a solo monster that can't move - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

a solo monster that can't move

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
ingestiblebulk
Aug 03, 2010 13:24:50 so, i had this crazy dream last night involving a weird monster: a large golem hewn into the side of a mountain. it was amazing in my mind, and i really want to make him a part of my game. the problem, as i see it, is in having a monster be truly dangerous on his own, without any sort of mobility. any ideas?
#2
mplindustries
Aug 03, 2010 13:47:34 It should probably be in the Monster forum, but it doesn't sound all that difficult.

You just need to create some mechanic that gives it one or more of the following:

1) A big pull
2) A long reach
3) Ranged attacks
4) Grabs/Restrains/Immobilizes

Personally, I'd create a large aura, large enough to encompass the entire encounter space (40 if it's really just out in the open, but it can be much smaller if there's no clear line of attack to the creature once you hit a certain distance).

Any creature starting in the Aura would be pulled quite a few spaces, and then I'd give the creature some kind of big close blast attack as his at-will.
#3
adun_irving
Aug 03, 2010 13:49:09 Give him push effects and effects that force certain enemies to grant him combat advantage, so that he can't get overwhelmed. Maybe also give him a chance to make a saving throw (without the +5 bonus) to dispel area-effect zones. Slides and grabs might be nice, too.

Those are just my starting thoughts.
#4
Bandikoot
Aug 03, 2010 13:49:59 I tend to see mobility as most important in getting/escaping flanking and getting out of zones. Your golem is hewn into the side of a mountain, so no one can get behind him. If you give it a dispell power that recharges, you could remove zones after a few rounds should your PCs use them. Other than that, it's not so much a problem of making it dangerous as making it interesting. If all it can do is just stand there, then everyone is going to line up and slug it out. You could give it powers with push/pull/slide to move the PCs around and force them to reposition. If there's a cliff nearby that it could force someone off of it will motivate the PCs to move around and stay away from it.

Have you considered changing things up about halfway through the battle? Maybe when bloodied it gains the ability to summon stone minions as a minor action to distract the PC and help it out, maybe it earthquakes and reshapes the battlefield, maybe it steps out of the wall and is suddenly much more dangerous.
#5
jadisero
Aug 03, 2010 13:51:25 Personally, this seems like a great idea. Mechanically, it would require some work to make it a challenge that isn't to difficult.

Ideas that come to my head are as follows:

Assuming said 'large golem' is truely gargantuan (4x4 or larger), obviously it should have a reach of 3-4. More than 4 and it becomes truely to much for players to deal with.

Also, give him the ability (scaled to fit the encounter level) to do a blast 2-3 to punch or pummel the ground to cause damage to units within the said reach of 3-4.

Give him the lasting effect that when he hits the ground, it makes the area affected difficult terrain making it harder and harder to stay in his reach.

If he is indeed hewn as part of the mountain and unable to move, that would mean he is stone or some other material thats hard. Give him something like resist 5-10 all. But counter that with something like vuleralbility necrotic. Force, Fire, Cold, Radiant and Physical should have less of an effect vs him. But only impliment this if you feel you've made him to powerful to deal with.

Give him an aura if needed to scale it better with the encounter. Make it something that would make sence for the fight. +2 to defences is an option, making it harder for something crazy large like this to hit something tiny compaired to him (size vs size).

You're best option here is take the base statistics for a golem of the type and modify him heavily to account for size and levels. Be _VERY_ careful to not go to overboard with its powers/auras/abilities. You want the encounter to be challenging, fun, and rememberable, not infuriating, un-fun, and imposible.

Use your best judgement. If you were playing it, how would your character adapt and learn to fight in that situation.

Baseline; don't make it to hard, but don't make it easy. Something like this should be an fight you want your players to remember- in a good way.

Have fun,
-Jad
#6
dogbackward
Aug 03, 2010 13:57:38 1. Throw rocks. Classic
2. Reach 3-4, with grab, slow, prone, immobilize, restrain, etc...
3. Other minions/allies with push/slide effects
4. Put it inside the mountain, and give area-burst attacks when the golem hits the ceiling
5. Close Burst 10+, smack the ground to cause a minor earthquake
6. Another plus for being in a cave, limits the area that the PC's can run to, and allows the golem's allies to block the exits

Story-wise: maybe some people are trying to animate a golem for war, to launch an attack on a nearby town. Thing is, the ritual calls for the golem to be carved from living stone, in one piece, from the heart of a mountain. So, the PC's travel through the caves and tunnels, finding the cave at the very center of an ancient mountain range. They get there before the golem has been fully carved out, but the enemy leader sets off the ritual anyway, in desperation, animating the parts of the golem that have been finished. The golem uses chunks of rock that have yet to be carted away to hurl at the PC's and hammers at any who get close with prone/immobilizing effects, while the minions/allies hamper them and block the exits. Once bloodied, the unfinished (and thus flawed) golem goes berserk, slamming the cieling to cause rockfalls and the ground to cause quakes, and starts targetting allies in its rage. Eventually, when killed, it brings the mountain down on the cultists/whoever, and the PC's get a great skill challenge to escape a crumbling cave system.

