Langolier [creature]

[ZebulonCrispi]

This is my first homebrew submission ever!
Inspired by the Stephen King novella The Langoliers.

Langolier
Medium Abberation
Hit Dice: 40d8+430 (610 hp)
Speed: Fly 60 ft./perfect (12 squares)
Initiative: +18
Armor Class: 40 (+10 Dex, +20 Natural), Flat-footed 30, Touch 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +36/+48
Attack: Bite +36 melee (1d8+8 plus Disintegrate)
Full Attack: 3 Bites +36/+31/+26 melee (1d8+8 plus Disintegrate)
Special Attacks: Disintegrating Bite, Swallow Whole
Special Qualities: DR 50/Epic, SR 50, fast healing 20, acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic resistance 30, Improved Grab
Saves: Fort +28, Ref +30, Will +24
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 30, Con 20, Int 1, Wis 7, Cha 24
Skills: Spot +41
Feats: Snatch, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Ability Focus (Disintegrating Bite), Alertness, Spectral Strike, Improved Initiative, Superior Initiative, Epic Prowess x3, Epic Toughness, Epic Fortitude, Epic Reflexes, Epic Will
Environment: The Past
Organization: Pack (6-8) or Horde (100-500)
Challenge Rating: 25?
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always True Neutral

You can tell they are coming by the telltale crescendo of white noise… after that comes a bizarre creature, roughly spherical and with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. They move methodically forwards, conusming everything in their path.

The Langoliers could be considered the janitors of time. They reside a few minutes away our world, consuming the world of the past that is no longer in use.
If one were to travel a couple minutes back in time, they would find a dead world, devoid of human life, in which food has no taste and the clouds don’t move in the sky. Then, as time passed in that dead world, the Langoliers would begin to appear, in greater and greater numbers, consuming entire cities and countries, leaving nothing but a great empty void in their wake.

As a side note, using Langoliers in any setting or context in which time travel is easy and possible is severely discouraged, as being confusing and difficult to reconcile with the Langolier concept.

Combat

Tactics
Langoliers exhibit no signs of intelligent planning in combat. They move methodically forwards, eating everything in their path - if nothing is there, they’ll start to consume the landscape itself. If they encounter living beings, they will make them a priority over nonliving matter.

Disintegrating Bite (Su)
If the Langolier hits with a bite attack, then the victim must make a Fortitude Save (DC 39) or suffer an additional 80d6 points of damage. Any creature brought to 0 or fewer hit points by this attack is entirely disintegrated, leaving only a trace of dust. The victim’s equipment is unaffected. A successful Fortitude Save reduces the extra damage to 5d6.

If the Langolier bites an object, it disintegrates up to a 10 foot cube of nonliving matter. This affects objects constructed entirely of force, such as a Wall of Force, but not magical effects such as a Globe of Invulnerability or an Anti-Magic Field.

Improved Grab (Ex)
To use this ability, a Langolier must hit an opponent of up to its own size with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to swallow the foe the following round.

Swallow Whole (Su)
A Langolier can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to its own size by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature is utterly annihilated - nothing short of the direct intervention of a deity can revive the victim.

Fast Healing (Ex)
Each round, a Langolier recovers 20 hit points.

[Zeta Kai]

Disintegrating Bite: 80d6 damage?!? Ouch. I know that they are CR~25, but that seems excessive. Who's gonna roll 80 dice? I would suggest changing this to a death effect with a high DC to resist via Fortitude. Much less math-crunching all around.

P.S.: On a side note, the Lincoln animation in your sig is the funniest thing I've seen all day.:smalltongue:

[jindra34]

Disintegrating Bite: 80d6 damage?!? Ouch. I know that they are CR~25, but that seems excessive. Who's gonna roll 80 dice? I would suggest changing this to a death effect with a high DC to resist via Fortitude. Much less math-crunching all around.

P.S.: On a side note, the Lincoln animation in your sig is the funniest thing I've seen all day.:smalltongue:

better question: Who can reasonable take 80d6 at level 25? death is much simpler and easier to use.
edit: no level 25 caster will be able to pierce the SR consistantly...

