The Cavestar (3.5 creature, PEACH)

[Frathe]

Cavestar

{table]

Size/Type:

| Medium Aberration (Aquatic)

Hit Dice:

| 6d8+18 (45 hp)

Initiative:

| +7

Speed:

| 10 ft. (2 squares), swim 20 ft.

Armor Class:

| 20 (+3 Dex, +7 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 17

Base Attack/Grapple:

| +4/+9

Attack:

| Arm +9 melee (1d4+5)

Full Attack:

| 5 arms +9 melee (1d4+5) and bite +7 melee (1d4+2)

Space/Reach:

| 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with arms)

Special Attacks:

| Improved grab, stare

Special Qualities:

| Amphibious, darkvision 60 ft., many-eyed

Saves:

| Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +7

Abilities:

| Str 21, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 15

Skills:

| Hide +5, Listen +4, Move Silently +5, Spot +5

Feats:

| Combat Reflexes, Improved Initiative, Multiattack

Environment:

| Underground

Organization:

| Solitary or family (3-6)

Challenge Rating:

| 5

Treasure:

| Standard

Alignment:

| Usually neutral

Advancement:

| 7-9 HD (Large); 10-18 HD (Huge)

Level Adjustment:

| — [/table]

The cavestar is an amphibious monster that lives on the shores of underground lakes and streams. It has five long, ridged arms, each one tipped with an small lidless eye. The center of its body has a large sightless eye on top (actually a decoy, a sightless pseudo-eye comparable to an eyespot) and a mouth, ringed with sharp toothlike structures, on its underside. Cavestars move using a multitude of tiny tube-shaped feet attached to their underside.

A cavestar is about 5 feet in diameter (to the tips of the arms) and weighs about 350 pounds.

Combat

Cavestars will attempt to grapple and bite one opponent while keeping other enemies at bay with its stare.

Improved Grab (Ex)

To use this ability, a cavestar must hit an opponent of any size with an arm attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and automatically deals bite damage.

Stare (Su)
Any creature within 30 ft. that a cavestar turns its hideous eye upon must succeed on a DC 15 Will save or become afflicted for as many rounds as the cavestar has Hit Dice. The range of this attack increases to 60 ft. for a Large cavestar and 90 ft. for a Huge cavestar. The affliction can take two forms, as the cavestar chooses: the creature becomes panicked, fleeing the source of its fear, or it acquires a curse similar to those given by bestow curse. If a curse is given, the same cavestar cannot curse the same creature twice as long as that creature remains cursed. This attack is a gaze attack. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Amphibious (Ex)
Cavestars freely migrate between the shore and water, hunting for prey in both.

Many-Eyed (Ex)
A cavestar's many eyes, all facing in different directions, make it impossible to flank. They also lend a +2 racial bonus to Spot checks.

[Frathe]

Any responses? It's like an evil cyclops starfish! That lives underground!

[TuggyNE]

I think the awesome is just too intense to invite posts.

Howsomever, two minor points: Stare should explicitly be a gaze attack, and the bite should be listed as an option for its single attack (either +9 or +4 for 1d4+5, I think).

[Frathe]

I think the awesome is just too intense to invite posts.

Howsomever, two minor points: Stare should explicitly be a gaze attack, and the bite should be listed as an option for its single attack (either +9 or +4 for 1d4+5, I think).

Thanks. Does it look better now (explicit gaze, bite as single)?

[TuggyNE]

Thanks. Does it look better now (explicit gaze, bite as single)?

Sure, can't really think of much more you could do with it.

[Debihuman]

Secondary attacks are ALWAYS secondary, even when used as Primary attacks. The Bite takes the -5 penalty even when used as the only attack.

. Attacks with secondary natural weapons are less effective and are made with a -5 penalty on the attack roll, no matter how many there are. (Creatures with the Multiattack feat take only a -2 penalty on secondary attacks.) This penalty applies even when the creature makes a single attack with the secondary weapon as part of the attack action or as an attack of opportunity.

Bolded relevant section. This is why you do not see secondary attacks on the attack line. Only the primary attack belongs there.

The only way to lose the penalty is to have both Multiattack feat and Improved Multiattack feat. Multiattack drops the penalty to -2 and Improved Multiattack removes the penalty altogether.

I'd recommend losing the Alertness feat and giving it Multiattack instead.

What is the range of Stare? I'd recommend 60 feet (and you can increase this to 90 feet for advanced versions).

Debby

[Frathe]

Secondary attacks are ALWAYS secondary, even when used as Primary attacks. The Bite takes the -5 penalty even when used as the only attack.

Bolded relevant section. This is why you do not see secondary attacks on the attack line. Only the primary attack belongs there.

