Songbird race! (And other stuff.)

[Tzardok]

Lowest stats of any creature. What a useless lump. Incidentally, You forgot the hp of Lump.

[Metastachydium]

Incidentally, You forgot the hp of Lump.

Oops. I fixed that one, thanks!

[Beni-Kujaku]

Bulging Lump

Hmmm, 1 RHD, DLA-12, assuming Int 3. Would make a decent Master Inquisitive in DNLA with Open Minded and Nymph's Kiss. And yes, the nymph would have to be quite open minded to kiss that. The 24h immunity and Construct bonus HD helps a lot its viability. The party can just carry the lump and automatically have a chance to instantly beat any living creature. Seems competitive.

Sappa

If it succeeds in establishing a hold, it can then choose to latch onto its opponents lower jaw and attempt to tear it off.

That is... suprisingly gruesome for D&D. Killing in dozens of unique and specific ways is commonplace, but torture is generally nondescript, and maiming is basically nonexistent. Kinda hypocritical, I know, but there's a reason the cure for losing your jaw is "Regeneration, or regeneration". I like that it just despises people speaking, and that the fight basically has two stages, first the Sappa attacks, then it just goes away after breaking all jaws in sight. I would love to see one reacting to people communicating telepathically with it. "Speaking! But no jaw! But speaking! Where jaw!? If jaw, then break jaw, then no jaw! No more speaking! But now no jaw, and still speaking! Why speaking!"

[Metastachydium]

Hmmm, 1 RHD, DLA-12, assuming Int 3. Would make a decent Master Inquisitive in DNLA with Open Minded and Nymph's Kiss. And yes, the nymph would have to be quite open minded to kiss that.

Maybe they met in Unfriendly Auras Anonymous?

The 24h immunity and Construct bonus HD helps a lot its viability. The party can just carry the lump and automatically have a chance to instantly beat any living creature. Seems competitive.

Curses! The Shrieker triumphs again.

That is... suprisingly gruesome for D&D. Killing in dozens of unique and specific ways is commonplace, but torture is generally nondescript, and maiming is basically nonexistent. Kinda hypocritical, I know, but there's a reason the cure for losing your jaw is "Regeneration, or regeneration".

[Innocently.] Look, I just believe Regenerate deserves a valid use case!

I like that it just despises people speaking, and that the fight basically has two stages, first the Sappa attacks, then it just goes away after breaking all jaws in sight. I would love to see one reacting to people communicating telepathically with it. "Speaking! But no jaw! But speaking! Where jaw!? If jaw, then break jaw, then no jaw! No more speaking! But now no jaw, and still speaking! Why speaking!"

Heh. Depending on the opponents's temperament, that would likely end with either a coup de grace or everyone walking away in one piece as it quietly sobs in the corner.

[Bhu]

I like the new critters!

[Metastachydium]

I like the new critters!

Thanks!

♣

And as I'm here anyway, ANNOUNCEMENTS time: I'm alive (a surprise to a very select few, I'll assume) and so is the thread; I just ran into this issue where I was working on a Deathless but suddenly found I don't want to do it anymore for reasosns, and it left me in something of a disarray schedule-wise. While I work on putting myself back together, have an arthropod of probably extraplanar origin that I kind had lying about:

Pious Goblin
Pious goblins bear the guise of a scrawny, mantled goblinoid creature of priestly demeanour, standing or ambling about with its hands clasped before its chest in areas commonly frequented by humanoids. What appear to be its hands, however, are in truth merely joints of a longer forelimb, with a long, clublike section full of wicked, clawlike hooks cleverly folded under and behind them. The mantle in its turn is a modified winglike structure, hiding two more clawed arms underneath and the angular chin a set of mandibles, one resting in the other.

More baffling to scholars than these resourceful adaptations are the strange energies that seem to be woven into the forms of these large, predatory insects, traces of a force resembling the essence of the aligned planes, if more mutable and primitive. The leading theories not simply dismissing this as an anomaly suggest that these creatures must have once been extraplanar beings, from some old, neutrally aligned plane.

A pious goblin appears to murmur some manner of religious mantra at all times. This is but a prayful mimicry, nevertheless; these beings are mindless and cannot speak.