[ZebulonCrispi]

Disintegrating Bite: 80d6 damage?!? Ouch. I know that they are CR~25, but that seems excessive. Who's gonna roll 80 dice? I would suggest changing this to a death effect with a high DC to resist via Fortitude. Much less math-crunching all around.

As it stands now, the bite emulates Disintegrate as cast by a 40 HD caster, except without the 40d6 Cap. I removed the cap because ~140 damage is, to an epic level fighter, easily manageable. 80d6 averages 280 damage, which'll put a nice big chunk in their HP total.

However, as you say, it is a horriffic amount of dice to roll at once. If I were the GM, I'd just say "roll 8d6 and multiply by ten," but that doesn't cut at the underlying problem.

Solutions:
-Fixed damage? Fort save or 200 damage, succeed and you only take 25. It works, I guess, but it feels a bit off.
-Ability damage? Doesn't really reflect the nature of the attack. They eat matter, they don't make people weaker or dumber.
-Instakill? I want to differentiate it from their Swallow Whole ability, so I don't want to make it Save or Die if I can avoid it.

Any other ideas?


P.S.: On a side note, the Lincoln animation in your sig is the funniest thing I've seen all day.:smalltongue:

I thought so, too.

[jindra34]

As it stands now, the bite emulates Disintegrate as cast by a 40 HD caster, except without the 40d6 Cap. I removed the cap because ~140 damage is, to an epic level fighter, easily manageable. 80d6 averages 280 damage, which'll put a nice big chunk in their HP total.

However, as you say, it is a horriffic amount of dice to roll at once. If I were the GM, I'd just say "roll 8d6 and multiply by ten," but that doesn't cut at the underlying problem.

Solutions:
-Fixed damage? Fort save or 200 damage, succeed and you only take 25. It works, I guess, but it feels a bit off.
-Ability damage? Doesn't really reflect the nature of the attack. They eat matter, they don't make people weaker or dumber.
-Instakill? I want to differentiate it from their Swallow Whole ability, so I don't want to make it Save or Die if I can avoid it.

Any other ideas?



I thought so, too.

That would be your choice. and how did you arrive at the DC for the effect?

[ZebulonCrispi]

That would be your choice. and how did you arrive at the DC for the effect?

10 + 1/2 HD + Cha modifier.

[Behold_the_Void]

A 25th level caster is an epic spellcaster. Epic spellcasters win. Period.

This thing has no intelligence or concept of strategy, and at 25th level the damage it does isn't terrible. It can fly, but having to take down 4 25th level adventurers isn't something it can do consistently. It's very limited in what it can do.

The SR is huge, but a 25th level caster has more than enough tricks at their disposal to make it a non-issue.

[Deesix]

I dunno. 40d6 extra damage seems like plenty...
Especially if your equipment and armor needs to make the save too.

[jindra34]

10 + 1/2 HD + Cha modifier.

Then it should be 37.

[Behold_the_Void]

Then it should be 37.

Monster feat: ability focus.

[Delcan]

This thing has no intelligence or concept of strategy, and at 25th level the damage it does isn't terrible. It can fly, but having to take down 4 25th level adventurers isn't something it can do consistently. It's very limited in what it can do.

The SR is huge, but a 25th level caster has more than enough tricks at their disposal to make it a non-issue.

The 25th-level caster and his buddies can feel real good about taking one of these things down with only one nasty hit taken, and a few spells spent. Hooray, victory.

Then they can fight the other three hundred that are barrelling towards them.

The stats are relevant really only for that one in the front that the party tries to take. The real purpose of the Langoliers is to convince your party that time travel is a bad thing.

[ZebulonCrispi]

The 25th-level caster and his buddies can feel real good about taking one of these things down with only one nasty hit taken, and a few spells spent. Hooray, victory.

Then they can fight the other three hundred that are barrelling towards them.

The stats are relevant really only for that one in the front that the party tries to take. The real purpose of the Langoliers is to convince your party that time travel is a bad thing.

Delcan has summed up the Langolier concept far better than I could have!