That's ONLY CR 9??? Let's Read: The Monster Manual II

[Malevolence]

Alright, as long as a party has information in advance, they should be fine.

At those levels, the entire party should be immune to [Death] at all times. If for some reason they are not, they should at least have saves in the 20-25 range, if not higher. Yes, that does include "bad" Fort classes.

[Darklord Xavez]

You didn't factor in the +2 for rend on the blood ape alpha male. I think that brings it up to about a strong 4 or okay 5.
-X

[LOTRfan]

Why does rend get a +2?

[Darklord Xavez]

Why does rend get a +2?

Oh, I see now. You put the total at the end of each line. Sorry, misread the entry.
-X

[LOTRfan]

Boggle


These nasty freaks are small monstrous humanoids based off of the Boggart of English/Irish folklore. After the Banshee incident, I'm not exactly expecting WotC to remain true to the legends.

Boggles are little, annoying scavengers who act like some species of monkey. Minus the monkey part, that actually sounds like Boggarts. They like shiny objects, and go around stealing objects. That sounds like the legend, and it could make an interesting plot hook to have a group of Boggles stealing "shiny" magical objects. The also like sugary foods. Wow, after the Banshee, I'm actually kind of impressed with their Boggle fluff.

The only real difference is the fact that these guys are not the nasty SOBs in folklore. Instead of chaotic evil, they are chaotic neutral. Also, I am a little confused as to why they are monstrous humanoids instead of fey...

They're combat abilities confuse me, as well. Rend and Grease makes sense, as they are supposed to be nasty tricksters, but why improved grapple? They have a +0 bonus to grapple checks! I guess their +10 to escape artist checks may help when they lose a grapple, though....

Challenge Rating? They are listed as CR 3. On first glance, this is okay, I guess. Minor Edit mistake in the book: Darkvision should be a special quality, not a special attack. After doing the math, the Boggle is indeed CR 3. Sorry, No brains!

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18 hp divided by 4.5 (4 HD): 4
Armor Class: 18 (+1)
Special Attacks: Rend, Improved Grab (+2)
Special Qualities: Dimension Door, Fire resistance 5, Grease, Damage Reduction 5/Magic, scent, Darkvision 60 ft. (+3)
Bonus Feats: None (+0)
10 divided by 3: 3.33
End Result: CR 3 Creature

Bogun

Awesome, another construct! This is basically a homunculus, but for druids. Boguns are made of decomposing compost piles, presumably sustained by divine natural magic. Unlike Homunculi, Boguns are made with no cost in gp! This means you can make an advanced 6 HD bogun for free! How much gp would a humonculus of that many HD cost? (Quite literally) OVER 9,000!

Darn those druids, always getting the cool stuff. Right? At least there is one downside to this; 5% of the time, a Bogun will refuse to obey the order, resulting in the owner making a Diplomacy check. If they fail, the Bogun will either do nothing for 24 hours, or do the exact opposite.

Challenge Rating? Seeing how boguns are basically Homunculi with different fluff and to minor adjustments for stats (+1 AC, -1 attack), I really do not think we have to do all the math again. If you think Homunculi are balanced CR 1 threats, so are boguns.

Construction: You get them for free, as long as you have the required spells and can cast control plants, woodshape and beget bogun (a new spell conveniently posted after the monster entry). Costs 25 XP.

[No brains]

Challenge Rating? They are listed as CR 3. On first glance, this is okay, I guess. Minor Edit mistake in the book: Darkvision should be a special quality, not a special attack. After doing the math, the Boggle is indeed CR 3. Sorry, No brains!

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuu-

Damn them! Damn them all to Asmodeus' septic tank! They've outsmarted me again!

[Darklord Xavez]

The boggle is what the DM uses if their players already know about the ethereal filcher.
-X

[No brains]

The boggle is what the DM uses if their players already know about the ethereal filcher.
-X

At least you can grapple an ethereal filcher while you beat it to death. >:/
[visibly inebriated] And another thing- the boggle is just a ripoff of Mac n' Me. Feed it coca cola, get into a gunfight with it, and then deny it citizenship and all your problems just melt away. /e pass out

[LOTRfan]

Bone Naga


Ah, the Bone Naga. These a pretty cool villains, and I believe WotC eventually makes it into a template. For now, though, it is just a special type of undead Dark Naga. All in all, its a decent monster. It can cast spells as a 9th level sorcerer, which is always cool.

