LA Assignment Thread X: New Year, New Management, Same Old Unplayable Monsters

[liquidformat]

On the down side you don't qualify for rapidstrike pre-epic, I guess you could try and convince your dm to let you take it as a fighter feat but beyond that no rapidstrike for you... Also its a shame mortal Hunter and Soul Eater don't allow undead (not sure why undead seem to fit the fluff of both...) and would be decent choices for Dream Vestige. Getting an items that gives you cleave or better yet greater cleave seems like a smart choice and its a toss up between going monk/warblade or barbarian/warblade but both sound like a good idea and if you convince you dm that rapidstrike can be taken as a fighter feat a level of fighter seems smart.

On a side note, incorporeal creatures automatically get dex to their melee touch attacks so why its taking weapon finesse is beyond me... Anyways it pretty clearly is a bit better than most tier 4 builds and I think it is on par with Initiators and Duskblade so +0* LA seems right.

[danielxcutter]

On the down side you don't qualify for rapidstrike pre-epic, I guess you could try and convince your dm to let you take it as a fighter feat but beyond that no rapidstrike for you... Also its a shame mortal Hunter and Soul Eater don't allow undead (not sure why undead seem to fit the fluff of both...) and would be decent choices for Dream Vestige. Getting an items that gives you cleave or better yet greater cleave seems like a smart choice and its a toss up between going monk/warblade or barbarian/warblade but both sound like a good idea and if you convince you dm that rapidstrike can be taken as a fighter feat a level of fighter seems smart.

On a side note, incorporeal creatures automatically get dex to their melee touch attacks so why its taking weapon finesse is beyond me... Anyways it pretty clearly is a bit better than most tier 4 builds and I think it is on par with Initiators and Duskblade so +0* LA seems right.

You don't qualify for Rapidstrike period; only magical beasts, plants, elementals, dragons, and aberrations do.

[liquidformat]

You don't qualify for Rapidstrike period; only magical beasts, plants, elementals, dragons, and aberrations do.

oh dang I had forgotten that part and just remembered the bab 10 and not humanoids, ugh why do undead get shafted on everything...

[PoeticallyPsyco]

My most recent Villainous Competition entry used Dream Vestige. Such a cool monster.

A few random thoughts:

Skill Knowledge (Lucid Dreaming) is potentially a worthwhile feat for more utility power, but the Dream Vestige already gets a pretty good list.

Incorporeal creatures can share space with corporeal ones by beating their touch AC as part of the movement to enter their space. While not RAW, I can totally see a DM ruling that being literally inside of a Dream Vestige counts as getting hit by their touch attack.
EDIT: Actually, this might be better without that. You can let friendly ranged characters inside your space, and melee enemies won't be able to reach them without beating your absurd touch AC. You can use invisibility (or just Lucid Dreaming if you're on the Plane of Dreams) to make yourself invisible so you don't block line of sight. Though, thinking about it, you might end up 'catching' any outgoing attacks.

If you're in a campaign on the Plane of Dreams, being incorporeal makes you immune to the Dreamheart Tempest. Potentially handy.

Meldshaping probably isn't a good route for the Dream Vestige, since you can't qualify for any of the meldshaping feats (they all require Con 13). That means no Shape Soulmeld and no Bonus Essentia.

I can get behind +0*, but honestly it might be worth +1*.

[danielxcutter]

...Wait, hold up.

You can't use items, can you?

[Efrate]

Ghostly grasp or ghost touch items you can. I would retrain weapon finesse since you get its benefits for free from subtype for ghostly grasp.

[danielxcutter]

No, I mean you don't exactly have a body to put items on do you? How many slots do you really have aside from ioun stones?

[Efrate]

Head, eye, face, neck maybe shoulder from the pic. Tendrils may count as arms and feet.

[Debatra]

On the down side you don't qualify for rapidstrike pre-epic, I guess you could try and convince your dm to let you take it as a fighter feat but beyond that no rapidstrike for you... Also its a shame mortal Hunter and Soul Eater don't allow undead (not sure why undead seem to fit the fluff of both...) and would be decent choices for Dream Vestige. Getting an items that gives you cleave or better yet greater cleave seems like a smart choice and its a toss up between going monk/warblade or barbarian/warblade but both sound like a good idea and if you convince you dm that rapidstrike can be taken as a fighter feat a level of fighter seems smart.

