Lord Vangarel's Advanced Monsters (Last updated 08/11/2003)

[Lord Vangarel]

Ok, in honour of Blackdirge and all the others who have put up advanced monsters I'm going to do some myself. Now as I'm basically lazy I decided to create my own program to advance monsters so this will be kind of a testing ground to make sure the program is working.

Ok now for the interesting stuff . . .

Advanced Troll

In the high mountains and the deepest forests far from the realms of the civilised races rumours persist that some Trolls become much more powerful than their normal brethren.

Troll, Large Giant
Hit Dice: 15d8+105 (172hp)
Initiative: 2 (+2 Dex)
Speed: 30 ft.
AC: 16 (+2 Dex +5 natural -1 Size )
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+21
Attack: Claw +16 Melee (1d6+6)
Full Attack: 2 claws +17 melee (1d6+6) (19-20) and bite +11 melee (1d6+3)
Face/Reach: 10ft./10ft.
Special Attacks: Rend 2d6+9
Special Qualities: Darkvision 90ft, low-light vision, regeneration 5, scent
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 14, Con 24, Int 6, Wis 9, Cha 6
Skills: Listen 10 Spot 10
Feats: Alertness Iron Will Track Power Attack Weapon Focus (Claw) Improved Critical (Claw)
CR: 10

Ok, I know that Trolls advance by Character Class but what if some just got tougher without adding a class?

To the characters these beasties look identical to normal Trolls but just wait till they try taking them down

If anyone finds any errors please let me know so I can debug the program.

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Ok, in the interests of giving you more to go on here is another one.

Advanced Behir

Beneath the hills of the Eaststar Mountains lies the tomb of Bhaerin Ironstone, a dwarf thane of great power from ages past. The dwarves buired their leader in an elaborate tomb but before they could finish the task they unearthed a natural cavern within which lurked a deep horror that killed many of them and drove the survivors from the tomb. In the years since as those that survived slowly fell to the passing of time the location of the unfinished tomb became forgotten and the legends about the creature within grew.

Behir, Gargantuan Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 24d10+168 (300hp)
Initiative: 1 (+1 Dex)
Speed: 40
AC: 22 (+1 Dex +15 natural -4 Size )
Base Attack/Grapple: +24/+48
Attack: Bite +33 melee (2d6+18)
Full Attack: Bite +33/+28/+23/+18 melee (2d6+18)
Face/Reach: 30 ft/15 ft
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, constrict 2d8+12, improved grab, rake 1d4+6, swallow whole
Special Qualities: Can't be tripped, darkvision 60 ft, immunity to electricity, low light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +21, Ref +15, Will +12
Abilities: Str 34, Dex 13, Con 25, Int 7, Wis 14, Cha 12
Skills: Climb 20 Hide 10 Listen 10 Spot 10 Survival 8
Feats: Alertness Cleave Power Attack Track Improved Sunder Improved Bull Rush Iron Will Combat Reflexes Weapon Focus (bite)
CR: 16

 

[Hackenslash]

Hmmm...these seem familiar !!!

Hiya Lord V,

I think the Behir is spot on but I am not too sure about the advanced trolls being CR-10 ? I think maybe CR-8 or 9 max. and with only a 23 strength as you mentioned them getting "Bigger" then surely a size category would have been in order and some more strength. What stat. template did you use. Not the 10,11,10 one I hope. I would be inclined to use the Warrior stat template in the DMG for this type of monster. In any case however way you create the critter a play test would be in order and I think we sorted that out for you last night. hehehe !!!

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Hi Hackenslash

The Trolls last night were quite a bit more powerful than these, but yeah they should perhaps increase in size. As for CR it's really a guessing game put the program follows the quick and dirty rules from Savage Species.

Anyway once I've done a few more I'll post them up here and see what people think.

 

[Hackenslash]

Stats...Stats....Stats.....

Well as I mentioned in my previous post. I think the stats were off for the trolls as 23 strength seems a little low for an advanced troll or even a normal troll for that matter. The DMG and MM explain about base stats quite well and specifically when not to use the standard 10,11,10 mold for base stats before racial modifiers....etc...maybe it's explained better in the Savage Species but I would have definitely bumped up the strength by at least another 4 or 5 points and also added a bit of constitution too. CR is tricky but it's not all guessing. The new 3.5 MM does a good job of explaining advancement and of course there is a good explanation in Savage Species too. I Reckon you should have slapped a couple of templates on those Trolls like Corrupted and Half-Fiendish and watched us all crap our pants. How about a few levels of Barbarian or Fighter too !!! Well Have fun creating your baddies and speak to ya soon. Bye for now from ZAL.

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Hiya Hackenslash

Thanks for the reply. The stats are the base stats for Trolls from the MM and wouldn't increase unless size changed or for every 4 hit dice added. The CR is calculated by the program using the rough and ready method of +1 for the first odd hit dice and +1 for every 2 hit dice thereafter. Maybe there should be larger Trolls with better stats. Anyways, the next enhancement I'm doing to the program will allow me to use exceptional stats for advancements which will definitely improve monsters somewhat.