Edit: Well, crap... now I gotta find a way to put this in my game.
#7
ingestiblebulk
Aug 03, 2010 13:58:34
ah. sorry about the misforuming. never had any problem making monsters before (as i tend to use premades) and i wasn't aware a monsters board existed.

the idea i had to mix it up was this: i was planning to move it from being hewn into a mountain to the wall of a chamber. i thought that once he was bloodied, he'd trigger a cave in that causes rocks to fall randomly on the players.
#8
ingestiblebulk
Aug 03, 2010 14:01:38
1. Throw rocks. Classic
2. Reach 3-4, with grab, slow, prone, immobilize, restrain, etc...
3. Other minions/allies with push/slide effects
4. Put it inside the mountain, and give area-burst attacks when the golem hits the ceiling
5. Close Burst 10+, smack the ground to cause a minor earthquake
6. Another plus for being in a cave, limits the area that the PC's can run to, and allows the golem's allies to block the exits

Story-wise: maybe some people are trying to animate a golem for war, to launch an attack on a nearby town. Thing is, the ritual calls for the golem to be carved from living stone, in one piece, from the heart of a mountain. So, the PC's travel through the caves and tunnels, finding the cave at the very center of an ancient mountain range. They get there before the golem has been fully carved out, but the enemy leader sets off the ritual anyway, in desperation, animating the parts of the golem that have been finished. The golem uses chunks of rock that have yet to be carted away to hurl at the PC's and hammers at any who get close with prone/immobilizing effects, while the minions/allies hamper them and block the exits. Once bloodied, the unfinished (and thus flawed) golem goes berserk, slamming the cieling to cause rockfalls and the ground to cause quakes, and starts targetting allies in its rage. Eventually, when killed, it brings the mountain down on the cultists/whoever, and the PC's get a great skill challenge to escape a crumbling cave system.

Edit: Well, crap... now I gotta find a way to put this in my game.

