Monster Building and Balance

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! In an upcoming arc for my campaign, which will center around aberrations and an urban setting, I have designed this monster.

By the time the creature is introduced, the party should be high level (14+), but the monster is not designed to face them directly.

It is aimed at the many much less trained and unaware commoners the party may be befriending in the city.

This is the critter. (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=903597)

The city has a very large ghetto where thousands of people have moved into because the price of leaving in the city itself is too high, having the huge poor district house al manner of people, both good and bad, eking out a living as best they can.

This is where the monster preys, as its entry describes.

I'd like to know if the monster is balanced for its CR- maybe it out to have a higher or lower one, but be aware that its MO is not direct combat, not against a well armed party.

Any suggestions and critiques are more than welcome.

Thank you in advance.

[Huldaerus]

With that many HD, huge stats, integrated wizard spell casting and really good SLA, this beast is probably at least CR 13-14.

[AlanBruce]

With that many HD, huge stats, integrated wizard spell casting and really good SLA, this beast is probably at least CR 13-14.

It has a bunch of HD, yes, but it's stats aren't monstrously big. But yes, the SLAs and wizard spellcasting alone would bump the CR by a few points.

Do be aware tgat an ECL 14 party made of clerics, wizards, sorcerers and gishes can bring it down in one round.

[Extra Anchovies]

Will DC 23 mean low-level NPCs will have no or almost no chance to succeed. Fortitude DC 25 is the same way, so once the city guard tries to kill it there'll be Crimson Heads everywhere, especially because the only weapon damage type that doesn't spawn a viral bloom doesn't affect the Lepotitsa at all. With an Intelligence of 23, this beastie will definitely know that rushing a group and poking itself with a claw is a good tactic. Are Crimson Heads loyal to the Lepotitsa, or are they uncontrolled but non-hostile?

Also, does a successful initial save against the viral bloom grant any immunity? The stats only talk about failed saves and successful second chances.


Incubation of this egg takes 1d4 days and only a True Seeing spell can discern the egg inside the host.
If it's a physical egg, it's displacing other tissue, so medical examination would reveal that something's amiss.

What happens if Delay Death is cast on the host, a surgeon cuts out the egg (with or without surrounding tissue), regenerate is cast on the site of operation, and the former host is returned to positive HP?

A fix for both of those issues would be for the "egg" to be a weird ethereal hanger-on that doesn't take up space on the material plane.


If no measures are taken to dispose of it, the egg begins to mature inside the victim, causing him to change his alignment to Lawful Evil and seek out large groups of people, usually under the guise of a helpful citizen, such as a community worker.

Deep within the hosts's body, the egg matures into a Plaga Parasite and begins to alter the host from within even more, rewriting her body at a cellular level, eventually the host's body becomes tough and crystalized, like a cocoon.

Once this has happened (usually in a dense populated area), the cocoon breaks and a new Lepotitsa breaks through to continue on her master's design.

How long does this take? If it's less than a round or so, the large group would probably move away from and/or destroy the cocoon before it broke. Unless they're meant to find a general area with lots of people like a city, and enter the cocoon stage in a secluded place within the larger populous area.

Does the host want to seek out such an area, or do they feel a compulsion to do so regardless of their feelings on the matter?


Overall, this would just be a numbers test (specifically the Will and Fortitude saves) if it weren't for the SLAs and casting. Factoring those in, it's rocket tag. If it wins initiative, it can (and given its Intelligence, probably will) teleport to a different place in the city. Given that this thing seems built to spread an infection, I'm surprised it isn't filling all of its 5th-level slots with Teleport, even if it's just for getting around town. If the PCs win initiative, they can dispel any protections it has and burst it down with ranged-touch spells - CL 14 Disintegrate has a 52% chance at a one-shot kill.

