the Jester
Legend
So we had a great pair of games this weekend, which included a fight against one of my homebrewed solo monsters, and I thought it a cool enough in use that I should post a thread about it.
Here are the monster's stats (ignore references to RADs if you don't play in my campaign or some kind of world with radiation):
The moment when they bloodied it and it split in four was priceless. The rogue that struck the bloodying blow actually screamed, "What? NO!" at the table. It was awesome.
***
The pcs never figured out to use necrotic against it, but they discovered its threatening reach. They also never go to the point where anyone had both vulnerabilities from the aura. Can't have everything, I guess!
The party has two wizrards and both had mass resistance, so by the end of the fight its breath wasn't super effective. However, being a hydra, I ran this thing as preferring to bite anyhow.
It was a good fight; the pcs were sweating it a little here and there, but never looked to be teetering on the edge. With their cleric and two pcs multiclassed into other leaders (bard and warlord), they are pretty good at handling their healing needs.
Here are the monster's stats (ignore references to RADs if you don't play in my campaign or some kind of world with radiation):
My Adventure said:RADIOACTIVE HYDRA--- Level 10 Solo Brute
Huge natural beast--- XP 2500
HP 535; Bloodied 267 (see Horrid Split); Initiative +7
AC 20; Fortitude 24; Reflex 20; Will 20; Perception +11
Speed 5; All-around vision
Resist poison 5, radiant 5
Saving Throws +5; Action Points 2
TRAITS
Radioactive Aura (poison, radiant) * Aura 2
Each creature that ends its turn within the aura gains vulnerable 5 radiant (save ends). If it already has vulnerable radiant, it also gains vulnerable 5 poison (save ends both).
Many-Headed
Each time the radioactive hydra becomes dazed, stunned or unconscious, it instead loses one attack from its hydra fury attack during its next turn. Multiple such effects stack.
Necrotic Dampening
If the radioactive hydra takes necrotic damage, its radioactive aura ceases to function until the start of its next turn.
Threatening Reach
The radioactive hydra can make opportunity attacks against all enemies within 2 squares of it.
STANDARD ACTIONS
(mbasic) Bite * At Will
Attack: Melee 2 (one creature); +12 vs. AC.
Hit: 1d12+16 damage.
(close) Radioactive Breath (poison, radiant) * At Will
Attack: Close blast 3 (each creature in blast); +11 vs. Fortitude.
Hit: 3d10+1 poison and radiant damage, and the target gains 1 RAD.
Special: Until the radioactive hydra is bloodied, if a creature is hit by multiple radioactive breath attacks on the radioactive hydra's turn, each attack after the first deals only 1d10 additional points of poison and radiant damage.
(melee/close) Hydra Fury * At Will
Effect: The radioactive hydra makes four bite or radioactive breath attacks in any combination.
TRIGGERED ACTIONS
(close) Horrid Split * Encounter
Trigger: The radioactive hydra becomes bloodied.
Attack (No Action): Close burst 3 (each creature in burst); +11 vs. Reflex.
Hit: The target is pushed 3 squares and covered in gore, leaving it blinded and restrained (save ends both).
Miss: The target is pushed 2 squares.
Effect: The radioactive hydra splits into four one-headed serpentine beasts in a shower of gore, and all conditions on it end. Each serpent beast is large sized and shares at least one square of the radioactive hydra's space. The serpent beasts share a single pool of hit points and all of the radioactive hydra's powers, abilities and traits. Each serpent beast acts on the radioactive hydra's initiative and they work together with one mind. Each serpent beast is considered bloodied. Area and close attacks can do damage only once to the combined hit points of the serpent beasts; if such an attack targets more than one of the beasts, apply the highest damage that applies (e.g. if a fireball hits two of the serpent beasts and misses one, apply 'hit' damage, but only once). Likewise, ongoing damage applies only once per round, even if multiple serpent beasts are suffering ongoing damage.
---
Skills Stealth +12
Str 21; Dex 15; Wis 13
Con 19; Int 1; Cha 7
Alignment unaligned; Languages -
The moment when they bloodied it and it split in four was priceless. The rogue that struck the bloodying blow actually screamed, "What? NO!" at the table. It was awesome.
***
The pcs never figured out to use necrotic against it, but they discovered its threatening reach. They also never go to the point where anyone had both vulnerabilities from the aura. Can't have everything, I guess!
The party has two wizrards and both had mass resistance, so by the end of the fight its breath wasn't super effective. However, being a hydra, I ran this thing as preferring to bite anyhow.
It was a good fight; the pcs were sweating it a little here and there, but never looked to be teetering on the edge. With their cleric and two pcs multiclassed into other leaders (bard and warlord), they are pretty good at handling their healing needs.