5E: Fifth Edition Monster Variants Inspired by Fourth Edition Sources

[Cleon]

Hunting Pack #2 [or Hunting Pack?] (18 Dice, Recharges After a Long Rest). The gnoll beast shaman has a pool of 18 hunting dice it uses to form a hunting pack. This pool replenishes after a Long Rest.
 As a bonus action, the shaman can utter a horrible hunting cry and chooses three creatures within 60 feet who can hear or see the shaman, each of which is assigned one hunting die and joins the hunting pack. The pack targets one creature chosen as prey by the shaman as it howls its hunting cry; this may be a creature within 150 feet who the shaman can see or smell, or a creature whose trail the shaman can see or smell within 10 feet. The tracks may be up to 24 hours old (at the DM's discretion a strong or weak trail may change this time limit). The scent of worn items such as clothes or footwear can be used to set prey. The hunting pack can have a maximum of nine members (the shaman plus eight allies), which requires at least three hunting cries to gather. The gnoll beast shaman cannot assign more than one hunting die to each pack member.​

Don't care for the first few paragraphs. Will try again…

Hunting Cry #3 (18 Dice, Recharges After a Long Rest). As a bonus action, the gnoll beast shaman utters a horrible hunting cry and forms a hunting pack that targets one creature the shaman chooses as its prey; this may be a creature within 150 feet who the shaman can see or smell, or a creature whose trail the shaman can see or smell within 10 feet. The tracks may be up to 24 hours old (at the DM's discretion a strong or weak trail may change this time limit). The scent of worn items such as clothes or footwear can be used to set prey.
 The gnoll beast shaman has a pool of 18 hunting dice that replenishes after a Long Rest. With each hunting cry, the shaman can choose three creatures for its hunting pack up to a maximum of nine (the shaman plus eight allies), each of which is assigned one hunting die. The shaman cannot assign a pack member more than one hunting die.​

 

[Casimir Liber]

added (#3)

 

[Cleon]

added (#3)

Updated the Gnoll Beast Shaman.

So are we done with everything apart from the Description?

 

[Casimir Liber]

Yep/wanna have a go or shall I (going to sleep now though)

 

[Cleon]

Let's keep it simple.

A gnoll beast shaman always wears a cloak made from the decomposing skins of their humanoid prey. This gnoll appears twisted and decrepit with age but is faster and stronger than a normal gnoll and possesses dark demonic magic. They regularly leads hunting packs of hyenas and gnolls, both living and undead.
 Chosen by the Lord of Gnolls. Gnoll tribes use trained hyenas for war and hunting. A gnoll beast shaman can bind the spirits of the best of these beasts to serve the tribe after death. The Prince of Beasts occasionally grants this power to a gnoll who sacrificed most of their life to that demon lord.

 

[Gradine]

I somehow have missed this thread so far but I am very interested in what you are selling and would love to subscribe to your newsletter

 

[Casimir Liber]

Heh just all tooling around here a bit....NB: Bolt of chaos still sitting there in actions section

 

[Cleon]

Heh just all tooling around here a bit....

Was that in response to Gradine? The Creature Catalog never had a Newsletter.

Updated the Gnoll Beast Shaman. with the proposed Description.

NB: Bolt of chaos still sitting there in actions section

Dang it, I forgot about Bolt of Chaos in all this excitement.

What I was thinking of was something like:

Bolt of Chaos. Ranged Spell Attack: +6 to hit, range 50 ft. [? maybe 30, 50, 100 or 120 ft.?], one target. Hit: 14 (4d6) [?] damage of a random type (roll d4: 1=necrotic, 2=poison, 3=cold, 4=lightning) and the target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. If they fail, the target suffers a special effect that depends on the bolt's damage type:​

• Necrotic Damage: Target can't regain hit points until the start of the gnoll beast shaman's next turn.
• Poison Damage: Target is poisoned until the start of the shaman's next turn.
• Cold Damage: Target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of the shaman's next turn.
• Lightning Damage: Target can't take reactions until the start of the target's next turn.

It's basically a randomized combination of four cantrips: chill touch, ray of frost, shocking grasp and poison spray.

Not completely decided on the range and amount of damage. The original bolt only had a 25 ft. range but could teleport a hyena 50 feet. A fire bolt cantrip has a 120 ft. range, so I reckon that ought to be the upper limit for its range.

Or we can drop the Bolt of Chaos entirely. The original chosen's Bolt of Ruination is well represented by Spirit Strike and Jaws of Ruination.

 

[Casimir Liber]

yeah....looking at it, does overlap alot so happy to leave off (and use for another critter)

 

[Cleon]

yeah....looking at it, does overlap alot so happy to leave off (and use for another critter)

So just for confirmation, you prefer removing Bolt of Ruination Chaos from the Shaman?

That's OK by me, although I do quite like the mechanics of it.

Still, as you say we can always recycle it for another monster.