4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

These are some things I’ve been talking about lately.  I’m a little concerned about the CR for the night hunter.  The creature, on it’s own, would be no problem for a part of around probably third or fourth level, but, as you’ll see in the description, they are never encountered alone and the presence of one other night hunter may more than double the difficulty.  How does one figure a CR for something like this?

Night Hunter
Medium-sized monstrous humanoid (nightmare, servitor race)
Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 HP)
Initiative: +6 (+2 dex)
Speed: 40 feet
AC: 17 (+2 dex, +2 leather, +3 natural)
Atk/Dmg: Hooked Spear +4 melee, 1d8+3; Longbow +5 ranged, 1d8; Barbed Net +5 ranged, 1 and entangle.
Special Attacks: Visage, Poison Use
Special Qualities: Darkvision 120 feet, low-light vision, Regeneration 2, Traveling, Vessel of the Shattered One
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 13
Skills: Hide +9*, Move Silently +4, Spot +4, Survival +4*
Feats: Track, Stealthy
Organization: Pair, Hunting Party 4-6, Cluster 8-12
Challenge Rating: 5
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil
Advancement: By character class

The night hunters are unfortunate minions of the Lord of Nightmares who have been transformed into twisted horrors.  As a servitor race of the Shattered One, they are slaves to his will and fulfill his every command, or die trying.  From time to time, they deliver messages for their master, but more often, his command is to track down and capture - or kill - unfortunate souls who have drawn his attention or ire.
A night hunter is a muscular, seven-foot tall creature of vaguely humanoid shape.  Its hands have three clawed fingers and its skin is the color of obsidian.  Most disturbing, however, is their lack of faces; where the features would be, there is only a flat surface without even any suggestion of eyes, nose or mouth, though some who encounter them say that they wear the faces of loved ones as well.
Night hunters can understand most languages, but, lacking vocal organs, they are incapable of speech themselves.

Combat
Night hunters are dedicated hunters and terrifying opponents.  They do not give any thought to dying in the service of their master, though they are not above retreating from a battle that turns bad for them, returning later with reinforcements, or when they have gained some other advantage.  Their favored tactic is ambush, hailing them with poisoned arrows or using barbed nets to entangle victims before closing in with their hooked spears.
Visage: As nightmare creatures, night hunters have the power to influence the minds of those who look upon them.  This particular power manifests in the ability make their victims see the faces of their loved ones on their blank visages, who immediately begin to deride and berate them.  To use this power, the night hunter must focus its attention on a single victim, who then must attempt a will save (DC 10 +1/2 HD + cha bonus; 13 in this case) or take a -2 morale penalty to all attack and damage rolls for as long as the night hunter chooses maintains this power, which is a free action that requires a concentration check (10 + half of any damage taken that round).  Any individual who saves against this power cannot be affected by any other night hunter’s visage power for one day in dream time, or until waking, whichever is first.
Poison Use: Night Hunters do not risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a weapon.  They often coat their spears and arrows with a particular poison that numbs and paralyzes the body.  Its initial damage is 2d6 dexterity damage and one minute later, it numbs the victim so much that they can take only partial actions for a number of hours equal to the dexterity damage they took.  A successful fortitude save (DC 17) halves the damage and negates the numbing effect.
Regeneration: A night hunter does not take normal damage from any form of attack and regenerates two points of damage per round; however, this power is only active so long as at least one other night hunter in its hunting party is conscious.  If all night hunters in the party are reduced below 0 HP and fall unconscious, all of them instantly perish, the body melting to nothing in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a shadow ooze which promptly crawls away to hide.
Traveling: When the night hunters need to go long distances, they do it by “traveling” through the darkness.  When in light no brighter than moonlight, the night hunters move at a speed of fifty miles per minute, which doubles in total darkness.  While traveling, they can make tracking checks without the usual penalty for moving quickly.  To those who see this, the night hunters appear to be nothing more than a cloud of darkness (as per the spell).  Night hunters can travel across any surface, or even through it, so long as it is not made of a material with a hardness greater than 5, or thicker than two feet.
Vessel of the Shattered One: The night hunters are sometimes used by the Shattered One to deliver messages, or to act as his eyes.  Whenever a night hunter dons a waxen mask in the image of the Shattered One’s face, he may see and speak through it as if he were there himself.
* A night hunter’s coloration gives it a +5 racial bonus to hide checks when in dim light.  As a native of the dreamworld, it can use survival instead of dream lore to track its prey.

