Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Talisman 07-01-07, 10:42 PM	Sentinel Menhir Gargantuan Construct Hit Dice 18d10+78 (177 hp) Initiative +0 Speed -- AC 23 (-2 size, -5 Dex, +20 natural), touch 3, flat-footed 23 Base Attack/Grapple +13/-- Attack Ranged touch +10 Damage -- Space/Reach 20'/-- Special Attacks Spell-like abilities Special Qualities Arcane sight, blindsight 120', DR 15/adamantine and magic, fast healing 15, immunity to acid and cold, motionless, resistance to electricity 30 and fire 30, SR 28, telepathy 120' Saves Fort +6, Ref --, Will +12 Abilities Str --, Dex --, Con --, Int 14, Wis 22, Cha 21 Skills Concentration +20, Intimidate +25, Listen +26, Sense Motive +26 Feats Empower Spell-like Ability (cone of cold), Empower Spell-like Ability (enervation), Improved Toughness, Maximize Spell-like Ability (lightning bolt), Quicken Spell-like Ability (lightning bolt), Quicken Spell-like Ability (scorching ray), Weapon Focus (ray) Environment Any land Organization Solitary Challenge Rating 14? Treasure None Alignment Always lawful neutral Advancement 19-40 HD (Gargantuan), 41-54 HD (Colossal) Level Adjustment -- A monstrous slab of stone rises out of the bleak landscape, twenty feet wide, fifty feet tall, and at least eight feet thick. Its surface is covered with carved runes and symbols. As you draw near, a deep, impersonal voice sounds in your mind: "Halt, intruders." Sentinel menhirs are mighty magical constructs, created to guard sites of great danger especially in bleak, uninhabited wastelands. A sentinel menhir is a tremendous slab of stone, covered with arcane sigils. Unlike most constructs, sentinel menhirs have no physical abilities at all; they cannot even move, let alone strike a blow. However, they brim with magical power, and can unleash spell after deadly spell against those they percieve as enemies. Created as guardians, sentinel menhirs are surprisingly intelligent and are able to communicate. Their reactions to wandering adventuerers vary depending on their original instructions; they may loose a sudden barrage of magical might with no warning at all; may attempt to verbally persuade others away from the area and only resort to combat if absolutely necessary; or anything in between. Most often, a sentinel menhir will issue a single warning; if this is ignored, it strikes to kill. However, a few sentinel menhirs are willing to converse with mortals, provided the mortals can convince the menhir that they have no intention of violating its charge. Placed in lonely wilderness regions and crackling with arcane power, sentinel menhirs are sometimes regarded as deities, or at least as mighty nature spirits, by superstitious and primitive cultures. The menhirs neither encourage nor reject such adoration; they consider all things only as they affect the menhir's charge. A sentinel menhir averages 30' in height and weights over 10 tons. Sentinel menhirs cannot speak, but can communicate telepathically. Combat: Sentinel menhirs cannot move, but can lay waste to everything within reach with their lethal array of spell-like abilities. They generally use their lightning bolt and telekinesis spell-like abilities to keep the surrounding terrain clear within the range of their blindsight. The cannier sentinel menhirs only clear the ground within 90' or so, allowing intruders to believe their perceptions end at the treeline. Sentinel menhirs often keep a good supply of boulders and logs about, for use with telekinesis against foes protected by an antimagic field. Arcane Sight (Su): A sentinel menhir percieves its surroundings as if under the effects of a permanent arcane sight spell (caster level 18). This perception extends to the range of the menhir's blindsight. Motionless (Ex): Composed of a single, solid slab of rock, a sentinel menhir cannot move. It automatically fails all Reflex saves, takes a -5 Dexerity penalty to AC, and cannot take any physical actions. On the plus side, it is immune to any effect involving movement, such as tripping, bull rush, or the like. Spell-like Abilities: At will--greater dispel magic, lightning bolt, rainbow pattern, ray of exhaustion, scare, scorching ray, telekinesis; 3/day--cone of cold, enervation, fear, major image, sleet storm, wall of ice; 1/day--control weather, disintegrate, mass suggestion, polar ray, reverse gravity. Caster level 18th; save DC 15 + spell level. The save DCs are Charisma-based. Construction: A sentinel menhir's form is crafted from a single, massive block of stone, often granite. This stone cannot be pieced together; it must be whole. Because of this restriction, powerful magic (or extremely strong laborers) ais often used to place the menhir-to-be where it is desired. It must also be carved with many arcane runes and sigils, requiring a DC 20 Craft (stonemasonry) check. These carvings must be inlaid with precious gems and arcane components worth a total of 2,000 gp. CL 18th; Craft Construct, arcane sight, cone of cold, control weather, disintegrate, enervation, fear, greater dispel magic, lightning bolt, major image, mass suggestion, polar ray, rainbow pattern, ray of exhaustion, reverse gravity, scare, scorching ray, sleet storm, telekinesis, wall of ice; Price 150,000 gp + 6,000 XP. Legends also exist of sentinel menhirs coming into being spontaneously, where a spire of stone becomes awakened by an unknown force.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 07-01-07, 10:48 PM	Very interesting. It bespeaks a sense of monolithic occult power, and it's something of a pre-made plot hook. I can easily see how people would mistake these for local dieties.
