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Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-04, 10:06 PM
This one isn't as creepy as my last creation, but I feel it's a pretty solid monster. It's been built for a job, and it performs that job well. It also happens to be a neat little monster to encounter, but I doubt it's a real threat to anything beyond a first level party.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/bigmaclarge_huge/Octomaw.jpg

Octomaw

Small Abberation
Hit Dice: 2d8+6 (15 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (8 squares), climb 30 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +5 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-2
Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d4+1)
Full Attack: 4 Bites +4 melee (1d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Vicious grappler
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., damage reduction 15/piercing or slashing, mucus, resistance to acid 15, scent
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +2
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 1, Wis 8, Cha 6
Skills: Climb +17*, Escape Artist +10*, Survival +4*
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Track(B)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Advancement: 3-6 HD (Small); 7-12 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -

This strange creature appears to have a mucus-covered spherical body with eight retractable appendages, which it uses to move quickly along any surface. With a wet sucking sound, it moves towards you, and as it does, one of its appendages spouts a toothed maw!

The Octomaw was a brilliantly conceived creature designed by wizards whose city had been infested with oozes. With the vile, acidic creatures slithering through their sewers and attacking late-night wanderers, the wizards decided to create a predator specifically skilled at hunting and destroying the foul beings.

The Octomaw's body consists primarily of extremely tough, dense muscle, supported by eight thick limbs similar in appearance to pseudopods. Its spherical body, typically no larger than a beach ball, holds its circulatory and sensory organs, while each limb houses an entire independant digestive system. From each suckerlike foot, an Octomaw can produce a simple jaw, with serrated bonelike edges similar to teeth. Each jaw is attached directly to a small stomach contained inside the limb. After digesting a meal, the creature simply vomits out the remains and continues on its way.

Due to its fantastically tough hide and lack of a skeletal structure, Octomaws are almost unaffected by slams and blows. Combined with an acid-resistant mucus produced constantly through the skin, the Octomaw is almost immune to the attacks of most oozes, allowing it to devour such creatures at its leisure. However, due to its low intelligence, it will often attack almost any creature it senses, and frequently dines on small rodents, fish, and the occasional lone humanoid.

Combat

The Octomaw is a straightforward combatant. It hunts by scent, and when it senses living prey nearby, it quickly closes and begins slicing off chunks of flesh with its numerous serrated jaws. It can use up to four of its limbs to bite at any time, while using the other four to support its weight. If wounded or significantly outnumbered, an Octomaw will typically retreat, but it has no ability to judge the size of a foe, nor can it distinguish between oozes and other creatures, and will thus often charge to attack umber hulks, purple worms, or other such foes well beyond its ability to defeat.

Mucus (Ex): An Octomaw's body constantly secretes a thick, acid-resistant mucus. This same slimy coating allows it to easily slip out of grapples, and provides lubrication for its suction it requires to move around. If it loses its mucus coating, which is flammable and burns off if the Octomaw catches fire, it loses its acid resistance, many of its skill bonuses (-8 Escape Artist, -16 Climb, see below), and its Climb speed.

Vicious Grappler (Ex): When using its natural weapons in a grapple, an Octomaw takes no penalty to attack rolls. When it makes a full attack in a grapple, it attacks with all eight appendages, making 8 bite attacks instead of its normal 4. It loses the benefit of this ability when it is pinned, but not while engulfed or otherwise contained inside another creature.

Skills: Due to its Mucus, the Octomaw has a +8 bonus to Escape Artist checks.
Due to its Mucus, the Octomaw has a Climb speed. It gains a +16 bonus to its Climb checks and can take 10 on a Climb check even if rushed or threatened. It does not lose its Dexterity bonus to AC while climbing, and attackers gain no special bonus to attacking a climbing Octomaw. It can even climb on horizontal surfaces.
An Octomaw gains a +4 racial bonus to Survival checks when tracking by scent.

Lord Iames Osari
2006-09-04, 10:54 PM
Awesome. Is this going to be submitted to MitP? It should be. If it is, let me be the first to say: MitP Vote: Yes.

ghost_warlock
2006-09-04, 11:29 PM
It's so...beautiful!

MitP: Yes!

