Vitriol Hound [Creature, MitP]

[The Demented One]

Vitriol Hound
Size/Type: Medium Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 4d10+8 (30 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 16 (+1 Dex, +5 natural), touch 11, flatfooted 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+8
Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d6+4 plus acidic fang)
Full Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d6+4 plus acidic fang)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Acidic fang
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., immune to acid, low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +3, Listen +3, Move Silently +3, Spot +4
Feats: Power Attack, Ability Focus (Acidic Fang)
Environment: Warm forests
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (2-10)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always True Neutral
Advancement: 5-9 HD (Medium), 10-14 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: +1 (cohort)

Vitriol Hounds are magical beasts descended from a pack of worgs experimented on by the renowned mage Melf. Melf discovered a way to imbue the creatures with his eponymous acid arrow spell, but much to his dismay, its effects were only temporary. Deeming his experiment a failure, he released the worgs into the wild. However, the residual energy of the magic remained within them, and years of inbreeding amplified and enhanced it, resulting in the creation of Vitriol Hounds, stronger worgs blessed with an acidic bite. Vitriol Hounds look no different from normal worgs, save that, as a result of their acidic fangs, their muzzles are hairless and scaley.

Acidic Fang (Su)
Whenever a creature is damaged by a Vitriol Hound’s bite attack, it must make a DC 16 Fortitude save or have small shards of the hound’s teeth become embedded in its wound. These shards slowly react with the creature’s bodily fluids, building up to a blast of acid. If the creature the shards are embedded in receives a single point of magical healing, the reaction is neutralized. Otherwise, after 1d4 rounds, the shards explode in a 10 ft. radius burst of acid, centered on the bitten creature, that deals 3d6 points of acid damage to all creatures caught in it, with a DC 16 Reflex save for half damage. Both saves are Constitution-based.

[Icewalker]

Hm. interesting...pretty cool. The acidic fang ability is kinda wierd and very powerful, but I'd say this is a good creature. Don't really like the background, but a good creature.

[Danu]

They're neutral? Then the probably behave quite a bit differently then standard worgs. What are their typical combat tactics? Would they rather engage is confronted, or would they rather retreat? What are their personalities like?

Like Icewalker, I'm not too thrilled with the background. I can't really see Melf casually releasing a bunch of worgs into the wild, or even experimenting with animals in the first place. In fact, I looked him up on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melf.

Edit: Voted no for the reasons stated above. Sorry, Demented.

[Matthew]

Hmmn. Maybe this should be a Template, rather than a separate Creature?

[JoshuaZ]

Always "True Neutral"? - I could maybe understand them being neutral in general, but why True Neutral?

[Lord Iames Osari]

Looks nifty to me.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Bump. Keep voting, people!

[deadfalcon]

Sounds nice, and is well done, I think that they would still be evil, of if there is a reason why not what is it? also you should chande the name of the famous mage in the fluff from Melf to something else, or just "a famous wizard".

Am reserving my vote for now ;)

[Zherog]

Some feedback.. Note that I haven't read anybody else's comments, so I may repeat some things...



Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d6+4 plus acidic fang)
Full Attack: Bite +8 melee (1d6+4 plus acidic fang)

Generally speaking, when a critter only has one attack, it's OK to use 1.5 Strength for the damage. You don't have to, of course.


Skills: Hide +3, Listen +3, Move Silently +3, Spot +4

These are based on worgs; so what caused them to completely lose their racial modifiers on skills over the years?


Feats: Power Attack, Ability Focus (Acidic Fang)

The ability name to which you're applying the Ability Focus feat should be lowercase.


Treasure: None

Out of curiosity, why'd you opt to go with none for the treasure? Worgs (of which you based your monster) have some treasure, and I think these guys remain intelligent enough to understand the value of stuff.


Alignment: Always True Neutral

Why? Typically, forcing a creature to be TN is reserved for things incapable of making moral judgement. These things are intelligent (Int 6), and therefore are capable of making moral judgements (at least according to the rules). Further, they're descended from worgs, which carry a "usually neutral evil" alignment. So what caused the switch?

It's also my opinion that "always" in an alignment should be used sparingly - typically outsiders only.


Level Adjustment: +1 (cohort)

If the core rules are used as a guideline, this value is too low. A normal worg has a cohort LA of +1, and these are clearly better (since they have the wicked acid attack (but see below)).


Vitriol Hounds are magical beasts descended from a pack of worgs experimented on by the renowned mage Melf.

You cannot use the name "Melf." It's the IP of Wizards of the Coast.


Acidic Fang (Su)
Whenever a creature is damaged by a Vitriol Hound’s bite attack, it must make a DC 16 Fortitude save or have small shards of the hound’s teeth become embedded in its wound. These shards slowly react with the creature’s bodily fluids, building up to a blast of acid. If the creature the shards are embedded in receives a single point of magical healing, the reaction is neutralized. Otherwise, after 1d4 rounds, the shards explode in a 10 ft. radius burst of acid, centered on the bitten creature, that deals 3d6 points of acid damage to all creatures caught in it, with a DC 16 Reflex save for half damage. Both saves are Constitution-based.

Will multiple bites inflict multiple exploding tooth fragments? If so, I think this ability is too good. 3d6 acid damage is an awful lot for the CR in my opinion.


***

My advice overall for this creature:

reduce tbe acid damage slightly (2d6 is plenty nasty), and figure out some reasonable racial skills to give the creature. Find one more ability to give creature (maybe even just a bonus feat), and push the CR to 5.

[DracoDei]

Acidic Fang should probably also allow a heal check (just got to be good and quick with the tweezers to get them all out in time. Also, I can just imagine them driving domesticated sheep or cattle before them into the middle of a town and then biting them (gently???) when opposition shows up and then continuing to drive them into the enemy to produce explosions... although with INT 6 it might take a smarter commanding monster to get them to implement this strategy...

Seconded on the "Melf's" being copyright thing.