Sir, my badger is on fire. (renamed) [MitP II]

[Angafirith]

I thought I'd create another magical beast, this time based on the badger. It's a bit of a greater change: I swapped a few stats around. Basically, I did what I did for the Thunder Boar: I took a creature's special ability and found an element that sounded good with it. I decided that the idea of such a beast would focus on damage, rather than evasion. That's why this beast has such high attack bonuses compared to the basic badger.

The thread title is supposed to be like "Badger the Badger?". Aren't I just so witty?

Another creation of the Order of the Bestial Elementalists was the Brenner. They recognized a certain fierceness in the common Badger and used their techniques to enhance it further. The result was a rather hot-headed beast: the Brenner. Unlike the common badger, a brenner relies on brute force more than nimbleness. Such beasts are dangerous foes. Brenners look similar to normal badgers, except the dark portions of their fur are redder than usual. Any flames coming from this beast are magical in nature, so there is no risk of a badger inadvertently ruining their homes.

The badger jumps, arrow protruding from its side. Rather than falling still and living its last moments, it turns towards you. Its fur ignites, burning the arrow to ash. It screams with badger fury. It runs at you, fully ablaze.

Brenner
Size/Type: Small Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 2d10+11 (22)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), burrow 10 ft.
Armor Class: 12 (+1 size, -1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack / Grapple: +2 / +1
Attack: Flaming Claw +7 melee (1d3+3 + 1d6 fire)
Full Attack: 2 Flaming claws +7 melee (1d3+3 + 1d6 fire) and Flaming bite +1 melee (1d3+3 + 1d6 fire)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Burning Rage
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, resistance to fire 5, scent
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 8, Con 15, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 7
Skills: Intimidate +3
Feats: Weapon Focus (Claw), Toughness B, Improved Natural Attack (Claw) B
Environment: Temperate forests
Organization: Solitary, pair, or cete (3-5)
Challenge Rating: 2
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Advancement: 3-4 HD (Small)

Burning Rage (Ex):
A Brenner is capable of channeling burning energy into its Rage. This rage functions as normal for a badger. In addition to these effects, a Brenner immediately gains the following effects without having to wait until its next turn: the fire damage on its natural attacks increases to 2d6 and it gains the effect of a Warm Fire Shield, dealing 1d6 damage to anyone who successfully attacks a Brenner for the duration of its rage.

[Icewalker]

I dunno, I wouldn't call this a CR 3. Probably easy for a second level party. Fun idea though, flaming badger. Pretty high strength for a small creature. I'd say it works out though.

I like it, and I'd say there is no problem with you submitting a further series of these.

[Angafirith]

Well, a basic badger comes with Dex 17. I just swapped the scores around and increased one or two by a point. It hits harder than a basic badger, but I figured the low AC would make up for it.

I'm pretty happy with CR 3, though I suppose I could always play test it with my level 3 party. If they have an easy time, I'll bump the CR down by one.

[Angafirith]

I haven't had a change to playtest it yet. I'll just bump the CR down to 2 until I get around to that.

[Angafirith]

I hate to bump this thread a third time, but I finally got to playtest it.

I made a couple of changes. First, I didn't realize that a Badger's rage only happens on its next turn. I changed the Brenner so that it gets the boosted fire damage and fire shield effects as soon as it is hit, rather than on the next turn. This way, it can at least do a bit of damage, even if it's taken out before its first turn.

To try to give it a better shot at making it to its own turn, I went ahead and gave it Toughness. I was thinking about Improved Initiative, but I decided that Toughness would fit the theme a little bit better. I also upped the natural armor by one and corrected what I think was an error: its flat-footed AC was higher than its normal AC because of the negative Dex modifier. I changed them to be equal, since I can't see how being oblivious would make you dodge better.

Nobody seems terribly interested in this one. Was the creature poorly executed, just plain boring, or what? Any feedback would be appreciated, since I hope to make a few more related creatures. Even if I stop submitting them to MitP, I still want to make sure that I put quality foes into my game.

