Silus
2014-07-26, 08:10 AM
Ok so I've been meaning to get around to crafting up an apex predator species for my little homebrew setting, but I'm kinda stumped as to how to get started.
I think my big issues are the following:
Figuring out how to do Ability scores. Do I just pick the base stats and modify by things like size or is there more to it?
Balancing out the special abilities in terms of power, usage, etc.
Calculating a rough DR
Sorting out how many Feats and Skills/Skill ranks to give the creature.
I confess I've never made a creature like this before, usually just taking an existing creature and fiddling around with one or two things.
XP 102,400
N Gargantuan Magical Beast
Init +7; Senses Darkvision, Scent; Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 33, touch 10, flat-footed 28 (+3 dex, +23 natural, -4 size, +1 Dodge)(+4 vs AoO)
hp 265 (23d10+138)
Fort +26, Ref +23, Will +16
Immune Electricity
Weaknesses vulnerability to cold
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee 1 Bite +31 (3d8+12 plus trip), 2 Claws +31 (2d6+12 plus grab), 1 Tail Slap +29 (2d8+12)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft
Special Attack: Breath Weapon, Electrical Discharge, Pounce, Rake (2 claws +31, 2d6+12), Swallow Whole (2d6+18 plus 3d8 electricity, AC 21, 26 hp), Trample (2d6+18, DC 33)
STATISTICS
Str 34, Dex 17, Con 22, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 9
Base Atk +23; CMB +39; CMD 54 (58 vs trip)
Feats Improved Initiative, Dodge, Mobility, Wind Stance, Lightning Stance, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Nightstalker, Improved Natural Attack (Bite), Skill Focus (Stealth) (2 Feats left)
Skills Acrobatics +13, Climb +16, Perception +9, Stealth +8 (+20 in darkness), Survival +9; Racial Modifiers +4 Survival when tracking by scent, +4 Stealth
ECOLOGY
Environment The Poisoned Lands
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure None (Hide/chitin)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Breath Weapon (EX): 120 ft. line, DC 27, 16d8 electricity, every 2d4 rounds
Electrical Discharge (EX):15 ft. burst, DC 27, 16d8 electricity
Lightning Stance: If you take two actions to move or a withdraw action in a turn, you gain 50% concealment for 1 round.
Wind Stance: If you move more than 5 feet this turn, you gain 20% concealment for 1 round against ranged attacks.
Nightstalker: While you are in areas of shadowy illumination or natural darkness, you ignore all size penalties to Stealth checks and instead gain a +2 bonus to Stealth checks.
The creatures known as "Blightning Wolves" are stabilized mutations that have cropped up in the last several hundred years in the section of the world known as The Poisoned Lands. While evolution and genetic mutation does take hundreds of thousands of years, Blightning Wolves have had the benefit of rampant magic and mutagenic radiation to thank for their rapid mutation and evolution.
Sizes range from ~44 ft upwards to ~67ft from the tips of their horned heads to the ends of their spiked, club-like tails, standing between 22-34ft at the shoulder. They only appear to be wolves in the barest of senses, sharing a handful of traits with canines. The rest however seems more akin to dragons and insects. Claws like butcher knives, fangs like daggers and chitinous armor plating covering it's front and hind legs, shoulders, back, tail and head. As tough as it would appear, the Blightning Wolf's main power lies in the cone-shaped protrusions that, when not active, lie flat along its back, covered by whitish-grey fur. These protrusions act as biological capacitors, allowing the Wolf to generate several electrical effects, ranging from lines of lightning to explosive area of effect blasts. These abilities have helped set up the Blightning Wolf as a top tier apex predator in the Poisoned Lands, a land that is rife with robots, mutants and massive vermin.
Typically a solitary creature, Blightning Wolves have been known to travel with a breeding mate from time to time. No nests or dens have ever been found, though not many people have bothered searching for one, as doing so would undoubtably attract unwanted attention. Blightning Wolves are also extreme omnivores, feasting of meat, plant, insect and even varieties of robot they bring down. How they gain sustenance from mechanical constructs is still unknown.
While difficult as hell to kill, due to their speed and durability, they are in fact killable and their hide and chitinous plating makes excellent light weight, electric resistant armor. Finding someone to work the material however is difficult (though not impossible in the right locations).
Blightning Wolf Hide: Technically a combination of hide, fur and chiton, the body of a Blightning Wolf can be used to make both armor and weapons that share its electrical resistances and even some of its electrical output. Armor made of the hide is treated as "Druid friendly", and as such may be turned into items such as Full Plate Mail and other typically metal items. In addition, armor comes with Electric Resistance of 10, 15 and 20 for Light, Medium and Heavy armor, and Shields receive Electric Resistance 5. Weapons made of the chiton receive an innate, non-magical +1d4 Electric damage that stacks with magical effects. All items made of a Blightning Wolf's hide and chiton weight 20% less than average. A typical Blightning Wolf corpse can make roughly (1d4 weapons or 1d6 light weapons) and (3 suits of medium Light armor, 2 suits of medium Medium armor, or 1 suit of medium Heavy armor). As it is hard to obtain, purchasing items made of Blightning Wolf cost 250% the cost of a Masterwork quality item of the same type. Blightning Wolf equipment always counts as Masterwork.
