Community Based Monster Classes: Come in and help out!

[Gorgondantess]

I could see the cat going into Rogue or Fighter. It actually wouldn't be that hard to imagine. Tiny size, three natural attacks. Rogue is natural for the precision damage. I would ditch the SLA, however, and instead grant them a bonus to Diplomacy equal to their HD or 1/2 their HD.

Monk or Rogue would work best for the cat, but I'm not sure that something like Fighter should be ruled out.

The biggest problem with the cat is that, being tiny sized, it needs to enter an opponent's space to attack it, which provokes an AoO. But rogue works because they can't make an AoO if they don't know you're there.

Wait... Don't you need limbs capable of fine manipulation for spells?

Please read the sentence directly after it states they don't get fine manipulation.

[Rumel]

The biggest problem with the cat is that, being tiny sized, it needs to enter an opponent's space to attack it, which provokes an AoO. But rogue works because they can't make an AoO if they don't know you're there.



Please read the sentence directly after it states they don't get fine manipulation.

My bad... You know, the little person feats ("confound the big folk" and such) would make you a monster... A tiny, tiny, tiny monster

[Gorgondantess]

My bad... You know, the little person feats ("confound the big folk" and such) would make you a monster... A tiny, tiny, tiny monster

You're a cat. You're already a monster.

[NineThePuma]

No response to my Anti Charm Person SLA sentiment?

[Rumel]

No response to my Anti Charm Person SLA sentiment?

How about a +HD bonus to all Cha based checks?

[Rumel]

You're a cat. You're already a monster.

Touché Pussycat (Tom & Jerry reference, Yeah!)

[Gorgondantess]

No response to my Anti Charm Person SLA sentiment?

Eh, I didn't want to change it too much from the original monster. Besides, it already gets skill bonuses out the wazoo.
I'm thinking of changing it to an (ex) ability, though. Thoughts?

[NineThePuma]

It's already an Ex.

What if it had it as an "always on" affects everybody, but the DC is (5+1/4 HD + 'cha Mod)? Weaker, but more hilarious.

[Rumel]

Eh, I didn't want to change it too much from the original monster. Besides, it already gets skill bonuses out the wazoo.
I'm thinking of changing it to an (ex) ability, though. Thoughts?

Of course... It's not like the cat magically charms people... It's looks do that.

[Zeofar]

Awakened Cat:
It should get it's +5 bonus to avoid falling damage to jump instead of tumble.

[Gorgondantess]

It's already an Ex.

What if it had it as an "always on" affects everybody, but the DC is (5+1/4 HD + 'cha Mod)? Weaker, but more hilarious.

Eh, that'd be a little clumsy. I'm not a fan of aura effects- in order to be balanced, they have to be minor effects, and then the DM is rolling saves left & right for tiny little things that just add up a bunch of bookwork and don't make much of a difference. 1-save gazes are a much more efficient no-action mechanic.

Awakened Cat:
It should get it's +5 bonus to avoid falling damage to jump instead of tumble.

Tumble is the skill used to avoid falling damage.

[Tacitus]

Jumping intentionally can reduce it, and so can Tumble. With a racial bonus to all jumps and the focused bonus to tumble you get a bonus to each, so yeah.

[Rumel]

Replaced my Lich's abilities with upgraded versions of the original... I think it's looking good...

I probably just jinxed that

[bladesmith]

More reviews!

Thorn:
1) The first thing I noticed was the natural armor. Being equal to it CON modifier puts the Thorn on par with a lot of other, much 'tougher' classes. Admittedly, that's probably just me being silly, but it seems a little much for a class that can get armor as easily as any halfling.
2) Misspelling of "lethal" in the Weapon of Thorns ability. Otherwise, this ability seems cool, and ensures that no Thorn should ever be without a proper weapon. My only real problem is that you never state how many times per day you can use the 4th level magical enhancement part of it. Or do you just get it once per encounter? That seems to be what it implies, though it seems like a little much to me. Maybe 1/2HD /day, minimum 1?
3) The ability boosts seem like a lot over a 4 level progression, but that isn't a bad thing.
4) Protection of the courts is nice, and helps this class manage to take a hit, even with small HD and no CON bonus.
5) Subduing strike is cool, and works well with a bunch of stealth classes. However, you might want to note how it works with other sneak attack style abilities, like Sudden Strike and Skirmish.
6) I do like your changes to Slumbering shots, letting them be used even if you are wielding a melee weapon, though much more effective with a ranged weapon. I pronounce this ability fun.
7) Weapon of Barbs is awesome. Getting Dex to damage really bumps up your damage output(especially after getting +4 Dex with the class), and it gives more fun combat options. The only thing I have against it is in the melee option. When you refer to the weapon's 'enhancement bonus' when deciding how much natural armor you strip away, is that its straight enhancement bonus, or the total enhancement to the weapon? Does a +1 Vorpal sword take 1 point of natural armor, or 6?
Overall, I like the sneaky warrior feel of this class, and the non-lethal options make it an excellent addition to any fae court. Good job.

Ankheg:
The only thing I have to say about this class is that the formatting of the skills bothers me. One extra line with "The Ankheg's class skills(and the key ability for each skill) are..." would make it much prettier. While I'd still be a little worried about tunneling at first level, the material restrictions keep it from being dungeon breaking(since most dungeons are stone, or what not) so I'm not too worried about it. In the end, I am quite willing to nominate this monster, if my vote counts at all.

Gibbering Mouther:
1) You are getting close, Betropper, but your Ref save is still a little wonky. Do you think you could change it to match the Will save, rather then the BAB?
2) I like the changes you've made. Eyebite in the middle of the Gibbering progression might seem a little odd, but I think it works out pretty well overall. You should probably state somewhere the effective caster level of the spells(CL=HD), though. Just for us easily confused types.
3) Also digging the change to engulf. Being able to focus in on the engulfed foe and really start tearing them apart is cool, but you are spending a full round for something that they could completely save against. Ask around, but perhaps save vs. half damage would be more appropriate?
This one is close to being done, and however much I may or may not like gibbering mouthers, this is an honestly neat class. It stays quite close to the original concept, and gives the player a lot of cool stuff(at the expense of being a disgusting pile of eyes and mouths).

Hey, can I suggest the return of the Featured Monster? It might help focus the critiques, particularly if the featured monster is only changed when the previous one is accepted as canon. Pick one nearly finished creature, and stick it up there so that people will go for it first, and it will get done quicker. In theory at least.
Also, I am working on a Remorhaz class, though if someone else is already doing it, please don't let me stop you. Knowing me, it could take a while before the class is at all usable.

[Kajhera]

Excellent, thank you! For nomination and starting the remorhaz. I put the line in about the skills. Your vote certainly counts; err, actually I'm not sure if it does. Are you an expert or an amateur? I need amateur votes. Or do they follow rules like those for spells?

[Tvtyrant]

Not to argue with already established monsters, but for the Beholder I think using the Binder system of once every 5 turns for Disintegrate and Finger of Death seems both closer to the Beholders actual abilities and the powerlevel a level 13 character would have. A wizard of level 13 can actually cast the Beholders' signature abilities more often then it can

So I personally think once every 5 turns for the two Greater Rays and then at will for the others would be better. Make the Greater Rays exclusive; the Beholder can't fire the other rays on a round where it fired the Greater Rays if it seems too powerful otherwise. (Greater Rays would be Disintegrate and Finger of Death).

[bladesmith]

Definitely an amateur vote. I has no credentials, and when the Remorhaz is finished, it will be my first homebrew other then a couple of never used joke prc's. Also, more reviews!

Umber Hulk:
1) Something I probably should have mentioned last time, but perhaps the claw attacks should only add STR, rather then STR x1.5. Since you get 2 of them, after all.
2) Wreck the Earth is looking a lot better, though I might make a couple more suggestions. First, rather then having a victim remain prone for more then one round(since getting up is fairly easy) perhaps have them thrown back further, or stunned for one round at 6HD, with the stun length getting longer. Also, it may be easier to just give a static bonus on the save from Balance. "If a character has 5 or more ranks in Balance, they gain a +4 bonus on the saving throw". Something like that, just to make it a bit simpler. (Oh, and if you want the save for the ground shaking to be a bit less, try 10+Str.)
3) Thanks for clarifying WAAAARRRRRGGGG!(Side note: Can you come up with a name that is easier to spell? ), it looks good to me. And I like the part about about your Tool of the Trade exploding(its the condensed awesome of your invention driving the pieces apart), along with the mostly cosmetic point of damage. You might want to make the radius a bit smaller(how do the pieces fly that far?), just because. Though, I guess I can see the flavor in your exploding weapon essentially hitting everyone on the battlefield.
4) Feats =AWESOME. IN ALL CAPS.
Hurry up and finish this baby. I wanna play it.

Living Spell: Trying something a little more complicated.
1) The table looks good, and the skills/BAB/HD all say pseudo-caster. Which seems to be the case.
2) Your Spell Body mentions Silence based spells not being able to speak, but I can't find any silence spells in the track list. Should this be silent spells, spells with no verbal components, or is it just covering in case someone makes a Silence track? Also, do the magic items you engulf also have to resist your anima? Because it would be a little depressing if the Cloak of Charisma you wanted was fried by your Fire anima when you tried to put it on.
3) In the upgrades section of the Anima, the wording of the example in Double is a little confusing. Replacing the 'could' with 'cost' in "maintaining a 4th level spell would could only 1 upgrade" might clear it up.
4) In the tracks section, wouldn't the Dispel Magic be a targeted dispel, rather then area as is stated in the table? Also, with beneficial spells like Globe of Invulnerability, are they automatically cast on an enemy with a slam attack? Because that would kinda be a bummer if you are buffing your enemies while only doing 1d4+STR damage. On the other hand, it would be pretty great for buffing allies if you can be selective about it. On the Death Track, could you find a more appropriate spell then Shatter. It seems a little out of place. Perhaps Death Knell? Other then that, the spell selection looks great.
5) As much as I know there is more to D&D then combat, I wonder at how some of the spells are useful, and/or how the player will try to interpret how a slammed enemy will be affected by the anima. Take the Fog track, for example. Is an opponent instantly the center for a Fog spell? Does he just take the negative effects of each Fog as it is puffed in his face? Does an Obscuring Mist gain a miss chance for being so very misty? I hate to admit it, but you really should consider going through and explaining a lot of the non-obvious ones, before some scheming player tries to pull a fast one with a loose interpretation of what his living spell does. As I understand it, only things touched are affected by your Anima, rather then being able to cast the spell at will, right? Perhaps focus on that. I think a lot of what you are working against is that the anima is supposed to effect EVERYTHING the living spell interacts with. Which means that someone is going to have to figure out what happens with that spell in a lot of different situations. Some things are simple: the LS with fire as his primary track should not enter the inn, because it will set the wood floor on fire. Some things will be more complicated, and it would be nice if you could account for as many of those as possible. Which will admittedly be a lot of work.
6) I'm a little worried about about the Speed of Magic, feature, as it seems a little... Fast. I guess I really shouldn't complain, but the thought of a fireball ooze zipping around the battlefield is a little odd. No, scratch that. Its pretty cool. Carry on.
7) Magesight gives you the ability to sense casters, but as the Detect Evil spell? I guess that makes sense, but wouldn't it be more applicable/easier to understand if you made it a restricted form of Arcane Sight? Or would that be silly?
8) Flight? Random flying oozes? This almost seems like something that should come as a Track Trick, or something, rather then being standard for all living spells.
9) The track resistance and tricks all look great, though the Sleep track makes it sound like a living water-bed. Still, Cool stuff. Cast self is also neat, though it makes me imagine the ooze actually lobbing a chunk of itself at the target.
10) The Circles are a neat way to increase power over the long run with upgrades, but I am a little confused on the short-term uses. It says that it increases the maximum spell level for that time, but does that actually change the spell? Or does it just bump the max spell up, and you get to apply an upgrade with that new spell level?
11) One question for Anima Feedback, but does it work against reach weapons? A lot of similar effects do not, which is why I am curious.
12) Meta sculpt and Living Metamagic are neat ways to give the class a little more versatility without making it easy to be the Batman ooze. I was going to say something about Living Metamagic even, but you beat me to fixing it without even knowing what I was going to whine about.
Everything else seems well explained and generally awesome, so I'll just say that for an extremely open-ended class with complex class abilities and plenty of player choices to be made in the progression, you've done an extremely thorough job, and with a little modification, I would be quite willing to play one, or give my players the option to play one. Because it would be cool, and I could tease them with all the little things they do unwittingly with their anima.

[Betropper]

Made some changes to the gibbering mouther.

[Magicyop]

I know the unfinished monsters post hasn't been updated for the last page, sorry about that, I'll get on it right now.

Yellow Musk Creeper has been updated to power-down the zombies and fix the photosynthesis, along with a host of other changes.

