A wizard's worst nightmare! [3.5 Monster]

[MammonAzrael]

Nessian Housecat

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Tiny Magical Beast (Extraplanar)
HD 6d10+6 (39 HP)
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares)
Init: +8
AC 16 (+2 size, +4 Dex); touch 16; flat-footed 12
BAB +6; Grp -5
Attack Claw +12 (1d2-3)
Full-Attack 2 Claws +12 melee (1d2-3) and bite +7 (1d3-3)
Space 2 1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks Nomnom, pounce, Rake (1d2-3)
Special Qualities Bounty of corrupted life, darkvision 60 ft., hide in plain sight, low-light vision, mystic detection, mystic rending, nondetection, regeneration 2, resistance to fire 10, scent, spell resistance 17
Saves Fort +6 Ref +9 Will +4
Abilities Str 5, Dex 19, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 7
Skills Balance +12, Climb +8, Hide +29*, Jump +12, Listen +7,Move Silently +19,Spot +7
Feats Stealthy, Weapon Finesse (B), Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Hide)
Environment Temperate Plains
Organization Solitary
Challenge Rating 6
Alignment Always Lawful Evil
Advancement 7-12 HD (Tiny); 13-18 HD (Small)
Level Adjustment --

Appearing just like a normal domesticated housecat, these vicous creatures are the bane of any person who would tap into the primal forces of magic. Through some unholy means, Nessian housecats can deal increadible damage to anyone who can channel mystic forces, tearing that power from them in devastating fashion. They have even been known to hang around inns and taverns, posing as ratters, to have a steadier supply of victims.

Asmodeus, getting tired of the constant distractions of young spellcasters, decided to take their natural predator and improve it's deadly capabilities. Taking ordinary cats, the Lord of the Nine Hells fused it with new dark magics, and old magics adapted from his days before his call, to gave birth to the Nessian Housecat. He had them smuggled up into the planes or Arborea, Beastlands, and Ysgard where they appear as wild cats, and prey upon any good souls, particularly casters, they can catch off gaurd.

Nessian Housecats can now be found on the Material Plane as well. First gifted as familiars to high-ranking clerics of Asmodeus, they can now be found in any area that had a cult of Asmodeus. They may even strike out on their own, wandering the world to kill as much as they can.

Once they have grown enough, Nessian housecats feel a need to return to their place of birth. They can be found wandering the halls of Malsheem, picking off intruding spellcasters as a normal cat would rodents and constantly tormenting the Nessian Warhounds (though you will never encounter a Nessian housecat with less than 15 HD in Malsheen). In fact, they have been so succesful that the other lords have adopted them, and they can be found in any of the palaces of the Nine Hells.

Combat
Nessian housecats like to Hide and ambush their prey. If there are obvious spellcasters in a group that passes, it will always wait until it has a clear shot before striking. It gets a twisted joy from tearing through beings that can call upon magic, and only holds back its wrath on those that are serving their creator (directly or indirectly). It avoids combat with heavily armored opponents, and will flee if there are no more prime targets to slaughter, relying on it's Regeneration to survive any provoked attacks as it flees. Nessian housecats will always attempt to open combat with a Pounce attack from Hiding, waiting patiently until it can do so.

Bounty of Corrupted Life (Su)
When in a Nessian housecat is in a positive dominant plane it does not gain Fast Healing and instead it's Regeneration value increases by that amount. Also it doesn't need to make saving throws to avoid being blinded or exploding.

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex)
A Nessian housecat can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as it is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, a Nessian housecat can hide itself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. It cannot, however, hide in it's own shadow.

Mystic Detection (Su)
Nessian housecats can sense any creature with caster levels within 100' feet of it. They can use this ability to pinpoint the specific square of the caster, even if they're invisible or otherwise hidden. They still need to roll to miss if attacking an invisible creature.

Mystic Rending (Su)
Whenever a Nessian housecat deals melee damage with it's natural weapons it deals additional damage equal to the damaged character's caster level.

Nomnom (Su)
Whenever a Nessian housecat attacks with a bite attack the attacked creature is affected by a Greater Dispel Magic, with a caster level equal to the Nessian housecat's HD. The Nessian housecat's spell resistance increases by the highest spell level dispelled for 1 hour.

Nondetection (Su)
Nessian housecats are resistant to divination effects, as if they were under the effect of a permanent Nondetection spell, with a DC equal to 15 + their HD.

Pounce (Ex)
If a Nessian housecat charges it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.

Rake (Ex)
Attack bonus +12 melee, damage 1d2-3

Regeneration (Ex)
Nessian housecats take normal damage from silvered weapons, good-aligned weapons, and spells or effects with the good descriptor. A Nessian housecat that loses a piece of its body regrows it in 2d6×10 minutes. Holding the severed member against the stump enables it to reattach instantly.

Skill
Nessian housecats have a +4 racial bonus on Climb, Hide, and Move Silently checks and a +8 racial bonus on Jump checks. Cats have a +8 racial bonus on Balance checks. They use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for Climb and Jump checks. *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus rises to +8.

A Nessian housecat surprising an unsuspecting victim.

So, other abilities that I'm thinking that might work for it include the Invisible in Light ability from the Hellcat, Hide in Plain Sight, an injury/fort poison that deals Wis or Int damage, some way to tell spellcasters from other people, and some way to see invisible creatures (from See invisible to True seeing to blindsight). Should it have any of these. And on the same thread, are there any you really it think it shouldn't have?

