Post/Author/DateTime	Post
R.M.G.C.L.F. 09-17-06, 06:19 PM	Drannik Large Magical Beast (Cold) HD:9d10+27(76hp) Init:+5 Speed: 50ft, climb 30ft AC:19(-1size,+5 natural,+5dex) BAB/Grapple:+9/+14 Attacks: Bite+melee+13, icicle tail+8 melee Damage: Bite 1d12+2, tail 2d4+1 plus 1d8 cold Face/Reach: 5ft by 10ft/5ft Special Attacks: Ironjaw, Blood Drain, Breath Weapon, Create Spawn Special Qualities: Cold Immunity, Fire Vulnerability, grave chill, darkvision 75ft, low-light vision Saves: Fort+9, Ref+11, Will+6 Abilities:Str14,Dex21,Con17,Int2,Wis16,C ha12 Skills: Move Silently+8, Hide+7, Survival+4, Spot+7, Listen+7 (+4 to hide in usual environment) Feats: Ability Focus(breath weapon), Weapon Focus(bite), weapon finesse, power attack _______________________ Climate/Terrain: Cold or temperate mountains and hills Organization: Solitary or mated pair CR:?? Alignment: Always Neutral Treasure: gems (usually white, clear, or blue ones) and magic stones (like gems of elemental summoning) only Advancement: 10-12HD(large), 13-15HD(huge) A drannik is a stoney grey-blue creature with patches of white and blue streaks. It's lithe reptillian body has two hollow retractable transparent-blue fangs in its narrow powerful jaw. Its tail is arranged with frosty spikes almost indistinguishable from icicles. Its eyes glow with indigo menace. A drannik is a lean, stringy predator that sneaks along rocky ranges leaving tracks of frost in its path. It seeks warm blood to feast upon. Due to its unusual metabolism, it has little need to actually eat meat and subsists primarily on blood. It still lazily picks apart corpses from time to time, tearing through gristly and fat for the choicest tender bits of heartstring and liver. Every drannik has a lair, even if its a small copse or vague group of rocks. They usually guard their lair with an ethreen or two, and send them out to seek prey while they rest or guard young. All dranniks are hermaphrodites, and seek a mate during the winter solstace. When two dranniks find a companion, they mate for life, although they will "remarry" after a partner dies. Dranniks can be domesticated if raised from a hatchling, but will always be spooked easily by fires. Combat: Blood Drain(ex): a drannik deals 1d6 points of constitution damage with a successful pin attempt. It heals an amount of HP equal to twice the con damage dealt. Fire Vulnerability(ex): a drannik takes double damage from fire. Breath Weapon(su): once every 1d4 rounds a drannik can emit a 90ft line of freezing wind that deals 4d8 cold damage and knocks the opponent prone. A successful reflex save dc:19 halves the damage and prevents the creature from being knocked prone. Create spawn(su): a mortal creature slain by a drannik's breath weapon or blood drain rises in 1d4 rounds as an ethreen (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=570786). (for those not familiar with or unwilling to use ethreen, treat the drannik-spawn as skeletons with the cold subtype, and give them a +2 bonus to strength and dexterity, and a secondary bite attack that has the frost weapon property). A drannik cannot control more than one spawn per hit die. Grave Chill(su): When slain, unless destroyed by fire or death magic, a drannik's body transforms into a statue of ice with a cold snap, and all creatures within 30ft take 3d8 cold damage.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 11-24-06, 05:05 PM	Bump. CR help would be appreciated.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 01-17-07, 03:46 PM	:bump:
Armoracia Rusticana 01-19-07, 03:54 PM	Sorry... It seems that I am only your critisizer, so... I'm trying to help, but am known for way to harsh decisions. Here we go. First of all, I prefer to stick with 3.5. A matter of personal preferense, but it makes me even less accurate. Magical beast, 9 HD makes something about CR 5 to 9, let's compare to party capabilities. It is obviously Cold creature (subtype), and that is easyly detectable visually, I believe. It is a weak point in that particular case - PCs have fireballs, flaming weapons and terrible Scorching Ray. I don't like that Ironjaw ability. First of all, that +3 bonus based on reflexes don't seem to me something that other creatures wouldn't have. Everyone trise to grapple with best of abilities and relies on good timing and speed. No need to empower already good things - namely, Improved Grab: when (name) hits enemy with its bite attack, it can grapple check (+15 modifier - that is already good. Str, BAB, size) without provoking AoO. Attach - when (name) establishes a hold, it latches on a victim's body. It's considered grappling and lose Dex bonus to AC. Drain blood - each round (name) remains attached to enemy, it automatically deals 1d6 Con damage. For each point of Con damage dealt, (name) heals 2 hp. Check Monster Manual (3.5) - dire weasel and vampire, I believe. Another question - is its tail overcolded, somehow? I mean, usual icicles don't deal that much cold damage! Even overheated fire elementals don't deal that amount of fire damage until they are realy big. Create spawn is just a flavor, so nothing to discuss. Grave chill is death throes. Darkvision - either 60, or 120 ft. Unless you have no specific reason to make it 75 ft. Believe me, it's much more handy to deal with typical numbers in battle. It's AC almost pathetic, but attack bonus is quite potent, though it lacks offensive capabilities. Why Cha score is so high, if it used nowhere? Flavor reasons? Can't spot them either, must have failed my Spot check. Without playtesting, I expect CR of 5-6. Anyway, ECL 7 party will shred it to pieces without breaking a sweat. *edit* Even at that CR ranges, breath weapon 4d8 is nearly a joke. And death throes 2d6 IS a joke. I mean, 7 more damage? Why not?
