Post/Author/DateTime	Post
blargney the second 07-01-07, 03:02 AM	In the interest of avoiding the inadvertent smooshification of my PCs, what would you estimate as the CR for this beastie? Btw don't kill yourselves trying to figure out how the modifiers ended up where they did - I rolled a bunch of static bonuses in invisibly. :) -blarg N Large aberration (air, cold) Init +4; Senses DV 60, low-light, blindsense 30; Listen +7, Spot +20 Aura exude ice field (15’ aura of smooth icy floors) AC 14, touch 9, flat-footed 14 (-1 size, +3 natural, +2 armor) hp 80 (10d8+30); fast healing 5, ability healing 1 Special defenses half-dead: - 50% chance of being healed by negative or positive energy, harmed on failure - 50% chance of negating critical hits or sneak attacks - partially immune to flanking: +1 instead of +2 Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +9 Immune acid, cold, mind-affecting, disease, poison, sleep, paralysis, stun, fatigue, exhaustion Spd 40 ft. Melee icicle +11 (2d6+5 plus 1d6 cold plus 1d8 acid) and morningstar +11/+6 (2d6+5) Ranged touch bilious globule +6/+1 (1d8 acid) replaces icicle Special attacks quickened rebuke undead (3/day, CL 10), superior TWF - create spawn (if dying prone in ice field & fails stabilization, becomes ooze immediately) Abilities Str 20, Dex 11, Con 17, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 11 Base Atk +7; Grp +16 Feats Iron Will, Overcome Weakness, Quicken Turning, Suppress Weakness Skills escape artist +10, listen +7, sense motive +5, spot +20 (13 ranks) SQ sacred site (creature dies if left), blessed life (doesn't age, sleep, breathe, eat, drink, or poop) Gear handy survival pouch of holding, map to City of Gold, morningstar, leather armor
LivingShadow 07-01-07, 01:29 PM	My thoughts are around CR 12, but I'm not entirely sure.
Gnarl 07-01-07, 03:47 PM	CR 12 is way to high. With an AC that crap it would die in one round at those levels and with an attack bonus that low it would fail all its attacks. Your critter is a bruiser with lots of immunities so it should be compared to other bruisers of the same type. It's weaker than the cloud giant skeleton but stronger than the raptor skeleton. Because of the additional immunities I would probably make it a CR 7 creature. It’s a bit weak for a CR 7 creature; maybe you should consider adding an extra 2 HD. Edit: After reading the other abilities again, maybe it's worth a CR 8 creature but I wouldn't go above.
blargney the second 07-01-07, 05:29 PM	I've been doing a little comparison CR-matching since Gnarl's post, and here's what I've come up with. 1) He's definitely not a CR 5 - he's much more powerful than anything at that level. 2) Compared to the CR 7 bracket, he's massively weaker than: huge elemental, bulette, hill giant, elephant, or dire bear. He's about as strong as dragonne, flesh golem, or umber hulk. 3) He's a little stronger than most CR 6 monsters, but about on par with the shambling mound and tendriculos. It's going to be a boss monster for a group of five PCs and two cohorts, all level 4 or 5. I was hoping to wind up with a CR 6.5 or so. :) FWIW, it's basically an amalgamation of two creatures: the left side is an ettin, the right side is an ice paraelemental, with a bit of ooze for glue. -blarg
Raymond_Luxury_Yacht 07-01-07, 09:33 PM	CR 6. Might even be a bit weak for that. It's got horrible saves and a horrible AC, plus that nasty vulnerability to fire thing.
blargney the second 07-01-07, 10:34 PM	It sank three of its feats into removing the vulnerability to fire. Power Attack will be sorely missed...
sensestaker 07-01-07, 11:54 PM	Before reading any of the other posts I came to the same concluson as most of them-CR 6.
Raymond_Luxury_Yacht 07-02-07, 11:38 AM	It sank three of its feats into removing the vulnerability to fire. Power Attack will be sorely missed... Ah, right. So it did.
blargney the second 07-02-07, 09:00 PM	Cool, thanks for the replies! :) Final step: I could use your help figuring out the Encounter Level, taking the harsh environment into account. They'll be fighting it on the 40'x40' roof of a 1000'-tall tower on a plateau. 1) Severe wind blows constantly across the roof. 2) High altitude environment. 3) Extreme cold conditions. The monster is acclimated or immune to all three conditions, except the penalty on ranged attack rolls from wind. How much do these factors increase the EL? (If at all.) -blarg
sensestaker 07-02-07, 09:38 PM	Ther are a couple of important factors to consider if altering EL due to those conditions-how many PC's rely on ranged attacks, and do they know about the conditions? Severe wind can provide quite a complication for PC's-penalized ranged attacks and immobile melee combatants are a sticky combination If they know that it's going to be cold, they should prepare accordingly, otherwise no additional xp for stupidity. If they're in a de4sert and get magicaaly transported there by surprise, then yes, they deserve more xp. The altitude deserves a boost in EL Potential, actually PROBABLE subdual damage and worse, fatigue are a pretty big deal at the level you'rs looking at. Limited field of play is also an issue. If the bad guy decides to bnullrush a character off the edge, he probaly doesn't have far to go. And the severe wind negates flying, so that's not an option to take advantage of the terrain. Overall, I'd say an EL boost of 1-3 (Sorry, I know that it's a big range, but there are so many variables that it's really the best I can do without knowing EVERYTHING up to and including how you usually play your villians)
blargney the second 07-02-07, 11:43 PM	There's a halfling druid/fighter who typically uses a bow or produce flame. Even with -4 to hit from wind, he's still got a better than even chance of hitting with his weapon. The players are well aware of the environment conditions, and have encountered each of the three separately already. The knight is currently suffering from frostbite, hypothermia, and high altitude sickness. I'm lovingly dubbing this the dungeon of never-ending Fort saves. :) (They're going to treat him before continuing on.) I've already decided that this monster is too stupid to use bull rush or the like, and nobody flies in this group.
sensestaker 07-02-07, 11:54 PM	Ahh, that helps a lot. I'd probably give it a +1 conditions bump to EL with those circumstances.
blargney the second 07-03-07, 12:12 AM	Cool, thank you. I really appreciate the help! :)
sensestaker 07-03-07, 01:07 AM	De nada. :cool: