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Book of the Dead - Monster Manual by Mesh Hong
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<blockquote data-quote="Mesh Hong" data-source="post: 5024242" data-attributes="member: 73463"><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">Thank you, I created this some time ago and the art of monster making is a continual learning process so there may be some inconsistencies in it. There are probably some things I would do differently now, but I welcome any feedback and will enjoy answering any questions or concerns.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">Like all creatures though, each has to be weighed against the PCs it is facing and the composition of the encounter it is to be placed in. I generally create creatures on the strong side and like to consider them all <em>serious threats</em>, if you want more mundane threats there is always the MMI.</span></span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">The Bone Blade Skeleton was my attempt at a mini “Tomb Guardian”, now it is worth noting that I consider the MMI Tomb Guardian to be hideously overpowered for a standard creature. Personally I would use a maximum of two of these in an encounter as they are pretty efficient.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- Skirmisher is pretty much the default creature type, not all skirmishers need to have movement related powers.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- I agree that the damage potential of his double attack is strong, it is 2 attacks at the low damage expression. Personally I don’t see a problem with this (and it is slightly less accurate when using its double attack), but you could lower each attack to 1d4+4 if you felt it was necessary.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- Sly stab seems like a skirmisher or lurker power to me. It is an encounter power that targets Will (I doubt many brute powers target will) and deals skirmisher or lurker level damage. For this creature standard skirmisher damage would be 1d8+4 (standard attack) + 1d6 (sneak attack); this attack is slightly weaker in damage at 2d6+4 but adds the loss of a healing surge. To me this seems reasonable as an encounter power.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- Speed of the Dead is very much a skeleton power in my opinion and I quite often use it, with the additional +1d6 damage removed as it doesn’t fit the balance of this creature.</span></span></p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">This is a good example of how my opinions have changed. For some reason I used to strongly believe that it wasn’t fair for a creature to be able to grab someone then have another attack at them before the target had a chance to escape. This belief gripped me so much that I felt compelled to add “Target must be grabbed at start of <em>creatures</em> turn” before all stage two grabbed attacks, even when it was a standard creature and had no way of doing this (in theory only an elite or solo could do this). Needless to say I rarely use this phrase now as it is <u>completely unnecessary</u>.</span></span></p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- The zone should last until the end of the encounter</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- The way I envisioned the Corpse Catapult was that it needed support, and part of that support would be allies telling it where to target. I don’t see it as a guardian or soldier, I see it as a siege engine or tool and the lack of perception in a small way enforces this.</span></span></p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">The Crawling Hand was designed before Open Grave came out that contains the Crawling Claws. The Crawling Claws may be better designed creatures, and it is probably worth noting that my Crawling Hand came from a ideas thread (it looks like I should have given it a more thorough examination before putting it in the book!)</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- Yes it should be climb 4 (spiderclimb)</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- Hand Grab should be a basic melee attack</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- Unnatural Cunning is an immediate reaction, and should state at will, when missed by a melee attack</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- The immobilised comes from the hand jumping up and grabbing your throat, you are so busy wrestling with it that you can’t move. I admit it doesn’t make a great deal of sense, but then it is a crawling hand.</span></span></p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">I really like the Fidget Tick, for all its failings it has a lot of personality (in my mind anyway).</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">- The Latch on power possibly needs a rewrite for clarity (it’s a little bit fiddly but still reads quite logically to me), if I did it now it might be something like:</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">M <strong>Latch</strong> <strong>On</strong> (standard, at will) </span><span style="font-family: 'Wingdings'"><span style="font-family: 'Wingdings'">s</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"> <strong>acid</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">Attack +9 vs. Reflex; 1d6+4 damage; on hit target is grabbed, dazed and takes 10 ongoing acid damage (escape ends all); also see Feeding hold</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: white"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'">Feeding</span></strong><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"> <strong>Hold</strong> </span><span style="font-family: 'Wingdings'"><span style="font-family: 'Wingdings'">s</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"> <strong>healing, While using Latch On</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">When Fidget Tick has a target grabbed with its Latch On power it cannot take any actions and cannot make opportunity attacks; Fidget Tick gains regeneration 10 and a +4 bonus to its AC defence until its target escapes the grab</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">As to it being EXTREMELY powerful, I actually think the opposite. I think one of its failings is that it is underpowered!</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">A lurker of its level should be dealing 1d10+4 (standard) +1d6 (sneak attack) damage on a standard attack with combat advantage. This creature deals 1d6+4 damage on its attack, then deals 10 damage on subsequent rounds. The daze effect and regenerate 10 compensate for this but PCs have lots of ways to extricate their allies from grabs e.g. any push, pull or slide attack. Also regenerate 10 isn’t <em>that</em> significant when compared to PCs attacks.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">An encounter with Fidget Ticks should be a chaotic affair with them jumping around all over the place and latching on to PCs in an almost comical manner. To me they are very very lurker like and <em>should</em> provide an entertaining and memorable encounter.