Quag the Viscid, awakened gelatinous cube cleric of Ghaunadaur

[Derulbaskul]

Quag the Viscid, awakened gelatinous cube cleric of Ghaunadaur
Level 6 Solo Controller (Leader)
Large natural beast XP 1,250
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +7; all-around vision, darkvision, tremorsense
Favoured of Ghaunadaur aura 5; all oozes in the aura gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls and, at the start of Quag's turn, gain 5 temporary hit points.
HP 300; Bloodied 150
AC 20; Fortitude 18; Reflex 17; Will 18
Immune gaze; Resist 10 acid
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6
Action Points 2
m Slam (standard; at-will)
+10 vs Fortitude; 1d10 + 4 damage, and the target is immobilised (save ends).
M Engulf (minor; at-will) • Acid
+10 vs Reflex; automatically hits an immobilised creature; the target is grabbed and pulled into the cube’s space and is dazed and takes ongoing 10 acid damage until it escapes the grab. A creature that escapes the grab shifts to a square of its choosing adjacent to the cube. The cube can move normally while creatures are engulfed within it. Only Medium or smaller creatures can be the target of engulf.
R Viscid Glob (standard; at-will) • Acid
Quag spits out an acidic, adhesive mass of its gelatinous substance that restricts movement and may eventually dissolve Quag's prey.
Ranged 5/10; +10 vs Reflex; 1d6 + 4 acid damage, and the target is immobilised (save ends). First failed save: the target is restrained (save ends). Second failed save: the target is restrained and takes ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends both). Aftereffect: the target is slowed (save ends).
C Elder Eye (standard; at-will) • Gaze, Psychic, Radiant
Quag conjures a glowing golden orb of evil on one of its sides, the gaze of which promises madness.
Close blast 5; targets enemies; +10 vs Will; 1d10 + 4 radiant and psychic damage, and the target is blinded (save ends).
C Threnody of Madness (minor 1/round; at-will) • Psychic
The many heads stored in Quag's body sing a discordant dirge of madness.
Close burst 5; targets enemies; +10 vs Will; 1d6 + 4 psychic damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to its defences (save ends).
Translucent
A gelatinous cube is invisible until seen (Perception DC 25) or until it attacks. Creatures that fail to notice the gelatinous cube might walk into it, automatically becoming engulfed.
Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages Abyssal, Common, Deep Speech, Primordial
Skills Stealth +8, Arcana +11, Dungeoneering +12, History +11, Insight +12, Intimidate +12, Religion +11, Streetwise +12
Str 19 (+7) Dex 10 (+3) Wis 19 (+7)
Con 19 (+7) Int 16 (+6) Cha 19 (+7)
© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.
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I was reading last night in PHBII for 3.5E about an awakened gelatinous cube that was the leader of a thieves guild and was able to speak by using a severed head as, for lack of a better term, a speaking tube.

Ghaunadaur (oozes, slimes, madness) is behind the BBEG in my current FR campaign and I was thinking that the concept of an awakened gelatinous cube would work well as the head of a thieves guild IMC... but I decided to have multiple severed heads so, ahem, it could sing through those heads in different keys and tones as part of a madness-producing power.

With those two paragraphs, plus the stat block, as an introduction, I was wondering if anyone might have some other suggestions about either the mechanics or the NPC itself that I might be able to include IMC. After all, I stole the basic concept from 3.5E's PHBII now I am looking to steal all of your good ideas... if you don't mind.

 

[Mesh Hong]

I like it, but it looks pretty powerful for a level 6 solo. Especially as it would seem that it is designed to be encountered with other oozes.

Elder Eye and Threnody of Madness should maybe be recharge powers.

Engulf seems very powerful as a minor action. This thing in theory could quite quickly engulf the whole party!

 

[sfedi]

The aura seems pretty powerful, which is strange, since this is a Solo monster and not too many allies will be fighting along it.

Engulf is by far the best attack it can make: it's the cheapest (Minor), more effective (highest average damage) and highly efficient (it removes from play a PC at least one round and even if he escapes, the next round Quag can have upto three attempts of Engulfing it again)
Maybe it should be a Move action with some movement added to the power, or a Standard.

Another thing looking at the powers: it's not clear when one would be used over another. They compete too much between them.
The problem with this is that it makes running the monster harder.

As a Solo I would recommend it to have:
- something for ranged combat (Viscid Glob covers this well)
- something to move out or escape from a melee situation (Engulf already covers it well)
- attacks that count as two Standard monster attacks (Engulf been minor already covers this, but in a weird way, the two Blasts accomplish this too)

Looking at it, I can't exactly picture how a combat with this creature should unfold (perhaps you do, in that case, please share it with us).
Thus, it's not clear to me whether this monster is too powerful (even abusing Engulf)

 

[Derulbaskul]

Guys, firstly thanks very much for your feedback.

