Avolakia Workshop--Seeking Input

[Felon]

As some of you may recall, way back in the same month that the 3e Monster Manual came out, Dragon Magazine had a big monster extravaganza issue. There was an article introducing several monsters that inhabited the WormCrawl, which was Kyuss's hangout back before he became a minor deity of undeath. Of all those monsters, I found the Avolakia particularly interesting. The idea of a shapeshifitng race of aberations that work together in small tribes to create their own personal havens of undead, using them for food as well as defense ("Although they can digest dead or living flesh, they find both disgusting....They prefer to eat undead flesh--"fresh" off a zombie's flank is best") had the potential to become a major new monstrous race IMO.

There was one problem though; its package of monstrous abilities was just this side of unimpressive. And having been represented in last year's MMII, I still am uncertain as to what's supposed to make them live up to their design concept. For a 10 HD/10 CR monster, I can't finger what abilities it can bring to bear to make it worth its salt (i.e. XP value) in either a direct confrontation, or as a boss monster. I figure maybe I'm being too hard on it, so I thought I'd see what you guys think.

Here's its basic package:
1) It has a pretty potent Suggestion ability (DC 19, -2 if looking into its eyes while it speaks), but only when it polymorphs itself into human form, and only against a single humanoid at a time. Seems more suited to subtle, incognito manipulations than combat.

2) It has the following assortment of spell-like abilities: At will--gentle repose, chill touch, disrupt undead, cause fear, ghoul touch, magic hand, polymorph (humanoid forms only), detect magic, spectral hand; 3/day--animate dead, create undead, vampiric touch, enervation. Essentially, we're looking at some mostly bottom-rung spells usable at will, and a few sub-fourth-level-range spells usable three times a day. Vampiric touch and enervation can be effective spells, but not exactly heavy-hitters for a 10 CR

3) In melee, its primary attack is a big bite (+10 attack bonus, 2d6+4 damage) followed up with 8 little claw attacks (+8 attack bonus, 1d4+2 damage). The bite's got a poison that does Wisdom damage (DC 18 Fort save). Defensively, it's got an average of 75 hit points and an 18 AC. Again, not total crap in this deparment, but nothing to challenge 10th-level warriors either.

So what does the MMII say the avolakia's tactics are in combat? Well, it makes mention of staying at a distance and using its spells and spell-like abilities while its undead minions close in. The avolakia doesn't have spells though, and it has no means to control its minions. The latter is really disappointing, since it pretty much screws the pooch as far as the basic concept goes. Note that the Create Undead spell doesn't grant you automatic control over the undead you create; it just says clerics can attempt to command the undead as it forms with a turning check, but that's not an ability that the avolakia actually possesses.

The MMII makes mention of avolakias taking cleric and sorcerer levels, which IMO seems like a kludgey way to make a 10HD creature appropriately powerful. For instance, the "avolakia society" section states that "avolakia clerics make good use of the create greater undead spell to create mummies, spectres, vampires, and ghosts". But that means we're talking about taking 15-20 levels of cleric in addition to its 10 monster hit dice to do that. That pretty much defeats the entire point of the avolakia as a monster; it's not doing anything a human can't do, and a hell of a lot less efficiently at that (FYI, the MMII assigns an avolakia an ECL of 15).

Kind of as a side note, the most depressing thing about the avolakia's presentation is its MMII illustration. The one in Dragon really captured its essence as a creature of sinister intelligence and disgustingly alien mindset. The sort of thing that reclines in its den, thinking up vile shemes as it gnaws on a twitching zombie leg the same way we gnaw on a chicken drumstick.

So, what do you guys think? Am I missing the pernicious puissance of this critter? And if not, what can be done to salvage it? I'm almost thinking it has to be rebuilt from the ground up, and given innate spellcasting ability like a dragon or rakshasa rather than just a grab-bag of lukewarm spell-like abilities.

 

[hong]

Have each melee attack do two points of Con damage in addition to hit point damage.

Or have the bite cause paralysis.

Or both.

 

[the Jester]

Don't forget their Quicken Spell-Like Ability feat; they can get off two Enervations in a round, or the ol' Spectal Hand/Vampiric Touch or Ghoul Touch combo. In fact, between creating ghasts and its Ghoul Touch at will ability, there's a very good chance that the avolakia will be able to paralyze at least a few party members outright.

No avolakia should be encountered without some undead lackeys. Even without magical compulsion, the avolakia can just keep using Create Undead til and destroying any uncooperative ones until they get some that will be obedient. Also note that, since it's a spell-like ability it's only a standard action to use Create Undead, and the avolakia can use it on a newly-fallen zombie meatshield right in the middle of the party to create new trouble.

With their Int 16, Wis 21 and Cha 22, keep in mind that avolakia are going to be extremely tricky. They should never be encountered alone in their natural form, instead looking like a human, elf, or whatever seems appropriate to the area (via their innate ability to polymorph into humanoid form).

I think that you also forgot about its regeneration (4/rd, normal damage from acid, electricity and fire; combine with fire resistance 10). This ought to let it at least survive most encounters long enough to cause some problems for the party.

I found CR 10 to be just about right imc; there is an example of how it went in my story hour here if you're interested in checking it out (the avolakia was the one with "an offer from a powerful master").

 

[Felon]

Have each melee attack do two points of Con damage in addition to hit point damage. Or have the bite cause paralysis.
Or both.

I like the idea of nastifying the bite into something more threatening than 1d6 Wisdom damage. The suggested tactic of biting, then running away & polymorphing into human forms seems like a tactic that will just invite comical disaster for the poor aviolaka that thinks it's going to outmaneuver the PC's that easily (heck, it only has a 20 speed). It has Combat Reflexes and a 10ft reach, which makes optimizing the bite sound all the more appealing.

Don't forget their Quicken Spell-Like Ability feat; they can get off two Enervations in a round, or the ol' Spectal Hand/Vampiric Touch or Ghoul Touch combo.

I dunno, maybe I'm just looking for more, um..."smackdownability" than those attacks will afford. None of that will seem very harsh to a 10th-level character, or even an 8th-level (who should be hard-pressed).

"guys, look! The boss monster is trying to use Ghoul Touch on me! That's almost cute!" HACK HACK HACK THUD

No avolakia should be encountered without some undead lackeys. Even without magical compulsion, the avolakia can just keep using Create Undead til and destroying any uncooperative ones until they get some that will be obedient.

Well, it can't just keep doing it. It only has three shots a day at it (MMII version anway). Even if it did have unlimited uses, I don't see the interview process being very efficient.

"OK, my ghastly little morsel, I brought you into this into this world, and I can take you out, so don't give me any crap! Got it?"
"GRRRRRAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHNNNNNRRRRRGGH!"
"Wrong answer, bozo!"
SQUASH
"Mmm. Save that one for later, heh. OK, bring in the next snack...err, candidate!"


Just seems more sensible IMO for it to actually be able to command undead, rather than just smacking their corpses around until they wise up and get with the program.

Also note that, since it's a spell-like ability it's only a standard action to use Create Undead, and the avolakia can use it on a newly-fallen zombie meatshield right in the middle of the party to create new trouble.

Cool, but the plan does have one hitch; it does need to be able to kill at least one poor slob before the party can kill it.

With their Int 16, Wis 21 and Cha 22, keep in mind that avolakia are going to be extremely tricky. They should never be encountered alone in their natural form, instead looking like a human, elf, or whatever seems appropriate to the area (via their innate ability to polymorph into humanoid form).

Oh yeah, definitely. They're quite solid in stealth mode. Masters of manipulation to be sure.

I think that you also forgot about its regeneration (4/rd, normal damage from acid, electricity and fire; combine with fire resistance 10). This ought to let it at least survive most encounters long enough to cause some problems for the party.

I guess I don't see that. With low AC, humdrum hit points, and bad Reflex & Fort saves, I don't see fire resistance 10 keeping the avolakia all that healthy. And regeneration's only handy if you have staying power in to begin with, otherwise you're a pile of mush that's trying to reassemble before a PC can apply flame to oil. And to my experience, that's a contest a D&D monster's always going to lose. I did forget the SR 21 though. That's decent enough to buy it some time.

