Level Up (A5E) A Leveled-Up Bestiary: Volume Two

[Faolyn]

What's RealmsHelp?

Forgotten Realms Helps

Dandello's Forgotten Realms Helps, Lists, and Finders

www.realmshelps.net

Has a ton of templates from a variety of 3x D&D sources.

 

[lichmaster]

Attributes. The dread knight’s Strength, Constitution, and Charisma each increase by 4 and its Intelligence increases by 2 (maximum of 30), and its Charisma becomes 20 (+5) unless it was already higher. Recalculate its hit points.

This is a bit confusing. Is Cha to be increased by 4 or to be bumped to 20?

 

[DarkRainbowFiend]

This is a bit confusing. Is Cha to be increased by 4 or to be bumped to 20?

i'll assume the increase happens first, and then if it still isn't 20 it is then increased to 20.

 

[lichmaster]

i'll assume the increase happens first, and then if it still isn't 20 it is then increased to 20.

Ok, if so the scores on the Hobgoblin Warlord are not correct as it's Cha is still 18. Also, is Cha to be boosted by 4 if the baseline has a score higher than 20?

 

[Faolyn]

@lichmaster, @DarkRainbowFiend, sorry, that was a typo. I originally had them getting a stat increase in Cha and then decided that it should be a flat number.

 

[Faolyn]

Since templates are fairly easy and I have a bunch of them done (both from Dragon and RealmsHelp.net), I'm going to be posting one each day this week. I'll probably go back to the 2 or 3/week schedule in a week or two.

OK, template time!

Anyway, our first template from RealmsHelp.com is a very simple one: the acidborn monster. It’s kinda dumb, and I’m including it solely because it was created by Rich Burlew, who famously used this template for the acid-breathing shark he had O-Chul fight in “Order of the Stick” #541 and #542. And since O-Chul is my favorite NPC in that strip, well. I had to.

It's a creature that could be useful in dungeon crawls, or maybe if you use the Abyss and have an all-acid layer. I’m not sure where else, though.

Acidborn Monster (Template)
Source: Dungeonscape; Designers: Jason Bulmahn and Rich Burlew

Whether the result of magical evolution gone wild or the experimentations of mad alchemists and wizards, acidborn monsters are natural animals and plants that have somehow adapted to survive in highly acidic environments.

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“Acidborn” is a template can be placed on any beast or plant. It retains all of the statistics of the base creature except as noted below:

Type. If the base creature was a beast, it becomes a monstrosity.

Immunities. The acidborn monster is immune to acid and poison damage and to the poisoned condition.

Acidic Blood (When Bloodied). While the acidborn monster is bloodied, any nonmagical weapon that hits it corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition that hits the acidborn monster is destroyed after dealing damage.

Breathe Acid. If the base creature could breathe water, it can now breathe acid. However, it loses the ability to breathe water.

Altered Attacks. The acidborn monster’s natural weapon attacks deal additional acid damage plus ongoing acid damage, depending on the base creature's CR. A creature can use an action to end the ongoing damage, and the ongoing damage also ends if the creature is doused in at least 1 gallon of water.

CR 4 or lower: 3 (1d6) acid damage plus 1 ongoing acid damage
CR 5 – 16: 4 (1d8) acid damage plus 2 (1d4) acid damage
CR 17 – 22: 7 (2d6) acid damage plus 4 (1d8) acid damage
CR 23 or higher: 10 (2d6) acid damage plus 7 (2d6) acid damage

Enhanced Health. The acidborn monster has a d6 expertise die on Constitution ability checks and Constitution saving throws.

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The following uses a hunter shark as the base creature.

Acid-Breathing Shark
Large monstrosity; Challenge 2 (450 XP)
AC 12 (natural armor)
HP 45 (6d10+12; bloodied 22)
Speed 0 ft., swim 40 ft.

STR 18 (+4) DEX 12 (+1) CON 14 (+2)
INT 10 (+0) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 10 (+0)

Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 14
Damage Immunities acid, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 12
Languages —

Acidic Blood (When Bloodied). While the acidborn monster is bloodied, any nonmagical weapon that hits it corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Nonmagical ammunition that hits the acidborn monster is destroyed after dealing damage.

Breathe Acid. The shark breathes only acid.

Enhanced Health. The acid-breathing shark has a d6 expertise die on Constitution ability checks and Constitution saving throws.

Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) acid damage, plus 1 ongoing acid damage. A creature can use an action to end the ongoing damage, and the ongoing damage also ends if the creature is doused in at least 1 gallon of water. On a hit, the shark can use a bonus action to make a second bite attack.

 

[DarkRainbowFiend]

@lichmaster, @DarkRainbowFiend, sorry, that was a typo. I originally had them getting a stat increase in Cha and then decided that it should be a flat number.

i feel liek you should correct the dread hobgoblin wizard statblock to make its charisma 20, as it is still 18.

 

[lichmaster]

i feel liek you should correct the dread hobgoblin wizard statblock to make its charisma 20, as it is still 18.

Also con should be 20 instead of 19

 

[Faolyn]

Actually, I'd screwed up on a lot if the dread hobgoblin stats. Sigh... Why am I so bad at proofreading?

 

[DarkRainbowFiend]

Actually, I'd screwed up on a lot if the dread hobgoblin stats. Sigh... Why am I so bad at proofreading?

at least we managed to catch them.