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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other [PEACH] Misfist, a new monster



Jon_Dahl
2016-01-11, 07:16 AM
Misfist
Size/Type: Large Giant
Hit Dice: 12d8+48 (102 hp)
Initiative:-1
Speed: 30 ft. in hide armor (6 squares); base speed 40 ft.
Armor Class: 20 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +9 natural, +3 hide armor), touch 8, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+20
Attack: Greatclub +15 melee (2d8+10) or slam +15 melee (1d6+7) or rock +8 ranged (2d6+7)
Full Attack: Greatclub +15/+10 melee (2d8+10) or 2 slams +15 melee (1d6+7) or rock +8 ranged (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Rock throwing
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, rock catching
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +3, Will +4
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 8, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 7
Skills: Climb +7, Jump +7, Listen +3, Spot +6
Feats: Cleave, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Improved Natural Attack (slam)
Environment: Temperate hills
Organization: Solitary, gang (2-5), band (6-9 plus 35% noncombatants), hunting/raiding party (6-9 plus 2-4 dire wolves), or tribe (21-30 plus 35% noncombatants plus 12-30 dire wolves)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Often chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: +4

A misfist is identical to a hill giant except for their hands, which are large and have bony protrusions in the knuckles. Misfists’ stats are identical with hill giants as well, except that the Weapon Focus (greatclub) is changed to Improved Natural Attack (slam) and every misfist has the misfist curse (see below).

Combat
Misfists prefer to fight from high, rocky outcroppings, where they can pelt opponents with rocks and boulders while limiting the risk to themselves.
Misfists love to make overrun attacks against smaller creatures when they first join battle. Thereafter, they stand fast and swing away with their massive clubs.

Misfist curse (Su)
Every day when the sun rises, every misfist has a 50% to suffer from a curse until the next sunrise. When under the effect of the misfist curse, a misfist has 50% percent miss chance every time it attacks and an attack roll is needed. This roll must be rolled before other rolls for miss chances, if any.

If a misfist under the misfist curse is killed by someone’s direct action, the killer is immediately targeted by a Bestow Curse spell (Will save DC 20). The save is constitution-based.

Any attempt to remove the curse from a non-misfit subject requires a successful caster level check vs. DC 20 (this DC is always the same as the Will save to resist the curse, see above). Misfist's misfist curse cannot be removed by any means short of a wish or miracle, and the curse will still be hereditary; removing the hereditary curse requires another wish or miracle. (thank you critfumbles for the excellent suggestion!)

Virtually all misfist know how the misfist curse works and do not kill their companions while they are suffering from it, because they might permanently curse themselves.


Rock Throwing (Ex)
The range increment is 120 feet for a misfist’s thrown rocks.

History
A long time ago, misfists were a hill giant clan renowned for their punches, which were perhaps the most lethal of their kind. Most of the clan, including the chieftain, was a worshipper of a mad, evil god(dess) (Tharizdun in Greyhawk). One day, the shaman of the tribe attempted to make a ritual that would give the tribe an unholy blessing of their god. Shaman’s power wasn’t strong enough for that sort of a ritual, and whole ritual was far from the scale that would’ve be required to bless an entire tribe. What happened was that the whole tribe received the misfist curse. The shaman was torn to pieces and his killer, tribe’s chieftain, was permanently cursed.

Misfist still call themselves hill giants, although the original tribe’s name is lost in the history. They were named misfists by outsiders and the name is commonly used.

Hamste
2016-01-11, 09:46 AM
Might want to have misfist affected by the curse to have a cr one lower than normal as having a 50% chance to miss really hurts them (Basically they have half the DPR)

critfumbles
2016-01-11, 09:48 AM
The base damage dice of a slam natural attack for a Large creature is, I believe, 1d6. Improved Natural Attack for the misfit would increase its slam damage to 1d8+7 instead.

The misfit curse certainly fits under the purview of bestow curse, but I am not sure if its current iteration is the best design. First, the "each misfit has a 50% chance of suffering this curse each day" clause is thematic but essentially boils down to 50% of the misfits the PCs encounter having this awesome curse I (as a GM) want them to experience. Having every misfit always suffer from the curse sounds better.

Second, while the 50% miss chance is crippling for the misfit, it only cripples the front lines. What happens when a wizard kills a misfit with a fireball, or a cleric with holy smite? Casters care less about the 50% miss chance on attack rolls than they might about "a 50% chance of acting normally or taking no action at all." Which, incidentally, is what the misfit curse might feel like to martial characters.

You could also provide more description for the misfit. Looking at Organization, misfits are obviously more insular than regular hill giants (no ogres or orcs allowed). But what does the misfit curse feel like? They call themselves hill giants, but how do misfits govern themselves? Are there 'misfit badasses' that channel the power of the curse in different ways? And how else could you bring the evil god(dess) into the picture?

Lastly, truly scary curses should require a caster level check for break enchantment or remove curse. Since it is Constitution-based, I'd recommend DC 20 (10 + ½ its Hit Dice + its Constitution modifier).

Note: If misfits are encountered in groups and the PCs fail their saving throws against one of them, all fights until the PCs can get the curse removed become more difficult. I don't think you need to adjust the Challenge Rating of the misfit, but you should consider (and recommend!) some example encounters for your misfits where their unique curse can be used to set up a great scene.

Hamste
2016-01-11, 10:26 AM
The base damage dice of a slam natural attack for a Large creature is, I believe, 1d6. Improved Natural Attack for the misfit would increase its slam damage to 1d8+7 instead.