Size/Type: Medium Vermin
Hit Dice: 4d8+12 (30 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 30 feet (6 squares)
Armor Class: 17 (+3 Dex, +4 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+6
Attack: Foreclaw +6 melee (1d8+3)
Full Attack: 2 foreclaws +6 melee (1d8+3), 2 claws +1 melee (1d4+1) and bite +1 melee (1d8+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. (10 ft. with foreclaws)
Special Attacks: Rend (2d8+4)
Special Qualities: Aligned aura, darkvision 60 ft., mindless
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +3, Will -1
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 17, Con 14, Int –, Wis 9, Cha 10
Skills: Disguise +0 (+10 to mimic goblinoid creatures), Jump +7, Listen +3
Feats: Improved Toughness^B
Environment: Any land
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 3
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 5–7 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: –

Combat
Pious goblins wait in plain view for prey to come by and let their unsuspecting foes-to-be come to them. Once a creature no larger than the pious goblin itself is within easy reach, it lashes out, aiming for a quick kill.

Aligned Aura (Ex)
An attempt to detect a pious goblin's alignment by any means automatically fails and the creature registers, instead, as possessing the alignment aura a 1st level cleric of a deity with the same alignment as the foe trying to discern the goblin's has.

Rend (Ex)
If a pious goblin hits with both its foreclaws, it
latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack
automatically deals an additional 2d8+4 points of damage.

Skills
Pious goblins have a +4 racial bonus on Jump and Listen checks and a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to look and act as though they were goblinoid creature.

[Beni-Kujaku]

I kinda like this one, but I wonder how often its aura will come into play. Not many parties immediately Detect Alignment whenever they encounter a new character.

[Tzardok]

I'm kinda iffy about a vermin with a supernatural ability. In most cases I'd argue that a vermin with an ability that isn't Ex should be a magical beast (though my forrays into Dark Sun made me more forgiving for psi-like abilities).

I'd either make this creature a magical beast, or change the aura mimicry to Ex (alignment auras are Ex in general, and for some reason I can accept it much easier as a vermin with this changed label, though it won't actually have any difference in effect).

[Beni-Kujaku]

I'm kinda iffy about a vermin with a supernatural ability. In most cases I'd argue that a vermin with an ability that isn't Ex should be a magical beast (though my forrays into Dark Sun made me more forgiving for psi-like abilities).

I'd either make this creature a magical beast, or change the aura mimicry to Ex (alignment auras are Ex in general, and for some reason I can accept it much easier as a vermin with this changed label, though it won't actually have any difference in effect).

I think the point was to make it mindless without having to justify it‚ which blocks any mind reading attempt (actually‚ no Magical Beast in the game is mindless‚ except the Ectoplasmic Swarm‚ which is a Psionic Beast only because the spiders composing it came from the Ethereal and not the Prime‚ so it definitively should have been a vermin as well. On the other hand‚ it's not unheard of to have Vermin with (Su) powers. Just look at the rapture locust swarm from FF‚ or the Knell Beetle. But I agree that auras are in general (Ex)‚ though this reflective aura might not.

[Tzardok]

I forgot about those two, though I need to look them up. Still, I'm pretty sure that there are mindless magical beasts, and even if there aren't any, there's no reason that they should be categorically impossible.

[Debihuman]

Pious goblins are kinda a mess. Technically by the rules Goblinoid can only work with Humanoid and also they should be able to speak Goblin (which mindless creatures cannot). Technically, this is a "Creature that Cannot Be" as per the old WotC articles. Now, that the rules lawyers are satisfied; let's see what this creature does on instinct: nothing. Or to be more precise, you haven't given it anything TO do.

What is considered "prey" for pious goblins? It makes no sense for them to attack anything larger that Small creatures. Any creature with a CR of 3 can take them as they are just too stupid to do anything but attack with their natural weapons which requires them to be at close range. Any creature with a ranged attack can take these out easy peasy. A 1/2 CR farmer with a sling, which has a range of 50 ft., can take this down as long as the farmer keeps 10 feet away. Granted it might take an hour, but it's not exactly a challenging critter to a level 2 party even with regular weapons. You can't even lure it with food unless the food is within 5 feet. Its prey can avoid these far too easily. if you see it and just walk 10 or more feet around it, it won't attack because nothing is in range. It is literally not in their nature to seek out food. As a species, they will likely starve to death naturally as they will have eaten everything that surrounds them in a 5-foot radius.

I think the CR 3 is silly -- it is overpowered and underwhelming at the same time. Too many attacks and too many hit points for a creature that isn't worth it for a level 3 party.

Debby

[Metastachydium]

I kinda like this one, but I wonder how often its aura will come into play. Not many parties immediately Detect Alignment whenever they encounter a new character.

I'm going to pretend Paladins still see play on occasion, okay?

I'm kinda iffy about a vermin with a supernatural ability. In most cases I'd argue that a vermin with an ability that isn't Ex should be a magical beast (though my forrays into Dark Sun made me more forgiving for psi-like abilities).

I'd either make this creature a magical beast, or change the aura mimicry to Ex (alignment auras are Ex in general, and for some reason I can accept it much easier as a vermin with this changed label, though it won't actually have any difference in effect).

Well, if that's your one big issue, I'm amenable to complying! (I kinda forgot such auras are Ex; they have this Su feel about them, you know?)

Pious goblins are kinda a mess. Technically by the rules Goblinoid can only work with Humanoid and also they should be able to speak Goblin (which mindless creatures cannot). Technically, this is a "Creature that Cannot Be" as per the old WotC articles.

That's just the name. They are neither actual Goblins, nor in actual possession of the Goblinoid subtype (and they are not particularly pious either, for that matter); the thing is just a big insect that evolved to look like a Goblin when not in murder mode.

What is considered "prey" for pious goblins? It makes no sense for them to attack anything larger that Small creatures.

Well, it's kind alike a praying mantis that won a weird prize on the mimicry lottery. "Prey" is anything that looks edible and small enough to casually slaughter (and eat).

Any creature with a CR of 3 can take them as they are just too stupid to do anything but attack with their natural weapons which requires them to be at close range. Any creature with a ranged attack can take these out easy peasy. A 1/2 CR farmer with a sling, which has a range of 50 ft., can take this down as long as the farmer keeps 10 feet away. Granted it might take an hour, but it's not exactly a challenging critter to a level 2 party even with regular weapons. You can't even lure it with food unless the food is within 5 feet. Its prey can avoid these far too easily. if you see it and just walk 10 or more feet around it, it won't attack because nothing is in range. It is literally not in their nature to seek out food. As a species, they will likely starve to death naturally as they will have eaten everything that surrounds them in a 5-foot radius.

Um… The description explicitly has "standing or ambling about" and they have a 30' movement speed. They aren't glued to a spot by the road. The rest is just a fancy way of saying "this an ambush predator". It's about as likely to starve a death as any other ambush predator, and about as likely to let some filthy peasant sling it to death with a full hour's work as one.

I think the CR 3 is silly -- it is overpowered and underwhelming at the same time. Too many attacks and too many hit points for a creature that isn't worth it for a level 3 party.

Yeah, I struggled with the CR. It has four limbs and mandibles on account of being an insectlike thing that mostly moves about on its hindmost two legs, so the attack routine was kinda a given, but otherwise it's mostly a gimmick thing to creep out PCs and troll Paladins. I'm not sure how to fix the issue, though.

[sandmote]

Um… The description explicitly has "standing or ambling about" and they have a 30' movement speed. They aren't glued to a spot by the road. The rest is just a fancy way of saying "this an ambush predator". It's about as likely to starve a death as any other ambush predator, and about as likely to let some filthy peasant sling it to death with a full hour's work as one.

I'd at least specify they seek out areas where they consistently encounter humanoids (much like army ants, praying mantises, and jumping spiders remain on the move) before settling in waiting for more to show up. Or maybe they settle in temporarily when raising young.

I'm more bothered by how there doesn't really seem to be a way for pious goblins to maintain a goblin disguise for any length of time. The remains of what they kill isn't going to be mistaken for a raiding goblin, so the only way to do the old twist of "the goblins really were innocent" is to have one person see and escape from the pious goblin before it attacks. Which seems difficult to set up for a string of murders or anything else warranting the party investigate.

Putting it into a mystery plot would also give the party Paladin more time to detect and worry about the pious goblin's aura and see there's something different about it. The SRD lists racial skills for some of the vermin, so maybe racial bonuses to disguise, escape artist, jump, and listen? No move silently, but those would probably also help it with finding prey and ambushing. I'm not sure what Ex or Su abilities could help with the disguise or complement the aura though.

[Metastachydium]

I'd at least specify they seek out areas where they consistently encounter humanoids (much like army ants, praying mantises, and jumping spiders remain on the move) before settling in waiting for more to show up. Or maybe they settle in temporarily when raising young.

Fair. I'll try to work something like that in.

I'm more bothered by how there doesn't really seem to be a way for pious goblins to maintain a goblin disguise for any length of time. The remains of what they kill isn't going to be mistaken for a raiding goblin, so the only way to do the old twist of "the goblins really were innocent" is to have one person see and escape from the pious goblin before it attacks. Which seems difficult to set up for a string of murders or anything else warranting the party investigate.

Technically, there's a workaround in that one can go "people keep gettig horribly murdered on that trail, but the only creature consistently seen coming and going through the area is this weird Goblin hermit dude". The Pious Goblin scampers off when addressed, muttering its mantras and doesn't just attack people investigating the deaths because it fed recently and only cares about food.

Or something like that.

Putting it into a mystery plot would also give the party Paladin more time to detect and worry about the pious goblin's aura and see there's something different about it. The SRD lists racial skills for some of the vermin, so maybe racial bonuses to disguise, escape artist, jump, and listen? No move silently, but those would probably also help it with finding prey and ambushing. I'm not sure what Ex or Su abilities could help with the disguise or complement the aura though.

But yes, that is entirely doable and the passably mediocre CHA score is an artifact of my considering that as an option (but tentatively dropping it). Now I'm strictly in favour, so thanks for the input (on this and all else).

[Bhu]

I do love me a good ambush bug!

[Metastachydium]

A-and what's that there? Another update so soon that's not even complete filler?! It must be Monday!

Khalybs
Headless hulks of metal, as though a broad suit of segmented armour gained the power to walk and fight, khalybes are beings of solid steel no less than 10 feet tall. Their arms are long and heavy, covered in studs, barbs and straight blades sharp as a razor from the elbow to the tip of the thick fingers. Khalybes of a given size are remarkably similar, as though they were produced in the same mould, down to the arrangement of these wicked implements they bear.

Not terribly personable but steadfast, khalybes leave their home plane rather more commonly than other elementals – but only so they can seek out wars to join. As such, they frequently venture onto Acheron, where they mix mostly with bladelings as spikers, seemingly believing they share some manner of kinship with these creatures. Sometimes they will offer their services to the rilmani as well, supplementing the might of the ferrumach, whose soldierly disposition they greatly respect, as massed infantry.

Khalybes speak Terran, slowly grinding the words as though speaking through clenched teeth.

Size/Type: Large Elemental [Earth, Extraplanar]
Hit Dice: 8d8+32 (68 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 feet (4 squares)
Armor Class: 24 (-1 size, +15 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 24
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+17
Attack: Iron arm +12 melee (2d8+7) or orc shotput +12 ranged (3d6+7, 19–20/×3)
Full Attack: 2 iron arms +12 melee (2d8+7) or orc shotput +12/+7 ranged (3d6+7, 19–20/×3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Iron arms, maneuvers
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., DR 10/adamantine, elemental traits, vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +2, Will +1
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 11, Con 18, Int 11, Wis 8, Cha 5
Skills: Climb +18, Martial Lore +11
Feats: Brutal Throw, Great Fortitude, Power Attack
Environment: Elemental Plane of Earth
Organization: Solitary, troop (4–15), company (60–180), battalion (400–800) or regiment (1200–1500)
Challenge Rating: 5
Alignment: Often lawful neutral
Advancement: 9–14 HD (Large), 15–24 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: –

Combat
Khalybes believe they exist to wage war. They push forward fearlessly and unrelenting, slamming and slashing their way through enemy ransk until their foes fall or break and rout.

Iron Arms (Ex)
The very arms of khalybes are versatile, deadly weapons. As a swift action, they can opt for their natural attacks to deal their choice of bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. Once they make this choice, their attacks continue to deal the chosen damage type until they use another swift action to change it. Further, all natural attacks made by a khalybs count as cold iron for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Maneuvers
A khalybs can use maneuvers from the Iron Heart and Stone Dragon disciplines as a warblade would, its initiator level being equal to its number of hit dice.

Vulnerabilities (Ex)
Rusting attacks deal double damage to a khalybs, and it receives a -2 penalty to saving throws against any spell or effect that specifically affects metal.