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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeph" data-source="post: 3040425" data-attributes="member: 6738">Hi guys. I've got a campaign running in a custom game world, and the players have started to come into conflict with an erstwhile ally, a cabal of wizards called the Five Corner Academy. A few of the Academy magicians have access to Lesser Planar Binding, and the group has a rather large scroll library at their disposal: if needed, they could probably pull out the big guns and spring for a 12-HD Outsider for a special occasion.Like the rest of the game world, the cosmology is my own creation. The demons that the Academy would summon -- and, despite these monsters having the Chaotic and Evil subtypes, by demons I mean any outsider so alien that a human would see it as capricious and cruel -- hail from either the moon (treated as a separate plane) or the Plane of Shadow. Instead of slapping the Shadow template on Tanar'ri, I want to go for a more unique feel... thus, these five critters. As a point of interest, their names are derived from Coptic, a semitic language of Egypt. "Ik" means "Shadow."These are the first monsters I've created from scratch for 3.5, so I'd appreciate any advice on how to handle the mechanics better. Also, and this is a biggie, I'm a horrid judge of CR, so if anyone knows how to calculate challenge ratings any help on that front would be a biggie. (The party are a 7th level Ranger, a 6th level Barbarian, a 6th level Monk, and a 6th level Druid reincarnated as an eagle. I tend to throw a few very tough encounters at them every now and then, rather than multiple easy or standard encounters each day.)I'll start with the generic template for turning any Prime creature into a Shadow Demon.SHADOW DEMON templateShadow Demon is an inherited template that may be applied to any corporeal aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or vermin.Size and Type: Animals and vermin with this template have their type changed to magical beast. Shadow Demons on the matereal plane have the extraplanar subtype.Special Attacks: A Shadow Demon retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following spell-like abilities, caster level equal to HD: 1/day -- greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), plane shift (to the Plane of Shadow or between the Plane of Shadow and the Material Plane only).Special Qualities: A Shadow Demon retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Blurring (su): Shadow Demons are always considered to have concealment. This gives attacks against them 20% miss chance and allows them to hide even when they have no other way to get out of sight.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Flicker (su): Once per round, a Shadow Demon may teleport 10 feet as a free action.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Darkvision 60 feet</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Telepathy 100 feet</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Immunity to Poison</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Resistance to Cold 5</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Damage Reduction 5 / silver or good</li> </ul>For Shadow Demons with at least 6 HD, the following special qualities are also gained or improved:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Immunity to Cold (replaces Resistance to Cold 5)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Resistance to Acid, and Electricity, and Fire 10</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Damage Reduction 10 / good (replaces Damage Reduction 5 / silver or good)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spell Resistance equal to 14 plus 1/2 HD</li> </ul>Abilities: Same as base creature, but Intelligence and Charisma must be at least 5.----------Coming Up:Rachrech-Ik, fire aspected shadow demons!Kairi-Ik, double-natured snake form shadow demons!Katan Kas-Ik and Gadol Kas-Ik, Greater and Lesser skeletal Shadow Demons!Oyonsh-Ik, Shadow Imps!</blockquote>

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