Punchy Punchy, Breaky Breaky

[Deth Muncher]

Hey guys. In preparation for rebooting my campaign from last semester, I'm going ahead and pre-statting some enemies. As a result, I've been thinking of making a lot of the bad guys do some weird and different things, in order to spice up the combat. One such idea is having a few "Monk"-like characters - probably either Unarmed Swordsage or Fighter - be focused on Sunder/smashing up things.

This, unfortunately, encroaches on the unwritten rule for "Nice" DMs - don't smash your players' items. It also encroaches on the OTHER unwritten rule of D&D players - don't invoke rules that bog the game down. Namely, the Item Destruction rules - it means we'll have to calculate the HP of every possible item, which is a gigantic pain in the nether-regions. Further, it brings up that weird thing of you can't smash someone's worn armor.

Thus, my points of discussion come into the Mechanical and the DMorality spectrums:

Mechanics:
- What's the best way to make a Construct that's good at punching things and breaking them? Is it to take an preexisting construct and give it class levels? Or do I take a Warforged, call it something else and roll that way? Etc etc.
-As a mildly tangential point, at the end of the dungeon involving all of these Kung Fu Robots the Big Bad is going to be some kind of Undead with a Paralysis ability who does H2H combat - basically, like the Monk's Freeze The Lifeblood...but for free. Possibly a caster of some sort. Whats a good ~Level 12 idea for this? I'm leaning UASS, just since he'd get things similar to spells, so there'd be that. Maybe some kind of Ascetic Monk? If there are other fun Monk PrCs that would mesh well with a Paralyzing Puncher kind of build, I'd be happy to hear them.

DMorality:
-So, breaking PC toys. If I do this, it's not like they'll NEVER have a weapon again - and only like two PCs have actually invested any time or effort in developing their equipment. It's still mostly "Masterwork Longbow," with the exceptions of people who have found Plot Important Items (TM). Thus, in my opinion, it'll encourage the players to not only think about damaging enemies' items, but also about either improving theirs or either carrying spares.
-If I end up doing this, that means everyone's going to have to look up and keep track of the HP of their items, which is a bag of suck. Should I just do it behind the screen, or should I have them do it?

For reference, the PCs are going to be somewhere between levels 7 and 10.

EDIT: Also, books allowed - Anything 3.5, and maybe the 3.5 Goodman Games suppliment Dragonmech (I don't remember what they have in the way of small constructs).

[rmg22893]

Hey guys. In preparation for rebooting my campaign from last semester, I'm going ahead and pre-statting some enemies. As a result, I've been thinking of making a lot of the bad guys do some weird and different things, in order to spice up the combat. One such idea is having a few "Monk"-like characters - probably either Unarmed Swordsage or Fighter - be focused on Sunder/smashing up things.

This, unfortunately, encroaches on the unwritten rule for "Nice" DMs - don't smash your players' items. It also encroaches on the OTHER unwritten rule of D&D players - don't invoke rules that bog the game down. Namely, the Item Destruction rules - it means we'll have to calculate the HP of every possible item, which is a gigantic pain in the nether-regions. Further, it brings up that weird thing of you can't smash someone's worn armor.

Thus, my points of discussion come into the Mechanical and the DMorality spectrums:

Mechanics:
- What's the best way to make a Construct that's good at punching things and breaking them? Is it to take an preexisting construct and give it class levels? Or do I take a Warforged, call it something else and roll that way? Etc etc.
-As a mildly tangential point, at the end of the dungeon involving all of these Kung Fu Robots the Big Bad is going to be some kind of Undead with a Paralysis ability who does H2H combat - basically, like the Monk's Freeze The Lifeblood...but for free. Possibly a caster of some sort. Whats a good ~Level 12 idea for this? I'm leaning UASS, just since he'd get things similar to spells, so there'd be that. Maybe some kind of Ascetic Monk? If there are other fun Monk PrCs that would mesh well with a Paralyzing Puncher kind of build, I'd be happy to hear them.

DMorality:
-So, breaking PC toys. If I do this, it's not like they'll NEVER have a weapon again - and only like two PCs have actually invested any time or effort in developing their equipment. It's still mostly "Masterwork Longbow," with the exceptions of people who have found Plot Important Items (TM). Thus, in my opinion, it'll encourage the players to not only think about damaging enemies' items, but also about either improving theirs or either carrying spares.
-If I end up doing this, that means everyone's going to have to look up and keep track of the HP of their items, which is a bag of suck. Should I just do it behind the screen, or should I have them do it?

