Monster Design: Cave Brood - Cave Crawler

Hello again,
Firstly, a disclaimer. This is the first post I've ever done, especially in this vein. I'll be working on how I talk about everything and in what sequence, so please bear with me.

Today I bring to you one of my new creations: The Cave Crawler. I'm not as ambitious with this project. I wasn't aiming to re-invent the wheel. I was aiming on making a highly situational creature. In this instance my party was going to wander through a series of caverns and catacombs. I needed something new to go after them with. Initially it was going to be Dread Ghoul Chokers (also feel free to use this one).

I decided that wasn't good enough and set about designing an ambush, apex predator specifically for underground environments. They were inspired by monster movies like "The Descent" and thus I wanted them to be creepy. Something is creepier if it has a certain amount of familiarity, so (instead of simply making them humanoid) I decided to take a race and mutate it.

Here's where the specific environment came into play. The party was entering a mountain range near kobold lands. So originally I was going to make them mutated kobolds. But what would cause kobolds to mutate? After some brainstorming I changed my idea: They weren't kobolds. They were the leftovers of an ancient city of gnomes. Making them gnomes was more disturbing - gnomes are thought of as (typically) kind, relatively harmless creatures. Gnomes and kobolds hate each other as well, which would explain why the gnomes were mutated: they were losing a war and instead of fleeing they attempted to make a better soldier. Desperation caused them to modify gnomes by magically binding them with other creatures, using now lost magic to try to create a climbing predator. These things had enhanced darkvision to be able to keep an eye on the kobolds (light blindness being a genetic flaw from improving their darkvision).

This idea, conceptually, took root in my world. From these "experiments" came two other races: svirfneblin (the leftovers of the surviving member who fled their city; either deeper underground or far afield) and the Chokers - failed mutations that weren't killed. I love tying personal creations into the typical "canon" of the game as I find it helps flesh out the concept - svirfneblin have natural casting ability which could also be a by-product of their mad experimentation.

They couldn't be physical powerhouses because I wanted them to be a "thump in the night" foe more than a straight one-on-one fight, but they'd still need something to enable them to be like that before fleeing. This led to pouncing with rakes. I also wanted them to be able to harm high-DR or heavily armored enemies (their design concept being to kill kobolds and other reptiles that kobolds use as mounts and shocktroopers). From this desire came the special attack: Armor Rending. Its details are below the statblock, as normal.

Comparison: When compared to the original idea (click link above):

• The Dread Ghoul has a higher AC but such pitiful HP that, while it COULD paralyse an enemy, it didn't really have a chance of succeeding. 
• That being said the Dread Ghoul Chokers ("Eater of Dead") would make excellent cannon fodder, but that wasn't what these things were supposed to be. 
• With this custom-tailored beast my group became terrified of the ancient gnome city (even if they could easily kill them) due to the tremendous amount of damage they could deal, then simply flee.

When compared to the Adaro and Adherer (two other CR 3 creatures):

• The Adaro is a straight-forward fighter, but aquatic-based. His natural abilities grant him an edge in his natural area. This last bit is in line with what I wanted for the Cave Crawler. He can climb much better than a typical adventurer, much like an Adaro can swim better than an adventurer can. He also deals more damage and is tougher, but a lower AC and less attacks per round puts the Cave Crawler's damage potential above his own. He has double the Cave Crawler's HP as well as a potential ranged attack, but ultimately the difference in terrain-types (namely, dark and prohibitive versus three-dimensional) makes up for the difference.
• The Adherer is a less obvious comparison: A melee combatant aberration. Aberrations require special abilities to present a good challenge to players - the adherer is an excellent example of punishing players for striking it. It slowly disarms all enemies who fight it (especially if it's a boss and thus fighting 1st or 2nd level characters). Ultimately the Adherer is a much greater defensive creature than the Cave Crawler, but it's whole concept is to survive and fight a group of disarmed players. Cave Crawlers are also situational: whittle down a group until they can be taken in a final pounce where they make quick work of them.

Conclusion: The party became so claustrophobic and terrified (the exact feelings I wanted in a creepy underground city) that almost 6 levels later upon being told they had to return, they almost declined the entire quest-line. So I consider these guys a success.

Next weekend I'll be talking about the Cave Crawler's bigger brothers: Cave Breaker and Cave Quicker (horrible names, but the party never referred to them by name anyways).  Obviously they were designed to impede the party upon returning to the city the second time, doing more than simply passing through. More on that next week.

