Weekly What the Heck

Welcome to the thirty-eighth 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? Why does it look so irritated?

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 an Embryomace!

The final comments are in from last week's "Weekly What the Heck". The result is the embryomace, a sentry/guardian sort of critter.

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

Embryomace

An embryomace looks like a combination of a bee and a lobster, with a vaguely human face. Its innocent face lures enemies into range of its deadly bite.

Level 12 Artillery

Embryomace

XP 700

Medium elemental beast

Initiative +12 Senses Perception +8
HP 97; Bloodied 48
AC 24; Fortitude 24, Reflex 27, Will 23
Speed 4, fly 8

mBite (standard; at-will)

+19 vs. AC; 1d8 + 4 damage.

REye Ray (standard; at-will) * Necrotic, plus see text

Requires orb. The embryomace possesses one of the eye ray powers in the list below as long as it is holding one of its orbs. An embryomace adjacent to its nest can swap orbs as a move action, thus changing which power it has. Getting an embryomace to drop its orb requires a melee Str attack against its Reflex.
1-Fire Ray (Fire): Ranged 10; +17 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 6 fire damage, 1d6 necrotic damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends).
2-Cold Ray (Cold): Ranged 10; +17 vs. Reflex; 2d6 + 6 cold damage, 1d6 necrotic damage, and the target is slowed (save ends).
3-Electric Ray (Lightning): Ranged 10; +17 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 6 lightning damage, 1d6 necrotic damage, and the embryomace makes a secondary attack against two targets within 5 squares of the target. Secondary Attack: +15 vs. Reflex; 1d6 + 6 lightning damage.

CEye Blast (standard, usable only while bloodied; recharge 6) * Fire, Cold, Lightning, Necrotic

Close blast 5; +12 vs. Reflex; 1d10 each of fire, cold, lightning and necrotic damage.

Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Str 19 (+10) Dex 22 (+12) Wis 14 (+8)
Con 19 (+10) Int 2 (+2) Cha 19 (+10)

Embryomace Tactics

An embryomace prefers to stay by its nest. It switches orbs randomly after hitting once or twice with its eye blast or eye rays.

Embryomace Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Nature check.
DC 15: Embryomaces are generally harmless unless encountered guarding a nest of their orbs.
DC 20: A nest of orbs will typically have a variety of elemental types - the embryomace can switch between orbs. Its attacks pull some of the victim's life force into the orb, and the creature tends to switch orbs often to pull some life force into each of them.

Encounter Groups

Powerful wizards sometimes abduct embryomaces and their nests. They then place the nests where they want something guarded, surrounded by constructs and/or undead that the beast will ignore.

Level 12 Encounter (XP 3,500)
* 1 embryomace (level 12 artillery)
* 1 shield guardian (level 14 soldier)
* 2 skeletal tomb guardians (level 10 brute)
* 1 helmed horror (level 13 soldier)

The idea, in case it's not clear, is that the orbs are eggs and once enough life force has been pulled into them they hatch into baby embryomaces...

Weekly What the Heck

Welcome to the thirty-seventh 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? Can anything wearing a cheerleader skirt really be that fearsome?

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 Real Life "Dungeon"

Last week I happened to take a trip to an old lead mine an hour south of St. Louis. I've been in a few natural tourist caverns and used them for D&D inspiration, but the mine was a whole different ballgame. I would encourage any midwestern DMs to find the time to take a trip to the Bonne Terre Mine. At least take the walking tour. If you're planning on running any adventures involving aboleths, kuo-toa or other underground aquatic horrors, take the boat tour (which includes the walking tour). Picture a giant aquatic monstrosity bursting out of the waters at the bottom of this deep, dark, dank pit and get a feeling for just how doomed you'd be.

This was the closest thing I've ever seen to a standard D&D dungeon. Granted, there were no 10' x 10' rooms with red dragons in them, but what surprised me was the opposite extreme. All the rooms were huge, and there were no natural caverns. Everything had been dug out over nearly a century by men, mules and machines. The tour guide said this was a "room and pillar" style mine dug completely from solid rock. It was astounding how much space had been carved out. Any dragon would have felt right at home in this place. It even had distinct levels (five of 'em). They have a slide show. The second image will give you a sense of the scale.

According to the guides, the mine extends out over about a 3 mile by 3 mile area. Suddenly the huge cities of the D&D underdark don't seem so far fetched. And the whole structure of the place, with gigantic stone pillars holding up the ceilings of these gargantuan rooms, reminded me of the mines of Moria in the Fellowship of the Ring movie. I'd always thought that place looked way too big to be true, but there I was standing somewhere that looked awfully similar.

Highly recommended as a field trip. Take your whole group and let them get a feel for crawling the underdark in real life. If you and/or your group are exceedingly crazy, you can sign up to go scuba diving in the mine.

Why, that's a Greholdusa!

