[PF] Villainous Monsters

[Kevka Palazzo]

I made a succubus with priest levels in a two-shot recently, and found the process to be really fun (adding class levels to monsters, that is). I feel like we have a lot of villains who are PC-able races too often. If they're particularly unique, they'll have a template (Xykon from OoTS is just* a human sorcerer with the Lich template, and Redcloak is just a goblin cleric*). Nothing terribly exciting, mechanically.

I want some antagonists who are scarier than the typical bad guys in my games. So to that end, I'm going to make a portfolio of flavorful monstrous antagonists. All of them are monsters that haven't really been given the PC treatment outside of the occasional monster book. For the most part, I'm going to follow the Monster Advancement Guidelines (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/monster-advancement) from Paizo and Urpriest's Monstrous Monster Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207928).

I'll also post a short story explaining why each monster has the class levels that they do, for some added flavor. Note that I'm not putting them into an adventure or campaign, just building a "folder" to reference when I want a neat villain. Basically think of them as monstrous equivalents to the "iconic" characters.


The Monsters So Far:

Giant Black Widow Witch, Sh'klithid (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16164156#post16164156)
Rekoloniv Acerbi, Master Assassin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16170825#post16170825)
Oni no Taishō, Troll Samurai (and mount) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16220091#post16220091)
Hexxus, Living Defoliation (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16245532#post16245532)


*: Though they're obviously both great characters

[Kevka Palazzo]

Sh'klithid
Queen of the Forgotten Whitewood
http://i.imgur.com/S7GfjTq.jpg


Immediately I run into a problem: the Vermin subtype is mindless, and the black widow in particular has a very low Charisma. Well that's annoying. Technically even Awaken (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/awaken) doesn't work on vermin. So I'm gonna have to go ahead and make a ruling that clearly this monstrous spider has been granted intelligence by some sort of evil deity or malevolent force. Basically "A Wizard Did It". Picked a hell of a monster to start with, eh?

The Spider's ability array is Str 19, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 10 (now that it's intelligent), Wis 10, and Cha 2. With the Monster Advancement Guidelines, giving monsters class levels starts with me giving them +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, and -2 to their ability scores. Okay, I think I prefer 3.5's method of giving them an Expert Array, but that's just for this (admittedly problematic) edge case.

So the new array is:

Str 17, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 2

Witches need high Int, but this is the best we can do for her. It's okay, she'll have poison and strong webs to fall back on if she needs to escape. Clearly the Witch doesn't mesh well with the Spider, so we'll say that Witch is not a Key class for her. That means that she'll only get a +5 CR bonus from the 10 levels of witch, making her a CR 8 monster. Sounds good to me.

But my ability score troubles aren't done yet: With a 14 Int, she can't know 5th-level spells, and her save DCs for her spells probably aren't very good. So I'll give her two ability score increases. Why? Well you'd do it for a normal NPC antagonist with PC levels, right? Right.

We'll also change her type to Magical Beast instead of Vermin, though except for now getting feats, skills, and an intelligence score, she'll retain her traits from Vermin and not get anything else from Magical Beast. This leaves her with 5 feats, the racial skills from the Black Widow entry, and the class skills from Witch to work with.

Feats were a little tougher. Monster feats don't offer a lot of spellcasting help, so I spent three to improve her natural attacks and abilities, just to add some edge to them. The other two I spent on improving

I chose thematic spells that weren't redundant with her normal abilities (poison and web). I envision her as this mythical monstrosity living deep within darkened woods, the sort of NPC that the party encounters while looking for something as they're approached by a talking sparrow that offers to lead them to "My mistress, a powerful witch who knows what you're looking for." She scries wanderers who come close to her lair and sends out her sparrow to lure them back with written messages (since the sparrow can't talk to people).

Since her Charisma is so terrible, and Witches don't get any good social skills, I can't imagine but picturing her as very blunt and forthright. She makes it obvious that she wants to eat the party, but won't act against them immediately. Instead, she tries to trick them into accepting potions she's made that makes them susceptible to her spells and makes them get lost in her woods. Eventually they stumble into her webs, which she has hidden with great skill, care, and use of improve trap.

Her patron is a skittering thing, lost in the shadows of the world. It loves to confuse and trap wanderers in dark, lonely places, and so it empowered a giant black widow to capture lost wanderers in its webs.

Within her lair lie the remains of hundreds of adventurers. Sometimes she gives away trinkets from the remains, and will actually let some adventurers go with only these gifts: she has to let some good word get out about her, otherwise nobody would trust a giant spider witch.

If a fight breaks out in her lair, she has a harem of male giant black widows who are willing to die for her. They also serve as emergency rations in times of drought and famine. In a fight she stays high up in the trees and in her webs, shooting down webbing and casting debuff spells.

Her prepared spell list reflects how she prepares for combat. When she's not expecting visitors, she maintains her lair and the surrounding forest and scries on lands nearby looking for likely prey.

Sh'klithid CR 12

NE Large magical beast witch 10
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +4

AC 17, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+2 Dex, +6 natural, -1 size)
hp 123 (5d8+10d6+60)
Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +10

Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee bite +10 (1d10+6 plus poison)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks web (+4 ranged, DC 21, 5 hp); hexes (DC 18 - cackle, misfortune, slumber, peacebond, cauldron, charm, nightmares)
Witch spells prepared (CL 10th; concentration +17)

5th - Feeblemind (DC 20), Hold Monster (DC 19)
4th - Invisibility, Debilitating Portent (2) (DC 19)
3rd - Improve Trap, Suggestion (DC 18), Nature's Exile (DC 16), Nixie's Lure (DC 18)
2nd - Daze Monster (DC 17), Vomit Swarm, Enthrall (DC 17), Silk to Steel, Fester (DC 15)
1st - Sleep (DC 16), Beguiling Offer (2) (DC 16), Theft Ward, Forced Quiet (DC 14)
0th (at will) - Daze (DC 13), Detect Magic, Touch of Fatigue (DC 13), Putrefy Food and Drink

Patron deception

Statistics
Str 17, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 2
Base Atk +8; CMB +12; CMD 24 (36 vs. trip)
Feats Brew Potion, Spell Focus (Enchantment), Spell Specialization (Enchantment), Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment), Improved Natural Armor, Accursed Hex
Skills Concentration +17, Craft (alchemy) +20, Heal +13, Knowledge (Nature) +11, Spellcraft (Int) +11, Climb +20, Perception +4, Stealth +2(+6 webs), Diplomacy -1, Intimidate +14
SQ strong webs, dimension door

Special Abilities
Poison (Ex)
Bite - injury; save Fort DC 18; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d3 Con and staggered; cure 2 saves.
Save DC is Con-based with a +2 racial bonus

Strong Webs (Ex)
Sh'klithid's webs gain a +4 bonus to the DC to break or escape.

Dimension Door (Su)
Sh'klithid may use the spell dimension door at-will an unlimited number of times per day. However, she can only travel this way from a point on her (massive) web to another point on her web.

Giant, Scary Spider (Ex)
Sh'lithid gains a +20 natural bonus to Intimidate on account of being a giant, scary, venomous spider

Thoughts? Questions? Corrections? This was not only my first time making a Pathfinder monster with class levels, but my first time messing around with the Witch class. I don't have the APG myself so I haven't really made anything from it yet. I think that this monster could be inserted in to just about any creepy forest or underground lair. Not just as a Shelob wannabe, but also as a potential neutral assistant. Any encounter with her should start as an amiable, if skin-crawling, social call, perhaps the PCs are looking for a favor, or some information, or an ancient MacGuffin lost in her webs.

Then it all turns ugly and spidery. She'll turn and run and remain in her woods rather than pursue a grudge, though if the PCs return they'd better have something she wants more than their lifeblood.

If y'all have any particular requests, I'll be happy to oblige. I'm too tired right now to think up a new monster.

EDIT: Changed her up some to reflect the feedback from the thread and some of my friends.

[137beth]

First things first:

When you add enough non-key (or non-associated, as it was called in 3.5) class levels, it becomes a key/associated class once the number of class levels added equals the original CR. So the first three witch levels are non-key, but the remaining 7 are key. So by the "official" rules, the suggested CR for this thing is 11, not 8. That is obviously a very rough guideline, though, so let's take a closer look at whether it is appropriate:
It's attack bonus and melee-related statistics are very low for level 10ish, even for level 8. That's okay, as this monster is more of a controller. However, one of it's two non-witch abilities depends on getting into melee range for a bite. It's other spider ability, web, is ranged but has such a low attack bonus as to make it nearly irrelevant by those levels.

The spider monster also seems designed with the intent of being a skirmisher--it gets a quick racial climb speed, which is good at CR 3. By CR 8-11, though, a movement-focused monster should be able to fly. I'd probably make Fly one of her prepared spells.
The save DCs of her spells are also about average for a CR 10ish monster. However, they should be above average considering that is most of what she does and the fact that she spent multiple feats improving those DCs.
Overall I'd say CR 8-9 is appropriate.

Other than the CR, you seem to have a good concept going, and that's what really makes a villain memorable. You could certainly optimize the feat selection some more, but you don't really need to do that, nor should you unless you normally optimize monsters.

Usually, for a truly unique villain, I usually prefer to give it at least one theme-appropriate completely new power, that doesn't come from class levels or base monsters.

The biggest mechanical issue is that you need to find a way to make that bite attack and poison useful in combat. A frail enchanter with a bunch of martial servants isn't going to want to get close enough to her enemies to bite them unless the opponent is already disabled.
She could sneak up on opponents invisibly and bite them, but then she's stuck in melee range with a group of PCs attacking her.
Hmm, going with the deception theme, and the "at least one new ability for a serious villain" thing, and the fact that the base monster mobility-focused, maybe she should have an ability to use Dimension Door as a spell-like ability as an immediate action after making a bite attack? That way she could remain invisible while her guards attacked, sneak up behind the PCs, bite and warp away. Then she would Cackle (using the Cackle hex :smalltongue:) as the foolish PC tries to swing his blade at the empty space behind him....

