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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next CR 10 Boss Monster: Skilled Warlock of Juiblex [PEACH]



Gastronomie
2016-01-18, 04:13 AM
Making random NPC bosses. Comments and constructive critisism greatly appreciated.

Skilled Warlock of Juiblex
Large Humanoid (any race), any Evil alignment
Hit Points: 150
Speed: 20ft, climbing 20ft
AC: 8
Str 16 (+3) Dex 6 (-3) Con 16 (+3)
Int 14 (+2) Wis 17 (+3) Cha 20 (+5)
Saves: Strength+7, Constitution+7, Charisma+9
Skills: Any skills the DM feels appropriate
Damage Resistances: acid, cold, falling, lightning
Damage Immunities: poison, slashing from non-silver weapons
Condition Immunities: blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, poisoned, prone
Senses: Passive Perception 17, Magical Darkvision 120ft
Languages: Any number of languages that the DM feels appropriate
Challenge Rating: 10 (5900 XP)
Amorphous. The warlock can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Corrosive Form. A creature that touches the warlock or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 9 (2d8) acid damage. Any nonmagical weapon made of metal or wood that hits the warlock corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls and attack rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Non magical ammunition made of metal or wood that hits the warlock is destroyed after dealing damage. The warlock can eat through 2-inch-thick, non-magical wood or metal in 1 round.
Spider Climb. The warlock can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Eldritch Invocations. The warlock can see through magical darkness within a 120 feet radius. Add his or her Charisma modifier to the damage of each ray of the warlock’s “Eldritch Blast”. A creature hit by “Eldritch Blast” is pushed back 10 feet.
Favor of the Slime Lord. The warlock does not need to concentrate on its “Evard’s Black Tentacles” for the spell to maintain its effects. The warlock can have up to three “Evard’s Black Tentacles” activated at the same time.
Innate Spellcasting. The warlock’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). The warlock can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: clairvoyance, detect magic, eldritch blast (3 rays), evard’s black tentacles
3/day each: contagion, hold person (as a level 4 spell)
2/day each: counterspell (as a level 4 spell)
1/day each: dispel magic (as a level 5 spell), power word stun

Actions
Multiattack. The warlock first casts 1 spell. He or she then uses two “Pseudopod” attacks. He can substitute a “Pseudopod” attack with “Grapple” or “Merge”.
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) acid damage. In addition, non-magical armor worn by the target is partly dissolved and takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to the AC it offers. The armor is destroyed if the penalty reduces its AC to 10.
Grapple. The warlock targets one of the creatures to which he or she inflicted damage with “Pseudopod” this turn, and attempts to grapple the target using a slimy arm conjured out of the warlock’s body. The target has disadvantage on checks related to avoiding, and later, escaping the grapple.
Merge. The warlock touches up to three ooze creatures within 10 feet (using a slimy tendril that oozes out of his body). The oozes’ HP become 0, and the warlock regains HP equal to the total lost HP. He also regains 1 use of a 3/day spell for each ooze creature merged into himself.

Reactions
Split. When the Warlock is subjected to lightning or slashing damage, the warlock can use his reaction to split part of his body into an ooze creature(s). The warlock’s HP decreases by 20, and either 2 “Gray Oozes” or 1 “Ochre Jelly” (warlock’s choice, both detailed in Monster Manual page 243) appear adjacent to the warlock with full HP.

Legendary Actions
The warlock can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The warlock regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Slime Trap. The warlock casts “Evard’s Black Tentacles” upon unoccupied space.
Slime Trap Ambush. The warlock moves the area of a particular “Evard’s Black Tentacles” that he has cast up to 10 feet. It can overlap with creatures.
Eldritch Blast. The warlock activates “Eldritch Blast”. He can only shoot one ray, however.
Merge. (Costs 2 Actions.) The warlock takes the “Merge” action.


This is here as an example of what to make this NPC behave like.

Por Favor
Male warlock of Juiblex, age 22. Chaotic evil. In his normal form, his size is “Medium”.
A well-built man with a handsome face and a charming smile, not many would suspect the so-called “Por Favor” to be a malevolent warlock and emissary of the demonic slime lord. Por Favor constantly wears brightly colored fine clothing that looks as though he is of noble heritage (which he certainly is).

Por Favor loves to eat. He will stroll into a random inn or tavern and start ordering all sorts of dishes politely and lavishly, which eventually earned him his current nickname (which he decided sounded pleasant and kept on using, even after leaving the city in which he was originally called so). He eats everything with his bare hands, munches upon it with a satisfied expression, and savors the meal so that the people around him simply can’t help but smile and feel good. He makes everyone happy by just eating.

