27th level Monster Conversions

[the Jester]

This thread is a continuation of the Monster Project.

27th level Monsters to Be Converted

Bile Lord
Deepspawn
Elemental, Living Holocaust
Fiendwurm
Gargantuan, Devastation Spider
Zaratan

Already Created 27th Level Monsters
Thought grinder (level 27 artillery)
Nightmare beast soul eater (level 27 controller)
Ooze octopus (level 27 controller)
Uvuudaum haiku (level 27 controller)
Spell weaver student (level 27 minion artillery)
Thought grinder (level 27 artillery)
Ooze octopus (level 27 controller)

Higher-Level Monsters to be Converted
Beholderkin, Hive Mother [29th level]
Blackball [30th level]
Elder Brain [30th level]
Genius Loci [30th level]
Golem, Adamantine [30th level]
Infernal [30th level]
Solar [30th level]

 

[the Jester]

EDIT: Revised later in the thread here.

BILE LORD--- Level 27 Elite Controller
Large aberrant humanoid (bile)--- XP 22,000
---
Initiative +21; Senses Perception +21, darkvision
Sickening Aura aura 5; creatures within are weakened and slowed; does not effect creatures with the bile keyword
HP 506; Bloodied 253
AC 43; Fortitude 42; Reflex 41; Will 43
Resist 20 acid, 20 poison
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6
Action Points 1
---
Claw (standard action; basic attack) Acid, Bile, Poison: Reach 2; +28 vs. AC; 2d6+9 damage and ongoing 10 acid damage (save ends), plus followup attack: +27 vs. Fort; ongoing 10 poison damage.

Bile Burst (standard action; at will) Acid, Bile, Poison: Burst 2 within 10; targets each creature in burst; +27 vs. Fort; 2d6+5 points of acid damage plus 10 ongoing acid damage plus 10 ongoing poison damage (save ends both); Miss: half damage and 5 ongoing acid and 5 ongoing poison (save ends both). Effects: The area becomes difficult terrain until the end of the encounter. Creatures with the bile keyword ignore this.

Psychic Assault (standard action; recharge 5 6) Psychic: Blast 5; targets each enemy in blast; +27 vs. Will; 2d8+9 psychic damage and slide target up to 3 squares; Miss: slide target up to 2 squares.

Wave of Withering Power (minor action; recharge when first bloodied) Psychic: Blast 4; targets each creature within blast (does not affect creatures with the bile keyword); +27 vs. Will; target is dazed (save ends) and blinded until the end of the Bile Lord’s next turn. Miss: target is dazed until the beginning of its turn.

Sickening Exhalation (immediate reaction when damaged by a melee attack; encounter) Bile, Poison: Target the creature that damaged you; +27 vs. Fort; 3d8+9 poison damage. Effect: The Bile Lord may shift 1 square.

Second Wind (standard; encounter) Healing: The Bile Lord spends a healing surge and regains 126 hp. It gains a +2 bonus to all of its defenses until the end of its next turn.
---
Alignment Evil; Languages Ancient Giant
Skills Arcana +28
Str 24; Dex 26; Wis 26
Con 29; Int 30; Cha 30

 

[Rechan]

Fiendwurm

Oh man, is this the giant worm with the portal in its belly, that constantly vomits up devils (Or is it demons)?

I loved that thing.

Also, the Bile Lord looks amazingly vicious. I honestly don't have a good grasp of monsters at that level, but it's brutal.

 

[the Jester]

Oh man, is this the giant worm with the portal in its belly, that constantly vomits up devils (Or is it demons)?

Yep, me too.

Also, the Bile Lord looks amazingly vicious. I honestly don't have a good grasp of monsters at that level, but it's brutal.

Brutal enough that my epic 3.5 campaign revolved around them.

 

[Larry Hunsaker]

Nice, but do you think that the aura is a bit too much? In effect, all melee attackers will be weakened while attacking it making it have twice the normal hit points. So this may be a foe that is worth more than his level 27 elite status shows.

 

[the Jester]

Nice, but do you think that the aura is a bit too much? In effect, all melee attackers will be weakened while attacking it making it have twice the normal hit points. So this may be a foe that is worth more than his level 27 elite status shows.

