fix that though. I was thinking about adding fast swallow to its list of abilities but given its +59 cmb and the reasons given in the next paragraph a friend of mine recommended against it.
The low swallow damage is intentional, since if it hits and grabs with its bite the pc would be taking 7d6+50 damage. Plus on the next turn it has to maintain the grapple check which would cause more grind damage, then if it swallows that adds more bite damage. So in two turns of biting, grabbing, and swallowing the pc would be taking 14d6+100 damage. Their following turn they'll start taking the 3d10 damage. So yes it may be the safest place to be, but it still takes a lot of damage to get there.
I think its stats look good for CR 20, but you want to make sure the battle environment is right. If the PCs can invisibly fly into position and flank/slaughter it, or if they can fly 200' above it and pick it off at range then it's not going to be memorable. If it bursts out of the ground in a network of tunnels before they've had time to turn invisible (among other buffs) then it could be memorable.
You're right that people shouldn't be lining up to get swallowed, I didn't consider just how much damage they'd take on the way in.
I'm not sure what swift reactions and tough alloys do. Are those built into the stats already?
I'm not sure what swift reactions and tough alloys do. Are those built into the stats already?
Yes, they give it the feats it has and the +2 dodge bonus.
It's a cool concept, to be sure.
Mechanically, it seems light on hp for a purely combat-based CR20, but that's about it.
When I think of a giant clockwork monstrosity, I think of something complex and busy and confusing. The beast's sides are bedecked with cannons, like a ship. The area around it is constantly basked in scalding steam that deals damage and obscures vision. It's a host to thousands of clockwork mites that repair it and attack intruders (I'd just give it fast healing over the repair ability). It's got a mouth on both ends that each have their own unique breath weapon. Or a mouth and a giant drill that does extra damage to structure and can generate earthquakes. Etc.
As for the battle itself, what sort of encounter are you planning on? Are they in a vast underground mining complex? Defending a castle? Defending a vast underground castle?
There could be people and areas to protect, forces to command (siege teams would be fun).
A typical party's Plan A would be to have the frontliners engage while the mage/archer types blast the crap out of it. So if we foil that and force them to a Plan B, it would probably involve...limiting terrain, maybe the worm-engine burrowing here and there to attack from unexpected angles (trample would be a sensible ability for this thing), or to force the players to split their characters up to defend multiple fronts, etc.
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I might suggest something like the below, for a more multi-layered encounter:
Worm Engine; N Colossal construct (clockwork); Init +8; darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +2; Aura (billowing steam, 40ft, DC25); AC 40, touch 8, flat-footed 34; 325hp Fort +10, Ref +16, Wis +10; DR 20/adamantine, fast healing 15; construct traits; vulnerable to electricity; Speed 70ft., burrow 70ft., climb 70ft, swim 70ft; bite +43 (4d6+20 plus grab), drill +43 (6d6+20), 10 cannons +17 ranged (6d8); Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft.; SA: breath weapon (120-ft. line, DC 25, 20d8 electricity, usable every 1d6+4 rounds), grind (3d6+30 slashing), self-destruction, swallow whole (3d10 bludgeoning, AC26, 25 hp), trample (2d8+30, DC45); Base Atk +31; CMB +59; CMD 79; Intimidate +25, Perception +2; immense bulk, rumbling advance
Billowing steam: offers concealment, deals 6d6 fire damage and blinds for 1d4 rounds (Fort halves damage and negates blindness)
Immense bulk: can only target foes in a 180° arc with it's bite and drill. Can target small and medium creatures with no more than 2 cannons at a time, 3 for large, 4 for huge, 5 for gargantuan and colossal, no more than 5 shots per flank each round. Doesn't provoke AoO to shoot while in melee.
Rumbling advance: when burrowing or instead of using it's drill attack, duplicates the effect of an earthquake spell.
--something like that. I just look at the CR20 golems with their magic immunity or the big-bad qlippoth (permanent blindness and Feeblemind, just looking at it?) and I feel like you can probably pack s'more stuff in theré
Actually, if you wanted to simplify things, you could dial it's grind damage down, then replace it's trample and swallow whole damage with it. 5d6+10? So it grabs you and grinds you, swalows you and grinds you or runs you over and grinds you.
The cannons could also be free actions, so it can run around and bombard cities or whatever?
I might suggest something like the below, for a more multi-layered encounter:
Worm Engine; N Colossal construct (clockwork); Init +8; darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +2; Aura (billowing steam, 40ft, DC25); AC 40, touch 8, flat-footed 34; 325hp Fort +10, Ref +16, Wis +10; DR 20/adamantine, fast healing 15; construct traits; vulnerable to electricity; Speed 70ft., burrow 70ft., climb 70ft, swim 70ft; bite +43 (4d6+20 plus grab), drill +43 (6d6+20), 10 cannons +17 ranged (6d8); Space 30 ft.; Reach 20 ft.; SA: breath weapon (120-ft. line, DC 25, 20d8 electricity, usable every 1d6+4 rounds), grind (3d6+30 slashing), self-destruction, swallow whole (3d10 bludgeoning, AC26, 25 hp), trample (2d8+30, DC45); Base Atk +31; CMB +59; CMD 79; Intimidate +25, Perception +2; immense bulk, rumbling advance
Billowing steam: offers concealment, deals 6d6 fire damage and blinds for 1d4 rounds (Fort halves damage and negates blindness)
Immense bulk: can only target foes in a 180° arc with it's bite and drill. Can target small and medium creatures with no more than 2 cannons at a time, 3 for large, 4 for huge, 5 for gargantuan and colossal, no more than 5 shots per flank each round. Doesn't provoke AoO to shoot while in melee.
Rumbling advance: when burrowing or instead of using it's drill attack, duplicates the effect of an earthquake spell.
--something like that. I just look at the CR20 golems with their magic immunity or the big-bad qlippoth (permanent blindness and Feeblemind, just looking at it?) and I feel like you can probably pack s'more stuff in theré
I know I'm coming back to this a few months later but holy crap I love this. I'm definitely going to use this if that's alright. As for the environment of the battle... I'm not entirely sure yet as I still need to figure out some details on the story.
College has been a challenge for me so my thoughts have been elsewhere, so thanks guys for the feedback.
It's 100% alright. The way I see it, lvl20 is just so crazy that you NEED to throw a ton of stuff at them for the encounter to be much of anything.
If you're still casting about for feedback, I'd consider something like the following for a final encounter:
-the PC's are defending some kind of city or fortress when the thing shows up. And by shows up, I mean it just burrows close enough that sections of the city are subject to an earthquake. So the PC's are left to deal with a city shaking itself apart, injured/panicking people, etc.
-I think Abiteth's beginning strategy would be to pop up somewhere in the heart of the city and blasts a huge swathe of it to rubble, then retreat back into the tunnels. If allowed to, it waits for its fast healing to repair damage sustained and for it's breath weapon to recharge, and then it just repeats.
- if the party follows Abiteth, the tunnels are all difficult terrain, just wide enough for the worm to tunnel through, with maybe some larger areas representing caverns beneath the city (cue stalagmite forests, subterranean rivers and waterfalls, yawning chasms, etc). Maybe there are swarms of clockwork mites Abiteth left behind; a crap ton of one shot-able robo-bugs, Tiny or Small size. Real simple; hp, AC, single attack. Their presence on/in Abiteth itself is entirely represented by the Grind and Fast Healing abilities.
- maybe Abiteth's main goal isn't to destroy the PC's, but to lose them in the tunnels so it can surface and cannon/earthquake/trample/breath weapon the city into the ground? The encounter is over when it's clear that the PC's have succeeded or failed in keeping the city walls standing.
You are inspiring. I already decided to add spy drones to Abiteth so it can have an idea of its surroundings, but more tiny repair drones just sound so cool. I'm loving the complexity you've helped me add to this, thank you seriously.
So I'll share a bit of its lore. Abiteth is one of six siege engines developed to bring down a country in a war that occurred roughly 800 years prior to the campaign. It was deployed to cities with tough outer defenses that would have been less efficient to attack with any of the others (specifically the capital). After divine forces intervened to destroy the other engines, Abiteth was the only one to escape and lied dormant underground until reactivated by the campaign's main antagonist. In the campaign itself its initial purpose is to give access to the natural arcane leylines that flow beneath the country and later used for its original purpose.
That's awesome!
So the main antagonist has awakened this behemoth of brass cogs and steel plates...for what purpose, exactly? Just to do it's original thing?
I think it would be cool to set up an encounter with the antagonist where the players can try to thwart their plans and they end up crushed/eaten/obliterated by Abiteth as it rises up to resume it's ancient task?
For the drones in/on Abiteth, I think Grind and Fast Healing are enough to represent them without getting too hard to run the encounter. If they're encountered separately, maybe something like:
Defense Drone; N small construct (clockwork); Init +9; darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +15; AC35, touch 16, flat-footed 30; 1hp Fort +5, Ref +10, Wis +5; construct traits; vulnerable to electricity; Speed 50ft., climb 50ft, swim 70ft; bite +15 (2d6+7), Space 5ft.; Reach 5ft.; Base Atk +9; CMB +13; CMD 28; Perception +15, Stealth +24
Oh jeez that's a more complicated question, one that reveals a lot more about the campaign than I'm currently willing to share.
I do find it hilarious that these drones have a 35 AC and have a single hit point thought.
I honestly have no idea if that's even close to appropriate; I don't know the target AC/DC/bonuses for high-level monsters offhand. Just figured, make them easier to hit than Abiteth itself.
The one hit point thing is one of the things I thought 4th did well. Never got around to actually playing the game, but the concept struck a chord with me. There is something intensely unsatisfying about a high-level rogue or wizard or whatever failing to kill enemy fodder in a single blow. A level 18 sorcerer shouldn't have to bother with magic to kill a single zombie, but with her +1 quarterstaff and Str10, it still takes several rounds.
The 1hp is really just "successful attack = defeat", so you can throw one at them. Then five. Then seventy. They should pose enough of a threat that the party wants them dispatched quickly, but that doing so shouldn't be too hard, once they decide to commit to it. Just high-level goblin/kobold/skeleton-types.
At any rate, I totally understand not wanting to give away too much. Let me know if there's anything else I might be able to offer feedback on, and good luck with this beast of an encounter.