For reference, the PCs are going to be somewhere between levels 7 and 10.

For the whole breaking of PC items, you could simply houserule in an item repair system. For a fraction of the item's original cost, as long as you have the fragments, you can repair it.

[Deth Muncher]

For the whole breaking of PC items, you could simply houserule in an item repair system. For a fraction of the item's original cost, as long as you have the fragments, you can repair it.


Repairing Items
Generally, you can repair an item by making checks against the same DC that it took to make the item in the first place. The cost of repairing an item is one-fifth of the item’s price.

Just putting that out there for reference. If repairing something while it's still intact is 1/5 the price, perhaps reforging should be 1/4 or 1/3?

[rmg22893]

Just putting that out there for reference. If repairing something while it's still intact is 1/5 the price, perhaps reforging should be 1/4 or 1/3?

1/3 sounds reasonable.

[Geigan]

For the annoying aspect of having to keep track of it all, I'd say houserule a standard set of stats for magic items since most magic items don't even have stats for their hp, AC, etc. Just give them all the same standard to make it less of a headache to keep track of so you then just have the headache of keeping track of each separate value of their current HP instead of every little different value.

As for keeping track of all the separate current HP values, it's either you or your players are gonna have to bite the bullet and keep track of them. If you do it, make sure to warn them about their items current conditions and such when you see them getting low or at least tell them to ask about their items' conditions frequently if they want to know when to repair.

Make sure to note that after you break someone's items they will be less effective afterward. This may seem like common sense, but some DMs don't realize how much items play into some characters' effectiveness. You're going to have to account for this with your encounter balancing for every item you break. If a frontliner just had his armor items(they'll still likely have some sort of AC boosters right?) broken, then don't expect to have him on the front lines taking things to the face like he normally does. If the glass cannon just had his cannon broken, then don't expect him to be doing much damage. If you just throw out encounters as if they were normal then you're going to see those challenges be a lot harder than they normally would be.

Though note the items and such really contribute mostly to the melee classes that will be up in the face of these sunder specialists. While this will end up challenging them more, it's going to make melee's life even harder than normal and they really don't need it worse off. If you sunder the spellcaster's stuff they'll still cast at you just fine with barely hindered effectiveness, but if you sunder the melee's stuff then they really can't melee well until it gets repaired. Also the WBL charts don't really account for having to keep spares of all your items or having to keep up with repair costs so you'd best either give them more wealth than normal or expect them to be less effective since they're going to have to account for redundancy rather than improving their current items if these sunderers are going to be regular challenges.

Expect a lot more of your game time to involve character inventory maintenance. I personally wouldn't bother with it because I don't see what it adds to the game that makes up for all the effort.

[Knaight]

I'd probably go for smashing up the environment over breaking items. I'm assuming low optimization, which may well mean no meaningful flight - and as such, these things backed up with ranged weapons, with casual smashing of surfaces has the potential to be an interesting fight - particularly if one emphasizes bridges, catwalks, balconies, and similar.

[Deth Muncher]

For the annoying aspect of having to keep track of it all, I'd say houserule a standard set of stats for magic items since most magic items don't even have stats for their hp, AC, etc. Just give them all the same standard to make it less of a headache to keep track of so you then just have the headache of keeping track of each separate value of their current HP instead of every little different value.

As for keeping track of all the separate current HP values, it's either you or your players are gonna have to bite the bullet and keep track of them. If you do it, make sure to warn them about their items current conditions and such when you see them getting low or at least tell them to ask about their items' conditions frequently if they want to know when to repair.

Make sure to note that after you break someone's items they will be less effective afterward. This may seem like common sense, but some DMs don't realize how much items play into some characters' effectiveness. You're going to have to account for this with your encounter balancing for every item you break. If a frontliner just had his armor items(they'll still likely have some sort of AC boosters right?) broken, then don't expect to have him on the front lines taking things to the face like he normally does. If the glass cannon just had his cannon broken, then don't expect him to be doing much damage. If you just throw out encounters as if they were normal then you're going to see those challenges be a lot harder than they normally would be.

