Catoblepas - new and improved! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Catoblepas - new and improved! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
henebry
07-18-06, 01:18 AM (I posted this on the new boards shortly before they went down last week. Sorry if this is a duplication.)

I'm modifying the Catoblepas to make a single-instance, scary and powerful Creature of Darkness (a COD). It will be the big menace in a Faerieland campaign I'm working up. The characters will be starting at 2nd level (one of them as a Pixie) and gradually accumulating the skills and special knowledge necessary to defeat/kill the Catoblepas, which has of late begun ravaging Faerieland (you know the drill--think Princess Mononoke--in Faerieland the Improved Catoblepas' death-gaze will transform Feys and the anthropomorphic animals of faerieland into worm-creatures with stats generated by applying the Gelatinous Creature template found in Savage Species).

To build an atmosphere of menace, I want this giant and ugly monster to be hidden from sight (at least until the characters come up with a workaround, when they'll get an eyeful of ugly!). And, just in case my beastie gets into trouble early on (players DO get lucky when you least expect it) I want to give it a means of escape worthy of a BBEG.

So my plans are as follows. I'd like your estimate of the appropriate boost to CR. And I'd appreciate any other advice you have.

1) Add Deeper Darkness as a Supernatural Special Ability (SU), at will but with no range (60' radius centered on the creature). (This is a lot more powerful than the 1/day darkness of the Darkmantle.) This will be on continuously, and it'll prevent the pcs from getting in good attacks from long range or even getting a good idea of what they're dealing with. As I understand it, if I mark Deeper Darkness as a supernatural ability, it can't be dispelled. Can it still be countered, though, with a sufficiently powerful Daylight spell? Or is an antimagic field the only way to get rid of Deeper Darkness (SU)?

2) Add Blindsight 90' as a Supernatural Special Quality (SU), allowing my Improved Catoblepas to see out past his (her?) Deeper Darkness effect. (This is identical to the Blindsight of the Darkmantle.) The Catoblepas' death ray has a range of 160', so he'll actually be a bit limited in using it so long as he has Deeper Darkness activated.

3) Shadow Walk (Sp) 1/day. So long as Deeper Darkness is active, the Improved Catoblepas will have an easy time escaping to fight another day. And, neatly, once the pcs disable Deeper Darkness, they'll have cut the creature off from escape.

How should I go about setting caster level for these special abilities and special qualities?

Should I reduce its speed from 30' to 20' to give the characters a way to escape when they're low level?

What about CR?

Do you see any obvious loopholes that the pcs might exploit to make quick work of my shadowy menace?

And, finally, assuming my PCs will encounter the Catoblepas at least once without defeating it in battle, how does one calculate Exp when PCs escape but fail to defeat a creature? I've been giving 1/2 Exp in this sort of situatioin, but I don't find any support for this in the DMG.
BladefellMaster
07-18-06, 02:02 AM give the beast a your spells and abilities as you have them listed and also inlude the spells melfs acid arrow, warp wood, and blight. don't know about the CR. maybe even add the shadowed or fiendish templates.
henebry
07-18-06, 09:08 AM give the beast a your spells and abilities as you have them listed and also inlude the spells melfs acid arrow, warp wood, and blight. don't know about the CR. maybe even add the shadowed or fiendish templates.
Can you explain a bit more the scenario you're picturing in which these spells might make a key difference for my BBEC? I'm not sure I see the point of M's Acid Arrow, as the Catoblepas already has a kick-ass ranged attack, its death gaze. Warp Wood might make for a good defense against a team of pixie archers, but it works at close range, and the archers (if they've any sense) will be at long range. Finally, Blight only affects one plant at a time, so it's either the most underpowered 4th/5th level spell ever OR it's a highly specialized one, enabling a stealthy infiltrator to take out the central tree in an elven tree-city.

