Monsters Unchained

[critfumbles]

I have a new campaign in the works, and I felt like it would be the perfect opportunity to use a lot of the variant content from Pathfinder Unchained, including its streamlined monster creation system. I have a few ideas floating around my head for Unchained monsters, and I will try to write them down, alongside my thoughts about their creation process.

Any feedback on how these monsters compare to those in regular Pathfinder, and suggestions on other monsters that I should tackle with this system to wrangle out a new statblock, would be appreciated.

SNOW GOBLIN (CR ½)

Spoiler: Statistics

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XP 200
NE Small humanoid (cold, goblinoid)
Init +2; Perception +5 (darkvision 60 ft.)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

DEFENSES
AC 13 (touch 11, flat-footed 11); Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +0; CMD 12
hp 11
Immune cold
Weakness vulnerable (fire)

ATTACKS
Melee ice shard +1 (1d4+1 plus 1 cold)
Attack Options swarming; CMB −1

STATISTICS
Str +1, Dex +3, Con +2; Climb +5, Stealth +8, Survival +5
Languages Goblin
Utility Options terrain stride (arctic)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Swarming (Ex) Snow goblins have a poor grasp of tactics, but can become recklessly brave and dangerous in numbers. A snow goblin gains a +2 morale bonus on attack and damage rolls against an enemy threated by another ally.

Terrain Stride (Ex) Snow goblins can move across nonmagical ice and snow without impaired movement or damage.

Spoiler: Commentary

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Design Goal Snow goblins are meant to be the first threat that the PCs face, and for that they need to be a credible one. Individually, a snow goblin should be weak — but they need to be powerful in numbers, and they should have adapted to their cold environments. They should be able to sneak around and use slippery ice or deep snow to their advantage.

Technical Talk Snow goblins use the CR ½ combatant array with the Small size graft. Snow goblins live in a barren and treacherously cold environment, so I replaced their original combat option with the terrain stride utility option. I still want them to have a cool trick during combat, so I gave them the fighter class graft. This limits their racial features to darkvision to a range of 60 feet, but increases their Fortitude and Reflex saving throws to +2 and gives them one additional combat option.

I gave them the team fighter combat option, but since the PCs will most likely encounter snow goblins in large groups, the snow goblin's melee should really look like 'ice shard +3 (1d4+3 plus 1 cold)'. Since I don't want snow goblins to be an overwhelming threat, I chose to stick with the low damage number for its high weapon attack without the team fighter option. The 1 point of cold damage it deals is just icing on the cake. The cake in this metaphor is its statistics.

SNOW GOBLIN SHAMAN (CR 1)

Spoiler: Statistics

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XP 400
NE Small humanoid (cold, goblinoid)
Init +0; Perception +6 (darkvision 60 ft.)
Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.

DEFENSES
AC 12 (touch 9, flat-footed 9); Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +4; CMD 9
hp 13
Immune cold; Resist fire 5
Weakness vulnerable (fire)

ATTACKS
Melee quarterstaff +1 (1d4+1)
Ranged fire bolt (range 30 ft.) +2 touch (1d6+2 fire)
Attack Spells Known (DC 15) 1/day — burning hands, produce flame
Attack Options friendly fire; CMB +0

STATISTICS
Str +1, Con +3, Cha +2; Intimidate +6, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Spellcraft +9, Stealth +9
Languages broken Common, Goblin
Utility Options terrain stride (arctic)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Friendly Fire (Ex) The snow goblin shaman ignores the penalties for making a ranged attack into melee, and any cover bonuses its allies provide to the target. When the snow goblin shaman misses a target with a ranged attack, the ranged attack automatically hits an ally adjacent to that target.

Spoiler: Commentary

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Design Goal The snow goblin shaman leads the snow goblins with fear, using its arcane gifts to call forth fire. Slightly hardier than its fellows, the deadly threat of fire keeps the other goblins in line. The snow goblin shaman is not the most agile or skilled combatant, but is quick to turn its fire towards something that displeases it.

Technical Talk The snow goblin shaman uses the CR 1 spellcaster array, using the Small size graft and the sorcerer class graft. It gained the spells from the fire spell list, along with its unique benefit (fire resistance 5) and used its magic option to pick up more fire with an at-will magic attack.

We all know ranged combat in Pathfinder is grievous, but I didn't want to just give the snow goblin shaman the precise shot combat option (which effectively works like Precise Shot, but also allows you to ignore cover and concealment with ranged attacks). So, I took the Friendly Fire betrayal feat from the Champions of Corruption splatbook and simplified it into a bonus option for the shaman. Since there is a very high likelihood that the snow goblin shaman is going to burn a lot of its fire-vulnerable allies with this ability, I feel it won't make it too powerful.

[Debihuman]

Hit dice are missing.

Is the ice shard a manufactured weapon or a natural weapon?

Stat block could use a little work Otherwise, these look pretty good.

Debby