I'll make the featured monster return, then. But let's all pitch together and try to work at it, okay?

Oh, and I don't see why Expert Nominations can't count as Amateur nominations. The Expert is a minimum requirement. If you have more Expert nominations than needed, I think the rest should go into Amateur, right?

Bladesmith, before I look through your critique, I want to thank you for critiquing one of my "long classes".

Living Spell: Trying something a little more complicated.
1) The table looks good, and the skills/BAB/HD all say pseudo-caster. Which seems to be the case.

Yup.

2) Your Spell Body mentions Silence based spells not being able to speak, but I can't find any silence spells in the track list. Should this be silent spells, spells with no verbal components, or is it just covering in case someone makes a Silence track? Also, do the magic items you engulf also have to resist your anima? Because it would be a little depressing if the Cloak of Charisma you wanted was fried by your Fire anima when you tried to put it on.

Well, the idea is the players and DMs can easily think up their own tracks. And, hey, everyone else can too. Niezck posted a knowledge track at some point, I may try to find that and revise it and add it to the class. But yeah, it's meant to be open-ended. No, magic items are not effected by your anima when you absorb them, I suppose I should specify that.

3) In the upgrades section of the Anima, the wording of the example in Double is a little confusing. Replacing the 'could' with 'cost' in "maintaining a 4th level spell would could only 1 upgrade" might clear it up.

Oops. Thank you.

4) In the tracks section, wouldn't the Dispel Magic be a targeted dispel, rather then area as is stated in the table? Also, with beneficial spells like Globe of Invulnerability, are they automatically cast on an enemy with a slam attack? Because that would kinda be a bummer if you are buffing your enemies while only doing 1d4+STR damage. On the other hand, it would be pretty great for buffing allies if you can be selective about it. On the Death Track, could you find a more appropriate spell then Shatter. It seems a little out of place. Perhaps Death Knell? Other then that, the spell selection looks great.

Yeah, you're right about Dispel Magic. Well, it is stated that the Living Spell IS the effect of the spell, they do not produce the effect. So you don't buff your enemies with Globe of Invulnerability, you ARE a Globe of Invulnerability. You are immune to the spells it excludes, as is anyone standing inside of you. You are the globe, you don't create a bunch of globes. The idea behind Shatter is that the Death Track was originally the Death and Destruction Track, devoted to spells which destroy, not animate dead necromancy type things. I shortened the name

5) As much as I know there is more to D&D then combat, I wonder at how some of the spells are useful, and/or how the player will try to interpret how a slammed enemy will be affected by the anima. Take the Fog track, for example. Is an opponent instantly the center for a Fog spell? Does he just take the negative effects of each Fog as it is puffed in his face? Does an Obscuring Mist gain a miss chance for being so very misty? I hate to admit it, but you really should consider going through and explaining a lot of the non-obvious ones, before some scheming player tries to pull a fast one with a loose interpretation of what his living spell does. As I understand it, only things touched are affected by your Anima, rather then being able to cast the spell at will, right? Perhaps focus on that. I think a lot of what you are working against is that the anima is supposed to effect EVERYTHING the living spell interacts with. Which means that someone is going to have to figure out what happens with that spell in a lot of different situations. Some things are simple: the LS with fire as his primary track should not enter the inn, because it will set the wood floor on fire. Some things will be more complicated, and it would be nice if you could account for as many of those as possible. Which will admittedly be a lot of work.

Fair enough, interpretation could be a big problem.

6) I'm a little worried about about the Speed of Magic, feature, as it seems a little... Fast. I guess I really shouldn't complain, but the thought of a fireball ooze zipping around the battlefield is a little odd. No, scratch that. Its pretty cool. Carry on.

7) Magesight gives you the ability to sense casters, but as the Detect Evil spell? I guess that makes sense, but wouldn't it be more applicable/easier to understand if you made it a restricted form of Arcane Sight? Or would that be silly?

No, not silly at all... maybe that would be easier book-keeping.

8) Flight? Random flying oozes? This almost seems like something that should come as a Track Trick, or something, rather then being standard for all living spells.

Well, I don't picture the Living Spell as... you know, a Gelatinous Cube. It's a spell. A fireball is a crackling sphere of fire. And spells themselves usually fly through the air. Imagine launching yourself through the air to hit an enemy, as a Living Fireball.