On a side note, incorporeal creatures automatically get dex to their melee touch attacks so why its taking weapon finesse is beyond me... Anyways it pretty clearly is a bit better than most tier 4 builds and I think it is on par with Initiators and Duskblade so +0* LA seems right.

I'm not entirely sure Cleave works with dropping a creature via ability drain. And you're definitely doing that long before the 3d6 damage puts anyone down unless they're immune to Int Drain.

If you deal a creature enough damage to make it drop (typically by dropping it to below 0 hit points or killing it)

One of the few times dealing ability damage is actually better than drain.

*stuff about body slots*

A mighty river of fog streams forward like an evil waterfall, swollen with storm and spray. Accompanying the shape is a susurrus of dreamlike voices that murmur, cry, and rail against some terrible fate. Slender tendrils of mist extend from the mass, patting and feeling for sustenance.

You're pretty much a formless mass of mist. This can be taken either way I think. It's even more vague than the Boneyard.

[AvatarVecna]

No, I mean you don't exactly have a body to put items on do you? How many slots do you really have aside from ioun stones?

Here is a thread where Thurbane has compiled all the existing rules for weird body types and how that interacts with magic item slots.

If I were DMing, I'd probably rule that it's got a head and neck (per the images), and that the four tendrils count as the appropriate four limbs. That would allow for Arms, Face, Feet, Hands, Head, Ring, Ring, Throat slots, but would draw the line at Armor, Weapons, Shoulder, Torso, Waist slots. But as Debatra said, it's basically up to interpretation - it's equally valid to say that it's formless even beyond being incorporeal, and so it's too amorphous to have slots at all.

[Lapak]

I'm comfortable with giving the Dream Vestige a +0*. It's an unusual high-HD Undead in that it has strengths that are actually relevant and covers many of the standard weaknesses, and while it doesn't have unlimited paths for advancement I think the suggestions of monk and/or martial initiator would work in a game that ran to 20.

I wasn't even certain it needed the asterisk given the RAW interpretation Debatra threw in, but I suppose a player who wanted to break the game and run Evil in the process could accumulate those Temp HPs in an hour pretty easily in any populated area if they were willing to attack innocents townsfolk.

[Falontani]

I'm comfortable with giving the Dream Vestige a +0*. It's an unusual high-HD Undead in that it has strengths that are actually relevant and covers many of the standard weaknesses, and while it doesn't have unlimited paths for advancement I think the suggestions of monk and/or martial initiator would work in a game that ran to 20.

I wasn't even certain it needed the asterisk given the RAW interpretation Debatra threw in, but I suppose a player who wanted to break the game and run Evil in the process could accumulate those Temp HPs in an hour pretty easily in any populated area if they were willing to attack innocents townsfolk.

Or just take a day trip to the Positive Energy Plane. Yea, being undead on a Strongly positive energy plane sounds bad, but you are actually completely fine until something attacks you (which you should still be fine with at this level)

[Debatra]

I wasn't even certain it needed the asterisk given the RAW interpretation Debatra threw in, but I suppose a player who wanted to break the game and run Evil in the process could accumulate those Temp HPs in an hour pretty easily in any populated area if they were willing to attack innocents townsfolk.

It's not even an issue of butchering an entire city. It's that temporary hit points from the same source don't stack. I imagine there's at least one way to do it, but monsters don't lose asterisks just because their problematic abilities are difficult to use. (A good chunk of asterisks wouldn't be there if they did.)

[GreatWyrmGold]

Putting everything I have to say about the month I missed in spoilers probably makes it less likely anyone will read it, but it definitely makes it less likely anyone will complain about me making a mile-high post.

Spoiler: January

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[QUOTE=AvatarVecna;24896455On the other other hand, "Enchanters at least can cast spells from the schools they didn’t bar". Yeah sucks that noncasters get shut down more easily than casters do, by virtue of having far fewer options so that when the few they do have get shut down, they don't have reliable alteratives. Scalding hot take there. [/QUOTE]
Yet another way that non-casters are just more poorly-designed than casters. "Fighters have access to the same basic combat rules as everyone else, that's enough for them."

