Ok, so here's my completely revamped creature. I realized that I had done the Fort save wrong somehow, AND the AC, as well as the Awesome Blow feat (needs two feat prereqs), so that solves the whole "improved natural attack" delima quite well.
I also re-did the stats slightly, and included "base modifiers," as well as redoing the flavor text and changing a few bits (like fire resistance instead of immunity). (One thing I like with giving it two "traits" is that this opens the field up for two different knowledge skills to tell you about the creature, thus negating some of the benefit, since it's easier to know its weaknesses.) Overall, I'd say it's still a solid CR 14. Additional comments and suggestions welcome.
Edit: After reviewing more "guidelines" for making monsters, I've adjusted a few things here and there. I also made the big change to 16 HD, which is the semi-standard for gargantuan creatures. I reduced the fire immunity to fire resistance 20 to help offset this, but I think I'm now on the clearly high side of CR 14, whereas before it was probably on the low side. (Also see the rule about very large invisible creatures, which helps slightly.) Other suggestions?
Edit: Hooray, Draconomicon! I believe I've fixed most of the creature's issues by simply making all of its special attacks feats, and not giving it anything for free. This should sufficiently lower the CR to a solid 14 again, possibly even on the low side of 14. I had to say goodbye to Awesome Blow, but not worrying about how a slow, flying creature that never touches the ground initiates a bull rush is probably worth it.
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War Blimp
Code:
Size/Type: Gargantuan Aberration [Augmented Plant]
Hit Dice: 16d8+176 (248 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: fly 30 ft. (poor; can hover)
Armor Class: 28 (-2 Dex, -4 size, +24 natural), touch 5, flat-footed 28
BAB/Grapple: +12/+40
Attack: Single tendril +24 melee 2d6+16
Full Attack: 6 tendrils +24 melee 2d6+8
Space/Reach: 20 ft. / 20 ft.
Special Attacks: None
Special Qualities: Fire resistance 20, DR 10 / adamantine, Dependent Sight, Dependent Invisibility, regeneration 5, Heavy Flyer, Flying Eyes, Spit Eyes 1/day, plant traits
Saves: Fort +21, Ref +3, Will +5
Abilities: Str 43, Dex 7, Con 33, Int 5, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Hide -14*, Spot +19**
Feats: Hover, Power Attack, Snatch, Improved Snatch***, Snatch and Swallow***, Multisnatch***
Environment: Open plains
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 14
Treasure: 50% goods or items (no items that cannot withstand acid)
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: 16-24 HD (Gargantuan); 25-36 HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: +10
War blimps are giant, shelled, blob-like creatures that slowly move invisibly across the land and use their tendrils to scoop up almost anything and bring it to their giant, gaping mouths on the underside of their bodies. Their quartet of tiny flying eyes keep them informed on the world around them as well as keeping them invisible.
Description for players (based on the character's spot check and ability to see invisibility):
(Cannot see invisible, successful spot check)
You detect a glimmer in the sky... Is that a giant, swirling air pocket headed straight for you?
OR
(Can see invisible, spotted monster)
An enormous, blob-looking mountain of a creature is slowly floating toward you several feet off the ground. It has a hard outer shell, and six long tendrils that seem to grab up anything in its path and deliver it into the huge, gaping maw on the underside of the creature. You can tell that it is invisible, but nothing it does seems to break the effect.
OR
(Can see invisible, successful spot check) As above, plus:
You also notice a few tiny flying eyeballs encircling the sickening creature, darting between its tendrils and around its bulbous body.
Background:
The tale of the war blimp is a pitiful one. Originally stolen from a far-off plane by a cabal of powerful mages to be exploited in a long-forgotten war, these creatures were then captured by a group of evil and twisted druids who decided to take it upon themselves to "perfect" this creature's design. They infused its body with hardened plant matter, strengthening its tough hide to the consistency of adamantine. Over time, this process has changed the creature entirely, weakening its mind and altering parts of its physiology until its original form has been almost completely lost. At this time, war blimps are finally once again free from their slavery, and serve no master other than their own insatiable hunger. They tend to roam the open planes where it is harder for their prey to hide from them.
