The Gibbering Larva (Spawn of the Mouther) Monster, PEACH

[inuyasha]

Gibbering Larva
Size/Type: Tiny Aberration
Hit Dice: 1d8+5 (9 HP)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 10ft. Swim 5ft, Climb 5ft.
Armor Class: 19 (+3 Dex +4 Natural +2 size)
BaB/Grapple: +0/-12
Attacks: Bite +5 melee (1-4) Spit +5 ranged touch (1d2 acid+glittering spittle)
Full attack: Bite +5 melee (1-4) or Spit +5 ranged touch (1d2 acid+glittering spittle)
Space/Reach: 2.5/0ft.
Special Attacks: Glittering spittle
Special Qualities: Amorphous, Darkvision 60ft.
Saves: Fortitude +5 Reflex +3 Will +2
Abilities: Str 2 Dex 17 Con 20 Int 4 Wis 11 Cha 9
Skills: Spot +4 Move silent +4 Hide +12, Climb +4, Swim +4
Feats: Alertness (B), Weapon finesse
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary, Brood swarm (2-10)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually neutral (chaotic tendencies)
Advancement: 2 HD small 3 HD medium 4 HD gibbering mouther
Level Adjustment -
Before you is a small wriggling thing resembling a slug, it possesses a vaguely humanlike mouth and a single eye twitching wildly, it’s brown slimy back is studded with tiny eyes but they do not seem to move.
The Gibbering larva is the tiny baby form of the frightening Gibbering Mouther, strangely enough they do not have any of the gibbering powers, they just seem to cackle madly to themselves. They do however possess a limited form of their parent’s blinding spittle which merely strains the eyes for a short time.

Combat
They usually bite what comes near, shooting spittle at things slightly farther away.

Glittering Spittle (Ex):
The Gibbering Larva can shoot spittle as a ranged touch attack out to a range of 10ft. as a standard action, this spittle shines brightly upon contact with the air and dazzles the target for 1d4 rounds on a failed fortitude save (DC 15 con based)

Amorphous (Ex):
Having no real anatomy the Gibbering Larva is immune to critical hits and sneak attacks.

Skills
A creature with a climb speed has a +8 racial bonus on all Climb checks. The creature must make a Climb check to climb any wall or slope with a DC higher than 0, but it always can choose to take 10, even if rushed or threatened while climbing. If a creature with a climb speed chooses an accelerated climb (see Climb skill), it moves at double its climb speed (or at its land speed, whichever is slower) and makes a single Climb check at a -5 penalty. Such a creature retains its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) while climbing, and opponents get no special bonus to their attacks against it. It cannot, however, use the run action while climbing.
The same applies for the Gibbering Larva's swim speed.

Should I add something to allow this as an improved familiar? I think that'd be cool

[inuyasha]

Bump

Any love or PEACHes for this awful pie i've made? It's just kind of a crust with some sugar and whipped cream in the middle...I feel like it needs more PEACHes.

[Deepbluediver]

Bump

Any love or PEACHes for this awful pie i've made? It's just kind of a crust with some sugar and whipped cream in the middle...I feel like it needs more PEACHes.

I don't see anything particularly offensive about this at first glance, but for me the lore-aspects are more interesting than the mechanics. It kind of makes me want to find out what ELSE we don't know about these types of aberrations, and what sort of life-cycles they have.

I know some people see a huge, horrific monstrosity from beyond time and space and think "oh wow this encounter is going to be awesome" or "I bet that's worth a ton of XP", but I'm the kind of person who's annoying to both the GM and the rest of the party by thinking "can we catch one of these alive and study it? Or preferably a breeding pair and try to get them to reproduce?"
Sorry if that's not the reaction you were hoping to engender.

If I were designing an encounter around this I'd probably NOT send them 1 at a time after low level groups- there are plenty of other ways I can do that with things that I think are a lot more visually impressive. I'd probably save up swarms of them and set them on a high-level group en masse as a buildup to an encounter with a full-grown Gibbering Mouther or some other boss-type creature.

Otherwise I worry that you end up with just another variation of "You all meet in an Inn; the innkeeper mentions he's got some rats that need to be cleared out of the basement."
"You all meet in an interdimensional worm-hole; the gatekeeper mentions he needs some gibbering larva cleared out of the ectoplasmic duct-work."

[inuyasha]

Cool! I actually encourage this sort of thinking, and I'm glad I'm not the only one to think like this, it's great.

I really like the aberrations, all of them. And I think the gibbering mouther needs a little more attention because of its greatness, so I made baby ones

EDIT: Would it possibly be a good idea to add a 5ft. climb speed so they can hang on walls and ceilings? Also, what about that improved familiar idea?

