PDA

View Full Version : Gronns: First Feeble Attempt at Monster Creation



Warlord JK
2008-10-13, 11:33 PM
This is definitely a very first attempt at actually making a monster. Please only constructive criticism, it's really only my first try :smallfrown:. Thanks for any help.

Edited Version
Name: Greater Gronn
Huge Giant (Gronn)
HD: 20d8+200 (280hp)
Speed 50 ft. (10 squares)
Init: +5
AC: 26 (-2 Size,+14 Natural Armor, +4 Dex); touch 12; flat-footed 22
BAB +15; Grp +35
Attack Slam + 25 melee (1d8+12) or Bite + 24 melee (2d8+6)
Full-Attack 2 Slams + 25 (1d8+12, x2 + 12) and 1 Bite + 20 (2d8+12, x2 + 12)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks
Special Qualities Damage Reduction 10/Slashing
Saves Fort +22 Ref +10 Will +7
Abilities Str 35, Dex 19, Con 30, Int 6, Wis 9, Cha 5
Skills Climb +16, Intimidate +16
Feats Blindfight, Athletic, Iron Will, Power Attack, Toughness, Endurance, Die-Hard
Environment Temperate Mountains
Organization Solitary, Mating Groups (One Male, One Female, and One-Two Children), or Tribe (One Greater Gronn and normally about 35-40 Lesser Gronns)
Challenge Rating 10
Treasure None
Alignment Neutral
Advancement 20-30HD (Huge), 30-35HD (Gargantuan)
Level Adjustment +X

Before you is a huge beast that looks of primal ferocity. Darkly tanned hide is this creature’s skin, and it has a symbol engraved into its shoulder. It is reminiscent of a prehistoric giant. Saliva drips from huge canines, yet the creature has a spark of intelligence. It’s arms hang down like a gorillas.

Greater Gronns are the most prehistoric of the Gronns. They have not quite evolved to the point of intelligence, yet they are smarter than animals. Fiercely territorial, they are never found in groups with other Greater Gronns. The only time you can find a Greater Gronn with another is when they mate. The offspring are raised by the female who will die protecting them, but not many things can take down a Greater Gronn. They can use crude weapons such as rocks and will find a sharp one at birth and engrave a symbol into their shoulder. No one has found out why they do this, not even the Lesser Gronns. Once Greater Gronns reach the age of 5, they go off on their own and create their own territories. Slightly more intelligent Greater Gronns can be found leading tribes of Lesser Gronns, but this rarely happens. Greater Gronns make their lairs in caves found in mountain ranges.

DracoDei
2008-10-14, 03:27 AM
First, you actually managed to word the descriptive paragraph correctly... you describe no particular actions, either by it or the observer. Just make it italic and you should be good to go...

Secondly a "fluff" (description rather than hard rules) explaination of why they have damage reduction would not be amiss...

More to come when and if I think of it...

Bhu
2008-10-14, 05:46 AM
Some following edits:

Hit Dice: 20d8+200 (290 hp) you forgot the Con bonus

BAB: +15

Slam should be +25 to hit

Bite should only get +6 damage since it s a secondary natural weapon

Monsters don’t get iterative attacks, it would get 2 slams at +25 and 1 Bite at +20

Needs 4 more Feats

Has 13 more skill points left to spend

Saves should be Fort +22, Ref +10, Will +7


Why is the DR penetrated by Slashing?

Warlord JK
2008-10-14, 06:31 PM
The DR is because their hides are meant to repel most blunt and piercing damage in the wild, but not many animals have slashing attacks. Also, how do you calculate the lvl adjustment, BAB, and CR for monsters?

Prometheus
2008-10-14, 07:48 PM
On CR, from Vorpal Tribble's Monster GuideA challenge rating is how tough an encounter with this beast will be. Generally a creature of, say, a CR of 5 should be a standard challenge for a party of 4-5 5th level characters. To defeat this creature will cause them to use up roughly 1/4th to 1/3 their daily resources such as spells, potions, etc. This depends on the build of the party, their items, terrain, and many other factors, but in general it is more or less accurate.
Figuring out this challenge rating is the real fun part, and probably the most challenging bit of monster making. Its as much guestimating as anything, and there are no true rules to determine it exactly. Here is the closest method I've been able to come up with, though creatures with an enormous ammount of hit points or really low-leveled creatures will still be innacurate. The best way is to play-test the creature with parties of varying CR and find out which one most closely fits. Here though is the guestimator method:
#1. Divide creature's average HP by 4.5 to 6.5.
4.5 for 5 HD or lower, 5 for 6-10 HD, 5.5 for 11-15 HD, 6 for 16-20 HD., 6.5 for 20-25 HD.
#2. Add 1 for each five points above 10 its AC is, subtracting 1 for every 5 below.
#3. Add 1 for each special attack (+2 to +5 or more if its got a decent number of spells in its spell-like abilities).
#4. Add 1 for each quality unless you deem it worthy of more. Add 1 for each resistance and 10 points of DR it has, and 2 for each immunity. Subtract 1 for each vulnerability.
#5. Add 1 for every two bonus feats it has.
#6. Divide total by 3. This should be its rough CR.
Using this system we get a CR of 17, however, since your creature has a surplus of health and deficit of special attacks I don't quite think this is accurate and your creature should take a while to kill, but not be as difficult a challenge.

Instead I'd compare it to a similar creature, in this case, a Colossal Monstrous Scorpion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/monstrousScorpion.htm). It has slightly more HP, much more likely to hit attacks, attacks that hit for slightly more, vermin immunities, improved grab, poison, constrict, and a serious difference in size. Your creature, however, has a much needed Power Attack and helpful DR. So I'd put the CR at 10 compared to the CR 12 of the scorpion. You could compare it to a variety of other monsters, the other two Monstrous vermin, a variety of giants, an elephant or a dire elephant-you should get similar results.

This creature works great as an impossibly heavy meat shield, but if I were looking for a monster to fill that roll, I'd probably just advance a Gray Render (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/grayRender.htm) or Hill Giant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giant.htm#hillGiant).

I wouldn't worry about the LA, because whatever it is the player will have to add 20 HD of monster levels to get it and very few would be willing to do that.

Warlord JK
2008-10-14, 08:09 PM
If I added one or two special attacks, how much should I up the CR?

DracoDei
2008-10-14, 08:16 PM
Claws do slashing, bites do slashing, peircing, and bludgeoning I beleive (meaning you count it as whatever will be most effective). That makes Slashing the MOST common damage type for natural animals... the number of slam attacks among other creatures might ofset that balance but...

Prometheus
2008-10-14, 08:17 PM
It honestly depends on the special attacks, but probably about 1. The comparison to other monsters is generally a better method than just relying on whatever the calculator spits out.

Bhu
2008-10-15, 01:55 AM
The DR is because their hides are meant to repel most blunt and piercing damage in the wild, but not many animals have slashing attacks. Also, how do you calculate the lvl adjustment, BAB, and CR for monsters?

LA and CR are always iffy.

BAB depends on monster type (see page 290 of the monster manual)