(snip) Engulf seems very powerful as a minor action. This thing in theory could quite quickly engulf the whole party!(snip)

Engulf is by far the best attack it can make: it's the cheapest (Minor), more effective (highest average damage) and highly efficient (it removes from play a PC at least one round and even if he escapes, the next round Quag can have upto three attempts of Engulfing it again)

I wanted to give Quag a minor action attack and the gelatinous cube's engulf ability seemed like a good candidate. While it does seem powerful at face value, it can only affect adjacent opponents. What do you both think about making it minor 1/round instead?

The aura seems pretty powerful, which is strange, since this is a Solo monster and not too many allies will be fighting along it. (snip)

Actually, that really is a good point (and Mesh Hong made the same point): I think I should drop it down to an elite because I do want to include more creatures with it (I was thinking about minion oozes but, if I did that, I would drop the temporary hit points from the aura). I think I should drop the bonuses to +1 rather than +2.

Another thing looking at the powers: it's not clear when one would be used over another. They compete too much between them. The problem with this is that it makes running the monster harder.

Thanks- I always seem to do that. I'll think about some revisions overnight and post them tomorrow together with some tactics.

 

[the Jester]

Actually, that really is a good point (and Mesh Hong made the same point): I think I should drop it down to an elite because I do want to include more creatures with it (I was thinking about minion oozes but, if I did that, I would drop the temporary hit points from the aura).

You could change the aura to "oozes in the aura gain resist all 5" or something- basically use it to set a threshold so that you have to do x damage to drop the minions instead of 1 damage.

 

[Derulbaskul]

Quag the Viscid, awakened gelatinous cube cleric of Ghaunadaur
Level 6 Solo Controller
Large aberrant beast XP 1,250
Initiative +3 Senses Perception +7; all-around vision, darkvision, tremorsense
HP 300; Bloodied 150
AC 20; Fortitude 18; Reflex 17; Will 18
Immune gaze; Resist 10 acid
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6
Action Points 2
m Slam (standard; at-will)
+10 vs Fortitude; 1d10 + 4 damage, and the target is immobilised (save ends).
M Engulf (minor; at-will) • Acid
+10 vs Reflex; automatically hits an immobilised creature; the target is grabbed and pulled into the cube’s space and is dazed and takes ongoing 10 acid damage until it escapes the grab. A creature that escapes the grab shifts to a square of its choosing adjacent to the cube. The cube can move normally while creatures are engulfed within it. Only Medium or smaller creatures can be the target of engulf.
R Viscid Glob (standard; at-will) • Acid
Quag spits out an acidic, adhesive mass of its gelatinous substance that restricts movement and may eventually dissolve Quag's prey.
Ranged 5/10; +10 vs Reflex; 1d6 + 4 acid damage, and the target is immobilised (save ends). First failed save: the target is restrained (save ends). Second failed save: the target is restrained and takes ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends both). Aftereffect: the target is slowed (save ends).
C Elder Eye (standard; recharge 5 6) • Gaze, Psychic, Radiant
Quag conjures a glowing golden orb of evil on one of its sides, the gaze of which promises madness.
Close blast 5; targets enemies; +10 vs Will; 1d10 + 4 radiant and psychic damage, and the target is blinded (save ends).
C Threnody of Madness (minor 1/round; at-will) • Psychic
The many heads stored in Quag's body sing a discordant dirge of madness.
Close burst 5; targets enemies; +10 vs Will; 1d6 + 4 psychic damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to its attack rolls and Will defence (save ends both).
Translucent
A gelatinous cube is invisible until seen (Perception DC 25) or until it attacks. Creatures that fail to notice the gelatinous cube might walk into it, automatically becoming engulfed.
Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages Abyssal, Common, Deep Speech, Primordial
Skills Stealth +8, Arcana +11, Dungeoneering +12, History +11, Insight +12, Intimidate +11, Religion +11, Streetwise +11
Str 19 (+7) Dex 10 (+3) Wis 19 (+7)
Con 19 (+7) Int 16 (+6) Cha 16 (+6)
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This is the revised version.

I'm aiming at something like an oozy avatar of madness. I suspect that, if I get my descriptions right, the players will be quite unsettled by the sounds emanating from the heads trapped within the 'cube's form. I've decided to keep the threnody power as an at-will minor action to allow this, even though, yes, it does make this quite powerful.

The reason I have stuck with engulf as a minor action is that party mobility makes it unlikely that it can engulf more than one opponent in a round. That said, if the party chooses to use bad tactics against an obvious threat they should suffer the consequences.

Anyway, I do appreciate any extra feedback. Thanks in advance.

 

[the Jester]

I'd still make engulf a minor 1/round action- your party's mobility is going to be seriously hampered by the multiple "immobilize (save ends)" attacks it has, including one at range.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I'd still make engulf a minor 1/round action- your party's mobility is going to be seriously hampered by the multiple "immobilize (save ends)" attacks it has, including one at range.

Good point. Thanks, I'll do that.