D&D 3E/3.5 Critique Sought For Subterranean Creatures

_Michael_

Explorer
Seeking rules-lawyers! lol Tried to use my knowledge and research abilities to create some underground creatures and hoping to get some constructive feedback on them. Was trying to follow monster creation rules but not sure how well I did.

First up is the Lorix.

Lorix (Peekers)
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Lorices are small, dusty-white furry creatures with large blue eyes and big ears. Standing no bigger than a foot or so, the lorix is relatively harmless, running from danger using its magical ability to "blink," or magically teleport across small distances. Colloquially known as "peekers", they tend to blink into the tents or campsites of sleeping individuals, where they peek through their things in their perpetual search for snacks and a shiny coin or two.
The lorix is fairly intelligent, and they have a language consisting of chittering squeaks and chirps. They tend to congregate in colonies near flowing water such as rivers and lakes, building simple homes of mud and stone that they keep surprisingly dry and warm through insulation with furs and woven rugs.
While not dangerous, in larger numbers they can quickly overwhelm the unprepared, though this usually only occurs if one goes so far as to earn their wrath by mistreating one. Then, the whole clan will turn out to exact vengeance and lead the offenders through booby trapped tunnels and dead-ends. Those who have befriended them through offerings of treats or inexpensive gems, or interaction with the noble lorices who understand the nuances of friendship more (and its inherent value in dangerous locations such as the Evergloom) often find that they have very valuable insights to offer about paths through the local areas to avoid dangers.
Though rare, larger variants of them exist within the lorix colonies, averaging two to three feet tall with a surpassing intelligence and magical abilities. Known as a Noble Lorix, they are usually capable of speaking in Gloomtongue as well as a smattering of others, and treated like honored guests by other lorices, regardless of their clan. They are often found wandering alone, seeking trade and offering rare and unique items found in their travels through the Evergloom.

Lorix
Tiny Fey
Hit Dice:
3d6+3 (13 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20 ft (4 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural), Touch 15, Flat-Footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-11
Attack: sling +4 (1d2-4)
Full Attack: sling +4 (1d2-4) or tiny spear -3, (1d3-4)
Special Attacks: Spell-Like Abilities
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, blindsight 30 ft., Damage Reduction 5/cold iron, Spell Resistance 13
Space/Reach: 2.5 ft/2.5 ft
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +5
Abilities: Str 3, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 11
Skills: Escape Artist +4, Hide +12, Listen +13,
Move Silently +5, Search +4, Sense Motive +4,
Spot +5, Survival +3
Feats: Alertness, Track
Environment: Subterranean
Organization: TBD
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: 50% coins
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: --

Blindsight (Ex): Lorices can sense all foes within 30 feet as a sighted creature would due to their sensitive hearing. A silence, zone of silence, or similar spell or magical effect, negates this ability and forces the lorix to rely on its vision, which is approximately as good as a human’s.
.
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): 1/day--blink, darkness, grease, and mage hand (DC 13). Caster Level 5th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Skills: Lorices receive a +8 racial bonus to Listen checks.
 
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Well, one of those feats should be a bonus feat, since this little guy doesn't have the Hit Dice for a second. Also, the standard formula for spell resistance is CR +11, since that way there's a 50% chance that a spellcaster of equal level to its CR will overcome its SR (i.e. make its spell resistance 13 instead of 12).

Also, those listings for its spell-like abilities should be italicized, but that's a style issue rather than a rules one.
 

Yeah, I was thinking after posting it of making it a 3 HD creature to get that other feat in there. The Spell Resistance should be one higher, you're right, and yeah, italics are needed. lol

Before ripping it apart, would the CR change by much by adding one other HD? It would give an extra skill point, too, but that's not a big deal, probably put it in survival.
 

Before ripping it apart, would the CR change by much by adding one other HD? It would give an extra skill point, too, but that's not a big deal, probably put it in survival.
Not really, no. I mean, other than that feat and the 1 skill point you mentioned, virtually nothing else will go up. It's BAB will stay the same, its Fortitude save will increase by +1, and it will gain another caster level for its spell-like abilities, but otherwise nothing else changes that I can see. So that shouldn't increase its CR at all.
 


In terms of overall combat power, this guy has a lot of defenses that I suspect will frustrate a CR 2 party. For instance, melee characters that aren't dedicated martials, especially if Strength isn't a primary attribute for them (e.g. rogues and monks), will likely find this guy's AC a bit tough. Likewise, few martials will have a cold iron weapon, so that DR will probably soak up a lot of damage unless someone gets a few lucky crits.

Likewise, expect the spell resistance to eat up a lot of direct magical attacks, though those saves mean that those that get through have a decent chance of having full effect. Personally, I'm not sure he needs those particular feats, but giving him stronger ones could make him tougher than expected.

His spell-like abilities could really confound a party, though. Blink has the potential to interfere with his own attacks, but he's not much of an attacker anyway, so that matters less than how much it hinders the PCs. Likewise, using darkness in an underground environment (which is their listed environment), which is usually an area of bad illumination anyway, means that there's a good chance he'll have concealment as well if the PCs don't have darkvision.

Also, its blindsight says its "affected normally" by sound-based attacks. I'm not sure what that means; do they ignore his spell resistance? Does he take +50% damage from sonic attacks? It's not clear to me.
 

I didn't think sonic based magical attacks would matter with the spell resistance since it's not a direct attack? I figured since it has blindsight that it can use in combination with darkness, it's hearing would be more sensitive to loud noises, resutling in stunning them for a round or whatever?
 

Wouldn't grapple be -11? (+1 BAB, -8 size, -4 Strength)

With a -4 Strength penalty, I think those damage ranges for its sling attacks would be 1d2-4 (which means 1, effectively).

I think it should have Ref +6 and Will +5.

However, reading through the whole thread, it looks like it started out with fewer HD, so that's probably where these came from. I'm not sure about the special attacks though - are the "psionics" listed in the stats and the "spell-like abilities" listed below it the same thing? (I'm not really up on my psionics - I tend to dislike them, personally.)

Did you want to stat out the noble lorix?

Johnathan
 

I didn't think sonic based magical attacks would matter with the spell resistance since it's not a direct attack? I figured since it has blindsight that it can use in combination with darkness, it's hearing would be more sensitive to loud noises, resutling in stunning them for a round or whatever?
It was mostly that the "affected normally" language struck me as redundant; unless something specific suggests otherwise, that's the default assumption (for sound-based attacks and everything else), and so I'm not sure why that'd need to be expressly stated. If they have a special vulnerability to sound/sonic damage, put that in there instead.
 

It was mostly that the "affected normally" language struck me as redundant; unless something specific suggests otherwise, that's the default assumption (for sound-based attacks and everything else), and so I'm not sure why that'd need to be expressly stated. If they have a special vulnerability to sound/sonic damage, put that in there instead.
Do you think they should have a special vulnerability?
 

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