"Dragon" Hunting [PEACH] [Archive] - Wizards Community

"Dragon" Hunting [PEACH] [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
BloodDragon
03-03-08, 10:38 AM <Potentially Spoilers for the Savage Tide Campaign>

I’m running my players through the Savage Tide Campaign and after a few well placed rumours about a Green Dragon; my PCs are off to hunt it. Little do they know that it is not a Green Dragon but in fact a Gargantuan Yrthak.
I took the idea from the Ecology of the Yrthak from one of the Dragon magazines and scaled down the insane CR 24 to something my PCs should be able to handle around level 12-14.

I could use some critiquing on this monster though as this is my first attempt at monster creation. I took the base Yrthak, and increased it’s Magical Beast HD, and then slapped on the four additional abilities that the CR 24 He-Who-Hums had and scaled those down too. I do want this to be an extremely Challenging but fair fight for my PCs so any additional advice is very much appreciated.

He-Who-Hums (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG262.jpg) (Advanced Yrthak (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/yrthak.htm))
Size/Type: Gargantuan Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 18d10+108 (207 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 60 ft. (average)
Armor Class: 20 (-4 size, +2 Dex, +12 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 20
AC Vs Metal: 24 (+4 Deflection), touch 12, flat-footed 24
Base Attack/Grapple: +18/+30
Attack: Bite +24 melee (2d8+10) or sonic lance +16 ranged touch (6d6)
Full Attack: Bite +24 melee (2d8+10) and 2 claws +22 melee (2d8+5) (Snatch); or sonic lance +16 ranged touch (6d6)
Space/Reach: 20 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Sonic lance, explosion, Swallow Whole
Special Qualities: Blindsight 150 ft., immunities, vulnerability to sonic, Electrical Regeneration
Saves: Fort +17, Ref +13, Will +12
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 11
Skills: Escape Artist +11, Listen +14, Tumble +10
Feats: Endurance, Flyby Attack, Multiattack, Snatch, Steadfast Determination, Final Strike, Great Flyby Attack
Environment: Temperate mountains
Challenge Rating: 14
Alignment: Often neutral

He-Who-Hums is a yrthak, as a yrthak is he is blind. It senses sound and movement by means of a special organ on its long tongue. It emits powerfully focused beams of sound from the protrusion on its head. The creature is a yellowish-green color, with the wings and fin being more yellow and the head and body more green. The teeth are yellow. His sonic horn is inscribed with various Olman ruins as they’ve mistake the horn protruding from the ground as a monolith of some sort rather then a slumbering Yrthak.

A He-Who-Hums is about 50 feet long, with a wingspan of 100 feet. It weighs about 40,000 pounds.

Despite their intelligence, yrthaks do not speak. Yrthaks have a +4 racial bonus on Listen checks.

Combat
A yrthak prefers to attack from the air, strafing the ground with sonic attacks or snatching up and dropping prey.

Electrical Regeneration (Ex)
He-Who-Hums takes no damage from electrical attacks. Instead, any electricity damage used against He-Who-Hums grants a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to damage done instead. He-Who-Hums loses these Temporary Hit Points at the rate of 20 per hour.

Electrical Repulsion (Su)
He-Who-Hums body is charged with Electrical and sonic energy allowing it to repel metallic objects to some degree. This grants him a +4 Deflection bonus to his AC against metal weapons. If He-Who-Hum Electrical Regeneration is charged increase this bonus to +6.

Sonic Lance (Su)
Once every 2 rounds, a yrthak can focus sonic energy in a ray up to 60 feet long. This is a ranged touch attack that deals 6d6 points of damage to a single target.

Explosion (Su)
A yrthak can fire its sonic lance at the ground, a large rock, a stone wall, or the like to create an explosion of shattered stone. This attack deals 2d6 points of piercing damage to all within 10 feet of the effect’s center. This counts as a use of the sonic lance attack and thus is usable only once every 2 rounds, and never on the round following a sonic lance attack.

Great Flyby Attack (Feat):
As a full-round action. When flying, He-Who-Hums can move up to his full fly speed in a straight line and attack a number of opponents equal to his Dexterity bonus (Two). One attack roll, and one damage roll is made for all opponents.