[Kevka Palazzo]

Well, like I said, this was a first for me, making monsters like this. Usually I make PC-style monsters or just copy them out of the MM.

Thanks for the advice about a thematic ability. I had considered that, I'm just never really comfortable using my GM fiat powers. Which is weird I know, I just get kind of antsy when I move away from the RAW.

Featwise I guess I could drop her Ability Focuses and Improved Natural Attack, replace with...I dunno, more stuff to up her save DCs. Spell Focus doesn't stack...Guess I could grab Greater Spell Focus and Greater Spell Specialization...

[John Longarrow]

For a very unique thematic ability, dimension door 1/round as a free action. Limit is must port to another location on her web that is within her tremorsense. That way she can blip around her web (really cool) but it isn't all that powerful by the time you hit 10th.

[Kasbark]

Very nice writeup! It's a very nice thematic monster - i could certainly find a use for it in a future campaign.

Should it not have a higher to hit with her web attack - the witch class level alone should give +5 BAB?


Bookmarked - looking forward to the next one :)

[Kevka Palazzo]

Relonikiv Acerbi
Grandmaster of the Acerbi Assassin Family

http://i.imgur.com/I3PPhKT.jpg

This housecat-sized miniature dragon has fine scales, sharp horns, wicked little teeth, and a tail tipped with a barbed stinger. It sits at a huge desk (at least compared to its size) covered in alchemical tools and supplies, and is dipping needles into a vial of some black liquid before storing them in a special carrying case. It regards you with the cold eyes of a killer, but the grin of a savvy merchant.


I've always been a fan of the little dragon guys, ever since I had a wizard with one as an Improved Familiar. But this guy didn't have a NG abjuration wizard as his master. No, this one was mistreated and kicked around by a LE conjuration wizard, and when his abusive master was poisoned in the night by an assassin, the pseudodragon knew it had found its saviour and new master.

This was an easier job than the previous monster. I started off knowing I wanted a pseudodragon, but I didn't have a good idea of what class I wanted it to be, so I looked at its ability scores first and went from there. High dex meant I started looking at rogues, and the natural stinger ability meant that I wanted to go for something poison-y. Playing lots of Assassin's Creed lately means that I wanted to toss in some dramatic assassin stuff, and assassin's guilds are a fun trope.

It served its new master with enthusiasm and loyalty, and the Assassin found the beast's tiny size very useful. When the Assassin finally died during a botched job, the pseudodragon moved up in rank and began accepting jobs on its own.

Thanks to its long life, the beast has outlived many of its peers, and is now the leader of the Assassin's Guild. It is a shrewd, calculating, but opportunistic leader, and the Guild's income and influence has expanded significantly under the dragon's leadership.

It hates arcane casters, loathes characters with familiars, and abhors wizards. Oftentimes it offers discounts on jobs targeting wizards, or will offer to take the job itself. In combat, it is a deadly fighter, though will always lead with a cocktail of deadly poisons that it has crafted itself. If it absolutely has to, it will sneak attack with its tail stinger and inject its natural poison to try to incapacitate a target for a coup de grace or flee if there are other opponents.

Its size and strength malus means that its melee attacks are useless for damage. It relies entirely on its +6d6 sneak attack, its death attack (though its DC for at-level opponents is low), and poisons. Its high sneak skill, flight, and flyby attack allow it to be very mobile, though it will always attempt to poison a target it plans to melee with, especially in an enclosed environment where it can't get high enough to avoid being attacked. It always attacks wizards first, then other casters, then ranged attackers.

I haven't really thought about what I want to go into the ring of counterspells. Probably something that targets Fort or Will, since its Reflex is high and it has evasion, and its AC is also pretty good.

This character was more difficult than the last because I hate buying stuff, especially when I have lots of money. One of the reasons I like fighters is because their shopping lists are easy:


Best weapon available
Best armor available
Magic items that increase Strength, Constitution, or AC
Potions


This little monster was weird because I also don't play rogues, and definitely don't play assassins. I didn't even bother looking into the poison list beyond a cursory glance, and it has a high Craft (alchemy) score anyway, so it'll be making poisons to meet the situation.

From a roleplaying standpoint, the monster makes a good political villain. The assassin's guild has plants and has bought many city officials, or otherwise coerced them. They have lots of money and will try to kill you in your sleep. But if you like a good assassin story, this monster could be plugged in to make an interesting high-ranking official who isn't like other assassin's guild leaders.

Finally, if your PCs are evil, or at least one of them is itself an assassin, the pseudodragon could always be their boss.

CR 12

LE Tiny dragon rogue 5 assassin 5
Init +2; Senses blindsense 60 ft.,darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +6

Defense
AC 26 (30 vs. AoO), touch 19 (22 vs. AoO), flat-footed 20 (+5 armor, +1 ring, +5 Dex, +1 Dodge, +2 natural, +2 size)
hp 88 (2d12+10d8+24)
Fort +9 (+11 vs. poison), Ref +17, Will +9
Defensive Abilities evasion, improved uncanny dodge,
Immune paralysis, sleep; SR 12

Offense
Speed 15 ft., fly 60 ft. (good)
Melee +1 dispelling dagger +14 (1d2-2/19-20); sting +13 (1d3-3 plus poison), bite +6 (1d2-3)
Ranged blowgun +13 (1, range 20 ft.)
Special Attacks death attack(DC 16), poison use, sneak attack +6d6
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft. (5 ft. with tail)

Statistics
Str 5, Dex 20, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +8; CMB +2; CMD 10 (14 vs. trip)
Feats Weapon Finesse, Flyby Attack, Dodge, Mobility, Hover
Skills Appraise +7, Craft (alchemy) +15, Diplomacy +18, Disable Device +13, Disguise +7, Fly +15, Knowledge (local) +9, Perception +6, Profession (guild member) +10, Sense Motive +6, Stealth +19 (+23 in forests), Survival +6, Use Magic Device +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth (improves to +8 in forests)
Languages Draconic; telepathy (60 ft.)

Equipment
bookmark of deception
scroll of neutralize poison
wand of protection from law
ring of protection +1
ring of counterspells
+2 studded leather armor
blowgun
blow darts
+1 dispelling dagger
lots and lots of poison

Special Abilities
Poison (Ex)
Sting - injury; save Fort DC 23; frequency 1/minute for 10 minutes; effect sleep for 1 minute; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +10 racial bonus.

[Barstro]

a movement-focused monster should be able to fly. I'd probably make Fly one of her prepared spells.

I suggest getting rid of one of her lesser used hexes (Nightmare or Cauldron?) and take Flight Hex instead. This would give her more than enough flight for any encounter and an at-will Feather Fall.

[Kevka Palazzo]

Posted the pseudodragon assassin, Relonikiv Acerbi. Starting the search for another likely candidate for the drawing board.

Next time: something smashier than the two skirmishers I've posted so far.

[ArqArturo]

Daaamn, I came here with some suggestions, and I'm leaving with the most badass villain so far: A witch spider :D.

[Kevka Palazzo]

Daaamn, I came here with some suggestions, and I'm leaving with the most badass villain so far: A witch spider :D.

I'd still love to hear your suggestions.

[Barstro]

Love the dragon. My only concern is how it's going to reliably get sneak attacks. That and how it can use a blowgun without lips to form a good seal, but I'm sure it can have one custom made.

[ArqArturo]

I'd still love to hear your suggestions.

Well, I've had an idea of a Mastermind, helping the PCs from the ground up, but always hiding himself under a massive wall of proxies, lies, misdirection, and all through a subtle use of mundane means, and very little magic. Magic is too easy to track down to the source, but ranks in Bluff, Diplomacy, Linguistics, and cunning use of minions giving order to minions and so forth, is actually pretty rough to detect. I played this in my last session, and while I had a bunch of villains that were powerful spellcasters, it was that model of Mastermind that, not only was able to keep the ruse from the start, but managed to escape.

Needless to say, he might be a recurring villain in the future :smallbiggrin:.

For a more melee approach for a villain, nothing beats a warlord, especially if he's commanding a horde of horse-riding barbarians (http://youtu.be/szxPar0BcMo).

[Kevka Palazzo]

For a more melee approach for a villain, nothing beats a warlord, especially if he's commanding a horde of horse-riding barbarians (http://youtu.be/szxPar0BcMo).

I had a similar thought. This one is a little less, "horde of horse-riding barbarians" though. This one's more:

Troll Samurai on an Allosaurus

Partially inspired by the Belkster.

[Kasbark]

Sounds cool - i can't wait to see what you come up with!

[Xunthrae]

I've been working on an undead controlling Bard. I got the Idea from Thriller, but it does't have to be a silly villain. And i do really like that witch spider, great concept! the dragon is cool too, i just love my spellcasters :smallbiggrin:

[TripleD]

Vathy the Cunning -Worg Sorceror

Goblins, under the rule of chief Gumba, have been raiding the kingdom. Unknown to anyone is that Gumba is actually the (improved) familiar of his Worg "mount", Vathy. This genius-level wolf wishes to engineer a war that will weaken both goblins and humans, leaving the door wide open for a Worg attack.

[Dayaz]

I've been working on an undead controlling Bard. I got the Idea from Thriller, but it does't have to be a silly villain. And i do really like that witch spider, great concept! the dragon is cool too, i just love my spellcasters :smallbiggrin:

I made a undead controlling bard, using fiendish grafts.to make flying gorilla zombies... and.other stuff... was a blast haha

[John Longarrow]

Kevka Palazzo

You know you've made it so I'll have to stat out and post my Pixie Necromancer who goes around in an animated giant skeleton that she built her duplex in.

May make her as a Petal instead, just for more room in her "House"... :smallcool:

[Randomocity132]

Dimension Door (Su)
Sh'klithid may use the spell dimension door at-will an unlimited number of times per day. However, she can only travel this way from a point on her (massive) web to another point on her web.


So I'm imagining the spider boss from Darksiders.

[Ezberron]

great write-ups! what level is the pseudodragon? I don't see any levels listed anywhere. I'm guessing by the sneak attack and such he's about 10th level...

[Kevka Palazzo]

great write-ups! what level is the pseudodragon? I don't see any levels listed anywhere. I'm guessing by the sneak attack and such he's about 10th level...

Ah, I haven't been listing the class levels anywhere. Silly me. I updated the posts so now they show the correct levels (up at the top of their stat blocks). To answer your question, the pseudodragon has 5 levels of rogue and 5 levels of assassin.

[Kevka Palazzo]

I knew I needed something smashy, something big and scary to counter the creepy, crawly monsters I've made so far. Shock and awe, hearts and minds. Something that'd make a good Dragon for the big bad, so to speak.

In the Jade Regent game I'm in I've been playing a fighter, but looking at the Samurai class in Ultimate Combat which I recently picked up, so I'm feeling like using a samurai. After all, it's also got a mount, and monsters riding other monsters is always cool.

At first, an orc/worg combo comes to mind, but I immediately dismiss it. Anything Tolkien did, I can do larger-than-life and at volume 11.

So I decided to go big and goofy. It had to be a CR < 10 monster that was large-sized so it could ride a huge monster. I also think something implacable and utterly focused would make a good recurring villain. The kind of monster that the party honestly considers running from every time if it shows up.

I considered a construct, but all of the iconic golems are too high of a CR for my tastes. I look at some other monster types. Some of the fey looked neat, like the skinwalker, but I wanted something simpler. I thought I had hit comedy gold with the Living Topiary Samurai (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/plants/living-topiary), astride its living topiary mount.

But then I had an idea while reading the latest OoTS. Dinosaurs. Dinosaur mounts* are the best! But what sort of thing could ride a dinosaur? Well, my mind drifted back to my WoW days and I had my answer:

Trolls riding dinosaurs.

Except Trolls in D&D are large. And only CR 5. And so obviously, obviously perfect.


Oni no Taishō
Demon General of the Overlord
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/208/9/5/Big_samurai_monster_ARRR_by_Kamikazuh.jpg


I really like this guy, even though he was way harder to do than I thought he'd be as a smashy guy and all. Most of the work came from his allosaurus mount than anything, especially since I played fast and loose with the animal companion rules to get it to work in way that I was satisfied with.

But satisfied I am.

Oni no Taishō is more of a title than a name, but the creature can't remember his original name anyway. So long has he served as the slave to the Overlord, a power-hungry, despotic king, that all he remembers is war, combat, and his only friend in the world: Kemono no Kaminari, or Thunderbeast. Oni no Taishō is surprisingly intelligent for a troll, though all that means is that he knows how to separate between his master's other troops and the enemy's. He also knows how to administer the potions that makes Thunderbeast go faster, and how to protect himself against the only thing that can break his regeneration: fire and acid.

He is cautious when he needs to be, unless he flies into a hellish frenzy, which rarely happens in his old age. His mount being seriously injured or his master being threatened will probably do it, though.

All of his gear was custom-made for him. The Overlord rewarded Oni no Taishō's service with greater and greater tools of war, including eventually Thunderbeast. At first the allosaurus could not be tamed, but determination from the troll was enough: each time the dinosaur would bite a chunk off of the troll, the troll would simply, calmly, but sternly hit the creature upside its head. And the arm would grow back. Eventually the allosaurus stopped, and when the two rode into combat for the first time the battlefield was painted red with enemy blood.

Oni no Taishō will behave logically on the battlefield: from a distance he peppers enemies with his composite hankyu until they fortify themselves. And then he will shatter and splinter their fortifications with a hellish charge, his katana wielded in two massive hands. With his natural strength, and the bonus provided to him by his belt of giant's strength +4, there are few barriers he cannot slice down.

LE Large humanoid (giant) samurai 10
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +8

AC 26, touch 10, flat-footed 26; (+1 Dex, +11 armor, +5 natural, -1 size)
hp 182 (6d8+10d10+96); regeneration 5 (acid or fire)
Fort +18, Ref +6, Will +7 (+2 competence bonus on saving throws against fire-based effects)

Speed 30 ft.
Melee +2 large quenching katana +26/+21 (2d6+17/18-20 x2, +2 to confirm), bite +23 (1d8+9), 2 claws +23 (1d6+9)
Ranged large masterwork composite hankyu +16 (1d8+9)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks rend (2 claws, 1d6+7), challenge 3/day,

