Composer99
2019-09-18, 07:59 AM
I'm pretty confident when dealing with player character features, but monsters? Not so much.
For kicks and giggles, I've statted up Yogg-Saron. I've tried to make the encounter feel as much like the WoW raid encounter as I could, but as I'm writing this in, I feel like there is one big problem, which is how the tentacles work. In the WoW raid, tentacles spawn as mobs around the encounter, but from a narrative perspective, I feel like these would be Yogg-Saron's tentacles themselves, so the mechanics of their appearance may not really work all that well? It might make more sense for its tentacles to be part of a multiattack action.
Yogg-Saron is meant to be an endgame encounter. However, Yogg-Saron isn't necessarily supposed to be a CR 30 monster itself: a lot of its damage output comes from the tentacles and Guardians it spawns. That said, it should be a high-CR monster, and its proficiency bonus of +8 reflects that.
Anyway, here goes:
Yogg-Saron
Huge aberration (Old God), neutral evil
Armour Class 19 (natural armour)
Hit Points 595 (20d12 + 140)
Speed 0 ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
19 (+4)
8 (-1)
14 (+2)
21 (+5)
19 (+4)
27 (+8)
Saving Throws Constitution +10, Wisdom +12, Charisma +16
Skills Arcana +13, Deception +16, History +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +16, Perception +12
Damage Resistances poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, poisoned, stunned, unconscious
Senses Tremorsense 1 mile, darkvision 240 ft., truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 22
Languages Abyssal, Common, Deep Speech, Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge ??
Immobility. Yogg-Saron rests in a pool of liquid saronite and does not move. Yogg-Saron automatically fails any Dexterity ability check or saving throw.
Innate Spellcasting. Yogg-Saron's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 26), and it can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:
At-Will: confusion, darkness, dissonant whispers, dream, ray of enfeeblement
3/day each: banishment, counterspell, fear
1/day each: dominate monster, hold monster
Legendary Resistance (5/day). If Yogg-Saron fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. Yogg-Saron has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Regeneration. Yogg-Saron regains 20 hit points at the start of any of its turns in which it has at least 1 hit point remaining.
Sanity. Whenever a creature within Yogg-Saron's sight that is hostile to Yogg-Saron rolls initiative, it gains a Sanity score equal to its current Wisdom score. Several of Yogg-Saron's abilities can reduce the Sanity scores of creatures hostile to it. Any creature whose Sanity score is reduced to 0 becomes controlled by Yogg-Saron as if by the dominate monster spell. A creature loses its Sanity score when either it or Yogg-Saron is dead, or 1 minute after it has passed out of Yogg-Saron's line of sight. A creature that has become controlled by Yogg-Saron by means of this feature remains controlled until remove curse or similar magic is used to break Yogg-Saron's control.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d8 + 4) piercing damage, and if the target is Large size or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or become grappled by Yogg-Saron (escape DC 14). Until the target is devoured or escapes the grapple, Yogg-Saron cannot use this action.
Empowering Shadows. Creatures friendly to Yogg-Saron within 30 feet of it gain its regeneration feature for 1 minute.
Extinguish (Recharge after Long Rest). If Yogg-Saron has 60 or fewer hit points at the start of its turn after its Regeneration feature takes effect, it can use this action. Each creature within 60 feet of Yogg-Saron must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. A creature that fails its save is reduced to 0 hit points. A creature that succeeds its save takes 16 (3d10) necrotic damage. Tentacles, Guardians of Yogg-Saron, undead and constructs are not affected.
In the Mind's Eye (Recharge 6). Ranged Spell Attack: +16 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d10) psychic damage and the target is banished to a demiplane for 1 minute or until it escapes. A creature trapped in this demiplane can use its action to escape by succeeding on a DC 18 Intelligence check. Once the creature leaves the demiplane, it returns to its space, or to the nearest unoccupied space. If it returns at the end of the effect's duration, it loses 1d6 Sanity.
Lunatic Gaze. Ranged Spell Attack: +16 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 30 (4d10 + 8) psychic damage and the target loses 1d4 Sanity. This damage ignores resistance or immunity to psychic damage.
