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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="BLACKDIRGE" data-source="post: 772896" data-attributes="member: 1953">Vilespike Advanced Manticore, Monster of LegendGargantuan Magical BeastHit Dice: 18d10+198 (284 hp)Initiative: +9 (+5 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)Speed: 30 ft., Fly 50 ft. (poor)AC: 26 (-4 size, +5 Dex, +15 natural)Attacks: 2 claws +28 melee, bite +28; or 6 spikes +23 rangedDamage: claw 2d6+14, bite 2d8+7; or spike 2d6+7Face/Reach: 20 ft. by 40 ft./15 ft.Special Attacks: Spikes, poisonSpecial Qualities: Scent, hasteSaves: Fort +25, Ref +19, Will +11Abilities: Str 38, Dex 21, Con 33, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 13Skills: Listen +16, Move Silently +11, Search +7, Spot +15, Wilderness Lore +8 Feats: Multiattack, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Improved Flight, Improved Multiattack, Combat Reflexes, Cleave, Great Cleave, SunderClimate/Terrain: Warm and temperate land and undergroundOrganization: SolitaryChallenge Rating: 15Alignment: Chaotic EvilSpikes (Ex): With a snap of his tile Vilespike can loose a volley of six spikes as a standard action. The attack has a range of 180 feet with no range increment. A spike threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 19 or 20. Vile spike can launch only twenty-four spikes in any one day.Poison (Ex): Vilespike’s teeth drip a powerful venom that can be delivered with a successful bite attack. The poison inflicts 1d6 points of initial and secondary temporary strength damage unless a successful fortitude save is made at DC 30.Haste (Su): Vilespike acts with supernatural quickness. He can take an extra partial action each round as if affected by a haste spell. The history of the unique manticore known as Vilespike is a bizarre and storied tale stretching back over millennia. Created by the evil bugbear god Hruggek to guard a hoard of treasure deposited deep beneath the ground on the prime material plane, the deity imbued Vilespike with supernatural power and strength. For thousands of years Vilespike slept on a mountain of gold jewels and magic guarding it from all intruders. The cavern in which the treasure hoard lay was in the center of a vast network of tunnels that attracted adventurers of all kinds. The unfortunate few that found Vilespike’s charge were slain, usually after days upon days of torture at the hands of the fiendish manticore. As the centuries rolled by Vilespike, imbued with immortality by Hruggek, began to lose interest in his duty and sought a way to escape his underground prison. Too large to navigate the tunnels that led to the surface there was little Vilespike could do but sit and grow ever more bitter and resentful of his creator and his predicament. The brooding manticore was finally given his chance at freedom two and half millennia after his creation and interment. Another band of foolish adventurers following the rumors of vast treasure blundered their way into Vilespike’s cavern. The massive manticore made short work of them, filling the fighter in the party with nearly a dozen of his foot and half long tail spikes, and biting the rogue in the party nearly in half with one mammoth clash of his jaws. The cleric that accompanied the adventurers managed to loose a spell at Vilespike, burning his flesh with a bolt of searing light. The cleric did not get a chance to loose another as the enraged manticore removed his head from his shoulders with a single swipe of his razor taloned paw. The final member of the adventuring party, an elven mage, saw that he had little chance of defeating the rampaging beast that had slain his companions and fell to his knees begging for mercy. Vilespike, recognizing the arcane nature his final victim, offered the elf mage a bargain he had little choice but to accept. The elven mage would lead Vilespike from the tunnels, widening them as needed with spells, and once they reached the surface the elf would be allowed to go free. Vilespike and his guide left the cavern after gathering up the choicest items from Hruggek’s hoard and began the long journey to the surface. The trek was arduous in the extreme, requiring almost constant stops as the elven mage used his spells to remove tons of rock and earth from the tunnel walls to allow the huge body of Vilespike to pass through, but after weeks of darkness and hunger the pair reached the sunlit world above. Vilespike was almost struck dumb by the spectacle of the vast open sky before him as he and his guide emerged onto the side of the mountain that the manticore had spent his entire existence living beneath. For the first time in his long life Vilespike stretched his wings to their fullest extent and felt the wind ruffle his fur, the world of men lay before him unspoiled and the manitcore's heart and mind were filled with the glorious possibilities. The manticore had had very little to eat in his journey to the surface and so his first meal in this brave new world was the very person that had granted his freedom. The screams of the elven mage echoed off the mountainside for what seemed like hours as the manticore took his time devouring the hapless adventurer. Once finished with his grisly feast Vilespike spread his wings and took to the air, reveling in the rapturous feeling of the wind speeding against his body. Below him lie the cities of men and elves ripe for plunder and destruction. A new terror had been birthed whole and malignant into the world at large and soon the name of Vilespike would be synonymous with pain and misery upon the lips of men. Description & Tactics:Vilespike is the perfection of the manticore form. His massive body is lean and powerful covered in short glossy black fur and his huge bat wings stretch a staggering sixty feet from wing tip to wing tip. The visage of the monstrous Vilespike is noble but cruel and the dagger like fangs that fill his mouth are coated with a virulent poison. The lashing tail of the beast is studded with barbed spikes, easily eighteen inches long, which he can launch at potential foes with unerring accuracy. Much smarter than the average specimen of his kind, Vilespike is a careful and thoughtful combatant, softening his opponents up with ranged attack before closing in with his powerful claws and teeth. Vilespike is quite aware of his extended reach and when face with powerful foes will make his opponents close with him. He will also use his poisonous bite to great effect in combat, biting strong melee fighters and then retreating while the poison takes affect. Always hungry, Vilespike is constantly on the hunt; he prefers intelligent creatures to dine on, with bugbears first on his list of favorites. Vilespike harbors a burning hatred for Hruggek who left him to rot for all eternity locked away in an earthy tomb. Unable to strike at the god himself, who has long forgotten Vilespike and the treasure he guarded, the vicious manticore inflicts his ire and resentment on the god’s chosen people. In his short time on the surface Vilespike has tracked and slain every bugbear tribe in his immediate area, unwittingly removing a scourge that had been threatening the humans and elves in the area for years. As of yet Vilespike has left the humans and elven settlement in his area untouched but that will likely change in the very near future.</blockquote>

Verification