The Jadestone Tiger - 3.5 Monster (CR12)

[Mazeburn]

First time at this... PEACH? :)

Right, a few of you might have seen my comic (http://sirperigold.com) around, it's pretty D&D inspired and I've been wanting to build this monster since I first drew it. Basically, it's huge stone tiger that fights by jumping in and out of walls. I've not really built monsters before this so it will likely have some flaws, feel free to point 'em out! :) Plundered nearly all the forum resources here and got a hand from a couple of people, but I'd still love feedback.

I also made a pretty PDF version 'cause I'm a PDF nerd. (http://learningextra.com/perigold/resources/rpg/jadestonetiger_sml.png) :smallbiggrin:
Also posted on my blog. (http://sirperigold.com/?p=94)

http://learningextra.com/perigold/resources/rpg/jadestonetiger_sml.png
STATS:

The Jadestone Tiger

Huge Construct
Hit Dice: 12d10+30+12 (108)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 60ft (12 squares)
Armour Class: 23 (10+5 dexterity+10 natural-2 size), touch 8, flat-footed 18
Basic Attack/Grapple: +18 (9 (BAB)- 2 (size)+11 (str))/+28 (+8 (size) + 11 (str) + 9 (BAB))
Attack: Claw (+18, 1d8+11)
Full Attack: 2 Claws(+18, 1d8+11), Bite (+16, 2d6+7) (gets grapple free if bite is successful)
Space/Reach: 15ft/10ft

Special Qualities:
DR 15 (Adamantine and Bludgeoning)
Spell Resistance 22.
Darkvision 60ft.
Tremorsense 60ft, 120ft when in a surface.
Immune to all mind-affecting effects.
Immune to sneak attacks, bleed, disease, death, necromancy, paralysis, poison, sleep and stunning.
Cannot heal damage on its own, but can do so with the make whole spell.
Proficient with no armour.
Proficient with natural weapons only.
Immunity to bleed, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning.
Does not eat, breathe or sleep.
Unlike other constructs, the Jadestone Tiger is not immune to critical hits.

Saves: Fort 4, Reflex 14, Will 0
Abilities: Str 32, Dex 20, Int 2, Wis 4, Cha 2
Skills: Listen +4, Spot +4, Jump +16, Move Silently -4, Hide -4

Feats:
Run (move 5 times speed when running)
Alertness (+2 to Spot and Listen Checks)
MultiAttack (Secondary Attacks
only take a -2)
Ability Focus (‘Trample’
Ability DC increased by 2)
Improved Toughness (Gain an
extra hit point at each hit die)

Environment: Temples, palaces, ruins. Only in an area with walls, floors or ceilings made of worked stone or gemstone.
Organisation: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: 2 tonnes of jewelry-quality jade, value 135,000GP.
Alignment: Always true neutral
Level Adjustment: –

The Jadestone Tiger is a relic of a lost civilisation, set to guard something of great importance. It is a construct, created of jade, and imbued with the soul of a powerful spirit from another plane. The particular spirit bound to it gives it the power of merging into walls and becoming a carving, the form it remains in when dormant. The Jadestone Tiger can only pass in and out of worked stone. A threat to that which it guards will instantly activate the Jadestone Tiger. In this case, it savagely attacks the intruders until they are either slain or have retreated sufficiently. If what it guards is removed, it will attempt to chase it down and return it to its original location. Once the construct is destroyed, the spirit passes back into its own realm and cannot be re-called. Thus, once the Jadestone tiger is destroyed, it cannot be properly reanimated or repaired.
Versions have allegedly been found made of other materials, such as marble.

Special Abilities:
Become Carving (Ex):
As part of a move action, the Jadestone Tiger may merge with any worked stone or precious stone surface larger than 10ft square. In doing this, it becomes a carving and part of the wall, floor or ceiling. It may move up to its speed within the surface. If a surface tile it is in is attacked and the stone’s hardness is overcome, the Jadestone Tiger has a Reflex save of DC 22 to automatically move to another tile. If it fails, the Jadestone Tiger still moves to the new tile but takes half the damage dealt to the surface. While within a surface, the Jadestone Tiger does not get attacks of opportunity, nor does it provoke them. Additionally, while within the surface, the Jadestone tiger gains +12 to hide checks and all movement counts as completely silent. The Jadestone Tiger may not use Become Physical in the same round as it has used Become Carving.
If the Jadestone Tiger is grappling a foe while it attempts to become a carving, the grappled foe takes 2d6+16 damage, breaks out of the grapple and lands on the tile nearest to the point where the Jadestone Tiger entered the surface.

Trample (Ex):
The Jadestone Tiger can travel up to its movement in a straight line, attempting to trample all opponents in its path. All foes in the path are entitled to either an attack of opportunity with a -4, or a reflex save (DC 28) for half damage. Those who fail the reflex save or do not attempt to dodge the Jadestone Tiger automatically take 2d6+16 trample damage.

Pounce (Ex):
After a charge, it can follow with a full attack.

Improved Grab (Ex):
The Jadestone Tiger may make a grab attack as part of a regular melee attack with a particular natural weapon (bite or claw). If the attack hits, the natural weapon deals damage normally, and the monster immediately makes an opposed check to establish a hold. The attack doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Since the attack already dealt damage when it hit, a successful hold deals no extra damage. Each successful grapple check the attacker makes during successive rounds automatically deals the damage indicated for the attack that established the hold. (This works just like making a grapple check to deal damage).

Combat:
The Jadestone Tiger will only attack opponents which threaten that which it is set to guard. It will viciously defend this until all opponents are either dead or have retreated to a distance it deems safe. If that which it guards is removed, the Jadestone Tiger will attempt to go after it and return it to its original location. The Jadestone Tiger fights by hiding in the wall and attacking when its opponents are flat-footed, and also through pouncing and slashing at them with its huge claws.



Thanks for reading! <3

[Steward]

Gorgeous art!

Does the Jadestone Tiger have any Special Attacks?

[TuggyNE]

This looks quite interesting and fairly complete; some formatting changes could be made, though.

As a Huge construct, it should get 40 bonus HP, not 30. Total would then be 118 I think, using averages.

The full attack line notes that it can start a grapple if it bites successfully; you could probably remove this and add Improved Grab to Special Attacks, since you have the text after the statblock already. (Actually, everything under Special Abilities should probably be listed in short form in Special Attacks.)

Special Qualities takes up a lot of space, and could be reduced to something like the following:
Special Qualities: Construct traits, DR 15/adamantine and bludgeoning, SR 22, tremorsense 60ft (120ft in carving), precise construction [?]
where "precise construction" or similar is the name for an added ability listed further down, e.g. "Unlike most constructs, the jadestone tiger is subject to critical hits."

Not totally sure, but Reflex looks like it should be +9 (+5 dex +4 base) instead of +14; Will should probably be +1 (-3 wis +4 base), not +0. Assuming, of course, that the jadestone tiger uses all poor saves as most constructs do.

Skills mostly look good, but Move Silently and Hide are both -3 I think, not -4 (+5 from dex, -8 from size). You may want to boost Wisdom a lot so it can do its job better; its spot and listen are looowwww.

Feats could similarly be collapsed, e.g.
Feats: Run, Alertness, Multiattack, Ability Focus: Trample, Improved Toughness
Not sure, but I think Imp Toughness may require Toughness as a prereq... in which case you could give it Toughness as a racial bonus feat ("ToughnessB")

May want to adjust the Treasure line to be slightly less specific, more like "Standard (only jewelry-quality jade)" ... although looking more closely, that's a ferocious amount of treasure for a CR 12 encounter. That's what, 140 times the standard? A good compromise would be "Double standard (only jewelry-quality jade)" or even triple standard (like dragons). But still, that's a lot.

You could also put in an advancement line, e.g. "Advancement: 13-18 (Huge); 19-29 (Gargantuan)". Otherwise, probably put in a dash for that, if it's never going to be advanced.

You should probably figure out how the DCs are calculated for e.g. Become Carving's Reflex save (size?). Trample looks like it should be DC 27 (10+6+11), not 28. Also, list Become Physical as well, just for completeness.

The combat section notes its "huge claws"; this suggests either switching a feat to Improved Natural Attack (claw), or outright giving that as a racial bonus feat.


Anyway, yeah, this looks like a pretty solid monster so far. Nice work! :smallsmile:

[Debihuman]

Here is the stat block a little more standardized. I also fixed some grammar and spelling errors. (Kept your UK spelling though). [Edit] made further corrections.