Only if the attacks are all melee.

This version is very nasty and unplaytested. Until I try it out, I'm going to leave it as is.

 

[the Jester]

EDIT: Updated to MM3 stats, with many an additional kaiju, later in the thread here.

DEVASTATION SPIDER--- Level 27 Solo Brute
Gargantuan natural beast (spider)--- XP 55,000
---
Initiative +19; Senses Perception +19, tremorsense 20
HP 1540; Bloodied 770
Regeneration 20
AC 41; Fortitude 43; Reflex 41; Will 38
Saving Throws +5
Speed 12, climb 9
Space 10x10
Action Points 2
---
[Melee basic] Bite (standard; at will) Poison: Reach 4; +30 vs. AC; 2d10+9 damage, plus ongoing 20 poison damage and -2 to saving throws (save ends both).

[Close] Careless Smash (standard; at will): Close blast 3; +28 vs. AC; 3d6+9 damage, and target is knocked prone.

[Melee and Close] Destructive Rampage (standard; at will): The devastation spider makes a bite and a careless smash attack. The target of the bite may not be a target of the careless smash.

[Area] Mass of Webs (minor; recharge 5 6) Zone: Creates a zone of webbing that counts as difficult terrain: burst 6 within 20; +x vs. Reflex; Hit: target is restrained (save ends); Aftereffect: target is slowed (save ends); Miss: target is slowed (save ends).

[Close] Poison Spray (immediate reaction; when first bloodied; encounter) Poison: The devastation spider sprays poison at the attacker that bloodied it (if possible): close blast 4; +28 vs. Fortitude; 5d8+10 poison damage and ongoing 10 poison damage.
---
Alignment unaligned; Languages -
Str 31; Dex 23; Wis 26
Con 28; Int 3; Cha 8

 

[the Jester]

EDIT: Revised-to-MM3 version is later in the thread, here.

LIVING HOLOCAUST--- Level 27 Controller
A living holocaust is an unholy matrimony of flame, wind and evil. Born in the maelstroms of the Elemental Chaos bordering on the Abyss, living holocausts in the World burn through everything they can and attack almost every creature they meet. Some work with powerful evil creatures such as efreet, demons or dragons.

A living holocaust looks like a red, upright flame that constantly flickers and waves. It has no face or other recognizable features. Living holocausts that are moving or attacking appear to be small hurricanes of fire and tearing winds.

Medium elemental animate (air, fire) --- XP 11,000
---
Initiative +24; Senses Perception +27
Burning Winds (Fire) aura 6; creatures entering or starting their turn in the aura take 10 points of fire damage, and it costs 1 extra square of movement to move towards the living holocaust within the aura
HP 251; Bloodied 125
AC 40; Fortitude 40; Reflex 42; Will 37
Resist fire 20; Vulnerable cold 10
Speed fly 10 (hover)
---
[Melee basic] Flaming Windspike (standard; at will) Fire: +31 vs. Reflex; 3d6+6 fire damage, plus ongoing 10 fire.

[Ranged] Grasp of the Burning Winds (standard; recharge 3 4 5 6) Fire: Range 10; +31 vs. Reflex; 2d8+9 fire damage, plus target slides 3 squares.

[Ranged] Nova Burn (standard; encounter) Fire: Range 20; +31 vs. Reflex; 5d10+9 fire damage, plus target gains vulnerable 10 to fire (save ends).

[Area] Holocaust Winds (standard; recharges when the living holocaust is targeted by an attack with the Fire keyword) Fire: Burst 3 within 20; +29 vs. Reflex; Hit: 4d10+9 fire damage, and the target slides 3; Miss: half damage.
---
Alignment chaotic evil; Languages Primordial
Str 12; Dex 31; Wis 26
Con 27; Int 16; Cha 25

 

[Derulbaskul]

Hi the Jester,

I'm thinking about converting the deepspawn. I have no real need for it right now but maybe I will attempt it shortly just to see how it turns out.

I wondering:

- why did you choose 27th level?
- do you see it as a controller or lurker or something else?
- what do you plan to do about its spawn ability?

Thanks in advance. I really appreciate your threads.

