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View Full Version : Statue of Kali from Golden Voyage of Sinbad 3.5. [PEACH]



Debihuman
2012-11-26, 07:49 AM
Since I've been watching Sinbad movies tonight, I thought I would update a 3.0 version of the Statue of Kali (from here: http://bb.bbboy.net/fluidfantasy-viewthread?forum=23&thread=349). I used more standard D&D terminology and tried to match the movie better. For example, the statue is not Medium-sized but Large. She also does a rather nice dance prior to combat.

Statue of Kali from The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
Large Construct
Hit Dice: 12d10+30 (96 hp)
Initiative:+3
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 16 (+3 Dex, +4 Natural , -1 Size), Touch 12, Flat-footed 13
BAB/Grapple:+9/+16
Attacks: Large masterwork scimitar +12 melee (1d8+3/18-20) or slam +11 melee (1d8+3)
Full Attack: 6 large masterwork scimitars +8/+3 melee (1d8+3/18-20) or 6 slams +11 melee (1d8+3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Summon swords
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, statue, vulnerable to falling damage
Saves: Fort+4, Ref+8, Will+6
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 17, Con -, Int -, Wis 14, Cha 12
Skills: Perform (Dance) + 9*
Feats: Multiweapon Fighting (B), Improved Multiweapon Fighting (B)
Environment: Underground and Urban
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 9
Alignment: Always Neutral
Treasure: An amulet of health +2 plus 1 large masterwork scimitar
Advancement: —

An exquisitely made, six-armed, ceramic and bronze statue of Kali defends its temple with religious fervor.

Statues of Kali are hollow and always contain an amulet of health +2 hidden within. The amulet has no effect on the statue of Kali but is placed there during its creation.

Combat

A statue of Kali summons her masterwork scimitars in defense of its temple and fights to its death.

Statue (Ex): If a statue of Kali is motionless, it takes a DC 20 Spot check to notice it is a creature.

Summon Swords (Su): As an idol of death, destruction, and war, a statue of Kali can summon forth a masterwork weapon to each hand as a full-round action as long as it is holding a weapon of that quality or better in one of its hands. It cannot summon magic weapons. If given an inferior quality weapon, a statue of Kali will replicate it and not a masterwork copy. Any summoned weapons disappear after combat has ended or if the statue is destroyed.

Vulnerability to Falling Damage (Ex): Because they are hollow, statues of Kali take triple damage from falling.

Skills: Statues of Kali have a +8 racial bonus to Perform (Dance)

Feat: In combination with its natural abilities, a statue of Kali's Multiweapon Fighting feat allows it to attack with all its arms at no penalty.

Design notes: The CR is relatively high despite the lack of Special Abilities due to the creature having 6 weapons. I tried to copy the movie as much as possible. The evil wizard first shows off her dancing skills before he throws Kali her first scimitar. She creates duplicates of the weapon and then attacks Sinbad and his crew before being pushed to death. For stop motion animation, those scenes are some of the best sequences and I highly suggest you take a look at the movie even though it is quite dated. The amulet comes from the movie. Though it is a plot device, I think making it an amulet of heath +2 is appropriate.

Note 2: Since a scimitar is not a reach weapon, a statue of Kali threatens creatures adjacent to her. If you choose, you may also give her the Large and In Charge feat from Draconomicon pg.71.This feat lets you push back an opponent 5 feet when you make a successful attack of opportunity.

[Edit]
Revised the Full attack line since the actual penalty is -4 both for primary or off-hand weapons but she can make secondary attacks with each. Also changed her bonus to Perform (dance) to +8 to give her the correct numbers. It appears that the hold monster spell does not affect Constructs since they are not alive, nor would it affect Undead so I'm changing CR to 9 as well. This should be done now.

[edit 11/23/2018] Removed summoned weapons as treasure to fix Monty Haul flaw.

Debby

Debihuman
2012-11-28, 08:42 AM
Bump; looking for comments and suggestions. Thanks.

Debby

Mulletmanalive
2012-11-29, 08:00 AM
On a movie line, it probably doesn't have 10ft reach, as it actually defends itself from Sinbad's attacks.

Its really hard to work out what value multiple attacks possesses; i suppose it it used half it's moves to make Aid Another actions, it would have the bonuses i'd expect for a CR 10 monster [based on the MMs].

I might have it cast Greater Magic Weapon on its summoned swords as part of its dance.

edit: On a check, it doesn't really look powerful enough compared to the girillon probably only CR 8, 9 tops.

Debihuman
2012-11-29, 09:19 AM
If you look at the actual fight scenes. Sinbad and his crew never get close enough to damage the statue during the fight though it can clearly make mincemeat of them. [See here on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckdRgQU4cuM]

The dance is merely to demonstrate the statue's agility and occurs prior to it receiving the sword. I think giving the statue the ability to cast greater magic weapon as a spell-like ability is just too powerful. The swords should be identical so having a party face 6 magic weapons is just too much.

However, I hadn't considered the Aid Another tactic when designing this. I don't want this to be a TPK for a party so I'm leaving CR 10 for now and keeping the 10-foot reach.

[Edit 11/23/18] Fixed flaw that would allow party to create unlimited number of weapons. The summoned weapons now vanish at the end of the battle or if the statue is destroyed.

Debby

Mulletmanalive
2012-11-29, 10:32 AM
Technically, the Aid Another thing isn't rule legal; it's from a feat in Swashbuckling Adventures that migrated into normal use with a group i used to play with. I just used it as a rule of thumb.

Bear in mind, the Girillon has almost as many attacks at the same bonuses at CR 6

Debihuman
2012-11-29, 12:55 PM
However, a garillon doesn't use manufactured weapons so the statue's +12/+7 melee attacks more than double the attacks a garillon can make (4 claws and bite vs. 6 swords making 2 attacks each).

In some ways this is closer to a stone golem but doesn't have the golem's magic immunity and so is definitely less powerful in that regard (though it has far more attacks 12 vs. 2).

I want to be careful not to overpower the statue. This is one of those cases that VT's CR Estimator doesn't cover. So let's examine another approach. One of the differences between CR 9 and CR 10 is the 5th level spells the party will have at its disposal. Hold Monster is a 5th level spell, which is pretty much the easiest way to defeat this. On the other hand, the statue has a fair shake at making its save. Let's put the DC of the spell at 19 to allow for a wizard with 18 Intelligence. The statue has +6 Will. It has to roll 13 or better on a d20. Not impossible. Slightly more difficult than average. At CR 9, hold monster isn't even an option for the party. Hence, I'm inclined to leave the CR 10.

Debby

Mulletmanalive
2012-11-29, 04:44 PM
Just noticed that you've missed the multiweapon fighting penalties. The attack line should read:

6 Masterwork Scimitars +10/+5 (1d8+3/18-20) or 6 Slams +11 (1d8+3)

The creature is also really weak for a large creature. If you went for a more conventional minimum of strength 20, it would end up as

Attack: Masterwork Scimitar +14 (1d8+5/18-20) or Slam +13 (1d8+5)
Full Attack: 6 Masterwork Scimitars +12/+7 (1d8+5/18-20) or 6 Slams +13 (1d8+5)

Debihuman
2012-11-29, 05:56 PM
Your right I did forget the multiweapon penalties. How about I add this:

Feat: In combination with its natural abilities, a statue of Kali's Multiweapon Fighting feat allows it to attack with all its arms at no penalty.

That wording comes from the marilith demon.

That fixes the issue without increasing its strength. Yeah, it's a tad weak but I think I like it that way. It's hollow, which should be reflected in its stats.

Debby

Bhu
2012-11-30, 02:01 PM
http://www.realmshelps.org/cgi-bin/featbox.pl?feat=Large_and_In_Charge

should it maybe have this?

Garryl
2012-11-30, 02:38 PM
Only one of the scimitar attacks is main-hand. All of the others are off-hand.

Attack bonuses on the full attack should be +9 BaB +3 Str +1 enhancement -1 size -4 TWF (since scimitars are one-handed; if you insist on using scimitars, give Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting as a bonus feat as well). That gives an attack routine of +8/+3 (1d8+3) and +8/+8/+8/+8/+8/+3/+3/+3/+3/+3 (1d8+1). You might also want to include a routine that mixes some swords and some slams (eg: 1 sword +12/+7 (1d8+3) and 5 slams +6 (1d8+1)) for if it's caught off-guard without some or all of its swords. Note that natural attacks are not affected by TWF/MWF penalties, even if your fighting with multiple manufactured weapons in addition to the natural attacks.

To have a +9 modifier, the racial bonus on Perform (dance) needs to be +8, not +6.

I'd also recommend the Combat Reflexes feat. It'll help with the blender feel (as opposed to getting mobbed and destroyed inside of a round before it can attack).

Overall, the statistics are rather weak for a CR 10 mindless construct. Compare to a colossal animated object, which has 2.5 time the hp, greater reach, a MUCH better attack bonus (half the damage potential than 12 attacks, but at least 2-3x the chance of hitting or better), added hardness (usually 5-10), and the potential for a couple of additional abilities (Trample, Constrict, Blind) or speed (up to 50 ft.). Both of them have ACs that should be hit on rolls of 2-5 even on secondary attacks (-5) by level 10.

Alternatively compare to a Clay Golem. DR 10 (of a VERY specific format), Haste, magic immunity, an AC high enough to eat away at Power Attack, and comparable statistics otherwise. I would also direct your attention to the CR 9 Zelekhut and the CR 8 Shield Guardian (although their focuses are different enough that a comparison is less applicable).

Edit: The created swords need a duration or to disappear when dropped or some other method of not being a money farm. If you control one of these things, you can have it create and drop 5 swords per round (~750g/round, or over 10 million gold per day, assuming you don't crash the market first).

Debihuman
2012-11-30, 05:09 PM
It's an excellent feat. It mimics the movie quite well actually. I just feel a tad guilty adding another bonus feat.

Debby

Garryl
2012-11-30, 08:18 PM
Never worry about adding appropriate bonus feats to a mindless creature if it still could have qualified for and taken all of them if it had an Int score. You're just giving back what was taken away for (in this case) negligible benefits (immunity to mind-affecting comes from the type anyways, and Int -- provides little else).

The Marilith ability to use everything as a primary hand attack is a great idea. I didn't see the discussion of it when I posted before, but I heartily agree with it.

Bhu
2012-11-30, 09:53 PM
Not all constructs are mindless. It could be intelligent.

Debihuman
2015-07-25, 09:05 AM
Did some number crunching on this and made a few revisions (noted in the entry above). I had messed up the full attack line since the penalties are actually -4 for using multiple weapons though she gets to make 2 attacks with each. Doh, and I just realized that thehold monster spell doesn't work on Constructs so I reduced the CR to 9 since that spell is no longer a factor. I also increased her Perform (dance) bonus to +8. Overall, I'm still debating whether or not to add the Large And In Charge feat as another bonus feat.

DarkVaati13
2015-08-30, 06:29 PM
This is awesome. Nice detail. Love the movie, love the stats, love the fight. I'm using this in my next game.