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-04, 11:37 PM
Well, yes, I was considering adding it to the MitP, assuming a positive feedback. I'm assuming that receiving two votes before even submitting it counts as positive feedback.

Thanks, guys!

One thing: can I get some help with the name? It's very descriptive, but I'm a bit wary about it.

ghost_warlock
2006-09-04, 11:54 PM
Well, yes, I was considering adding it to the MitP, assuming a positive feedback. I'm assuming that receiving two votes before even submitting it counts as positive feedback.

Thanks, guys!

One thing: can I get some help with the name? It's very descriptive, but I'm a bit wary about it.
I...like the name...

Otherwise, all I can come up with is "Mucous Mauler"

BTW - http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10681

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-05, 12:23 AM
I...like the name...

Otherwise, all I can come up with is "Mucous Mauler"

[nitpik]BTW - http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10681 [/nitpick]

Thanks, I tend to get those two confused. Well, I'll keep Octomaw unless something brilliant hits me. I guess most of my complains stem from my "own worst critic" complex.

NullAshton
2006-09-05, 08:16 AM
Hehe. The sound I invision this making sounds so funny. At least until it starts tearing me apart at least.

Still. The sound of wet suction cups coming towards you like that. I love it.

asromta
2006-09-05, 09:14 AM
I think you should state that Mucus and Vicious Grappler are (ex) abilities.

Otherwise it is good: MitP Vote: Yes

The Vorpal Tribble
2006-09-05, 10:58 AM
Strange, but looks great. I'm thinking maybe its CR needs to be at least a 2 though.

If only half its attacks hit its still doing an average of 12 points of damage per round. That'll take out even the party barbarian pretty quick.

JellyPooga
2006-09-05, 11:02 AM
Eewww!! It's gross. :P

Nice idea though

Saithis Bladewing
2006-09-05, 12:56 PM
I approve.

MitP Vote: Yes.

fangthane
2006-09-05, 01:06 PM
1. Ooze Drinker or Ooze Render, maybe?
2. Assuming you like the Ooze Drinker concept, perhaps a larger model would have a special Drink Ooze ability to consume a portion of an oozy opponent and temporarily acquire some bonus or some of its characteristics?

Just a thought. :)

Damage and such look pretty close to nominal; he's got a decent chance of hitting twice and good odds of at least one hit, though at 3.5 hp/bite it's unlikely to be fatal even if it hits a lot. You might consider allowing it an extra +1 strength to bring that up to 4.5 per hit since even against level 1's this thing is unlikely to last more than a round or two, and will have trouble killing anyone.

Those are just my quibbles though; overall, I like it.

MitP Vote: Yes.

Edit - Woo, I got it. You let it Drink Ooze (Ex) and expel it on a successful bite attack with the same 'leg' - such that instead of its normal bite damage the attack deals half the damage of that ooze's natural slam attack, plus any special effects (saves as normal for the ooze, minus a penalty for dilution/storage, or based on the Octy's con). :)

Another edit - how long does it take to reform its mucus layer if it does get burnt off (suggest 1d4 or 1d4+1 rounds)? And is it instantly torched, or does it have hp/take X rounds or whatever to eliminate? (suggest either instant or 1 hp/HD depending on the flavour you're looking for)

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-05, 01:09 PM
Strange, but looks great. I'm thinking maybe its CR needs to be at least a 2 though.

If only half its attacks hit its still doing an average of 12 points of damage per round. That'll take out even the party barbarian pretty quick.

If only half its attacks hit (which I suspect is quite reasonable to assume, given its attack bonus) it does a max of 10 damage per round. It only gets eight attacks when grappled and NOT pinned. But I do appreciate it's on the high end of the CR 1 scale, if for no other reason than its multiple attacks.

I'm just of the opinion that a 1 intelligence melee monster with these combat abilities, despite its damage potential, isn't terribly threatening. Still, I'll consider a change. Its Str is too high for a small Abberation, after all (I considered its overhigh Str to be more a flavour aspect of a predatory creature made almost entirely of dense muscle).


Damage and such look pretty close to nominal; he's got a decent chance of hitting twice and good odds of at least one hit, though at 3.5 hp/bite it's unlikely to be fatal even if it hits a lot. You might consider allowing it an extra +1 strength to bring that up to 4.5 per hit since even against level 1's this thing is unlikely to last more than a round or two, and will have trouble killing anyone.

