PDA

View Full Version : Tracks in the snow... (3.5 Monster, PEACH)



The Tygre
2011-10-28, 11:19 AM
Blackwoods Wendigo

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/8366/wendigov.jpg

There are strange things done in the midnight sun,
by the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold...
- The Cremation of Sam McGee, Robert W. Service

Large Monstrous Humanoid (Air, Cold)
Hit Dice: 6d8+18 (44 HP)
Speed: 30 ft., Fly 60 ft. (Perfect)
Initiative: +6
Armor Class: 15; touch 12; flat-footed 12 (+3 Natural, +3 Dex, -1 size)
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+13
Attack: Bite +10 melee (1d8+3 and disease)
Full-Attack: Bite +10 melee (1d8+3 and disease) and 2 Claws +5 melee (1d8+3)
Space: 10 ft.; Reach: 10 ft.
Special Attacks: Disease (Wendigoism), Fearful Bite, Spell-like Abilities
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., Frozen Heart, Low-light Vision, Regeneration 5, Scent, Wild
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +5
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 11, Cha 8
Skills: Hide +5 (+10 in woods or snow), Listen +2, Move Silently +5 (+10 in woods or snow), Spot +3 Survival +3 (+8 in woods or snow)
Feats: Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (Bite)
Environment: Cold forests and tundra
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: None
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Advancement: 7-12 HD (Large); 13-18 (Huge)
Level Adjustment: -

“He found no difficult in following the tracks for the first few miles. The stride soon began to increase in length, till it finally assumed proportions that seemed absolutely impossible for any ordinary animal to have made. Like huge flying leaps they became. The feet that printed the surface of the snow thus far had now, apparently, left the ground!”

- Algernon Blackwood, The Wendigo

The northern forests are treacherous and wild places. It is easy for even the most experienced tracker or hunter to lose his way within the icy labyrinth. Food is scarce, and wild beasts of all sorts stalk the trees. It comes down to pure survival in the woods, sheer desperation driving even the purest soul. And whispering on the wind, floating like an icy gale, the wendigo are savagery incarnate.

The wendigo are a monstrous race of humanoids that inhabit the frozen tundra and cold forests of the world. The wendigo are creatures of the wind, and can run through the air far swifter than they can on the ground. They are brutal, territorial creatures, to the point that unless under the sway of a more powerful force they will fight each other to the death upon first contact. The victor claims the loser’s territory after having devoured their flesh, and makes sure to destroy their icy heart by whatever means necessary. Wendigo subsist mostly on local fauna, with the occasional additions of fungi and moss. However, intelligent humanoids are by far their favored prey.

There is nothing more appetizing to the wendigo then the taste of humanoid flesh. Elf, dwarf, human, orc; it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the wendigo taste the delicious meat and blood of a living being at any cost. Many wendigo will devour humanoid meat to the point of over-indulgence. Indeed, many wendigo were once humanoids that broke cultural taboos of cannibalism in their former lives. This spirit of gluttony and bloodshed is not without purpose, though, for the wendigo live at the behest of a greater power.

Named Ithaqua, the Walker in the Waste is an ancient being tied to the cold and nature. Considered to not be of this world, Ithaqua is the progenitor of the wendigo race. The wendigo are his children and servants, and will often accompany the walker on his runs through the winter sky. Ithaqua is the only being which can truly organize the wendigo, and his priests and servants have even been known to summon and work with wendigo, if not transform into them outright. Wendigo will even forestall their hunger for humanoid flesh so as to keep their victims alive and ensure their transformation into even more wendigo in the service of Ithaqua.

Wendigo stand roughly eight to nine feet tall and weigh between 350 - 450 pounds. They are lean humanoids covered in fur, and have hooves for feet if they have feet at all. Their faces are more animal than human, with features drawn into distorted proportions and loose-hanging skin. Wendigo speak common and auran.

Combat
Blackwoods wendigo attack viciously and relentlessly. They stick to the air, moving around on earth only when necessary. When possible, they use their spell-like abilities to create hampering conditions for their opponents. They focus on using their bite attacks as much as possible, hoping that one of their victims will contract wendigoism.

Darkvision (Ex): A blackwoods wendigo can see up to 60 ft. away in total darkness.

