[MitP II] Death by Wallbash!

[Fualkner Asiniti]

Gruarru
Small Plant
Hit Dice: 6d8+12 (39 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20 ft., climb 50 ft.
Armor Class: 15 (+1 size, +1 dex, +3 natural) touch 12, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+13
Attack: Tentacle +9 melee (1d8+3)
Full Attack: 2 Tentacle +9 melee (1d8+3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft. / 20 ft.
Special Attacks: Tentacle grapple, Toss, Overthrow.
Special Qualities: Plant traits, low-light vision, tentacles.
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +2 *
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12
Skills: Knowledge (nature) +9, Climb +5, Survival +5
Feats: Ability Focus (Tentacle Grapple), Track, Skill Focus (Knowledge [Nature])
Environment: Any forest
Organization: Solitary or group (2-10) or if encountered at thier home tree, Guardians (4- 20 plus 2 advanced gruarru)
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 9-20+ (Small)
Level Adjustment: -

The humanoid before you is completly covered with leaves. It looks at you with multifaced eyes. From its back grow brambles that seem to be almost alive.


Combat

Gruarru do not hunt. they have little motivation to do anything but guard the tree from which they spawn. The creatures often post sentries around the spawning tree. If the forest they live in comes under attack, they will defend it with no fear. *
Gruarru speak Druidic and some Common, though they are not very fluent in it.
Tentacle Grapple (Ex): A Gruarru can take a full round action and grapple creatures within a 20 ft. radius using his tentacles. A medium creature takes 2 tentacles to grapple, a small or less takes one. A large takes four, and huge takes 8. A gruarru has one tentacle for every hit die it has. The creature may not grapple Gargantuan or larger creatures. A gruarru may opt to grapple normally with its tentacles.
Toss: If a creature fails a grapple check against a gruarru, the gruarru may choose to throw that creature. The creature can be thrown at any surface. The creature takes 2d10 damage upon hitting the surface. The creature may attempt a DC 16 reflex save for half damage. This DC is strength based. The DC diminishes by 2 after 10 ft., and every 10 ft. after that, to a maximum of 50 ft.
Overthrow: A gruarru may use more tentacles than necessary to grapple an opponent. Every tentacle over the minimum increases the grapple bonus and reflex save by two. Another die of damage is also added.
Tentacles: a gruarru's tentacles may be used to do anything that doesn’t require any delicate movement. The tentacles can be severed (hardness 5, HP 10) but they grow back in 1d4+2 days.
Skills: Gruarru get a +8 bonus to climb checks, and may take 10 even when threatened. A gruarru gets a +4 bonus to hide in a forested area.
A gruarru can be summoned with Summon Nature's Ally IV.

Ecology:
Gruarru live in the forest, spending most of their time guarding their birthtree. They get energy from the sun and produce no waste. The presence of gruarru often makes a forest florish, because the gruarru actively plant trees and balance the ecology of the forest. There is still almost no information about them, and any druids that have gone to actively study them have never returned. Some think that the druids that don't return live among the gruarru until the end of their lives.

Tactics:
Gruarru fight by throwing their enemies away with their powerful tentacles. Solitary Gruarru often throw and run away, often to find more reinforcements. Gruarru in groups with toss the enemies from one gruarru to the next, thereby maximizing damage. It is not unusual to find unidentifible bodies near Gruarru nests. The constant throwing can easily kill in seconds.

Society:
Gruarru society is largely unknown, and their only know purpose is to protect thier trees. They do not enjoy fighting, and will usually toss a victim into an empty area to deter more intrusion.

Treasure:
Gruarru don't have treasure in the traditional sence. Dead bodies near their tree may have treasure on them. The gruarru are known to grow rare plants near their tree.

[TempusCCK]

Eh, a small creature grappling large and huge? Those better be some big-ass tentacles.

I suppose you're not applying size modifiers to grappling either are you? Should specify.

