Dear bloody god: Calystrx (Threats to Nentir Vale Preview)

[Aegeri]

Oh okay. I would probably use her only in a long campaign, where PCs had prepared to face her and had appropriate fire resistance. In that case I would rule it round to round (so count 30 to 30 and such forth). This monster isn't the sort of thing you just drop on a party, but if I say got the brain worms and actually did that I would probably rule it turn to turn to make it somewhat less sadistic on the party.

 

[Colmarr]

Calastryx's turn (not one of her heads, mind you) cycles just like the players. So, if she uses the zone power on Initiative count 30, it lasts all the way around until the end of Initiative count 10 on the following turn.

I'm not sure that makes sense.

'Action Recovery' refers to Calastryx taking turns. 'Multiple Heads' refer to her getting a full turn 3 times per round (at counts 30, 20, 10). Against that background, I don't see how you could possibly interpret Calastryx's stat block the way you have.

Yes, I know you designed her And this post is probably evidence that I have sunk too deep into the RAW crowd.

If the end of Calastryx's next turn after Round 1 Initiative 30 (R1In30) is Round 2 Initiative 10 (R2In10), then the logical extension of that is that:

1. She hasn't taken any turns at all in between (meaning that R1In20 and R1In10 etc aren't turns for her and she can't act); or
2. Calastryx's turn in fact lasts from R1In30 to R1In10.

If the latter, then Calastryx's turn would encompass all of the other turns that fall between. That does really weird things to the rules, such as:

1. leader bonuses that last until the end of the target's next turn being triggered twice if the ally is between count 30 and 10 (once on the ally's first turn, and then again the next round because Calastryx's 'next turn' hasn't ended yet);
2. Calastryx not getting to make OAs against any PCs that act between initiative 30 and 10 (because it's still her turn); and
3. Calastryx's Action Recovery would only activate once per round.

The only way I can really see this working as written is if each turn is considered a full turn for the purposes of breath weapon duration. If the intention is for the breath weapon to last a full round, then the power should probably say something like "a zone that lasts until the end of the same initiative count in the next round" or similar.


And having said all that: Nice monster!

 

[Riastlin]

Beautiful. I love it, and this is precisely the type of thing to make solos (and especially dragons) scary again. I can just picture the look of terror on the faces of my players when that fourth head pops out (or if I had her breath 3 times in the opening round).

 

[Matt James]

Yeah, getting pummeled by a nasty creature, then having a fourth head pop out, definitely increases the pucker-factor on the battlemap

 

[Erren]

Edit: Just out of curiosity, but were you talking to Rodney Thompson at all when you made this? It's similar to the description of his conversion of the two headed red dragon from the Lich Queen adventure recently (Combining a red dragon and hydra). Or do great minds just think alike? I'm also wondering about your decision to have it end marks: That's absolutely *brutal*.

Calystrx actually originally appeared in the Hammerfast supplement (which I'm using for my current campaign right now - though I'm replacing Calystrx with Sata and Ekoba from SaveVersusDeath.com). This appears to be a slight tweaking of that dragon on the damage numbers, with the addition of the Action Recovery Trait. That obviously makes a huge difference in the monster, and this presents a great deal more fluff as well.

All in all, I'm very pleased. More paragon-tier updated solos are never a bad thing. If someone went back and restatted all the big names from H1-H3 (Kalarel, etc) I wouldn't mind either.

 

[Matt James]

By the way, Mike Mearls was the original designer of this creature before I was able to get my hands on it for MV2. He should get credit here, too.

 

[M.L. Martin]

By the way, Mike Mearls was the original designer of this creature before I was able to get my hands on it for MV2. He should get credit here, too.

So which one of you named it? And was Malystryx, the Great Red of the underappreciated Dragonlance: Fifth Age material, any inspiration for the name?

 

[Herschel]

Hella-sweet! Pre-ordering now set, boosted to level 16 and now undead for use this week or next.

 

[Riastlin]

By the way, Mike Mearls was the original designer of this creature before I was able to get my hands on it for MV2. He should get credit here, too.

Blasphemer! Burn the heathen!

 

[Herschel]

Matt James is a new power in teh universe. He has the awesome power to un-ruin the ruined.

"The Un-Ruiner" now a major motion picture (re: straight to DVD) starring Jason Statham.