Though note the items and such really contribute mostly to the melee classes that will be up in the face of these sunder specialists. While this will end up challenging them more, it's going to make melee's life even harder than normal and they really don't need it worse off. If you sunder the spellcaster's stuff they'll still cast at you just fine with barely hindered effectiveness, but if you sunder the melee's stuff then they really can't melee well until it gets repaired. Also the WBL charts don't really account for having to keep spares of all your items or having to keep up with repair costs so you'd best either give them more wealth than normal or expect them to be less effective since they're going to have to account for redundancy rather than improving their current items if these sunderers are going to be regular challenges.

Expect a lot more of your game time to involve character inventory maintenance. I personally wouldn't bother with it because I don't see what it adds to the game that makes up for all the effort.

On a related note, to be perfectly fair if I'm going to be mean enough to break their things, I'll *probably* make sure that there are spares in the dungeon. Maybe not exactly the same, but something of comparable damage.

You're right, though. Just houseruling a certain amount of HP per item is probably best. It won't really be much of a problem most of the time - I probably won't have them take any kind of collateral effect from things like Fireball (unless they're in cloth, of course) or anything like that. And since something has to get through the item's hardness to do any kind of damage, most attacks wouldn't normally do anything anyway. It's just supposed to be for more of an intimidation factor - imagine the PCs roll up into a room, see a large stone construct, and try to slash at it - only to realize that it just shattered Bob the Fighter's sword with a Full Attack. And obviously, if I do things like this I'm going to have there be other ways of winning a battle. If the PCs are silly enough to think "Oh man, I can't beat the monster to death, how do I win?" then they need to expand their minds anyway. :smalltongue:

I don't think it'll be too much in the way of the items being fully broken, though - most likely they'll just get them fixed at the next town. It'll give 'em something to do with their gold - they don't seem to like spending it anyway.

EDIT:


I'd probably go for smashing up the environment over breaking items. I'm assuming low optimization, which may well mean no meaningful flight - and as such, these things backed up with ranged weapons, with casual smashing of surfaces has the potential to be an interesting fight - particularly if one emphasizes bridges, catwalks, balconies, and similar.

An interesting thought. They're low/mid optimization - two druids, a beguiler, a Dread Necro, a Fighter and a Swashbuckler, meaning really two, maybe three of them have flight (the beguiler player is a former regular of these boards, so he's probably savvy enough to have something), so doing things like breaking bridges and stuff would be interesting - or maybe even breaking support columns to cause cave-ins (or the equivalent in a temple or something).

[ShneekeyTheLost]

If you are wanting something that can break things, I suggest Warforged Unarmed Swordsage with Shards of Granite, which allows you to ignore item hardness and DR.

[thereaper]

Or just the Mountain Hammer maneuver.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Or just the Mountain Hammer maneuver.

Shards of Granite can be used more than once per encounter, and maneuvers may be used in conjunction with it.

[Eldan]

Might I suggest warforged for your robots? A warforged monk with a battlefist and levels in fist of the forest should get pretty impressive and tough.

[Deth Muncher]

Before I address anything else: Is there, anywhere in 3.5, a "Ground Pound" like ability that can launch people into the air? The only thing I can think of similar would just be Awesome Blow (or Fearsome Blow, whatever it is) in the MM. Or like a Bull Rush, but neither are exactly what I'm looking for.

It's funny, because now with the Battlefist idea all I can think of is Gutsman from the Megaman series - but maybe that's not a bad thing. And just to be getting this right - at 3rd level, the Fist of the Forest's Unarmed Strike deals 1d10 - and the Battlefist bumps that up to 2d6, right? Or does it just stick at 1d10?

As to the build, it'll probably be something like UAS6/FoF3, with stances/maneuvers as follows.

Maneuvers:
1st
-Stone Bones (Stone Dragon)
-Wind Stride (Desert Wind)
-Mighty Throw (Setting Sun)
-Sudden Leap (Tiger Claw)
-Moment of Perfect Mind (Diamond Mind)
2nd
-Mountain Hammer (Stone Dragon)
-Stone Vise (Stone Dragon)
-Emerald Razor (Diamond Mind)
3rd
-Stone Dragon's Fury (duh)
-Fan the Flames (Desert Wind)
-Bonecrusher (Stone Dragon)
Stances:
-Dance of the Spider (Shadow Hand 3rd)
-Roots of the Mountain (Stone Dragon 3rd)
-Child of Shadow (Shadow Hand 1st)

I threw in a few "magic" things, since these guys ARE magic statues who are guarding a lair run by some sort of caster, and a few thematic things (Dance of the Spider, for example, can be them running up/scaling the wall, and no kung fu fantasy game is complete without Hadoukens.) Throw in the fact that they're also flurrying like a level 6 monk (MAYBE level 11, if I give them Monk's Belts for funsies) at either 1d10 or 2d6 a pop, and suddenly these robots constructs aren't such a little threat.

