Cuddly
2008-01-30, 11:14 PM
Mean & Green:
Trolls. I want smarter trolls with fewer HD/CR adjustment for their special trollish nature so I can give them more PC levels. In my campaign world, I want trolls to be tireless creatures that hunt their marks ruthlessly. I don't want the dumb, bloodthirsty brutes presented in the MM, but lean, dogged, clever hunters. I want the creatures to be the sort of things PCs fear when lost in the woods. The sort of creature when the druid rolls his knowledge: nature check (thinking of moving trolls over to fey), he suddenly grows very wary of every movement, every rustle in the bushes.
I'm looking for something of the Tucker's kobolds of Trolls, except there'd be a pair, rather than caverns of cowardly creatures sniping from murder holes. Something like Arnie in Predator- smeared in mud and rigging the forest with traps.
Any recommendations of how to tone them down? I'm thinking of changing regen to fast healing and making them immune to fatigue/exhaustion, halving their giant HD and converting to fey HD, getting rid of the claws, bite, rend (or at least greatly downgrading them), keeping the scent and 90 ft darkvision.
Raising the Dead:
How lethal would this be:
Wizard5/Pale Master6. 5 level 8 PCs (batman wizard, wannabe cleric-zilla, druid-zilla with (Siberian) tiger companion, damage spec'd fighter, and [probably] TWF rogue) find the necromancer in an ice cave, animating dire bear skeletons and the like. She opens with an Evard's Black Tentacles (scroll), followed by a Sudden Maximize Enervation on the party wizard (goodbye spells!). She then proceeds to continue animating skeletons (the rest of her feats would be Corpsecrafter, she specialized as the variant wizard who makes tougher undead, which means +4 str, +4 dex, and +4hp/HD) and casting necromantic debuffs. Passing up her 22HDs worth of undead to control is no problem- she had hide from undead cast on her before hand, so everything she raises targets the PCs.
The Cleric has the Travel domain (and low, dwarfish charisma), which, if he remembers to use, gets him out of the tentacles. The druid will be able to morph into something that can break the grapple check, as could the party fighter (who can also do fairly decent damage). They're all fairly good at working together; they recognize the value of buffing. The wizard is spec'd for necromancy and enchantment- things without life forces or minds are his bane. Otherwise, he's a (figurative) brute.
Trolls. I want smarter trolls with fewer HD/CR adjustment for their special trollish nature so I can give them more PC levels. In my campaign world, I want trolls to be tireless creatures that hunt their marks ruthlessly. I don't want the dumb, bloodthirsty brutes presented in the MM, but lean, dogged, clever hunters. I want the creatures to be the sort of things PCs fear when lost in the woods. The sort of creature when the druid rolls his knowledge: nature check (thinking of moving trolls over to fey), he suddenly grows very wary of every movement, every rustle in the bushes.
I'm looking for something of the Tucker's kobolds of Trolls, except there'd be a pair, rather than caverns of cowardly creatures sniping from murder holes. Something like Arnie in Predator- smeared in mud and rigging the forest with traps.
Any recommendations of how to tone them down? I'm thinking of changing regen to fast healing and making them immune to fatigue/exhaustion, halving their giant HD and converting to fey HD, getting rid of the claws, bite, rend (or at least greatly downgrading them), keeping the scent and 90 ft darkvision.
Raising the Dead:
How lethal would this be:
Wizard5/Pale Master6. 5 level 8 PCs (batman wizard, wannabe cleric-zilla, druid-zilla with (Siberian) tiger companion, damage spec'd fighter, and [probably] TWF rogue) find the necromancer in an ice cave, animating dire bear skeletons and the like. She opens with an Evard's Black Tentacles (scroll), followed by a Sudden Maximize Enervation on the party wizard (goodbye spells!). She then proceeds to continue animating skeletons (the rest of her feats would be Corpsecrafter, she specialized as the variant wizard who makes tougher undead, which means +4 str, +4 dex, and +4hp/HD) and casting necromantic debuffs. Passing up her 22HDs worth of undead to control is no problem- she had hide from undead cast on her before hand, so everything she raises targets the PCs.
The Cleric has the Travel domain (and low, dwarfish charisma), which, if he remembers to use, gets him out of the tentacles. The druid will be able to morph into something that can break the grapple check, as could the party fighter (who can also do fairly decent damage). They're all fairly good at working together; they recognize the value of buffing. The wizard is spec'd for necromancy and enchantment- things without life forces or minds are his bane. Otherwise, he's a (figurative) brute.