Monday, February 17, 2014

The Dragoning

I finally got around to putting together the stats for dragons on Hekinoe. I'm pretty pleased with the result. Check it out:

Wyrmling Dragon
CR 1
XP 400
Tiny Dragon
Init: +6; Senses: darkvision 120 ft; low-light vision, scent; Perception +6

Defense
AC: 24, touch 18, flat-footed 15 (+1 dodge, +6 Dex, +5 natural, +2 size)
HP: 3 (1d12-3)
Fort: +1; Ref: +7; Will: +3
DR: 1/-; Immune: acid, paralysis, poison, sleep.

Offense
Speed: 30 ft.
Melee: bite +4 (1d3+1/20 plus grab); claw -1 (1d2+1/20) x2
Space: 2 ½ ft.
Reach: 0
Special Attacks: acidy spit (20 ft. burst, 10 ft. range, DC 10, 1d6 acid); poison

Statistics
Str: 12+1; Dex: 22+6; Con: 7+-2; Int: 2-4; Wis: 12+1; Cha: 8-1
Base Atk: +1; CMB: +0; CMD: 18 (+4 vs. trip)
Feats: Dodge
Skills: Perception+6, Stealth +18 (+8 size modifier, additional +8 in undergrowth)

Ecology
Environment: everywhere!!1!
Organization: solitary, pair, or pack (3-12)
Treasure: none

Special Abilities
Acidy Spit (Ex): Dragons possess an extremely caustic acid in their stomachs that helps them digest food. They can spit this acid out to a range of 10 feet per age category to all creatures within a 20 ft. radius spread. Once a dragon has spit its acid, it may not do so again for 1d6 rounds. The Reflex save DC 10 + ½ the dragons racial hit dice + its Constitution modifier.
Camouflage (Ex): The brownish-green coloring of dragons makes them adept at remaining hidden in undergrowth, they gain a +8 bonus to Stealth checks in such conditions.
Crush (Ex): A jumping huge or larger dragon can land on its foes as a standard action, using its whole body to crush them. Crush attacks are effective only against opponents three or more size categories smaller than the dragon. A crush attack affects as many creatures as fits in the dragon’s space. Creatures in the affected area must succeed on a Reflex save (DC equal to that of the dragon’s acidy spit) or be pinned, automatically taking bludgeoning damage during the next round unless the dragon moves off of them. If the dragon chooses to maintain the pin, it must succeed at a combat maneuver check as normal. Pinned foes take damage from the crush each round if they don’t escape. A crush attack deals appropriate damage (2d8 for huge, 4d6 for gargantuan) plus 1½ times the dragon’s Strength modifier
Grab: Dragons have the grab ability when they latch onto a foe with their bite. This allows them to initiate a grapple combat maneuver as a free action against creatures equal to their size or smaller with a successful bite attack without provoking an attack of opportunity. The dragon may continue the grapple as normal, or may choose to merely maintain its hold on the creature with its bite. If it chooses to do the latter, it takes a -20 penalty on checks to maintain the grapple, but does not gain the grappled condition. The grab ability confers a +4 bonus on checks made to initiate and maintain the grapple.
Poison (Ex): Dragons secrete a venom from glands in their mouth that serves to weaken and slow prey. A favored hunting technique of mother dragons is to bite prey and allow their young to hunt the weakened creature. The save DC is 10 + ½ the dragon’s racial hit dice + its Constitution modifier.
Dragon Venom
Type: poison, injury; Save: Fortitude DC 10
Onset: 1 minute; Frequency: 1/hour for 6 hours
Effect: 1d2 Dexterity damage
Cure: 1 save
Scent (Ex): Dragons have the scent ability.
Tail Slap (Ex): Medium size or larger dragons have long, powerful tails that they can sweep into foes, knocking them prone. When a dragon strikes an enemy with his tail slap, it immediately initiates a trip combat maneuver. The dragon gains a +2 bonus on trip attempts. The dragon's tail slap is a secondary attack.
Tail Sweep (Ex): Gargantuan or larger dragons are able to sweep with their tails as a standard action. The sweep affects a half-circle with a radius of 30 ft. (or 40 for a colossal dragon), extending from an intersection on the edge of the dragon’s space in any direction.  Creature’s within the swept area are affected if they are four or more size categories smaller than the dragon. A tail sweep automatically deals the appropriate damage (2d6 for gargantuan, 2d8 for colossal) plus 1½ times the dragon’s Strength bonus.

I also made age categories and stuff. Hehe.

Dragon Age Categories
Age Category
Size
CR
Hit Dice
Acidy Spit
Damage
Reduction
Natural Armor
Wyrmling
Tiny
1
1d12
1d6
1/-
+5
Very Young
Small
2
1d12
1d6
2/-
+7
Young
Medium
4
2d12
2d6
3/-
+9
Juvenile
Medium
6
4d12
4d6
4/-
+9
Young Adult
Large
8
5d12
5d6
5/-
+12
Adult
Large
10
7d12
7d6
6/-
+12
Mature
Large
12
8d12
8d6
7/-
+12
Old
Huge
14
9d12
9d6
8/-
+16
Very Old
Huge
16
11d12
11d6
9/-
+16
Ancient
Huge
18
12d12
12d6
10/-
+16
Wyrm
Huge
20
14d12
14d6
11/-
+16
Great Wyrm
Gargantuan
22
15d12
15d6
12/-
+19

Age Category
Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma
Wyrmling
12
22
7
2
12
8
Very Young
16
18
11
3
12
8
Young
20
16
13
4
12
8
Juvenile
21
16
13
5
12
8
Young Adult
29
14
17
6
12
8
Adult
29
14
17
7
12
8
Mature
33
18
22
8
16
12
Old
41
18
26
9
16
12
Very Old
41
18
26
10
16
12
Ancient
42
18
26
11
16
12
Wyrm
42
18
26
12
16
12
Great Wyrm
54
20
34
13
20
16


I also, hehehe, made different types of dragons. 