9) The track resistance and tricks all look great, though the Sleep track makes it sound like a living water-bed. Still, Cool stuff. Cast self is also neat, though it makes me imagine the ooze actually lobbing a chunk of itself at the target.

Which is kinda cool, you have to admit.

10) The Circles are a neat way to increase power over the long run with upgrades, but I am a little confused on the short-term uses. It says that it increases the maximum spell level for that time, but does that actually change the spell? Or does it just bump the max spell up, and you get to apply an upgrade with that new spell level?

No, it actually changes the spell. It actually changes you into the level of spell for your primary track which it specifies.

11) One question for Anima Feedback, but does it work against reach weapons? A lot of similar effects do not, which is why I am curious.

Good point, let me think about it.

12) Meta sculpt and Living Metamagic are neat ways to give the class a little more versatility without making it easy to be the Batman ooze. I was going to say something about Living Metamagic even, but you beat me to fixing it without even knowing what I was going to whine about.
Everything else seems well explained and generally awesome, so I'll just say that for an extremely open-ended class with complex class abilities and plenty of player choices to be made in the progression, you've done an extremely thorough job, and with a little modification, I would be quite willing to play one, or give my players the option to play one. Because it would be cool, and I could tease them with all the little things they do unwittingly with their anima.

Thanks! I'm glad that on the whole, it works.

I'll get around to specifying every spell, at least one sentence per. However, I will be clear that not every spell in the Anima will have a combat based effect.

Ankheg: Overall, quite a nice class. You've made something flavorful out of a monster which was originally pretty bland. Body feature looks good, as do HD and skills. Table looks fine.

1. Tunneling: Looks good, but why should you specify that the tunnel is 5 ft? Say that it has a size equal to the Ankheg's height, and mechanically, is usable by creatures of the Ankheg's size or smaller.
2. Lunge: This is a fun ability! I like it. Mechanically balanced and fairly powerful, flavor-wise, nifty.
3. Ant Lion Attack: Why must it end in an open space? Or, I assume if they made a tunnel while they're using the attack, that would count, right? Because nothing's more fun than just slamming an enemy down through layers of stone to rest at the bottom of a deep grave.
4. Improved Grab: Yeah, this totally works with the class. I like it.
5. Spit Acid: Again, really nice. Good way to give it a breath weapon without making it too powerful.
6. Growth looks fine to me.
7. I have one suggestion, and I think I offered this before. The Ankheg monster is dripping with acid. It gets acid bonus to damage on its natural attacks. I feel like this should get the same. It's like acid is running through its veins. I'm not saying you NEED to add this ability, it's fine without it. But I think it would be fun, and would add an edge to its natural attacks. (Doesn't have to be a LOT of acid damage.)

Overall, I'm definitely willing to nominate this, (and when I do, it will be our first finished monster of the thread, since it has 2 Expert and 3 Amateur. Three huzzahs!) if you address my concerns for tunneling and Ant Lion Attack. You don't need to change anything, just tell me why those are the way they are, if you have a good reason.


EDIT: Living Spell has been edited to specify on all the spells that seemed unclear, if any more seem unclear to you, let me know. I'll get to editing the other class features, if necessary, later.

EDIT2:

Umber Hulk: Wow. I'm... really impressed. This is a thoroughly AWESOME monster class. Kudos to you!

1. Hit Dice, Table, and Skills look okay to me.
2. Ability Increases: Flavorwise, I almost want it to gain even more strength, but balancewise, it looks okay. Maybe give them some ability to have their strength increase even more as they HD up? Not very much, but just a little. In the same vein as Therianthropes gain more ability increases as they level.
3. Umber Body is nice, fun!
4. Object=Pain: One word. EPIC. This is a fantastic ability, but I would also let them use unwilling enemies, if they succeed on a grapple check or something. Nothing cooler than picking up a screaming and protesting enemy and smashing another enemy's skull in with the skull of the first enemy.
5. Confusing Gaze: Nicely done. Seems a little bit away from the flavor of the class, but I can see why it's there, and it works.
6. Grab and Smash: Good ability!
7. Tremorsense: Perfect. Perfect. Just what this class needs. Gives it the ability to be hulking and huge, but still be surprisingly clever about noticing its surroundings.
8. Growth: Mmmm... I almost want this guy to gain Powerful Build. As Hyudra said, it doesn't fit all monsters, but this guy, I feel like it does. I mean, come on, this is the incredible umber hulk. And... maybe he should grow to Huge and some point in his HD? He doesn't need to reach, you know, colossal or gargantuan or anything, because he's not a giant, but reaching the size of an enormous warrior at high HD would be great.
9. Wreck the Earth: AWESOME! One thing, though-- do make it so the flying creature range scales with HD, so you can hit those high-flying dragons eventually. Also, make it so the range creatures are flung scales, just like the prone duration. Otherwise, the perfect ability.
10. HULK SMASH: Looks good to me. Gives you the Barbarian's signature ability without stealing their thunder, since you don't gain all their improved rages.
11. Object=PAIN!: Yeah, this works. I like it.
12. WAAAAARG: Cool near-death ability. Really cinematic, from a roleplaying perspective.
13. Tools of the Trade: You say the weapon has enchantment equal to its HD/4. Weapons to not have HD. Mention that you mean YOUR HD, not the weapon's. Otherwise, great ability.
14. Multi Beatdown: Nicely done, great feat for this class.
15. Pimp my Beatstick: Again, very cool. Very cool.
16. Posh Beatstick: Haha. Fun. I love it.