</span></span></p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Verdana'"><span style="color: white">I look forward to it, it’s a good excuse to revisit some of my old creations and question my creature design philosophy. I put these out as a resource for people so it is always good to get honest feedback to improve my creations.</span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mesh Hong, post: 5024242, member: 73463"] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]Thank you, I created this some time ago and the art of monster making is a continual learning process so there may be some inconsistencies in it. There are probably some things I would do differently now, but I welcome any feedback and will enjoy answering any questions or concerns.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]Like all creatures though, each has to be weighed against the PCs it is facing and the composition of the encounter it is to be placed in. I generally create creatures on the strong side and like to consider them all [I]serious threats[/I], if you want more mundane threats there is always the MMI.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]The Bone Blade Skeleton was my attempt at a mini “Tomb Guardian”, now it is worth noting that I consider the MMI Tomb Guardian to be hideously overpowered for a standard creature. Personally I would use a maximum of two of these in an encounter as they are pretty efficient.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- Skirmisher is pretty much the default creature type, not all skirmishers need to have movement related powers.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- I agree that the damage potential of his double attack is strong, it is 2 attacks at the low damage expression. Personally I don’t see a problem with this (and it is slightly less accurate when using its double attack), but you could lower each attack to 1d4+4 if you felt it was necessary.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- Sly stab seems like a skirmisher or lurker power to me. It is an encounter power that targets Will (I doubt many brute powers target will) and deals skirmisher or lurker level damage. For this creature standard skirmisher damage would be 1d8+4 (standard attack) + 1d6 (sneak attack); this attack is slightly weaker in damage at 2d6+4 but adds the loss of a healing surge. To me this seems reasonable as an encounter power.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- Speed of the Dead is very much a skeleton power in my opinion and I quite often use it, with the additional +1d6 damage removed as it doesn’t fit the balance of this creature.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]This is a good example of how my opinions have changed. For some reason I used to strongly believe that it wasn’t fair for a creature to be able to grab someone then have another attack at them before the target had a chance to escape. This belief gripped me so much that I felt compelled to add “Target must be grabbed at start of [I]creatures[/I] turn” before all stage two grabbed attacks, even when it was a standard creature and had no way of doing this (in theory only an elite or solo could do this). Needless to say I rarely use this phrase now as it is [U]completely unnecessary[/U].[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- The zone should last until the end of the encounter[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- The way I envisioned the Corpse Catapult was that it needed support, and part of that support would be allies telling it where to target. I don’t see it as a guardian or soldier, I see it as a siege engine or tool and the lack of perception in a small way enforces this.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]The Crawling Hand was designed before Open Grave came out that contains the Crawling Claws. The Crawling Claws may be better designed creatures, and it is probably worth noting that my Crawling Hand came from a ideas thread (it looks like I should have given it a more thorough examination before putting it in the book!)[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- Yes it should be climb 4 (spiderclimb)[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- Hand Grab should be a basic melee attack[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- Unnatural Cunning is an immediate reaction, and should state at will, when missed by a melee attack[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- The immobilised comes from the hand jumping up and grabbing your throat, you are so busy wrestling with it that you can’t move. I admit it doesn’t make a great deal of sense, but then it is a crawling hand.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]I really like the Fidget Tick, for all its failings it has a lot of personality (in my mind anyway).[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]- The Latch on power possibly needs a rewrite for clarity (it’s a little bit fiddly but still reads quite logically to me), if I did it now it might be something like:[/COLOR][/FONT] [COLOR=white][FONT=Verdana]M [B]Latch[/B] [B]On[/B] (standard, at will) [/FONT][FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]s[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Verdana] [B]acid[/B][/FONT][/COLOR] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]Attack +9 vs. Reflex; 1d6+4 damage; on hit target is grabbed, dazed and takes 10 ongoing acid damage (escape ends all); also see Feeding hold[/COLOR][/FONT] [COLOR=white][B][FONT=Verdana]Feeding[/FONT][/B][FONT=Verdana] [B]Hold[/B] [/FONT][FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]s[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Verdana] [B]healing, While using Latch On[/B][/FONT][/COLOR] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]When Fidget Tick has a target grabbed with its Latch On power it cannot take any actions and cannot make opportunity attacks; Fidget Tick gains regeneration 10 and a +4 bonus to its AC defence until its target escapes the grab[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]As to it being EXTREMELY powerful, I actually think the opposite. I think one of its failings is that it is underpowered![/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]A lurker of its level should be dealing 1d10+4 (standard) +1d6 (sneak attack) damage on a standard attack with combat advantage. This creature deals 1d6+4 damage on its attack, then deals 10 damage on subsequent rounds. The daze effect and regenerate 10 compensate for this but PCs have lots of ways to extricate their allies from grabs e.g. any push, pull or slide attack. Also regenerate 10 isn’t [I]that[/I] significant when compared to PCs attacks.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]An encounter with Fidget Ticks should be a chaotic affair with them jumping around all over the place and latching on to PCs in an almost comical manner. To me they are very very lurker like and [I]should[/I] provide an entertaining and memorable encounter.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=white]I look forward to it, it’s a good excuse to revisit some of my old creations and question my creature design philosophy. I put these out as a resource for people so it is always good to get honest feedback to improve my creations.[/COLOR][/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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