Primal Tyrannosaurus
Huge Magical Beast (Dire)
Hit Dice: 18d10+144 (243 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 21 (–2 size, +1 Dex, +12 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +18/+40
Attack: Bite +30 melee (4d6+14/19–20 plus toxic jaws) or kick +30 melee (3d6+14) or tail-slap +25 melee (2d8+21)
Full Attack: Bite +31 melee (4d6+14/19–20 plus toxic jaws) and kick +25 melee (3d6+7) or bite +31 melee (4d6+14/19–20 plus toxic jaws) and tail-slap +25 melee (2d8+21)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft. (30 ft. with tail)
Special Attacks: frightful presence (
DC19), lashing tail (
DC33 sweep 2d6+14), leaping talons (
2 kicks +30 melee 2×3d6+14), pounce, seize prey, swallow whole, toxic jaws (
DC27), trample (
3d6+14, DC33), worry (
8d6+28)
Special Qualities: Enhanced scent, ignore death, instinctive brute, low-light vision, primal magic resistance (
Immune to ability drain, ability damage, death magic, energy drain, petrifaction and polymorph, SR24 versus stun, paralysis, sleep, unconsciousness and mind-affecting abilities [
except for rage]
, plus SR24 to burst magical barriers and constraints)
Saves: Fort +19, Ref +12, Will +13
Abilities: Str 39, Dex 12, Con 26, Int 1, Wis 15, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +5, Jump +30, Listen +9, Spot +12, Survival +10* [
+14 when tracking by scent]
Feats: Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Power Attack, Track, Weapon Focus (bite)
Environment: Warm forests and plains
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 14
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 19–24 HD (Huge); 25–48 (Gargantuan); 49–96 (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: —
Despite its enormous size and 25,000 pound weight, a Primal
Tyrannosaurus is surprisingly swift and agile. An average Primal
Tyrannosaurus is almost 50 feet long from nose to tail, towering 25 feet in height. Its jaws are nearly 6 feet long, with teeth like razor-sharp steak-knives up to 6 inches in length.
Combat
A Primal
Tyrannosaurus pursues and eats just about anything it sees. Its tactics are simple—charge in and Pounce. It will try to Seize hold of prey so as to Worry big opponents or chew and Swallow minor targets. Primal tyrannosaurs almost never retreat from combat.
Enhanced Scent (Ex): This functions like the scent special quality (q.v.), except that it has double the range of regular scent (60 ft. normally, 120 ft. upwind and 30 ft. downwind), and the Primal
Tyrannosaurus has a +4 racial bonus on scent checks, which stacks with its racial bonus to Survival checks for purposes of tracking.
Frightful Presence (Ex): A Primal
Tyrannosaurus can unsettle foes with its mere presence. The ability takes effect automatically whenever the tyrannosaur attacks, charges, or roars. Creatures within a radius of 10 feet × the tyrannosaur's Hit Dice are subject to the effect if they have fewer HD than the tyrannosaur. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a DC19 Will save remains immune to that tyrannosaur's Frightful Presence for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Ignore Death (Ex): A Primal
Tyrannosaurus possesses an incredible vitality that allows it to fight without penalty while at negative hit points, it also automatically makes any checks to become stable when it's in the dying condition. At the end of each round a Primal
Tyrannosaurus is in negative hit points, the tyrannosaur must make a Fortitude check against a DC of DC of 10 plus 1 for every 10 negative hit points. If it fails, its ability to Ignore Death ends and it suffers the normal consequences of its negative hit points — disabled, dying or dead. A Primal
Tyrannosaurus at –10 hit points or lower will take an additional 10 hit points of damage per round from its mortal wounds, applied just before it makes its Ignore Death check.
Ignore Death does not allow a Primal
Tyrannosaurus to ignore the purely mechanical consequences of a wound. If one were to be decapitated by a vorpal sword, for example, its head would only be able to snap and glower impotently as it lay on the ground, while the rest of its body staggers about blindly like the world's scariest headless chicken.