Also, dumb question: where's the Shadow-creature template to be found?
savant_warlord13
07-18-06, 01:18 PM Shadow template can be found in Lords of Madness, or in Tome of Magic in a simplified (and in my opinion worse) form
henebry
07-18-06, 10:12 PM Any ideas on setting the CR for my super-Catoblepas, as modified in my first post?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
henebry 07-18-06, 01:18 AM	(I posted this on the new boards shortly before they went down last week. Sorry if this is a duplication.) I'm modifying the Catoblepas to make a single-instance, scary and powerful Creature of Darkness (a COD). It will be the big menace in a Faerieland campaign I'm working up. The characters will be starting at 2nd level (one of them as a Pixie) and gradually accumulating the skills and special knowledge necessary to defeat/kill the Catoblepas, which has of late begun ravaging Faerieland (you know the drill--think Princess Mononoke--in Faerieland the Improved Catoblepas' death-gaze will transform Feys and the anthropomorphic animals of faerieland into worm-creatures with stats generated by applying the Gelatinous Creature template found in Savage Species). To build an atmosphere of menace, I want this giant and ugly monster to be hidden from sight (at least until the characters come up with a workaround, when they'll get an eyeful of ugly!). And, just in case my beastie gets into trouble early on (players DO get lucky when you least expect it) I want to give it a means of escape worthy of a BBEG. So my plans are as follows. I'd like your estimate of the appropriate boost to CR. And I'd appreciate any other advice you have. 1) Add Deeper Darkness as a Supernatural Special Ability (SU), at will but with no range (60' radius centered on the creature). (This is a lot more powerful than the 1/day darkness of the Darkmantle.) This will be on continuously, and it'll prevent the pcs from getting in good attacks from long range or even getting a good idea of what they're dealing with. As I understand it, if I mark Deeper Darkness as a supernatural ability, it can't be dispelled. Can it still be countered, though, with a sufficiently powerful Daylight spell? Or is an antimagic field the only way to get rid of Deeper Darkness (SU)? 2) Add Blindsight 90' as a Supernatural Special Quality (SU), allowing my Improved Catoblepas to see out past his (her?) Deeper Darkness effect. (This is identical to the Blindsight of the Darkmantle.) The Catoblepas' death ray has a range of 160', so he'll actually be a bit limited in using it so long as he has Deeper Darkness activated. 3) Shadow Walk (Sp) 1/day. So long as Deeper Darkness is active, the Improved Catoblepas will have an easy time escaping to fight another day. And, neatly, once the pcs disable Deeper Darkness, they'll have cut the creature off from escape. How should I go about setting caster level for these special abilities and special qualities? Should I reduce its speed from 30' to 20' to give the characters a way to escape when they're low level? What about CR? Do you see any obvious loopholes that the pcs might exploit to make quick work of my shadowy menace? And, finally, assuming my PCs will encounter the Catoblepas at least once without defeating it in battle, how does one calculate Exp when PCs escape but fail to defeat a creature? I've been giving 1/2 Exp in this sort of situatioin, but I don't find any support for this in the DMG.
BladefellMaster 07-18-06, 02:02 AM	give the beast a your spells and abilities as you have them listed and also inlude the spells melfs acid arrow, warp wood, and blight. don't know about the CR. maybe even add the shadowed or fiendish templates.
henebry 07-18-06, 09:08 AM	give the beast a your spells and abilities as you have them listed and also inlude the spells melfs acid arrow, warp wood, and blight. don't know about the CR. maybe even add the shadowed or fiendish templates. Can you explain a bit more the scenario you're picturing in which these spells might make a key difference for my BBEC? I'm not sure I see the point of M's Acid Arrow, as the Catoblepas already has a kick-ass ranged attack, its death gaze. Warp Wood might make for a good defense against a team of pixie archers, but it works at close range, and the archers (if they've any sense) will be at long range. Finally, Blight only affects one plant at a time, so it's either the most underpowered 4th/5th level spell ever OR it's a highly specialized one, enabling a stealthy infiltrator to take out the central tree in an elven tree-city. Also, dumb question: where's the Shadow-creature template to be found?
savant_warlord13 07-18-06, 01:18 PM	Shadow template can be found in Lords of Madness, or in Tome of Magic in a simplified (and in my opinion worse) form
henebry 07-18-06, 10:12 PM	Any ideas on setting the CR for my super-Catoblepas, as modified in my first post?