This is a bit offtopic, so the moderators may want to rellocate this thread to a more proper one.
After reading the d20 monster book, Denizens of Avadnu, I loved the Xxyth race, because it pratically screamed "Tharizdun" on their essence, for they were so akin to the god of entropy: designed to destroy the natural order of things in the multiverse. So, I highly reccomend these creatures for anyone who wants to use Mr. T in a campaign.
However, the book cites but does not describe the Xxyth Lords. The xxyth lords are the quintessential physical wrongness in the multiverse, so I opted to use the paragon template from Epic Level Handbook to exemplify one (and I disliked the pseudonatural template). It took a LOT of work, but I loved it. So, even someone who is not familiarized with the book may have an idea of what a xxyth may do on an epic scale.
HD: 20d8 + 620 (780 hp)
Initiative: +13
Speed: 120 ft, fly 240 ft (poor) +30 ft to all speed modes when hasted AC: 76 (-4 size +9 dex +37 natural +12 insight +12 luck) touch 39 flat-footed 67
Obs: 50% miss chance due to phase form special quality; Kra’xuulbnasharr has +1 dodge donus when hasted; anyone who hits Kra’xuulbnasharr with a manufactured melee weapon is subject to its weaponer disarm attempt.
BAB/Grapple: +20/+56
Space/Reach: 20/15 ft (long)
Attack (-10 power attack): claw +55 (3d6+54 + extras*) or claw +56 (3d6+54 + extras*) when hasted
Full attack (-10 power attack, -12 if dire charge; add 1 to all following attacks if hasted):
*Extras:
+ 2 when dire charge with power attack (except tusks)
+ 33 when smiting (1 attack/day) vs good/lawful opponent
+ 6d6 +49 when rending opponent hit by 2 claws
+ aura eater. Each time an attack hits, Kra’xuulbnasharr knows every spell or spell-like ability currently affecting the target and may steal one of it as a free action (automatic success, unless it’s a spell heightened to level 35+). If the spell cannot affect the xxyth (e.g enlarge person) then aura eater has no effect. Kra’xuulbnasharr chooses the effect to be stolen.
+ free grapple attempt when bite hits (snatch d20+69). Medium grappled victims takes 4d6+12 squeezing damage/round, anyone grappled has no save against the xxyth’s breath, which may be used in the same round as a free action (quicken breath feat) and half its damage is applied again in the following round with no save (clinging breath feat) unless the victim escapes the grapple AND still has a full-round action to attempt to remove the clinging breath (Reflex save DC 52). That usually means someone else has to kill Kra’xuulbnasharr or use magic to remove the grappled victim out of the xxyth’s mouth before she acts.
**When someone hits Kra’xuulbnasharr with a manufactured weapon, the xxyth lord may try to absorb it and attach into a tentacle, using then as a secondary attack (weaponeer special ability). This is made through a disarm contest as a free action against the opponent (d20 +64 + 4 per larger size category; against a medium foe it would be d20 +76). This ability doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity and there are no limits of disarm attempts per round nor the number of weapons attached!
Special Attacks: Aura eater, bane blood, feed, breath weapon (50-ft cone Reflex DC 52 negates, 2d6 CON dmg), divide, paragon bonus to special attacks (+13 insight bonus to aura eater’s Spellcraft check, bane blood damage, breath weapon DC, rend damage, snatch grapple check, smite damage and weaponeer’s disarm attempt), smite (1/day vs lawful or good targets only), spell-like abilities, spells, weaponeer.
Special Qualities: All-around vision (immune to flanking + bonus to spot & search), damage reduction 10/epic and good and lawful, energy warp (electricity), keen sight (darkvision 60ft, low-light vision, see in darkness, true seeing) immune to disease & poison, phase form (50% miss chance, 20% with true seeing), resistance to cold/electricity/fire 20, spell resistance 45, telepathy 100 ft, warp magic, xxyth weaknesses
Saves: Fort +41 Ref +31 (+32 when hasted) Will +36
Abilities: Str 59 Dex 29 Con 49 Int 37 Wis 38 Cha 35
Skills: Concentration +52, bluff +34, decipher script +33, focus essential energy +45, intimidate +50, knowledge arcane +46, knowledge architecture and engineering +46, knowledge dungeoneering +46, knowledge geography +46, knowledge history +46, knowledge local +46, knowledge nature +46, knowledge the planes +46, knowledge religion +46, listen +47, perfect recall +46, search +50 (+52 finding secret doors), sense motive +29, sense supernatural +35, spellcraft +48 (+50 deciphering scrolls), spot +51, use magic device +32 (+34 using scrolls)
Feats: Channel essential energy (evil), clinging breath (Draconomicon), dire charge (B) (Draconomicon/Epic Level Handbook), improved initiative, multiattack, power attack, quicken breath, skill focus (intimidate), snatch
Also known as The Scourge of the Mistji, Kra’xuulbnasharr is the xxyth lord who discovered the gathering of the mistji at Koulan Tyr, where they sought to eradicate the xxyth invasion. With the aid of several arch-xxyths, Kra’xuulbnasharr caused the mistji’s energy storm backfire and waste the humanoid homeland instead. Even today, this xxyth lord dedicates special attention to ruin the children of Temulea and the destruction of a true mistji is cause to endless delight.
