DnD Skeletal monsters - Dec 18

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and Pathfinder lately does not fare much better…

First, however, a couple of asides. First, the ‘Quiz Lady’ movie. It is vapid. I am not the biggest fan of Awkwafina or of Sandra Oh, but this movie just wastes them and everyone else involved in it: the movie does not go anywhere, there are no real stakes in it, no anything, and it is pointedly aromantic. There is nothing wrong with aromantic films in theory, but in practice, they tend to be forgotten quite quickly, such as another Netflix film, ‘Over the Moon’, which also starred Sandra Oh… as a voice actress because it was an animated film, but again – it was child-friendly in an aromantic way, and so it became quickly forgotten.

On other hand, there is the upcoming ‘Snow White’ Disney remake, which just might be forgotten for the better: Ms. Z’s statements have done more harm than good, and the remake itself seems to be problematic. Of course, there is also a question as to why does Disney needed to remake ‘Snow White’, but the answer is obvious: its’ new movies, such as ‘Wish’ or ‘Strange World’, are just as aromantic, vapid and forgettable as ‘Quiz Lady’ or ‘Over the Moon’ are, so Disney is in the same boat as Netflix is.

This, oddly, brings us over to ‘Pathfinder’. This RPG franchise is handling its’ transference to the second edition… not very well: their paladin class got remade completely, as was their cleric, and now they are going on with their layout – no ‘bestiaries’ (monster manuals) and etc. This is their call, of course, but our crew are keeping away from this franchise now, it just is not comfortable for us any longer.

Meanwhile, their wiki has introduced the ‘article of the week’ concept… several weeks ago. It is not a bad idea, in fact, and this week’s article is the skeleton’s monster entry. Now, again, we are largely done with Pathfinder, but you can find the skeleton monster entry in the original D&D Monster Manual 3.5 edition, and this is exactly what we will be doing in this entry: giving you several skeleton variants of opponents.

First up, is a straightforward ‘monster’ with the skeleton template – the leopard, (selected by a random generator):

Advanced skeleton leopard: CR 2; Medium undead; HD 5d12; hp 72; Init +4; Spd 30 ft., climb 10 ft.; AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 11; Base Atk +4; Grp +7; Atk +7 melee (1d6+4, bite) and +1 melee (1d4+2, 2 claws); Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Improved grab, pounce, rake 1d3+1; SQ Damage reduction 5/bludgeoning, immunity (cold), low-light vision, scent; AL NE; SV Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +2; Str 20, Dex 17, Con 0, Int 0, Wis 10, Cha 1.

Skills and Feats: Improved Initiative.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a leopard must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can rake.

Pounce (Ex): If a leopard charges a foe, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.

Rake (Ex): Attack bonus +6 melee, damage 1d3+1.

Skills: Leopards have a +8 racial bonus on Jump checks and a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks. Leopards have a +8 racial bonus on Balance and Climb checks. A leopard can always choose to take 10 on a Climb check, even if rushed or threatened. In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus improves to +8.

Right. Next up, is a medium-level ranger NPC, who has a bone creature (from the ‘Book of Vile Darknes’) template:

 

Maia Josia, female human ranger 10: Medium undead; HD 10d12; hp 69; Init +7; Spd 20 ft.; AC 19, touch 22, flat-footed 11; Base Atk +10; Grp +15; Atk +13 melee (1d6+6/19-20/x2, +1 short sword) and +8 melee (1d6+3/x3, shortspear) or +13 melee (1d4+6, 2 claws); Space/Reach 5 f./5 ft.; SA Combat style/improved combat style (two-weapon fighting), favored enemy +6 (animals), favored enemy +4 (humanoids), favored enemy +2 (magical beasts), spells; SQ Animal companion (none), damage reduction 5/magic, darkvision 60 ft., evasion, immunity (cold), swift tracker, undead traits, wild empathy +3, woodland stride; AL LE; SV Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +4; Str 17, Dex 21 (25), Con 0, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 8.

Skills and Feats: Concentration +12, Craft (pottery) +9, Craft (weaponsmithing) +14, Craft (woodworking) +9, Handle Animal +12, Hide +12, Knowledge (nature) +14, Listen +1, Move Silently +20, Search +12, Spot +1, Survival +16; Combat Reflexes, Deceitful, Dodge, Endurance (B), Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (B), Self Sufficient, Track (B), Two-Weapon Fighting (B), Weapon Finesse (short sword) (B).

Spells Known (2/1; save DC 12 + spell level): 1st - alarm, calm animals; 2nd - barkskin.

Possessions: +1 studded leather, +1 short sword, masterwork shortspear, notebook, spare clothing, obsidian chunks in a bag, spell components, flint and tinder, bedroll, food and water supplies, bull's-eye lantern, other equipment, gloves of Dexterity +2, domain icon, 6200 gp.

