Monster Arena

tygerburningbright wrote:First off you may want to increase the ratio to about 3 or 4 for every player

second you are putting a tad too much flavor into all of the attacks

All the attacks have short names too. strike, kick, stab ...

Third what are you talking about in this one "target loses one comestible from their inventory"

I suppose I could make it vampiric ... but it's intended to pull items from the players inventory. If they don't have it, the cultist can't use this ability.

Yes, it's flavor, mostly, but I plan on using it so I included it ... and I thought they needed some way of regaining HP that seemed design appropriate. Although "navel gazing / monster gains resist 10" might be appropriate too.

Fourth all of the attacks for the cult leader a too weak for an Elite level monster

I ... don't think he's an elite. Not as D&D uses the phrase. Just a leader role.

Fifth "For every effect on the Crazed Pegasus Cult Leader for which a saving throw would end, flip a coin. Heads, the effect ends." this should be a trait

It is, actually. Well, sort of. saving throw as a reaction ... the first time. From this pony.

Also there are a lot of things I just can not comment on due to never useing the board system.

Okay, but still ... thanks for your input!

So, the 'rules' say you shouldn't be mixing skill checks and combat ... which just makes me want to find a reasonable way to do it. Uh huh ... he's one of those.

So, this might not quite be the right thread, but it's a combat talent I'm planning on giving one of my monsters, so ...

How does this feel for a design? Remembering the 'stat bonuses' that D&D offers, lets assume our caster has arcana +8 ... this talent would require a "skill check", then calculate damage as per the statistic's bonus (so, roll a failure, 8+1 = 9, which has a modifier of -1 ... you heal the target for 1HP! That's what a caster of arcana 8 gets for relying on such a weak stat under that kind of pressure)

Max damage would be 8+20, which would have a modifier (or damage) of 9.

so, 5% chance of healing the target, 5% of 9dmg, and 10% for each of the numbers in between ... so like taking derp, roll a 2 or 3, and nothing happens. But my gut says that even for a [+1] talent those numbers look a bit low. So what I'm really wanting, as much for the chance to emphasize the wild hazards of using powers beyond your control as anything else is: adding a 1d4 for rolls of 4-11 (min damage {8+4=12, dmg=1}+1=2, max dmg {11+8=19, dmg=4}+4 = 8 ) and rolls of 12 through 19, add 1d6, (range of 12+8=5,+1=6, max {19+8=27, +7+6=13} and if and only if you roll that critical hit, add 1d12 ... so a 5% chance at a 1-in-12 chance for {20+8=29, dmg=9}+12= 21 maximum damage.

Yes, it's kinda a lot of rolling because you're almost always rolling two dice. But the rolling itself doesn't take that long, really. Average should be around 7, overall, for this talent computation. What is your collective response?

First, I have no idea what you are trying to explain. Using a critical failure as your example totally destroyed any chance people have of understanding what you are suggesting...

Second, keep in mind that the highest bonus you can have to a single skill is +20. You used +8 as an example, but it has to be balanced towards +20 not being overpowered as hell. I mean, there's a chance it isn't, but as I said, this makes absolutely no sense to me...

Finally, attributes and skills are already on a really fragile and possibly already broken scale of balance. Adding combat talents that use skill checks only risk throwing this into more turmoil, as well as forcing more players to take the extreme min-maxed builds, as characters with points balanced between attributes are now weaker...

Paper Shadow wrote:First, I have no idea what you are trying to explain

Okay, yeah I can see that since you're not actually talking about the same topic as I am, from what I can tell.

Second, keep in mind that the highest bonus you can have to a single skill is +20. You used +8 as an example,

I used +8 for various reasons, primary one being that would be the monster's build. Keep in mind, I posted this here because I wasn't suggesting it as a player-character combat talent, although I would likely accept it in *my* campaign, with perhaps a few reservations. And the base stat that would be added to the roll wouldn't be, ever, above twenty. But you'd add 1d20 to, for calculating damage, so you'd have a number of 28, sometimes, and that has a +9 modifier ... or damage, in this case.

I could use 1d10, except I want those 5% outliers. I would have to add then, that if you use 1d10 for damage, that if you roll a 1 or a 10, flip a coin. Heads, it hits that 5% chance ... either healing for a point, or letting you add 1d12 to the 1d10, instead of rolling a 9, where you would only add 1d6.

Has that paragraph clarified what I was trying to do, at all?