Combat:
Kra’xuulbnasharr prefers to make thralls and unless its opponents are mistji or are visibly belligerent, it tries to parlay first (while using sense supernatural skill to determine the greatest concentration of magical effects, especially when considering the use of his aura eater attack).
If the xxyth lord concludes its foes will not serve in its plans, it will attack with a dire charge and already hasted if possible. During the first round, it will use its bite attack to snatch a spellcaster in its mouth and breath at the opponents with the grappled victim receiving no save. Meanwhile, Kra’xuulbnasharr concentrates the rest of its attacks on the toughest melee combatant or the one with the greatest concentration of spell effects, dealing 2 or 3 claw attacks (with possible rend), 2 scythe stalks and a tusk attack (the latter only on a charge), choosing also the most beneficial spell effects to steal. In the following round, those who failed against Kra’xuulbnasharr void breath will have to save again unless they spent their previous action in a full-round attempt to extinguish the breath on themselves. During this second round the xxyth lord will also attack with any melee weapon sequestered and use its feed power combined with a natural attack. Kra’xuulbnasharr is not against retreating with a victim and some weapons stolen, and may well use another dire charge, using the smite power to the tusk attack (for 4d6 + 125) and using this damage in conjunction to the feed power. Only at the most pressing circumstances the xxyth lord will consider the divide power (see “killing conditions” below). Finally, if Kra’xuulbnasharr thinks that even its divide ability won’t be enough, it retreats as fast as it can.
Bane blood (Ex): When Kra’xuulbnasharr is hit, attacker takes 1d4+13 fire damage (1d6 +13 on critical hit on all targets at 5 feet), Reflex save DC 10 + damage dealt by attacker.
Divide (Ex): Kra’xuulbnasharr is able to divide itself into two entities, each one having half of the hit points owned by xxyth lord and possessing all the powers and abilities described.
Energy warp (Su): All sources and effects of acid, cold, fire and sonic at 30 feet of Kra’xuulbnasharr is converted to electricity.
Feed (Su): The nature of the xxyth does not allow fast healing like the rest of paragon creatures, but instead Kra’xuulbnasharr may use the feed power once per round. This ability is not augmented by the paragon’s bonus to special attacks (much like it’s not applicable to the night hag’s dream haunting).
Spells (cast as sorcerer 10th): 6/9/9/9/8/5 (spells known: 9/5/4/3/2/1 plus spells from chaos, death, destruction and evil domains; if Book of Vile Darkness is available, the domains of corruption, darkness and pain are also suggested to Kra’xuulbnasharr’s repertoire).
Voidspawn subtype: All summoning and calling spells cast at 30 feet of Kra’xuulbnasharr gain the evil descriptor. The one who permanently kills Kra’xuulbnasharr must make a Will save DC 32 or acquire an evil aura for 24 hours.
Warp magic (Su): Anyone who casts a spell or spell-like ability within 60 ft of Kra’xuulbnasharr must make a Concentration check DC 25+1d10 the spell is miscast and lost. If Kra’xuulbnasharr itself is the target of such a miscast spell, all foes at 10 feet of it must make a Fortitude save DC 15 or be nauseated for 1 round.
Killing conditions: When Kra’xuulbnasharr is brought down outright by a spell (such as disintegrate or destruction) or if it’s reduced to -10 or fewer hit points, the xxyth lord is not dead and after three rounds its body will vanish to The Void, where it will be fully restored after one month. To permanently destroy Kra’xuulbnasharr, a spell with the [light] descriptor (sun beam, sun burst, etc) must be able to reduce it to -10 or fewer hit points. The xxyth lord may be reduced to zero or less hp through other means and then subjected to this effect. Alternatively, a sunblade (DMG p.228 ) can also destroy it. This weapon not only ignores Kra’xuulbnasharr’s damage reduction but also is immune to the its weaponeer special attack (the sword acts like an allergen to the xxyth lord’s body). The last method to kill is through damage by natural attacks from another xxyth. That’s why Kra’xuulbnasharr uses its divide special attack only at the direst circumstances (usually when confronted by epic-level foes visibly armed with light-based attacks): when the battle is finished the two victorious xxyth lords will mercilessly turn against each other and the surviving one will remain as the true Kra’xuulbnasharr. _________________ Kneel before Rahu!
