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View Full Version : The Peryton - New Awnshegh CR5



Thomas_Percy
08-21-2006, 03:41 PM
Any comments appreciated.

cutenfluffy
08-22-2006, 02:40 AM
Firstly, it is spelt 'awnshegh'. They are also unique, so it would be nice to read about her history, who she was, how she became corrupted etc so we can gauge her motivations etc.

secondly, the numbers:
- that is a lot of hit points for only 5 HD.
- that is a really impressive stat line for a 5 HD creature
- SR 15 is strong particularly on a FLYING creature for CR 5.
- the feat listed seem designed to optimise the creature, as if the Pteryon has been awnshegh since 1st level?

thirdly, Birthright is low magic. the basic description should be listed with non magical equivalents and you should leave it to GMs to add in stuff as they want.

finally, being able to polymorph (or whatever) into a human form seems less angsty than being stuck with a pair of wings sticking out your back and claws for hands. The no shadow thing is kinda interesting but I don't see how it fits into the concept of 'winged terror' or whatever you had in mind when you wrote the creature up.

hope something here proves helpful.

geeman
08-22-2006, 06:03 AM
At 07:40 PM 8/21/2006, cutenfluffy wrote:

>They are also unique, so it would be nice to read about her history,
>who she was, how she became corrupted etc so we can gauge her motivations etc.

I just wanted to chime in with a note of support for CnF`s comment
here. Awnsheghlien are all about the background. Because they are
unique monsters their background is all the more important. They
should not be treated as throw away creatures by any means. In BR we
often assume that even the most "common" D&D magic items are rare and
unique. They have names, reputations, backgrounds, etc. The
awnsheghlien of the setting are even more significant in this regard.

For instance, one of the legends about the peryton is that it is the
manifestation of a murderer`s soul in a stag`s
body.... Hmm.... Sounds like there`s an origin story is in
there. A stag performs bloodtheft (with it`s antlers) upon a
murderous second son of a noble house who was driven into the
wilderness when his crime was discovered. As the young man (let`s
call him Malfoy for the moment, shall we?) wandered half-starved in
the woods he attacked the beast with a sword out of desperation and
the creature ran him through the chest in self-defense. The creature
might be a special stag. The local "questing beast" if you
will. Malfoy`s body fell dead, but his soul and bloodline were
transferred into the animal and he became a hideous mixture of man
and beast, ravenous for human flesh, particularly that of scions.

I don`t know how growing wings quite fits into that, but c`est la vie.

There are also legends about perytons being from Atlantis, and that
they were responsible for the downfall of Rome. In BR terms, that
could make the event take place on some far flung island or now
defunct Cerilian realm.

In this particular case, I`d avoid naming the awnshegh "Peryton"
straight out.

>finally, being able to polymorph (or whatever) into a human form
>seems less angsty than being stuck with a pair of wings sticking out
>your back and claws for hands.

Yes, one should be very careful with allowing an awnshegh to shrug
off the effects of their transformation unless it is for a particular
purpose. The White Witch`s ability, for instance, appears to be
based on a magic item, rather than her own powers--and that ability
is written into the character description, background and theme so it
makes sense that she is able to do it. (She`s a kind of "hag" or
Baba Yaga kind of character and that`s something those characters are
able to do.)

The Blood Ability Point system that I use to develop awnsheghlien has
a power called "Unshegh" that has the following write up:

Unshegh 1: You are able to temporarily shrug off the effects of your
awnshegh transformation, returning to your unaltered base
form. Taking on your base form requires a full round action and a
successful Will save (DC 10 + awnshegh level.) You remain in your
non-transformed shape for 1 minute per wisdom point. While in human
form you retain your hp, BAB and saves from levels taken in the
awnshegh character class, but lose any effects from transformations,
disadvantages and bonus BP. You may voluntarily return to your
"normal" awnshegh form at any time, but the change requires a full
round action. Returning to your awnshegh form at the end of the
transformation`s duration also is a full round action.

Unshegh 2: You get a +5 bonus to your Will save to return to human
form, and the effects of a successful will save is increased to ten
minutes per wisdom point.

Unshegh 3: You get an additional +5 bonus to your will save and
increases the time that you remain in your base form to 1 hour per
wisdom point.

Unshegh 4+: Taking the Unshegh transformation a fourth time (or more)
continues to give you +5 on your will save, but does not increase the
time that you remain in your base form.

Unshegh 5+: Your transformation between your awnshegh form and base
form becomes a free action.

>The no shadow thing is kinda interesting but I don`t see how it fits
>into the concept of `winged terror` or whatever you had in mind when
>you wrote the creature up.

It`s cute in a BR way to describe a character that way since the
blood of Azrai has the whole connection to the SW issue and all. I
don`t know if that would exactly make them cast no shadow, but it`s
an idea. According to legend the peryton casts a human-like
shadow. In this case, I think it might be more appropriate if the
monster can manipulate shadows (to be human-like or whatever as it
likes) rather than not cast one at all.

Gary

Thomas_Percy
08-22-2006, 10:14 AM
Thanks for comments.

This awnshegh due to her "shapechange", "shadow of the last victim", and potion of nondetection abilities is designed to low-level detective game sessions.

I keep The Peryton "transparent and generic" awnshegh without any history because of two reasons:
1. It's a minor awnshegh, any anyone can fill her background according to his setting.
2. I can't tell nothing more, because my players read this board and The Peryton is... alive, active awnshegh, one of their neighbours.

Magic items. You can replace amulet of mighty fists+1 with inherent, Extraordinary ability to use her natural attacks as magical weapons. You can delete longbow+1 or replace it with a few arrows+1.

How I create this awnshegh?
I added to veteran knight (Ftr4) one level equivalent of monk (BAB, saves, all class skills, no abilities). Then I added weakened half-dragon/half-fiend template. Finally, I added the flavour of peryton monster from MoF.

I doubt, a CR of this lady shouldn't be CR6 instead of CR5?

geeman
08-23-2006, 02:15 AM
At 03:14 AM 8/22/2006, Thomas_Percy wrote:

>1. It`s a minor awnshegh, any anyone can fill her background
>according to his setting.
>
>2. I can`t tell nothing more, because my players read this board and
>The Peryton is... alive, active awnshegh, one of their neighbours.

Do you have a write up for the character`s background that you`re not
sharing in order to keep it away from your players?

Gary

Thomas_Percy
08-24-2006, 09:39 PM
Yes, but it's really nothing unusually unconventional (what is nothing strange with CR5 NPC), and nothing such cool that every DM can design in less than five minutes.

matthewpm
10-16-2006, 01:18 AM
and used to 3.5, so I can't comment on your posting -- its focus are statistics that I'm just beginning to understand.

At the least, I think it's sweet that you're using the peryton creature as an inspiration -- one of the most interesting and under-utilized terrors in the game. I was just wondering, today, how to work them into my own world, right before seeing your post. Small world, huh?

kgauck
10-16-2006, 01:38 AM
One thing that we sometimes see in folklore is that the creature of lore is only fully powerful when in its natural form, and when appearing like a person, its essentially mortal. The White Witch has some of this flavor, so you may not want to go this way, but then again it might be something which works well enough to be used more than once, especially if this abomination is no where near the Rjurik highlands.

Do tell us more after your players encounter the creature and the peryton is a known entity.