No. Just no. It is a very very bad idea to mix combat and non combat things such as skills and talents the very best case scenario is still troublesome.

It would just be best to do the D10 with an extra D12 on a crit and drop the healing thing because for the most part the players don't need any help. If it helps completely disregard the out of combat abilities of a monster when designing the combat talents except maybe for flavor or some homebrew mechanic you want to try out.

Only ways combat and non-combat should ever mix is if you are trying to avoid combat before it happens, or trying to exit combat, or end the whole battle early. Like trying to do some type of good persation roll or something. Or something else that'd make logical sense in character.

Other ways to mix the two... Mostly are just bad ideas and will either make the rolls to minor to matter, or too powerful to make combat actions seem worthwhile.

Apparently, this is the place to post Monster Designs so here goes...

10) Black Knight
Hp: 250
Pips: 0
[+3] Sword Slash - Standard Attack
Deal 1d20+1d12 damage against target creature
[-6] Giant Cleave - Standard Attack
Deal 3d12 damage against target creature and all adjecent creatures
[-2] Duel - Minor Utility
The Black Knight and target creature engage each other in a duel. Both participant choose a Standard Attack (Sword Slash for the BK) and roll for damage. Whoever wins the duel may take an immediate free turn after this one. Duel cannot be used on consecutive turns.
Traits
- Parry: Whenever the BK is dealt damage from a single target attack, roll a d20. If the result is divisable by 3, prevent that damage.
Special (can trigger on any dice)
- Dual Wield: The BK pulls out another sword and may use a second attack each turn until the end of the encounter. This special can only be activated once
- Cross Counter: Until the end of the encounter, whenever the BK succesfully parries an attack, he may deal an equel amount of damage to the creature that attacked him. This special can only be activated once.
- Sword Play: Deal 2d12 damage to target creature. If Dual Wield has been activated, the BK can deal an additional 2d12 damage to another target creature.

11) Knight and Princess
A. Knight
Hp: 200
Pips: 0
[+2] Sword Slash - Standard Attack
Deal 1d20+1d10 damage against target creature
[-3] Shield Bash - Standard Attack
Deal 2d10 to target creature and flip a coin. If heads, said creature is stunned. If tails, said creature is dazed.
Traits
- Parry: Whenever the Knight is dealt damage from a single target attack, roll a d20. If the result is divisable by 3, prevent that damage.
- Knight in Shining Armour: Whenever the Princess is targeted by an enemy's attack, redirect said attack to the Knight.
Special (can trigger on every dice)
- Sword and Shield: Until the end of the encounter, the Knight may use a second attack each turn. This special can only be activated once.
- Cross Counter: Until the end of the encounter, whenever the Knight succesfully parries an attack, he may deal an equel amount of damage to the creature that attacked him. This special can only be activated once.
- Petrifying Strike: Deal 2d12 damage to target creature. Said creature is petrified for 1 turn (cannot take actions nor roll any dice) This special attack always hits the designated target.

B. Princess
Hp: 50
Pips: 0
[+1] Cure - Standard Utility
Target creature regains 10% of their Hp.
[-2] Cura - Standard Utility
Target creature regains 20% of their Hp.
[-3] Curaga - Standard Utility
Target Creature regains 30% of their Hp.
Traits
- Love Conquers All: When the Knight is defeated, the Princess transforms into a dragon. The Princess loses the above combat talents and gains the following:
Dragon
Hp: 50
Pips: 0
[0] Flame Pillar - Standard Attack
Deal 3d12 damage to all enemies.
Traits
- Dragon Scales: The Dragon has 5 resist.
- Fire Eating: On its turn, the Dragon can consume X Baby Flame Dragons to increase Dragon Scales' resistance with X. Dragon Scales resets back to 5 resistance whenever Dragon Mother is triggered. Fire Eating cannot be used on the same turn that Dragon Mother is triggered. *
Special (d12)
- Dragon Mother: Destroy all Baby Flame Dragons, then roll a d8 and summon that many Baby Flame Dragons.
Baby Flame Dragon
Hp: minion
[0] Fireball - Standard Attack
Deal 4 damage to target creature
Trait
- Hive Mind: All Baby Flame Dragons attack together. This is considered a single attack. Baby Dragons can select up to 2 target creatures, in which case the damage is split evenly between those 2 targets.
- Ethereal Body: A Baby Flame Dragon cannot have save ends/status effects placed on it.

* Drop this last part if you want to make the Dragon even more threatening.

