A dance of spraying blood and tearing flesh [Creature]

[Icewalker]

No specific inspiration, really. Kind of blink dogs, but only a little bit. Felt like making something terrifying. Now I really want to have a Flaydancer Rogue as a really high level villain in something...

[hr]

Flaydancer
Medium Outsider (Extraplanar, Evil, Chaotic)
HD 12d8+48 (102 HP)
Speed 100 ft. (20 squares)
Init: +12
AC 26; touch 22; flat-footed 14
(+12 Dex, +4 Natural)
BAB +12; Grp +18
Attack Spike +23 (1d6+6)
Full-Attack 4 spikes +23 (1d6+6)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Flay, Blinkstrike
Special Qualities Blinding Speed, Blinkdance, Outsider Traits
Saves Fort +12 Ref +19 Will +11
Abilities Str 22, Dex 33, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 19, Cha 21
Skills Balance +26, Climb + 21, Escape Artist +34, Hide +26, Jump +21, Perform (Dance) +34, Move Silently +26, Spot +27, Tumble +34
Feats Weapon Finesse, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack
Environment The Abyss
Organization Solitary, Troupe (4-16), Company (10-40)
Challenge Rating 10
Treasure Normal
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Advancement 13-20 (Medium)

The deep red lithe figure grins wildly as it wavers slightly side to side, its long bloodstreaked hair draping all the way to the knees behind it. The glistening spikes that protrude from its wrists, elbows, knees, and numerous other joints seem to all be caked in dried blood. One of them still has a remnant of skin attached to it. It's wide eyes have no apparent pupils, and are just solid black, but the face still somehow has a horrid beauty to it. Then, in an instant, it vanishes with a movement faster than your eye can see.

Flay (Ex): If a flaydancer hits with multiple spike attacks, it latches into the opponent’s body and tears the skin to ribbons. This attack automatically deals an additional 1d6 points of damage and 1 point of Constitution damage for every spike after the first that strikes a target.

Blinkstrike (Sp): As a full round action, a flaydancer can tear open reality with its spikes and teleport a short ways, ending with a barrage of piercing strikes. The flaydancer may teleport up to 75 feet instantly and make a full attack with bonuses and penalties as if on a charge. The use of this ability disables Blinkdance for 1 round.

Blinding Speed (Ex): The ridiculous speed a flaydancer moves at makes it nearly impossible to keep track of it's location and respond. In any round that a flaydancer moves at least 100 feet, it has total concealment for that round. Flaydancers do not provoke attacks of opportunity for moving into or out of opponents spaces.

Blinkdance (Sp): Whenever an attack is made against a moving flaydancer, its absurd speed gives it the opportunity for escape. As long as it moved at least 100 feet last round, a flaydancer may make a Reflex save and use its result in place of its armor class for an attack. If this successfully allows the flaydancer to dodge an attack, it may instantly teleport up to 50 feet.

Flaydancers have a +8 racial bonus to Spot, Perform (Dance), Escape Artist, and Tumble checks.

[Origomar]

Woudlnt blink dance be useless, unless you were attacking it when it moved 100 feet and was flat footed? Also it needs ranks in perform(dance)!

[Xefas]

Does Blinkdance work for all attacks until the next round? "an attack" is kind of vague.

Also, I think the "moves at least 100ft" mechanic is unnecessary, considering it doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, and could thus just run in a circle around the person they want to attack until it ticks 20 squares, and then attack.

I'd prefer just "in a round in which it uses a move action to move". Same execution without the DM having to preface each round with "and it runs around you another 3 times...and then attacks" while still allowing them to describe it like that if they want to.

[imp_fireball]

Same execution without the DM having to preface each round with "and it runs around you another 3 times...and then attacks" while still allowing them to describe it like that if they want to.

Or they could describe it as, "And it runs around you to the point of reaching a blur before it flies at you once more, thorns extended."

I don't see why it matters. Logic says that 'moving at least 100ft.' means it's taking on momentum, even if it is moving at the same speed. And D&D assumes that nobody moves at the same instantaneous speed every microsecond anyway. A movement of 30ft. could involving stumbling or skipping for all RAW cares - in other words, it could start with a walk that transposes into a jog and vice versa.

And if it has to run circles around somebody and be at the top of initiative to apply the reflex save benefit against every attack made against it, so be it. That's what I would call a disadvantage and it works well enough balance wise while still managing to be cool (most draw backs aren't all that cool).

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Other than all that, I can see one way around this sort of creature that's fool proof - stick it so it can't move, then kill.

The fluff seems to indicate that it looks like a demon spawn from the lowest reaches of hell. Maybe give it a few more things to roll with that (other than evading every attack until the PCs figure out that they have to bind it). One idea is summon vermin (animated razors or teeth that cut at people). Or make evil mouths appear in the walls that attempt to swallow innocents. :smallamused:

You could also give it maneuvers that it can use when it's out of reach of the PCs. It's high speed gives it an absurd jump check, so it could easily leap from place to place. Maybe grapple a PC with an extendable arm from out of reach (like so many resident evil creatures).

You could give it spider climb, although spider climb is over used when it comes to humanoid aberrations...

[Icewalker]

I wasn't really intending any kind of picking up momentum, but it does make sense. Either description works, 'moving' or 'moving 100 ft. or more'. As to being pinned, it can always blinkstrike out of it. :smallwink:

I can see it jumping from place to place, but that's fluff and how the DM runs it, doesn't need mechanics in place other than the already existent +21 to jump before speed bonuses.

Blinkdance is supposed to work for any attack. It's also supposed to be them teleporting, which I didn't actually specify in the mechanics, fixing.

[DracoDei]

Does Blinkdance grant 2 attacks or 4? You say a full attack, which is 4, but then you say 2 in the description itself.

[Icewalker]

It was going to be 2, then I changed it to full. Editing the inconsistency.

[The Neoclassic]

I love the description! It's neither a overly simplistic nor stupidly complex concept, it's clear and focused, and it's creative. :smallbiggrin:

Now, it says for attack, one spike (1d6+6)... but four spikes is also (1d6+6)? Should that instead be (1d6+6 each) or (1d6+6 per spike)? I'm not awesome at formatting stats, so it might be confusion on my part instead of yours. :smallredface:

[Icewalker]

They're resolved as separate attacks in a full attack, of course. Which means that when using a description of multiple attacks you can just use the same hit and damage info without any extra qualifiers [ie, 2 claws +10 (1d4+2) ]

[The Neoclassic]

They're resolved as separate attacks in a full attack, of course. Which means that when using a description of multiple attacks you can just use the same hit and damage info without any extra qualifiers [ie, 2 claws +10 (1d4+2) ]

OK! I learned something new today then. :smalltongue:

[Lagren]

This is an awesome creature! It seems to have been designed to go with another one I've seen around the forums, the Skinshred Swarm. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87355) I feel like making this thing's spikes be infected with Skin Crawl and throwing him at my party, along with the swarms it's created.