[Legoman]

I suppose the lack of size modifiers is the reason why more tentacles can grapple more effectively.

[SmileyX]

wow these are cool, but a quick question, if one of these guys is advanced to medium size, i was thinking, would it be feasible to allow them to toss gargantuan sized creatures? Or maybe reduce the number of tentacles needed for Huge or something to that effect? Also would the range be increased? Anyways, a really neat creature :smallbiggrin:.

[Eighth_Seraph]

...a plant the size of a human tossing a purple worm?! That would be a kodac moment, but it seems perfectly feasible by the description above.

[Icewalker]

I like it. Quite cool.

One issue, I think overthrow is too powerful with increasing by 1d10 damage per extra tentacle. I'd say keep the +2 to grapple and DC, but only add another damage die every 2 extra tentacles.

This thing could deal 6d10 to a medium character. Seems a bit much for a CR 3.

[Matthew]

I have to agree. A Small Sized Creature shouldn't be able to Grapple or Throw anything quite as large as what is implied here.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Bump. Keep voting, people!

[Demented]

Can throw a creature at any surface, huh?


Fly Throw me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars...
:biggrin:

[DracoDei]

I have to agree. A Small Sized Creature shouldn't be able to Grapple or Throw anything quite as large as what is implied here.
Well, if the strength score says it can, the only think that really remains is purchase for balance... since they are plant related if they can instantly grow roots into the ground to gain something to pull against, then that could make it more plausible...
Ripple effect: would also let them resist bull-rushes and trips VERY well... at least a +10 bonus while they are doing it they do it continuously, but would drop dex down to 5 or something for AC purposes and count as losing dex bonus for all the mechanics that work off of that....

[Zherog]

Some feedback - note that I haven't read the comments from others, so I might duplicate things.


Speed: 20 ft., branchion 50 ft.

First, the word is spelled "Brachiation." Second, and more importantly, there's no such movement mode in D&D. Use a climb speed instead.


Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+13

BAB for a plant is 3/4 Hit Die, or +4 in this case.

As for your grapple number... +4 BAB, +3 Strength, -4 Size = +3 total. Then, of course, we have to factor in your grapple stuff from below. But rather than including that here, I'll talk about it down in the special abilities.


Attack: Tentacle +9 melee (1d8+3)
Full Attack: 2 Tentacle +9 melee (1d8+3)

These should be +7; the problem exists because you had the incorrect BAB above.


Special Qualities: Plant traits, low-light vision, tentacles.

Rule of Thumb: vision types first, {type} trait last, everything else in between, in alpha order. So yours, for example, would read:

Special Qualities: Low-light vision, tentacles, plant traits.

Additionally, I'm not convinced "tentacles" is actually a special quality in this case.


Saves: Fort +5, Ref +2, Will +2 *

A 6 HD plant has base saves of 5/2/2. Its ability modifiers are 2/1/2. So its total save bonuses should be 7/3/4.

Also, what's the asterisk on the end for?


Abilities: Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12

Those are really good stats. You probably should consider giving it some sort of weakness.

Also, it's unusual for a Small creature to have a higher Strength than Dexterity. You can do it, certainly; just be aware it's not the norm.


Skills: Knowledge (nature) +6, Climb +5, Survival +5

So our little plant guy here should have a total of 18 skill ranks to spend, given his Hit Dice. So right off the bat we have some problems - especially when we consider they get a +8 bonus to Climb as a racial bonus. But for now, let's ignore that.

If we take the skills above and remove ability mods, we get totals of Knowledge (nature) +6, Climb +2, Survival +3. So that's a total of 11 skill ranks spent. You have 7 more ranks to spend. And, of course, you need to add the racial bonus into Climb.

Also, you should include Hide in the skill list, because as a Small creature it has a bonus. Finally, I'm a firm believer that Listen and Spot should always be listed (although admittedly WotC doesn't always do this). I think it would be a good thing if you included those, too.


Feats: Ability Focus (Tentacle Grapple), Track

You have 6 HD, so you should have 3 feats.

"Tentacle Grapple" should be lowercase.


Treasure: None

This is the third monster I've reviewed, and the third one that had "none" as the treasure type. Why? If they kill somebody, wouldn't its belongings be scattered on the forest floor where it died? I can see not giving them a full treasure entry, but I think there's reason for them to have the possibility of something.



The humanoid before you is completly covered with leaves. It looks at you with multifaced eyes. From its back grow brambles that seem to be almost alive.

Be careful. In D&D the word "humanoid" has a very specific meaning. These creatures aren't humanoids, and using that word to describe them has the potential to confuse your readers. You can call them "human-shaped" but don't call them "humanoid."


Gruarru do not hunt. they have little motivation to do anything but guard the tree from which they spawn. The creatures often post sentries around the spawning tree. If the forest they live in comes under attack, they will defend it with no fear. *

Again you have an asterisk that doesn't reference anything.


Tentacle Grapple (Ex): A Gruarru can take a full round action and grapple creatures within a 20 ft. radius using his tentacles. A medium creature takes 2 tentacles to grapple, a small or less takes one. A large takes four, and huge takes 8. A gruarru has one tentacle for every hit die it has. The creature may not grapple Gargantuan or larger creatures. A gruarru may opt to grapple normally with its tentacles.

A few things in here.

You referred to the creature with the gender-neutral pronoun "it" earlier in your description, and that seems like the appropriate pronoun to me. But here you have "his" instead of "its."

Note that Hit Die should be capitalized.

With those out of the way... I think this is way too complicated. You can really simplify this whole process; just give the creature the improved grab special ability, and a +4 or +8 racial bonus on grapple checks. Done.


Toss: If a creature fails a grapple check against a gruarru, the gruarru may choose to throw that creature. The creature can be thrown at any surface. The creature takes 2d10 damage upon hitting the surface. The creature may attempt a DC 16 reflex save for half damage. This DC is strength based. The DC diminishes by 2 after 10 ft., and every 10 ft. after that, to a maximum of 50 ft.

This is also a confusing ability. (by the way, capitalize the names of abilities such as Strength)

So, if I land in a soft pile of goose down and leafs, I take 2d10 damage? You need to be careful with "absolute" words such as any or always. You really need to be certain you mean those words.

Let's simplify the ability, though. Because you really have too much going on here, and you're attempting to invent a new mechanic, when really we can just use falling damage and be done.


Toss (Ex): With a successful grapple check, a gruarru may toss its opponent into the air. Medium or smaller creatures travel 1d3X10 feet into the air before falling to the ground; Large and larger creatures travel half that distance (to a minimum of 10 feet). Victims crash to the ground in the same round they were tossed into the air. A DC 16 Reflex save reduces the falling damage by 10 feet. This is Strength based.

Meh. I still don't like it completely. But hopefully it gives you some ideas. It's simpler, because it uses an existing mechanic with which GMs should be familiar (falling damage). It's also consistent, so players aren't going to cry foul about the damage they receive.


Overthrow: A gruarru may use more tentacles than necessary to grapple an opponent. Every tentacle over the minimum increases the grapple bonus and reflex save by two. Another die of damage is also added.

I would eliminate this. I think it just adds to the confusion of the ability set, without really adding anything super-special to the creature.


Tentacles: a gruarru's tentacles may be used to do anything that doesn’t require any delicate movement. The tentacles can be severed (hardness 5, HP 10) but they grow back in 1d4+2 days.

That's pretty good hardness and hit points for a tentacle. By comparison, a roper is a CR 12 plant creature that also uses tentacles to attack. Its tentacles also have 10 hit points, but no hardness.


Skills: Gruarru get a +8 bonus to climb checks, and may take 10 even when threatened. A gruarru gets a +4 bonus to hide in a forested area.

See above. Given the racial bonus to Hide (skill names are capitalized, by the way), you'll list it up in your Skills line of the stat block as:


Hide +5 (+9 in forests)


A gruarru can be summoned with Summon Nature's Ally IV.

Spell names aren't capitalized.


Tactics:
Gruarru fight by throwing their enemies away with their powerful tentacles. Solitary Gruarru often throw and run away, often to find more reinforcements. Gruarru in groups with toss the enemies from one gruarru to the next, thereby maximizing damage. It is not unusual to find unidentifible bodies near Gruarru nests. The constant throwing can easily kill in seconds.

Well, for starters, there's nothing in the creature's abilities about being able to play catch.

Also, the fact that you mention there are bodies in the next area is enough to warrant having a treasure entry in the stat block. Just because they don't seek to collect treasure doesn't mean there's none there.



Treasure:
Gruarru don't have treasure in the traditional sence. Dead bodies near their tree may have treasure on them. The gruarru are known to grow rare plants near their tree.

Ah, speaking of which... Here it is here. This should be denoted in the "Treasure" line of the stat block, in the normal notations for that section. The treasure is directly tied to the Gruarru, even if they aren't collecting it on purpose. It should be detailed in the stat block.

***

Overall, I think you're more complicated than necessary. Your new abilities were a bit cumbersome (in my opinion), but they can easily be simplified by replacing them with standard abilities.

I think your CR is low (even after accounting for the abilities that need tweaking). These look more like CR 4 to me.

Also note that they're quite vulnerable to adventurers who stay away and rain down spells and arrows and other ranged attacks. Their best option is run away - which still results in a "win" situation for the PCs.

[Matthew]

Well, if the strength score says it can, the only think that really remains is purchase for balance... since they are plant related if they can instantly grow roots into the ground to gain something to pull against, then that could make it more plausible...
No, you see the problem is that "If you lose, you fail to start the grapple. You automatically lose an attempt to hold if the target is two or more size categories larger than you are." As far as I can see, this means that this Small Plant cannot successfully Grapple Large or Huge Creatures regardless of how many tentacles it brings to bear. Am I missing a rule of some sort with regard to to multiple appendages and Grappling?

[DracoDei]

Ah... they must have added that "sanity check" rule in 3.5... I haven't reread since 3.0... or maybe it was there too and I missed it.

[Zherog]

Good catch, Matthew!

It is possible, I believe, to insert an exception to the general rule in a specific instance. So, for example, we can allow this guy to grapple things two or more size categories larger; the ability will need to explicitly be worded to allow it. (and it probably wouldn't be that great of an idea anyway, given the big ass penalties you take when grappling something bigger than you.)

[Matthew]

Yeah, I think the Octopus has something like that as an exception rule. Still, it does strike me as odd that a Small Plant would be able to effectively grapple Large or Huge creatures, I guess it depends whether you consider the 'tendrils' to be part of the plant...

[Edit] The rule was the same in 3.0 as in 3.5... just one of those things it is easy to overlook.

[Fualkner Asiniti]

Okay, since this is making the book (YEAH!) I'm gonna edit it. Overthrow gets changed for sure, and I'll reword a few things. However, it is late, so I will do this tomorrow.

[Paragon Badger]

Tentacle Grapple (Ex): A Gruarru can take a full round action and grapple creatures within a 20 ft. radius using his tentacles. A medium creature takes 2 tentacles to grapple, a small or less takes one. A large takes four, and huge takes 8. A gruarru has one tentacle for every hit die it has. The creature may not grapple Gargantuan or larger creatures. A gruarru may opt to grapple normally with its tentacles.


"I'll start from the hentai bookstore and work my way out."

Sorry, I coulden't resist.

Other than that, it looks like a fine addition to the 2 plant creatures already out there. ;-)

[Fualkner Asiniti]

Okay, I put the CR up to 5, and decided to keep Overthrow. Why? So when this thing is advanced, it still does lotsa damage.