Str 29, Dex 12, Con 23, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 8
Base Atk +14/+9; CMB +22; CMD 35
Feats Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Skill Focus (Perception), Weapon Focus (katana), Weapon Specialization (katana), Mounted Combat, Ride-by Attack, Death From Above
Skills Handle Animal +12, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (nobility) +13, Perception +8, Ride +14
Languages Common, Giant
SQ Mounted Archer, resolve 5/day (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/alternate-classes/samurai#TOC-Resolve-Ex-), Greater Resolve (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/alternate-classes/samurai#TOC-Greater-Resolve-Ex-), Banner (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/alternate-classes/samurai#TOC-Banner-Ex-), Order of the Black Daimyo (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/alternate-classes/samurai/samurai-orders/paizo---samurai-orders/order-of-the-warrior), Mount (see Allosaurus below)
Gear
+3 large dastardly o-yoroi
+2 large quenching katana
large composite hankyu
belt of giant strength +4
Typical Consumables
potion of protection from good x 5
potion of protection from chaos x 5
bead of newt prevention
potion of haste x2


Kaminari no Kemono
Beast of Thunder


N Huge animal
Init +5; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +28

AC 33, touch 11, flat-footed 30 (+3 Dex, +6 armor, +16 natural, -2 size)
hp 104 (11d8+55)
Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +7
Special Defenses Evasion

Speed 50 ft.
Melee bite +18 (2d6+10/19-20 plus grab), 2 claws +18 (1d8+10)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks pounce, rake (2 talons +18, 1d8+10)

Str 30, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 10
Base Atk +8; CMB +20; CMD 33
Feats Alertness, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initative, Iron Will, Nimble Moves, Run, Light Armor Proficiency, Multiattack
Skills Perception +30; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
SQ Link, Devotion
Gear+2 chain barding

[Xunthrae]

Oh wow, the troll/Dino concept is glorious. I can just imagine the terror seeing it as a player.

[Yora]

This is pretty cool.

(Though the dinosaur picture is too big.)

[Kevka Palazzo]

Came up with an idea for the next monster. This one's gonna be...different.

In the 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting, Living Spells were introduced. Basically it's a template that you apply to a AoE spell that doesn't create a monster. You turn the spell into an ooze and go from there.

So I figured, "Let's update that to Pathfinder and see what we can get."

But yeah, gonna look through a lot of spell lists over the next couple of days, figure out what kind of spell/class sounds the most interesting.

This is my "learn the PF spells" part of the project, it seems. :)

[Kasbark]

I really like the dino-riding troll samurai! It's certainly not a concept you see every day :-)

[daniel0102]

Off-Topic:
I made this account just to comment here that you, sir, deserves the internet.

On-Topic:
About the "living spell ooze", which class do you plan to use? Oozes don't have intelligence nor can be awakened so~...

Also, looking at the bestiary, I found the Nirento (Neutral, Large, Plant, CR4) and saw that they are predators, so what about a Awakened Nirento Barbarian and/or Fighter? With some form of movement?

Off-Topic: Again :smalltongue:
If I make one, can I post it here?

[Kevka Palazzo]

On-Topic:
About the "living spell ooze", which class do you plan to use? Oozes don't have intelligence nor can be awakened so~...


I've definitely been thinking about that. I've come to this conclusion:

Technically there's not an awaken spell that works on Vermin. I did the stats all wrong for the Allosaurus mount (turns out druids can legit get Allosauri as their companions, I just took the monster entry and added what I thought looked "fair" from the AC level table).

While I'm trying to hew as closely to the rules as possible, I realize that sometimes I have to forgo "accuracy" for the sake of making a memorable, challenging villain. This would strike just as true if I were making a "traditional" 18th-level orc sorcerer lich.

So I've resolved to taking the smallest possible liberties with the rules in order to make the monsters awesome and fit the concept, rather than worrying too much about finding a rule that I can force into place.

I mean, once you reveal that the true mastermind behind the evil grand plan is actually a living Desecrate (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/d/desecrate) spell cast by a vengeful, dead god in its dying throes who has journeyed across the world for a millenia and gained 18 levels of antipaladin in order to carry out its plans, the fact that it's an ooze probably won't matter much beyond the rogue's inevitable whining about it being immune to crits.

Because it's just too awesome to worry about the little details like, "Oozes don't have intelligence scores."

For the record, I'm not making a living desecrate antipaladin 18. At least, not yet. Right now I'm actually gonna aim for something around ECL 4-8. A decent "mid-boss" for an adventure path sort of thing.




Off-Topic: Again :smalltongue:
If I make one, can I post it here?

Absolutely, I love being implicitly responsible for imitators. :p

[Kevka Palazzo]

Hexxus
Larval Defiler of Nature
http://i.imgur.com/tIFr7Hu.jpg
"I love the sight of withered husks of trees and dead, dry, flammable leaves. Makes me want to sing..."


The artificer Doranna le'Grant maintained a good rapport with the druids of the wood she called home. They were content to leave her alone so long as her experiments didn't harm the forest or the animals in it, and she was excited to have a place of quiet to work on her projects unmolested.