Jadestone Tiger
Huge Construct
Hit Dice: 12d10+52 (118 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 60 ft. (12 squares)
Armour Class: 23 (+5 Dexterity+10 natural-2 size), touch 13, flat-footed 18
Basic Attack/Grapple: +9/+28
Attack: Claw +18 melee (1d8+11)
Full Attack: 2 claws+18 melee (1d8+11) and bite +16 melee (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, pounce, trample
Special Qualities: Become Carving, Construct traits, DR 15/Adamantine and Bludgeoning, SR 22, Darkvision 60 ft., Low-light vision, Tremorsense 60 ft. (120 ft. when in a stone or gemstone surface)
Saves: Fort +4, Reflex +9, Will +1
Abilities: Str 32, Dex 20, Con —, Int 2, Wis 4, Cha 2
Skills: Hide +0 (+12 in stone surfaces), Jump +8 (+12 when made from a running start), Listen +2, Move Silently +8, Spot +2, Survival -3*
Feats: Ability Focus (Trample), Alertness, Improved Toughness, Multiattack, Run, TrackB
Environment: Palaces, ruins, temples (Only in an area with walls, floors or ceilings made of worked stone or gemstone)
Organisation: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: Double Standard
Alignment: Always true neutral
Level Adjustment: —

Jadestone tigers are relics of a lost civilisation. Their purpose is to guard items of great importance. A jadestone tiger is a Construct, created of jade, and imbued with the soul of a powerful spirit from another plane. The particular spirit bound to it gives it the power of merging into walls and becoming a carving, the form it remains in when dormant.

A jadestone tiger can only pass in and out of worked stone. Any threat to its treasure will instantly activate the jadestone tiger. In this case, it savagely attacks the intruders until they either are slain or have retreated sufficiently. If the items the jadestone tiger guards are removed from its lair, it will attempt to track the items and return them to their original location.

Once a jadestone tiger is destroyed, the spirit passes back into its own realm and cannot be re-called. Thus, once the jadestone tiger is destroyed, it cannot be properly reanimated or repaired. A destroyed jadestone tiger collapses into a pile of jade shards. A successful Search check (DC 15) will yield 2d10 pieces of gem quality jade worth 1,000 gp each.

Alternative versions of jadestone tigers have allegedly been found made of other materials, such as marble.

Combat

The jadestone tiger will only attack opponents that threaten that which it is set to guard. It either will viciously defend this until all opponents are dead or have retreated to a distance it deems safe. If that which it guards is removed, the jadestone tiger will attempt to go after it and return it to its original location. The jadestone tiger fights by hiding in the wall and attacking when its opponents are flat-footed, and through pouncing and slashing at them with its huge claws.

Become Carving (Ex): As part of a move action, the jadestone tiger may merge with any worked stone or precious stone surface larger than a 10-foot-by-10-foot square. In doing this, it becomes a carving and part of the wall, floor or ceiling. It may move up to its speed within the surface.

If a surface tile it is in is attacked and the stone’s hardness is overcome, the jadestone tiger may make a Reflex save (DC 22) to automatically move to another tile. If it fails, the jadestone tiger still moves to the new tile but takes half the damage dealt to the surface.

While within a surface, the jadestone tiger does not get attacks of opportunity, nor does it provoke them. Additionally, while within the stone surface, the jadestone tiger gains +12 to Hide checks and all movement counts as completely silent.

If the jadestone tiger is grappling a foe while it attempts to become a carving, the grappled foe takes 2d6+16 damage, breaks out of the grapple and lands on the tile nearest to the point where the jadestone tiger entered the surface.

Construct Traits: Unlike other Constructs, jadestone tigers are not immune to critical hits.

Improved Grab (Ex): The jadestone tiger may make a grab attack as part of a regular melee attack with a particular natural weapon (bite or claw). If the attack hits, the natural weapon deals damage normally, and the monster immediately makes an opposed check to establish a hold. The attack doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Since the attack already dealt damage when it hit, a successful hold deals no extra damage. Each successful grapple check the attacker makes during successive rounds automatically deals the damage indicated for the attack that established the hold. (This works just like making a grapple check to deal damage).

Jump: Because the jadestone tiger is a quadruped, its vertical reach is 16 feet (treated as one size category smaller).

Pounce (Ex): After a charge, it can follow with a full attack.