Furthermore, a Primal
Tyrannosaurus's life force is so strongly tied to its body they are exceptionally easy to raise from the dead. A
raise dead spell cast on a Primal
Tyrannosaurus is as effective as a
resurrection, while a
resurrection or higher spell can revive a Primal
Tyrannosaurus regardless of how long it has been dead, even from fossilized remains that are millions of years old.
Instinctive Brute (Ex): Any effect that controls a Primal
Tyrannosaurus's behaviour can only cause it to take actions that accord with its natural behaviour — basically hunt, fight, kill, eat and mate. If an outside agent orders it to, say, pass a meal when its hungry or pick some flowers, its primitive nervous system is literally incapable of processing the command.
Furthermore, a Primal
Tyrannosaurus can continue acting if one of its mental attributes (Int, Wis or Cha) is reduced to zero, becoming a blind, mindless or characterless engine of destruction. It can be difficult to tell the difference.
A word of warning; the closest a Primal
Tyrannosaurus has to the concept "friend" is that of "mate". Therefore placing a charm effect on one of these monsters can result in an unpleasant misunderstanding, or at worst a shocking experience!
Lashing Tail (Ex): A Primal
Tyrannosaurus's tail has double the reach of a creature of its size. Its tail attack rolls are always penalized as if they were secondary attacks, even if it is the only attack they make in a round. Its tail-slap attacks apply 1½ times its damage bonus from strength.
The Primal
Tyrannosaurus can also make a tail sweep attack as a standard action. The sweep affects a half-circle with a radius of 30 feet (40 feet for a Gargantuan tyrannosaur, 60 feet Colossal one), extending from an intersection on the edge of the tyrannosaur's space in any direction. The tail-sweep automatically inflicts 2d6+14 damage to all creatures within the affected area that are two or more sizes smaller than the tyrannosaur, halved if they make a DC 33 Reflex save.
The save DC is Strength-based.
Leaping Talons (Ex): As a full round action, a Primal
Tyrannosaurus can jump to make two kick attacks, each kick is a +30 melee attack doing 3d6+14 damage. It can take 10 on its jump check, so an average Primal
Tyrannosaurus can leap 40 feet horizontally, and can move up to a double move before attacking.
A Primal
Tyrannosaurus can attack two separate targets with Leaping Talons if they are both within a space no wider than the tyrannosaur's reach. If the tyrannosaur uses both of its Leaping Talons' kick attacks against a creature two or more size categories smaller than itself it rolls for each attack but can only use the best result, since it can not strike such a lesser foe simultaneously with both feet.
Pounce (Ex): If a Primal
Tyrannosaurus charges a foe, it can make a kick and a bite attack, including a Swallow Whole attempt if it succeeds in Seize Prey with the bite.
Primal Magic Resistance (Su): A Primal
Tyrannosaurus is driven by primeval forces from before the dawn of magic, rendering them highly resistant to supernatural effects.
All Primal
Tyrannosaurus are immune to any magical effect that alters its physical form, including ability drain, ability damage, death magic, energy drain, insanity, petrifaction and polymorph.
A Primal
Tyrannosaurus has a spell resistance of 15 plus half its hit dice (SR24) against magical effects that cause paralysis, poison, stun, sleep or unconsciousness as well as mind-affecting abilities such as charm, fear and pain with the exception of rage effects, which affect it normally.
Note that a Primal
Tyrannosaurus has no special resistance to non-magical poison or extraordinary attacks against abilities, such as blood drain.
Finally, a Primal
Tyrannosaurus can attempt to burst out of any form of magical restraint with a swift action, whether the restraint is physical such as a
resilient sphere or mental such as
dominate monster. This requires a successful spell resistance check, even if the effect does not normally allow spell resistance, such as the
wall of force spell. The
Tyrannosaurus can make no more than one such attempt per round.