Somehow, it still has its poison, which is odd (it has no glands to continue poison production) but cool. Speaking of their bizarre anatomy, their bony structure, "[Bone Nagas] take only half damage from piercing and slashing weapons." Why not give it DR, like other skeletal creatures? Did animated skeletons have this ability instead of DR in 3.0? Personally, I'd just give them Damage Reduction 10/Bludgeoning.

Bone Nagas, despite their fell intellect, are forever servants to the Dark Naga ritualist that created them. That can be an interesting dynamic. While they cannot willingly disobey their masters, they can "interpret" orders, and they gain their freedom if their master gets killed. Temporary ally, anyone?

Challenge Rating? Its currently listed as 11, which is pretty low compared for its 14 caster levels of sorcerer. I'm not going to include the spells as part of the CR calculations. Instead, I'll add a +7 auxiliary bonus (1/2 the spellcasting levels) to the CR after the rest of the calculations. Seem fair?

With that, it is now a CR 16 creature. I have mixed feelings about this. I mean, It has 14th level spellcasting, d12 hit dice, and the same BAB and base saves as a 15th level sorcerer. An a 14th level sorcerer is supposed to be CR 14. Do you guys think that all the other Bone Naga features make it worth the extra +2 CR compared to the average NPC sorcerer?

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97 hp divided by 5.5 (15 HD): 17.6 (about 18)
Armor Class: 16 (+1)
Special Attacks: Poison (+1)
Special Qualities: Detect Thoughts, Guarded Thoughts, Damage Reduction 5/Bludgeoning, Spell Resistance 23, telepathy, undead traits (+6)
Bonus Feats: None (+0)
26 divided by 3: 8.66 (about 9, plus +7 auxiliary bonus)
End Result: CR 16 Creature

Bone Ooze

I bring to you, our first Ooze! And a colossal one, at that. I'm not particularly fond of oozes, and this is no exception. In fact, I underuse oozes so much that I occasionally forget its a type. Still, it must have something interesting about it, right?

Its a mass of goo that wanders around graveyards eating bones. Thats it, really. It is the color of bleached bone, and is called a "rolling graveyard" because of their voracious appetite. It is always in the form of a ball, and the bones it eats gives it a primitive skeletal structure. That doesn't sound very ooze-like.

I will admit, though, the ability drain attack is pretty awesome. It drains 1d6 Strength, Dexterity, AND Constitution with each slam attack (yes, DRAIN, not damage! ). On a critical hit, the number of points drained doubles. The poor low-con wizard can be killed after a single attack! Heck, all it takes is three or four really good hits to take a Barbarian down. As others have said before, at this level you should have protection against ability drain, but god! Imagine if you are foolish enough not to prepare the necessary protection the day you encounter this monstrosity! It also has a save or die, in which it engulfs you, flays you alive, and spits out your flesh!

Challenge Rating? Currently, it is listed as 21. I'd be inclined to agree, if it wasn't for the fact that you should have protection from ability drain and its abysmal AC (it has a 1, for crying out loud!). Doing the math, however, it has a CR of exactly 21! How weird is that? I guess the DR 30 could have something to do with it...

After looking at the Conversion Manual, there are a couple of new changes (including the average HP being reduced by 30), so the recalculations leave the creature at CR 18. That is still a little bit of an exaggeration. If your players get close enough to die from this thing, its pretty much their fault. The only think this ooze has going for it is its impressive SR.

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290 hp divided by 6 (20 HD): 48.3 (about 53)
Armor Class: 1 (-2)
Special Attacks: Ability drain, nonemeld, engulf, wounding (+6)
Special Qualities: Ooze traits, Blindsight 60 ft., Damage Reduction 15/Magic and Bludgeoning, Spell Resistance 32 (+4)
Bonus Feats: None (+0)
54 divided by 3: 18
End Result: CR 21 Creature

[TroubleBrewing]

It's a CR 21 critter and it has DR 30/Magic? That's... That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I don't think that should even be a part of the equation. It's just such a non-issue. Any chump with a +1 sword can get through it.