EDIT: Mind you, the party isn't entirely stupid, so they'll probably still make short work of these guys, but still, they're going to leave some bruises. Maybe more than bruises, if they can catch up to the casters (which they should be able to, what with their 30ft + 10ft from Fast Movement I'm handwaving to let work).

[Morithias]

Check out the BOVD. A warforged monk can enter the soul eater class around level 7. Every punch does a negative level! There's some nasty piece of work!

This way they won't complain when you break their stuff, cause i'd take a broken longbow over a negative level.

[Deth Muncher]

Check out the BOVD. A warforged monk can enter the soul eater class around level 7. Every punch does a negative level! There's some nasty piece of work!

This way they won't complain when you break their stuff, cause i'd take a broken longbow over a negative level.

Oof. DAT CLASS is brutal. Maybe for the bad guy at the end of the dungeon. I was going to make him a Lich, but the permanent Paralyze effect seems a bit too brutal - some negative levels, though...

[Slipperychicken]

Have you thought of Disarming them instead? Disarm is far nicer than Sunder, but still very inconvenient. If you want more permanent consequences, you could have the monks take the weapons and run, creating sidequests to get the party's stuff back. If you throw sunder-monkeys at them, expect a lot of Riverine in your future.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Check out the BOVD. A warforged monk can enter the soul eater class around level 7. Every punch does a negative level! There's some nasty piece of work!

This way they won't complain when you break their stuff, cause i'd take a broken longbow over a negative level.

I'd much rather eat a negative level, which has many ways to fix (Restoration, for one) than loose a quarter of my WBL...

[Deth Muncher]

Have you thought of Disarming them instead? Disarm is far nicer than Sunder, but still very inconvenient. If you want more permanent consequences, you could have the monks take the weapons and run, creating sidequests to get the party's stuff back. If you throw sunder-monkeys at them, expect a lot of Riverine in your future.

I think only one of the PCs actually knows about Riverine. Maybe. >;D But no, really, I'm not going to have them do a whole lot of sundering - maybe they'll snap a sword or crush a shield or do some damage to their armor (which I know isn't technically legal, but it'll make for nice narrative). The suped-up Sunder Powers are probably going to be used more on the environment, as mentioned earlier in the thread - busting through walls Kool-Aid Man style, smashing bridges and pillars, that kind of thing.

Which reminds me, their feat selection is probably going to look something like:
-Power Attack
-Awesome Blow
-Superior Unarmed Strike
-Improved Sunder

EDIT: @Shneeky - I can guarantee no one in this party has sunk anywhere near that much into an item. If it hasn't been found as loot, they don't have it - though not for lack of my trying to have options for them, they just refuse to make things or go look for someone to buy them from. -shrug- Like I say, other than the two guys who have Plot Relevant Artifact Weapons (TM), I think I've given out...a Fire/Acid Quarterstaff (which the guy who has it thinks it's neat, but doesn't really care about and has been trying to get rid of it for a while), and a Fire Morningstar. Literally anything else is...MAYBE a masterworked item. The only things that would really anger them would be if I hit a Bag of Holding (or HHH, whatever it is they have).

Also, to be fair - I'm planning on hinting very heavily that these Kung Fu Robots have Adamantine Battlefists - i.e. something that could, perhaps, be melted down into a weapon of their choice. Or just sold - adamantine ain't cheap.

[Morithias]

I'd much rather eat a negative level, which has many ways to fix (Restoration, for one) than loose a quarter of my WBL...

hmmm they are level 7-10 so they do have the spell...assuming the cleric isn't level drained.

A broken non-magical longbow is easy to replace, possibly failing your save and losing a whole level is brutal.

Then again I plan my campaigns out in full ahead of time so if you eat too many negative levels due to being careless there's a good chance you won't be going into the final boss with a good chance of winning. (My campaign setting is not "heroes always win" about 1/3 of my campaigns end on a down note or a tpk but I try to keep it dramatic).

