Saturday, November 8, 2008

Why, that's a Toothnip!

The final comments are in from last week's "Weekly What the Heck". The result is the toothnip, a mutant turnip bred by beholders with vestigial wings, powerful legs for leaping, and a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth.

I'd like to thank Reverend Mike, Scott, wyattsalazar and Gomez for their ideas, all of which have been mashed together to create:
Toothnip
Teethnip are an attempt by beholders to create guardians for their lairs that look like them, thus catering to their self-aggrandizing vanity. These creatures are cultivated in dirt-floored caves deep in the underdark. They emerge from the soil ready to eat anything that walks.

Level 11 Lurker
Green Toothnip
XP 600
Small aberrant beast (plant)
Initiative +13 Senses Perception +7; darkvision, tremorsense 10
HP 93; Bloodied 46
AC 25; Fortitude 24, Reflex 23, Will 23; see also swirling maw of toothy pain and field of greens
Speed 5, burrow 2
mBite (standard; at-will)
Before it bites, the green toothnip can make a standing long jump (as a free action) without provoking opportunity attacks; +16 vs. AC; 2d8 + 4 damage.
MSwirling Maw of Toothy Pain (standard; recharge 5 6)
+16 vs. AC; 4d8 + 4 damage, and the target is grabbed and takes ongoing 10 damage (until escape). A green toothnip doesn’t make attack rolls while grabbing a target and gains a +5 bonus to its AC and Reflex defenses.
Field of Greens
The green toothnip gains a +2 bonus to its AC and Reflex defense if it has one other toothnip adjacent to it, or a +4 bonus if two or more teethnip are adjacent to it.
Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Skills Athletics +14
Str 19 (+9) Dex 18 (+9) Wis 14 (+7)
Con 21 (+10) Int 2 (+1) Cha 18 (+9)

Green Toothnip Tactics
Green teethnip hide in the ground, their leafy topknots barely visible above the surface. When anything walks near them they leap out and attack.

Level 17 Soldier
Ripe Toothnip
XP 1,600
Medium aberrant beast (plant)
Initiative +15 Senses Perception +11; darkvision
HP 168; Bloodied 84
AC 33; Fortitude 31, Reflex 29, Will 29
Speed 6, burrow 4
mBite (standard; at-will)
Before it bites, the ripe toothnip can make a standing long jump (as a free action) without provoking opportunity attacks; +24 vs. AC; 2d8 + 7 damage.
MSwirling Maw of Toothy Pain (standard; recharge 3 4 5 6)
+24 vs. AC; 4d12 + 7 damage.
Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Skills Athletics +20
Str 24 (+15) Dex 21 (+13) Wis 17 (+11)
Con 24 (+15) Int 4 (+5) Cha 21 (+13)

Ripe Toothnip Tactics
A ripe toothnip leaps into combat without hesitation, using its swirling maw of toothy pain as often as possible.

Toothnip Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful Dungeoneering check.
DC 20: Teethnip are cultivated in strange underground gardens by beholders. They are bred to see anything that walks on the ground as food. Toothnip mouths have more teeth than a shark's and can shred flesh in seconds.

Encounter Groups
Teethnip are almost always found guarding the lairs of beholders.
Level 13 Encounter (XP 4,200)
* 3 green teethnip (level 11 lurker)
* 1 beholder eye of flame (level 13 elite artillery)
* 1 hill giant (level 13 brute)
Level 20 Encounter (XP 14,200)
* 1 ripe toothnip (level 17 soldier)
* 1 green toothnip (level 11 lurker)
* 1 beholder eye tyrant (level 19 solo artillery)
Toothnip - the toothy turnip.

2 comments:

Scott said...

This is hilarious. And I find it a bit unsettling how useful a monster it seems like to me. My party may yet encounter a field of ravenous teethnip.

Gregor LeBlaque said...

I hope I can get Jen to draw another picture for this monster, of a few of them leaping out of the ground at you with more little sprigs sticking out of the ground around them.

Also, thanks for the much more amusing plural form. "toothnips" has been changed to "teethnip" in the post. :)