Disease (Su): The greatest threat from the blackwoods wendigo is not its manipulation of the environment or its savage hunger, but the madness it spreads. Those bitten by a wendigo must make DC 16 Fortitude save or contract wendigoism. The DC for this save increases by +1 for every successful bite attack the blackwoods wendigo makes against the target and every act of cannibalism the target performs.

Wendigoism; Infection - Contact; Save - Fort. DC 16, +1 per wendigo bite/act of cannibalism; Incubation - 1d3 days; Initial Effect – Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage 1d6 per day; Secondary Effect – Strength, Dexterity, Constitution +1d6 per day. Special – Those killed while having contracted wendigoism and who have lost more than half of their original mental scores rise as blackwoods wendigos at the next sunset with no memories of their former lives.

Fearful Bite (Su): The blackwoods wendigo is an embodiment of savagery and primal terror. Any creature bitten by the wendigo must succeed on a DC 13 will save or be frightened for 1d3 hours. This save is Charisma based.

Frozen Heart (Su): A blackwoods wendigo’s heart is made of solid ice. This frozen heart fills the wendigo with dark energy, and sustains them with near immortality. The only way to truly slay a wendigo is to strike its heart with fire. Striking the heart constitutes a -6 penalty to attack. If the frozen heart is not destroyed by fire, then the blackwoods wendigo will regenerate and fully revive itself by the next sunset. The heart has 30 hp and hardness 2/fire.

Low-light Vision (Ex): A blackwoods wendigo can see in dim light conditions twice as far as normal.

Regeneration (Su): Fire does normal damage to a blackwoods wendigo.

Scent (Ex): A blackwoods wendigo can detect creatures up to 30 ft. away by smell, 60 ft. if the creatures are upwind.

Spell-like Abilities (Sp): Caster level 6th level.
3/day – obscuring mist, sleet storm
1/day – control weather

Wild (Ex): A blackwoods wendigo is a creature of the frozen wilderness. It receives an inherent +5 bonus to Hide, Move Silently, and Survival checks made in the woods or snow.

Plot Hooks
+ A local hunter has gone mad and run for the woods. He grows stronger every day, and it will only be a matter of time before he returns to the village.
+ It's a cannibal clash! Opposing cults of Yeenoghu and Ithaqua compete for 'live-stock' in a mountain village. The Yeenoghu cultists have called for a battalion of half-fiend gnolls, while the Itaquans summon a trio of wendigo.
+ The storm of the century approaches. A colossal blizzard is headed straight for the city, seemingly out of season. Dozens, maybe hundreds of wendigo travel with the ice-storm. Is the coming of the Walker in the Waste at hand?


__________________

Oh, hey, another wendigo! What are we up to in d20, five now? Anyway, I forgot that I had this little guy until I looked through an old notebook the other day. I remember writing him up when my city got some heavy snowfall. Anyway, he's a straight up Call of Cthulhu to d20 conversion, so don't be surprised if there are a few kinks. PEACH mercilessly, and remember to bundle up for cold weather.

Grod_The_Giant
2011-10-28, 11:25 AM
I... suspect that this is a bit more than CR 7, if only for the ginormous fly speed. Control Weather to whip up a nasty snowstorm and cut visibility down to nil and commence flyby attacks. Good luck seeing it, much less catching it. Which reminds me- it needs snowsight.

Then again, if the goal is to scare the crap out of your players...

The Tygre
2011-10-28, 11:33 AM
I... suspect that this is a bit more than CR 7, if only for the ginormous fly speed. Control Weather to whip up a nasty snowstorm and cut visibility down to nil and commence flyby attacks. Good luck seeing it, much less catching it. Which reminds me- it needs snowsight.

Yes, I suspected as much. Like I said, it's a straight up CoC conversion, so there are some bugs to work out. Anyway, nerfing fly speed and booting the CR up to 9 from 7.


Then again, if the goal is to scare the crap out of your players...

Well, yes, but not like that. :smalltongue:

Debihuman
2011-10-28, 12:21 PM
Attack: Bite +10 melee (1d8+3 plus disease)
Full Attack: Bite +10 melee (1d8+3 plus disease) and 2 Claws +5 melee (1d8+3)



Natural Weapons

When a creature has more than one natural weapon, one of them (or sometimes a pair or set of them) is the primary weapon. All the creature’s remaining natural weapons are secondary.