Trample (Ex): The jadestone tiger can travel up to its movement in a straight line, attempting to trample all opponents in its path. All foes in the path are entitled either to an attack of opportunity with a -4 penalty, or to a Reflex save (DC 27) for half damage. Those who fail the Reflex save or do not attempt to dodge the jadestone tiger automatically take 2d6+16 points of damage. The save is strength-based.

Skills: A jadestone tiger has a +8 racial bonus to Survival only when used to track its foes.
It seems you are missing the information on its Become Physical special ability, which is mentioned in its Become Carving Special Ability unless you meant to remove that information and forgot to delete it. I deleted it, but I wasn't sure what you wanted.

Edit: The make whole spell cannot affect Constructs and that information should be removed from the entry. I noted that it isn't immune to critical hits in Construct Traits subsection. I alphabetized where appropriate.

Cat-like creatures can usually Rake with their rear claws when they Pounce (see Sphinx for example) but it has Improved Grab instead. Perhaps there should be some descriptive text to explain this. I'm also giving it Track as a bonus feat since that's part of this creature's purpose.

Last of all, I added low-light vision to its Special Abilities since it should have it from its Construct Traits and fixed treasure to keep it from becoming a Monty Haul.

Note: The prerequisite for Improved Toughness is Base Fort Save +2 (See Complete Warrior).

Further note: I think it needs to have its skills looked at. It should have 15 skill ranks to work with. Then you add ability modifiers and other modifiers.

Skills: Hide +0 (+12 in stone surfaces), Jump +8 (+12 when made from a running start), Listen +2, Move Silently +8, Spot +2.

Hide [+3 ranks, -8 size, +5 Dex] +0 (+12 in stone surfaces from Become Carving ability), Jump [+3 ranks, +5 Dex] +8 (+12 for jumps made from a running start from Run feat], Listen [+3 ranks, +2 from Alertness feat, -3 Wisdom] +2, Move Silently [+3 ranks, +5 Dex], Spot [+3 ranks, -3 Wisdom +2 Alertness feat]

Jump now notes vertical reach of the jadestone tiger as per the skill.

I really hate that its Wisdom score is so low since it negatively impacts most of the things it does. It doesn't have any racial bonuses to help it track its foes and with its low wisdom, the Survival check starts at -3.

I would consider adding a skills section:

Skills: Jadestone tigers have a +8 racial bonus to Survival skill onlywhen using it to track its foes.

Since it would have no ranks in Survival and it has a -3 to Wisdom, normally it would make the Survival check at -3. With the racial bonus it would have +5. You could add Survival -3* to its skills in that case.

I've now incorporated all the changes. Let me know what you think.

Debby

[Mazeburn]

Steward - Thankyou. :) And not exactly, just the special abilties and normal combat mechanics combined.

tuggyne -
Great suggestions, thanks! I was a bit unsure about formatting and how to list things since it seems to change from book to book, but I'll try to cut it down to one page if I can. Shall make those tweaks and definitely add the advancement line. Shall up the Wis too.

Good point about the loot, I figured it was more 'as much as you can carry', but with adventurers they'd always find a way, so I'll switch it to the average loot for a CR12 (about 17000GP, I think?) of good-quality jade and the rest in near-worthless stuff.

The reflex save for Become Carving to avoid damage from someone attacking the wall was something I couldn't work out, so I fudged that a bit - I was trying to do something based on the assailant's level or dex, but it ended up way too mathsy. Basing it on size might work, though. Anyway, really useful stuff, I can tell I'm still a novice to the numbers side of things! :) Thanks very much indeed.

Debihuman-

Awesome, some really nice additions in there of stuff I didn't consider, I really like the search checks for gems if it's destroyed. Good additions on the abilities side of things too - didn't really think about it needing Track since it's mostly gonna be in enclosed environments, but in cave systems and the like it would be really useful, so I'll add those too. And thanks for doing the reformatting! I'll work that into the PDF and posts tomorrow.

I thought Make Whole could affect constructs? Hmm. I wonder where I read that. Maybe I got some Pathfinder mixed in by accident. >_>; Fair enough, I'll remove that.

One thing I have had is that an Artificer could tear through it instantly - but I guess everything has a weakness and that's the same for most constructs.

Since you guys have been so kind as to go through (my rather messy) work, just drop me a line if you ever want art for anything you're building, I'd be glad to accomodate.