Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pants" data-source="post: 3997633" data-attributes="member: 8849">Originally, I statted up a bunch of monsters for a Dragon article back in the day*. The article was rejected and they've been languishing on my hard drive ever since. During a recent hard drive perusal, I came across these, along with some other things I did and I thought, '4e will be here soon' and I figured I should do something with them before they become obsolete.So enjoy. Some of these are conversions of critters already done by the fabulous Creature Catalog team and some are new. Hopefully someone will get some use out of these before the big edition ticks over and maybe even after that.* Read: Waaaay back before the cancellation of Dragon was announced. Mid/Late 2006 most likely.QUICKLINGTiny FeyHit Dice: 2d6 (7 hp)Initiative: +6Speed: 140 ft. (28 squares)Armor Class: 23 (+2 size, +6 Dex, +5 haste), touch 23, flat-footed 17Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-8Attack: Mwk short sword +10/+10 (1d3-1 plus poison) or shortbow +9/+9 ranged (1d3)Full Attack: Mwk short sword +10/+10/+10 (1d3-1 plus poison) or shortbow +9/+9/+9 ranged (1d3)Space/Reach: 2-½ ft./0 ft.Special Attacks: Spell-Like AbilitiesSpecial Qualities: Alacrity, Damage Reduction 5/cold iron, Improved Evasion, Low-Light Vision, Natural Invisibility, Poison Use, Spell Resistance 18Saves: Fort +0, Ref +9, Will +4Abilities: Str 8, Dex 22, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 16Skills: Balance +13, Bluff +10, Hide +15, Jump +25, Listen +6, Move Silently +13, Search +8, Spot +6, Survival +6 (+8 when following tracks), Tumble +11 Feats: Dodge(B), Mobility(B), Weapon FinesseEnvironment: Temperate and warm forestsOrganization: Solitary or group (1 leader (rogue/assassin or sorcerer) and 2-8 regular quicklings)Challenge Rating: 4Treasure: StandardAlignment: Usually chaotic evilAdvancement: By character classLevel Adjustment: +8A sudden blur of motion whizzes between your legs. You can only make out the vague form of a pale blue-skinned creature. It comes to a stop some distance away, a wicked looking dagger clenched in its small hand. Two exceptionally long ears rise to points above a head covered in long, snowy hair. Its features are finely chiseled, almost feral, and its eyes burn with an intense, inner radiance.Quicklings are evil, malicious fey that delight in causing pain and slaying other creatures. Feared for their exceptional speed and dark demeanors, quicklings are masters of stealth and guile.COMBATA quickling prefers to ambush prey, either by darting out and striking at their foes or firing poisoned from concealment. It usually starts combat by using its dancing lights or minor image spell-like abilities to trick the unwary into falling into their ambush. Being particularly vulnerable to cold iron weapons, the quickling usually reserves its shatter spell-like ability for any such weapons.A quickling engaged in melee attempts to disengage as soon as possible, either by using its Tumble skill, its fast movement speed, or by just remaining invisible until its opponent moves out of reach. A quickling that retreats from an opponent seethes with hatred and it spends its time plotting revenge. It usually attempts to set up another ambush as soon as possible.Alacrity (Su) A quickling moves and attacks with supernatural swiftness. It has a +5 haste bonus to its Armor Class, and a +120 ft. enhancement bonus to its land speed. It may make two attacks as a standard action and it can make two extra attacks at its highest base attack bonus when making a full attack. This effect does not stack with a haste spell.Improved Evasion (Ex) If a quickling is ever exposed to any effect that allows it to attempt a Reflex save for half damage, it takes no damage with a successful saving throw. Even if it fails the save, it still only takes half damage.Natural Invisibility (Su) A quickling is under the constant effect of an invisibility spell (caster level 10th). If the quickling moves, attacks, or casts a spell (or uses a spell-like ability), the invisibility effect ends, though the quickling becomes only partially visible, granting it a 15% miss chance. The quickling remains partially visible until the beginning of its next turn, at which point it automatically turns invisible again. The quickling can willingly end its invisibility effect as a free action on its turn and can remain visible as long as it wishes to.See invisibility and true seeing reveals the location of a quickling and an invisibility purge spell suppresses the quickling’s invisibility for 1 round. Poison Use (Ex) Quicklings are experts at poison use and are never at risk when applying poison to their weapons. Spell-Like Abilities: At will – dancing lights; 1/day – minor image (DC 15), hypnotic pattern (DC 15), levitate, shatter (DC 15). Caster level 6th. The save DC's are Charisma-based.Skills A quickling has a +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Move Silently checks.ECOLOGYOnce thought to be gentle cousins of brownies, the quicklings dabbled in some dangerous and mysterious magic that eventually corrupted them into their now wholly vicious forms. Due to the dark magic that greatly accelerates their speed, quicklings also suffer from a tremendously increased metabolism which greatly shortens their lifespans, making them some of the shortest lived of any fey creature. Quickling young mature after less than a year and reach adulthood by the age of two. Old age sets in by their tenth year and many die at age twelve. Very few quicklings ever live past fifteen years.Quicklings speak so quickly that it is often difficult for those unfamiliar with quicklings to decipher. Any creature that hears a quickling speak and can understand its language must succeed at a Listen check in order to understand the quickling. A DC 15 Listen check is needed for simple sentences, a DC 20 check is needed for longer sentences, and a 25 (or higher) is needed for complex statements.Typical Physical Characteristics: Quicklings very closely resemble tiny elves, though their features are much sharper and more feral. Their skin ranges from pale blue to bluish white and their eyes sparkle with a cold yellow light. Their ears are long and slender and they rise to points above their heads. Quicklings wear bright, well-made clothing, usually black or silver colored. Quicklings disdain the use of armor and almost never wear any. A quickling stands about 2 feet tall.SOCIETYQuicklings live as secluded tribes of hunters and killers, seeking lost lore of the darkest kind. Their homes are dark, ruined places, filled with shadows and ancient evil. There they live in extended family units of at least ten members. The ruler of each family is known as an elder and can be of either sex. Each family is usually ruled by one elder, though larger families may have anywhere from two to four. Due to their inherent chaotic tendencies, such large families tend to break apart, with each elder forming its own smaller family.Any contact that quicklings have with the outside world is usually violent. They often ambush loan travelers or small groups of people that pass near their lairs. Such trespassers are immediately slain; prisoners are of no worth to quicklings. Sometimes quicklings will deal with powerful spellcasters for arcane lore or magical items. Such alliances are usually short-lived, with the quicklings betraying their partners at the first opportunity. Different quickling families worship different gods, though many are drawn to the worship of Vecna and Nerull. Some worship the primal deity, Tharizdun, a god of such potent malignancy that the other gods sealed him away in an eternal prison. Some sages speculate that the dark magic that initially corrupted the quickling race was a ‘gift’ from Tharizdun, though there are very few facts to help corroborate such speculation.TYPICAL TREASUREA quickling typically possesses standard treasure for its Challenge Rating, or about 1,600 gp worth for a standard quickling. This treasure is usually divided amongst various poisons, masterwork weapons, baubles, jewelry, and sometimes fine cloth. Many also carry around single-use magical items like potions and scrolls.Quicklings dislike using armor of any sort. They see it as a hindrance rather than as something helpful. The only time a quickling will be encountered with armor is if the armor is very obviously powerfully magical.QUICKLINGS WITH CLASS LEVELSA quickling’s favored class is rogue. Many take up the assassin prestige class at the first opportunity. Others find the scout (see Complete Adventurer) to their liking. Due to their connections with ancient magic, warlocks (see Complete Arcane), sorcerers, and wizards are also fairly common.Back in 2e and 1e, I loved the quickling and was quite unhappy that it never made the cut into 'Core' D&D. I've never had a chance to use these guys, but by golly, someday I will! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification