Generic bad guy help

[Zarake]

Hello Playgrounders, got muscled into taking over a campaign while the DM recovers from a rotator cuff injury/moving problems.
Now, I have my bad guys, adventures, maps and annoying NPCs laid out. Only problem is I need a way to stat the henchmen, at least for the first few sessions.

Now, for anyone here old enough to remember the good old N64 I'm taking the first level/plot of Turok 2, and changing around what the BBEG is, probably the Jellomancer but thats not important.
What I need is an easy way to build those bad ass green dinosaur/human things. My friend suggested re-fluffing lizardmen and Dragonkin but that doesn't seem right, is there anyway to get these things accurately statted?

[Cog]

For those of us not familiar with the game, what sorts of things do you want these guys to be capable of?

[Kol Korran]

accurately statted? you're the DM, you know then players, the needs of the campaign, your vision, stat them to suit your needs!

it would really help a lot if you could describe the beasties better, perhaps even put a photo? maybe then we'll be able to help better.

some ideas of the top of my head for the -human-lizards guys:

- perhaps you could use dinosaurs as a were template on your chosen race (or races) and just use the hybrid form? it might also mean lesser CR.

- Eberron campaign setting has some nice medium and large dinosaurs. and MM3 if i'm not mistaken has a few good ones as well. maybe add intelligence, the ability to use tools and voila?

hope it helped.

[Zarake]

http://turok.wikia.com/wiki/Endtrail

thats a quick wiki of them.
I need these things to fill the role of your generic Orc/goblin/undead speed bump kind of thing.
In game they fight with a wrist mounted blade, some form of gun that shoots purple balls, and they throw grenades. I was just going to have them melee focused, replacing the gun with maybe another sword, or some form of grenade launcher.

[Kol Korran]

hhhmmmm.... i think your friend's idea to base them on lizardfolk might be the right way to go. the MM3 has two additional races- the poisondusk and blackscales, which much like the goblinoid races, comprise the shifty sneaky people, and the brutes. you could use that for diversity. however, here are some suggestions to make them perhaps more interesting:

- give them scent, and a reasonable survival skill. that way they could be trackers, and follow the PCs, stalking them. also, give them a slight edge with invisible folks.

- you can have some effect kick in when they are wounded, or below half HP, or when someone dies next to them. this could be acommon theme for all these folks, or perhaps a different theme, refelcting different tribes, culture, training or breeding. this is a bit like Shifter's shifting ability. some things that may work quite well could be: hasted for a short time, skin thickens, a lesser form of rage, and so on.

- equipment and weapons: you can use regular stuff, but a nice idea might be to give them some exotic gear, that they are proficient in their culture. like a more brutal looking sword (for example the tangat from Eberron- 2-haned, 1d10, crit 18-20/x2) and so on. as for the "grenad launcher". you could give them sort sort of sling (uses better range than throwing by hand) that can throw various simple alchemical ammunition- alchemical fire, tanglefoot bags, thunder stones and the like. i highly suggest you look/ create special such cool items. they add to tactics, versatility, and are just plain cool.

- another approach would be to create certain variants that might have simple cool powers. like nauseating odor sacs (like troglodytes) orperhaps being able to spew some gluing globe a short distance away.

i hope this helped,
Kol.

[Zarake]

Thanks Kol, that was actually very good advice.
For the brutes I was thinking of slapping on powerful build some how, and the faster ones will be some form of flesh raker, yes, I am an horrible person XD

[Kol Korran]

hhmmm.. flesh rakers... (shudders from an early memory as a player. "look at the cute dinosaurs! oh god no! they are tearing up my face!" :smallwink: never trusted a lizard again.)

how about trains animals? simple dinosuaurs of course, but perhaps aligators?

oh... a fun and nasty idea! how about trained flocks of stirges? the dino guys trained them to hone on "warm blood"'s... blood. the blood mosquito bats are kept in cages, and released when setting camp, or when exploring a new area. they don't outright attack, but stay stealthy... but when the party/ enemy is in some mess? (in a battle, down to their waste in water, and so on) they glide, attach, and have their meal. preferably from unarmored targets.


could be quite fun, adding a surprise element to an encounter, a side complication, and after an encounter or two, the party might panicaly start searching the trees, for the flutter of tiny wings... :smallwink:

and of course, one must place an encoutner in a stirge breeding cavern, no?

i like stirges, if you like this idea, check my sig for the compendium, it has more info.

[Zarake]

Kol, you are a cynical person, and I am stealing your idea stringes, and trained animals, probably gonna use the Grick? From Bestiary 2, along with Serpent Folk for the baddies... Thanks again for the assistance play grounders, hopefully they don't just rule-abuse their way out of every encounter XD