Unexpectedly Interesting 3.x monsters

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:38 am

In Paizo's 1st Legacy of Fire module, there's a CR 5 demon who is basically a closet troll, but with a bonus to charge attacks. However, when I was looking at the SLA's, I saw that it got Arcane Lock and Expeditious Retreat at will. And the party is expected to fight it at level 2 or 3.

This paves the way for the Scooby chase from hell, where the monster easily outpaces most of the party as it leads them through a series of rooms, periodically sealing a door shut with magic as it attempts to split up the party so it can fight them individually.

With a little creative ability use, you can turn a generic goon into Khazareck, Dread Closer of Doors. I am almost tempted to use this as a recurring NPC in my next game.

Anyone else run into a monster that became much more interesting when you thought about its abilities a bit?

Winnah · Post by **Winnah** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:36 am

Not as interesting as the fiend you mentioned, but I am getting a lot of mileage out of a Myconyd colony in my current game.

Spores everywhere, inducing hallucinations and psychosis. What I thought would be a speed-bump combat encounter for a mid level party on their first foray into the underdark, has turned into an actual adventure. This may be because i decided to use the most favourable (for the myconyds) reading of the sovereign's Brew potion ability.

ModelCitizen · Post by **ModelCitizen** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:37 am

Not exactly 3.5, but summoning 3.0 yeth hounds into cities was hilarious. This is me reading the yeth hound entry: magic dog, magic dog, boring magic dog.. wait how big a radius?

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 1:45 pm

ModelCitizen wrote:Not exactly 3.5, but summoning 3.0 yeth hounds into cities was hilarious. This is me reading the yeth hound entry: magic dog, magic dog, boring magic dog.. wait how big a radius?

Is this about it's terrifying howl?

How big was the radius in 3.0?

Dean · Post by **Dean** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:17 pm

300 feet baby, Awooooo

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:41 pm

Yeththiree, I always wanted to use Yeth hounds, but I just couldn't thqueeze them in. (And that ith how they'd talk IMC.)

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:52 pm

deanruel87 wrote:300 feet baby, Awooooo

That's the 3.5 radius too.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:38 pm

It's DC is only 11 though, so roughly half the city would make it's save, unless you instituted some kind of mass hysteria rule that works like anti-aid another.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:51 pm

I think half the city (evenly distributed at that) going into panic would count as full-on mass chaos, since major portions of the unaffected half will act in response to the crowd, potentially acting the same as well or being a rioter (looting, vandalizing, etc).

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:51 pm

most likely. and if there's more than one yeth hound...
Does anyone have a scan or something of the 3.0 yeth hound?I got rid of my 3.0 books and I'm curious about a few things...

edit: huh, barghests and yeth hounds come from basically the same folk loric roots

Ikeren · Post by **Ikeren** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:15 pm

This thread is giving me ideas.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:23 pm

Same, I think I'll make Yeth Hounds one of the first things my players face in the BPRD game. Possibly set up for black hounds (the generic folk lore beastie that yeth hounds fit in with) to just be ghostly hounds, no more or less evil than normal hounds. Many are just owned by evil entities that hunt people.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 8:39 pm

Not a creature, but the most wicked trap I ever saw was a trapped arrow. There was a small, spring-loaded blade in the notch of the arrow. DC23 I think to search for it (which was insanely high). All it does is when you draw it, the blade goes *snick* and the bow string is cut. For a CR1 trap, it's one of the biggest "fuck you" traps I've ever seen. I mean, restringing a bow in combat is not an option, and how often do you see a character with an extra bow string?

ishy · Post by **ishy** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 9:26 pm

If you ever encountered something like that than you have plenty of spares. For example if your DM uses critical failures means your bow string snaps FU rules..

echoVanguard · Post by **echoVanguard** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:21 pm

All this talk of Yeth Hounds panicking cities has reminded me of an encounter I ran once for my players.

The party was in a major city, surrounded by many commoners and other ordinary city dwellers. An enemy of theirs decided this would be a lovely time to airdrop a couple of summoned monsters on them to cause some chaos.

The monsters? Three Slaughter Wights with 5 levels of Avenging Executioner, dual-wielding Kukris with the Improved Critical feat, and the Eviscerator feat from Libris Mortis.

For those unfamiliar with this particular convocation of feats and class features, here's the run-down:

1. Slaughter Wights are a fairly standard undead creature with tough physical attacks. Dual-wielding Kukris with Improved Critical meant they threatened criticals on 15-20. The criticals didn't do a great deal of damage, but...
2. The Eviscerator feat automatically makes any creature within 30 feet of you Shaken for 1 minute if you score a critical hit. There is no save. The feat requires you to be undead (as well as a stack of prerequisites).
3. The Avenging Executioner prestige class allows you to make Sudden Strike attacks against any creature that is shaken, frightened, or panicked as if they were flat-footed. Furthermore, any opponent within 30 feet of you who sees you deal sudden strike damage must make a successful will save or become shaken (and remember that fear stacks with itself). Lastly, dropping a creature (reducing it to 0 or fewer hp) automatically renders all opponents within 30 feet frightened for 1 round (save for shaken).

The end result? 3 undead guys pop out of invisibility, ambush the party, and start going to town on one of the party members. They hit and crit multiple times in the first round, causing a mass cascade of fear that erupts outwards, hitting all of the party members and panicking dozens of nearby commoners. The party warmage ended up failing enough saves to run screaming from the scene (which amused his player tremendously) and the other party members managed to fight through the shaken conditions and rally enough to defeat the wights, while dozens of panicking commoners cluttered up the streets. It was hilarious.

echo

ModelCitizen · Post by **ModelCitizen** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:56 am

Prak_Anima wrote:most likely. and if there's more than one yeth hound...
Does anyone have a scan or something of the 3.0 yeth hound?I got rid of my 3.0 books and I'm curious about a few things...

edit: huh, barghests and yeth hounds come from basically the same folk loric roots

It's functionally the same as the 3.5 version, I just misremembered something.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:58 am

wasn't the 3.0 yeth hound green in the art?

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 3:12 pm

In spelljammer, there's a limited air supply. That makes air-foulers like ghouls much more exciting.

Dean · Post by **Dean** » Mon Nov 14, 2011 5:56 pm

The harpy is an even nastier version of the Yeth hound really. They have a 300 foot spread to their captivating song. A small flock of those bad ladies could basically fly into a town and pied piper thousands and thousands of people away to their deaths, which I think is personally, seriously, awesome.