[3.5] Galuverant: Slush Elemental Design

[MechaKingGhidra]

Howdy. I am trying to assemble an irl campaign and I plan on taking the players to an arctic environment later on but I had trouble coming up with monster encounters that didn't involve remorhazes and frost giants.

Then I remembered: 5 years ago, I submitted an arctic-environment monster for a competition thread. Well, I went back and found my submission and when I looked at it I saw that it definitely needs a bit of editing.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1834477&postcount=9

Spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. Redundant information, improper formatting in a few places, and even outright unrelated details that have no place being anywhere in the entire thing. What a mess.

But, since I am going to correct all of those details ANYWAY, I figured maybe I should get some opinions on the generic concept and maybe add/remove abilities as per any suggestions I may receive.

I don't trust myself entirely to just fix the minor errors and throw it at my players without it being reviewed.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[MechaKingGhidra]

I cut some of the fat out of my original post to not drag on and convey my intentions more clearly.

I'm positive a few people got frustrated with my normal method of explaining the thought process I go through.

Sorry. That's just the way I am until I see it long after I've typed it and then edit as I see fit.

Again, any feedback for alterations someone thinks I should make would be appreciated. :smallsmile:

[Debihuman]

Is this supposed to be standard 3.5 or did you apply any house rules to its creation? I don't want to waste time correcting mistakes that aren't actual mistakes.

I removed some unnecessary text and did some editing and proofreading. Please make sure my changes are to your liking.


Now for the tough stuff:

Why does it have the extraplanar subtype? You didn't list its home plane in environment. Extraplanar creatures always list their home plane in their environment. Also, environment should be any arctic water or shore. It spends more time in the water than on land.

I think you should mention the slower swim speed in the slow metabolism text rather than just in the stat block. Also, why doesn't the slow metabolism affect its land speed? You'll note that I changed it to affect both land and swim speed.

You should identify which type of bonus it receives to AC. It should be a circumstance bonus rather than an untyped bonus since it happens under certain circumstances.

Since elementals don't eat, breathe or sleep, slow metabolism seemed like a strange ability for it. If you are deviating from standard elementals, you need to mention it in the fluff.

Attack lines never show critical hits unless they are nonstandard. 20/x2 is standard for natural attacks so you never need to show that in the stat block.

Elemental traits include the following:
"An elemental possesses the following traits (unless otherwise noted in a creature’s entry).

Darkvision out to 60 feet.
Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, and stunning.
Not subject to critical hits or flanking.
Unlike most other living creatures, an elemental does not have a dual nature—its soul and body form one unit. When an elemental is slain, no soul is set loose. Spells that restore souls to their bodies, such as raise dead, reincarnate, and resurrection, don’t work on an elemental. It takes a different magical effect, such as limited wish, wish, miracle, or true resurrection, to restore it to life.
Proficient with natural weapons only, unless generally humanoid in form, in which case proficient with all simple weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.
Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) that it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Elementals not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Elementals are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any form of armor.
Elementals do not eat, sleep, or breathe."

If your creature has darkvision and the above immunities, those should be listed in the stat block in addition to "elemental traits." If it doesn't have darkvision and immunity to poison, sleep effects and stunning (as well as flanking and critical hits), then you need to specify exactly which elemental traits it has and which ones it doesn't have. It is hard to tell from your stat block which elements that you are keeping and which ones you are omitting.

DR 15/-- is a bit hefty here. I'd recommend dropping it to DR 10/-- against a 12th level party. There is no point in making this a longer battle than necessary with one of these things just to eat up a party's resources.

I would recommend adding the Capsize special ability (see Dragon Turtle entry) as follows:

Capsize (Ex): A submerged galuverant that surfaces under a boat or ship less than 20 feet long capsizes the vessel 95% of the time. It has a 50% chance to capsize a vessel from 20 to 60 feet long and a 20% chance to capsize one over 60 feet long.

Even if the creature has no ranks in Hide, it needs to be listed in the skills section because it has a bonus to Hide in the skills section. It should have 17 skill ranks and then you adjust for ability scores.

Feats should be alphabetized.

Advancement is odd. Generally creatures increase in size when they double their hit dice 15-22 Huge 23-44 Gargantuan.

The DC of Supernatural abilities is 10 + 1/2 creature's HD and generally creature's charisma modifier. The DC for Slush barrage is 10 +7 +6 +2 from its Ability Focus feat for a total of +25 (+23 when slowed). This is probably too high for CR 12.

Slush Coke needs to be written more clearly. I am not sure which modifier you were basing it off. I think it was constitution again but the numbers are wrong for it. It also seems to be named incorrectly in the stat block as Surface Drown.

The following corrections are not yet complete as I'm going through this slowly and am awaiting your response.

Galuverant
Huge Elemental (Cold, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 14d8+84 (147 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 50 ft., Swim 60 ft. (See slow metabolism)
Armor Class: 23 (+2 Dex, +13 natural, -2 size), Touch 10, Flat-Footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+25
Attack: Claw +15 melee (1d8+7)
Full Attack: 2 Claws +15 melee (1d8+7)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Slow metabolism, slush barrage (3d8 cold), slush choke
Special Qualities: Capsize, DR 10/--, darkvision 60 ft., elemental traits, immunity to cold, minor fire vulnerability
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +6, Will +4
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 14, Con 22, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 11
Skills: Listen +8, Spot +9
Feats: Ability Focus (Slush Barrage), Awesome Blow, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Power Attack
Environment: Any arctic water or shore
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually neutral
Advancement: 15-22 HD (Huge), 25-32 HD (Gargantuan)
Level Adjustment: --

This creature seems to be a shimmering open space of water, which hints at it slowly freezing due to the slush swirling around it. However, many a traveler has found out too late that was not the the case.

