Check out the Astral Deadnought from Mordenkainen's Tome

WotC's Nathan Stewart celebrated hitting 5,000 Twitter followers by sharing a page from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, the upcoming D&D book due for release next month. The art gloriously evokes Jeff Easley's art from the cover of 1987's Manual of the Planes (a monster originally called an "ethereal dreadnought" and changed to "astral dreadnought" in D&D 2E).

[FONT=&quot]Save[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Save[/FONT]​

 

[Ganymede81]

Its face looks like a cacodemon from Doom. Was Doom the inspiration for this or was it the other way around?

 

[MechaTarrasque]

As long as we are quoting the fluff for descriptions of the Astral Sea, don't forget the part about "astral mists", which I am thinking could justify at least partial cover for the AD if not a surprise round (where the PC's get surprised).

Tactically I think the AD should work like a shark attacking a school of fish, using its greater speed to circle (sphere?) the party, attacking anyone who tries to break out of the circle, possibly moving in and out of the aforementioned mists. It seems like that would greatly diminish the "split up the spell casters so we can tag team nuke it, since it can only antimagic one of us at a time" strategy, since the first caster to make the move will get chomped (and/or dunjoned). Not to mention by not standing still, it will be harder for the melee types to pin it down.

 

[Stalker0]

Here’s my note. This creature looks like a physical brute. It’s not, it’s actually pretty physical weak for a a CR 21 solo.

The donjon legendary action is by far the creatures strongest offense. Honestly it’s only real offense.

I feel like it would bore the players just getting sent to the stomach...you would probably want to include some other monsters trapped there and effectively start s second fight. Thst way everyone stays entertained for the combat

 

[dave2008]

I understand you don't like the variable Legendary Actions, but to return to your rule:

Do you mean you're giving the LM an extra opportunity to "unload" its LAs?

At the end of each player turn plus at the end of the round?

Yes. But, the LM can only "unload" all of its remaining actions at the end of the round. It can't take multiple uses of legendary action after a creature's (same as RAW), only at the end of the round.

Furthermore, just so we understand each other, do you acknowledge this to be your house rule or are you arguing that "end of round" carries any RAW significance?

Either way it's your game - I'm just curious as to what you mean

This is my own houserule, not an interpretation of RAW. I like green beans, carrots, and celery raw, but not much else

 

[darjr]

Has anyone run it? What did you find?

 

[dave2008]

Its face looks like a cacodemon from Doom. Was Doom the inspiration for this or was it the other way around?

The Astral Dreadnought was out way before DOOM

 

[Dausuul]

There is no floor. But there are drifting chunks of landmasses. Along with Astral ships, from descriptions the person floats weightlessly. The movement option outright says that it's a walking speed.

So... if you enter the Astral Plane, you can't go anywhere unless you have magic allowing you to fly or you happen to appear on one of those landmasses? I guess the description doesn't technically contradict that view, but the strong implication of "A traveler can move simply by thinking about moving" is that you can go where you want.

"Walking speed" is important because it makes it clear that this is overwriting your normal movement (30 for most PCs), not any other type of speed. If you're an aarakocra with Int 8, your fly speed is unchanged.

The Astral Dreadnought was out way before DOOM

Well, sorta. The astral dreadnought wasn't published until 1995, and Doom was released in 1993. However, the art which inspired both of them (the cover of the 1E Manual of the Planes, which you can see in the first post in this thread) came out in 1987.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Here’s my note. This creature looks like a physical brute. It’s not, it’s actually pretty physical weak for a a CR 21 solo.

The donjon legendary action is by far the creatures strongest offense. Honestly it’s only real offense.

I feel like it would bore the players just getting sent to the stomach...you would probably want to include some other monsters trapped there and effectively start s second fight. Thst way everyone stays entertained for the combat

Not really. According to calculations it's offences are stronger then average for a CR 21.

 

[MarkB]

I'm curious about the Donjon. Certainly, PCs can be sent there without actually dying. By DM fiat, other creatures could too - and this thing will be battling some pretty high-level foes on its own turf. I kind-of want to see an Ecology of the Donjon article.

Beyond that, imagine if you could tame one of these things, and harness its powers. If you can train it to swallow creatures without first biting them to death, and to regurgitate them on command, the Donjon then becomes your stronghold. You could furnish it, add some amenities, use the Dreadnought as your vessel on a journey through the Astral Sea.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I'm curious about the Donjon. Certainly, PCs can be sent there without actually dying. By DM fiat, other creatures could too - and this thing will be battling some pretty high-level foes on its own turf. I kind-of want to see an Ecology of the Donjon article.

Beyond that, imagine if you could tame one of these things, and harness its powers. If you can train it to swallow creatures without first biting them to death, and to regurgitate them on command, the Donjon then becomes your stronghold. You could furnish it, add some amenities, use the Dreadnought as your vessel on a journey through the Astral Sea.

It's stated to be impossible to tame. Any attempt to communicate or reason with a Dreadnought has been met with death.