>>186475>That thing is a CR 8 or a CR 9No it isn't. It is CR 3, based on the math of monster advancement. It only gained 6 undead HD, which means it rose from CR 2 to CR 3.5 (rounded down to 3). You could argue it's CR 4, based on the size increase.
A Gauth, from the monster manual, has a CR of 7: This flying pile of bones doesn't hold a candle to a small beholder. The dolphin-thing in the screencap above is also CR 7, but much more dangerous, imo. A Remorhaz is CR 7, and could probably kill half the party if it got a surprise attack.
>Could you imagine the party fighting it?Well, being a mindless undead, Command Undead would neutralize it instantly.
Even without Posey, I believe the party would be able to handle it. It's basically a huge flying ghast.
>Brie would be close to useless against it. Kira would be ineffectiveWe should buy Brie some Deathstrike Bracers for undead monsters.
>CavaliereCavalier and Brie can fly. Cavalier deals bludgeoning damage as a Monk.
>The only party member to have any effective use against it would be Dust… Dust could turn it with a good roll, and functionally prevent it from attacking us. In fact, it's mindless attack routine is to charge, which means so long as it can't charge it can't really do anything.
>Actually Dust would be less useful than Brie or Cavaliere, because it flies.It has no mind, and therefore should not use complicated evasive tactics.
>out of reachIt may fly, but it only has melee attacks, which means you can just take readied actions to attack/turn it when it attacks you.
Dust also has ranged spells, like Searing Light, Magic Stone, etc.
>The DR/5 is a black and white difference on any monster and you know this.GM, I don't actually care about the DR/5. Go ahead and remove the DR/5. I made a note that the halving of damage should be corrected to DR/5 like skeletons were, but RAW, it doesn't have any DR, only halving of
I intended to use this thing as a short-term mount and shocktrooper/kamikaze bomber: its destiny is to be destroyed. The real reason I wanted it was to fly me to the top of the mountain so that I could attempt to make an Icegaunt.
Also note that even with the out-of-the-box damage halving, d20 modern guns do "ballistic" damage, which is neither piercing nor slashing, so their guns would do full damage to the bone lurker.
>Bludgeoning is so rare of a form of damage here as to be almost irrelevant.Clubs cost 0 gp. Slings cost 0 gp. Quarterstaffs cost 0 gp. The most common natural weapon is a bite attack, which deals bludgeoning, piercing and slashing at once.
>3 bone lurkers do not equal one of these things. I don’t think that even 6 bone lurkers equal one of these things.Tbh, I only made the effort to create this advanced statblock because I thought it would be less annoying to deal with than three smaller ones.
I didn't think you had an issue with it, because another one of these huge-sized bone lurkers, the one that the demon made, is already flying around in the swamp.
>I’m concerned about what it means more broadly. This is a reasonable sentiment. No GM likes being surprised by PC capabilities. Let's talk about it and work it out.
>Those fucking dreads…GM, if you don't like the Dreads, just be aware that Posey doesn't actually control them, they are controlled by a demon who gifted them to Posey (like how Posey ordered the Zombie to obey Day Low Rain). If you feel like confiscating then at any moment, note that if the Demon casts animate dead again in Tartartus (which it might just do every day), the dreads, and the bone lurker in the swamp, would become uncontrolled.
>Basically Posey just gave herself the attack power of a ranger in the same attack round, entirely for free.A low-op ranger, maybe, but I see your point.
>Sometime after that I found out that apparently the dreads have fucking DR/5 and are invincible.GM, think of enemy tactics: why would intelligent enemies attack the flying animated skeleton arms, instead of the grounded sorceress who controls them? The logical action is to attack Posey instead of her mindless minions.
>they fly nowGM, more than half of the humanoid enemies in this game fly. Is a minion flying that hard to deal with?
Posey herself still can't fly. Anyone who can't reach a flying minion can just attack her instead.
>And then the Bone lurker that’s buried in the forest is evidently somehow stronger than the CR 9 posted here?It was animated with Desecrate, so it has slightly more HP.
>it would have the stats of a CR 12A full sized Beholder is CR 12.
Look at the stats for a beholder: does it look more dangerous to you?
> I don’t like being ambushed like that.Oh, okay. Sorry about that.
>Posey controls a ghast and those two dreads and apparently a fucking CR12 with an undisclosed number of hit die in the forest and this flying tank.Posey only control a single zebra zombie (not present), and a ghast (not present). The Dreads and the Bone Lurker are controlled by the demononic cleric who created them, who told them to obey Posey. The demon may animate new monsters Posey may lose control at any moment.