Dire Shi Tzu

[Jaguira]

Dire Shi Tzu

Size/Type: Small Animal
Hit Dice: 2d8+1 (11 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 40 ft/round
Armor Class: 15 (+1 size, +4 Dex, +1 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-2
Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d6)
Full Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d6) and Claws +1 melee (1d3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Scent, low-light vision, trip
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +3
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 16
Skills: Hide +6, Listen +5, Move Silently +3, Spot +4, Survival +2
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or pair, always accompanied by 1d3 nobles
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: 1d3 of gems worth 250g each
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: 2-3 HD (Small); 4-6 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —

Dire Shi Tzus are fiercely loyal to their masters, usually rich nobles who dabble in spell casting. They are renowned for being almost unnaturally cute, with bright eyes, soft fluffy fur, perfectly curled tails, and a naturally playful demeanor. Despite their harmless outward appearances, Dire Shi Tzus are vicious in battle and will gladly die to protect their master(s).

A Dire Shi Tzu can grow to be up to 3 feet long and weigh over 30 pounds.

Combat
Dire Shi Tzus attack fearlessly, biting and clawing their foes without mercy.

Skills
Dire Shi Tzus have a +8 racial bonus on Dipolmacy checks, a +4 racial bonus on Jump checks, and when defending their master(s) gain a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks.


...So? Whaddya think? This is my first time making a creature from scratch, or really at all, so I'd love to get a much constructive critisism as possible :smallsmile: Thanks!

[Innis Cabal]

id give it to my BBEG just for kicks or to send against my optimazation crew adding the vampires template....

[Jaguira]

Fluffy balls of blood-sucking death? Nice. Wish I'd thought of that xD

[Innis Cabal]

yep, it would be so degrading when their done they may very well leave and not play for a while, after all nothing says "Stop number crunching and RP" then a horde of undead dire fluff balls that spread undeath in their wake....

[Ivius]

Oh yes. I can see some truly awesome templated versions of this.

[Kyace]

I'm not sure, but you may have meant spell resistance 15 instead of 5. Generally, spell resistance starts around 10 and raises. You can't even make an item that grants spell resistance lower than 13.

[Innis Cabal]

but it wouldnt be as cuddly

[Jaguira]

I'm not sure, but you may have meant spell resistance 15 instead of 5. Generally, spell resistance starts around 10 and raises. You can't even make an item that grants spell resistance lower than 13.
Really? I used the Dire Rat entry as a very basic begining, and since I'm still kind of a newbie, I just kept that as it was xD; I think I'll change that, though. Thanks!

[Kyace]

Ah, thats why. Fiendish Dire Rats, like all Fiendish creatures, get spell resistance equal to their HD + 5. Since a Fiendish Dire Rat has one HD, it only gets sr 6. The Fiendish Dire Rat still has a challenge rating of 1/3, so that still makes sense for it. Since your creature was a beloved pet of a spellcaster, I thought you had the spellcaster noble give it SR, either by the spell or by a collar.

That also explains the int 3, since most animals only have int 2. Your fiendish dire rat got a boast to int 3 due to the fiendish template. Most animals, even dire animals, don't have SR or int 3, you might have copied the data from the fiendish entry instead of the dire rat entry. I'm also not sure I'd give your little guy a CR of 2, since that means "A decent challenge for a party of 4 level 2 players in a fairly balanced party." Him having SR of 15 might really shock the spellcasters, but they should make quick work of this little guy. He seems roughly equal to a wolf (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/wolf.htm) in power so I'd give him a CR of 1. Both Wolves and Riding dogs have the trip special attack, so it might fit flavorwise to give yours as well.

Your math seems slightly off on a couple of things.
You have:
Size/Type: Small Animal
Hit Dice: 2d8+1 (12 hp)
Initiative: +3
Armor Class: 15 (+1 size, +3 Dex, +1 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-2
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 3, Wis 11, Cha 16

I think it might be nearer to:
Size/Type: Small Animal
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11 hp) -He has +1 bonus from con on two HD (Average roll for two d8 dice is 9 (4+5) with 2 extra hitpoints due to con)
Initiative: +4 -Dex of 18 gives bonus of +4
Armor Class: 16 (+1 size, +4 Dex, +1 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-3 -Animals gain Base Attack like a Cleric, small creatures take -4 penalty on grapple rolls.
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +0 -Animals tend to have good Fort and Ref and bad Will
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 3, Wis 11, Cha 16

I'm shocked, but your +8 racial bonus to diplomacy seems legal; only forgery is a language depentant skill, so you don't have to speak a language to take ranks in or use diplomacy. I'm just amazed that even untrained, a Shi Tzu defending its owner has +8 racial, +3 ability and +2 moral bonuses to diplomacy. This little guy would make an awesome bard. Couple ranks of Perform (Howl) and ready to rock.

All in all, you might have made a couple of rookie errors, but you made a lovable monster and thats what really matters.

[Jaguira]

Aw, thanks! :smallredface: I'm glad to hear it... And I made the math corrections you pointed out, too, so thanks for pointing them out in the first place! :smallbiggrin:

[Mewtarthio]

It's a Dire animal, so it gets a good Will save as well.

[endoperez]

I'd just like to add that I read the thread as "Dire Sun Tzu", and expected something quite different...

Also, "Organization: Solitary or pair, always accompanied by 1d3 nobles" is really hilarious in that it perfectly fits, even though it's actually Shi Tzu that accompanies the nobles.

[Jaguira]

"Sun Tzu"? :smallconfused: I have no idea what you were expecting with a name like that, but it must have been interesting enough for you to click it.

And thanks xD It kind of makes you wonder who's really the master in the dog/master relationship, neh? :smallbiggrin:

[alchemy.freak]

I believe it violates one of the rules in things I am forbidden to do while gaming, something about "i will not make a dire version of any dog of the toy breeds" or something like that

[Jaguira]

...Really? Crap. Well, I haven't read past the first 10 or so of those rules, so I plead ignorance xD;

[Matthew]

What exactly is a Shi Tzu? [Edit] Oh right, a dog. Weird.

[PhantomBread]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shih_Tzu

Behold! The mighty Shih Tzu!

[F.H. Zebedee]

Gotta add the monster of Legend template to one of those things... Maybe Half dragon/Half-Fiend. Hmmm... The diabolic options...

Yeah, this thing is very nice flavorwise, but has a kink or two.

[Maldraugedhen]

...When I saw the title of this thread, I originally thought it was going to feature a dire version of the author of the Art of War, Sun Tzu, like endoperez above. Which would be awesome, and deserves to be made like the dire Shih Tzu.

[Jaguira]

What exactly is a Sun Tzu?

[Kyace]

Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War about five hundred years BC. Basically, he is an old dead guy that lots of people like to quote.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

"Sun Tzu"? :smallconfused: I have no idea what you were expecting with a name like that, but it must have been interesting enough for you to click it.

Sun tzu was one fo the greatest generals in ancient history. He lived during the warring states era of china, and his disciples compiled a really handy book on military strategy called "The Art of War"
He talked about the types of ground, and always pressed you to follow "The Way"
And he was always with nobles. a dire sun tzu would be awesome, though! I call dibs, as soon as i finish the huge setting i am working on at the moment. I just also happen to be using it to do homework! How handy DnD can be!

[Jaguira]

Ooooooooh! Okay. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Holocron Coder]

Now to see a dire vampiric pomeranian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomeranian_%28dog%29)...

[CabbageTheif]

you know what i am going to do with this? make a whole pack of them that were experimented on by their magical rich people, and add templates like crazy. the pack leader would of course be dire shi tzu/half dragon, but other members would have the fey template, the fiend, oooo funfunfunfunfun!

[Neko]

o.O

oh man... thats creepy.. a vampire one of those would be nuts... course I have a dislike for small dogs.. if I'm gonna have an animal taht can fit in my lap.. I want a cat... than again the dire one is more normal dog size... whats next.. dire poodle thats the size of a tiger? actually thats creepy...

[Seraph]

id give it to my BBEG just for kicks or to send against my optimazation crew adding the vampires template....


hannibal king what?

[Maldraugedhen]

Or maybe just a rabid Sun Tzu would work well... foams at the mouth while lecturing about military coordination.

[Neko]

wait... wasnt there a vampire one of those in Blade Trinity? its mouth split open all crazy like?

[Jaguira]

you know what i am going to do with this? make a whole pack of them that were experimented on by their magical rich people, and add templates like crazy. the pack leader would of course be dire shi tzu/half dragon, but other members would have the fey template, the fiend, oooo funfunfunfunfun!
Do me a favor and tell me how that goes, please :smallbiggrin:


Or maybe just a rabid Sun Tzu would work well... foams at the mouth while lecturing about military coordination.
That would be quite the... Odd... Sight to see. Wonder what the stats on him would be?


wait... wasnt there a vampire one of those in Blade Trinity? its mouth split open all crazy like?
Never heard of the series, so I couldn't tell you. Sorry!