The Battle of All Alignments

[Gansk]

Gah! What were we thinking?!? Yep, the actaeon thing could be tweaked for that fella.

If you insist on giving the feral slasher an extra attack, I would bump his CR to 2. He already has more hp than most CR 1 creatures, he has a decent AC, excellent attack rolls, and the super speed and special attacks puts him over the top. He is the odds-on favorite right now to become the CR 1 champion, even without the extra bite attack.

 

[Shade]

I think the best solution is to limit it to one globe/round, and make the damage and splash effect equivalent to alchemist's fire, which I believe we used as inspiration in the first place:

Alchemist's Fire: You can throw a flask of alchemist’s fire as a splash weapon. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet.

A direct hit deals 1d6 points of fire damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the flask hits takes 1 point of fire damage from the splash. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of damage. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking this additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 15 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.

Since alchemist's fire is available to a 1st-level party, doesn't this seem reasonable?

 

[Gansk]

Since alchemist's fire is available to a 1st-level party, doesn't this seem reasonable?

That's much better - the range increment will force the falcon to get close, which will invite return fire. I still wouldn't let the falcon throw the fire 8 times a day - 4 times is more than enough.

 

[BOZ]

i think shade's idea for damage is more appropriate. i still want it to do two attacks at a time, limit four times per day.

If you insist on giving the feral slasher an extra attack, I would bump his CR to 2. He already has more hp than most CR 1 creatures, he has a decent AC, excellent attack rolls, and the super speed and special attacks puts him over the top. He is the odds-on favorite right now to become the CR 1 champion, even without the extra bite attack.

increasing the CR for either of these creatures doesn't really bother me. for reference, here is the ability we were talking about adapting for the slasher:

Arboreal Alacrity (Su): When making a full attack action, an actaeon may make one extra attack with any manufactured weapon it is holding. The attack is made using the creature's highest attack bonus with that weapon.

 

[Shade]

Obviously, we'll want to replace the "arboreal" part of the ability name.

I'm fine with bumping the slasher to CR 2. Determining CR is a tricky art, and nothing beats playtesting!

 

[BOZ]

Alacrity (Su): When making a full attack action, a feral slasher may make one extra attack with any of its natural weapons. The attack is made using the creature's highest attack bonus with that weapon.

how is that? is the second sentence needed? would that make it properly CR 2?

 

[Shade]

Change it to...

Alacrity (Su): When making a full attack action, a feral slasher may make one extra attack with its bite attack at its highest attack bonus.

And bump him to CR 2.

 

[BOZ]

fixed; however, due to formatting problems, i can't fix the full attack line without re-entering the whole creature.

 

[BOZ]

now, back to the fire falcon:

Here is the original relevant combat section text from second edition:
Larger creatures, like men or horses, are generally attacked first at long range, in an attempt to drive them off. The ranged attack of a fire falcon is to discharge two highly flammable spheres from its wingtips in the general area of the intruder. They explode on contact with anything, doing 1-6 points of damage (no save, but magical fire resistance halves the damage) to all in a 10' radius. Thus, it is not necessary for the fire falcon to make a successful attack roll in order to damage a party. Each fire falcon can make this attack four times per day. If the sphere actually hits an adventurer, or their mount, the burning substance sticks to them, doing an additional 1-6 points of damage in the next round, and 1-3 the round after that, before going out.

Note also I screwed up on one detail: the flames were only supposed to stick on a direct hit anyway, so no TPK with a single hit.

As you can see, this tactic is meant to scare away intruders more than it is to decimate a whole party. I did not completely reflect this in the writeup for the CC version, but I can change that. Still, I take it that this is way too much damage for a party of 1st-level adventurers to take, so either the damage needs to come down, or the CR needs to come up.

If the damage is coming down, I can make it more like alchemist's fire, as follows:

Flame Spheres (Su): Four times per day, a fire falcon can discharge a pair of highly flammable spheres, one from each of its wingtips. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet and a maximum range of 60 ft. When a sphere hits anything, it explodes in a 10-foot-radius. A direct hit deals 1d6 points of fire damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the sphere hits takes 1 point of fire damage. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of fire damage, and an additional 1d3 points of fire damage on the next round. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking this additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 15 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.

Or, to keep it more in line with the original ability (which I like better):

Flame Spheres (Su): Four times per day, a fire falcon can discharge a pair of highly flammable spheres, one from each of its wingtips. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet and a maximum range of 60 ft. When a sphere hits anything, it explodes in a 10-foot-radius, dealing 1d6 points of fire damage to everything in the radius. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of fire damage, and an additional 1d3 points of fire damage on the next round. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking this additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 15 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.

 

[Gansk]

Or, to keep it more in line with the original ability (which I like better):

Flame Spheres (Su): Four times per day, a fire falcon can discharge a pair of highly flammable spheres, one from each of its wingtips. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet and a maximum range of 60 ft. When a sphere hits anything, it explodes in a 10-foot-radius, dealing 1d6 points of fire damage to everything in the radius. On the round following a direct hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 points of fire damage, and an additional 1d3 points of fire damage on the next round. If desired, the target can use a full-round action to attempt to extinguish the flames before taking this additional damage. Extinguishing the flames requires a DC 15 Reflex save. Rolling on the ground provides the target a +2 bonus on the save. Leaping into a lake or magically extinguishing the flames automatically smothers the fire.

I understand that this text is closer to the 2nd edition text, but there still are a few issues that need to be resolved.

1) The consequences of discharging a pair of spheres at the same time. If the pair hits the exact same spot, is that 2d6 for everybody? TPK still applies. I would propose that the damage inflicted in an overlapping area does not stack if the CR stays at 1.

2) A disincentive for the falcon to fire at the ground as opposed to a living target. The easiest way is to introduce a Ref save for half damage for creatures in the area that were not directly hit. The concept of a mini fireball exploding is begging for a Ref save in the 3e environment.

3) The napalm-like effects of the spheres. During playtesting, I had no idea whether the ground stayed burning for the extra rounds or not. There needs to be explicit text explaining how the burning glue works if it misses a living target.