Clocktower Sentinels! (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Clocktower Sentinels! (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
jakelslang21
01-28-08, 03:45 PM A project of mine for an upcoming campaign. A better name would be appreciated. Ok then thanks. Oh! Expect tons of grammar errors. I was out of it when typing them up. And lastly, I based these guys' appearances off of a video game character. Guess who it was?

Clocktower Sentinel
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 4d12 (30)
Intitiative: +2
Speed: 40ft.
Armor Class: 15 (+2 dex, +3 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+4
Attack: +1 Wrench +6 melee (1d6+5), or Claw +4 melee (1d4+2 plus wounding), or Tongue +4 melee (1d3+1)
Full Attack:+1 Wrench +6 melee (1d6+5), or 2 Claws +4 melee (1d4+2 plus wounding) and Tongue +2 melee (1d3+1)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Tongue, Wounding Claws, Wrench
Special Qualities: Blind, Blindsight 30ft., DR 5/good, Mending, Temporal Manipulation
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +5
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 14, Con -, Int 3, Wis 13, Cha 10
Skills: Profession (engineer) +8
Feats: Multiattack, Power Attack,
Environment: The Clock Tower
Organization: Solitary; Pair; Repair Team (3-5); Unit (6-10); or Tracking Squad (11-16)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard plus Wrench
Alignment: Always Lawful Evil
Advancement: 5-8 HD (Medium)

As you make your way up the Lich's clock tower, a gaunt figure with marble skin strides past you. He is unarmed, but drags an unusually large wrench behind him. He is bald and wears an eye-patch over each of his eyes. His clothing consists of several leather straps connected to a studded leather chest piece. A garment not unlike a loincloth hides his privates. He wears heavy leather boots. Additionally, several spiked bands wrap around his pale legs and arms. It takes a few moments for him to notice you, but when he does he lets loose a terrifying shriek and then attacks you with his wrench.

Clocktower sentinels are undead creatures created by a lich who indulged his passion in time-related tomes and philosophies. He designed the clocktower sentinels to guard and repair his famous clocktower. Although clockwork sentinels are barely intelligent, they are skilled mechanics.

Clockwork sentinels speak Infernal but seldom do so unless it involves the safety of their beloved clocktower or their lich ruler. Clockwork sentinels weight 143 pounds and average a height of 6 feet.

Combat:
Their clocktower comes before their lifes and will fix any damages caused to the clocktower before fighting the now hated assailant. If thats not the case then they will began a fight with a rage, slamming their wrenches into their adversaries, resorting to their claw and tongue only if disarmed or are otherwise unable to use their wrench at the time being. Typically if their enemies are fleeing then they will use their temporal manipulation to stop them in their tracks or if the enemy has the upperhand will use their temporal manipulation on themselves to possibly finish off the enemy.

Blind (Ex): Clockwork Sentinels are naturrally blind and wear eyepatches on both their eyes. They do have blindsight out to 30ft., however.

Mending (Sp): Clocktower Sentinels can cast the spell mending as a 4th lvl bard on anything that involves their clocktower at will. If they are mending something else then they cannot use their mending ability until the next day.

Temporal Manipulation (Su): 1/day as a standard action, a Clockwork Sentinel can either cast slow or haste on anything within their blindsight range as 4th lvl sorcerors.

Tongue: Thanks to extended experimentation on the Clocktower Sentinel's body they now own an extremely long tongue stitched together using smaller tongues. With a succesful hit The tongue deals 1d3 points of bludgeoning and piercing damage.

Wounding Claws (Su): Clockwork Sentinels' claws are unnaturally sharp. Any living creature damaged by a Clockwork sentinel's claw takes an additional point of damage per claw and continues to bleed, losing 1 hit point each round. Multiple wounds do not result in cumulative bleeding loss. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic.

Wrench: Each and every clockwork sentinel carries with them a large wrench nearly half their size. It is effectively a +1 club and, when held while mending, heals a bonus 10 points of damage in addition to the mending effect,
DebiHuman
01-29-08, 04:22 AM Interesting.

