Located here (http://i0.wp.com/www.critical-hits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Bulette.jpg), as the image is too freaking big for me to embed directly without breaking all of your phones lol
I like the art for it. And damn, they turned it into a flying bowling ball of sorts. Odd for a burrowing creature, but whatevs...
...Candygram!
I think someone at WoTC has been watching way to many SyFy shark movies...
Bullettenado!
Hi - what's makes it a flying bowling ball? They've been leapers since Dragon#1, and they added the flying foot attack in the original Monster Manual.
I like that they've dropped them from Huge to Large, bringing them back towards their original proportions.
Quote from: Dangersaurus;779715Hi - what's makes it a flying bowling ball? They've been leapers since Dragon#1, and they added the flying foot attack in the original Monster Manual.
I like that they've dropped them from Huge to Large, bringing them back towards their original proportions.
in 1e and 2e, they could only jump 8 feet...
5e?
Standing Jump: 30 feet long jump or 15 foot high jump with or without a running start.
Deadly Leap: 15 feet
I don't know off hand what it was in 3.x or 4e, but compared to 1e/2e... This thing is a flyer...
Not too keen on the art.
Otherwise ok. Allmost like someone was a Gamera fan... Put a knife blade for a head and good to go.
Between the Tarrasque and the Bulette, I am deeply unimpressed with the MM. The art is blah, the flavor fluff is okay, but feels recylced, and the stats don't inspire. During the playtest, I was really advocating for making monsters more unique, more variety, more variants. Shame they went in the other direction.
The flavor fluff does offer adventure seeds however, and that's a good thing.
Notice the strange language in the Deadly Leap section. Odd references to being pushed out of a space into unoccupied space. Doesn't jive with the theater of the mind focus, odd 4e-leftover.
Quote from: YourSwordisMine;779745in 1e and 2e, they could only jump 8 feet...
5e?
Standing Jump: 30 feet long jump or 15 foot high jump with or without a running start.
Deadly Leap: 15 feet
I don't know off hand what it was in 3.x or 4e, but compared to 1e/2e... This thing is a flyer...
That long jump is pretty amazing, they averaged around that in 3.5, but could top out around 40 feet. I wasn't really talking about specific numbers, though... just that it's always been able to do it to some degree. The way I've run them over the years is to:
Round 1: jump out of the ground and bite/claw/claw
Round 2: if damaged, hop on you until you die.
Looking at the artwork, how does it chew its victims?
Quote from: jeff37923;779965Looking at the artwork, how does it chew its victims?
I figure it doesn't, just chops them up with that big serrated beak and swallows, not unlike a vulture.
Quote from: jeff37923;779965Looking at the artwork, how does it chew its victims?
Yeah. It looks more like a plant than a land-shark...
Quote from: omega;780034yeah. It looks more like a plant than a land-shark...
feed me seymour!
Maybe the armored beak thing hides actual teeth and such that it uses for chewing things up, afterall the beak thing would make tunnelling through dirt and rock alot easier since it'd act like a huge plow.
It's adorable and I want one as a familiar.
Someone can tell me how the bonus to hit is computed?
Quote from: Turanil;780159Someone can tell me how the bonus to hit is computed?
It's challenge 5, so it has a Proficiency Bonus of +3. (there is a table for this in DM Rules download).
It's Strength 19, so it has a Ability Bonus of +4.
So it should have +7 to hit, which it does (which is nice).
Quote from: jadrax;780163It's challenge 5, so it has a Proficiency Bonus of +3. (there is a table for this in DM Rules download).
It's Strength 19, so it has a Ability Bonus of +4.
So it should have +7 to hit, which it does (which is nice).
Yes. An important thing to notice looking at the 5e monsters is that a lot of their bonuses (basically everything that's based on proficiency - so skills, attacks and possibly some saves too) are based on their
Challenge Rating, not their
Hit Dice.
Actually, there doesn't seem to be much correspondence between challenge rating and hit dice. Some creatures have challenge ratings far lower than their hit dice would indicate if they're tough but not very skilled in combat, and others will have higher challenge ratings and lower hit dice if they're less tough but more skilled.
Whether this means that the challenge ratings were just eyeballed or whether there's some kind of formula behind the curtain that WotC aren't showing us to calculate one from the other based on however many other special abilities a creature has I don't know.
Quote from: Blacky the Blackball;780207Yes. An important thing to notice looking at the 5e monsters is that a lot of their bonuses (basically everything that's based on proficiency - so skills, attacks and possibly some saves too) are based on their Challenge Rating, not their Hit Dice.
Actually, there doesn't seem to be much correspondence between challenge rating and hit dice. Some creatures have challenge ratings far lower than their hit dice would indicate if they're tough but not very skilled in combat, and others will have higher challenge ratings and lower hit dice if they're less tough but more skilled.
Whether this means that the challenge ratings were just eyeballed or whether there's some kind of formula behind the curtain that WotC aren't showing us to calculate one from the other based on however many other special abilities a creature has I don't know.
It's there as a guideline a CR 2 monster is a challenge to 4-5 level 2 characters. Also it's there to get away from hitpoints being the prime factor of a challenge. For instance a Lich with 90 hitpoints isn't some CR 5 challenge and tells you that you don't have to give them a million hitpoints to be effective or have some cleric just turn them or destroy them because they're not the primary factor of a CR. Which is good in my opinion.
Quote from: Marleycat;780231It's there as a guideline a CR 2 monster is a challenge to 4-5 level 2 characters. Also it's there to get away from hitpoints being the prime factor of a challenge. For instance a Lich with 90 hitpoints isn't some CR 5 challenge and tells you that you don't have to give them a million hitpoints to be effective or have some cleric just turn them or destroy them because they're not the primary factor of a CR. Which is good in my opinion.
Oh I agree it is a good thing - I was pointing it out, not complaining.
It reminds me a lot of the way Rolemaster does things. In that game the level of a creature is independent of its hit points.
It works very well, because you don't get the weirdness of (for example) a Tyrannosaur being resistant to mind control simply because it's very big and tough. It can be a huge creature and very physically tough, but because it's only an animal it has a low level when you're casting magic at it.
The way they're doing CR and hit dice in 5e is very reminiscent of that.
I quite like the picture.
What's the deal with the fixed damage though? :confused:
Quote from: The Ent;780268I quite like the picture.
What's the deal with the fixed damage though? :confused:
expediency. You can choose to use the fixed (usually average) damage, or roll for it normally.
Quote from: LibraryLass;780021I figure it doesn't, just chops them up with that big serrated beak and swallows, not unlike a vulture.
It would be cooler if it had a toothed throat and gullet, chewing things all the way down into its stomach.
Quote from: jeff37923;780328It would be cooler if it had a toothed throat and gullet, chewing things all the way down into its stomach.
Easily tweaked though...in fact i may just do that once i get the MM
Quote from: jeff37923;780328It would be cooler if it had a toothed throat and gullet, chewing things all the way down into its stomach.
...Yes. So it would.
Quote from: Blacky the Blackball;780264It works very well, because you don't get the weirdness of (for example) a Tyrannosaur being resistant to mind control simply because it's very big and tough. It can be a huge creature and very physically tough, but because it's only an animal it has a low level when you're casting magic at it.
This is a good point. However, I guess that calculating a CR (if you create your own custom monster) is rather difficult?
You know. I'd totally forgotten that this thing was originally a snapping turtle/armadillo magical creation.
Quote from: YourSwordisMine;780272expediency. You can choose to use the fixed (usually average) damage, or roll for it normally.
Fixed damage might be quite handy when fighting 50 kobolds.