And yes, this thing is based pretty heavily off the Zinogre (http://monsterhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Zinogre) from Monster Hunter.
I think my big issues are the following:
Figuring out how to do Ability scores. Do I just pick the base stats and modify by things like size or is there more to it?
Balancing out the special abilities in terms of power, usage, etc.
Calculating a rough DR
Sorting out how many Feats and Skills/Skill ranks to give the creature.
I confess I've never made a creature like this before, usually just taking an existing creature and fiddling around with one or two things.
XP 102,400
N Gargantuan Magical Beast
Init +7; Senses Darkvision, Scent; Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 33, touch 10, flat-footed 28 (+3 dex, +23 natural, -4 size, +1 Dodge)(+4 vs AoO)
hp 265 (23d10+138)
Fort +26, Ref +23, Will +16
Immune Electricity
Weaknesses vulnerability to cold
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee 1 Bite +31 (3d8+12 plus trip), 2 Claws +31 (2d6+12 plus grab), 1 Tail Slap +29 (2d8+12)
Space 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft
Special Attack: Breath Weapon, Electrical Discharge, Pounce, Rake (2 claws +31, 2d6+12), Swallow Whole (2d6+18 plus 3d8 electricity, AC 21, 26 hp), Trample (2d6+18, DC 33)
STATISTICS
Str 34, Dex 17, Con 22, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 9
Base Atk +23; CMB +39; CMD 54 (58 vs trip)
Feats Improved Initiative, Dodge, Mobility, Wind Stance, Lightning Stance, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Nightstalker, Improved Natural Attack (Bite), Skill Focus (Stealth) (2 Feats left)
Skills Acrobatics +13, Climb +16, Perception +9, Stealth +8 (+20 in darkness), Survival +9; Racial Modifiers +4 Survival when tracking by scent, +4 Stealth
ECOLOGY
Environment The Poisoned Lands
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure None (Hide/chitin)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Breath Weapon (EX): 120 ft. line, DC 27, 16d8 electricity, every 2d4 rounds
Electrical Discharge (EX):15 ft. burst, DC 27, 16d8 electricity
Lightning Stance: If you take two actions to move or a withdraw action in a turn, you gain 50% concealment for 1 round.
Wind Stance: If you move more than 5 feet this turn, you gain 20% concealment for 1 round against ranged attacks.
Nightstalker: While you are in areas of shadowy illumination or natural darkness, you ignore all size penalties to Stealth checks and instead gain a +2 bonus to Stealth checks.
The creatures known as "Blightning Wolves" are stabilized mutations that have cropped up in the last several hundred years in the section of the world known as The Poisoned Lands. While evolution and genetic mutation does take hundreds of thousands of years, Blightning Wolves have had the benefit of rampant magic and mutagenic radiation to thank for their rapid mutation and evolution.
Sizes range from ~44 ft upwards to ~67ft from the tips of their horned heads to the ends of their spiked, club-like tails, standing between 22-34ft at the shoulder. They only appear to be wolves in the barest of senses, sharing a handful of traits with canines. The rest however seems more akin to dragons and insects. Claws like butcher knives, fangs like daggers and chitinous armor plating covering it's front and hind legs, shoulders, back, tail and head. As tough as it would appear, the Blightning Wolf's main power lies in the cone-shaped protrusions that, when not active, lie flat along its back, covered by whitish-grey fur. These protrusions act as biological capacitors, allowing the Wolf to generate several electrical effects, ranging from lines of lightning to explosive area of effect blasts. These abilities have helped set up the Blightning Wolf as a top tier apex predator in the Poisoned Lands, a land that is rife with robots, mutants and massive vermin.
Typically a solitary creature, Blightning Wolves have been known to travel with a breeding mate from time to time. No nests or dens have ever been found, though not many people have bothered searching for one, as doing so would undoubtably attract unwanted attention. Blightning Wolves are also extreme omnivores, feasting of meat, plant, insect and even varieties of robot they bring down. How they gain sustenance from mechanical constructs is still unknown.
While difficult as hell to kill, due to their speed and durability, they are in fact killable and their hide and chitinous plating makes excellent light weight, electric resistant armor. Finding someone to work the material however is difficult (though not impossible in the right locations).
Blightning Wolf Hide: Technically a combination of hide, fur and chiton, the body of a Blightning Wolf can be used to make both armor and weapons that share its electrical resistances and even some of its electrical output. Armor made of the hide is treated as "Druid friendly", and as such may be turned into items such as Full Plate Mail and other typically metal items. In addition, armor comes with Electric Resistance of 10, 15 and 20 for Light, Medium and Heavy armor, and Shields receive Electric Resistance 5. Weapons made of the chiton receive an innate, non-magical +1d4 Electric damage that stacks with magical effects. All items made of a Blightning Wolf's hide and chiton weight 20% less than average. A typical Blightning Wolf corpse can make roughly (1d4 weapons or 1d6 light weapons) and (3 suits of medium Light armor, 2 suits of medium Medium armor, or 1 suit of medium Heavy armor). As it is hard to obtain, purchasing items made of Blightning Wolf cost 250% the cost of a Masterwork quality item of the same type. Blightning Wolf equipment always counts as Masterwork.
And yes, this thing is based pretty heavily off the Zinogre (http://monsterhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Zinogre) from Monster Hunter.