Dragon Variants
Ambush Dragon:
These dragons are found primarily in the northmost and eastmost portions of The Wilds Lands, and are always one size category smaller than normal and increase their Dexterity by +2 (for a total of +4 due to the size change). These dragons are stealthy hunters, and typically lie in wait for their foes, despite their size and ferocity. Instead of increasing hit dice as they age, these dragons gain levels of Rogue (Scout). Obviously, their capabilities are limited by their lack of speech and body shape.
Bestial Dragon: These dragons are found only in The Beast Lands and exhibit the same massive size and savage temperament of all carnivorous creatures found in those forests. These dragons are always one size category larger than normal for their age, their Intelligence cannot be more than 2, and when damaged they gain a +2 to Strength and Constitution until they or their foes are dead.
Brood Dragon: These dragons are warped by sorcerous experimentation and instead of laying eggs and nesting as normal for dragons, they house their living young inside of them, allowing them to feed at their leisure. Females of young adult age have a 25% chance of being mothers and spitting 1d4 wyrmlings out with each use of their acidy spit. Additionally, due to the sorcerous energies used to alter these creatures, and their years spent in their mother’s belly, these dragons are dazzled in conditions of bright light and they have a 25% to convert precision damage and critical hits into normal attacks due to the rearrangement of their internal organs.
Cave Dragon: These dragons are found in the depths of Whurent and The Fell Peaks. They are always one size category smaller than normal for their age. Their scales typically match the color of stone in their environment and grant them a +8 circumstance to Stealth checks in that environment instead of in undergrowth. They also have a 30 ft. burrow speed through rock and dirt (leaving a tunnel through the rock) and their claw damage is increased by one die step.
Clacker Dragon: These dragons were found primarily in Whurent, and were a foe of the mute giants of those mountains before their exodus. With the absence of a ready food supply, these dragons are believed to be nearly extinct. It is believed that these dragons developed their particularly tough teeth to aid in hunting the tough skinned giants. These dense teeth can be “clacked” together, thus the name of the dragon, igniting the dragon’s strangely flammable stomach bile and causing it to deal ½ fire and ½ acid damage. The critical threat range for their bite is increased to 19-20 and their bite attack is also treated as wolf-iron (adamantine) for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.
Crystal Dragon: These extraordinarily rare dragons have not been seen in over a thousand years, but were once found in the desert of The Old Empire. Supposedly, they were highly intelligent and were resistant to the psychic arts of the Elduman race. Over long years of exposure to the sun and harsh winds of The Old Empire, their scales took on a pale sandy color with hints of crystal within it. These dragons increase their Intelligence and Wisdom by 2 per age category, have power resistance equal to 11 + their hit dice, and have a +8 bonus to Stealth checks in the desert of The Old Empire instead of when among undergrowth.
Fell Dragon: This type of dragon was specially bred by the sorcerers of The Fell Peaks for use as cavalry. Breeding males can grow as large as normal dragons, but those used as mounts typically only appear as large creatures. These dragons absorbed the ambient sorcerous energy found within Meroteth obsidian and their scales have a similar appearance to that stone. They also developed spell resistance due to this exposure, gaining spell resistance 11 + their hit dice. Instead of a trip attack, these dragon’s have a barbed spike on the end of their tails that secretes the same venom as their bite.
Nel Dragon: These dragons are only found in the homeland of the Nel and have developed a resistance to the Gifts of the Nel. They gain Gift resistance equal to 11 + their hit dice. Much like the Sarownel forest-kin, the venom of these dragons can affect the Nel.

Now, these guys aren't nearly as tough as Pathfinder and DnD dragons are, but I like them. On paper, and despite their size, I feel like they have some good potential as ambushers. They're dragon type creatures, so they have decent hit points and attack and such, but they don't have nearly the natural armor or damage reduction of regular dragons. I compensate for this, slightly, by making it impenetrable damage reduction instead of DR/magic. I dunno, I'll have to try them out at some point (and not get them one shotted) to see if I got the CRs right.

The math behind what I did, because I don't know how to monster, is that I took the monitor lizard entry from the Pathfinder Bestiary and applied the half-dragon template to it and then I added two hit dice and said that was a juvenile dragon with a CR of 6. I chose the base as monitor lizard because that's the entry for Komodo dragons as far as I can tell, and I keep saying my dragons are really fucking big and smart Komodo dragons. So it made sense to me. I modeled the size increases at various age categories off of black dragons, because acid. With all that in mind, I just applied the giant creature and advanced creature templates as needed to get the CRs I wanted. These guys end up with CRs comparable to red dragons, but only like 2/3 the hit points (partly because they have 1/2 the hit dice, at least the great wrym versions of both do), none of the special abilities related to being magical, but a significantly higher Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, and nowhere near the damage output (at least compared with great wyrm red dragons). Not sure if it works. Pretty sure it doesn't.

In short, I think they still need tweaking. But right now, I'm pleased with what I have and where it is going. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, if anyone has any.

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