R.M.G.C.L.F. 01-19-07, 07:30 PM	Sorry... It seems that I am only your critisizer, so... I'm trying to help, but am known for way to harsh decisions. Here we go. Understood. I'm also known for being stubborn, defensive, and prone to resist any changes, especially ones for the sack of consistancy, sticking to published material, precedent, etc. First of all, I prefer to stick with 3.5. A matter of personal preferense, but it makes me even less accurate. Sorry about that, but I can't work with a system that involves the term "small longsword". Thanks for making the effort despite being out of your element. Magical beast, 9 HD makes something about CR 5 to 9, let's compare to party capabilities. It is obviously Cold creature (subtype), and that is easyly detectable visually, I believe. It is a weak point in that particular case - PCs have fireballs, flaming weapons and terrible Scorching Ray. I don't like that Ironjaw ability. First of all, that +3 bonus based on reflexes don't seem to me something that other creatures wouldn't have. Everyone trise to grapple with best of abilities and relies on good timing and speed. No need to empower already good things - namely, Improved Grab: when (name) hits enemy with its bite attack, it can grapple check (+15 modifier - that is already good. Str, BAB, size) without provoking AoO. Attach - when (name) establishes a hold, it latches on a victim's body. It's considered grappling and lose Dex bonus to AC. Drain blood - each round (name) remains attached to enemy, it automatically deals 1d6 Con damage. For each point of Con damage dealt, (name) heals 2 hp. Check Monster Manual (3.5) - dire weasel and vampire, I believe. I looked for a precedent in nature rather than DnD, the Moray Eel thing. I had a good reason for including it, but looking back I can't fathom what that was. I guess I can edit it out. As for the Blood Drain, why are you quoting that rule, except maybe the "pinned" factor? Stirges have a seperate special attack called "Attach" which allows them to automatically drain blood, but vampires need to pin their victims first. I don't have the book here, but let me check the SRD. *pause* Yep. Vampires need to pin the foe to drain blood. Vampires and stirges drain 1d4 constitution, but since this is a larger creature I don't see a problem with it. Another question - is its tail overcolded, somehow? I mean, usual icicles don't deal that much cold damage! Even overheated fire elementals don't deal that amount of fire damage until they are realy big. Well, consider it cold radiating from the cold energy charged blood circulated to the tail, then traveling through the ice and wound to sink into the marrow. Create spawn is just a flavor, so nothing to discuss. If you say so. Grave chill is death throes. If you do. Darkvision - either 60, or 120 ft. Unless you have no specific reason to make it 75 ft. Believe me, it's much more handy to deal with typical numbers in battle. I have an abitrary, spiteful streak towards standardized numbers, and adding in an unnecisary mention of "darkvision 60ft" on a magical beast is tiresome. As long as its in 5ft increments, it's legal. It's AC almost pathetic, but attack bonus is quite potent, though it lacks offensive capabilities. Hmph. Maybe I could give it DR5/flaming weapon and a touch of spell resistance. Why Cha score is so high, if it used nowhere? Flavor reasons? Can't spot them either, must have failed my Spot check. I don't think that 12 is terribly high charisma for a magical creature. Without playtesting, I expect CR of 5-6. Anyway, ECL 7 party will shred it to pieces without breaking a sweat. Well then it a good thing I didn't assign it one yet. *edit* Even at that CR ranges, breath weapon 4d8 is nearly a joke. And death throes 2d6 IS a joke. I mean, 7 more damage? Why not? Why not is the exact reason. I like the idea of it radiating cold and turning into an ice sculpture on death. How much would you suggest I increase the damage values to make it match the suggested CR? Or maybe I could put in an interesting side-effect, like a disease for the breath weapon or dexterity damage, or cut the cold snap with some sonic damage and a chance of permanent deafening? Maybe even adding in a slight negative energy subtheme and a desecrate-like aura to boost up any ethreen accompanying it?
