Silus
2014-07-18, 08:42 PM
Ok so I've been meaning to get around to crafting up an apex predator species for my little homebrew setting, but I'm kinda stumped as to how to get started. My experience posting things in the Homebrew Forums has kinda not really gone well, so I figured I'd have more luck here with regards to getting input.
I think my big issues are the following:
Figuring out how to do Ability scores. Do I just pick the base stats and modify by things like size or is there more to it?
Balancing out the special abilities in terms of power, usage, etc.
Calculating a rough DR
Sorting out how many Feats and Skills/Skill ranks to give the creature.
I confess I've never made a creature like this before, usually just taking an existing creature and fiddling around with one or two things.
XP #
N Gargantuan Magical Beast
Init +#; Senses ; Perception +#
DEFENSE
AC 12, touch #, flat-footed # (-3 Dex, +9 natural, –4 size)
hp #
Fort +#, Ref +#, Will +#
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee Bite +# (2d8+# plus Trip), 2 Claw +# (2d6+#), Tail +# (2d6+#)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft
STATISTICS
Str #+12, Dex #-6, Con #+12, Int 2, Wis #, Cha #
Base Atk +#; CMB +#; CMD #+4 (# vs. trip)
Feats
Skills ; Racial Modifiers
ECOLOGY
Environment The Poisoned Lands
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure None (Hide/chitin)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Breath Weapon (EX): Line of Lightning every 2d4 rounds
Electrical Discharge (EX): Fireball like blast centered on Blightning Wolf, electric damage
The creatures known as "Blightning Wolves" are stabilized mutations that have cropped up in the last several hundred years in the section of the world known as The Poisoned Lands. While evolution and genetic mutation does take hundreds of thousands of years, Blightning Wolves have had the benefit of rampant magic and mutagenic radiation to thank for their rapid mutation and evolution.
Sizes range from ~44 ft upwards to ~67ft from the tips of their horned heads to the ends of their spiked, club-like tails, standing between 22-34ft at the shoulder. They only appear to be wolves in the barest of senses, sharing a handful of traits with canines. The rest however seems more akin to dragons and insects. Claws like butcher knives, fangs like daggers and chitinous armor plating covering it's front and hind legs, shoulders, back, tail and head. As tough as it would appear, the Blightning Wolf's main power lies in the cone-shaped protrusions that, when not active, lie flat along its back, covered by whitish-grey fur. These protrusions act as biological capacitors, allowing the Wolf to generate several electrical effects, ranging from lines of lightning to explosive area of effect blasts. These abilities have helped set up the Blightning Wolf as a top tier apex predator in the Poisoned Lands, a land that is rife with robots, mutants and massive vermin.
Typically a solitary creature, Blightning Wolves have been known to travel with a breeding mate from time to time. No nests or dens have ever been found, though not many people have bothered searching for one, as doing so would undoubtably attract unwanted attention. Blightning Wolves are also extreme omnivores, feasting of meat, plant, insect and even varieties of robot they bring down. How they gain sustenance from mechanical constructs is still unknown.
While difficult as hell to kill, due to their speed and durability, they are in fact killable and their hide and chitinous plating makes excellent light weight, electric resistant armor. Finding someone to work the material however is difficult (though not impossible in the right locations).
And yes, this thing is based pretty heavily off the Zinogre (http://monsterhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Zinogre) from Monster Hunter.
I think my big issues are the following:
Figuring out how to do Ability scores. Do I just pick the base stats and modify by things like size or is there more to it?
Balancing out the special abilities in terms of power, usage, etc.
Calculating a rough DR
Sorting out how many Feats and Skills/Skill ranks to give the creature.
I confess I've never made a creature like this before, usually just taking an existing creature and fiddling around with one or two things.
XP #
N Gargantuan Magical Beast
Init +#; Senses ; Perception +#
DEFENSE
AC 12, touch #, flat-footed # (-3 Dex, +9 natural, –4 size)
hp #
Fort +#, Ref +#, Will +#
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee Bite +# (2d8+# plus Trip), 2 Claw +# (2d6+#), Tail +# (2d6+#)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft
STATISTICS
Str #+12, Dex #-6, Con #+12, Int 2, Wis #, Cha #
Base Atk +#; CMB +#; CMD #+4 (# vs. trip)
Feats
Skills ; Racial Modifiers
ECOLOGY
Environment The Poisoned Lands
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure None (Hide/chitin)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Breath Weapon (EX): Line of Lightning every 2d4 rounds
Electrical Discharge (EX): Fireball like blast centered on Blightning Wolf, electric damage
The creatures known as "Blightning Wolves" are stabilized mutations that have cropped up in the last several hundred years in the section of the world known as The Poisoned Lands. While evolution and genetic mutation does take hundreds of thousands of years, Blightning Wolves have had the benefit of rampant magic and mutagenic radiation to thank for their rapid mutation and evolution.
Sizes range from ~44 ft upwards to ~67ft from the tips of their horned heads to the ends of their spiked, club-like tails, standing between 22-34ft at the shoulder. They only appear to be wolves in the barest of senses, sharing a handful of traits with canines. The rest however seems more akin to dragons and insects. Claws like butcher knives, fangs like daggers and chitinous armor plating covering it's front and hind legs, shoulders, back, tail and head. As tough as it would appear, the Blightning Wolf's main power lies in the cone-shaped protrusions that, when not active, lie flat along its back, covered by whitish-grey fur. These protrusions act as biological capacitors, allowing the Wolf to generate several electrical effects, ranging from lines of lightning to explosive area of effect blasts. These abilities have helped set up the Blightning Wolf as a top tier apex predator in the Poisoned Lands, a land that is rife with robots, mutants and massive vermin.
Typically a solitary creature, Blightning Wolves have been known to travel with a breeding mate from time to time. No nests or dens have ever been found, though not many people have bothered searching for one, as doing so would undoubtably attract unwanted attention. Blightning Wolves are also extreme omnivores, feasting of meat, plant, insect and even varieties of robot they bring down. How they gain sustenance from mechanical constructs is still unknown.
While difficult as hell to kill, due to their speed and durability, they are in fact killable and their hide and chitinous plating makes excellent light weight, electric resistant armor. Finding someone to work the material however is difficult (though not impossible in the right locations).
And yes, this thing is based pretty heavily off the Zinogre (http://monsterhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Zinogre) from Monster Hunter.