Hush

[Ironsmith]

Hush
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 7d12 (45 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40 feet (8 squares)
Armor Class: 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 dex)
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+5
Attack: claw +5 melee (1d6+2) or bite +5 melee (1d4+2 plus Bleeding)
Full Attack: claw +5 melee (1d6+2) or bite +5 melee (1d4+2 plus Bleeding)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Bleeding
Special Qualities: Silence, Choking Aura, Daylight Aversion, Undead Traits, Darkvision 60 ft
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +5
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 14, Con -, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12
Skills: Hide +10, Climb +10, Spot +10
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Grapple
Enviroment: Any
Organization: Solo or Pack (2-4)
Challange Rating: 5
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually Neutral Evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —

As you peer into the darkness ahead, you see the gleam of slathering fangs and feel a malevolent gaze peering back at you. You feel your voice catch in your throat as your torch flickers and dies, leaving you alone with a darkness that threatens to swallow you whole.

Hushes are vampiric monstrosities native to the Plane of Shadow that occassionally find themselves on the Material Plane, where they search for food in dark, secluded places, occasionally venturing out of their lairs at night.

While a Hush's preferred environment and tactics make eyewitness accounts of their appearance unreliable, the general consensus is that they are gaunt humanoids, between four and seven feet tall, with bluish-black skin and yellow eyes.

Once prey is located, a Hush will pursue it relentlessly, relying on a combination of hit-and-run tactics and attrition to bring it down. Usually, it favors people and animals that are alone and unable to withstand its assault, but there have been documented cases of them singling out members of small bands as their ideal prey, for seemingly arbitrary reasons.

Hushes understand Common and Undercommon, but do not speak.

Combat

Silence: A Hush causes the air around it to be supernaturally still, replicating effect of a Silence spell (caster level 7th). This effect extends out to a 30-foot radius around the creature itself.
Choking Aura: The stillness of the air around a Hush makes breathing excessively difficult; any creature within a 30-foot radius is unable to breathe, as though underwater (or in another situation where they could drown). Additionally, nonmagical fires in this radius are extinguished, as they likewise rely on oxygen to function.
Improved Grapple: A Hush that hits with its claw attack may attempt to start a grapple without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Bleeding: A Hush's saliva acts as an anticoagulant, causing wounds to bleed longer and more profusely. Creatures hit with a Hush's bite attack must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or else take 1d4 points of temporary Constitution damage.
Daylight Aversion: Hushes loathe daylight and will flee from it if they can. A Hush caught in daylight for a full round combusts and dies. A Daylight spell cannot replicate this effect, but is similarly terrifying to them.


What do you guys think?

[Neoxenok]

Looks alright, though a bit on the weak side, IMO.

That is to say, I believe this thing is on par with a level one fighter. I know the undead HD type is basically "wizard with d12 HP and no con bonuses" but it's choking aura and silence isn't going to stop a (level one) fighter, rogue, and cleric from simply stabbing this thing until it dies. A L1 fighter and cleric's AC is going to be a good 10~15 points higher depending on how optimized they are.

Here. I've made a CR 7 variation for Pathfinder (see the next post).

The best way I can think of to balance it for 3.5e would be to built it like it were a mage. Amp up an aura, give it a touch effect to weaken its opponents, and plenty of supernatural options to not die in the first round.
A good point of balance would be the vampires (augmented undead get better HD-based benefits) or something like the bodak - the bodak is barely stronger than hush, but it can kill by looking at you - meaning they tend to work through a gimmick of sorts.

[Neoxenok]