EDIT: Feel free to drop stun resistance on those if you find players just stun-locking it.

For the most part looks good but the traits dealing with division by three are troublesome, the specials would either note that only one can be activated on a single roll (unless you intend to allow all three at once), and the percent value healing are ok with the knight but would be better as a straight value for convince's sake.

tygerburningbright wrote:For the most part looks good but the traits dealing with division by three are troublesome, the specials would either note that only one can be activated on a single roll (unless you intend to allow all three at once), and the percent value healing are ok with the knight but would be better as a straight value for convince's sake.

Okay, why? Dividing by 3 is basic math, something I assume everyone can do. It equals out to parrying 30% of the time so I don't see what the problem is with that. Dividing by 3 is just a more simple way of saying "Roll a d20 and on a 3/6/9/12/15/18, parry the attack."

And specials work as they do for PC: 1 special triggers for 1 crit on a die. Don't see the need to specify that. If you're refering to the "Can trigger on every dice", that's there so that a nat20 also does something.

The Knight and the Princess are supposed to function as 1 unit. Which is why it's a percentage because the Princess isn't going to target anything else but the Knight. In the rare case that a DM does pair the Princess with something else, I still believe that a percentage would be better as it scales the combat talents along with whatever is fighting alongside the Princess, increasing/decreasing the threat.

Does the resist gained from eating dragon babies last for a turn, or until its reset by a Dragon Mother crit? With a good roll on that d8 summon, and no subsequent crits, you can end up with a dragon toting around 13 resist for the rest of the fight.

And why do the baby dragons have the ethereal body trait? It seems a bit redundant for minions.

Is the Flame Pillar an attack or utility (considering it's 3d12 damage to all enemies, it probably should be an attack for various reaction purposes - otherwise it can potentially one-shot everyone with no real counter/preventions available)?

Does critting on a save ends d20 also provide a special for the monsters?

Been a while, but if anyone's still running the arena, I have a monster to submit! It's still in the basic stages and could use more abilities, but I'd like to present it for a trial run.

Chimera (solo)

Trait: Multi-Headed
A Chimera consists of three heads, each of which are targetable. All three must be slain to defeat the monster. All are considered adjacent to each other and any (save ends) effects are shared amongst the three.

Lion Head – 80 HP

[+2] Maul – Standard Attack
Deal 2d10 damage to target creature.

[-1] Rake – Standard Attack
Deal 3d8 damage to target creature. That creature suffers 4 Vulnerability (save ends).

[-3] Rampage - Standard Attack
Deal 3d10 damage to all enemies.


Goat Head – 50 HP

[+1] Magic Barrier [Standard Utility]
Target Ally gains Resist 4 until the beginning of the Goat Head's next turn.

[-1] Baleful Bleat [Standard Utility]
All enemies suffering from (save ends) conditions take 2d6 damage

[-2] Lightning Blast [Standard Attack]
Target creature takes 3d6 damage. It and all adjacent creatures are dazed until the end of their next turn.


Serpent Tail – 30 HP

[+1] Sweep – Standard Attack
Deal 1d10 damage to target creature and all creatures adjacent to it.

[+1] Poison Spit – Standard Attack
Target Creature is Blinded (save ends)

[-1] Venom Bite - Standard Attack
Deal 2d6 damage to target creature. That creature suffers 1d8 ongoing damage (save ends)

It might be better to give all of the heads the same amount of HP. As is, everyone will just focus on the one with the lowest health first.

That's somewhat deliberate as each head is supposed to have different threat levels, but I see your point. It's supposed to seem like the Lion Head is the biggest threat, but it's the hardest to take down.

I find the Goat head downright terrifying with the Resist 6 buff. It doesn't specify an expiration at all and that's a lot for just a +1. It outright nullifies DoT and low-but-consistent damage builds.

What would make varied HP interesting if it was random who had the lowest and who had the highest.

ZamuelNow wrote:It might be better to give all of the heads the same amount of HP.  As is, everyone will just focus on the one with the lowest health first.

To be fair, the players usually don't know how much HP a creature has. Only things like Deathwatch and Robes of the Reaper will help with that...

ZamuelNow wrote:I find the Goat head downright terrifying with the Resist 6 buff.  It doesn't specify an expiration at all and that's a lot for just a +1.  It outright nullifies DoT and low-but-consistent damage builds.

What would make varied HP interesting if it was random who had the lowest and who had the highest.

