[3.5] Looking for Monster - help?

[Thurbane]

Hey all,

Can you help me find some monsters that fit the following selection criteria?

Must be 3HD or less; must be an aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, plant, or vermin; and must be a tough opponent for it's HD.

Cheers - T

[Flickerdart]

"Tough opponent for its HD" doesn't really mean anything, because HD is not a measure of power.

[bjoern]

Hey all,

Can you help me find some monsters that fit the following selection criteria?

Must be 3HD or less; must be an aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, plant, or vermin; and must be a tough opponent for it's HD.

Cheers - T

I'm fond of the crocodile. A real pain in the butt if encountered in water.

[Fax Celestis]

You want That Damn Crab, in Stormwrack.

[Thurbane]

"Tough opponent for its HD" doesn't really mean anything, because HD is not a measure of power.

A monster that would present a difficult(ish) challenge for the average adventuring party that would be expected to encounter it at an appropriate level. Sorry, I thought that was self explanatory.

I'll take a look at the Crocodile and Crab, thanks. :smallsmile:

[bjoern]

Even simpler could be a level 3 wizard that uses alter self into an avariel for fly 50 (good) and uses flyby attack to swoop into range, fire crossbow bolts and/or cast grease on the PCs and then move back out of range each turn.

EDIT- actually have him use power word pain on the PCs and then run away. But that's just mean.

[Vogonjeltz]

Phantom Fungus is a plant, can be advanced to 3HD and has greater invisibility...so good luck surviving that.

[Shieldbunny]

Chokers are 3HD aberrations. Improved Grab, Special Constrict ability that keeps characters from speaking/using verbal components. Also Small Size(With a racial grapple bonus), and constantly under the effects of 3.0 Haste, So extra standard action each round.

[...]

Chokers are 3HD aberrations. Improved Grab, Special Constrict ability that keeps characters from speaking/using verbal components. Also Small Size(With a racial grapple bonus), and constantly under the effects of 3.0 Haste, So extra standard action each round.

I love chokers. They're like deformed, demented halflings!

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Stormwrack's Monstrous Crabs are surprisingly tame and balanced compared to the real Damn Crab (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040221a). Just for comparison, the Stormwrack Large Monstrous Crab is 6 HD, CR 4, Str 21, 36 HP, 20 ft. speed, AC 18, the one at the link is 7 HD, CR 3, 66 HP, 40 ft. speed, AC 19, and it adds 1.5 Str to its claw damage. I don't think either one of those would be what you're looking for, though.

Magebred Wolverine
Size/Type: Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+18 (31 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), burrow 10 ft., climb 10 ft.
Armor Class: 19 (+3 Dex, +6 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+6
Attack: Claw +6 melee (1d4+4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +6 melee (1d4+4) and bite +4 melee (1d6+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Rage
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +2
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 17, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Climb +12, Listen +6, Spot +6
Feats: Alertness, Toughness, Track (B), Multiattack (B)
Environment: Cold forests
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 2
Advancement: 4-5 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

Rage (Ex)
A wolverine that takes damage in combat flies into a berserk rage on its next turn, clawing and biting madly until either it or its opponent is dead. It gains +4 to Strength, +4 to Constitution, and -2 to Armor Class. The creature cannot end its rage voluntarily.

HP: 37
AC: 17, touch 11, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+8
2 claws +8 melee (1d4+6) and bite +6 melee (1d6+3)
Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +2
Str 22, Dex 17, Con 25

Skills
Wolverines have a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.

A Hoard Scarab in the Draconomicon is basically a Reflex save-or-die at CR 1/2. It has an AC 21, Hide +13 (+17 if it's hiding in coins), bites at +3 for minimal damage but anyone bitten must make a DC 11 Reflex save or it burrows into their body like in the movie The Mummy. From that point the victim takes 1d2 Con damage per round until they receive a Remove Disease or Heal spell, or any other effect that can remove a disease. It can't burrow into anyone with a +3 or higher natural armor bonus or with immunity to disease, but at CR 1/2 there's not much chance of survival if you fail that Reflex save.

[Shieldbunny]

I love chokers. They're like deformed, demented halflings!

I thought that was kender? :smallamused:

[Flickerdart]

A monster that would present a difficult(ish) challenge for the average adventuring party that would be expected to encounter it at an appropriate level. Sorry, I thought that was self explanatory.
The thing you were thinking of is CR, then.

