Author Topic: Making a War Hulk (Read 4093 times)

DerWille · « **on:** December 12, 2009, 06:20:37 AM »

For upcoming one shot that I plan on DMing I want to send a War Hulk against my players to act as a mini-boss. A hard as hell mini-boss, but a mini-boss. Here's what my group will consist of and what I want him to be.

Group
Players: 3~5 level 7 characters with optimization levels all over the place
All source books allowed, very few things banned (Greenbound is).

The Encounter:
All creatures must be orkz
1 Ork Warhulk with a CR 10 (So 10 levels of stuff)
2 Level 1 trippers (Fighter with Improved Trip, Water Ork with 16 base strength (before racial mods), medium size I expect a +9 to trip on them)

What I want to with him is this:
Water Ork
Barbarian 1/Fighter 1/Ork Paragon 3/War Hulk 5

However the problem with this is that he doesn't meet the War Hulk require of being large. Any ideas on how to make him large?

And also is this encounter too hard? Is it too easy?

bearsarebrown · « **Reply #1 on:** December 12, 2009, 06:43:47 AM »

You could just DM fiat a +1 CR template that makes him large. And give him +4 STR and +4 CON from it... or something.

JaronK · « **Reply #2 on:** December 12, 2009, 06:50:18 AM »

Half Minotaur is a template that makes you large. And it's really really nasty too.

Encounter difficulty depends on the players. A single Glitterdust will effectively end the fight, for example, and anyone smart enough to hide and shoot will take care of things easily.

JaronK

DerWille · « **Reply #3 on:** December 12, 2009, 07:11:45 AM »

bearsarebrown: It's not a bad suggestion, but I dislike DM fiating things. I like to use the same rules my PCs use. It feels fair to me.

JaronK: Nice... that is exactly what I was looking for.

So this is what I was thinking:

Half-Minotaur Water Ork
Barbarian 2/Ork Paragon 3/War Hulk 4
32 point buy (Boss Character is why I'm not using lower point buys or elite array)

Str: 40 = 18 (16 points) +4 (racial) + (4 template) + 2 (levels) + 2 (paragon) + 8 (war hulk) + 2 (size)/ 44 /w rage. So +15 ~ +17
Dex: 10 (2 points)
Con: 20 (10 points)
Int: 4
Wis: 12 (4 points)
Cha: 4

Feats:
Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Trip (From Barb), Knock-Down, any ideas on his last feat?

He's likely to one shot a couple of people it seems.

JaronK · « **Reply #4 on:** December 12, 2009, 07:22:11 AM »

You missed that Half Minotaur gives the normal bonuses for size increase as well, so his strength is much higher. This fight will be easy one way or the other... the War Hulk could drop the party if they don't have the tools to deal with him, or they'll just crush him.

JaronK

Runestar · « **Reply #5 on:** December 12, 2009, 07:32:20 AM »

A permenancied enlarge person should also do the trick.

DerWille · « **Reply #6 on:** December 12, 2009, 07:34:13 AM »

I thought I included the +2 for size at the end of that?

They will have some warning about this encounter since the monster is going to be chained up or in a cage initially. But good heads up on that he could totally take them out quickly. I'll be sure to make sure to only use him if there's someone who can disable him.

My goal is to have a crazy huge berserker ork that will take a person or two out before he goes down and put the fear of god in them. They'll have tools to revive dead party members with (I want everyone to enjoy the one shot) so a death or two isn't bad.

Brainpiercing · « **Reply #7 on:** December 12, 2009, 08:58:17 AM »

Give him Awesome Blow. It's a standard action, so will hardly one-round anyone, but it's a nice deliberate way of laying them flat on their backs one by one. Or else Knockback, to send them flying.

Of course, the wizard can still end the encounter easily.

DerWille · « **Reply #8 on:** December 12, 2009, 09:29:54 AM »

Dude, Awesome Blow is fucking amazing! I like it more than Knock-Down because of the flavor it gives. Is it possible to increase how far they're sent back flying? I want to knock someone 20ish feat back and have them go through the wall of a building or something.