[LOTRfan]

It's a CR 21 critter and it has DR 30/Magic? That's... That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I don't think that should even be a part of the equation. It's just such a non-issue. Any chump with a +1 sword can get through it.

The actual monster had DR 30/+5, but its 3.5 equivalent would be DR 30/Magic. Perhaps the official conversion gave them DR/Epic, instead?

[IthilanorStPete]

It's actually DR 15/magic and bludgeoning. The update booklet is available here; I'd suggest consulting it.
More to the point, it's a CR 21 melee-only monster who's sole mobility is a 20 ft. move speed. If it wasn't for the SR, a level 6 warlock could easily kite the thing; as it is, nothing on that level should be getting close enough for its attacks to touch it.

[LOTRfan]

Pretty much. I thought this thing was wildly over-CRed. I'll make the recalculations.

EDIT: After recalculation, it is CR 18. Still a little over exaggerated. Oddly, the conversion manual didn't change its CR from 21.

[Malevolence]

It's actually DR 15/magic and bludgeoning. The update booklet is available here; I'd suggest consulting it.
More to the point, it's a CR 21 melee-only monster who's sole mobility is a 20 ft. move speed. If it wasn't for the SR, a level 6 warlock could easily kite the thing; as it is, nothing on that level should be getting close enough for its attacks to touch it.

Vitrolic Blast?

[MammonAzrael]

Vitrolic Blast?

Not at level 6.

But yes, the Bone Ooze is a very scary and dangerous monster that was, unfortunately for it, made too dangerous and scary. Now, if you knocked off most of it's HD, and increased it's movement(it is always round which should affect it's speed), it would be a serious threat.

[Runestar]

Challenge Rating? Its currently listed as 11, which is pretty low compared for its 14 caster levels of sorcerer. I'm not going to include the spells as part of the CR calculations. Instead, I'll add a +7 auxiliary bonus (1/2 the spellcasting levels) to the CR after the rest of the calculations. Seem fair?

Serpent kingdoms has a bone naga template which you simply tack on top of an existing naga, and is cr+1. I think this pretty much obsoletes the MM2 bone naga.

[LOTRfan]

Serpent kingdoms has a bone naga template which you simply tack on top of an existing naga, and is cr+1. I think this pretty much obsoletes the MM2 bone naga.

Yes, I mention that in the actual monster description.

This creature doesn't actually follow the template at all, so it seems that they completely forgot about this critter when they created the template.

[unosarta]

Serpent kingdoms has a bone naga template which you simply tack on top of an existing naga, and is cr+1. I think this pretty much obsoletes the MM2 bone naga.

Does this mean you could make a Bone Naga Bone Naga?

Good work, LOTRfan.

[flabort]

Ooh. That sounds pretty scary cool. Could someone stat that up? I want to see a stat block for a bone naga bone naga.

Hmm. Pronouncing that sounds pretty cool. Like a chant.
Bone naga bone naga Boe naga Boe naga Boe nacka Boe nacka Boe nacka Boe nacka!
Boe nacka nacka!

[LOTRfan]

Does this mean you could make a Bone Naga Bone Naga?

Good work, LOTRfan.

Ooh. That sounds pretty scary cool. Could someone stat that up? I want to see a stat block for a bone naga bone naga.

Hmm. Pronouncing that sounds pretty cool. Like a chant.
Bone naga bone naga Boe naga Boe naga Boe nacka Boe nacka Boe nacka Boe nacka!
Boe nacka nacka!

By RAW, that's actually legal.

[No brains]

If there's one thing the bone ooze is good for, it makes the perfect motivation for a low level party to haul ass out of an area. :)

[Darklord Xavez]

If there's one thing the bone ooze is good for, it makes the perfect motivation for a low level party to haul ass out of an area. :)

You can also use the flesh jelly for that.
-X
P.S. I third the Bone Naga Bone Naga motion.