[Deth Muncher]

hmmm they are level 7-10 so they do have the spell...assuming the cleric isn't level drained.

A broken non-magical longbow is easy to replace, possibly failing your save and losing a whole level is brutal.

Then again I plan my campaigns out in full ahead of time so if you eat too many negative levels due to being careless there's a good chance you won't be going into the final boss with a good chance of winning. (My campaign setting is not "heroes always win" about 1/3 of my campaigns end on a down note or a tpk but I try to keep it dramatic).

They have no Cleric. Two Druids, though.

And yeah. They own very few fancy things. Plus, it gives them two new things to worry about - destruction of items, and loss of levels. If I introduce both now, they'll be prepared for it when I break out the big guns later in the campaign.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

They have no Cleric. Two Druids, though.

And yeah. They own very few fancy things. Plus, it gives them two new things to worry about - destruction of items, and loss of levels. If I introduce both now, they'll be prepared for it when I break out the big guns later in the campaign.

Ahh, most beatsticks I play with dump as much cash as they can into their weapon, on the theory that Kill More Dead Faster = Survive Longer. So having up to a quarter of your WBL sunk into your weapon is... kind of expected. If all you have is MW crap... well, good luck affecting a quarter of the opponents you're supposed to be fighting, but more importantly, it's easily enough replaceable that sundering weapons isn't going to be the pain that it is in most games that I play in.

[Keegan__D]

Plot Important Items is Pii

[Knaight]

I'd much rather eat a negative level, which has many ways to fix (Restoration, for one) than loose a quarter of my WBL...

You don't lose a quarter of your WBL. You just lose a quarter of your wealth.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

You don't lose a quarter of your WBL. You just lose a quarter of your wealth.

Even worse, from my perspective. WBL takes into considerations consumables used during the course of duty. I tend to rarely use consumables, so my actual wealth tends to be higher than WBL by that lack of resource-drain.

[Knaight]

Even worse, from my perspective. WBL takes into considerations consumables used during the course of duty. I tend to rarely use consumables, so my actual wealth tends to be higher than WBL by that lack of resource-drain.

The point is that you really don't have WBL. You have wealth, and WBL shows how that correlates (or can correlate) with level. It isn't actually something you have.

[Xaktsaroth]

I like the idea, but enviroment smashing sounds like more fun to me then weapon smashing.

If you want an alternative to the warforged idea, the Maug in Fiend Folio is the coolest large sized construct you're ever going to see.

Just slap on the Living Construct template from Magic of Incarnum to give the guy a con score.

And since he's large, you might as well grab some warhulk goodness(Two levels max), and advance it with Legacy Champion to get around the whole no BAB thing.(Just give him a fancy helmet, or a medium size weapon that just happens to match the front line fighters that he holds FOR MYSTERIOUS REASONS OF MYSTERIOUSNESS.

The image of this guy and the BBEG across a chasm when the PC's running across the bridge, only to have the big guy walk up and SUNDER the bridge is far, FAR too entertaining of a concept to pass up in my mind.

Anyways, just some ideas. :D

[Deth Muncher]

I like the idea, but enviroment smashing sounds like more fun to me then weapon smashing.

If you want an alternative to the warforged idea, the Maug in Fiend Folio is the coolest large sized construct you're ever going to see.

Just slap on the Living Construct template from Magic of Incarnum to give the guy a con score.

And since he's large, you might as well grab some warhulk goodness(Two levels max), and advance it with Legacy Champion to get around the whole no BAB thing.(Just give him a fancy helmet, or a medium size weapon that just happens to match the front line fighters that he holds FOR MYSTERIOUS REASONS OF MYSTERIOUSNESS.

The image of this guy and the BBEG across a chasm when the PC's running across the bridge, only to have the big guy walk up and SUNDER the bridge is far, FAR too entertaining of a concept to pass up in my mind.

Anyways, just some ideas. :D

Dear sweet God, the Maug. That is wonderful. I wish I'd found that before I'd put all this time in...but you know what? That's okay. I could have him as the miniboss for this fight. I'm okay with this. He still fits thematically - essentially a big statue come to life to break things really well. It even has the Pulverize ability, which seems to fit well with the smashing things theme. I'll have to redo the feat selection, maybe give it a few class levels, but yes! Thank you for finding this.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ff_gallery/50149.jpg
This is what he's talking about, by the whey.