Talisman 07-04-07, 11:07 PM	Thanks! :bump:
Talisman 07-15-07, 11:30 PM	Final :bump:
Sajek 07-16-07, 09:46 AM	Very nicely done. Good to see a "guardian stone" type creature, I might have to yoink this. How does one go about crafting one of these bad boys?
sigma999 08-02-07, 07:44 PM	Combat: Sentinel menhirs cannot move, but can lay waste to everything within reach with their lethal array of spell-like abilities. They generally use their lightning bolt and telekinesis spell-like abilities to keep the surrounding terrain clear within the range of their blindsight. The cannier sentinel menhirs only clear the ground within 90' or so, allowing intruders to believe their perceptions end at the treeline. Ohh so that's why the Irish/English/Scottish countryside is so flat and full of fields.
Saurus33 08-03-07, 02:17 AM	Talisman, you are..... I don't have words to describe how great you are. That being said, how do you craft one of these?
Talisman 08-03-07, 11:59 PM	Talisman, you are..... I don't have words to describe how great you are. That being said, how do you craft one of these? Now, how can I turn down a request like that? :D Construction edited in. Sorry Sajek; I wasn't deliberately ignoring you there. I just lost track of needing to do this.
OamuTheMonk 10-14-07, 03:31 PM	Very cool. I started statting out a Menhir-based Fey creature about a year ago, that transformed it's victims into new stones-to increase the size of the circle (and thus the circle's occult power), but I never finished it. This guy seems like it could use some more mobile supporters, so I might return to the concept. CR14 seems about right, but it's a harsh line--either you'll have an easy victory, or a TPK. One more SLA suggestion: At will:True strike.
Talisman 10-14-07, 05:19 PM	I remember your stone-menhir-guy--very cool. You're right; that would fit perfectly with this critter--a challenge for high-level PCs who think fey are weiners :devil: Why true strike? To ensure that the ranged-touch SLAs always hit? And would you recommending swapping a feat out for Quicken SLA (true strike) as well, for maximum GM cruelty?
OamuTheMonk 10-22-07, 10:24 AM	I don't think true strike needs to be quickened, it just needs to be available in order to deal with monks and other high-touch AC types. It can be slipped in, during a round with a quickened ray, and the next round: +30 disintigrate. Is fun!
ArgulFraster 10-22-07, 03:47 PM	I might steal these for modification and use in a .hack game. ...irritating True Resurrection-spamming statues, here I come...
Necroramo 10-22-07, 05:13 PM	So what stops you from either sniping out the rock or simply putting up an AMF around the rock itself?
Talisman 10-22-07, 06:06 PM	So what stops you from either sniping out the rock or simply putting up an AMF around the rock itself? Nothing stops you from sniping the rock, except the array of SLAs and 120' of blindsight. If you stand 125' away, the menhir will probably use telekinesis to hurl a log in your direction. As fo AMF...well, you still have to get through that DR 15, plus immunities and resistances...without magic. And it's going to take you at least one round to get there, during which time the menhir will be dropping boulders on your location...or possibly throwing up hasty walls, making the terrain rough, etc. It's intended to be dangerous, not unstoppable.
turalisj 10-22-07, 10:04 PM	Now, how can I turn down a request like that? :D Construction edited in. Sorry Sajek; I wasn't deliberately ignoring you there. I just lost track of needing to do this. Are you an MuP of VP? :D
Talisman 10-22-07, 10:37 PM	Are you an MuP of VP? :D :confused: Apologies; I failed my Knowledge (Acronyms) check.
turalisj 10-23-07, 07:26 AM	Sorry, meant VT. VT= Vorpal Tribble, MuP= Multiple User Personalities
Talisman 10-23-07, 06:49 PM	Ah! No, but I appreciate the implication. :tiphat: Of course, there's no way to verify what we--I mean, I--say...:incog:
Echoes of Deception 11-28-07, 09:02 PM	It's a very neat concept, and I'm somehow impressed that someone didn't think of something very much like it, sooner. On the other hand, I suppose that's just the mark of a truly good creation. It says that one of the SLAs is major image. Using this, the menhir could just create an avatar of itself for the purposes of communicating with people who approach it, right? Wouldn't that, more often than not, make more sense than just a disembodied voice addressing people? Also, what happens if the sentinel manhir's charge is destroyed, expires, or stops existing in some other fashion? What does the menhir do, then?
Talisman 11-28-07, 09:43 PM	It's a very neat concept, and I'm somehow impressed that someone didn't think of something very much like it, sooner. On the other hand, I suppose that's just the mark of a truly good creation. :embarrass Thanks! It says that one of the SLAs is major image. Using this, the menhir could just create an avatar of itself for the purposes of communicating with people who approach it, right? Wouldn't that, more often than not, make more sense than just a disembodied voice addressing people? Yes it would. Howver, I wanted the descriptive text to be generic, not specific to whatever avatar the menhir was posing as. Also, since it's a 3/day ability, the menhir might try the disembodied voice trick first, only "revealing itself" if necessary. Also, what happens if the sentinel manhir's charge is destroyed, expires, or stops existing in some other fashion? What does the menhir do, then? That's up to the GM. It can't move, so it might just go dormant. it might go insane and try to truly become the "God of the Lost Vale," or whatever. It might try to persuade wandering adventurers to recover its charge. It might find a new focus for its existance, perhaps acting as a reclusive sage or "living" library, or arcane advisor to nearby tribes. It might explode in a multicolored, cinematic fireball of horrible destruction!!!!
Echoes of Deception 11-29-07, 12:22 AM	Ah, cool. I especially like the "true god of the lost vale" scenario, and the giant, multicolor fireball of horrible destruction scenario. Now, finally, if a sentinel menhir were given the ability to move, such as by, say... a gnomish contraption... what would it likely do with it?