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Homebrew Golem for critique
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<blockquote data-quote="Trit One-Ear" data-source="post: 8030359" data-attributes="member: 6678017"><p>Thanks for the replies all.</p><p></p><p>[USER=20323]@Quickleaf[/USER] - Honored you remember me! Appreciate all the work you put into your response. This level of thought in monster design is still pretty new to me, but you've made it super easy to see how you reverse-engineered how traits like Spell Reflection change CR. I'm going to spend some time looking over your response and reworking the stat block to see if I can get it closer to what I'm aiming for.</p><p></p><p>[USER=83242]@dave2008[/USER] and [USER=27385]@aco175[/USER] thanks for your replies as well. It's worth mentioning my only plan for this creature is to run it in a couple encounters against my regular party, and we sometimes play a little fast and lose with rules (especially with monster CRs).</p><p></p><p>My party is six 10th level players, including a large number of spell casters (Wizard, Sorcerer, Tempest Cleric) and a couple melee-based caster types as well (Moon Druid and Hexblade Warlock). Our Barbarian also has a magic weapon, so the weapon damage immunity really only effects the Cleric if he decides to start swinging his mace instead of using spells. </p><p></p><p>My goal with Spell Reflection was that it only works on spells for which it was the only target (meaning no reflecting fireball etc.), and giving my caster-heavy party something to think about. Maybe stacking Reflection and Magic Resistance is overkill, but as [USER=83242]@dave2008[/USER] pointed out, without any bonuses to saves, it may still fail most of those as well.</p><p></p><p>Sharpened Form was copied from Nerzugal's Extended Bestiary, which has it's own version of Obsidian Golem. Perhaps a better way to phrase the desired effect would be:</p><p>"If a single creature within deals 20 or more damage to the golem while within 5ft of it in a single turn, a shower of glass erupts dealing etc. etc."</p><p>This would clean up things like AoO later in the round or a character attacking in melee then moving away to multi-attack from range. Again, the wording on this is pretty clumsy, but since it's only meant for my own personal use (though others are welcome to use it!) as long as I make it clear to my players how the ability functions, the exact wording doesn't bother me too much.</p><p>Debating between making it a small AoE around the golem (which makes more sense narratively) vs. making it deal damage to the target attacking (which is mechanically a little closer to what I want).</p><p></p><p>Ultimately, I may tweak the stats based on [USER=20323]@Quickleaf[/USER] 's comments, repost the updated stats, and play it a little loose for my group. Since we do milestone leveling, the total XP doesn't matter, so CR is mostly just me trying to make sure I don't stack the odds <em>too</em> heavily against my players. That being said, they've been able to handle most threats I've thrown at them without too much issues, so I'm not against making them sweat a little here or there. </p><p></p><p>Thank you all again for your input!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Trit One-Ear, post: 8030359, member: 6678017"] Thanks for the replies all. [USER=20323]@Quickleaf[/USER] - Honored you remember me! Appreciate all the work you put into your response. This level of thought in monster design is still pretty new to me, but you've made it super easy to see how you reverse-engineered how traits like Spell Reflection change CR. I'm going to spend some time looking over your response and reworking the stat block to see if I can get it closer to what I'm aiming for. [USER=83242]@dave2008[/USER] and [USER=27385]@aco175[/USER] thanks for your replies as well. It's worth mentioning my only plan for this creature is to run it in a couple encounters against my regular party, and we sometimes play a little fast and lose with rules (especially with monster CRs). My party is six 10th level players, including a large number of spell casters (Wizard, Sorcerer, Tempest Cleric) and a couple melee-based caster types as well (Moon Druid and Hexblade Warlock). Our Barbarian also has a magic weapon, so the weapon damage immunity really only effects the Cleric if he decides to start swinging his mace instead of using spells. My goal with Spell Reflection was that it only works on spells for which it was the only target (meaning no reflecting fireball etc.), and giving my caster-heavy party something to think about. Maybe stacking Reflection and Magic Resistance is overkill, but as [USER=83242]@dave2008[/USER] pointed out, without any bonuses to saves, it may still fail most of those as well. Sharpened Form was copied from Nerzugal's Extended Bestiary, which has it's own version of Obsidian Golem. Perhaps a better way to phrase the desired effect would be: "If a single creature within deals 20 or more damage to the golem while within 5ft of it in a single turn, a shower of glass erupts dealing etc. etc." This would clean up things like AoO later in the round or a character attacking in melee then moving away to multi-attack from range. Again, the wording on this is pretty clumsy, but since it's only meant for my own personal use (though others are welcome to use it!) as long as I make it clear to my players how the ability functions, the exact wording doesn't bother me too much. Debating between making it a small AoE around the golem (which makes more sense narratively) vs. making it deal damage to the target attacking (which is mechanically a little closer to what I want). Ultimately, I may tweak the stats based on [USER=20323]@Quickleaf[/USER] 's comments, repost the updated stats, and play it a little loose for my group. Since we do milestone leveling, the total XP doesn't matter, so CR is mostly just me trying to make sure I don't stack the odds [I]too[/I] heavily against my players. That being said, they've been able to handle most threats I've thrown at them without too much issues, so I'm not against making them sweat a little here or there. Thank you all again for your input! [/QUOTE]
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