Spoiler: I'm a month late but this guy is still very wrong

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That's not actually flavor text. It's rules text. The flavor text is the italicized bit above that. Apologies for being pedantic, but this is an argument I've had several times in the Playground over the years.

And you're still wrong. The italicized bit is the monster's "boxed text," the stuff you're intended to read to players. The rest is flavor. Let's look at the two adjacent monsters in Libris Mortis:

• Bone Rat Swarm: Identifies it as a swarm of undead rats (duh) and claims "they can strip a creature clean in short order." It's not clarified what "short order" is, what it means to "strip" a creature, etc, because it's flavor text meant to evoke semi-accurate about pirhannas.
• Brain in a Jar: Vaguely describes the process for creating a brain in a jar. No feats, skill ranks, spells, etc are listed as prerequisites as you see in the actual-rules section of liches, because this is flavor text. It ends in a few lines which are arguably mechanics, providing a weight and saying it can communicate telepathically, but the overwhelming majority of the text has a focus and level of clarity that only makes sense if it's meant as flavor text.

Let's also bring in orcs from the MM1, to point out that their pre-Combat flavor text identifies them as aggressive raiders, gives common hair/eye/clothing colors, describes peacetime activities (planning raids and training), and lists languages orcs may speak. Very mechanical, such crunch.

And even if it wasn't this would still be ridiculous. The text says it can take on any form, but nothing in the text indicates that its form affects its statistics. Almost as if it was just flavor text. Claiming that the rulebook suggests the Boneyard should be able to give itself infinite natural attacks isn't RAW or RAI, it's RAIPOOMA.

Also, I guess the Strength non-ability isn't really a problem either: apparently, "Strength --" is not restricted to incorporeal creatures, like I thought: it just means the creature is incapable of producing physical force, and it automatically fails all Strength checks. So, a grappler, tripper or bull rusher automatically wins against this (though it does make me wonder how you determine how far it gets pushed when something bull rushes it).

Not surprising that you forgot; that doesn't apply to many creatures, because it's hard to make something that can't move intimidating.
As for bull rush, I'd rule that the rusher could push the jar 5 feet for each 5 points by which their check result is greater than 0. If they can't roll at least a 5, they get a pity square.

An animal needs to be pretty decent not to get -0 IMHO, some sort of unique, or at least interesting, abilities. Either than, or some decent numbers.

Same's true of all beatsticks. Aside from the fact that both beatsticks and animals can get better than -0 if the opportunity cost (ie HD) isn't too high.

Undead fire elementals.

Fun fact—the Book of Bad Latin has specific undead elementals for water, air, and of course fire (dessicator, voidwraith, cinderspawn), but not earth. That's left to the necromental template, even though "grave-dirt elemental" makes a lot more sense than "water elemental who dried up and was reanimated (despite a dry water elemental not having a body)".

You'd think these things would deal fire damage, but no. They deal cold damage by draining the heat out of their targets.

FWIW, I think that's a cool idea. I think it's neat that the three undead elementals in the book all have elemental-themed draining attacks.

How could they even think this thing deserves a +4?

I think WotC's internal formula for level adjustment implicitly assumed that RHD were as valuable as class levels (perhaps because they were comparing dragons and fighters). ECL is applied for the "free" abilities they got that normal races wouldn't. That's basically how Savage Species suggests LA'ing.

Spoiler: February

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A crypt chanter never speaks directly, though it may give instructions or provide answers within the lyrics of its music (usually in Common, sometimes Abyssal).
So you could maybe interpret that as being able to speak for what needs it, or maybe not. I'll leave that for discussion.

Late, but FWIW I'd interpret this as making crypt chanters those fantasy characters who only speak in rhymes, except creepy instead of annoying. Though if it was a PC for an entire campaign, it would probably get annoying before too long...especially if the player tried to actually sing.

At least this thing can actually turn off its "everything near me potentially dies" aura.

A surprisingly rare trick.

Really? Has anyone ever enforced such a barmy idea?

Yeah. At my table, you only get d12's if the template (or theoretically race) says you do. Granted, this has only come up once in all my years of playing; not many people play undead.

Everyone is always going to have some difference in their views though, otherwise we wouldn't even have to vote.

Yes. And?
The point of guidelines isn't to make sure everyone votes the same. It's to make sure that everyone's aiming at the same target.

Walking Hair Dryer

Darn you, I can't unsee it.

You know what a Dire Maggot is, right? It's like a maggot - but it's dire. Dire flies do not appear to be in this book.

It's like the paradoxical frog, except it flies.

I never took much of a look at this creature, because I have a strong distaste for inaccurately recreated arthropods, especially ones that are designed specifically to be "icky." Seriously, why is a maggot "drooling ichor from its mandibles"? And why is it apparently radially symmetrical?

"Maggots are basically worms that eat meat, right?"

Yeah this is where you start jumping down the rabbit hole of I was created in a Desecrated area with an alter, by a caster with Corpsecafter, Bolster Resistance, and nimble bones who spellstitched me to have (fill in blank).

Much as I mock people who find flavor text OP, optimizing backstories is absolutely also a thing. It's rarely combined with any ability to hide that that's what you're doing...sadly.

"At the beginning of a Dream Vestige's next subsequent action" (not its next turn, its next action)

I feel confident saying this was written by someone who wasn't familiar with D&D terminology, but we're rating these things on RAW where it isn't actively broken. Drain someone to zero Int, take a free action to laugh, and eat the sucker.

Or just take a day trip to the Positive Energy Plane. Yea, being undead on a Strongly positive energy plane sounds bad, but you are actually completely fine until something attacks you (which you should still be fine with at this level)

The positive energy plane is perfect for this. By RAW it doesn't damage undead (though it really should), you split in half every time you almost need to start making saves, and Dream Travel doesn't restrict what planar boundaries you can cross. The only problem is that you don't control your spawn, and they're identical to you, which means the DM will be using this opportunity to thoroughly roast all of your bad play habits as soon as he runs out of books to throw at you.

[Thurbane]

Pressed for time right now - I'll try to do a detailed breakdown later, but for now voting LA +0*.

[AvatarVecna]

It's not even an issue of butchering an entire city. It's that temporary hit points from the same source don't stack. You'd need some way to get that many from one thing. I imagine there's at least one way to do it, but monsters don't lose asterisks just because their problematic abilities are difficult to use. (A good chunk of asterisks wouldn't be there if they did.)

One thing I think is fair to assume for this set-up is that DMs will sometimes go with how something was intended to work (which is part of why I relented about a Boneyard thing - it's obvious intention how it's supposed to affect undead): namely, that a DM allowing LA reassignment into their game probably isn't playing by strict RAW in the first place.

Of course, that matters a lot more for abilities that aren't going to be straight-up forbidden like spawn abilities. Even if you kept the temp HP generation and cut out the spawning ability, whether the temp HP are allowed to self-stack as intended, or are limited to 5 at a time, barely matters - the difference between 5 temp HP at any given time, and a big pile of temp HP if you churn through villagers, doesn't really matter at this level, because rocket tag is just that problematic. Add on the social repercussions for churning through villagers for a temporary and kinda insignificant power boost, and I'm not inclined to factor the temp HP generation into my ranking at all. The differences between RAI, RAW, and being gone entirely are just too small for me to care about.

[Falontani]

Putting everything I have to say about the month I missed in spoilers probably makes it less likely anyone will read it, but it definitely makes it less likely anyone will complain about me making a mile-high post.

The positive energy plane is perfect for this. By RAW it doesn't damage undead (though it really should), you split in half every time you almost need to start making saves, and Dream Travel doesn't restrict what planar boundaries you can cross. The only problem is that you don't control your spawn, and they're identical to you, which means the DM will be using this opportunity to thoroughly roast all of your bad play habits as soon as he runs out of books to throw at you.

What do you mean people are less likely to read your post? I found it a good read.

However I do want to note

Major positive-dominant planes go even further. A creature on a major positive-dominant plane must make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid being blinded for 10 rounds by the brilliance of the surroundings. Simply being on the plane grants fast healing 5 as an extraordinary ability. In addition, those at full hit points gain 5 additional temporary hit points per round. These temporary hit points fade 1d20 rounds after the creature leaves the major positive-dominant plane. However, a creature must make a DC 20 Fortitude save each round that its temporary hit points exceed its normal hit point total. Failing the saving throw results in the creature exploding in a riot of energy, killing it.

I do not see anything in here that specifically includes undead. Meaning that

Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).

Even if you got to the point that normal creatures would have to start making saves, you still wouldn't. An undead on a Major Positive Dominant Plane (such as the Positive Energy Plane) will eventually have nigh infinite temporary hit points unless they have an ability that specifically drops their temporary hit points.

[AvatarVecna]

What do you mean people are less likely to read your post? I found it a good read.

I can't speak for anybody else but I'm just in general less than inclined to read opinions on monsters we had consensus on weeks ago. We're not exactly hurting for participation or differing viewpoints, and while there's certainly insights to be gained from hearing another person's thoughts on all the monsters they weren't here in time to give judgement on when judgement was called for, it's unlikely to be so monumental that it warrants revisiting said monsters.

[Debatra]

He actually does talk about the Dream Vestige toward the bottom of the February section.

[Blue Jay]

I find the dream vestige a little complicated, from a rating standpoint: incorporeality, the weirdly vague planar-travel ability, and the awkward self-spawning from temporary hit points are too many moving targets for my taste. It's not a spellcaster, and its natural abilities are pretty narrowly-focused, so I'd imagine that it may not have as much to contribute at high levels as many other characters could. On the other hand, incorporeality is pretty broadly applicable to a whole lot of scenarios, so maybe the narrowness isn't quite what I think.

I don't know what I think here, so I'm just going to vote with the party line and say LA +0* for the dream vestige.

---

Fun fact—the Book of Bad Latin has specific undead elementals for water, air, and of course fire (dessicator, voidwraith, cinderspawn), but not earth. That's left to the necromental template, even though "grave-dirt elemental" makes a lot more sense than "water elemental who dried up and was reanimated (despite a dry water elemental not having a body)".

The dust wight was published in Monster Manual 3, which came out a few months before Libris Mortis, so I guess the writers felt like the three in Libris Mortis were just completing the set that began in the earlier book.

[Debatra]

Seems like we're in agreement with +0* here. Entomber coming up.

[Debatra]

Entomber

Size & Type: Medium Undead
Space/Reach: 5'/5'
HD: 8
Speed: 30', Burrow 10'
Ability Scores: Str +12, Dex +0, Con -, Int -4, Wis +4, Cha +4 - Net +16, 1 penalty
Natural Armor: 11
Natural Weapons: One Primary Slam (1d6 plus Entomb)
Skill List: Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot
Body Shape: Humanoid
Speech (Languages): No* (understands Common)
CR: 5
WotC LA: -
Our LA: +0

The lazy necromancer's best friend, the Entomber is, appropriately enough, good at burying and digging up bodies. They have DR 5/silver, and only can't speak because their lips are sewn shut. No mention is made of what if anything happens if those bindings are broken.

They have one ability that will be useless to most PCs, Exhume. With a standard action, they can bring a buried creature up to the surface (specifically without harming it) by touching the top of the area if they were buried less than ten feet down. This doesn't specifically only work on corpses, so I guess it could be of niche use while adventuring. No hole or tunnel is left behind. Unlike Entomb, there is no listed limitation based on what sort of material the body is buried under. By RAW, this thing can get someone out of a solid block of adamantine. Errata is silent once again. Actually, there's nothing about the buried creature needing to be willing either. Depending on how you define "buried", you might be able to pull out an incorporeal creature that's hiding in the ground. Amusing if nothing else.