Runestar · « **Reply #9 on:** December 12, 2009, 09:41:54 AM »

Quote

I thought I included the +2 for size at the end of that?

That was what I was confused about. It should either be the half-minotaur template (which is broken as hell and 3.0 to boot) or the enlarge person. So you shouldn't be stacking them both.

VennDygrem · « **Reply #10 on:** December 12, 2009, 01:17:44 PM »

Where are you getting +2 as a size bonus from? Shouldn't he be getting +8 strength as normal for advancing a creature by a size category?

bearsarebrown · « **Reply #11 on:** December 12, 2009, 02:08:22 PM »

Quote from: VennDygrem on December 12, 2009, 01:17:44 PM

Where are you getting +2 as a size bonus from? Shouldn't he be getting +8 strength as normal for advancing a creature by a size category?

He's probably confusing it with the +2 STR from Enlarge Person.

JaronK · « **Reply #12 on:** December 12, 2009, 04:56:38 PM »

Which you can't get with Enlarge Person. Half Minotaur gives the standard increase for going up in size, which is a LOT greater than what Enlarge Person gives (IIRC it's +8 Str, +4 Con, -2 Dex, and some natural AC). See Monster Manual for details. And that's in addition to the stat boosts of the standard template.

Permanent Enlarge Person works too for something less scary, but there's always the possibility that the PCs cast dispel magic... and thus remove his War Hulk abilities.

JaronK

DerWille · « **Reply #13 on:** December 12, 2009, 07:08:11 PM »

Quote from: VennDygrem on December 12, 2009, 01:17:44 PM

Where are you getting +2 as a size bonus from? Shouldn't he be getting +8 strength as normal for advancing a creature by a size category?

You nailed it. I was confusing them. Doing the math again his strength is:

Str: 46 = 18 (points) + 4 (race) + 4 (template) + 8 (size) + 2 (Levels) + 2 (Paragon) + 8 (War Hulk)/50 str /w rage

Is that correct? Thanks guys.

Rebel7284 · « **Reply #14 on:** December 12, 2009, 09:49:52 PM »

That seems to add up fine (and is the reason most PCs should not take Half Minotaur in the early levels.)

bearsarebrown · « **Reply #15 on:** December 12, 2009, 09:54:21 PM »

Quote from: Rebel7284 on December 12, 2009, 09:49:52 PM

That seems to add up fine (and is the reason most PCs should not take Half Minotaur in the early levels.)

large size, 12 strength, 4 con, 4 natural armor, a natural attack, scent and a bonus feat?

Simply put, it's a more powerful template then Half Dragon. for +1 LA.

DerWille · « **Reply #16 on:** December 12, 2009, 10:07:37 PM »

It is ridiculous. It's nifty for a mini-boss, but I'm imagining a Half-Minotaur Water Ork at ECL 2 would be more powerful than most things for a long time. He could start with 34 strength. If I ever did play that he would be going straight for Totem Rager for a grapple master.

altpersona · « **Reply #17 on:** December 12, 2009, 10:25:41 PM »

the last minotaur i faced, as a lvl 2 or 3 barb/sorc?, cleaned my clock...

but, it was my fault.. well, the toons fault..

not all men are created equal.

Surreal · « **Reply #18 on:** December 13, 2009, 08:05:06 PM »

I once tpk'd a party with a dungeoncrashing minotaur. It wasn't pretty.

That said, make the hurler a lycanthrope and abuse those CR calculations

DerWille · « **Reply #19 on:** December 13, 2009, 09:02:48 PM »

A Dungeon Crashing Warhulk? That could... that could be beautiful. Granted it would absolutely TPK my party if they weren't intelligent. It might be too much though. It probably is too much. Triple strength damage...

Quickly calculating...
Half Minotaur Water Ork Fighter 6/War Hulk 3

Str: 42 str is a +16 so... 8d6+48 damage... so 56~96 damage.... I could do that twice potentially.

Also, could I combine the fullround mighty swing with a bullrush? So bullrush the first target then hit the other two? Regardless the dungeon crasher is too ridiculous on damage. He will totally TPK everyone.

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Author Topic: Making a War Hulk (Read 4093 times)