Yuan Ti and allies thread (Ti-Khana critters)

[Cleon]

Agreed.

How about,

"Naturally gregrarious, ti-khana venomwing pterosaurs are often encountered as a feisty and aggressive swarm."

Hmm…

Feisty and gregarious, ti khana venomwing pterosaurs naturally form swarms should they gather in large numbers. Such flocks are typically found in lush jungles or the falconry mews of wealthy yuan-ti settlements, for the swarm's ravenous appetite requires a massive and constant supply of meat.​

That OK?

 

[Casimir Liber]

yep/added

Ti-khana Pterosaur, Venomwing Swarm

 

[Cleon]

yep/added

Updating the Ti-khana Venomwing Pterosaur Swarm.

Ti-khana Pterosaur, Venomwing Swarm

OK, there's a few minor problems.

Type is missing a tag, should be "Medium swarm of Tiny monstrosities (shapechanger)".

Innate Spellcasting needs "(spell save DC 11)".

Its missing the Swarm trait:

Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny venomwing. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.​

Its Multiattack should have "makes two two bites attacks" and the following attack action is called Bites.

As I posted earlier, "bites" is not a typo. Swarm have many sets of jaws to attack with, not a single mouth, so the Action uses the plural form, namely Bites.

Should be a gap above Creatures of the Yuan-ti, but I'm kind of resigned to that going AWOL.

The credit should have Fiend Folio in italics.

 

[Casimir Liber]

aaaargh (runs screaming into jungle)

Ti-khana Pterosaur, Venomwing Swarm updated (title too long for shapechanger to appear annoyingly as tagged!

 

[Cleon]

aaaargh (runs screaming into jungle)

Watch out for the venomwings while you're in there!

Ti-khana Pterosaur, Venomwing Swarm updated (title too long for shapechanger to appear annoyingly as tagged!

So you put the (shapechanger} tag on the type but it refused to display it? That's inconsiderate of D&D Beyond.

Still needs Bites in Actions.

 

[Cleon]

Just noticed a rather clunky phrase in the Description of the Ti-khana Giant Pterosaur.

 Aerial Mounts. Some elite yuan-ti ride ti-khana giant pterosaurs, usually using them as scouting and combat platforms. These creatures can carry up to 480 pounds through the air, the weight of a couple of Medium sized creatures, although they cannot carry fly very far with two creatures.

Should I change it to "although they cannot fly very far with such a load."?

EDIT: Noticed a couple of errors in the last sentence of Dive: "If the target fails the check by 5 or more, they impact knocks them off the pterosaur" and I realize there's a problem with the associated damage. It doesn't allow for falling damage.

I'll change the Ti-khana Giant Pterosaur with the following Dive plus the Aerial Mounts tweak mentioned above.

Dive. If the ti-khana giant pterosaur dives at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a Bite attack on the same turn, the target takes an additional 9 (2d8) piercing damage.
 If a creature is riding the giant pterosaur when it dives, the rider must succeed at a DC 15 Dexterity (Athletics) check or a DC 15 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check or fall prone while remaining in their saddle. If the rider fails the check by 5 or more, the impact knocks them off the pterosaur: the rider takes 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and falls to the ground, landing prone in an unoccupied space adjacent to the target of the dive attack. If hitting the ground would do more than 3d6 falling damage, the rider takes that amount of damage instead.​

 

[Casimir Liber]

Ti-khana Pterosaur, Venomwing Swarm corrected

Ti-Khana Giant Pterosaur corrected

 

[Cleon]

Ti-khana Pterosaur, Venomwing Swarm corrected

So just to confirm, for some reason D&D Beyond won't let you put the (shapechanger) tag on the venomwing swarm so I might as well Index it as-is.

Ti-Khana Giant Pterosaur corrected

Looks fine.

Updating the Ti-khana Venomwing Pterosaur Swarm, the Completed Fifth Edition Creatures Index and and 5E Monsters Based on Third Edition Sources Index.

EDIT: Spoke too soon! Just noticed the D&D Beyond Giant Pterosaur has the "If a creature is riding the giant pterosaur when it dives" paragraph twice in Dives.

Better remove the second one!

Will reupdate the Indexes once that's done.

EDITED EDIT: Speaking of Indexes, I'm toying with the idea of adding a mini-Index of the Ti-khana conversions in the first page of this post, just to help navigate it.

…so I did!

Index of Ti-Khana Monsters.

 

[Cleon]

Okay, have a pretty solid idea for the basic design of the War Pterosaur, so I'll update the Ti-khana War Pterosaur with it.

Might as well QUOTE it here while I'm at it.

Ti-khana Pterosaur, War
Huge monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral evil
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 133 (14d12 + 42)
Speed 30 ft., fly 80 ft.

STR​	DEX​	CON​	INT​	WIS​	CHA​
20 (+5)​	17 (+3)​	16 (+3)​	5 (–3)​	12 (+1)​	13 (+1)​

Saving Throws DEX +6, WIS +4
Skills Acrobatics +6, Perception +4
Senses passive Perception 14
Languages —
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP) Proficiency Bonus +3

Shapechanger. The ti-khana war pterosaur can use its action to polymorph into a Huge snake (which cannot fly), or back into its true form. Its statistics are the same in each form, except for the speed changes noted. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.