I only got one comment on last week's "Weekly What the Heck", but it inspired me so I'm going to run with it. The result is the greholdusa, the offspring of... well, probably best not to think about it too hard.

I'd like to thank Scott for his ideas (and the name), which have been mashed together with a couple of my own to create:

Greholdusa

A greholdusa looks like the offspring of a grell, a beholder, and a medusa. It's probably as confused as you are.

Level 6 Controller

Greholdusa

XP 250

Medium aberrant magical beast

Initiative +7 Senses Perception +6; darkvision
HP 72; Bloodied 36
AC 20; Fortitude 18, Reflex 19, Will 19
Immune petrification
Speed 1 (clumsy), fly 6 (hover)

mTentacle Bite (standard; at-will) * Poison

+11 vs. AC; 1d6 + 2 damage, and the greholdusa makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +8 vs. Fortitude; the target is slowed (save ends). First Failed Save: The target is immobilized instead of slowed (save ends). Second Failed Save: The target is petrified (no save).

MTentacle Grab (standard; at-will)

+10 vs. Fortitude; 1d6 + 2 damage, and the target is grabbed. The greholdusa can grab only one creature at a time.

MVicious Bite (minor 1/round; at-will) * Poison

Grabbed target only; +11 vs. AC; 1d10 + 2 damage, and the greholdusa makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +10 vs. Fortitude; the target is slowed (save ends). First Failed Save: The target is immobilized instead of slowed (save ends). Second Failed Save: The target is petrified (no save).

RCentral Eye (minor; at-will)

Ranged 5; +10 vs. Will; the target is dazed until the end of the greholdusa’s next turn.

Alignment Evil Languages Deep Speech
Skills Stealth +12
Str 14 (+5) Dex 18 (+7) Wis 16 (+6)
Con 16 (+6) Int 14 (+5) Cha 19 (+7)

Greholdusa Tactics

A greholdusa grabs one target at a time, releasing them once it uses vicious bite on them, and then repeats on a different target.

Level 12 Soldier

Greholdusa Scourge

XP 700

Medium aberrant magical beast

Initiative +13 Senses Perception +10; darkvision
HP 123; Bloodied 61
AC 28; Fortitude 24, Reflex 25, Will 26
Immune petrification
Speed 1 (clumsy), fly 6 (hover)

mTentacle Bite (standard; at-will) * Poison

+19 vs. AC; 1d8 + 3 damage, and the greholdusa makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +15 vs. Fortitude; the target is slowed (save ends). First Failed Save: The target is immobilized instead of slowed (save ends). Second Failed Save: The target is petrified (no save).

MTentacle Grab (standard; at-will)

+17 vs. Fortitude; 1d8 + 3 damage, and the target is grabbed. The greholdusa can grab only one creature at a time.

MVicious Bite (minor 1/round; at-will) * Poison

Grabbed target only; +19 vs. AC; 2d6 + 3 damage, and the greholdusa makes a secondary attack against the same target. Secondary Attack: +17 vs. Fortitude; the target is slowed (save ends). First Failed Save: The target is immobilized instead of slowed (save ends). Second Failed Save: The target is petrified (no save).

RCentral Eye (minor; at-will)

Ranged 5; +17 vs. Will; the target is slowed until the end of the greholdusa’s next turn. If the target is hit by the secondary attack of either of the greholdusa scourge’s bite attacks while slowed, it is immobilized instead of slowed and considered to have failed its first save.

Alignment Evil Languages Deep Speech
Skills Stealth +16
Str 16 (+9) Dex 21 (+11) Wis 18 (+10)
Con 19 (+10) Int 16 (+9) Cha 22 (+12)

Greholdusa Scourge Tactics

A greholdusa scourge uses central eye and then tentacle grab on one target at a time, releasing them once it uses vicious bite, and then repeats on a different target.

Greholdusa Lore

A character knows the following information with a successful Dungeoneering check.
DC 15: Greholdusae are horrific creatures that combine the eye rays of a beholder, the grasping tentacles of a grell and the petrifying power of a medusa.
DC 20: The eye ray of a greholdusa scourge begins the petrification process and the poisonous bite finishes the job.

Encounter Groups

Greholdusae bring together the three creature types they're related to, spawning horrifically evil plots.
Level 7 Encounter (XP 1,500)
* 2 greholdusae (level 6 controller)
* 1 grell (level 7 elite soldier)
* 1 beholder gauth (level 5 elite artillery)
Level 13 Encounter (XP 4,200)
* 2 greholdusa scourges (level 12 soldier)
* 1 medusa warrior (level 13 elite soldier)
* 1 grell philosopher (level 11 elite controller)

It would sure be nice to get more than one comment on this week's What the Heck (hint hint).

Weekly What the Heck

Welcome to the thirty-sixth 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? Can it fly or just hop really well?

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 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.