Initially this was inspired by the Vote Up a Monster threads by Zeta Kai. For kicks I took the tables and rolled randomly to see if I could create something from the results. From there it took on a life of it's own. Hope you like it, or at least were amused!

EDIT

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• Added Hide in Plain Sight
• Added Mystic Detection
• Added Nomnom
• Added Nondetection
• Increased CR to 6

[Bhu]

The world always needs more cat monsters :D

[Roderick_BR]

Cute and deadly. I like it. The Mystical Rending, while strong against spellcasters (against wizards and sorcerers, each attack is 1/4 of their HP), still needs more flavourful abilities, aside from an high spell resistance. Maybe a Mystical Feeding (or Mystical Nomnomnom), where he receives HP equal to the Mystical Rending damage, a Mind Blank/Non Detection effect, and even a Mystical Tearing, where his attacks can dispell defensive spells (mage armor, blink).

[Reaper_Monkey]

I love this! Feisty and cute =D

I'd personally avoid having the Invisible in Light function, it is most potent while using magic, and can be overcome with magic, which doesn't seem to fit. Hide in plain sight should be had however.

Also not sure about poison, it doesn't fit in with the cat theme overly well, and you want to give spellcasters a hope in fending off these pests. Give them some sort of magic sense though, where they can discern the exact location of any magical user within 60 foot, regardless of cover or sight. This will also help them with their hiding and opening with a pounce.

I like the idea of stripping buffs off its foes though, this goes for any opponent though, not just the spellcasters, as it will hamper the usefulness of the spellcasters greatly... and helps combat buffed none magic users incase the spellcasters are just hanging back handing out buffs.

I'd personally up the spell resistance a little too.. but thats just 'coz I like the idea of throwing kittens at mages and watching them bleed with nothing to do >=D

Overall though, really nice!

[Owrtho]

Based on your description, it seems that their Mystical Rending should do something like prevent spellcasting (maby remove the casters highest level spell for the day). Seems good so far though.

Owrtho

[MammonAzrael]

I'm glad you guys like it!

First, Mystic Rending was just a name I pulled out (I couldn't think of a better one). The other way I considered it was to have the damage based on spell level castable, but that seemed more complicated.

Roderick_BR: I like the idea of it gaining some type of sustenance from mystic forces. This flitted across my mind very briefly, I don't know why I didn't explore it.
Non-detection and buff removal are also good ideas for a mage killer kitty. One option I considered was to have it exude a 5' antimagic aura (which would mean I'd have to adjust it's Su abilities...). On the flip side, those methods could be the ways spellcasters protect themselves (that or have meatshields to protect them ).

Reaper_Monkey: The more I've thought about it, the more I agree with the poison. I had it in the original stat block, but removed it before posting because I didn't like how it looked.
I've been likeing HiPS more and more, and may toss it in. Though adding more things may wind up increasing the CR (I'm no CR expert, so advice there is welcome too).
The magic sense is good, another way I've been thinking of it is giving it 100' telepathy (like most Devils), which is also why the SR is where it is (in line with SRD devils), I just don't want to increase it so much as to make the CR a lot higher.

Owrtho: spellcasting prevention...hmm...could fit into the antimagic idea...

Anyways, overall, good suggestions. I think I'm going to come up with a couple differe abilities, and see how each one looks. My biggest concern is adding too many abilities and making the CR all wonky. I'd like this thing to still be encounter able at fairly low levels (if not easily killable )

[The Glyphstone]

Maybe add an effect attached to their claws that induces a spell failure chance? I statted up a dagger made out of Beholder bone once that inflicted a 5% stacking spell failure chance for 1 round on any spellcaster it dealt damage to - something similar might be cool to see on a monster.

[Zeta Kai]

Initially this was inspired by the Vote Up a Monster threads by Zeta Kai. For kicks I took the tables and rolled randomly to see if I could create something from the results. From there it took on a life of it's own. Hope you like it, or at least were amussed!

Nice monster, MA. I'm a cat-liking guy, so I find this critting interesting. I'm glad that I could inspire someone to do something other than call the police.

BTW, I really like the formatting. And the picture just says it all.

[TheCountAlucard]

Perhaps give it a Permanencied Detect Magic?

[MammonAzrael]

Added some new abilities, including Nomnom. ^_^

[Debihuman]

I really like this but the magical rending doesn't seem to sit well. First, you indicate that a physical attack also attack's caster levels but caster levels don't have hit points so it's unclear what the damage does.

It sounds like any time a successful attack is made against a spellcaster (divine or arcane but not psionic if those rules are used) that the spellcaster would have to make a Will save to avoid gaining a negative level, but you didn't expressly state this so I wasn't sure. This should be energy drain if that is the case.

Debby

[MammonAzrael]

No, nothing so complicated. Mystical Rending is supposed to work like this:

A Nessian housecat hits a level 5 wizard with a claw. It does it's normal damage (1d2-3). And then it deals an additional 5 damage since the wizard has a caster level of 5.

A Nessian housecat hits a level 18 Ranger with a claw. It does it's normal damage(1d2-3). And then it deals an additional 9 damage since the ranger has a caster level of 9.

It's just additional damage based on the caster level of the person getting hit by the Nessian housecat.

[Flickerdart]

When I read the title, I thought it would just say "a better wizard" inside. But this works too.