For a creature that "shuffles" it has a move speed of 40 ft. You may want to consider revising either the text or the movement speed. I would give it a speed of 20 ft. (40 ft. if hasted). [Normally a hasted creature adds 30 ft to its speed up to double its speed. Since it shuffles at 20 doubling goes to 40 rather than 50 feet].

It cannot use its Wrench and Claw at the same time. You need to put an "or" in the attack line. [It's correct in the Full Attack line BTW].

With the multiattack, secondary attacks are -2 not -1 [Claw and Tongue should both be -3 melee]

Actually the Barbarian Rage at 4th level only allows them to Rage twice a day. If they are only raging once per day, then they aren't raging like a 4th-level Barbarian but like a 1st-level Barbarian. Note: A Barbarian's Rage gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class. Since these are undead, they shouldn't benefit from the bonus to Constitution and as a result do not gain temporary hit dice. You may want to revise the stat block to indicate the changes while raging.

Your example in Wounding Claws refers to 3 claws but these creatures only have two. You should revise this too. Victims that are bleeding generally loss a hit point for every round they are bleeding. I think you need to bump up the damage from wounding claws slightly so that the bleeding actually has an effect. Also, a Heal check does not allow you to regain lost hit points.

I looked at other creatures that had Wound abilites (bat swarm and bearded devils) to see what would be appropriate. I don't think the bleeding should stop in 1d8 rounds, nor do I think that a failed Heal check should result in a victim taking an additional 1d6 points of damage.

I think a victim should continue to bleed, losing 1 hit point each round. Multiple wounds should not result in cumulative bleeding (this is only a 4 HD monster after all). The bleeding can be stopped by a Heal check (DC 15) or by the application of a cure spell or other healing magic.

Also, I applaud you for factoring in the additional point of damage into the stat block because frequently writers forget that.

Here is my suggestion:

Wounding Claws (Su): Clockwork Sentinels' claws are unnaturally sharp. Any living creature damaged by a Clockwork sentinel's claw takes an additional point of damage per claw and continues to bleed, losing 1 hit point each round. Multiple wounds do not result in cumulative bleeding loss. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic.

Debby
jakelslang21
01-29-08, 03:35 PM I put down shuffles? Alright I'll fix that. Thanks.

I also didn't know that the 'or' needed to be added when filling in its attacks. I did with full attack, though.

Alright I'll fix the multiattack error.

The 1/day barbarian rage was probably a typo and I left out the Constitution bit because I thought Dms would understand the undead wont get the Con bonus. I might even take this ability out. Raging is destructive and they could possibly damage or ruin a piece of the clocktower while doing so. Plus raging isn't very lawful. Ok, I'm going to remove that as a whole.

I was just using 3 claws as an example but probably should've used 2. They like to mob, y'know? I'll also use your wounding claws example. It's better and well-thought out.
DebiHuman
01-29-08, 09:33 PM Glad I could help. I really like the name "clockwork sentinel" and I don't think it needs to be changed at all. I think a map of a clocktower would be really cool too.

I just realized that your advancement is a little off. Advancement generally doubles or triples. I think your clockwork sentinels would advance 5-8 (a multiple of 4).

Oops one more thing. I don't think the lich would create "millions" of clockwork sentinels, a few dozen might be more appropriate.

BTW, I enjoyed reading this.

Debby
jakelslang21
01-29-08, 09:43 PM :P You mean clocktower sentinel? Don't worry, I put clockwork sentinel as the thread title. I'll also fix the advancement error and see if I can get a map of the clock tower. By the way, how was the little backstory? I think it could've been better but still.
Master_Vega
01-29-08, 11:49 PM Interesting monster.