However, her work eventually resulted in the accidental ruination of all living matter within a hundred feet from the tower. The druids were so angry and afraid of this blight spreading that they sank the tower, and all in it, into the ground, sealing it away. However, the sheer number of alchemical and magical trinkets in the tower meant that as it rotted in the ground over the course of centuries, so too did those items rot and begin to fail. And as they failed, as bottles of potions and reagents broke, spilled, and collected, as Doranna's body decayed and withered, a new form of life was born.

Doranna had been experimenting with the defoliate spell. She had many scrolls of it, and a few wands. It was this spell that became the center for a magical plague that began leeching out of the artificer's tower grave. After nearly a millennia, it finally accumulated enough power and rot that it sprang fully-formed out of the ground, immediately defoliating everything within a mile of it.

The new creature called itself Hexxus, and in a fit of insane glee, it burned through the druid's ancient wood, defoliating everything that it could get its hands on. It took with it a few select magical items that hadn't broken or succumbed to age from the tower, which it used to burn the trail it had left behind it.

Now it travels the land, learning about new cultures, and gleefully withering and torching the sacred groves and homes of druids, rangers, and other nature-oriented people and organizations. It has a strange obsession with song, and is actually a natural singer, with a deep, charming voice.

Hexxus has a low AC, as it's unable to wear armor, but this is offset slightly by its Spell Resistance and ooze properties. It tries not to be in melee range anyway, which it can manage easily enough with fly, and it keeps a steady supply of various animals and vermin around to stand between it and melee if it can't fly or there's a ceiling. It prefers staying in areas full of permeable obstacles since it doesn't worry about things like fences or small spaces thanks to being an ooze.

Honestly, Hexxus is supposed to be a "fun" bad guy. Hence the huge bonus to Perform (sing). It's more of a bad guy that shows up when something more important is going on as a means of breaking up tension or dramatic situations. Which is usually more of a narrative trope, but I've always had good feedback with "joke" villains like this.

Ooze sorcerer 4
CE medium ooze
Init -1; Senses Blindsight 60 ft.

AC 12 (-1 Dex, +3 deflection)
Spell Resistance 14
hp 53 (3d10+4d6+14)
Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +5

Speed 60 ft.
Melee slam +5 1d4+2 plus defoliate
Special Attacks spell effect, engulf, plague's caress, accustomed to awfulness
Spells Known
0 acid splash, detect magic, spark, ghost sound, touch of fatigue, prestidigiation, dancing lights
1 corrosive touch, ray of enfeeblement, charm person, shocking grasp, vanish
2 (3) - dust of twilight, ghoul touch[/p], [i]hypnotic pattern
3 (2) - suggestion, fly Bonus charm animal

Str 15, Dex 8, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18
Feats Improved Spell Resistance (3PP), Sorcerous Bloodstrike, Spell Focus (necromancy), Sickening Spell
Skills Bluff +10, Intimidate +10, Spellcraft +9, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Fly +4, Perform (sing) +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Perform (sing)
SQ ooze traits (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/rules-for-monsters/creature-types#TOC-Ooze), damage reduction 10/magic, spell resistance 13, bloodline arcana

Gear
Wand of burning hands
Ring of protection +1
Robe of bones (with plague ogre zombie, tough human zombie, and wolf skeleton embroidery)

Ooze Traits Hexxus has the following features:

Blind, immunity to gaze attacks, visual effects, illusions, and other attack forms that rely on sight
Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning
Not subject to critical hits or flanking. Does not take additional damage from precision-based attacks, such as sneak attack
Eats and breathes, but does not sleep

Spell Effect (Su): A creature hit by Hexxus' slam attack is subjected to defoliate.
Engulf (Ex): Hexxus can flow around creatures that fit within its space as a standard action. It cannot make a slam attack during a round in which it engulfs. Hexxus merely has to move over the opponent. Opponents can make attacks of opportunity against Hexxus, but if they do they are not entitled to a saving throw. Those who do not attempt attacks of opportunity must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 20) or be engulfed; on a success, they are pushed back or aside (their choice) as the spell moves forward. Engulfed creatures are subject to the full normal effect of the spell(s) each round on the Hexxus' turn, and are considered to be grappled and trapped within its body.
Pestilence Arcana: Vermin are susceptible to Hexxus' mind-affecting spells. They are treated as animals for the purposes of determining which mind-affecting spells affect them.
Plague's Caress (Sp): At 1st level, you can make a melee touch attack as a standard action that causes a living creature's flesh to break out into rancid-smelling pustules and sores for 2 rounds. These sores cause the victim to become sickened for the duration of the effect; this is a disease effect. You can use this ability 7 times a day.
Accustomed to Awfulness (Ex): At 3rd level, you become immune to the sickened condition and gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws against effects what cause nausea or disease.

[Kasbark]

I hope you will continue doing these. I have certainly enjoyed reading every monster so far!

[Kevka Palazzo]

I hope you will continue doing these. I have certainly enjoyed reading every monster so far!