A galuverant appears to be a mix of water and slush particles. It is domed into a very large, seemingly unstable solid, which is supported by 8 different three-piece spikes that act as legs used to support its massive weight. It legs are evenly distributed in a circular manner around the dome, although two of them can be used to attack at a time. In addition, the legs suspend the creature roughly 5 feet off the ground (when it actually isn't in the water, which is rarely). Its length totals about 32 feet and it weighs approximately 19,000 pounds.

Galuverants can speak Aquan but rarely choose to do so. When it speaks, its voice sounds like the cracking of the coldest ice when suddenly exposed to intense heat.

Combat

The most common enemies, although few in total numbers due to the virtual isolation its environment provides, are those which either fish at the coast or travel in ships to said coast. Because of this, a galuverant prefers to wait until boats, ships and the like are directly over it before it decides to capsize them. If its enemies are on land, it will then attempt to cut off their escape route by getting behind them and knocking them backwards into the water.

Capsize (Ex): A submerged galuverant that surfaces under a boat or ship less than 20 feet long capsizes the vessel 95% of the time. It has a 50% chance to capsize a vessel from 20 to 60 feet long and a 20% chance to capsize one over 60 feet long.

Minor Fire Vulnerability: Although much of its body is ice, a significant portion is made of water as well. As a result, a galuverant only takes 25% more damage from fire spells and effects, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed, or if the save is a success or failure.

Slow Metabolism (Sp): For every 3 rounds a galuverant isn't submerged in its arctic-cold waters, its metabolism starts to slow, freezing its dome and providing a +1 circumstance bonus to its natural armor. This quality increases every three rounds to a maximum effect of +5 to AC after 15 rounds. Slush barrage attacks take a -2 penalty after 3 rounds and cannot be used after 6 rounds unless the galuverant is submerged for the same number of rounds that has passed plus 5. It moves at half speed when slowed.

Slush Barrage (Su): As a full-round action, a galuverant can shoot a torrent of slush from its dome to every enemy within a 20-foot radius. All enemies take 3d8 points of cold damage unless they make a Reflex save DC of 25 to take half damage. The save is 23 if the galuverant was not submerged previously (see slow metabolism). The save is constitution based and includes a +2 racial modifier. In addition, enemies hit with the slush must make a DC 23 Reflex save in order to prevent being stuck to the surface they are standing on as the slush starts to freeze instantly after making contact. Otherwise, a Strength DC of 20 is needed to escape. This save is constitution based and does not include the +2 racial modifier.

Slush Choke (Su): As a full-round action, a galuverant can shoot a concentrated line of slush from its dome as a ranged attack against a single target. Success results in the stream of slush invading and filling the target's respiratory system, drowning it. The target must then make drowning checks as appropriate until he or she drown. A drowning target can sever the attack by making a DC 23 Fortitude save. Each round after the failed Reflex save, the target is given another chance to make a new save; but each failed save increases the DC by 1. The save is constitution based. The galuverant can also choose to stop the attack itself. If the garuvarent is dealt 20 points of damage or more, it automatically stops the attack. Creatures which do not breathe are unaffected by this ability.

Skills: When hiding in arctic waters deep enough to fully submerge it, a galuverant gets +8 to all Hide checks.

Debby

[MechaKingGhidra]

I apologize for the confusion and now I'm feeling a tad guilty for not being even clearer than I originally thought I was. :smallfrown:

I am working on correcting the obvious mistakes on paper (the stats in the link are unaltered), and wanted to see if general concepts and simple details to change would be more fitting and it seems you've gone over that and then some. I am so, so, SO sorry for any aggravation you've had with this because of lack of clarity on my part. :smalleek:

Extraplanar is because the one I will be using is simply displaced from its home realm.

Environment was likely (as I cannot remember specifically) because I thought shore implied both land and water, considering it's more an area than a specific part of said area.

Metabolism was the best word I could think of *at the time* to make some sort of attempt at implying that it would rapidly change how it body works when out of its preferred environment. I'll get to re-wording that immediately.

The speed information was definitely just lack of experience in where to properly place information (so, to me now with more experience, it's an obvious mistake). Same with the attack lines and alphabetical order for feats.

Elemental traits was listed as-is because I was under the impression (again, *at the time*) one could do that because if you didn't know what shared traits a creature had, you could just look it up in the back of a monster manual. If you already knew, well, it's just a waste of space listing them all. Now that I know differently, it is being altered.

Thanks for the DR recommendation. If I make it as a 'you must kill this creature', I'll tone it down. If I wind up changing my mind and just having it be a 'well...you aren't seeming to do all that much to it; I suggest running' type of encounter, then I'll keep it at 15.

The advancement was most certainly a typo (what happened to HD 23 and 24? :smalltongue:), as is the surface drown/slush choke (for the latter, I had to have changed my mind as to what to call it and didn't catch that when I made changes later on).

I'll remove Ability Focus with another feat. Not sure what, though, at this time.

I'll most definitely be adding Capsize as it is perfect for it.

As for the numbers for Slush Choke, I readily acknowledge that I had no clue what to do in that case so I just made up numbers that seemed, at the time (recurring theme with me, isn't it?), appropriate for the CR of the monster.


I think that's everything addressed. By all means, point me out to anything I missed. I greatly thank you for the review/feedback and again apologize for my way of presenting my opening post.