Custom Creature - Ice Maiden

[Halivar]

The Icy Stare attack is a normal Fortitude save. "The save DC is Charisma based" refers to how the creature sets the save DC, not the stat that characters use to save. So if the Ice Maiden uses a potion of Eagle's Splendor, the save DC goes up, but the characters under attack still make normal Con Fortitude saves.

Dang, Victim. I completely misread those rules this one time, when I have always understood it correctly in the past (boggle). Nevertheless, I still think the results are valid (i.e. the thief and wiz bite it every time, except on a lucky roll).

Also, are you sure deflection AC bonuses are added to touch AC? I looked at other creatures with UG and I don't remember the +4 being added to touch AC. I could be wrong (at work with no books).

 

[Halivar]

If the creature is solid ice, should it have immunity to criticals?

I considered it, but decided not to. Take, for instance, a level 8 fighter as presented in the NPC table of the DMG. He's got a +1 bastardsword in one hand and a +1 shield in the other. He's got a +4 Str mod and Weapon Specialization.

So he hits, for 1d10+7 damage. If he rolls a 10, he get 2 damage in. But oh, wait, half-damage from piercing slashing. That 17 drops to 8. No damage. He'll have to PA for all he's worth, and the ice maiden has reasonably good AC. If he crits, however, he's got the capability to dish out some meager amount of damage to the ice maiden.

Let's say he's got a flaming weapon (because he prepared ahead of time) and bypasses the DR 15/fire. He's going to roll 1d10+7+1d6. On average, that's 5.5+7+3.5 = 16. But, half-damage from the sword and 1.5x from flame. That's (5.5+7)/2+(3.5)*1.5=11.5. Not bad, except we still got DR 5/cold iron to deal with. That means, on average, 6 hp being subtracted from the ice maiden by our fighter per turn. Lucky crits are a huge help here.

Now, one fireball, and the whole shows over. That's why I've been thinking about giver her SR. A wizard can take her out in a turn.

 

[Ferret]

Let's say he's got a flaming weapon (because he prepared ahead of time) and bypasses the DR 15/fire.

Where does it have a DR Vulnerable to fire?

You also act like the fighter takes of 15 point for being non cold iron, wheras the block at the top says they only have 5/cold iron.....

Have I missed something or have you?

 

[Halivar]

Where does it have a DR Vulnerable to fire?

You also act like the fighter takes of 15 point for being non cold iron, wheras the block at the top says they only have 5/cold iron.....

Have I missed something or have you?

I'm sorry... it originally had DR 15/fire, and I went ot add DR 5/cold iron because it's fey. I evidently erased the originaly DR, which is a big-time goof on my part. Apologies.

EDIT: Quite a bit of stuff got erased accidently. I've added it back in.

 

[Victim]

First of all, the sample characters from the DMG are pale reflections of actual PC characters. A PC will probably have about 3x the value of magic stuff that the DMG fighter has. Many PCs will have better stats. And a PC might not be using sword and board - at this level, an animated shield starts looking like a great idea for 2 weapon or 2 hander characters.

Also, I figured that the 1/2 damage would occur after the DR. Additionally, a masterwork cold iron weapon isn't very expensive.

Most wizards probably aren't going to want to be within 30 ft of many foes.

Nymph touch AC includes deflection bonus.

 

[Halivar]

Hrmm... good points, Victim. How about this: I can scale it to a lower CR rating, knock 3 HD off of it (increase Con to 14 to compensate on hit-points), and lower the DC of the gaze attack.

How would that work?

Oh, and thanks for the tip on Unearthly Grace. I'll update the stats.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

You might want to reconsider the half-damage ability and just convert it to DR 10/cold iron and bludgeoning. That would be a good deal more consistent with the way other 3.5 monsters work (skeletons and zombies, for instance). It would arguably also be more "realistic" (for what that's worth in a game with fireballs and dragons). After all, most of us have ice picks in our kitchens rather than ice hammers and climbers make good use of ice axes. So, while I can see the idea that smashing would work better than cutting or stabbing the ice maiden, it doesn't really make sense that there would be as big a difference as the half-damage ability implies.