The topic is pretty obvious, isn't it 
? I'm planning to use a vulkoori strike force during my next session and so I intend to use a Scarrow. Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated.
Scarrow Swordsmaster Level 9 Elite Brute
Initiative +12 Senses Perception +12; darkvision
HP 244; Bloodied 122
AC 21; Fortitude 26, Reflex 20, Will 18
Speed 8, climb 8 (spider climb)
Saving Throws +2
Action point 1
m Greatsword (standard; at-will) ✦ Weapon +14 vs. AC; 1d12 + 5 damage.
M Scarrow Sting (standard; at-will) ✦ Thunder, Poison +12 vs. Fortitude; 1d8 + 4 damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 thunder and poison damage and is weakened (save ends both). The Scarrow can use this attack against a target it has grabbed.
Tail Sweep (standard; recharge [5,6]• Weapon Close blast 2; +12 vs. AC; 2d12 + 6 damage, and the target is knocked prone.
R Darkfire (minor; encounter) Ranged 10; +11 vs. Reflex; until the end of the scarrow’s next turn, the target grants combat advantage to all attackers, and the target cannot benefit from invisibility or concealment.
Murderous Frenzy The savage berserker gains 1 action point the first time it reduces a foe to 0 hit points in an encounter.
Savage Rebuke (immediate reaction, when hit by a melee attack; at will) The savage berserker makes a basic melee attack
Regeneration 5
Alignment Evil Languages Giant
Skills Dungeoneering +10, Stealth +14
Str 24 (+11) Dex 21 (+9) Wis 16 (+7)
Con 22 (+10) Int 13 (+5) Cha 9 (+3)
Equipment leather armor, greatsword
Obviously, this scarrow was based on MM's drider fanglord. The Hellstinger Scorpion was very useful for the tail attacks, whereas Tail Sweep was based on Cyclops Cruser's(MM II) Trempr Smash. Finally, I added the savage berserker template.
So, what do you think? Thanks in advance for your opinion.
P.S. Scarrow Sting was a bit of a puzzler. Evidently it's Hellish Sting modified but I was unsure about the damage type. Although poison was, of course, approppriate, fire wasn't. With some hesitation I chose thunder. Any thoughts on that please?
Thanks for your help!
- How about Drow Long knifes basic attack instead of the Greatsword
- You can add another range basic attack with a boomerang (maybe add to it a slow until end of next turn)
- personally I'll lose the Tail Sweep, I don't see a scorpion tail used to knock things around.
- lose the Regeneration too?
Regrading the Scarrow Sting power:
- Shouldn't the it do just poison type damage?
- you can split the power to an attack vs. AC that does the normal untyped damage and a secondary attack vs. Fort that does the poison damage
- you can have the poison damage go up to 10 after first save-fail
- you can make the weakened an after-effect to the ongoing poison damage save.
- give this power a threatening reach-2 (but then remove the Savage Rebuke power).
Some changes suggestions:
- How about Drow Long knifes basic attack instead of the Greatsword
- You can add another range basic attack with a boomerang (maybe add to it a slow until end of next turn)
It's a reasonable suggestion and, had it been a "vanilla" Scarrow, I would certainly have heeded it. With this one though, I wish to emphasise the brute aspects. Besides, in the encounter I intend to use it for there will be no less than three long knife and/or boomerang wielders.
-lose the Regeneration too?
You think it will be too much? It's one of the main points of the savage berserker template though. I'll have to think about it.
Regrading the Scarrow Sting power:
- Shouldn't the it do just poison type damage?
- you can split the power to an attack vs. AC that does the normal untyped damage and a secondary attack vs. Fort that does the poison damage
- you can have the poison damage go up to 10 after first save-fail
- you can make the weakened an after-effect to the ongoing poison damage save.
- give this power a threatening reach-2 (but then remove the Savage Rebuke power).
Well it should, but I was worried of depowering it too much. I may very well use use your third suggestion-it is an elegant solution. The threatening reach has potential but I don't think I'll go that away(I rather like the Savage Rebuke).
Many thanks for the feedback!
Make the sting attack Acid and Poison, it's what I did when using the Hellstinger Scorpion as a non-immortal monstrous scorpion included along with a vulkoori hunting party of drow. (Makng it only poison means it's easier to resist, and therefore a weaker attack)
I would get rid of the the tail sweep and give this thing a Minor Action 1/turn Claw attack that deals Low damage and grabs. Allow the Scarrow to maintain up to two grabs with a single minor action. (As an elite, I figure it should be able to stand in for two grabby enemies. Plus, two big giant claws means two PCs held in them. :P)
Keep the greatsword, or give it Longknives for less damage but Standard Action Dual Attack.
Not sure about the Regen.
Thanks for the inspiration Ellorin!
(I gave it both immediate actions because I thought it might be interesting for a DM to decide which one he'd rather use on a case-by-case basis)
Hm...I didn't even consider acid. I wonder why, it does make sense.
(I hit upon Acid when modifying the Hellstinger scorpion in the monster builder. I used the drop-down list of keywords and figured I'd just scan it until something made sense. Luckilly, Acid was right near the top :P)
I'm kinda jazzed about these guys. My party is in Xen'drik right now, and the Scarrow totally slipped my mind, probably because I've seen neither hide nor hair of them since Secrets of Xen'drik. But now I'm itching to use them, and I wanna make some in variety of party and encounter roles. (Elite, solo, controller, artillery, etc.)
I was wondering what the common theme-ability should be. Like how nearly all kobolds have Shifty, and almost all Orcs have that "attack and spend a healing surge" ability when bloodied. Seeing as how Scarrow are kinda-sorta half Drow, they should almost always have either Darkfire or Cloud of Darkness like the Drow do, but I figure something else should be common among the Scarrow.
The claw-grab-sting thing seems most appropriate for Soldiers or Brutes to me, since those roles are specifically designed to keep PC's occupied on the front line and away from controllers and artillery.
Maybe they should all have some sort of sting immediate interrupt? I think that might get the theme of deadly scorpion people across really well. When you're an adventurer and you get confronted by hostile tauric scorpion people, you pretty much know a poisonous stinger that size is going to be the thing's deadliest weapon, or at least the trickiest to avoid, no matter what else it's wielding.
The soilders like the Broodguard would have the sting interrupt when escaping a grab, but Artillery Scarrow would maybe have a poisonous sting melee basic attack, and an immediate reaction to use it and push back anyone that enters a square adjacent to it.
Anyway, between grabs, pushes and perhaps sweeps and/or weakening poisons I believe they have great potential as melee controllers. I'll try to create one later.
I explain the lack of claw attack in favor text saying that Impalers have smaller claws than usual, and make up for it by training their humanoid arms to be strong enough to impale prey.
Edit: Went back and renamed them in the statblocks.
This of course gave me the perfect image of a monstrous clawborn savage flying into a berserker rage in combat, attacking with all four of its claws, flinging PCs around the battlefield with furious roars as it instinctively lashes out at threats with its poisonous stinger.
Thus:
