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| Calloch, the Vampire Dragon. Created using WotC's Adventure Tools program. |
Truth is, I read a really cool comic adaptation of Dracula last week, and this idea's been brewing in my head ever since. I loved the way the vampire of Stoker's story is a psychological monster. The way he manipulates and controls his victims. The way he's a capable combatant but more than that, he's a master manipulator. And I thought, would't it be cool if we had that in a dragon?
Voila!
I considered making this a Paragon Tier monster, but all the cool kids are innovating monsters for the Epic Tier, and more to the point, I don't have time to work ol' Calloch into my campaign right now. And that's a problem because a monster like this, in my opinion, needs to be a real focal point of the campaign. Just as he manipulates the combat, so too he needs to control the PCs, set them to do his bidding, and really work towards their eventual destruction.
So, what do you think? Viable villain here, or is this just too, too much all at the same time?
Hey there. I noticed a few things. In the claw attack, you still have a reference to a dracolich. Also the breathe weapon doesn't have any damage dice associated with it.
ReplyDeleteThe Betraying Gaze power seems a bit powerful. First, it's a minor action, which means it can be used three times during its turn (plus the Instictive Domination, so four times). Next it is a burst 5, which is effectively the whole battle field. Does it affect everyone or enemies only? Next, the attack it forces is an at-will power vs. a basic attack. Who choses the power as every character has multiple at-wills?
That power alone could be very rough. With a +29 vs. Will, it will hit a lot. You might consider making it a standard action or at least reducing it to once per round (plus Instinctive Dominiation).
I really like the aura and it's effect from radiant damage. That said, I wonder if it has enough hit points. It has a good set of defenses, so maybe that is adequate. The Sellswords hardly specialize in radiant damage, but there is a fair bit which will add substantially to the damage done. I checked out other creatures of that level and its defenses, hit points, and attack bonuses seem to be on par with other creatures of that level, so I guess that will be alright.
Y'know Eric, I'm starting to think I should send these to you before posting them.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to your question, the Betraying Gaze is a Burst 5 targeting one creature in the burst. I should also add that the monster can use it once per turn, making it at most a twice-per-round occurrence.
The hit points are per the recommended amount in the Monster Builder. I'd've thought that'd work, but honestly, who knows?