[3.5e] Barbed Devil stats

[Quasqueton]

I read the article you quoted from.

Also, what is this:

"damage reduction 10/good"

"Good"? Is that different than holy?

Quasqueton

 

[Ashardalon]

A Holy weapon is in all likelyhood a good weapon, but not necessarily vice versa, that is, a good weapon might not be holy.

 

[hong]

Mind you, your point is a very valid one about it invalidating previously published adventures. I'm sorta taking my players through the adventure path modules, but there is no way that I can just plug a (new) pit fiend into "Lord of the Iron Fortress". I'll probably have to replace it with whatever devil is closest in CR to an "old" pit fiend.

... that would be the new pit fiend, assuming the module designers simply took the CR at face value. I'll bet money that your average 16th level party would have ripped the 3.0E pit fiend a new one. It shares the problem of the 3.0E balor of being weak for its CR.

 

[The Serge]

Now I've seen 3 creature listings from the revision -- the pit fiend, mummy, and now barbed devil. All three have had major revisions and power-ups. They were not simply brought into compliance with the rules. They were not simply rewritten to clear up understandability of their stats. They were drastically changed. That is not the right way to do a revision that will be backwards compatible.

I agree with you. While I like the idea that most Outsiders are seeing a better spread of power, this reflects that we are indeed seeing a drastic change beyond what was initially suggested.

If anything, what this reveals is that the CRs for Outsiders and apparently Undead were out-of-wack from the first MM. I recall reading a comment from Monte Cook (why are we also referring to this guy? ) wherein he stated that he felt the CRs for Outsiders were all too low and that he increased their HD to d10 rather than d8 in order to compensate.

So they needed a devil creature for the CR 11 range? How about two barbed devils (EL 10)? How about a cornugon (CR 10)? How about the DM add a few class levels? Changing all the creatures' stats in what is billed as a moderate revision invalidates all previously published material. Suddenly, published adventures with encounters with pit fiends, mummies, and barbed devils (and presumedly with any other creature) have ELs badly out of whack. Now the great "end" battle in Lord of the Iron Fortress is not EL 19, but something like EL 24 (for level 15-16 PCs).

Again, I agree with you. The entire fight at the tail end of that great and already difficult fight would require intense revisions in order for it be balanced for four 15 - 16th level PCs. We now know for certain (which I always suspected) that the Pit Fiend would be a CR 20 for 3.5; begs to ask the question what status the Astral Deva will now be. Personally, I don't see a need to change that creature or the Planetar. Hell, I don't see a reason to change the Solar either (it was already CR 19 and probably should have been over CR 20 in the first place).

But, if they were looking for a better spread, this revision makes sense. It's just that they weren't honest with their intent from the beginning, and that's very annoying.

 

[EricNoah]

I kinda like this new dude:

Gauth
Medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 6d8+18 (45 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square), fly 20 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 19 (+2 Dex, +7 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+3
Attack: Eye rays +6 ranged touch and bite -2 melee (1d6-1)
Full Attack: Eye rays +6 ranged touch and bite -2 melee (1d6-1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Eye rays, stunning gaze
Special Qualities: All-around vision, darkvision 60 ft., flight
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +9
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 15, Cha 13
Skills: Hide +11, Knowledge (arcana) +11, Listen +4, Search +15, Spot +17, Survival +2 (+4 following tracks)
Feats: Alertness, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Iron Will
Environment: Cold hills
Organization: Solitary, pair, or cluster (3-6)
Challenge Rating: 6
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: 7-12 HD (Medium); 13-18 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: --

The gauth, sometimes known as the lesser beholder, is a 4-foot wide orb dominated by a central eye. Six smaller eyes on stalks sprout from the top of its body. It is a rapacious and tyrannical creature that seeks to exact tribute from anything weaker than itself, and often attacks adventurers simply to acquire their wealth.

Eye Rays (Su): Each of a gauth's six eye rays resembles a spell cast by an 8th-level caster. Each eye ray has a range of 100 feet and a save DC of 14. The save DCs are Charisma-based. The six eye rays include:

Sleep: This works like the spell, except that it affects one creature with any number of Hit Dice (Will negates). Gauths like to use this ray against warriors and other physically powerful creatures.

Inflict Moderate Wounds: This works like the spell, causing 2d8+8 points of damage (Will half).

Dispel Magic:This works like the targeted dispel function of the spell. The gauth's dispel check is 1d20+8.

Scorching Ray:This works like the spell, dealing 4d6 points of fire damage (no save). A gauth creates only one fiery ray per use of this ability.

Paralysis: The target must succeed on a Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 2d10 minutes.

Exhaustion: This works like the spell ray of exhaustion (no save).

Stunning Gaze (Su): Stun for 1 round, 30 feet, Will DC 14 negates. The save DC is Charisma-based. Any creature meeting the gaze of the gauth's central eye is subject to its stunning gaze attack. Since the gauth can use its eye-rays as a free action, the creature can use a standard action to focus its stunning gaze on an opponent and attack with all eye rays that bear on its foes at the same time.

 

[BOZ]

I'm happy they're going back to the names like 'barbed devil'. I can never remember what the #@!! a 'hamatula' is.

you got it man! if they're trying to warm me up to the whole 3.5 E thing, it's working...

 

[BOZ]

I kinda like this new dude:

Gauth

not quite new, it's been floating around the FR (so to speak) for years now. is it going to be in the new MM?

 

[Draco Paladin]

Devil names.

I'm also happy that they're returning to the classic diabolic nomenclature. I'll take bone devils over osyluths any day. And baatezu simply isn't as diabolic sounding as devil.

I'll be keeping the exotic names as flavor text though. Planar folk and specialists would call Hell Baator and call devils Baatezu. And devils would probably want to be called baatezu, and consider devil an insulting term.

Now, here's my problem. Devils are baatezu. A barbed devil is a hamatula. A horned devil is a cornugon. But what's the 'Baatorian name' for a pit fiend? (And on a related note, what's the generic name for abishai?) Any ideas?

So far, I've thought of using following:

Pit Fiend = Baalim. (I liked Malebranche, but that was used in the BoVD...)

Abishai = Scaled Devil (I might also call them Draconians, as a nod to Dragonlance. After all, draconians were supposedly animated by the souls of abishai.)

And what could the 'generic names' of demons be? All those Abyssal names ought to have more mundane counterparts.

 

[Staffan]

Re: Devil names.

I'll be keeping the exotic names as flavor text though. Planar folk and specialists would call Hell Baator and call devils Baatezu. And devils would probably want to be called baatezu, and consider devil an insulting term.

I kinda like the official 3e (3.0) explanation: baatezu are a specific type of devil. Kytons are devils without being baatezu, while barbazu belong to the baatezu subgroup.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Re: Devil names.

But what's the 'Baatorian name' for a pit fiend?

Either 'Sir' or whatever he wants it to be.