[Thurbane]

The thing you were thinking of is CR, then.

In a way, yes. But in a more important way, for my specific purposes, I was looking for a creature with a specific number of HD. I was less concerned about CR.

A 3HD creature with no special abilities, low AC, and low damage output is not tough for it's HD. A 3HD creature with SLAs, high AC, and a large damage output IS tough "for it's HD". I know this ties directly into CR, however.

I am fully aware of the CR system - seems we've had this misunderstanding once before when I was talking about NPC WBL?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

An Aranea (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/aranea.htm) is a 3 HD magical beast with Sorcerer 3 spellcasting, poison, and an immobilizing web attack. Plus they're extremely fast, so it's not very likely that melee opponents will be much of a threat to one unless it's caught by surprise.

[Thurbane]

Nice - I'll have a look at Aranaea, Phantom Fungus and Chokers as well. Thanks guys.

[Vaz]

Bloodthorns can be kind of lethal at low level in an enclosed area (they're speed 0), but with 20 Str, large size, Improved Trip with 4 natural attacks and the ability to drain blood it can make beat sticks kind of wary. This is from the Fiend Folio.

Advanced Bloodhawks aren't single target monsters, but when they have more than 1HD, they're effectively diehard. 80ft movement, 2 claws, and a bite (each hit causing a wound which bleeds for 1 damage/round), and being small size they have the ability to avoid attacks quite well, combined with weapon finesse and a dex of 16. This too is in the Fiend Folio, and something I forgot until I saw it on the previous page.

I do like plants, and one I kind of like is Myconids (MM2), although the highest threat you have at 3HD is the Elder worker, which is limited to melee only (the spores do not become damaging until it becomes a guard at 4HD). However, they do tend to scale kind of well, until you reach the Myconid Sovereign which can create zombies, and if you can throw in the subplot that will eventually allow you to turn it into a friend, it can make a select number of potions for the party. It's not exactly the most powerful of course, but I quite like them, they're kinda cute.

A Needlefolk is only 3HD, but can make an okayish snipers with their 1d12+1 damage attack.

A Wortling could be a lead in to a bigger plot - their poison is fairly lethal (1 minute sleep, 1d10 minutes sleep, although only DC11), but are based around swarming, so do better in groups. And Orcworts are fairly lethal - 6 slams, and swallow hole (with a chance to paralyze those in its gut), and entangle to all within 15ft of itself. As ever, not capability to deal with flyers, so that makes it CR10, maybe even CR7 if appropriately prepared for or so rather than CR20.

[Flickerdart]

A 3HD creature with no special abilities, low AC, and low damage output is not tough for it's HD. A 3HD creature with SLAs, high AC, and a large damage output IS tough "for it's HD". I know this ties directly into CR, however.
But...you've got the Crab on here, and the Crab doesn't have very much in the way of special abilities. Its statistics are almost all comparable to vermin of similar HD, it's just that its CR is too low.

[Thurbane]

But...you've got the Crab on here, and the Crab doesn't have very much in the way of special abilities. Its statistics are almost all comparable to vermin of similar HD, it's just that its CR is too low.

The Crab is 7HD, so even though it's only CR3 (which I think we all agree is very underrated), it doesn't meet my criteria of 3HD or less...

WotC chronically miscalculated the CR of some creatures. An Adamantine Clockwork Horror is grossly underrated, while an Ogre mage is quite overrated .

[ShurikVch]

Some other (probably) interesting creatures:

Ankheg - Large Magical Beast, Improved grab, spit acid
Carrion Crawler - Large Aberration, 8 tentacles, Paralysis
Cryptoclidus - large aquatic dinosaur, Improved grab, swallow whole
Derro - Darkness at-will plus poisoned sneak attack...
Ethereal Marauder - Ethereal Jaunt (Su)
Grick
Pixie - Irresistible dance
Sea Hag - Horrific appearance, evil eye
Vampiric Ixitxachitl - Energy drain
Wortling - Poison, swarming; plantmind, plant traits, woodsense

[Thurbane]

Ankheg would be great - we have a running gag about "you smell overripe bananas" before an Ankheg attack. COmes from a reference to an old Dragon mag ecology article.