(Cydra Rogues' Gallery-My Players STAY OUT)

[the Jester]

Here's another one for you- Bennng, an unusually puissant xorn.

BENNNG--- CR 27
Bile elder xorn rogue 15/fighter 10
CE large outsider (extraplanar, earth)
Init +6; Senses all-around vision, darkvision 60’, tremorsense 60’; Listen +33, Spot +37
Languages Terran

AC 48 (-1 size, +2 dex, +1 dodge, +20 natural, +11 armor, +5 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 45
Hit Dice 15d8 + 15d6 + 10d10 + 280 (485 hp); DR 5/bludgeoning
Resist electricity 10
Immune acid, cold, fire, pain, poison
Fort +24, Ref +26, Will +21; agonized existence

Speed 20 ft. (4 squares), earth glide 20 ft. (4 squares); Spring Attack
Melee bite +39 (6d8+18) and 3 claws +33 (1d6+5)
Base Atk +26; Grp +39
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Atk Options Awesome Blow, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Spring Attack

Str 31, Dex 14, Con 24, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 10
Feats Awesome Blow, Cleave (B), Dodge, Greater Weapon Focus (bite), Greater Weapon Specialization (bite), Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Mobility, Multiattack, Power Attack, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Weapon Focus (bite), Weapon Specialization (bite)
Epic Feats Epic Reflexes, Epic Weapon Focus (bite), Epic Weapon Specialization (bite), Epic Will
Skills Hide +31, Intimidate +43, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +25, Listen +33, Move Silently +35, Search +37, Spot +37, Survival +18 (+20 following tracks or underground), Tumble +35
Possessions combat gear plus large mithral +4 breastplate of acid resistance 20, ring of protection +5

Breath Weapon (Su): Bennng has the ability to spit bile in a 15’ radius spread, at a range of up to 60’. Each creature caught in the blast must make a Fort save, DC 24. Those that fail suffer 4d6 hp of acid damage and 2d4 points of con damage. Creatures that make their saving throw instead take half acid damage and no con damage. It must wait 1d4 rounds before spitting bile again.

Agonized Existence (Ex): Because its bile-ridden form leaves it in perpetual pain, Bennng is immune to effects based on pain. If it falls subject to any enchantment effect or morale penalty, it automatically shakes off the effect in only 1d4 rounds.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Did the players come up with some sort of Bile Resistance spell?

And are you going to drop any subtle hints about potentially improving it before they go in...?

I'm enjoying the monsters here, and I think that you can afford to take a more '4e' attitude - just create creatures that look like they have the right stats and give them an appropriate CR. That way, the PCs will have good enemies to fight and you'll be able to spend more time working on the wider ideas of what's going on rather than the fine detail.

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, Orbius researched a bile shield spell that prevents acid and con damage from bile... but there are other, subtler effects that it can't prevent. Really, it would take epic magic to fully protect yourself from bile (since the bile is the product of epic magic itself).

Regarding design- I think I'm good enough at eyeballing it to do a lot of custom epic stuff just kinda "thrown together"... but one of the really fun things about epic design is putting together the complex epic monsters. It's just that it takes so. damn. long. to get it all right.

I might start kinda fudging the fine details or something, though.

 

[Quartz]

Yeah, Orbius researched a bile shield spell that prevents acid and con damage from bile... but there are other, subtler effects that it can't prevent. Really, it would take epic magic to fully protect yourself from bile (since the bile is the product of epic magic itself).

Actually, one of the themes of D&D is that defensive spells are lower level than attack spells. For instance, Resist Fire will still defend against the fire portions of Flame Strike, Meteor Swarm, and Hellball.

 

[the Jester]

Actually, one of the themes of D&D is that defensive spells are lower level than attack spells. For instance, Resist Fire will still defend against the fire portions of Flame Strike, Meteor Swarm, and Hellball.

Not always, though. It takes true seeing to see through a major image, and stone to flesh and flesh to stone are the same level.

Like I said, the bile shield prevents the obvious effects of exposure to bile.

 

[the Jester]

The current encounter I'm working on is taking quite a lot of time and effort. It's a labor of love, though.

Since 4e is coming so soon, I've decided to start getting crazy about what kind of stuff I use. There are a lot of options in a lot of books that I might not otherwise ever get to. :\ So I'm trying to throw some of them into Beyond Bile Mountain, which (my guess is) will be the last hurrah for epic 3.5 Cydra. (Although, you never know, we might continue it afterwards... I dunno, we'll see, I have a feeling that I'll be swept up by the manic desire to play 4e for quite a while after it comes out.)