Swallow Whole(Ex)
If He-Who-Hums begins its turn with an opponent held in its mouth (Snatch Ability), it can attempt a new grapple check; If it succeeds, it swallows its prey, and the opponent takes bite damage. A the beginning of the next round a Swallowed creature takes 2d6+1d4 (Bludgeoning and Acid) damage. A swallowed creature may attempt to cut his way out of the stomach (AC 16, HP 20)
Swallowed Creature capacity: Tiny or smaller x16, Small x8 Medium x4, Large x2, Huge x1

Blindsight (Ex)
A yrthak can ascertain all foes within 150 feet. Beyond that range it is considered blinded. Yrthaks are invulnerable to gaze attacks, visual effects of spells such as illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight. An yrthak whose sense of hearing is impaired is effectively blinded, treating all targets as having total concealment.

Immunities
Yrthaks have immunity to gaze attacks, visual effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight, as well as electricity.

Final Strike [Sonic Detonation] (Feat)
Once He-Who-Hums reach -10 or less HP, it explodes in a violent burst of sonic energy, in a 60 foot burst dealing 18d4 (or 12d6) to all in the area. Those who make a successful reflex saving throw of 25, receive half damage. All opponents that fail their save are deafened for 4d6 rounds. The damage ignores hardness.
I don’t owe 12 d4’s but I owe 12+d6’s

Any help is appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
BloodDragon
03-04-08, 12:08 PM Please I could really use some critiquing on my first try. Good or bad so long as it’s constructive.
qwerty1
03-04-08, 12:37 PM somewhere in the MM there is a basic calculatoin with CR and AC. If I remeber it might be "13+CR" should be arround the right AC for that CR. So if I am right (or not) you can make the Natural Armor +19 to make the AC 27 "13+14(CR)".

Just my :twocents:
Dead_Weasel
03-04-08, 11:29 PM If I remeber it might be "13+CR" should be arround the right AC for that CR.You are correct; this is on the 298th page of the Monster Manual.

If Final Strike is a bonus feat, then you are short one feat (HD/3+1, not HD/3). How are you planning on adapting Final Strike to the sonic energy type? I personally would replace either Improved Initiative or Multiattack with either Greater Flyby Attack or Power Dive, so that He-Who-Hums has something to do between sonic lances without getting too close to the entire party.

Average hp for He-Who-Hums should be 207, not 220. Also, the hit points that it gains from Electrical Regeneration should be 'temporary', not 'bonus', for clarity. It should have 21 skill points to spend, not 36.
BloodDragon
03-06-08, 10:41 AM Alright, thank you.
Adapting Final Strike to Sonic energy? Hmn, Haven’t thought of that. It’s modeled after the “real” He-Who-Hums who explodes into sonic energy and deafens affected creatures. Perhaps I should take a note from here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625e) and reduce the Damage die, and remove the stunned effect, there isn’t much resistance to Sonic anyway.
Temporary Deafness isn’t much of a probably because for those surviving the blast will essentially be done the encounter.

Removed Trample in favour of Greater Bly by Attack, he never really had a slam attack anyway.

Edited Stats again.
Selgard
03-06-08, 11:07 AM (i didn't read past the first couple of lines)

When you post spoiler information about published adventures, or even potentially spoiler, could you warn folks first?

I myself am a player in a savage tide campaign- and i'd not have clicked the forum if i knew it was talking about the encounters in it :)

Tthanks.

-S
BloodDragon
03-06-08, 11:18 AM It's not a spoiler, or even potentially really... It's an replacement to STAP that I've changed for my campaign, but warning added for your sake anyway.

There is no spoiler, really though.
Dead_Weasel
03-06-08, 09:01 PM It’s modeled after the “real” He-Who-Hums who explodes into sonic energy and deafens affected creatures. Perhaps I should take a note from here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625e) and reduce the Damage die, and remove the stunned effect, there isn’t much resistance to Sonic anyway.
Temporary Deafness isn’t much of a probably because for those surviving the blast will essentially be done the encounter.Whups, sorry; my critical reading skills are not up to snuff - I looked at the feat in Savage Species instead of the ability as you had given it, so adaptation was not an issue.