The only way to lose the penalty is to have both Multiattack feat and Improved Multiattack feat. Multiattack drops the penalty to -2 and Improved Multiattack removes the penalty altogether.

I'd recommend losing the Alertness feat and giving it Multiattack instead.

What is the range of Stare? I'd recommend 60 feet (and you can increase this to 90 feet for advanced versions).

Debby

That explains why the monsters I was basing this on didn't have that kind of format (both attacks under "attack"). Multiattack seems like a good suggestion.

I'm specifying "within 30 ft." for Stare; I thought that was clearly enough the range. I'd be willing to change it to 60 ft., advancing to 90 ft. Is there a better way to indicate the range?

Edit: I've made changes based on Multiattack and removing the secondary attack from the "Attack" line. How does it look now?

Edit 2: Oops, it should be good now that I've actually removed the benefit of Alertness. Wait, no it isn't; it's getting way too many skill points for its Intelligence. It should only get nine total.

[Frathe]

Okay, the skill points should hopefully be fixed now. Are there any problems I'm overlooking? Also, what do people think the range should be for Stare: 30 ft. or 60 ft., and when should it advance?

[137beth]

This is awesome!


Anyways,

That explains why the monsters I was basing this on didn't have that kind of format (both attacks under "attack"). Multiattack seems like a good suggestion.

What were you basing it on?
Also, for stare, does the cavestar get to choose which effect its stare has each time? Or is it randomly determined?

[Frathe]

This is awesome!


Anyways,
What were you basing it on?
Also, for stare, does the cavestar get to choose which effect its stare has each time? Or is it randomly determined?

Thanks! It's mechanically based on various monsters, like the squid and giant octopus (for the arms and grappling), cloaker (as the aberration base), and sea hag (for the stare). For stare, I was thinking the cavestar gets to choose, for more interesting tactics in combat. I've now added a line "as the cavestar chooses".

[Debihuman]

Stare is fine. You could add that that a Large cavestar's Stare can affect creatures within 60 feet and that a Huge cavestar's Stare can affect creatures within 90 feet, if you so choose.

Debby

[Frathe]

Stare is fine. You could add that that a Large cavestar's Stare can affect creatures within 60 feet and that a Huge cavestar's Stare can affect creatures within 90 feet, if you so choose.

Debby

Good thought. That should help with the scaling. I've added that in, though I'm afraid my parenthetical aside is awkward.

Edit: There is no longer a parenthetical aside, just a new sentence instead.

[Frathe]

I've revised this monster's description, after mentioning it and receiving input from my sister, who is knowledgeable about marine biology. How's it look now? Good? Better than before, if anyone who saw it before is reading? (For the record, before it just had a single eye in its center, and I didn't specify how it moved or mention the mouth in the description.)

[TuggyNE]

Does it dump its stomach out to digest things?

[Frathe]

Does it dump its stomach out to digest things?

Good question. Looking it up, it looks like some starfish do that and some don't. That could be a cool special attack.

[Frathe]

Almost forgot--how does an extraordinary ability like this seem?

Many-Eyed (Ex)
A cavestar's many eyes, all facing in different directions, make it impossible to flank. They also lend a +2 racial bonus to Spot checks.

[kinem]

Why is it evil? It seems like it should have a predatory mentality, but like most animals, it would attack out of hunger, not sadism.

[Frathe]

Why is it evil? It seems like it should have a predatory mentality, but like most animals, it would attack out of hunger, not sadism.

Because I think of aberrations as evil for some reason. But you're right, Neutral would make more sense for a predator.

Edit: Now it's "Usually neutral"

[TuggyNE]

Almost forgot--how does an extraordinary ability like this seem?

Many-Eyed (Ex)
A cavestar's many eyes, all facing in different directions, make it impossible to flank. They also lend a +2 racial bonus to Spot checks.

That's reasonable enough, and not unknown. May need to recheck CR, but it's probably not too big a boost. (If you add the stomach-inversion attack, that combination might well bump it up.)

[137beth]

Almost forgot--how does an extraordinary ability like this seem?

Many-Eyed (Ex)
A cavestar's many eyes, all facing in different directions, make it impossible to flank. They also lend a +2 racial bonus to Spot checks.

I think this works well. In fact, without it, this seems like on the border between CR 4 and CR 5. This pushes it up nicely to CR 5.

[Frathe]

I think this works well. In fact, without it, this seems like on the border between CR 4 and CR 5. This pushes it up nicely to CR 5.

Glad ya like it. I've added the ability to the main entry (first post). I don't feel like calculating CR right now, so I'll just trust you on that.