Making a two-headed dragon.

[the_david]

Yes, I know I could just slap on an extra head and be done with it. Honestly, that would be too easy and I tend to like the monster creation section from the Bestiary. Other than that, I don't like the idea of color-coded true dragons and making something new prevents metagaming. (Intentionally or unintentionally.)

Now for what I'm working on: I want to build a large two-headed dragon, with a twist. Instead of one statblock he has one statblock for each side. I also want him to be able to present a threat to the players and as he's supposed to be used in a sandbox campaign that means his CR will go up with the players. He'd be PL+3 in total, or PL+1 for each statblock. He's not capable of flight, but he does have woodland stride and trackless step. Both heads should have a breathweapon appropriate for their CR. Both sides should roll initiative individually, and they both get one opportunity attack. They both attack with a claw and a bite, the bite attack has reach.

Now there are some things I'm not so sure about. He's a forest creature, so his breathweapon would likely be acidic, and I'd prefer a cone. I kinda like the idea of an icy breathweapon though. Ofcourse, I could also give them different breathweapons so one could have a cone and the other a line. I could use 2 different energy types, but that seems weird.
Movement is gonna be weird as they both should have the ability to move before their attack. For now, I would give them both 20 ft. movement for a total of 40 ft.
I think he'd need some kind of bonus against flanking similar to allround vision. Right now I have it at "can't be flanked by less than 3 creatures", but I like to hear about other options.
As for feats, they could choose them individually, or they could have the same feats.

And that's it. Any suggestions or constructive criticism?

[Debihuman]

This should be easy: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/two-headed-cr-1-or-2


want to build a large two-headed dragon, with a twist. Instead of one statblock he has one statblock for each side. No other two-headed creature has this. It could have 2 personalities but it doesn't really make sense to have two separate stat blocks. See ettins for example.

Here's a sample two headed dragon from Quest for Camelot cartoon and unfortunately I don't have the author's name.

Devon—Cornwall
Large Dragon
Hit Dice: 8d12+24 (52 hp)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 15 ft (3 squares) fly 15 (Clumsy)
Armor Class: 11 (-1 Size, -2 Dex +4 natural), Touch 7, Flat-footed 11
BAB/Grapple:+8/+19
Attack: Devon’s bite +14 melee (2d68+7); Cornwall’s claw +15 melee (1d8+7)
Full Attack: Devon’s bite +14 melee (2d6+7) and claw +9 melee (1d8+7); Cornwall’s bite +15 melee (2d6+7) and claw +10 melee (1d8+3) or Tail Slap (1d8+10)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with Bite)
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon
Special Qualities: Conjoined, Dragon Traits, Darkvision 90 ft., inbred, low-light vision, immunity to sleep effects and paralysis
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +4, Will +6D or +8C
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 6, Con 16, Int 16D or 8C, Wis 14D or 10C, Cha 12D or 8C
Cornwall's Skills: Balance +10, Hide +6, Intimidate +11, Move Silently +10, Survival +11
Devon's skills: Craft (fine art) +15, Hide +6, Knowledge (arcana, history, geography, nature) +18, Knowledge (all others) +6, Move Silently +10, Spellcraft +17, Survival +11 (+13 in aboveground natural environments, to avoid hazards, or to keep from getting lost)
Cornwall's Feats: Cleave, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (punch)
Devon's Feats: Knowledgeable (see below) X3
Challenge Rating: 5
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (Cornwall), Lawful Neutral (Devon)
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
D, C: This means that the statistic is for Devon or Cornwall, respectively.

Devon and Cornwall are an inbred, conjoined, two-headed dragon. They are 500 years old. They never agree on much, and would give anything to separate from each other. They have weaker than normal dragon wings and have trouble breathing fire unless they can agree. Due to their deformity, they have a low than average dexterity as compared to normal dragons.

They've been picked on by other dragons, because, as they put it:

C: You see, unlike most dragons, he can't breathe fire or fly.

D: Excuse moi, Mr. self-denial, but WE can't breathe fire or fly.

They speak Common and Draconic.

Combat

Breath Weapon (Su): Devon and Cornwall can each breathe a 40 ft. cone of fire simultaneously each doing 4d10 points of damage; Reflex Save for Half Damage (DC 31). They have a weaker than normal breath weapon for their age due to their smaller size. Note they had to learn to work together to get their breath weapon to work.

Conjoined (Ex): Devon and Cornwall are an inbred conjoined dragon with each head controlled by each dragon individually though they must agree on walking and especially on flying, as well as other tasks despite their constant bickering.

Dual Actions (Ex): Both Devon and Cornwall take turns in the same round. However, each rolls initiative separately, and they may disagree on what to do, such as which direction to move.

Inbred (Ex): Due to their defective genetic make-up, Devon and Cornwall could not breathe fire or fly until they learned to work together. As inbred dragons, they automatically earn the scorn of the other dragons and take a -5 to any Charisma-based checks when dealing with dragons.

New Feat

Knowledgeable
You know a lot.
Prerequisite: Knowledge (any two) 2 ranks, Intelligence 13
Benefit: You gain one +1 bonus on all Knowledge checks.
Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects stack


Debby

[the_david]

Did you actually read my post?

[Debihuman]

They wouldn't have 2 separate stat blocks but you could give them control of separate parts of their shared body Did you see my sample dragon?

Debby

[Doorhandle]

Yes, I know I could just slap on an extra head and be done with it. Honestly, that would be too easy and I tend to like the monster creation section from the Bestiary. Other than that, I don't like the idea of color-coded true dragons and making something new prevents metagaming. (Intentionally or unintentionally.)