With regard to the number of dice you have, you could re-roll the ones you have after counting them, or use a handy die (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20040517a) rolling (http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20dicebag.htm) application. The reason to use the appropriate dice (digital or otherwise) is that different dice produce different ranges of values: Minimum Average Maximum
12d6 12 42 72
18d4 18 45 72This difference seems small, but that small difference is still capable of deciding between life and death.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BloodDragon 03-03-08, 10:38 AM	<Potentially Spoilers for the Savage Tide Campaign> I’m running my players through the Savage Tide Campaign and after a few well placed rumours about a Green Dragon; my PCs are off to hunt it. Little do they know that it is not a Green Dragon but in fact a Gargantuan Yrthak. I took the idea from the Ecology of the Yrthak from one of the Dragon magazines and scaled down the insane CR 24 to something my PCs should be able to handle around level 12-14. I could use some critiquing on this monster though as this is my first attempt at monster creation. I took the base Yrthak, and increased it’s Magical Beast HD, and then slapped on the four additional abilities that the CR 24 He-Who-Hums had and scaled those down too. I do want this to be an extremely Challenging but fair fight for my PCs so any additional advice is very much appreciated. He-Who-Hums (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG262.jpg) (Advanced Yrthak (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/yrthak.htm)) Size/Type: Gargantuan Magical Beast Hit Dice: 18d10+108 (207 hp) Initiative: +6 Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), fly 60 ft. (average) Armor Class: 20 (-4 size, +2 Dex, +12 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 20 AC Vs Metal: 24 (+4 Deflection), touch 12, flat-footed 24 Base Attack/Grapple: +18/+30 Attack: Bite +24 melee (2d8+10) or sonic lance +16 ranged touch (6d6) Full Attack: Bite +24 melee (2d8+10) and 2 claws +22 melee (2d8+5) (Snatch); or sonic lance +16 ranged touch (6d6) Space/Reach: 20 ft./15 ft. Special Attacks: Sonic lance, explosion, Swallow Whole Special Qualities: Blindsight 150 ft., immunities, vulnerability to sonic, Electrical Regeneration Saves: Fort +17, Ref +13, Will +12 Abilities: Str 30, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 7, Wis 13, Cha 11 Skills: Escape Artist +11, Listen +14, Tumble +10 Feats: Endurance, Flyby Attack, Multiattack, Snatch, Steadfast Determination, Final Strike, Great Flyby Attack Environment: Temperate mountains Challenge Rating: 14 Alignment: Often neutral He-Who-Hums is a yrthak, as a yrthak is he is blind. It senses sound and movement by means of a special organ on its long tongue. It emits powerfully focused beams of sound from the protrusion on its head. The creature is a yellowish-green color, with the wings and fin being more yellow and the head and body more green. The teeth are yellow. His sonic horn is inscribed with various Olman ruins as they’ve mistake the horn protruding from the ground as a monolith of some sort rather then a slumbering Yrthak. A He-Who-Hums is about 50 feet long, with a wingspan of 100 feet. It weighs about 40,000 pounds. Despite their intelligence, yrthaks do not speak. Yrthaks have a +4 racial bonus on Listen checks. Combat A yrthak prefers to attack from the air, strafing the ground with sonic attacks or snatching up and dropping prey. Electrical Regeneration (Ex) He-Who-Hums takes no damage from electrical attacks. Instead, any electricity damage used against He-Who-Hums grants a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to damage done instead. He-Who-Hums loses these Temporary Hit Points at the rate of 20 per hour. Electrical Repulsion (Su) He-Who-Hums body is charged with Electrical and sonic energy allowing it to repel metallic objects to some degree. This grants him a +4 Deflection bonus to his AC against metal weapons. If He-Who-Hum Electrical Regeneration is charged increase this bonus to +6. Sonic Lance (Su) Once every 2 rounds, a yrthak can focus sonic energy in a ray up to 60 feet long. This is a ranged touch attack that deals 6d6 points of damage to a single target. Explosion (Su) A yrthak can fire its sonic lance at the ground, a large rock, a stone wall, or the like to create an explosion of shattered stone. This attack deals 2d6 points of piercing damage to all within 10 feet of the effect’s center. This counts as a use of the sonic lance attack and thus is usable only once every 2 rounds, and never on the round following a sonic lance attack. Great Flyby Attack (Feat): As a full-round action. When flying, He-Who-Hums can move up to his full fly speed in a straight line and attack a number of opponents equal to his Dexterity bonus (Two). One attack roll, and one damage roll is made for all opponents. Swallow Whole(Ex) If