[Xaktsaroth]

Don't overlook the Maug grafts in the same book. They are quite nice too.

The two that stick out are the mini-gun graft and the "I have a freakin tank for legs" graft.

:D

[ExemplarofAvg]

Thank you for finding this.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ff_gallery/50149.jpg
This is what he's talking about, by the whey.


Don't overlook the Maug grafts in the same book. They are quite nice too.

The two that stick out are the mini-gun graft and the "I have a freakin tank for legs" graft.

:D

I had something constructive to contribute, I honestly did. But I lost it, I blame the robots and the words "Mini-Gun"

I think part of it had something to do with Scrolls of Restoration, as treasure so you can use the Soul Eater, but I'm not sure.

[Xaktsaroth]

I had something constructive to contribute, I honestly did. But I lost it, I blame the robots and the words "Mini-Gun"

I think part of it had something to do with Scrolls of Restoration, as treasure so you can use the Soul Eater, but I'm not sure.

It's a useful way to make a ranged attack against something you couldn't hit anyways, but for a few thousand gold.

I use it as an anti AMF tactic.

Enemy throws up AMF, I grab special iron orb from my Bag of Holding and load.

Next turn, I fire my 'shrink item' iron ball at them. The second it hits the AMF, it grows back to full size and whopped them for a nice amount of damage.

A medevil robot with a mini-gun AND style? Yes, please!

[Deth Muncher]

Don't overlook the Maug grafts in the same book. They are quite nice too.

The two that stick out are the mini-gun graft and the "I have a freakin tank for legs" graft.

:D


I had something constructive to contribute, I honestly did. But I lost it, I blame the robots and the words "Mini-Gun"

I think part of it had something to do with Scrolls of Restoration, as treasure so you can use the Soul Eater, but I'm not sure.


It's a useful way to make a ranged attack against something you couldn't hit anyways, but for a few thousand gold.

I use it as an anti AMF tactic.

Enemy throws up AMF, I grab special iron orb from my Bag of Holding and load.

Next turn, I fire my 'shrink item' iron ball at them. The second it hits the AMF, it grows back to full size and whopped them for a nice amount of damage.

A medevil robot with a mini-gun AND style? Yes, please!

I actually saw the minigun attachment and knew instantly I would use it - though instead of an iron ball, I was thinking maybe sling bullets enchanted to explode. Or maybe Brilliant Energy bullets! Who doesn't love giant stone robots that use lasers and grenades?

Anyway, you're right, if I did use that Soul Eater-type guy, I would need to have a scroll of Restoration or two hiding around. Then again, the PCs are making good friends with the local clergy/Artificer, so there's always a chance they may just be able to suck it up for a session and then get it back. And I think I just came up with the perfect way of this to work, story-wise.
So, the plan was that the PCs were going to start getting reports of things breaking into town, stealing random things and generally messing things up. IF, and only if, the PCs saw them before they ran back to their hiding spot, all they would see would be, basically, ninjas - black-garbed things who just seem really good at breaking things. They end up finding their way to the temple, which is where the real meat of the game is - heavily trapped, and a few random wandering monsters because hey, why not right? At some point they stumble upon the statues - which are the aforementioned Warforged Swordsages. Hilarity ensues. They continue on, and eventually reach the antechamber, in which lies the miniboss - the Maug. It'll probably be level 13ish once I'm done fiddling with it, so it can actually stand up to a party of 5 or 6. I may have a few Warforged in there to help it out, too. The final boss battle, or so the PCs will think, will be with a considerably aged martial arts master. He would be some sort of Cleric, who had thought that the rituals he was performing (which would be what the Warforged would have stolen, texts with ancient rituals) would unlock the secret powers of his order's heirloom weapon. While technically correct, what it ACTUALLY does is unlock the demon trapped within the blade - then leading it to possess the Cleric and turn it into a Soul Eater. When the PCs win, they'll get the blade with the demon trapped in it - which will be fun, since the whole thing about this campaign is the PCs are in a race with the BBEG to collect artifacts.

[candycorn]

Before I address anything else: Is there, anywhere in 3.5, a "Ground Pound" like ability that can launch people into the air? The only thing I can think of similar would just be Awesome Blow (or Fearsome Blow, whatever it is) in the MM. Or like a Bull Rush, but neither are exactly what I'm looking for.
Draconomicon has a feat titled Shock Wave, which allows dragons to do an AoE knockdown attack by pounding the ground.