Okay, so... this is a really cool class. A really really cool class. Can't wait to see it up there.

[TheGeckoKing]

Right, changes made on the Umber Hulk. Glad you all like it

[Hyudra]

With the return of the Featured Monster, might I request the Purple Worm be included on the list? It was created & nearly finished 2 months ago, and I've recently polished it, so I'm just waiting for the final verdict & look-over, there.

Will be posting my critiques of recent entries in a few minutes.

[Magicyop]

With the return of the Featured Monster, might I request the Purple Worm be included on the list? It was created & nearly finished 2 months ago, and I've recently polished it, so I'm just waiting for the final verdict & look-over, there.

Will be posting my critiques of recent entries in a few minutes.

Actually, yes, Purple Worm is my choice for the next Featured Monster once Bleakborn is done. After that, I'm thinking... Solamith?

Umber Hulk looks good to me, I'll give it a nomination.

[ScionoftheVoid]

Whoa, gargoyle. It looks cool and I'll want to check it out in depth - except your table is messed up, and you have 2nd-level abilities after 3rd? So maybe check your formatting there.

I had to take the post onto a Wordpad document temporarily, which screwed up the formatting a fair bit. The 2nd level abilities after third is probably because I made a single section for all the Chiseled Path abilities rather than giving each one its own section. The table is now fixed, but the single section for Chiseled Path is still there. I'll change it if anyone asks (and I would understand why) but I'll leave it until then.

[Hyudra]

Dwarf Ancestor

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• Ancestral Knowledge could/should be used to count towards prestige classes and variant class options (so one might be able to use it for dungeon crasher?) in addition to feats.
• Dwarven Warcraft - Spellcheck is your friend. 'penaly' should be 'penalty'.
  
  • I really like what you did with this ability. As far as I can remember, my initial complaints about the Dwarven Ancestor had to do with the 'tank' nature of it, without the ability to force enemies to deal with it (so you were tough, but enemies would just beat up your friends and ignore you, then focus their efforts on you, or leave you to drag your buddies to the temple for resurrection). This works nicely. Kudos.
• Dwarven Hammer - So, uh, as compared to a rogue of equivalent level, you get their sneak attack, minus the prerequisites, with gravy, that just doesn't scale as well, as a drawback? I'm not sure I see the design intent here. This needs to scale, and it needs to not eclipse low level rogues in effective bonus damage.
• Stone Warcraft - "Any sort of movement" is really vague, and this leads to arguments. Just off the top of my head, a dwarf standing on a balcony in Sharn, city of towers. An enemy falls from a ledge above, past the dwarven ancestor leading to 4+ attacks of opportunity? Do these attacks count against your per-round limit?
• Still don't like how the (now staggered) strength bonuses add to the full BAB.

Overall, a pretty good entry that needs a few screws tightened here and there, but actually stands out with a unique role & methodology among the monster classes.

