Iron_Chef
First Post
Okay, this undead monster is basically just a skeleton with a paralysis tongue. Woo. Terrible. And completely ineffective in combat, I've found, for a creature of its supposed CR/HD.
How do we fix this? Feat selection. The 3e designers did the monsters all wrong. Some have too many feats, some too few, but most suffer from suboptimal ones (power attack, cleave). Supposing that monsters advance as characters, they should get 1 feat every three levels. That leaves our friend the Mohrg two feats shy of what he should have. Poor little guy!
Therefore, we add Spring Attack and Extended Reach to its MM list of Dodge, Improved Initiative and Mobility. Now, the mohrg can spring attack and its tongue has a 10 ft. reach to boot! Ouch. I'd give it whirlwind attack, but its not smart enough to qualify.
Presto! Monster improved. To tinker further, we could make the Mohrg fulfill a more useful role in the game world. Instead of being the restless corpse of a murderer as stated in the MM, we could make it a chosen disciple of a death god (such as Orcus, Nerull, Myrkul, etc.) reanimated and sent on a mission to spread the curse of undeath across the land. Now, the mohrg is suddenly looking much cooler in terms of its backstory. Taking this one step further, rather than only zombies, the mohrg could create different types of corporeal undead from the bodies it kills... with the victim's HD the determining factor:
1 HD or less: Zombie
2-3 HD: Ghoul
4 HD: Wight
5 HD or more: Vampire
Now the mohrg would have a variety of powerful undead slaves under its control. By the time the characters are tough enough to face a mohrg, they are not threatened by mere zombies. Giving it the power to make more useful slaves is practically a necessity if it is to pose a threat to the party or make for a more interesting and long-term adversary. Upping the poor thing's Int and Wis would help as well, providing it a better skill level and ability to plot. And qualifying it for whirlwind attack!
OPTIONS THAT OCCURRED TO ME WHILE WRITING THIS POST:
Another option is for its tongue tendril to inflict 1d4 points of CON damage from blood drain each round it maintains its hold on a paralyzed victim. The tongue would be considered an automatic hit/grapple upon an already paralyzed foe maybe. The tongue could be hit like a Grell's tentacle when used in this fashion, but would regrow in a day (as a Grell). Or we could let its slam attacks do energy drain...
How do we fix this? Feat selection. The 3e designers did the monsters all wrong. Some have too many feats, some too few, but most suffer from suboptimal ones (power attack, cleave). Supposing that monsters advance as characters, they should get 1 feat every three levels. That leaves our friend the Mohrg two feats shy of what he should have. Poor little guy!
Therefore, we add Spring Attack and Extended Reach to its MM list of Dodge, Improved Initiative and Mobility. Now, the mohrg can spring attack and its tongue has a 10 ft. reach to boot! Ouch. I'd give it whirlwind attack, but its not smart enough to qualify.
Presto! Monster improved. To tinker further, we could make the Mohrg fulfill a more useful role in the game world. Instead of being the restless corpse of a murderer as stated in the MM, we could make it a chosen disciple of a death god (such as Orcus, Nerull, Myrkul, etc.) reanimated and sent on a mission to spread the curse of undeath across the land. Now, the mohrg is suddenly looking much cooler in terms of its backstory. Taking this one step further, rather than only zombies, the mohrg could create different types of corporeal undead from the bodies it kills... with the victim's HD the determining factor:
1 HD or less: Zombie
2-3 HD: Ghoul
4 HD: Wight
5 HD or more: Vampire
Now the mohrg would have a variety of powerful undead slaves under its control. By the time the characters are tough enough to face a mohrg, they are not threatened by mere zombies. Giving it the power to make more useful slaves is practically a necessity if it is to pose a threat to the party or make for a more interesting and long-term adversary. Upping the poor thing's Int and Wis would help as well, providing it a better skill level and ability to plot. And qualifying it for whirlwind attack!
OPTIONS THAT OCCURRED TO ME WHILE WRITING THIS POST:
Another option is for its tongue tendril to inflict 1d4 points of CON damage from blood drain each round it maintains its hold on a paralyzed victim. The tongue would be considered an automatic hit/grapple upon an already paralyzed foe maybe. The tongue could be hit like a Grell's tentacle when used in this fashion, but would regrow in a day (as a Grell). Or we could let its slam attacks do energy drain...
Last edited:
