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View Full Version : The Street-Lamp Sputtered, The Street-Lamp Muttered [Creature]



The Demented One
2008-02-03, 08:27 PM
Lantern Creeper
Size/Type: Small Fey
Hit Dice: 4d6+4 (18 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 30 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (+1 size, +3 Dex), touch 14, flatfooted 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/-3
Attack: Dagger +6 melee (1d3-1)
Full Attack: Dagger +6 melee (1d3-1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Mockery
Special Qualities: Cityborn, damage reduction 1/cold iron, low-light vision, urban sustenance
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 14
Skills: Hide +16, Listen +9, Move Silently +12, Spot +9
Feats: Weapon FinesseB, Dodge, Stealthy
Environment: Any Urban
Organization: Solitary, gang (4-6), or mob (8-12)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Usually Chaotic Evil
Advancement: By class level (Favored Class: Rogue)
Level Adjustment: +2

The lamp said,
“Four o’clock,
Here is the number on the door.
Memory!
You have the key,
The little lamp spreads a ring on the stair.
Mount.
The bed is open; the tooth-brush hangs on the wall,
Put your shoes at the door, sleep, prepare for life.”
The last twist of the knife.
-Rhapsody on a Windy Night, by T.S. Eliot

Lantern Creepers are city spirits, luminous fey born from street-lamps. They are whimsical and mischievous, and roam the streets at night, tormenting those they find still walking them. Lantern Creepers have a talent for picking out the depressed, downtrodden, or suicidal, and tormenting them with their power of mockery, which forces them to confront their worst memories. Though they are weak, they are frustratingly difficult to catch within a city–a Lantern Creeper can run up walls, through buildings, and across the narrowest of clotheslines. Lantern Creepers appear as tiny, luminous creatures, much in form like a human child, with twin balls of pale white fire for eyes. They tend to go naked, save for the writhing tattoos on their bodies, most of which tell fables or children’s stories in pictographic form. Lantern Creepers speak Common.

Mockery (Su)
As a standard action, a Lantern Creeper may mock a creature within 30 ft. of it, intruding into its mind and replaying its worst memories. The creature must make a DC 14 Will save or take 1d3 points of Charisma damage and be stunned for 1 round. For every point of Charisma damage dealt, the Lantern Creeper gains 1 temporary hp, which lasts for 1 hour. This ability cannot reduce a creature’s Charisma score below 1. Once a Lantern Creeper uses its mockery ability, it must wait 3 rounds before it can use it again. The save is Charisma-based.

Cityborn (Su)
Lantern Creepers can maneuver through the city as they please. A Lantern Creeper may walk on any surface of a city–sheer, vertical walls, clotheslines, glass windows–as if it were flat, solid ground. In addition, it may move through any stone building, structure, or street that is part of a city as if it were under the effects of the meld into stone spell.

Urban Sustenace (Su)
A Lantern Creeper draws its strength from the city. While in a city, it does not need to eat, sleep, or drink, and it heals naturally at twice the normal rate. However, it does not naturally heal outside of cities, and must make a DC 20 Fortitude save each day it spends outside a city or take 1 point of Constitution and Charisma drain.

FlyMolo
2008-02-03, 09:13 PM
I like this. Excellent if you have a steampunk world to play in.

DracoDei
2008-02-03, 09:48 PM
You don't SEEM to have anything about them that suggests their origins... which could be OK I guess...
You have a grammar or rules error in the bit about Meld into Stone. should be "...as if THEY were..." or you should call them "it" instead of "they" earlier in the sentence.

The Demented One
2008-02-03, 09:50 PM
You don't SEEM to have anything about them that suggests their origins... which could be OK I guess...
They're urban fey, born from the city itself, just like other fey get born from nature. In this case, they're streetlamp spirits.

dyslexicfaser
2008-02-03, 10:20 PM
Nifty. I'm a sucker for fey and other nature spirits.

Could you list an LA for this guy, in case someone wants to play one? The concept of a Lantern Creeper urban soul is appealing, even if there's a bit of overlap ability-wise.

Debihuman
2008-02-03, 10:32 PM
With Int of 6 they only get 28 skill points. They have too many skills and too many ranks for their skills. At 4 HD they should be limited to 7 ranks in any skill.

Here is how their skills should look:

Skills: Hide +12 [+7 ranks +3 Dex +2 Stealthy] , Listen +9 [+ 7 ranks +2 Wis], Move Silently +12[+7 ranks +3 Dex +2 Stealthy] Spot +9 [+7 Ranks +2Wis]

You give them a bonus to Climb as if they have a Climb speed but you failed to give them a Climb speed. They should probably have a Climb speed of 15.

Debby

The Demented One
2008-02-03, 10:36 PM
With Int of 6 they only get 28 skill points. They have too many skills and too many ranks for their skills. At 4 HD they should be limited to 7 ranks in any skill.
You're leaving out the +4 bonus to Hide from being small.


You give them a bonus to Climb as if they have a Climb speed but you failed to give them a Climb speed. They should probably have a Climb speed of 15.
Meant to trim out that bit about climb, thanks for pointing that out.


It appears that cityborn is special ability is actually a way to give lantern creepers a racial bonus to balance. They should have a +8 racial bonus to
Balance checks and can always take 10 on Balance checks even if rushed or threatened.
It was meant more as a spider climb-esque ability than a Balance bonus.

Stycotl
2008-02-03, 11:43 PM
love the flavor. cool stuff.