[flabort]

Better yet, once someone's got the bone naga bone naga statted, examine it as a bonus creature like you did That Damn Crab.

[unosarta]

As soon as I get access to my stuff, I am on it.

[LOTRfan]

Better yet, once someone's got the bone naga bone naga statted, examine it as a bonus creature like you did That Damn Crab.

Definitely.

As soon as I get access to my stuff, I am on it.

That'd be cool. I can hardly wait.

[IthilanorStPete]

Looking over it, there's actually no change at all, unless you count the poison from the base creature and the poison from the template as being separate.

[Forbiddenwar]

Somehow, it (Bone Naga) still has its poison, which is odd (it has no glands to continue poison production) but cool.

Just an odd aside. IRL, serpent fangs still contain venom long after the organs that produce them are rotted away. For a long term character who would use it often, it doesn't make sense for the bones to still have poison in them, but for a seen once monster, it does.
Also, as a spell caster, can't they just recharge the poison on their fangs magically?

[LOTRfan]

Just an odd aside. IRL, serpent fangs still contain venom long after the organs that produce them are rotted away. For a long term character who would use it often, it doesn't make sense for the bones to still have poison in them, but for a seen once monster, it does.
Also, as a spell caster, can't they just recharge the poison on their fangs magically?

I hadn't considered that. Perhaps they have a special variant of poison? That'd be a fun concept...

[LOTRfan]

After careful consideration, I have decided to prematurely end this little project. This is mainly because I was recently introduced to FATAL, which is obviously a superior game to D&D in every way.



Please don't hurt me! Seriously, though, the update may be a bit late. It'll be up by noon tomorrow, at the latest. Sorry...

[unosarta]

Don't joke about that kind of stuff, LOTRfan.

Rather unfortunately, the Bone Naga Bone Naga turns out to basically just be... a Bone Naga. Seriously. None of the ability stack, except maybe the Poison (which I want corroboration on, so I didn't include it.)

Here it is:

Bone Naga Bone Naga

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Large Undead
HD 15d12 (97 hp)
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares)
Init: +5
AC 16; touch 10; flat-footed 15 (-1 Size, +1 Dex, +6 Nat)
BAB +7; Grp +14
Attack Sting +9 melee (2d4+3, Poison), or Bite +4 melee (1d4+1, Poison)
Full-Attack Sting +9 melee (2d4+3, Poison) and Bite +4 melee (1d4+1, Poison)
Space 5 (coiled) ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Poison, Spells
Special Qualities Detect Thoughts, Guarded Thoughts, Immunities, SR 23, Telepathy, Undead Traits, DR 5/bludgeoning
Saves Fort +5 Ref +8 Will +11
Abilities Str 16, Dex 13, Con --, Int 16,
Wis 15, Cha 17
Skills Bluff +12, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +7, Hide +11, Intimidate +12, Listen +12, Sense Motive +8, Spellcraft +14, Spot +12.
Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Metamagic Feat (any one), Spell Focus (any one school).
Environment Temperate and Warm land, and underground
Organization Solitary
Challenge Rating 12
Treasure None
Alignment Always lawful evil
Advancement: 16-21 HD (Large); 22-45 (Huge)

Combat

Poison (Ex): Bite: Initial 1d4 Strength, Secondary 1d4 Strength. Fortitude save DC 17 to avoid effects. Sting: Initial 1d4 Con, Secondary 1d4 Con. Fortitude save DC 17.

Spells: Casts as a 14th level sorcerer. Spells known: 9/5/5/4/4/3/2/1. Spells per day: 6/7/7/7/6/6/5/3. Save DC is 13+Spell level.

Detect Thoughts (Su): Constant effect, as the Spell. Caster level 14, save DC 15.

Guarded Thoughts (Ex): Immune to mind-reading.

Immunities (Ex): Immune to cold, half damage from piercing weapons.

Telepathy (Su): Can communicate telepathically with any creature within 250 feet that speaks a language.

Undead Traits: See SRD.