Post/Author/DateTime	Post
OamuTheMonk 10-30-05, 03:35 AM	Driftbloat Huge Vermin HD:10d8+110 (158 hp) Initiative: -2 Speed: 5ft Fly 60ft (poor) AC:16(-4 dex, +8 Nat) (touch 6, Flat-footed 16) BAB/Grapple: +7/+21 Attack:Tentacle +12 (1d8+5 plus dessication) Full Attack: 9 tentacles +12 (1d8+5 plus dessication) Space/Reach: 15'/15' Special Abilities: Aeroplastic, Dessication, Shrouded, Jet, Latch, Special Qualities: Regeneration 10, Amorphous, Keen Scent, Blindsight 40', Immune electricity, Immune poison, Immune disease, Mindless, Vermin traits Saves: Fort+16, Ref+1,Will+6 Abilities:Str20,Dex6,Con32,Int-,Wis16,Cha1 Skills: a Driftbloat is mindless, and has no skill ranks. Feats: A Driftbloat has Hover as a bonus feat. Environment:Warm Coastal Organization: Solitary or captive CR:11 Alignment:Always Neutral Treasure: None Advancement: 11-14HD (Huge), 15-20HD (Gargantuan) LA:- It is upon you before you realize it. A massive, balloon-like organism has swept down upon your tiny ship, trailing sinuous tentacles. The merest touch sears your flesh painfully... A driftbloat is an aggressive airborne predator, functioning completely on instinct. They resemble huge airborne jellyfish, pale pink in color, with nine tentacles ringing their shield-shaped "head." They originated in the Elemental Plane of Air, but have become well adapted to the material plane (and no longer have an extraplanar subtype). They are especially troublesome in tropical areas, where they seem to thrive by preying on shipping lanes and tourist airships. They subsist by draining fluid from living prey, aerial, terrestrial, or aquatic. By the time a driftbloat reaches Huge size, it grows a shield-like "shell" of mineral remnants of past meals. This has several effects, one, it gives the Driftbloat some meager natural protection from attack; two, it causes a "blind spot" in the creatures blindsight; three, it provides a surface upon the driftbloat which other life-forms can safely ride. Some brave creatures have successfully captured driftbloats, and by using a dizzying array of scent-masking alchemical substances, heated "riding" implements, and elaborate rigging, they are able to use them as both beasts of burden, and beasts of war. A driftbloat cannot swim, but it can rest on the water's surface, hoping to snare some prey from beneath the waves. Combat Driftbloats spend most of their time doing exactly what their name implies: drifting on air currents, waiting to catch scent of a meal. While a driftbloat is waiting, it remains Shrouded until ready to strike. When food comes near, it uses it's Jet ability to move quickly into postion to attack. It then swipes frantically with it's tentacles, sapping moisture from it's prey with every strike. It generally will not break from attack unless confronted with fire or acid, which it instinctively avoids. Aeroplastic (Ex): A Driftbloats body is riddled with tiny pores that open and close in order to alter the creatures aerodynamic properties. A driftbloat can utilize these pores to become virtually immune to the effects of high wind (by letting air pass through its body). A driftbloat's ability to manouver is never adversely affected by winds, naturally or magically produced. Amorphous (Ex): A driftbloat is not subject to critical hits or extra precision-based damage. It cannot be flanked. Blindsight (Ex): Driftbloats can sense all targets within 40 feet as a sighted creature would. Beyond that range, they treat all targets as having total concealment. Dessication (Ex): A driftbloat's tentacle attacks drain liquids from the bodies of prey that it attacks. It makes this attack once per round against all targets that it has sucessfully struck with it's melee attack. A driftbloat's dessication deals 5d6 points of dessication damage, with a Fortitude save (DC 26) for half damage. For each tentacle beyond the first that a target is struck by, the save DC aginst dessication increases by +2. The save DC is constitution based. Jet (Ex): A driftbloat can jet backward once per round as a full-round action, at a speed of 280 feet. It must move in a straight line, but does not provoke attacks of opportunity while jetting. Keen Scent (Ex): A driftbloat can notice creatures by scent in a 180-foot radius and detect the scent of prey in the air at ranges of up to a mile. Latch (Ex): As a standard action, a driftbloat can anchor itself to objects or creatures by secreting a powerful adhesive from it's body. It does this in order to affix itself to killed prey to facilitate feeding, or to attach itself to a speeding (and prey-filled) vehicle. A Driftbloat can only attach itself to one object at a time, and can dissolve the adhesive as a free action. Once it is attached to an object, it can only be pried loose with a DC 26 Strength check. This check DC is Constitution based. Regeneration (Ex): Fire and acid deal normal damage to a driftbloat. If a driftbloat loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. The creature could theoretically reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump, but it is mentally incapable of doing this. Shrouded (Ex): A driftbloat has a near perfect ability to camoflage itself against visual detection. As a full-round action, a driftbloat can make a special hide check without the need for concealment, and recieves a +40 racial bonus to this check (for a net gain of +30). This likewise conceals any creatures or objects that the driftbloat may be carrying. This is not an invisibility effect, so see invisibility and similar spells will not work against it. True seeing, however, will negate the concealment. Okay, that's it, my newest creation. As always, any criticism is welcome, and thoughts on CR are especially so.
