In the process of prepping for last Saturday's session of our gang's big Slumbering Tsar campaign, I sort of landed on a silly tangent of thought when I was going over the Khanjar and his baboon entourage. Ordinarily, there's a veritable horde of the baboons in the dragon's gauntlet--yet as I was eyeballing the map and pondering tweaks for the encounter for our party of heavy hitters (potentially 8 players afield at a time) a peculiar chord struck me. After a fashion, the Khanjar's lair looked a little like a derelict monastery to me--and pulling out books and firing up Hero Lab I was off and running on what turned to be a bizarre but (at least for me) fun twist to the encounter. I wanted to share the results here for anyone else who might find entertainment or use from the fruits of it--but the Khanjar and his baboons took a shift to a dragon and his 'enlightened' monkey monk martial artists practicing dragon style kung-fu!
Setting out, I wanted to be able to field more on the battlefield to divide up attention from the party and give the Khanjar a proper entourage; I really dug the mental image of the many baboons running amok about the place, but there was something mischievous about giving a group of them class levels and a thematic doctrine of sorts. The how for the Khanjar to have brought it about was a bit immaterial--old and powerful dragons are resourceful and clever sorts, so surely he'd have taken care of the details somewhere along the way. The main focus was clear: the enlightened path bespoke the evil that is adventurers, what with their wanton slaying of monsters and subsequent theft of their stuff! Obviously this would serve the Khanjar well in his endeavor to not, himself, be killed--nor to have his stuff taken.
Here is the somewhat terrifying result of this experiment:
KHANJAR DISCIPLE CR 8
Male Ape, Dire Monk (Martial Artist) 6
NN Large Animal
Init +3; Senses Low-Light Vision, Scent; Perception +22
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DEFENSE
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AC 21, touch 17, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, -1 size, +4 natural, +1 dodge)
hp 112 (10d8+40)
Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +11
Defensive Abilities Evasion; Immune fatigue
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OFFENSE
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Spd 50 ft., Climbing (30 feet)
Melee Bite (Ape, Dire) +12 (1d6+12/20/x2) and
Claw x2 (Ape, Dire) +12 x2 (1d4+12/20/x2) and
Rend x2 (Ape, Dire) +12 x2 (1d4+18/20/x2) and
Unarmed Strike +12/+7 (2d6+16/20/x2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Flurry of Blows +4 / +4 / -1
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STATISTICS
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Str 26, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 7
Base Atk +7; CMB +18 (+20 Grappling); CMD 34 (36 vs. Grapple)
Feats Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Dragon Ferocity +4, 1d4+8r, Dragon Style, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Monk Weapon Proficiencies, Power Attack -2/+4, Skill Focus: Perception, Stunning Fist (7/day) (DC 19)
Skills Acrobatics +16, Climb +20, Fly +1, Perception +22
Languages
SQ AC Bonus +4, Exploit Weakness +9 (Ex), Fast Movement (+20'), High Jump (+6) (Ex), Maneuver Training (Ex), Pain Points (Ex), Stunning Fist (Stun, Fatigue) (Ex), Unarmed Strike (1d8)
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SPECIAL ABILITIES
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AC Bonus +4 The Monk adds his Wisdom bonus to AC and CMD, more at higher levels.
Climbing (30 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Deflect Arrows Deflect an incoming arrow once per round.
Dragon Ferocity +4, 1d4+8r Gain bonus on unarmed attacks, and you can cause opponents to be shaken
Dragon Style Gain +2 bonus against sleep, paralysis, and stun effects, and can ignore difficult terrain
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Exploit Weakness +9 (Ex) At 4th level, as a swift action, a martial artist can observe a creature or object to find its weak point by making a Wisdom check and adding his monk level against a DC of 10 + the object's hardness or the target's CR. If the check succeeds, the martial artist gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls until the end of his turn, and any attacks he makes until the end of his turn ignore the creature or object’s DR or hardness. A martial artist may instead use this ability as a swift action to analyze the movements and expressions of one creature within 30 feet, granting a bonus on Sense Motive checks and Reflex saves and a dodge bonus to AC against that opponent equal to 1/2 his monk level until the start of his next turn.
Fast Movement (+20') The Monk adds 10 or more feet to his base speed.
Flurry of Blows +4/ +4 / -1 (Ex) Make Flurry of Blows attack as a full action.
High Jump (+6) (Ex) +6 to Acrobatics checks made to jump.
Immune to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Improved Grapple You grapple at +2, with no attacks of opportunity allowed.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Maneuver Training (Ex) CMB = other BABs + Monk level
Pain Points (Ex) At 3rd level, a martial artist's advanced knowledge of humanoid anatomy grants a +1 bonus on critical hit confirmation rolls and increases the DC of his stunning fist and quivering palm by 1.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Stunning Fist (7/day) (DC 19) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Stunning Fist (Stun, Fatigue) (Ex) At 1st level, the monk gains Stunning Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the monk gains the ability to apply a new condition to the target of his Stunning Fist.
Unarmed Strike (1d8) The Monk does lethal damage with his unarmed strikes.
I just thought it would be fun and spice things up a bit; the party seemed to get a real kick out of fighting baboon martial artists--though the invulnerable rager barbarian was not pleased about Exploit Weakness. In the course of play, things unfolded such that the party ended up getting the idea that the Khanjar and the Blood Mage were rivals on their steppe of Tsar; I decided to roll with that, and as the gang is headed to the Crooked Tower this coming Saturday I figured I would give the Blood Mage a new doorman: a vampiric fiendish dire baboon martial artist monk who was corrupted from the Khanjar's clan, ready to greet adventurers on their way in.
Setting out, I wanted to be able to field more on the battlefield to divide up attention from the party and give the Khanjar a proper entourage; I really dug the mental image of the many baboons running amok about the place, but there was something mischievous about giving a group of them class levels and a thematic doctrine of sorts. The how for the Khanjar to have brought it about was a bit immaterial--old and powerful dragons are resourceful and clever sorts, so surely he'd have taken care of the details somewhere along the way. The main focus was clear: the enlightened path bespoke the evil that is adventurers, what with their wanton slaying of monsters and subsequent theft of their stuff! Obviously this would serve the Khanjar well in his endeavor to not, himself, be killed--nor to have his stuff taken.
Here is the somewhat terrifying result of this experiment:
KHANJAR DISCIPLE CR 8
Male Ape, Dire Monk (Martial Artist) 6
NN Large Animal
Init +3; Senses Low-Light Vision, Scent; Perception +22
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC 21, touch 17, flat-footed 17 (+3 Dex, -1 size, +4 natural, +1 dodge)
hp 112 (10d8+40)
Fort +13, Ref +12, Will +11
Defensive Abilities Evasion; Immune fatigue
--------------------
OFFENSE
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Spd 50 ft., Climbing (30 feet)
Melee Bite (Ape, Dire) +12 (1d6+12/20/x2) and
Claw x2 (Ape, Dire) +12 x2 (1d4+12/20/x2) and
Rend x2 (Ape, Dire) +12 x2 (1d4+18/20/x2) and
Unarmed Strike +12/+7 (2d6+16/20/x2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Flurry of Blows +4 / +4 / -1
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STATISTICS
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Str 26, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 7
Base Atk +7; CMB +18 (+20 Grappling); CMD 34 (36 vs. Grapple)
Feats Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Dragon Ferocity +4, 1d4+8r, Dragon Style, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Monk Weapon Proficiencies, Power Attack -2/+4, Skill Focus: Perception, Stunning Fist (7/day) (DC 19)
Skills Acrobatics +16, Climb +20, Fly +1, Perception +22
Languages
SQ AC Bonus +4, Exploit Weakness +9 (Ex), Fast Movement (+20'), High Jump (+6) (Ex), Maneuver Training (Ex), Pain Points (Ex), Stunning Fist (Stun, Fatigue) (Ex), Unarmed Strike (1d8)
--------------------
SPECIAL ABILITIES
--------------------
AC Bonus +4 The Monk adds his Wisdom bonus to AC and CMD, more at higher levels.
Climbing (30 feet) You have a Climb speed.
Deflect Arrows Deflect an incoming arrow once per round.
Dragon Ferocity +4, 1d4+8r Gain bonus on unarmed attacks, and you can cause opponents to be shaken
Dragon Style Gain +2 bonus against sleep, paralysis, and stun effects, and can ignore difficult terrain
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Exploit Weakness +9 (Ex) At 4th level, as a swift action, a martial artist can observe a creature or object to find its weak point by making a Wisdom check and adding his monk level against a DC of 10 + the object's hardness or the target's CR. If the check succeeds, the martial artist gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls until the end of his turn, and any attacks he makes until the end of his turn ignore the creature or object’s DR or hardness. A martial artist may instead use this ability as a swift action to analyze the movements and expressions of one creature within 30 feet, granting a bonus on Sense Motive checks and Reflex saves and a dodge bonus to AC against that opponent equal to 1/2 his monk level until the start of his next turn.
Fast Movement (+20') The Monk adds 10 or more feet to his base speed.
Flurry of Blows +4/ +4 / -1 (Ex) Make Flurry of Blows attack as a full action.
High Jump (+6) (Ex) +6 to Acrobatics checks made to jump.
Immune to Fatigue You are immune to the fatigued condition.
Improved Grapple You grapple at +2, with no attacks of opportunity allowed.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Maneuver Training (Ex) CMB = other BABs + Monk level
Pain Points (Ex) At 3rd level, a martial artist's advanced knowledge of humanoid anatomy grants a +1 bonus on critical hit confirmation rolls and increases the DC of his stunning fist and quivering palm by 1.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Stunning Fist (7/day) (DC 19) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Stunning Fist (Stun, Fatigue) (Ex) At 1st level, the monk gains Stunning Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the monk gains the ability to apply a new condition to the target of his Stunning Fist.
Unarmed Strike (1d8) The Monk does lethal damage with his unarmed strikes.
I just thought it would be fun and spice things up a bit; the party seemed to get a real kick out of fighting baboon martial artists--though the invulnerable rager barbarian was not pleased about Exploit Weakness. In the course of play, things unfolded such that the party ended up getting the idea that the Khanjar and the Blood Mage were rivals on their steppe of Tsar; I decided to roll with that, and as the gang is headed to the Crooked Tower this coming Saturday I figured I would give the Blood Mage a new doorman: a vampiric fiendish dire baboon martial artist monk who was corrupted from the Khanjar's clan, ready to greet adventurers on their way in.