Then there's its namesake ability, Entomb. When it hits something with a slam attack, the target must make a Charisma-based Reflex save or be buried where they stood, suffocating until someone (including themselves) can dig them out. This fails if whatever material they're standing on is either animate, alive, magical, or has more than eight hardness. You'd think it would be Str-based considering it's described as being "pounded bodily into a shallow grave", but whatever. Oddly, it also just doesn't work if there's an open area directly below, such as a basement, instead of shunting them into that area.

Creatures can spend a standard action (that provokes AoOs) to dig out an Entombed creature. This must be done twice to free them, at which point they are merely prone on the surface. While Entombed, the target is considered pinned by an opponent who rolls a 20 on all their grapple checks. They can dig themselves out by breaking the pin and then the grapple. If an ally partly freed them, they only have to make one check to escape and just be prone.

At lower levels, some more Dexterity and Combat Reflexes could make this an amusing front-liner. By level eight? Somewhat less so.

[Roninblack]

Yeah, I agree that it doesn't seem worth 8 hd. I'll say tentative +0 based on the attributes.

Seems like we're in agreement with +0 here. Entomber coming up.

Didn't we decide to put an astrisk on the dream vestige split ability? Is that a typo

[liquidformat]

I actually think this creature hinges on how much abuse your dm allows in the statement 'space where a creature is buried'. At least this thing is unique, mostly useless but unique. I could see someone going weapon master and ki whirlwind slamming groups of people into the ground. I wish this thing was monstrous humanoid or something that was more conducive to beat sticking. As is I am not sure if it is worth it. I will hold out on fine vote for the moment.

[H_H_F_F]

I was going to give this a pretty automatic +0, but honestly, entomb is pretty damn good. It targets reflex, which a lot of dangerous targets lack. It's a rider effect that costs dearly in action economy, on top of being a trip. Size will help you get out of the earth, but you'd still pay the action economy price. A native +4 Cha is very helpful here, and a very high base Str helps diverting resources to Cha. Seems like a good Paladin of Tyranny or initiator. I could probably still be convinced to go -0 if someone shows me I'm overvaluing entomb, but right now this is a surprising LA +0 from me.

[Thurbane]

• Medium Undead.
• 8 RHD (d12hp, poor BAB, 1 good save, 4 skill points/"level").
• Speed 30 ft, burrow 10 ft.
• +11 natural AC.
• Slam 1d6 + entomb.
• Entomb: rider effect on a slam. Cha-based Ref save or be buried in the ground. Will take some actions to get free. Somewhat dependant on the material the opponent is standing on, but works on earth and stone, unless there is a basement underneath.
• Exhume: very niche ability.
• DR 5/silver: small number, but usually in play.
• Darvision 60 ft.
• Undead traits.
• Str +12, Int -4, Wis +4, Cha +4: net +16, one non-ability. I really don't like this big of a hit to Int. Skills matter.
• Small but useful racial skill list.

Medium humanoid in form, and explicitly cannot speak. A lenient DM might let you cut your mouth stitching and speak, I guess.

Obvious role is melee type. Can you still slam while wielding a weapon? I think the default RAI for humanoid creatures with a slam is they need one hand/arm free to use a slam. I suppose you could full attack with a two-handed weapon, the use a free action to release one hand? With a boost to Cha, maybe Crusader?

I'm borderline on this. The RHD, hit to Int, and default inability to speak are annoying, to say the least. In return, you get a rider save or suck on your slam, good Str, good Natural Armor, and a burrow speed.

I'm willing to vote LA +0. You can still sneak in for a +16 BAB by ECL 20.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

8 bad RHD is a hefty price. But Entomb/Exhume are legitimately cool, seem like they would be fun to use, and are potentially quite powerful in the right circumstance. And the stats are good. A very tentative +0 from me.

How would you guys optimize Entomb? Is there a way to bypass the 8 Hardness limitation? I don't think adamantine cuts it, since you're not sundering a weapon or attacking an object (although actually, if you did either of those with your slam - and made your slam adamantine somehow - I think there's an argument to be made that the object/weapon gets Entombed regardless the hardness of the ground). I think the Mountain Hammer line of strikes might work, though. And there's always stone to mud and similar effects...

[Thurbane]

How would you guys optimize Entomb?