Dive. If the ti-khana war pterosaur dives at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a Bite attack on the same turn, the target takes an additional 13 (3d8) piercing damage.
 If a creature is riding the war pterosaur when it dives, the rider must succeed at a DC 15 Dexterity (Athletics) check or a DC 15 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check or fall prone while remaining in their saddle. If the rider fails the check by 5 or more, the impact knocks them off the pterosaur: the rider takes 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and falls to the ground, landing prone in an unoccupied space adjacent to the target of the dive attack. If hitting the ground would do more than 3d6 falling damage, the rider takes that amount of damage instead.

Flyby. The ti-khana war pterosaur doesn't provoke an opportunity attack when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.

Keen Sight. The ti-khana war pterosaur has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Innate Spellcasting (Pterosaur Form Only). The ti-khana war pterosaur's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 12, +4 to hit with spell attacks). The ti-khana can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

• At will: detect magic

Magic Resistance. The ti-khana has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Special Trait. ???.

Actions

Multiattack. The war pterosaur makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws. It can use Venomflame once in place of its bite attack or twice in place of both its bite and claws attacks.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: ## (#d# + #) piercing damage plus ## (#d# + #) poison damage. [can cause poisoned condition?]

Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: # (#d# + #) slashing damage. If the target is a creature that is Large size or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 16). Until this grapple end, the target is restrained, and the pterosaur can't use its claws on another target. The war pterosaur can then take to the air and carry off its victim, using Plummeting Doom on its next turn.

Plummeting Doom. If the ti-khana war pterosaur has a creature of Large size or smaller restrained in its claws, it can use its action to fly up into the sky and then dives while releasing its grip, smashing the grappled victim into the ground. This does 15 (3d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus an additional 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage for every Plummeting Doom action the pterosaur took while it had its victim restrained, up to a maximum of 78 (21d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage for three rounds spent preparing the plummet. For example, if the pterosaur takes two rounds to build up height and speed, the victim takes 60 (15d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage. The victim can make a DC 15 Athletics (Dexterity) check to roll with the impact, which reduces the damage by 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage.
 If a victim escapes the pterosaur's claws and falls, they normally drop from a height of 40 feet for every Plummeting Doom action the war pterosaur took. (At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6. The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.)

Venomflame. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range ### ft., one target. Hit ## (#d# + #) fire damage plus ## (#d# + #) poison damage. [can cause poisoned condition?]

Ruinous Shriek (Recharge 5-6). ???.
 ???.


Description

Ti-khana war pterosaurs…

Creatures of the Yuan-ti. Over millennia of experimentation, the yuan-ti have transformed various scaly reptilian animals into monstrosities that share some of their traits. Called ti-khana, these prized pets are carefully trained to serve their ophidian masters. All ti-khana are resistant to magic like yuan-ti and possess the innate ability to detect magic. The majority of ti-khana also have venomous fangs, the ability to transform into a poisonous snake, and some kind of supernatural or magical attack.
 Ti-khana require the dark magic and alchemy of the yuan-ti to breed and develop their powers. Ti-khana can survive in the wild, but it is unlikely they can reproduce properly without the yuan-ti's arcane treatments. It is possible some types of ti-khana can mate with their unaltered relatives or lay viable eggs with their own kind. However, feral offspring can not develop ti-khana abilities without yuan-ti intervention so, at best, would grow into beasts resembling the ti-khana's mundane ancestors.
 Breeding and training ti-khana is usually performed by specialist yuan-ti spellcasters, but an edifice can be enchanted to perform this task for one or more strains of ti-khana. This allows ancient yuan-ti sites to have a population of ti-khana "guarddogs" even if no yuan-ti has visited them for millennia.

(Based on a monster from the Fiend Folio (2003).)

My basic idea for the War Pterosaur was it would have two roles: A) a flying mount for either a Yuan-ti Abomination or a howdah full of Yuan-ti Malisons or (b) a decent solo opponent for a lowish level party.

Requirement (A) meant it has to be Huge since an Abomination is Large and the Pterosaur has to be big enough to carry it.

It also needs to be fairly resilient to meet both Requirements, since if it's quickly blasted out of the sky and Yuan-ti riding it might plummet to their deaths.

Challenge 7 seemed a fair ballpark since that's the CR of an Abomination.

I've set the numbers to give it a Defensive CR of 7 and if I allow for one Dive attack every three round the rest of its attacks need a DPR somewhere in the 33 to 44 range to give Offensive CR 7, and I'd prefer them to be in the 39 to 44 range.

Let's aim for 42, the Ultimate Answer!

 

[Casimir Liber]

Ti-Khana Giant Pterosaur ...corrected

war pterosaur looks good too. statting up on dndbeyond now

I suppose all good armed forces have Land, Air and ....Sea components...shall we make a ti khana plesiosaur (elasmosaur) or crocodile.....or even an amphibious spinosaur....