[Manave_E_Sulanul]

Well, personally I think the creature is hilarious, something I might use in a campaign when fighting that mid level arcane caster as a low level PC as a "guard dog" or something. Could repost the creatures statistics with any of the modifications you've made or modify the original post. I see the first post still lists CR 3 for example. (and IMHO I do think it should be a 2 as well. It seems to much like low level greatsword bait for anything higher.

[Angafirith]

The original post has the modifications. I changed it back to CR 3 and then decided it was still CR 2. Fixed it.

When I playtested, I had 4 3rd level characters fight one of them. It lasted about two turns, it didn't even get a chance because of its low initiative roll. So I had two badgers fight them. They managed to kill a party member and severely wound another. I was thinking that if I made them last a little longer, they'd be more like CR 3.

Because my thunder boar was looking to be about CR 4, I wanted to try to nudge the Brenner into CR 3. I wanted to cover a nice CR range. I'll just try to make my next elemental creature a CR 3, rather than buffing this one up.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Burning Rage (Ex):
A Brenner is capable of channeling burning energy into its Rage. This rage functions as normal for a badger. In addition to these effects, a Brenner immediately gains the following effects without having to wait until its next turn: the fire damage on its natural attacks increases to 2d6 and it gains the effect of a Warm Fire Shield as a CL 0.

Since fire shield has a duration of 1 round/level, the fire shield portion of this ability is completely useless, having a duration of 0 rounds.

[Angafirith]

D'oh. I'll rewrite it so that it does the same thing, but not the same way.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

oh
my
god
flaming
BADGERS!!

ONe of my freinds was playing a so called "badger-mage" Who would cast summon fiendish badger, then set it on fire. This makes that so much easier. (He then turned out to be an evil necromancer. That put our Party count up to. 1 evil badger mage turned necromancer, 1 evil necromancer, 1 canabaliistic fighter, 2 evil assassins, 1 racist pally ["Evil? Gnome? What's the difference?"], and a cowardly part dragon sorcerer) (oh, and the pallies personal bard) (who wrote really annoying songs) (all about the pally) (AAAARGH!)

[Angafirith]

I realized that I was trying to reinvent the wheel, so I decided to approach it a different way. I didn't so much rewrite it as state that it lasted for the duration of the rage. I'm pretty happy with this at the moment. I intend to stat up some special armors and weapons based on my magical beasts once I finish up a couple more. I'll post them in a new thread. I was thinking that Brenner skin could be used to make armors that deal fire damage to people who hit the wearer.

I may also allow people to summon some of these things in my games, upon finishing a certain quest. I'll see how it all goes.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Ah man, flaming badgers. What more could one want in life...

[jindra34]

GAINT FLAMING BADGERS OF DOOM! under my control of course...

[Lord Iames Osari]

Given that Burning Rage is an extraordinary ability and thus not subject to SR or dispelling, and now that you've specified that it lasts only as long as the rage, you don't really need to specifiy CL for the effect. It just looks out of place.

Other than that, great monster.

[Angafirith]

Doesn't Flame Shield do +1 damage per caster level? By specifying CL0, I'm specifying that it only does 1d6 damage. I suppose I can rephrase it again.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Oh, so it does.

Question: Do you intend for it to protect against cold damage, as a fire shield would do?

[Angafirith]

Yes. I figure that being on fire would help protect against the cold. I picked Warm Fire Shield because I felt that it almost exactly fit what I wanted.

[Lord Iames Osari]

Fair enough.

[YPU]

It does reminds me of some pokémon of sorts. But hey, this think really would make your players think twice about every thing from this moment on.

[Angafirith]

My very first attempt was something I call the thunder rat, which was mostly just practice.

The very next place my PCs are going is a forest. Considering their level range, I was having a difficult time picking monsters for them to fight. Most of the magical animals I've created will be in that perfect level range for them when they get there. Problem solved.