More Dires :)

[DnDChick]

Oooh! Dire mole! Dire mole! Dire mole!

Well ... lacking stats for a Diminutive mole, I'd just use the next closest animal: the rat. Ordinarily, I'd use the size change rules from the MM to change the rat's size to Diminutive and thus create the mole. Since we are doing a dire mole and my template says "anything less than Small becomes Small" we can just skip those unnecessary size modifiying steps and start with the dire rat as created with my template. All we need to do is add some mole-powers.

Dire Mole
Small Animal (Dire)
Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (5 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 25 ft. (5 squares), burrow 5 ft.
Armor Class: 15 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +2 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/−4
Attack: Claw +3 melee (1d4)
Full Attack: Claw +3 melee (1d4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: --
Special Qualities: Blindsight 30 ft., scent
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +3
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills Hide +11, Listen +3, Move Silently +7, Spot +3
Feats: Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any
Organization: Plague (10-100)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 2 HD (Small); 3 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —

Dire moles are huge rodents, 2 feet long from nose to rump.

Combat
Dire moles scratch with their long claws.

Skills Dire moles have a +5 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks.


I don't know the text for Blindsight off the top of my head, but you get the idea.

How's that?


Edit: I knocked the CR down since I used the dire rat as a starting point and removed the Filth Fever. Without that extra special attack, it's not quite as dangerous.

 

[Krishnath]

I'd increase the burrow speed to at least 15'

 

[DnDChick]

I'd increase the burrow speed to at least 15'

You can, but this is an issue where I start to bump heads with that infamous thing known as reality. lol A mole has to burrow by moving earth and packing it in such a way that the tunnel doesn't collapse behind it. I can't get my head around it doing that so quickly that it can move that fast. I know that its impossible for a mole to be get this big in the first place, but even my suspension of disbelief can only go so far. It's just one of those things about me, I guess ... I feel that creatures of the Animal type, unlike all other monster types, should be bound by the physcal laws. Animals can push physical laws, such as with size and toughness and so on, but they shouldn't outright break them.

But you can make the dire mole's burrow speed as high as you like.

 

[Olly]

Aw! Thanks so much! I wub you, DnDChick!

I think I'll switch the land speed and the burrow speed around, though. I rather like the idea that these critters could burrow into the ground and burst up from underneath you!

 

[DnDChick]

You're quite welcome, Olly.

Note that you can also turn these dire moles into dire shrews by making its attack a bite and adding poison. You might want to bump the CR up by 1 if you do that.

Then you can replay that famous movie "Attack of the Killer Shrews"

 

[Krishnath]

You can, but this is an issue where I start to bump heads with that infamous thing known as reality. lol A mole has to burrow by moving earth and packing it in such a way that the tunnel doesn't collapse behind it. I can't get my head around it doing that so quickly that it can move that fast. I know that its impossible for a mole to be get this big in the first place, but even my suspension of disbelief can only go so far. It's just one of those things about me, I guess ... I feel that creatures of the Animal type, unlike all other monster types, should be bound by the physcal laws. Animals can push physical laws, such as with size and toughness and so on, but they shouldn't outright break them.

But you can make the dire mole's burrow speed as high as you like.

But, but, they're *dire* moles!

 

[DnDChick]

Based on my template, this monstrosity is the dire hyena.

Dire Hyena
Large Animal (Dire, Augmented Animal)
Hit Dice: 6d8+30 (57 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 60 ft. (12 squares)
Armor Class: 17 (−1 size, +2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+16
Attack: Bite +12 melee (1d8+12)
Full Attack: Bite +12 melee (1d8+12)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +1*, Listen +6, Spot +5
Feats: Alertness, Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (Bite)
Environment: Warm deserts
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (7-16)
Challenge Rating: 4
Advancement: 7-18 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

The animal carcass is being torn by a pack of brutish canines. The dog-beasts have short brown fur with black spots. Covered in gore and maggots, the ululating creatures tear great hunks of decayed flesh from the body and gulp them down whole.

Dire hyenas travel in packs in warm, open plains. Like their normal counterparts, dire hyenas are scavengers. They normally feed on rotting corpses, but they are not above stalking and killing prey as long as it is smaller than they are and doesn’t put up too much resistance.
Gnoll tribes frequently use dire hyenas as guard animals and even pets. Powerful gnoll chieftains have been known to ride advanced (Large) dire hyenas as mounts.

Combat
A favorite tactic is to send a few individuals against the foe’s front while the rest of the pack circles and attacks from the flanks or rear.

Trip (Ex): A dire hyena that hits with its bite attack can attempt to trip the opponent (+2 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 dire hyena.

Skills: *Dire hyenas have a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth.

 

[DnDChick]

I'll do the dire octopus tomorrow or the next day.

 

[A Crazy Fool]

this has an acurate cr but based on the other dires it ought to be changed so it has a cr of 3.
also it would be good i could get input on the pure arcanist template from the template expert, but that's beside the point.

 

[Olly]

Based on my template, this monstrosity is the dire hyena.

Dire Hyena
Large Animal (Dire, Augmented Animal)
Hit Dice: 6d8+30 (57 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 60 ft. (12 squares)
Armor Class: 17 (−1 size, +2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+16
Attack: Bite +12 melee (1d8+12)
Full Attack: Bite +12 melee (1d8+12)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +7, Will +6
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +1*, Listen +6, Spot +5
Feats: Alertness, Great Fortitude, Weapon Focus (Bite)
Environment: Warm deserts
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (7-16)
Challenge Rating: 4
Advancement: 7-18 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

The animal carcass is being torn by a pack of brutish canines. The dog-beasts have short brown fur with black spots. Covered in gore and maggots, the ululating creatures tear great hunks of decayed flesh from the body and gulp them down whole.

Dire hyenas travel in packs in warm, open plains. Like their normal counterparts, dire hyenas are scavengers. They normally feed on rotting corpses, but they are not above stalking and killing prey as long as it is smaller than they are and doesn’t put up too much resistance.
Gnoll tribes frequently use dire hyenas as guard animals and even pets. Powerful gnoll chieftains have been known to ride advanced (Large) dire hyenas as mounts.

Combat
A favorite tactic is to send a few individuals against the foe’s front while the rest of the pack circles and attacks from the flanks or rear.

Trip (Ex): A dire hyena that hits with its bite attack can attempt to trip the opponent (+2 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 dire hyena.

Skills: *Dire hyenas have a +4 racial bonus on Hide checks in areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth.

Hmm... As I recall, Krishnath already posted some stats for a dire hyena up. It was quite good, but I, personally, like these stats better.

That said, I really liked one aspect of Krishnath's design, and that was the 'gibber' ability, his dire hyena possessed.

Gibber (Ex): Useable once per round as a standard action. All within earshot (60’) of a dire hyena must make a will save (DC: 12) or recieve a -2 morale penalty on attacks and damage for 1d4 rounds. Creatures that make the save are immune to that dire hyenas gibber for one day. Gnolls, hyenas, and other dire hyenas are immune to this attack. The DC is Charisma based.

I wonder if I could incorporate that ability into these stats and whether that would affect its Challenge Rating? Krishnath? DnDChick? What do you reckon?