Songbird race! (And other stuff.)

[Debihuman]

Re: Dragon

Since you added a HD, BAB is now 11 and grapple is 19.

The dragon's attacks are off. I'm gonna go full detail on this to help other homebrewers who also struggle with monster attacks. It's complicated. It's really complicated. I'm sorry if it gives you a headache.


Is the mace a magical +4 mace? Likewise is the scimitar a magical +2 scimitar because that makes a difference. Italics really help when you are looking at magical weapons.

Two weapon fighting means that if it fights with both its weapons it takes a -4 penalty to both attacks.

I can see it having magical weapons but generally statted dragons do not fight with magical weapons. Furthermore, creatures with magic items have it listed specifically in treasure.

Since you raised the HD to 11, the BAB is now 11. Here is the attack line (it only gets ONE bite in the attack line (regardless of how many heads it has)

Since a mace isn't designed to be a thrown weapon, a creature throwing it still has to take the -4 penalty to hit and and only uses the dragon's strength modifier in damage.

"It is possible to throw a weapon that isn’t designed to be thrown (that is, a melee weapon that doesn’t have a numeric entry in the Range Increment column on Table: Weapons), but a character who does so takes a -4 penalty on the attack roll." Note creature cannot make iterative attacks with thrown weapons because it doesn't have it in its possession once it is thrown. [You'd think this would be obvious but it's an easy mistake to overlook. Also this rule "Throwing a light or one-handed weapon is a standard action, while throwing a two-handed weapon is a full-round action. Regardless of the type of weapon, such an attack scores a threat only on a natural roll of 20 and deals double damage on a critical hit. Such a weapon has a range increment of 10 feet." Since the special ability gives it 15 feet that is an exception.

This all gives the following:
Melee Attack: Base attack bonus (+11) + Strength modifier (+4) + size modifier (-1) (+1 attack with weapon focus on bite ).
Ranged Attack: Base attack bonus (+11) + Dexterity modifier (+1) + size modifier (-1) non-standard throwing weapon (-4)


This is how the attack line should look.
Attack: Bite is 15 melee (1d8+4) or Large +4 heavy mace +18 melee (2d6+8) or Large +2 scimitar +16 melee (2d4+4) or +2 Large heavy mace +8 ranged (2d6+8)

The full attack line is a bit tricky because it has so many attacks. because it can make 7 bite attacks, a bit isn't considered a sole weapon so it only gets +4 from Strength not +6.

Full Attack is where this gets tricky because it uses both natural and manufactured weapons.

Manufactured and Natural Weapon Fighting
"Some creatures combine attacks with natural and manufactured weapons when they make a full attack. When they do so, the manufactured weapon attack is considered the primary attack unless the creature’s description indicates otherwise and any natural weapons the creature also uses are considered secondary natural attacks. These secondary attacks do not interfere with the primary attack as attacking with an off-hand weapon does, but they take the usual –5 penalty (or –2 with the Multiattack feat) for such attacks, even if the natural weapon used is normally the creature’s primary natural weapon." Whew that's a mouthful.

Primary manufactured weapon is the Mace since it has the highest bonus (+4 bonus) and scimitar is the off-hand weapon (+2 bonus). Note it still takes a -4 penalty to using both weapons even with the Two-handed weapon feat.

Also, an off-hand weapon adds only 1/2 strength bonus not full strength bonus

If the creature just uses it main weapons you get the following (note it can make 3 iterative attacks with manufactured weapons)
7 bites + 15 melee (1d8+4), or Large+4 Mace +18/+12/+6 melee (2d6+8) or Large +2 scimitar +16/+10/+4 melee (2d4+4)

Now when you put this together the creature has to take a -4 penalty to use both manufactured weapons and its bite are secondary attacks. Note also that secondary attacks only allow for half the creature's Str bonus to be applies. Good grief this gave ME a headache just to figure it out.

Large +4 Mace+14/+8/+2 melee (2d6+8) and Large +2 scimitar +12/+6/+0 melee (2d4+4) and 7 bites +10 melee (1d8+2)

Full Attack: 7 bites + 15 melee (1d8+4), or Large+4 Mace +18/+12/+6 melee (2d6+8) or Large +2 scimitar +16/+10/+4 melee (2d4+6) or Large +4 Mace+14/+8/+2 melee (2d6+8) and Large +2 scimitar +12/+6/+0 melee (2d4+4) and 7 bites +10 melee (1d8+2) or +2 Large heavy mace +8 ranged (2d6+8)

Technically, it could throw the large mace at one opponent and attack close opponents with bites but it is better off just making 7 bite attacks +15 melee rather than at +10 melee. This is why I'm not fond of the design.

It's even more of a headache because if it loses all but one head it loses its Superior Two-Weapon Fighting feat. I think this is too complicated for the CR and for a novice DM to run. It has too much to keep track of and combat will take far too long while the DM figures it out. Nobody likes it when combat slows down the game.

This is where design matters. I'm not saying it's a bad design. I'm just saying it is overly complicated which makes it harder to run than typical dragons or even say a 7-headed hydra.

The only advantage to the mace is that it has a 15-foot range.

As long as PCs have decent ranged weapons, they can plink it off in a lot of rounds. A LOT of rounds; they need to keep their distance.

Debby