Sorry to not actually critique it, but I had an idea you might enjoy. The lych in the flavor text was described to deeply enjoy the study of time, why not have clockwork golems and undead in the 'magnificent clocktower'?
DebiHuman
01-30-08, 12:23 PM Your backstory was not bad. It would benefit from some proofreading and editing. Unfortunately, it is mostly unneccesary. You should focus strictly on the clocktower sentinels and leave out the backstory to the lich. A DM doesn't need to know the history of the lich to use clocktower sentinels especially since the lich has been destroyed and isn't even present.

However, if you were to stat out the lich seperately, then putting the backstory there would make more sense. In fact, I think you should stat the lich seperately. Don't write the ending, let the DMs do that in their own campaigns.

Last of all, you should name both the lich and his famous clocktower.

Here is a edited version of your text. I took out the stuff about them having knowledge of time and so forth because they have no knowledge skills but replaced it with mechanics.

As you make your way up the Lich's clock tower, a gaunt figure with marble skin strides past you. He is unarmed, but drags an unusually large wrench behind him. He is bald and wears an eye-patch over each of his eyes. His clothing consists of several leather straps connected to a studded leather chest piece. A garment not unlike a loincloth hides his privates. He wears heavy leather boots. Additionally, several spiked bands wrap around his pale legs and arms. It takes a few moments for him to notice you, but when he does he lets loose a terrifying shriek and then attacks you with his wrench.

Clocktower sentinels are undead creatures created by a lich who indulged his passion in time-related tomes and philosophies. He designed the clocktower sentinels to guard and repair his famous clocktower. Although clockwork sentinels are barely intelligent, they are skilled mechanics.

Clockwork sentinels speak Infernal but seldom do so unless it involves the safety of their beloved clocktower or their lich ruler. Clockwork sentinels weight 143 pounds and average a height of 6 feet.

One thing I noticed is that they have a tongue attack but you don't mention anything about that in your description or in any of the special abilities. You really should incorporate that information.

I don't play videogames so I have no idea what game you based this creature from.

Debby
DebiHuman
01-30-08, 03:07 PM You mentioned the wrench (acts as a +1 club). You need to fix your attack lines to indicate this. Shouldn't it gain a +1 to hit and a +1 to damage? If so, then the attack line should read:

Attack: +1 Wrench +6 melee (1d6+5). However, I don't think the wrench should impart any healing capabilty even while mending.

What kind of damage does the tongue do? You mention the tongue only briefly and I'd like to see more of this.

I just realized that they have an Int of 3. They only have 7 skill points! You've given them far too many skills. Not only that but Craft (metal work) is Int based so that really hampers them. At least Profession (Engineer) is Wisdom based. Put all points in Profession (Engineer) and don't worry about other skills. This gives them Profession (Engineer) +8.

Debby
jakelslang21
01-30-08, 03:18 PM I figured it was full of typos and errors. Making monsters kills me... especially if they are something of importance in a campaign.

These guys were more for an upcoming campaign of mine and posted 'em for proofreading and editing. I also didn't think the lich or tower needed to be named on the boards anyways so I left it out.

I'm so using what you wrote. Description and all. Much better than what I could've done thats for sure.

The tounge attack? Oh, I thought since it was a normal attack didn't really need to be described. Though not a common natural attack its still a natural attack and isn't typically described in the description unless it has a special quality or is its primary weapon.

So it shouldn't be magical? Or magical and masterwork? I never did my homework on MW weapons.

Good idea, Master Vega. I'll mess around with some golems and see what I can come up with.
DebiHuman
01-30-08, 03:38 PM You can make the wrench masterwork if you prefer.

From the SRD:

A masterwork weapon is a finely crafted version of a normal weapon. Wielding it provides a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls.

However, it doesn't do any extra damage. It probably makes sense for these creatures to have masterwork wrenches rather than magical ones.

Attack: Masterwork Wrench +6 melee (1d6+4).

You have my sympathy. Monster creation can be quite difficult. It's hard to keep track of everything. Just remember that everything is related to the abilities. Every number in a stat relates to something.

Debby
jakelslang21
01-30-08, 03:43 PM I can't believe I missed that skill error! Thanks.

