Why, that's a Stumper!

There was only one comment on the "Weekly What the Heck" from two weeks ago, even after I extended it. I'm going to call it done and write something up. Hopefully this morning's illustration will fire more imaginations than the poor mustached squirrel guy did.

I'd like to thank Ripper for his ideas, which have been mashed together with some brainstorming by me and the missus to create:

Stumper

These curious fey creatures befuddle travelers with their strange ramblings and enjoy watching their confusion.

Level 8 Controller

Stumper

XP 350

Small fey magical beast

Initiative +9 Senses Perception +5; low-light vision
HP 89; Bloodied 44
AC 22; Fortitude 19, Reflex 21, Will 19
Speed 6, climb 6

mSpur Kick (standard; at-will)

+13 vs. AC; 2d6 + 2 damage.

MKick to the Jimmy (standard; encounter)

+12 vs. Fortitude; 3d10 + 5 damage and the target is dazed (save ends). Male humanoid targets are stunned instead of dazed.

CStumping Drawl (free, once on its turn before it takes other actions; at-will) * Psychic

Close burst 3; deafened creatures are immune; +9 vs. Will; the target is dazed until the end of the stumper’s next turn.

Alignment Unaligned Languages Elven
Skills Athletics +11, Arcana +14, Stealth +14
Str 15 (+6) Dex 20 (+9) Wis 13 (+5)
Con 17 (+7) Int 20 (+9) Cha 17 (+7)

Stumper Tactics

A stumper moves among its enemies, hoping to daze as many as possible with its stumping drawl.

Stumper Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Arcana check.
DC 15: Stumpers enjoy sowing confusion in mortals unfortunate enough to cross their paths.

Encounter Groups

Stumpers are often found near other fey beasts.

Level 9 Encounter (XP 1,900)
* 2 stumpers (level 8 controller)
* 3 displacer beasts (level 9 skirmisher)

No really, Ripper's comment is in there - Wild West and cowboy boots became the drawl and the spurs.

Weekly What the Heck

Welcome to the thirty-fifth installment of my regular feature here at the Near TPK. With continuing apologies to one of my favorite blogs, the Daily WTF, I present... The Weekly What The Heck.

Each Saturday at 10 AM Central Time I'll post one of Jen's drawings of some kind of whacked-out creature, and ask my readers: "What the heck IS that?"

I hope my readers will approach the challenge in the spirit of "Yes, and ..." - building on previous responses so everyone's ideas can be used in the final writeup. Comments are now closed on last week's entry, and I hope to have the final writeup posted tonight. Comments will be accepted on this week's entry until I post next week's entry.

So... What the heck is that? What should it do? How does it decide whether to grab you with pincers or tentacles?

Charles G. Wilbur (the "Proprietor") does not claim ownership of information, data, text, comments, graphics, messages or other materials ("Content") you submit or make available for inclusion on The Art of the Near TPK (the "Service"). However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Service, including without limitation comments you post to the Service, you grant the Proprietor world-wide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, non-exclusive, fully sub-licensable license(s) to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

Why, that's still a Yuan-ti Rampant! Kind of...

There's only one comment so far on last week's "Weekly What the Heck", so I'm leaving it up for another week to see if I can get any more. Since last week's monster seemed pretty popular, and I got a great suggestion for a variant, I'm going to stat that up instead for this week.

I'd like to thank Ripper and ChaoticBlackSheep for the idea:

Yuan-ti Restrainer

A yuan-ti restrainer is created by a ritual known to the yuan-ti malisons. It is usually performed on snaketongue cultists, implanting the restrainer seed in them which gestates and eventually hatches into a completely snakelike creature.

Level 13 Minion

Snaketongue Restrainer

XP 200

Medium natural humanoid

Initiative +9 Senses Perception +8
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 29; Fortitude 25, Reflex 24, Will 23
Speed 6

mBite (standard; at-will)

+19 vs. AC; 6 damage, and the target is grabbed (until escape). The snaketongue restrainer can grab only one creature at a time.

MConstrict (standard; at-will)

Affects a target the snaketongue restrainer has grabbed; +17 vs. Fortitude; 12 damage.

Acid Blood (when reduced to 0 hit points) * Acid

Close burst 1; automatic hit; 6 acid damage, and ongoing 3 acid damage (save ends).

Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages -
Str 19 (+10) Dex 16 (+9) Wis 15 (+8)
Con 16 (+9) Int 10 (+6) Cha 11 (+6)

Snaketongue Restrainer Tactics

Snaketongue restrainers are usually crazed with the pain of the transformation and attack mindlessly.

Level 14 Soldier

Yuan-ti Restrainer

XP 1,000

Medium natural magical beast (blind, reptile)

Initiative +14 Senses Perception +12; blindsight 10
HP 140; Bloodied 70; see also acid blood
AC 30; Fortitude 27, Reflex 26, Will 26
Speed 7, climb 7

mBite (standard; at-will)

+21 vs. AC; 2d6 + 6 damage, and the target is grabbed (until escape). The yuan-ti restrainer can grab only one creature at a time.

MConstrict (standard; at-will)

Affects a target the yuan-ti restrainer has grabbed; +19 vs. Fortitude; 2d8 + 12 damage, and the target is dazed until the end of the yuan-ti restrainer’s next turn.

Acid Blood (when first bloodied; encounter) * Acid

Close burst 1; automatic hit; 3d8 acid damage, and ongoing 10 acid damage (save ends).

Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages -
Str 23 (+13) Dex 20 (+12) Wis 20 (+12)
Con 20 (+12) Int 8 (+6) Cha 8 (+6)

Yuan-ti Restrainer Tactics

A yuan-ti restrainer singles out prey even in the middle of large groups. The restrainer bites its chosen victim, grabs him, and then tries to squeeze him to death in subsequent rounds.

Yuan-ti Restrainer Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC 20: A yuan-ti restrainer gestates inside a humanoid, gradually transforming it into a fully reptilian creature. In the final stage of gestation the few remaining vestiges of mammalian tissue are shed violently.
DC 25: The yuan-ti restrainer has acidic blood that burns those who dare to harm it.

Encounter Groups

Yuan-ti encounters usually consist of a mixed group of yuanti malisons, yuan-ti rampants, yuan-ti restrainers, and snaketongue cultists.

Level 12 Encounter (XP 3,500)
* 2 snaketongue restrainers (level 13 minion)
* 2 snaketongue rampants (level 13 minion)
* 1 yuan-ti abomination (level 14 soldier)
* 1 snaketongue celebrant (level 11 controller)
* 4 snaketongue zealots (level 12 minion)
* 1 snaketongue assassin (level 9 lurker)

Level 14 Encounter (XP 5,000)
* 2 yuan-ti restrainers (level 14 soldier)
* 1 yuan-ti rampant (level 14 skirmisher)
* 1 yuan-ti malison sharp-eye (level 13 artillery)
* 3 snaketongue restrainers (level 13 minion)
* 3 snaketongue rampants (level 13 minion)

Yes, I'm being kinda lazy this week. Sue me (or, better, go leave lots of comments on last week's "Weekly What the Heck").

Why, that's a Yuan-Ti Rampant!

The final comments are in from last week's "Weekly What the Heck". The result is the yuan-ti rampant, a fairly disgusting reptilian thing that gestates inside a humanoid host before bursting out in a whirlwind of acid and nasty pointy teeth.

I'd like to thank Ripper, d7, joeskythedungeonbrawler and Scott (with special thanks to Ripper for the name) for their ideas, all of which have been mashed together to create:

Yuan-ti Rampant

A yuan-ti rampant is created by a ritual known to the yuan-ti malisons. It is usually performed on snaketongue cultists, implanting the rampant seed in them which gestates and eventually hatches into a completely snakelike creature.

Level 13 Minion

Snaketongue Rampant

XP 200

Medium natural humanoid

Initiative +9 Senses Perception +8
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 27; Fortitude 25, Reflex 24, Will 23
Speed 6

mBite (standard; at-will) * Poison

+18 vs. AC; 6 damage, and the snaketongue rampant makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +16 vs. Fortitude; ongoing 3 poison damage (save ends).

Acid Blood (when reduced to 0 hit points) * Acid

Close burst 1; automatic hit; 6 acid damage, and ongoing 3 acid damage (save ends).

Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages -
Str 19 (+10) Dex 16 (+9) Wis 15 (+8)
Con 16 (+9) Int 10 (+6) Cha 11 (+6)

Snaketongue Rampant Tactics

Snaketongue rampants are usually crazed with the pain of the transformation and attack mindlessly.

Level 14 Skirmisher

Yuan-ti Rampant

XP 1,000

Medium natural magical beast (blind, reptile)

Initiative +14 Senses Perception +12; blindsight 10
HP 140; Bloodied 70; see also acid blood
AC 28; Fortitude 27, Reflex 26, Will 26
Speed 7, climb 7

mBite (standard; at-will) * Poison

+19 vs. AC; 1d8 + 6 damage, and the yuan-ti rampant makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +18 vs. Fortitude; 1d10 poison damage, and ongoing 10 poison damage (save ends).

MSpinning Frenzy (standard; at-will)

The yuan-ti rampant shifts up to 4 squares and makes two basic melee attacks.

Acid Blood (when first bloodied; encounter) * Acid

Close burst 1; automatic hit; 3d8 acid damage, and ongoing 10 acid damage (save ends).

Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages -
Str 23 (+13) Dex 20 (+12) Wis 20 (+12)
Con 20 (+12) Int 8 (+6) Cha 8 (+6)

Yuan-ti Rampant Tactics

A yuan-ti rampant whirls around the battlefield with spinning frenzy, changing targets as often as possible to spread its poison damage around. It tries to stay adjacent to multiple enemies at all times so its acid blood will catch as many targets as possible.

Yuan-ti Rampant Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC 20: A yuan-ti rampant gestates inside a humanoid, gradually transforming it into a fully reptilian creature. In the final stage of gestation the few remaining vestiges of mammalian tissue are shed violently.
DC 25: The yuan-ti rampant has acidic blood that burns those who dare to harm it.

Encounter Groups

Yuan-ti encounters usually consist of a mixed group of yuanti malisons, yuan-ti rampants, and snaketongue cultists.

Level 12 Encounter (XP 3,500)
* 4 snaketongue rampants (level 13 minion)
* 1 yuan-ti abomination (level 14 soldier)
* 1 snaketongue celebrant (level 11 controller)
* 4 snaketongue zealots (level 12 minion)
* 1 snaketongue assassin (level 9 lurker)

Level 14 Encounter (XP 5,025)
* 2 yuan-ti rampants (level 14 skirmisher)
* 1 yuan-ti abomination (level 14 soldier)
* 1 yuan-ti malison sharp-eye (level 13 artillery)
* 7 snaketongue zealots (level 12 minion)

Is the rampant ritual a blessing or a curse? Depends on the recipient's point of view, I guess...

Weekly What the Heck

Welcome to the thirty-fourth installment of my regular feature here at the Near TPK. With continuing apologies to one of my favorite blogs, the Daily WTF, I present... The Weekly What The Heck.

Each Saturday at 10 AM Central Time I'll post one of Jen's drawings of some kind of whacked-out creature, and ask my readers: "What the heck IS that?"

I hope my readers will approach the challenge in the spirit of "Yes, and ..." - building on previous responses so everyone's ideas can be used in the final writeup. Comments are now closed on last week's entry, and I hope to have the final writeup posted tonight. Comments will be accepted on this week's entry until I post next week's entry.

So... What the heck is that? What should it do? Which is deadlier, the eyebrows or the moustache?

Charles G. Wilbur (the "Proprietor") does not claim ownership of information, data, text, comments, graphics, messages or other materials ("Content") you submit or make available for inclusion on The Art of the Near TPK (the "Service"). However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Service, including without limitation comments you post to the Service, you grant the Proprietor world-wide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, non-exclusive, fully sub-licensable license(s) to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

Why, that's a Sextuple-Finned Scintillating Hammerhead Fish!

The final comments are in from last week's "Weekly What the Heck". The result is the sextuple-finned scintillating hammerhead fish, a creature that swims through the earth and is considered a tasty snack by the bulette.

I'd like to thank Ripper and Scott (with special thanks to Ripper for the name) for their ideas, all of which have been mashed together to create:

Sextuple-Finned Hammerhead Fish

Generally harmless, these elemental earth creatures can become dangerous when frightened by predators, lashing out at anything nearby.

