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LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 10:01 AM
Okay, here is another demon who originally appeared in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, Angel. This creature is difficult to kill, not counting save-or-dies, unless characters have a decent number of ranks in Knowledge (the Planes).

Demon, Mohra
Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 14d8+98 (161 hp)
Initiative: +7
Armor Class: 21 (+8 natural, +3 Dex), touch 13, flatfooted 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+18
Attack: +2 Greatsword +20 melee (2d6+6/18-20)
Full Attack: +2 Greatsword +20/+15+10 melee (2d6+6/18-20)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like Abilities, Sneak Attack
Special Qualities: Regeneration 10, Damage Reduction 10/Law and Cold Iron, Darkvision 60 ft., Immunity to Acid and Poison, Resistance to cold 10 and electric 10, A Thousand Eyes, Blood of Eternity, Spell Resistance 23
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +12, Will +8
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 16, Con 24, Int 11, Wis 20, Cha 12
Skills: Hide +28, Jump +21, Listen +20, Move Silently +28, Search +17, Spot +20, Survival +20, Tumble +20
Feats: Improved Initiative, Improved Critical (Great sword), Weapon Focus (Great sword), Quicken Spell-like Ability (Inflict Critical Wounds), Quick Draw
Environment: The Infinite Layers of the Abyss
Organization: Solitary, or Pair
Challenge Rating: 14
Treasure: Double Standard
Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil
Advancement: Special (See A Thousand Eyes Ability)
Level Adjustment: -----

An imposing humanoid creature can be seen briefly in the darkness. It has green skin, with a red crystal on its forehead. It moves with extreme grace and an unnatural silence.

Mohras (sometimes called Abyssal Assassins) are a breed of demon that specialize in hunting down and killing mortal champions of Good and Law. They have a perverse enjoyment out of making Clerics and Paladins suffer, in particular. Mohras appear to be green-skinned humanoids with many spikes protruding from their flesh, though most don't see them before it is too late.

Mohras make excellent warriors because they cannot be killed by conventional weaponry or magic; there are ancient writings that say that they can only be killed by "bringing darkness to a thousand eyes." Those well versed in planar lore know that these "eyes" are metaphorical, and that this statement actually refers to the gem each Mohra has.

Some people try to kill Mohras for a very special property they have; their blood has a very potent healing quality, which can give those injected with it the near-invincibility of the demon.

Mohras are commonly found in the more organized areas of the Abyss, such as Red Shroud's town of Broken Reach.

Combat
Mohras like to sneak up on their foes using their invisibility, before launching devastating attacks in pairs against a single target. If facing a group, they attack the most powerful-looking Paladin or Cleric. Mohras are not afraid of combat, as they are exceedingly hard to kill. If knocked unconscious by nonlethal damage, they appear dead.

A Thousand Eyes (Ex): The only way to kill a Mohra is to break the crystal that grows on its forehead. The crystal can be sundered like a regular object. It has hardness 12, and 36 hp. Each time the Mohra is knocked unconscious from taking nonlethal damage, it advances further by 1 HD. It can continue to advance in such a matter until it reaches 28 HD. For every two HD the Mohra advances, it gains a +2 bonus on all ability scores. Upon achieving their 21st HD, they become large, also gaining the ability increases due to the size increase.

Blood of Eternity (Su): The blood of a Mohra demon has very powerful regenerative properties. If someone was to pour at least an ounce of it into their bloodstream (usually through an open wound or something similar), the person gains the Regeneration property for 1d10 hours. It functions like the Mohra's Regeneration ability. At the same time, however, the person is infused with evil, gaining the Chaotic, Evil, and Extraplanar subtypes. They retain their old alignment, but they count as Chaotic Evil whenever it would have a negative affect on them (such as if they are stricken by a holy weapon, or are subjected to a Paladin's smite evil attempt. If dismissal or banishment is used on them, they are sent to a random layer of the Abyss.

Regeneration (Ex): Nothing bypasses the Mohra's regeneration. Any limbs that are lost regrow in 3d6 rounds, and any limb can be reattached by holding the limb at the stump.

Spell-like Abilities: At will- true seeing. 3/day- greater invisibility, doom (DC 16), entropic shield. 1/day- Inflict critical wounds (DC 19), harm (DC 21), destruction (DC 21), fear (DC 19). 1/week- teleport. Caster Level 16th. The save DCs are Wisdom-based.

Sneak Attack (Ex): This ability functions as the Rogue's ability, and it deals an extra 4d6 damage.

Skills: Mohra Demons gain a +8 bonus on all Hide and Move Silently checks.

NeoSeraphi
2011-06-10, 10:29 AM
Well, I don't know how to PEACH monsters, since balance isn't really an issue (who wants to fight balanced monsters?)

I've never seen Angel but I can tell by your description that these guys were probably really annoying recurring villains.

The Thousand Eyes quality is unique and makes for a really cool adventure, in which the big bad shows up repeatedly and the party keeps knocking him down but never out until they at last roll a high enough Know (the Planes) to realize what they're doing wrong, and by that point he's got plenty of HD and upped scores to make it a challenging last fight.

One question though, does advancing 14 HD ever result in an increase in Size? I don't think I've ever heard of a Medium sized creature with 28 HD before...

LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 10:34 AM
Actually, they only show up once in the entire run of the series. It was mainly just a plot device for Angel to become human again (as opposed to undead), only for the writers to torture the character by having the creature so powerful he had to give up his humanity again to defeat it. Its a good episode, but its more character-driven than monster-driven.

This probably shouldn't could, but the leShay from the Epic Level Handbook is a medium fey with 50 HD. :smalltongue:

Still, I'll edit in that they increase in size after attaining their 21st Hit Die.

Thanks for your quick response.

NeoSeraphi
2011-06-10, 10:44 AM
A medium fey with 50 HD? I approve of this. Say what you want about Wizards, but they make great monsters.

Besides, the guy's damage output is only from his greatsword anyway. If you want him to continue being a threat to the party, something other than his stats has to improve. (The size of his Greatsword, plus that additional +8 bonus to Strength, makes for a great boon to the next encounter)

I dunno, for a demon he's kind of straightforward. Demons are interesting because of their summon abilities and their spell-likes, but you only have true seeing and invisibility. Also, even though he's supposedly an assassin, the only remotely assassin thing about him is invisibility a limited number of times per day. You give him no stealth bonuses (sneak attack, death attack, poison). Sure, he can Hide and Move Silently, but that doesn't make him an assassin you know?

The 'my regeneration is untouchable' thing doesn't make him overpowered for his HD. It's okay for you to flesh him out a bit more and give him some other unique abilities. Blood of Eternity and A Thousand Eyes was a good start, but an immortal fighter is still just a fighter. The party won't take him seriously if all he can do is keep getting back up, swing his greatsword, and occasionally go invisible for one attack.

LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 10:53 AM
These guys are more "Terminator" walk in and just start killing types, but I see your point. I will start adding more abilities in. I probably won't add the summoning ability, though, as that is a Tanar'ri-only trait.

Thanks for the PEACH, I'll post again once more stuff is added in. :smallsmile:

LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 12:48 PM
I've added the sneak attack, a racial bonus to hide and move silently, and a bunch of spell-like abilities.

NeoSeraphi
2011-06-10, 12:59 PM
Erm...well, it's much better now, but I still don't see why you're nerfing the SLAs so much. If the guy is CR 13, he should have abilities that will actually match up at CR 13.

Greater Invisibility is not unheard of. It's a CR 8 ability. And Cause Fear, well...it's kind of ridiculous. A. It only affects up to 5 HD, and B. He's got Doom already, which is a single-targeted Cause Fear that affects any HD.

Bump him up some. Give him REAL SLAs. These are demons we're talking about. They're scary for a reason. Greater Invisibility, Fear,, maybe even deeper darkness. When the party encounters a demon, it needs to be something they'll remember for the rest of the campaign.

Edit: Entropic Shield and Inflict Critical Wounds are good. By the way, you should specify what his caster level/Save DC is. (I assume it's character level and Cha-based, but it's always better to have it defined in the text)

LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 01:24 PM
I added a bunch of extra 1/day spell-like abilities. I'm looking at the CR 13 Glabrezu, though, and its spell-like abilities are strictly inferior to the Mohra's. I think I'll bump it to CR 14.

I'll be adding it in momentarily, but the save DC's are Wisdom-based.

NeoSeraphi
2011-06-10, 01:47 PM
Well, his CR for the first encounter is really irrelevant (Not in determining his abilities, but in his abilities determining it) because he's just going to keep advancing HD and gaining higher and higher CR.

Good SLAs now make this an appropriate encounter for a standard CR 14 party.

Solaris
2011-06-10, 04:07 PM
This thing makes me cackle with glee. I'll have to borrow it for use in my campaign.

LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 08:14 PM
I'm glad you like it. Tell me how it goes, please!

DracoDei
2011-06-10, 09:05 PM
Two things are glaringly missing from this creature:
1.) A Lore table, based on Knowledge(The Planes).
2.) An explanation of why they don't all just go taunt something with a short temper until they have their HD maxed.


If it were me I would have them gain 1/week teleport, but with a 10 minute casting time at a certain HD. That way you can't just trap them somewhere (at least not without Dimension Locking the location or some other precaution.)

LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 10:04 PM
I guess I didn't include a lore table because I've never actually done that for my monsters before. Wouldn't the DC be a minimum of 24, higher if the creature is advanced?

As for the second part, I don't really thinks it needs to much explaining. I mean, the damage dealt is nonlethal, but I imagine it would still hurt like hell. Perhaps there are a few individuals who do this, but the majority would likely still try to win any conflicts they enter.

I'll add in teleport.

DracoDei
2011-06-10, 10:36 PM
I guess I didn't include a lore table because I've never actually done that for my monsters before. Wouldn't the DC be a minimum of 24, higher if the creature is advanced?
Lore DCs go by the "common" version of the creature. I don't even need to check RAW, since any deviation from that would be "RAW stupidity".

I am not the greatest with Lore tables myself, but if you post something you might get some PEACH on that specific itme. You apparently already know the formula for the base DC, after that everything is 5 point increments, unless you want to get creative for some reason, which you don't sound ready to do. The only major decision after that is what level to put the "sunder the gem to kill" knowledge at on the table.

LOTRfan
2011-06-10, 10:57 PM
So it would be something like this (?):

{table=head]DC|Lore
24 |This creature is a Mohra demon. They serve as assassins in the Abyssal armies. This reveals all outsider traits and its subtypes.
29|Mohras have a high tolerance for pain, and it is said that they can be killed only by "bringing darkness to a thousand eyes." This reveals all immunities, resistances, and its regeneration.
34|The "thousand eyes" are a reference to the faceted crystal on their forehead. If it is smashed, the creature dies instantly. If the blood of a Mohra is introduced into the bloodstream of another creature, the creature gains their regenerative power. This reveals all other special attacks and special qualities. [/table]

DracoDei
2011-06-11, 12:14 AM
Something like that, yeah. I would expect more levels, and perhaps not even mentioning The Thousand Eyes until the level that also mentions what it means... then again from what I know of TV show plotting theory that wouldn't match the episode at all.