Hush
The flitting shadow that has been following you appears as a grey and predatory humanoid creature.
CR 5; XP 1,600; NE Undead (Extraplanar); Plane of Shadow; Any Climate
Init 6; Senses Perception +16 (+20 Hear/Listen), Sense Motive +13, Blind, Blindsense 60ft., Lifesense 60ft.
========== Defense ==========
AC 19 (20% Concealment in Darkness); Touch 13; Flat-Footed 16 (+2 Dexterity +1 Dodge +6 Natural) CMD 20 (22 vs Grapple)
HP 59 (7d8 + 28) Fast Healing 1 (Dim Light or Darkness Only)
Fort 2 Reflex 4 Will 8
DR 5/Magic Immune Ability Drain (Physical Ability Scores), Death Effects, Disease, Energy Drain, Exhaustion, Fatigue, Mind-Affecting Effects, Paralysis, Poison, Sleep Effects, and Stunning Resist Cold 5
Weaknesses Daylight Vulnerability (Ex), Vulnerability to Sonic
Defensive Abilities Melding Darkness (Su)
========== Offense ==========
Speed 40ft (50ft in Dim Light or Darkness)
Melee 2 Claws +7 (1d4+2/20x2), Bite +5 (1d4+1+1d6 Bleed/20x2)
Space 5ft Reach 5ft CMB +7 (+9 to Grapple)
Special Attacks Bleed (1d6) (Ex), Blood Drain (1d6 Constitution) (Ex), Quieting Strike (Su)
========== Statistics ==========
Str 14, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 18; Base Attack 5
Feats Dodge, , Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Climb +12, Intimidate +14, Perception +16 (+20 Hear/Listen), Sense Motive +13, Stealth +14 (+20 in Dim Light); Racial Modifiers Stealth +2 (+8 in Dim Light), Perception +4 (to Hear or Listen)
Languages Common
Special Qualities Blind (Ex), Melding Darkness (Su), Undead Traits
========== Ecology ==========
Environment Plane of Shadow
Organization Solitary, Pair, or STFU (1d4+2)
Treasure Standard
========== Special Abilities ==========
Blind (Ex) - Hush is completely blind, relying on its auditory senses to get by. Everything it cannot hear through blindsense, lifesense ,or through detection by its perception skill to listen is effectively invisible and has total concealment against it. As such, it does not possess the darkvision trait normally possessed by undead.
Daylight Vulnerability (Ex) - When exposed to daylight, hush must succeed a fortitude saving throw every round (DC 15) or gain the staggered condition and suffer 1d6 points of damage. A successful saving throw negates the staggered condition but not the damage. This must be true daylight and not merely any form of light, such as that created by the [I]daylight spell.
Melding Darkness (Su) - In dim light or total darkness, Hush becomes less distinct and blurrier. It constantly benefits from concealment (20%) and a +10 enhancement bonus to its base speed. Further, its speed is not reduced when using its stealth skill and it is always able to use its stealth skill, even when being observed visually.
Quieting Strike (Su) - Hush possesses the ability to cause a particularly debilitating injury upon a target if the target is flat-footed. By making an attack as a standard action, Hush can add 1d6 bleed damage to its claw attack can cause the target to become muted and fully unable to speak. This injury can be healed by a lesser restoration spell or greater variation.

It's origin is largely unknown but it seems to largely inhabit the Plane of Shadow and, to a lesser extent, the Negative Energy Plane. It is typically about average human height, but it lacks eyes and a nose. It's teeth are of an exaggerated size and well suited for puncturing flesh. In combat, it prefers to ambush prey and cause as much damage as possible before retreating (if necessary) and harassing its opponents until they are too weak to defend themselves.

[Ironsmith]

I like the stat buffs, but I think the puzzle elements of the encounter were sort of lost in translation. To recap:

-It's usually encountered in dark areas, which in tandem with its silencing ability, leaves you perpetually flat-footed against it.
-You don't know where exactly it is, only that it's somewhere within thirty feet of you.
-Most of your spells won't work; they have verbal components. And you can't light a torch.
-Bear in mind that there's a time limit... 16 rounds before the party wizard goes down. Wait! She just got bit, better amend that to 12 rounds, most likely much fewer.
-By the way, are you really certain there's only one of these things?

Once you can find some way of fighting it that doesn't rely on magic, sight or sound, it's a cakewalk; super easy to hit, lasts just long enough for a cathartic beatdown. Until then, it's a terrifying force you probably aren't well-prepared to defend yourself against.

[Neoxenok]

I like the stat buffs, but I think the puzzle elements of the encounter were sort of lost in translation. To recap:

-It's usually encountered in dark areas, which in tandem with its silencing ability, leaves you perpetually flat-footed against it.
-You don't know where exactly it is, only that it's somewhere within thirty feet of you.
-Most of your spells won't work; they have verbal components. And you can't light a torch.
-Bear in mind that there's a time limit... 16 rounds before the party wizard goes down. Wait! She just got bit, better amend that to 12 rounds, most likely much fewer.
-By the way, are you really certain there's only one of these things?

Once you can find some way of fighting it that doesn't rely on magic, sight or sound, it's a cakewalk; super easy to hit, lasts just long enough for a cathartic beatdown. Until then, it's a terrifying force you probably aren't well-prepared to defend yourself against.

Okay, so here is what I see happening in an encounter with this thing:

1) One of the characters has racial or spell-based darkvision (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/darkvision.htm), a sunrod (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#sunrod), an everburning torch (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#everburningTorch), or something similar and this thing is swiftly murdered or it runs away before doing anything to the PCs. This can be done as soon as level one by a dwarf or half-orc fighter or cleric in heavy armor.

2) None of the characters possess a non-fire or non-spell method of getting around in darkness and simply leave the area of the aura of the Hush and cast a light spell (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/light.htm) once out of the AoE and achieve the same result, but needing an additional few rounds to figure out what's going on and making sure the creature follows a party member in one direction while the caster goes in another.

