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Akolbi
2014-05-14, 10:11 PM
I have been working on my first homebrew monster, I was wondering if i could get opinions, and maybe advice for CR

Hive skeleton.
(dread thresher?)
(dread rattler?)

Pool HP=18hd (6d8+6d8+90)144
Center Undead
HD=6
LE medium undead
init-+10; senses darkvision 60ft; detect undead; perception 15
HP=10
AC=10
languages necril(if 3 or more int)

defense

AC 10, touch 10, flat footed 10
HP10
Fort +7 Ref +4 Will +7 (+8 vs control/command undead spells)
Immune control/turn undead, sneak attacks- lost if all skeletons are gone, undead traits
Improved evasion- lost if all skeletons are gone, positive energy- redirected to pool
spell resistance= 25

offense
inflict light wounds 6/day
bane 1/day
entropic shield (rounds can be divided between multiple skeletons/center) 1/day
ray of enfeeblement 1/day
statistics
Str 10, Dex 10, Con -, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 20
Base Atk +4 CMB +4 CMD 14
feats- command undead, improved initiative, improved natural armor, iron will, power attack, spell focus (necromancy), lightning reflexes
gear- none
skills
perception 9
intimidate 14

standard skeletons X6
2 hit dice
LE Medium undead
Init-+1 per skeleton; Senses darkvision 60ft; detect undead; perception- +1 to hive per skeleton

defense

AC 15, touch 12, flat footed 13 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
HP 19 (2d8+10)
Fort +0 Ref+3 Will +5 (immune to control/command undead spells)
DR 5/bludgeoning; Immune control/turn undead, cold, undead traits

offense

Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +4 (1d4+2), or 2 claws +3 (1d4+5)

statistics
Str 16, Dex 14, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 10 (20 For HP)
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 16
feats- command undead, improved initiative, improved natural armor, iron will, power attack, spell focus (necromancy), lightning reflexes

gear-none


POOL HP
A hive skeleton gains a pool of hit points that is shared throughout the creature. The pool is determined by the “hit dice” of the center creature. This number is increased by 1 for each skeleton in the hive. If a skeleton is destroyed, the additional hit die is lost after 1 day. If it is released by the hive, the hit die is lost immediately.

Hive mind
A hive skeleton has a hive mind created by the interaction of the mindless undead and the center undead. This mind becomes sentient when a single skeleton is controlled, and becomes more shrewd as more are added. The central undead has an Int score of 2, and increases by 1 for each skeleton added to the hive. The skeletons also each add 1 to the initiative and perception scores of the creature. The skeletons that are added must be medium humanoid skeletons.

The hive skeleton adds skeletons to the hive mind by commanding them as a cleric whose level is equal to its total hit dice, not counting the pool. Once commanded the central undead can connect the skeleton to it by magically producing a chain from it's body. This chain is a physical manifestation of the link between the central undead and the peripheral skeletons. In addition to being a manifestation of the link, it is also it's weak point. The chains can be broken, if attempted they have a hardness of 20 and 40 HP. If the chains are broken, the skeletons are freed, as if they were released by the creature, and the creature immediately loses any benefits associated with having the skeleton. This chain limits the movement of the skeletons, and they cannot move more than 15ft from the central undead, and also causes difficult terrain in a line from each skeleton to the central undead.

The total hit dice of all skeletons cannot be more than double the hit dice of the central undead. This represents the link and control coming from the central undead, whose will holds the hive skeleton together. This link allows for certain abilities

essence chain (ex) – a hive skeleton's component skeleton only take ¼ of all damage dealt to them in combat. The rest is absorbed by the pool of negative energy that forms from the interaction of the hive mind. This allows the component skeletons to be held together by the will of the hive mind, rather than by their own magic.
Forced will (ex) the central undead's will is so strong that it forces it on the skeletons linked to it. Each skeleton gains a bonus to hit points as if the central undead's charisma score was its own.
One mind (ex) the central undead is considered to be touching all of the skeletons in the hive skeleton, and can cast touch spells on them, regardless of distance. In addition, it can divide the duration of any spell among the group as if it were a mass version of the spell.

Feats
A hive skeleton gains a number of feats based on its hit dice. For the purpose of gaining feats the HD of the hive skeleton is equal to the HD of the center undead plus half of the hit dice of all the skeletons, rounded down individually. An example of this would be that a 6 HD center undead and two three HD skeletons would have 8 (6+3/2+3/2) hit dice for the purpose of gaining feats, as opposed to 9 (6+(3+3)/2). If a skeleton is destroyed, feats gained as a result of its hit dice are lost 1 day later, but if it is released the feats are lost immediately.
Feats are gained at the indicated hit dice
command undead
improved initiative-1
improved natural armor(skeletons only)-3
iron will-5
power attack-7
spell focus (necromancy)-9
lightning reflexes-11
blind fight-13
improved iron will-15
greater spell focus-17
improved lighting reflexes-19
improved blind fight-21

SLA's
A hive skeleton gains spell-like abilities based on the “hit dice” of the center undead. If the SLA is an emanation centered on the creature, it may be centered on any of the component creature. All spells that have a range must measure range beginning at the center undead. The saves are charisma-based. The creature uses the center undead.

All SLA's cease to function within the radius of a daylight spell, or in areas of bright light.
Detect undead- constant-1
inflict light wounds 3/day-1
bane 1/day-1
entropic shield (rounds can be divided between multiple skeletons/center) 1/day- 3
ray of enfeeblement 1/day-5
inflict light wounds 6/day-6
death knell 1/day-7
desecrate 1/day-9
entropic shield- constant (center only)-10
inflict light wounds- at will-11
inflict moderate wounds 1/day-13
bane-3/day-15
ray of enfeeblement- 3/day-17
death knell 3/day -19
vision of hell 1/day -21

Immunities
immune to turn/command undead feats
+8 to saves VS control undead spell.
center undead is weak point, 10 hp of damage kills it
immune to sneak attacks


A hive skeleton is created from the remains of a torture victim. The victim is so enraged and in pain that it persists beyond death, wishing to spread its misery. The victim must have never broken under torture, as only such individuals have the will to capture and merge mindless undead into his consciousness.

A hive skeleton is often found near the site of its torture, as its mind has been shattered to its barest animal instincts. Though its will is strong, the mind of a hive skeleton can never be fully recovered.

Debihuman
2014-05-16, 01:59 AM
Is this a template that you add to a base skeleton? You do realize that a skeleton is already a Template.

You should first explain the base creature. Once you have a base creature (see other hivemind creatures for examples), it makes it a lot easier to critique.

I really dislike the idea that the base creature gains HD based on the number of skeletons it has. This requires constant DM adjustment during combat and will slow it to a tedious crawl as he or she has to literally rewrite the creature every time it gains or loses a skeleton. Ugh.

Your HD don't make a lot of sense to me. It has a pool of 18 HD but you only show 12 HD worth. Also, a Human skeleton is 1d8. Where are the 6d8 coming from? Since skeletons in PF are a template, your creature will look different depend on which skeletons are used.

I think it would be a lot easier if you start with the stats of the base creature without any skeletons to start and see how you like it first. Then you can create sample hivemind skeletons using additional sample skeletons.

In Pathfinder, Undead gain bonus HP from Charisma. So if this has Cha 20, its modifier is +5. I couldn't tell how many dice the base creature should have from your stats.

You might want to look at this guide to see how to create a suitable monster: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/monsterCreation.html#_table-1-2-creature-hit-dice

Debby