It amuses me that VT wants it to be CR 2 due to its melee abilities, and Fangthane feels it's too weak for even a CR 1. Makes me feel I've got it placed correctly.

EDIT: Fangthane's Drink Ooze idea seems pretty interesting- that it bites off some ooze parts and can then make slam attacks as that ooze- but I'm trying to keep this guy minimalist. Resistances to some attacks (the same attacks that oozes use exclusively) as well as a number of Bite attacks (which we know strike as Piercing, Slashing AND Bludgeoning, thus allowing us to deal with most oozes easily) are tailored to be very good at killing certain monsters, but I don't want to make up entirely new, entirely PC-battle-unrelated abilities for this monster. Also, frankly, such an ability doesn't help it at all to wipe out oozes. It's a simple monster, made to slink through sewers and bite things to death.

fangthane
2006-09-05, 01:23 PM
hehe yeah :)

I just know that usually in my level 1 parties there's a barbarian who has at least 14 hp and an attack bonus of +6 (assuming he burns 300 gold on Masterwork) plus a fighter or cleric who can back him up, and that's not counting his rage... Between them they can deal about 5-10 points a round vs an AC 18 opponent, and a wizard or sorc is good for another 3.5 off magic missiles. If the rogue eats a full attack and rolls a lot of aces, he might die but nobody else is even in real danger :)

Ultimately, if you've got the kind of balance where I say it's a bit weak, that's not a bad thing. Remember, I hate my players and I'd love nothing more than to have my forces advance across the steaming corpses of some of their number :)

Well actually I don't hate them, but if there's no real risk of loss (and I emphasise the word "real") it's not as much fun. I consider a session successful if I've taken the fighter to single-digit or lower HP and exhausted the cleric's non-orisons. :) What was really funny was when one kept making his Evil Eye saves (with a low will) and then one of the others (good fort) failed just looking at a Sea Hag and lost 2d6 strength.

Randomman413
2006-09-05, 04:32 PM
MitP Vote: Yes.

Can't wait to send one of these against my grapple-happy buddy.

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-08, 03:55 PM
Come on, guys! One more vote, and we can see a hideous ooze-eating monstrousity in our Monsters book!

Zeal
2006-09-08, 05:39 PM
MitP Vote: Yup

Eighth_Seraph
2006-09-08, 09:09 PM
GAH! I wanted to give that vote!!! One thing is, if you really want to make it an anti-ooze, maybe you can give it an ability that if an ooze engulfs or otherwise grpples it, the Octomaw can somehow suck it into itself throught the pores in his limbs and promptly digest it, giving it some hit points back or give some of the ooze's traits to its mucus for a time. An octomaw that just ate a gray ooze. Ahhh, good times.

MitP vote: Yes

fangthane
2006-09-08, 11:02 PM
How about something like

Special: an Octomaw which is engulfed by any ooze may both make a reflex save (possibly with a special racial bonus) and take an attack of opportunity with one of its mouths.

That seems like it'd do the trick. Doesn't make it immune, especially with larger oozes, but it helps with little ones (and of course larger octies would do better as well)

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-09, 02:40 AM
The fact is, although I appreciate suggestions, I didn't want to make it really THAT anti-ooze. By which I mean, while the monster was made to counter oozes, it achieves this end using common means- so the mages making it had an easy time. Most of its anti-ooze abilities are just resistances so specific that it can easily kill oozes far above its CR.

And, from the metaperspective, everything it has must be applicable to the PCs- because why on earth would a Drink/Absorb Ooze ability influence a PC battle?

By the way, I love you both for your votes! Two monsters in already!

Dances the Carlton dance from Fresh Prince

fangthane
2006-09-09, 05:19 AM
Oh come on, surely I can't be the only one who's already conceived of the idea of underground Octy fighting rings wherein they're pitted against small creatures and oozes of various kinds (but generally controllable)...