In order to not die, the creature would need to follow the rogue or mage character because only their flat-footed AC would be low enough to actually hit because going against the fighter or cleric, even with the +2 granted by total concealment, would be difficult for it to hit with any of its attacks while the fighter could power attack on all of its hits and still reliably hit with only a 50% miss chance from concealment. A typical level one fighter, cleric, and rogue are going to have a +1 to +4 AB assuming a 15 strength or dexterity so, at worst, the pre-finesse rogue is going to have a 55% chance to miss before factoring in concealment against an AC of 12 and a typical fighter will need to roll a 7 to miss before concealment and/or power attack. The cleric will be somewhere in between. The mage will be completely defenseless and likely the only one able to be grappled.

A mage, in this scenario, has zero options and between getting grappled and the bleed damage, it's almost guaranteed to get murdered if the Hush prioritizes the mage within the first few rounds of combat. Bear in mind that 3.5e mages of 5th level typically have about 4 +4d4 +(5x their Con Modifier) or maybe ~24 hit points and a ~14 constitution with a +1 grapple and an AC likely about 15 or so with a mage armor spell active or 14 if flat-footed. How many rounds does this mage realistically have if grappled in the first round against automatic (1d4+2) x2 ("claw" and bite) +1d4 constitution bleed damage each round?

The rogue is likely going to escape artist out of any grapple and the fighter and cleric are at least AC of 15 with chainmail or 16 with splint or banded mail at level 1 (flat-footed). Level 5 characters may already have a +1 Ring of Protection and/or +1 armor and this also assumes they don't utilize a shield. A fighter's grapple is going to be at least +3 (level 1) to +8 (level 5) assuming no feats or other special bonuses.

3) The characters are entirely unprepared and no one has darkvision and are attacked by multiple instances of these things who all "play to win" and attack when everyone is sleeping (therefore unarmored) and don't engage at all and allow their auras to do the work for them. The result is that you spend the session watching your players get angrier as they have no counteroffensive against as they slowly suffocate to death in near or absolute darkness whether 1st or 10th level, particularly in conjunction with a powerful ally (perhaps another undead or outsider) who can use spell-like abilities to swiftly murder the players who are robbed of their agency.

So I guess my point is that this "puzzle opponent" - the way it's built now - has a key to break the puzzle that will make the encounter ridiculously easy (darkvision, sunrods, etc) OR your players end up dying with little to no recourse. This is the definition of an unbalanced encounter.

Characters that can't see in complete darkness can't escape this thing even with a 75ft movement due to being halved in these conditions so anyone caught in the aura that can't see or cast spells will just suffocate and die with no recourse because the complete darkness + silence means the character has no means of detecting the creature until it attacks - which it doesn't and really shouldn't do - in which case they just keep rolling con checks pointlessly until they die.

[loky1109]

Improved Grapple: A Hush that hits with its claw attack may attempt to start a grapple without provoking an attack of opportunity.
This isn't Improved Grapple feat, it is Improved Grab special attack.

[Ironsmith]

[partial snip]

So I guess my point is that this "puzzle opponent" - the way it's built now - has a key to break the puzzle that will make the encounter ridiculously easy (darkvision, sunrods, etc) OR your players end up dying with little to no recourse. This is the definition of an unbalanced encounter.

Characters that can't see in complete darkness can't escape this thing even with a 75ft movement due to being halved in these conditions so anyone caught in the aura that can't see or cast spells will just suffocate and die with no recourse because the complete darkness + silence means the character has no means of detecting the creature until it attacks - which it doesn't and really shouldn't do - in which case they just keep rolling con checks pointlessly until they die.

So, if I'm reading your post correctly, there are two things that need to happen to make this a better encounter:

1) Lessen the penalty for being unprepared for a Hush. A surprise round should be an advantage, not the outcome-defining aspect of the fight.

2) Increase the formidability of the Hush if the PCs are prepared to take it on. Again, taking the burden off the surprise round, but in the other direction.

Pursuant to that, what would you think of these changes?

-Increased Armor Class, Attack Bonus, and Damage Bonus.

-Nix the Aura of Silence, in favor of an additional clause to the Aura of Stillness that makes spellcasting more difficult (but not impossible), such as a percentage chance of failure or a skill/ability check, or some penalty for relying too heavily on spells (need to shout to cast a spell? That's gonna cost you some air...)
--In addition to the above, a substantial (+4-8) racial bonus on Move Silently checks.

-Remove bleeding in favor of a Constitution-penalizing touch attack that makes drowning a credible threat to frontline classes. (The effect should be temporary, so as to not completely screw over the party when they're trying to fight something else in the next room).
--Possibly a healing effect in tandem with this, so it has options for attrition and incentive to attack if provoked.