And finally, here’s a mature adult black dragon with a skeletal dragon template, (from the 3.5 edition of ‘Draconomicon’):

Female mature adult black dragon; CR 7; Huge undead (water); HD 22d12+22, hp 150; Init +0; Spd 60 ft.; AC 25, touch 4, flat-footed 25; Base Atk +28; Grp +38; Atk +28 melee (2d8+8, bite), +23 melee (2d6+4, 2 claws), +23 melee (1d8+4, 2 wings), +23 melee (2d6+12, tail slap); Space/Reach 15 ft./10 ft. (15 ft. with bite); SA Crush, frightful presence; SQ Blindsense 60 ft., damage reduction 10/magic and 5/bludgeoning, darkvision 120 ft., immunities (acid, cold, sleep, and paralysis), low-light vision, spell resistance 23, undead traits; AL CE; SV Fort +18, Ref +13, Will +15; Str 27, Dex 10, Con 0, Int 0, Wis 10, Cha 14.

Skills and Feats: Improved Initiative.

Crush (Ex): Area 15 ft. by 15 ft.; Small or smaller opponents take 2d8+12 points of bludgeoning damage, and must succeed on a DC 26 Reflex save or be pinned.

Frightful Presence (Ex): 210-ft. radius, HD 21 or fewer, Will DC 23 negates.

 

Well, this is all for now, we are all out of appropriate skeletal monsters. We do hope that you will enjoy using them in your campaigns, however. For now, though, this is it. See you all soon, instead!

 

Dragonfly vs. wasp - Dec 11

A question was asked – who would win in a fight, a dragonfly or a wasp? Here is the short answer – it is a trick question!

As a starting point, the two insects are built quite differently. Both, of course, have the same insect body plan: an abdomen, a thorax with 4 wings and 6 legs, and a head with eyes, jaws, antennae, and whatever else insects have there. Beyond this generalization, however, a dragonfly and a wasp are built differently.

A dragonfly is built for speed. It is the cheetah of the insect world. Unlike the tall cat, however, a dragonfly has endurance as well as speed, as it spends all of its adult life flying around, looking for food and mates. Dragonflies are not territorial… unlike their damselfly cousins, which are: males of those insects have a perch/an established territory, and they keep each other out of it, but damselflies are not as good fliers as dragonflies are. Moreover, we are talking primarily about dragonflies here.

Wasps are more territorial, meanwhile. There are two main wasp types: the solitary and the social, and here we are talking about the social species, such as the paper wasp and the hornet. They are as carnivorous as any dragonfly is, but are also social, while dragonflies are not.

What is more important, though, is that while dragonflies are built for speed, as the cheetahs are, the wasps and hornets are built for strength instead, (as the lions and tigers are). Moreover, not unlike the lions, wasps are known to cooperate with each other, though along different lines than those of the vertebrate lions. To wit: while wasp nests are more numerous than the lion prides, the bonds between the lions are stronger, because, well, the lions live longer – for years, while in temperate climates wasps die at the end of fall/beginning of winter – only the wasp queens survive. (I.e. the wasp analogues of the bee queens).

…The dragonflies, it can be argued, do not fair much different: they also die in winter, and only their eggs, or larvae, survive the winter. Unlike the wasps, however, they do not have a pupa stage: when they are ready to transition from water to air, they crawl out of the water onto a tall cattail or reed, and burst from their back – literally: the skin on their backs bursts, and the adult dragonfly crawls out of its’ last larval skin. Alien xenomorphs, top that.

Getting back to our face-off, the dragonfly can fly, well, rings around a bulkier wasp, but unless it is really bigger than the wasp is, it will not tackle the wasp, and we are talking literal tackling here.

A wasp hunts with its’ sting, (in a manner of speaking): when a wasp finds its’ prey, (a spider, a caterpillar, a honeybee – it is different with different wasp species), it jumps onto its’ prey and paralyses’ it with the stinger. Then the wasp takes its’ prey to its’ nest, where it either feeds the prey to the larva, (as the social wasps do), or puts it into a storage, and lays its egg, so that the larva would eat the spider/caterpillar/etc. later, (as the solitary wasps do).

Meanwhile, dragonflies have no stingers – they just rush at their prey, seize it with their legs and eat it. The legs of dragonflies are hairy and spiky, useless for working, just fine for perching, and when the dragonflies fold them, their legs form a fine net/basket for catching insects such as mosquitoes and butterflies, but against powerful wasps – not so much. Venomous stingers aside, wasps and bees are just too heavy and strong for dragonflies, and the dragonflies do not mess with them.

Robber flies sometimes do. Despite being, well, flies, and as such, related to houseflies and mosquitoes, the robber flies live more like the dragonflies, being active hunters, especially as adults. A scientist once put a robber fly against a bumblebee. For a while, the former seemed to be gaining the upper hand, until the bumblebee unleashed its stinger and went on the counterattack. The robber fly quickly played possum and the bumblebee got away. Considering that the robber flies have a venomous bite of their own, and the dragonflies do not have it, the fight between a dragonfly and a bumblebee – or a wasp, for that matter – would have been over even quicker.

Therefore, getting back to the initial question: who would win, the dragonfly, or the wasp, the answer is the wasp. However, since a dragonfly would never tackle it, this answer is theoretical overall.