BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
BOZ
Prototype #2
Large Outsider (Evil)
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 (102 hp)
Initiative: +1 (Dex)
Speed: 10 ft, burrow 30 ft, climb 20 ft
AC: 25 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +15 natural)
Attacks: +9 BAB
Damage:
Face/Reach: 5 ft by 10 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities: Plant qualities, regeneration, SR 16
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +13
Abilities: Str 7, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 17
Skills: 144
Feats: 4
Climate/Terrain:
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating:
Treasure:
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: 13-24 HD (Large); 13-18 HD (Huge)
OK. If the description poll taught me anything, it’s that both the “incorporeal aura” and “viney parasite” ideas kick ass, and it’s hard to decide which one is best. The incorporeality thing was the nominal winner, but only by one vote. So, I move that we combine both ideas into one. My only question on that regard is, does that make it too MUNCH? With all of its other powers, that just make the whole thing ridiculous. However, it might work pretty well if we have it with my idea of making it a parasitic creature with the ability to go incorporeal. Or perhaps, it’s main “body” would always be incorporeal, but surrounded by a Large-size tangle of thorny vines or something. I dunno, help me out here.
Tonguez has the idea of a it beginning as a tiny parasitic larva that bores into plant matter, then grows into its large incorporeal body (with the solid parasitic larva remaining hidden within the host body ). That’s kinda nice, maybe?
Gave it SR 16 (1/2 HD +10) – sound good, or should it be higher? I like MissHappen’s idea of fire immunity. “Everyone expects fire to be the plant-bane. Let's make this one the exception.” Well, that’s true, and let’s remember – this is an Outsider not a Plant! So throwing an obvious curve like that may be the perfect idea. I also agree with the cold vulnerability/dormancy thing. Also, disease immunity works no matter what its form or powers.
I think I’ll do regeneration (what limits? Fire causes perm dam?) rather than fast healing – seems to make more sense for a plant-based creature. I’m thinking of keeping the Damage Reduction at 10/+2.
As for the range on the plant growth aura – if the creature’s body is incorporeal, could the range just be the size of its body and therefore all it encompasses? The random growths would also occur in this area. There may be a way to widen it, but maybe this should be a limited number of times per day? (Other suggestions – Tonguez - 1 mile expanding at 20ft per hour so a thick tangled and dense jungle at the center at just new growth at the edges; Knight Otu - 100 feet, perhaps?; MissHappen - The aura of growth should have a range of at least 100').
I do like Storminator’s “random noxious growth” table idea (see the post above, and please comment on it!). This would incorporate the special entangle, web, and wall of thorns ideas, thus removing them from the spell-like abilities list. I’ll work that up in a bit. This leaves us with the following suggestions for spell-likes: antilife shell, blight, command plants, commune with nature, contagion (slimy doom), decay (rusting) touch, disintegrate, harm, soften earth, spike growth, unholy/chaos hammer, and warp wood. Want them as a 12th-level sorcerer, or otherwise?
There’s been some support for giving it spellcasting powers as a 12th-level druid. Also, what about the Druid class powers (Nature Sense, Woodland Stride, and Resist Nature’s Lure)? With all of these powers together, as MissHappen pointed out, this makes it a bit too magically powerful. Give me some suggestions on what to take away.
I’m thinking of restricting the Poison to created flowers, as per Storminator’s idea, which would give them a ranged attack or something like that of a Twilight Bloom plant. I think I will give whatever poison this creature has 1d4 Con primary damage, and 1d6 Int secondary damage.
Also, if I go with Storminator’s idea, we could give Disease powers to the exploding toadstools. I think the spore attack should thusly come from the toadstools. The way I’m thinking of the spore attack is a combination of Ferret’s and Tonguez’s ideas: The spores shoot out (what range?) and imbed themselves in both living and dead flesh (only affects certain natural armor). For animated plants (not already under the creature’s control), they go under the creature’s control. Other living creatures suffer a wasting disease that causes 2d6 Con damage per round. Any corpses with spores in them (whether or not the body was alive before the attack) will decompose the body and turn them into a mold, which is then able to be animated by the creature’s powers. Like it?