Special Qualities
Flying Eyes: War blimps are constantly surrounded by 4 invisible, tiny, flying eyes (stats below). These literally are their eyes, and they use them to see and to maintain their invisibility. The eyes always go immediately after the war blimp in initiative order. While the eyes use the war blimp's spot skill check, in all other ways they are treated as a separate creature and should make saves and take damage separately.
Spit Eyes (Ex): 1/day, a war blimp can spit out four new eyes from its mouth as a full round action. Any existing eyes die when this happens. The first actions always taken by each of the new eyes is to use a free action to generate their own invisibility, move, and then use a standard action (together) to generate greater invisibility on the war blimp. These flying eyes are both a part of the war blimp and its offspring, and if a war blimp dies, all remaining eyes scatter and eventually grow into new war blimps. Because of this, if a war blimp senses that it is in mortal danger and cannot escape, it will use its ability to generate new eyes if it has not already done so and then send its eyes to the edge of their effective range (100').
Dependent Sight (Su): A war blimp is completely blind without its flying eyes. This makes it immune to vision-based attacks. With at least one eye, a war blimp can see very well: it cannot be flanked, and can use its eyes low-light vision and ability to see invisibility as well.
Dependent Invisibility (Sp): When 3 or 4 eyes are within 100' of the war blimp and functional, they can generate as a swift action each round greater invisibility, as the spell, on the war blimp. When 1 or 2 eyes are near, they can generate as a standard action each round invisibility as the spell. When no eyes are alive or near, the war blimp is completely visible.
Regeneration (Ex): War blimps take normal damage from cold.
Heavy Flyer (Ex): The maximum altitude a war blimp can achieve is 100' off the ground. War blimps are unable to take a charge action or move more than twice their speed in any given round (they cannot "run").
Other Details
Hovering: War blimps and flying eyes can hover, but since they do not use wings to fly they do not stir up loose debris when doing so (as normal for hovering).
Gargantuan/Tiny Invisible Creatures: Being invisible gives the war blimp a +2 to attacks against creatures that cannot see it, and it may ignore their dexterity bonus to AC (not included above). However, due to the extremely large size and slow nature of the creature, invisibility only grants it a 25% miss chance for creatures that have pinpointed it and are attacking into its area (instead of the normal 50% miss chance). By contrast, a tiny, nimble flying eye has a 75% miss chance from creatures attacking into its area.
Plant Traits: War blimps have lost all their aberration traits and now have plant traits. This gives them low-light vision and makes them immune to mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning. They are also not subject to critical hits.
Improved Grab (Ex from the Snatch, Multisnatch, and Improved Snatch feats): To use this ability, a war blimp must hit a creature at least two sizes smaller than itself with its tendril attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and picks up the opponent; it can transfer the creature to its mouth as a free action and try to swallow it in the following round with another opposed grapple check. Conversely, it may drop a creature it has snatched as a free action or use a standard action to fling it aside. A flung creature travels 1d6 × 10 feet, and takes 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet traveled or falling damage, whichever is greater. It may also choose to do constricting damage to a grappled creature, either with its tendril or its mouth; in either case, a creature that loses its grapple check takes 2d6+16 damage. (While a war blimp's mouth can be used to hold or constrict a creature, its bite is not agile enough to be used effectively as an attack.) A war blimp only takes a -10 to grapple checks to maintain a hold on a creature with one of its tendrils or its mouth while taking other actions (instead of the normal -20).
Swallow Whole (Ex): (Ex from the Snatch and Swallow feat): A war blimp can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to two sizes smaller than itself by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature takes 2d8 points of bludgeoning damage and 4d6 points of acid damage per round from the war blimp's gizzard. A swallowed creature can attempt to cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 15). Once the creature exits, a muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. A war blimp's gizzard can hold 2 large, 8 medium, 32 small, 128 tiny, or 512 diminutive or smaller opponents.