Demi-Lich

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• Prequisites are weird. 20+ HD? How many campaigns really go that far?
• What's with the skill list? You've got 4 skill points per level... and 30 skills on the list? Iajitsu Focus?
• Fine size on a caster is... quite an advantage. But you're epic level, so AC/hit bonuses are already screwed over, so can't say much here.
• The 'if his Phylactery is set in the chest of a body of items...' feels forced.
• Under ability score bonuses, could you just note when which score is gained, in addition to the total?
• Under metamagic feats, you misspelled prerequisites.
• Forceful personality is... kind of broken. Assuming you already have SR from another source, you're adding anywhere from a +6 to a +8, and effectively making yourself immune to most spells.
• Soul Steal's description is missing words. "The most feared ability of the Demi-Lich, [missing words] every 4HD you have you may store another person's soul inside one of your gems ..." Once a day for... Once per hour? Once per minute? Once per year? Something else? You need to state how often it is usable, how it is performed and whether there's a save.
• Darker Touch is flat out useless at epic level. Your enemies are going to have 100+ hitpoints and you're dealing an average of what? 15 damage?
• You're basing everything off this vague "spellcasting ability mod", which causes a bit of a problem where you're SAD (single-attribute-dependent)... and that's never good.
• The caster level check under improved darker touch is... rather easy to beat. There's a reason we base stuff off of 10+HD+{attribute mod}. The DCs, as well, are so easy to beat a level 20+ character is liable to beat it with a 'take 0'.
• Deathless Terror is pretty useless. HD does not parallel CR, so at level 21 you're up against creatures like a young force dragon (30 HD). It's... just not going to be very useful as abilities go. Sorry.
• Soul Absorption is way too good. You're looking at an easy +5-10 to your primary spellcasting stat after defeating another epic level threat.

Overall, the demilich is in need of major revision. It feels like a sub-epic creature at some points and epic level at others, and has a very confused feel to the design.

Jovoc

Spoiler

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• Grammar under Body of Vengeance - too many 'and's.
• Retributive Aura:
  
  • Adds up to a whole lot of saving throws & damage calculation, threatening to bog down combat. Picture a fight against 4 other enemies. Each makes 2 ranged attacks against you... so now you've gotta check AC, roll to hit, roll damage, add up damage bonus, account for energy resistance (if applicable), reduce amount appropriate for DR, halve that, each of the 4 enemies has to make a saving throw, then you apply and note the damage each takes... Now do that 8 times each round.
  • The bonuses that crop up at 5HD and 9HD are borderline overpowered, if the ability wasn't already. Hell, a case could be made for the Jovoc damaging itself to deal guaranteed damage to every creature in range.
• Rapid recovery kind of screws over any ability damage. Probably needs to be toned down.
• Shared Doom: How does the victim harm you through the link?

The key ability (retributive aura) is a bit much, I think, the key abilities of the class need to be toned down just a smidge.

Awakened Cat

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• Let me state for the record, not a fan of the tone set by the picture or the adorable ability, but I'm a humorless scrooge that way.
• If I have any complaints, it is that the awakened cat is an insane 1-level dip for many classes. I mean, is there any warlock out there that wouldn't want tiny size (with all the inherent bonuses), charm, huge skill bonuses to skills that matter, true seeing and good ability scores, with no loss in land speed or meaningful ability score penalty?

It doesn't sit well with me, mechanically or flavorwise. I was kind of glad to see it drop off the radar, before, and while your updates do improve the class, Gorgon, I still maintain it is a fairly ridiculous one-level dip, considering the gains.

Gargoyle

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• Really needs spoiler tags everywhere to tidy itself up. The table is a mess, and it's hard to look past all the 'or' abilities to discern the ability progression, without more spoiler tags. Can't really review it in this state, sorry.

[Magicyop]

Gibbering Mouther: Ok, first impression is that it looks like a fun monster, but it's not sure what role it's going for. Melee? Support? What are you thinking it could go into after this?

1. Strange Body: Whoa, okay, hold on. Some monsters can wear armor specially made for them. This should not be one of them. In my opinion, this monster epitomizes chaos. It's a swirling blob of mouths and gibbering, oozing along like a sluglike tidal wave of insanity. How can you possibly fit armor to that?
2. Blood Drain: It becomes a free action? I think you probably mean... swift action. Otherwise I could be all, "I make seventy billion blood drain attempts by latching on and off. Make seventy billion saves." I see where you're trying to go, but just note that it takes one swift action to latch all mouths which made a bite attack on. Also, it's worded a little bit unclearly, note that each mouth which succeeded a bite attack may latch onto the bitten target. Otherwise, fun ability.
3. Spittle: Range maybe should scale with HD, as should blind duration? Is this a breath weapon or a skin secretion or what? It matters, because if it's a breath weapon, there are lots of things to effect breath weapons.
4. Gibbering: Eyebite is almost better than Insanity. Also, Weird... how exactly does that work? Weird is just an area phantasmal killer.
5. Ground Manipulation: Fun ability! I think it should be more dangerous than just difficult terrain, though... maybe say that after being in it for X rounds they are entangled, after another X rounds they are immobilized, after another X rounds they start suffocating... something like that. Maybe not quite so complicated, but something to mimic actual quicksand.
6. Engulf: What... what is this? Is this a swallow whole? If so it should be mentioned that it is a swallow whole attempt. I get the utility, and the concept is awesome. But mechanically, it's a little bit... off.
7. Growth: Looks like an okay pattern to me, but you might want to stretch it out a bit more. This doesn't seem like the kind of monster which is colossal right at 20th. Maybe every 6 HD instead of 5?