I found CR 10 to be just about right imc; there is an example of how it went in my story hour here if you're interested in checking it out (the avolakia was the one with "an offer from a powerful master").

Well, it did execute a rather lackluster performance, didn't it? Basically, it screamed "Don't shoot! Let's parley!" a few times, fired off a couple of enervations, then was promptly laid low. And that was even with sorcerer levels, right? Do you think it could use anything to pepper it up a little?

I'm actually thinking along the lines of what will be in the new MM; presenting variants of the same monster with differing power levels. So, there could be a 15HD aviolaka with Create Greater Undead as a spell-like ability, as well as the ability to turn/rebuke undead.

Btw, fun story. You told it well.

 

[the Jester]

Heh... well, that particular avolakia ultimately survived all the battles with the party through its trickery, and keep in mind that the party in my game was between 10th and 18th level at the time with fairly massive numbers, so they outpowered it by dint of all that... Also, he was desperately trying to get out of the beholder warrens, knowing full well that Red-Eye was eventually going to destroy him otherwise. But he's still out there, craftily planning his weird plots, and may appear again sometime.

The thing about creating undead- it doesn't have to kill a pc first, the pcs just have to kill one of its zombies first. And the Ghoul Touch/Spectral Hand combo from stealth or surprise is actually fairly likely to take out a wizard or rogue.

The party imc also fought several other avolakia without at first realizing they weren't humans, and each time had trouble with them due to the regeneration- that polymorph doesn't go away when they fall unconscious, after all. And the doubled-up Enervation, Vampiric Touch, etc. all add up to about a 20% hit on the resources of a 10th level party imho. YMMV, as always, but my rough 'playtesting' in-game seemed to validate the CR 10... of course, the avolakia clan was hanging out with mind flayers as suggested in the MM2, a trick I just couldn't pass up!

I do think that the key to making an avolakia earn his CR 10 is the same as with many other tricksy monsters- they have to use tactics. Strike from afar and flee (polymorphed into a humanoid form with a decent speed, for instance). Use all those undead (the whole create them and get them to serve thing should be done day after day in its lair until it gets some willing servants, before it ventures out to cause problems for the pcs in the first place). Etcetera.

Just my 2 cp worth...

 

[the Jester]

Sooo... nobody else has any input on these fabulous monsters?

 

[Ycore Rixle]

Our campaign featured an avolakian clerk/lawyer named Slinkmor Vorshannen. Of course, for a long time, the party had no idea he was an avolakian. He used his suggestion power to get half the city in legal bondage before the party realized he was a powerful creature, and he very nearly succeeded in causing a popular uprising against the so-called "heroes" of the town.

The high point for Slinkmor came when the halfling rogue raided his office for evidence to use against the avolakian. The rogue found evidence aplenty - but then fenced a bunch of other loot without thinking. Slinkmor, of course, with his 20+ wisdom and intelligence, traced the fencing, pinned it on the halfling rogue's guild, exposed the halfling as a thief, and came very near to convincing everyone in the town that the halfling should be exiled.

Eventually, the party beat Slinkmor at his own game. The slimy avolakian then fled the trial into the sewers, where the party quickly cornered him. The barbarian, who had so often been beguiled by Slinkmor before (avolakians should always direct their suggestions at creatures with low will saves), dispatched him quickly with a few sword chops.

So the combat was not too long, but for all the grief Slinkmor caused the players, he was definitely worth a CR10. This subplot in our game took a while, maybe from levels 10-12 for the players.

 

[Gellion]

Kyuss

i know this is sorta off topic for this thread, but does anybody know anything about kyuss's backround?

 

[Felon]

Kyuss was a master of the necromantic arts whose seat of power was in the Wormcrawl Fissure, found in one of the more remote hinterlands of the Flanesse (which I believe is in the Greyhawk setting). He disappeared is sometimes described as having acended to deityhood. The avolakia worship him as a deity, although he doesn't directly have the power to grant followers access to divine magic.

 

[Gellion]

oh cool thanks Felon

I heard something about he became a hero god of the undead
i think hero gods are weaker than demigods, but im not sure.

Im also pretty sure that Flanesse is in grewhawk.

Oh yeah do you know any books where i can find more information on him?