Tendrils: A war blimp's tendrils may be sundered (+8 total bonus to sunder check). Each tendril has 41 HP and the same DR as the blimp. A war blimp can regrow a sundered tendril in 2d4 rounds, although cold damage applied to the stump (touch attack to affected area) will keep it from growing until the war blimp receives either natural or magical healing.
Flying Eye
Code:
Size/Type: Tiny Aberration [Augmented Plant]
Hit Dice: 2d8 + 4 (13 HP)
Initiative: As war blimp
Speed: fly 60 ft (good; can hover)
Armor Class: 25 (2 size, 2 dex, 11 natural)
Attack: None
Space/Reach: 2 1/2 ft. / 0 ft.
Special Qualities: Fire resistance 10, DR 5 / magic, spell-like abilities, Assist War Blimp, plant traits
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +0
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 11, Cha 7
Skills: Hide +6*, Spot +19**
Feats: Hover
Flying eyes have a lower natural armor, fire resistance, and DR than war blimps, but otherwise share many of the same traits.
Spell-like Abilities: See invisibility at will, invisibility (self only) at will (may be resumed as a free action).
Assist War Blimp: See war blimp's entry under "flying eyes" above.
*War blimps and flying eyes get a +20 to Hide while moving invisibly (not included above). This increases to +40 when they are still, and decreases to 0 if they are no longer invisible.
**War blimps use their flying eyes to see. If they lose all of their flying eyes, they are blind.
Tactics: War blimps usually move along or hover about 20' off the ground, using their tendrils to smash or grab anything it can eat (which is anything). Their invisible eyes try to stay near so that it can see below it and strong winds cannot disperse them too badly, but also try to stay high and out of sight if possible to avoid detection. They typically fly around 60' off the ground, or lower based on visibility. A war blimp avoids touching down at all costs, as it has no land movement capability, and cannot move things into its mouth (located underneath the creature) when on the ground. It doesn't even like to fly lower than 10' high, and will often give up on creatures that dive into holes or are otherwise lower than its reach. Otherwise, a war blimp tends to have simple tactics: it will try to grab and swallow several creatures first, and then attack or snatch and throw any additional threats aside as it retreats when full. It tends not to power attack when attempting to scoop up a meal, but will power attack somewhat intelligently when retreating or full. If it loses several eyes (usually three or more), it will generate new ones. However, the creature is very sensitive to lethal threats and knows that it is slow and not a good runner, so it tends to get out before things get too serious. If it has already generated eyes and starts to lose more, or if it is heavily damaged, or if it loses four or more of its tendrils and is not regenerating new ones, it will begin to run. Typically, it will try to escape upward first as far as it can, and then away from the things that are hurting it.
Treasure: Rarely does this creature have treasure, and any treasure with the creature is found inside the creature's gullet. It will only be something that can withstand the acid found there (such as magical armor that reduces acid damage).
Advancement: War blimps favor Improved Toughness, Improved Natural Attack, and the Large and in Charge*** feat as they increase in HD. They tend to put their only skill point into spot.
Knowledge Checks: A successful Knowledge(Dungeoneering) OR Knowledge(Nature) reveals:
DC 19 - You seem to think this creature is an aberration, or a plant, or both.
DC 24 - You remember that this creature has an incredibly tough hide, and is resistant to fire. It can also see deceptively well for having no apparent eyes.
DC 29 - You remember that cold seems to keep it from regenerating, and nothing short of adamantine can pierce its hide. It is both invisible and can spot invisible things.
DC 34 - You recall that the invisibility of the creature seems to be related to several tiny, invisible eyes that are often flying around it.
War Blimps ability scores start with the following ability scores: 13 str, 11 dex, 12 con, 9 int, 10 wis, 8 cha
Racial adjustments: +6 Str, +4 Con, -4 Int, -2 Cha. It added 4 points to Con for ability score increases due to hit dice. All other adjustments are from size increases.
***Feats from the Draconomicon