Or perhaps I can. :)

kailin
2006-09-09, 12:48 PM
Surely you're joking, Mr. al-Azrad. A CR1 monster that can attack with 8 +4 bites in a grapple? Sure, its grapple modifier is only -3, but level 1 characters are swingy things. It'll devour small characters who roll one unlucky grapple check. They'll just be lunchmeat, in a no-fair kind of way.

I think the anti-bludgeoning DR should probably drop to 10, too. That's still a hell of a lot at that level, but it makes it at least plausible to push through enough damage with your . . . I dunno, greatclub. What I'd love to see is a 3rd level wizard with 4 or 5 of these critters and a wand of shatter he uses to ruin all your pointy/slashy fun.

The fact that the Octomaw (incidentally, I love the name: it's weird, descriptive, and just sounds like something a damn wizard would make up) gets 8 attacks "with its limbs" through its Vicious Grappler SA, but only has 4 bite attacks in a full attack routine is a tad confusing, but could be clarified in a rewording. I think I get the idea: it can only bite with the heads on one side of its body, unless it's wrasslin', but remember D&D has no facing . ::)

I'd also find it way easier to run him if the "mucous" subsection listed the skill bonuses it loses when its slime is gone, instead of referring to another section which you have to read closely to separate the mucous bonuses from the other stuff.

Other than that, I'd run the Octomaw any day for a party at the appropriate level and situation. It's a solid (squishy) nasty varmint that players won't soon forget. Hell, I'd even run an advanced one in the CR 4-6 range.

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-09, 01:19 PM
Surely you're joking, Mr. al-Azrad. A CR1 monster that can attack with 8 +4 bites in a grapple? Sure, its grapple modifier is only -3, but level 1 characters are swingy things. It'll devour small characters who roll one unlucky grapple check. They'll just be lunchmeat, in a no-fair kind of way.

It has no Improved Grapple, it rarely starts grapples successfully. It Vicious Grappler ability is almost wholely reactionary. Yes, a DM could make this guy charge in and attempt to grapple, but with a poor bonus, even Small creatures can easily avoid getting grappled (Escape Artist can be used untrained, so that's a Dex check without Size penalties).


shatter[/i] he uses to ruin all your pointy/slashy fun.

I've been a bit worried about the DR 15, myself. Frankly, if the party really doesn't have any non-bludgeoning weapons, the fight will go extremely poorly. 15 was a nice number for shrugging off Ooze slams, however. I may have to drop both resistances to 10 to balance the creature, but I've yet to decide.




Vicious Grappler has a flavour element that says, "It can attack with all of its limbs," then a specific rules line that states, "In a grapple, it can make 8 Bite attacks without penalty." Is that not clear enough? I can always clarify further.

[quote author=kailin link=board=homebrew;num=1157421995;start=15#21 date=09/09/06 at 12:48:29I'd also find it way easier to run him if the "mucous" subsection listed the skill bonuses it loses when its slime is gone, instead of referring to another section which you have to read closely to separate the mucous bonuses from the other stuff.

It does seem it would be easier. It looks weird to me, but I'll throw that in redundantly in the Mucus ability for now.

[quote author=kailin link=board=homebrew;num=1157421995;start=15#21 date=09/09/06 at 12:48:29Other than that, I'd run the Octomaw any day for a party at the appropriate level and situation. It's a solid (squishy) nasty varmint that players won't soon forget. Hell, I'd even run an advanced one in the CR 4-6 range.[/quote]

People keep forgetting they can advance monsters. They see a nasty little CR 1, and they think, "If only you had made it CR 8, I could finally really hurt my party grapple-monk!"

Thanks for the feedback, although I did argue with a lot of it. I know this guy is pretty nasty as a CR 1, and it would be hard to adjudicate a battle where the party was not equipped to fight it. But
1) Arrows,
2) Swords,
3) Fire,
4) Battlefield Control,
5) Sneak Attacks
all work to defeat this monster, and all of those are easily available to a first level party. I don't see this monster as any MORE threatening than a first level Orc Barbarian, which is also a CR 1 melee threat. Better defenses, situationally.

kailin
2006-09-09, 02:05 PM
Monsters that require special tactics to defeat are an old standby in D&D, and there's always room for one more, even at low levels. Still, imagine:

I am a gnome wielding a crossbow, in a 30x30 ft room with my party. Two of these guys get the drop on the party and charge me. At least one will hit my touch AC, and if I fail a 50/50 grapple check, I'm soggy toast next round.