I'll probably keep the wrench magical for now or have the wrenches vary from mwk or magical.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
jakelslang21 01-28-08, 03:45 PM	A project of mine for an upcoming campaign. A better name would be appreciated. Ok then thanks. Oh! Expect tons of grammar errors. I was out of it when typing them up. And lastly, I based these guys' appearances off of a video game character. Guess who it was? Clocktower Sentinel Medium Undead Hit Dice: 4d12 (30) Intitiative: +2 Speed: 40ft. Armor Class: 15 (+2 dex, +3 natural) Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+4 Attack: +1 Wrench +6 melee (1d6+5), or Claw +4 melee (1d4+2 plus wounding), or Tongue +4 melee (1d3+1) Full Attack:+1 Wrench +6 melee (1d6+5), or 2 Claws +4 melee (1d4+2 plus wounding) and Tongue +2 melee (1d3+1) Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft. Special Attacks: Tongue, Wounding Claws, Wrench Special Qualities: Blind, Blindsight 30ft., DR 5/good, Mending, Temporal Manipulation Saves: Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +5 Abilities: Str 17, Dex 14, Con -, Int 3, Wis 13, Cha 10 Skills: Profession (engineer) +8 Feats: Multiattack, Power Attack, Environment: The Clock Tower Organization: Solitary; Pair; Repair Team (3-5); Unit (6-10); or Tracking Squad (11-16) Challenge Rating: 3 Treasure: Standard plus Wrench Alignment: Always Lawful Evil Advancement: 5-8 HD (Medium) As you make your way up the Lich's clock tower, a gaunt figure with marble skin strides past you. He is unarmed, but drags an unusually large wrench behind him. He is bald and wears an eye-patch over each of his eyes. His clothing consists of several leather straps connected to a studded leather chest piece. A garment not unlike a loincloth hides his privates. He wears heavy leather boots. Additionally, several spiked bands wrap around his pale legs and arms. It takes a few moments for him to notice you, but when he does he lets loose a terrifying shriek and then attacks you with his wrench. Clocktower sentinels are undead creatures created by a lich who indulged his passion in time-related tomes and philosophies. He designed the clocktower sentinels to guard and repair his famous clocktower. Although clockwork sentinels are barely intelligent, they are skilled mechanics. Clockwork sentinels speak Infernal but seldom do so unless it involves the safety of their beloved clocktower or their lich ruler. Clockwork sentinels weight 143 pounds and average a height of 6 feet. Combat: Their clocktower comes before their lifes and will fix any damages caused to the clocktower before fighting the now hated assailant. If thats not the case then they will began a fight with a rage, slamming their wrenches into their adversaries, resorting to their claw and tongue only if disarmed or are otherwise unable to use their wrench at the time being. Typically if their enemies are fleeing then they will use their temporal manipulation to stop them in their tracks or if the enemy has the upperhand will use their temporal manipulation on themselves to possibly finish off the enemy. Blind (Ex): Clockwork Sentinels are naturrally blind and wear eyepatches on both their eyes. They do have blindsight out to 30ft., however. Mending (Sp): Clocktower Sentinels can cast the spell mending as a 4th lvl bard on anything that involves their clocktower at will. If they are mending something else then they cannot use their mending ability until the next day. Temporal Manipulation (Su): 1/day as a standard action, a Clockwork Sentinel can either cast slow or haste on anything within their blindsight range as 4th lvl sorcerors. Tongue: Thanks to extended experimentation on the Clocktower Sentinel's body they now own an extremely long tongue stitched together using smaller tongues. With a succesful hit The tongue deals 1d3 points of bludgeoning and piercing damage. Wounding Claws (Su): Clockwork Sentinels' claws are unnaturally sharp. Any living creature damaged by a Clockwork sentinel's claw takes an additional point of damage per claw and continues to bleed, losing 1 hit point each round. Multiple wounds do not result in cumulative bleeding loss. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic. Wrench: Each and every clockwork sentinel carries with them a large wrench nearly half their size. It is effectively a +1 club and, when held while mending, heals a bonus 10 points of damage in addition to the mending effect,