The primary weapon is given in the creature’s Attack entry, and the primary weapon or weapons is given first in the creature’s Full Attack entry. A creature’s primary natural weapon is its most effective natural attack, usually by virtue of the creature’s physiology, training, or innate talent with the weapon. An attack with a primary natural weapon uses the creature’s full attack bonus. Attacks with secondary natural weapons are less effective and are made with a -5 penalty on the attack roll, no matter how many there are. (Creatures with the Multiattack feat take only a -2 penalty on secondary attacks.) This penalty applies even when the creature makes a single attack with the secondary weapon as part of the attack action or as an attack of opportunity.

I bolded the above for emphasis.

Wendigoism should be renamed Disease as a special ability (Disease is the Special Ability, Wendigoism is the name of the disease). This is a standard Special Ability and should follow standard rules.

A creature with CR 9 and only 6 HD is going to be disadvantaged. It's kinda overpowered for its HD.

There is no reason this should have extra 30 feet of darkvision, it isn't living in the dark all the time. I think you should scale it back to the standard 60 ft.

Frozen Heart is problematic because there are no called shots in 3.5. Rather, the attack should be a should be a critical hit that does X amount of fire damage to the wendigo. The heart should have a set number of hit points that it can take before the creature is killed. The -6 penalty to hit is a good idea and that mechanic should be kept.

Edit: Since the disease is transmitted through the bite, that information should go in the stat block.

Debby

Mulletmanalive
2011-10-28, 12:49 PM
More based on the visual than anything, i'd actually say that Claws would make the more thematic primary [and i struggle to imagine a humanoid wasting its reach].

I like this version of the wendigo, though I'm honestly a little surprised you didn't go for the evil option and use the "see the beast, become the beast" version of events i've heard from you crazy southern states folks.

I based my take, embarassingly, on the Supernatural wendigo and stats on the ToH Qickling monster, so yours is spades ahead on cool. :smallcool:

Tanuki Tales
2011-10-28, 01:59 PM
You mixed up the notation for displaying Regeneration and Damage Reduction.

Debihuman
2011-10-28, 05:37 PM
Actually Regeneration 5 is how it should be noted. See Troll for example. However, Regeneration is an Extraordinary ability not a Supernatural one. You should note whether it can reattach body parts and if they regrow them.



Regeneration

Creatures with this extraordinary ability recover from wounds quickly and can even regrow or reattach severed body parts. Damage dealt to the creature is treated as nonlethal damage, and the creature automatically cures itself of nonlethal damage at a fixed rate per round, as given in the creature’s entry.

Certain attack forms, typically fire and acid, deal damage to the creature normally; that sort of damage doesn’t convert to nonlethal damage and so doesn’t go away. The creature’s description includes the details. A regenerating creature that has been rendered unconscious through nonlethal damage can be killed with a coup de grace. The attack cannot be of a type that automatically converts to nonlethal damage.

Creatures with regeneration can regrow lost portions of their bodies and can reattach severed limbs or body parts. Severed parts die if they are not reattached.

Regeneration does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation.

Attack forms that don’t deal hit point damage ignore regeneration.

An attack that can cause instant death only threatens the creature with death if it is delivered by weapons that deal it lethal damage.

A creature must have a Constitution score to have the regeneration ability.

Debby

Tanuki Tales
2011-10-28, 05:42 PM
Actually Regeneration 5 is how it should be noted. See Troll for example.

Debby

Because he changed it.

It was originally Regeneration 5/Fire.

zegram 33
2011-10-30, 07:28 AM
judging from the effect fire has on them, are they actually wary of it?
say, would a campfire or torches around a village keep them out, or would they just overun it and eat everybody?
or is that a gm personal preference type thing, i guess?

zegram 33
2011-10-30, 07:30 AM
judging from the effect fire has on them, are they actually wary of it?
say, would a campfire or torches around a village keep them out, or would they just overun it and eat everybody?
or is that a gm personal preference type thing, i guess?
i love the idea of being stalke dthrough the snow by what is basically a flying werewolf/vampire monster though, really good!