It's not terribly rough, but I think the fact that one bad roll can make these guys such terrors is worth a CR 2, or else a change to Vicious Grappler to allow it one full attack without penalty, instead of two, in a grapple.

And on the VG note, yes, I think it should be clarified, both for form's sake and because, since you intend to publish this, if people can possibly misinterpret it they will. Be more explicit whenever you can:

Vicious Grappler (Ex): When using its natural weapons in a grapple, an Octomaw takes no penalty to attack rolls. When it makes a full attack in a grapple, it attacks with all eight appendages, making 8 bite attacks instead of its normal 4. It loses the benefit of this ability when it is pinned, but not while engulfed or otherwise contained inside another creature.

Abd al-Azrad
2006-09-09, 02:22 PM
Monsters that require special tactics to defeat are an old standby in D&D, and there's always room for one more, even at low levels. Still, imagine:

I am a gnome wielding a crossbow, in a 30x30 ft room with my party. Two of these guys get the drop on the party and charge me. At least one will hit my touch AC, and if I fail a 50/50 grapple check, I'm soggy toast next round.

It's not terribly rough, but I think the fact that one bad roll can make these guys such terrors is worth a CR 2, or else a change to Vicious Grappler to allow it one full attack without penalty, instead of two, in a grapple.

Amusingly, two of them attacking your party is a CR 2 encounter. But I see what you mean. My point is just that if a CR 1 Orc barbarian gets the drop on your party, it partial charges at +9 to hit, raging, and deals enough damage to drop almost any party member in one blow. Low levels are hard plays, and fighting a monster with eight mouths in melee is dangerous. The Octomaw is just so vulnerable to most common forms of attack, that I'm hard pressed to raise its CR.

I'm surprised no one's complained about their AC- I thought it was somewhat high for a CR 1 fighter.


And on the VG note, yes, I think it should be clarified, both for form's sake and because, since you intend to publish this, if people can possibly misinterpret it they will. Be more explicit whenever you can:

Vicious Grappler (Ex): When using its natural weapons in a grapple, an Octomaw takes no penalty to attack rolls. When it makes a full attack in a grapple, it attacks with all eight appendages, making 8 bite attacks instead of its normal 4. It loses the benefit of this ability when it is pinned, but not while engulfed or otherwise contained inside another creature.

You're right, I'll clarify that. In fact, I like how you've written this. English major. :P

fangthane
2006-09-09, 04:26 PM
There's nothing particularly wrong with their ac or attack capability; let's consider the typical front-liner for a party of elite PCs:
Meatshield type:
AC (with shield) 20-21
AC (without shield) 18-19
Dodger type:
AC (with shield) 19
AC (without shield) 18

So the Octy with a +4 is going to hit its strongest opponents only on a 17+, and most on a 15+ on average. That means a 41% chance of a single hit, 26% chance of two, a 7% chance of 3 and less than 1% chance of all 4; its int is 1 and its tactics do not posit a tendency to initiate grapples anyway so there's no reason to expect it would employ such tactics necessarily. So anyhow, against typical foes (ac 19 average) it should deal roughly 4.1 damage per round. Meanwhile, at an 18 ac up against a typical party it's potentially taking a magic missile and a pair of melee attacks.
Warrior melee: 1 BAB + 4 str + 1 weapon focus, 45% chance of a hit dealing 1d8+4 (onehanded) or 1d12+6 (twohanded) (average of the two is 10.5 damage)
Rogue melee: 0 BAB + 4 Dex, 35% chance of a 1d6+2 hit
Wizard Attack: 3.5 damage
Cleric reserved for reactive healing, 5.5 per round to limit of level 1 spells
In a round, the Octy will deal roughly 4.1 damage against the party and will receive roughly 10 points (3.5+0.35*5.5 +0.45*10.5 = 10.15) in return; if we add the cleric's melee contribution and assume the fighter (or barb) has a two-hander it becomes much closer to a one round kill.

A potential one-round kill requiring a first-level party to use, on average, one magic missile and one CLW, dealing pain but not (usually) fatal damage seems pretty balanced to me :)