DebiHuman 01-29-08, 04:22 AM	Interesting. For a creature that "shuffles" it has a move speed of 40 ft. You may want to consider revising either the text or the movement speed. I would give it a speed of 20 ft. (40 ft. if hasted). [Normally a hasted creature adds 30 ft to its speed up to double its speed. Since it shuffles at 20 doubling goes to 40 rather than 50 feet]. It cannot use its Wrench and Claw at the same time. You need to put an "or" in the attack line. [It's correct in the Full Attack line BTW]. With the multiattack, secondary attacks are -2 not -1 [Claw and Tongue should both be -3 melee] Actually the Barbarian Rage at 4th level only allows them to Rage twice a day. If they are only raging once per day, then they aren't raging like a 4th-level Barbarian but like a 1st-level Barbarian. Note: A Barbarian's Rage gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class. Since these are undead, they shouldn't benefit from the bonus to Constitution and as a result do not gain temporary hit dice. You may want to revise the stat block to indicate the changes while raging. Your example in Wounding Claws refers to 3 claws but these creatures only have two. You should revise this too. Victims that are bleeding generally loss a hit point for every round they are bleeding. I think you need to bump up the damage from wounding claws slightly so that the bleeding actually has an effect. Also, a Heal check does not allow you to regain lost hit points. I looked at other creatures that had Wound abilites (bat swarm and bearded devils) to see what would be appropriate. I don't think the bleeding should stop in 1d8 rounds, nor do I think that a failed Heal check should result in a victim taking an additional 1d6 points of damage. I think a victim should continue to bleed, losing 1 hit point each round. Multiple wounds should not result in cumulative bleeding (this is only a 4 HD monster after all). The bleeding can be stopped by a Heal check (DC 15) or by the application of a cure spell or other healing magic. Also, I applaud you for factoring in the additional point of damage into the stat block because frequently writers forget that. Here is my suggestion: Wounding Claws (Su): Clockwork Sentinels' claws are unnaturally sharp. Any living creature damaged by a Clockwork sentinel's claw takes an additional point of damage per claw and continues to bleed, losing 1 hit point each round. Multiple wounds do not result in cumulative bleeding loss. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic. Debby
jakelslang21 01-29-08, 03:35 PM	I put down shuffles? Alright I'll fix that. Thanks. I also didn't know that the 'or' needed to be added when filling in its attacks. I did with full attack, though. Alright I'll fix the multiattack error. The 1/day barbarian rage was probably a typo and I left out the Constitution bit because I thought Dms would understand the undead wont get the Con bonus. I might even take this ability out. Raging is destructive and they could possibly damage or ruin a piece of the clocktower while doing so. Plus raging isn't very lawful. Ok, I'm going to remove that as a whole. I was just using 3 claws as an example but probably should've used 2. They like to mob, y'know? I'll also use your wounding claws example. It's better and well-thought out.
DebiHuman 01-29-08, 09:33 PM	Glad I could help. I really like the name "clockwork sentinel" and I don't think it needs to be changed at all. I think a map of a clocktower would be really cool too. I just realized that your advancement is a little off. Advancement generally doubles or triples. I think your clockwork sentinels would advance 5-8 (a multiple of 4). Oops one more thing. I don't think the lich would create "millions" of clockwork sentinels, a few dozen might be more appropriate. BTW, I enjoyed reading this. Debby
jakelslang21 01-29-08, 09:43 PM	:P You mean clocktower sentinel? Don't worry, I put clockwork sentinel as the thread title. I'll also fix the advancement error and see if I can get a map of the clock tower. By the way, how was the little backstory? I think it could've been better but still.
Master_Vega 01-29-08, 11:49 PM	Interesting monster. Sorry to not actually critique it, but I had an idea you might enjoy. The lych in the flavor text was described to deeply enjoy the study of time, why not have clockwork golems and undead in the 'magnificent clocktower'?