[Debihuman]

You should consider using a full 3.5 stat block (see online SRD for the standard stat block). That's the easiest one to judge since all the information is in it. Grapple should be -12 (-8 size, -4 Str modifier).

It looks okay but teaching one not to spit on party members is gonna be a challenge.

BTW Ecology of Gibbering Mouther was in Dragon Magazine #160.

Debby

[Zaydos]

Is the spit a ranged touch?

I'd say the CR is wrong (should probably be 1/2 unless it's ranged touch in which case it might slide by at 1 if you give it a climb speed).

[Debihuman]

Normally a stream of spittle is a ranged touch attack as per the standard Gibbering Mouther's entry.

[inuyasha]

Sorry About the stat block I use the 3.0 by default as it iS what I own physically. I'm on moble so changes will be made tomorrow

[Debihuman]

The online SRD is free and you don't need to own anything; it's open content. It's got terrific hyperlinks too. See here: http://www.d20srd.org

Debby

[inuyasha]

The online SRD is free and you don't need to own anything; it's open content. It's got terrific hyperlinks too. See here: http://www.d20srd.org

Debby

Yeah I know, it's just kind of a preference thing. I'll change it over soon

[kopout]

I support the idea of making them eligible for improved familiar.

[Debihuman]

Its skills are wrong. It has 4 skill points to use. Alertness feat gives it +2 to Spot and Listen. Adults don't have Move Silently as a skill so this shouldn't either. For that matter, it shouldn't have a Climb speed either but since you gave it one, you should explain why the babies have it and the adults don't. You should note that the adult version doesn't have Hide as a skill.

Here is how I broke it down:
Listen rank 1 plus +2 from Alertness feat (no wisdom bonus) = +3; Hide 1 rank + 3 Dex + 8 size = +12, Spot 2 ranks +2 from Alertness +4 from multiple eyes = +8, Swim 0 ranks, -3 Str, +8 racial = +5.


Skills: Listen +3, Hide +12, Spot +8, Swim +5

Skills: Thanks to their multiple eyes, gibbering larva have a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks.

A gibbering larva has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It always can choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

Debby

[Deepbluediver]

Its skills are wrong. It has 4 skill points to use. Alertness feat gives it +2 to Spot and Listen. Adults don't have Move Silently as a skill so this shouldn't either. For that matter, it shouldn't have a Climb speed either but since you gave it one, you should explain why the babies have it and the adults don't. You should note that the adult version doesn't have Hide as a skill.

Here is how I broke it down:
Listen rank 1 plus +2 from Alertness feat (no wisdom bonus) = +3; Hide 1 rank + 3 Dex + 8 size = +12, Spot 2 ranks +2 from Alertness +4 from multiple eyes = +8, Swim 0 ranks, -3 Str, +8 racial = +5.


Skills: Listen +3, Hide +12, Spot +8, Swim +5

Skills: Thanks to their multiple eyes, gibbering larva have a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks.

A gibbering larva has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It always can choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

Debby

All that makes sense, logically, but this doesn't necessarily have to be just a weakened version of the adult. If it's supposed to be a different stage of the lifecycle it could easily have different skills. I kind of picture them morphing in a cocoon anyway, like a caterpillar exchanging it's climb speed for a flying speed (once it's a butterfly).

[Debihuman]

That's what I'm talking about when you explain why the baby is different from the adult. Nailed it. Now add it in the description and you'll be done. A lot with monsters is Form follows Function. You can do almost anything but making a good monster isn't as easy as you'd think.

Also with a Climb speed there is text.

"A creature with a climb speed has a +8 racial bonus on all Climb checks. The creature must make a Climb check to climb any wall or slope with a DC higher than 0, but it always can choose to take 10, even if rushed or threatened while climbing. If a creature with a climb speed chooses an accelerated climb (see Climb skill), it moves at double its climb speed (or at its land speed, whichever is slower) and makes a single Climb check at a -5 penalty. Such a creature retains its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) while climbing, and opponents get no special bonus to their attacks against it. It cannot, however, use the run action while climbing."

That's the kind of information that belongs under Skills text.

[inuyasha]

Changed to add the skills, as for why they can climb, I figured it was because of the fact that they can move like slugs, and they might be covered in a sticky mucus which allows them to hang upside down or on walls. Just imagine how creepy that'd be!

[Zaydos]

And because the tensile strength of the mucus is based upon the surface area with which it meets the ceiling/wall, but the amount of force needed to hold up the creature is based upon its weight which is a factor of its volume, they'd lose it when they grow due to the square-cube law.

[inuyasha]

Woohoo science!