Night Hunter Weaknesses
Though they are among the most feared creatures in all the world of dreams, the night hunters are not without weaknesses.  As creatures of the darkest nightmares, the night hunters cannot be touched by light of day.  If exposed to direct sunlight, they take one point of con damage each round until they escape into darkness.  If they cannot escape before their constitution reaches 0, they die and their bodies melt into nothing, leaving behind only a shadow ooze. 
They are also weakened by bright lights.  If exposed to any light brighter than a torch, they take a -4 circumstance penalty to all attack and damage rolls, AC and skill checks.  They take the same penalty if someone openly displays the blessed holy symbol of a good deity and cannot touch any person or enter any area affected by the following spells: Protection from Evil, Protection from Chaos, Magic Circle Against Evil, Magic Circle against Chaos, Consecrate, or Hallow.
Finally, night hunters are harmed by contact with any object made of pure gold (gold coins often have impurities and therefore do not count).  If they touch any object made of pure gold, it burns their flesh, dealing 1d6 damage per round the contact persists.  Because of this, the night hunters are often reluctant to go near people who bear such objects; however, under the driving force of the Shattered One’s will even that aversion will be overcome.

Night Hunter Characters
When a human becomes a night hunter, he loses all previous class levels, but this does not stop them from taking new levels afterward.  With their stealthy nature, most night hunters take levels of rogue, which is their favored class.  Some night hunters may become rangers, taking archery as their combat style.

And this is the spell that creates them, available only to those who are clerics or favored servants of the Shattered One.

Curse of the Night
Level: Nightmare 8
Transmutation
Components: V, S, M, DF, XP
Casting Time: One hour
Range: Close
Target: One humanoid who must be a host of a shadow ooze
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistence: Yes

This evil ritual permanently transforms the unfortunate victim into a night hunter.  The body and soul are utterly warped by the transformation, causing the subject to take on not only the physical characteristics, but also the mental and magical characteristics of the night hunter.  The subject does not retain even a shred of its original memory and personality and is wholly and eternally bound to the will of the Shattered One and the individual who cast the curse.
If this spell is cast upon an individual who is in the dreamworld while sleeping, then the body dies and the mind and soul remain forever in the dreamworld.  Because the spell so alters the subject on such a deep level, simple spells like Dispel Magic and Break Enchantment do not automatically end the spell, instead allowing the subject to attempt another will save to free himself, however, the DC for the dispel check is 10 higher than normal.  The only way to be assured of breaking the spell is to convince the Shattered One to reverse the effect, which is unlikely, or by use of Wish, or Miracle.
The transformed victim is wholly enslaved by the will of the Shattered One forever and also bound to the individual who cast the spell until the caster dies.  The night hunter obeys the commands of both to the best of its abilities unless the orders conflict, in which case the Shattered One’s will is always given precedence.
Casting this spell drains 2,000 XP from the caster.
Material Component: Specially prepared powdered rubies valuing no less than 5,000 GP.
Divine Focus: A waxen mask in the image of the Shattered One’s face, which must be worn by the caster during the ritual.

And this is the shadow ooze that is constantly mentioned in the above post.

Shadow Ooze
Fine Ooze (nightmare)
HD: 1d10 (5 HP)
Initiative:
Speed: 1 foot, climb 1 foot
AC: 14 (+8 size, -4 dex)
Atk/Dmg: None
Special Attacks: Attach
Special Qualities: Ooze traits, blindsight 60 ft, Immunity to electricity, minimize physical damage, Parasite, Sticky
Saves: Fort +1, Ref -4, Will -4
Abilities: Str 1, Dex 1, Con 11, Int -, Wis 1, Cha 1
Skills: Climb +4*
Feats: -
Environment: any land or underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1/4
Treasure: none
Alignment: always chaotic evil
Advancement: 2-3HD (diminutive), 4-5 HD (tiny)

Shadow oozes are a parasitic creation of the Shattered One, the essence of the darkest and most aggressive thoughts of humanity given a semblance of life and unleashed upon the dreamworld for his own dark purposes.
A shadow ooze looks like a drop of liquid darkness when lying still, so small that it is almost always overlooked.  When moving, it spouts hundreds of hair-thin tendrils that pull it inexorably toward a desirable host.