Por Favor also loves to sing. He loves to dance. He loves to chat, he loves to play sports, he loves to play games, he loves every form of entertainment there is in the world, and always looks happy as he does so. He is kind and charming to both men and women, and all the ladies who even slightly met him will be dreaming of him that night.

What the townspeople don’t realize is that all that is only one way of looking at Por Favor.

Por Favor loves to eat. He loves to sing, he loves to dance, chat, play sports, and games.

He especially loves eating humans.

Por Favor’s favorite meal is a girl not yet into puberty. He isn’t pedophilic, but he certainly loves to literally eat them, not leaving a single trace of the poor innocent girl as he consumes it with his slimy form (when Por Favor wishes so, his body will transform into a gigantic slimy form, and his size changes to Large. While in this form, he can consume the powerless and melt their entire bodies, including bone and clothing). He claims girls of that age are the tastiest and juiciest, though there’s no real way of finding out whether his claims are true.

Also, Por Favor is the member of a particular evil (as well as completely insane) cult that worships Juiblex. Though Por Favor himself has no devotion for the slime lord, the cult pays him high, given his wonderful talents as a slime warlock, and so he gratefully accepts their missions. These missions occasionally involve sacrificing entire cities and dropping all their citizens directly into the gaping Slime Pits, layer 222 of the abyss. Once in a while, Por Favor will take out this mission – well, of course, after he consumes all the young girls in the city for himself. Juiblex isn’t really a fussy eater.

Speaking of which, that particular city in which Por Favor was given his current nickname – that city was sacrificed too. Yes, Por Favor certainly enjoyed his stay there. But he just doesn’t care for the lives of others. He believes that it’s all fine as long as he’s enjoying the fun, and since there are countless cities in the world, just one or two disappearing into the slime pits isn’t that much of a loss for his life, no matter how enjoyable his stay there was. There are still many cities to visit, markets to shop through, public squares to sing in, delicious food and even more delicious children to eat… why care to visit the same place twice anyways? Better to change all that into a load of gold and march off to the next city, dreaming of how many more children he could consume into his slimy form.

Por Favor was born as the second son of an aristocrat, and grew up to be a spoiled and malevolent brat. When his father, disgusted at what he considered a “blemish” in his bloodline, decided to banish Por Favor from his family, Por Favor’s temper snapped. He murdered his father, as well as his older brother who happened to be in the same room, and ran away. The castle was abandoned, considered to be cursed and wretched.

Nobody knows how Por Favor became a warlock. It could have been that the castle’s basement library included a forbidden spellbook, a spellbook which contained within the dark demonic arts (since Juiblex doesn’t care for pacts, the only way to become a warlock of Juiblex is to activate some forbidden ritual or other, harnessing his power into yourself – much like in the case with most Great Old Ones). Or aforementioned cult could have realized his talents and persuaded him in said evil ritual. There’s also a slight possibility a master warlock gave him some of his powers. Regardless of how he became one, he eventually grew to be the powerful warlock he currently is. At some point in his life, he also learned to conceal his malevolence and act as a charming and aristocratic fellow.

The adventurers may first befriend Por Favor. Por Favor is a master of deception, and may attempt to frame a benevolent PC as the culprit of his victims.

DragonLordIT
2016-01-18, 05:46 PM
I didn't do the math, I think I'll do it another time when I'll have some more time cause I think it will be difficult; looking at it I like it also cause I'll shortly have do deal with oooooooozeeeeeeesss and Juiblex and this is really thematic, I just have some comments for now:
-I think it is really difficult to run it smoothly as DM, there are too many powers and too many effects to remember, the "favour of the slime lord" is really nice and creates a very thematic enviroment, all other powers that make movement and actions more difficult (hold person, web, power word, darkness) seems redundant to me and may really cause the party to totally be wiped out without any possibility.
-Contagion and bestow curse are redundant again, choose one, contagion is more thematic I think; haste is a spell I would really not include in a Slime themed adventure
-dispel magic and counterspell toghether (and dispel as at will power) are too strong, at least limit the 1/day or choose one to be 2/day
-The merge/split mechanic is really too cumbersome
-The pseudopod mechanic is terrible :smalleek: in this edition with the possibility to split attacks during the movement is really useless to write the ability in that way. A "Multiattack: #### may do 4 pseudopod attacks" is enough.

Gastronomie
2016-01-19, 03:34 AM
Thanks for the critisism - it's my first time *blushes* homebrewing so I probably have a lot of mistakes in there.

Tried some fixes based on the critisism. How does it look now?

NOTE-I added Repelling Blast to his Eldritch Invocations. This probably works amazing together with Black Tentacles.
It might work too well, though - should I change the CR?
And if there's anything else you notice, please do mention it. I want to make this as "good" as I can.