OamuTheMonk 10-31-05, 01:20 AM	Jeez, man, one comment before it falls out of sight, please. I created this monster to enable DMs with airship-centric campaigns to have the same sort of "sea-monster" type encounter that ship-centric campaigns can have. I thought it made for an easy plug-in random fight while flying from Sharn to ...uh... Eberron City or somewhere. Letting creatures "ride" them into battle also seemed like a good idea. The Shrouded ability is one of my favorites, too, but it may need some tweaking...too bad nobody has any opinions...
moto 10-31-05, 01:29 AM	OKay, with only quick look through i would say 10 mabey 9 in the CR department.
moto 10-31-05, 01:33 AM	One odd thing on another look, the speeds to low to be a danger to an air ship, the AC is Way to low, but the Regen make up for that, the immunity make sence at least, and the to hit will rarely hit a PC of its own CR, but its grapple and sheer amout of attack make up for that. SO ay i stick with CR 10. Also take away the -2 init, put it to somtihng reasonable like 0, thats almost a death sentance, to the second one meet. ( not the first but the rest after.)
cwslyclgh 10-31-05, 01:54 AM	at first glance my guestimator would put this around CR 13 the low attack bonus (partialy made up for by a large number of attacks) and the horrendous AC (I am assuming it has +4 natural armor, which should be specified) make me think 13 might be too high, still I would not set it much below 11 with out further testing. Also take away the -2 init, put it to somtihng reasonable like 0, thats almost a death sentance, to the second one meet. ( not the first but the rest after.) an init score is not an arbitrary number, it is dictated by the creatures feats and Dex score so this is a very poor suggestion.
dok 10-31-05, 02:01 AM	Well, see, you shouldn't ask for feedback from uncaring citizens, because, well, they don't care enough to post... I don't care for how shrouded is handed. I'd treat it as the ranger's Camoflauge ability (able to hide without concealment) and give the creature a sizable racial bonus to Hide. (say, +40, because being Huge puts a -8 penalty) An alternate approach is to give it a Natural Invisibility like the Phantom Fungus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/phantomFungus.htm) or the Invsiible Stalker. The Strength score is too low, both for a CR 9 monster, and for a Huge creature. The Attack bonus is also too low for a CR 9, but pushing the strength to be comparable to other Huge Vermin will help that considerably. I'd consider dropping the Fire Vulnerability. The creature is already going to fail most of its Reflex saving throws, and it has a single-digit touch AC, so fireball and scorching ray will already take a big chunk out of the creature, and bypass its Regeneration to boot. I'd also consider giving it a "wind immunity" quality, that it can ignore any and all wind effects (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/weather.htm#winds), both natural and otherwise. (i.e. air elementals in whirlwind form, spells etc.) Or, if you don't want to go against the grain, make it especially vulnerable to those effects.
OamuTheMonk 10-31-05, 02:07 AM	Assuming the Driftbloat used it's Jet ability (once per round) to pursue and overtake a fleeing creature (or airship), it's speed comes out to over 31 miles per hour, considerably faster than an airship (20 mph). However, I may still need to tweak it's speed so it can attack a moving airship. Suggestions? Attack bonus can certainly be brought up a little. It's huge, so I've got some leeway in terms of strength--it's just not a powerhouse. I'd like Dex to remain low, since it's kind of a cumbersome beast. So that low Initiative aint moving up. Lemme try some stuff. Edit: Okay, boosted strength and Con, gave it new abilities suitable for it's function, altered it's Shrouding capability, anything I forgot?
cwslyclgh 10-31-05, 03:14 AM	Okay, boosted strength and Con, gave it new abilities suitable for it's function, altered it's Shrouding capability, anything I forgot?well tentacle damage should be 1d8+5 now...
OamuTheMonk 10-31-05, 03:36 AM	Uh, fixed. Hey, while I'm thinking about it, does a creature with multiple primary natural attacks (such as this fellow)makes a full attack, does it have to use them solely against a single target? I'm thinking no, but I'm not sure.
cwslyclgh 10-31-05, 05:26 AM	nope, it can divide them up as desired.
Echoes of Deception 10-31-05, 10:43 AM	Oh, yeah... there's no airships in my campaign, but I'm sure as shootin' using this thing :D I'm putting it around a morotek'rin, those huge basalt pillars that sort of resemble the Spire beneath Sigil. My players are gonna hate me so much :)