Level 8 Lurker

Sextuple-Finned Hammerhead Fish

XP 350

Medium elemental beast (earth)

Initiative +11 Senses Perception +9; tremorsense 10
HP 71; Bloodied 35
AC 22; Fortitude 19, Reflex 19, Will 21
Speed 2, burrow 8

mSlam (standard; at-will)

+13 vs. AC; 2d6 + 3 damage.

MEarthcrest Charge (standard; at-will)

Before it attacks, the sextuple-finned hammerhead fish can burrow up to its speed and make a running long jump (as a free action) without provoking opportunity attacks; +14 vs. AC; 2d6 + 6 damage.

CEarthshock (standard; recharge 6)

Close burst 2; +11 vs. Fortitude; 1d8 + 5 damage, and the target is pushed 1 square and knocked prone.

Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Skills Athletics +12, Stealth +12
Str 17 (+7) Dex 17 (+7) Wis 20 (+9)
Con 17 (+7) Int 2 (+0) Cha 16 (+7)

Sextuple-Finned Hammerhead Fish Tactics

A sextuple-finned hammerhead fish goaded into battle will flail about madly, using earthshock as often as possible but otherwise leaping from target to target with earthcrest charge.

Level 17 Controller

Sextuple-Finned Scintillating Hammerhead Fish

XP 1,600

Medium elemental beast (earth)

Initiative +13 Senses Perception +15; tremorsense 10
HP 165; Bloodied 82
AC 31; Fortitude 28, Reflex 28, Will 30
Speed 2, burrow 8

mSlam (standard; at-will)

+22 vs. AC; 2d8 + 5 damage.

MEarthcrest Charge (standard; at-will)

Before it attacks, the sextuple-finned hammerhead fish can burrow up to its speed and make a running long jump (as a free action) without provoking opportunity attacks; +23 vs. AC; 2d8 + 8 damage.

CEarthshock (standard; recharge 6)

Close burst 2; +20 vs. Fortitude; 1d10 + 7 damage, and the target is pushed 2 squares and knocked prone.

CScintillating Burst (standard; recharge 5 6) * Radiant

Close burst 3; sextuple-finned scintillating hammerhead fish are immune; +19 vs. Fortitude; 3d8 radiant damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).

Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Skills Athletics +18, Stealth +18
Str 21 (+13) Dex 21 (+13) Wis 24 (+15)
Con 21 (+13) Int 2 (+4) Cha 18 (+12)

Sextuple-Finned Scintillating Hammerhead Fish Tactics

A sextuple-finned scintillating hammerhead fish uses the same tactics as a sextuple-finned hammerhead fish, with the addition of preferring scintillating burst over earthshock when both are available.

Sextuple-Finned Hammerhead Fish Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Arcana check.
DC 15: The sextuple-finned hammerhead fish "swims" through earth, leaving no tunnel behind, and congregates in schools. Its greatest natural predator is of course the bulette, or "land shark".

Encounter Groups

Sextuple-finned hammerhead fishs are often found in small schools. They are usually only dangerous when fleeing a predator.

Level 9 Encounter (XP 2,200)
* 4 sextuple-finned hammerhead fish (level 8 lurker)
* 1 bulette (level 9 elite skirmisher)

Level 18 Encounter (XP 10,400)
* 4 sextuple-finned scintillating hammerhead fish (level 17 controller)
* 1 dire bulette (level 18 elite skirmisher)

I feel like I should write some kind of "Ecology of the Bulette" post where these guys play a prominent part. Some Steve Irwin-style D&D naturalist is out in the field...
"That rumbling is the approach of the bulette, or land shark. Sounds like a big one, must be quite a beauty. Here she comes, let's see WAIT, WHAT ARE THESE THINGS? AGH, THE LIGHT, IT BURNS!"
Nature check - success. Arcana check - FAIL.

Weekly What the Heck

Welcome to the thirty-third installment of my regular feature here at the Near TPK. With continuing apologies to one of my favorite blogs, the Daily WTF, I present... The Weekly What The Heck.

Each Saturday at 10 AM Central Time I'll post one of Jen's drawings of some kind of whacked-out creature, and ask my readers: "What the heck IS that?"

