Creating a Challenge 30 Undead Monster

[JamesIntrocaso]

Hey all. I tried my hand at creating an undead Challenge 30 monster called The Lingering Havoc which is a collection of body parts. Take a look and let me know what you think. I'm open to suggestions and feedback! http://worldbuilderblog.me/2014/10/02/the-lingering-havoc/

[infinitetech]

not bad the way it is, though... maybe add a passive aoe lifesteal, not much, like 1 or 2 hp per round within reach distance, just enough to make some cheesing ideas go out the window, and to make you cautious, can turn it off in order to target one enemy with a stronger attack of some kind

[JamesIntrocaso]

not bad the way it is, though... maybe add a passive aoe lifesteal, not much, like 1 or 2 hp per round within reach distance, just enough to make some cheesing ideas go out the window, and to make you cautious, can turn it off in order to target one enemy with a stronger attack of some kind

That is a cool idea! Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely explore it.

[Steel Mirror]

I like it! I only have a few observations and a quibble, but The Lingering Havoc looks pretty much game ready.

First, a quibble. The Lingering Havoc gets to heal if he kills someone within 120 feet, but no mention is made of what happens if one of his wight minions slays someone. Now, it would be very embarrassing for a high level PC to die to a wight of all things, but I think you should add in a few words so that Havoc gets to heal if his minions kill anything, as well. Add insult to injury!

I have a concern about the Limited Spell immunity trait, in that spellcasters just aren't built the same way they used to be. Limiting a spellcaster to being able to target the Havoc only with level 8 or 9 spells means that they will pretty much only have 2 spells to drop on him, then they're tapped out. The weakness that fire and radiant damage is actually a good way to mitigate that, ensuring that even the humble Fire Bolt or Sacred Flame could see use, but not all spellcasters will have so many fire and radiant attacks, which leaves them up the creek in a Havoc fight. I guess they could focus on battlefield control and/or buffing their allies? It might actually work out just fine in play, I just don't have any experience at high level 5E yet, but probably keep an eye on it.

I like the fact that he craps out wights that the players have to then deal with (yay bounded accuracy!), but maybe integrate the minions into one of his legendary actions? Maybe he gets a legendary action that lets all the wights adjacent to one PC get an attack with advantage against that PC, or an action that allows them to grapple and try to overwhelm the PCs zombie-hoard style, or heck an action that makes them explode or something. Just a little something to make the wights scarier and more relevant once they slough off, and also something to make the PCs nervous and unsure what to expect every time those legendary actions go off.

The constant blizzard ability is a cool thing you added to this guy; have you thought of extending it to give him a way to deal with fliers? Maybe an action that he can take that forces anyone in the air to make some sort of check or be slammed into the ground by the force of the winds, taking tons of damage, grounding it, and potentially disrupting things like spellcaster concentration. Just a thought for dealing with those ranged-attack-kiting types! Also you could mention that the blizzard gives the Lingering Havoc full cover to ranged attacks originating from outside the blizzard area.

Pretty cool monster! I'm looking forward to the time (far in the future) when I might be able to throw such a baddie at my players. :smallbiggrin:

[JamesIntrocaso]

I like it! I only have a few observations and a quibble, but The Lingering Havoc looks pretty much game ready.

First, a quibble. The Lingering Havoc gets to heal if he kills someone within 120 feet, but no mention is made of what happens if one of his wight minions slays someone. Now, it would be very embarrassing for a high level PC to die to a wight of all things, but I think you should add in a few words so that Havoc gets to heal if his minions kill anything, as well. Add insult to injury!

I have a concern about the Limited Spell immunity trait, in that spellcasters just aren't built the same way they used to be. Limiting a spellcaster to being able to target the Havoc only with level 8 or 9 spells means that they will pretty much only have 2 spells to drop on him, then they're tapped out. The weakness that fire and radiant damage is actually a good way to mitigate that, ensuring that even the humble Fire Bolt or Sacred Flame could see use, but not all spellcasters will have so many fire and radiant attacks, which leaves them up the creek in a Havoc fight. I guess they could focus on battlefield control and/or buffing their allies? It might actually work out just fine in play, I just don't have any experience at high level 5E yet, but probably keep an eye on it.

I like the fact that he craps out wights that the players have to then deal with (yay bounded accuracy!), but maybe integrate the minions into one of his legendary actions? Maybe he gets a legendary action that lets all the wights adjacent to one PC get an attack with advantage against that PC, or an action that allows them to grapple and try to overwhelm the PCs zombie-hoard style, or heck an action that makes them explode or something. Just a little something to make the wights scarier and more relevant once they slough off, and also something to make the PCs nervous and unsure what to expect every time those legendary actions go off.

The constant blizzard ability is a cool thing you added to this guy; have you thought of extending it to give him a way to deal with fliers? Maybe an action that he can take that forces anyone in the air to make some sort of check or be slammed into the ground by the force of the winds, taking tons of damage, grounding it, and potentially disrupting things like spellcaster concentration. Just a thought for dealing with those ranged-attack-kiting types! Also you could mention that the blizzard gives the Lingering Havoc full cover to ranged attacks originating from outside the blizzard area.

Pretty cool monster! I'm looking forward to the time (far in the future) when I might be able to throw such a baddie at my players. :smallbiggrin:

Good points and great ideas! I will definitely tweak the Absorb Corpse power and think about a new legendary action or two... A new version of The Lingering Havoc will be on my site on Tuesday morning. Check it out then!

[infinitetech]

i must have skipped the blizzard, my bad, but how about something a bit thematically more appropriate, how about a storm of corpse ash, a relic from 1.0 corpse ash is an acidic ash that sticks to foes and deals negative energy over time, in regular contact its 1d2 neg dam, 1 acid/turn, if breathed in which it likely would be it deals 1d4 neg damage, 2 acid/turn, if submerged (half covered) it deals 1d6 neg dam, 3 acid/turn, if encased in it it deals 2d6 neg dam, 6 acid/turn, if the creature/player dies from this effect and is/becomes encased within 5 rounds and remains encased for 5 rounds they are brought back with the undead template in service of the caster or if the caster is dead of a god of evil death(whichever appropriate) with all of their stats, abilities, gear, and memories still intact, all weapons/unarmed damage gain 1d6 neg and 3 acid

basically if you abandon your allies you pay the price and the longer you take to fight the more dangerous it gets

falls at 2 inch /round, caster can as a move action lower a 10ft radius area by 1 foot in order to encase a target in the middle in 3 inch thick or submerge in 6 thick (can remove more to coat thicker)

protection evil gives half damage but burns up 2x as fast as normal

remember that acid damage may harm gear before they turn (they are infused with the ash)

im sure that if you want you could also use the move action to create ash spikes/walls/bolts instead or something

[JamesIntrocaso]

i must have skipped the blizzard, my bad, but how about something a bit thematically more appropriate, how about a storm of corpse ash, a relic from 1.0 corpse ash is an acidic ash that sticks to foes and deals negative energy over time, in regular contact its 1d2 neg dam, 1 acid/turn, if breathed in which it likely would be it deals 1d4 neg damage, 2 acid/turn, if submerged (half covered) it deals 1d6 neg dam, 3 acid/turn, if encased in it it deals 2d6 neg dam, 6 acid/turn, if the creature/player dies from this effect and is/becomes encased within 5 rounds and remains encased for 5 rounds they are brought back with the undead template in service of the caster or if the caster is dead of a god of evil death(whichever appropriate) with all of their stats, abilities, gear, and memories still intact, all weapons/unarmed damage gain 1d6 neg and 3 acid

basically if you abandon your allies you pay the price and the longer you take to fight the more dangerous it gets

falls at 2 inch /round, caster can as a move action lower a 10ft radius area by 1 foot in order to encase a target in the middle in 3 inch thick or submerge in 6 thick (can remove more to coat thicker)

protection evil gives half damage but burns up 2x as fast as normal

remember that acid damage may harm gear before they turn (they are infused with the ash)

im sure that if you want you could also use the move action to create ash spikes/walls/bolts instead or something

It's definitely a cool idea, but it sounds a little more complicated than 5e normally gets. In fourth I could definitely see this.

I do like the idea of the battle getting more dangerous as it goes on. Something else to think about... hmmmm. You are a smart person!

[infinitetech]

thanks, this is actually back from d&d original, like the first runs of dragon mags, thank my uncle for keeping those, but yeah, a little more complicated but not too bad, and i do invent a lot haha, keep up the good work

[JamesIntrocaso]

thanks, this is actually back from d&d original, like the first runs of dragon mags, thank my uncle for keeping those, but yeah, a little more complicated but not too bad, and i do invent a lot haha, keep up the good work

Lucky dog! I wish I had some older mags. Those were awesome!

[infinitetech]

true, also still have the old storm sheet for dms too, love weather effects during travel... i roll a dm 98... hmm, look at that, force 4 blizzard... woops, so much for a hot and sandy dessert campaign