Now for what I'm working on: I want to build a large two-headed dragon, with a twist. Instead of one statblock he has one statblock for each side. I also want him to be able to present a threat to the players and as he's supposed to be used in a sandbox campaign that means his CR will go up with the players. He'd be PL+3 in total, or PL+1 for each statblock. He's not capable of flight, but he does have woodland stride and trackless step. Both heads should have a breathweapon appropriate for their CR. Both sides should roll initiative individually, and they both get one opportunity attack. They both attack with a claw and a bite, the bite attack has reach.

Now there are some things I'm not so sure about. He's a forest creature, so his breathweapon would likely be acidic, and I'd prefer a cone. I kinda like the idea of an icy breathweapon though. Ofcourse, I could also give them different breathweapons so one could have a cone and the other a line. I could use 2 different energy types, but that seems weird.
Movement is gonna be weird as they both should have the ability to move before their attack. For now, I would give them both 20 ft. movement for a total of 40 ft.
I think he'd need some kind of bonus against flanking similar to allround vision. Right now I have it at "can't be flanked by less than 3 creatures", but I like to hear about other options.
As for feats, they could choose them individually, or they could have the same feats.

And that's it. Any suggestions or constructive criticism?


On the third points:
*Breath-weapons could be freezing acid, as opposed to just room-temperature acid. His heads could do either line or cone: One of each?
*Movement seems fine. You could have it that it has one move action on a separate turn, with both heads capable of full or standard actions depending on whether it moved.
* Attack of opportunity whenever hit by a flanking opponent? I mean, they have enough flailing limbs. Or juts keep track of it's facings, such as they are.
*If you want to be really dickish, look up teamwork feats, and have them count as flanking all enemys/always begin adjacent. Enlightenment will follow.

Also: what would happen if the beast is hit by cleave? Do both sides take a hit? And how would you let the players know they can do that?

[the_david]

I'd be more likely to use the symbiotic template from Savage Species than a two-headed or multiheaded template. That's still very unlikely though, and it would need some adjustments before it could work for me. I might use it for some other creature though.

I don't remember why I liked cold so much, other than that it would be funny if the other head would breath fire. I don't want to recreate Tiamat though, so I think I'm just going for one energy type. They might have a cone and a line though. I think I'd prefer acid or maybe sonic. Giving them a poisonous bite would be an option, but I'd rather have them something that recharges every few rounds, and then watch when it sinks in that they can use them on different turns.

I hadn't thought of letting them share 1 move action, but that would limit the other head to a standard action. I'm gonna go with 1 move action and 20 ft. movement each. They get woodland stride too, so if one of them drops below zero the other could still escape if they're in difficult terrain. (If one of them dies, the other might live to return. Probably with a zombie template attached to his other side.)

I think it's gonna be "can only be flanked by 3 or more characters". Other than that, they both have an opportunity attack, and reach with their bite attacks. Teamwork feats might be a little bit overkill

They could cleave the dragon if they think of it. Obviously, they could try it when they figure out that it gets multiple saving throws and that their breath weapons don't always recharge on the same turns. Deciding who attacks who would be based on facing and just winging it.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Now there are some things I'm not so sure about. He's a forest creature, so his breathweapon would likely be acidic, and I'd prefer a cone. I kinda like the idea of an icy breathweapon though. Ofcourse, I could also give them different breathweapons so one could have a cone and the other a line. I could use 2 different energy types, but that seems weird.
Movement is gonna be weird as they both should have the ability to move before their attack. For now, I would give them both 20 ft. movement for a total of 40 ft.
I think he'd need some kind of bonus against flanking similar to allround vision. Right now I have it at "can't be flanked by less than 3 creatures", but I like to hear about other options.
As for feats, they could choose them individually, or they could have the same feats.

And that's it. Any suggestions or constructive criticism?

You might want to take some inspiration from 5e's legendary monsters. They get a few bonus actions each round which they can take at the start or end of any player's turn, and they get a 3/day "that failed saving throw is now a success" ability to protect them from save-or-dies. Usually these off-turn actions are single attacks, movement, or unique magical abilities for battlefield control that they can't do on-turn.

You could take inspiration from the natural dichotomy of summer/winter. One head is lean and skeletal and breathes ice, while the other is furry and has flowers growing on its back and breathes fire. Maybe it's a divine-grade creature from the Feywild or Outlands that a druid summoned.

If you give it Improved Uncanny Dodge, it simply is immune to flanking. Maybe make it do so as a level 1 rogue, so the party's rogue will still be able to sneak attack it and he'll also be the only member of the party to get flanking bonuses against it. This can also give a neat cinematic feel of the party's rogue being agile enough to trick both heads simultaneously and deliver an attack to its vitals.

[Amechra]

Take two normal dragons. Give them the following special quality:

Conjoined [Ex]: This creature is conjoined with another creature; as such, they gain the following benefits and drawbacks:

Both creatures share the same space without squeezing; they must always be in the same space.
The two creatures act on the same initiative count.
If the creatures share a movement speed, use the lower speed and manoeuvrability between the two creatures; if either creature moves, willingly or unwillingly, both creatures move instead. If one of the creatures is rendered unable to move (such as by being paralyzed, petrified, or killed), halve this shared movement speed and treat the other creature as flat-footed; if either of the creatures are held in place by some effect, they both are.
Both creatures are considered to be either the same creature or different creatures, whichever is better.
Neither creature is flat-footed or surprised unless they both are.
Both creatures share each of their actions except for their Standard action.


That's pretty much all you'll need; just grab, say, a Young Adult Green Dragon and an Adult White Dragon, and you've got something... interesting. Just replace their movement speeds with [40 ft., fly 150 ft. (poor), burrow 30 ft., swim 40 ft], and give them the Conjoined special quality.

Some of the effects will require adjudication (such as the effects on their movement speed), but you're the DM; just play it fair and logical.