Saturday, June 13, 2009

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...

4 comments:

coolcyclone2000 said...

Wow! I really like the illustration this week. The Yuan-ti Rampant came out pretty well, although i think it should have some kind of constricting hold of some sort...

ChaoticBlackSheep said...

Thank you Ripper. I have been having fun drawing things lately. The weirder, the better.

A constricting hold would have been cool, but most real snakes are either venomous or constrictors. I can envision the rampant in a crazed frenzy of biting and in constant motion. Maybe it should froth at the mouth...

As per DM discretion, one could add a grab attack as a variant to keep people on their toes. :)

Scott said...

Good job on this one... I really like how it turned out. Might just be using it in my game soon.

Gregor LeBlaque said...

@Scott - if you use it, please drop back by and let me know how it turns out.

Also, don't miss this week's addendum.