Challenging my high-lvl group (NPCs and monsters; my players shouldn't read this!)

[Gidien]

And for the other, shamelessly stolen from the Magic card of the same name (great artwork, IMHO). Hope Wizards doesn't mind.

Desolation Angel
Medium-size Outsider (Evil)
HD: 12d8+24 (78)
Initiative: +5 (Dex, Improved Initiative)
Speed: 30’, fly 60’ (average)
AC: 21 (+10 natural, +1 Dex)
Attacks: +2 ranseur +17/+12
Damage: +2 ranseur 2d4+6
Face/Reach: 5’x5’/ 5’ (10’ with ranseur)
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Negative Energy Beam +13 ranged touch, Desolation Field
Special Qualities: DR 20/+2, SR 21, Immunities, Fire, cold, and electricity resistance 10, Telepathy
Saves- F: +10 R: +9 W: +10
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16,
Skills: Concentration +17, Knowledge (any 2) +17, Listen +17, Spot +17, Move Silently +16, Hide +12
Feats: Fly-by Attack, Weapon Focus (ranseur), Improved Initiative, Ability Focus (Desolation Aura)
Clime: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary
CR: 10 (?)
Treasure: No coins; double goods, double items
Align: Neutral Evil
Adv. Range: 13-24 HD (medium-size)

Desolation angels are beings of pure destruction. Their very presence withers their surroundings. Used as assassins, guardians, and sometimes even deadly shock troops, these beings are almost always in the employ of a powerful outsider. They are not particularly cruel or sadistic, but they have no real conscience. They were born to kill, and that’s what they do.
Desolation angels are always beautiful females with chalky-gray skin and jet-black hair. They have large feathery wings the color of cooling lava. Desolation angels favor flowing black, gray or blood red robes that do nothing to hide their figure. Their clothing is often adorned with vulture or crow motifs, and some enjoy wearing expensive jewelry. All carry magical ranseurs the color of dried blood.

Combat
Desolation angels favor surprise attack, sweeping down to strike from above. They use fly-by attack, negative energy, and spell-like abilities at first, keeping to cover and avoiding melee. When all their abilities are exhausted, they close for melee, allowing the desolation field to winnow away at their enemies.
Spell-like Abilities: At will- detect good and detect magic; 1/day- magic circle against good, unholy blight, and summon monster IV.
Negative Energy Beam (Su): Once every 1d6 rounds, a desolation angel can unleash a burst of negative energy. This counts as a ranged touch attack, with a maximum range of 20’ and no range increments. If the target is struck, he suffers one negative level. The DC to remove the level is 17. This is an energy drain attack.
Desolation Field (Su): At the beginning of a desolation angel’s action, all creatures within 10’ of the angel are affected as if struck by an inflict serious wounds spell. All those affected take 3d8+12 negative energy damage, and may make a Will save for half (DC: 19).
Immunities (Ex): Desolation angels are immune to all negative energy effects.
Telepathy (Su): Desolation angels can communicate telepathically with all creatures within 100’ that have a language.

 

[Carnifex]

As I mentioned in the main SH thread, I have an idea you could use for making even nastier ghouls

I've only got ideas down yet and haven't finalised it intoa full crunchy form yet, despite having already used it in my own campaign, but it's basically a template called 'Ghul-Pack'. A ghul-pack is a pack of ritually bound ghouls who effectively have a hivemind conciousness. They're still individuals with their own intelligence but at the same time work in an eerily cohesive manner.

- All members of a ghul-pack are always aware of all the others in respect to position, status, hit points, etc.
- No ghul-pack ghoul is flanked unless all the ghouls in a pack are.
- All ghouls in a ghul-pack gain the Alertness feat.
- All ghouls in a ghul-pack gain additional bonuses while flanking enemies with other ghul-pack members, including a further bonus for grappling attempts (they're very good at bringing down a foe by grappling them then piling on).
- ghul-pack ghouls have a limited capability to swap hit points around. For my campaign its all still fairly low level but with tough True Ghouls you could have some seriously nasty manipulation of this ability, as the front rank get badly injured by party members then just pass the injuries onto other ghouls lurking behind them; or better yet spread injuries out amongst all of them so it is very hard to kill off any one ghoul. In this way ghul-pack ghouls can operate very tactically by redirecting damage around amongst themselves. Also, ghouls that are turned and flee will use this ability to aid the fight, even if they can't contribute directly due to the turning.

The ghouls doing this to my party kind of caught them on the hop, especially when they piled a fair bit of damage into the ghast leader only for it to transfer all the damage to the last remaining normal ghoul. The ghoul died instantly but it left an untouched ghast ready for battle again.