He-Who-Hums begins its turn with an opponent held in its mouth (Snatch Ability), it can attempt a new grapple check; If it succeeds, it swallows its prey, and the opponent takes bite damage. A the beginning of the next round a Swallowed creature takes 2d6+1d4 (Bludgeoning and Acid) damage. A swallowed creature may attempt to cut his way out of the stomach (AC 16, HP 20) Swallowed Creature capacity: Tiny or smaller x16, Small x8 Medium x4, Large x2, Huge x1 Blindsight (Ex) A yrthak can ascertain all foes within 150 feet. Beyond that range it is considered blinded. Yrthaks are invulnerable to gaze attacks, visual effects of spells such as illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight. An yrthak whose sense of hearing is impaired is effectively blinded, treating all targets as having total concealment. Immunities Yrthaks have immunity to gaze attacks, visual effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight, as well as electricity. Final Strike [Sonic Detonation] (Feat) Once He-Who-Hums reach -10 or less HP, it explodes in a violent burst of sonic energy, in a 60 foot burst dealing 18d4 (or 12d6) to all in the area. Those who make a successful reflex saving throw of 25, receive half damage. All opponents that fail their save are deafened for 4d6 rounds. The damage ignores hardness. I don’t owe 12 d4’s but I owe 12+d6’s Any help is appreciated. Thank you all in advance.
BloodDragon 03-04-08, 12:08 PM	Please I could really use some critiquing on my first try. Good or bad so long as it’s constructive.
qwerty1 03-04-08, 12:37 PM	somewhere in the MM there is a basic calculatoin with CR and AC. If I remeber it might be "13+CR" should be arround the right AC for that CR. So if I am right (or not) you can make the Natural Armor +19 to make the AC 27 "13+14(CR)". Just my :twocents:
Dead_Weasel 03-04-08, 11:29 PM	If I remeber it might be "13+CR" should be arround the right AC for that CR.You are correct; this is on the 298th page of the Monster Manual. If Final Strike is a bonus feat, then you are short one feat (HD/3+1, not HD/3). How are you planning on adapting Final Strike to the sonic energy type? I personally would replace either Improved Initiative or Multiattack with either Greater Flyby Attack or Power Dive, so that He-Who-Hums has something to do between sonic lances without getting too close to the entire party. Average hp for He-Who-Hums should be 207, not 220. Also, the hit points that it gains from Electrical Regeneration should be 'temporary', not 'bonus', for clarity. It should have 21 skill points to spend, not 36.
BloodDragon 03-06-08, 10:41 AM	Alright, thank you. Adapting Final Strike to Sonic energy? Hmn, Haven’t thought of that. It’s modeled after the “real” He-Who-Hums who explodes into sonic energy and deafens affected creatures. Perhaps I should take a note from here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625e) and reduce the Damage die, and remove the stunned effect, there isn’t much resistance to Sonic anyway. Temporary Deafness isn’t much of a probably because for those surviving the blast will essentially be done the encounter. Removed Trample in favour of Greater Bly by Attack, he never really had a slam attack anyway. Edited Stats again.
Selgard 03-06-08, 11:07 AM	(i didn't read past the first couple of lines) When you post spoiler information about published adventures, or even potentially spoiler, could you warn folks first? I myself am a player in a savage tide campaign- and i'd not have clicked the forum if i knew it was talking about the encounters in it :) Tthanks. -S
BloodDragon 03-06-08, 11:18 AM	It's not a spoiler, or even potentially really... It's an replacement to STAP that I've changed for my campaign, but warning added for your sake anyway. There is no spoiler, really though.
Dead_Weasel 03-06-08, 09:01 PM	It’s modeled after the “real” He-Who-Hums who explodes into sonic energy and deafens affected creatures. Perhaps I should take a note from here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625e) and reduce the Damage die, and remove the stunned effect, there isn’t much resistance to Sonic anyway. Temporary Deafness isn’t much of a probably because for those surviving the blast will essentially be done the encounter.Whups, sorry; my critical reading skills are not up to snuff - I looked at the feat in Savage Species instead of the ability as you had given it, so adaptation was not an issue. With regard to the number of dice you have, you could re-roll the ones you have after counting them, or use a handy die (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20040517a) rolling (http://www.penpaperpixel.org/tools/d20dicebag.htm) application. The reason to use the appropriate dice (digital or otherwise) is that different dice produce different ranges of values: Minimum Average Maximum 12d6 12 42 72 18d4 18 45 72This difference seems small, but that small difference is still capable of deciding between life and death.