 

[Malicene]

IMO the stat thing is important but I think what's helps (DM) is the story about this monster or at least a combat tactic, or a good encounter to deal with it ....

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Thanks for the reply Malicene

I should be posting another very soon and I'll try and include some tactics and encounter details/background story with it.

 

[Hackenslash]

See 3.5 MM...

Hiya Lord V.

Have a look on pages 6 and 7 in the 3.5 MM, it clearly explains when to use the Standard Array Base Stats, the Humaniod Warrior Base Stats, and finally the Elite Array Base Stats. These are of course then subject to the appropriate racial modifiers. So for example I would have definitely used the Humanoid Warrior or Elite arrays for those Trolls. Here are the 3 base stat arrays:

Standard: Str:11,Dex:10,Con:11,Int:10,Wis:11,Cha:10.

Humanoid Warrior: Str:13,Dex:12,Con:11,Int:10,Wis:9,Cha:8.

Elite: Str:15,Dex:14,Con:13,Int:12,Wis:10,Cha:8.

Cheers matey !!!!

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Ok, hopefully this one is easier to read and contains a bit more background and info on how he could be used within the game.

Gerenthax

Half Fiend Winter Wolf, Huge Outsider
Hit Dice: 14d10+84 (161hp)
Initiative: +6 (+4 Improved Initiative,+2 Dex)
Speed: 50 ft., Fly 60ft. (average)
AC: 19 (+9 natural,-2 Size,+2 Dex)
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+30
Attack: Claw +22 Melee (1d8+10)
Full Attack: 2 Claws +22 Melee (1d8+10) and Bite +20 Melee (2d6+5)
Face/Reach: 10ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon,freezing bite,trip,smite good,spells
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60ft,immunity to cold,low-light vision,scent,vulnerability to fire,immunity to poison,resistance to acid 10,electricity 10,fire 10,DR 10/magic,SR 24
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +9, Will +5
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 15, Con 22, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 12
Skills: Concentration 23,Hide 19,Intimidate 18,Listen 21,Move Silently 20,Search 18,Spellcraft 18,Spot 21,Survival 18
Feats: Alertness,Improved Initiative,Track,Multiattack,Power Attack
CR: 12
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Breath Weapon: 15-foot cone, once every 1d4 rounds, damage 4d6 cold, Reflex DC 23 half. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Freezing Bite: A winter wolf deals an extra 1d6 points of cold damage every time it bites an opponent, as if its bite were a frost weapon.

Trip: A winter wolf that hits with a bite attack can attempt to trip the opponent (+8 check modifier) as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the winter wolf.

Smite Good: Once per day Gerenthax can use his Smite Good ability to deal an extra +14 damage to a good creature.

Spells: Darkness 3/day, Desecrate 1/day, Unholy Blight 1/day, Poison 3/day, Contagion 1/day, Blasphemy 1/day Unholy Aura 3/day, Unhallow 1/day

The huge winter wolf Zemekalth rejected Gerenthaxs' mother in favour of another mate and banished the female from the tribe. She wandered in the mountains killing where she could but without a pack was vulnerable. When she chanced upon a fiend she thought her life over but there was something that attracted the fiend to her and the two mated.

The product of the union between his mother and the fiend Gerenthax was born with a twin who died shortly after birth. His mother was very pleased with her surviving offspring however and taught Gerenthax all that he would need to know to fulfill his destiny and return to rule the pack that she had been cast from.

As the years passed Gerenthax's fiendish nature became more and more apparent and he quickly surpassed his mother and one summer turned upon her ripping her to pieces. Seeking a pack he began his search seeking those who had banished his mother. The search took him two years but he eventually found the trail and quickly caught up with the pack. Gerenthax found that the years had not been kind to Zemekalth and that he was no match for the half fiend wolf however his offspring could prove troublesome. Choosing to wait until the strongest were hunting Gerenthax swept from the sky falling upon the old pack leader tearing into him with claws and bite. The old pack leader was no match and Gerenthax and the battle ended quickly. Gerenthax used his superior form to intimidate the others stating that he had been sent from the planes to rule all Winter Wolves. With the pack quickly quelled Gerenthax waited for the hunters to return. When they did they found the body of Zemekalth ripped apart and blood splattering the snowy ground. The offspring of the old leader attacked Gerenthax but quickly found that they were no match for this creature from hell and Gerenthax slew them all.

Today Gerenthax leads his pack across the mountains endlessly searching. When the old are too infirm to continue he thinks nothing of slaying them. He allows a few of the stronger ones to live but keeps most of the females to himself. Many of the pack mutter that Gerenthax drives them too hard as if he is searching for something.

Description & Tactics:

Gerenthax is a huge wolf with white fur. His fiendish heritage can be seen within his red eyes and bat like wings. He often uses his stature to Intimidate opponents. He is quick to anger and offers no quarter to foes killing any who oppose him. Gerenthax is intelligent enough to use tactics and will often direct the pack to attack in waves probing for weaknesses and assessing strengths while using his spells to offer support before joining the combat himself.