DebiHuman 01-30-08, 12:23 PM	Your backstory was not bad. It would benefit from some proofreading and editing. Unfortunately, it is mostly unneccesary. You should focus strictly on the clocktower sentinels and leave out the backstory to the lich. A DM doesn't need to know the history of the lich to use clocktower sentinels especially since the lich has been destroyed and isn't even present. However, if you were to stat out the lich seperately, then putting the backstory there would make more sense. In fact, I think you should stat the lich seperately. Don't write the ending, let the DMs do that in their own campaigns. Last of all, you should name both the lich and his famous clocktower. Here is a edited version of your text. I took out the stuff about them having knowledge of time and so forth because they have no knowledge skills but replaced it with mechanics. As you make your way up the Lich's clock tower, a gaunt figure with marble skin strides past you. He is unarmed, but drags an unusually large wrench behind him. He is bald and wears an eye-patch over each of his eyes. His clothing consists of several leather straps connected to a studded leather chest piece. A garment not unlike a loincloth hides his privates. He wears heavy leather boots. Additionally, several spiked bands wrap around his pale legs and arms. It takes a few moments for him to notice you, but when he does he lets loose a terrifying shriek and then attacks you with his wrench. Clocktower sentinels are undead creatures created by a lich who indulged his passion in time-related tomes and philosophies. He designed the clocktower sentinels to guard and repair his famous clocktower. Although clockwork sentinels are barely intelligent, they are skilled mechanics. Clockwork sentinels speak Infernal but seldom do so unless it involves the safety of their beloved clocktower or their lich ruler. Clockwork sentinels weight 143 pounds and average a height of 6 feet. One thing I noticed is that they have a tongue attack but you don't mention anything about that in your description or in any of the special abilities. You really should incorporate that information. I don't play videogames so I have no idea what game you based this creature from. Debby
DebiHuman 01-30-08, 03:07 PM	You mentioned the wrench (acts as a +1 club). You need to fix your attack lines to indicate this. Shouldn't it gain a +1 to hit and a +1 to damage? If so, then the attack line should read: Attack: +1 Wrench +6 melee (1d6+5). However, I don't think the wrench should impart any healing capabilty even while mending. What kind of damage does the tongue do? You mention the tongue only briefly and I'd like to see more of this. I just realized that they have an Int of 3. They only have 7 skill points! You've given them far too many skills. Not only that but Craft (metal work) is Int based so that really hampers them. At least Profession (Engineer) is Wisdom based. Put all points in Profession (Engineer) and don't worry about other skills. This gives them Profession (Engineer) +8. Debby
jakelslang21 01-30-08, 03:18 PM	I figured it was full of typos and errors. Making monsters kills me... especially if they are something of importance in a campaign. These guys were more for an upcoming campaign of mine and posted 'em for proofreading and editing. I also didn't think the lich or tower needed to be named on the boards anyways so I left it out. I'm so using what you wrote. Description and all. Much better than what I could've done thats for sure. The tounge attack? Oh, I thought since it was a normal attack didn't really need to be described. Though not a common natural attack its still a natural attack and isn't typically described in the description unless it has a special quality or is its primary weapon. So it shouldn't be magical? Or magical and masterwork? I never did my homework on MW weapons. Good idea, Master Vega. I'll mess around with some golems and see what I can come up with.
DebiHuman 01-30-08, 03:38 PM	You can make the wrench masterwork if you prefer. From the SRD: A masterwork weapon is a finely crafted version of a normal weapon. Wielding it provides a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls. However, it doesn't do any extra damage. It probably makes sense for these creatures to have masterwork wrenches rather than magical ones. Attack: Masterwork Wrench +6 melee (1d6+4). You have my sympathy. Monster creation can be quite difficult. It's hard to keep track of everything. Just remember that everything is related to the abilities. Every number in a stat relates to something. Debby
jakelslang21 01-30-08, 03:43 PM	I can't believe I missed that skill error! Thanks. I'll probably keep the wrench magical for now or have the wrenches vary from mwk or magical.