Armoracia Rusticana 01-20-07, 03:26 PM	Boosting its spawn will not do anything to thingy's own CR. And I don't like DR/flaming idea, as it would turn monster into a puzzle monster. I think, those creatures don't deserve any syandard CR - they PCs can either guess riddle right, or die horribly. It is already vulnerable to fire. Enough of this - and as to SR... IMHO, bad idea. Casters hate that. Not every magical creature has one. Drain blood - I wasn't quoting, just pointed as similar feature represented in official rulebook (bad to me, relied on my memory). I dropped Pinning because Pin = bad fortune already. Pinned character skips one turn of actions. I believe, that dealing 1d6 Con damage will hurt less than said damage plus skipped turn. Don't like idea about "not considered grappling" - you can't pin outside of grapple. If you want to grapple without normal penalties - eat -20 penalty on a grapple check. That is fair. Heck, that thing can win initiative, in surprise round bite unlucky party member, bite it and then (enviromental feature!) carry prey downcliff. say, about 60 ft bellow the rest of party. Thanks for Climb speed. If such an ambush was carried out near the pit, or at the cliff edge, party is almost doomed to watch thing munching their friend (alright, party flies, but victim is not! kill monster = friend falls for 20d6). If monster was grappling, it was out of movement... As to breath weapon... make it usable once in 1d4 rounds. Or 1d4+1. Double death throes damage, and add +1 to CR. I see a monster as ambusher, perhaps a hit-and-run monster relying on special attacks. So lack of melee damage output will not hurt it.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 01-21-07, 12:40 AM	In my defense, it's not a fatal riddle. DR5/anything can still be overcome by even a moderately powerful weapon or fighter type. Flaming is a common weapon type in most games I've seen, and if not, it means it will be just a bit tougher on the damage front to make up for its low AC. PC's don't need to "Guess the puzzle or die". It's "guess this little trick and you'll have an easier time". If you don't hold with that, you might as well remove cold and fire subtypes, undead, plant monsters, golems, and half the bloody game. With the grappling, I don't get what you're talking about. It just has to pin them as normal to drain any blood. That's the way it goes. If you're not small enough to latch on like a leech, you need to hold somebody to the ground so you can bite into their arteries and siphon life fluid through your hollow fangs. In your description, I can't tell if you're saying this is a major design flaw/overpowering feature to the creature, or just a viable strategy. Please make that more clear, because it means a big difference in the editing process. Breath weapon: fine. Pleah. You're no fun =p
Armoracia Rusticana 01-21-07, 11:21 AM	I mean, if you are grappling, you CAN'T MOVE. You can move grapple by 5 ft a round, I believe, by beating opponent's grapple check. If you are not considered grappling (see Ironjaw description), you can move. And as you are latched your teeth upon a victim's body, you will carry him wherever you want. And pin and finish him not in victim friends' reach, but in hardly accessable place, on a mountain peak or in the middle of vertical slope. That essentially means bye-bye party member. That is what I mean. To make crature drain blood upon the battlefield and not in safety, you should (as I tend to believe) limit its mobility when it catches its prey.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 01-21-07, 05:37 PM	Well, it is part of the attack description for Improved Grab. The grabber isn't grappled, but the victim is. The mere fact that it has to grapple, them make another grapple attempt to pin, in order to drain blood, eems to have nothing to do with the issue at hand.
Armoracia Rusticana 01-21-07, 06:37 PM	We seem not to understand each other. I fail to explain myself due to poor speak language (English) skill, in which I have only 1/2 rank. Also, I believe, you can be "not considered grappled" with improved grab by taking penalty of -20 on your grapple check. Thus you can outgrapple no one. Anyway, that discussion leeds nowhere. I'm quit.