Skilled Warlock of Juiblex
Large Humanoid (any race), any Evil alignment
Hit Points: 150
Speed: 20ft, climbing 20ft
AC: 8
Str 16 (+3) Dex 6 (-3) Con 16 (+3)
Int 14 (+2) Wis 17 (+3) Cha 20 (+5)
Saves: Strength+7, Constitution+7, Intellect+6, Charisma+9
Skills: Any skills the DM feels appropriate
Damage Immunities: acid, cold, falling, lightning, poison, slashing from non-silver weapons
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, poisoned, prone
Senses: Passive Perception 17, Darkvision 120ft
Languages: Any number of languages that the DM feels appropriate
Challenge Rating: 10 (5900 XP)
Amorphous. The warlock can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Corrosive Form. A creature that touches the warlock or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it takes 9 (2d8) acid damage. Any nonmagical weapon made of metal or wood that hits the warlock corrodes. After dealing damage, the weapon takes a permanent cumulative -1 penalty to damage rolls and attack rolls. If its penalty drops to -5, the weapon is destroyed. Non magical ammunition made of metal or wood that hits the warlock is destroyed after dealing damage. The warlock can eat through 2-inch-thick, non-magical wood or metal in 1 round .
Spider Climb. The warlock can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Eldritch Invocations. The warlock can see through magical darkness within a 120 feet radius. Add his or her Charisma modifier to the damage of each ray of the warlock’s “Eldritch Blast”.
Favor of the Slime Lord. The warlock does not need to concentrate on its “Evard’s Black Tentacles” for the spell to maintain its effects. The warlock can have up to three “Evard’s Black Tentacles” activated at the same time.

Innate Spellcasting. The warlock’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). The warlock can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: bestow curse, clairvoyance, darkness, detect magic, dispel magic, eldritch blast, evard’s black tentacles, hex, web
3/day each: contagion, counterspell, haste (target slime only), hold person
1/day each: power word stun

Actions
Multiattack. The warlock first uses “eldritch blast” (3 rays) or “evard’s black tentacles”. He or she then activates one spell from the “Innate Spellcasting” list, or uses “Pseudopod” or “Merge”.
Pseudopod. The warlock moves up to his walking speed (using up his walking speed). He can enter the same space as other creatures in this way. Make a separate attack roll (+7 bonus) for each creature that is (even temporally) in the same space as the warlock. On hit, the target takes 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 18 (4d8) acid damage. In addition, non-magical armor worn by the target is partly dissolved and takes a permanent and cumulative -1 penalty to the AC it offers. The armor is destroyed if the penalty reduces its AC to 10. Also, the warlock targets one of the creatures to which he or she inflicted damage, and attempts to grapple the target using a slimy arm conjured out of the warlock’s body. The target has disadvantage on checks related to avoiding, and later, escaping the grapple.
Merge. The warlock touches up to three slime creatures and/or split warlocks within 10 feet (using a slimy tendril that oozes out of his body). The slimes’/split warlocks’ HP become 0, and this warlock regains HP equal to the total lost HP. He also regains 1 use of a 3/day spell for each slime creature merged into himself. When the warlock is Small, and he merges with one or more creatures, his size increases to Medium. When the warlock is Medium, and he merges with two or more “medium” creatures OR at least one “large” creature, his size increases to Large.

Reactions
Split. When the Warlock that is Medium or larger is subjected to lightning or slashing damage, it splits into two new warlocks if it has at least 10 hit points. Each new warlock has hit points equal to half the original warlocks’, rounded down. New warlocks are one size smaller than the original warlock. These warlocks are connected by telepathy, and share the same sphere of thought.
Only one of the split warlocks can use all the spells from the Innate Spellcasting list, while the others can use only the spells listed as “At Will”, and cannot take Legendary Actions. (Calling the warlock with all the spells and legendary actions the “Alpha” and those with only “At Will” spells and no legendary actions “Spawns” to make explaining smoother. As long as the Alpha is alive (including even in a different plane of existence), all newly split warlocks are “Spawns”. When the Alpha splits, one of the newly born warlocks becomes the new Alpha. When the Alpha’s HP becomes 0, the original consciousness of the warlock drifts from the dead body and possesses one of the Spawns, so that one of the Spawns becomes the new Alpha.)

Legendary Actions
The warlock (Alpha only) can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The warlock regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Slime Trap. The warlock casts “evard’s black tentacles”.
Merge. (Costs 2 Actions.) The warlock takes the “Merge” action.
Spellcasting. (Costs 2 Actions.) The warlock casts 1 spell which is listed in the “3/day each” Innate Spellcasting list.