Oops, it was supposed to expire at the end of the turn. I'll nerf it just a tad...

Paper Shadow wrote:

ZamuelNow wrote:It might be better to give all of the heads the same amount of HP.  As is, everyone will just focus on the one with the lowest health first.

To be fair, the players usually don't know how much HP a creature has. Only things like Deathwatch and Robes of the Reaper will help with that...

True, but the public nature of the Monster Arena makes such things visible if the monster isn't reflavored.

One buff you may want to make to its trait is make it so that stuns aren't shared since that removes a lot of the point of having a multipart monster.

You may want to add onto the damage dice of each of the Lion's attacks by one or two dice. May also want to change snake's sweep to a D10 and flameing arrow to maybe 2D8 damage and 1D8 ongoing damage.

(In general monster attacks on a solo or solo ish creature should be a decent deal stronger than a player's equivalent. )

I'll playtest the Chimera. I'm interested in this system and I'm almost done with my buffalo character Stout Spirit.

I am sorry but it appears to have already been tested. However there are a few games that are recruiting if you are interested.

Thanks for the head up!

So I have a new combat build that I'm not entirely sure about... if someone would run a simple combat for me so I can test it out I would greatly appreciate it.

Combat:

So, I thought I'd post a monster team that I had the inspiration to create, see if anyone had any input on it. It's still a work in progress, I think, but it should be workable.

Death
HP: 60

Trait: From Death Comes Life
If Death reduces a foe to less than 0 HP, it may restore an ally with less than 0 HP to 30 HP.

[+2] Strike - Standard Attack
Deal 1d10 damage to target creature.

[-1] Swift Strike – Standard Attack
Deal 2d8 damage to target creature. If that creature is suffering from vulnerability, deal 3d8 damage to it instead.

[-1] Cull the Weak – Interrupt Utility
Trigger - You attack an enemy suffering from a (save-ends) effect.
Effect - The triggering attack deals 1d12 extra damage to that enemy. You may use this talent only once per turn.

[-1] Scythe Dance - Standard Attack
Deal 1d10 to target creature. If you roll a 6 or higher you may make this attack again without pay its energy cost, except you must choose a new target.

[-4] Reaping - Standard Attack
Deal 1d4+1d6+1d8+1d10+1d12 to target creature

War
HP: 60

Trait: Armored
War has Resist 2.

[+2] Cleave - Standard Attack
Deal 1d8 damage to target creature and each creature adjacent to the target.

[-1] Warpath - Standard Attack
Deal 1d10 damage to up to six creatures.

[-1] Counter – Reaction Attack
Trigger – An enemy deals damage to you
Effect - Deal an equal amount of damage to the triggering enemy

[-4] Hellhammer - Standard Attack
Deal 2d12 to target creature and 1d12 to creatures adjacent to the target. The primary target is stunned until the end of its next turn.

Famine
HP: 60

Trait: Unending Hunger
All enemies suffer a -1 to saving throws while Famine has at least 1 HP.

[+2] Empathic Hunger - Standard Utility
You and target enemy suffer vulnerability 4 (save ends).

[-1] Emaciation - Standard Attack
Deal 1d12 damage to target creature, and that creature is dazed (save ends)

[-2] Starvation - Standard Attack
Deal 1d12+X damage to target creature, where X equals the number of energy that creature has. Target creature also loses 1 energy.

Pestilence
HP: 60

Trait: Immune System
Famine has a +3 bonus to saving throws.

[+2] Disease – Standard Utility
Target creature suffers 1d6 Ongoing Damage (save ends)

[-1] Contagion - Standard Attack
Target creature and all creatures adjacent to it are weakened (save ends).

[-1] Continuing Sickness – Interrupt Utility
Trigger – an enemy saves against a (save ends) effect.
Effect – the enemy re-rolls the save.

[-2] Pathogen - Standard Attack
Up to six creatures suffer 6 ongoing damage (save ends)

Famine needs life drain. Both thematically ("constant hunger") and the mechanical need to recoup the damage it'll take due to it's +2. To be honest, the +2 could probably stand to be a +3.

Either Famine should gain a loss of life attack or Death should have one of the current attacks converted to loss of life. Or both.

I changed Famine's +2 so that it no longer affects Famine itself. I also added a life steal attack and changed Starvation to be life loss.

Thinking of giving one of the four a buffing ability, but the only one who it thematically makes sense for is War. Maybe extend the resist trait so that it effects all allies, after reducing it to 1, of course?