D&D 3E/3.5 Kraken Variants

[Cleon]

Hey, two posts for you, too!

That's odd. There was only one copy when I posted that reply. Must be a system glitch.

I have to say that I like that for the Aspect. So let's go with it.

Good-oh.

I forgot to include the DC-determining ability in the description, but I'll make it "The save DCs are Charisma-based" as per standard.

I just looked through that book review again and didn't see anything that really adds to special abilities for the aspect, but it seems a bit light. What else do you think would work? Improved Grab and Constrict I think are good, but I'm not sure what else is good for this.

The only thing that tempted me was true seeing based on a rather loose interpretation of the eyes of a Khalk'ru mural seeming to gaze into the viewer's very soul.

Oh, and I think we should consider giving it Spell Resistance and maybe immunity to mind-affecting abilities, despite the original lacking those qualities. It needs at least some defences.

Anyhow, I'll add Constrict and Improved Grab while updating the Khalk'ru Working Draft.

 

[Cleon]

Oh, we need to decide how much physical damage the tentacles do.

I'd go for 2d8 like a standard Kraken's tentacle attack.

 

[freyar]

I'll go for true seeing, sure. And 2d8 for the tentacle is fine.

We should work out the AC. Somewhere around your suggested value of 32 is probably ok; it's not too far from similar-HD demons and devils. What if we give it a +5 deflection AC (like a profane bonus) equal to its Cha bonus and then natural AC from +14 to +16, which is close enough to a kraken's NA to be reasonable. That gets us to AC 30 or 32.

 

[Cleon]

I'll go for true seeing, sure. And 2d8 for the tentacle is fine.

So what about the idea of adding some defensive qualities such as Spell Resistance or Immunity to Mind-Affecting Effects?

We should work out the AC. Somewhere around your suggested value of 32 is probably ok; it's not too far from similar-HD demons and devils. What if we give it a +5 deflection AC (like a profane bonus) equal to its Cha bonus and then natural AC from +14 to +16, which is close enough to a kraken's NA to be reasonable. That gets us to AC 30 or 32.

Works for me. I'd stick to the proposed AC 32 mostly since it has a "2" in it like the original's -2.

I might as well formalize the profane bonus as a SQ.

Updating the Khalk'ru Working Draft.

 

[freyar]

That all looks good, and I'm fine with adding SR and Immunity to Mind-Affecting Effects.

Skills: Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Listen, Spot, ??? I'm having some trouble thinking of skills that a giant tentacle needs!

 

[Cleon]

That all looks good, and I'm fine with adding SR and Immunity to Mind-Affecting Effects.

Updating the Khalk'ru Working Draft.

Skills: Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Listen, Spot, ??? I'm having some trouble thinking of skills that a giant tentacle needs!

Profession (masseur), Sleight of Hand and Tumble, obviously.

I guess we could cadge a few skills from the regular Kraken. They have Concentration, Diplomacy, Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot, Use Magic Device.

Of those Hide, Intimidate, Listen and Spot are good vanilla choices. The "peering into your very soul" flavour could be interpreted as it having a high Sense Motive skill.

Your suggestions of Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes) make good sense.

That leaves one.

Maybe Use Magic Device or Knowledge (arcana)?

 

[freyar]

Either of those would work if you have a strong preference. I think Know. (arcana) seems to fit a bit better from my feel for the flavor, though.

Feats: Power Attack, Imp. Bull Rush, Snatch (I know, it already has a lot of these abilities, but a giant tentacle should really be able to throw someone around), Lightning Reflexes, Cleave, Great Cleave? I could see swapping in Blind Fight, perhaps.

I feel like it should communicate telepathically.

Did we ever settle on a value for SR?

 

[Cleon]

Either of those would work if you have a strong preference. I think Know. (arcana) seems to fit a bit better from my feel for the flavor, though.

OK, let's use arcana then.

That's 18 ranks apiece in Hide, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (the planes), Listen, Sense Motive and Spot.

Which comes out to…

Skills: Diplomacy +7, Hide +11, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (religion) +18, Knowledge (the planes) +18, Listen +18, Sense Motive +18, Spot +18, Survival +5 (+7 on other planes)

Updating the Khalk'ru Working Draft.

Feats: Power Attack, Imp. Bull Rush, Snatch (I know, it already has a lot of these abilities, but a giant tentacle should really be able to throw someone around), Lightning Reflexes, Cleave, Great Cleave? I could see swapping in Blind Fight, perhaps.

I'm not keen on some of those. The flavour suggests Khalk'ru would prefer to annihilate enemies with its touch of destruction rather than pushing or tossing them about. Power Attack doesn't seem of much use either, since it makes it less likely to hit with its destructive touch.

Your final suggestions of Lightning Reflexes, Cleave and Great Cleave are fine though.

A regular Kraken has Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (tentacle), Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Iron Will.

Of those, I like Blind-Fight and Improved Initiative.

That leaves one. Maybe Combat Reflexes to increase its opportunity attacks?

Feats: Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes

I feel like it should communicate telepathically.

I was wondering about giving it some ability to "mind influence" people to help explain how it formed a cult of worshippers (and maybe why the hero of the book thinks he's the reincarnation of Khalk'ru's champion) but couldn't decide how to solidly express that as a mechanic. Maybe something similar to the modify memory spell or the psionic modify memory power? It would need to be able to work across planar barriers for Khalk'ru to work its will from "beyond".

There's no indication it can "talk" telepathically. They don't seem to be sure whether it has a mind or intelligence. That'd be obvious if they could chat with it.

Did we ever settle on a value for SR?

No. Something like SR 24 or 25 feels about right for the Aspect.

 

[freyar]

Your suggested feats and skills will be fine.

How about SR 25?

The text I saw on it in the article you linked was mostly a combat scene, IIRC, though. I wouldn't expect it to talk much, even if it could. I'd just say telepathy feels right. But if you really don't like that, let's just forget communication. It's an aspect of a demigod or something similar, so maybe the "real" Khalk'ru communicates to its priests the way gods normally do.

 

[Cleon]

Your suggested feats and skills will be fine.

How about SR 25?

Fine by me.

Updating the Khalk'ru Working Draft.

The text I saw on it in the article you linked was mostly a combat scene, IIRC, though. I wouldn't expect it to talk much, even if it could. I'd just say telepathy feels right. But if you really don't like that, let's just forget communication. It's an aspect of a demigod or something similar, so maybe the "real" Khalk'ru communicates to its priests the way gods normally do.

Suits me.

We can think about giving the real Khalk'ru some kind of extraplanar influencing people ability when we get around to that conversion.