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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Garnfellow" data-source="post: 2796238" data-attributes="member: 1223">Echidna RevisedA couple of years ago the PCs had a run-in with Echidna, a wretched monster that was part nymph, part dragon (<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68197)" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=68197)</a>. She'll be making a return in our final game session (scheduled for January), and I thought it was time to go back to the drawing board. This time out, I used the amalgam template from Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary as a guide, which was a lot of help. I also had access to Grim Tales's spectacular Creature CR calculator. And I've got some more experience at monster design under my belt.Dragon CRs, I've discovered, are artificially low, even in 3.5 -- which led me to scale back on Echidna's HD. It also finally clicked how useless a big bag of spells and spell-like abilities are. Basically, an average encounter only last around 3-6 rounds; so monsters only get a chance to use 2-3 of these abilities. Further, the DCs of low-level effects are so low as to be worthless. (The 3.5 designers had already reached this conclusion when they revised demons and devils.)So I've dropped several of Echidna's abilities that didn't seem to fit and were not useful in a typical encounter: the wild empathy ability, the druid and sorcerer spells, leaving behind some spell-like abilities that better fit her character.I haven't playtested her yet, but this is the current version I'm kicking around:From above the waist, Echidna appears to be a beautiful human woman, but below is the form of a foul dragon with blue-black scales.ECHIDNA _____ CR 17Female unique dragonNE Large dragon (evil, extraplanar)Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Listen +18, Spot +18Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Sylvan-----AC 28, touch 13, flat-footed 28hp 190 (18 HD); DR 10/cold ironImmune sleep, paralysisResist cold 10, fire 10; SR 28Fort +19, Ref +15, Will +18Weakness divine vulnerability-----Spd 60 ft, swim 80 ftMelee barbed tail +22 (1d8+5 plus poison) and 2 claws +20 (1d8+2)Space 10 ft; Reach 10 ftBase Atk +18; Grp +27Atk Options Blind-Fight, Quicken Spell-like Ability (darkness)Special Atk blinding beauty (DC 23), confront sin, frightful presence (180 ft radius, DC 25), poison (Fort DC 23, 1d6 Str/1d6 Str), stunning glance (DC 25)Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th): 1/day—dimension door, insanity (DC 21), plane shift (DC 21), mass suggestion (DC 21), song of discord (DC 19) 3/day—confusion (DC 18), crushing despair (DC 18), deeper darkness, silence (DC 16), slow (DC 17), touch of idiocy At will—darkness, discern lie (DC 18), dispel magic, magic circle against good -----Abilities Str 20, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 19SQ unearthly graceFeats Ability Focus (frightful presence), Ability Focus (stunning glance), Blind-Fight, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Attack (barbed tail), Multiattack, Quicken Spell-like Ability (darkness)Skills Concentration +19, Diplomacy +21, Escape Artist +15, Hide +11, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (arcana) +19, Knowledge (religion) +19, Listen +18, Move Silently +15, Search +19, Sense Motive +18, Spot +18, Swim +20 (+28 to avoid hazards), Use Magic Device +19-----Divine Vulnerability (Su): Echidna has a weakness, a special action that any person with a good alignment can do to instantly destroy her.Blinding Beauty (Su): This ability affects all humanoids within 30 feet of Echidna. Those who look directly at her must succeed on a DC 23 Fortitude save or be blinded permanently as though by the blindness spell. Echidna can suppress or resume this ability as a free action.Confront Sin (Su): Echidna is made stronger by the sin of her opponents. All physical attacks do bonus damage equal to +2 damage for each step the target's alignment is away from lawful good.Frightful Presence (Ex): The ability takes effect automatically whenever Echidna attacks or charges. Creatures within a 180 ft radius are subject to the effect if they have less than 18 HD. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a DC 25 Will save remains immune to Echidna's frightful presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 to 17 HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds.Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 23, initial and secondary damage 1d6 Str.Stunning Glance (Su): As a standard action, Echidna can stun a creature within 30 feet with a look. The target creature must succeed on a DC 25 Fortitude save or be stunned for 2d4 rounds.Unearthly Grace (Su): Echidna adds her Charisma modifier as a bonus on all her saving throws, and as a deflection bonus to her Armor Class. (The statistics block already reflects these bonuses).</blockquote>

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