Combat
Shadow oozes don’t fight; in fact, they are effectively incapable of doing so.  Instead, they let their hosts do the fighting for them, which not only protects them, but feeds them as well.  While they notice the subtle vibrations in the air and along the ground caused by movement (giving it its blindsense), their most potent sense is the ability to perceive anger and aggression, which they use to locate suitable hosts.
Attach: shadow oozes have no attacks; however, they can attach themselves to a victim.  If the victim is aware of the creature, he may attempt a reflex save (DC 11) to brush it off.  Once attached, the shadow ooze cannot be removed unless it is burned or frozen off, taking at least half its hit points in cold or fire damage, which the host also takes.
Minimize Physical Damage: Because of its mutable body of a shadow ooze, it is difficult to harm them physically; the damage is simply absorbed by the mass.  Shadow oozes take only the minimum possible damage from any physical weapon unless it has a magical enhancement bonus of at least +1.
Ooze traits: immune to all mind influencing effects, gaze attacks, illusions, or other attack forms derived from sight, poison, sleep effects, paralyzing, polymorph and stunning.  Not subject to critical hits, sneak attacks, flanking or death from massive damage.
Parasite: Shadow oozes feed on the anger and aggression of humanoids.  They are drawn to people who are overwhelmed by such emotions and once they attach to an individual, they inject secreted chemicals into their host to encourage it.  Anytime a person with an attached shadow ooze enters combat, he must succeed a will save (DC 12 + 1 per previous save) each round or go into a berserk state identical to the barbarians rage, gaining all the benefits and drawbacks thereof.  There is one key difference, however; once the rage begins, it does not end unless another will save is made (at the same DC as the one it failed).  If the rage lasts longer than a barbarian’s rage normally would allow, the victim takes 1d6 points of non-lethal damage from the exertion until the victim succeeds in ending the rage or falls unconscious.  When all enemies are defeated, the host will begin attacking any nearby innocents, followed by casual allies, attacking close friends only after all others have been dispatched unless said individuals interfere with the rampage.  The shadow ooze can attempt to trigger this rage at any time, but unless the host is angry or in combat, the host gets a +10 circumstance bonus to the will save, so it usually waits for battle to begin unless it feels threatened.  If the host is prone to aggressive behavior, or already has the rage class feature, they have a -5 penalty to resist flying into a rage.
As the shadow ooze feeds, it grows.  Every two times it successfully drives an individual into a rage, it gains one additional hit die.  When it reaches five hit dice, it splits off into five separate shadow oozes, each with one hit die.  One remains attached to the host, the others crawl off in search of their own victims.  A shadow ooze must feed on anger and aggression to sustain itself.  If it goes for more than one day without being attached to a host, it goes into a state of dormancy to preserve itself, becoming active again only when it senses the aggression of a potential host.  It can remain dormant indefinitely.  Any creature that is a host to a shadow ooze is treated as having the nightmare subtype and is therefore affected by spells that specifically target or effect nightmares and can be commanded by the Shattered One, if he so chooses.
Sticky: the body of a shadow ooze is composed of adhesive resins that allow it to climb up any surface, effectively duplicating the spell Spider Climb as long as the surface is not wet.
Skills: While a shadow ooze is mindless, its climb speed grants it a +8 bonus to all climb checks and allows it to climb its full speed without penalty, even if threatened or distracted.  While it does not exactly hide, the creature’s small size makes it difficult to spot, so it takes a spot check of 25 to notice the creature when it is still, 20 when moving, which increases by 10 in poor lighting conditions.

It’s simple really, you give them a cr like you did for each. Then, you determine how many are going to participate in an encounter, and figure out the EL (encounter level). The EL is what you use to determine xp and challenge difficulty, etc.

So if you are fighting 3 of those, put it at EL 8 maybe.

Linklegacy77 - 09 April 2008 07:45 AM

The EL is what you use to determine xp and challenge difficulty, etc.

Just had to correct an error here - EL does not determine XP.  EL does determine difficulty, but there are only two factors that control XP, character level and CR.

So EL and CR are different.  I always thought of them as the same thing.  Well, that answers that question, but if EL and CR are different, what does that do for somehting like the shadow ooze?  By itself, the shadow ooze is nothing, but it can make its host a far more dangerous opponent.  Giving a fighter with lots of combat feats the ability to rage for as long as the combat requires seems to be worth more than the additional XP granted by a creature with a CR of 1/4.

EL tells how difficult a particular encounter is.

CR tells how difficult a particular monster is.

Obviously, particularly synergistic monsters can make for a much more difficult encounter than their respective CRs would indicate.  However, by the RAW for XP, XP is based on the CR of the monsters involved, not the EL of the encounter they are in.

That shouldn’t stop you, however, from awarding bonus XP if you think the players deserve it.

Sorry, merc is correct.

I usually use EL for xp for simplicity of awarding it, and since it takes into account the difficulty of the fight better IMO in many cases.

Nightmare template:
Type: gains the nightmare subtype.
Ability scores: if cha is 3 or less, gains 2d6 cha, otherwise, as base creature.
Special Attack: horrific appearance, those who look upon a nightmare creature for the first time see their greatest fear brought to life.  The effect of this depends on HD.  If the creature has less than 5 HD, they take a -2 morale penalty to attack and damage for as long as they can see the nightmare creature.  If it has 6-10, they flee in panic, cowering in terror if they cannot escape.  If it has 11 HD or more, then the effect is as the phatasmal killer spell.  Will save (DC 10+ 1/2 HD + cha) to resist, negates the effects of less than 10 HD, or as per phantasmal killer spell.  Once saved, you cannot be effected by this power for one day in dreamtime or until you awaken and return to the dreamworld, whichever is first.
Special qualities: gain acid and electricity resistence based on HD: Less than 5=3, 6-10=5, more than 10=10.
Skills: gains a +10 circumstance bonus to hide and move silently when in dim light due to coloration.
Nightmare creatures look exactly like their real world equivilants, except they are black or dark gray in color and shadows seem to cling to them wherever they go.

Nightmare subtype: this adds no real benefits, however, certain spells in the dreamworld specifically target nightmare creatures.  Unless otherwise stated in the description, nightmare creatures loose the nightmare subtype in daylight, along with all their powers, becoming normal creatures until nightfall.

That’s a rough sketch.  Something seems missing, though.  Any ideas?