Speed Demon: Mario

[JNAProductions]

Speed Demon: Mario
Medium Humanoid, Fast Evil
Armor Class 20
Hit Points 285 (30d8+150)
Speed 40'


Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma


24 (+7)
30 (+10)
20 (+5)
24 (+7)
20 (+5)
26 (+8)


Skills Athletics +19, Acrobatics +22, Stealth +22, Sleight Of Hand +22, History +19, Arcana +19, Investigation +19, Perception +17, Deception +20, Intimidation +20, Persuasion +20, Performance +20
Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage
Damage Immunities Psychic damage
Condition Immunities Frightened
Senses Blindsight 120', Passive Perception 27
Languages Common
Challenge High
Avoidance
If the Speed Demon would be subjected to any effects or damage on a successful save, they instead suffer no ill effects or damage.

Parallel Dimension Manifestation
Once per turn, without expending any actions, the Speed Demon may choose the result of a die they roll or is rolled against them. (Note that this only applies to one part of a roll made with advantage or disadvantage.)

My Speed Builds Forever
Whenever the Speed Demon takes the Dash action, his speed increases by 40' until the end of combat.

Impossible Mobility
The Speed Demon may walk on air or through objects without any difficulty. If he ends his turn inside an object, though, he is ejected to the nearest open space and takes 1d10 points of force damage.

Magic Attacks
The Speed Demon's attacks are treated as magical for bypassing damage resistance and immunity.

Actions
Unarmed Strike Melee Weapon Attack
+13 to-hit, reach 5', one target. Hit: 3d6+7 bludgeoning damage.

Extra Attack
The Speed Demon makes a number of attacks equal to the number of turns it's had since rolling initiative. They may also take the Dash or Disengage action during this action.

Bonus Actions
Quick Action
The Speed Demon takes the Dash or Disengage actions.

Reactions
Reflect
When targeted for an attack, the Speed Demon may deflect it, choosing a new target for the attack.

Legendary Actions
The Speed Demon 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 Speed Demon regains spent legendary actions at the start of their turn.

Unarmed Strike. The Speed Demon makes an Unarmed Strike.
Dash. The Speed Demon takes the Dash action, then moves their speed.
Regain Reaction. The Speed Demon regains their reaction.

[Catullus64]

There are a few points I am inclined to criticize, but I would first ask what motivated their design.

First, I'm curious overall what the inspiration for this creature was, what imagination was driving the design; more insight into that would help with critiquing the design.

Secondly, I would find it helpful if the creature had a CR; if I knew roughly what level of PCs are intended to fight this thing, I might have more to say.

I'm especially curious about its resistance interactions. Very few officially published creatures have flat resistance to all three weapon damage types, without exceptions for magic, silver, and the like. And no creature that I know of just gets to ignore resistances. I'm inclined to say I don't like these features, but I guess I would withhold that opinion until hearing your reasoning for including them.

As a general rule, I'm not a fan of monster features that are completely lacking in randomness, like Reflect, Avoidance, and Parallel Dimension manifestation. (Especially given how many times Reflect can be used with the Legendary Action to regain its reaction.) They just seem like they're there to go "nu-uh" to the players on a very frequent basis; if that's deliberate, I question that as a design philosophy.

One thing that I do unambiguously like is the means of generating its number of attacks; I'm a big fan of monsters that escalate in threat the longer you fight them.

[JNAProductions]

There are a few points I am inclined to criticize, but I would first ask what motivated their design.

First, I'm curious overall what the inspiration for this creature was, what imagination was driving the design; more insight into that would help with critiquing the design.

Secondly, I would find it helpful if the creature had a CR; if I knew roughly what level of PCs are intended to fight this thing, I might have more to say.

I'm especially curious about its resistance interactions. Very few officially published creatures have flat resistance to all three weapon damage types, without exceptions for magic, silver, and the like. And no creature that I know of just gets to ignore resistances. I'm inclined to say I don't like these features, but I guess I would withhold that opinion until hearing your reasoning for including them.

As a general rule, I'm not a fan of monster features that are completely lacking in randomness, like Reflect, Avoidance, and Parallel Dimension manifestation. (Especially given how many times Reflect can be used with the Legendary Action to regain its reaction.) They just seem like they're there to go "nu-uh" to the players on a very frequent basis; if that's deliberate, I question that as a design philosophy.