[Deth Muncher]

Draconomicon has a feat titled Shock Wave, which allows dragons to do an AoE knockdown attack by pounding the ground.

That's pretty neat. Although, as I read through that, I remembered there's a Psionic power Stomp, which does kind of what I want it to.

[ExemplarofAvg]

I think I just came up with the perfect way of this to work, story-wise.
So, the plan was that the PCs were going to start getting reports of things breaking into town, stealing random things and generally messing things up. IF, and only if, the PCs saw them before they ran back to their hiding spot, all they would see would be, basically, ninjas - black-garbed things who just seem really good at breaking things. They end up finding their way to the temple, which is where the real meat of the game is - heavily trapped, and a few random wandering monsters because hey, why not right? At some point they stumble upon the statues - which are the aforementioned Warforged Swordsages. Hilarity ensues. They continue on, and eventually reach the antechamber, in which lies the miniboss - the Maug. It'll probably be level 13ish once I'm done fiddling with it, so it can actually stand up to a party of 5 or 6. I may have a few Warforged in there to help it out, too. The final boss battle, or so the PCs will think, will be with a considerably aged martial arts master. He would be some sort of Cleric, who had thought that the rituals he was performing (which would be what the Warforged would have stolen, texts with ancient rituals) would unlock the secret powers of his order's heirloom weapon. While technically correct, what it ACTUALLY does is unlock the demon trapped within the blade - then leading it to possess the Cleric and turn it into a Soul Eater. When the PCs win, they'll get the blade with the demon trapped in it - which will be fun, since the whole thing about this campaign is the PCs are in a race with the BBEG to collect artifacts.

Well, I like it.

[Deth Muncher]

Well, I like it.

Hurray! Someone likes my work! /zoidberg

EDIT: Also, I've opted for the Shadow Demon with one level of Soul Eater (they're both BOVD, it fits), which will, using a Rule of Cool ruling as to Magic Jar, will suck the soul out of the priest who performs the ritual as a means of "thanking" him, and who will then join a few Warforged Swordsages (or Swordbreakers, as I've been referring to them in my head) and a Maug. It should prove to be an interesting fight, considering so far my party's tactic has been "Summon Shadows, STR drain the foes into submission. Apply fire to taste."

[Deth Muncher]

Okay, after some tweaking, it looks like the Swordbreakers are honestly better served to be minibosses, as opposed to the Maug. These things are brutal. I'm posting the statblock below, but keep in mind this isn't normal GitP statblock procedure, it's what I plugged into Microsoft Word to be easy on my eyes. Also, keep in mind that there are several things they shouldn't technically qualify for, so I ended up keeping some things, dropping others. Like a good old-fashioned DM-made monster ought to be. /grognard :smalltongue: Also, omitted the Strikes and Maneuvers, since I've already listed them elsewhere in this thread.

Swordbreakers
Swordsage (Unarmed) 6/ Fist of the Forest 3 Warforged
96 HP AC 10+4(dex)+2(armor)+3(wis)+2(con) = 21, 25% to negate a critical
STR 25 DEX 18 CON 14 INT 13 WIS 16 CHA 10
Fort: +5 Ref: +12 Will: +8 BAB: +7/+2 Init: +6 SPD: 40ft
IMMUNE: PSN, PLYZ, SLP, Disease, Nausea, Fatigue, Exhaustion, Sickened Condition, Energy Drain
Feats: Power Attack, Awesome Blow, Superior Unarmed Strike, Improved Sunder
Attack Options:
+1 Adamantine Battlefist +20/+15 2d6+12 x20
Awesome Blow: -4 to attack, make a Bull Rush attempt Reflex DC = damage dealt, if succeeds 10ft in whatever direction.
Imp. Sunder: Can Sunder at +4, ignores hardness
Power Attack: Can subtract up to BAB to hit to deal extra damage.

SKEELZ
Balance +9, Climb +21 Concentration +14, Hide +16, Jump +24, Listen +15, Move Silently + 16, Spot +15


And then...the Maug. I don't really know what to do with them, other than probably just throw levels of fighter on them and have them patrol the dungeon/be sneaky and pretend to be statues. I DO plan on giving them Platinum Two-Headed Swords, though. I'm all about PCs selling off weapons for their base metals. Would use Electrum, if I could find stats for it.