we are very much on the same page. i love your idea for putting it into the story; i hadn't considered that part yet.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ingestiblebulk Aug 03, 2010 13:24:50	so, i had this crazy dream last night involving a weird monster: a large golem hewn into the side of a mountain. it was amazing in my mind, and i really want to make him a part of my game. the problem, as i see it, is in having a monster be truly dangerous on his own, without any sort of mobility. any ideas?
#2 mplindustries Aug 03, 2010 13:47:34	It should probably be in the Monster forum, but it doesn't sound all that difficult. You just need to create some mechanic that gives it one or more of the following: 1) A big pull 2) A long reach 3) Ranged attacks 4) Grabs/Restrains/Immobilizes Personally, I'd create a large aura, large enough to encompass the entire encounter space (40 if it's really just out in the open, but it can be much smaller if there's no clear line of attack to the creature once you hit a certain distance). Any creature starting in the Aura would be pulled quite a few spaces, and then I'd give the creature some kind of big close blast attack as his at-will.
#3 adun_irving Aug 03, 2010 13:49:09	Give him push effects and effects that force certain enemies to grant him combat advantage, so that he can't get overwhelmed. Maybe also give him a chance to make a saving throw (without the +5 bonus) to dispel area-effect zones. Slides and grabs might be nice, too. Those are just my starting thoughts.
#4 Bandikoot Aug 03, 2010 13:49:59	I tend to see mobility as most important in getting/escaping flanking and getting out of zones. Your golem is hewn into the side of a mountain, so no one can get behind him. If you give it a dispell power that recharges, you could remove zones after a few rounds should your PCs use them. Other than that, it's not so much a problem of making it dangerous as making it interesting. If all it can do is just stand there, then everyone is going to line up and slug it out. You could give it powers with push/pull/slide to move the PCs around and force them to reposition. If there's a cliff nearby that it could force someone off of it will motivate the PCs to move around and stay away from it. Have you considered changing things up about halfway through the battle? Maybe when bloodied it gains the ability to summon stone minions as a minor action to distract the PC and help it out, maybe it earthquakes and reshapes the battlefield, maybe it steps out of the wall and is suddenly much more dangerous.
#5 jadisero Aug 03, 2010 13:51:25	Personally, this seems like a great idea. Mechanically, it would require some work to make it a challenge that isn't to difficult. Ideas that come to my head are as follows: Assuming said 'large golem' is truely gargantuan (4x4 or larger), obviously it should have a reach of 3-4. More than 4 and it becomes truely to much for players to deal with. Also, give him the ability (scaled to fit the encounter level) to do a blast 2-3 to punch or pummel the ground to cause damage to units within the said reach of 3-4. Give him the lasting effect that when he hits the ground, it makes the area affected difficult terrain making it harder and harder to stay in his reach. If he is indeed hewn as part of the mountain and unable to move, that would mean he is stone or some other material thats hard. Give him something like resist 5-10 all. But counter that with something like vuleralbility necrotic. Force, Fire, Cold, Radiant and Physical should have less of an effect vs him. But only impliment this if you feel you've made him to powerful to deal with. Give him an aura if needed to scale it better with the encounter. Make it something that would make sence for the fight. +2 to defences is an option, making it harder for something crazy large like this to hit something tiny compaired to him (size vs size). You're best option here is take the base statistics for a golem of the type and modify him heavily to account for size and levels. Be _VERY_ careful to not go to overboard with its powers/auras/abilities. You want the encounter to be challenging, fun, and rememberable, not infuriating, un-fun, and imposible. Use your best judgement. If you were playing it, how would your character adapt and learn to fight in that situation. Baseline; don't make it to hard, but don't make it easy. Something like this should be an fight you want your players to remember- in a good way. Have fun, -Jad
#6 dogbackward Aug 03, 2010 13:57:38	1. Throw rocks. Classic 2. Reach 3-4, with grab, slow, prone, immobilize, restrain, etc... 3. Other minions/allies with push/slide effects 4. Put it inside the mountain, and give area-burst attacks when the golem hits the ceiling 5. Close Burst 10+, smack the ground to cause a minor earthquake 6. Another plus for being in a cave, limits the area that the PC's can run to, and allows the golem's allies to block the exits Story-wise: maybe some people are trying to animate a golem for war, to launch an attack on a nearby town. Thing is, the ritual calls for the golem to be carved from living stone, in one piece, from the heart of a mountain. So, the PC's travel through the caves and tunnels, finding the cave at the very center of an ancient mountain range. They get there before the golem has been fully carved out, but the enemy leader sets off the ritual anyway, in desperation, animating the parts of the golem that have been finished. The golem uses chunks of rock that have yet to be carted away to hurl at the PC's and hammers at any who get close with prone/immobilizing effects, while the minions/allies hamper them and block the exits. Once bloodied, the unfinished (and thus flawed) golem goes berserk, slamming the cieling to cause rockfalls and the ground to cause quakes, and starts targetting allies in its rage. Eventually, when killed, it brings the mountain down on the cultists/whoever, and the PC's get a great skill challenge to escape a crumbling cave system. Edit: Well, crap... now I gotta find a way to put this in my game.
#7 ingestiblebulk Aug 03, 2010 13:58:34	ah. sorry about the misforuming. never had any problem making monsters before (as i tend to use premades) and i wasn't aware a monsters board existed. the idea i had to mix it up was this: i was planning to move it from being hewn into a mountain to the wall of a chamber. i thought that once he was bloodied, he'd trigger a cave in that causes rocks to fall randomly on the players.
#8 ingestiblebulk Aug 03, 2010 14:01:38	1. Throw rocks. Classic 2. Reach 3-4, with grab, slow, prone, immobilize, restrain, etc... 3. Other minions/allies with push/slide effects 4. Put it inside the mountain, and give area-burst attacks when the golem hits the ceiling 5. Close Burst 10+, smack the ground to cause a minor earthquake 6. Another plus for being in a cave, limits the area that the PC's can run to, and allows the golem's allies to block the exits Story-wise: maybe some people are trying to animate a golem for war, to launch an attack on a nearby town. Thing is, the ritual calls for the golem to be carved from living stone, in one piece, from the heart of a mountain. So, the PC's travel through the caves and tunnels, finding the cave at the very center of an ancient mountain range. They get there before the golem has been fully carved out, but the enemy leader sets off the ritual anyway, in desperation, animating the parts of the golem that have been finished. The golem uses chunks of rock that have yet to be carted away to hurl at the PC's and hammers at any who get close with prone/immobilizing effects, while the minions/allies hamper them and block the exits. Once bloodied, the unfinished (and thus flawed) golem goes berserk, slamming the cieling to cause rockfalls and the ground to cause quakes, and starts targetting allies in its rage. Eventually, when killed, it brings the mountain down on the cultists/whoever, and the PC's get a great skill challenge to escape a crumbling cave system. Edit: Well, crap... now I gotta find a way to put this in my game. we are very much on the same page. i love your idea for putting it into the story; i hadn't considered that part yet.