The misfit curse certainly fits under the purview of bestow curse, but I am not sure if its current iteration is the best design. First, the "each misfit has a 50% chance of suffering this curse each day" clause is thematic but essentially boils down to 50% of the misfits the PCs encounter having this awesome curse I (as a GM) want them to experience. Having every misfit always suffer from the curse sounds better.

Second, while the 50% miss chance is crippling for the misfit, it only cripples the front lines. What happens when a wizard kills a misfit with a fireball, or a cleric with holy smite? Casters care less about the 50% miss chance on attack rolls than they might about "a 50% chance of acting normally or taking no action at all." Which, incidentally, is what the misfit curse might feel like to martial characters.

You could also provide more description for the misfit. Looking at Organization, misfits are obviously more insular than regular hill giants (no ogres or orcs allowed). But what does the misfit curse feel like? They call themselves hill giants, but how do misfits govern themselves? Are there 'misfit badasses' that channel the power of the curse in different ways? And how else could you bring the evil god(dess) into the picture?

Lastly, truly scary curses should require a caster level check for break enchantment or remove curse. Since it is Constitution-based, I'd recommend DC 20 (10 + ½ its Hit Dice + its Constitution modifier).

Note: If misfits are encountered in groups and the PCs fail their saving throws against one of them, all fights until the PCs can get the curse removed become more difficult. I don't think you need to adjust the Challenge Rating of the misfit, but you should consider (and recommend!) some example encounters for your misfits where their unique curse can be used to set up a great scene.

Bestow curse is a third level spell for clerics, something melee missing half its attacks in exchange a third level spell probably shouldn't still be cr 7. It would be kind of like if the thing spent one of the actions it missed from missing its attacks to cast a delayed bestow curse. If the fight goes more than two rounds than on average it isn't worth it.

Jon_Dahl
2016-01-11, 02:00 PM
The base damage dice of a slam natural attack for a Large creature is, I believe, 1d6. Improved Natural Attack for the misfit would increase its slam damage to 1d8+7 instead.

Hill giant's base slam damage is 1d4. Since they are not genetically different and the only reason why the damage die is increased is the feat. I don't see a reason why I should up the damage die. They are genetically hill giants.


The misfit curse certainly fits under the purview of bestow curse, but I am not sure if its current iteration is the best design. First, the "each misfit has a 50% chance of suffering this curse each day" clause is thematic but essentially boils down to 50% of the misfits the PCs encounter having this awesome curse I (as a GM) want them to experience. Having every misfit always suffer from the curse sounds better.

The idea is more like the incredible randomness of the monster, which makes misfists completely unique monsters. Having a quality - any quality - is something that D&D monsters all have. A bunch of monsters attack you and once you know how one functions, you know them all. Making misfists suck at 50% chance makes them something unique, something that we don't have in this game before. You have two basic options:
1. You plan three separate encounters with misfists. The PCs and players will be baffled what's going on, especially if you fudge the die so that some of the misfists suffer from the curse and some don't. See your players' reactions.
2. You plan a large encounter (the PCs are very high-level) where the PCs meet several misfists. Suddenly some of them suck and some don't. What's going? The PCs being baffled.
So I'm not objecting to your idea, but I would like have at least one, just one, monster that functions like misfists. I could make another monster with the same idea, but I think this is the best choice.


Second, while the 50% miss chance is crippling for the misfit, it only cripples the front lines. What happens when a wizard kills a misfit with a fireball, or a cleric with holy smite? Casters care less about the 50% miss chance on attack rolls than they might about "a 50% chance of acting normally or taking no action at all." Which, incidentally, is what the misfit curse might feel like to martial characters.

I agree with you 100% but I don't have a better idea.


You could also provide more description for the misfit. Looking at Organization, misfits are obviously more insular than regular hill giants (no ogres or orcs allowed). But what does the misfit curse feel like? They call themselves hill giants, but how do misfits govern themselves? Are there 'misfit badasses' that channel the power of the curse in different ways? And how else could you bring the evil god(dess) into the picture?

That's a good idea. I have no input to this right now, but I will think about this.

Lastly, truly scary curses should require a caster level check for break enchantment or remove curse. Since it is Constitution-based, I'd recommend DC 20 (10 + ½ its Hit Dice + its Constitution modifier).


Note: If misfits are encountered in groups and the PCs fail their saving throws against one of them, all fights until the PCs can get the curse removed become more difficult. I don't think you need to adjust the Challenge Rating of the misfit, but you should consider (and recommend!) some example encounters for your misfits where their unique curse can be used to set up a great scene.

I understand, well, the options I gave earlier give some idea. I could design a couple of encounters, but they would be exactly like I mentioned but with more fluff.

Thank you so much for the feedback! Much appreciated.

Jon_Dahl
2016-01-11, 02:02 PM
Regarding the CR... I don't know. Both of you make excellent points. Perhaps a bit more feedback would be needed. But anyway, I agree with both of you.

Debihuman
2016-01-11, 03:27 PM
Your misfist curse could be constant for a really unlucky misfist.

Debby

Jon_Dahl
2016-01-11, 03:43 PM
Your misfist curse could be constant for a really unlucky misfist.

Debby

Yes, but then the clan would just abandon those useless individuals. Now they have to band together, because they are all in the same boat. "Today you suck, tomorrow I suck, rukh rukh rukh!"