Newbie minute:

 I figure I'll take a minute to explain to people who don't quite understand why I did XYZ with these creatures, largely assuming that they grasp the rules but don't necessarily have experience making their own creation.

You'll notice two oddities in the below statblock: Weapon Specialization and Favored Enemy. When designing a monster, there are no real limitations. So long as you can justify an ability (such as being engineered to kill specific prey with unnatural physical mutations) and your players are the type who don't want to know exactly what and why, it's merely a matter of making sure it's a balanced creature for it's CR. Always compare your creature to at least two other creatures that fit the same concept (or close enough) and are of the same CR (or even 1 above and 1 below, if you want to make sure it's as close as possible to your target CR).

Any other questions, please either comment or send an e-mail and I'll answer you personally as well as post it up here for everyone else. I live by the adage: "The only stupid question is one unasked."

Cave Crawler CR 3

XP 800
CE Small aberrationInit +8; Senses darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +7

DEFENSE

AC 16, touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 16 (3d8+3)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +6; +1 vs. Illusions

Defensive Abilities Quick Step

Weakness light blindness

OFFENSE

Speed 50 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +6 (1d4+6 plus grab)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Favored enemies (dragon, humanoid (reptilian)) +2, grab (Large), hatred, rake (2 claws +2, 1d4+6 plus armor rending), rend (claws, 1d4+6).

STATISTICS

Str 18, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 17, Cha 9
Base Atk +2; CMB +6 (+10 grappling); CMD 19 
Feats Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Stealth), Weapon Specialization (Claw)^B 
Skills Climb +18, Stealth +17, Survival +11; Racial Modifiers +8 on Climb and Survival. Can always take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed and threatened.
Languages Common, gnome, sylvan.
SQ quickness, scent, acute senses, hatred

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Acute Senses (Ex)
Cave Crawlers receive a +4 bonus on Perception due to exceedingly acute senses.

Armor Rending (Ex)

A cave crawler's hooked talons were designed to shred the scales off large reptiles. However, they work just as well at shredding armor of all kinds as well. Any creature struck by a rake attack has their armor damaged as well as themselves. If the damage renders the armor "broken", then enough damage has been dealt that the significant protector of the armor is stripped off. In addition, if the target has natural armor, that is reduced by 1 for every attack, and DR is reduced by 1 for every attack (even if the attack didn't deal damage). This damage is healed in the same way as ability damage.

Quick Step (Ex)

Cave Crawlers get a +4 dodge bonus to AC against larger enemies due to their heightened agility. This stacks with the size bonus to AC.

Hatred (Ex)

Cave Crawlers receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoids of the reptilian and goblinoid subtypes due to instinctive capabilities endowed by the initial mutations. They also have the ranger special ability "favored enemy" in regards to dragons and reptilian humanoids with a +2 bonus.

Quickness (Su)

A Cave Crawler is supernaturally quick. It can take an extra move action during its turn each round.

ECOLOGY

Environment any underground
Organization solitary, pair, clutch (3–8), pack (5-12), or hive (12-20)
Treasure incidental

Hundreds of years ago a crazed gnomish wizard created what he believed to be the perfect race: agile, strong, and ferocious. These Cave Crawlers were savage and uncontrollable. Their creator was forced to flee, and the Cave Crawlers overran the city.

Today, Cave Crawlers can be found in most deep, dark spaces. They rove in packs and have a rudimentary culture. No prey is too large for a pack of Crawlers; they swarm desired prey and rip through their defenses. Cave Crawlers are patient they stalk their prey, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, They are naturally stealthy, perceptive, and persistent.

Their preferred method of travel is climbing. They feel safer clinging to the rock face than being exposed on the ground below. This leaves them in the ideal position to drop down on their prey. Cave Crawlers skitter along; their sharp claws and long arms allow them to use handholds that other races could not.

Cave Crawlers view kobolds and dragons as their primary targets. They have a deep-rooted hatred stemming from their creation. They will actively hunt for groups of kobolds, and dragons are seen as a choice morsel when presenting to a prospective mate. Crawlers enjoy tormenting dragon-worshipping kobolds by slaughtering and devouring the dragon before turning on the kobolds.

Cave Crawlers fear bright lights. Many go their whole lives without seeing the upper world. They prefer the pitch darkness of their caves. Trespassers bringing light into a Crawlers territory can cause the entire colony to take measures to extinguish the light. Travellers foolish enough to pass through without light also make easy targets. In fact, passing through their territory at all is considered a foolish idea by anyone acquainted with the creatures.