Anyway, the point is, for the encounter I'm working on, I decided to make four medium-sized monsters (gargoyles, with the bile template slapped on) into epic-level bad guys with class levels.

So I'm 3/4 done, and so far we have:

GNASH, elite bile gargoyle ranger 4/fighter 1/ravager 10/scorpion heritor 10
TOOTH, elite bile gargoyle sorcerer 6/cleric 1/pale master 20
GORE, elite bile gargoyle binder 14/ur-priest 10

That leaves TEAR, the fourth elite bile gargoyle.

I'm giving him 5 levels of survivor (Savage Species 89), and I'd like him to have other, weird, monstrous prestige classes... if I can find one focused on offense, especially on building up natural attacks.

Any suggestions for him?

Thanks!

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

The quasi-broken Hulking Hurler from the Miniature's Handbook?

With added shapeshifting powers, the Warshaper from the Complete Warrior.

Or perhaps Barbarian with Bear Warrior levels, also from Complete Warriors (a gargoyle-bear strikes me as hilarious, not to mention he'd get a good +20 strength out of it), maybe even combine it with Warshaper for continued craziness!

Psychic Warrior for the Form of Doom power =)

 

[the Jester]

I was hoping to find something more monster-specific. Hulking hurler is cool, but I've done it (back with Fnogghi and his lackeys). Maybe if someone has the Slayer's Guide to Gargoyles (? if there was one?) there might be something in there... or I might even have to make a new prestige class up for her; maybe something emphasizing the gargoyle "stoniness" or something...

 

[the Jester]

Looking into it, I've discovered that there is no Slayers' Guide to Gargoyles.

So I made up a custom monster prestige class!

Now that I think about it, if 3e weren't just about done, a great product would be a book of prestige classes for monsters.

Granite Shadow

Creatures of elemental earth, or closely associated with it, are usually brutes relying on strength and mass. However, even amongst their kind, there are sometimes those of a more subtle ilk. Some become spies, thieves or assassins, learning to draw upon their connection with earth and stone to enhance their abilities to conceal themselves and to destroy their enemies. These earth-based creatures sometimes become granite shadows.

Hit Die: d8

PREREQUISITES
To become a granite shadow, a creature must fulfill all of the following requirements:
Base Attack Bonus: +5
Skills: Hide (7 ranks)
Special: The creature must have the earth subtype.
---

Class Skills: Balance (dex), Climb (str), Hide (dex), Move Silently (dex), Spot (wis). Skill points per level: 2 + int bonus.
Base Attack: Good (as fighter)
Good Saves: Fort and Ref
Poor Saves: Will

Level--- Special Abilities
1--- Stone blend +4
2--- Stone wall strike +1d4
3--- Immunity to petrification
4--- Stone wall strike +2d4
5--- Stone blend +6
6--- Stone wall strike +3d4
7--- Immunity to sleep and stunning
8--- Stone wall strike +4d4
9--- Stone blend +8
10-- Earth glide, stone wall strike +5d4

CLASS FEATURES

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A granite shadow gains no new weapon or armor proficiencies.

Stone Blend (Ex): The granite shadow gains a +4 bonus on Hide checks when against a stone backdrop. If the granite shadow already has a racial bonus to Hide checks against a stone backdrop, this bonus overlaps with it. If the granite shadow already has a racial bonus to Hide checks in general, however, this bonus stacks with it. This bonus increases by +2 for every four additional levels of granite shadow.

Stone Wall Strike (Ex): If a granite shadow hits an enemy with a melee attack when the enemy is directly between the granite shadow and a stone wall, the granite shadow deals extra damage based on its level, as shown on the chart above. For the granite shadow to get this bonus damage, the closest path from it to a stone wall must pass through the enemy.

Immunities (Ex): At 3rd level, the granite shadow becomes immune to petrification (if it isn’t already). At 7th level, it becomes immune to sleep and stunning.

Earth Glide (Ex): A 10th level granite shadow can pass through earth and stone at will, moving at its burrow speed without leaving any sign of its passage. If the granite shadow doesn’t have a burrow speed, it can move at half of its land speed using this ability.

If the granite shadow already has the earth glide ability, its burrow speed increases by 20’.

 

[the Jester]

I think I've got a winner here: elite bile gargoyle survivor 5/granite shadow 10/cancer mage 9.

Yeah, I have to do a small amount of cheating to make it work, but that's okay by me.