Spawn Tentacles (Recharge 6). Yogg-Saron conjures 1 corruptor tentacle, 1 crusher tentacle, 1 constrictor tentacle, and one tentacle of its choice from those three options in unoccupied spaces within 120 feet.
Summon Guardians (Recharge 5-6). Yogg-Saron conjures 1d2 Guardians of Yogg-Saron that appear in unoccupied spaces that it can see within 120 feet. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than three quarters of its hit point maximum, it conjures 1d4 Guardians instead. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than half its hit point maximum, it conjures 1d2 Immortal Guardians of Yogg-Saron instead. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than one quarter of its hit point maximum, it conjures 1d4 Immortal Guardians instead.
Bonus Actions
Cast a Spell. Yogg-Saron can cast a spell it knows from its Innate Spellcasting trait that has a casting time of 1 action.
Devour. Yogg-Saron devours a creature grappled by its bite attack. A devoured creature is blinded and restrained, has total cover against attacks and other effects outside Yogg-Saron, and takes 21 (6d6) acid damage and 7 (2d6) necrotic damage at the start of each of Yogg-Saron's turns. If Yogg-Saron takes 30 or more damage on a single turn from a creature inside it, it must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or immediately regurtitate all devoured creatures, which fall prone in unoccupied spaces within 10 feet of Yogg-Saron. If Yogg-Saron dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape by using 10 feet of movement, emerging prone in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of Yogg-Saron.
Legendary Actions
Yogg-Saron can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the list below:
Bite: Yogg-Saron makes a bite attack.
Devour: Yogg-Saron devours a creature grappled by its bite attack.
Spawn Tentacle: Yogg-Saron spawns 1 tentacle, which can be a corruptor tentacle, crusher tentacle, or constrictor tentacle, in an unoccupied space within 120 feet.
Summon Guardian (costs 2 actions): Yogg-Saron conjures one Guardian of Yogg-Saron in an unoccupied space that it can see within 120 feet. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than half its hit point maximum, it conjures an Immortal Guardian of Yogg-Saron instead.
For kicks and giggles, I've statted up Yogg-Saron. I've tried to make the encounter feel as much like the WoW raid encounter as I could, but as I'm writing this in, I feel like there is one big problem, which is how the tentacles work. In the WoW raid, tentacles spawn as mobs around the encounter, but from a narrative perspective, I feel like these would be Yogg-Saron's tentacles themselves, so the mechanics of their appearance may not really work all that well? It might make more sense for its tentacles to be part of a multiattack action.
Yogg-Saron is meant to be an endgame encounter. However, Yogg-Saron isn't necessarily supposed to be a CR 30 monster itself: a lot of its damage output comes from the tentacles and Guardians it spawns. That said, it should be a high-CR monster, and its proficiency bonus of +8 reflects that.
Anyway, here goes:
Yogg-Saron
Huge aberration (Old God), neutral evil
Armour Class 19 (natural armour)
Hit Points 595 (20d12 + 140)
Speed 0 ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
19 (+4)
8 (-1)
14 (+2)
21 (+5)
19 (+4)
27 (+8)
Saving Throws Constitution +10, Wisdom +12, Charisma +16
Skills Arcana +13, Deception +16, History +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +16, Perception +12
Damage Resistances poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, poisoned, stunned, unconscious
Senses Tremorsense 1 mile, darkvision 240 ft., truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 22
Languages Abyssal, Common, Deep Speech, Infernal, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge ??
Immobility. Yogg-Saron rests in a pool of liquid saronite and does not move. Yogg-Saron automatically fails any Dexterity ability check or saving throw.
Innate Spellcasting. Yogg-Saron's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 26), and it can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:
At-Will: confusion, darkness, dissonant whispers, dream, ray of enfeeblement
3/day each: banishment, counterspell, fear
1/day each: dominate monster, hold monster
Legendary Resistance (5/day). If Yogg-Saron fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Magic Resistance. Yogg-Saron has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Regeneration. Yogg-Saron regains 20 hit points at the start of any of its turns in which it has at least 1 hit point remaining.