Decomposition – Undead Pete’s idea here, from Masters of the Wild. Not so sure I want to use info from “splat books”, especially if this thing were to (ssh!) ever get published – we need OGC sources. Still, we can re-describe it or something to make it suit our purposes. This was a popular idea after all, so we’ll have to keep it in some form or another.
So, let’s see how we can work this out. It works within the same aura range as the plant growth/creation aura – that’s a given. Will it work at the same time, or is the aura’s power going to switch back and forth as the monster sees fit? This is how I interpret it from Undead Pete’s description: This effect causes wounds taken within the area of the spell to fester and decompose, causing 1 hp per round per level of the spell. This lasts for x rounds (So if a 12th-level caster, duration is 12 rounds?), losing 1 hp per round, until it ends, he succeeds at a Heal check (DC 15) or he receives divine healing (is this a heal spell, or just any CLW variety?).
Summoning – if the monster doesn’t create its own minions from the corpses of its victims, this might be very valuable. Tonguez suggests shambling mounds, myconids, and treants (though must be some sort of evil form of treant eh?). Not as sure about summoning as I was when I put it on the poll (hey, it’s an Outsider, and Outsiders like to gate in other creatures) but there might still be some merit to this.
Fear/frightful presence/unnatural aura – I’m dropping it.
Pustules – OK, with all the other stuff this thing has now, I think we can still keep the pustules, but not as a main attack. Maybe this is a last resort, or done only once per day as a reproductive process. There isn’t much body area anyway, so it’s not going to work the same. With the “larva” idea in mind, the pustules will burst forth when “ripe” to invade plant hosts, and transform them. This may or may not be a very combat-applicable ability, but maybe they can still be implanted in corpses, making resurrection difficult?
Thornball Death Throes – as suggested, our “Demonic Gardener” can have this ability combines with the pustules. Maybe the pustules are concealed in thorny clusters which explode when the spores are released? The spores would be attached to thorns which would imbed in various plant host-forms, allowing them to incubate and then burst forth into a new larva. Think about this one.
Discuss, again.
Prototype #2
Large Outsider (Evil)
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 (102 hp)
Initiative: +1 (Dex)
Speed: 10 ft, burrow 30 ft, climb 20 ft
AC: 25 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +15 natural)
Attacks: +9 BAB
Damage:
Face/Reach: 5 ft by 10 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities: Plant qualities, regeneration, SR 16
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +13
Abilities: Str 7, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 17
Skills: 144
Feats: 4
Climate/Terrain:
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating:
Treasure:
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: 13-24 HD (Large); 13-18 HD (Huge)
OK. If the description poll taught me anything, it’s that both the “incorporeal aura” and “viney parasite” ideas kick ass, and it’s hard to decide which one is best. The incorporeality thing was the nominal winner, but only by one vote. So, I move that we combine both ideas into one. My only question on that regard is, does that make it too MUNCH? With all of its other powers, that just make the whole thing ridiculous. However, it might work pretty well if we have it with my idea of making it a parasitic creature with the ability to go incorporeal. Or perhaps, it’s main “body” would always be incorporeal, but surrounded by a Large-size tangle of thorny vines or something. I dunno, help me out here.
Tonguez has the idea of a it beginning as a tiny parasitic larva that bores into plant matter, then grows into its large incorporeal body (with the solid parasitic larva remaining hidden within the host body ). That’s kinda nice, maybe?
Gave it SR 16 (1/2 HD +10) – sound good, or should it be higher? I like MissHappen’s idea of fire immunity. “Everyone expects fire to be the plant-bane. Let's make this one the exception.” Well, that’s true, and let’s remember – this is an Outsider not a Plant! So throwing an obvious curve like that may be the perfect idea. I also agree with the cold vulnerability/dormancy thing. Also, disease immunity works no matter what its form or powers.
I think I’ll do regeneration (what limits? Fire causes perm dam?) rather than fast healing – seems to make more sense for a plant-based creature. I’m thinking of keeping the Damage Reduction at 10/+2.
As for the range on the plant growth aura – if the creature’s body is incorporeal, could the range just be the size of its body and therefore all it encompasses? The random growths would also occur in this area. There may be a way to widen it, but maybe this should be a limited number of times per day? (Other suggestions – Tonguez - 1 mile expanding at 20ft per hour so a thick tangled and dense jungle at the center at just new growth at the edges; Knight Otu - 100 feet, perhaps?; MissHappen - The aura of growth should have a range of at least 100').
I do like Storminator’s “random noxious growth” table idea (see the post above, and please comment on it!). This would incorporate the special entangle, web, and wall of thorns ideas, thus removing them from the spell-like abilities list. I’ll work that up in a bit. This leaves us with the following suggestions for spell-likes: antilife shell, blight, command plants, commune with nature, contagion (slimy doom), decay (rusting) touch, disintegrate, harm, soften earth, spike growth, unholy/chaos hammer, and warp wood. Want them as a 12th-level sorcerer, or otherwise?
There’s been some support for giving it spellcasting powers as a 12th-level druid. Also, what about the Druid class powers (Nature Sense, Woodland Stride, and Resist Nature’s Lure)? With all of these powers together, as MissHappen pointed out, this makes it a bit too magically powerful. Give me some suggestions on what to take away.
I’m thinking of restricting the Poison to created flowers, as per Storminator’s idea, which would give them a ranged attack or something like that of a Twilight Bloom plant. I think I will give whatever poison this creature has 1d4 Con primary damage, and 1d6 Int secondary damage.
Also, if I go with Storminator’s idea, we could give Disease powers to the exploding toadstools. I think the spore attack should thusly come from the toadstools. The way I’m thinking of the spore attack is a combination of Ferret’s and Tonguez’s ideas: The spores shoot out (what range?) and imbed themselves in both living and dead flesh (only affects certain natural armor). For animated plants (not already under the creature’s control), they go under the creature’s control. Other living creatures suffer a wasting disease that causes 2d6 Con damage per round. Any corpses with spores in them (whether or not the body was alive before the attack) will decompose the body and turn them into a mold, which is then able to be animated by the creature’s powers. Like it?
Decomposition – Undead Pete’s idea here, from Masters of the Wild. Not so sure I want to use info from “splat books”, especially if this thing were to (ssh!) ever get published – we need OGC sources. Still, we can re-describe it or something to make it suit our purposes. This was a popular idea after all, so we’ll have to keep it in some form or another.
So, let’s see how we can work this out. It works within the same aura range as the plant growth/creation aura – that’s a given. Will it work at the same time, or is the aura’s power going to switch back and forth as the monster sees fit? This is how I interpret it from Undead Pete’s description: This effect causes wounds taken within the area of the spell to fester and decompose, causing 1 hp per round per level of the spell. This lasts for x rounds (So if a 12th-level caster, duration is 12 rounds?), losing 1 hp per round, until it ends, he succeeds at a Heal check (DC 15) or he receives divine healing (is this a heal spell, or just any CLW variety?).
Summoning – if the monster doesn’t create its own minions from the corpses of its victims, this might be very valuable. Tonguez suggests shambling mounds, myconids, and treants (though must be some sort of evil form of treant eh?). Not as sure about summoning as I was when I put it on the poll (hey, it’s an Outsider, and Outsiders like to gate in other creatures) but there might still be some merit to this.
Fear/frightful presence/unnatural aura – I’m dropping it.
Pustules – OK, with all the other stuff this thing has now, I think we can still keep the pustules, but not as a main attack. Maybe this is a last resort, or done only once per day as a reproductive process. There isn’t much body area anyway, so it’s not going to work the same. With the “larva” idea in mind, the pustules will burst forth when “ripe” to invade plant hosts, and transform them. This may or may not be a very combat-applicable ability, but maybe they can still be implanted in corpses, making resurrection difficult?
Thornball Death Throes – as suggested, our “Demonic Gardener” can have this ability combines with the pustules. Maybe the pustules are concealed in thorny clusters which explode when the spores are released? The spores would be attached to thorns which would imbed in various plant host-forms, allowing them to incubate and then burst forth into a new larva. Think about this one.
Discuss, again.
But hey, the internet is free, if it's your opinion and you stand by it, that's great.
