This entry was posted on 2009 May 4 at 9:37 pm and is filed under 4e, Dungeon Jam.
Difficult Terrain
2009 May 4
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one thousand one 
2009 May 5 at 2:01 am
Oh my.
2009 May 5 at 6:02 am
Rules-wise, it’s a Feymire Crocodile (MM p45), with the following adjustments:
The feymire aura 2 is replaced by the difficult terrain on its back. Attackers on its back gain combat advantage and do double damage. The beast often responds to frequent attacks on its back by submerging.
Only ranged attacks can hurt it when it’s fully submerged (flip the paper cutout and it becomes just a shadow beneath the water). Characters that grab hold (grapple) of its dorsal fin can try to hold on to it and attack when it’s submerged.
Also the Lure (standard, at-will) is Close Burst 5 (hitting some of the spaces on its back), +10 vs. Will, target is immobilized, unless it is directly attacked and severed. A severed Lure becomes a magic item that creates Close Burst 5 illumination (removing penalties from being in the dark, within its range) as a minor action. You might also treat it as a magic orb, if you like.
Adjust HP, stats, and damage for the level and size of your party.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
2009 May 5 at 6:13 am
Hmm, on second thought, I might treat the Lure as a separate minion, so it can attack, immobilize targets, and then the beast can eat them. But, like a minion, anything that hit it (and it might have a fairly high AC) would sever it.
2009 May 5 at 7:44 am
Wouldn’t the terrain only matter if you were also fighting something else on that thing’s back?
Which is to say, you should definitely be fighting something else on that thing’s back.
2009 May 5 at 8:55 am
Hmm, good call. Maybe, in addition to the Lure there could be some Dire Remorae minions that serve as its defenses. Or maybe it has pups.
2009 May 5 at 9:34 am
You’d need some situational reason for sticking with it – perhaps if you fall off it doubles back and eats you. I’d consider scaling it up a bit so you could have a line of movement squares down to the rear fluke and maybe one or two more out on the side fins, so there’s more space to maneuver.
Maybe mermaids use them as PT boats.
2009 May 5 at 9:48 am
Right, well it certainly can’t eat you while you’re on top of it, which is a major advantage. You’re right about expanding the squares a bit. I’ll see what I can do. Also, I think it’ll be clearer how the fight is likely to play out once I create the flooded city where the fight’s going to take place.
2009 May 5 at 3:10 pm
And here I was thinking this was the difficult terrain that came from BEING IN ITS BELLY.
2009 May 5 at 4:12 pm
Wow, you just took the awesome to 11 there, Fred. I’ll have to think about that one. But this was more Shadows of the Colossus than Lord Jabu Jabu. Actually, that might work perfectly for the encounter after this one, actually…
2009 May 5 at 5:35 pm
A second map that is its gullet would be pretty interesting to me, especially if you gave it, say, an ACID DEMI-ELEMENTAL as its digestive tract. (Alternatively, have its digestive tract operate as a trap that affects some or all of the squares of its innards.)
2009 May 5 at 5:56 pm
Right. Well, I was going to also do the Zelda/Miyazaki thing and have monsters spawn into being through the foul deeds of men which pollute and corrupt the natural world. So there could be things you could do from the inside that might “fix” the beast or at least reveal the true cause of its existence. Maybe it swallowed some evil artifact or, y’know, a fragment of a magical broken artifact that the PCs must eventually reassemble.
2009 May 5 at 6:27 pm
“It’s Bigger On The Inside!” isn’t just for timelords and tardises, you know.
2009 May 5 at 9:17 pm
Sounds like a dungeon theme to me.
2009 May 7 at 8:56 am
I don’t believe there will ever be pie again.
2009 May 7 at 9:03 am
Ye of little faith. I mean, yes, I have been derelict and should be court-martialled, but, lo, I have not abandoned you. Just the other day, I was talking with Brennan about setting up IPR gift certificates for the winners.
There will be pie again soon.
2009 May 8 at 12:13 pm
I’d actually forgotten I’d even *written* the game! I was in SA the other day and was like: “Crow?, what’s that?”
I liked your blog better without the priorities, they sit there mocking me.
2009 May 8 at 4:12 pm
Oh, they mock me too. How they mock me. They’re just always in such a flux, and I never update that little list. Maybe I’ll ditch them.