Overall, don't get me wrong, it does look fun. It's a crazy chaotic aberrant creature with a ton of mouths. Looks like with a little touching up it could be a really great class. Hope my comments are helpful!

EDIT: Hyudra, for the Demi-lich prerequisites, the idea is that it's basically a class for epic campaigns. It's an Epic Template. It deals with features mentioned in the Epic Level Handbook, which is specifically 21+. Epic Level Handbook is the original source of the Demilich, and the whole idea is that it's the epic level progression for the Lich.

[Kobold-Bard]

Who constitutes an expert nomination?

[Magicyop]

Who constitutes an expert nomination?

As detailed in the first post, those with 5 or more finished monsters. However, we have been discussing a compromise which will likely be instituted soon, which will overhaul the system and hopefully make it work more rigorously and more efficiently, without losing the democratic aspect that we were aiming for with the creation of this thread.

[Hyudra]

EDIT: Hyudra, for the Demi-lich prerequisites, the idea is that it's basically a class for epic campaigns. It's an Epic Template. It deals with features mentioned in the Epic Level Handbook, which is specifically 21+. Epic Level Handbook is the original source of the Demilich, and the whole idea is that it's the epic level progression for the Lich.

I'm aware, but I was trying to draw attention to the schizophrenic design where some parts of the class are notably pre-epic (the 2d8 damage thing, the fear aura) while others are post-epic (the prereq, soul gem).

As detailed in the first post, those with 5 or more finished monsters. However, we have been discussing a compromise which will likely be instituted soon, which will overhaul the system and hopefully make it work more rigorously and more efficiently, without losing the democratic aspect that we were aiming for with the creation of this thread.

Aye. The trouble we've been running into with the nomination system is that it's really slowing down the process of getting monsters added to the list (with no real benefit, aside from more people having a say) and it's kind of confusing, as our resident kobold bard just pointed out. So we're aiming for a way to give many people a voice without creating such a backlog of creatures waiting to be added to the list.

We'll probably be posting about the agreed-upon changes to the system in the next day or three.

[bladesmith]

Bleakborn: I really can't find anything wrong with this class. I might just be missing something, but it looks good to me. A nice mixture of mediocre melee abilities with a few powerful abilities. The big plus seems to be the class' resilience, and being able to win through attrition rather then pure damage. I like it. I nominate this monster.

Umber Hulk:
1) I keep catching these things on subsequent look-throughs, but why is Ride a class skill? I'm trying to imagine an umber hulk riding something, and mostly it just looks really ridiculous. Then again, most of the things in my mind are pretty ridiculous.
2) Also interesting that you continue the STR growth after the class is done. Not sure I know of any of the other classes that do that, so I'm wondering how necessary it is. Though, it does fit the flavor of the class.
3) Liking how you used the Horrid Monster prc to get your modified Hulk, and the powerful build ability. However, it may bring up some balance issues with...
4) The at-will Confusion. With all the other stuff, having Confusion on all the time seems like a little much. Maybe give it a use/day, or make it a standard action. Maybe make it easier to use/use more often as HD go up, so that it reaches full potential somewhere around 15th level, when it will be a little less game-breaking. That, and you should probably note a range for the gaze.
Argh! Sorry about the little nit-picky things I keep bringing up.

[Kajhera]

Ankheg's Spit Acid changed to Acid Spit, and now it boosts your bite a touch as well.
Removed the line about having to end in an open space, because the problem it was meant to solve could still easily come up anyway, and it was getting confusing to write more on.
Changed Tunneling to just be as wide and tall as the Ankheg.