Divination and/or Contact Other Plane to ask "In what district of this city is the entity causing these weirdo zombies to spawn" would give us the Lepotitsa's general location, Teleport gets us in the area, Locate Creature tells us where exactly it is, Invisibility keeps away the Crimson Heads and lets us get the jump on Lepotitsa, Disintegrate more than outranges that blindsight and probably dusts it in the surprise round. A single mid-op core-only Wizard 14 wouldn't really have any trouble taking care of the whole mess.

[AlanBruce]

Will DC 23 mean low-level NPCs will have no or almost no chance to succeed. Fortitude DC 25 is the same way, so once the city guard tries to kill it there'll be Crimson Heads everywhere, especially because the only weapon damage type that doesn't spawn a viral bloom doesn't affect the Lepotitsa at all. With an Intelligence of 23, this beastie will definitely know that rushing a group and poking itself with a claw is a good tactic. Are Crimson Heads loyal to the Lepotitsa, or are they uncontrolled but non-hostile?

The Lepotitsa is intelligent enough to not go around dense populated and fortified areas at first, stalking lone female humanoids at night and implanting the egg. Once that happens, it will use its Suggestion SLA to have the much weaker NPC go hide or go home and stay indoors until the egg has matured.

The areas where the Lepotitsa moves are bereft of proper City Guards- it's an old district with its own militia, made up of the residents, but few have formal military training.

Crimson Heads are zombies- albeit very fast and with claw attacks. They have Lifesense, so attacking people within the Viral Bloom is a possibility. They are hostile and mindless, but do serve the Lepotitsa unwaveringly.


Also, does a successful initial save against the viral bloom grant any immunity? The stats only talk about failed saves and successful second chances.


Thank you for pointing that out. A successful initial save renders someone immune to Viral Bloom from that Lepotitsa for 24 hours.


If it's a physical egg, it's displacing other tissue, so medical examination would reveal that something's amiss.

What happens if Delay Death is cast on the host, a surgeon cuts out the egg (with or without surrounding tissue), regenerate is cast on the site of operation, and the former host is returned to positive HP?

A fix for both of those issues would be for the "egg" to be a weird ethereal hanger-on that doesn't take up space on the material plane.


Delay Death and surgical procedure, coupled with regeneration might do the trick. Changing the egg to be some sort of ethereal parasite.


How long does this take? If it's less than a round or so, the large group would probably move away from and/or destroy the cocoon before it broke. Unless they're meant to find a general area with lots of people like a city, and enter the cocoon stage in a secluded place within the larger populous area.

Once incubation is near complete, the host will seek a dense populated area and find refuge- an abandoned building, rent a room at an inn, a sewer- anywhere where people won't really bother looking for this person because she was not lost in the first place.

Cocoon form lasts for a full minute before coming out. Again, the host will make sure that she is well hidden before encasing herself.


Does the host want to seek out such an area, or do they feel a compulsion to do so regardless of their feelings on the matter?

If the egg/parasite has not been removed, the host's entire mindset is altered- she wants to turn and turn those around her, in order to cause a full on pandemic.


I'm surprised it isn't filling all of its 5th-level slots with Teleport, even if it's just for getting around town. If the PCs win initiative, they can dispel any protections it has and burst it down with ranged-touch spells - CL 14 Disintegrate has a 52% chance at a one-shot kill.


It can, but I wanted to stick to the Transmutation theme, since their creator is a very powerful transmuter.

But having wizard casting, they can change their spell list every day and fill it up with Teleports.


Invisibility keeps away the Crimson Heads and lets us get the jump on Lepotitsa, Disintegrate more than outranges that blindsight and probably dusts it in the surprise round. A single mid-op core-only Wizard 14 wouldn't really have any trouble taking care of the whole mess.


Most of the creatures this Transmuter uses have some way to sniff out invisible foes. And yes, a single wizard 14 can kill her- that's the idea.

It's the collateral damage that it can cause and the fact that there may be someone else within the city that is already harboring an egg ready to incubate.

[Huldaerus]

And yes, a single wizard 14 can kill her- that's the idea.

At a cost of a lot of daily resources used for just 1 creature, though.