A Primal
Tyrannosaurus will automatically try to burst any magical restraints it is under if it takes damage or perceives a rival or threat, even if it is magically denied its normal ability to declare actions by an effect such as paralysis, unconsciousness or domination.
Seize Prey (Ex): The Primal
Tyrannosaurus can choose to start a grapple when it hits with a kick or bite attack, as though it had the improved grab special attack. If it gets a hold it can make a Worry attack on subsequent rounds. If the tyrannosaur gets a hold on a creature two or more sizes smaller, on subsequent rounds it can also opt to squeeze the creature for automatic bite or kick damage, or make a Swallow Whole attack against a creature held in its jaws.
A Primal
Tyrannosaurus can seize two such lesser prey simultaneously, one in its jaws and one under a foot. The tyrannosaur is not considered flat-footed while seizing lesser prey and can attack into its threatened squares normally, including Attacks of Opportunity, although it has a –20 penalty on its grapple checks against its seized prey during rounds it attacks other foes and cannot make opportunity attacks with a natural weapon while it uses it to seize prey (i.e. it can only bite the opponent held in its jaws, not other foes).
The Primal
Tyrannosaurus can move normally with a lesser victim held in its jaws. If it has a lesser prey seized in a foot it must make a grapple check as if moving with a pinned opponent, which counts as a Move action for the
Tyrannosaurus instead of a standard action as per the basic grapple rules.
The
Tyrannosaurus can drop a creature it has seized as a free action or use a standard action to fling it aside. A flung creature travels 1d6 × 10 feet, and takes 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet travelled.
Swallow Whole (Ex): A Primal
Tyrannosaurus can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to two sizes smaller by making a successful grapple check. The swallowed creature takes 2d8+14 points of bludgeoning damage and 8 points of acid damage per round from the tyrannosaur’s gizzard. A swallowed creature can use a light slashing or piercing weapon to attack the gizzard (AC 16), if they deal 40 points of damage the
Tyrannosaurus will spit them out. Only the creature that inflicted the damage exits; another swallowed opponent must force its own way out.
A Huge Primal
Tyrannosaurus’s gizzard can hold 2 Medium, 8 Small, 32 Tiny, or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents.
Toxic Jaws (Ex): A Primal
Tyrannosaurus's fangs are swimming in toxic bacteria and stained with the deliquescing remains of its victims. Any creature bitten or worried by the
Tyrannosaurus must make a DC 27 Fortitude save or contract the disease festering death. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Festering death — bite, Fortitude DC 27, incubation period 1d3 hours; damage 1d6 Str and 1d6 Con.
Trample (Ex): Reflex half DC 33. The save DC is Strength-based.
Worry (Ex): A Primal
Tyrannosaurus can inflict 8d6+28 damage plus its Toxic Jaws attack by making a successful grapple check against a held opponent, tearing at its victim with its jaws and foreclaws. It can make a Worry attack instead of a regular bite attack when it makes a full attack with its bite and a tail-slap or kick.
A worry attack does the same damage as a critical hit from the Primal
Tyrannosaurus's bite attack, including the Toxic Jaws effect. Should the bite attack have some additional effect it inflicts on a critical hit, the Primal
Tyrannosaurus will inflict that with a worry attack if it rolls a 19–20 on its grapple check and then "confirms the critical" with a +31 melee attack.