One thing that I do unambiguously like is the means of generating its number of attacks; I'm a big fan of monsters that escalate in threat the longer you fight them.

Inspiration? Go watch Terminal Montage's Subspace Emissary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5juBmmXoW7I&ab_channel=TerminalMontage). It's the villain of the piece.

I'm not sure exactly how to CR this baddie-they've abilities that have no clear analogue. That being said, this is definitely meant to be a T4 threat-not anything earlier.

The resistances is to make the Speed Demon resistant to many attacks. It's already highly resistant to singular powerful attacks, this is to make it not just fold to a bunch of weak attacks. I could just make the attacks magical, though-that'd bypass most resistances, leaving only Barbarian Rage and Invulnerability as far as I know.

The main reason I have Reflect is Nuclear Wizards. The Speed Demon doesn't have a ton of HP, so a few amped-up Magic Missiles could easily take it down, and that just seems like an easy out to a tough monster.

Thank you for compliments on the Extra Attack! And thank you too for the critiques! I do appreciate you taking the time. :)

[Catullus64]

Inspiration? Go watch Terminal Montage's Subspace Emissary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5juBmmXoW7I&ab_channel=TerminalMontage).

The resistances is to make the Speed Demon resistant to many attacks. It's already highly resistant to singular powerful attacks, this is to make it not just fold to a bunch of weak attacks. I could just make the attacks magical, though-that'd bypass most resistances, leaving only Barbarian Rage and Invulnerability as far as I know.

The main reason I have Reflect is Nuclear Wizards. The Speed Demon doesn't have a ton of HP, so a few amped-up Magic Missiles could easily take it down, and that just seems like an easy out to a tough monster.

Thank you for compliments on the Extra Attack! And thank you too for the critiques! I do appreciate you taking the time. :)

Honestly, this creature's sheer mobility makes it so that fragility isn't really an issue. At functionally 80 ft per round even before you get into Legendary Actions and speed stacking, with what is essentially Flight and Etherealness, most melee characters other than Monks and Rogues are going to have trouble getting into position to strike at it; and even then, it has a wide swathe of powerful defensive options. As for the cases of Barbarian Rage and Invulnerability, I think it's fine to leave those. Damage resistance is kinda a big part of the Barbarian's kit, taking it away seems cruel. As for Invulnerability, if a Wizard is willing to expend his Concentration and sole 9th-level spell on not having to worry about damage, I say give it to 'em.

If you're worried about Magic Missile specifically, I would point out that Reflect, as currently worded, would only redirect one solitary dart, allowing the others to hit unimpeded! More generally, I would still have it be an Armor Class or Saving Throw bonus, rather than a guaranteed cancellation of a player's attack or spell. As it is, I think that avoidance + high saves from ability scores provide more than enough protection from damaging spells. I would also put limited uses on the number of times it can choose the outcome of a dice roll; for lack of a better word, that feature like cheating.

Overall, I think you should have more faith in this creature's mobility, high stats, and attacks to provide its challenge, and less on high-powered abilities that have no random element or limitations on use.

[JNAProductions]

The thing is, a Nuclear Wizard puts out (at level 20, admittedly, but that's the level range I'd expect a fight to occur) 273 Force damage in one turn. Assuming they roll 1s on both damage rolls.

Perhaps include an ability where, if an ability would auto-hit or have an effect without allowing a save, the Speed Demon forces a hit roll/is allowed a save anyway?

[Catullus64]

As I mentioned, the Reflect feature as written doesn't actually counter a Nuclear Wizard; each dart of a Magic Missile is targeted independently, so the feature would redirect one dart and do nothing about the others.

But even if it did counter the Nuclear Wizard somehow, I don't think you ought to design a monster with a very specific build in mind, unless you specifically intend to use this in a game where a Nuclear Wizard is present. Not if it comes at the cost of making the monster generally annoying to fight, which is what I think a lot of this monster's defensive features come down to.

Let's say I haven't seen this monster's statblock written down, and simply encountered it in gameplay. When the DM starts saying "no, it gets to decide one dice roll per round", "it gets to automatically redirect one hit with its reaction", and "it gets its reaction back as a legendary action", I wouldn't think "wow, this sure is an intimidating and powerful monster." I would think "the DM is pulling this stuff out of his behind to artificially inflate difficulty."

If you must have a counter for that specific build, just give it a few castings of Shield or give it resistance or immunity to Force damage.