If you can get into Swanmay, you can shift into the form of a swan that gets 2 slams. So if you retain Entomb in other forms, then get two Entombs per round?

But on a more serious note, if you can assume forms that get multiple slams, and can retain Entomb, could be useful. Warshaper may be promising.

[edit] Renegade Mastermaker / Battlefist gets iterative slam attacks... [/edit]

[Morphic tide]

So, in exchange for eight levels of poor BAB, your voice, and Constitution modifiers, you get a net +3 to attack rolls and +6 to damage on attack rolls, alongside a 1d8 Natural Attack with a Charisma-based save-or-lose rider (burns at least three turns before fully recovering), +4 Charisma to go with that, and +11 AC via Natural Armor. A Crusader works best, solving typical Undead problems of recovery and sharing Charisma as the score for any saves dished out.

At 11 HD, once the frontloading has been covered, the Entomber Crusader 3 is (and always will be) 10 points behind for Steely Resolve, does not yet have Smite or Mettle, caps at 4th level Maneuvers instead of 6th, has four less Maneuvers Known, one less Readied/Granted, and one less Stance. On the chassis front, the Entomber has 12+7d12+3d10, while the Crusader has 10+10d10+11xCon, for the Crusader needing 12 Con to exceed the Entomber's health by 2 and gaining an advantage of 11 per additional point of Con bonus, alongside iteratives at -5 and -10. For saving throws, the Entomber is immune to most Fortitude saves, gets 8 levels of strong Will save, and an extra +4 to Will saves from ability scores.

Now we move on to the real meat: Armor class, where many concerns of durability really live. Dexterity only enters the question when looking at Touch AC, where there is no difference from a "blank" Crusader as there is no Dexterity bonus, as all basic armor you're meant to stick with adds up to AC 9 when Dexterity is maxed, for AC 30 on the Entomber and AC 19 on the blank regular race before magic items or special materials get involved. This is flat-out insurmountable by WBL at this point in time by the basic options, and constitutes a staggering 55 percentage point shift. Natural Armor monsters are crazy.

Oh, and by the way? Entomb is a rider. Not a separate Special Attack. So you get it on every Strike you make. Put me down for LA +1, because the thing won't ever be using BAB to begin with, being a pure Natural Armor monster breaks AC scaling, and there's plenty of ways to pump Charisma and screw Reflex saves to make that save-or-lose stay reliable. And iteratives don't really matter much to Crusaders or non-Tiger Claw Swordsages, so missing out on five BAB isn't crippling.

[Falontani]

If you can get into Swanmay, you can shift into the form of a swan that gets 2 slams. So if you retain Entomb in other forms, then get two Entombs per round?

But on a more serious note, if you can assume forms that get multiple slams, and can retain Entomb, could be useful. Warshaper may be promising.

[edit] Renegade Mastermaker / Battlefist gets iterative slam attacks... [/edit]

See Thurbane you are missing the biggest and probably easiest way to get extra slams.

Creatures do not receive additional attacks from a high base attack bonus when using natural weapons. The number of attacks a creature can make with its natural weapons depends on the type of the attack—generally, a creature can make one bite attack, one attack per claw or tentacle, one gore attack, one sting attack, or one slam attack (although Large creatures with arms or armlike limbs can make a slam attack with each arm).

So uhh go up a size category (Psychic Warrior Expansion is the easiest method). Get more "armlike limbs". My suggestion here is:
Entomber 8/Psychic Warrior 1/Crusader 4/War Mind 5/Crusader

Expansion brings us up to 2 slams, then use some of that wealth by level for many of those undead arm grafts. Regardless you easily get 2 slams each hitting 2 targets with War Mind. If you didn't have a huge int penalty I might have suggested whirlwind attack for once. Oh also nab yourself Robilar's Gambit.

If your DM allows Undead Meldshaper to count your wis as con for incarnum feat requirements then I would probably drop some crusader for Totemist. Then you could use Psycarnum Infusion

Now what sort of LA? Undead means lower HP, but our AC is nice. You are afraid of reflex saves and touch spells (like disintegrate), but entombing your enemies would be really fun. Honestly I am leaning towards LA +0 but I'm pretty close to LA +1