IADnDMN Stream Monsters! (2018/11/14)
As always, tune into ItsADnDMonsterNow's weekly monster-making stream on Twitch every Wednesday at 11am Pacific! We hang out, talk DnD, and make monsters together as I explain my process and share my tips for making fun and effective monsters that you can use in your own games!
Detective Pikachu
Suggested by Discord regular @Tanuki, based on the new movie trailer that has whipped the internet into a frenzy.
Of all the pocket monsters found in the far-off lands of Johto, few are as iconic as the Pikachu. As adorable as they are dangerous, these small rodent can move with incredible quickness, and issue arcs of lightning from the spots on their cheeks.
Some fables even tell of an individual of the species that was gifted with an impressive intellect, and an uncanny ability to unravel mysteries. He was said to travel the lands with his human companion as they explored new landscapes, investigated the unknown, and fought teams of heinous villains.
Detective Pikachu
Tiny, chaotic good
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 40 (9d4 + 18)
Speed 40 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 5 (-3) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 11 (+0) 15 (+2) 13 (+1)
Saving Throws Dex +5, Int +2, Wis +4
Skills Acrobatics +5, Insight +6, Investigation +4, Perception +4
Damage Resistances lightning
Senses passive Perception 14
Languages Pokemon; understands Common, but can't speak it
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Cunning Action. The pikachu can take a bonus action on each of its turns to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.
Ear for Deceit, Eye for Detail. Whenever the pikachu makes a Wisdom (Insight) check to determine whether a creature is lying, treat a roll of 7 or lower on the d20 as an 8.
The pikachu can use a bonus action to make a Wisdom (Perception) check to spot a hidden creature or object or to make an Intelligence (Investigation) check to uncover or decipher clues.Evasion. When the pikachu is subjected to an effect that allows it to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, it instead takes no damage if it succeeds on the saving throw, and only half damage if it fails.
Insightful Fighting. As a bonus action, the pikachu can make a Wisdom (Insight) check against a creature it can see that isn’t incapacitated, contested by the target’s Charisma (Deception) check. If the pikachu succeeds, it can use its Sneak Attack against that target even if the pikachu doesn’t have advantage on the attack roll, but not if it has disadvantage on it. This benefit lasts for 1 minute or until the pikachu successfully uses this feature against a different target.
Limited Lightning Absorption. If a single attack or effect would deal 10 lightning damage or less to the pikachu, it instead takes no lightning damage, and regains a number of hit points equal to the lightning damage dealt.
Sneak Attack (1/Turn). The pikachu deals an extra 14 (4d6) lightning damage when it hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of the pikachu that isn't incapacitated and the pikachu doesn't have disadvantage on the attack roll.
Actions
Multiattack. The pikachu makes two attacks: one with its bite, and one with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) slashing damage.
Thunder Shock (Recharge 5–6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (4d6) lightning damage.
Electro Ball (Recharge 6). The pikachu hurls a ball of lightning at a point it can see within 30 feet of it, where it then explodes in a 15-foot radius. Each creature in the area must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
Reactions
Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker that the pikachu can see hits it with an attack, the pikachu halves the attack’s damage against it.
Art credit: Tim Klein
Steamhorse
Based on this reddit post, in which I was tagged by reddit users /u/RealMildlyPoisonous and /u/tobiasstauhf.
A metal beast constructed of steam and steel, the steamhorse is unmistakably a steam-powered engine of war. It's true that the incredible speeds that these constructs can reach could enable passengers to travel long distances in remarkably quick times previously thought possible only by teleportation. However, their instability and the sheer calamity that occurs when things go awry ensure that no one who values their life would ever stay on board a steamhorse for longer than is absolutely necessary.
It is precisely their mass, speed, and volatility, however, that makes them excellent siege engines. The unfathomable momentum possessed by a steamhorse travelling at full speed is most often enough to burst through solid stone walls, let alone wooden gates. And if one of these hulking steel monstrosities should happen to make it through enemy emplacements only to then overheat, well that's all the better for the attackers, as it tends to explode in a blast of scalding steam.
Steamhorse
Huge construct, unaligned
Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 150 (12d12 + 72)
Speed 20 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 24 (+7) 5 (-3) 23 (+6) 3 (-4) 10 (+0) 1 (-5)
Saving Throws Str +10, Con +8, Wis +3
Skills Athletics +10
Damage Resistances fire
Damage Immunities poison, psychic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks that aren’t adamantine
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, unconscious
Senses blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)
Trampling Charge. If the steamhorse moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a ram attack on the same turn, that target takes an extra 13 (2d12) bludgeoning damage from the attack, or 26 (4d12) bludgeoning damage if the steamhorse dashed since the start of its last turn. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the steamhorse can make one stomp attack against it as a bonus action.
No Brakes. The steamhorse can Dash as a bonus action if it used it action to Dash on its previous turn. The steamhorse can't be forcibly slowed.
The steamhorse can only move in a straight line on a turn it Dashes. If it Dashed on its previous turn, it can only deviate from its previous path by up to 20 feet.
If the steamhorse is restrained, stunned, or knocked prone, and it has dashed since the start of its last turn, at the start of its next turn, it falls prone (if not already), and is pushed a distance equal to twice its speed in a straight line following its previous path.Magic Resistance. The steamhorse has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Prone to Overheat. At the start of the steamhorse's turn, if it has taken 10 or more fire damage since the start of its last turn, it begins to overheat. The steamhorse remains overheating until the end of its next turn, or until it takes any amount of cold damage. If the steamhorse begins its third consecutive turn overheating, it explodes, destroying it and forcing each creature within 20 feet of it to make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 16 (3d10) fire damage, and 16 (3d10) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much of each type on a successful one.
Siege Monster. The steamhorse deals double damage to objects and structures.
Actions
Ram. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 26 (3d12 + 7) bludgeoning damage.
Stomp. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one prone creature. Hit: 23 (3d10 + 7) bludgeoning damage.