I have been working, albeit slowly, at it. However, over the past two weeks I began prepping for a 4E Eberron game, and this weekend I'll be starting up a 13th Age game. So I'm just very busy/lucky.

However, I plan on finishing up the latest monster by Friday, but that's just because I'm also planning on participating in National Novel Writer's Month and suddenly a big chunk of my time's gonna go to writing 1500 words a day. :)

But yes, expect living defoliate pestilence sorcerer soon.

[Tanuki Tales]

Well, I found a new thread to subscribe to.

[Kevka Palazzo]

All right, finished Hexxus and put it in the original reserved post.

[Tanuki Tales]

So, any plans for more villains?

[Kevka Palazzo]

So, any plans for more villains?

Absolutely.

But right now I'm participating in the National Novel Writing Month (http://nanowrimo.org/), and working full-time, and playing/running in several games. Sadly I won't have the time to work on a new one consistently for a while.

If anybody has a request for a monster/class combo, I'll be happy to oblige, but it will be slow.

I'm glad that I've gotten such a response though. I'm definitely coming back to this after November's over (or I get to 50,000 words first). :smallsmile:

[Kasbark]

Good luck with the NNWM!

I'm using Sh'klithid in the campaign i'm prepping (RHoD, which happens to have a witchwood!), and i would prefer a similar sinister monster next.

An undead (ghoul, ghast or other 'humanoid' undead) cleric or druid?

[Kevka Palazzo]

Good luck with the NNWM!

I'm using Sh'klithid in the campaign i'm prepping (RHoD, which happens to have a witchwood!), and i would prefer a similar sinister monster next.

An undead (ghoul, ghast or other 'humanoid' undead) cleric or druid?

Hmm...She's not undead, but I could convert the succubus priest that I made for that WoW game into a succubus cleric or oracle or something. Though as a HD 8 creature the PF succubus would be tricky. Hmm...

I'll think about it. Wonderful to hear one of my monsters is actually getting some use! Lemme know how the encounter with her goes.

[Raven777]

Fifth level Xill (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/xill) Vivisectionist (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/alchemist/archetypes/paizo---alchemist-archetypes/vivisectionist) would be scary. It would full attack at 7 swings per round (4 claws, 2 vestigial arms with swords, 1 bite), without any penalty to hit (Multiweapon Mastery), with the possibility to launch sneak attacks on flanked or pinned opponents. Have I mentioned its bite can paralyze?

[ArqArturo]

Long time ago I worked with a Wizard/Archivist/Fleshwarper that had the golem creation feat, as well as several ways to use grafts. The idea behind him was the prototypical Mad Scientist, with half-flesh golems, flesh golems, and grafted minions that pillaged the countryside for him to continue experimenting. It was one of my most creepiest of villains because I made him so damn alien in his way of thinking.

I'm trying to bring this guy back in PF, but obviously I'll have to do some tweaking to get him right.

[Kevka Palazzo]

Actually, I was thinking about doing something with the super-skeletons from the Karrnathi army from Eberron. Those guys are pretty boss.

Or one of the Deathless? Though Deathless is just a template applied to a normal creature (in this case usually elves), so that would be against the spirit of this thread.

Oooh, Mohrgs. Do those still exist? They look like skeletons with their entrails still attached. I remember them being kinda gross.

[Marcelinari]

This thread has made me decide to run my next campaign in a City of Adventure with a whole load of semi-monstrous denizens just scattered about. Primarily so I can use that pseudodragon. Just thought I should let you know that this thread is quite inspiring for me.

[Tanuki Tales]

Out of curiosity, if we ourselves were to come up with Villainous Monsters, could we post them here? It'd be kind of neat to have some kind of community compendium for custom monster villains.

[3WhiteFox3]

Out of curiosity, if we ourselves were to come up with Villainous Monsters, could we post them here? It'd be kind of neat to have some kind of community compendium for custom monster villains.

The OP gave enthusiastic permission earlier in the thread.




Off-Topic: Again :smalltongue:
If I make [a custom monster villain], can I post it here?
Absolutely, I love being implicitly responsible for imitators. :p

[Kevka Palazzo]

Hey all, it's been a while since I last posted in this thread, and I feel kind of guilty about that.

However, I return because a surge of inspiration has struck, this time with a rather ambitious sub-project. Over the next month, I'll be statting up four villains that are each part of a hierarchy of demons and devils, representing a unified front against the holy forces of good and their mortal followers.

The leader of this profane blight is my original monster-with-class levels: a cleric succubus. She'll be last.

Leading the charge will be Perlixus, Imp Alchemist, and his Profane Creations.

[Silverbit]

I just found this thread, and it is amazing. Well done good sir; I might be using that pseudodragon as my PCs boss in my next game, so that's very helpful.

[honganos]

Love Larval form Hexxus, are you going to do these in 5e? Also did you do later Hexxus forms? i.e. skeleton(developmental), full fledged smoke demon, Skeleton (last stand)