Edit: I've had a crack at it but at 15th level (CR 10 in 3.5E plus 50%). I've gone with brute because that's what it feels like.

Deepspawn
Level 15 Solo Brute
Huge aberrant magical beast XP 6,000
Initiative +9 Senses Perception +15; all-around vision, darkvision
HP 604; Bloodied 302
AC 27; Fortitude 28; Reflex 27; Will 27
Immune poison
Saving Throws +5
Speed 4 , Swim 4
Action Points 2
m Wielded Weapon (minor; at-will) • Weapon
Reach 4; +18 vs AC; 2d8 + 6 damage.
m Biting Tentacle (minor; at-will)
Reach 4; +18 vs AC; 1d10 + 6 damage.
+16 vs Fortitude; the target takes ongoing 5 damage and is grabbed (until escape). The target is considered to be moving through the air in the the tentacle-mouth's grasp and so no longer occupies any particular square. After-effect: 1d10 damage from falling. A creature that escapes the grab appears in any unoccupied square within the deepspawn's reach of the creature's choosing.
C Flailing Fury of Tentacles and Teeth (standard; recharge 5 6) • Weapon
Close burst 4; +18 vs AC; 4d8 + 6 damage.
Body Shield (free; at-will)
Requires a grabbed victim; Trigger: when targeted by a melee or ranged attack against AC or Reflex; the deepspawn makes its grabbed victim the target instead. The deepspawn may use this ability once per round for each grabbed victim it currently has.
Heal (immediate reaction; daily) • Healing
When first bloodied, the deepspawn regains all it lost hit points.
Spawn
A deepspawn with sufficient food and water and spawn an exact clone of any living creature that it has devoured (but not clothing and equipment). However, these creatures are minions only. Their level cannot exceed that of the deepspawn. Spawn are fanatically loyal to the deepspawn that spawned them and willingly fight to the death to defend it. A dominated spawn cannot be compelled to attack its "parent" deepspawn: this immediately ends the domination effect.
Threatening Reach
The deepspawn can make opportunity attacks against enemies within 4 squares of it.
Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages Common, Deep Speech, Draconic, Giant, Primordial
Skills Dungeoneering +15, Stealth +14
Str 23 (+13) Dex 14 (+9) Wis 17 (+10)
Con 23 (+13) Int 17 (+10) Cha 17 (+10)
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.

 

[the Jester]

Hi the Jester,

I'm thinking about converting the deepspawn. I have no real need for it right now but maybe I will attempt it shortly just to see how it turns out.

I wondering:

- why did you choose 27th level?

Because it is badass as all hell. Also, since it vomits out all kinds of monsters, I figure it has to be tougher than them. Beyond that, I set monster levels pretty well arbitrarily, and often- if I decide, for instance, "Hey, I want my 10th level party to fight a (for example) cloud giant"- I'll just make another, lower-level version and call it a Young, Crippled, Hungry, Old, etc. Cloud Giant- something that justifies it being a lower-level version. 4e works great for this. Earlier editions were still tweakable in this way, but it was a little harder to justify in the context of the existing ruleset. (One of my favorites in 3e was using an ogre against a 1st level party of halflings; I made it work by advancing the ogre to venerable age and modifying its stats accordingly.)

- do you see it as a controller or lurker or something else?

I haven't gotten that far- I'll prolly end up doing several versions in several roles. Without really thinking about it, I'd say lurker, since it tends to hide under its massive heaps of treasure.

- what do you plan to do about its spawn ability?

Dunno; maybe have a generic "monster minion" that is spews with a variable set of powers ("each deepspawn minion has one of the following: +1 to attacks, +1 damage, resist all 10, breath weapon (close blast 3; +x vs. Ref; x dmg), etc.). I used this approach with my Veteran Six-Fingered Hand Rabble (which modeled a mix of orcs, goblinoids, kobolds, lizardfolk, gnolls and ogres against a party in early paragon levels) and it worked pretty well, although it required a little more dm fiat or bookkeeping than was ideal.

Thanks for posting, I'll take a closer look at your deepspawn this evening (I need to get out of the house and go borrow a friend's shower before I do anything requiring focus- our hot water heater has been busted by frozen pipes and we've been waiting for parts for over a week now, ugh).