Skills: A Primal
Tyrannosaurus has a +10 racial bonus on Jump checks, a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks, a +4 racial bonus on Spot and Survival checks and a +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
The Nightmare King (Maximized Primal Tyrannosaurus)
Colossal Magical Beast (Dire)
Hit Dice: 96d10+1344 (1872 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 28 (–8 size, +5 Dex, +21 natural) touch 7, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +96/+140
Attack: Bite +115 melee (6d6+26/17–20 plus toxic jaws and devastating critical) or kick +114 melee (5d6+26) or tail-slap +114 melee (4d8+39)
Full Attack: Bite +115 melee (6d6+26/17–20 plus toxic jaws and devastating critical) and kick +109 melee (5d6+13) or bite +115 melee (6d6+26/17–20 plus toxic jaws and devastating critical) and tail-slap +109 melee (4d8+39)
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 30, enhanced scent, fast healing 30, ignore death, instinctive brute, low-light vision, primal magic resistance (
Immune to ability drain, ability damage, death magic, energy drain, petrifaction and polymorph, SR63 versus stun, paralysis, sleep, unconsciousness and mind-affecting abilities [
except for rage]
, plus SR63 to burst magical barriers and constraints)
Saves: Fort +64, Ref +59, Will +57
Abilities: Str 62, Dex 20, Con 38, Int 1, Wis 16, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +15, Jump +60, Listen +35, Spot +35, Survival +20* [
+24 when tracking by scent]
Feats: Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Improved Critical (bite), Power Attack, Track, Weapon Focus (bite)
Epic Feats: Damage Reduction ×10, Epic Reflexes, Epic Will, Devastating Critical (bite), Fast Healing ×10, Great Wisdom, Overwhelming Critical (bite)
Environment: Warm forests and plains
Organization: Solitary (thank Pelor!)
Challenge Rating: 42
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —
There may only be one of these enormous monsters in existence, called The Nightmare King by some and worshipped as a God of Death by others, this creature may be the largest and most powerful natural being in the land, unless those legends about a 160 foot tall ape are true.
No sage has ever succeeded in measuring the Nightmare King, some estimates of its size exceed 200 feet in length and 1,000 tons in weight.
Note that due to the Nightmare King's Ignore Death and Fast Healing abilities even if its negative hit points are reduced past death it will heal at 20 hit points per round so long as it succeeds on its Ignore Death Fortitude saves. Rumour insists the Nightmare King is a living immortal, able to survive and heal back from any injury.
If the Nightmare king rolls 17–20 on its grapple check when making a Worry attack it threatens a critical, which includes the effects of its Overwhelming Critical and Devastating Critical feats, if confirmed with a +115 melee attack the critical results in 13d6+52 damage and a DC84 Fort save versus death instead of the worry's regular 12d6+52 damage.
Design Notes
See the thread Modifying Under Performing SRD Monsters, or "Building A Better Otyugh" for the original Enworld forum discussion on this monster and how to "improve" the SRD Tyrannosaurus.
Build Notes
Abilities: Str 39, Dex 12, Con 26, Int 1, Wis 15, Cha 10?
Skill Ranks (21 SPs): Hide 4S+8R+1Dex–8size, Jump 2S+14Str+10R+4speed, Listen 5S+2R+2Wis, Spot 6S+4R+2Wis, Survival 4S+4R+2Wis
=> Skills: Hide +5, Jump +30, Listen +9, Spot +12, Survival +10* [+14 when tracking by scent]
The Epic version will have fast healing and damage reduction. Oh boy!
Abilities: Str 62, Dex 20, Con 38, Int 1, Wis 16, Cha 10
Skills Ranks (99 SPs): Hide 18S+8R+5Dex–16size, Jump 10S+26Str+10R+4speed, Listen 30S+2R+3Wis, Spot 28S+4R+3Wis, Survival 13S+4R+3Wis
=> Skills: Hide +15, Jump +60, Listen +35, Spot +35, Survival +20* [+24 when tracking by scent].
33 feats
Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Improved Critical (bite), Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Track, Weapon Focus (bite)
Damage Reduction ×10, Epic Reflexes, Epic Will, Devastating Critical (bite), Fast Healing ×10, Great Wisdom, Overwhelming Critical (bite)
Devastating Critical (+1d6 damage and DC58+26 Fort save vs death = DC 84)
size increase +16 Str, +8 Con
19 ability increases from Advancement – +7 Str,+8 Dex, +4 Con