Victor Caminha
Last edited by Wykthor on Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:21 am; edited 6 times in total
Looks like you put in some brainsweat on this one. About the only thing I can suggest is more information about the special abilities and streamlining the combat information, and also some more suggestions about placing this creature more firmly into GH proper.
I like the Tharizdun concept and I would place it as a servitor of Big T but some of the Mistji references would need to clarified in there role in the Oerth cosmology. But all in all a good foe and quite deadly. I havent used many things out of the Denizens of Avadnu, but I might take a longer look this time around thanks to your hard work! _________________ Canonfire Community Supporter and Forum Justicar
I know there are some relevant points (both in mechanics and backgrounds) that are obscure, because I was unsure whether I could explain it fully or not, because of copyright problems (not certain if all of the xxyth description in DoA is Open Game Content).
The other reason it lacks a more firm grasp on GH and the mention to the Mistji (a Violet Dawn Campaign specific humanoid race) its because I send this material first to Inner circle official forum and I was so tired after creating the monster that I didn't want to create any further addendum here _________________ Kneel before Rahu!
Interesting creature. I should look more at them. I have Legends of Avadnu for their great Epic creatures, but hadn't looked at the Denizens. The Lumina are great. I hadn't thought a lot about how they fit into Greyhawk.
However, note that Dire Charge is an Epic feat and you need 21HD to qualify for Epic feats. Just bump this guy up a HD.
Regarding Epic feats, in ELH it says you must have an ECL 21+ to qualify (the xxyth has 20 HD can easily have a +1 level adjustment), though Draconomicon says a Dragon needs to have Old age (which coincidentally is < 20 HD) to qualify for epic feats. So, I was (and stilll am) in doubt. If you show me where the rules point the 20 HD minimun requirement I'd be grateful _________________ Kneel before Rahu!
One particaular reason to note that ECL shouldn't matter for choosing Epic Feats is that there are a lot of core creatures that have an ECL above 21 that don't have any epic feats - like Storm Giants and Balors. The rule on Dragons also makes no sense - weaker dragons get epic feats at lower hit dice than stronger dragons (compare white and gold old dragons). Why would a gold dragon of the same hit dice as a white not get epc feats? The HD rules makes the most sense and covers everyone equally.
Besides, if you use the ECL argument, you should qualify for many more epic feats. The accepted LA for a Paragon is between 15 and 18 (I use 18) so that means your feats at HD 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 could all be epic feats. If the race gets you an LA above +2, then all of your feats could be epic by that. It makes more sense to use HD to determine Epic Feat elligibilty for any monster design.
Now that's a good rules discussion :-) Thanks for letting me access this:
"Page 3 of the 3.5 main FAQ (Update 2005-10-27)"
However, the rules reported there are contradictory to other sources, to say the least :-( And I believe there is room for the rules interpretation "ECL 21 = Epic" to be valid. Furthermore, the discussion in that forum is still running and there is an impression that WoTc made a little mess with ambiguity :-D
I agree with your point about the dragon rule being broken but regarding the balor, I think there's another relevant point: these are some creatures with 21+ HD in the MM aren't getting any epic feats: adult gold dragon, frost giant jarl (which has even class levels attached) nightcrawler, nightwalker, tarrasque.
And while the distortion caused by the LA paragon, note that the HD can also cause headache. For example, I don't like the idea of an advanced 21 HD dire bear with a CR of 13 (7 base + 3 per 9 HD advancement + 1 to size increase to large or larger +2 per significant combat effectiveness). That means a EL 13 opponent already with access to epic abilities (dire charge for example, needs only improved initiative as requisite)
So, for now, that's my conclusion: I'm not convinced by the claims of either interpretations. And as I refuse to be bogged down by ambiguous rules and reject to make all the dull changes necessary (adding more skills, attacks, saves, etc) because of unfinished homework from WotC, that's what I'm going to do, a quick & dirty alteration to the Xxyth's stats, totally under the rules:
The Xxyth Lords are far more powerful than the Arch Xxyth (which the toughest are CR 20) and Denizens of Avadnu doesn't provide any guidelines for building a Xxyth Lord. So, from this moment on, I grant Kra’xuulbnasharr an epic bonus feat: Dire charge, which can overrun this blurry contradiction (and it won't change the creature CR of 35). AND to replace the slot of the formerly bought Dire charge, Kra’xuulbnasharr will have skill focus (intimidate) :-D _________________ Kneel before Rahu!
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