Sanity. Whenever a creature within Yogg-Saron's sight that is hostile to Yogg-Saron rolls initiative, it gains a Sanity score equal to its current Wisdom score. Several of Yogg-Saron's abilities can reduce the Sanity scores of creatures hostile to it. Any creature whose Sanity score is reduced to 0 becomes controlled by Yogg-Saron as if by the dominate monster spell. A creature loses its Sanity score when either it or Yogg-Saron is dead, or 1 minute after it has passed out of Yogg-Saron's line of sight. A creature that has become controlled by Yogg-Saron by means of this feature remains controlled until remove curse or similar magic is used to break Yogg-Saron's control.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +12 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d8 + 4) piercing damage, and if the target is Large size or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or become grappled by Yogg-Saron (escape DC 14). Until the target is devoured or escapes the grapple, Yogg-Saron cannot use this action.
Empowering Shadows. Creatures friendly to Yogg-Saron within 30 feet of it gain its regeneration feature for 1 minute.
Extinguish (Recharge after Long Rest). If Yogg-Saron has 60 or fewer hit points at the start of its turn after its Regeneration feature takes effect, it can use this action. Each creature within 60 feet of Yogg-Saron must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. A creature that fails its save is reduced to 0 hit points. A creature that succeeds its save takes 16 (3d10) necrotic damage. Tentacles, Guardians of Yogg-Saron, undead and constructs are not affected.
In the Mind's Eye (Recharge 6). Ranged Spell Attack: +16 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d10) psychic damage and the target is banished to a demiplane for 1 minute or until it escapes. A creature trapped in this demiplane can use its action to escape by succeeding on a DC 18 Intelligence check. Once the creature leaves the demiplane, it returns to its space, or to the nearest unoccupied space. If it returns at the end of the effect's duration, it loses 1d6 Sanity.
Lunatic Gaze. Ranged Spell Attack: +16 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 30 (4d10 + 8) psychic damage and the target loses 1d4 Sanity. This damage ignores resistance or immunity to psychic damage.
Spawn Tentacles (Recharge 6). Yogg-Saron conjures 1 corruptor tentacle, 1 crusher tentacle, 1 constrictor tentacle, and one tentacle of its choice from those three options in unoccupied spaces within 120 feet.
Summon Guardians (Recharge 5-6). Yogg-Saron conjures 1d2 Guardians of Yogg-Saron that appear in unoccupied spaces that it can see within 120 feet. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than three quarters of its hit point maximum, it conjures 1d4 Guardians instead. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than half its hit point maximum, it conjures 1d2 Immortal Guardians of Yogg-Saron instead. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than one quarter of its hit point maximum, it conjures 1d4 Immortal Guardians instead.
Bonus Actions
Cast a Spell. Yogg-Saron can cast a spell it knows from its Innate Spellcasting trait that has a casting time of 1 action.
Devour. Yogg-Saron devours a creature grappled by its bite attack. A devoured creature is blinded and restrained, has total cover against attacks and other effects outside Yogg-Saron, and takes 21 (6d6) acid damage and 7 (2d6) necrotic damage at the start of each of Yogg-Saron's turns. If Yogg-Saron takes 30 or more damage on a single turn from a creature inside it, it must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or immediately regurtitate all devoured creatures, which fall prone in unoccupied spaces within 10 feet of Yogg-Saron. If Yogg-Saron dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape by using 10 feet of movement, emerging prone in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of Yogg-Saron.
Legendary Actions
Yogg-Saron can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the list below:
Bite: Yogg-Saron makes a bite attack.
Devour: Yogg-Saron devours a creature grappled by its bite attack.
Spawn Tentacle: Yogg-Saron spawns 1 tentacle, which can be a corruptor tentacle, crusher tentacle, or constrictor tentacle, in an unoccupied space within 120 feet.
Summon Guardian (costs 2 actions): Yogg-Saron conjures one Guardian of Yogg-Saron in an unoccupied space that it can see within 120 feet. If Yogg-Saron's current hit points are less than half its hit point maximum, it conjures an Immortal Guardian of Yogg-Saron instead.