This template could be used to represent 'special forces' squads of ghouls magically bound together, elite guards, or other such nasties

 

[coyote6]

Sounds like an adapted axiomatic template (from MotP) -- it would be spooky. I've been considering using what would amount to flintlock-armed axiomatic orcs as an extraplanar menace, so I already like the basic idea.

OTOH, it's kind of close to the hivemind that the PCs have apparently already encountered, so it might seem too much of a retread.

Hey, P-cat! What happens if one of those hivemind people (like, say, the one in Akin's Throat) gets ghoul-ized? Could the ghoul-ish condition spread through the hivemind, somehow? Or perhaps the ghoul member could take over the other parts of the hivemind, while leaving them still living (thus giving the White Kingdom some living agents).

 

[Kaodi]

Sinister Idea

This is based on an idea I am going to be using in the creative writing contest at my school.

Wouldn't it be in the true essence of the Rat Bastard Dungeon Master to have a final villain that was only vulnerable to a sinister weapon of pure evil, one that possesses a ridiculously high ego? I mean, if you give the super-creature something like DR 30/specific weapon, chances are that they are going to need to use it, especially if that person in question is difficult to harm with magic. Unholy would be inappropriate in this case, but there are probably lots of other nasty powers such a weapon might of been created with to destroy the opponent... Not only do you get the side quest of gaining the weapon, but you get that dark plot hook of the wielder slowly being pulled towards evil. To make it really different, you could even start with a lower ego, and then raise it by 1 every time a specific condition is met... so, say if the Puppeteer was the final villain, or the one the sword was meant to slay, every time a body it was currently controlling was slain by the sword, the ego would rise by 1.... I thought this might be useful to your campaign, so I decided to post it, hope it helps.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Hmm... evil artifact, big Ego score, tries to take over the group but they know they need it and can't let it fall into enemy hands... I think they did that with Velendo and the Damming Stone. On the other hand, I keep thinking of a certain hobbit and his ring, so it's easy to get confused.

All this talk of axiomatic orcs reminded me: I loaned my MotP out, so could someone tell me what elemental resistances Axiomatic and Anarchic give? (Don't need numbers, just which two or three elements).

Coyote6: now that is a purely Evil idea. What WOULD happen to an Axiomatic hivemind if one member was ghoulized? If it was then possible for the "corrupted" member to stay in the collective and try to influence it, what about the Modrons? (Hey, maybe THAT'S why they're marching!)

 

[Knightfall]

A new NPC idea for Atkin's Throat

Ok, I don't know if you've run the fight between Stone Bear and Galthia in the arena yet but if not then you should have the other PCs meet this guy in stands watching the spectacle.

Halfor Wincet (N male half-drow Ari8/Rog8)

Now, he's kind of plain but he's one of the few native nobles in the city. He could strike up a small friendship with Agar, as he has travelled to Sigil on occasion and I can see Agar chatting him up.

After the fight is over, Halfor invites them to his home for a post battle celebration.

Now he has this HUGE dinning room with a great oak table which he 'acquired' from the surface world. Dinner comes and all sorts of great delecasies are provide in a eight course meal. The final thing that comes for dessert in Halfor's favorite.

Beetle ice cream!

Take layers of chocolate and vanilla and smother them with chocolate sauce, raspberrys and what at first glance look like coffee beans.

Imagine his horror when they twitch and move around in the sauce! (Or one on his spoon just as he's about to take a bite.)

After all, beetle ice cream is best served live!

Cheers!

Rob

 

[Ryan Koppenhaver]

... could someone tell me what elemental resistances Axiomatic and Anarchic give?

Axiomatic get resistance to fire, cold, electricity, and sonic; the amount varies by level.

Anarchic creatures get fire, cold, acid, electricity, and sonic resistance 5.

 

[Greybar]

Rob, I like the way you think. -John

 

[Knightfall]

Rob, I like the way you think. -John

Thanks John, I was really proud of that idea. We should try to come up with some cool 'entree' ideas just in case P'Cat likes the idea as well.

Stuff suitable to Akin's Throat without grossing out the PCs or frightening Agar before the dessert comes.

BTW, I was thinking that NPC would be a good candidate to be a new, converted member of the Society of Sensation. He converted when in Sigil and now tries anything at least once.

Heh!

Rob

 

[Bronz Dragon]

We should try to come up with some cool 'entree' ideas just in case P'Cat likes the idea as well.

Stuff suitable to Akin's Throat without grossing out the PCs or frightening Agar before the dessert comes.

How about beetle legs? Served like crab legs, steamed with hot butter and such. It'd be like the underdark version of buffalo wings!

I imagine beetle meat would be one of the main sources of protein down there other than rats. It'd probably be kinda like fish or maybe octopus or squid depending on how it's served. Who knows, maybe Agar will enjoy eating them, instead of fearing something similar happening to him.