Counter-intuitive monsters

[Tonguez]

Earth Elementals can Earth Glide, but have no way of seeing where they are going.

why does it need to see where its going? Worms don 't have eyes either and they do fine

 

[Victim]

why does it need to see where its going? Worms don 't have eyes either and they do fine

Earth Elementals don't have any kind of Tremor Sense like other burrowing creatures.

 

[Asmor]

The remorhaz was pretty rediculous. Touching it hurts you more than sticking your arm in lava... and this creature lives on a glacier (though I see now its listed as "cold desert"? Most retardedly, it has no heat or fire immunity.

The arctic tundra is a desert. A desert is defined by amount of precipitation, not temperature.

Why would you expect something that lives in the middle of an icy wasteland to have resistance to something it would never, ever encounter naturally?

 

[Victim]

The arctic tundra is a desert. A desert is defined by amount of precipitation, not temperature.

Why would you expect something that lives in the middle of an icy wasteland to have resistance to something it would never, ever encounter naturally?

It encounters extreme heat all the time via itself. If the remohaz wasn't resistant to heat, it'd kill itself.

 

[Gentlegamer]

Same on both. As a Kid I never thought to read Nilbog backwards and I only recently learned Tenser was an anagram for Ernest (E in EGG).

While the E in EGG is for Ernest (or Ernst, before his father Anglisized the name), Tenser was his son Ernie's character.

 

[Tonguez]

The picture would suggest that only the back spikes of the Remorhaz actually generate heat thus it could be that the underbelly of the Remorhaz is not heat resistant at all and that the Remorhaz sheilds itself from its own heat by a combination of its back sail and burying itself in snow to keep its underbelly cool

Heat (Ex): An enraged remorhaz generates heat so intense that anything touching its body takes 8d6 points of fire damage. Creatures striking a remorhaz with natural attacks or unarmed attacks are subject to this damage, but creatures striking with melee weapons do not take damage from the remorhaz’s heat. This heat can melt or char weapons; any weapon that strikes a remorhaz is allowed a DC 18 Fortitude save to avoid destruction. The save DC is Constitution-based.

The fire damage only rises when the creature is enraged (an the back sail fully extended) so most of the time the Remorhaz is fine also because DnD doesn't having facing or called shots the rule applies even though technically the underbelly might not be heated (just slightly warm)

BTW
there is a Hawaiian story about a two heroes named Makewela (Dies-of-Heat) and Makeanu (Dies-of-Cold). Makewela generated intense heat and the only way to keep from killing himself was to live up in the snow, Makeanu generated intense cold and the only way for him to survive was to live in a volcano. One day the two meet and find that by living together they could carry on relatively normal lives

- I always thought they would make a great Superhero team (twins maybe)

 

[Asmor]

It encounters extreme heat all the time via itself. If the remohaz wasn't resistant to heat, it'd kill itself.

Blast. I had no idea that it was a heat-using monster. I guess next time I should look it up. >_<

 

[Dr Simon]

Has anyone else noticed chimera aren't immune to their own breath weapons, or even resistant?

Yes it is.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#breathWeapon

"A creature is immune to its own breath weapon unless otherwise noted."

 

[Jhaelen]

It's Gygax, so you know.

Which ones didn't work for you?

Pleased to (kind of) meet you, Sir!
Sorry for the belated response, but I've not been able to visit the forums for a few days.

Here's two lists of examples, first from MMI, then from MMII (not meant to be complete):
- Bulette
- Ear Seeker
- Gas Spore
- Gelatinous Cube
- Lurker Above
- Owlbear
- Piercer
- Rust Monster
- Trapper

- Beetle, Deathwatch
- Bowler
- Demilich
- Executioner's Hood
- Pseudo-Undead
- Retch Plant
- Tri-Flower-Frond
- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Now, looking over the lists, there's two (or three?) main reasons, whý I dislike those:
- Most belong to the category of 'living traps' or beings created for meta-gaming purposes only. Typically there is absolutely nothing which could explain how such creatures could have evolved naturally.
- For the remainder it's the extremely odd or even outright ludicrous looks or attack forms.

I have minor qualms about certain aspects of other creatures. One of them is so immensly popular, I probably won't find anyone who agrees with me, but what the heck: It's the drow (and by extension driders):
- Their skin colour: Why is it black? Because black = evil? If their skin colour absolutely has to be different from surface-dwelling elves it should be pale white (like other cave-dwelling varieties of species).
- The differences in abilities and class restrictions between the sexes. I guess, these are supposed to be a result of their worshipping Lolth, a demonic spider godess. Barring the direct intervention of their godess, I don't understand how their culture can influence their physical traits. Would these differences apply to drow being brought up in a different culture as well? Luckily, the only remainder of these differences in 3.5 is the favored class, so it's no longer really relevant.
- The decaying equipment (which no longer exists in 3.5) - a pure meta-gaming concept.
- Their CE alignment which doesn't seem to match their culture (and was subsequently changed).

Okay, now rip me apart

 

[painandgreed]

I have minor qualms about certain aspects of other creatures. One of them is so immensly popular, I probably won't find anyone who agrees with me, but what the heck: It's the drow (and by extension driders):
- Their skin colour: Why is it black? Because black = evil? If their skin colour absolutely has to be different from surface-dwelling elves it should be pale white (like other cave-dwelling varieties of species).
- The differences in abilities and class restrictions between the sexes. I guess, these are supposed to be a result of their worshipping Lolth, a demonic spider godess. Barring the direct intervention of their godess, I don't understand how their culture can influence their physical traits. Would these differences apply to drow being brought up in a different culture as well? Luckily, the only remainder of these differences in 3.5 is the favored class, so it's no longer really relevant.
- The decaying equipment (which no longer exists in 3.5) - a pure meta-gaming concept.
- Their CE alignment which doesn't seem to match their culture (and was subsequently changed).

Okay, now rip me apart

Well, as seen with the aquatic elf, the elvish race seems likely to adapt camoflage schemes when small populations are placed under stress in extreme conditions. Certainly such campflage is not strange compared to some even found in nature. The real question is why their hair is white.

Decaying equipment is hardly a pure meta-gaming concept. A pointed out in other threads, equipment can make a group capable of dealing with higher than normal CR encounters. The Drow race seem to follow that and equip their people with more than the usual wealth by level guidelines so they can protect their dangerously small population. That makes Drow wandering treasure troves of equipment. Adding in something like a +1 enchantment (or static cost) which would destroy the equipment if it left the underdark or was modified to fit somebody other than it's intended owner, removes much of the wealth motive for attacking Drow, a fairly simple in game racial defense. Of coruse, anybody using or selling a Drow weapon in the underdark would be revealing themselves as a murder of Drow and could be dealt with at the Drow's advantage.

Some of the others? Ya, I don't know. that's why I re-wrote the Drow and Lolth for IMC (and I won't bother you with that).