Help! I need a creature!

[Lucias]

Hey folks,

I'm in desperate need of a creature that meets the following criteria:

1) Can damage ability scores, preferably their choice
2) Is not undead
3) Is as low CR as possible.
4) Is from a WOTC book.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Must it drain? Or would ability damage be enough?

What you are describing sounds an awful lot like a poisonous creature.

 

[Lucias]

Sorry, I meant ability damage, not drain.

 

[Shin Okada]

Stirge ... CR 1/2
Dire Weasel ... CR 2

Both from MM.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Well, there you go. That sounds like some monstrous spiders and scorpions to me. They've got all kinds of ability damage they can do; it's mostly Strength, Con, and Dex, though.

Diseases also work, so you could have a particularly dirty animal that inflicts, for instance, Mindfire (for Int damage) or Cackle Fever (Wis damage) on a successful attack.

 

[domino]

NPC anything with poison?

 

[Lucias]

Good suggestions, thanks all.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A Wiz3 with Touch of Idiocy, Ray of Enfeeblement, and Touch of Fatigue can inflict penalties on Str, Dex, Int, Wis, and Cha. Temporary, and not ability damage, but it's only CR3...

-Hyp.

 

[Voadam]

Stirge ... CR 1/2
Dire Weasel ... CR 2

Both from MM.

I can top that for low CR

Viper, snake, Tiny, CR 1/3
Monstrous centipede, Tiny CR 1/8
Monstrous scorpion, Tiny CR 1/4
Monstrous spider, tiny

All in MM/SRD

Each has poison that does ability damage. And progressively larger versions for higher CRs.

 

[SelcSilverhand]

Mindshredder larvae from MM3 can damage wisdom either as part of a melee attack, or as a touch attack (doing no damage).
There's also the Meenlocks (also MM3) that have a mental attack that can drain wisdom.

I used both of those in a low-level aberration heavy campaign. My players spent each day with an average of 5 wisdom =P