I hope my readers will approach the challenge in the spirit of "Yes, and ..." - building on previous responses so everyone's ideas can be used in the final writeup. Comments are now closed on last week's entry, and I hope to have the final writeup posted tonight. Comments will be accepted on this week's entry until I post next week's entry.

So... What the heck is that? What should it do? How does it see?

Charles G. Wilbur (the "Proprietor") does not claim ownership of information, data, text, comments, graphics, messages or other materials ("Content") you submit or make available for inclusion on The Art of the Near TPK (the "Service"). However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Service, including without limitation comments you post to the Service, you grant the Proprietor world-wide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free, non-exclusive, fully sub-licensable license(s) to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

A New Kind of Feat for 4e?

I had a flash of inspiration the other day that might turn into a whole new class of feats for D&D 4e - power source feats. Rather than being tied to a single race or class, these would be tied to power source. That way multiple classes, including some not yet created, would qualify. I don't think anything quite like this currently exists in either Player's Handbook.

The specific genesis of this particular feat was some general worrying about how effective Kain's Cadre will be against the impending zombie apocalypse (see last paragraph of that link). I was trying to think of ways to amp up the dragonborn cleric so he could really shine against the undead (as a cleric should). I figured one simple way that probably wouldn't break the game would be to somehow add the radiant keyword to his breath weapon. The best way to do that seemed to be with a feat.

Since I was adding something to a breath weapon, dragonborn would be a prerequisite. I thought about making the cleric class a prerequisite but that seemed really restrictive (except to the single character I intended this for, in which case it's not a restriction at all). On the other hand, it didn't seem like a feat the dragonborn rogue should qualify for. Thus, the idea of adding "divine power source" as a prerequisite:

Radiant Breath

Prerequisite: 11th level, dragonborn, divine power source
Benefit: You add the radiant keyword to your breath weapon.

Posted for review and comment. Great idea? Terrible idea? Want to see more? Didn't want to see this one? This feat should be heroic tier? This feat should be epic tier?

Battle Journal of Kain Gaa'zaith - Spider Ambush

Since my last entry the cadre has had another opportunity to enter battle. This combat more closely resembled the kind of encounter the battle plan was developed for, with some minor exceptions. It was a medium range engagement, but the humanoids possessed some strange abilities and were augmented with bestial companions.

Tactical Analysis - Spider Ambush on the Road

Description
As we approached a deep ravine near the side of the road, three spider-people emerged with two scorpions and a large spider and attacked.

The cadre reacted swiftly, forming a front line while slinging dazing magic at one of the spider-people so Hobb could deal a devastating strike with his throwing dagger. I readied my spear to strike a charging scorpion, but missed and it grabbed the cleric. The spider sailed past the front line with a prodigious leap to attack the wizard.

With the cleric in imminent danger, we focused all attacks on the scorpion and killed it swiftly. Hobb managed to get the spider away from the wizard, but it leapt again and landed on the warlock, knocking him to the ground and biting him fiercely. Meanwhile, the second scorpion raced forward to grab the cleric. I'm not sure why these beasts found him to be such a tempting target. Two of the spider-people surrounded Hobb and dealt him vicious blows with their axes.

Hobb slid clear and shoved one of his foes away from us with a tricky maneuver. The wizard blasted the scorpion off the cleric and hurled it into the cluster of spider-people, then unleashed a larger blast that caught them all in its flashing colors. While they stood dazed, Marun and the cleric broke off to rush to the warlock's aid and killed the troublesome spider. The remaining dazed and wounded hostiles were then easily dealt with.

Analysis
The scorpions were worrisome, but the cadre performed admirably by destroying them before they could inflict serious harm on Calibraxis. The spider was far more troublesome. Its mobility allowed it to strike isolated members of the cadre almost at will until Marun shut it down with her martial skills. In fact, the spider's abilities seemed to play directly into the warlock's weaknesses, allowing it to cause him serious grief. Adincari likes to stay clear of the melee fighting, but that made it difficult to get him aid when the spider leaped upon him.

The spider-people, aside from the two lucky strikes on Hobb, are almost not worth dignifying with a comment, so I will not comment on them.

Addendum
My research into the walking dead continues. They are apparently very vulnerable to damage from bright radiance such as that often called down by divine casters such as the cleric. I hope Calibraxis is up to the challenge.