Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SmiloDan 10-18-05, 11:28 PM	Bykeras The bykeras appears to be a woolly rhinoceras with reddish-brown fur, except instead of having a single horn on its snout, it has a pair of gleaming, ebony black, antler-like blades. Its tiny eyes glare at you balefully before it snorts, lowers its head, and charges you! Bykeras Large Magical Beast Hit Dice: 10d10+50 (105 hit points) Initiative: +1 Speed: 50 feet (10 squares) Armor Class: 26 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +16 natural) Touch 10, Flatfooted 25 Base Attack Bonus/Grapple: +10/+21 Attack: Gore +16 melee (2d8+10 plus Targeted Dispel) or Powerful Charge +18 melee (2d8+10 plus 2d6 plus Targeted Dispel) Full Attack: Gore +16 melee (2d8+10 plus targeted dispel) Space/Reach: 10/5 Special Attacks: Obsidian Horns, Targeted Dispel, Trample 2d6+10 Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 5/magic, Darkvision, Lowlight Vision, Scent, Spell Resistance 20 Saves: Fortitude +12, Reflex +8, Will +4 Abilities: Str 25, Dex 13, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6 Skills: Listen +10, Survival +5 Feats: Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Powerful Charge (B). Environment: warm plains Organization: Solitary, Pair, or Family (3-6) Challenge Rating: 8? Treasure: none Alignment: always Neutral Advancement: 11 HD-15 HD (large), 16 HD-30 HD (huge) Level Adjustment: -- Obsidian Horns (Ex). The obsidian horns of the bykeras can overcome damage reduction as if they were adamantine, cold iron, or silver. Targeted Dispel (Su). Any creature hit by the bykeras's gore attack is also subject to a Targeted Dispel as if the target of a Greater Dispel Magic spell with a caster level equal to the bykeras's hit dice. Trample (Ex). Damage: 2d6+10, Reflex DC 22 Save for half. The Save DC is Strength based. The bykeras receives Powerful Charge as a bonus feat.
SmiloDan 10-19-05, 08:39 AM	Is CR 8 about right for this thing?
Benny BBQ 10-19-05, 10:47 PM	Hmmm... I'd say CR 8 might be a little too high, given the fact that the "Dire Rhinoceros" from Fiend Folio is CR 9, and is, on most levels, much more dangerous. The main differences are: -The dire rhino has more than twice the number of hit points (229 hp, since it has 17 HD) -Its additional HD of course make it a real murderer, pushing its gore attack bonus to +21... -It also has the augmented critical (Ex) ability, which lets it threaten for a critical on natural 17-20 rolls, and triples the damage in case it succeeds the confirmation roll. -The beast is Huge, which, again, lends it more power, via such things as its tremendous 30 Str score! -The Dire Rhinoceros enjoys higher trample damage (2d12+15, with a DC of 28, given its Strength) as well as the scent ability. -Finally, being given more feats through its higher HD, the Dire Rhino has Improved Initiative (raising its Initiative to +5; honorable and murderous for a creature that focuses on charging) Now! While the Obsidian Horns ability (pretty cool, by the way) sure give your monster a certain advantage, I don't think it really makes much of a change in *most* encounters involving PCs. Beyond adamantium (usually granted to PCs by their armor; fairly rare, at least in my games...), your players probably only rarely enjoy the benefits of DR x/cold iron, or x/silver. Therefore, I don't think it is worth as much as the deadly abilities of our Dire Rhino friend. The other ability: Targeted Dispel (another cool one, given the mystic feel you're giving the beast's horns), is probably the hardest to adjudicate, since its effects are potentially very dangerous to magically equiped fighters (I'm not mentionning wizards or sorcerers, for they're probably going to die from the hit; so it's *usually* useless to worry about the effect afterwards). However, given its relative power, I'd tend to say its roughly the equivalent of augmented critical. With that said, I'd recommend a CR 7, despite the SR and DR (which are both very useful abilities, though the DR will probably be overcome by the time your players are lv 7 -- Unless your monster dispells their weapons first ;) ). The SR might be a little high, 'come to think about it... I guess I'd go with the Dire Rinoceros, and apply the Fiendish Template to it (which would put your monster's CR to 11), replacing the augmented critical by targeted dispel, and scent by obsidian horns. You might then try to lower the HD of the Fiendish Dire Rhino if you feel the beast is too powerful... 'Hope that helped... Peace
cwslyclgh 10-19-05, 10:53 PM	the guestimator I use puts it at roughly CR 10, although that might bea little high as the creature DR is neglgiable... so maybe a high eight or low nine for the CR of this critter is a good starting point and playtesting would be used to refine it further. one thing I would point out is that the caster level of the targetd dispell ability is not all that important since greater dispelling always uses a +20 to the dispel checks.
SmiloDan 10-20-05, 12:14 AM	Oh, I thought Greater Dispel Magic allowed a bonus higher than +10. I might snag that Augmented Critical and make it part of the Obsidian Horns feature. Maybe 18-20/x3?