I'd also like to add that I want to emphasize the drowning feature as much as possible; puzzle mechanics aside, it strikes me as an interesting way to make a perilous envounter that doesn't necessarily rely on leaving the party with a low hit point total; this would give the DM a monster that can both be a particularly tense fight *and* still fit a regular encounter slot (since it doesn't actually take up an atypically high number of resources).

How does that sound?

[Neoxenok]

Pursuant to that, what would you think of these changes?

-Increased Armor Class, Attack Bonus, and Damage Bonus.

-Nix the Aura of Silence, in favor of an additional clause to the Aura of Stillness that makes spellcasting more difficult (but not impossible), such as a percentage chance of failure or a skill/ability check, or some penalty for relying too heavily on spells (need to shout to cast a spell? That's gonna cost you some air...)
--In addition to the above, a substantial (+4-8) racial bonus on Move Silently checks.

-Remove bleeding in favor of a Constitution-penalizing touch attack that makes drowning a credible threat to frontline classes. (The effect should be temporary, so as to not completely screw over the party when they're trying to fight something else in the next room).
--Possibly a healing effect in tandem with this, so it has options for attrition and incentive to attack if provoked.

Would that help?

Sure. I think a good point of balance might be to contrast this with the bodak (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/bodak.htm) and vampire spawn (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/vampire.htm). The bodak definitely isn't worth its CR 8 without its death gaze and I think balancing this as a CR 5 encounter would work like that. Also, the Vampire Spawn is pretty gosh darn strong for being a CR 4 but "Hush" appears to be a sort of compromise between the pair. The biggest things would be to...

1) Give it more defensive options - DR 5/magic or DR 5/silver, a +6 or so natural armor bonus, and maybe a power or two with regards to stealth and/or silence. Something in relation to it being a shadow plane denizen.

2) The new aura could still "still" the air around it and make it difficult to breathe, snuff out small flames (but not campfires and the like), and make it difficult to cast spells but it could work like a less severe smoke effects (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#smokeEffects) except the fortitude save could just be 10 +1 per previous save instead of 15. Characters with a good fort save at level 5 is going to be around +5 to +7. Poor Fort characters will be around +2 to +4 so most characters should survive on a roll of no higher than a 9.
Even on a successful fortitude save, casters would need to make a concentration check (the aura's fort save DC + the spell level of the spell to be cast) due to the "hushing" effect.
The aura also increases all listen DCs by some large number (no more than 20 - I think 8-12 would be best) and grants the hush the same bonus to all of its Move Silently checks.

I would also make a point of stating that the aura doesn't stack with itself (four of them attacking the party won't force four fort saves/round but maybe four of them increases the aura's Fort and Concentration DCs by one per additional Hush.)

3) Give it a touch attack that paralyzes its opponents for one round (Fort Save DC 10 + half it's HD + its charisma modifier) and give it the vampire spawn's blood drain (1d4 constitution drain on a successful grapple). You could also allow the aura and paralysis touch to work together as such that any creature paralyzed within the aura begins to drown as they can't effectively breathe.

4) Give it the ability to move at full speed whilst hiding and moving silently to allow it to get away, as such that it can do a double move, turn a corner, and disappear through foliage or some alleyway using its stealth skills.

... otherwise, it can keep its base speed and, in fact, I would give it improved initiative, improved grapple, and spring attack as a bonus feats. The end result is something that's still... pretty dangerous, I think, but doesn't just make you suffocate without recourse. The key difference here is that darkvision doesn't ruin the encounter because it can still paralyze and potentially kidnap a paralyzed ally to blood drain an opponent it has isolated or something equally sinister. Simultaneously making it more dangerous to a 5th level party but fairer (everyone has a defense - even if it's just that they can make their saving throws) and keeping a fair amount of puzzle aspect to it because they'd have to outsmart it with these abilities.

It's best tactics would involve hit-and-run, using stealth and spring attack jump in, paralyze, and if the paralysis is successful, it can grab-n-go, forcing a new fort save every round as long as it has the ally in hand. That 1d4 con drain is awful, but most people have enough Con (typically 10 to 16 by 5th level) to last around 7 rounds of constant blood drain. This method also means it's usually attacking either their touch AC or their touch and flat-footed AC so it'll only really need enough strength to hoist up its next meal. This also means it gets its paralysis attack on its claw attacks as well, if you choose to keep those.

Like most undead, it doesn't really rely on smacking and HP damage (though it does do that) but instead it uses the ol' snatch-n-grab, blood drains, and the victim will either die of con drain or suffocation - thus using its claws and bite to do melee attacks is actually a last resort instead of it's primary function.