Fey cat (winged kitty)

[kirinke]

I used the basic Cat from the monster manual and modified it. hope you enjoy.

FEY CAT
Magical beast
Hit Dice: 4d6 (15hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 60 (average)
Armor Class: 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/-8
Attack:Claw +4 melee (1d2–4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +4 melee (1d4-1) and bite –1 melee (1d4-1)
Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: pounce, grab, rake, trip (each 1d4-1)
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, Good Reflex and Will saves, Detect evil.
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +2
Abilities: Str 3, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 7
Skills: Balance +10, Climb +6, Hide +14*, Jump +10, Listen +3, Move Silently +6, Spot +3
Feats: Weapon Finesse (racial feat). dodge. track.
Environment: Temperate forests
Organization: Domesticated or solitary
Challenge Rating: 1?
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

Combat
Fey cats look like Siamese cats, save for a pair of fully functional feathery wings sprouting from their shoulders. They prefer to sneak up on their prey and can be trained as effective guard animals. Fey cats are slightly smarter than normal cats and can speak a bit of elvish, at least enough to let their allies know of any danger lurking about (such as orcs, goblins etc). They are also longer lived and most reach ages up to 110 years.

Skills: Fey Cats have a +4 racial bonus on Climb, Survival, Hide, and Move Silently checks and a +8 racial bonus on Jump checks. Fey Cats have a +8 racial bonus on Balance checks. They use their Dexterity modifier instead of their Strength modifier for Climb and Jump checks. *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus rises to +8.

 

[Nifft]

Woah! That's a lot of goodies for a 1 HD, 1/4 CR critter!

Type: is it supposed to be an Animal? I'd make it of type Fey or Magical Beast. Fey get a lot more skill points, but only a d6 HD. Suggestion: make it type Fey.

Max HP -- whaaa? And a full HD? This is a TINY critter, right? Correction: make it 1/2 max hp.

Fly 60 (perfect) -- this is just crazy talk. (Perfect) is for things that fly magically and literally have perfect control of their motion -- they can stop, make 90 degree turns without slowing down, move at full speed straight up, etc. -- things like Lantern Archons and Beholders. Not things with wings. Secondly, your (perfect) kitty will NOT need Wingover or Hover. Suggestion: tame it back to (average).

I assume "Stoop" should be "Swoop", but in either case, it seems like an odd ability for a little kitty. "Pounce" might be better, since it's what larger cats get -- Lions, Panthers, etc. -- and it's an existing mechanism.

SQ: Some are good, but some are vastly overpowered. Detect Evil? And then do what, "meow" until the nice Elves kill the evil? Darkvision 120 ft. is what Drow get. Drow are evil magic critters that live in darkness all the time. These cats should NOT get that level of 'weapons-grade' Darkvision... in fact, I don't think they should get ANY Darkvision. Do other Fey critters get Darkvision? I don't know of any that do. Scent would be useful if the kitty had any ranks in Survival, and the Track Feat.

Feats: he's got one HD, so he gets one Feat. I think that Weapon Finesse should be a racial bonus Feat, as it is for the Cat, so list it with a (B) appended. Now he's got one Feat left. Track would be good, as would Alertness or Dodge.

Final suggestion: let it speak Sylvan, but add a note that it's really dumb and can communicate only the most basic information -- eg: "Bad orc! Village fire!", "Come see nice tree lady?", "Food?", and "Would it be too much to ask that you scratch behind my ears? Oh, purrrr, purr, I say, purr!"

-- N

 

[kirinke]

ty. i'm still learning and thankies for the feedback.

i made some modifications to it. Since it can speak a bit of elvish, i suspect the detect evil would be reasonable (it can say Nasties! Come! Quick! Come now!) as it does a little jumpy dance or something.

 

[Gez]

Reminds me of the Tressym.

Back in 2e, they had above average intelligence (around 12, IIRC), and could detect poison (and were immune to it). When taken as familiar, they warned their masters when poisoned food or stuff was nearby.

In 3e, they wanted to make them animals rather than magical beast, so they've been mightily shafted. They're found in the FRCS.

 

[Nifft]

Okay, critique of the new one follows:

Magical beast (Fey subtype)

It should be either a Magical Beast or a Fey -- there is no Fey sub-type. Sorry if I wasn't clear before. I suggest that it be a Fey, since it has magical abilities that aren't combat-oriented.

Hit Dice: 3d6 (18hp)

Always list average hp, not max hp. In this case, it would have 10 hp. (Average for a d6 = 3.5, and 3.5 * 3 = 10.5, and in D&D you always round down.)

Special Attacks: pounce (2x normal damage)

Pounce allows a cat-critter to make a full attack when charging (instead of only making a single attack). Check out the Leopard entry, it spells out the exact rules.

Feats: Weapon Finesse (racial feat). dodge. track. alertness

It only gets 2 Feats, since it only has 3 HD.


-- N

 

[kirinke]

whoot. changed it 2 four hd.
also gave it pounce, grab and rake (scratch)
improved trip (hay, its a cat and cats are great at tripping things.)

 

[Nifft]

whoot. changed it 2 four hd.
also gave it pounce, grab and rake (scratch)
improved trip (hay, its a cat and cats are great at tripping things.)

You don't get your 3rd Feat until 6 HD -- same for PCs, who call HD "levels".

I wouldn't give it all those special -- seriously, what's it going to grab, with a -12 Grapple check?

Pounce & Rake I could sort-of see.

Improved Trip?! With a -12 Trip check?

Oh well, your game...

-- N

 

[kirinke]

sry, typo. i meant trip
as far as the grab, i was thinking small game and or as an attack, leap on someone's back, dig in and start clawing. or better still, fly up to a good height, then drop on someone's unprotected head and start clawing. of course, that wouldn't last long, as the target could easily grab the kitty and fling, but that's where the dodge would come in.

but i do appreciate the feedback. as you can see, i am taking it into consideration.

 

[Grazzt]

I used the basic Cat from the monster manual and modified it. hope you enjoy.

FEY CAT
Magical beast
Hit Dice: 4d6 (15hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 60 (average)
Armor Class: 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/–12

Base Attack should be +4. Magical beasts have a BAB equal to their HD. Also, if the "grab" ability you listed below under SA is "improved grab" then it doesnt take a size penalty to its grapple bonus.

Attack:Claw +4 melee (1d2–4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +4 melee (1d4-1) and bite –1 melee (1d4-1)

Attack should be +8. (+4 BAB, +2 size, +2 Dex [Weapon Finesse])

Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1

Magical beasts have good Fort and Ref saves; poor Will saves. Base saves for this monster should be +4, +4, +1. Add in ability bonuses, its saves should be listed as: Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +2

 

[Tewligan]

Isn't 4 hit dice an awful lot for a cat? I'm assuming it's housecat sized.